The Artist

• Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up: Pablo Picasso (1881 - 1973), Spanish painter
• Art is born of the observation and investigation of nature: Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC), Roman statesman
• Abstract art is a product of the untalented, sold by the unprincipled to the utterly bewildered. –Al Capp (1909 - 1979), American cartoonist
• A painting in a museum hears more ridiculous opinions than anything else in the world. Edmond de Goncourt (May 26, 1822 – July 16, 1896), French writer
• Art has never been made while thinking of art: Niko Stumpo
• There are painters who transform the sun to a yellow spot, but there are others who with the help of their art and their intelligence, transform a yellow spot into the sun. Pablo Picasso (1881 - 1973), Spanish painter
• Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep. Scott Adams
• Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere: G. K. Chesterton (1874 - 1936), writer
• Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures. Henry Ward Beecher (1813 - 1887)

8s in Me

I was tagged by friend Neetu to answer these and share……
Frankly, at first glance this exercise found apt for my facebook or orkut account, but not for a blog. But doing it gave me a chance to revisit I, me & myself.
I invite you to try this...

8 things I'm passionate about:

1. Talking a lot - to young enthu lot.
2. Heights – Sky, Mountains etc
3. Greens & Grays – My colors.
4. Smell of camphor – An addiction.
5. Camera & Film – Capturing moods & moments.
6. Family – My sweet little world.
7. Animation – I’m a kid there.
8. Travel, Culture & Music – Exploring both history and geography.

8 things I want to do before I die- (no order)

> Make love to the most enthusiastic and passionate woman.
> View world from the highest possible altitude.
> Take class in a film institute.
> Do an animation film & a wild life documentary.
> Explore every inch of universe.
> Own a tree house amidst a forest & lake and live a Tarzan life.
> Get a book published.
> Make a film like 'Life is Beautiful', acting the role played by Roberto Benigni.

8 things I say often:

> OkaY
> Listen
> F**k
> As I told U
> Try
> Oops
> My goodness.
> Hey, Come on

8 books I've read recently

(FYI : “Recently” means ‘my entire life’ here)

> Crime and Punishment - This book gave me sleepless nights.
> Oru Sangeerthanam Poole (Malayalam) – The most romantic work read till date.
> Animal Farm – Undoubtedly a study material for Social Scientists.
> Short stories by Basheer, Ruskin Bond & O Henry
> Alchemist (Paulo Coelho) – Follow ur dreams.
> Veronica decided to die (Paulo Coelho) – Knowing the value of life.
> The Zaher (Paulo Coelho) - Yet another work searching the meaning of life.
> Sherlock Holms – An all time admirer of Holms for his simplicity and intellect.

8 songs I could listen to, over & over:

Tuff task, I must tell about Musicians... Mostly Instrumental collection – Folk, Blues, Sufi, Carnatic, Hindustani, Remix etc

Songs
> Arial Boundaries – Michael Hedges
> Dessert Roses & Brand New Day - Sting
> Celestial Soda – Ray Lynch
> Enthoru & Aaroo – Vidyasagar
> Ferry Me Across Water – Kim Robertson
> Sister Drum – Dadawa
> Gurus of Peace - A R Rahman & Fateh Ali Khan
> El Vuelo

Musicians
> Sandeep Chowta
> Lucky Ali
> Kenny G
> Yanni
> Kitaro
> Vanessa Mai
> A R Rahman
> Sakir Hussain & Prem Joshua

8 things that attract me to my friends:

> Simplicity
> Openness & Optimism
> Enthusiasm & Energy
> Craze & Adventure
> Way of communication
> Dressing sense & neatness
> Smile
> Humor sense.

8 people I think should do this tag

Open to all.......Feel free to try this

HOME

Contact Details
Arun Bose S
Ph: 0044 7865929837, Email: arunboses@gmail.com

Documentary films
Not a Drop of Rain – About 100 years of drought and lore in Kalahandi, Orissa. Produced by NFSC, Funded by Ford Foundation. Screened at NFSC.
Oh Tiraupati Listen – About the Mahabharatham festival of villages in and around Kanchipuram. Produced by NFSC for Kanchipuram Research Project by OSLO University, Norway. The film was well received at OSLO for a Workshop on Festivals.
Panguni Uttiram – About the Panguni Utiram festival celebrated at Ekambaranathar Temple, Kanchipuram. Produced by NFSC for Kanchipuram Research Project by OSLO University, Norway.
The Story of Mudugar – About the life of tribal group Mudugar
Moves, Blind Moves - About the life of a blind chess player, Dayalan,
Forever Heber - About the Culture and tradition of Bishop Heber Hall, MCC.
Man and Nature – Documentary film on Mannan Tribe, Kerala.

Short Concept films (Duration: less than 5 min)
My Paper Boat – Story of a little boy’s lose because of drought
The Artist – An artist’s stages of enlightenment and excitement.
Black/White/Brown – Celebration of equal opportunities.
The Butcher – A sad moment in butcher’s life.
Two ways together – A journey of two ends of life.
Is & Was – A definition for Man
Ups & Downs- A rat’s attempt to scale heights and falls.
Yours Truly – About a teacher and student.
Anthakshari – Celebration of diversity.
Mission Escape- A computer mouse trying to escape
Words – On the power of language.
Here we go – About inclusive society. Screened at Ability Foundation Fest.
V343 – A collection 3 funny short films
Chords of Life– A "Passion" statement.
Blue is Sky– A poetry on passion and love.
Face or Fall – A film on fear.
NextStop – A one min film on cruelty to animals


Short Films (less than 30 mins)
In Search of Peace – The story of an young man in search of peace.
My Mirror – A man’s life through his mirror’s point of view. Screened a fest by Multi-visual Academy

Ad/ Corporate Films
Men in Borland- Corporate Ad Film for Borland Technologies PVT LTD.
Corporate videos for Hexaware Technologies PVT. LTD.

Communication - Egos Vs Ethos

The idea of Communication is defined in manifold ways by many people at various point of time. Rather than the thought as a simple socio-cultural parameter this term had gained a scientific value with its mammoth need and utility to mankind. In fact there is no doubt in identifying it as the backbone of the structuring and growth of any society whether it is of human or of any other living being in the universe. The ways of communication alone varied from species to species - from time to time. Sound, action, text, visual etc…has been effectively used for years to perform this simple as well as complex task. A colony of ants to the new-media (Internet-telecommunication) social network by post-modern man utilizes the principles of communication for their day-to-day life.

Now it is the time for identifying communication scholars and scientists for new innovations in the structure of communication. Only a new innovation leads to a better innovation and hence living a natural life of survival alone cannot fulfill the need of time. It is quite interesting to see people running for their daily bread and gaining it. If the same person takes the same route and the same mode for the same quantity of bread for another ten days, it is ridiculous. Communication is also such an area where one shouldn't repeat the same mode and way for days and months.

Moreover communication has the power of creating unexpected ripples in the mindset of people and hence all that is communicated should be a right thought in a right way. We have advocates and doctors taking an oath identifying their profession as a responsible mission. At the same time a journalist, photographer or filmmaker is someone who comes to common man every other day propagating a thought or news. But while the service of a doc or Advocate becomes the choice of common man, the media person comes to him by default through his TV set or News Paper. This must be worst if the mode of communication is a repeated Ad film. It is like accepting anything and everything told by a priest because you tend to have a natural trust in him. Now don’t you think the oath of social responsibility is equally meaningful for a communication graduate?

Bagging a communication graduate tag and walk around sowing and reaping complication and confusion among people is not the aim of a journalist, PR- Ad executive, photographer or a filmmaker. He is not meant to work only for his daily bread. When I see myself or any of my communication friend’s money is an easy thing to gain. But identifying the profession of communication as a social responsibility is something different. You can see better actors among us who speak and think exactly opposite. The clash is mainly of egos and ethos. Hardly anyone feel themselves as a common man inside however he acts unnaturally outside as a man of real blood.

The society needs real good thinkers and innovators for good communication. The day when you throw away the timely pleasure of living for yourself thereby reading and reaching the pulse of common man you becomes a good communicator. You are made to propagate humanity and culture. Three Cheers for good Communication.

The Third Dimention

Filmmaking is definitely not a one sided affair where only the director-crew-cast alone speak the ‘film’. In fact, the other end -Audience- plays the most significant role. Hence identifying them as an intelligent companion from the time a concept is conceived in mind is vital for realizing a meaningful movie. Audience are not fools anymore to accept anything and everything being spoon fed by filmmaker.

All of us had seen brilliantly done 2D and 3D animation films. That can be considered as the technical representation of 2 dimensional and 3 dimensional spaces. But what is a real 3 dimensional film considering filmmaking as an art form and a medium of communication? A film in which the director identifies his audience intelligent enough to imagine all that he has not visualized in his film can be considered as a 3 D film. Here the audience becomes a part of his film. They go back home with n number of questions in mind imagining their own solutions. The difference is that director is not feeding his intellectual partners with a solution. His film is more or less like an abstract art or an open book where he leaves the viewer with an opportunity to imagine a world beyond his film.

Recently I saw two outstanding films by a famous Malayalam film director. Both were unique in its theme and treatment and were well appreciated by the audience. They are undoubtedly the masterpiece of the Director. But at two places I could feel the film over-communicating with the audience. After a lot of emotional fight and fury between two lead characters the first film ends with the climax of their children playing together. With this the film already communicated the message. But for our disappoint director added a textual quote in the end saying “Thus they came close as the vision of future”, which faded the film to a 2D space leaving us nothing more to imagine or dream.

The theme of the second film was on an unexpected reunion of two childhood friends. The director successfully used lots of symbols of visual language that communicated the conflict in the hearts of leading pair. But as he used a few dialogues in the background as the thoughts of one of those characters the imagination of the viewer got blocked. This leaves us a question to answer - Do filmmakers still think that the audience is not yet matured to visualize a world beyond what is conveyed to them by the director.

At this point I would like to narrate the climax of the film “Children of the Heaven”, by Irani director Majid Majidi.

The film is about two children- Ali and his sister Zahra. In the starting we see Ali losing Zahra’s shoes by mistake and the siblings decide to keep the predicament a secret from their parents knowing that there is no money to buy a replacement pair. In the climax Ali enters a footrace in hopes of receiving the third prize of a new pair of sneakers. He accidentally places first and wins another prize instead.

The film ends with Ali coming back home with a gloomy face and bleeding feet. In the pain he slowly keeps the wounded feet in a tub of water. The director added a quick shot of their father's bicycle at the end of the movie shows what appears to be the pink shoes Zahra had been focusing on earlier, implying she got the shoes after all. The shoes are definitely tied to his bicycle and it is clear he has just bought these shoes for his children. Mean while the fishes in the water tub touches the feet of Ali as if they are kissing him. By not showing the father reaching home and happily distributing the shoes to children and by keeping the shot really poetical and vague with the close-up of Ali’s feet and the fishes, the director successfully leaves the audience in immense pleasure of imagining all those they wanted to visualize. Don’t you think this is an ideal way of communication?

Two hours of laugher and thrill and two minutes of talk about it hardly does anything to the IQ of a viewer. Like any other art form the prime objective of film is arguably entertainment, provided it is not bonded by the sleek wall of brainless entertainment. But this entertainment medium touches a higher lever when it gives the audience something to carry back home to dream and debate. As we all know only dream take you to a vision. By giving audience a situation and a reason for dreaming, director identifies himself as a responsible social being.

Imag(e)ination

Film is the media that is capable of capturing all that is seen and experienced by its characters. Unlike text that requires a strong sense of imagination; visual media has the beauty of recreation and presentation of the same imagination. You can definitely argue that text provide you with a wider canvas of imagination while film cages you on a few forced set of frames and time that is purely the imagination of the creator. Well, I accept that fact. But the reach of the visuals and characters you see on screen have a greater impact on Human mind in comparison to his vague or vivid imagination. For example, today everybody sees Jesus Christ with a specific look in their prayers, which is purely the vision of an artist. If he wouldn’t have been done this task, we all might have had more scope of imagining him in different looks. In fact I remember, in my childhood, after watching the epic serial Mahabharatha by B. R. Chopra telecasted in India by national channel DD and UK by BBC, there were a lot many people who used to identify Sri Krishna by the look and smile of actor Nitish Bharadwaj.

Two ways together

……is a journey of two ends. One end speaks of “going forward” while the other says “leave behind.” The camera caught a man riding towards his living while his co-travelers were destined to leave their lives behind. Thus for him the way forward provides with the pleasure of a smooth ride of new hope where as for them it becomes a wild and wobbly journey towards the approaching disaster. Hardly have we seen in another person’s or objects point of view and this film is a deliberate attempt to design a point of view and pain. In this journey both the gain and the pain plays equal role.
The man of this journey is acted out neatly by my friend guide and companion, Rayson. The theme music of the film is also composed by him and I ‘m sure nobody would have identified the instrument he used for this task…an empty Pepsi bottle. Undoubtedly this music brought the theme of the film by creating the confusion whether it is a music piece or the sound created by a bird’s wing. Two of my very good friends Thomas and Anand joined me as my associates in fulfilling the task of shooting…and thus becoming a very encouraging and energetic team.

One day cockroach was sleeping on his book and he over heard someone talking….It was a conversation between I and U.

I told U, “Let’s have a new start. Let’s meet once again in life. Let’s meet at an unidentified place, on an unplanned day and an unnoticed time as two unknown people. Let’s fall in love again. Let’s call it the "Love at first sight". Let’s walk past as if we didn’t notice each other and then turn around and get caught by each other…and then pass a nasty smile. Let’s meet again at the very next day and smile again. Let’s keep meeting again and again with the same smile. Let’s talk to each other and then walk together to all the known places as if they are still unknown. Let’s figure out what looks good on each other and the way we should take. Let’s have a candle light dinner at that lone restaurant beside the beech and let me put a ring on your finger and say that I loved you since the very first day I saw you. Let me give you a kiss and tell you all that you waited to hear.”
U continued, “Yea, then let’s get married, have kids and then grow older and more older. Then one crazy day, let’s realize the fact that you have changed a lot & I have changed a lot. Let’s discover that U and I are different. Let’s feel the difference that U is not straight like I……… Let’s feel that U can never stand like I…. U can never mean anything by itself like I”
I said, “U, I know that you are not straight like me. In fact I understood this the very first moment I met you. U may not mean anything by itself like 'I', but you mean a lot to me. I knew very well that no matter whether the entire world move away from me, you definitely stand by me.”
I continued, “I don’t know whether you have ever noticed that there are 11 letters dividing you from me. I identify them as the 11 months of the year and 12th is 'U' yourself. Each one is special in its own way. They are the need of time. We need the winter and the summer, we need the day and the night ...we need the rain and the ray. Let’s grow older. As long as I and U are connected by LOVE, we don’t need to worry. Let’s forget J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S and T. Let’s come close by Love. Don’t worry; there are a million writers like cockroach who are so jobless to do this job. Let me tell you this again, ‘I love U’.”

U said, “But, then if I still feel bad for not being straight like you……….I ?”

I replied, “No problem as long as I believe that U is my beauty. I am handsome only when I'm connected to you by love. We are not living on those old days when they said “I love You”…Today they actually realized that “I love U”. Take Mr. Cockroach itself; he had written “I love U” a million times… coz he don’t want 'I' to be lone… He want U to stand by me.”

U said, “Still………….if I feel the same at some sad moment…..?”

I replied, “Let’s have a new start. Let’s meet once again in life. Let’s meet at an unidentified place on an unplanned day and an unnoticed time as two unknown people. Let’s fall in love again. Let’s call it the "Love at first sight"….”

My Lost PAge- 46

( It's the lost pAge No. 46 of an unknown book of an unknown writer)

My books are there in every nook and corner of the world. Every home, office, school, kindergarten, butcher shop, temple, bank safe… even a thief’s most trusted carry bag has at least one of my works. From the kitchen to the toilet, these holy books are there to shower the blessings. I am so glad that even the waste baskets have them in plenty, especially my girlfriend’s. I treat it as the symbol of her affection for me and my works. She says that I am her baby. I wonder whether she discovered my works as the dippers on which her ‘baby’ shit. And she is always there for her baby to change the dirtied ones and put new. But do you know, I am still naughty, I still write, even on a dipper, so that my girl will come again and again and change it with love.

Sometimes I really feel that she is also unique. I never treated her as an angel from the heavens or someone who can be titled as ‘the queen of my dreams’. I might have all these quotes for many others, but not her. They all make me dream about love, which I can hold back only for her, which I never told….neither she…! I don’t want a ‘Queen of my Dreams’. I need the real ‘Lady of my Life’. Because of the one who can be considered as the reason for which I am still real, original and I remain as me for ever. She is the one who brings me back from the world of illusions or the dreams which others create for me. When she is some where around, I can feel her warmth, her breath, her touch. Her touch can do miracles. One kiss can make me mad for her. And if I die this moment she would never shed a tear from her eyes because she knows that I hate her cry. But she has to die first, that is my dream. I want to give her a sound sleep on my laps till she touches the heavens. Then I would die, one day, with those dreams and memories about her till her last breath, with the satisfaction that she always remained happy as my guide and companion, with a hundred prayers, a thousand red roses and a million kisses that I can dream of to give her in my next birth. My heaven is with her and the human life cycle would give me a better ride to have another birth to make her happy again and again for ever. I love her so much; I need her with me every moment…Her touch is my strength. I know that she too thinks the same about me. But still we have to be more practical facing the ups and downs of the strong, strange waves of the ocean called life. Life is the ocean, love is the boat and she is the light. She is unique, ‘The Lady of my Life’.

It is a well known fact that I am a branded flirt. But I am happy that I still maintain my barriers. She is my only beauty. I don’t understand why I love you so much, girl! Anyway, I am little bothered about that ‘why’. Do you know why? The day I shall start searching the reason, my world and that word will lose its colour and charm. I may sit here for another century watching its flash, just to realize the fact that it is still hesitant to reach you, remain with you. I use to tell her that there is a special room reserved for her in my heart, a special room with the windows facing the classic peaks of Himalayas and the door facing the waves of Arabian Sea.

And the credit goes to…

There are a lot of things about childhood we still cherish…for me it was been an unpacked bundle of memories that can't be ever missed with the passing time. I was pushed back to those nostalgic moments by a “friend request” in Orkut from a very old friend, Ajay John Gray. After adding him to my profile, I quickly wrote a testimonial for him that goes like this...

He is someone with whom I've grown up & can never ever miss those nostalgic days. And something we shared in common - poetry. Still remember the days we spend writing in class. On poetry competitions we use to finish fast to exchange it and make corrections before submission. But I always wonder what separated us. Life caught us in different zones with different thoughts & different dreams. May be this difference can be read from our poetry too, he is the man of grammatically - thematically perfect poems. But I used to write for a music set in mind. The diff - He was always been a good POET where as I'm was more a lyricist. Ajay- I hope I could analyze our life well with our poetry itself. In reality both of us know that we are no writers anymore as we dreamt...but the victims of time...But u know, u can still break the time and go ahead chasing your dreams. U can read it as the lines of someone who read your poetry as well as your mind better than anyone else.

I guess this explains all about him & me. It must be at the same bench or while having a fight or at the play ground or while washing the lunch box…I don’t remember the exact time or day which we both were caught close. But that date back to the corners of an odd time of the 3rd standard at Nirmala Junior School, Kerala.

Today I am a media professional and at times a designer, a writer or a filmmaker. But here I want to leave all the credits to those moments of childhood with him and of course to those friends of our 3rd- 4th standards listened to our stories during the breaks and in the school bus. Most of those silly stories were inspired by the kid’s story books - Balarama and Poompaatta. The funniest fact was they took life in the class hours- written (Scripted and Screen played), scratched (edited), drawn in the notebook (Story-boarded) and finally described with a bit of acting (released with AD/ PR strategies) to the friends during the breaks. After so many years now we are able to correlate to those moments to our very real life for survival in 2008. But then it was Creative and now its just Cre’ACT’ive.

A lot many seconds, minutes, hours, days and years passed. Nirmala Junior School changed to Nirmala High School. ‘Mayavi’ of Balarama changed to the detective Sherlock Holms of Arthur Conan Doyle. The look and feel of our stories too changed. A new diary still remained the worst of all temptations. I used to have my own version of Tarzan named “Dalwar” and his pet animal companion “Meeta”, a wild hyena. “Dalwar” had a sign language with fingers, which was designed and executed by Ajay & me. The code language was used more effectively when we act the “The Dalwar” scenes during the class intervals. The nearby church ground and the school play ground had seen enough of this Drama. In fact all these went on till our 8th-9th standards. Like Lee Hawk's Phantom he too had his own Logos and Slogans. And he was the hidden hero of his loved tribe – Polo Tribe. Hope this sounds really crazy…….Coz that time those novels ruled our minds.

The fool play and the interest for human heros got faded away as the time passed and poems took an upper hand. Thanks to the class and school level competitions- Arun and Ajay became a familiar friend figure. In fact those days we identified a bit a competition between us. Yet we used to do exchange and proof read each other’s creation.

Both of us won many prizes. For me two of those certificates are still close to heart. The first one for the thrill of getting a prize for the first time. The story was about the “death of grand father” in the point of view of his ignorant-innocent grandson. May be I could relate well to the story as I participated in the competition after attending the funeral of a grandfather like person in my locality. The prize was given by Malayalam film actor– Nedumudi Venu.

The second one was even more exciting. One day my dad got me a Malayalam novel, “Oru Sangeethanam Poole” by Malayalam writer Perumbadavam Sreedharan. The novel was about my all time favorite writer “Fyodor Dostoevsky”. It was an execllent portrayal of the painful, yet romantic days in Dostoevsky’s life when he was forced to write a novel (“The Gambler”) in return to the money borrowed from a real cunning guy. The time allowed was quite challenging and he had to get the help of a lady stenographer “Anna.” As “The Gambler” progressed though Dostoevsky’s mind and Anna’s type writer, “Oru Sangeethnam Poole” took a new turn, by which the writer and stenographer fell for each other for the same relation the pen have for the paper. Sreedharan defined Dostoevsky as "The writer who have God's signature on his heart." I was so excited when I heard that I’m getting a prize for my poem on “Malayalam”, from Mr.Sreedharan. It so happened just two days after me finished reading “Oru Sangeerthanam Poole” and was totally mesmerized by the romance he penned.

Now back to Ajay and me, at one point of time he became more popular than me in his poems, even reaching the state level poem completion. It was quite likely for me to be jealous of him. “What made my writings go down?” I used to wonder. But today I know, where we both stood then and that is nothing but my testimonial for him. I wish I would have realized this then……………

It’s been 8 years since I met Ajay. We are not writers or poets anymore as we used to dream. After my tenth I 've not written a word especially in Malayalam other than usual class notes and documents in comp. The habbit of blogging itself is something I gained very recently.

He is an Ayurvedic Doctor back in hometown Kerala and I’m a Knowledge Management Media professional here in Chennai. In simple words, we had become two individuals known to eachother at some point of time living in two different world with different dreams and different visions……….