LAGAN - movie review

   

       On this Independence Day we had a movie screening of LAGAN at our Department of English. The main purpose in watching this movie was to critically evaluate the main key points and to see the refraction of  Pre-Independence in the movie.

  

 

  In The very beginning when the movie started the music was of a flute and then suddenly when the background changes to a soldiers cap the music of trumpets starts playing, from my view this shows the domination of British government on India.

   

  The plot goes as there is no rain for a year in the village and the villagers are waiting for the rain. there isn't enough water to drink also. the farmers whose work is totally dependent upon rain thus they are helpless.

   The character of Bhuvan the protagonist of the movie is displayed very caring for animal.In his first scene we see that some British soldiers are about to shoot a dear and Bhuvan saves it from them but in the end he gets caught and taken to the Britishers.

  The language of British soldiers was bad in a way. when they killed the dear they said ,"finally killed the  DAMN creature. from this we can say that they were heartless. this kind of language for a speechless animal is not good sign.

    When the raja goes to the soldier and asks to reduce the lagan. the British soldier asked him to eat non veg even though he knew that he is a pure vegetarian still he asked him to eat the non veg food and told him that if he will eat the lagan will be reduced. this kind of  behavior with a king is not apt for any soldier.

   One day the black clouds filled with water set in the sky and everyone sang the song of happiness, in the song they tried to reflect that Hindus and Muslims were vary good in relation in that time. both were together in the song of rain but the clouds went away and rain didn't fell , this displays the reliability of human on nature.

  Another character was of Gauri, whom is fallen in love with bhuvan and bhuvan also realize that he also loves her but whenever she tries to talk about marriage bhuvna makes fun of her.

 

  Then the scene of bet came about winning the game of cricket over British and don't pay lagan for three years or if they loos they have to play triple lagan this year. this made bhuvan a game changer and he accepted the challenge.

  

When bhuvan was convincing everyone for the game one time ball went up to the hill and accidentally the bell rang so everyone thought that this is the wish of god to play the game. this kind of religious belief was there in that time.  

  

The sister of the British soldier came to bhuvan and helped them in learning the rules of the game. but the main problem was language because the villagers don't understand English language.the sister of British soldier fell in love with bhuvan and thus simultaneously two love story was going on.  

   Then the day of match came and the real face of British soldiers was reveled in that. that used bad language for villagers. and when the villagers started getting runs from playing this game good their personal rage came out when the captain said that knock his head down and the injured some of the villages while playing the game.

When Kachara came on the batting side they said that this is a sitting duck means this is a easy to catch pray . this kind of language displayed their frustration. and also the cast conflict is displayed as a big issue in this movie.   

Thinking activity on Wordsworth's Preface to Lyrical Ballad

Question.1]  What is the basic difference between the poetic creed of  'Classicism' and 'Romanticism'?

Ans:- the major difference between classicism and romanticism is classical writer and poets wrote with intellect as it is the guiding force and romantic wrote with imagination as it is the guiding force the shift was from intellect to imagination.

key words are :- restrain - liberty , freedom

classical master - medieval  - middle age

citylife - country side

Question.2] Why does Wordsworth say 'What" is poet? rather than who is poet?

Ans :-  From wardswarth's view poet is  human being ..who is overall "in degree" a far batter human being than ordinary human being.

Question.3] What is poetic diction?Which sort of poetic diction is suggested by Wordsworth  in his preface?

Ans :- key word :- Diction 

Diction means that the way of choosing words for a poem. 

wardswarth says that a real man will not do the poem in such ornamental language. so biography of literia coleridge asked him that whom he considers as a real man. the real man in a country side man this answers to coleridge is already given by wardswarth in his preface.

Question.4] What is poetry?

Ans :- Poetry is a kind of medium to teach the people  morality with delight Poetry is a breathe and finer spirit of all knowledge..According to Wordsworth,"Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings; it takes it origin from emotions recollected in tranquility".

Question.5] Discuss 'Daffodils - I wandered lonely as a cloud'with reference to Wordsworth's poetic creed.

Ans :- If one wants to elaborate the defination of wardswarth on poetry his very famous poem Daffodils is the best example. from very beginning the poem is in past tense till third stanza and in the last one the revelation of his recollection of memories when he went to walk in the nature which was captured by his eyes comes out with the powerful overflow which exactly is the definition he wants to tell us.

Thinking activity:- Coleridge's Biographia Literaria

       The Biographia Literaria is a critical work by Samuel Taylor Coleridge which is contained in 24 chapter.In this critical disquisition,Coleridge concerns himself not only with the practice of criticism but also with its theory.In the chapter of XIV of Biographia Literaria,Coleridge's view on nature and function of poetry is discussed in Philosophical term. The difference between prose and poem is discussed by Coleridge and the difference between poetry and poem is discussed by philosopher.

• Difference between Poem and Prose. 

               If we see the difference between poem and prose we can not find a huge difference in them.it very hard to find the clear cut difference and dissimilarities in them. The main difference between these two is related with the object.The language of poem is sometimes highly ornamental and also we find complexity of word.While in the Prose,the language  is very straight forward and we do not find a use of rhyme and meter like poem.To make the poem decorative,poet uses some meter or rhyme which brings artificiality in it. prose are for giving information where as poems are to give pleasure. 

• Difference between poem and poetry.

           

   Poem and Poetry also has a thine line between them which can separate them.  A poem is the arrangement of words which can be described as something made or created.A poem is a literary term written in verse with rhyme,meter and musicality which give us delight.While the poetry can be described as a activity of poet's mind,as Coleridge points out that "poetry of the highest kind may exist without meter and even without the contra-distinguishing objects of poem".

               He also adds that 'poetry' is an activity of mind and a poem is merely one of the forms of its expression, a verbal expression of that activity is basically an activity of imagination. If we look at this art of work than it can be also considered as a poetry.

Thinking Activity on plato and aristotle

 

Question :- How far do you agree with Plato’s objection to freedom of expression and artistic liberty enjoyed by creative writers? Name the texts (novels, plays, poems, movies, TV soaps etc which can be rightfully objected and banned with reference to Plato’s objections)

Ans :- I agree with Plato's objection to freedom of expression and artistic liberty enjoyed by creative writers. because literature should give a mirror-image of life it should reflect real life incidents in itself. creative writers took itto another level and by freedom of expression and artistic liberty writer started writing the things which is only possible in imaginative world and not real life. Nowadays a TV show PORUS is going on. In which the story of Puru is narrated but there are so many imaginative parts given. Like his life as a tribal people in childhood and then as king and the war between him and Alexander and many such things are not acceptable if we considere the real life story of maharaja Purshottam.

Question :- With reference to the literary texts you have studied during B.A. programme, write brief note on the texts which followed Aristotelian literary tradition (i.e. his concept of tragedy, catharsis, tragic hero with hamartia etc)
  Ans :- With reference to B.A there was a story of morden literature named 'Black cat'. In the story the concept of tragedy is full filled. The unnamed character first deals with catharsis as he losses all of his emotions towards animals whom he loved the most onec. the moment narrator tried to kill the cat but eventually kills his own wife by mistake. This leads us to the conclusion of Hamartia ; The error of his judgement and thus he himself slipped to his downfall.

Question :- With reference to the literary texts you have studies during B.A. programme, write brief note on the texts which did NOT follow Aristotelian literary tradition. (i.e. his concept of tragedy, catharsis, tragic hero with hamartia etc.)
  Ans:- Far From The Madding Crowd is a novel which i think did not follow Aristotelian literary tradition. In the novel there are more then one main characters and also they doesn't belong to any godlike figure or any warrior type human being. where else there are error of judgement by Bathsheba in novel but it doesn't leads her directly to a horrible end ; till the return of Troy novel also don't have any kind of tragic sopt.

Question :- Have you studied any tragedies during B.A. programme? Who was/were the tragic protagonist/s in those tragedies? What was their ‘hamartia’?
  Ans:- Othello is one of one of the tragic protagonist from the tragedy "Othello". the hamartia of othello was he believed what others told him without checking the credibility of the truth and his fate also done a great part in that. In the end when he goes to kill Desdemona ; his hamartia overcomes thus he doesn't listen to his own betterhalf and kills her. Desdemona gets killed without any reason and thus Othello's hamartia is Believing others without checking credibility of truth.

Question :- Did the ‘Plot’ of those tragedies follow necessary rules and regulations proposed by Aristotle? (Like chain of cause and effect, principle of probability and necessity, harmonious arrangement of incidents, complete, certain magnitude, unity of action etc)
5 :- Yes , Othello follows the rules like chain of cause and effect , principal of probability and necessity and unity of actions. when Othello findouts that the Handkerchief of his mother which was given to Desdemona as present is missing and by Desdemona's misfortune she tells him a lie about it this incident follows the rule Chain of cause and effect.

GPSC workshop

        

     At Atal Auditorium MKBU organized A workshop on Civil Service Exam. The best career option through GPSC  and as Student of English Department we attend it with our co-dinatore Vaidehi Hariyani ma’m. The Career and Counseling cell of Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University organized A workshop on Civil Service Exam. The best career option through GPSC

           

      There were two sessions 1^st session was of the opening the latest Atal Auditorium and 2^nd was of speakers on GPSC.

      In the first introductory session there were several speech by various speaker. Education Minister Bhupendrasinh,Chudasma Dr. Girish Vaghani Vice chancellor of University MKBU,and former Vice Chancellor Dr. Zala Sir , Shree K. P. Swami,  they all  gave introductory speech and exposed their gratitude for opening of  new Atal Auditorium in our University.

       In the Second Session is the core part of Workshop. In this we have a four Speaker. One by one they gave their speech The session begins with the great young motivational speaker Charansinh Gohil, who is Nayab Collector. He share one bitter truth that everyone desire for something else and becomes something different. As he put himself in the same situation. He wishes to become doctor but his road diverged to different path. He has studied science and was the first ranker. But later on he decided to leave it and wanted to do something that brings change in society. He has faced so many hurdles in his life but never give up at any

cost.

        Second was Veer a Bhai Sambhal coming from middle class family. he told that social background doesn’t matter, what matter is Commitment and always be ready for uncertainty of future.   He talks about his personal life and how he reach at top level in his life. By being an external student he achieved a first rank in all Bhavnagar in GPSC. He gave some inspirational quote through his real experience.
   

         Third one was Vivek Tank Sir he gave us information about papers and syllabus and how to  prepare it. He through more light on the subjects as well as preparation method. He gave us strategy about how to prepare, and our goal should be fixed for a certain thing.

           Forth and the last speaker was  Pravinsinh. He shared his own experience in his life about giving the exams and failing many times but he never gave up. It made us full with energy.his speech  was also very convincing and it helped us in many ways for looking forward for this kin of exams.

         After this session there was a question answer session and than the program took rest.

      The allover impression was very effective and It was much helpful for student to understand the way of exam and its preparation.

Ben Jonson

                            Ben Jonson

        Ben Jonson was born on 11 June 1572 at Westminster , London. He was A Playwriter , Poet and also Actor. he wrote English poetry and as well as stage comedy. He is known for VOLPONE , The Alchemist and Every Man In His Humor.He was a successor of Shakespeare . He was a Classic writer and well educated man. As an actor he was the protagonist as “Hieronimo” in the play THE SPANISH TRAGEDY .

⤷ EVERY MAN IN HIS HUMOR(1598)
              In this work he wrote about a man, named Knowell.who is very concerned about for his boys moral development, and attempts to spy on his own son. there was a merchant -"kitely". he suffers from intense jealously. who thinks his wife has an affair with someone else. the act is full of humor and with great building skills by Ben Jonson
⤷ EVERY MAN OUT OF HIS HUMOR (1599)
The Drama is in 5 acts, the settings is of London
The act one starts from autumn in 1599, there is a clown character who speaks "Fustian" as a mimicry of John Marston's style.
it has several reference of Shakespeare too in it.
it is a part of "war of the theaters"

Views on Mario Vargas's Interview

 On June 27,
 Mario Vargas was interviewed by The World Post which was named

Reading 'Lolita' in the #MeToo era

 From the interview I liked this five views of Sir Mario Vargas...

• Literature is a testimony of what we want to hide in the real word. This is the raison d’être of literature. You cannot attack literature for our vices and prejudices and stupidities. I think this is very important because I am convinced that the feminist movement’s voice should be heard, but I don’t accept this idea of censorship for literature or for culture in general.

•  The power of idea :- Young people today tend to think that images can form modern creative citizens. They don’t. Images create a passive citizen, more easily domesticated than the citizen formed by ideas

• History and literature are faces of a coin. They are so close, and in many cases, the literary version of a historical part prevails over a historian’s account.

• Writing was a way to participate in the creation of a different kind of society: freer, more just, more liberal.

•  The ideas of Sartre encouraged me to become a writer and made me understand that writing was not only for creating pleasure but also a tool for change.

Post Truth

                                                Post Truth 

            The word post truth was selected by Oxford English Dictionary as Word Of The  Year in 2016.

                  According to Oxford Dictionary the meaning of post truth is "Relating to or Oxford denoting circumstances in which facts are less influential in shaping public opinion then appeals to emotions and personal belief .
 
                  As per my understanding the term post-truth means true facts which are essential for a particular action are not given the right attention but the fact which is accepted or believed by some man in power or a person whom is a high rated personality are accepted by all or are by telling the lie again and again made the lie "truth" .

                  For example as our political leader and prime minister Modiji had said many times a numbers of figures .. no doubt some of them are true but there also many things which isn't true but still we have blind faith in his talks and won't protest against him.

 
   
                  

Post-Viewing Task on Hamlet

                   Screening Movie: Kenneth Branagh’s ‘Hamlet’. Based on   

 William Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’

                                          

    
      

     ➤ How faithful is the movie to the original play?

   

   Ans - The movie hamlet is partially faithful with the original play. The movie and the book has textual similarity. The dialog are adopted from the play itself. but as the play the setting was of 12th or 13th century and in the movie the setting was of 19th century. This can be seen by the dress of characters in the movie and places which was displayed in movie.

          
                another difference was when Polonius and Claudius tells Ophelia to talk with hamlet and they hide behind curtains in the play version but in the movie they hide behind the glass. this differences are there in the movie hamlet.


    ➤ After watching the movie, have your perception about play, characters or situations changed?
    
     Ans  - My perceptions changed while watching movie when the ghost scene came. I thought that it will come after some brief introduction of kings death. and the marriage of Gertrude and Claudius. The character of Gertrude changed my perception because i thought she will be in sorrow no matter she married Claudius but she seems much happier after king hamlet's death.
              In Characters my perception for the character of Gertrude changed. i thought she will be in more sorrow but in movie it seems that she is in more of Joy than sorrow. 


    
     ➤ Do you feel ‘aesthetic delight’ while watching the movie? If yes, exactly when did it happen? If no, can you explain with reasons?

       Ans :-  The character of hamlet is very humors in many scene's it made us laugh also with his madness which made us refresh in this long four hours movie and there are also some long scene's which left us yawing. when the group of player came one of them told a very long story which i think is not needed there, then Horatio finds out that Ophelia became mad that scene is also not needed from my perspective and when Claudius and Leartice talk about the sword fight that scene is also very long and can be cut out from movie or made smaller. 


     ➤ Do you feel ‘catharsis’ while or after watching movie? If yes, exactly when did it happen? If no, can you explain with reasons?

  Ans :- yes I felt 'catharsis' while watching the movie for Ophelia and Hamlet. I felt pity for Ophelia because she didn't knew the motives of her father and went to meet Hamlet and then Hamlet thought that she is with his uncle and came here to spy on him so he becomes angry and does physical violence on her and tells her many bitter words. this lead them towards the destruction of their relationship. 
             I felt sympathetic fear from Hamlet because, after getting known the killer of his father is his own uncle and his mother has a part in this sin of killing her own husband he went in deep melancholy and was reacting as a Mad person may be he can do something in this madness which can lead him towards his destruction.
  
     ➤ Does screening of movie help you in better understanding of the play?

     Ans :-  yes screening of movie helped me in better understanding of the the play because in the movie they tried to cover almost all of the dialogues from the play so it is faithful to watch the movie and as we all know with audio-video visuals one can remember more than reading. 

        ➤ Was there any particular scene or moment in the movie that you will cherish lifetime?

       Ans:-  No, I don't think that there is any scene in the movie which will cherish lifetime.

       ➤  If you are director, what changes would you like to make in the remaking of movie on Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’?   
       
            Ans :- If I am director I will try to make the setting of the movie look like 13th century, to give the movie that kind of spark which I think it seeks in this version by Kenneth Branagh.


       ➤ In the beginning of the movie, camera rolls over the statue of King Hamlet out side the Elsinore castle. The movie ends with the similar sequence wherein the statue of the King Hamlet is hammered down to the dust. What sort of symbolism do you read in this?

            Ans :- these two scene's are the symbol of one's downfall by the urge of revenge. in the very beginning we saw king Hamlet's statue was standing in its all power and reputation, after that king Hamlet's ghost came and told Hamlet to take his revenge from his murderer. this urge of king Hamlet after his death lead all of his family and kingdom to the downfall. In the end every one died and Fortinbras concurred the Elsinore castle. that symbolize the downfall of the royal family and the kingdom for revenge of a dead king.   
 

      ➤ While studying the play through movie, which approach do you find more applicable to the play? Why? Give reasons with illustrations.
    
      Ans :- while studying the play I think there are three approaches which are applicable to the play. 

• psychological  approach 
• feminist approach
•  cultural studies                

1.  psychological approach :- Hamlet's madness and Ophelia's  madness can be taken as examples for this approach. when Hamlet finds out about the murder of his father he goes in deep melancholy and Ophelia goes mad when Hamlet tells her bitter words and done physical violence on her. when Hamlet found out that his own mother and his uncle killed his father he thinks about the betrayal of them and acts madness.
2. feminist approach :- Ophelia and Gertrude are two female characters in Hamlet. If we see these both character with feminist approach, Hamlet thought that she is in love with his uncle so she married him but there may be some other reasons, may be she thinks about her protraction against other enemy. Ophelia was misbehaved by Hamlet because he thought that she was sent from her father to spy on Hamlet and she doesn't love him but the actual truth is just the opposite. we saw this all character from Hamlet'' prospective that is why we say that the female character are not moral but feminist reading tells us that there may be some other reasons for both.
3. cultural approach :- Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are the two character whom are not given proper importance in the play of hamlet or in the movie too. if we see this as cultural approach their are used by the superior power and when they died in the end but the news of their death is just given by two dialogues. this represents the monarchy and its dark side.    

         ➤ Which of the above mentioned approaches (in Pre-viewing task) appeals you more than other?Why? Give reasons.

           Ans :-  Psychoanalytical App  and Feminist Approach are the two approaches are appealing from my views because the madness of Ophelia and Hamlet are apt for Psychological approach and the characters of Ophelia and Gertrude and the violation on them , less importance for both are apt for the feminist approach.