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MAR ACTIVITY - Theme Photography (Nature)

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MAR ACTIVITY - Theme Photography (HOPE)

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MAR ACTIVITY - Spreading Social Awareness.

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#scientific_review #MARpoints

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Film Review - LA LA LAND...

La La Land – Life Is Dreamy Until Reality Intervenes…

Often in life we want the things to be a certain way, what we picturise and imagine them to be are actually our ‘DREAMS’. Movie La La Land directed and written by Damien Chazielle beautifully shows the journey from the dreamy world (La La Land) to the real world. The music(by Justin Hurwitz) is the binding force of the movie , it never fails to give us a taste of nostalgia. The word ‘beautiful’ is not just good enough to describe the cinematography of the movie. It looks like a painting in every scene. Another alluring thing about the movie is how the story proceeds with change of seasons and according to the mood and flavor of the season like the spring marks the signaling of the new beginnings , in this case the couple is about to start dating, Summers would be a happy time, winters would be sad. La la land is a magical story of passion, dreams, love and music.

The movie stares ‘Ryan Gosling’ and ‘Emma Stone’ as Sebastian and Mia who have done a remarkable job. Mia is a struggling actress who also has an aptitude of writing and works in a coffee shop An early verse, sung by a chipper young woman in a yellow dress, is a kind of overture, hinting at the theme of the bittersweet fairy tale to follow. She recalls leaving her hometown boyfriend behind to pursue fame and fortune here in La La Land, a quaint old nickname for Los Angeles that is also the name of Damien Chazelle’s charming new movie. Sebastian is musician who has a special taste in jazz. He is distressed by people’s ignorance to jazz and dreams to open a club where this art form will be celebrated and respected and not treated as some background score to people chatting and wine glasses clinking. Along with a lot of other things, the one thing that really attracts Sebastian and  Mia to each other is there strong passion towards their respected careers. The song which they sing together “City of lights, are you just shining for me?” completely justifies their passion for their art and career. Mia and Sebastian communicate through melody and dance throughout the movie which has a magical feel.

After multiple times of running into each other accidentally, Mia and Sebastian end up dating each other in spite of repeatedly entitling each other with no importance initially. It’s not until their third chance encounter that affection begins to bloom. And even this meeting is bookended by Mia making fun of Sebastian’s participation in an ’80s cover band—moral: never ask a self-described “serious musician” to play A Flock of Seagulls—and by the two soft-shoeing their way through a song expressing their mutual lack of romantic interest: “We’ve stumbled on a view that’s tailor-made for two, What a shame the two are you and me”. Sebastian makes Mia like Jazz which later becomes the essence of Sebastian’s presence for Mia. Now coming to the brutal reality part, like every other couple Sebastian and Mia too face shortcomings and maintenance of their relationship become difficult. Although not liking the type of music, Sebastian accepts to play in a band presuming that Mia wants him to have stable career and life with her. His plan for the club takes a backseat and the band starts to rise in fame. Between all this Mia finds herself left behind in Sebastian’s life. In the course of misunderstandings Sebastian entitles Mia that she is feeling bad because an unsuccessful Sebastian makes her feel good about herself who has herself not achieved much in life yet. The very first play written by Mia which was supposed to be her big turning point turns out to be a big flop which shatters her completely and the fact that Sebastian was not there with her in her toughest time as he was busy with his own things breaks her even more. Events turn out to be in such a way that Mia gets a very big movie break in Paris.  The couple decides to separate their ways completely as they could see the shortcomings which were about to come if  they continue to stay together as Sebastian would have to stay in band tours and Mia would have had to be in different shooting locations. The last time they spoke before separating was about how there is nothing they could do as if they want to succeed in their respective careers, they will have to give it everything they have which would leave them with  nothing for each other.

La la land is not just a love story. It throws light on the underlying layers of life in a way we could have never thought before watching the film. When the climax starts the thirst of knowing what would happen further in the story goes away and what is left is just the essence of that very moment in the minds’ of the audience. This is a story which is going to stay with me for a long time.

The biggest message from this movie is that when we are young and at the start of our journey , all we dream about is what should happen in future but as we grow older and proceed towards the end of our journeys all we dream about is how things could have turned out with an ‘if’ in our minds.

Time unfolds destiny and brings Mia and Sebastian in front of each other again through music, this time a rather melancholic one. The music takes both of them on a ride to past and rewinds everything in a way things should have actually happened and when the music comes towards an end they are thrown back to reality with Mia sitting beside her now husband watching Sebastian perform in the same club which he named after the name which Mia created. In the end  Sebastian and Mia just exchange a smile to each other with eyes full of tears and leaves the audience heartbroken and enchanted…

 Work cited: La La Land. Written &  directed by Damien Chazielle. Summit Entertainment Marc Platt Productions Impostor Pictures Black Label Media. August 31, 2016 (Venice) December 9, 2016 (United States).

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Book Review - Thousand Splendid Suns

A Thousand Splendid Suns – An Emotional Ride

Set up in Kabul, Afghanistan at  the times of war, Thousand splendid suns written by Khaled Hosseini  is a book that will make your heart  ache. It has given the sorrow of women a completely new perspective and the fact that the writer himself in spite being a ‘man’ who has shown the agony of women in a completely new light is the cherry on the top. Even though this book is about women and their hardships it is deeply impacting on the minds of men too. The author’s love for his characters and for his country is palpable. In the end, A Thousand Splendid Suns is a love letter to a country and to a people. It is a celebration of endurance and survival in the face of unspeakable tragedy. This is a love song to anyone who has ever had a broken heart and to anyone who has ever felt powerless and yet still dares to dream.

The main plot seemed to fill my criteria. Set in Afghanistan from the 1960s to the 1990s, spanning from Soviet occupation to the Taliban control, following the lives of two women in their marriages and in their war-torn country. Expecting domestic abuse, graphic war descriptions and a main theme of oppression in Afghan women.  A Thousand Splendid Suns covers much more than the aforementioned.

The novel is split in a dual narrative, the first being Mariam when she is nine, living on the outskirts of Herat with her bitter mother, anxiously in wait for the once-a-week visits from her wealthy father. Branded as an illegitimate child, Mariam faces many prejudices and blame not only from the family of her father, but also from her own mother. Hosseini introduces a naïve child whom you immediately pity, and also feel a foreboding clutch the pages. Not soon into the story, Mariam discovers the emptiness in her father's love and after her mother's suicide, is forced to marry a man, Rasheed more than 20 years her senior, her being only 15.Rasheed is a grumpy, hot headed , emotionally challenged and is sorrow stricken from the past event in his life in which he lost his son and wife. You can feel saymapathetic towards him but that doesn’t justify his abuse on Mariam. He doens’t respects Mariam and finds her stupid, naïve and  illiterate. Being a child of just 15 years the marriage consummation becomes sexual abuse for poor little Mariam. Her life becomes even more difficult when she faces continuous miscarriages which leads to Rasheed’s frustration to a whole new level and he starts performing domestic abuse on Mariam. The part where he makes mariam chew stones was one of the saddest part in the books. I don’t think so that there is any reader who hasn’t cried after that scene. “The first time Rasheed exerted physical abuse on Mariam is when he shoved the stones into her mouth and forced her to chew it to show her what her rice tastes like to him. This breaks mariam’s two molars”. Things continue like this with mariam for the majority part of her life.

Then comes the second narrative- Laila. An innocent young child with a best friend and lover, Tariq, a family torn by the war that steals her brothers away from her and in turn her mother's affection. After the war in Kabul worsens, Tariq's family decides to leave for Pakistan.Laila’s family was supposed to join them after a day. A nuclear attack makes her loose her family and house .Orphaned, torn from her love, Laila agrees to marry Rasheed who happens nto live in the neighbourhood and and rescues her. Laila was falsely informed about Tariq’s death in Pakistan. Laila was pregnant with Tariq’s child and to hide her bitter truth from Rasheed who was in the merry of him finalyy having his own child. Laila considers the unborn child to be a miracle - a memory of Tariq. Marrying Rasheed is Laila's method of providing for her child.

The stories of these two wives will make you gaze in awe at the sheer strength of love in desperate times. A key relationship forms between Laila and Mariam. Though Laila had referred to seeing Mariam at Ahmad and Noor's funeral, the interaction with Laila in Mariam's house allows the reader to not only notice how much Mariam has changed and become hardened by Rasheed, but also the differences between the two women. By putting Mariam and Laila in contrast like this, Hosseini is, you feel, not just trying to burrow into individual lives, but also trying to explain the complexities of Afghan society to the reader. While Mariam is obedient and has been forced into submission, Laila is cunning and secretive in her attempt to save herself and her child.

Rasheed wanted a boy but Laila gives birth to a girl, Aziza which infuriates Rasheed. Aziza resembles Tariq a lot which makes Rasheed doubt the gravity of relationship Laila had with Tariq before he died. One night Rasheed tries to beat mariam out of his frustration but Laila intervenes and stops Rasheed. This leads to softening Mariam’s heart for laila. Then starts the tale of their bond of familiality and the only hope for each other. Events turn out to be such that Mariam gives the ultimate sacrifice for Laila and her kids which marks the legitimate end to her illegitimate beginnings. The end of the novel encapsulates a hopeful moment.

The novel is beautifully written with descriptive details that will haunt you long after you finish reading it. What keeps this novel vivid and compelling are Hosseini’s eye for the textures of daily life and his ability to portray a full range of human emotions, from the smoldering rage of an abused wife to the early flutters of maternal love. But Hosseini vividly brings home what life is like for women in a society in which they are valued only for reproduction.

Hosseini does not challenge the usual western view of Afghanistan, but he does enrich it - he adds greater knowledge and understanding to it, and makes the Afghans come alive as loving, feeling individuals.

This book deserves a thousand splendid stars....