Best Movies Ever #3: Children of Heaven (1997)

Written & Directed by Majid Majidi

Produced by Amir Esfandiari and Mohammad Esfandiari

Running time : 89 minutes

Country: Iran

Language: Persian

Sometimes it is astonishing to see something so simple yet so beautiful that we could not resist to love it. Similar feelings wobbled my heart when I saw 'Children of Heaven', a 1997 Iranian drama flick. Written and directed by Majid Majidi, Children of Heaven showcased the most classic paradox of losing even after winning the race in the most subtle way ever demonstrated in the history of world cinema. With no actions, special effects, guns and gooses, or any complicated relationships it evinced the beauty of simplicity through ‘direct dil-se' story. Though the movie is set up in Iran, the story can be easily comprehended and loved by universal audience, irrespective of generation gap. It was nominated for Acadamy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film in 1998 and won several awards at International level.

Story of the movie revolves around a family of four members living in old town of Iran and coping with financial disturbances. Though, the main plot revolves around Ali, a nine years old school going kid, who by mistake loses his little sister’s (Zahra) pink shoes while he took them for repairing. Fearing of a scold from his father, Ali does not tell his father about lost shoes but the problem is that how will Zahra go to school without shoes? So, both device a plan in which Zahra will wear Ali's sneakers in morning and Ali will wear it in afternoon classes. Meanwhile, Ali comes to know about a inter school race competition in which third prize is a pair of shoes. Ali immediately thinks as an opportunity and threrfore participated in the race but eventually he comes first. Though he wins the race but he is not happy as he missed the opportunity of getting a pair of shoes.

Amir Farrokh Hashemian as Ali steals the show with his brilliant performance. As an innocent but helpless kid who could not tell his father about lost shoes, he brilliantly played the big brother of his sister and also showed enough maturity to understand the financial condition of his father. His innocent face justifies his dilemma between responsibilities of being eldest son of house and fun of being school going kid. Bahare Seddiqi as Zahra and Ali's little sister justifies her role with utmost innocence and cute dialogue delivery. It is difficult to ignore the performance of Amir Naji as Ali's father who is sometimes rude but cares more than anything about his children.

‘Children of Heaven’ is a simple but well written story which not only touches your heart but stays in your heart for eternity. Majid Majidi deals closely with almost every relationship depicted in the movie especially brother - sister relationship. The scene where Ali and Zahra exchange notes for a solution is beautifully written and executed. The soul of the movie lies in its inherent sweetness of caring love between Ali and his sister, responsible love of Ali for his father and unconditional love of parents for their children. The scene where Ali went with his father to rich houses of big city for gardening work and how he helped his father in communicating through intercom is incredible.

‘Children of Heaven’ is not about rich or poor life but it tells the way to live life, it is not about struggle in life but it is about emotional bonding among family members which make them able to cope any struggle of life. ‘Children of Heaven’ is ninety beautiful minutes of engrossed emotional content.

Best Movies Ever #2: The Bicycle Thief (1948)

Directed by Vittorio De Sica

Produced by Giuseppe Amato

Language: Italian

Hard times can break you in pieces. Wisdom and morality will be lost in the woods of reality of life. The uncontrolled circumstances can force you to make mistakes. Mistakes, after you commit, cannot be regressed and at that time you even cannot face your dear ones especially those for whom you are an idol. Antonio face the same situation in 1948 Italian classic drama flick 'The Bicycle Thief'. Though the original name was 'Ladri di biciclette' in Italian which can be translated to 'Bicycle Thieves' in English but movie was released in US with the name 'The Bicycle Thief'. In 1952, the magazine Sight & Sound listed it as the greatest movie ever made. This movie also got the Academy Honorary Award in 1950. It always ranked among the top in almost all the polls conducted worldwide for e.g. it was placed sixth as the greatest movie ever made in Sight & Sound's directors' poll, conducted in 2002 and was ranked in the top 10 of the BFI list of the 50 films you should see by the age of 14.

The movie is the classic example of the neo-realism movement started in Italian film industry which portrays the reality of Italian middle and lower middle class society. Movie is set up in the economy of Italy just after the world war II. Antonio Ricci is one of the many who are unemployed and are living in penury. Fortunately, Antonio gets the job of pasting posters but on a condition that he must posses a bicycle. 'No bicycle, no job'. His wife sells some old and some new bed sheets to buy a bicycle but hard luck prevails and Antonio's bicycle get stolen on the first day of his work. He cannot continue his job until he finds a bicycle therefore along with his son, Bruno, he starts searching for his bicycle. The whole day he searches for his bicycle but with no luck. At last, he try to steal one but unfortunately public catch hold off him. While he was stealing bicycle his son saw him. He was embarrassed to set a bad example in front of his own son, but at the end his son slips his hand into his father hand letting him know that he still believes in his father and still he is his idol.

Vittorio De Sica as the director of movie casted a steel worker Lamberto Maggiorani as Antonio Ricci who was unproffesional and novice to film industry but he beautifully portrayed a common man of Italy who was unemployed, helpless and dejected from his life. On the other hand, Bruno played by Enzo Staiolo was remarkable in displaying innocence of childhood and ability to understand agony of his father. In one of the scene where he was dining with his father in a restaurant, he looked towards kids of affluent class who were eating full pasta whereas he was just having bread and mozzarella but he starts pretending to be enjoying it too. There are many such scenes in the movie where your eyes turns wet while watching father-son relationship in the utmost mesmerizing way.

'The Bicycle Thief' shows the reality of Italy - real streets - real house and real people facing real situations. It wonderfully depicts the prevalent culture and society of Italy as the background keeping the realism of life of a common man at front. Movie is a landmark in the history of world cinema because of its significance of being inspiration for many directors of world wide. Indian legendary directors Stayajit Ray and Bimal Roy were inspired from this movie. Stayajit Ray's Pather Panchali and Bimal Roy's 'Do bhigha zameen' were the tribute to 'The Bicycle Thief'. I can see similar father-son relationship in 'Life is beautiful' and 'The pursuit of happyness' but not so subtle and charming as in 'The Bicycle Thief'. A scene where Bruno started crying after getting hit by his father and then showed his anger by saying 'I will tell mom that you hit me' and Antonio replied by saying "In a second you’ll have more to tell her". I could not resist a sweet smile comprehending the ongoing beautiful emotional link between father and son.

My heart is not as complicated as I perceive, it loves simplicity and therefore 'The Bicycle Thief' will always remain very close to my heart.

Best Movies Ever #1 - Pyaasa (1957)

Cast: Guru Dutt, Mala Sinha, Waheeda Rehman, Rehman, Johnny Walker.

Directed and Produced By: Guru Dutt
Written by: Abrar Alvi
Music by: S. D. Burman

A movie from the heart, a movie for the heart, Pyaasa is the gem of Indian cinema, a pinnacle which is difficult to overthrown. Pyaasa is a 1957 intense drama flick directed by legendary actor-director Guru Dutt, who fulfilled his dream of making a good movie without apprehensions of commercial success with this movie. Pyaasa has been rated as one of the 100 best films of all the time by Time Magazine in year 2005. Earlier, Sight & Sound critics' and directors' poll of all-time greatest films ranked it at #160.

Pyaasa is a journey of a talented but unsuccessful poet Vijay (Guru Dutt) and his pursuit for recognition for his literary work. His failed because of his unprecedented style and un-contemporary genre of writing and his stubbornness of not to succumb to unrealistic though popular literature. His brutal and blunt poems involving sorrows of life and moral crisis of civil society were too arrogant to be published. His journey ends with revelation of hypocrisies exists in the society which is motivated by greedy and inhuman intentions.

Waheeda Rehman with the role of Gulaabo, a prostitute who falls in love with Vijay because of his poems, announced her entry to Indian cinema with an excellent performance. Though she is a prostitute and represents an abhorrent section of society but has a golden heart and played a pivotal role in publishing Vijay’s work. Rehmaan with his royal and charismatic look able to represents upper class of society. He marvelously represents greedy and materialistic society using cruel means for gaining more power and money. Meena (Mala Sinha) as an ex-girl friend of Vijay and wife of Rehmaan beautifully depicts her dilemma for choosing money over love. Other character like brothers of Vijay and friends of Vijay did a fantastic job in caricaturing a society of different dimensions. Even all characters gave their best performances, but this movie solely belongs to Guru Dutt. His performance is one of the best of Indian cinema. His sullen face with failed pursuit for better world represents the forlorn humankind.

Pyaasa is incomplete without its songs and poems. All poems were penned by Sahir Ludhianvi, one of the finest writers of Urdu poems. He rephrased most of his poems to suit common public. Music is composed by legendary S. D. Burman and it is worth mentioning that Mohd. Rafi did a wonderful job in representing the true feeling behind each word through his voice.

Though, this film belongs to an era of black and white cinema, it does not let you down with any technical flaws. From Impeccable cinematography to outstanding screenplay and direction, the whole saga consummate for a finest and incomparable endeavor.

Best Movies on teachers

Though it seems little late to upload best movies on teachers, but always waiting for a worth is good. I am listing down five movies which I think are best movies on teacher-student relationship. I hope you would like it.

1. Jagriti (1954) - Jagriti is a masterpiece of Indian cinema. It is a must watch for every Indian as it re-live the world of different relationships accompanied with its own complications and solutions. It is a movie about teacher-student relationship, friendship, mother-son relationship and above all a relationship which exist between humans – undefinable but undeniable. It’s a movie based on moral values and beliefs of Indian education system unveiling its hypocritical and orthodox nature and ushering to a better and holistic development of a child. Abhi Bhatacharya is a teacher whose pedagogy is unconventional but it reaches the heart and soul of children. He exactly knows the psychology of children and how to get best out of them. He places moral values like honesty along with excellence above all other things - even above success. He becomes the IDOL teacher and all students started loving him. His methodology of teaching get recognize by central board and therefore he leaves school with below song and tears in eyes of students:
   
   
   
   
2. Sir (1993)
   No doubt this is the best movie dedicated to a teacher – from starting to ending – it was Nasuridin Shah who played the role of Sir. Amar Verma (Naseeruddin Shah) was devasted when his only child was killed in midst of gang-war. Amar tries to placate his suffering by dedicating his life to students and especially Pooja (Pooja Bhutt) who has a stammering problem. Amar finds out that Pooja is the only daughter of one of the gangster (Paresh Rawal) and then he decides to cease the endless war between two rival gangsters but failing to do so. Naseeruddin was the best in the role of Prof. Amar Verma and he played it beautifully and impeccably. This film shows the true role of a teacher in a society. It is the duty of a teacher to not only teach his/her students but also other people who follows wrong path. This movie is real tribute to all teachers and this song says it all.
   
   
   
   
3. Taare Zameen Par (2007)
   Nothing could go wrong when Aamir Khan is involved in making a movie and proved that with TZP. In a world of bollywood it is a sucidal endeavour, if you make a movie with kid as a protagonist, but Aamir Khan shows the gut and came up with his best movie ever. Though the entry of Aamir Khan was just before interval but it was his flawless performance which made the difference. As a art teacher, he tried to diagnose unfamiliar though quite common problem of dyslexia flourishing in ten-year old kid Eshaan (Darsheel Safary). After disappointed and unsuccessful argument with Eshaan’s parent, Aamir took it as a challenge and after some time he finally manages to drive the illness out of Eshaan’s mind. The success of a teacher lies in success of students and that was well stated by one of the teacher as “Now this is called Progress Card”
   
   
   
   
4. HIP HIP HURREY (1984)
   Hip Hip Hurrey is another great story on teacher and student relationship. Sandeep (Ravi Kiran) joins a school as a temporary sports teacher as he waits for interview results. But it turns out to be a complex situation as he readily conflicts with a spoiled brat Raghu. He took it as a challenge and then the transformation begins. It is a simple story but told in a very beautiful way. It was first movie of Prakash Jha and for me he did not dissapoints.
   
   
   
   
5. Rockford(1999)
   A movie by Nagesh Kuknoor who himself plays the role of a teacher. I choose this movie because it tells that not only student learns from a teacher but also teacher learns from a student. Johnny (Nagesh Kuknoor) helps Rajesh Naidu in arranging a meet with Malathi (girlfriend of Rajesh) but eventually runs into problems as this information get passed to headmaster in different manner. Johnny resigns from the school. Rajesh is neglected by his classmates and only when he fights against Raja (the conspirator) to reveal the truth behind the whole conspiracy. It is a very beautiful movie with two beautiful songs. One of them is here:

My favourite songs on mothers!

How can Bollywood ignore the significance of a mother in one’s life? Mother who gives life to her child, who created the world for him, who nourishes him, who pampers him, who guards him against any odds and who make him a complete man, cannot be ignored even it is a reel life. Bollywood understood the importance of mothers and created some lovely songs for them. I am reciting some of my favourite ones.

1. Maa – (TaareZameen Par) - Whenever I hear this song, drops of salty water twinkles in my eyes and I just call my mother at once. This song is so touchy and emotional that you cannot resist crying. Beautiful words written by Prasoon Joshi are simple but directly touching your heart. Shankar Mahadevan had sung the song naturally with full feelings. Music is equally good. Do enjoy ..
   Click here to view this song.
   
   


2. O MaaTujhe Salaam – (Khalnayak) - I heard this song quite late but became fan at once. This song is sung by great ghazal singer Jagjit Singh. Music is by LaxmikantPyarelal. Movie has many songs most of them were hit and therefore this song has been un-observed for a long time. Most impressive thing about this song is its lyrics. Some lines are extremely heart touching. You will be bemused by each verse of this song.
   Click here to view this song.
   
   


3. Paas Bulati hai – Jaanwar (1999) - I have no idea how many of you remember this song from movie Jaanwar, but I love this song very much. This song is sung by Sunidhi Chauhan along with legendary AlkaYagnik. Sunidhi Chauhan was only 15 years old and very less known figure when she sang this song but this touched my heart from the day I heard this song - extremely emotional and direct from heart. Hear this song and then hug your mom or call her and say that you love her.
   Click here to view this song.
   
   


4. Tu kitni achhi hai – Raja aur Rank - The revolutionary Marathi filmmaker Mahesh Kothare featured in this song as Raja who lives in extreme poverty with his mother, sister and drunkard father. LataMangeshkar sung this impeccable song beautifully with full emotions. This lovely song is dedicated to all mothers in the world.
   Click here to view this song.
   
   


5. Maa Meri Maa – Beta - Beautiful song from film Beta, penned by Sameer and sung by Anuradha Paudwal. Music was given by Anand-Milind. This song was overshadowed by hit song Dhak-Dhak from the same movie.
   Click here to view this song.
   
   Do write your favourite ones!

My Favourite children flicks

Risk-averse Bollywood does not encompass large number of options of movies wherein a minor played the protagonist, but still some movies comes to my mind without any doubt. You can call these movies as kids’ movies but for me these are very well written script with superb performance and moreover these can be watched by every age group of people.

1. Boot Polish (1955)

Boot Polish is the first movie which comes to my mind whenever I think of kids movies. It was Raj Kapoor who took the responsibility of talking about one of the social problems of abandoned children. Directed by Prakash Arora, Boot Polish lead to a world of brother (Bhola) and sister (Belu), where they are forced to beg. John Chacha, a crippled drunkard, taught them to lead a better and respectful life. Bhola started polishing shoes. He never begged even in adverse conditions. He even not let Belu to beg when she was starving. Their life took a turn when Belu parted from Bhola. Belu was adopted by a rich family. Both Bhola and Belu were looking for each other. One day, Belu gave a coin to a beggar who was Bhola who ran away because of humiliation. Belu ran after him and both were united.

Performance wise Baby Naaz (Belu) was excellent, even Rattan Kumar (Bhola) did justice to his role. Apart from mail lead, one role which is worth mentioning is that of John Chacha played by David Abraham. He delivers his finest performance of his lifetime. Music of Shankar Jaikishan played important role and comprehended the overall mood of the movie.

It is a must watch if you love good cinema. Movie also won Film Fare award for Best Movie among many others.

2. TaareZameen Par (2007)

I think TZP does not need introduction. TZP is a movie about a child suffering from dyslexia and how an art teacher transforms his life, when nobody, not even his parents, was trying to understand his problem. This movie is about how Eshaan fights the competitive world in his own way.

It established Aamir Khan as perfectionist seeker who made good movies which are commercially viable also. Movie was released in an era where producers prevent themselves from indulging into any art-related cinema, especially when it is children movie, as the scope of commercial viability is limited. But, surprisingly, movie was a huge hit not just among children but also with every age group of people. Movie crossed excellence almost on every aspect. Debutant director, Aamir Khan, was praised for impeccably painting a heart-touching story on silver screen. Amol Gupte, the writer, was credited for his creative direction. Music was excellent and lyric of song “Maa” deserves a special applause. Tears automatically roll down your cheeks whenever you listen or watch this song.

Hats off to DarsheelSafary who gave such a wonderful performance registering himself as child super star of Bollywood!

3. Kitaab (1977)Kitaab is a masterpiece from Gulzar’s armory. Set in a backdrop of creeping western culture in Indian urban cities of late 70s, Kitaab talked about Babla who unwillingly left his grandmother in village to settle with his sister place in city where he can get good education. Babla became friend with Pappu, his classmate and started roaming around with him. Sometime they bunk school to watch movies, smoking and other mischievous activities. They started making fun of teachers. Their mischiefs grew day by day and finally it reached her sister. Apart from periodic scolding, the personal conflict between his sister and brother-in law, led him to depart from his sister’s house and live with grandmother. During his journey to village, he faced different aspects of life. While he was feeling cold in the night, he slept alongside a beggar sharing his blanket. When he woke up in the morning he found him dead. Realizing complicated world of poverty, he decided to live with sister and become a better person.

Kitaab could not make any impact on box office but good is not always popular. Good was written from the first scene and it just got better in every other scene. It was heroic attempt of Gulzar that had produced a marvelous movie. Thank You GulzarJi!

4. Jagriti (1954)Jagriti is the one of the purest diamond of Indian cinema. It is a moral driven movie but with fine elements of relationship intricacies whether it is a relation between uncle and nephew, teacher and students or between friends. It is a story which unfolds the responsibility which comes with every relationship. Mischiefs are the part of childhood but one should be dare to accept one’s act – lying about one’s own mischiefs is immoral. A teacher is equally responsible for performance of his/her students. It is friend’s duty to show right and better path of manhood to his wandering friend. It is also important to respect one’s country and its culture and one of the most important moral was that it is the duty of every child to study, learn and excel in life. All these morals were beautifully knitted in a story of Ajay and Shakti. Worth mentioning is the music of the movie which gave some of the best songs of all time. Songs like “Dedi humain aazadi bina khad bina dhaal”, “aao bacho tumhe dikhain jhanki Hindustan ki” or “Hum LaayeHainToofan Se KashtiNikaalKe”are evergreen.

I personally believe that each child should watch this movie. May be Aamir Khan should take the responsibility of re-making this movie for today’s generation.

5. StanelyKaDabba(2011) and I Am Kalam(2011)Both movies highlight the basic issue of child labor but in different backdrops. Stanley kaDabba sets in urban school where Stanley is passionate about learning and studying, though he works in road-side hotel own by his uncle. On the other hand, I Am Kalam is based in Rajasthan culture, where Chottu dreams of meeting The President of India, APJ Kalam. Chottu is a village boy who learns very quickly and impresses everybody with his talents.

Both movies capture the different moods of child labour – one is out of fate as Stanley lost his parents and his uncle adopted him only to make him work in his hotel and the other one is out of poverty as severe draught in Rajasthan forced Chottu’s to work for his uncle. But both convey the same message – Say No to Child Labour!

Personal favourite flicks on friendship.

Friendship is a relationship which you choose, unlike that of blood relation which is given by God’s grace. From living those memorable moments to sharing those unprecedented feelings, it is friends who first come to your mind. No friendship is impeccable; each has its own flaws, ups and downs, and a story to be told, therefore, filmmakers are ready to dive in a vast ocean of friendship and pull out some gems and some pearls to be showcased in your living room forever. I picked some of my favorite movies based on friendship. All these movies have different flavor of friendship.

1. Dil Chahta hai (2001)

Nothing comes so close. Nothing becomes so dear. DCH was one of the best movies on friendship I ever saw in my life. Friendship is like a road trip without the knowledge of destination. It should be unconditional, but with such condition (pun intended) there can be more rough patches than smooth ones and therefore it becomes worth a story to be told, a story to get inspired and a story to live. DCH fantastically depicts the similar condition among three friends, Akash, Siddharth and Sameer. No bad boys, all were good at heart but situations and more precisely different viewpoints led them to internal conflict resulting in breakup-kind-of-status. Friends cannot keep their conflicts for long duration; all three united again forgetting all frictions and clashes among them.

DCH also made a landmark entry of Farhan Akhtar into Bollywood. It revived the career of Saif Ali Khan, and become the greatest launching pad for trio of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy.

This movie presents life with friends.

2. Rang De Basanti

RDB was another flick from Aamir Khan’s armory where friendship played an important role. It is one of the few movies which I saw in theatres more than once. It saw the eternity of friendship even one of friends is no longer present on the earth. Friendship is beyond birth and death of individuals. It stays on forever and ever.

This movie presents what a friend can do for a friend.

3. Dosti (1964)

Dosti is an old movie of 1960s from Rajshree Production house. This movie is about two friends, one is blind (Mohan played by Sudhir Kumar) and other one lost his leg in an accident (Ramnath played by Sushil Kumar). Ramnath came to city to look for his sister who is working in a hospital as a nurse and ran into Mohan after which both become good friends and used their talents for earning. Mohan sings and Ramnath plays harmonica. When Mohan finds that Ramnath is eager to study further, he asked him to stay at home and study. He brings a lantern as it was difficult to study under street light with so many uncivilized activities going on in the street. Their friendship takes a huge turn when Ramnath leaves Mohan to get away from filthy locality of their common dwelling place only to come back and understand the true meaning of friendship. It is one of the rare movies which depicts how important to have a friend. A friend is just not for sharing your happiness but also pain and understanding what is good for you even that involve some sacrifices.

This movie presents importance of friends in life.

4. Jagriti (1954)

Though the main theme of Jagriti is unleashing the knotted relationship between a teacher and students, but the subtle emergence of friendship as a main character is quite visible. Ajay, a spoiled brat, lands up in a boarding school and meets crippled and destitute child Shakti (played by Rattan Kumar – a fabulous actor, interestingly he worked in the first three Best movies winner of Film Fare Award). Shakti tries hard to transform Ajay from a spoiled brat to responsible and lovable kid only to meet with an accident when he was running after Ajay who was leaving boarding school. The death of Shakti changes Ajay and becomes a better person. This movie presents how friend can make you a better person.

5. Stand By Me (1986)

Stand BY Me is one of the rare movies that showcase the true meaning of friendship so profoundly that you start calling your old buddies after watching it. Four friends, each having different past and rather undesirable family background, set out on an adventurous journey of finding the dead body of a boy who was killed in some train accident. During this journey, they meet their internal fears and counter them. Their own bruised relationship with each other took different turns only to realize that their past is too impactful to live in present with blissfully and peacefully. You can find only friend’s shoulder to cry on, to express your feelings and to rely on. The following line from the titled song of the movie truly depicts the essence of movie:

When the night has come

And the land is dark

And the moon is the only light we'll see

No, I won't be afraid, No I won't be afraid

Just as long as you stand, stand by me

Do write your own favourites.