THE DECADE THAT WAS: year 2000 | Under Lens

Please allow me to discuss some films of the decade that is about to pass by. Some films that changed our perspective of the way we look at films. Some films that were lucky at the Box Office, some that weren’t. Nevertheless, these were films that reinstated our belief in creative cinema. In this segment we will discuss three films in each part- A Hindi film, an English film and a foreign language film.

HEY RAM! (2000) -
A fictional story of a man named Saket Ram (Kamal Hassan) who nurses a grudge against Muslims (some of them raped and murdered his wife) with the partition of India as its backdrop, Hey Ram failed to set the cash reisters ringing. But, since when did a movie have to be lauded based on its BO performance? Hey Ram, since then has achieved cult status and a strong fan base. Kamal Hassan, Shah Rukh Khan, Vasundhara, Naseeruddin Shah….you name them, each one of them shone in their respective roles. People complained that Kamal Hassan got “too indulgent”, but if this is indulgence, then we ought to have some more of that on screen. A visceral example of can’t-look-away filmmaking. Also, who can forget that memorable performance by Atul Kulkarni (in his nascent stages, he still was a find)?

MEMENTO (2000) -
When it first premiered at The Venice Film Festival, it garnered universal acclaim and standing ovations. A vendetta tale like no other, Memento revolves around the story of a man suffering from Anterograde Amnesia (short term memory loss) after he has been hit on his head by the person who murdered his wife. Now, he is out pursuing the murderer, the only problem being he does not remember anything. His body is tattooed with little clues he has collected and everyone seems a deceiver. Christopher Nolan, who worked on a short story from his brother Jonathan Nolan, created a story that had the words, ingenuous, innovative, twisted stamped over it. Structured in a non-linear manner, this film served as the template for the Ghajinis of India (which the director claims are originals -except that the stories revolve around a man suffering from short-term memory loss, who has his body tattooed with clues, is searching for his wife’s murderer), in two languages - Tamil and Hindi.

AMORES PERROS (2000) -
I can go on and on and on about this film and never stop but that would mean I wil have to write a book. Director Alejandro Gonsalez Inarritu and screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga created a new format of filmmaking wherein three stories being told separately collided at a certain juncture and boy, was it good! This film worked on the themes of rivalry, aspirations, love, infidelity and served us a palette of brutally real filmmaking. Though, Gonsalez followed the same format with his future films such as 21 Grams, Babel, none were as stupendous and gobsmackingly brilliant as Amores Perros. Roger Ebert hailed Gonsalez as “…the new Mexican wave of filmmakers (alongwith Alfonso Cuaron and Gillermo Del Toro) who will change the way we look at films.”. Ever heard of a prophecy? I heard it from Ebert.

Written by Gyandeep Pattanayak