on Harry Potter

The year 2000.

I still remember that day, when my father presented to me a paperback version of a certain book called ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’. I also remember, how after reading through the first few pages (the first chapter was called The Worst Birthday, I recollect ) I had closed the book and kept it somewhere and … well, yes, had stopped reading it. It made no sense to me. It seemed all too imaginary and hocus-pocus for me after the fairly more realistic and less-fantastical Enid Blytons and Tintins, that had been my constant companions and sleeping partners for the past few years. (yes, don’t you raise eyebrows now. flying chairs and gnomes and pixies were less fantastical than a jet of green light that killed people, or so I felt back then)

Now, however, when I look back on that day, I can only have a good laugh at the thing that was me twelve years back.

Yesterday marked the end of that era of my life that had begun on that day in the year 2000. An era that had begun in utter distaste, an era that had grown to become an inseparable part of my childhood and teenage years and an era that I feel blessed enough to have lived through.

There have been sagas and chronicles before, in English literature, as well as in English cinema. The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, The Pirates of the Caribbean, et al. Some of them are even, better than Harry Potter, I would dare say, from an absolute scale of reference.

But something set Harry Potter apart, right from its conception. Something made the child wizard connect with us. Something about Harry Potter, about Hogwarts, about Ron Weasley, about Hermione Granger, about Albus Dumbledore, about the rest of the Wizarding community. Reached within us. Identified with us. Something that Luke Skywalker and Obi Wan Kenobi, and Princess Leia couldn’t do. Something that Frodo, Gandalf and Bilbo Baggins couldn’t do either.

I guess, one factor that made it special was how the story of Harry’s life unfolded with that of our own. It was as if Harry Potter was one of us. He was eleven years old when the story began. We were of a similar age too, when we started reading the books. His schooling went alongside our own. He matured with us. 

This was something that neither Luke Skywalker, nor Frodo could do, for absolutely no fault of their’s, mind you.

Was it just this?

Hell no. Harry Potter reached out to an audience far expansive than just children of a particular age group. It appealed to the young, and to the old. To the housewife, and to the college goer. To the busy corporate, and to the archaic grey haired armchair stereotype.

Why was this then? Was it the story? Was it J K Rowling’s mastery with the pen? I guess we’ll never know. Also, it doesn’t matter much, even if we do. It definitely wasn’t the finest literary work ever. But then again, it was far superior from being just another work of literature, or so I feel. It was a new world that J K Rowling created, that merged seamlessly with the world of our own. A world that stared at us from the 4000+ pages of print. A world that drew us in, like a vortex, in a manner that no other fantastical world had ever drawn us before. And a world that left not one stone of doubt unturned and not one loose end before it dropped us back to reality.

Yesterday, as I sat through the final installment of the epic series, I cried like a little boy. The wilderness of feelings that gushed through my mind; through my self; through my body. Seemed choked by the sheer constipation of my ability to express them. I scarcely have felt more emotionally tugged before. As scene after scene rolled past in front of my eyes, all I could do was sit and stare, stunned to the very core.

To quote a certain review. The movie was “monumental cinema”. It  had everything that one would want. Nothing more, nothing less. It invoked every little bit of every possible feeling that one can muster. The sorrow that stuns you when you see Dobby’s grave; The rush of adrenaline when the Hungarian Ironbelly breathes fire right at you; The overpowering sense of elation when Harry Potter returns to Hogwarts; The revelation of Snape’s past, and his unconditional love for Lily Potter that blows your mind; The outburst of reverance when Minerva McGongall steps forward in the Great Hall. Oh man, this list goes on. The surge of new found respect for Neville Longbottom when he confronts Voldemort; The sheer finesse of Molly Weasley when she finishes off Bellatrix Lestrange, shouting, “Not my daughter, you bitch!” And the final flourish of triumph when Harry Potter “resurrects” himself and … the final duel … and the epic expression on Voldemort’s face when he realizes that his wand is no longer under his control.

The movie has it all. It reaches deep within your soul; reaches places you don’t know exist, and scours for every iota of feeling, and hunts them down. Personally, it is as if, someone had dipped me in liquid nitrogen and then hit me with a sledgehammer. Yes. That was the feeling. An inexplicable mishmash of wonder, shock, sorrow, and jubilance, (thought I doubt being hit by a sledgehammer while frozen makes you jubilant, but you get it, right?) It is something that no one can do justice by writing about. Needs to be experienced. First hand.

I really have nothing more to say about Harry Potter. I’ve been one of the millions who have stuck with Harry right from the beginning, till the very end, and I’m proud that I have.

And is this the end? Definitely not. The story may have ended, but the spirit of Harry Potter lives on. The voice of Dumbledore “Help shall always be give at Hogwarts to those who ask for it” and his reassuring smile; the undying spirit of Fred Weasley. The bravery and awe-inspiring courage of every Auror who sacrificed his life. The spirit of Sirius “Padfoot” Black. The character of Severus Snape, “the bravest man of them all”. And Neville Longbottom. For being the ideal Gryffindor. In spirit and in action.

I should end this now, lest I get more emotional. I can only thank Ms Rowling for everything. It’s been one helluva ride. And we’ve enjoyed every second on it.

To you J K. We all owe you one.

a collage of some of the posters featuring most of the major characters. (click to enlarge and see in greater detail)

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows part 1 : because a review is better late than never!

When I  was a kid I read a lot of Enid Blyton, like most other kids,. She was essentially the one person who made me read, save for my father who brought me her books. It began with Noddy, then went into more mature stuff (for want of a better word) like … the Wishing Chair and the Faraway Tree … where there were TopsyTurvy Worlds and gnomes and pixies and thought bubbles and children and … well, you get it don’t you?

This was when I actually realised that books invoked feelings in me. They made me happy, they made me sad, they made me laugh, and yes, they made me cry as well.

Something which continues till this day.

When I read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for the first time, I … well confess, I had cried when Dobby had died. And, yes, after a long long time in a cinema hall, yesterday, I cried. I don’t know why. Books invoke stronger emotions in me, than movies in general, but, I don’t know how or why, the scene of Dobby dying, made all those welled up tears in my eyes, flow down my cheeks and … well, the usual mushy stuff.

The characters in Harry Potter have a way of connecting with us. Maybe it’s because of the sheer length of the saga, and the fact that we’ve stuck on with it for quite a while now. Maybe it’s the fact that Harry and his friends have matured with us, progressed along with us. Or maybe it’s just that J K Rowling’s plain good at her job. Or maybe it’s all of these reasons. Whatever it is, it’s the fact that they somehow connect, that makes them so very close to us. And Dobby was one of that sort, oh yes.

Reverting to what I had in mind when I started this post, a review.

 HP 7 sure does a good job and there’s no denying it. Finally a Harry Potter movie which doesn’t make the non-Harry Potter follower (NHPF) feel like he’s on a roller coaster wearing a blind-fold. Which I daresay, the past few ones did. They grabbed the NHPF by the scruff of his neck, popped him atop a steed in some Mexican bronc-busting arena and set the steed loose. Unlike those ones, where the non-HP-fan would die a cruel and generally painful death while watching the movie, gaping in utter incomprehension, at the sheer amount of tomfoolery that happened in front of his eyes, this one’s milder. More composed. The NHPF, while watching this one, would just die a slow and painless death. Something akin to an overdose of sleeping pills.

So yes, from the point of view of the HP fanatic, this movie might just seem dull at times. Specially when Harry, Ron and Hermoine are wandering in the middle of nowhere; when Harry is in one of his many contemplative phases (weren’t there just too many of them?). But the dull part is, needless to say, triumphantly overshadowed by the exceedingly well portrayed … erm … not so dull parts.

The story is not new. We all know what happens. We all know what will happen. Voldemort’s forces are pretty much everywhere. Death eaters pop up now and then throughout the movie with alarming regularity. The Ministry of Magic has been taken over by the Dark Forces. The fiasco involving the seven Harrys in the beginning, laced with Mundungus Fletcher’s double-crossing and the Weasley twins humour make for a cracking start. Hagrid’s motorcycle escape and the subsequent regathering at the Burrow bring in the first couple of LumpsInThroats, more of which occur later. The first two are the deaths of Hedwig and Mad-eye Moody respectively. Then there’s Bill and Fleur’s wedding which fall prey to another Death Eater attack.  Harry, Ron and Hermione (HRH for speed’s sake)  flee upon hearing Shacklebolt’s warning and Disapparate to some place faraway. Voldemort’s growing impatience and frustration as Harry gives him and his Death Eaters the slip many a time are evident. Then there’s the finely rendered depiction of HRH breaking into the Ministry with the help of the Polyjuice potion and Umbridge’s subsequent confrontation with Harry. Harry now has a price on his head and he’s wanted “Undesirable no. 1” by the Wizarding community. The Ministry’s malpractices are on the rise and every possible bit of action is taken to ensure the destruction of Muggle borns and Muggle lovers.With great trepidation, HRH escape and run away, having procured one of the Horcruxes (the locket) from Umbridge. The chap who plays Rufus Scrimgeour does it well. (He appears earlier on when he comes to the Burrow to give HRH stuff they inherited from Dumbledore as left in his will).

Now the rift between Ron and Harry builds up. Ron’s impatience in finding the remaining Horcruxes, his frustration at being the Chosen One’s sidekick, and his suspicions regarding Harry’s feelings for Hermoine take a toll on him and he leaves. Shaken, Harry and Hermione then decide to visit Godric’s Hollow to try and find the sword of Godric Gryffindor which might prove to be helpful in the destruction of the Horcruxes. The trip, however backfires as Death Eaters in the guise of Bathilda Bagshot along with the serpent Nagini ambush them. The third LumpInTheThroat occurs here, when Harry sees for the first time in his life, his parents’ graves. Harry and Hermione barely Dissaparate and escape and return to the jungles.

One night Harry is guided by a mysterious silver doe to a frozen pond in the middle of the jungle and there he sees the sword of Godric Gryffindor lying deep under water. He breaks through the ice and dives in, but the locket-Horcrux around his neck tries to strangle him. This is where Ron comes in again, and saves him and recovers the sword. It is him who destroys the Horcrux then and there. In the meanwhile Hermione gets some leads from the Tales of Beedle the Bard and identifies the recurrence of an enigmatic symbol. Harry remembers that Xenophilius Lovegood had worn a similar symbol at the wedding. So the three decide to go and visit the Lovegoods’. There, the eccentric old man then tells them the story of the Deathly Hallows … the Elder Wand, the Ressurection Stone and the Cloak of Invisiblity and how three brothers of a certain folk tale went after each of them. This is followed by Xenophilius’ attempt to sell off Harry to the Death Eaters in return for Luna who has been taken captive. HRH escape yet again.

The final battle happens in the underground vault in Malfoy Manor where the prisoners have been kept. The prisoners viz Luna, Ovillander and the Goblins (who were in charge of the Gringotts bank). HRH is joined by Dobby the House-elf who eventually saves them all from the Death Eaters in general and Bellatrix in particular, and sacrifices his own life instead (final and climactic LumpInTheThroat).

Parallel to this story, Voldemort goes on his quest to procure all the Deathly Hallows for himself. We are made aware of his movements and activities through his connection with Harry, in the form of visions and dreams. His first mission, to find the Elder Wand or the Death Stick takes him to the wand maker Gregorovitch whom he threatens for the information as to the wand’s hereabouts. Gregorovitch tells him that Dumbledore had possessed it when he had died. The movie ends with Voldemort locating Dumbledore’s grave, cracking open the coffin, procuring the Elder Wand and rejoicing.

Of course, in case you are wondering, the story’s not over yet.

A few points :

• HRH did pack a good selection of clothes! They keep changing from one set to another everyday. Not the pitiful state of nomadic existence that JKR had talked about.
• Humour is scattered here and there. Mainly owing to Ron’s facial expressions.
• the mood is sombre throughout and strong undercurrents of dark forces play a big role.
• the animated shadow-play depiction of the Tale of Three Brothers stole the show. I wish I had more thumbs to up.
• unnecessary romance has been cut out. Good sign. The last two films had me retching and had given me nightmares about Edward Cullens with lightning scars on their foreheads.
• the HRH camaraderie thrives, flourishes and inspite of the Ron-Harry rift, reaches its zenith. 

All in all, finally a movie that does justice to the novel. Maybe splitting it into two parts was the key. Who knows, HP 4, 5 and 6 might just have been better in two parts. The ending is incomplete as it is expected to be. And sad, (Dobby, sniff). The beginning of the end has drawn to a close. A cliff-hanger of an ending is expected. And only a cliff-hanger will whet the appetite of the millions of fans all across the world. Hope David Yates finishes it off in the same vein in which he’s begun.

accio Summer 2011.

Jab We Met : Voldemort and Vader

Presenting, Darth Vader.  hssssssssh hsssssssssh

Bio : Originally Anakin Skywalker who fell prey to the wrong (read Dark) side of the Force. And later repented, but that is besides the point.

Weapons : Lightsaber. Custom form V specialist. make : Sith.

Finishing moves :  Force choke or Ripping off some body part with lightsaber, generally the head.

Strengths : highly trained Jedi knight, therefore gifted with extraordinary agility and intuition. Sith armour hand crafted by Sith workmen, is near impregnable. Unison with The Force.

Weakness : vulnerable to anything and everything once his respiratory mask his taken off. 

Presenting, Lord Voldemort.

Bio :  Originally Tom Marvolo Riddle. Greatest dark wizard of all time.

Weapons : Wand. 13½” (34.29cm) yew wood, with a phoenix feather core. Make : Ollivander’s

Finishing moves : Avada Kedavra, the killing curse.

Strengths : greatest dark wizard of all time. Well versed in all possible enchantments, spells. Mastery over non-verbal spells. Flight.

Weakness : no armour as such.

So now imagine. A ring. The sort they have in WWE. And in that. Darth Vader with his lightsaber. And Lord Voldemort with his wand.

TING TING TING

Lord Volemort’s snake like eyes stare intently at Lord Vader. He breathes back in return. All is well. Vader’s steady and deep breathing … the only sound in the silent arena.

And suddenly Voldemort lashes out. “AVADA KEDAVRA”

A jet of green light shoots out of the end of his wand … but Alas! All it takes is a well timed twirl of his lightsaber, and the green jet deflects harmlessly off Vader’s red blade.

Vader’s still breathing. Deep. Silent. Voldemort is … no not furious. Rather he’s perplexed. Was the Darth Vader mentioned in Sybill Trelawney’s prophecy too? It made no sense. Or was the Darth Vader Harry Potter himself. His slit-like nostrils flared in ambiguity. OK, he had to get stuff clarified.

“Look. Dude …”

“Silence. If you wish to address me, it shall be Lord Vader.”

“Screw you, Vader. Listen …”

Vader is taken aback. No one ever hasever dared to address him by anything except “Lord Vader” leave aside “Dude”. Voldemort wouldn’t be a Dopy-ite, or would he?

Voldemort goes on “Yeah so as I was saying. Are YOU the Chosen One too?”

Vader scratches his respirator. “Erm, Well. What IS a Chosen One? I was the one Obi Wan Kenobi chose to duel against, if that’s what you mean.”

“Ahh lite then.”

There, Voldemort was definitely BITSian. No doubt about it. But still better be sure.

“Are you BITSian?” he asks, uncertainly.

“Lol. No. Am not.” Voldemort gives his iconic maniacal and sinister laughter. “Just that, a lot of my fans are BITSians. The acad pressure is too much there I’ve heard, so they choose the Dark side.”

“You mean, they choose the Dark Side of the Force?” Vader is now excited. Had it not been for the mask, he would probably have been visibly excited too.

“Force?” Voldemort asks, “What Force?”

Vader is incredulous. Inside his mask, his mouth opens wide. “You mean, you don’t know what The Force is?”

“Oh, I get it. The thing in Star Wars comics kya? My fans like them too. 🙂 ” Volemort’s lips curl into a ghostly smile.

Vader breathes on. “Hmph”

A diversion here. Here a few pics depicting Darth Vader during his mood swings.

Darth Vader breathing.

Darth Vader taken aback.

Darth Vader visibly excited

Darth Vader mouth opened wide.

Coming back to the encounter.

Vader then asks. “Er … Voldy, temme something … erm …. do you have a nose?”

Voldemort is now visibly infuriated. Unlike Vader however, his facial changes are quite distinguishable. Here’s how he replied.

“Oh. Cool! A flat nose. (Sigh) I wish I remembered, what my nose looks like. Damn Obi Wan Kenobi!”

Voldemort gives his hollow laughter. “Vader, ” he asks. “You gotta agree … your costume rocks man! I find my robes all slushy and … old and all. Would die to get one like yours, man!”

Vader smiles. Yes Like this.

  

“Well, I don’t like it much. I know it’s strong and all … cool also. But also kinda clumsy. In the end you gotta agree .. Jedis weren’t trained to fight with this humongous piece of metal all over them. Yeah, you do get the supervillain attention, but still … and by the way” Vader continues, ” How did your nose become that flat. As in … it was normal when you were Tom Riddle right?”

“Ahh, dude”, Volemort sighs and answers, “that is a sad story, One of my Death Eaters. James Cameron. He made this movie called Titanic. A pretty sissy story involving love and a sinking ship …”

Vader interrupts, “A SINKING ship? Our ships don’t SINK. ROFL!!! Here take a look” and hands him a picture.

“Our ships,” he continues, “are kick ass \m/  and that,” he points at the picture, “is a Star Destroyer \m/ “

“You guys FLY in ships?”

“yeah, what else do you do in them? Waltz?” Vader snaps back.

“LMAO”, Voldemort shrieks, “we fly on brooms!!! They are so much more cooler, and convenient. Though of course, I can just will to fly.” he smirks and suddenly levitates himself.

“Wanna try?”, he guffaws, “Wingardium leviosa” he points his wand at Vader and shouts.

Vader is lifted, and he shrieks out loud. Well this is how he shrieks.

Voldemort releases him and says, “So you want to know how I got this nose, eh?”

“That retarded Cameron, decided to make a scene involving me. I was to stand with my arms outstretched on the very front of the hull of the ship. Like this.”

“The Aurors then decided to storm in … bad timing, the spineless morons. They can’t attack me up front huh? And one of them, decided to Stupefy me. And so I stood there for ages and ages. The winds lashed against my face and nose, and eroded it. Sucks man.”

Vader is bewildered. Yeah, like this :

“When did THAT happen?” he asks, uncertainly, and does this :

Suddenly there’s a flourish. And a ringing laughter. And a new figure appears in the ring. And  Voldemort’s and Vader’s faces pale. Needless to say. Voldemort’s face paled, more than what it generally is. And Vader’s, yes, you guessed it right. It paled like this :

It was Him. “The He Who Must Not Be Named … The Chosen One … all put into one …” Voldemort breathed.

Vader breathed harder … “The Jedi who ate the Force … that’s Him too.”

A few moments of silence. Then Voldemort shouts. “RUN!!!!” Vader follows without a second thought. 

But suddenly the new entrant points at them and talks. And this is what happens.

Yes you guessed it right.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince: a review

I am indeed late, in producing this post, since Harsh, Avada Kedavra, and Shankar have already comprehensibly reviewed this movie. But … better late, than never … so here I go:

As a book, the Half Blood Prince never really impressed me, compared to the others in the HP series … because in the end it was a complete triumph of evil over good. The main emphasis of the story was as a buffer to prolong the series and allow a seventh book, than take the story any futher. As a result, HP and party, end up in the same position from where they began … in fact I would say, in a much worse position than from where they began … owing to Dumbledore’s unfortunate death. The main focus of the book is however, the revelation of Voldemort’s past, which Ms Rowling has indeed done brilliantly.

back to the movie:

If you are a Harry Potter freak (HPF), and you would rather live by and die by Harry Potter and Hogwarts and JK Rowling, and, you consider reading any other book when a new HP is released to be blasphemous, then you will not like the movie … because the movie seems to … borrow cues from Rowling rather than filmify her novel …. you get what I mean, right? The movie is a heavly mutated … (HPFs would consider mutilated!) version of the novel, and many, many things which JKR had written or mentioned has been … intentionally overlooked, and modified … by David Yates. The entire beginning sequence has been changed … there’s no glimpse of Privet Drive, and Harry meets Dumbledore at a subway station.

Then however, the movie does try to catch up with the book, but fails.

If however, you are the sort who likes Harry Potter … OK, make it love Harry Potter, but that’s it !… no other crazy feelings …. then I vouchsafe, you will enjoy the movie. After all one must agree, that filmifying this novel is difficult. If it wasn’t a Harry Potter … no one would have considered filmifying it … the story is too mundane to be filmified, especially after the Goblet of Fire, and the Order of the Phoneix … which were a lot more thrilling and movie-ish ! Considering that, kudos to David Yates! What he has done, is stuck to the essentials and produced a fairly decent movie to continue the series, masterfully compressing 600 pages to 2.5 hours …

A few points to note:

• WHAT was all the hullaballo attack at the Burrow for? Was it mentioned in the book? If no, then why include it? Specially, considering the fact, that it had no further consequence apart from bringing Harry and Ginny together.
• HOW could the Burrow be attacked that easily? J K Rowling has made it pretty clear that the Burrow was under very strong protective charms
• WHY was Madam Rosemarta NOT shown? Specially when she played a crucial role in the book by informing Draco Malfoy that Dumbledore has left the castle, which allowed the Death Eaters to strom in?
• In order NOT to show Madam Rosemarta, David Yates, has modified an important feature of Hogwarts castle by allowing Dumbledore and Harry to apparate from within its walls. the reason Dumbledore gives is pretty lame – that staying with him has some advantages.
• The movie does NOT thrill. It does NOT make you cling to the edge of your seat … in fact I had my posterior well snugly placed in the middle throughout. The movie is NOT heart stopping. The only point where there is a slight “suspense” is when the Inferi grab Harry in the cave and pull him down. Dumbledore’s recovery and his saving Harry has been very well depicted indeed.
• lastly, and MOST importantly … WHY was Harry not immoblised in the final encounter? WHY did he look on as Draco disarmed Dumbledore? Weak links indeed!

A few more observations:

• Alan Rickman (Severus Snape) still rules the roost as far as the cast is concerned … he is just phenomenal!
• I sorely missed a chase for the snitch, which I generally look forward to in an HP movie 😦
• I didn’t actually find the romance to be as glaring as others did … seriously … it was just for a maximum of 15 mins … or did I fall asleep? OK, there was a lot of unnecessary Ginny Weasley in the movie.
• Rupert Grint has grown stupider and Daniel Radcliffe hasn’t grown much. Emma Watson is pretty much the same too! I particularly liked Tom Falton (Draco Malfoy) ‘s acting. And yeah, this new Tom Ridlle is weird … the Chamber of Secret’s one was waaaay cooler.
• The young Dumbledore somehow reminded me of Metallica frontman James Hetfield … lol …
• Lavender Brown looked like a middle aged woman
• Slughorn was pretty neat too … I mean, the way he sunk into the character, was appreciable
• I hated the Dark Mark … I mean, after the Goblet of Fire … this one was unacceptable. Totally.
• The cave scene and the openeing death eater scene were done reealy well … I loved the way Dumbledore fought the Inferi … though the ending seemed a bit tooo hurried
• the chase and the fight in the Astronmoy tower part was the biggest let-down because it quite simply failed to capture the thrill and the action that JKR had so vividly painted … David Yates just made the Death Eaters waltz into Hogwarts, kill Dumbledore, and escape with a rearkable degree of nonchalance … It didn’t just suit the movie at all 😦
• There’s absolutely no point in rating the cinematics and special effects because every new Hollywood movie sets a new standard … this one was AS good … especially the beginning death eater scene, the Pensieve scenes and the Cave scene.

Now from the perspective of those unfortunate souls who are absolutely unaware of the story … who went to watch Kambakkht Ishq, and ended up watching harry Potter because KI was house full … for people like them, who can only think of Harry Potter as something sharing the same initals as Hewlett Packard … well I symapthise with you folks. You SHOULD have cursed the creator, the director, the actor … everything by now! I would have suggested, wait for the next Kambakt Ishq show and go for that … or else buy the DVD of Singh is Kinng and enjoy it at home. Would have been better options than HP for you!

Finall rating: well … 3/5