The Movie Binge

Three Days. Three movies (two in a day). Three experiences. Each one a different one. And each with a moral. So here is the account of those.

It started off with "Eklavya - The Royal Guard". A friend of mine called up and asked if I'd join. I was too busy in work to think and answer, so confirmed it. Only to realise a few hours a later what big mistake I had committed.

The gruelling hours started at 11. And within next ten minutes the enormity of a blunder (and not just mistake) was sinking in. What started as a beautiful scenic location soon degenerated into a mindless journey with no intentions to present a cinema worth watching. I wonder if Vidhu Vinod Chopra realised that much later and to recover the money went into publicity gimmicks like presenting Big B with a Rolls.

There is nothing much to write about the movie. Just write it off. No story. No music. No acting (why did all of them waste themselves in such a stupid affair!). No direction. All and all a BIG NO. And to add to our woes we being we (i.e me and my friend), much to the embarassment of the ladies with us, ended up giggling and commenting on the movie. So much so that an adjacent audience got pissed with us. So for next (I don't know how many minutes) we were straining our cords to whisper and holding our stomachs, having been denied to laugh :(.

Moral of the story : Do learn from independent reviews and if at all you still have to commit a mistake, do it in front stall where you can vent out all you want to without being told not to.

Next one on a bright Sunday afternoon was Black Friday. We decided to go for a back to back affair and this one was the first of the two. I had seen the movie earlier (the black market version) on a CD where the video and audio were completely out of sync. And anyways as anticipated it turned out to be an affair worth watching at any cost. The fact that it had been prevented from hitting the screen for so long added to its value perhaps but it was a very well made movie.

Both as a cinematic creation as well as the intention behind it, the movie scores in almost all the accounts. Though I feel the editing could have been a little better. Specially a little before the interval the movie slackens a bit, but suitably recovers after that.

The acting is great as expected from the people with theatre background. KK and Pawan Malhotra stand out. I believe for Pawan, its his one of the best performances since the times of "Nukkad" and "Salim langde pe mat ro". KK looks amazingly restrained and yet so emotive in his role. The others too have done justice to all the roles they played. The eye for details is also visible and the sequence of events is presented in a matter of fact way without any intention of being judgmental. It hits you hard where it should in your face and yet at others it displays a poignant array of emotions. Finally it ends leaving you disturbed/numb/agitated etc depending on your line of thought. But whatever be it, the impact is there. All due credit to Anurag Kashyap. Take a bow.

Moral of the story : Good cinema can't be chained and will make the impact whatever the gags on it may wish to do. To learn from the history is simplest and yet most forgotten lesson.


After the heavy impact of Black Friday the obvious choice for the next one had to be a light one. So we decided on Honeymoon Travel's Private Ltd.

If I were to sum it up, it wasn't a great affair but a "TP" (Time Pass) movie. It has its moments of fun where you'll end up having a hearty laugh and it has moments where you would just be yawning. At the onset, I don't think the movie was made with a story in mind. So the screenplay also turns out to be week. But it starts off on a funny note and carries it a little ahead. It brings out some cliched views and also deals with a few not so highlighted ones with subtlety. As they say that debutante's movie is sure to deal with sex and liberty, so does this one.

However nothing radical to write home about. From the angle of acting everyone's done a commendable job except for Amisha Patel. It might be a prejudice against her but I just can't stand her screeching hyperdramatic skill set. Minisha Lamba and Abhay deol seem a sort of misfit as a story and the imagination is being stretched a bit too far. See the movie to know it. So all said and done if you are looking at 2 hrs of TP, its ok. Otherwise you may just pass it.

Moral of the Story: A few laughs don't need a very good script. "Next" time you decide to go on a honeymoon with so many other people. Think twice. Pun intended :).

Birthday Morning Blues

Though the title seems self explanatory. I know like so many other things I need to explain this to myself more than to others. It was just like another day. Nothing special about it. I woke up on another 16th of Feb with fond memories of the previous night that I spent in the company of my friends at Hard Rock Cafe. But beyond that it suddenly struck me that

1) I'm older by another year.
2) I'm the only one amongst my college friends (in India) who is single !!
3) I ain't earning enough to survive a month without Credit Card ..
4) My whole family is after me to get married !!
5) I'm working six days a week with very less time for myself !!

And it was so tough to get up and go to the office. Finally I had to counter the 5 negatives above with 5 positives to gather up strength to go to office (on a b'day yeah). And what were those 5 point something for me ?

1) I'm wiser by another year (yeah you know I'm stupid)
2) I'm single ok, but I am also unmarried happily !!
3) I at least have a few credit cards to survive :D
4) I'm happily away from the groom hunters ...
5) I'm not lonely for six days of the week and I am reading and writing as happily as ever

So here I am.. Heading into another year of my life. With lots of hopes, desire and an intention to fulfill them. So wish me luck whomsoever reads this :)

Cheers to me ...

Cinema under siege

I know much has been said about this issue with people on either side of the fence/glass calling each other names in the name of holding their line right. However I couldn't resist because the issue seems to be in a limelight again. I would refrain from commenting upon what much bigger names have already spoken about. But lets take a few examples to put things in a perspective first

1) Black Friday is getting released after a wait of years due to the "sensitive" topic it covered (or the matter of fact way it showed the real life incidents)
2) Parzania, despite being cleared from censors is still struggling to get the approval from "local censors" (It needs clearance from the local Bajrang Dal leader to be released in Gujarat)

What does it reflect? Reflection upon us as a state and as a society. While we progress economically where are we headed socially? What is the new social fabric that we are weaving and what are the prints that we are leaving on it?

These are some questions that keep disturbing me in the current scenario. It disturbs me to note that perhaps we as a nation are growing increasingly intolerant. Intolerant towards a thought process that strives to bring us face to face with reality. In the beauty of our dreams we are so engrossed that any attempt to jolt us into reality becomes nothing less than a crime. As time and again we have failed to learn from history, it revisits us to tell us the fact that how scared we are to look into the darker truths.

There is nothing wrong in it perhaps. Human nature by instinct is to deny the truth when its ugly. Noone after all feels comfortable if the mirror shows us naked. Serious cinema, unfortunately serves that precise purpose. Occasionally when an artist (read filmmaker) feels disturbed he comes up with an expression to remind us of what we might not recall in daily chores. And therein lies its "crime". And so it has to face the consequences like these.

Have we become paranoid or is it just that our confidence in our own sensibilities is so low that we can't be sure of our own reactions? Have we ceased to discern between a cinematic expression and a threat to peace?

History tells us that greater heights were reached by the nations who didn't hesitate to look into the eyes of their own mistakes. Because they learned from them and didn't commit them again. They didn't put their head in sand like Ostrich. They progressed because of freedom of thought and action not despite it.

Another thing that actually worries me on this is the failure of state machinery to let the order of law prevail. I mean, what is the requirement of censor if you have to send out a message that there is another almighty who reserves the right to let your expression reach the masses. So much for freedom of expression.

Still, all is not lost. The fact that tomorrow will not actually be Black Friday. It will after all get the rightful place it deserved. Anand patwardhan's documentaries have finally been shown on DD. So in those shimmering lights of hope I still dream of a nation which will actually be sensible enough to understand all the sensibilities and let them be expressed.

To cut it short I would end with this ..

The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not sufficient warrant.
-- John Stuart Mill, On Liberty

Why I prefer AIR over other FM channels?

If you are in Mumbai and you travel by a local, FM is something you would really admire like a good friend. Without it the journey could be so excruciating that you may end up thinking twice for going to the office. However, having spent so much time travelling all these days I've come to one conclusion at least .. That nothing beats AIR.. The reasons well they are galore. And since it would be ridiculous to count them, instead of saying "n Reasons why I love AIR", here they are as a matter of fact.

1) Instead of just claiming "Only Music" it actually plays music
2) It doesn't play "Beedi jalaai le.." (Omkara) after "Hips don't lie .." (Shakira)
3) Fortunately or unfortunately it doesn't get ads to bug
4) Instead of just screaming "Bajaate Raho" it actually bajaos for at least 50 mts in an hr
5) It doesn't bore you with BIG words of astrology early in morning
6) Despite being best in content it doesn't waste ONE bit of time in going ga ga over some star's birthday
7) And while you may miss some "Mirchi" in areas here, you can always trust the signal of AIR to reach unthinkable of places

In case you are still wondering where to get lost in "City main kho jaao.." you can always switch to either Gold or Rainbow to drown in some genre of music. You'll not be disappointed. Besides you will not be tormented by people who fail to understand the lines between being enthusiastic and shouting, because the RJs here KNOW their music. And they know what pleases the ear most.

If you still have any doubts, in last three days, I've listened to a program on best of ghazals, a 1.5 hr special on Floyd, a dedicated session to Classics and Country, O P Nayyar's haunting music and yes they keep dabbling it with new peppy numbers as well. Take that ...

Me and My Blog

Today someone asked me how have people reacted to my blog? And I was clueless. It actually suddenly struck me somewhere and I had to go back to the root of my blog. What's the purpose of it? I write to express and I write to understand. I write and I read. I read and I rewrite. And yet somethings are there which will never come across in my reading of my own writing. That is where it becomes so critical to solicit critcism. So the people who matter have to pitch in. And yet I am still to receive any criticism so far. Apart from being told that I wrote just for the heck of it, I am yet to get a peep into myself from the eyes of a reader of my blog. Does that mean that there is a lack of clarity in my writing? Or is it just that I am asking the wrong question? I don't know. Maybe its just not meant to be the way it is. Or it is just meant to be the way I wish it to be. Again the mystery lies in what I can see but I can't comprehend. Till then, I'll use the excuse that I write to just express myself. Beyond that I can't see. I'm a blind man .. I'm a blind man ..

If you're leaving close the door.
I'm not expecting people anymore.

Hear me grieving, I'm lying on the floor.
Whether I'm drunk or dead I really ain't too sure.

I'm a blind man
I'm a blind man and my world is pale.
When a blind man cries
Lord, you know there ain't no sadder tale.

Had a friend once in a room,
had a good time but it ended much too soon.

In a cold month in that room
we found a reason for the things we had to do.

I'm a blind man
I'm a blind man, now my room is cold.
When a blind man cries
Lord, you know he feels it from his soul.

I'm a blind man
I'm a blind man, now my room is cold.
When a blind man cries
Lord, you know he feels it from his soul.

-- Deep Purple

What am I doing ?

Here I am back again. Its been quite a hectic period. It just seems like yesterday when it was 19th of January when I was looking ahead to go to the campus. And today is 5th of February and I've already been to Lucknow,Chennai and Delhi. Time has been progressing at a breakneck speed. My friends are getting married left right and centre. Infact, in India its only me who's left from my college gang. In all this melee if I sit for two minutes I wonder where's the time I used to have for myself. It strikes me how often do I feel like just crashing on the bed with a book in my hand and finishing it in one go. How sometimes I just desire to sit by the sea side and watch the sun go down. How often I feel like just having a glass of wine set to the tunes of ghazals or some metal set to the backdrop of Coldplay. And this "how often" just keeps piling up. Its like seeking salvation. Salvation from the crime of depriving myself of all pleasures that seem so essential. And then suddenly I come back to reality. Or is it an illusion? Illusion that the magnanimous crowd seem to have built around eachone of us. Where what seems right is not the truth and what is the truth seems an illusion. Is that what Oscar Wilde meant when he said "Illusion is the first of all pleasures?". Mystery after all is not in the invisible. But in the visible that we can't seem to understand.