MovieChat Forums > A Passage to India (1985) Discussion > Victor...Dr Aziz

Victor...Dr Aziz

posted 18 years ago by ellenpalmer6
12 replies | jump to latest

Um HELLO out there....yes yes we all love Fox Judy and Peggy...but why does noone mention Victor..Dr Aziz... there are a lot of great Indian actors out there and they never seem to get a mention....especially since quite a few of u seem to love this genre of film and are fans of Mechant/ Ivory too...the Indian actors are the ones that carry most of these films anyway...and no I am not Indian...I just feel they should get some recognition...Victor was brill in this and did win awards.

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] ellenpalmer6 18 years ago

Ooh very droll..... why dont u stick to sylvestor stallone or Arnie..probably more your time of film say what....

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] ellenpalmer6 18 years ago

Oops so sorry! I will look out for it as have not heard of it...huge apologies grovel grovel....plse forgive? xx

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] ellenpalmer6 18 years ago

Um ok then! but with my bod I think u would rather I dident!!

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] abhishekbachan_34 17 years ago

Yea, Victor Banerjee is a very famous Bengali actor.I think its the same with Roshan Seth who played Jawaharlal Nehru in the film Gandhi(1982), everybody talks about Ben Kingsley(though even he is half Indian) but they don't give Roshan Seth any credit.

[–] vctpagan-1 16 years ago

In the thread entitled "Racism" some posters went on to criticize Victor Bannerjee for the sins of Dr. Aziz thereby confusing the actor with the character he so brilliantly portrayed. I posted a reply stating that I too was at one time confused in that regard when critisizing James Dean.
I agree that, while Davis, Ashcroft and Fox are deservedly praised the Indian actors are barely mentioned by all posters. Dare I propose the reason as being a form of racism? Or do we see "our kind" reflected as the center thus innocently blinding ourselves to all else? To what extent are the "victims" of this neglect affected? Do they see themselves as the center or do they view themselves through the mirror of the predominent alien culture around them? Or is it simply a case of the white actors being more familiar to the movie going public (of all races) and after all it's such a bother to look up all those Indian names...which brings us back to the center thing. One poster even mentions that all the Indian actors in this movie are below par. While I disagree I have no qualm with that sentiment if it was arrived at on an objective level. It's just as bad to praise an actor's skill simply on the basis of his or her ethnicity as it is to condemn them for it.
Forgive me for turning this into a thesis. I don't want to give nor do I have easy answers. I'm groping my way through the dark like everyone else. For the record along with Victor Bannerjee as Aziz the other Indian actors are Saeed Jaffrey, Roshan Seth and Art Malik.

[–] RobbieCalifornia 16 years ago

They were excellent in the film, all of them. Nicely put, vctpagan.

[–] rockcairn69 13 years ago

Ever notice that there are no paintings from anywhere except europe in most of our "great museums"? Some of those old chinese landscapes, for instance, are as beautiful and as technicially hard as any others anywhere. And Indian art and sculpture can hold it's own up against anybodys, as well.

It's the same in film, I believe. An automatic response to anything that isn't "ours" is to see them as inferior. Is that racist, and do only western cultures do it?

In other countries versions of the oscars, which of hollywood's films win as "best foreign film", I wonder?

Thanks for the thought provoking comments, that's why I always go to this site after I've seen a movie that's intrigued me. Plus to get better educated about it.

"Go back to your oar, Forty One."

[–] fountainebleu 16 years ago

Dr Aziz was a major part this films success, his humanity, his needfulness (if that is a word), wanting to be accepted, wanting to do the right thing, his innocence (both as a human being and in the legal sense) make this film great. i think many people can identify with him.