Inception-A photoblog inspired from it & A review

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Once in a while there comes a movie that pervades every one's thought like a pandemic virus. A virus which is as resilient and infectious as an idea, to take Nolan's own words. And Inception was one of those path breaking ideas condensed in the form of a 2.5 hour long script and played out by some of the most capable actors of our generation.

The whole movie takes place inside the head. It takes place in real locations built up by the brain during those hours when our limbs take rest and eyes are shut to the distractions of the world. Really, we are at our best when we sleep. Other than the obvious advantage of not being a pain in the ass for those around you, its when we use our idle useless mind the most. We travel the whole wide world, we romance the girl of our dreams, we fight wars, we become heroes...and most of it is never gonna happen for real. But still we cherish some of those dreams trying hard to remember the sequence of it all, failing badly most of the times. And it is this private place of ours where Nolan does his magic. He takes us to the world where ideas can be stolen from your head during one of your innocent wet dreams. And most shockingly, a world where ideas can be planted. Its possibilities are immense. What if you woke up one day with an idea of killing your neighbour, an idea planted by his enemy in your head? Or what if you woke up one day with an idea to destruct a govt establishment, an idea planted by a terrorist? Yes, its a world where one could outsource the dirty work for free, without the executioner even knowing it and without ever making your hands dirty.

But this whole plot is a sure recipe for disaster if handled by a lesser film maker. It would've looked like an episode of gadget guru, with all the great gadgets making its appearance in every scene. But Nolan takes this to another level and explains it convincingly with his multi level dream architecture. He tells us how one minute in the real world becomes five in the dream and one hour in the next level dream. There's also the exciting world of shared dreaming where you could be a part of somebody else's dream.And its not sci-fi alone. There's a strong human element to the story, where Cobb(Dicaprio) struggles to come to terms with his personal life, where reality and dreams are so thoroughly mixed that he can't differentiate one from another. He's a man sleepwalking through life, with a crumbled family. As he and his team does inception, he's also on a mission to clear up his own head and reclaim his own life. And it is with this balance of sci-fi and the 'human factor' that the film triumphs. Not to forget those truely fresh concepts of multi level dreaming, the timings, the kicks, the complex labyrinth like architectures, projections, the paradoxical steps, totems and what not!

One of my favourite lines from the movie is when cobb says, "Do you remember the beginning of a dream. we always start in the middle"(not exact quote.typing from memory) Its a thought which most surely wouldn't have crossed any of our minds. And it seems true. Whenever we dream, the situation is already there, perhaps recreated from our own memory. Or just built out of wild imagination. How else could we explain those weird dreams where we end up in places we have never been to. Some of my wildest dreams had terrorists pursuing me in some foreign country(what the hell they wanted I never found out), having sex with an actress I've seen only on screen(yea, really..My no.1 dream till date!) and flying a jet plane(i was still flying when I woke up). In all these cases, I dont remember how I ended up there. It was like I was air dropped straight into the foreign country, the actress's bed and on the pilot seat. Another favorite line is "dreams feel real while we're in them. Its when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange." Yes, each of the cases above felt so real. Surreal...

In this one week after the movie released, it seems the whole world has come under Nolan's spell. Anywhere you turn, people are talking about inception. Possibly, this was Nolan's inception on mankind. He must've built the complex architecture of thousands of theatres all over the world and brought us all into it through a multi level dream. And then, he left us all without giving that kick. Only for us to go on thinking and talking about inception in this limbo state. Yes, this movie will be talked about and wondered about, as long as there are movies..

Photoblog
This movie lingered on in my mind for long. Then ideas sprouted of taking some pics inspired from the movie. And so began my experiments with 30 second long shutter speed, the newly acquired tripod and 3 candles. A walk through of a scary dream...No ideas planted here..Just a meeting with myself..


The dream starts...I wake up and walk on, leaving behind me in bed...(challenging Nolan's idea that we cant remember the beginning of a dream. This might be how every dream begins)

This pic was a winner yesterday in the 'inception pic for poster' contest hosted by Rajeev Masand(http://www.twitlonger.com/show/2liicb). Won me the official poster of Inception :). Though, I missed winning the 1st prize of the poster signed by christopher Nolan and the entire cast)

I meet 'the good me' in the way...We talk, we share jokes..

The enemy has done an inception on my mind. An idea to kill myself is planted in my head...
I meet the 'bad me'...I chase myself with a knife..

Evil personified...fear takes over..

And then, he strangles me to death..

And as the evil one walks on, he looks back to see the three different hues of me..
"The good me, the bad me....and the 'helpless me'

All of the above pics were shot with a shutter speed of 30 seconds. After keeping the cam in atripod with a 2 second timer, I ran to make the necessary poses. For the pics of waking up in a dream, I spent 10 seconds each lying down, sitting up and then finally standing up. For the ones where I strangle myself and chase myself with a knife, I spend 14 seconds each in both poses. 2 seconds lost in throwing away the knife and posing the 2nd time.

your crusader Praveen