Text / Bao Mu Xiao
When Amir Khan’s idol and the 76-year-old Indian film godfather-level actor Amidap Bachchan appeared in a rock-and-roll style, "Dad 102 Years Old" reminds us of Bollywood. Years of transformation and ambition. Indian movies are becoming more and more popular in China, and they always achieve "low drive and high move" in a very interesting manner. For example, Bollywood filmmakers seem to think that the name of a movie shouldn’t be tall, just like a child’s nickname should be “low-end and popular” so that it is easy to feed. "Bollywood", "My God", "Wrestle!" The very straightforward title of "Dad"... This time it is "Dad 102 Years Old". But this does not affect the quality of these films in the slightest. On the contrary, these films often burst out with surprising artistic charm under such a mentality, which can be regarded as a kind of "Indian characteristics".
On the whole, "Dad 102 Years Old" continues Bollywood's current creative concept, which is to boldly subvert the tradition, while trying to achieve reconciliation and sublimation after the subversion. This is shown right from the beginning of the film. Before the feature film started, it was an illustration-style anime page turning. The background music was very Westernized jazz, which made people feel "de-Indianized". The opening scene is the 75-year-old son Babu played by Rich Kapoor. The bathroom appears in such an important position. This is not very common in Indian movies. We are more used to seeing Indian movies in the busy and noisy slums. Opening, the opening of the bathroom should belong to a niche literary film set in New York. Then, Datley, the 102-year-old father played by Armidap Bachchan, appeared in the image of an American old man. He was holding a simulated portrait of the Guinness record holder on the street, as if Returning from a date, it was February 14th.
All of this heralds an urgent need for change. Obviously, "Dad 102 Years Old" wants a direct attack on the subject. The film’s rapid penetration of thematic expressions is staggering, because the Indian movies in our impression always like to "take it slowly." The film essentially chooses the method of AB mirroring the roles of opposites, and then directly allows the characters to carry the theme. This is a very economical way. The 102-year-old dad Dartley and the 75-year-old son Babu succeeded in forming such an effect five minutes before the film. Datley has a "26-year-old soul", full of enthusiasm and curiosity about life, optimistic, cheerful, independent and free. Although Bab is Datley's son, he is completely twilight and no longer has hope and passion for life. Be cautious and gloomy.
The opening bathroom is a portrayal of the life of 75-year-old Babu. He needs to set an alarm for taking a bath, which must be 14 minutes, because 15 minutes of bathing time will make him catch a cold. He puts a reminder to turn off the faucet under each faucet. He pays close attention to his blood pressure and blood sugar and other indicators, and always gives it to the clinic doctor. Call the pharmacy regularly to deliver medicines, what medicines are in what boxes, and notes are posted wherever the change is... But the 102-year-old father Dartley is the opposite. His son has a big belly and keeps his job as a middle school math teacher. With short hair and no beard, he seems to be worried and sensitive all the time, but this old man has the long flowing hair like a rock star and the same flowing beard. He has a lean body and brightly dressed. He likes popular and popular. Song, I like to watch the stars with a telescope on the rooftop at night...
Therefore, in this contrast, the film makes the audience clearly aware of a theme, that is, what should be the way to open life? Whether it's the life of Babu's "man in the middle" or the state of "free man" like Dartley, it is obvious that the audience has already begun to think. This theme has always been an important entry point for Bollywood movies to subvert tradition in recent years. Bollywood's outstanding movies in recent years are all known for their ideological and secular bold subversion. Whether it's "Three Fools Raise Bollywood", "My God", "Wrestle!" "Papa", or "Once Upon a Time in India" and "Monsoon Wedding Banquet", although the real problems revealed are various, but you will find that you will find that it is ultimately a deep thinking about the consciousness of the existence of individual life. "Wrestle!" "Dad" and "Mysterious Superstar" directly refer to the unequal treatment faced by Indian women, behind which is the persistent pursuit of the right of individual life to survive and develop. "Three Fools Raise in Bollywood" laughs and scolds for subverting India's education system, but the deeper theme is the discussion of the value of life. "Once Upon a Time in India" even directly issued: "Who is the slave and who is the king, and where is our value?" Such a compelling question.
This urgent pursuit of the consciousness of individual existence is obviously inseparable from India's own traditions. The core of Indian culture is the religious system and caste system. This dual-core structure has allowed Indians to gradually weaken their individual consciousness over the long years. They are ideologically attributed to the various sects described in "My God", and secularly. Surrender to the strict birth system and hierarchical system. One of the inevitable reflections of this cultural tradition in real life is the paranoia towards offspring. "Dad 102 Years Old"'s entry into the consciousness of the existence of individual life is through this point of extension, and finally realizes the theme of expression. The fullness and depth of the above. Like many elderly people in our country, Babu, the greatest pride and sadness in his life are his children. On the surface, Bab was "successful." His only child, Amo, had a successful academic career. He immigrated to the United States and started a family. He has become an inspirational example that Indians envy very much by learning to change their destiny. However, the appearance is that Amo is an extremely selfish and indifferent person, a standard unfilial son. He has never returned to India to visit his parents in 21 years in the United States, and he is still coveting his grandfather and father to live in Mumbai for generations. That property.
This is also the background of the most brilliant line in "Dad 102 Years Old". The 102-year-old Dartley said to the 75-year-old Babu: "I can't let your son beat my son so easily." Dartley, who finally realized the awakening of his individual consciousness, has long seen through many things in the Indian world. For example, Babu's "criminal spot" is the unfilial son. Although Amo only makes a perfunctory call for half a year and never sends pictures of his grandchildren to Babu, what Babu still misses is Amo. This is like the heaviest heart lock that keeps Babu's entire life tight and tight, and its butterfly effect is to gradually fade Babu's passion, joy and vitality as a life individual. Therefore, Dart used himself to break the Guinness record of longevity and could not be with "negative energy" like Babu, and made a gesture of sending Babu to a nursing home. The actual purpose is to carry out a trial of Nirvana rebirth on Babu. He can't just watch his son be defeated and exhausted little by little.
Seeking change has been Bollywood's consistent style of painting in recent years, but comedy is a genre that Indian movies have always adhered to. "Dad 102 Years Old" is no exception, and there are still a lot of laughs. For example, Dartley gave Babu a condition that if he doesn't want to be sent to a nursing home, he can honestly complete Lao Tzu's trial task for you. In this process, the two men, who were nearly two hundred years old together, fought wit and bravely. There were a lot of gags, but on the whole they could feel the intentional restraint of the film. The film no longer pursues the exaggerated and hilarious design of the early Indian comedy, but tries to make the audience click as far as possible, and occasionally a small smile is the ultimate comedic effect required by the film. In fact, this is also a recent turn in Indian movies, and it is also a deliberate subversion. Bollywood needs to get rid of the "comfort zone" that is familiar in form, in order to focus more on the story itself and the theme. It’s worth mentioning that the iconic scene of Indian movies, group singing and dancing, did not appear in the main feature of "Dad 102 Years Old". This link only appeared in the ending subtitles, which itself also shows that Bollywood is in the previous period. The determination to subvert.
So, maybe we are still smiling while watching these movies, but they have successfully entered the artistic realm of "smiling with tears". Dartley's trial task for Babu seemed "nonsense", but it made people smile and burst into tears. Dartley asked Bab to go to the park as instructed, and saw the airplane model room he liked to go to when he was a child. He sat there, as if in a lifetime, he was like "a kid who saw an airplane for the first time." At times, Dartley always told him the story of the White brothers and the airplane. It is only here that Babu smiled from the heart for the first time, and did not get angry because of the offenses of the children around him. Then, Dartley asked Babu to come to a church. Babu sat in the church. It was here that Babu shed tears for the first time, because this was the place where Babu often brought him when Amo was a child. Bab understood his father’s hard work. He came out of the church, went to a familiar pastry shop, bought familiar pastries, rented a familiar carriage, walked along a familiar route in Mumbai, and distributed the cakes to Yuu along the way. The children who arrive enjoy it-that is how he and his wife commemorate their wedding anniversary every year, but his wife has passed away and left him...
It is worth mentioning that the film did not completely go to the other extreme because of this. Subversion is not to completely destroy, but to sublimate after reconciliation. It can be said that Dartley’s mission to Bab’s trial overturns a kind of "restraint of life", and what is subverted is the spiritual shackles that tradition brings to ordinary Indians-Bab lives carefully and does not want to reveal the righteousness. His wife loves deeply, and begs his son to do a little filial piety to him... In the end, Dartley didn’t want Babu to become an "extreme man" who only knew himself, and he didn’t want Babu to be cold-blooded and rebellious. He just wanted to make himself. His son lives more like a person. In the end, Babu understood a lot, and felt relieved a lot: if you love someone, you will miss her generously, subvert the dross of male superiority and female inferiority, and reconcile with your love; there is nothing wrong with loving your children, but "Amo when I was a kid did not respond." Here comes", "If your son grows up as a bastard, then you only need to remember how he was when he was a child", subvert the emotional kidnapping, and reconcile with your own kindness...
Because of this, "Dad 102 Years Old" got rid of the label of a musical and removed the obsession with comedy effects. Using this concept of subversion and reconciliation, the narrative of "a smile with tears" completed the deepening of the theme from the deepening of the theme to the moving emotion. The art of turning around. The awakening of individual life consciousness is destined to be a metaphysical subject, and no film can directly express it. It must be expressed through the self-transformation of the characters. Only through the "emotional medium" recognized by the audience can the character's break through the cocoon and become a butterfly achieve artistic transformation and complete the film's communication purpose-the subtle closed loop between themes, stories, characters, and audiences. What is the "emotional medium" recognized by the audience? The Bollywood films that have moved us in the past few years are not because they make us laugh unconsciously, not because they make us feel that India is really too backward and low-end, but they make us feel a kind of Reality is like the virtual self in the mirror-aren't there similar stories happening around us?
The climax of the film comes from a face-to-face confrontation between a 102-year-old father and a 75-year-old son. The core of the film is the unfilial son Amo. It is clear that Amo, in order to compete for his grandfather and father's real estate, sent flowers on Babu's birthday and sent him pictures of his grandson, but Babu still cheered and prepared carefully for the return of his son's family. The old man Dartley insisted that Babu drive away the bastard son, and play the old record of Babu's wife's favorite on a rainy night, and then accused Amo of the unfilial bastard as if he opened a machine gun. Dartley even specially compiled the few letters that Amo had in the 21 years since he went to the United States into a book, and he named the unfilial son's favorite sentence at the end of each letter: "I hope you can understand."
What exactly needs Babu to "understand"? Perhaps we are no strangers to this, because similar things have not never happened to us. After Amo went to the United States, there was no news. He didn't receive a letter until half a year later, but the purpose was to ask his parents for a sum of money. Finally, "I hope you can understand." After a long time, Amo sent another letter. It turned out that he was already married without talking to his parents, so "I hope you can understand." When Babu offered to visit his son’s family in the United States at his own expense, Amo quickly replied. He told Babu not to come, because the house in the United States is small and the couple are busy at work. Lonely, so "I hope you can understand." Dartley also confirmed the same "quick thing" on the spot. He dialed Amo's phone number from his home phone. At the beginning, he was familiar with "Hello, I'm not here, please leave a message." When Dartley asked "I want to Talk to you about the property", the other party immediately picked up the phone... During the 28 days that Babu's wife was dying, Dartley called Amo every day, begging him to come back to see his mother, and the other party's answer Let us be both familiar and heartbroken-"No way, we are busy at work, it is not convenient to ask for leave..."
Yes, many films have come to our hearts step by step, although their production is not perfect, although their expression is not perfect, although their subversion seems immature, although their reconciliation is full of flaws. But what is subversion? Subversion is not apostasy, but a kind of profundity and courage. Empty-nesters, families with only children, elderly care issues, female discrimination, educational tragedies, corruption and degeneration, bottom-line conscience... Which of these issues does not originate from tradition and reality? Which one is not closely related to the common people? There is no need to look for any eye-catching gimmick, the audience is only looking for a good story that can speak for themselves. What is reconciliation? Reconciliation is not about "traditional characteristics", but a kind of objective and new knowledge. Lovers hand in hand, friendship years, parent-child time, respect for history, recognition of differences, tolerance of minorities, independence of personality, freedom of self...Each of these questions requires answers from the combination of tradition and modernity, and each requires restraint and wise attention from filmmakers. Express. There is no need to look for artificial tears, all the audience wants is a warm, tearful smile. Just like the ultimate proposition of life, the answer does not necessarily have to be esoteric and obscure. A 102-year-old man with a 26-year-old soul told us: "In my life, I have not died yet, so when I was alive , Must live well".
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