Aligarh movie review

When I read about Aligarh, I had no recollection of having read about the case of Prof Siras. For all it's all-pervading nature, the media is usually making so much of a big deal out of everything, that sometimes, you tend to overlook something you shouldn't have.

Aligarh is based on the incidents that happened in the life of Aligarh University  professor Shrinivas Ramchandra Siras. A sting operation, his suspension from the university, the fight against it and the unsettling end. The great thing is that this is a story about the human psyche, the ideas of morality and the tussle between liberty and social conformity.The fact that it is about homosexuality is only incidental. 

The greatest strength of the film is the way it develops the character of the Linguistics professor and the way Manoj Bajpai has portrayed it. A learned man, a poet, a man who loves what he does, enjoys music to the depth of his soul- a regular old man who has no time or space for anything revolutionary. Bajpai fills the frame on many occasions and completely captivates you as he speaks with every inch of his body. Complementing and almost matching him is Rajkumar Rao, playing the journalist who comes to Aligarh for the story but ends up forging a friendship with Siras. Their conversations are some of the best moments of the film- the older man's exasperation at the younger generation's fixation with 'labels', the way he explains how poetry lies between the lines- and how his face lights up as he speaks about poetry. Ashish Vidyarthi does justice to the role of the lawyer representing Siras.

Throughout the film, the director's vision shines through.The irony of social conditioning-as society is conditioned about sexual orientation, the protagonist is conditioned about sanctity of food in relation to caste- is expressed in a seemingly casual lunch scene. The close succession of two scenes of intimacy challenge the viewer's perception of 'normal'. The camera work and mise en scene work beautifully. Delightful touches like the professor using a towel on top of his pillow add to the feel. The end makes you restless, raises many a question; about the society we live in and our systems of law enforcement and justice.

Yes, there are a few flaws, although the great outweighs the not-so-great by a huge margin.There is inconsistency in the professor's accent. Whereas he utters the typical Urdu sounds like the epiglottal 'kha' very naturally, he's made to say 'ijjat' instead of 'izzat' to underline his Maharashtrian roots. Despite having lived in Aligarh for decades, he says 'bas, bas' (Marathi for 'sit') when urging someone to sit down. Also, I felt the film contradicts its own statement that not all people who stand for gay rights are gay. When the lawyer's assistant take the professor to a gay party, he says, 'These are the people who signed the petition in your support'.

But as I said, the positives absolutely outweigh the flaws. Hats off to Hansal Mehta for choosing to make this film, and making it so well. Watch it and it'll occupy space in your mind for a few days. And probably, Manoj Bajpai will be your new favourite 'hero'. 

Droplets of light

Life is like the moon. It has phases-illusions, that seem real to the observer. It's easy to see the brighter side of things on a full moon night, isn't it? It's the darker phases that are a challenge. 

But then there are myriads of sparks around us, waiting for our miraculous gaze to raise them above their commonness, waiting to tell us that divinity exists despite our doubts, waiting to light up our moonless nights. Or may be it's their very ordinariness that makes them beautiful.

If you've traveled by Mumbai local trains, you'd know what a melting pot of human beings- hot, irritated, packed together too close-they are. Add to it filthy surroundings and the abject poverty of the beggars and vendors. Yet, the twinkling eyes and toothy grin of an unwashed urchin is sometimes enough to bring a smile to your face. The women's compartments have the advantage of attracting flower sellers. The jasmine gajras pale in front of the golden champaks. I can smell them from far and their lasting, intoxicating fragrance is something I just can't resist. I end up buying a few which the lady wraps in a leaf. I cross the Thane Creek at Vashi to go to work everyday. Flamingoes-those living fossils-feed so close to the train tracks along the water that it's the closest I've seen them from , though without the advantage of binoculars. Arriving in Mumbai by the end of winter, and staying throughout summer, most of these are lesser flamingoes, with greater flamingoes making an occasional appearance. What a joy it is to watch these pink beauties filter-feed with their teapot-like beaks!

Flamingoscape

Chavar/Wild arrowroot-Hitchenia caulina

Sonki-Senecio grahamii

And if you're overcome with monsoon blues, all you have to do is step out and look around, as nature is literally bursting out into magical shapes and colours from unimaginable places. Grasses, mosses and fiddleheads of ferns soothe the eye and a great variety of flowers, sizes varying from teeny to huge add colour to nature's canvas.
It is quite unbelievable how so many plants that lie dormant throughout the year sprout up while conditions are favourable, and delight us so in the process. The otherwise rugged Sahyadris get adorned -flowers of wild arrowroot, sonki, various ground orchids, and many many more.

Sonki carpet

To my great surprise, as I was once returning from Pune on a monday morning in August, I saw a flaming Glory Lily among the bushes by the roadside near the signal on the Vashi highway. A lone flower that had bloomed stubbornly by a crowded junction full of honking, smoke spewing vehicles.

Glory Lily- Gloriosa superba

So, here I am, enjoying yet another blessed evening and pondering about life. I'm sipping ginger tea sitting in my terrace, overlooking mangroves and the sea. I've been scouring the skies to see if the Peregrine Falcon is flying around today, but no sight of the helmeted-fighter pilot. It sure is a special bird- the only 'interesting' raptor that you can see around the year in Mumbai, and of course the fastest bird of prey on earth! The post monsoon sky is changing from pink to purple against a flock of black-headed ibises flying past me. The fruit bats will start heading east soon; my cue to go inside the house.


Photo credit: The flamingoes and Glory Lily have been shot by Mayur. Special thanks to Mr. Prashant Awale for the beautiful pictures of Sonki and Chavar.

Rome-The Vatican Museums on a rainy day, April 2015.

Mayur called me from Munich on a busy working day- March is a crazy time at work. ‘I’ve something to tell you’, he said. ‘We’re going to Rome!’ Wow! He had actually picked the destination and booked the flight tickets for the Easter weekend!! I immediately started a hunt for a Bed and Breakfast and confirmed our booking at a place called Beltramelli BnB. We were set for Rome!
It was going to be my first weekend in Europe, and in all the travelling for work till the last day, and hurried shopping and packing, I’d forgotten to ask Claudia from the BnB precise directions from the suburban train station of Roma Tiburtina. To top it all, Mayur’s cell phone network abandoned us in Italy. We spent half an hour of our precious time in asking directions,and getting  animated replies in Italian and broken English. A kind gentleman actually used Google maps on his cell phone to help us, and finally we even called the BnB from a public phone booth. Finally, we reached the cute  BnB in a residential, suburban area of Rome.

After a quick bite, we set out to the city center by train to see the Vatican museums. It was Good Friday, and the St. Peter Basilica was closed that day, and the Vatican museums would be closed the next day, so there was this humongous queue outside the museum gate. Our lack of preparation also meant that we hadn’t bought tickets online.So standing in the queue in the rain and cold, hoping to get in before closing time while bravely resisting the crude ‘skip-the line' offers was all we could do. And we did get in, just in the nick of time! That feeling was a heady concoction of relief, triumph,happiness, and great anticipation!!

The museums were chamber after chamber of Renaissance gems that made us forget all our tiredness (we’d taken an early morning flight), and even hunger! Not only are the walls and ceilings bedecked with jewels, but even the floors have beautiful mosaics.

The huge and intricate Flemish tapestries were quite remarkable. Copied from drawings by Raphael's pupils, these were made in Brussels in the 16th c.

Tapestries

Sobieski

When we reached the Sobieski room, both of us wanted to linger on, take in some more. The room derives its name from the enormous wall to wall painting of the Polish king Sobieski by Jean Matejko. It depicts the Polish victory over Turks in the 17th century. Apparently, Sobieski prevented the Turks from overrunning Europe.The detail, the expression of arrogance on the king’s face, the tragedy of war: what an exceptional painting!

Martyrs of Gorkum

Another striking painting in that room describing the tragic scene of a mass hanging, is the Martyrs of Gorkum by Cesare Fracassini. These 19 Dutch Catholics were put to death by the Calvinists during the 16th century religious wars. All paintings in this room date back to the 19th century.

And then of course, the renowned masters. The Raphael’s rooms, which are the public part of the papal apartments, were decorated by Raphael and his students, in the 16th century. Since perspective was what set Renaissance art aside from medieval art, these frescoes, for me, epitomise Renaissance art in how they depict beautiful three-dimensional scenes like ‘The School of Athens’, ‘The Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple’ and ‘Fire in the Borgo’, to name a few. Each of the rooms has a theme: Victory of Christianity over Paganism (with the ceiling fresco showing a broken statue in front of a crucifix), The heavenly protection granted by Christ to the Church, The harmony between Christian and Greek philosphies, and the Fire in the Borgo.

Room of immaculate conception

Ancestors of Christ

And then, the pièce de résistance. The Sistine Chapel: the site of the papal conclave to elect a new pope. There was much more security in here, and we were constantly being told to maintain silence and not take photographs/videos. Three walls of the chapel are covered with beautiful frescoes by a team of Renaissance artists who created frescoes such as ‘The Last Supper’ by Cosimo Rosselli and ‘The trials of Moses’ by Sandro Boticelli. It’s hard to believe that the  trompe l'oeil drapery on the walls is painted, and not real. Michaelangelo was commissioned to (re)paint the ceiling and the entire wall behind the altar. Interestingly, he was overwhelmed by the job as he considered himself more of a sculptor than a painter. He created his own wooden platform, as no architect could do a satisfactory job, and painted the ceiling from a standing position(contrary to common belief). The lowest part of the ceilings have beautiful figures of the ancestors of Christ, and most of them are shown studying from a  book or scroll. On the highest ceiling are painted stories from the book of Genesis, including the brilliant ‘Creation of Adam’. The altar wall, painted many years after completing the ceiling,  depicts ‘The Last judgement’ in great, glorious detail. Incidentally, Michaelangelo had depicted only nude figures, which caused great controversy and were later ‘covered up’ by another artist, after Michaelangelo’s death!

Sistine Chapel Ceiling-a sneak peek

From the Gallery of maps

After the Sistine Chapel, you think it must be the end of the tour. What can you show us after that? But a lovely surprise is in store. The gallery of maps! The perfect antidote to the overdose of all the beautiful yet almost exclusively sacral art!! It has a series of pretty accurate maps of Italy and was created in the 16th century based on the drawings of the geographer Danti. It has a few old globes too. One of them had constellations painted on it. On locating India on one of them, I saw ‘Moltan’ marked somewhere in modern day Uttar Pradesh. Well, decent accuracy for the times, I’d say.

Gallery of maps ceiling-St. Michael in Monte Gargano

Of course, the museums have a great collection of sculpture- Roman, Greek, Egyptian; and other curious objects.

Satyr with Dionysus as a child

Chariot room

The famous Belvedere torso  which is the fragment of a nude male statue is dated to about 1st century BC and is said to have inspired Michaelangelo. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belvedere_Torso
There’s a gallery of ancient  animal statues. Then there’s the Sala Rotunda, with a giant stone bath carved from a single stone at its centre, beautiful sculptures all around and an exquisite mosaic covering the floor.


With the double helical staircase at the exit (that keeps ascending people away from those who are descending) providing the last bit of drama, we hopped out of the museums like happy children, eager to find a sumptuous meal.

We found a family run restaurant with the elderly patriarch greeting us with a a smile. Fresh orange juice (red in colour! Made from Sicilian or ‘blood’ oranges), spaghetti with bacon in red sauce and ravioli with spinach and ricotta cheese were polished off pretty quickly. We finished the meal with the most gorgeous tiramisu which the owner's wife had herself made! Divine finish to a heavenly day!! :)

P.S: The photos are basically record shots taken with a Panasonic Lumix GX-7 + 7-14 F4.0 hand held in low light.