WATER

It was by a sheer stroke of luck that I could lay my hands on Deepa Mehta's Water late this evening. I admit Water was not on my must-watch list atleast for sometime to come what with its never ending saga of postponements atleast in India. I have followed its travails to hit the silverscreen right since it was supposed to be made in and around the early 2000s; 2000 in fact.

Doff my hats to Deepa Mehta for not losing it in this period. Also credit to her long term aide David Hamilton for not letting it get confined to the cans and gather dust. From the frame one to the last Deepa slowly but surely takes us back in time, to 1938, to be precise and paints the saga of Chuiya, Kalyani, Madhumati and Narayan on such beautiful canvas with right brushes and an ethereal palette, that one is left wondering, how!! Sarala with her innocent yet masterly looks blows one away with such genuineness in her potrayal of Chuiya that other performances by child artistes in recent times look farcical. Lisa Ray surprises and I will leave it at that. She puts in a restrained performance and I shall well stop at that for I somehow cant take to actors who cant dub their voices. John Abraham again proves that he is a raw piece of clay ready to be moulded by the director the way he/she wants to. My feeling is that here is an honest man who knows his limitations as a performer and respecting that very well he pitches in a performance within the boundaries of the comfort zone he shall not come out of. Brilliant. His voice is such a soother that I will not be surprised if he is roped in for more suthradhars or voice overs. Rich.

Seema Biswas, Raghuvir Yadav, Cerson Da Cunha, Vinay Pathak, Manorma show it's so pejorative calling them character actors for without them the movie would look a tad incomplete. Seema Biswas in her silent and subdued role conveys what sound-barrier breaking harangue cannot do. Thanks to Shekhar Kapur for discovering her. Good such people aren't offered more stuff because their absence only makes me crave them more. Ditto for Vinay Pathak. He proves a small theory of mine that actors who are good at comedy can do great justice to all other emotions and can leave one spellbound. Manorma with her potrayal makes you hate Madhumati and you only end up hating her.

For all those cineastes who believe that cinema is primarily a visual medium and all follow, this is a spectacle. I have always been in awe of Giles Nuttgens right since his Fire days, and he shows that the Director of Photography needs to be close to, if not, the alter ego of the director. Deepa Mehta sticking to him for years now only ratifies that. Never before has a film looked so heavenly in natural light. For those who believe that monsoons heighten the visual effect, Water shows that sunlight if utilised properly, can match up too. By restricting themselves to stable trolly movements and by not resorting to any camera callisthenics, Giles Nuttgens and Deepa Mehta do us a favor. The focus is more on the lighting to aid the storytelling than kinetics that would distract us. Good cinema is also about that. Aspiring filmmakers would do well to watch the film for this is a textbook in cinematography at its best, if not the Bible. They would also do themselves a great service if they learn that visual chicanery is all crap if it doesnt elevate story.

A R Rahman doesnt hold our hand and take us his way with his background score, and if he did, that's manipulative for me. Good cinema is also about that. His soft, melancholic score is worth listening to.

Deepa Mehta shouldnot feel disheartened if the Academy does not look her way. She has produced such a marvel that awards dont count at all and it's as simple as that. Thanks to her for not going overboard with the period look for the sake of verisimilitude. The best and the most heartening part is this story can unfold in any era or any time and the pre-independence period feel and the look is only incidental. Her effort is commendable for she trusts rank newcomers to convey her story in this project. Though I hate doing this, I still can't resist wondering about the effect if the people who were originally touted to play the roles, Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das stayed aboard the project. Well thats in the hindsight and should be left at that. Rumors were rife way back in 2000 that Akshay Kumar was supposed to play Abraham's part and for some reason he backed out. Thank you Akshay.

Canada's envy, tch... India's loss

Unlike water which vanishes upon the slightest occurrence of heat, this eponymous wonder stays on and quite ironically, in the slow fire that Deepa Mehta fans all along.

You turn hydrophilic at the end of it. Cinematic Excellence at its best.