Dev Patel celebrates India from his Los Angeles front yard

LONDON (AP) — Quarantine brought opportunities to Dev Patel’s front yard.

From a safe distance, the British actor was able to enjoy both his birthday and his relationship with India without leaving his L.A. home.

The first was courtesy of his girlfriend, Australian actress Tilda Cobham-Hervey, who arranged for Patel’s friends to drive past with paper planes and letters while he sat in front of the house.

Second was the offer to celebrate India’s culture and civilizations by narrating a National Geographic special, “India From Above,” which airs Sept. 30.

As he quarantined, a portable recording booth was sent and parked in his driveway. “It was like a trailer hitched to a car, that had been completely sanitized,” Patel explained.

Apart from being reminded of the pandemic by the sound of a passing ambulance, it worked well for the voice-over.

“It was incredible to be able to make some art in a way, to voice this beautiful thing, linked up to India,” said Patel.

“India From Above” is a two-part documentary which uses drone footage to show aerial views of towering temples, religious gatherings, EDM festivals and solar technology.

Patel frequently films in India, but high above the crowd is not a perspective he’s used to.

“As soon as I step off that plane and out of the airport, you’re sucked into this massive humanity, the crowds and the people and your eye level just kind of being swept along with this tide of people. And that will sweep you somewhere really inspiring and quite magical.”

“But to zoom further and further out and higher and higher. That is pretty special,” he added

Patel, who earned an Emmy nomination for portraying a heartbroken dating app developer in “Modern Love,” admits to being tempted to go “full Attenborough” after growing up listening to Sir David narrate natural history shows.

“For me, it was just telling the story of the ingenuity of the people, the everyman. How people find a way in India, no matter how hard the condition is,” he said.

As a result, he now plans to visit Loktak Lake, that features in the program, where people live in houses on small islands of vegetation.

“It feels like something out of James Cameron’s ‘Avatar’ movie. There’s a stillness and a serenity that is just breathtaking.”

Patel describes his own relationship with India as “ever changing.”

“I feel the sense of belonging when I go there. And I also feel like a total alien at times.”

From “Slumdog Millionaire,” “Lion” and “Hotel Mumbai,” the Oscar-nominated actor is often in India on location and was preparing another film when the pandemic struck.

It’s a passion project called “Monkey Man,” a thriller set in Mumbai. Patel is set to star and make his directorial debut.

It meant he was on one of the last planes leaving India before lockdown and says the locals went “above and beyond” to help him.

“Mumbai during that time, it was kind of dystopian. There’s no cars or rickshaws on the road. It was empty. The hotel that we’re staying at, those are eight of us. So it felt like ‘The Shining,’ being in this empty, humongous hotel with all the lights switched off.”

Since his return to the U.S., he’s spent some rare time at home prepping for future projects.

“Even though we’re hibernating, and we can’t physically live in the world between action and cut right now, it doesn’t mean that we can’t be exploring ideas.”

Associated Press

Review: Robot melodrama in 'Chappie'

In Johannesburg in a future time, robots called Scouts have replaced the human police force. These efficient Scouts were developed by the young genius Deon Wilson. His rival in the company is war-freak ex-soldier Vincent Moore who is trying to push his own creation, the big, mean fighting machine he calls Moose. Moore wanted nothing more than to discredit Wilson by fair means or by foul.

One day, Wilson and a damaged Scout #22 (which Deon had enhanced with his experimental human-like artificial intelligence) were abducted by drug-dealers who desperately needed to pay off a $20-million debt. Much to Wilson's annoyance, the low-lifes call #22 the undistinguished name Chappie. Worse, they train him in the violent ways of the 'hood in order to help them pull off a major heist.

Like director Neill Blomkamp's previous film "District 9," his latest film once again highlights his home country of South Africa. Aside from the Johannesburg setting, his favorite actor Sharlto Copley is again in the cast. This time Copley is playing the titular Scout Chappie via motion capture. Copley tended to exaggerate the child-like demeanor and the innocent voice by which he communicates his thoughts. Some of his scenes were cringe-worthy in their over-sentimentality, too cutesy for comfort. That scene where Chappie was left to fend for himself in the "real world" for the first time was disturbing yet heart-rending.

Moreover, for the key roles of the husband-and-wife gangsters whom Chappie learned to call his Daddy and Mommy, Blomkamp casts members of the local hip hop group Die Antwoord, even using their real names Ninja and Yolandi. I felt this was a major misstep as these two neophyte actors obviously were not up to the challenge their roles demanded. The way these two were delivering their dialogues were clearly and distractingly amateurish.

Hollywood actors Dev Patel (as Wilson) and Hugh Jackman (as Moore) were given pretty one-dimensional characters. Patel was at home playing a character we have seen him play before, an idealistic good guy. The way Wilson was written can be nonsensical for many of his decisions and actions. Jackman on the other hand, was clearly enjoying his rare chance to play bad guy, and was overacting to the hilt with evil relish.

Sigourney Weaver was hardly even seen as Michelle Bradley, the CEO of the weapons company these two guys worked for, so casting her was inconsequential.

The story draws from several other artificial intelligence films we have seen before, especially those where the robot actually becomes human-like. The storytelling here was rather messy, riddled with improbable coincidences, and weighed down by its tendency for melodrama, which became mawkish many times. The Scouts, including Chappie, looked rather undistinguished, only marked by red "ear"-like flaps (of uncertain purpose) on both sides of the head. The Moose felt like a cross of the "Real Steel" and "Pacific Rim" robots, derivative design and concept.

Though the science was not convincing and it seemed impossible for them to get away with what they had done, the ending was OK with me. The importance of adult influence and proper education in the development of children's behavior are also underlying lessons, and I liked that as well. 6/10

This review was originally published in the author's blog, "Fred Said."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com