Knopfler, Wodehouse and Majidi

When asked about who my favourite author is, I normally tend to clam up a bit and then suddenly rattle out five or six names. I like to think of myself as someone who has a varied taste in reading and therefore, I am careful to give names of writers across genres – Michael Crichton, Ayn Rand, Desmond Morris, Richard Bach, James Hadley Chase, Agatha Christie, JK Rowling, etc. etc. Most often Wodehouse doesn’t even feature in my list. But at the bottom of it all, he will always remain my most favourite.

Similarly Pink Floyd, Beatles, Jethro Tull, U2, Cat Stevens, Shakti and several others, would be some of my favourite musicians. But hand on heart, the guy who really makes me rock is Mark Knopfler.

Coming to movies. This is a lot tougher than books or music. There are several film-makers who truly are extremely worthy. Frank Darabont, Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorcese, Wachowski brothers, Christopher Nolan, Sidney Lumet, Giuseppe Tornatore, etc. And then there is Majid Majidi.

These here are the three people whose work I admire the most. There is something common to these three guys that puts them in a league that is totally apart from others who might be a lot more talented, accomplished or regarded.

All three of them are great mood-elevators. Even if I am in the greatest of depressions (which I never am, but I do get pretty crotchety at times), I can count on any of these three to be there for me. They are my best friends whose company can uplift my spirits any time.

Knopfler’s work, especially his solo albums, talks about absolutely common place themes like migrant labour, circus freaks, shoe salesmen and autograph hunters. No one can ever think of writing songs about these things. But the guy’s music can really start making magic. Even his live shows are nothing but Knopfler standing and playing his guitar effortlessly and singing as if he’s just talking. His shows are never over-the-top with flashy pyrotechnics and special effects. It’s about the music.

Take a look at Majidi. If you haven’t already seen ‘Children of Heaven’, you should go out and watch it tonight if possible. Knopfler has simplicity in his themes, but Majidi is simplicity personified. There is nothing but the story and the story-teller in his movies. I’ll probably dedicate another post only for this movie. It is so good that it warrants it.

Now coming to Wodehouse. Here’s a guy in whose fairy-tale world nobody ever is unhappy. Well that’s not entirely true. There are people who are worried, stressed, angry and all of those things. But they are all these things for really trivial reasons. Something as trivial as winning a wager in a village sports event or how one can get out of a sticky situation like being engaged to your best friend’s love interest. And there’s always Jeeves to solve the problem.

Why do I rate Knopfler over Pink Floyd, Majidi over Copolla and Wodehouse over Ayn Rand? The only reason I can attribute to this is that all three of them are artists who are extremely unpretentious about their work. Their work is an end in itself. It is not the means to some esoteric higher end or philosophy. It is extremely evident that their art is purely a source of joy for no one else but themselves. This faithfulness to self gives rise to such creativity that their fans experience it at a deep-rooted level in their own lives. At least this fan does.

I am sure that there are some people sent on this Earth only to spread joy of such a kind – the joy of just being. And I thank these three great souls for always being there for me.