I have often wondered about the very curdled natures of our opinions so much so that the perch of imagination simply becomes a bystanding abstraction and real thoughts of genuine merit slip between the fingers. That is a human tendency, to beat arou...
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My exposure to the storied, legendary bibliotheque of Metro Goldwyn Mayer (M.G.M), the production and distribution giant for a century now, has been instrumental in changing my life, acquainting and later affixing me with some truly underrated works of great compassion that missed the radar in an industry of million opportunities and multiple launches . But these are true benedictions of the creative field as they seeped in, planted seeds of everlasting memories, still giving me the privilege of going back and forth to them for their vitality, and proved beyond doubt that sincerity of purpose and anything invested with our heart gets its due. The MGM channel ( now defunct in India) was a true flag bearer of quality and has led by example in terms of molding my cinematic vocabulary. I believe it has always looked forward by instilling path breaking content in down to earth screenplays. I stand here today, wiser in my head and heart as life's veritable strands all came knocking with a gentle nudge and tugged at my heartstrings. The following two works had the support of MGM and have endured as documents of the human spirit. I hence acknowledge with great humility their contributions towards my better estimation of the world. They beautified the multiple voices of restraint and sober stances of filmmaking that end up dignifying our greatest ebbs and lows. They live up to the motto of the house, " Ars Gratia Artis", that is Art for Art's Sake. Actually, they conjoin best attributes of art and life, one indispensable without the other. A complimentary axis is thus evoked.
I am as far removed from the affrontery and 'commentatorship' of social media as can be said about any millennial which explains why I am not on any of them. However, at least three years back I was quite affected by one of my acquaintances' post on one of them which I was told about. She had basically questioned our obsession with dressing our flaws, facial and physical, with filters, colour coordination and the likes to augment our natural selves and present a better, more perfect image. Her insistence on sharing and in a way baring our true faces/ appearances sans any irony, being as it is, was quite refreshing but definitely not the first radical challenge to our modern propensity for some heightened ideal in which only the best features were highlighted. Actually I think it was an indictment of our shallow urban retreat from the simplicity of yesteryears when minimal meant elegance. Even a decade or so ago, things hadn't become as volubly ostentatious as they are now as I notice so I could relate with it. Again, it's the issues and deep values we probe too which has allowed the media in many forms to stay afloat and this was one such instance. How about showing ourselves with chapped lips, corns in our hands, clouds under our eyes once in a while( or at least once) , she had suggested. We all look less than flattering without some proper care or professional aid at so many points and also because it is reliant on the environment and other individual factors as our natural climes but should that take away from us looking good or have us passing off as lesser? It was an interesting way to overturn status quo and frankly I think there is no dearth of people embracing the exactitude of realism in our media savvy culture amidst an obvious spurt of ego boosting cosmetic singularity. What lies underneath those filters and pancakes is our ultimate reality when we rest our heads on our pillows and good or bad, it is the ultimate testimonial.
