Film Reviews - Post Colonial Films

 

Film Review: Postcolonial Films: Midnight's Children, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, The Black Prince and Abdul & Victoria

I am composing this blog on the grounds of a task assigned to me by my teacher , for the detailed information about the task CLICK HERE. 

WHAT IS POST COLONIALISM ?

Postcolonialism is the critical academic study of the cultural legacy of Colonialism  and imperialism , focusing on the human consequences of the control and exploitation of colonized people and their lands. More specifically, it is a critical-theory analysis of the history, culture, literature, and discourse of (usually European) imperial power.

MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN TRAILER :

Directed by : Deepa Mehta 

Produced by : David Hamilton ,

                       Dough Mankoff

                       Steven Silver,

                       Neil Tabatznik, 

                       Andrew Spaudling.

Screenplay : Salman Rushdie

Based on : Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie 

Starring : Shriya Saran 

                Shabana Azmi

                Ronit Roy

                Satya Bhabha 

                Anupam Kher 

                Siddharth Narayana 

                Rahul Bose 

                Darsheel Safari 

                Seema Biswas

 

Movie Analysis :

The Midnight's Children was published in 1981 and is adapted for the screen by its author Salman Rushdie  who also delivers the eloquent narration, a reworking of the book's framing device.

As a film and novel, Midnight's Children is a great baggy work covering over 60 years in the turbulent history of India and Pakistan from the end of the second world war up to Indira Gandhi's repressive "Emergency" of the late 1970s, as they affect five generations of a well-off Muslim clan and their associates in Kashmir, Agra, Mumbai, Karachi. It brings together Dickens, Kipling and Shakespeare, Christianity, Hinduism and Islam, comedy, tragedy and farce, and has as its moral and dramatic fulcrum the year 1947 when the misjudged partition of the subcontinent into India and Pakistan was insisted upon by the Muslims and acquiesced in by the departing British.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist Trailer :

Directed by : Meera Nair 

Produced by : Lydia Dean Pilcher 

Screenplay by : William Wheeler 

                          Rutvik Oza 

Story by : Mohsin Hamid ,

                 Ami Boghani 

Based on : The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid 

Starring : Riz Ahmed,

               Kate Hudson 

               Liv Schreiber 

               Meesha Shafi

               Om Puri 

               Shabana Azmi

Movie Analysis : 

on a superficial level, “fundamentalist” refers to religious identity, one unfortunately most often associated with Islamic terrorism these days. And the story — about an ambitious, Pakistani-born Wall Street financial analyst who becomes disenchanted with the United States after 9/11 — certainly suggests that most obvious reading. In that interpretation, the reluctant fundamentalist is an assimilated Muslim forced into anti-American radicalism by America itself. 

             Things changes after the 9/11 incident happened in America especially for the Muslims, lot's of innocent Muslims had to suffer because of one bad Muslim. Things changed very easily in Our Protagonist's life, suddenly he became a terrorist. It’s an an engrossing story, bracingly told, and it begins, like many immigrant sagas, with the American Dream: a great job, a beautiful girlfriend (Kate Hudson) and unlimited prospects. But Changez’s dream begins to turn into a nightmare after 9/11, when the bearded, dark-skinned man with the exotic accent is, for the first time, subjected to suspicion and profiling because of bigotry.The Reluctant Fundamentalist” will likely make some people mad, because of the way it holds the U.S. responsible for the repercussions of its actions in the world. Like Changez himself, the film has a complicated relationship with the superpower. There’s love there, to be sure. But because there’s love, there’s also the belief — expressed with all the pain and fervent hope you might imagine — that America, and Americans, can do better.

THE BLACK PRINCE TRAILER :

Directed by : Kavi Raz 

Produced by : Brillstein Entertainment Partners 

Starring : Satinder Sartaj

                    Amanda Root 

                    Jason Flemyng

                    Atul Sharma 

                    Rup Magon

Movie Analysis:

Set in the 19th century (India’s pre-independence years), The Black Prince is the agonizing true tale of Duleep Singh, the last Sikh king of Punjab, who was robbed off his mother, Kingdom, faith and lineage by the British. Raised as a Christian 'prince' in England by Queen Victoria (Amanda Root), Duleep's yearning to embrace his faith, reclaim his identity and trace his roots, forms the story. The fearless woman who fans and reignites the fire within him to discover who he really is and regain his lost kingdom, freedom and glory, happens to be his mother Rani Jindan (Shabana Azmi). But his struggle to be reunited to his motherland was endless.

Victoria and Abdul Trailer :

Directed by : Stephen Frears 

Produced by : Tim Bevan 

                             Eric Fellner 

                             Beeban Kidron 

                             Tracy Seaward 

Screenplay by : Lee Hall 

Based on : Victoria and Abdul by Sharbani Basu 

Starring : Judi Dench 

                    Ali Fazal 

                    Eddie Izzard 

                    Adeel Akhtar 

                    Paul Higgins 

Movie Analysis : 

On the surface, Victoria & Abdul is the charming true story of the Queen’s unlikely friendship with an Indian servant, and how this friendship stirred tremendous jealousy among her closest aides. But behind every look of slavish adoration, behind every act of self-sacrifice, behind every scoffing display of ignorance and behind every entitled, narcissistic demand – there is centuries of subtext; of oppression, murder, and the deeply flawed belief that one sort of human being is better than the other. And this horrid miscalculation is apparent from the very first scene. Abdul, a man who spends his days performing the most menial of tasks for a government that is not his, is selected on a whim and sent to England – two months away by boat – to present Queen Victoria with a piece of gold that does not belong to her. He will enter the dining hall quietly, present the ‘mohar’ as a token of appreciation for killing thousands of his countrymen, and looting his country so mercilessly, that it would never be able to recover – and then, he will back out of the room, under no circumstances looking the Queen directly in the eye.

REFERENCES :

O'Sullivan, Michael . ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’ movie review. 2 May 2013. 18 November 2020 <https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/the-reluctant-fundamentalist-movie-review/2013/05/01/cf4d1750-b1b8-11e2-baf7-5bc2a9dc6f44_story.html>.

French, Philip . The Gurdian . 23 December 2012. 18 November 2020 <https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/dec/23/midnights-children-review-deepak-mehta>.

Vyavahare, Renuka . Entertainment Times . 21 July 2017. 18 November 2020 <https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/english/movie-reviews/the-black-prince/movie-review/59696942.cms>.

Naahar, Rohan . Hindustan Times. 20 October 2017. 18 November 2020 <https://www.hindustantimes.com/movie-reviews/victoria-abdul-movie-review-judi-dench-ali-fazal-star-in-a-disgustingly-distorted-look-at-british-raj/story-bjaEScz3MZJBq2KzIck9PN.html>.