2 Degrees of Separation – The Iliad and Tollywood Dishoom

Hm... This post turned out much more serious and definitely longer than I had intended. I promise some much lighter fare in the next one.

I've heard the comparison between Bollywood and Greek tragedies more than one time, and I certainly agree there is much to be said about their similarities, especially if we're talking epic love stories. But since Tollywood seems to value its fighting much higher than its love stories, I feel that a more apt comparison for Tolly dishoom (action) movies would be with the Greek epic poem The Iliad, which recounts the ninth year of the siege of Troy and every single one of the battles that took place, not only between the two armies but also between the Gods on Mount Olympus. (The link is really only provided to refresh your memory should you want to, it's definitely not a summer read I recommend.) Looking at it now, I realize The Iliad is a little like a game of Killer Bunnies: you can fight and struggle all you want, in the end it's still luck (or Fate) that dictates whether you win or lose.

I hated the dreadfully boring Iliad with every fiber of my being when I was forced to read it at 15. But I have always had a weak spot for the Greek/Roman gods and their foolish, immature ways, so read it I did. And some of it managed to stay with me enough to pop into my head when I was struggling to find the European artistic equivalent of Tollywood dishoom. The great thing is Tolly did away with all the bore, kept all the fun and gave us a modern day, evergreen Iliad.

## The first thing that I remember vividly about The Iliad is not the poetic descriptions of the weapons (though there are many of those), not the hilarious fights between the Gods (that's second on my list), not what I took away as the general message of the poem (which is that not even the Gods can change what was written for a man, but there can certainly be many ways to get a man there) and certainly not the epic scenes of battle (which really make up pretty much the whole book), no, it's none of that. It's the trash talking! Which is what initially prompted the comparison. Nowhere else have I seen so much blabber and disses before a fight as in Tollywood. Until I remembered fragments such as this from The Iliad:

Thus, then, did the battle rage between them. Presently the strong hand of fate impelled Tlepolemus, the son of Hercules, a man both brave and of great stature, to fight Sarpedon; so the two, son and grandson of great Jove, drew near to one another, and Tlepolemus spoke first. "Sarpedon," said he, "councillor of the Lycians, why should you come skulking here you who are a man of peace? They lie who call you son of aegis-bearing Jove, for you are little like those who were of old his children. Far other was Hercules, my own brave and lion-hearted father, who came here for the horses of Laomedon, and though he had six ships only, and few men to follow him, sacked the city of Ilius and made a wilderness of her highways. You are a coward, and your people are falling from you. For all your strength, and all your coming from Lycia, you will be no help to the Trojans but will pass the gates of Hades vanquished by my hand."

And Sarpedon, captain of the Lycians, answered, "Tlepolemus, your father overthrew Ilius by reason of Laomedon's folly in refusing payment to one who had served him well. He would not give your father the horses which he had come so far to fetch. As for yourself, you shall meet death by my spear. You shall yield glory to myself, and your soul to Hades of the noble steeds."

Let's face it, we can call it by any other pompous name, the Iliad remains one long diss-fest. Not very different from say... this scene in Bujjigaadu: 

Or how about these two:

Thus did they converse, but the other two had now driven close up to them, and the son of Lycaon spoke first. "Great and mighty son," said he, "of noble Tydeus, my arrow failed to lay you low, so I will now try with my spear."
He poised his spear as he spoke and hurled it from him. It struck the shield of the son of Tydeus; the bronze point pierced it and passed on till it reached the breastplate. Thereon the son of Lycaon shouted out and said, "You are hit clean through the belly; you will not stand out for long, and the glory of the fight is mine."
But Diomed all undismayed made answer, "You have missed, not hit, and before you two see the end of this matter one or other of you shall glut tough-shielded Mars with his blood."

## The Iliad consistently sees, in gory detail, might I add, the heroes defeat dozens of opponents on their way to victory (or to death). As do most dishoom movies. Except it's easier to keep track in movies because the hero, thankfully, is only one, whereas the Iliad still makes my head spin with its ever bountiful crops of heroes and their fathers and forefathers. Just give Book V a look-over and then lie to me that you were able to follow who was killing whom without a diagram! And then to cleanse your brain, enjoy this scene from Magadheera where our brave warrior does away 100 enemies in about 5 minutes.

## And if you thought Telugu masala movies invented the winning concept of repeating everything at least twice, especially scenes that just happened, for added emphasis, guess again. This is only one of the many dialogues that, if cut, would make the Iliad half its length. And I don't believe for a second it's there for poetry's sake! If only they trusted the reader to remember the previous sentence...

And Juno said, "Sleep, why do you take such notions as those into your head? Do you think Jove will be as anxious to help the Trojans, as he was about his own son? Come, I will marry you to one of the youngest of the Graces, and she shall be your own- Pasithea, whom you have always wanted to marry."

Sleep was pleased when he heard this, and answered, "Then swear it to me by the dread waters of the river Styx; lay one hand on the bounteous earth, and the other on the sheen of the sea, so that all the gods who dwell down below with Saturn may be our witnesses, and see that you really do give me one of the youngest of the Graces- Pasithea, whom I have always wanted to marry."

## For the longest time I avoided South Indian movies because I had heard they were violent, and violence is just not my thing. Little did I know that while being gory and bloody, they manage to keep it at the cartoon level most of the time, so surprisingly, reading something like this:

Patroclus went up to him and drove a spear into his right jaw; he thus hooked him by the teeth and the spear pulled him over the rim of his car, as one who sits at the end of some jutting rock and draws a strong fish out of the sea with a hook and a line- even so with his spear did he pull Thestor all gaping from his chariot; he then threw him down on his face and he died while falling. On this, as Erylaus was on to attack him, he struck him full on the head with a stone, and his brains were all battered inside his helmet, whereon he fell headlong to the ground and the pangs of death took hold upon him.

makes my stomach turn just a wee bit more than seeeing something like this: 

## One last observation, though I am leaving many unaddressed. I was very amused to discover that while my entire Telugu vocabulary consists of about 20 words, among these, I happen to know pretty much all the jungle predators: tiger, cheetah, lion, etc, just from movie titles (or words repeated enough times during a movie for me to figure out what they mean). The reason why I find it amusing is because almost 3 years into Bollywood and I still don't know some of these words in Hindi. Coincidence? I think not! Telugu movies don't bother with glossy, subtle metaphors like Bollywood. They embrace their earthly, untamed nature and their references are not surprisingly from the animal world.

In this fight from Yama Donga, NTR junior gets juxtaposed over a cheetah hunting an antelope, to metaphorically show him as the invincible predator that he is.

And of course, here is one of the equivalent quotes from the book, relishing the description of the powerful beast, though funnily enough Greece doesn’t even have jungles, leopards and lions, to my knowledge:

Menelaus heeded his words and went his way as a lion from a stockyard- the lion is tired of attacking the men and hounds, who keep watch the whole night through and will not let him feast on the fat of their herd. In his lust of meat he makes straight at them but in vain, for darts from strong hands assail him, and burning brands which daunt him for all his hunger, so in the morning he slinks sulkily away- even so did Menelaus sorely against his will leave Patroclus, in great fear lest the Achaeans should be driven back in rout and let him fall into the hands of the foe.

At the end of all this I am left with one question: who are our Gods in dishoom movies? Our playful, often logic-defying but ever powerful Gods? Why... the action choreographers of course! Who else protects and saves our hero from the most unlikely situations and allows him to perform death-defying stunts and come out in one piece at the end? And who else guides his machete through dozens and dozens of enemies who fall at his feet like grass under the scythe? Could our heroes still be heroes were it not for these Gods of Creativity and Awe? 

So, in the end, allow me to give a shout out to these unseen magicians of the silver screen and wish that their madness never cease to amaze us! 

2 Degrees of Separation – from Anime to Indian movies

Everyone who is not desi gets to Indian movies through a complex, sometimes incredible, chain of seemingly unrelated events. What with these movies not being that popular outside the diaspora, at least not in this part of the world, one always wonders how do we stumble upon this world and what predisposes us to get sucked into it? I look back at my history of hobbies and preferences and realize that many of them have a lot in common with Bollywood/Indian movies. The series 2 Degrees of Separation sets out to explore (over an indefinite number of episodes) each of these likes and dislikes that contributed to my finding Bollywood.

Today's episode: anime!

Not sure how many other kids grew up on Japanese (or not always Japanese) animated shows, but I sure did. Candy Candy, Sailor Moon, Saint Seiya and Macron 1 are just some of the names that come to mind, and now that I think about it it's impressive how many bad anime shows I watched (but I suppose that's just another similarity because it's also quite impressive how many bad Bollywood films I have watched too). So it's no surprise I rekindled that love affair later on in life with more mature shows like Neon Genesis Evangelion, Ghost in the Shell, Berserk, etc.

Even though the styles have changed drastically over the years in both anime and Indian movies, certain elements have endured and it's interesting to note it's the elements (big or small) that the two industries have in common.

IT'S ALL IN THE EYES

Disney's cartoons and Hollywood actors don't know to act with their eyes. Sure, their body language is excellent and the scripts are certainly superior, so maybe the eyes don't really matter as much. But I can't begin to imagine how hollow Indian movies as well as anime shows would be were it not for the million expressions that the characters can summon in one glance. Whether it's the over-sized, excessively glittery anime orbs, or the endlessly expressive glances of Indian actors, they sure know how to tell a tale without uttering a single word.

Proof? Let's see how easy it is to understand what is happening in this video with no sound.

Not convinced? Come now, don't make me dig for videos of characters getting their hearts broken and reacting to it in exquisite mute despair because I have a ton of Aamir Khan scenes up my sleeve for that.

WE'RE OVER THE TOP, WE KNOW, GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT?

Need I explain this one? From the big melodrama, to the exaggerated reactions in front of the smallest, silliest things, to the bulging eyes literally taking up the whole screen, no Indian movie or anime show would ever be complete without a little, as Johnny Depp would say in Alice in Wonderland, “muchness”.

NATURE SPEAKS THE HERO'S LANGUAGE

And to continue the point above, did you notice how the elements always conspire to express the hero or the heroine's feelings at a certain time in Indian movies? It's always raining when there's sadness and romance, it's always windy when there's loss, it's always dark when there's drama, the leaves are falling when someone is dying. Heh... sadly the American productions have lost that communion between man and nature. But they're definitely there in anime. Check out this scene from Sailor Moon complete with instant rain!

 

DOWN TO THE SMALLEST GESTURES

When I was little my sister and I used to make fun of how people in anime shows would put their hand behind their head when embarrassed. We used to wonder: where did that come from, I can't imagine anyone in real life doing that, it's too uncomfortable. Imagine my delight when I found out they do that in Tollywood too! 

 

AH, THE ROMANCE, AND OH, THE PAIN OF UNREQUITED LOVE

Even today so many Indian films have some love story or other at the base of all conflict. And there are more girlie anime shows about the tribulations of teenage romance than we can count, so on that point I am sure we don't need further proof. The best part is that we can even identify a shared preference for the love triangles! Nothing like a good old love triangle to keep things spicy, right? Well from the classic Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (link to trailer) to the fifth season of Sailor Moon (link to trailer) there seems to be a long way, but unrequited love is the Scotty that will beam us up from one to the other in no time at all. And just so we're not mistaken in assuming that it happened only in the olden days, the romantic triangle was also alive and well in a very unromantic series like Berserk (link to trailer), or a very pragmatic political thriller like Raajneeti (link to trailer). Sure it may not be the focal point, but how many Hollywood movies these days play that card? Not very many...

EVEN THE COMEDY TRACKS? REALLY?

Really! Special sound effects, funny faces, quick reactions, speed talking and bulging eyes, even the camera work that makes it look like the world fell on top of the character as a result of some shocking news. All there, baby, all there under various guises! We may not see them very often in Hindi films anymore, but they are alive and well in the South.

REALISM? WHAT'S THAT?

Of course last but not least on today's short list, how lovely that neither anime shows nor Indian movies are very fond of being true to life. There is a certain disdain for realism, a concept that is not perceived as a sine qua non requirement (though that is changing lately in both) and that certainly adds to the appeal. Who needs reality when one can be transported into a world of colour, fun and endless drama?

Truly, writing all this I wonder why did I ever stop watching anime? Oh right, I know: I discovered Bollywood and Tollywood dishoom movies and hey the music is so much better in Indian films. And did I mention they dance?... Eh... I guess I'll still give Ghost in the Shell a rerun every once in a while for old times sake...