The two sides of an affair

Caught the performances of Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci at the Jamshed Bhabha Theatre at NCPA last evening, thanks to The Wife performing in them. First up, Cavalleria Rusticana...

Cavalleria rusticana (Rustic Chivalry, Italian pronunciation: [ka.va.lːeˌɾiːa ɾus.tiˈkaːna]) is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from a play written by Giovanni Verga based on his short story. Considered one of the classic verismo operas, it premiered on May 17, 1890 at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome. Since 1893, it has often been performed in a so-called Cav/Pag double-bill with Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo.
-- Wikipedia

This opera revolves around an affair between Turiddu and Lola (Marianna Vinci). Turiddu and Lola were old lovers until Turiddu goes off and joins the army. While they pledged their 'undying' love for each other with the promise to wait, Lola in the mean time gets married to Alfio (Gevorg Hakobyan) (no explanation given, or I missed it in the surtitles). Turiddo returns, finds out about the marriage, gets himself a new girlfriend, Santuzza, to quell the burning passion / rage. Its not long before Turiddo and Lola start seeing each other behind the backs of their 'better half's'.

The stars of this opera are Elena Bocharova as Santuzza and Giancarlo Monsalve as Turiddu (I hope I got the names right, couldn't make out the faces too well with my old glasses and being in the cheap seats). Giancarlo's swagger plays just right on your nerves, as he emotionally blackmails Santuzza while openly mooning over Lola. You really feel like he deserves a swift kick in the nuts. Elena as the poor soul Santuzza comes across quite strongly as being all-forgiving as her character is meant to portray. The urban crowd might root for her bobbitizing Turiddu, but the fans of the saas-bahu serials might connect with the drama being portrayed.

Turiddu's moment of 'redemption' comes when its time to pay the piper and face Alfio. Sensing his 'the end' perhaps, he asks his mother, Lucia (Chiara Fracasso) to take care of Santuzza (not before he tries to pony out of the impending showdown with Alfio, where he tries to emo-blackmail Alfio too, playing the Santuzza card).

To be honest, I wouldn't know if they pronounced the words all wrong or if their notes were all over the place at the wrong (or right) places, but they both do great jobs of their roles. Their connect with the audience was excellent. Now, on to Pagliacci...


Pagliacci (Italian pronunciation: [paʎˈʎattʃi]; Players, or Clowns), sometimes incorrectly rendered with a definite article as I Pagliacci, is an opera consisting of a prologue and two acts written and composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo. It recounts the tragedy of a jealous husband in a commedia dell'arte troupe. It is the only opera of Leoncavallo that is still widely staged.


Pagliacci premiered at the Teatro Dal Verme in Milan on May 21, 1892, conducted by Arturo Toscanini with Adelina Stehle as Nedda, Fiorello Giraud as Canio, Victor Maurel as Tonio, and Mario Ancona as Silvio. Nellie Melba played Nedda in London in 1892, soon after its Italian premiere, and in New York in 1893.

-- Wikipedia

If Cavalleria rusticana spoke of the male side of the affair, Pagliacci covers the female side and the husband (who are supporting characters in Cavalleria rusticana). There are a couple of interesting things worth mentioning in this opera, namely the announcement made as part of the prologue, about how the actors have feelings too and that what they are about to see is about real people. 

Pagliacci sets an interesting concept, contrary to art imitating real life or vice-versa, both are different concepts and are hence treated differently. He explains how if in his performance as Pagliacci, he finds out his wife is having an affair, there would be quips and jokes made about it, but if it happened in real life, he would not be able to control his rage. 

The opera follows a play within a play (The Wife and her research told me this, but I didn't get the flow until I saw it being performed). Francesco Anile does a good job of Canio. His portrayal of the tragic clown stereotype, his trying to understand where he fell short that his wife had to have an affair works well as it serves as a backdrop to his rage. On the other hand, Sabina Cvilak as Nedda portrays her frustration of the wandering life quite well to Javier Arrey's Silvio who works the 'bechara' angle when Nedda's character has second thoughts about the affair. 

Interestingly, right before her scene of meeting Silvio in the opera, Nedda sings about birds and how they are free to go from one place to another (the aria is called Stridono lassù. Lyrics and translation are here) is actually a good reflection of her life in the traveling troupe. While both seem to talk of traveling to different lands, she views the bird's flight as freedom, whereas her own travels as a form of captivity. In the end, she views her settling down in one place as her way to freedom and correspondingly takes up Silvio on his offer to leave Canio and the traveling troupe and settle down with him. 

There's also excellent performances by Silvio Zanon as the deformed Tanio and by Filippo Adami as Arlecchino (or Harlequin as per the english translation; not to be confused with that annoying batman villain) Filippo's Arlecchino seems like a blend of a mime and a clown and is easily the most energetic of the three clowns that appear on stage.

A couple of interesting inclusions in Pagliacci is the use of a screen on stage which depicting the audience entering the performance venue and vignettes of the performers preparing for their on-stage parts. This little addition completes the effect of play-in-play and includes the actually audience onto the stage (since the opera itself is performed in front of an on-stage audience). Pagliacci revolves around a traveling troupe and so it features a scene with acrobats, gymnasts and the showgirls. A surprise addition was the presence of the good old Mallakhamb from India, with two guys performing on the 'pole or fixed mallakhamb' and two girls performing the 'rope mallakhamb'. This was an unexpected treat as you usually only get to see this around the Shivaji Park area where there's a practice place kept for this. I don't know if this was a conscious effort as part of the performance to include a local art into the production, but it was a good touch nonetheless.

The Wife featured in both operas, more prominently in Cavalleria rusticana where she appears as Lola's friend and also sings a couple of lines upfront :-) Bravo !   

The Mystery Birds

I've spotted these two near the house in the morning a couple of times before, but by the time I'd return to the spot with my camera, they'd have vanished. This time thankfully, they were right in the front yard.


That's one and here's the other...


This fellow was looking straight at the camera and refused to move from there. As I moved to circle to get a shot from the side, they both scooted off. The first guy however, did not fly off too far away...




Anybody knows their names?  

The green insect who came a-visiting

Found this green insect in the kitchen this morning, so without hesitation, I grabbed the camera and shot 'im. Then got a piece of paper and threw him out of the house. To think I used to trek to Badlapur to see these guys...

Goa at 9 am

Returned to Goa yesterday by bus after almost a week in Mumbai. I thought the cold wave was finally getting over, but I was wrong... At 9 am, what's usually 'sunny Goa' looked like a hill station. Here's what I saw out the window.

The Sun at 9

And no, that's not the moon...

The Sun did peek out occasionally...

But the usual scenery outside was all ... misty

or foggy... take your pick... at least it wasn't smoggy a la Mumbai 

And of course, we all know about the early bird. 

Movie review: Sunset Boulevard

Prologue: It all started with the song, Sunset Boulevard, which the girlfriend heard, which in turn prompted me to locate it on youtube. This was the version I found and subsequently became a fan of.

Cut to present: While at a movie rental place, imagine my surprise when I find a movie with the name. To start off, its a black and white movie and not a musical. Apparently the musical came long after the movie and it seems that the movie was quite a controversial movie at the time.

It starts off with the press and the cops rushing to the crime scene where a haul a dead body of of the pool, and that's where the memorable dialogues of the movie begin. "Well, this is where you came in, back at that pool again, the one I always wanted. It's dawn now and they must have photographed me a thousand times. Then they got a couple of pruning hooks from the garden and fished me out... ever so gently. Funny, how gentle people get with you once you're dead." The movie is narrated by the dead guy, Joe Gillis. Turns out Joe Gillis is a writer who out on his luck. Right at the start, he stands to lose his car thanks to a loan, which is something he cannot stand. While trying all his sources to get some cash (~300 dollars), he runs into the repo men at an intersection. A car chase commences and thanks to a blow-out, he ends up hiding is car in a deserted mansion on Sunset Boulevard.

Thus sets the stage for the movie. While the song makes Joe seem like a truly opportunistic parasite, the movie does not put him across in such harsh light. The old star, Norma Desmond seems menacing and at times, sinister and you can slowly see Joe getting entangled in her web, in part because of his own needs (he's got a loan to worry about and no solid source of income) and in part because of the behaviour of Norma (she's suicidal to say the least!). You already know how the movie is going to end, thanks to the beginning, but what's great is all the drama and little jibes that the movie takes on its way to the conclusion.

Verdict: It's a given recommended watching. Of note is the great camera angles and other visual cues, which add a lot to the frame without cluttering it. Great acting by Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond. Do check out the IMDB page once you've watched the movie for a whole lot of surprises. 

Here's the trailer of the movie:


sunset boulevard trailer
Uploaded by soulpatrol. - Watch feature films and entire TV shows.

Some of my favourite quotes from the movie (Source: imdb.com).

Joe Gillis: You're Norma Desmond. You used to be in silent pictures. You used to be big.
Norma Desmond: I *am* big. It's the *pictures* that got small.

Norma Desmond: We didn't need dialogue. We had faces!


Joe Gillis: [narrating] Well, this is where you came in, back at that pool again, the one I always wanted. It's dawn now and they must have photographed me a thousand times. Then they got a couple of pruning hooks from the garden and fished me out... ever so gently. Funny, how gentle people get with you once you're dead.

Joe Gillis: Norma, you're a woman of 50, now grow up. There's nothing tragic about being 50, not unless you try to be 25.

Norma Desmond: My astrologist has read my horoscope, he's read DeMille's horoscope.
Joe Gillis: Has he read the script?

Norma Desmond: There once was a time in this business when I had the eyes of the whole world! But that wasn't good enough for them, oh no! They had to have the ears of the whole world too. So they opened their big mouths and out came talk. Talk! TALK!

Norma Desmond: No-one ever leaves a star. That's what makes one a star.

Joe Gillis: I'm not an executive, just a writer.
Norma Desmond: You are... writing words, words, more words! Well, you'll make a rope of words and strangle this business! But there'll be a microphone there to catch the last gurgles, and Technicolor to photograph the red, swollen tongues!

Max Von Mayerling: There were three young directors who showed promise in those days: D. W. Griffith, Cecil B. DeMille, and Max Von Mayerling.
Joe Gillis: And she made you her servant.
Max Von Mayerling: It was I who asked to come back. I could have continued my career, but I found it unbearable. You see, I was her first husband.


There's even an India reference there!

Max Von Mayerling: She was the greatest of them all. You wouldn't know, you're too young. In one week she received 17,000 fan letters. Men bribed her hairdresser to get a lock of her hair. There was a maharajah who came all the way from India to beg one of her silk stockings. Later he strangled himself with it!



Pic source: terryhoponozky.cz

"Are you a Bihari?"

said the old lady to the cab driver.

As we got out off the cab outside the entrance to Phoenix mills along the road leading to Elphinstone / Dadar, a mother - daughter / mother-in-law - daughter-in-law duo were awaiting a cab to haul their shopping home. The daughter(-in-law) asked the cab driver if he would go to Worli. When he refused, the mother(-in-law) sharply asked him if he was a Bihari.

Her statement was quite surprising and I wondered what his refusal had to do with "where he came from originally". Did she think that a Maharashtrian cab driver would take them to Worli where as a "North-Indian" wouldn't?

I guess I should have asked her if she was from Mumbai... I've never found a cab easily for short distances (Worli naka is 10-15 mins walking distance from Phoenix) much less for going in the opposite direction (again, w.r.t. Worli naka).

Or maybe I should look out only for Maharashtrian cab drivers in the future to take me wherever I want to go, after all, a sweet old lady did imply that a Maharashtrian cab driver ALWAYS takes you where you want to go!

As for the poor cab driver, he dodged the question, telling her that he couldn't take her anywhere because he had to "close shop" for the night in another 10 mins and he was heading to Parel.

Lunch at Kyani's

A lazy afternoon is just the time to head out to Kyani's near Metro for lunch. If a heavy meal is what you want, then you shouldn't be here. This place is all about its snacks (or so said the waiter to someone who wanted rice and curry for his lunch) and the latest snacks to check out (not sure how latest it is!) is the chicken frankfurter patice and the chicken seekh kebab patice. The frankfurter one tastes better of the two, with the kebab one being slightly on the drier side. Both seem like a steal at 17 bucks a piece.

Fans of nuggets can rejoice too as chicken and fish nuggets are available long with fish fingers and something called butterfly prawns. I've only tried out the chicken nuggets and you get 5 for Rs 35 along with potato wafers. They didn't have the fish fingers. I'll try the butterfly prawns the next time I think. Washed it all down with Mangola.