When I think how a piece of fiction successfully conveys a sense of place, the example that immediately comes to mind are the Goa scenes from the film The Bourne Supremacy.
An assassin, who has tracked Jason Bourne and his girlfriend to Goa, drives into town in a rented Hyundai Sonata and a high-speed car chase ensues (Bourne drives a Maruti Gypsy). The shops they race past or crash through: they have packets of chips and other sundries that small retailers decorate their store-fronts with. The vivid colour and other such small fine detailing are spot on.
Yet, it's the choice of cars that really blew my mind.
Of course, a Russian-accented assassin would select a Hyundai Sonata to hire- at that time in India, considered a super-luxury car that had 'tax evader/robber baron' written all over it. And, of course, Bourne would drive a Maruti Gypsy in India. It was clear in that moment that Sanjay Gandhi set up Maruti and had it bailed out by Suzuki so that they could produce the perfect car for Jason Bourne's Goa getaway.
The scene displayed a touch of genius that is sorely missing from stories set in India made by Hollywood.
Normally, when anticipating a 'cut-to-India' scene, you have to brace yourself. A strain of sitar will crash through the movie hall and some Taj Mahal inspired typeface will say: "India". Some ragged street urchins, like The Simpsons Apu's children, will rush over piles of smoky rubbish and debris, etc.
For instance, the 'Calcutta' of the The Avengers looked like a shanty town in a desolate part of Somalia and not quite like the ten-million strong former capital of the British Empire in Asia that I call home.
I suppose it could be worse: the obligatory scenes of Dr. Bruce Banner working at the IBM offices in Salt Lake Sector V, enjoying a tonga ride around the Victoria Memorial with the Howrah bridge in the background, buying some hilsa from the Lake markets and tucking into a chicken envelope from Kookie Jar would have been seriously annoying. As one article questions, how could Banner have stayed in Calcutta for a single day and not exploded in rage remains unanswered?
I digress.
So please read and enjoy this awesome interview of Aradhana Seth, drinker of whatever Kool-Aid Leila Seth was serving her three over-achieving children.
Finally, some answers on what made the The Bourne Supremacy so cool:
An assassin, who has tracked Jason Bourne and his girlfriend to Goa, drives into town in a rented Hyundai Sonata and a high-speed car chase ensues (Bourne drives a Maruti Gypsy). The shops they race past or crash through: they have packets of chips and other sundries that small retailers decorate their store-fronts with. The vivid colour and other such small fine detailing are spot on.
Yet, it's the choice of cars that really blew my mind.
Of course, a Russian-accented assassin would select a Hyundai Sonata to hire- at that time in India, considered a super-luxury car that had 'tax evader/robber baron' written all over it. And, of course, Bourne would drive a Maruti Gypsy in India. It was clear in that moment that Sanjay Gandhi set up Maruti and had it bailed out by Suzuki so that they could produce the perfect car for Jason Bourne's Goa getaway.
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| Sanjay Gandhi set up Maruti and had it bailed out by Suzuki so that they could produce the perfect car for Jason Bourne's Goa getaway. |
Normally, when anticipating a 'cut-to-India' scene, you have to brace yourself. A strain of sitar will crash through the movie hall and some Taj Mahal inspired typeface will say: "India". Some ragged street urchins, like The Simpsons Apu's children, will rush over piles of smoky rubbish and debris, etc.
For instance, the 'Calcutta' of the The Avengers looked like a shanty town in a desolate part of Somalia and not quite like the ten-million strong former capital of the British Empire in Asia that I call home.
I suppose it could be worse: the obligatory scenes of Dr. Bruce Banner working at the IBM offices in Salt Lake Sector V, enjoying a tonga ride around the Victoria Memorial with the Howrah bridge in the background, buying some hilsa from the Lake markets and tucking into a chicken envelope from Kookie Jar would have been seriously annoying. As one article questions, how could Banner have stayed in Calcutta for a single day and not exploded in rage remains unanswered?
I digress.
So please read and enjoy this awesome interview of Aradhana Seth, drinker of whatever Kool-Aid Leila Seth was serving her three over-achieving children.
Finally, some answers on what made the The Bourne Supremacy so cool:
Aradhana Seth • Cultivating Reality
The prolific production designer, artist & filmmaker
- See more at: http://blog.lemillindia.com/aradhana-seth/#sthash.0QUh7s8K.nOlmGwND.dpuf
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