Film Studies

This blog is written as a response to a task assigned by Dilip Barad sir, Department of English MKBU. This blog is about film Studies. In this blog there is discussion about three movies and its narrative structure. The movies are Slumdog Millionaire, Life of Pi and Maharaja. For further info please visit this blog -Teacher's Blog.

In this century watching a film would be a hobby of many, people like to watch movies of different genres. Movie is nothing but storytelling but with visual techniques. In some movies there are simple story lines, action and happy endings. Some come up with various narrative techniques that create tension, suspense and give thrilling experience to the watchers. In some movies one has to stop thinking logically then and then  movie can be enjoyed but in other movies one has to be active logically then and then story can be understood. Here are three movies related to these type of strange story telling, which gives us different timelines and at the end we get the real reason for the actions that took place earlier.

Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire is a 2008 British drama film that is a loose adaptation of the novel Q & A (2005) by Indian author Vikas Swarup. It narrates the story of 18-year-old Jamal Malik from the Juhu slums of Mumbai. Starring Dev Patel in his film debut as Jamal, and filmed in India, it was directed by Danny Boyle, written by Simon Beaufoy, and produced by Christian Colson, with Loveleen Tandan credited as co-director.

In the movie Slumdog millionaire, there are three timelines. First is Interrogation, second is in the show Who wants to be a millionaire and third is the flashback life story of the protagonist. The movie shifts from one timeline to another and at the end three of the storyline matched with his last question at Who wants to be a millionaire show. In the beginning frame we find a question with 4 options and at the end we find the answer in the last scene. Through this time the movie becomes fun to watch. 

With the questions of interrogation we enter in the show and from there we enter into Jamal Malik’s life. This type of weaving of the story makes the film very good to watch and throughout the end it keeps the attention of the watchers.This technique is used in many movies, it can be called story within the story. A wonderful thing that connects the dots of the question with the flashback scene where the audience gets to know how he knows the answer and slowly the story unfolds how and why he entered the show.

Life of Pi

Life of Pi is a 2012 adventure-drama film directed and produced by Ang Lee and written by David Magee. Based on Yann Martel's 2001 novel of the same name, it stars Suraj Sharma in his film debut, Irrfan Khan, Tabu, Rafe Spall, Gérard Depardieu and Adil Hussain in lead roles. The storyline revolves around two survivors of a shipwreck who are on a lifeboat stranded in the Pacific Ocean for 227 days. One is a sixteen-year-old Indian boy named Pi Patel (Suraj Sharma) and the other is a ferocious Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.

In the movie Life of pie, there are two timelines. One is of questions and answers of Piscine Molitor Patel (Pi) and the author, second is flashback. Movie changes in  between with the questions of the author we get into the life story of Pi. This technique can be useful in telling a story with the visuals. It also gives the idea of an unreliable narrator because we know in the movie Pi also tells another story which also feels real so what to believe and what not that questions also arises at the end of the movie. It also makes us question how we can believe in others' stories without even thinking that the story can not happen in real life.

 

Maharaja

Maharaja is a 2024 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film, directed by Nithilan Swaminathan, who co-wrote the script with Raam Murali. It is jointly produced by The Route, Think Studios and Passion Studios. The film stars Vijay Sethupathi in the titular role, alongside Anurag Kashyap, Mamta Mohandas, Natarajan Subramaniam.

(Rangan, Baradwaj)

In Maharaja movies there are three timelines, one is of 2009 second is of 2023 which can be classified in two parts before the incident and after the incident scene. That can be observed in the chart. Maharaja movie is a challenging movie, one can not understand what is happening at first time watching in the end we get to know the why and how things occur. 

In the movie watcher is not notified in which timeline the movie is going on. One has to interpret it using one’s own mind. One has to be aware of what happens in the movie then and then the movie can be understood. The Maharaja movie is in this way a very challenging movie to understand. In the following chart there is a description of how events occur chronologically.

Comparative Analysis of the films: 

In three of the movies the narrative technique that is used is commonly a flashback technique. In Life of pi and Slumdog Millionaire the different timeline can be observed very clearly. The Watcher knows in which timeline is going on. In the Maharaja movie there is no distinction between the timeline it seems almost similar. No timeframe of colour difference we find in various timelines. It is done intentionally to confuse the watcher till the climax, this technique is quite useful to keep the audience engaged. 

In Slumdog Millionaire there is a point in the movie where three of the timeline meet and we get the similar ending, whereas life of Pie is a storytelling of the past. In Maharaja there is only a occurance of the scenes which only resolve in the end. In the Drishyam movie we also observe the same sequence that till the climax one sits tight in observing the details.

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Resources:

Barad, Dilip. “Film Studies: An Introduction.” Film Studies: An Introduction, 1 Jan. 1970, blog.dilipbarad.com/2021/09/film-studies-introduction.html. Accessed 01 Aug. 2024.

Rangan, Baradwaj. “Readers Write in #710: Where to Look and What to See: An Appreciation of ‘Maharaja.’” Baradwaj Rangan, 14 July 2024, baradwajrangan.wordpress.com/2024/07/14/readers-write-in-710-where-to-look-and-what-to-see-an-appreciation-of-maharaja/. Accessed 01 Aug. 2024.