Wanna get married to my wife?

You love your wife. Your wife loves someone else. What do you do? Ask her lover to get married to her. And the three of you live happily together. Impossible, you say. But that's the premise of the first ever feature film to emerge from Arunachal Pradesh.

Ahsan Muzid's film 'Sonam' depicts the practice of polyandry among the Brokpas, yak shepherds who live on the mountain slopes in Tawang. This tradition, based on a custom of the Monpa society, is still being followed in remote areas.

Muzid explores how this complex way of life affects relationships. Sonam, a woman caught between two husbands, is torn between her love for one and her loyalty to the other. She wastes away until she finds ultimate atonement in her own death.

'Sonam', made in the Monpa dialect with English subtitles, has garnered a clutch of awards at various film festivals, most recently at the Mumbai Academy of the Moving Images (MAMI) festival. And righty so. Muzid must be feted for his technical finesse and his ability to eke out emotions from first-time actors.

It must have been a struggle to shoot 'Sonam' in a state where film culture is absent and that too at such high altitudes. Tawang district looks absolutely breathtaking on screen and I wonder if the state government is doing enough to promote it a tourist attraction. Hoping to see other films from the region. Coz there are enough tales waiting to be told.

Rating: ***

Remarks: The good thing is Muzid doesn't go overboard with melodrama. His story, which has universal appeal, is his strong point. His characters are believable and their emotions true to life.

Sonam
120 mins - 35 mm Cinemascope
Direction/Screenplay - Ahsan Muzid

ALSO READ
Deccan Herald review
The Hindu review

An advisory to Indian cricket fans

India lost. Big deal! It's amazing how every Tom, Dick and Harry (or rather Om, Manik and Hari) is ready to maul the Indian cricket team. Come on, guys - they just had an off day.

Everybody has an off day. Even you Mr Architect, Doctor, Engineer, Peon, Singer, BPO Worker, Driver, Politician. How many times have you screwed up something at work? Does that mean you get fired every time?

It's easy for you to criticise - you there with the potbelly in that comfy armchair waxing eloquent on everything that's wrong with Indian cricket today. Would you have done better out there on that very same pitch? Nah, I didn't think so.

The worst offenders are the ones who keep saying they'll never again watch cricket on the telly. But come the next match, they tiptoe towards the remote control and sink into that cosy sofa and relapse into a harangue against Sehwag, Dravid, Chappell or whoever else is scheduled for the day's battering.

"How dare you Toe Knee," you say. "You don't even watch cricket." Ok, so I don't watch cricket but does being someone who loves cricket give you enough leeway to make sick SMS jokes or even attack poor Dhoni's house?

Why don't you behave the same way when Sania Mirza loses a match or Viswanathan Anand fumbles? Aaaaahh! I keep forgetting you don't care two hoots about anything other than cricket.

You were the ones who pumped up the Indian cricket team before their infamous defeat saying stuff like 'Blue Billion' and 'Hoo Haa India'. And now you are disappointed they lost. So what? People have bad days but they have good days too. Maybe now they will revamp the team and we'll put in a good showing in the next tournament.

Don't tell me you'll never watch cricket after this. I know, for sure, that you are lying.

And for those of you who are serious about this, Crazy Journo explores why politicians are thinking of making kabaddi the national game of India.

More Cricket Posts

The Basics: If a failed 'motivational speaker' dad, a suicidal gay uncle, a stressed mom, a heroin-snorting grandpa and a Nietzsche-loving brother were not enough, little Olive Hoover has a quirk of her own. She wants to win the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant. When Olive gets selected for the finals, the Hoover family pack into their Volkswagen mini-bus for a two-day road trip to California.

What I think: One of the reasons I loved Little Miss Sunshine was that it featured a dysfunctional American family, not the Lived-Happily-Ever-After ones usually depicted in Hollywood cinema. And though the Hoovers go through several distressing events on their way to California, you can only laugh as they deal with one problem after another.

A dark comedy that warms the cockles of one's heart, the film is both funny and touching. The characters are flesh-and-blood human beings and I found myself warming to each of them.

Regrets: Alan Arkin didn't quite deserve an Oscar for his role as Grandpa. Am not finding fault with his acting but then he's barely there for 15 minutes. Am being mean but probably the Academy wanted to honour the veteran actor before he passed away. That said, the film deserves a separate Oscar for Best Ensemble Cast.

Rating: ****

Remarks: Feeling blue? DO NOT MISS IT

Better check your tea

There might be urine in it.

Or vice versa.

Cricket World Cup: Of free beers and prison riots

Free beer! That's what an Australian fan named Tony has won after he grabbed a one-handed catch beyond the boundary when Ricky Ponting hit a giant six during the World Cup thriller against South Africa on Saturday. With that historic six, Ponting became the seventh player to cross the 10,000-run mark in ODIs. It's celebration time also for Tony, an electrician, coz he's won free beer for the rest of the tour.

The crowd might have noticed Tony grabbing the ball but they were oblivious to a prison riot barely 400 metres from the stadium. Apparently, some prisoners escaped into the yard by using furniture in their cell to break down the door. Looks like they really wanted to watch the Aussies in action.

March 2007 archives

Kongregate rocks!!!

Has anyone tried out Kongregate? I feel it's gonna be the next big craze after You Tube. Check it out.

Glamour girls scramble for piece of India

Did anyone notice that a bevy of international beauties made a beeline for India in recent months. Scarlett Johansson visited slums and schools in Delhi as part of an Oxfam project. Ashley Judd was here espousing women's rights and the fight against AIDS. Elizabeth Hurley chose to get married to hubby Arun all over again in picturesque Jodhpur. Angelina Jolie and beau Brad Pitt flew down to India for filming 'A Mighty Heart'. Now, singer Shakira would be performing in Mumbai. And what of celebrities turning up unannounced like they did some years ago? Remember how Kate Winslet roamed about sans make-up and evaded shutterbugs.

March 2007 archives

How Steffi Graf aced a spectator

And we are not even talking about her tennis. (Link via Kiruba)

Will voters sway the same way sans bribes?

Uttar Pradesh is heading for elections and we are in for yet another round of booth-capturing, politicians using money (to bribe voters), gangsters using muscle (to intimidate voters) and something exclusive to 2007 - Amitabh Bachchan appearing in television ads extolling the virtues of the state (or rather its government).

How would Indians react if political parties stopped bribing voters during elections? Well, the Chinese should show them the way.

March 2007 archives