जी ए कुलकर्णी आणि कॅसाब्लांका....Casablanca@75

75 years ago, on November 26 1942, Casablanca was first released

Alyssa Rosenberg: 

“In a world where we have more options in entertainment in general and the movies in particular, why do we continue to need Humphrey Bogart? Rick never figured out why Ilsa ended up in his bar in Casablanca. But why isn't really the important part: All that matters is that she's there.”

Roger Ebert:

”...Seeing the film over and over again, year after year, I find it never grows overfamiliar. It plays like a favorite musical album; the more I know it, the more I like it. The black-and-white cinematography has not aged as color would. The dialogue is so spare and cynical it has not grown old-fashioned. Much of the emotional effect of Casablanca is achieved by indirection. As we leave the theater, we are absolutely convinced that the only thing keeping the world from going crazy is that the problems of three little people do, after all, amount to more than a hill of beans.”

 

हॉली ब्रुबाक (Holly Brubach) न्यूयॉर्क टाईम्स मध्ये फेब्रुवारी ४ २०११ला लिहतात :

"... Bogart’s appeal was and remains completely adult — so adult that it’s hard to believe he was ever young. If men who take responsibility are hard to come by in films these days, it’s because they’re hard to come by, period, in an era when being a kid for life is the ultimate achievement, and “adult” as it pertains to film is just a euphemism for pornography...."

हंफ्री बोगार्ट यांचे दिसणे सुद्धा चॉकलेटचा चेहरा असलेल्या नटांहून खूप वेगळे.   

जी ए कुलकर्णी यांचे वरील दोन्ही बाबतीत बोगार्ट यांच्याशी साम्य... लहानपणापासून मोठी जबाबदारी पेललेली, अनेक दुःखे झेललेली,  जीवनाच्या अखेर पर्यंत अविवाहित मावसबहिणीला दिलेली साथ, आपल्यामुळे कोणाला त्रास नको म्हणून परक्या / नावडत्या गावात आयुष्याचा शेवटी केलेला मुक्काम, त्याग अंगवळणी पडलेला, प्रौढत्व केंव्हाच आलेल- इतक्या लवकरकी हिरवट तारुण्य कधी नव्हतेच ... 

जी एंनी Casablanca बद्दल लिहलय का ? त्यांना तो सिनेमा नक्कीच खूप आवडला असणार.. ते सहजपणे ईलसा (Ilsa) ला म्हणू शकले असते... 

"...But I've got a job to do, too.  Where I'm going you can't follow.  What I've got to do you can't be any part of.  Ilsa,  I'm no good at being noble, but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.  Someday you'll understand that.  Now, now..."

अर्थात त्याला आणखी पण एक मोठे कारण आहे... त्यांच्या अतिशय आवडत्या इनग्रिड बर्गमन त्यात आहेत!

 

 Ingrid Bergman (1915-1982)

courtesy: Warner Bros.

Artist: Harry Bliss