Saturday, February 26, 2005

Tarzan Goes To India

That was the movie I stumbled onto by accident while flipping through the TV channels today. I didnt get to watch it from the beginning, which was lucky because I'm pretty sure I wouldnt have had the patience to sit through the whole thing. But catching it halfway through didnt pose much of a problem in understanding the plot, such as it was... What took me by surprise was seeing Feroz Khan and Simi Garewal in the movie - a very young, very enthusiastic Feroz Khan, at that, complete with fake "English" accent. (I guess he - and Simi - had to be young since the movie was made in 1962!)

Tarzan was played by a guy called Jock Mahoney - an American. Hollywood has this annoying habit of simply appropriating folk heroes (or otherwise imaginary ones even) from other countries and making them American! Tarzan, as envisaged by his creator, Edgar Rice Burroughs, was English - an English peer, to be precise. Tarzan, Lord Greystoke. He wasnt meant to be American, just as Robin Hood wasnt meant to be American either.

I mean, Robin Hood is synonymous with English folk history. Americans dont HAVE anything - or anybody - approximating a Robin Hood (or do they?). I quite like Kevin Costner and I quite liked the movie "Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves" as well... but the fact remains, they werent supposed to be Americans! Oh well, I guess Samuel Taylor Coleridge's words still stand true - to enjoy some things, to go into the realm of fantasy, a "willing suspension of disbelief" is very necessary.


PS. Ok, I HAD to bring in a literary angle! I mean, I graduated in English Literature, and what use a "classical" education if I cant introduce a classical allusion or two into my writing, huh? Blushy 2

PPS. "Tarzan Goes To India" is worth it if only to look at the baby elephants... man, those li'l babies are soooooooo damn cute!

8 comments:

F e r r a r i said...

Somehow your post reminded me of 'Tarzan-Ape Man(1981)" and Bo Derek in particular :-D

Shammi said...

Hehehe... I'm not surprised you mentioned Bo Derek, Prabhu :)

Anonymous said...

"Must have been old.... in 1962" Funny!

Harish said...

Tarzan to Mahavira : "Me Tarzan, you Jain".

Anonymous said...

Harish....grrrrrrr ;)

Shyam : Very nice post!
Hmmm, for cute elephant(s) I'd see Jungle Book 1 & 2 anyday..you know Col. Haathi and his pack? They are too much with their bumbling antics. And Col. Haathi's son..that young fella...man, he's too much!

Topically, have you seen Tarzan the animated version?

Castor aka Kiwilax said...

Hey, how'd u get to know Vidhu's blog?
Am busier than ever, will talk to you after I get back from AKL (refer my latest blog for more details). Ciao da

Shammi said...

Ravi, yep, Jungle Book is one of my all-time fave movies - MAINLY because of the little hathi... so completely adorable! :) And yes, also seen Tarzan the animated movie. He looked and moved a lot more like an animal than a man... a lot less human than portrayed in other movies, dont you think?

Shammi said...

Gee, I got Vidhu's blog link from a comment she left on YOUR blog :)