Two years ago, I wrote following piece bemoaning the death of legendary film critic, Mr. Roger Ebert:
"Today I'm bemoaning the death of one of the true champions of the movies, 'Roger Ebert', an iconic movie critic whose movie reviews have amused us and kept us at the edge of our seats with their 'reserved' sense of humor and tenacity to this day for the last 40 odd years. He was certainly my mentor as whenever I had to decide on a movie, I would simply go to his site and look out for his opinion. Though it may seem a very inappropriate and unethical decision for a young movie enthusiast (and a possible movie critic in future, who knows?) but I have believed in a theory that a man does need a opening somewhere. In my case, It was Roger. I learned a great deal from him. All my knowledge about the movies I owe to him for he was just brilliant, uncompromising in his movie reviews. His movie-reviews were for everyone and certainly not an intellectual bomb-thrower like that of an equally iconic 'Pauline Kael'. A champion of overlooked , indie movies who was equally at ease with the mightiest of blockbusters finally bade a goodbye to us. Only yesterday I was contemplating a fictional scenario which could have been very much real had the Ebert lived to that day. That scenario included the grand opening of 'The Great Gatsby' and Roger showering our own acting legend 'Amitabh Bachchan' with beautiful, appreciative words but sadly enough, that day won't come anymore. Bemoan my friends and all those personnel who love their movies for today we have lost the greatest critic that has ever walked on this earth....Rest in Peace Sir and a two-thumbs up to your presence in the sky (I'm sure you are familiar with that sight, Roger).....entertain the Gods now, my beloved master."
Yesterday, on the second anniversary of this Facebook post, Facebook sent me a reminder as usual for celebrating and sharing this memory and so I did with this piece:
"I have written almost everything that I wanted to write about this great man (late Mr. Roger Ebert) in 2013 but I now want to remove 'almost' word from this sentence. Previous year, a documentary celebrating the youth, inspirational journey and cancer-stricken days of Roger came out. The documentary film was rightly called 'Life Itself' and directed by his favorite young director in Hollywood, Mr. Steve James. Steve was the man whose career as a director was saved by Roger and whom Roger so rightly feted for his documentary extraordinaire, 'Hoop Dreams'. I have known Roger. He was the person who helped me become a critic in the first place and fanned the desire of being appreciative of great work of art and literature. He helped me in identifying good movies from bad ones and most of the times, I agreed with his proposition. He, unknowingly, with his legendary partnership with equally tremendous Gene Siskel made movie reviewing a 'work of art'. Movie Review was always considered, before his time, a thankless job but first came, Pauline Kael (who made a living legend of Marlon Brando singlehandedly) and then He. 'Richard Corliss' of Time, Peter Bradshaw of 'The Guardian', Manohla Dargis of 'The New York Times' and many more followed suit and received great appreciation for their work. Life Itself opens a door in Roger's life and let the viewers know that behind a very charming persona lay a fiercely competitive professional who didn't allow himself to get carried away and let someone steal his legacy, not even Gene Siskel, He was always boastful of his Pulitzer Prize which indeed was special for in 1969, for the very first time, it was conferred to a 'movie critic'. Roger Ebert was special and he made all the movies special with his writings. On the second death anniversary of this master of mine thus I throw 'two thumbs up' towards his side in Heaven. May his legacy continue to motivate me till eternity. See you next year, Roger!!!"
His was a life worth savoring for each and every aspiring film critic the world over and for that, we need to be thankful to him. Thanks Roger!!!
"Today I'm bemoaning the death of one of the true champions of the movies, 'Roger Ebert', an iconic movie critic whose movie reviews have amused us and kept us at the edge of our seats with their 'reserved' sense of humor and tenacity to this day for the last 40 odd years. He was certainly my mentor as whenever I had to decide on a movie, I would simply go to his site and look out for his opinion. Though it may seem a very inappropriate and unethical decision for a young movie enthusiast (and a possible movie critic in future, who knows?) but I have believed in a theory that a man does need a opening somewhere. In my case, It was Roger. I learned a great deal from him. All my knowledge about the movies I owe to him for he was just brilliant, uncompromising in his movie reviews. His movie-reviews were for everyone and certainly not an intellectual bomb-thrower like that of an equally iconic 'Pauline Kael'. A champion of overlooked , indie movies who was equally at ease with the mightiest of blockbusters finally bade a goodbye to us. Only yesterday I was contemplating a fictional scenario which could have been very much real had the Ebert lived to that day. That scenario included the grand opening of 'The Great Gatsby' and Roger showering our own acting legend 'Amitabh Bachchan' with beautiful, appreciative words but sadly enough, that day won't come anymore. Bemoan my friends and all those personnel who love their movies for today we have lost the greatest critic that has ever walked on this earth....Rest in Peace Sir and a two-thumbs up to your presence in the sky (I'm sure you are familiar with that sight, Roger).....entertain the Gods now, my beloved master."
Yesterday, on the second anniversary of this Facebook post, Facebook sent me a reminder as usual for celebrating and sharing this memory and so I did with this piece:
"I have written almost everything that I wanted to write about this great man (late Mr. Roger Ebert) in 2013 but I now want to remove 'almost' word from this sentence. Previous year, a documentary celebrating the youth, inspirational journey and cancer-stricken days of Roger came out. The documentary film was rightly called 'Life Itself' and directed by his favorite young director in Hollywood, Mr. Steve James. Steve was the man whose career as a director was saved by Roger and whom Roger so rightly feted for his documentary extraordinaire, 'Hoop Dreams'. I have known Roger. He was the person who helped me become a critic in the first place and fanned the desire of being appreciative of great work of art and literature. He helped me in identifying good movies from bad ones and most of the times, I agreed with his proposition. He, unknowingly, with his legendary partnership with equally tremendous Gene Siskel made movie reviewing a 'work of art'. Movie Review was always considered, before his time, a thankless job but first came, Pauline Kael (who made a living legend of Marlon Brando singlehandedly) and then He. 'Richard Corliss' of Time, Peter Bradshaw of 'The Guardian', Manohla Dargis of 'The New York Times' and many more followed suit and received great appreciation for their work. Life Itself opens a door in Roger's life and let the viewers know that behind a very charming persona lay a fiercely competitive professional who didn't allow himself to get carried away and let someone steal his legacy, not even Gene Siskel, He was always boastful of his Pulitzer Prize which indeed was special for in 1969, for the very first time, it was conferred to a 'movie critic'. Roger Ebert was special and he made all the movies special with his writings. On the second death anniversary of this master of mine thus I throw 'two thumbs up' towards his side in Heaven. May his legacy continue to motivate me till eternity. See you next year, Roger!!!"
His was a life worth savoring for each and every aspiring film critic the world over and for that, we need to be thankful to him. Thanks Roger!!!
Comments
Post a Comment