Few Indian movies have achieved such a true sense of their environment and characters as Sai Paranjape's Katha has.
The film perfects recreates the allegory of the hare and the tortoise in a Tenement Building in Urban Bombay.
The film plays out in the old folktale tradition as a world-weary old woman narrates the story to her grandson.
The tortoise is the kind-hearted but incredibly naïve Rajaram Purushotam Joshi a clerk at a reputed shoe company and the epitome of the middle-class.
His polar opposite, the suave con artist Basu is the hare, who enters Rajaram's life and completely dishevels it.
Paranjape's use of the children's movie format (the folktale, the animated title sequence) to deconstruct her protagonist Rajaram is inspired - he is for all practical purposes a child himself honest, obedient and loyal the archetypal Boy Scout.
He owns several sets of the exact same clothes, which he wears to work - like a school uniform.
He keeps to himself at the office and is petrified of his female colleagues and their advances. They seem to enjoy teasing and tempting him. A rather obvious example of this plays out via the apple - a colleague offers one to him after taking a bite out of it. He refuses vehemently and pulls a face like a child who's just been scolded.
The apple motif recurs in a dream sequence in the film where several female co-workers band together and molest Rajaram. The office has now been replaced by the Garden of Eden but this version of paradise is a highly artificial set with cheap theatrical props, not unlike those of a School Play.
His nightmare ends with the young neighbor girl, dressed in traditional garb and armed with broom jumping to the rescue.
Her resemblance to Rajaram's mother is more than just mere coincidence. It is quite clear that he is only comfortable with women in a nurturing maternal role. Any kind of sexual assertiveness on their part is highly unacceptable to him.
It is interesting to note that Paranjpae inverts the ending of the folktale making it an ambiguous victory rather a happily-ever-after-winner-takes-all triumph.
It's especially interesting as Rajaram's middle-class is now a dying breed a group that is being quickly replaced by aggressive, self-driven individuals like Basu.
Similarly, the target audience for movies with such characters is in rapid decline as well.
Most films revolve around the trials and tribulations of the super-rich or at best(or is it worst?), yuppies with large disposable incomes.
Product placement, sequels, line extensions, endorsements have taken precedence over storytelling.
The recent passing of the great director Hrishikesh Mukherjee, who was for over four decades the voice of the middle-class, is one more nail in the coffin.
To paraphrase the wise old woman's words to her grandson, the tortoise may have won the battle, but he's losing the war.
The film perfects recreates the allegory of the hare and the tortoise in a Tenement Building in Urban Bombay.
The film plays out in the old folktale tradition as a world-weary old woman narrates the story to her grandson.
The tortoise is the kind-hearted but incredibly naïve Rajaram Purushotam Joshi a clerk at a reputed shoe company and the epitome of the middle-class.
His polar opposite, the suave con artist Basu is the hare, who enters Rajaram's life and completely dishevels it.
Paranjape's use of the children's movie format (the folktale, the animated title sequence) to deconstruct her protagonist Rajaram is inspired - he is for all practical purposes a child himself honest, obedient and loyal the archetypal Boy Scout.
He owns several sets of the exact same clothes, which he wears to work - like a school uniform.
He keeps to himself at the office and is petrified of his female colleagues and their advances. They seem to enjoy teasing and tempting him. A rather obvious example of this plays out via the apple - a colleague offers one to him after taking a bite out of it. He refuses vehemently and pulls a face like a child who's just been scolded.
The apple motif recurs in a dream sequence in the film where several female co-workers band together and molest Rajaram. The office has now been replaced by the Garden of Eden but this version of paradise is a highly artificial set with cheap theatrical props, not unlike those of a School Play.
His nightmare ends with the young neighbor girl, dressed in traditional garb and armed with broom jumping to the rescue.
Her resemblance to Rajaram's mother is more than just mere coincidence. It is quite clear that he is only comfortable with women in a nurturing maternal role. Any kind of sexual assertiveness on their part is highly unacceptable to him.
It is interesting to note that Paranjpae inverts the ending of the folktale making it an ambiguous victory rather a happily-ever-after-winner-takes-all triumph.
It's especially interesting as Rajaram's middle-class is now a dying breed a group that is being quickly replaced by aggressive, self-driven individuals like Basu.
Similarly, the target audience for movies with such characters is in rapid decline as well.
Most films revolve around the trials and tribulations of the super-rich or at best(or is it worst?), yuppies with large disposable incomes.
Product placement, sequels, line extensions, endorsements have taken precedence over storytelling.
The recent passing of the great director Hrishikesh Mukherjee, who was for over four decades the voice of the middle-class, is one more nail in the coffin.
To paraphrase the wise old woman's words to her grandson, the tortoise may have won the battle, but he's losing the war.