(This piece is from The Quint’s archives and was first published on 7 July, 2015. #MumbaiRains are back and so are we with the best filmi sequences that you can watch without worrying about the potholes.)
Monsoon, with its joys and sorrows has always been an integral part of narratives in our cinema. From celebration to tragedy, romance to loneliness, the magnificence of falling drops has fascinated film goers and filmmakers alike.
Like Indian cinema, rains did magic tricks in many films around the world. Here we are, pinning down, ten of such splendours.
(Warning: Spoilers ahead)
Blade Runner (1982)
One of the most stirring soliloquies to grace the silver screen, Roy Batty’s (Rutger Hauer) final words on top of a tall building during a heavy downpour in 2019 Los Angeles is the very essence of Blade Runner (1982), Ridley Scott’s sci-fi masterpiece. Much improvised during filming, this monologue is a wonderful evocation of memories between the human and the artificial.
Road To Perdition (2002)
Imagine Yasunari Kawabata writing an action sequence. Sounds difficult? Well, watch the final clash of Road To Perdition (2002) between Michael Sullivan (Tom Hanks) and John Rooney (Paul Newman) with his henchmen. Bullets flying on a cold rainy night, shadows more prominent than light, and a lilting background score, this scene has the brushstroke suggestiveness of Kawabata’s prose, and the quiet fury of Sam Mendes’ skill as a director.
Seven Samurai (1954)
The finale of Akira Kurosawa’s seminal classic Seven Samurai (1954) is an absolute tour de force and is widely hailed as one of the most outstanding action sequences ever filmed. Masterfully shot and edited, the thrilling battle where the villagers fight the bandits with the help of samurais in a muddy rainstorm continues to inspire filmmakers worldwide.
Magnolia (1999)
From the start, multiple characters comment on the rains in this multilayered film. Director Paul Thomas Anderson weaves the stories with increasing stress, and in the final sequence releases all of it in the most bizarrely delicious sequence where frogs fall off the sky. It’s biblical, weird, and yet provides a surreal end to the tale of tales.
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
No finale of a prison film can be as overwhelming as Frank Darabont’s modern classic. Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) makes a daring escape through ‘five hundred yards of shit-smelling foulness’ and torrential rain welcomes him on the other side. The glorious spirit of freedom.
Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
Perhaps the cheesiest closure ever, this scene remains an obsession for the lovers of romantic comedy. In fact, Andie MacDowell wanted to create a series of spoofy YouTube videos in which she would repeat the line in all different weathers, running up to different men.
But before MacDowell, Hugh Grant killed it on the The Graham Norton Show.
Jurassic Park (1993)
Steven Spielberg starts his iconic creature feature with a sense of wonder, and slowly tightens the atmosphere of dread as a T-Rex hops the disabled electric fence and creates mayhem in midnight. Spielberg cleverly used the downpour and the darkness of the night to make the CGI look realistic which was at its infancy when the film released.
Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
Is there a rain sequence more famous than this in the history of cinema? After receiving a good night kiss from his love Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds), Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) folds his umbrella, and breaks out in song and dance, making a splash of happiness in relentless rain. It remains a gold standard for rain sequences in cinema. Gene Kelly, simply for the glorious feeling.
Withnail and I (1987)
Bruce Robinson’s cult British comedy ends with Withnail (Richard E. Grant) mourning the vanishing of his dear friend from his life in heavy downpour, and in his delivery of one of Hamlet’s soliloquies, we get a glimpse of the fragility and sadness of his character that always lived on arrogance and sarcasm. What a piece of work is a man!
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
The battle of Helm’s Deep in the second instalment of Peter Jackson’s Lord Of the Rings trilogy is as epic as a skirmish can get. When an arrow slips through the grip of a bow master, a gargantuan war starts, and the use of rain in the sequence is remarkable because it adds a strange sense of realism while amplifying the tension to the optimum.
(The writer is a journalist and a screenwriter who believes in the insanity of words, in print or otherwise. His Twitter handle is: @RanjibMazumder)
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