A better actress

 Who is a good actress? Certainly not someone devoted to fashion, right? Want proof? Look at whatever happened to Ms. Alia Bhatt at Cannes! Anyways, why this theme? Well, May 15 apparently is the birthday of Madhuri Dixit. I should know. On one too many whatsapp groups was this fact repeated! 

Personally I do not like her song-n-dance stuff. At times, it is too vulgar to deserve a mention. As for looks, it is all the magic of make-up, lighting and camera angles, not to forget the very conscious poses.

True, I have not watched her later movies/Netflix serials. For one thing, I was very busy looking after Aai. If I were to go and watch a movie in a cinema hall, imagine how she would have been treated by the "mavashi" types supposed to look after her in my absence! 

Yet as a film critic for "Newstime", I had watched  Madhuri Dixit in "Lajja", "Devdas" and "Mrityudand", and I have nothing but sheer praise for her acting prowess. Personally, my favourite is "Mrityudand." Here she is not the typical glamour doll.

As the daughter of an idealist father, who has married in to a village landlord family out of love, she is simplicity itself. She loves her husband a lot. Yet she does not mind standing up to him for the sake of ethics and  her principles when he commits mistakes. 

She genuinely cares for his family, especially  for her elder sister-in-law who is almost like his mother. Life has been very harsh to this poor woman accused of being barren. Ketaki respects her, takes care of her needs, stands up to the  whole big bad world for her choices. In Bollywood films/t.v. serials, such a 'sister'-ly depiction is almost impossible.

Much more than that, this sweet but naughty young lady is a woman rebelling against all sorts of injustices, against sexist ill treatment of poor women, against every possible 'corruption', be it monetary, ideological, religious, gender-biased or caste-oriented. Very firmly and bravely, she stands up to the powerful men, be it within the familial fold or in the village itself. 

In the process, an entire way of life changes. The film by Prakash Jha is indeed worth a watch for Madhuri Dixit's acting which brings alive a rather trite storyline. Especially noteworthy is the fact that her co-artists are of the Shabana Azmi calibre, and yet it remains A Madhuri Dixit movie! 

Kudos to her for enacting flawlessly such unique roles where she asserts a woman's worth and choices in a feminine yet determined way, and I suppose that makes her a better actress!

Pratima@ Sad was the news about the demise of Dr. Anand Nadkarni. I had watched a televised interview wherein he was interviewing a friend's daughter. Was he overflowing with admiration!

All the articles, et al, by him, and, yes, that very famous poem by him sure make extremely thoughtful reading. RIP!

Quote of the day:                                                             "Values are like lighthouses. They are signals giving us direction, meaning and purpose," from the "Colonel's" VFW/Victory for Veterans.

Word of the day: thespian                                          "Thespian" is a formal word for actor. Often in Indian 'film criticism', it is used to refer to a talented senior actor.