The Devil Wears Diversity? As the chick flick of the decade hit theatres, many issues surrounding diversity have surfaced. Here’s a contrarian one. As opposed to arguing about stereotypes being perpetuated, this is arguing one step ahead. The film is actually making fun of everything including stereotypes. In the 20 years since the last film, a lot of changes have taken place. To make a relevant part two therefore was a magnanimous endeavor. Unlike the decades where Lauren Weisberger (the writer of the book) and myself grew up, the film is marking a sharp turn towards progress. When we were growing up, Julia Roberts had to use a body double because there was no such thing as the perfect body. ontreal was smothered with ads gracing the hand of a 30 year old and a bum of a 14 year old for a Dior ad with morphing technology. Kate Moss and the waif look were in and paraded across Montreal’s subways. The women we saw in the film, in contrast, looked like they ate and had real body types. Lady Gaga even did a song about it. Emily (Emily Blunt), who is shown as being in charge for Dior in the film, was shown to be in her 40s and an independent mother to two kids while having a charming career. What a 180 degree turn to what Dior was doing earlier. Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep), the fabled boss from hell, was given a human side. And that human side included someone not having a family life inspite of having a family to raise to be able to rise so high. Unlike what’s sold and packaged to us about how more women need to work outside the home and rise to the top without a hitch, this film illustrates the obstacles women still face through such characters. In fact, 64% of women quit their jobs during the pandemic in the U.S. This is when the U.S. is the most industrialized country in the world with modern conveniences and social amenities. But yes, two to three decades ago, we couldn’t imagine Andrea (Anne Hathaway), Emily and Miranda being the archetypes they were however imperfect their lives were in today’s times. Instead, we had Susan Faludi’s The Backlash and much more feminist discourse about the perils of the messages behind the fashion and entertainment industry. The overall argument in essence was that less women were in charge behind the scenes or in higher positions of power. Therefore, this is likely what we owed to a lot of the regressive messages being given to us. Faludi’s book argued about the deliberate agenda being thrown everywhere to hold women back on the progress they made post World War 2 to the 90s. In fact, that to some degree is what likely led Margaret Atwood to write the dystopian Handmaid’s Tale when she did. In the way of ethnic minorities and the high qualifications they are depicted as having, the stereotypes feed off of a couple of given realities of the U.S. The families of many ethnic minorities migrated on the basis of being high skilled. So it comes as no surprise if these individuals in the film actually are highly educated or coming from Ivy Leagues. 78% of electrical engineers in the US were born outside of it as one example of this. The other point to consider is that the fashion industry is cut-throat. They also look for the best in every field because they can and have the budget for it. Why then is it a surprise that such individuals are being portrayed on such a platform? The film is also a coming-of-age story about fashion industry magazines in that print is being seen as a thing of the past and many journalists are being laid off. It’s the age of AI and social media. But it’s also reflecting a deeper undercurrent about the parameters of western financial feasibility of an industry. It’s not necessarily about what’s outdated. It’s about what’s being invested in or the idea of what investors decide to pull out of. For example, one of the things we will find in some parts of the U.S. are how some old towns must have been at their peak in their heyday when shipping was a thing. But now, they are rendered obsolete. So these sparsely populated towns are now considered pit stops on the way to somewhere else. Had the intention to replenish the people in these towns been there in the face of a changing technology, could they not have been accounted for? Instead, after investors pull out, nothing new is often offered to people to rebuild themselves. And this is owing to the strokes on policies that render it so. What the film is then showing is that it’s not that writing and publishing are the problem. It’s the importance being assigned to them that is. An engineer running a digital platform is being seen as contributing to the bottom dollar but a writer isn’t. Perks for such figures therefore are nastily cut out. Soon, a character professes, we won’t even need models or actual fashion shows thanks to AI. (Humanness be damned). Miranda reflects a generation that isn’t only digital in its outlook. They are human and have every intention of participating in the paid workforce. And just because AI can do so much doesn’t mean it should. And where once old people were being considered unemployable, it’s being predicted that 25% of the working population will be over 55 in the U.S. and more people want to work into their 70s and 80s in a more fulfilling way. While AI has far to go, everyone is evidently not crazy about it no matter the age. If anything, we hear many horror stories on it. Therefore, as the film spoofs the undercurrents of reality in the fashion world, it also highlights a more positive way forward. People will always be in “vogue” no matter the technology.
Join us on our spontaneous family trip from Patna to Vaishno Devi with no plan and no idea what we will do next. Learn as we learn what to look out for in a fun way. Our first stop - Lucknow https://youtu.be/tHyjJ3nRO38?si=Jz1ss.... #beplan, #betime, #bulaava
Based on the true success story of an amateur filmmaker Nasir Shaikh from Malegaon, Superboys’ gets to the nitty gritty of what it took for his films to become popular.
It’s the ‘90s and the camcorder is the big thing if you want to be able to make home videos or record weddings. In a bout of community theatrics, the whole community bands together to make a film parody of the blockbuster Sholay. (Producer Zoya Akhtar’s father incidentally co-wrote the script for this film).
The community group then goes on to have theatre screenings of these amateur videos and the film’s success goes wild in the small-town theatres. Eventually, they even make money. But then the compromises start as it seems Nasir is taking most of the credit and chunks of profit while other people aren’t getting anything from it. He is now thinking of getting product sponsors to help finance these films but then the stories are not as nice as they used to be. So now the films are flopping and Nasir is down on his luck and losing money. One of his close friends Shafique is also critically ill. Everything has come crashing and now the community must come together. Superboys’ is then the story of how the community has come together to make a powerful Superman parody in the face of all this. As is characteristic of Zoya Akhtar, the set design and art direction are extremely impeccable. The direction is very strong as is the acting. The film length could have been a bit shorter, but the film is very engaging. Even though we are now in the age of YouTube, it is every bit worth the watch. In a time where there is an erosion of community, the film rekindles the memory of community-centred activity.
The Return
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche, Charlie Plummer
Directed by: Uberto Pasolini
28 years after The English Patient comes The Return. In all their rawness and candour, Fiennes and Binoche have reunited in this Homer epic. Based on the Odyssey, the film takes us to end of the epic when Odysseus is returning home to Ithaca after 20 years.
After being washed along the shore after a long war, Odysseus must return to the kingdom safely where Queen Penelope has been resisting remarriage to half the goons on the island. No matter how much brainwashing and bullying persists, Queen Penelope is adamant about not remarrying.
In these years of Odysseus’s absence, the kingdom has become nothing short of a hooligan’s paradise. Their son, Telemachus, is trying his best to live up to the legacy of the king whom many believe to be dead. But in the face of so much blame towards the latter for lives lost during the war, can he hold a candle to his father? And can Odysseus return?
Brilliant to the core, the film is an excellent recreation of the epic. No better actors could have been chosen to play these roles.
A half-Black half-Korean drummer from LA discovers he has a son in Korea when he gets hired to work for a Korean song and dance show. As it turns out, his son is competing at the same prestigious dance show. But he needs a lot of direction. The movie then shows us how the father son duo builds a bond as the father guides not just his son but his peers too.
In this training period, we get to see two completely different styles of training for a competition. One is with aggressive disciplined tightness in a country fraught with competition while another is a more relaxed flow as you go approach. In the spirit of competing, sometimes people forget to have fun. The film shows kids how to enjoy themselves while competing for the joy of it all.
Behind the scenes, the father-son duo are father and son in real life too. The film was conceived during the pandemic as a what-if scenario by R&B grammy winner Anderson. Paak. After making videos with his son for YouTube, one day he thought what if he never knew his son before a certain time? What would his life be like then?
The film is highly entertaining. It enlightens us about the K-pop culture and popularity as it has come to be. It is great to see more diverse sub-cultures of the U.S. get highlighted on screen.
Swati Sharan
The Devil Wears Diversity?
As the chick flick of the decade hit theatres, many issues surrounding diversity have surfaced. Here’s a contrarian one. As opposed to arguing about stereotypes being perpetuated, this is arguing one step ahead. The film is actually making fun of everything including stereotypes.
In the 20 years since the last film, a lot of changes have taken place. To make a relevant part two therefore was a magnanimous endeavor. Unlike the decades where Lauren Weisberger (the writer of the book) and myself grew up, the film is marking a sharp turn towards progress.
When we were growing up, Julia Roberts had to use a body double because there was no such thing as the perfect body. ontreal was smothered with ads gracing the hand of a 30 year old and a bum of a 14 year old for a Dior ad with morphing technology. Kate Moss and the waif look were in and paraded across Montreal’s subways.
The women we saw in the film, in contrast, looked like they ate and had real body types. Lady Gaga even did a song about it. Emily (Emily Blunt), who is shown as being in charge for Dior in the film, was shown to be in her 40s and an independent mother to two kids while having a charming career. What a 180 degree turn to what Dior was doing earlier.
Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep), the fabled boss from hell, was given a human side. And that human side included someone not having a family life inspite of having a family to raise to be able to rise so high. Unlike what’s sold and packaged to us about how more women need to work outside the home and rise to the top without a hitch, this film illustrates the obstacles women still face through such characters. In fact, 64% of women quit their jobs during the pandemic in the U.S. This is when the U.S. is the most industrialized country in the world with modern conveniences and social amenities.
But yes, two to three decades ago, we couldn’t imagine Andrea (Anne Hathaway), Emily and Miranda being the archetypes they were however imperfect their lives were in today’s times. Instead, we had Susan Faludi’s The Backlash and much more feminist discourse about the perils of the messages behind the fashion and entertainment industry. The overall argument in essence was that less women were in charge behind the scenes or in higher positions of power. Therefore, this is likely what we owed to a lot of the regressive messages being given to us.
Faludi’s book argued about the deliberate agenda being thrown everywhere to hold women back on the progress they made post World War 2 to the 90s. In fact, that to some degree is what likely led Margaret Atwood to write the dystopian Handmaid’s Tale when she did.
In the way of ethnic minorities and the high qualifications they are depicted as having, the stereotypes feed off of a couple of given realities of the U.S. The families of many ethnic minorities migrated on the basis of being high skilled. So it comes as no surprise if these individuals in the film actually are highly educated or coming from Ivy Leagues. 78% of electrical engineers in the US were born outside of it as one example of this.
The other point to consider is that the fashion industry is cut-throat. They also look for the best in every field because they can and have the budget for it. Why then is it a surprise that such individuals are being portrayed on such a platform?
The film is also a coming-of-age story about fashion industry magazines in that print is being seen as a thing of the past and many journalists are being laid off. It’s the age of AI and social media. But it’s also reflecting a deeper undercurrent about the parameters of western financial feasibility of an industry. It’s not necessarily about what’s outdated. It’s about what’s being invested in or the idea of what investors decide to pull out of.
For example, one of the things we will find in some parts of the U.S. are how some old towns must have been at their peak in their heyday when shipping was a thing. But now, they are rendered obsolete. So these sparsely populated towns are now considered pit stops on the way to somewhere else. Had the intention to replenish the people in these towns been there in the face of a changing technology, could they not have been accounted for? Instead, after investors pull out, nothing new is often offered to people to rebuild themselves. And this is owing to the strokes on policies that render it so.
What the film is then showing is that it’s not that writing and publishing are the problem. It’s the importance being assigned to them that is. An engineer running a digital platform is being seen as contributing to the bottom dollar but a writer isn’t. Perks for such figures therefore are nastily cut out. Soon, a character professes, we won’t even need models or actual fashion shows thanks to AI. (Humanness be damned).
Miranda reflects a generation that isn’t only digital in its outlook. They are human and have every intention of participating in the paid workforce. And just because AI can do so much doesn’t mean it should. And where once old people were being considered unemployable, it’s being predicted that 25% of the working population will be over 55 in the U.S. and more people want to work into their 70s and 80s in a more fulfilling way. While AI has far to go, everyone is evidently not crazy about it no matter the age. If anything, we hear many horror stories on it.
Therefore, as the film spoofs the undercurrents of reality in the fashion world, it also highlights a more positive way forward. People will always be in “vogue” no matter the technology.
#TheDevilWearsPrada2, #MerylStreep, #LaurenWeisberger, #AnneHathaway, #EmilyBlunt, #Miranda, #Vogue, #AI, #Diversity, #Inclusion,#SusanFaludi, #Dior
5 days ago | [YT] | 0
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Swati Sharan
Many thanks to #PatnaMuseum, Bhairab Dasji, family ambassadors, supporters and journalists for the successful book launch for my father's book History of Patna from Ancient Times to Present. Enjoy reliving the memories in this video https://youtu.be/LhdF_k51Czo?si=WejrQ...
#patnajunction, #buddhasmritipark, #aryabhatt
10 months ago | [YT] | 0
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Swati Sharan
My review on #JaneAustenWreckedMyLife, #laurapiani, #camillerutherford, #charlieanson, #pablopauly, #mrdarcy, #prideandprejudice
helloimmigrant.com/desi-take-on-jane-austen-wrecke…
1 year ago | [YT] | 0
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Swati Sharan
Dancing along the trek to Vaishno Devi https://youtu.be/0yXy-XOL_vs?si=x0pYR...
#beplan, #betime, #betarget, #bulaava
1 year ago | [YT] | 0
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Swati Sharan
Dancing along the trek to Vaishno Devi #beplan, #betime, #bulaava
https://youtu.be/0yXy-XOL_vs?si=rHESb...
1 year ago | [YT] | 0
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Swati Sharan
Join us on our spontaneous family trip from Patna to Vaishno Devi with no plan and no idea what we will do next. Learn as we learn what to look out for in a fun way. Our first stop - Lucknow https://youtu.be/tHyjJ3nRO38?si=Jz1ss.... #beplan, #betime, #bulaava
1 year ago (edited) | [YT] | 0
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Swati Sharan
Thank you #Sapan for making this interview and piece possible on Pakistani Oscar nominee #MariamParacha for #Glassworker, #SheeshaGhar, #long hours, #competition, #90hours, #70hours, #L&T, #Infosys, #NarayanMurthy, #Subramanian
https://youtu.be/CzmrsymBDEs?si=VNbpa...
1 year ago | [YT] | 0
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Swati Sharan
Review from the #TIFF crypt- #SuperboysofMalegaon, #AdarshGourav, #VineetSinghKumar, #ManjiriPupala, #ReemaKagti, #VarunGrover, #NasirShaikh, #ZoyaAkhtar, #HelloImmigrant, www.helloimmigrant.com
Superboys of Malegaon
Starring: Adarsh Gourav, Vineet Singh Kumar, Manjiri Pupala
Directed by: Reema Kagti
Based on the true success story of an amateur filmmaker Nasir Shaikh from Malegaon, Superboys’ gets to the nitty gritty of what it took for his films to become popular.
It’s the ‘90s and the camcorder is the big thing if you want to be able to make home videos or record weddings. In a bout of community theatrics, the whole community bands together to make a film parody of the blockbuster Sholay. (Producer Zoya Akhtar’s father incidentally co-wrote the script for this film).
The community group then goes on to have theatre screenings of these amateur videos and the film’s success goes wild in the small-town theatres. Eventually, they even make money. But then the compromises start as it seems Nasir is taking most of the credit and chunks of profit while other people aren’t getting anything from it. He is now thinking of getting product sponsors to help finance these films but then the stories are not as nice as they used to be. So now the films are flopping and Nasir is down on his luck and losing money. One of his close friends Shafique is also critically ill. Everything has come crashing and now the community must come together. Superboys’ is then the story of how the community has come together to make a powerful Superman parody in the face of all this. As is characteristic of Zoya Akhtar, the set design and art direction are extremely impeccable. The direction is very strong as is the acting. The film length could have been a bit shorter, but the film is very engaging. Even though we are now in the age of YouTube, it is every bit worth the watch. In a time where there is an erosion of community, the film rekindles the memory of community-centred activity.
1 year ago | [YT] | 4
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Swati Sharan
Review from the #TIFF crypt for #HelloImmigrant
www.helloimmigrant.com
#TheReturn, #RalphFiennes, #JulietteBinoche, #CharliePlummer, #UbertoPasolini, #Homer, #Odyssey,#Odysseus
The Return
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche, Charlie Plummer
Directed by: Uberto Pasolini
28 years after The English Patient comes The Return. In all their rawness and candour, Fiennes and Binoche have reunited in this Homer epic. Based on the Odyssey, the film takes us to end of the epic when Odysseus is returning home to Ithaca after 20 years.
After being washed along the shore after a long war, Odysseus must return to the kingdom safely where Queen Penelope has been resisting remarriage to half the goons on the island. No matter how much brainwashing and bullying persists, Queen Penelope is adamant about not remarrying.
In these years of Odysseus’s absence, the kingdom has become nothing short of a hooligan’s paradise. Their son, Telemachus, is trying his best to live up to the legacy of the king whom many believe to be dead. But in the face of so much blame towards the latter for lives lost during the war, can he hold a candle to his father? And can Odysseus return?
Brilliant to the core, the film is an excellent recreation of the epic. No better actors could have been chosen to play these roles.
1 year ago | [YT] | 2
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Swati Sharan
#TIFF Review for #HelloImmigrant
#K-Pop
Starring: Anderson.Paak, Soul Rasheed
Directed by: Anderson.Paak
A half-Black half-Korean drummer from LA discovers he has a son in Korea when he gets hired to work for a Korean song and dance show. As it turns out, his son is competing at the same prestigious dance show. But he needs a lot of direction. The movie then shows us how the father son duo builds a bond as the father guides not just his son but his peers too.
In this training period, we get to see two completely different styles of training for a competition. One is with aggressive disciplined tightness in a country fraught with competition while another is a more relaxed flow as you go approach. In the spirit of competing, sometimes people forget to have fun. The film shows kids how to enjoy themselves while competing for the joy of it all.
Behind the scenes, the father-son duo are father and son in real life too. The film was conceived during the pandemic as a what-if scenario by R&B grammy winner Anderson. Paak. After making videos with his son for YouTube, one day he thought what if he never knew his son before a certain time? What would his life be like then?
The film is highly entertaining. It enlightens us about the K-pop culture and popularity as it has come to be. It is great to see more diverse sub-cultures of the U.S. get highlighted on screen.
#K-Pop, #Anderson.Paak, #SoulRasheed, www.helloimmigrant.com
1 year ago | [YT] | 0
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