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| Johnny Depp: Storyteller |
It?s the story of a storyteller, writing his best and most-famous-to-be story. In that, Finding Neverland is the sum of its words and images. From the first few minutes begins a journey into Neverland, where anything is possible if you believe in it strongly enough.
It?s just a dog, says young Peter. What a horrible candle-snuffing word, replies Uncle James. It?s like saying, he can?t climb a mountain, he?s just a man. Or, it?s not a diamond, it?s just a rock.
And a man dancing with his dog in the park transforms into a circus performer waltzing with a bear in a hall with tall pillars, bright hanging lights and lots of elegant clowns.
Neverland is not Utopia. It is the imagination. The storyteller?s wife wants to go to a place where there are lots of good people floating like autumn leaves. There isn?t such a place, says her husband. There is, she sighs sadly. It?s called Neverland.
Everything is in the hands of the ticking crocodile, because time chases all of us. Yet, one boy manages to stay a child, simply because he believes in it.
Young Peter puts it best. I?m not Peter Pan, he says solemnly. He is, adds the boy, with an almost imperceptible nod towards the master storyteller. The man who believed anything was possible, if you believe in it enough. Without a flea?s breath of doubt?
The imagery and camerawork feed the fantasy, focusing on detail. A piece of cake dipped in a cup of tea. The storyteller opening the door to his room and entering a sunny meadow. A stamp stuck on the ceiling in a childish game and forgotten, fluttering to the floor. Grandmother talking to the four boys with a hook for a hand. The lines between reality and imagination are blurred in games of pirates and prisoners, cowboys and Indians.
Sorrow intrudes. Peter?s dark eyes well up as he trembles with the anguish of losing his father. He?d take us on a fishing holiday, mother said. He died the next day. He hadn?t moved in weeks, but I started planning my fishing holiday. Your mother wasn?t lying, replies Uncle James. That was her hope.
That hope died when mother died. But she?s in every page. She?s in Neverland. You can see her whenever you want to. If you believe.
Forget the reality, forget that fact that these were real people. Dive into the fantasy of a story that still warms the cockles of the heart. Believe, and it is possible, at the multiplexes and New Empire this week.
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| Gayatri Joshi: Divine intervention |
She might not have been as lucky for Ashutosh Gowariker as Gracy Singh was in Lagaan, but Gayatri Joshi certainly sparkled in Swades. Having kept a low profile till the release of the film last year, Gayatri went on to win best debutante trophies at many a film awards do.
The model-turned-actress is now trying to go for an image makeover, being the glam girl after the thanda teacher act in the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer. Reportedly, Gayatri was offered the role of the hero?s sister and that made her realise that she needed to slip out of those salwar kameezs and into something more trendy. The first step in that direction comes in the form of her Goddess act on Channel [V].
A commerce graduate from Mumbai, Gayatri began her modeling career while still in college. One of the five finalists at the Miss India beauty pageant in 1999, she was chosen to represent India at the Miss International in Japan in 2000. Then Gayatri moved on to the plummest of modelling assignments and commercials with some of the biggest brands before featuring in music videos by Jagjit Singh and Hans Raj Hans.
To know more about the gorgeous Gayatri, you can tune in to [V] Goddess Special on April 13 at 10 pm. The repeat telecast is on April 14, at 11 am, April 17, at 2 pm, April 27 at 10 pm and April 28 at 11 am.
