????
Though I haven’t seen Deepa Mehta’s film Water yet, I am aware that John Abraham plays a young follower of Gandhi named Narayan. But uh, I was baffled by this line at the end of Roger Ebert’s review of the film:
The character name “Narayan” is a reminder of R. K. Narayan, the novelist whose works are delightful human comedies about life in India.

The other day I saw the movie bill & ted’s bogus journey. The character bill reminded me of an ex-president whose work showed us delightful ways of using our cigars.
Comment by visheous — February 2, 2007 @ 5:28 pm
Now that Roger Ebert has made this powerful suggestion, it must be true. Let’s go even further… The character played by John Abraham is perhaps a reminder of Jayaprakash Narayan, which explains the socialist yearnings and desire for bringing reform to the lives of Lakme models.
Comment by Amitava Kumar — February 3, 2007 @ 4:27 am
Unlike his usual eye-candy roles, John Abraham represents the voice of a young (for the time) and changing India. The role to look out for is Seema Biswas’s Shakuntala Didi…living her life with faith in a in-human system that treats widows as non-entities. A quiet, steady movie that once again underlines that which we know but choose to ignore.
Comment by Taz — February 3, 2007 @ 2:56 pm
Unlike his usual eye-candy roles, John Abraham represents the voice of a young and changing India. Set in 1938, ‘Water’ is a quiet, steady movie that once again underlines that which we recognize but choose to ignore. The role to watch out for is Seema Biswas’s ‘Shakuntala Didi’ - going through life with faith in an inhuman system that treats widows as non-entities.
Comment by Taz — February 3, 2007 @ 3:00 pm
I am not surprised. Ebert is trying to show off his intellect. Desi critics do the same, drop names and keywords at every excuse. YOu know what I mean. Now you know how disonant it sounds.
Comment by Barbarindian — February 3, 2007 @ 4:31 pm
Rather than showing off his intellect, Egert only betrays his ignorance!
Comment by Suraj — February 7, 2007 @ 10:30 pm