2018 will be remembered as a revolutionary year for Indian cinema. So many content driven movies succeeded on box office, while at the same time we rejected big budget duds by Khan trinity. Was it because of untalented artists in these movies? Thugs of Hindustan begs me to differ. Or was it because the narrative, characters and acting left an utterly 'unreal' impression on you?
Let me ask- do you remember your most memorable experience ever in a movie theater? I mean in the good sort of way, unlike a Race 3, Jab Tak Hai Jaan or Prem Ratan Dhan Payo. For me, only a handful of movies have been successful in inducing goosebumps during a theater visit.
The first such was 300 from Zack Snyder, a guilty pleasure from 2006 introducing to me the magic of high definition slo-mo action, until Thugs Of Hindustan decimated it for me eventually. It was my first year of Engineering in Jaipur (Rajasthan) and that day in CP (a popular multiplex) turned a memorable one. Whole group of friends kept recalling the dialogues on every opportunity all day long. From proclaiming in the hostel mess- "tonight we dine in hell", to slamming the bathroom door- "this is Sparta", boys were thrilled with this visual extravaganza. But I felt as if a part of my soul was left in the theater itself that day. I didn't feel like returning to the sad world of slumber inducing programming labs and the abomination called hostel food. It took me a solo trip back to the same movie three days later, to come out of this existential crisis.
If 300 was for purely for mass appeal, The Dark Knight in 2008 changed the game altogether. By my third year of BTech, we had consumed pretty much all the content that existed there among English and Hindi movies. Such drought we were facing that even Telugu movies without subtitles became a thoughtless option. Trisha, Mahesh Babu, Prakash Raj, and my first love Genelia Dsouza- we were watching them all those days, in northern India mind you. At such desperate times, Christopher Nolan and Heath Ledger indebted us with a masterpiece made for generations to come. The success Marvel cinematic universe enjoys today, credit for it all goes to The Dark Knight. It was both a critical and popular hit. That too after the nipple-Batman debacle of George Clooney. It continued the narrative from a well executed Batman Begins in 2005, sadly the third part was a monstrosity in comparison. But TDR, with a sharp script, deep dialogues, multilayered plot and characters, memorable acting, practical action (minimal CGI), and to top it all, the best version of the Joker- it all was and shall always be fresh in my mind till my last breath. Needless to say, I had to make another solo trip the very next day for reliving those goosebumps.
These two cinema adaptations I referred above, were based upon the comic book works of Frank Miller, one of the most celebrated comic book artists of our times. Right there up in the creative echelons rubbing shoulders with Stan Lee of Marvel comics (RIP). Some of most iconic works Miller has accomplished and which were adapted later, include-
Daredevil & Elektra
300
Ronin
Wolverine
Batman: Year One
The Dark Knight Returns
Sin City
Miller's craft is celebrated worldwide because it's brutal, broken and bloody. The way life is. The mature themes explored and the gruesome sequences he sketches out on paper, it doesn't have to be outrageously alien or from a perfect utopia. His most amazing gift is, to tell a visual story from perspective of the characters involved.
For example, the mugging scene in a dark alley when the old retired Batman reappears in initial pages of The Dark Knight Returns, it's inspired by his own personal incident at a New York subway station. The anger, frustration and helplessness on the character's face is practically his own. His gritty take on the caped crusader, served as a source of inspiration for both Christopher Nolan and Zack Snyder respectively.
A fun fact for you. This creative genius has not undergone any professional courses or training on drawing, penciling, sketching, story-writing or direction. In fact, he worked in tough NY neighborhoods as a carpenter prior to getting his big break in comic book world. All he has learnt in life is- telling a story the way his characters live and feel. And that makes the audience too feel and connect with these flawed humane characters.
I wonder whether our big budget filmmakers will awaken and accept this simple truth anytime soon. For now, fortunately, they are busy screwing careers of cricketers.
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