Akira Kurosawa 118th Birth Anniversary: Remembering The Man, Reminiscing The Genius

Akira Kurosawa would have celebrated his 118th birthday today. Regardless of his mortal status, his films have stood the test of time and are celebrated world over. Akira Kurosawa was born on March 23, 1910 and lived up to September 6, 1998. Kurosawa was a painter before he joined films. He was named the "Asian of the Century" in the arts, literature and Culture category by AsianWeek magazine and CNN. He was also awarded an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement by the Academy Awards. The late Roger Ebert, considered by many to be the greatest film critic who ever lived, had this to say about Akira Kurosawa, "He combined two qualities not always found together in filmmakers: He was a visual stylist, and a thoughtful humanist. His films had a daring, exhilarating visual freedom, and a heart of deep human understanding. He often made movies about heroes, but their challenge was not simply to win; it was to make the right ethical choice." Only Ebert could have written that, and only Kurosawa could have made him write that.

Akira Kurosawa made movies like, "Stray Dog," "Rashomon," "Ikiru," "The Seven Samurai," "Throne of Blood," "The Hidden Fortress," "The Idiot," "Yojimbo," "High and Low," "Red Beard," "Dersu Uzala," "Kagemusha," "Ran," and many more. The names in the list are a tutorial for aspiring film makers. A rare video interview of the film maker shows his remarkable grasp of life and films:

Akiro Kurosawa passed on some of his wisdom through his quotes. Here are some of the most memorable quotes by him:

1. “In a mad world, only the mad are sane.”

2. “Man is a genius when he is dreaming.”

3. “To be an artist means never to avert one's eyes.”

4. “I can’t afford to hate anyone. I don’t have that kind of time.”

5. “Although human beings are incapable of talking about themselves with total honesty, it is much harder to avoid the truth while pretending to be other people. They often reveal much about themselves in a very straightforward way. I am certain that I did. There is nothing that says more about its creator than the work itself.”

These are some of the quotes that show the genius of the director Akira Kurosawa. He was an artist who enriched the landscape of films and treated the camera as a magic brush. And his camera weaved magic that continues to mesmerize audiences all over the world. To end the article, it would be apt to remember what he said about himself without his movies, "Take myself, subtract movies, and the remainder is zero," Kurosawa once said, this perfectly sums up the life of one of the greatest directors who ever picked a movie camera.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 23, 2018 12:24 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).