Da Vinci Code
Saw the Da Vinci Code yesterday...
Frankly I don’t see why the movie was banned! Meaningless appeasement to assumed minority sentiments on the part of the politicians and a section of over-zealous religious bigots managed such a ban, I am sure. If anything the movie can only enhance the faith in Jesus.
First the movie - I had read the book and was in a sense ready to check out the movie, I wasn't disappointed, the movie neither exaggerated nor dramatized any section of the book in the process of movie making. That was very good. A movie which has such a large section of history packed as part of the story line was rather presented innovatively, I personally liked the piece where the two central characters are entering a Cathedral and in which as the Professor narrates history, the history is played before them while they continue to walk into the cathedral as though in a virtual world. If only we had large sections of untold history spun into such stories and narrated in such innovative fashion it would be great!
Having said that, an average chennai-wasi without the advantage of reading the book would hardly enjoy the movie, it is too dialogue centered to the chennai movie watcher whose regular diet is a hybrid of drunken brawl and funeral dance which is was the normal tamil movie is, action packed, meaningless and very noisy. The empty seats at Sathyam was a proof of the chennai-wasi taste.
The last part of the movie where the professor questions the young woman of supposedly the Jesus blood line as to what she will now do is done very well. I particularly enjoyed the character saying, "What if Jesus was a father to a child, he could still be all that he was", so true. That is a very good closing for the controversy that surrounds the book as well.
Banning books, theatric works and movies in the name of religious or cultural sensitiveness in India would mean just about any criticism, as probably there are more sects here than anywhere else in the world and probably every one of the sect across the world is represented in this land. So, how does one even develop a common code?
Can there be a religious mahat or umma or larger body consisting of representatives of at least all the major religious heads who can decide what is proper and what is not. There again the question who will be included and who will be left out will come up.
Can the local panchayats decide as to what is appropriate and what is not for each movie that has to be released in their jurisdiction. That would be the ideal situation, yet, it may not be the most practical and the multi-nationals would certainly not be happy if the control were to be evenly spread across so many Indian regulatory bodies.
How much value in the name of freedom for the artist? That brings me to a larger national level question...read on...
Frankly I don’t see why the movie was banned! Meaningless appeasement to assumed minority sentiments on the part of the politicians and a section of over-zealous religious bigots managed such a ban, I am sure. If anything the movie can only enhance the faith in Jesus.
First the movie - I had read the book and was in a sense ready to check out the movie, I wasn't disappointed, the movie neither exaggerated nor dramatized any section of the book in the process of movie making. That was very good. A movie which has such a large section of history packed as part of the story line was rather presented innovatively, I personally liked the piece where the two central characters are entering a Cathedral and in which as the Professor narrates history, the history is played before them while they continue to walk into the cathedral as though in a virtual world. If only we had large sections of untold history spun into such stories and narrated in such innovative fashion it would be great!
Having said that, an average chennai-wasi without the advantage of reading the book would hardly enjoy the movie, it is too dialogue centered to the chennai movie watcher whose regular diet is a hybrid of drunken brawl and funeral dance which is was the normal tamil movie is, action packed, meaningless and very noisy. The empty seats at Sathyam was a proof of the chennai-wasi taste.
The last part of the movie where the professor questions the young woman of supposedly the Jesus blood line as to what she will now do is done very well. I particularly enjoyed the character saying, "What if Jesus was a father to a child, he could still be all that he was", so true. That is a very good closing for the controversy that surrounds the book as well.
Banning books, theatric works and movies in the name of religious or cultural sensitiveness in India would mean just about any criticism, as probably there are more sects here than anywhere else in the world and probably every one of the sect across the world is represented in this land. So, how does one even develop a common code?
Can there be a religious mahat or umma or larger body consisting of representatives of at least all the major religious heads who can decide what is proper and what is not. There again the question who will be included and who will be left out will come up.
Can the local panchayats decide as to what is appropriate and what is not for each movie that has to be released in their jurisdiction. That would be the ideal situation, yet, it may not be the most practical and the multi-nationals would certainly not be happy if the control were to be evenly spread across so many Indian regulatory bodies.
How much value in the name of freedom for the artist? That brings me to a larger national level question...read on...
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