Word: navin
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Shirley MacLaine) teaches piano and shares a London house with a few other distressed gentlefolk. They might all be sitting on a verandah above the Ganges a half-century ago, waiting for the subcontinental jewel to fall out of the imperial crown. But now Madame has taken on Manek (Navin Chowdhry), a gifted Indian lad, as her prize pupil. She will wage war with his beautiful mother (Shabana Azmi) over his time and loyalty. She will goad Manek to greatness and lose a bit of her heart...
...paints an engrossing picture of a game in transition from the dead-ball era of stolen bases to the Ruthian age of the homerun, but never really shows the effects this had on baseball as a business, except to detail the contract feuds between Cobb and Tiger owner Frank Navin. He portrays Cobb as an ugly racist, but doesn't ever explore what Cobb thought about the desegregation of the game after he retired. Answering these questions might have provided an interesting glimmer of insight into American pop culture during the years Cobb lived...
Then again, no one who participated in The Jerk has anything to take pride in, least of all Martin. But unlike Navin, Martin most likely will not be sued for marketing a faulty product (the "Optigrab" causes 10 million consumers to go cross-eyed) and will pocket a tidy sum from this film. Navin winds up in the gutter; Martin will probably purchase a new ski chalet in Aspen. Yet, in the end, Navin may end up the richer man--his adopted family and Marie find him on Skid Row and shower him with affirmation and love. As for Steve...
...what is supposed to be a romantic scene, Navin woos Marie while Peters notices that too much of her cleavage is exposed and nervously adjusts her clothing, glancing up towards where the director, Carl Reiner, probably stood. Call the innovative acting--but it was obviously not in the script...
REINER, OF COURSE, is ultimately culpable for mistakes like that. Halfway through the film, one begins to wonder whether he wandered off the set between each "Action!" and "That's a take." Before Navin acquires his fortune by inventing the "Optigrab"--a device which holds eyeglasses to the face by running a piece of wire from the bridge of the glasses to the tip of nose--Marie leaves him, apparently because he is not wealthy. As she composes her farewell note, a heavily-made-up Peters cries crocodile tears--as mascara and eyeshadow smear their way down her face. Reiner...