theguide MOVIES.MUSIC18

FILM REVIEW

EkMain Aur EkkTuDIRECTOR: Shakun BatraCAST: Imran Khan, KareenaKapoorApart from a sensitive scriptand solid direction whatalso works for the film is theproper casting. The climaxis brave, unpredictable andreal. Go watch! The film is asmall packet of joy.

War HorseDIRECTOR: StevenSpielbergCAST: Jeremy Irvine, PeterMullan, EmilyWatsonThe film is a ho-hum affair,watchable but not the leastbit memorable. At two and ahalf hours it is too long andpredictable. The battlescenes are astounding and areminder of how talentedSpielberg truly is.

DHAMINI RATNAMdhamini.ratnam@mid-day.com

LAST week, a seven-memberteam finished filming a docu-mentary on the life of HannesFritz-Munich, a German artist,who achieved prominence inthe courtly circles of pre-Partition India. Tracing hisfootsteps was his 33-year-oldgrandson Konstantin Fritz,who grew up in Seeshaupt, avillage half an hour south ofMunich, “with the subconti-nent in his head”.

Fritz and his director-pro-ducer Walter Steffen shotextensively across northernand western states of India,including Punjab, Rajasthanand Gujarat, searching forseven portraits that Fritz-Munich had painted of therulers of those princely states.The duo was able to locate fiveof those paintings.

The film will be released at

the Munich film festival inJune, and Steffen hopes toshow it in India at the Goa FilmFestival. Talking of the impetusto make a film about Fritz-Munich, who stayed in Indiafor several months at a stretchfrom 1932 to 1937, Steffensaid, “I’d been searching for agood story to film in India,which I’ve been visiting sincethe 1990s. Then I heard thestory of Fritz-Munich from hisson, and I knew this was it.”

Like the fairytale land ofIndia, which Fritz-Munich andhis dancer-wife, Editha Woelfl,lived in for a short time, thestory of how they got here ispart of the Fritz household’smythology. The painter, whowas on his way to India for hishoneymoon in 1932, met theMaharaja of Burdwan aboard

the steamer. Onenight, the Maharajaasked Fritz-Munich todraw a portrait, and finding noother surface to paint on, Fritz-Munich took a piece ofcharcoal and drew a “remark-able likeness” on the floor.Impressed, the Maharaja askedFritz-Munich to visit him. Fritz-Munich’s reputation as a courtpainter grew, as he wasreferred from one prince toanother. Having a beautifulwife, who was a renowneddancer — Editha performedfour times at the Taj Mahalhotel — helped too. Photos ofthe duo show an elegant cou-ple consorting with the Indianelite of the 1930s.

Fritz was also a prolific pho-tographer — he took over2,000 photographs and shot

footages of more thantwo hours, whichincludes never-before-seen shots ofMahatma Gandhi.

“When I grewup, I had all these

names in my head:‘Patiala,’ ‘Mourvi’,

‘Udaipur’,‘Bombay’. There

were paintings at hometoo, of warriors of

Udaipur, an album of allthe portraits that mygrandfather had made,and an elephant trunkand foot that my grandfa-ther had procured fromwhat was then Ceylon,”said Fritz. “It was a fairy-tale world, which mygrandmother would talk

about with a smile onher face.”

So what prompted Fritz-Munich to leave India?

Perhaps a clue would comefrom Fritz-Munich’s diary,where in an entry in 1937 hewrote, “I’m not well acceptedat the courts.” Soon after,Fritz-Munich left forSeeshaupt, where he bought astudio and settled with Editha.They spent the rest of theirlives reminiscing about theirglorious days in India, whileFritz-Munich painted soldiers,who would visit the villageduring the war. Fritz-Munichdied in oblivion, and steeped inhis past.

For his grandson, this film isperhaps a way to put the ghostsof the past to rest.

BAND: The LittleWilliesLABEL: EMI PRICE: Rs 395

RATING★★★

LINDSAY PEREIRAlindsay.pereira@mid-day.com

IN 1970, a young KrisKristofferson wrote a songtitled For the Good Times forhis debut album, Kristofferson.It made him famous and coverversions of that song soonbegan popping up, attractingthe attention of everyone fromChet Atkins and Johnny Cashto Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson,Elvis Presley, even MichaelJackson. The Little Willies,fronted by a certain NorahJones, are the latest to recordit. They do it for this album ofcovers and show how muchthey love the song by namingtheir album after it.

It is an interesting collec-tion, primarily for those whoaren’t often drawn to countrymusic. Some of the band’s

choices — like Willie Nelson’sclassic Permanently Lonelyand Dolly Parton’s pleading,brooding Jolene — are no-brainers, while others — likeScotty Wiseman’s RememberMe and Lefty Frizzell’s IfYou’ve Got The Money I’ve GotThe Time — are admittedlyeclectic. There’s also a sur-prise: Norah Jones deliveringLoretta Lynn’s Fist City (“you’dbetter close your face and stayout of my way, If you don’twanna go to Fist City’) withwhat can only be described asgay abandon.

The other standout trackhere is, interestingly, the onlyoriginal one. It’s an instrumen-tal called Tommy Rockwood,written by respected guitaristJim Campilongo. These musi-cians clearly enjoy some greatchemistry, and it shows fromstart to finish. More important-ly, the music is unpretentious.How often can one say that inour times of Auto-Tune?

For thegood times

THEBURDENOFTHEPASTWalking through the Maharajas’ palaces, where hisgrandparents had once lived as honoured guests,Konstantin Fritz enters the lost world of pre-Partition Indiain search of his grandfather’s paintings and lost glory

FEBRUARY 12, 2012. SUNDAYMiD DAY

2012Konstantin Fritz traced hisgrandfather Hannes Fritz-Munich’s 1936 portrait of theMaharaja of Morvi, relocated tothe New Palace in Morvi

1936Hannes Fritz-Munich in front ofhis just-finished portrait of theMaharaja of Morvi at DarbargadhPalace, Morvi, Gujarat in 1936.PICS COURTESY: KONSTANTIN FRITZ