The Life of TESL Student

Tuesday, March 14, 2006


Shakespeare Wallah, is one of most enchanting drama that my whole batch have seen on one day, and when we have been asked to watch Shakespeare Wallah for the first time, it seems so boring at the beginning of the film. However, it then becomes more interesting when the conflict arise. Basically, the film is about a struggling English troupe of Shakespearen actors touring India, on an actual theater company called Shakespeariana. The company is consist of an actor and two actress which are a family, Tony, Carla and Lizzie Bukcingham. And the film was set on post-independence India at a time when English influence is dying and the world of Indian filmmaking is beginning to achieve its popularity. In the midst of their travels, the troupe's caravan breaks down, and an Indian playboy, Sanju, stops to help them. Lizzie and this playboy, Sanju then start their romance. But at the same time, Sanju also carries on an affair with a popular Indian film actress, Manjula. The familiar Merchant Ivory theme of misplacement within a society is here in full force. The film explores the two worlds; old British rule versus an independent India as well as the world of staged theater versus the newer medium of filmmaking. As at the first place the film is to show how their difficulties on signifying the Shakespeare play towards the Indian audience and the clash of two different cultures. And at the same time, we have been given how the Buckingham presented some of Shakespeare’s play in the film such as, Hamlet, Cleopatra, and Othello. Overall, the film teaches me how to overcome the difficulties when it does occur.

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