Bollywood inside the classroom

I'm a movie buff. As a teacher, I firmly believe that audio-visual techniques can have a strong impact on the learning graph, and have tried to use it a lot. Personally also, I watch a lot of movies as they are the culmination of cumulative creative efforts of a big team of talented individuals, and hence makes for a good training tool for myself. I like intense movies. Irrespective of the genre, the movie must offer intensity. By the way, the generes I love are - comedy, mafia, war, strong intellect based, and humanity-theme movies.

My acid-test for classifying a movie as "wow" is

• does it evoke strong emotions in me, while watching, and later?
• does it rivet me to the seat while watching?
• does it reflect strong intellect of those who made it?
• does it give some strong message, that can have lasting value?
• does it force me to re-watch parts of it again and again? And discuss those with friends?

If the answer is Yes for these, then I fall in love with the movie, never to forget it! I promote the ones I loved a lot. I talk about them, I like sharing things I liked in those movies with others. In this blogpost, let me share the names and key message from some of the movies I have truly loved. Kudos to the creators!

Assuming you have never taken this seriously, this blogpost will share some aspects of how a good learning habit can be developed by wathcing these masterpieces. Taste, after all, defines a man (and woman).

A.I. (Artificial Intelligence)
When I first watched this movie, it made me cry (towards the end when the robot David longs for his human mother). My wife suspiciously looked at me, but I did not stop crying. Tears kept coming.. and I realised the masterly quality of work Spielberg had put into making AI. The story is about a human future where robots are given humanlike emotions (although still classified as mechanical or 'mecha'), and are integated into human families. A lovely kid robot called 'David' does true justice to the genius of his creator (a scientist at a large firm) and proves a good learner of emotions. The world gets inundated (global warming and stuff), and 1000 years later, some creatures are digging up things all over. They find David, recharge his batteries, and all he asks for is a return to his human mother, which the creatures can do, but only for 24 hours, due to the specific limitation in the fabric of space-time. Wow! What a story, what a story! Strongly recommended. But be prepared mentally - it's heavy stuff and not many will like it (especially those accustomed to non-nuanced quick ends). Have seen this more than 10 times so far. Recommended for those who wish to learn more about science, its romance, & its application.

Sholay

A fantastic case-study on how to make a large number of great elements gel well together, this is the one Indian movie that has it all - emotions, drama, colour, fantasy, love, action, panache and style. I particularly like the timelessness of a lot of scenes in this movie. The flood of ripoffs and spoofs still being made on various parts of this classic point at its eternal appeal. I like the raw emotional display the most. The rawness (purity) in Jay-Veeru's friendship, in Basanti's candour, in Gabbar's villainy, in Mausiji's innocence.. quite amazing. No part of this movie seems fabricated. It's like it must have happened this way. And we must remember that many actors in this movie were not 'great' till the time it was made - they became great later due to this movie. Surprising to see so many elements serendipitously fell in place so beautifully. It's almost as if God wanted it to happen this way. Have seen this movie at least 50 times so far (since childhood). Recommended for those who wish to play in the big league one day!

The Untouchables

The power of character screams through the screen as you travel through the mean streets of Chicago, as Kevin Kostener's team takes on Al Capone's dreaded syndicate. It is nice to see the strength of a cool, calm Treasury officer as he rids Chicago of the alcohol menace (during prohibition years in the US). The beauty of the movie lies in depicting the relationship of trust between till-yesterday-strangers, who come together to form a band of brother to fight crime, and are killed one by one, till the hero gets the better of the situation. The wise Malone (Sean Connery) acts like a true mentor for the daring but inexperienced Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner), whose strength of character is supreme. Best scene : the shot and dying Malone asks Eliot "What are you prepared to do now?" Very moving. And very powerful. Must watch! Recommended for those who realise that strength of character is perhaps the most powerful asset we can possess.

The Shawshank Redemption

Maybe one of Hollywood's greatest. This movie weaves around the theme of eternal hope, and how it can liberate humanity. Andy Dufresne is sent to the notorious and lifeless Shawshank prison for the murder of his wife and secret lover. He is lonely at first, but realizes there is something deep inside him that people can't kill and that is hope. Andy becomes friends with fellow-prisoner Red (Morgan Freeman). As I watched the movie, I started living the story of Andy. Morgan Freeman anyway is Hollywood's eternal moral voice (generally). The discovery that Andy kept removing small bits of the wall by digging with a small tool, year after year, till a big escape tunnel is ready - is stunning. The pacific blue end of the movie is quite overwhelming. An excellent work by the team. Must watch! Recommended for a permanent dose of optimism, specially for those who need it quite frequently.

Sehar

Surprisingly little-known, this movie is such a nice portrayal of character and action, it forces you to sit back and pray it never ends! Arshad Warsi is at his best. The film is centred on the creation of a Special Task Force (STF) to tackle growing organised crime in UP. The sheer purity of approach and character of the policemen involved makes very interesting learning. The dangers of a regular working day add to the thrill. The choice they make - have to make - and the ultimate sacrifice they make in order to uphold the law of the land has been beautifully depicted. There is no melodrama, no over-acting, no screams, no unnecessary violence. Just what the plot demands. Even the villains are not the screaming-types. And the end is exceptionally moving. The telecom professor who is nowhere involved in actual police operations puts the full stop to the movie by pumping bullets into the dreaded gangster. Simple ideas really, but very nicely filmed. I liked it a lot! Recommended for those who love to be on the right side of law :-)

Matrix (the trilogy)
The Wachowski brother truly cracked it big time with their conceptualisation of a world that's a dream. Yes. In the word of Morpheus (to Neo) - "Imagine, if you were to ever have a dream that was so real that you could not wake up from it, how would you tell the difference between the dream world and the real world?" The movie is so good, it makes you come back again and again. The machines have taken over the world (in near future) and few of the humans left have gone underground and are trying to free those who are enslaved as batteries in a gigantic energy machine created for and by the machines. Wachowskis borrowed heavily from Mahayana Buddhism - the whole thing about what's real and what's not, and so on. The ultra-modern special effects coupled with beautiful performances by everyone makes it quite a show. This is a series of 3 movies - that end with a final message. It has everything - mentor-mentee relationship, lots and lots of ultra-chic action scenes (industry-changing, and much-copied worldwide), fundamental questions, human relationships .. Recommended for those who can go beyond the obvious and search for deeper meanings. "You have to let it all go, Neo. Fear, doubt, disbelief. Free your mind."
Recommended for those desiring to be really strong on being able to speak on intellectually rich issues.

Bruce Almighty
How difficult it must be to be God! To get a witty and interesting answer, watch this movie. In his absolutely inimitable style, Jim Carrey :-) is gifted the supreme power by God himself - to be the God for a few days and help the world. In just a few days, it all falls apart for poor Jim, as he realises that the millions of emails pouring into his Yawhee mail account, all requesting for some favour or other, can just not be handled. So he does the "Ctrl A, Yes to All" and all hell breaks loose. The movie beautifully carries the message that even if we were to turn into a God, life would not be easy at all. Maybe it will be more difficult. Quite a strong message. And the studio scene is one of the most hilarious I have ever seen. Recommended for those who can appreciate a powerful message wrapped in lovely sensahuma.

I will write more on this later, for sure. There are hundreds of movies that I would love to share my learnings with. We did a fantastic case-study on Jodha Akbar with a group of students last year. If you too would want something like this, let me know. Also, will love to hear which 3 movies have you liked the best!

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