The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Asians creep into Oscar arena Ervell E. Menezes SO, the night of nights is over. The glamour, glitz, razmatazz was in abundance. So were the accolades, ovation and acceptance — speeches but the upsets few. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences decided to please most of the people this time and “Gladiator,” “Crouching Tigers, Hidden Dragon” and “Traffic” shared most of the honours. “Eight million people all working together with a single commitment — publicity,” said one of the presenters and the Hollywood juggernaut was in its element as it is each year around the last week of March as the world watched with bated breath. Flowing gowns, plunging necklines, natty tuxedos and a plethora of hairstyles. Russell Crowe’s puff was a tad smaller than Elvis’ and Hillary Swank’s hugged her scalp, Charlton Heston looked “wigged’ while Cameron Diaz was curls personified. Sigourney Waver was described as a “statuesque beauty” and` there was an elegance about Dame Julie Andrews but it was the young ones who caught the eye as they moved towards the Shrine Auditorium. Charlize Theron and Cameron Diaz were ravishing and Catherine Zeta- Jones came close. It was all happening. The best fabric is skin, claimed one of the designers and Anthony Hopkins reparteed “no, nothing is difficult” he told the young women who tried to parry him about his new “Hannibal” role. “This statue (meaning the Oscar), if it was in Afghanistan, would have been destroyed,” was host Steve Martin’s opening joke but he also had a dig at the Academy by saying “it’s something I get to do when Billy Crystal is out of town.” Most would opt for Crystal, but Martin’s lines were good and anyway, change is welcome, unlike a few decades ago when Bob Hope made Oscar night his permanent domain. The best part of this show is the clips and memorabilia they resort to in order to evoke nostalgia and how they succeed. When Dustin Hoffman walked on stage it was to the strains of “Mrs. Robbinson.” We saw the late David Niven cool to the emergence of a streaker. “This man will get the only laugh in his life by showing his shortcoming,” is how the scriptwriters put it. Because “Gladiator” won the Best Picture Oscar, they decided to give “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar and Steven Soderberg the Best Director Oscar for “Traffic” which meant pleasing the producers of all three films. With art director Tim Yip and cinematographer Peter Pau winning Oscar for “Crouching Tiger...” showed that Asians are creeping into this hallowed arena which is surely encouraging. Modern technology saw that folks across the oceans were also part of the show. Singing idol Bob Dylan sang “Things have changed...” (from “Wonder Boys”), which eventually won the Best Song Oscar from Australia where he won on a concert tour and sci-fi novelist Arthur C. Clarke read the Best Screenplay nominations from his home in Colombo. Italian movie Moghul Dino De Lavrentiis won the coveted Irving B. Thalderg for Lifetime Achievement, which he dedicated to the Italian film industry with a wish that it would return to its days of neo-realism glory. “Don’t be afraid of new ideas,” he told aspiring filmmakers. And when veteran cameraman Jack Cardiff was the first cinematographer to win an honorary Oscar it showed that the Academy is now looking even behind the camera. The clips of Cardiff’s films took us down to half a century of nostalgia with Leslie Caron in “Fanny” and Audrey Hepburn in War and Peace.” Scriptwriter Ernest Lehman also won an honorary Oscar also reiterating the Academy’s shift in focus from the hackneyed star power and that Lehman’s films included “Hello Dolly,” “Sabrina” and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” only confirms that the writers are indeed the unsung heroes. “I owe this to one bloke and he’s Ridley Scott,” said Russell Crowe in his acceptance speech. Julia Robert went ga- ga but it seemed to be a put-on as she was favourite while Hillary Swank made use of the platform to thank those she forgot to thank the previous year. Quite unnecessary John Travolta was referred to as two-time Oscar nominee, a left-handed compliment, while Martin thought Tom Hanks “took a short cut to making films by making only hits,” an obvious reference to his two Oscars. This show is not without touch of pathos when remembering the dear departed and quite a spattering of stars they were – Sir Alec Guinness, Sir John Gielgud, Walter Matthau, Stanley Kramer Jean Peters and Loretta Young among others. There were some cute lines like Julia Robert’s tributes to cinematographers “if it wasn’t for them we’d all be in radio,” and the accolades to Jack Cardiff which said. “There are some good cameramen and there are some fast cameramen but there are few good and fast cameramen, Jack Cardiff is one.” And of course former angry young man Bob Dylan’s last lines: “God bless you all with peace, tranquillity and goodwill.’’ How times change! It took 43 albums and over 500 songs to achieve this and some must have felt it was a good note to round off the 73rd Oscar night.
	SIGHT & SOUND Amita Malik Lawyer in the dock THERE are some very reliable women TV directors around these days. Apart from Neena Gupta and the new ones like Ekta Kapoor, there are two well-known names on whom one can rely for interesting serials. One is Manju Singh. I still remember her programme of short stories, “Ek Kahani”. I wish she did another round of them and some channel had the imagination to put them on. They were of particular literary and dramatic interest because she picked outstanding short stories from all over India and in different languages. Then she shot them in those locales and with local Hindi-speaking actors and actresses which added flavour to their dialogue, because almost all of them spoke Hindi with the accent of the region. Far from detracting, this added to the authenticity of the dialogue. Then there is Kavita Choudhry and one still remembers her serial “Udaan”, about a young woman police officer and the problems she faced in the field as well as office. Kavita had the advantage of a sister in the IPS, but one must still give her credit for doing her homework and getting her professional nuances right. And now, Kavita has moved to the field of law and the tribulations of a novice woman lawyer. She has done the script, dialogue, direction and acts the part of the woman lawyer herself. I have watched four episodes and although it is early days yet, the serial has got off to a good convincing start. However, there is a vast difference between “Your Honour” and “Udaan”. The credibility of “Udaan” arose from the shifting locales, the different situations and the gender bias or lack of it at different levels and postings. The local netas, the press, her fellow officers, bosses and constables were all true to life, and although not quite as fiery as Kiran Bedi, the central character was both believably human and professional. “Your Honour”, on the other hand, is restricted to court scenes, jail scenes, with different varieties of police methods and lawyer behaviour thrown in, there is the mandatory background of a struggling mother in a small town, the idealistic police officer from a rustic background, the teachers and lawyer with whom the woman lawyer trained and the sort of research we would expect on the ways of Mumbai’s underworld. So this is a more concentrated plot and venue. Obviously Kavita now has a bigger budget, is aiming higher now and beyond the modesty of “Udaan” which was its strongest point. The line of credits is formidable and they flash by so quickly, with a variety of visual gimmicks accompanying them, that it is impossible to read them. The credits at the end of each episode are more clear. Then the music and the sound effects are overdone and distract from the action as well as the dialogue and sometimes one misses the dialogue, so loud are the music and the sound effects. This is a serious matter and needs looking into. Kavita must realise that silence is just as important as sound and there are dramatic moments when silence is much more effective and music and sound effects a hindrance. Kavita herself has lost the trim look she had in a policewoman’s uniform and at times looks too well-fed for a young lawyer. But having said all that, I still found “Your Honour” a good look into the life of a professional woman. We have far too few serials, let alone characters in serials, which are remotely convincing about the lives led by career women in this country. In that sense, this is a good attempt and I have gone into such detail about it precisely because I have high expectations from Kavita Choudhry. I found the Press did a much better job of the National Film Awards controversy. I am surprised that only Zee got the reactions of Dhirtiman Chatterjee, and not one channel even give the names of the full jury, their backgrounds or those who dissented. Some of the so-called cinema correspondents did not even seem familiar with the few people who had a film background. I have long maintained that apart from stars and the commercial cinema, there are very few TV correspondents with an adequate background in serious cinema, Indian and international (and I include Star News here) who do authoritative indepth analysis on such occasions. I am quite enjoying the Pakistan tapes, their equivalent of Tehelka and coming close on its heels, where ministers and the judiciary are shooting their mouths off regarding Benazir Bhutto and her feud with Nawaz Sharif. It seems political sleaze in Pakistan has, much in common with Indian sleaze. The tapes were serialised on Zee but we saw excerpts on other channels.
	In search of that elusive hit Mohit Goswami HIS mellifluous voice has probably not got its due in Bollywood, but that has not prevented Vinod Sehgal from going on trying. His climb to the top rung still goes on, though the hit that he can be identified with continues to elude him. All this may change with the release of “Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar”. Vinod considers himself lucky to have worked with good music directors in Bollywood. He is fond of good lyrics and lays stress on maintaining high standards in the field of music. He is confident that patience and perseverance are the key to success as good work pays off sooner or later. He is looking for an opportunity to cut a private album soon. He states matter-of-factly that good melodies are never too old. That is why Mohammed Rafi is his favourite singer. He agrees that the current music scene is not bright, but foresees a good future for it. He contends that people do have an ear for good music, but they are going to listen to only what is available in the market. He admits that only music companies wield power nowadays. He rues that the focus is always on the hit singer and not many are willing to change the hit combination. He claims to be able to judge the nature of the composer from his music. He can compose music as well, but says that people in the film industry tend to avoid those who try to change their field or diversify. Vinod started off as an assistant music director to Hansraj Behl. His first song to be recorded was for the film “Bezubaan”, which had music by Rahul Dev Burman. He lent his voice to Gurdas Mann in the Punjabi hit “Laung Da Lashkara”. His voice was heard in “Mahaul Theek Hai”. He has also worked with Raam Laxman, Amar Haldipur and Vishal Bharadwaj. Some other movies which have his numbers, though not successful commercially, are “Kalka”, “Mujhe Vachan Do” and “Rahi”. A meeting with Jagjit Singh in 1980 was a turning point for this young struggler. The ghazal maestro gave a break to him and other new artistes in a private album, which could not do much for them. His first solo was for “Ravan”, but it went unnoticed. This was followed by the album “Jagjit Singh presents Vinod Sehgal” in 1985, which did not achieve much either. To add to his woes was the ban on Jagjit Singh due to his South Africa tour. His fledgling career got a boost with the television serial “Mirza Ghalib”, for which he rendered two unforgettable ghazals, Hain aur bhi duniya mein sukhanwar... and Koi din gar zindagani aur hai... Other serials for which he has sung are “Kahkashan” and “Potli Baba Ki”. And then there is the soulful Chhod aaye hum... from the film “Maachis”. Gifted with a good voice and interested in making singing his career, he was always encouraged by his parents and peers. His father, an employee of the P&T Department, got him a job in a cloth shop, but he found this life dull and boring. He joined college and took up music as one of the subjects, but did not complete his graduation. He finally left Ambala Cantt for the city of dreams in 1975. That is where he plans to stay and continue striving for stardom.
	ART & CULTURE An artistic revelation Suparna Saraswati “FIGURES, Facts, Feelings — A Direct Diasporic Dialogue”, an artistic revelation about the myths and trends of Indians abroad opened at Art Folio, Center for Arts in Chandigarh last week. The artist of the exhibition Parthiv Shah is a Charles Wallace Fellow and his multi-faceted calibre might be summed as being a visual communications consultant. Having widened the canvas of his work to films, photography and graphic design, Parthiv is quite at home as an assimilated artist who transcends the periphery of being merely known as a photo or a graphic artist. His academic sojourn at SOAS (School for Oriental and African Studies), London, exposed to him many latent perceptions and views regarding Indians settled abroad and who constitute the Indian Diaspora Frame of migrations. As he commented: “The evolution of this diaspora has been varied and intriguing and is of abiding socio-anthropological interest. This exhibition, a combination of photographs and text, is an effort at understanding the diasporic phenomenon.” What was the take-off point for the concept of this exhibition? Parthiv: “My project at SOAS involved representing ‘others’ and I think the whole issue of racial discrimination got sowed at the time of our first census, taken way back in the late 19th century by the colonisers. That image of who’s what and how is still deeply entrenched in the minds and hearts of many fellow Indians abroad.” In the discipline of art the facilitating aspect of comprehension and interpretation is perhaps, the sheer flexibility of medium of expression itself. In order to perceive and reflect the subject of an artist, there is limitless scope for manoeuvre and identification. Parthiv has used this tremendous advantage in the display and personification of his skill. His indepth grasp of the socio-anthropological situation of these migrant Indians comes across brilliantly in his photo-text exhibits. And what was the focus of the photographer here? “The idea here is to montage photographs academic dimension, so to say, to the post-colonial diasporic question. A straightforward dialogue is afforded between the photographed, the photographer and the reader/viewer, facilitating a continuous global dialogue.”