That 1994 Gem
1994! A year that most of my friends and I remember for a very special reason that happens to be at the border of Rajasthan and Haryana. It is also remembered as it gave our world a gem of a movie called The Lion King.
Our modest DVD collection has all the Pixar movies, some "non-animated" movies and The Lion King. I did some adjustments to our home theatre yesterday and watched a good chunk of LK once again to "test" it. The movie is two degrees away from humans, it is an animated movie and it does not have any humans. Still, it touches you more than most other movies. It is a complete package. It has all of those NavRas. (There are nine major emotions that we can experience. These are usually shown in some never ending dance sequence by Indian classical dancers, the only thing longer than this being the "Dashavatar" dance.)
LK has all of them to some extent and just like a dish that has all the ingredients in right proportions, the resulting taste is out of this world. So what are these emotions and lets see if we can remember where they featured. It can be argued that most movies have these, especially Bollywood, but it is extremely difficult to get them right.
1. Bhaya (Fear): When Simba is caught in the stampede.When Simba and Nala are cornered by the Hyenas.
2. Bibhatsa (Disgust): What you feel with Scar's character.
3. Karun (Compassion): What you feel for Simba when he finds that Mufasa is dead and runs away in guilt.
4. Hasya (Humor): Timon and Pumbaa, need I say more? ("The monkey is his uncle?")
5. Shringar (Love): Simba and Nala's romance.
6. Veer (Courage): The fight at the climax. Simba and Scar going at it in slow motion. Mufasa's voice etc etc.
7. Krodh(Anger): When Simba finds out the truth. Another emotion you feel when Mufasa dies.
8. Shanti(Peace): Simba's birth. PrideRock's return to normalcy.
9. Adbhut(Amazement): What you get with this whole package.
A perfect blend.
Some of the scenes that can be treated as benchmarks:
1. Rafiki showing Simba to the Kingdom for the first time, Simba's eyes a little scared, the background music and the happy animals bowing down one after the other.
2. Rafiki and Simba. (the whole "Correction! I know your father." scene).
And the goosebump-meter needle goes wild even when I remember the majestic run of Simba back home.
Now if you excuse me, I think I am going to watch these scenes once again.
Bye for now and Hakuna Matata!
Our modest DVD collection has all the Pixar movies, some "non-animated" movies and The Lion King. I did some adjustments to our home theatre yesterday and watched a good chunk of LK once again to "test" it. The movie is two degrees away from humans, it is an animated movie and it does not have any humans. Still, it touches you more than most other movies. It is a complete package. It has all of those NavRas. (There are nine major emotions that we can experience. These are usually shown in some never ending dance sequence by Indian classical dancers, the only thing longer than this being the "Dashavatar" dance.)
LK has all of them to some extent and just like a dish that has all the ingredients in right proportions, the resulting taste is out of this world. So what are these emotions and lets see if we can remember where they featured. It can be argued that most movies have these, especially Bollywood, but it is extremely difficult to get them right.
1. Bhaya (Fear): When Simba is caught in the stampede.When Simba and Nala are cornered by the Hyenas.
2. Bibhatsa (Disgust): What you feel with Scar's character.
3. Karun (Compassion): What you feel for Simba when he finds that Mufasa is dead and runs away in guilt.
4. Hasya (Humor): Timon and Pumbaa, need I say more? ("The monkey is his uncle?")
5. Shringar (Love): Simba and Nala's romance.
6. Veer (Courage): The fight at the climax. Simba and Scar going at it in slow motion. Mufasa's voice etc etc.
7. Krodh(Anger): When Simba finds out the truth. Another emotion you feel when Mufasa dies.
8. Shanti(Peace): Simba's birth. PrideRock's return to normalcy.
9. Adbhut(Amazement): What you get with this whole package.
A perfect blend.
Some of the scenes that can be treated as benchmarks:
1. Rafiki showing Simba to the Kingdom for the first time, Simba's eyes a little scared, the background music and the happy animals bowing down one after the other.
2. Rafiki and Simba. (the whole "Correction! I know your father." scene).
And the goosebump-meter needle goes wild even when I remember the majestic run of Simba back home.
Now if you excuse me, I think I am going to watch these scenes once again.
Bye for now and Hakuna Matata!
posted by Nikhil at 11:21 AM
2 Comments:
Cool dude! One of the top blog posts so far. Did you remember all the ras from school days or did you refer to the internet to refresh the names? ;) Just checking. Great read. Needless to say, LK is one of my top favorites too.
Awesome symphony! And why the bye for now and all? Lion King - ha - i still remember watching it the first time .. definitely can be corelated with Panchatantra stories also! Okay, I know I'm blabbbering :-)
Post a Comment
<< Home