So Chip Lary at Tips from Chip tagged me to participate in the Six Degrees of Separation Blogathon, another great blogathon started by Nostra at My Film Views. Basic aim is I will be given two actors who I have to connect in not more than six steps.This is a list of those who have tried their hand at this thing before it was passed on to me:Drew from A Fistful of Films (Charlie Chaplin to Jason Statham)Sati from Cinematic Corner (Jason Statham to Michael Haneke)Alex from And So It Begins (Michael Haneke to Stephen Dillane)Steven from Surrender to the Void (Stephen Dillane to Ingmar Bergman)Chris from Movies and Songs 365 (Ingmar Bergman to Toshiro Mifune)Josh from Cinematic Spectacle (Toshiro Mifune to James Stewart)Shane from Film Actually (James Stewart to Spike Lee)Tom from At the Back (Spike Lee to Birth of a Nation)Jay at Life vs. Film (Birth of a Nation to Daniel Bruhl)Steve at 1001plus (Daniel Bruhl to Vinnie Jones)And Chip at Tips from Chip (Vinnie Jones to Jean Gambin)
What Chip assigned to me is to connect Jean Gabin to none other than, Amitabh Bachchan. Well, probably not many people would know who that is but he is, in Chip's own words, the biggest ever star in Indian films. And he is absolutely right.
I have been following this blogathon on many other blogs I follow and I have even tried connecting two people before. So I was obviously excited when Chip tagged me. However, I was put into precarious position because of the connection given to me. The thing is, I had no idea who Jean Gabin is until Chip tagged me. Call me stupid but even after I looked him up on IMDb, only film I could recognize in his filmography was La Grande Illusion(1937) which I have never seen. That puts me in a disadvantageous position.
I also would have loved to follow rules Chip set forth like choosing films I have seen or choosing film where two actors involved at least share screen once. But since I have not seen any Gabin film, at least my first connection has to be a dart in blind. So I decided not to be too hard on myself and call it a link as long as two actors involved have a credit on IMDb. This is how I arrived from Gabin to Bachchan -
1. Jean Gabin worked with Paul Mercey in Archimede, le clochard(1959)Now this connection is a complete guess. I do not know either of the actors involved, nor do I know anything about the film and it was a complete happenstance that I got this link. But as I said due to my lack of knowledge about classic French actors, I have to do with it.
2. Paul Mercey worked with Eli Wallach in The Brain(1969)Now this link was a real breakthrough for me and I was lucky to get this as well. But once I got Wallach, I got next connections in a matter of seconds.
3. Eli Wallach worked with Kate Winslet in The Holiday(2006)Eli Wallach(May he rest in peace!) is best known for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly(1966) and rightly so. But first time I remember watching him in was in this one and I still associate him with it first than Good, Bad, Ugly.
4. Kate Winslet worked with Leonardo DiCaprio in Revolutionary Road(2008)and Titanic(1997)duh! Just look at them.
5. Leonardo DiCaprio worked with Amitabh Bachchan in The Great Gtasby(2013)Now you will remember him, right? Yup, Wolfsheim. Gatsby's friend that supposedly rigged 1919 World series. That's him!And I did it! I feel so accomplished, even though I had to get help from several sources. Now, who should I pass it next to? Ummm, why not go Down Under? I will pass it to Sam McCosh at An Online Universe. And since we are going there, I will task her to connect Mr. Bachchan with one of my personal favorite Australian actresses - beautiful and funny, Rose Byrne. Have fun, Sam!
