The Dove's Lost Necklace

 

The second part of Nacer Khemir’s desert trilogy “The Dove’s Lost Necklace” (1994), a Tunisian film starring Navin Chowdhry, Walid Arakji, Nina Esber among others.

Hassan (Navin Chowdhry) is learning Arabic calligraphy and on a quest for true love. He is learning the 60 words for love prescribed in Arabic literature and has so far found 35 of them.

Zin (Walid Arakji) is a young kid who is a son of a djinn but everybody calls him a bastard. He delivers love messages for money and so that Prince Haroun, the prince trapped in a monkey becomes real again.

They find a half burnt manuscript which reveals of a lament of Princess Samarkhand. Hassan is looking for that book which talks about true love but the store room in which they look for the book is burnt down.

He finally finds Aziz (Nina Esber) the beautiful Princess of Samarkand and then loses her. Nacer Khemir has created a magnificent and enchanting story rich in metaphor and with a visual imagery stunning for all its beauty. The camera work and cinematography capturing the Arabian architecture and landscape is breathtaking. The rich Arabian music enriches the story to perfection.

Walid Arakji is a stunner of an actor, a young child, with a naughty smile and lots of energy. Navin Chowdhry has done a good role but it is Nina Esber who captures the screen presence with her ravisihing good looks and beauty. IMDB 6/10

Wanderers of the Desert

 

First part of a three part Desert trilogy “Wanderers of the Desert”, a Tunisian film by writer/ director Nacer Khemir and starring Nacer Khemir, Souflane Makni, Noureddine Kasbaoui, Hedi Daoud and Sonia Ichti among others.

A young teacher arrives in a remote village of which many have not heard of. When he arrives, the villagers welcome him, but there is no school building.

The teacher is told that the young men of the village go around wandering in the desert like a ghost due to a curse. Once a year the wanderers come back and the teacher is given a book which he has to make them read so that the curse will be broken.

There is lot of mystery and mystique in the story. A young kid breaks all the mirrors in the village in order to make a garden. There is a beautiful young girl who comes in front of the teacher and makes some hand movements.

One villager is digging for a treasure for 50 years but finds nothing and dies. Suddenly a boat appears in the desert and the police arrives to investigate the sudden disappearance of the teacher.

Its not a linear story line but quite a fable mixing up Arabian culture, mysticism, folklore, legend with some stunning desert visuals and hauntingly melodious Tunisian music. Without the credits, it is difficult to know the characters, but the young kid is quite a devil in the movie.

Nacer Khemir manages to captivate the audience with the never ending suspense. Viewers are trying to piece together the various scenes in order to make a context out of the story. IMDB 4/10

Kalikallam

 Action packed Malayalam movie “Kalikkalam” (1990) directed by Sathyan Anthikad and starring Mammootty, Murali, Shobana, Sreenivasan among others.

Its a classic robinhood story as Mammootty is a robber who robs from the rich and corrupt and spends that money for the poor & disadvantaged. He assumes various roles and identities to dupe the police as well.

Murali is a new police officer and honest one at that. Its a cat and mouse between Murali and Mammootty and try as he might, no clues lead the police to the robber.

One too many murders take place and Murali being a suspended police officer on the spot is arrested and tried for murder. Mammootty is moved by that prospect of an innocent police inspector going to jail and makes amends towards that end.

There are many other character actors in the movie including Shobana who is reduced to a side role as somebody who is pining for the robber. Innocent, Mamukoya, Shankarady, Sreenivasan, Sukumari, Philomena all play useful little roles in their inimitable manner.

This is more action oriented than the earlier movies of Sathyan Anthikad. There is an underlying subtext to the movie in the form of subtle messaging towards corrupt persons and innocent guys getting caught instead. Fine acting by Murali — he was such a fantastic actor in the Malayalam cinema. IMDB 5/10

Bim

 Award winning Trinidad and Tobago film “Bim” (1974) directed by Hugh. A. Robertson and starring Ralph Maraj, Anna Seerattan, Wilbur Holder, Lawrence Goldstraw among others.

Its a kind of a political drama movie of the Indians settled in Trinidad and Tobago. They are nearing their independence from the British empire and Bim (Ralph Maraj) is their natural born leader, though his past is that of a hoodlum doing all sorts of bad things.

Bim’s early age was in an upheaval, becuase his father was killed right in front of him by another Indian rival. He is rejected by his school and taunted and bullied by the afro students. He has no choice but to take to crime to live his life.

Bim’s early love life Anna (Anna Seerattan) later takes to prostitution and he discovers Anna while at one of his sexual flings. Bim gravitates towards political leadership in order to take revenge upon the killers of his father.

While the political climate is hotting up, Bim continues to be arrogant and rejects the offer of a political alliance with the leader of the blacks in Trinidad. The print uploaded on youtube is of a poor quality and overall production values are very poor.

But this movie is supposed to be a cult classic in Trinidad which is why i think somebody should digitally enhance this movie to latest standards. The plot is decent and the story conveys what is intended. IMDB 3/10

6.01 kms

 First run of the new year. 6.01 kms to start the year. 2kms warm up followed by 3kms of tempo pace and 1km of cool down. Happy New Year friends and have maximum fun while running. Cheers.

13.08 kms

 13.08 kms for the last run of the year. Plan was to do 18 kms today, but heavy cold put paid to that. Felt slightly better today so decided to go for more. Yesterday 5.13 kms and with today's mileage it adds upto 18 kms, so happy with that. Total mileage for the month 157.92 kms which is the highest mileage recorded in a month in three years. Have a great weekend folks and Happy New Year to all.

5.13 kms

 Easy 5.13 kms for the morning. Am battling a severe cold and throat irritation. There's so much of construction going on in our area, and so much of dust and pollution, and the govt. does not seem to be doing anything to alleviate the problem. Current AQI in Mumbai is 203, which is unhealthy. Have a great weekend folks.