Sound over sight

SPENDING IT

Trudging to a multiplex near you this week is Manoj Night Shyamalan's latest overbearing, self-conscious attempt at movie-making, The Village.

Shyamalan is one of the most interesting talents in the Hollywood mainstream, which is why it's such a pity that he has allowed his natural cinematic gifts to take second place to third-rate ideas and twists lifted from old Twilight Zone episodes.

His sense of the effective moment, and how suspense can be gradually built up, is still unerring; but he's become preoccupied with laboured plots featuring characters who never smile, and he repeatedly beats the viewer over the head with ridiculous monologues and moral messages.

The story involves a cloistered 19th century village whose inhabitants seem content enough baking, sweeping, eating together and speaking to each other in the passive voice "" until a catastrophe necessitates that one of them leaves the village to visit the towns outside, where no one has ever been before. This is an especially daunting task given the popular village myth about hostile creatures who live in the woods surrounding the village. (They are tediously referred to as Those We Do Not Speak Of, an anomaly, since the villagers speak of Them pretty much all the time.)

We won't reveal the obligatory Shyamalan "twist". Suffice it to say that the story is a lame, painfully obvious allegory for American insularity vis-a-vis the rest of the world "" fear of the Outside and of malevolent evildoers waiting to leap out from dark places.

And the self-flagellating tendencies of many in the US is probably one reason why the film has been well-received there in some quarters. The colour schemes of the film are interesting, but that's about the only favourable comment we can make about it.

Quite simply, there isn't enough reason to trudge into cinema halls for either desi or videsi viewing.

In the Hindi film industry, fall has truly set in and all eyes are now on the festive season. Meanwhile, the music counters should be the ideal place instead to find options for spending your dough.

Yash Raj Music's maiden entry into music is with the much-hyped Veer Zaara, which has music composed from tunes by the late Madan Mohan. The twin CD set priced at Rs 145, is a collector's item simply because of the second CD. The album, despite being several notches higher than the trash we get to hear on TV, is not vintage Madan Mohan, except perhaps 'Do Pal' sung by Lata and Sonu Nigam and the Jagjit-Lata ghazal 'Tum Paas Aa Rahe Ho'.

The Nightingale's voice at 75 is not what it used to be, and maybe iconic representation could have been sacrificed for a more contemporary interpretation. But then again, for diehard loyalists, the album will hold a special place.

While many will flock to counters for the above-mentioned album, the same cannot be said of the rather funnily titled Heaven can Wait: The Best Of Meatloaf [cassettes Rs 100, CDs Rs 199]. Despite a career that spanned three decades, Meatloaf will essentially be remembered for the classic bestseller Bat out of Hell, and the compilation CD has a ten-minute-long, live version of the song, which should be reason enough for grunge-metal addicts. And probably the album title is a simple nudge that despite the anthology, the band is not yet ready to hang up its boots.

Moving on to something, that disciples of various schools of rock, would like to keep on their shelf "" The Rock Box. This solid three CD/cassette set [cassettes Rs 250, CDs Rs 540] immediately brought with it a comparison with the detailed and brilliant, similar compilation from Sony a few years ago.

What EMI has done, instead of putting together a rock chronicle, is assemble as many varied styles of contemporary rock as it could. So one finds some standout but lesser heard gems from even lesser heard names like Great White, Dr Feelgood, Public Image Limited alongside the usual masters "" Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Gary Moore and Stevie Nicks.

Brilliant as it is, one does wish for better sleevenote execution for a product such as this.