Page 12 - Seniorstoday April 2022 Issue
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the Liberty cinema. Indian movie critics then and work very well with the river and nature,
thought the story was pointless. Siddhartha’s depicted in the film. O re nadi is my favourite.
search for immortality, honesty or whatever In many of the scenes, the synergy of the
he leaves homes to find, doesn’t exist and it photography and the music is superb. When
isn’t worth finding. His character matches the film got released, a few Bengali movie
that of many such protagonists in Indian critics lamented that the photography as not
folklore. One problem with this kind of story even remotely as real as Satyajit Ray’s Appu
is that the Indian audience already knows trilogy and even the Bengali songs were not
that he is chasing a rainbow and that they up to the mark. One of them remarked that
have all heard these platitudes again and the Buddha was born in Nepal. At that time,
again. It’s an old fairy tale about the pointless many felt the pace of the film was slow and
quest. However, to the west, this quest for was laced with pavement philosophy like that
knowledge is an important question that in a high school play. Critics are critics and
needs a satisfactory answer. sometimes they write for themselves.
The story of Siddhartha is part of Indian
folklore. Two friends, Siddharth and Govind
set out to find the meaning of life one of
them parts ways and follows the Buddha,
Siddhartha wanders off on his own. The point
is if you must pursue your quest you have
to do it of your own. The words “who am I”
and “where I am going” seemed irrelevant to
me when I saw the movie in 1972. Then the
words “I can think”, “I can wait” and “I can
play” were more resounding. Now, 50 years
later, the words suddenly seemed to have
The photography is gorgeous and the more meaning. The message that Siddhartha
gentle editing lulls us into accepting the fairy conveys to Govinda at the end of the movie
tale. The beauty of the movie is in the misty is the boatman wisdom: “Live in the present.
panoramas of the quiet river. The beauty of Stop seeking. Don’t worry, be happy.
the landscapes is not only the superficial one It is the ultimate soul-searching advice,
of picture post cards, but a philosophical one everything changes, everything return stop
as well. One that tells you that a beautiful
world is essentially a good, complete, happy
world. A world in which you can afford the
completely focus on your personal search for
meaning and spirituality. The photography
captures both the exotic beauty and the
poverty of a landscapes that could have been
India many centuries ago.
The music of the film composed by Hemant
Kumar works beautifully. Very simple
melodies, mostly Bengali that are haunting
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