Laila Film
Fortun Bawa
The story opens with a Norwegian couple preparing for a journey. They are prosperous traders in the Finnmark region but the isolated area receives few visits from a priest, so they must travel in order to baptize their baby daughter. Alas, they are attacked by wolves during their journey and the baby is lost in the snow.
The wolf scenes (and, warning to animal lovers, they are graphic) are particularly well-done with dozens of the animals streaming down from the mountains and pursuing the characters as the camera cuts back and forth. There is also an excellent river/waterfall rescue with a character grabbing a beech branch for self-preservation. These rescues were a staple of Hollywood and, while the stunts were pristine, the studio background was often obvious. Laila has both the realism and the stuntwork down pat.
But this brings in the question of the Sami and how they are portrayed in general in Laila. Laila was intended for an audience of Nordic viewers who would already understand much of the context but any viewer from outside the region might not find them as obvious.
The Sami are the indigenous people of Northern Europe and the majority of the population is found in Norway and Sweden with smaller numbers in Finland and Russia. Conflicts between Sami populations and the modern governments under whose jurisdiction they live continue to this day with the Sami attempting to preserve their resources, culture, heritage and language from encroachment, exploitation and erasure. (There were also some instances as violence, such as the Kautokeino rebellion of 1852.)
In general, the story is not as good as the acting, the direction or the scenery. Too many plot points basically rely on everyone giving up and deciding to take care of the matter later. In fact, half the troubles could have been avoided if the characters had simply employed the services of a courier.
It might have been too dangerous to travel there during the polar night period, and shooting in the darkness with silent era equipment would probably have been impossible. The sunny Christmases in Laila look a bit silly, though.
Thanks for the info and actually, you bring up something that I was wondering about: was this film originally tinted? I kind of suspect that it was. It certainly would have compensated for some of the seasonal issues.
This was to be Anil Kapoor's official launch as leading man in Bollywood. That's why the opening titles read "Introducing Anil Kapoor". But Anil Kapoor went and signed Woh 7 Din on the side and quickly completed the film. He failed to report this to Sawaan Kumar Tak, making him very angry when he discovered what happened. Anil also did not tell Saawan Kumar Tak that he had done a film titled Kahan Kahan Se Guzar Gaya, 2 years prior. Since that film was completed and stuck not being released, Anil signed another film titled Rachna. Again, Anil refused to tell Sawaan Kumar Tak about this. Sawaan was made to believe Anil Kapoor would only be doing his film.[1]
Laila Majnu (.mw-parser-output .IPA-label-smallfont-size:85%.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-smallfont-size:100%Hindi pronunciation: [lɛːlaː mədʒnuː]) is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language romance film starring Avinash Tiwary and Tripti Dimri. It is directed by Sajid Ali, presented by Imtiaz Ali and co-produced by Ekta Kapoor, Shobha Kapoor and Preety Ali.[1][2][3][4]
Released theatrically on 7 September 2018, the film met with lukewarm response and failed commercially at the box office. But in later years, it received positive reviews for its story and cast performances and soundtrack garnering critical acclaim, following its digital release led to some outlets assigning the film cult status.[5]
The story is based on Layla and Majnun, a classic folklore. Belonging to a reputed family in town, Laila is a flirt who likes to tease boys who are attracted to her. She meets Qais Bhatt, a boy belonging to a rich family. Despite ongoing legal disputes between their families, the two fall for each other instantly. When Laila's family finds out about their relationship, they fix her marriage with Ibban, her father's political assistant. Even though Laila waits for Qais to convince her father, she breaks up with him when he talks disrespectfully to her father. Qais tells her that he would not follow her anymore and asks her to find him if she ever needs him.
After four years, Qais returns from London for his father's funeral. He avoids meeting Laila. Laila, who is regularly abused by her drunkard husband, the new MLA, decides to meet Qais. When she sees him, she realises that he was struggling all these years with her memories, making him a different person. Laila stands up to her husband and they decide to get divorced. Laila asks Qais to wait till her divorce. However, before the divorce, her husband dies in a road accident. Laila decides to run away with Qais on the day of the funeral but her father asks her not to and promises her that she can marry him after a few weeks. Laila again asks Qais to wait for her.
Qais who had been waiting for her for years, gets a feeling that he will never get united with her and this thought makes him eccentric. He begins to have hallucinations of Laila, he talks to her and eventually runs off to a mountain. His family, friends and Laila search for him for days but he is still missing. Qais however thinks that Laila is with him and starts a life with her in the mountains. He is caught by some people and is brought back to his house. There he recognises Laila but also says that Laila is not one person but she is everywhere and points to different directions.
Qais realises that he has reached the ultimate level of love - everything is Laila for him. She realises that in order for them to be together their souls need to meet. Hence, she commits suicide while holding the note he gave her. The note which said that now if she wants him she has to reach him, indicating again that he is far ahead in love for her and she needs to search for him, reach him. Majnu realises that Laila is no more and runs to the mountains where he stumbles and hits his head over Laila's grave. While dying he sees Laila calling to him from the mountain top. The film ends with a song where it is shown that their souls are together doing everything that they had decided. The film ends with the line, "They lived happily ever after - which is both ironic and true".
Hitesh Sonik composed the film's background score and Niladri Kumar, Joi Barua and Alif composed the songs. The lyrics were written by Irshad Kamil, Mehmood Gaami and Mohammad Muneem. The first song, "Aahista", was released on 9 August 2018.[7] This was followed by the title track, "O Meri Laila", on 13 August 2018.[8]
Laila is a 1929 Norwegian black and white silent drama film. The film was written, directed, and edited by George Schnevoigt. Mona Mrtenson, Tryggve Larssen, and Harald Schwenzen played the leading roles.[1]
Shopkeeper Lind is taking his daughter on a long journey to a distant church to be baptized. His daughter is with a servant in the last sled, which trails behind out of sight and comes under attack by a wolf pack. In the confusion that arises as they flee, the baby falls out of the sled. Jmpa, a Smi man, finds the baby and takes her to his Smi employer, the rich Aslag Laagje, who adopts her to be his daughter. Laagje baptizes the child as Laila. A year later, Laagje visits Lind and his bereaved wife, and realizes that Laila is their daughter. He returns Laila to them, but not long afterwards the plague decimates the village and kills her parents. Jmpa goes to the village and finds Laila in the care of an elderly couple. He takes Laila back to Laagje, and she grows up together with Laagje's adopted son, Mellet, who falls in love with her. Laila, however, eventually meets her cousin Anders Lind and become fond of him. After Anders helps rescue her after a canoe accident, they arrange to rendezvous at midnight, but Anders cannot come because his father falls ill and dies. Laila believes he has betrayed her and agrees to marry Mellet. With the aid of Jmpa and at the last moment, Anders arrives at the church just before the wedding ceremony concludes. Laila and Anders resolve all and become engaged.[2][3]
Laila was directed and edited by George Schnevoigt, who also wrote the film's script based on Jens Andreas Friis's Lajla (novel) [no]. The book, originally published in Norwegian in 1881 as From Finmarken, was translated into a Swedish in 1882 with the title Lajla : en Berttelse Frn Lappmarken. Lunde Film [d] produced the film with Helge Lunde [no] as production manager. The interiors were recorded in Nordisk Film's studio in Valby. Denmark and the exteriors were filmed in Outer Billefjord and Skoganvarre (both in Porsanger Municipality) plus locations in Karasjok, Bossekop, Skjrvy, Geilo, and Ustaoset. The film was shot by Valdemar Christensen [no] and Allan Lynge.[1]
The film premiered on 6 October 1929 at the cinema Palace in Denmark.[4] On 12 October 1929, the film was previewed on the National Theatre Oslo, and on 14 October 1929, it had a Norwegian bi-premiere at the Circus World Theater and the Kinopaleet [no] in Oslo. It had a Swedish bi-premiere on 11 November 1929 at Rda Kvarn, Stockholm [sv] and the Olympia in Bors. The title was named Laila in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden,[1] Laila - Die Tochter des Nordens in Germany, and Laila, La Figlia del Nord in Italy.[5] In Norway, the film was distributed by Norrna-Film AS,[2] in Sweden by AB Svensk Filmindustri,[1] and in Denmark by International Film (Sophus Madsen).[4]
While doing some research on the translation of the lyrics, I found out this is a Kashmiri poem, which is used to calm down children. It is interesting that this poem is played in the beginning of the song, when Majnu has almost lost his sanity. His state of mind at this point of the film is like that of a child. He does not know what is right or wrong, and neither does he care. He dances around like no one is watching, speaks in a language no one else understands and has distanced himself from the world and its people. He has unlearned everything society had taught him and has become so innocent and pure that he seems foolish in the eyes of the world. The poem begins to play as soon as Majnu sees a vision of Laila in front of him, dressed in white, which is a color that symbolizes peace, purity and innocence. Hence, Laila is like a soothing lullaby that puts a crying baby to sleep.
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