Yesterday was our last day for this semester. Works of more than 180 students were displayed in rooms allocated to specific studios. I have to say this has been a wonderful experience, not because of my film was on exhibition but the participation of my peers and mentor in this studio and their dedication really moved me to give my best. All of the works were great, I especially liked how the ‘Rocket’ studio one, where students gathered complex ideas and explained in video format.

It’s really hard to decide what to choose for next studio as all of them are great. A deep study is required before I carefully choose for my studio. As for the rest of the guys, my best wishes for you future.

The other day I was looking at the spectacular piece of work by the legendary Guru Dutt who was a filmmaker from India. Here is my review:

Content:

What a movie it was. A neglected poet that struggled so much and was bashed everywhere for his poetry and in the end the same people used his name and made fame, thus the name “Pyaasa” thirst symbolizes the materialistic world and their limit crossing for fame. The establishing shot when the bee was squashed by a human reflects that the world takes advantage and will destroy anyone to get the fame and money, which is later shown in the movie. All did Vijay wanted was an inner peace. When vijay was working as servant for Mr Ghosh, he began reciting a poem at a gathering which reflected his loneliness and a journey to find the happiness. And the scene when Vijay receives a counterfeit coin justifies that people just want to satisfy their own needs rather than thinking about other’s position of his/her well-being.

In this movie two major people understood the conditions of Vijay’s life, Sattar and Gulabo. Because both of them know how the life is difficult on the streets. Whereas Meena betrayed his love and went on to marry a rich guy Mr Ghosh for the sake of her comfortable life. Again this continues on with the sub conflict of the movie and how similar the materialistic world is and the betrayal he got from Meena.

Also Guru Dutt remarkably used symbols to justify the essence of the film. Especially the way he compared the crucifixion of Christ (a picture of cross when Meena read news about vijay’s death) with Vijay and his resurrection in the movie to prove the masses that he is really alive and not killed. Plus how opposite the characters showed of Meena and Gulabo. One who sold love for respect in society and the other sells her respect to live in society. Their differences showed a different light on the film and the respect to be given to these types of women. Meena when she was caught with Vijay, Ghosh punished her and compared her with a cruel woman and when Gulabo was being chased by a police officer was caught by Vijay in his arms and told the officer that she is my wife, this tells that she is worthy for a compassion. One thing can be learned from this scenario is that the way man looks at a woman and her role in a society, and his behavior of women, are fair indicators of a man’s personality.

The performances were flawless by everyone. Each had its own magic on screen. Johnny Walker not to forget even a supporting role played greatly of a common man and his comic timings were great. Guru Dutt, Rehman, Mala and Waheeda all performed extremely well. No words can describe the level of their performance. Their dialogues and gestures each gave away its own presence on the screen.

The ending justified the movie title and the story as well and adding song “Yeh Dunya” added another meaning to the end. The world is full of hypocrites is what Vijay realized in the end. And that this world does not know the real Vijay who struggled so much to get recognition of his poems. Thus decided to leave that world and continue a life with a person (Gulabo) who understands the life of a street that vijay has gone through to finally get the inner pleasure of living in this doggy dog world.

Cinematography:

Murthy sir’s cinematography is marvelous. Great use of light and camera work which added to the personality of each character. Two sequences the one I would praise. First tone the railway track scene. It reminded of a Hollywood’s horror films. That something bad is about to happen and that scene was a turning point of the movie. The light source of train and the expression on Vijay and the beggar both added to the essence of the scene which turned out that Vijay is dead. And other scene when Vijay enters the hall where his death anniversary is celebrated, the light from his back shows and symbolizes the resurrection of Vijay and his stance of like Jesus Christ shows that Jesus also left the world because of hypocrisy and the same Vijay is going through.

Editing and Sound:

Editing is great. I failed to notice any major jumps probably because the lighting and performance outshined any mistakes that one could find. But yes little jumps I noticed like on the train scene, when Vijay jumped on a platform he put his hands on his pant pockets, but the very next scene his hand are not in pant pockets. But the rest of the sequences ran smoothly.

Music by S.D Burman is spotless. Sound a very important element reflected in this movie. The ambience, background score and the songs in this movie assisted along to give away the unfolding of the plot.  Probably the only reason why a viewer is stacked to his seat from the very first frame to the last frame is because of the sound and the dialogues.

Interesting scenes:

Prostitute dancing and Vijay singing a poem “Kahan hain” reflects the materialistic world for not carrying its own species.

The bee squashed at the starting of the movie.

Man giving a counterfeit coin to Vijay.

Ghosh beating Meena and Vijay saving Gulabo.

Vijay expressing his feelings to Gulabo about world rejecting his poems and Meena

Vijay denying to the people he is not “The” Vijay they thought of.

Watching both of these movies, I found similarities with the content and few of the dialogues but yes there were some changes made in the remake to suite the social conditions of the way America was in 80’s.

First about the characters, Tony in both the movies were different in some way like Tony (1932) was a jolly fellow and had fun with his gang members and also the boss, He dressed in plain black and white suits, He is an Italian in the movie, he sells beer to make money and when he wanted to kill someone he usually whistles. Whereas in 1983 version, Tony is from Cuba, he is violent, bad mouths a lot, does not joke around and takes business seriously, more courageous then the Tony (1932) since he gave up to the police in the original ending but in remake he fought with the mobs and worked his way from down to top whereas in the original Tony was already shown part of a gang. And whenever Tony (1983) gets angry, the camera focuses on the eyes of Tony and more importantly he sells cocaine in the remake.

But there were similarities in both of them like both of them wanted to reach the top, both have same relation with their mother and sister (in the remake’s case the sister was more of a incest type as she appeared almost naked and tells his brother to have sex with her), both killed their best friend for being with the sister, both like their boss’s girl, both kill their boss for double crossing, both die in the end.

Now about the other characters Tony’s friend in both the movies helped Tony to reach the top but the original one was more resilient towards women whereas in the remake he could fall for any hot woman that he could lay hands on. Sadly both die by the gun fire from Tony for being caught with his sister.

The girl for both Tony’s were vowed almost the same way but in the remake they both get married but the marriage does not work well and she leaves him in a restaurant whereas in the original, she falls for tony after the Boss’s death and is in relation with him.

Both the Boss’s in the two films were of the same situation, both high in power and tried to kill Tony and died same way as well by Tony’s friend. Difference comes here that in the original; the boss dies alone in the office whereas in the remake he is killed with Mel and Ernie watching them both killed.

The rest of characters in the remake were introduced new Like Mel Bernstein, Omar, and Sosa as they had significant roles in this movie and were not in the original.

Now about the situations of the movies which were somehow similar but portrayed in different timings and in different ways but in the end the meaning was same.

The first sequence when Tony sees his sister dancing with a stranger in a club. Tony gets mad as he is protective of her and does not want her to be with a man like he is. However the difference between the original and remake was that in original Tony stops dancing with Poppy and goes to his sister and punches the guy who was dancing with her and leaves the club taking along with her. While in the remake, he sees his sister walking with the man that she danced and when the Tony saw the man touching his sister’s buttocks, he got mad and followed them to the men’s bathroom. When they were making out, Tony bangs the toilet door and kicks the guy out and slaps his sister for doing this. There is a difference of how each tony reacted but the meaning in the end was same.

In the remake when tony asks his friend many to drop his sister back home, she tells him that he wants her as per her judgment of his looks and both stare at each other. While in the original, Tony’s sister throws the coin from her balcony to Tony’s friend Guino and both stare at each other sharing a moment.   

In both movies when the Boss’s girl asks Tony what will he do about the boss for which Tony in both the movies reply “I like Johnny/Frank, but I like you better”.

In another scene when the dialogues of both movies meet are when Tony saves himself nearly being killed and suspects his own boss for the doing. When the boss asks question about his condition, tony replies “They wanted to spoil my suit”. Then the boss begs for his life and is then killed by Tony. In the next scene Tony goes to Poppy/Elvira’s house and asks him about the boss for which he replies “where do you think?” But the difference arises when in original movie Tony and Poppy go to Florida for vacation and in the remake Tony and Elvira does not go anywhere and at that moment Tony’s business reaches at the top.

The Line “The world is yours” is seen on both the movies, in the original on the billboard and in the remake on the blimp and in Tony’s home. Which symbolizes that the only way you can get is through Money, Power and Respect and that is how the world became his.

In both the movies Tony executes his best friend for being with his sister and upsets him later on. However the outcome was different in both the movies. In the original, Tony’s sister shows up to him with a gun but cannot shoot him as she believes that there is a part of her in him. And then later the bullet which was for Tony hits his sister and dies in the end. In the remake one, Tony’s sister actually shoots him and then later is killed by a man who comes from window and shoots her like 10 or more bullets. With this also thing to notice that the remake had more gore in it rather than the original one.

And more importantly the way both died was different as well. In the original, police surround his house and want to arrest him for the murder for his best friend Guino. Tony tries to escape and losses his courage and thus dies by the machine gun. In the remake version, Tony is surrounded by a mob and picks up a gun and kills few of them when finally he dies from a shotgun behind his back.

To conclude, the content is similar only the difference comes in execution of both of them since each movie was made according to the demands and likes of the social lifestyle. The remake was well made by De Palma. Both of these movies tell a story of rise and fall of a gangster because of his greediness for money and power and the movie ends with Tony’s death since this movie was about him