The World of majidi-COLOR OF PARADISE (Rang e Khoda)

With this movie majidi scales exotic heights in tems of visual beauty and subdued scintillating story telling style. In one of my previous posts i had penned my thoughts about the tamil movie mozhi. Actually i would have raved so much about that movie and would have sort of said that to be a definition of a feel good movie . And it on a whole got a spectaular reception across movie buffs. Both these movies handle the world of differently abled. But let me tell you frankly that Color of Paradise proves a ton times to be better than mozhi. No idea of belittling a movie or a director. Just wanted to compare and scale them so as also to understand the void in tamil cinema to create more sensible pictures. With no further digression let us get back to he world of majidi.

Majidi in this movie captures the world of a 8 year old Blind boy Mohammed. Mohammed studies ina school for the blind in tehran far away from his family. His family comprosis of his widowed father, 2 sisters and a doting grndmother. Now the father has a problem. He wants to get re married and mohammed could be a possible barrier. As it might take his whole life to care of the poor blind boy. He tries to plead with the scool authorities to have him with them for ever. The school refuses , as it is customary to shut down all activities for 3 months and all children will have to be taken back to their families. Which the father does, rather without a choice. The movie takes off with this plot. And the director captures the myriad emotions that undergo between the boy who craves for love, the father who hopes he still commands a more better life than just to support his blind son, the doting grnadmother who only loves and keeps loving to see both her son and the grandson are happy for ever. As like any other majidi film the plot remains simple. It never thickens or wades. You might even get a feeling if at all will the movie gather to a momentum. But majidi's world as such is like that. He keeps the plot and narration as simple as that.

Let me Reinforce the opinion that i have never ever seen a movie to depict so sensibly the world of differently abled. The mouth in general should only be a mouth piece of the heart. But in many circumstances it isn't. In such cases the eyes speak for what the heart needs and the mouth will not. But a blind child does not even have that option. He can only speak his heart with his mouth. So is mohammed. Like any blind child, also as told by the boy himself he uses his fingertips to understand this world. He feels everything, be it his braille lessons, his sister, the blossomed flowers, his adoring granny, the beach sands, the bird, everything. He constanlty feels them and still he is in pursuit of feeling only one. GOD. He eternally searches for him. The boy who has acted as mohammed is a revelation especially given the fact that he is no professional actor. Watch out the scene where he breaks down to the blind carpenter (to whom mohammed is ent by his father to live his rest of the life) as to how he yearns for love, to see God and many more and all that evades him only because he is Blind. Any heart should melt for this. The Father who is always in a dilemma , has been well acted by the concerned actor. He is just another ordinary man who wants more in life. But at cost will he get more and will he consciously pay that? Caught between them is the boys grandmother who fights her best to keep the boy. But when finally loses she is just shsttered. Shattered as to care for whose future.her son or her grandson? The characterization of the grandmother is shown to be very strong,sympathetic but only with the limitatations of a woman. Each character simply speak their heart.

I was stunned by some shots in the movie. The opening sequnce, in which the screen is just blank and the characters only keep speaking. It might get annoying, but the director simply fixes in our mind how the world of blind works.No visuals , only sounds. Such a exhilarating sequence is that. Also the constant use of animal sounds to portray emotions like fear (grunt if a wild animal), happyniess (birds chirping). Also the director establishes the mohammed's character as one which constantly studies everuthing he hears and feels. he tries to decode everything fromt he beach sandes to the wood peckers peck. He wants to know everything in his world. And for the closing sequence as in where the boy and fahter are caught in a flood and the boy is about to drown. The father is now contemplating if he has a choice. What choice does he take and what exactly happens is brought out in a stunning visual sequence. We have seen innumerable movies where we all are supposed to be gasping in the final sequnce as to wether the protoganist is live or dead. And they end with a toal goof up of a sequence Here in with the aid of camera and music the director lays a definition for how such sequences should be made. I can sure tell you it is the most haunting and stupendous scens i have ever seen. Majid's world is always stupendous.