The Effect of Media

Review - That Girl in Yellow Boots

2011-09-03T06:32:00.000-07:00

PS: This post is not on the intent of That Girl in Yellow Boots. It is purely on its execution and its structure. Much before TGIYB was released, marketing had led us to believe that this is a film about a girl's search of her father. There was absolutely no ambiguity with respect to this aspect of the film.

The film starts with Ruth receiving a letter from her father, in which I think he says that he is missing her in India. I say I think because I was entering the hall when the film started and couldn't focus on what was happening. Ruth meets some people at the FRO office to extend her VISA. The characters she meets are what you would see in a government office. Bored clerks, fat bosses, ugly men and women and their mannerisms just aggravate their ugliness. Ruth comes back to a massage parlour and we get to know that she is actually giving a handjob to her clients. Her madam - the owner of the parlour - is the most interesting character of the film. She speaks suggestively to her clients in hushed tones. Ruth's boy friend is a drug addict and peddler. He gets caught in the trap laid by his friends. He owes a gangster more than a lakh rupees. The gangster comes to Ruth's place to get his money. The gangster again is an interesting character. Among Ruth's clients, there is a man who doesn’t say anything apart from telling Ruth not to speak, when he is reaching a climax. He too is an interesting character for there is absolutely no doubt as to his intent. So, we have three really interesting characters in Ruth's universe. But they all pertain to only one part of her universe. The part, where she is working in a message parlour. However, the film is on a woman's search of her identity and her father.

Ruth does go out in search of her father. She meets two women at Osho Ashram in Pune. But these two characters are not even half as interesting as the characters in other part of her universe. She regularly meets a man with a baritone voice. I didn't quite get who he is. In which capacity, was he speaking to Ruth? (Perhaps I couldn’t concentrate) He is related to Ruth's search. Again, he is also not a very interesting character. This made the film lopsided. There is hardly any scene (apart from the initial ones at FRO office) which is memorable from the part of her universe, where she goes out in search of her father. What does a film like this do? If I am told to define Ruth's character purely from what Kashyap showed me in the film and not from what he had been talking at twitter, I would say she is a white girl badly stuck in the dark underbelly of Mumbai. Why is she stuck? What is her pursuit? This comes out in some scenes but very weakly.

This is a film where situations and characters tangential to the main plot are more interesting than the main plot itself. This distracts the audience resulting them in ultimately forgetting what they had actually come to watch. Another thing with the execution was a very bad handling of guest actors. In the most important scene of the film, Ruth goes to the building where she has figured that her father stays. She enters the lift and the famous actor Rajat Kapur comes out of it. The camera spends few seconds on Kapur. Any sane mind would start thinking that may be Kapur is the father. But this again has been done to distract the audience. Kapur could have been wisely used in any other scene. What was he doing in the most important scene in a thriller, when he had no real impact on the events of the film. It's like saying Fuck You to the audience. There are directors like Michael Haneke, who have been consistently saying Fuck You to the audience. But their execution is very neat. Very neatly, they take you to the climax and then rather than providing an end to the story, they end the film in between. The problem with TGIYB is Kashyap doesn’t neatly take us to climax. The journey till climax is distracted by characters who have nothing to do with Ruth's search. The climax scene too is distorted by having a famous actor distract the audience.

Another thing, which really irritated me is Kashyap's repeated use of sex jokes. Now, sex jokes, per se, are among the most interesting things. But focusing solely on words like "choot" and "chutiyapa" in one film after the other makes his oeuvre stale. Kashyap has time and again said that he doesn’t want to write anymore. He wants to focus entirely on direction. This reflects in his work. He doesn't enjoy writing. Pretty much the same problem is with Vishal Bhardwaj who also said that he is fed up with writing. In his case too, Saat Khoon Maaf was spoiled by Bhardwaj the writer (the direction was awesome though).

There wasn't a single quintessential mumbaiya character in the film. I figured this thing even with films like Delhi Belly and Dhobi Ghat. Ruth, her madam and her boyfriend can belong to even Delhi. One don was from Karnataka and most other characters didn’t come across as mumbaiyaa. True, that such characters do exist even in Mumbai. But, they pretty much can exist anywhere. The film will be just as convincing if I take those characters and their lingua and transport them to any town in North India. Same was the case with Delhi Belly and Dhobi Ghat. This is the most important reason why I love the work of Dibakar Banerjee. Even if I am not concentrating properly, I know it is Delhi. It’s not just about lingua. Those conversations happen only in Delhi. Kashyap himself has successfully captured amazing mumbaiyaa characters in Satya. Buy, I think he has hit a ceiling as a writer.

Some really good points of the film

- Cinematography
- Kalki's acting. She is undoubtedly the most talented actress in Bollywood today.
- 90 minutes length
- Kashyap's guts to avoid designing an interval.

On Paris, Texas

2010-06-24T06:01:00.000-07:00

Finding a movie boring after longing to watch it for months is indeed a frustrating experience. Such was my state of mind, when I had to sit through the 2 hours and 20 minutes of Paris, Texas. It had been suggested to me by my trainer at a filmmaking course. I had fought with salesmen in most of the famous DVD stores of Mumbai having been told umpteenth number of times, “No sir, we don’t have it and we haven’t even heard of it”. So obviously when Ranjit messaged me that he has downloaded Paris, Texas from torrent, I was really happy.

Lets start with the story. For those who dislike people revealing the story, I think it doesn’t matter in this case. It starts with a man in mid 40s walking aimlessly in a desert somewhere in South Texas. From his appearance, you can make out that it’s been more than a while that this fellow has been roaming in wilderness. Someone informs his brother, who comes up and takes him back to Los Angeles. It turns out that this fellow had left his home some four years back after a troubled relationship with his wife. His wife couldn’t bring up their son on her own, so she left him in the care of this guy’s brother and his wife. Four years have lapsed since then and the kid is now ten years old. He obviously can’t take his father for his father upon his return. But soon the non-existent bond between the father and the son develops. They flee from the house in search of the kid’s mother. They find her in circumstances, which are the only pulse-racing moments of this otherwise staid film.

Coming back to why didn’t I like it. One, for its sheer length. I think it shouldn’t have been even a second more than 90 minutes. In ethereal films, length is the most important factor. Two, apart from the end, the most important part of the film is how the kid accepts his real father and leaves those whom until yesterday were his parents. There is not a single scene, which explore this. How on earth can we expect a kid, who is staying with his parents in a superb bungalow in Los Angeles, leave everything for a father, who he is sure is somewhere close to a nomad. My understanding of things is: Kids are really selfish, for they love themselves the most and are yet to understand the importance to reciprocate.

Imagine this scene. The duo of father and kid are in search of his mother. They are staying in a hotel room. The father has found the mother and he is finally going to tell her about the whereabouts of the kid. But he thinks that he still can’t bridge the gap with her so he chooses to go out of their life. He records a message for the kid. Sitting alone in a hotel’s room, which is overlooking a plethora of steel structures and is entirely devoid of intimacy, the kid is listening to that message. There is absolutely no change in his facial expressions. From the exterior, he is as normal as he was in the bedroom of his home in LA. How can we expect that the lack of intimacy (at such a young age) and an emotionally disturbing message are having no visible impact on the kid?

I cannot convince myself that this is even a good film let alone being a great one. I think the writer and the director understood the psyche of escapist father and husband well enough, for it is easy to think like an adult. However, they completely failed to understand the psyche of a kid.

On Benegal

2010-06-13T23:56:00.001-07:00

Years ago when I watched Ankur, I couldn’t understand why it was so depressing and difficult to relate to. Needless to say, I didn’t like the film. I had also ruled out the possibility of ever liking Shyam Benegal's work. That was until a friend of mine suggested me to watch 'Bhumika' - a real life story of flamboyant Marathi actress Hansa Wadekar.

Bhumika starts with Smita Patil dancing in front of male audience with heavy make-up. The heroine credited with making dusky looks acceptable in Hindi cinema was wearing so much make-up that I cursed Benegal for making her look unnaturally white. That was until I realised that she is playing an actress in the film. As Smita moves out of sets, the shining face becomes rather grim and she is sans make-up. There is not a stray of gray in her hair, but her body language suggests that she is not in early 20s. Cut to the scene, she comes to her home. A middle-aged man with ample gray in his hair to suggest so, is waiting for her. He doesn’t look old enough to be her father. He doesn’t look young enough to be her husband. He can be a husband still, given that men are fond of younger women. But his body language doesn’t really suggest so. Benegal doesn’t establish their relation yet, and they plunge into an argument. Smita pulls the arm of a girl. Again from Smita's looks its tough to believe that she is her daughter. Smita screams at the middle-aged man (played by Amol Palekar), "Will you ever stop blackmailing me through this young girl". The young girl looks more like Smita's younger sister and I got the vague idea; may be Amol Palekar is actually her father and this young girl her sister. Well that was until Smita changes her saree in front of Amol and its only then after I guess some 10 minutes of screen time, that I realised that he is and for sure is her husband and the young girl her daughter. Well that is Benegal - a man who doesn’t spoon-feed his audience, who doesn’t reiterate the obvious and who expects his audience to have a minimum intelligence quotient.

Last week, I watched Junoon. A period film directed by Benegal in 1978. The film is set in 1857. A group of rebellious sepoys have butchered few Englishmen at a church in Delhi. The firebrand leader of the group is Naseeruddin Shah and one of his acquaintance is Shashi Kapoor - who too is a rebellious sepoy - not as much a hardliner as Naseer though. Shashi falls in love with daughter of a murdered Englishman. He gives shelter to the daughter, her mother and her grandmother. He is arrogant, since sepoys were getting better of their masters then. Yet, he is in love with the English girl - who very well knows that people of his ilk have butchered her father. I don’t want to divulge the story, as that would kill the fun of watching the film. But yet again, the detailing done by Benegal is exceptional. The characters speak exactly the same kind of language spoken around Delhi and Merrut those days. Ismat Chugtai wrote the dialogues in Urdu and you feel as if you are transported to 1857. The actors work really hard to get the body language right. Naseer and Shabana Azmi are so believable as fanatic leader and a possessive wife that you wonder if you are looking at actors or real characters. The surprise of the lot is Shashi Kapoor, who plays the pathan madly in love with English girl, while being still married to Shabana Azmi. Its utter pity that Shashi Kapoor had to play second fiddle to the macho men of 1970s in the “so-called” commercial films. His urdu is approximate if not accurate, his body language is right too, his eyes do a lot of talking. Benegal uses several mediums to depict that era. So the film starts with a peer prophesizing the demise of British rule. I was comparing Junoon with the most successful period film - Lagaan. A film set in Champaran in Gujarat, while the characters speak in Avadhi. No matter how hard Aamir Khan works, he is miles away from Naseer and Shashi. Moreover, Ashutosh Gowariker takes him clean-shaven making him and through him the film look even more superficial.

The Advantage (?) of Being on The Better Side

2010-05-03T22:09:00.000-07:00

Mumbai has come to a halt. Motormen have gone on an indefinite strike. So the lifeline that is the local trains are not running. People have no option but to go by road. And the lesser said about Mumbai roads the better. They hardly look like roads of a metropolitan city. Britishers had made much wider roads. Thanks to decades of corruption, we have illegal shops and at some places entire market brought up along the roads, which has obviously eaten up the space. So when you look at a Mumbai road, you dont simply look at the road, you look at a deluge of hawkers, shopkeepers, beggars and labourers. They are the kind of the people we convinently ignore. Ha...Life goes on...Damn..How does it matter as long as I have a nice air conditioned bed-room at 15th floor, where even their stentch can't reach.

Yesterday the haves and have-nots of Mumbai came much closer to each other. I heard few "respectable" ladies sleeping on the road next to Planet M showroom. "Respected" men too had to climb on a tempo and had to endure the travel like a rooster. I saw respected men and women walking, standing, sitting, sleeping on the pavements, which are home to homeless. For once, the have-nots can accuse the haves for breach of privacy.

The motormen strike has clearly shown how easily the lives of haves and have-nots can collide. It is also a "gentle" reminder for fools like me not to feel so proud of having a "nice" life, in a country which is otherwise not nice at all.

Rarest of Rare Case : What a mockery

2010-03-31T02:52:00.001-07:00

How far away are we from reality? A news piece caught my attention last week. It appeared in Delhi's edition of Indian Express. It was about honor killing of a couple some five years ago in Kaithal District of Haryana. The guy and the gal had fled from their homes to marry, as their families were against the marriage. The reason was : they were from same 'gotra'. I dont know what is the technical meaning of 'gotra', neither do I care a fuck about it. I think it will be something like a caste. Why I think like this is because years earlier, my mom had told me that I cant marry a gal with 'Sehgal' surname, as she is like a sister to me. I didnt find it odd then, but I find it strange today.

Okay, lets get back to the story. So, the couple got married. But soon after it, they were hunted down by gal's brother and cousins and were butchered by them. Such cases are known as 'honor killings' in India, as the family sacrificed their own daughter to save their 'honor'. The case was doing rounds in court for the last five years. Yesterday, I read the piece : Hayrana High Court gives death to 5 accused, life imprisonment to one and 7 years in jail to another. It was one of the few moments I felt really proud of Indian Legal System, for there is a ray of light even in darkest corner of this country, where sex ratio is dipping and having a gal child is considered as a curse. But when I read further, the public prosecutor had appealed to the judge saying that this was "RAREST OF RARE CASES". Even a dumb ass can imagine that the judge must have been moved by a plea like that. But, isnt it strange that the public prosecutor and the judge - the watchdogs of legal system - think that it is a rare cases. Arent they reading newspapers? Every other day in Delhi, I used to read about honor killings and that too in english newspaper, whichs readers would like to believe that they have urban sensibiltiies, which make it hard for an editor to get such a story to print, still he does it. Think about how many such stories will be appearing in hindi papers. What kind of utopian world we live in?

Anyways, it finally turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as the judge did think that it was a rare case and awarded a severe penalty. But here too, should the severity of punishment have anything to do with the prevalance of that kind of crime? I dont think so, in fact the more prevalant the crime is, the stricter should be the punishment. I hope the following things should happen:

a) Indians learn "correct" english. It can well be the case, that the lawyer knew that its not a rare case, but still 'RAREST OF RARE' is a powerful phrase, so he used it

b) We as a society can take few steps to open our own eyes.

Pynchonsque

2010-01-22T03:16:00.000-08:00

I've been wondering what to write on my blog. Haven’t written anything in last three months. That perhaps explains that I am not as bored as I was when I writing lots of them. Didn’t even have an interesting encounter with a rickshaw wallah. Didn’t read a really interesting book. O yeah, read 'V' by Thomas Pynchon. I think the last time I had to apply so much head was when Raja took financial market classes at Tapmi, a full five years ago. Never before, I understood so little, but just had a faint idea that the guy is too profound for my taste. So thought lets dedicate this blog to Thomas Pynchon. There is no build up in this blog. I don’t want to tell the story. So fuck the logic. I will pass the judgment straightaway. I think nothing sums up the brilliance of this writer more than this statement (which of course is not mine) - If the first half of 20th century can be described as Kafkaesque, the second half can easily be called Pynchonsque. Oh yeah yeah, all those lovers of European, primarily non-American literature, will take it with a pinch of salt. Kafka presented his protagonists as victims, who were doomed at the hands of system. In his most famous work, The Trial, Joseph K knows that he hasn’t committed any crime. Perhaps, the police know it too. But, he cant prove it in court and he knows from the day he was arrested that he will be hanged. And for those, who know it all, who know the inefficiencies of the system and who think that such books are nothing but a rehash of fundas well known, please read it. A book is not good for what it says; it is good for how it says. Joseph K's mind is obviously frustrated, but he doesn’t die a loser's death. He dies fully aware that he was helpless. I think a mere acknowledgment at his part that he is nothing more than a pawn relieves him of the concerns people have about after life. If the life itself was fuckall, who gives a fuck about after life. So when Joseph is stabbed, he merely suffers from physical pain, no mental pain. Kafka died young. Most of the stuff was written, when he must have been pre-occupied by after-life thoughts. For anyone who is really worried of dying a loser's death, please read 'The Trial, I bet you will have this feeling - If I couldn’t do it, so what? And even if I indeed did it, so what? The novel was written in 1920s when Europe was undergoing a political change. Leaders - military and political were wrestling with a power-obsessed clergy often screwing the common man.

A full forty years later, a 26-year-old American called Thomas Pynchon wrote V. It was a time of social awakening in US. Blacks got their rights. Rock and roll was far more than music, as it empowered the youth. USA had plunged into Vietnam War. A huge section of society was disillusioned. Drug addiction soared. I came across a line on Pynchon - "His character bounce from farce to paranoia". It’s my favorite line for the last three months. Americans knew that the theory that communism is a threat to US was nothing but farce much like Iraq having weapons of mass destruction (history does repeat itself). Still, they were scared of communism, or perhaps something that they didn’t even know. May be, when you are rich, you have a lot to lose, so you are prone to get scared. Politicians grabbed this chance and created a villain out of Korea, Soviet Union, Iraq. So the central theme of V is farce and paranoia. More important is, at least what I think, events in history are so damn intervened that no matter how hard one tries, he/she wouldn’t be able to spot who was responsible for what. To put it simply, people of my generation, born in 80s, think that it was US, which protected Kuwait from Iraq for its gains. Actually, the precedent was set by UK, which was funding its deficit from oil money made in Kuwait much earlier than US. So US is not only to blame. And who knows, it can be some other country before UK. So entire human race is very much like a native lost in a city. The more you try to understand history, the more you are at loss. Better read it like a fiction. Pynchon brings this out through a messed up character called - Herbert Stencil whose father was in British Army. So he had been to different parts of the world where some conflict was boiling. He would tell his son stories. It doesn’t stop there. Stencil connected the dots from whatever he heard from his father and filled the holes with his imagination to such an extent that he almost lost the grip of reality and the reader is left wondering "is this something which his father told him or just a figment of his imagination?” Its so true of all of us, what we call knowledge is just a sum of facts and imaginations. In all his father's stories, there was a woman. Invariably, her name started from the letter 'V'. The quest started when Stencil thought it’s the same woman who chases his father and somewhere she knows the link to all international conflicts. How much of this is a fact and how much a fiction, I couldn’t know. May be the larger purpose was not to know who was responsible, but to realize if not fully comprehend the real complexity of the events.

That Feudal Mindset

2009-10-13T01:09:00.000-07:00

His unshaven and unwashed face seemed repulsive to me. His crushed and dirty payjamas could not have made him look even worse. I asked him, “Andheri Station??” He shook his head meaning “No”. I asked again, “Will you go, or wont” He just looked away. I was sort of unsettled; the kind of feeling one has when his servant disobeys him. I also know that the so-called modern and liberal brigade of India would have made a villain out of me by now for still having a feudal mindset. But, I think most of us still carry the weight of those feudal days. It’s just that the words we use might be different.

A friend of mine got frustrated while waiting for a rick at Andheri Station. She was expecting someone to come and say “Ma’m, where do you want to go” Much to her chagrin, the autowallahs did not stop auto and asked while still driving the rick. Few of them even indicated by hand that they would go only to right and not left. She was appalled to realize that she was not even worthy of a negotiation with an autowallah. You cant blame autowallah if you look at roads and traffic in Bombay for there will be a long queue of vehicles, if you stop even for a minute to ask passengers. And knowing that the most desperate often act most practically since they don’t have the luxury of nursing whims and fancies, my friend should not have been surprised at the autowallah merely showing his hand to point at direction where he wanted to go.

As Leonardo Dicaprio said in Blood Diamond “Americans have a lot of feelings” He was actually referring to rich people being over sensitive. In this case too, my well-to-do friend got offended. In fact, she is not an exception, as even many others and I would have reacted in the similar fashion.

You would often hear a friend complaining that the servants are over demanding. “They ask for sarees on Diwali”, goes the rhetoric. But aren’t masters over demanding too? In Delhi and in fact most of north India, if your daughter is getting married, it is assumed that the maid, who otherwise does not spend more than 2 hours at your house, will give a helping hand for may be 2 days or even 3 days until the wedding gets over. Agreed that, maids get paid for this extra time, but assuming them to give a helping hand without even bothering to ask them is preposterous.

I was not surprised when many of my friends could not read more than 20 pages of the award-winning novel ‘The White Tiger’. They thought that it was simply a critique of India. They did not realize that it was actually a critique of how servants are treated and how caste is still a reality and not a myth in India. The employer is always a ‘maalik’ or worse ‘anna data’ and the employee a ‘naukar’ to an extent that when someone asks “aap kahan naukri kartein hai”, we don’t even realize that he has degraded us.

What a morning??

2009-10-06T00:53:00.000-07:00

Do we have plenty of anything? May be plenty of shit and filth…I spent 50 minutes in a rick this morning to reach Andheri Station. Normally it does not take more than 25. There wasn’t a single signal without a traffic jam. And, my rick driver was nothing but a reincarnation of Gandhi. We were badly stuck and there was a long queue of truck, bus and cars ahead of us waiting to get past the signal. I said to rick driver, “Why don’t you overtake the cars” (For the uninitiated, in India, often driving in a small vehicle like an auto, bike or a scooter is a smart thing to do. A big SUV is an even bigger pain in the ass, as the width of our roads is indirectly proportional to the increasing size of our cars. So rest assured to get stuck, if your ass is resting in a SUV)
The driver replied, “I will be heads on with the vehicles coming from opposite direction”
I said “But there are hardly any vehicles coming from that side”
He said, “If it comes, then????”
I said, “How many years have you spent in Bombay”
He replied, “Ten”
I said, “You will never be able to accumulate money for your family, if you care so much about others”
He said, “Why are you saying all shit? I have to care”
I got irked, “Care??? For what?? Why don’t you start preaching like Baba Ramdev”
He said, “I do follow him”
I said, “I am not telling you to follow him, I am telling you to be like him. You will remain like this for your life”
He said, “As if you are really happy, if you are a crorepati”
This is something, which can confound a westerner, more than anything else. We, Indians, have very easily bypassed all stages in Maslow’s need hierarchy model and no matter how poor we are; our only need is “need for self-actualization”

Tribute to Mumbai

2009-09-29T22:48:00.001-07:00

An uninterrupted two minute ride is good,
An eleven-month's stay in the same room is a boon,
A travel in local train with lights and fans on is a surprise,
A temple visit without an hour-long wait in queue is deity’s blessing,
A day without the drop of sweat or rain is unimaginable,
A day with three meals at right time is yet to come,
A visit to a restaurant without having to wait for the seat is unheard of,
A phrase to capture it all, "The Spirit of Mumbai"
Damn It!!!!

PS: Spent 2 and half hours in taxi from VT to Andheri yday, a kind of tribute to everyday life in Mumbai.

Blindness

2009-09-27T13:04:00.000-07:00

It was the occasion of ‘Navratri’ and celebrations were going on in my complex building. The DJ had come at sharp 8 pm. At 9pm, he started playing loud music. Soon, kids, youngsters and oldies started dancing on his beats. The big gate, which usually, remains open, was shut tightly. But, I could not understand why?

Soon a deluge of bystanders gathered at the gate and started staring inside. Perhaps, this was why the gates were shut for the bystanders are not people like us. They belong to that part of the society, which cannot afford to spend even a single paisa on entertainment. Surprising was not merely the act of staring, but also the look on their faces. They were looking in with a kind of satisfaction and interest we have while watching a film in theatre. Few of them must have cursed the fact that the gate was shut.

I don’t know why but it arouse a kind of insecurity in me. After all, what is the difference between me and them? Why is that the gates are not closed to me? Why does the guard of local electronics store warmly open the gates of his shop, while a numbers of bystanders are staring at television sets inside to know the score of the match? The difference is simple and the fact that it is so simple strikes me.

Ten years back, I and a friend used to attend coaching classes. There was this fellow known as Prakash. He was bright and cunning. His father was not making much money and therefore he had started taking coaching classes for school kids. As I said, he was cunning, the only reason that a deluge of students would come up to him was because he could get the examination paper leaked. Those who had rich parents labeled him as crook. Even I think he was a crook, but he was smarter than all of us. He could crack any accounting or tax question faster than us.

It was the third and final year of our course and we were all writing entrance exam for MBA schools. I asked Praskash “Aren’t you also writing the exam” He said “No, I am not interested in this course”

I told this to my friend Karthik. Unlike me, he was not surprised. I said, “Why is this fellow not appearing in exam” Right then Karthik said “You know Sachin too is appearing in entrance exam” I replied “Sachin that hardworking yet dumb guy” Karthik said “Yeah, you can say that he is dumb but he will make it to a MBA school”

“But why not Prakash” I said. “Prakash can’t do it even if he wants. His dad does not have money to fund his education. Don’t you know that” said Karthik irritatingly. So what is the difference between Prakash and Sachin? That Sachin’s dad can spend on his education. And because Prakash’s dad can’t, no matter how bright he is, he will still struggle.

Till this point of our conversation, I was only surprised. But Karthik’s following words shocked me, “It’s always like that, as if you dint know” The world is cruel towards Prakash and those bystanders for reasons they cannot do anything about. The only difference between me and them is our parentage. I was born to educated middle class parents and therefore I am an educated and upper middle class guy. The bystanders were born to illiterates and destitute and therefore they are ignorant and poor. The difference between us is just a thin line of fate.

We really don’t wonder when a rickshaw puller asks us , “Sir, what is the time”. He is so poor that he can’t even afford a watch. We simply tell him the time thinking that it’s normal for him to ask. Strange are the ways, we are conditioned that we are oblivious to reality most of the times.

The fellas who were dancing within the boundaries of my complex did not know that the onlookers, who were staring at them, were hapless poor. For them, they were merely onlookers.

Dont know what to title it

2009-09-18T10:35:00.000-07:00

"jaadon kee narma dhoop aaur aangan mein let kar" wrote Gulzar in a song for his film 'Mausam' in 1975. The poet is nostalgic about the times; he had spent relaxing at his home. Times when soft rays of sunlight would fall on him in harsh winter. If you listen carefully to this song and to many such songs, you would realize that often a relaxed state of mind is the inspiration behind.

When I came to Bombay in 2006, this was one of first things, which struck me that how can a restless, congested and filthy city has become home to so many creative people.

We hardly have anytime for ourselves in this fast paced city. Hardly that we think about our surroundings. So what if there is a stinking public toilet right outside our house, so what if there is a dustbin right outside our office and we have become habitual to seeing dogs, cats, cows and buffaloes struggling for their share of trash, our minds and eyes have become numb to all kinds of filth. And if we are actually numb, how can we think and if we cannot think, how can we be creative.

Well, one can always argue that ‘artists’ in Bollywood are not creative. But, there are exceptions after all. How can Gulzar write those soulful songs? That’s because he is from Punjab and he has seen the better part of this country. In spite of spending close to 40 years in Bombay, still those yesteryears provide the much-needed inspiration for all his songs.

Agreed that even fast paced life can be the source of inspiration. And it was the same Gulzar who wrote ‘siney mein jalan, aankhon mein toofan sa kyun hai, is shahar mein har shaks pareshan sa kyun hai”

But how much can one write on Bombay? I do not know much about the hubs of film making in the world. Hollywood is one such hub for American filmmaking. It’s in California, which is perhaps the most beautiful state of US.

With Bombay remaining as it is, or worse going further down, it is important for Bollywood that people from better and more relaxed part of India to pour in and provide succor to this talent starved industry. Ever wonder, why we are not able to produce a good lyricist after Gulzar.

Kaminey

2009-09-14T03:40:00.000-07:00

We all suffer from a disease. It is late realization. It occurred to me when I read the reviews of Vishal Bhardwaj's latest film 'Kaminey'. Critics said, "Vishal has turned the art of movie-making upside down". Few of them also said "It is an intelligent film and you can’t keep your mind dysfunctional even for a second". I watched the film and really liked it. But in hindsight, apart from good camera work and tight screenplay, there was nothing extraordinary about the film. Vishal’s best work to date is Maqbool, which got rave reviews but critics did not go mad about it. His another film ‘Omkara’ was good but certainly not as good as ‘Maqbool’. None of the many films he has directed were received by critics like Kaminey has been received. And if you read the reviews of Kaminey carefully, you would realize that it is not merely the critique of Kaminey, it is actually a critique of ‘Vishal – as a director and his body of work’. For some reason, movie-lovers, journalists and critics have now realized that there is someone by the name of ‘Vishal Bhardwaj’ and the fact that he is one of the best filmmakers of India.

On the New Year eve of 2007, we were discussing which was the best movie in 2006. And most of my friends said ‘Rang De Basanti’. I am sure if I ask the same question today, it will be ‘Omkara’. I felt like laughing, how could a sane mind rate RDB over Omkara. Agreed that choice is personal but I can bet if I were to give an option to my friends to watch RDB or Omkara on a DVD, 90% of them would watch ‘Omkara’. This was about the disease of late realization. Ever wonder, if you tell an aspiring writer to publish his work, he would reply that he still needs time. Perhaps he has not realized his own talent. And if we are such poor judges of ourselves, how could we say that our critique of someone else’s work is objective?

Now lets go back to the point of Kaminey being more appreciated than Maqbool and Omkara. In one of his interviews, Vishal said that Bollywood needs full-time writers. He also said that good writers come to Bombay and want to become directors. This is all too evident from the quality of dialogues in Kaminey. While Omkara starts with a powerful dialogue “Bewakoof aur chootiye mein dhaage bhar ka farq hota hai”, Kaminey had to manage with “Life badi Kutti cheez hai”. No doubt, quality of writing was much better in Omkara. If Maqbool had the best-penned dialogues heard in a long time, Omkara had lines, which would stay with you, Kaminey hardly has a dialogue or two like that. But none of the critics have mentioned this in their review. In fact, one of the critic said “Dhan-Te-Nan song has a huge part to play in Kaminey”. I think it was just a song in the film. Thankfully, Vishal is much more intelligent than insane critics and has not overplayed the song in the film.

Now coming to point of Kaminey being an intelligent film. It has parallel plots much like Yuva. I am sure Yuva was never particularly appreciated for parallel narratives by critics. Somehow, they have woken up with ‘Kaminey’. I feel the film had brilliant camera-work. At one point the next scene appeared, while the previous scene was not completely over. The scenes were changing so swiftly that I felt as if I was seeing a photo album. Kudos to that and kudos to Shahid, who has put in a lot of effort for the film. And thumbs down to critics, who mindlessly write about films.

Jinnah's Ghost

2009-08-19T07:50:00.000-07:00

There is no dearth of fools. To be something in politics, you must kill your conscience. Actually, I am trying hard to come out with a powerful statement. This is about the latest move of BJP to expel Jaswant Singh. His offence: He praised Jinnah in his latest book and held Nehru responsible for British India’s partition. I haven’t read the book, so purist is advised to stop reading this article from this point.

Yesterday, I saw clippings of Congress’s workers tearing the book and then burning it in public view. It is appalling to see that coz I am sure that those Congressmen did not know that Jinnah was the top leader of Congress till early 1920s. So rather than cribbing about the whole affair, I thought let me throw some light on Jinnah. Here are few facts

a) Jinnah was born a Muslim. He never practiced Islam. He was a self-acclaimed atheist. He loved having pork.
b) He studied law in Britain and had utmost faith in legal system.
c) Unlike Nehru, he was not born with a silver spoon. His father was a rich merchant. But not rich enough to afford his son’s education in Britain. I think he went on a scholarship
d) When he returned, he chose Bombay and not Karachi, where he hailed from. Perhaps, Bombay’s cosmopolitan vibe did its trick.
e) Bombay’s multi-ethic culture of Hindus, Muslims and Parsis suited Jinnah who was too ready to shed his religious inhibitions.
f) He made friends with people across religions and faiths
g) He was an active member of Congress and aimed to become its President
h) His writings show his utmost faith in secular India. He understood divide and rule policy and enlightened Congressmen and Muslim League about its evils.
i) Muslim League tried to poach him. Smart he was, he did not join them but convinced them to hold their annual sessions in the same city and on the same date as Congress was doing. So that workers of two parties can meet and exchange their views.
j) Sarojini Naidu had sung poems praising Jinnah’s principle of secular India
k) It was when Gandhi joined Congress that things took an ugly turn.
l) Gandhi wanted freedom struggle to reach masses. Jinnah thought it would lead to anarchy, as masses were poor and desperate.
m) On their first meeting, Gandhi shook hands with Jinnah and said, “It is a pleasure meeting a modern mussalman like you”. Jinnah replied “I had almost forgotten that I am a musalmman”
n) Gandhi did not like Jinnah’s elitist life-style. Jinnah wanted freedom through constitutional ways.
o) All this while, Jawahar Lal Nehru was nowhere. His father, Motilal Nehru, rose to become Congress’s President in mid 1920s
p) The competition was actually between Gandhi and Jinnah and not between Jinnah and Jawarhalal Nehru.

The only blot in Jinnah’s life was his support for ‘Direct Action Day’ in 1946, which led to riots killing thousands of innocents on the streets of Calcutta. That made Congress bow to his demands of separate Pakistan. On the other hand, Jawaharlal Nehru did not provoke masses. This is the only blot in Jinnah’s career and the only instance, where Nehru scored over him.

Intellectually, Jinnah was the most successful lawyer of British India. He fought a case for Rolls-Royce. A company, which stood for British hegemony reposing faith in a native Indian lawyer, talks great deal of his intellect. Ironically, Advani was right when he accepted that Jinnah was secular. Advani, being shrewd, did not pass it as an opinion but he only quoted Jinnah from his famous speech in Pakistan in 1947. But who cares!!!

My dear customer care...

2009-07-28T08:25:00.000-07:00

Somehow, I have not been able to understand the mentality of people working in services industry. Vodafone's customer care keeps calling me to get the details of bill payment. “Sir, when did you pay the bill?” “Cheque or cash?” Bizarre isn’t it? Don’t they have systems to record all this. If you are yet to make the payment, they expect you to tell them when and where you will drop the cheque? Few of such customer-care representatives have gone to the extent of asking the cheque number. Do they expect me to run and find my chequebook and tell them the number knowing well that I have not written the cheque? What is the sanctity of my information in this case? I might say that I will pay on Saturday. They don’t even bother to ask this or next. I have figured out that Vodafone has outsourced some part of its back-office operations. And the back-office guys want information just to pretend that they are actually working. Whether it matters or not, does not matter to them.

Banks have an equally hopeless back-office operations. And it can get worse if it’s an old styled bank like HDFC Bank. They work only from 9 am to 5 pm. Well, I feel like saying "thanks" to these guys for their service. Calling them "buffoons" will be injustice to the level of their stupidity. They don’t seem to realize that even their branches are open in this time frame and people actually need call-centers at odd hours. When you ask them, they reply that it is our bank "policy". Of course, it has to be. (Thanks again for telling) But what is the logic? Again, it is the bank's "policy". I curse the guy, who invented words like policy and sorry, for he could not have foreseen how much they are prone to mis-utlisation.

Certain breeds are harmful to all kinds of commercial endeavors. And I am sorry to say "marathis" are one such breed. I went to a resort in Maharashtra. The manager did not let me check in. The reason: Guests could check in only after 10 am and I had reached at 8:30 am. One would assume that, there was no spare room. No… Please throw logic out of window, as more than 50% of his rooms were un-occupied. When I asked, he came with a rulebook. Damn! I said "Do you get salary for getting business, or for following a completely bizarre set of rules?" He pretended as if he did not know (more of this pretense strategy later). The sales guy had promised me that upon reaching, I would be served sumptuous breakfast. When I entered their cafeteria, they had vada-pav, poha and tea. Sumptuous? It’s like saying, have as much as you want, anyways it did not cost much to us to get these “cuisines” for our guests. I complained. The manager said “Fine, I will get some sand-wiches for you guys” Then he said “I am doing a great favor to you guys by getting you extra stuff in breakfast” Great Favor??? I tried hard not to yell, but that was one of the several tests of characters, where I failed miserably. I lost control and I yelled, screamed and shouted at him. I have found out that at least it works in India, because most of us lack self-respect. Where logic fails, arrogance can work.

Now lets go back to “pretense” strategy. This is the most irritating part, when these guys are called, they pretend as if they don’t know how can there be a problem in the first place. Take the example of the guy, who is supposedly responsible for hardware and software at my office. So there was some problem with my monitor. I called him up. He arrived only to reciprocate my disbelief at having faced the problem. A clever guy would have a kind of re-assurance on his face. When I asked, “By when, I would be able to work at my system”. He said, “It will take lot of time”. I was on the verge of getting heart attack as I had a deadline in half an hour. I asked, “It will take a day or two?” He said, “No, it will take 30 minutes” That was lot of time for him?? Not because he is super-efficient, but because he is a handicap at English.

Pity...

2009-07-25T01:01:00.001-07:00

We do lack a sense of aesthetics. Take, for instance, the latest decision of Maharashtra Government to get statues of ‘Shivaji’ constructed next to Gateway of India. Or, several of such statues of Mayawati, which came into being, as she came to power. Lets leave aside the logic behind them; for there is hardly any behind the narcissism of power obsessed politicians. But are these guys blind? Haven’t they seen hundreds of such statues of Ambedkar in cities, towns and villages? They were so hopelessly built that no child feels any curiosity to ask his parents about the credentials of that bald, bespectacled man. In fact, in small towns, when they don’t have red light at the crossing, they make sure that Ambedkar statue is there. Its raised hand and pointed finger is there as if to discipline the traffic. Crows and pigeons are the only living creatures, which have got some value out of these statues for they don’t have to think twice before to defecate. Scared of crows humans built it, so that they can defecate on its top and save the earth from their gracious presence.

Now lets talk about Shivaji's statue. Marine Drive and this part of South Bombay is perhaps the only place in India, where you feel foreign. I have put it very bluntly. But have you seen cafes like Leopold and Mondegar, structures like VT and Gateway of India in any other part of this tradition obsessed country. I am from Delhi and no matter how elite a residential area is, religious folks never leave it without a temple, where they can congregate and make life miserable for those outside their gathering. Ironically, they have transformed dustbins into temples at many places. Hygiene can suffer but religion should not. You would come across nothing like this in South Bombay – where people keep their value systems inside their homes and don’t harm the beauty of roads by carrying out religious processions (save one or two instances of Ganpati visarjan). But where pandits and mullahs failed, politicians succeeded. And they will have a statue of Shivaji among the structures and the vibrancy, which have nothing Indian in it. Not that they don’t have the right to. But they should have seen how many commuters even take note of the Shivaji statue at VT station. No one cleans it. It is as earthly as the earth. I mean as dirty as VT station.

My constant cribbings...

2009-07-23T06:43:00.000-07:00

I was walking on the… (Read it carefully)...ON THE MARINE DRIVE yday in evening. The "THE" is used to convey the idea that Marine Drive is the most aspirational residential address in urban India. So there I was. It rained, I was drenched but it did not matter much. The shoes got soiled, water seeped in, but the feeling was divine in that breeze and the showers. Fitness freaks were running with their dogs. Ha...Their dogs were cozy inside raincoat.

Half an hour of walk and I reached Charni Road station. Entered the train, obviously there was no place to sit. There was a place to stand, so I took off the raincoat. My shirt was wet. The fan was teasing me. Despite my 6 feet height, I couldn’t get any air from it. The windows were shut as rains had wreaked havoc. In minutes, I was off the best-ventilated part of Bombay and I was on to the worst. And, it was so bad that after few minutes, I couldn’t figure out if the drops on my brow were thanks to rain or my sweat glands. And, there was continuous pressure to adjust co-passengers. There was a passenger comfortably sitting and reading newspaper. Bastard was giving me a disdained look, when I happened to touch him. Motherfucker, if you want so much of comfort, tell your wife to turn whores and spend their money on a Merc. I couldn’t say anything to him. I was sure that with my size, it was easy to figure out that I am from north India. It would have been easier for that bastard to abuse me in marathi and also invoke the sympathy of his state brethen. I kept mum.

Came Dadar and it was like sea of humanity desperate to get on to train. I wonder why filmmakers work so hard on the screenplay of movies made on the subject of partition. For them, it’s much easier to visit Dadar Station, where the stage is set for another round of division. There wasn’t enough space for my two arms to hang around my big belly. So, I had to raise my hands and I cant tell how envious I was of a man who was sitting and playing games on his mobile. From behind, an old man kept cribbing "aage ho jayo" (please move ahead). I told him "agar aapko jagah milta hai, toh aap jaao na" (why don’t you go, if there is enough space for that).

Came Santacruz, I was still two stations away from Andheri. But, I started gathering my stuff - a polythene bag and a raincoat. I told the guy standing next to me that I had to get down at Andheri. That was to check if he was kind enough to exchange places so that I move few steps ahead. He smiled awkwardly. What was his smile for? Was he empathizing with me? Was it the kind of smile, you give, when you hear something impossible? Who knows...But another man did exchange his place with mine. May be my innocent face did the trick. I had just four passengers standing in front and it was certain that the mission was achievable. There was a surd, who perhaps wanted to get down at Andheri. But he was late and of course was uncertain if he would be able to get down or not. This is what I hate most. When you know that you are in Mumbai Local, isn’t it your duty to plan your exit well in advance. But few of us keep on shagging on our seats and expect the crowd to make way for us as if we are monarchs. A bloody monarch in a public transport, Fuck it. The surd's bag touched my ass twice. I had to tell him in unequivocal terms of his misconduct, else his bag would have touched other parts of my body too. I told him "even I have to get down at Andheri with a kind of angry look". He said, "did I say anything". As if he had not said it, I would have let him shove his back up my ass. My foot. I ignored him. There was a lapse in my concentration for few seconds and I realized my one leg would be in train and the other on platform, for a deluge of desperate passengers were eagerly waiting to board the train at Andheri. One wave of passengers desperate to get down and another wave desperate to get in. As with other things, this might seem beautiful from air. It would seem like union of two rivers. While this union produces music, the union of human waves at train stations brings cries, screams along with it.

The Matrix

2009-07-21T06:53:00.000-07:00

In any press conference, the first person to greet you is a PR lady. What better use, you can put a woman to? She gives you a welcoming smile and introduces herself. No matter how obscure a journalist you are, she would’ve read your articles. Needless to say, she must’ve liked them too!

You enter the hall, which is the venue of press conference. The hall with its high roof and chandeliers is reminiscent of British Raj days. We, Indians, still seem to be obsessed with our maharajas. Perhaps, it is due to reinforcements by our elders and never forgetting media. Everything about the setting of the press conference is hell bent upon making you feel important in overall scheme of things. It is ironical that often journalists, who are guests at such conferences, do not even afford a 2-bedroom hall flat. What a contrast! You wake up every morning and while you are yawning, you have to be careful else your hand will reach the fan and you will be behanded (what atrocious use of language, but I think it gets the message straight). You go to a conference rubbing shoulders with who and who’s of industry. Journalists surely live in illusion. A delusion that they matter, a delusion that without them the society cant stand on itself. Well, I dint intend to write for journalistic illusions, but this matter is too important to be left untouched.

Right in front of you stands a man wearing a black coat and a pensive look. Many men, who are also in black coat, surround him. They nod on every word he utters, and every expression he gives. They seem to be discussing something important. There are few deputies of CEO, who behave in most sophisticated manner and make sure that they are within his gaze. What else can be the motivation behind such an inspirational acting. They act like a club of elites with their handshakes, pleasantries, mannerisms and dressings. And, they are careful of the impression their acting has on journalists, who are looking at them with a kind of awe a subject look up to his master. There is another breed of journalist too. They act like police with their piercing eyes and sharp questions. The only difference is that this time, the police is much weaker and the criminal more powerful. (A disclaimer is required. I did not intend to say the corporates are criminals. In fact, you should blame those headstrong journos, who ask offensive questions without getting their basics right and often forget the difference between a conference and a lock-up).

Now coming to the point. At every step of this press conference, I realized that the media and corporate world is nothing but a big show-off. Everyone is an actor. The girl, who greeted me, must have been bored of smiling tirelessly at people. She knows that most of the journalists, she is giving the press release to, are not going to read it. So, why doesn’t she show a middle finger to them? The elderly CEO of PR company told me that I dint need to introduce myself. Ha ha ha. He thought that I am a fool, who would believe him. I, a common man, who stays in a small flat, does not need to introduce myself to those, who have spent their life in corporate world. It might be true, but I pity them. I would not have been comfortable to acknowledge that, if I were in their place. But their job requires that.

The CEO and his men don’t need to be so formal. They can be normal. They don’t need to discuss in mild tone. They can crack jokes and laugh. But they don’t. They are afraid that they will not be taken seriously. Seriously by whom? By someone, who has nothing but a faint idea of his business.

I think we don’t think seriously about such things. We are programmed like the watchman who bows endlessly all his life. May be, few of us get richer doing it, but at what cost? At the cost of our freedom, at the cost of giving up the choice of being what we want to be. If this is true, we are all in a Matrix, where we spend most of our lives in doing what we are expected to do and not what we want to do. There is hardly any difference between robot and us. In fact, robot is better as he does not pretend he is human.

Black Umbrellas

2009-07-07T22:54:00.000-07:00

As I waited for an auto, I could see only black umbrellas on the road. Reaching office wasn’t going to be easy. The black umbrellas had reduced the wide road to a labyrinth. And they seemed to enjoy absolute power on the traffic. The buses, cars and autos had to stop, change their lane as per the whims and fancies of black umbrellas.

The policeman too wasn’t untouched by its influence, as he halted the traffic despite green light to let pass the black umbrellas. I was seeing it all sitting in an auto and waiting for it to reach Andheri Station. Close to the station, the black umbrellas seemed to have wrecked havoc on humanity. They did not let autos pass easily; they let a bus pass only after fifteen minutes of struggle. Perhaps, they were angry with those enjoying the comforts of a bus, car or an auto. It seemed as if they were ordering others to stop acting like armchair critics and come out of their shell and lend a helping hand in their daily struggle to earn a living.

It occurred to me that I would not be able to bear the heat of their fury and I alighted from the auto. And, I opened my own black umbrella…

East of Eden - John Steinbeck

2009-07-06T23:17:00.001-07:00

So we know that we are all children of Adam & Eve. They had twins - Cain and Abel. They wanted to please the God by the fruits of their hard labour (I am not quite sure if they wanted to please God or their parents, but I know they wanted to please, so assuming it was God that they wanted to please). God liked what Abel had done. Out of jealous, Cain killed him and he spent rest of his life repenting his act. Killing a man is a sin and killing one's own brother might have been the greatest sin.

We are all children of Cain and we are also caught in the web of good and ugly, guilt and regret. Cain was enslaved by the idea that he must win over his own. And then God told him "thou mayest" - which means, he may win over his sin. In other words, he may not win over his sin and its all too human. However, the spiritual leaders, the mullahs, the fathers did some operation with the bible and changed it to "you should win over your sin". By doing it, they had taken back the choice given by the God to mankind. The choice that winning over one's sin may not be possible. But these religious gurus wanted to control the world around them. So how could they have given the choice? Aint it sound so similar to those babas who appear every day on TV and guide (or prod) their followers. Shameless bastards they all are, they have committed the worst sin by cheating the world for so long.

Well I am not writing on Bible. I just finished reading the book "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck. I started reading only 2 years back and havent read much but of all I have read this is the best book that I have come across. Steinbeck sets the story in California. Tsark has two sons - Charles and Adam. Charles was always guilty of being too agressive with his brother. Adam gets married and his wife gives birth to twins - Cal and Aaron, who are nothing but the replica of Charles and Adam. Cal thinks he is made of all bad things, he thinks bad, goes to bad places. Aaron is a nice looking sweet guy and everyone likes him more than Cal. Cal is jealous, which drives him to cause the death of Aaron. His guilt does not leave him and then the book closes with his father telling him "Timshel - Thous Mayest". In a way, his father forgives him, for committing a sin is all too human. Moreover, by giving the choice (the word "may" stands for choice unlike "should" which stands for order), he had set Cal free of his guilt.

In hindsight, it seems too obvious that this book has come from an American, for this country stands for freedom of all kinds. Freedom from Church, freedom from King. And this is what Steinbeck implies when he says "we might have been living in caves if human spirit wasnt free"

On mockery known as popular awards

2009-07-03T08:50:00.000-07:00

I have been cribbing a lot off late in my previous posts. So if you are tired of reading, I warn you to not read this post. Ha ha ha I am writing as if millions read my blog. Whatever....
There is nothing more irritating than the popular awards. Zee Cine Awards, Sony Awards, Filmfare and IIFA. The idea of this blog came to me as I just glanced at TV and saw Abhishek Bachchan holding a trophy at IIFA and Amitabh Bachchan looking at him full of pride, with tears in eyes. My mind raced through the films released last year. Why did Abhishek get the award? Obviously for Dostana - a mediocre attempt at making a gay comedy. Though the fim was paisa vasool, but does Abhi deserve an award for it?
Then came the scene - Sonam Kapoor was dancing and Sushmita Sen was clapping like mad, as if she gave birth to Sonam. I think Sushmita can easily become the next Nirupa Roy. She has publicly declared that she does not mind being Angelina Jolie of India. The way she was clapping, it seemed obvious that Sonam had told her before the performance to behave crazily when Sonam appears on the stage so that people, who are otherwise staring at the revealing dresses, notice that something is happening. The same trick was used by Imran Khan and Ranbir Kapoor when they hosted Fimfare - the only difference is that at that time the encouragement came from Abhishek. I think that was genuinely a smart move as their jokes were worse than PJs.
Doesnt Abhishek Bachchan get bored of receiving award for third class trash year after year? If it is being popular, then I think he is more popular for his parents than for himself. His inner self doesnt curse him. If I construct this argument logically it seems that perhaps Abhishek is not even intelligent to understand all this. It has been 10 years that he made his debut. Why does he need these cheap tricks?
And what does Big B think? After spending 40 years in cinema, having worked with best of directors, actors and technicians, he has to sit among idiots who are self proclaimed actors. I agree that these awards serve an important platform for new comers to show their face and half baked talent to who and whos of film industry. But, shouldn't they be choosy in selecting the guest list? What kind of encouragement can come from Sushmita Sen who has not given one decent performance in 15 years of cinematic career. She was reduced to performing dance numbers. Later she adopted a girl and created so much hype around it that her image was propelled to a certain extent. Can she actually provide any encouragement?
Dont audience understand the sheer travesty behind these awards? I mean how can we have Zee Cine Awards? What has Zee done to become an authority to give awards to artists? There should be some association of artists or some academy after which the awards should be named. Forget it. Any asshole, tom, dick, harry who can book Bandra Kurla Complex for one evening, pay the actors to dance on the stage and arrange for drinks and food can easily start giving awards.
What do these awards mean after all? Nothing... It is not surprising to note that none of the serious guys appear in these awards. Mani Ratnam, Aamir Khan, Gulzar - they dont care. Om Puri came for life time achievement award. Am sure that an actor like him would have come just to prevent the masses to think that he is arrogant or may be he was in dire need of money. Who knows what it was? But these awards are not worth a pig's shit.

Why Rafa is important for tennis?

2009-07-02T01:50:00.000-07:00

It is sad to see a game, you love, becoming a sort of comedy. This is very much the case with lawn tennis today. Before Nadal emerged, there was hardly any player, man or woman, whose name you could recall but for Roger Federer. And when Nadal pulls out of a tournament, it becomes a cake walk for Roger. Not that it is his fault, but there is hardly any reason to watch tennis when you know, at the start of the match itself, that Roger will come out with an assuring smile of a guy who has won all and proved it to all.

There are surprises but they are definitely not good enough to set your pulse racing. So, what if Lleyton Hewitt managed to reach the quarters, why should someone give a fuck knowing that this erratic and inconsistent player may pull out of US open because his baby is not well. Same is the case with Andy Roddick, who is known for changing coaches faster than anyone but that does not help him in going past the semis. I dont like Lleyton and Andy generally, but I respect them for their motivation.

A year back, Novak Djokovic had shown promise when he had beaten Federer in the semis of Aus Open. The loss meant a lot to Roger. He is known to be the most consistent player because he has reached 21 consecutive grand slam semi finals. Of the few semis that Federer has lost, the one is this Djokivic one and the other, which I can remember, is against Nadal in 2005 French Open. But, for these losses, Roger might have made the most number of consecutive appearances in finals of Grand Slam. But, Joker was too erratic after that win. He just cant handle his frustation when he is down. And, it was all too apparent yday, when he just dint know how to balance himself against Hass.

The scene is worse with women's tennis. Most of men watch it for the short skirts and nice figure these players have. Else, there is hardly anything to watch or stare. It is so open that the Number 1 woman tennis player has not won a single Grand Slam. Thanks to Russia, that the audience still have some interest in this game. Russia has produced players consistently and often their names sound very similar. Their records too. So, you have a 19 year old Sharapova winning wimbledon few years back. Some other 'ova' or 'eva' won the French. Consistenly, all 'evas' and 'ovas' lost their way after winning one grand slam. It is impossible to have the rivarly once we saw between Steffi Graf and Sanchez. When the younger ones are hopeless, the only ray of light comes from the William sisters. For some strange reason, tennis lovers dont give a fuck about them. I was surprised to know that Venus has won wimbledon 5 times, still her name is not taken in the same breath as of other legendary women tennis players.

Tennis became an interesting sport, as Nadal came up and challenged Federer's dominance. Their matches are as much a test of character as of skills. I think it is very important for lawn tennis that Rafa recovers and plays like earlier else it will become one of those least contested and may be least watched sports in the world.

New York - The Film

2009-06-28T23:29:00.000-07:00

Last night, we watched New York. I think I have become too repetitive with my comments on Bollywood movies, but that does not stop me from using the same words again "Bull Shit, Ridiculous, Piece of Shit, Fuckall...please help me with more such words.
The story is about three friends: Sameer, Maya and Omar. Sameer turns a terrorist. By some unexplained accident (Movie makers need to understand this thing that u can take liberties but please explain 'how' of your script) FBI finds guns and bombs in a taxi, which they claimed was owned by Omar. Omar is not shown to be a taxi operator or owner of a fleet. How the fuck can that car be his? He is detained and the interrogator is Roshan. Roshan is a muslim and says because he is a south asian, FBI has given him the task as he is a muslim and its their way of showing that America loves all. The idiot film maker does not know that investigating agencies like FBI, Raw do not have to prove to anyone that they love all. Its the Presidents and Prime Ministers of the states who have this propanganda. Needless to say, the dialogues could not have been more screwed up. Roshan says he understands Omar. WHAT THE FUCK.......AM SURE IF FBI COMES TO KNOW OF SUCH DIALOGUES, IT WILL BE DISGUSTED.
So, the trick for Omar to prove his innocence is to somehow go back to his friends Sameer and Maya, who are married with a kid, and stay with them in their home and work as FBI informer. As is expected of all Hindi films, Omar rejects the proposition only to accept it seconds later. Ok if Omar has accepted it once, I can assume he has accepted it for all. But no, the film maker is horribly confused on how to project the image of Omar in minds of audience. How can a nice man in a hindi movie screw his own friend? So, Omar every now and then bursts with anger and tells Roshan that how can he expect him to betray his friends? And says he will do it only if FBI guarantees that they wont kill Sameer (Man it can not be more ridiculous) And Omar says it to Roshan "I mean it". I was wondering what the fuck he "means". How can a detained have such an attitiude?
Coming back to story, Sameer has not told Maya that he has become a terrorist, but she knows it. Last scene, Maya comes to know that Omar works with FBI. Omar convinces Maya that she should go and talk to FBI in their headquarters and they will give amnesty to her husband (How ridiculous) She goes and is sitting in FBI HQRS talking to Roshan and his superior. Just then, Sameer is planting bomb in a building. Omar knows it but does not know in which building he is planting the bomb. FBI HQRS is a glass building and Maya happens to see Sameer hanging out the FBI HQRS pretending that he is cleaning it, while he is actually planting bombs. What an accident. The husband, who is also a terrorist, is planting a bomb in a building where by some great coincidence, his wife also happens be in. Even the dumbest would know that they love each other too much and no way will the husband set the trigger off. And this way, Sameer does not let the bomb blast. How can he kill his beloved. Rather, he is shot by FBI snipers.
For those, who were wondering what happened to their kid. He is adopted by Omar. The kid, Omar and Roshan go to eat pasta. So, why dont Kabir Khan make New York Part-2, when the kid grows up and realises that his care takers had killed his parents and takes revenge.

Images of Bombay

2009-06-19T03:30:00.000-07:00

I owe my allegiance to..........

2009-06-15T03:24:00.000-07:00

Don’t you feel that human beings (in fact even animals) are desperate to owe their allegiance to a group? I always keep on complaining about India and I am desperate to leave it if I get a good chance. I was talking to my friend (for anonymity sake, let’s call him X). X agrees that India is a hopeless country. X is quite a techie and likes new products and technologies. He gets excited when his friends in US tell him that they bought a Toyota Corolla by spending just a year's savings. Last week, he agreed that all white-collar employees of India get underpaid but definitely overspend. Who would pay Rs 17,500 per month for a two-room flat in any other city apart from Bombay? Am sure an economist can use purchasing power parity theory plus quality of life criteria to reach a conclusion that for the facilities it offers, Bombay is the costliest city in the world. Still, X says that he would never settle abroad. At max, he will go there for a vacation. If the logical side of his brain is convinced that there are better parts in the world, it’s the emotional side of his brain, which makes him, clung to the ‘Indian’ batch'. Isn’t it such an illusion? I think few (may be many of us) would just like to stay at a place far removed from the chaos of this world. And, that place can be anywhere.

My boss in e-serve used to take huge pride in the fact that he works for Citibank - the largest financial conglomerate in the world. Not even that, he used to take pride in being a chartered accountant. Why doesn’t he value all this by a simple fact that these batches put together earn him Rs 10 lakhs a year? He should be taking pride in the fact that he is a lakhpati in an otherwise poor country. But far from it, he takes pride in being an employee of a world-class company. Isn’t it a marketing gimmick by the institutions of the world? And, such institutions can vary from a nation-state to a business. When a CEO addresses a company, he knowingly or unknowingly reduces every audience to a mere employee or worse still a worker. Many of them can be great singers, many of them can be great painters, many of them can be great sportsmen but that hardly matters to him. He sees them as his men (saying his women can be obscene, so women please forgive me). It works wonders for him and the impact is all visible, when employees raise from their seats and start clapping. May be they felt like an orphan and CEO assured them that he is their maai-baap.

ICAI – Institute of Chartered Accountants of India – has told all its members to prefix their gmail id with a ‘ca’. So, my gmail id can be cakaran@gmail.com or cakaransehgal@gmail.com. My CA friends find it okay. But isn’t it ridiculous? For the rest of their lives, their names are prefixed by their qualification as if nothing else matters.

One of my friend visited Germany. She did not like it. She said Germans don’t respect their country. I said, “How does it matter”. We respect our country, but we rank 112 on Human Development Scale, Germans don’t respect their country but they are in top 10. The fact of the matter is we may like India but not Indians. For all countries, which have not reached a high stage in social development, a country remains an illusion in the eyes of its countrymen. An idea – We may not be a superpower but in another 25 years, we will be. The truth is my father also thought so and so did his father. Isn’t it better for our politicians to keep on promising perpetually that we will be a super power so that they have a sales pitch in elections?

I think this is one of the most important reasons that the nation states exist. We don’t think twice and stand up when the national anthem is played. At that time, not even 1% of us think that do we actually respect our country or it is just a ritual? Respect your country is something taught to us. I had acquaintances in Delhi, most of them sons of rich businessmen. Their father had never paid a penny as tax, yet they all used to stand up when national anthem is played. In fact, the conditions are so bad in certain countries that you might as well get exempted from all taxes if you stand under their flag. The government knows that this sense of pride is far more important than paying taxes. Aren’t Germans better off by simply paying their taxes and affording to have a kind of disdain for their country?

Is Bombay the best city of India?

2009-06-11T10:12:00.000-07:00

A strange idea has pre-occupied me for the past few days. It just struck me that if one were to say how good a city is, it has to be seen from the perspectives of the outsiders. In simpler words, if you are born in a city, you should not be judging it as your judgment will always be partial. This leads to dangerous conclusions, which xenophobic wont like, as the opinion of a Punjabi on Punjab is irrelevant. The reason is simple. Take my own case. I was born in Delhi. I was brought up there itself and all my concerns were taken care of by my doting parents. I did not know what hardships they faced when they constructed their house or when they were humiliated as tenants. I cannot identify with my dad's harassment when he was made fun of for not knowing which bus route goes to Connaught Place. I cannot relate to my mom's paranoia with the roads and buses, which she could hardly relate to being from a small town. This is all because I had them to turn to whenever I wanted to know which bus goes where, which market is famous for what. Moreover, ever since I have gained senses I had a roof as my parents got a house in 1987, when I was just 5.

A city has to be seen by its behavior towards people who have just come into it. And, if this is a yardstick, Bombay will be the most civilized city of India. The city has local trains so conveyance related problems are taken care of. And, it is damn affordable, which shows that the planners had known that not everyone is born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Moreover, the auto rickshaw drivers are rare breeds among their brethrens who charge you as per the readings of the meter. Compare this with the behavior of auto drivers in Chennai. In no other city that I have visited, was I shouted upon by the auto driver. In Chennai, they understand that the commuter does not know Tamil. Then, they ask for obscene fares and sometimes mid-way they stop auto to bargain again. If you do not agree on higher fare, you can move out but remain assured that the auto driver would abuse you will all filthy words. I know it is too demeaning a statement to say, as one would ask isn’t auto driver a human too? But, in India such rights are reserved for rich. Poor auto driver hardly shout at passengers.

In Bombay, if you need a flat, there is an army of estate agents. I know that new comers in the city often criticize this system. Because this agent asks for at least one month’s rent as commission for the services he provides. But, doesn’t he deserve it? Who would show you tens of apartments at short notice? Who would bribe the police to say that they have done the inquiry without seeing your face? Who would stand in queue at the office of rent authority? Who would bargain with the flat owners who know that you are new and can be screwed easily? By this, I don’t intend to say that the estate agents are saints. In many cases they too have over priced their services but they do a job, which many white-collar employees would refuse to do, as they don’t want to dirty their collars by bribing the officials. Moreover, once you have paid the commission to him, he would take care of all disputes with owner. And, a tenant is never looked down upon. In Delhi, I remember there was a robbery next to my house. The owner’s son threatened the tenant saying that he would beat him up unless he accepts that he helped the thieves. Chennai is yet to recover from its madness for Tamil language and many agents wont help you knowing that you are not from their part of land. My friend Venkat helped me get a flat in Chennai, else I was jacked.

Among many other things, Bombay is the only city in India where you can get liquor and vegetables delivered at your home. I can open the pandora box if I start explaining a liquor shop in Chennai. All liquor shops are government owned. The drunkards often hijack the shop. They drink right in front of it. And, because it is government owned, the seller thinks that he is doing such a great service by selling you the booz so “home delivery” is not in his dictionary. Though, the scene is not as bad in Delhi. Still, many cases of rape are reported near such liquor shops, which talks about the kind of people around it.

If someone has told you “customer is the king” the best thing you can do to him is to buy an air ticket to Chennai and gift it to him. The government has made the local channels free to woo the voters. Localities hardly need to watch any other channel apart from famous ones in Tamil. All other channels like Zee, Star require a set top box, which is sold by company owned by Chief Minister’s son. It is too obvious that most of the customers buying set top box would be those who are not familiar with Tamil. Else, why would need it. The CM’s son does not seem to know it. The person who explained the functions of that box to me knew only Tamil and no other language. Not only that, he was dressed in dirty pajamas and I don’t want to hazard a guess on his education. It is like showing middle finger to the customer. As it is only CM’ son company which can sell the set top box. So, the customer has no other option.

Talking of the inconvenience, there are many posh localities in Delhi, where if a not so rich man happens to go and he does not have a car, he wont be able to find either a bus or a rick. You would be left stranded. No matter in which part of Bombay you are, you will easily come across auto-rickshaws.

Similarly, a country should be judged by how well it treats its minorities. For all practical purposes, minorities are referred as outsiders in the majority circles. So, India should not be judged by Hindus, rather it should be judged by what Muslims and Christians have to say about it. And, I am sure we will have to cover our faces in shame in many cases, if we were to ask them. This is precisely the strength, which US has, and this is why no other country will become super power unless it adopts a liberal migrant policy.

On Bombay Roads

2009-05-27T22:52:00.000-07:00

If a tortoise had at all beaten a hare in a race, I am sure Bombay would have hosted that race. The traffic moves at a snail's pace. The pee-pee of auto-rickshaws and pon-pon of the trucks cause such a headache that you wish to get rid of your head knowing well that the headache wont go. To a larger extent, this is due to the abysmal condition of the roads in the mega-city of India. Going by normal standards, only few roads in the city can qualify being called a road - western express highway, eastern express highway, JV Link Road are few of them. Remaining all roads are no better than the narrow lanes which are either meant for the kids to play marbles or for the youngsters to speed away on their bikes. By no stretch of imagination (obviously the imagination of non-mumbaikars, for a mumbaikar's imagination is polluted by the realities of his city) the narrow lanes of Bandra are not meant for the BMWs, Mercs, Audis of the several cine-stars who stay there. You would come across tens of hawkers selling anything from orange-juice to footwear just outside the Bandra station - a structure built by Brits almost a century ago. On the same road, there is always a queue of people eagerly waiting for auto-rickshaws. On the other side of the road, there are small shops which have been unmoved in last fifty areas. Such shops resemble the shops in medieval times. There are many other illegal stalls in front of these shops. In whatever space is left, you would see foreign made cars trying to make way somehow. If the same was the case in Delhi, the owner of Maruti-800 would have taken pot shots on the BMW owner for irrespective of more powerful engine of the latter, his car moves slowly than a Maruti.

At many other places, the roads have sharper ups and downs than those seen in the Sensex in seventeen months. Mahakali Caves Road is one exapmple in the eastern part of Andheri suburbs. It is obvious that this road is named after Mahakali Caves which are few meters away from the road. Though, I have not seen the caves, but I think the journey on the road is tougher than the one in the cave. As we say in Media, Sensex had a tipsy-turvy ride, I think if you want to experience such a ride, you should travel on Mahakali Caves Road.

This was not enough as the God made Bombay a coastal city. The rains are so heavy that it washes away the upper layer of most of the roads. It is like taking the mask-off from the face of BMC and MMRDA, which were claiming only few months ago about the substantial investments they have done in road infrastructure of the city.

On the top of all of it, metro rail is coming to Bombay. The construction of this rail has taken almost one-third of many roads as its construction site. The other day, I was travelling in an auto. It was late in night and the driver was sleepy. He was about to drive straight into the construction site that I yelled at him and he somehow took a right turn. I asked how could he do it. He said he has been driving for the last thirty years on the same road and it is his hands who do the thinking more than his brain. I pray as I wish his brain to think more than his hands.

A Bizzare Parallel

2009-05-18T04:41:00.000-07:00

Finding parallels between present and past always is interesting. I was thinking of one such parallel between Gandhi and Narayanmurthy. What inspired me to compare these personalities, despite of absence of strict similarity, is their patriarchal image - that of a bespectacled man, old in age, calm in demeanor like a saint.
Gandhi officially retired from Congress in mid 1930s to his ashram in Wardha. Yet, he continued to remain the numero uno of his party men and his line of thinking was seldom breached. Similarly, Mr Murthy retired from Infosys in 2003. He continues to remain on the board of directors and his approval is necessary for all-important matters concerning the company.
Gandhi smartly mixed godliness with politics. One moment, he would be strategically demanding ‘poorna swaraj’, thereby weakening the demand of separate Dominion of archrival Jinnah – who represented Muslim League. In simpler words, Gandhi wanted Britishers to leave India entirely, while Jinnah wanted a status of separate Dominion like Canada and Australia – commonwealth countries which owed their allegiance to King.
Smartly maintaining distance from Jinnah and his Muslim League, Gandhi preached brotherhood between Hindus and Muslims much like a saint. Gandhi had confused Jinnah so much that Jinnah could never understand in which capacity his counterpart spoke – of an individual who has retired from Congress or of someone who still controlled Congress. Gandhi had confused even Nehru by referring to God in those shrewd political discussions to such an extent that Nehru had remarked – “his constant references to God, God had told him to do that and God came in his dream irritated me”.
Mr Murthy too has attempted to confuse the audience as regards to the capacity he speaks in. Does he speak as an industry veteran? Does he speak as one of the ‘old uncles’ of neighborhood? Does he speak as a social reformer? It seems that Mr Murthy has ideas on anything under sun. He has spoken about the plight of rural women. Much like Gandhi, who educated the masses about the evils of poor sanitation. Though, Mr Murthy may not be as shrewd as Gandhi (or in absence of detailed evidence), but it is clear that he too had the ideas to change the world he lived in. Both Gandhi and Murthy wanted to impact the world beyond their respective areas that of a freedom fighter and an industrialist.
Gandhi argued hard with Ambedkar as the latter had no faith in Congress’s ability to represent Dalits. Gandhi argued that having too many leaders would weaken their stand against British Raj. The man did not stop there. He launched many programmes for upliftment of untouchables – one of the most important being giving them a new name ‘Harijan’. Though such kind of evidence is not available for Mr Murthy. Still, there are incidents, which show that his ambitions are really high and he does not want to remain idle after retirement. It is heard that Mr Murthy said, rather arrogantly, that he would change the face of Bangalore if the Government allows him to do so. Tales of his wishes to become the Indian Ambassador to US and later of becoming the President of India have been doing rounds in media circles for quite some time.
It is clear that both these men carefully cultivated their image of being a self-less, responsible elderly and then used it to get maximum gains for their own aspirations. It is also said that Mr Murthy used to get the minimum salary of all founder members of Infosys. In 2003, his annual salary was Rs 18 lakhs. Phaneesh Murthy’s salary was more than a crore just before he was sacked.
The list of similarities between the two men does not stop here. Gandhi was and is still the most respectable politician. Mr Murthy too will feature among the most respectable industrialist of India. In fact, before Tatas went on an acquisition spree, it was Mr Murthy and not Mr Ratan Tata, who was hailed as the face of globalised India.

Lesser Known Fact

2009-03-30T22:25:00.000-07:00

I am currently reading 'The Last Nizam' by John Zubrzycki. Before, I started reading this book, I always wondered why Indian monarchs fell easily into the trap laid by colonial powers like France and England. The book explains that as per Islam, the eldest son is not the obvious heir to his father's fortunes. The patriarch can choose anyone among his sons or even grandsons. In Hydrebad, Nizam could even choose his heir from his illegitimate chidren or from several adopted ones. This one practice simply explains why Aurangzeb imprisoned his father and killed his brothers (something, which a modern day Indian can not fathom). It also gives another insight, I considered Aurangzeb to be brutal to the core, while now I think he was less brutal but more pratical, for he ran the risk of himself being assasinated by his own brothers.

So, we had at least three colonials powers, Portugal, Britain and France. So, the target was very much there ready to be aimed and won. Britain knew that France would support one of the 'would be monarch' and they had little choice. If you are lucky, the guy whom you are supporting would win. In such an event, you can easily exert influence over the monarch and for all practical reasons, his territory would be ruled by East India Company. Not only this, the Britishers were never shy of reminding the 'Installed King' that he still ran the risk of being overthrown by his brothers, in many cases his own sons, or other noble men (noble?? Am sure English is the sweetest language). Those were starting days and Britishers learnt that if they can make a man take up arms against his brother, it will be easier than a child's play to make hindu and muslims fight. I am in awe of the vision of these colonial powers, for their pratices are still followed by US.

Nano Shano

2009-03-26T23:18:00.001-07:00

News channels had an easy job at hand as most of them simply telecast the launch of Tata Nano for hours on Monday. The world’s cheapest car would not have got more attention anywhere than in India for seldom do we come across a vast continent more obsessed with affordability. How many times have we seen a neighbor arguing with the sabjiwallah knowing well, or pretending to not realize that the bargain would not fetch him more than few rupees? The last time, the government announced hike in fuel prices, petrol pumps had to shut down as hordes of vehicles got lined up for fuel as the rate hike was effective from next day. Obviously, in India the most famous four letter word is not ‘f*#k’ but ‘sale’ as there are showrooms which have such ‘sale’ on for twelve months in a year. On the top of it, the optimists claim that we are getting richer year after year. Statistically, we may be, but it will take few generations to learn how to act rich. As they say old habits die-hard. Mr. Tata might have been applauded by media for being the new trendsetter. In his country, people save few lakhs by buying cars without air bags. Nonetheless, the applause is well deserved as Mr. Tata has not only successfully manufactured the cheapest car, but also has made money by selling his cars to ‘mama boys’ who are known to get best deal out of each paisa they spend.

History repeats itself

2009-03-26T22:42:00.001-07:00

History repeats itself more than anywhere else in the subcontinent political space. It was Zia who unseated Bhutoo in 70s, without either of them even having a glimpse of future, when Musharraf would dethrone Nawaz in 90s. The two incidents are like mirror images, sad to say that the political realities havent changed for good, in fact, in many cases, we are worse off today. In our own country, similar incidents happened in last one week, though of lesser intensity. While, it was Sanjay Gandhi whose arrest for leading a protest, accidentaly under the prime ministership of his own mother, Indira Gandhi in 1970s was gimmicked as outburst of a passionate young leader, the situation is not much different when more than two decades later, his own son, Varun, has shown the desire to spend some time behind bars and not to defend his case in court. Needless to say that, this is again an ugly gimmick of a young and aspiring leader, hungry for power, and finding parallels in their not longer than few hour's stay in jail with those of never ending years spent by their own fore fathers under foreign administration. Surprising is the fact that for a politician to find his foot in jail is a virtue, for a commoner it is a vice. It will be shameful if Varun is able to leverage his jail stint for getting more votes and to prevent it, the Indian voters have to come of age.

Mumbai Local

2009-03-16T23:12:00.000-07:00

The train is full of passengers as usual. Knees touching knees, legs entangled, four sitting on the seat meant for three, sweaty foreheads, pushing and whistling continuing, meanwhile dirty jokes are being passed. The automatic speaker announces the next station, but who cares? the sweet voice of the lady cautions that the unidentified object can be explosive, but there are so many such objects that the train would never move if caution is raised at everything suspicious. Religious folks chant tirelessly at the top of their voice unnerved by the inhospitable condition in the train. Legend has it that Lord Vishnu considered Narad's devotion unmatched. I pity him for he never travelled in Mumbai local.

Bizzare Pakistan

2009-03-10T23:26:00.000-07:00

I have been reading a bit on Pakistan these days. The most interesting part to me was creation of Bangladesh in mid 1970s. Prior to the split, Pakistan was one country with a western and eastern part. Isnt it bizzare to think what came to the mind of creators of Pakistan that they chose to have two parts which were 1000 miles apart, with India in the middle. That a huge country like India, which is dominated by the followers of hindu faith can be dangerous for a muslim country which existed in two parts miles apart from each other did not come to the mind of the Pakistani leaders baffles me. In case of an Indian attack on the eastern part, how would they retaliate sitting in their offices in the western part of the country. How would they mobilize the army?

Yet, the muslim leadership went ahead with a state with two parts hanging on the either sides of India. It should have occured to the Pakistani leadership that the eastern part of their country should be made to feel part of a larger Pakistan, so that the populace dont feel alienated. Contrary to it, the leadership of Pakistan, be it Army or the elected leaders like Bhutto did not leave any stone unturned to oppress East Pakistan. The official language was Urdu, despite of the fact that the language of East Pakistan was Bengali. When Muzib-Ur-Rehman won the elections, his mandate was not recognised by the regime. Post, which East Pakistan witnessed wide scale military oppression to quell down the uprising. All this through, the Pakistani leaders considered East Pakistan as their playground for bizzare experiments without giving a thought that India might use that as an oppurtunity, which it did. Had they lost their heads by first accepting a country which had two parts having absolutely nothing in common but for the religion, then avoiding and oppressing the other part without caring a damn about the geo-political realities. It is clear that Pakistan had perhaps the worst administrators, who had no vision. What they did have was the inability to think beyond their own petty short term objectives.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

2009-03-02T00:59:00.000-08:00

Last night, we went to watch 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' on reverse ageing. Before the movie started, it said 'Paramount Pictures Presents', I remember seeing this many times, it always comes with a mountain in the back. However, this time, it came with buttons of different colors coming together and saying Paramount Pictures. I didn't really realise this, while I was watching..only later in the movie, when the protagonist, Benjamin's father tells him that he actually owns a buttons company that I understood that it was a clever move to show Paramout Pictures that way. Well, this also shows the extent of involvement the crew had in the film. The layers of make-up, the backdrop in scenes, the nuances in body language and the complex emotions told a tale, writenn by F Scott Fitzgerald in 1910s and this is the very story which film makers attempted to create on big screen some fifteen years back but could not do it. It seems that they understood the great challenge they faced. For it was a story of a man ageing reverse, while other characters ageing in a normal fashion.

The movie spans across 91 years, from 1918, when a kid was born with multiple catracts, with wrinkles all over. Doctors said that the kid's body is as worn out as that of a 90 year old man and he has very little life left. His mother dies in childbirth and his father leaves him in front of someone's house. A kind hearted lady, Queenie, sees the kid and may be because of her inability to conceive feels like bringing him up. So, it was a 90 year old man ageing backwards with all old people around. He felt though, his body is old, yet he is young.

When his mind is 7 years old and his body 83, he meets the love of his life Daisy, who says "you are not like an old person". At the age of 14/76, he takes up a job on a ship and leaves promising Daisy that he would send her a postcard from different parts of the world he would be visiting. Meanwhile, Daisy becomes a famous ballet dancer, she has a male partner too. Benjamin comes back. I think, here, the makers have taken bit of liberty as Daisy is shown to be in her prime, less than 25 years of age. By this logic, Benjamin should also be of 25 years, but should look like 65 years of age. However, he seemed to be a man of 50-55 years of age. Coming back to the main part, Benjamin meets Daisy and Daisy is still in love with him, but Benjamin does not really respond. Daisy tries to convince him, while her boy friend is waiting inches away near taxi. Years later, when Benjamin seems to be a 45 years old man, he goes to Paris to meet Daisy. This is the best part of the film, you would not feel you are watching a film, rather you would feel as if you are reading a story. The scene shows the importance of time in life as a man forgets to keep an alarm at 10 and wakes up at 10:05 am, a woman takes up a taxi while coming out of a showroom, a van comes in front of the taxi and the taxi gets late. In the due course, Daisy is getting ready to go somewhere out but she too gets late. The result of various people getting late is that the moment Daisy is walking past the road, the taxi comes and hits her. This happens while Benjamin is narrating it with sentences with so many 'ifs'. It shows that we can not comprehend the 'what ifs' in our life. Rarely that we come across such a brilliant adaptation of the novel. Am sure, Fitzgerald's heart would have come out with this scene. Daisy meets with an accident and her leg is fractured and she can never dance. Benjamin meets her, but she is in no mood of taking the relationship further and he returns to New Orleans.

Another few years went by and Benjamin is in early 40s, when Daisy comes to his New Orleans's house and they finally decide to live together. Daisy starts dance classes and Benjamin runs his company Buttons&Buttons, which he gets as a heir to his original father's property. Sometime later, Daisy gets pregnant and Benjamin realises that he can not grow older with his own daughter as he is reverse ageing. Daisy is hell bent as she thinks she has considered all these complexities, but is unable to stop Benjamin from leaving after their daughter's first birth day. Benjamin wanders around the world and realises the fun of being himself. Few years later, a young man in early 20s or late teens comes to Daisy's dance school, Daisy can not recognise him until he gets closer and Daisy sees his face. She introduces him as a family friend to her husband, whom she married as her daughter needed a father. The story finally ends with Benjamin becoming an infant and one day he says final good-bye in Daisy's laps.

Three character remain in the film remain all through, Benjamin, Daisy and Queenie and since its a story spannig across 90 years, the make up that the technicians have done to really make reasonably young actors play teen, youth, and old is really wonderful. The first half is completely taken over by technicians.

I have not mentioned several things, which are integral to the movie, as it would take me 3-4 blogs to cover those.

Khans and Mediocrity in Bollywood

2009-02-25T01:34:00.000-08:00

It has been two decades that the three Khans - ShahRukh, Aamir and Salman have been calling the shots at Bollywood. I remember reading an article few years back, which said 1990s belonged to three Khans and Kajol. And, there is no denying this. The three Khans not only provided vibrance to the hindi movies, which failed miserably to produce superstar when Amitabh Bacchhan was not actually young to play the angry young man.
Not only that, the music of their movies was undoubetdly fresh! Remember the 1980s music, when audience used to move out of hall to smoke a cig, grab a cold drink, and returned to the hall only when the song got over. In fact, it was the feeling of 'something new and unseen' which gave SRK his first few hits like Baazigar, Darr, where the villian was bigger than the hero or the hero had villanious touch.
Towards, the end of 1990s, it seemed that it dawned upon Khans that their time was running out and they have to step up their efforts to compete with the young brigade. I remember reading an article wherein SRK had said that he was afraid of his fans forgeting him in his old age. And, there was a precedent to it as well. The 'Jubilee Kumar', Rajendra Kumar used to get so many letters from his fans that he had to appoint a secretary just to read and reply to them. Years later, when Jubilee Kumar was old, he said he was craving for even one letter from a fan. No one had written to him in ages.
It seemed to me that the three Khans knew that post they cross their mid thirties, they have to be extremely careful of their image, the kind of movies they do, the kind of directors they work with. However, all three of them gave more importance to have a certain image in audience's eyes. They even tried to expand their fan club. Take SRK for instance, the youth icon of 90s who had girls drooling over him and who once did bold film like Maya Memsaab, he said he will not kiss the heroine. If this was not for making sure that old ladies treat him like their son, then what was this for? SRK knew it that he was famous only among young people, which he did not afford with his age meter reading one more every year. SRK also made sure that he does movies with same directors like Farah Khan, Karan Johar. All his experiments like Maya Memsaab, Oh Darling Yeh Hai India, Darr, Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman belonged to 1990s. In the current decade, he has done just three different movies - Swades, Chak De. It is strange to know that Swades and Veer Zaara were released at that same time, still SRK went on to win the awards for Veer Zaara.
Aamir Khan, known also as 'The Perfectionist', has done few experiments. There is no denying that Lagaan, Dil Chahta Hai, Rang De Basanti, Taare Zameein Par were experiments considering the kind of repetition prevailing in Hindi Cinema. But, to label Aamir as an actor who does take huge challenges would be over-rating him. If we compare these movies, with the real experimental stuff which happens in other parts of India, we would realise that actors like Kamal Hassan, MohanKumar are far superior than Aamir in acting department and they have done such varying roles that with Aamir's pace, he might end up spending his life and still would not be able to do half as those experiments.
As far as Salman Khan is concerned, the last time he did a serious role, which the audience could digest was Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam in 1999. Post that, it has been an endless series of comedies, which are often cheap comedies, double meaning in nature, which are not even a surrogate for the kind of comedy, the world has seen.
I think the kind of cinema SRK, Aamir and Salman belong to definitely discourages the new breed of film makers, who see their experiments tanking badly because the distributors think the audience can watch Billu Barber, but not movies like Dev D.

Non-Conformism

2009-02-20T06:43:00.000-08:00

Few of us love being non-conformist, don't we. Bombay has been a non-conformist city, where women wear clothes of their choice and not dictated by the whims and fancies of the other sex. Kids don’t return to their homes at 10 pm, the deadline in rest of the India, else your dad might well be found waiting for you in front of your colony. Well, this is the social and cultural non-conformism. There are different aspects to this side of human nature. Most often, you would find non-conformism breeding due to reinforcement of its opposite by the majority. In case such happens, the non-conformist must be prepared to be at the receiving end. The existence of God, for instance, has often led to the conflict. Majority of us believe in God, which leaves a small fraction of us non-believers. Those great men, who invented words, called them atheist, am sure this word is a creation of a believer. Isn’t it too striking that the English language does not have an equally well sounding opposite to atheist. Well, the obvious opposite is a 'believer', but the word does not carry the weight, which 'atheist' carries. Am also sure that if you call a non-believer an atheist, he might deny to accept it, which shows that it might not be the case of him not believing in the God, its just that he/she does not even care thinking about it. For a non-believer, the time, which others spend in going to temple, or making rounds around a peepal is better, spent in pursuing a hobby or just doing nothing.

Why I am sad for Federer!

2009-02-02T00:53:00.001-08:00

Well, yesterday was again a sad day for me. Federer lost to Nadal in a Aus Open Final in five setter. In the last one and half years, Nadal has gone on to win grand slams on grass and hard courts. With yesterday's win, he also stopped Federer from equalling Pete Sampras's record of 14 grand slams. I have never come across such battles on a tennis court in almost two decades of watching this game. Well, you can always compare Sampras and Becker matches or Sampras and Agassi matches with Fed vs Rafa, but the difference is while the odds were 50-50 for great players in 1990, the odds for Federer against Rafa is 0 today. Rafa has beaten Federer on clay in French Open, which made Federer and his fans say that Rafa is the King of Clay and Fed is King of All but Clay. That was certainly not arrogance from Fed, he is far too superior to show such kind of emotions, it was sheer belief in his game which made him pass that remark.

Yesterday, the belief was broken. For Fed, who stood through that gruelling Wimbeldon Final for five sets after having dropped first two and then trying to maintain the calm for the next six months enroute which, he lost to many unknown players, while doing the important thing of not shying away from loss, there was no surprise that he broke down during the presentation ceremony. It was clear in fifth set, that he had either run out of options against Rafa or run out of energy. The world had started regarding Federer as the greatest player ever on Earth. Even other legends like McEnroe had said that, Fed contemporaries said even if the match is on ice, this man would win it. From those heights, his stature is relegated to a great player who could not pass through the possible greatest players ever. I dont think it would be possible for Pete Sampras, Bjorn Borg, Rod Laver or John McEnroe to understand what is going on in Fed'd head. Because to understand that Sampras should have played an equally great player like Borg or Laver in his prime. I feel that the world has never seen two players of this class to come and play in the same era and with little age difference. This is evident as the two players have met each other seven times in a grand slam final more than any other pair of legends in their era. Though, an age difference of five is not insignifcant, still Federer is 27 and he started playing Nadal when he was possibly 23. In no way, can anyone say that Federer was too old to face Nadal, the excuse which Sampras could give when he was beaten by Federer.

Though, am sure that such matches are good for the game of tennis, still they leave an incomprehensible feeling with every match Federer loses to Rafa. Perhaps, this shows that am still a Federer fan and shall remain so. Not that I dont like Rafa, he is simply unstoppable. Sometimes, you like what is not the best at that moment and in this case it is Federer.

Something I wrote on Mumbai

2009-01-28T00:56:00.000-08:00

The narrow by lanes of Mumbai are in complete contrast to the image of the city, which has space for everyone. Getting out from the Dadar Station, you will come across a deluge of hawkers, vegetable vendors, sweepers, coolies – all are tyring better than their best to make a living. And, they don’t pretend otherwise; for instance if you try to negotiate with the coolie at any station, he would reply back saying that much as you come to Mumbai to become rich, so has he. And, this is the very fact, which makes this city different from hundreds of other cities, or glorified villages, which are trying hard to be called a city. In no story, no novel, would you find mention of man, who went to become rich to any other city in India apart from Mumbai. And as for Mumbai, you can spend your life counting such examples – the legendary actor Dev Anand was once working for the postal department, and then went on to leave his job to become what we know him as, and who can forget Dhirubhai Ambani, the once petrol pump attendant who went on to become the owner of the mighty enterprise called Reliance Industries. Or, Zeenat Aman, who once used to work in the magazine called Filmfare and later went on to become a film star herself. Similarly, growing up in the crowded suburbs of Chembur, Anil Kapoor would never have thought that one day he would be a part of world renown film called Slumdog Millionaire, which revolves around the same city, he has grown up in.

A city of such a great divide and the divide is more mental than physical. In the history of humankind, there would hardly be a more dividing line than the western railway line of Mumbai. On one side of the line is eastern part and on the other western and therefore every suburban area has an eastern and western part of it, like Andheri East, Andheri West. The disparity is to such an extent that you can easily come across people attending their nature calls in morning on the railway track itself for the lack of space and sanitation facilities and a few kilometers from these seemingly third world conditions are the bungalows of Bollywood stars in Bandra suburbs of Mumbai – stars who are the icons of millions of fans across the world. For those stars, they have Carter Road running parallel to sea on one side, and bungalows, luxurious flats, hotels on the other side. For the commoners, the roads on the eastern side of Bandra never fall shy of giving smell of rotten fish, garbage or various kinds of miscellaneous filth. There are numerous such startling differences in the mega metropolis of India. Driving up from Taj Hotel to Malabar Hills on Marine Drive, you could spot a constellation of rising buildings on the hill, before which the Arabian Sea is spread. And, one of the closest railway stations from Malabar Hills is Grant Road, the notorious original red light are of Mumbai, crowded as hell with people as diverse as different animal species in Africa. You can see women with layers of cheap make-up, who want to make a difference by their appearance so that the customers can locate them from a distance and often one among those customers would be a rich businessman, broker or estate agent. That Malabar Hills is costlier than the costly places of New York and Grant Road is filthier than the filthiest red light areas of third world itself shows that there is no dearth of variety in this city.

Guns, Germs and Steel

2009-01-02T03:08:00.000-08:00

Currently, am reading a book called Guns, Germs and Steel. The book gives a history of almost everything for the last 13,000 years. The book contains surprising facts like:

a) None of the big mammals Africa is so much famous for, originated there. Their origins lie in eurasia.

b) The people of Madagascar are similar to those in New Guinea and this has baffled archeaologits. There are theories that all the continents were one land mass, which kep onb drifting apart resulting in creation of continents. However, what is not explained is if New Guienans mixed with natives of Madagascar, what stopped them from mixing with the inhabitants of East Africa.

c) Aborigines of Australia were still hunter gatheres when europeans arrive in Australia.

d) The direction of the spread of continent is an important factor. If the spread is more from north to east, like Africa then climatic conditions will vary significantly making the survival of things in North difficult in South and vice versa. This was the reason that so many plants and animals which thrived in North Africa could not survive in South Africa. On the other hand in eurasia, the spread is more east to west, therefore climatic conditons remain same making the movement of plants and animals much easier.

e) All domesticated crops like wheats, barley, rice have a wild ancestor which could have been posinous. Humans have changed the crops in thousands on years making them suitable for them. The latest fruit to be domesticated is apple because the process of change from wild to domestic was an extremely complex one. Have we ever realised its difficult to trace apple orchards. In India, only Kashmir and Himachal are famous for apples, I dont know of any other place.

f) Surplus food production is the bed rock of all human development. It leads to settlement at one place. Post that a certain section of society thinks that benefits are larger by controlling the production of food grains than by growing them themselves. This section become the rulers and beureaucrats. This is not possible with hunter gatheres, though they too have leaders but those leaders have to find food on their own and have too little time to rule.

g) Fertile Crescent is the name of the place where today we have countries like Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Israel, Palestine and etc. This was the place which had plants and animals of different varities. Hard to imagine today!

Khamoshi

2008-11-11T22:02:00.000-08:00

Last night, I watched Khamoshi, a movie released in 1968, forty years back. Its a srory of a nurse, Radha, who helps Dev Chatterjee, a patient, in coming back to terms with life after his girl friend ditches him and he is on the verge of being declared mentally retarted. In the course of treatment, Dev sees his mother, wife, girl friend everything in Radha, and is oblivious of the fact that what impression his behaviour is having on Radha. Radha in turn falls in love with Dev. The movie actually starts with Radha standing in the room emptied by Dev, who has just gone back to his home from hospital after recovering fully. Radha says that she was not acting after all, which she was supposed to do. She decides that such kind of care-taking can have lasting impact on her and is unwilling to take up similar case again.
Right then, an identical case of Arun Chowdhury comes, who has been ditched by his girl friend and now hates even the image of a women. Radha's boss pleads her to take care of the new patient, which she turns down. However, when Arun loses the control to an extent of being life threatening to hospital staff, Radha decides to take up the case. She sees Dev in Arun and Arun finds his lost love in Radha. Radha is completely broken as she is always with Dev in her sub conscious mind, however physically with Arun. Arun loves her, but Radha is in her own world. Towards the end, Arun returns to normalcy but Radha falls prey to the very ailment she was helping patients overcome. She loses her mental balance and has to be admitted to the same hospital, where she worked just few days back as a nurse.
It is beyong any words of appreciation that the movie is made in a era - which our elders often claim to be far more innocent and simple, for if this movie is to be re-made today, it will be as complex as it was 40 years back. What the audience of today will find suprising is that the movie is made in black-white and technically seems very old, which makes the real complexity and confusion of the characters much lesser apparent. For instance, an intense scene today, will be with dark shades, deep red color, and heroine shedding tears which damages her make-up and all this is done intentionally to make the scene more realistic. However, in Khamoshi made in 1968, such things are absent, yet the message is far more powerful. Also, for a script writer and a director to think of a character like Radha a full two generations ago is superb. It actually shows that certain sections of society were far more modern then as compared to the Gen X and Gen Y of today. The direction is subtle, as Dharamendra, who plays Dev is not shown facing the camera. The director has clearly made an attempt to show Dharmendra like an impression which Radha carries. So, you can see Dharamendra sitting on a chair with his back to audience, or at best you can only see his profile not his face. Dharamandra in 1968 was at the peak of his career, the director might have foccussed more on him thinking it will help his movie in doing good business. However, the director preferred rakim him for his acting abilities and not for his super stardom. The directors and technicians of today's cine world have a lot to learn from this movie.

Beauty and the lack of brains!!!!

2008-11-04T23:29:00.000-08:00

Barrack Obama finally becomes the 44th US President. I know, the headline of tomorow's newspapers already as its not everyday that it is so easy to get the front page story idea.

I was wondering for a change why dont a paper comes with a headline saying "The World will Miss Ms Palin". In the last few months of the presidential campaign, she has made news for all wrong and funny reasons. Like, when asked about the concerns of energy deficiency in US, she said we would support Iraq. When asked about the link between the two, she replied everything is connected. Either she is a great economist of the likes of Adam Smith who thinks everything in the world is inter related and without us knowing invisible hand does it trick or she is a complete dumb.

She was also in news for spending few million dollars on her attire after she was nominated as a Vice President campaign. It had its results too. Pakistani PM Asaf Ali Zardari was so much taken in by the beauty that he found it difficult to leave her hand in a handshake. It has surely maligned the reputation of men from Indian Subcontinent, who often forget to "draw a line"

On her Linkelden profile, she has absolutely murdered the english language. Look at what she says “Join our cause and help our country to elect a great man as the next president of the United States. And I thank you, and I - God bless you, I say, and God bless America"

We will surely miss the entertainment!!!

Language Glorification

2008-10-14T23:44:00.000-07:00

"We are investors not traders" said my boss in my previous company, when someone enquired whether we can do intra-day trading. While, he said that he was in awe of 'investing' as investors are supposed to be more patient and are bestowed upon with foresightedness. The recent market turmoil and the clueless experts has actually shown that the experts are often clueless when they are needed the most! So, why do we say "I 'invest' in stock market", why there is so much stress on the word 'investing'. I think it is just because it sounds better than merely saying "I buy shares", "I trade", by saying investing, we are using language to glorify our ordinary actions..

Similarly, in India, when someone has just got engaged, people ask with a sheepish smile "aur, when are you marrying". In simpler words, they want to say "When are you having sex", this is assuming that there is high probability of finding an unmarried virgin in India than outside as pre-marital sex is considered to be a sin by religious and conservative people.

Another instance of language glorification, few years back I went to post-office. In a queue, a young woman was standing and chatting with an old man. The man asked "what do you do". She replied "I am a MBA professional". I think the word "professional" does not mean anything beyond having a job in a decent private company and its a trivial matter whether you copy paste the data there.

Background Music

2008-09-14T21:51:00.001-07:00

I watched "A Wednesday" yesterday. The movie was about one man who plants four bombs in Bombay and then informs the Commissioner of Police. He asks for release of four terrorists in return. Finally, it turns our that the man who had planted the bombs actually was a common man and wanted to kill those four terrorists as he was unsure of the quality of administrative and legal machinery of India.

I read the reviews before going for the movie. Critics said Naseeruddin Shah had given amazing performance. I think he has given far better performances in his career. What annoyed me was the use of loud background score. The same was the case with Mumbai Meri Jaan. The background music was capable of giving me a migraine.

Various directors have used such background music effectively in movies. For instance, Varma in Satya and Company. Yash Chopra in Darr and who can forget that heavenly background music of Sippy's Sholay. On contrast, we have directors of modern age, who use background music when they are sure that their script writers have either written awful dialogues or are totally incapable of writing. For instance, I read somewhere that Ramu had to fill music in "Sarkar - Part1" as he was unhappy with his scripwriter. In the sequel, Sarkar Raj, even Ramu used stupid kind of loud background score.

Bombay Multiplexes

2008-09-01T06:18:00.000-07:00

There is new trend visible across multiplexes. Eating outlets at multiplex try to sell their stuff during the show time. I went to watch 'Rock On' last saturday and this guy was selling popcorns to a lady. Suddenly, a man turned and told him that you are disturbing the audience and he was right in saying so.

I think it must be a really frustating job for someone to sell a cold drink, samosa or pop corn in the dark theatre, when hardly anything is visible. Moreover, the voice has to be really low, if it reached the ears of audience, then this fellow is fucked.

On the other hand, it shows that those who run such theatres care a damn about the audience's comfort. They dont realise that when there is hardly any space left for people to walk, they have their own guys selling cold drinks and making the space even more cramped.

The court has ruled it illegal to debar audience from carrying outside food in theatre. In light of this, a shop which was just next to Thakur Cinema has stopped selling bottled water and Thakur Cinema's hand in such kind of arrangement can not be ruled out.

Twins

2008-08-27T22:40:00.000-07:00

I always find it amazing to see how people sacrfice all or most of the pleasures of their lives for their kids. I have seen families who used to go out watch movies, eat at restaurants and suddenly they get a couple of kids and then the hangouts come to an end. May be, today this kina thing seems like a thing of past. But in 70s and 80s, this was very much the case in middle class households. Few days back, I called my sister, her name is Meenakshi..and the conversation went like this

Meenakshi: Hey, you know Vipin has got twins

Me: What??? ( I thought its my neighbour Vipin, who already has twins and now again God has "blessed" him with another pair.

Me: Dont tell me that Vipin has 2 twins, meaning 4 kids now.

Meenakshi: Arrey idiot, its Vipin our relative whose wife has given birth to twins.

I was thinking that Vipin already had one son. And, now he has 3 kids. Thanks to my bringing up in India, the next question followed

Me: So, what is it...err..i mean boy or a girl.

Meenakshi: Boys..

and Meenakshi hands over the phone to my grandma, whom we call "Bibi"

Bibi: Oye karan, Vipin khat gaya (in punjabi it means Vipin's got lucky as he has 3 sons now)

Bibi: I am dying to see them..

I was confused what to say..I am what..happy??? I dont care.....with some effort I behaved as if i am also a part of the celebrations which are going to happen..

Is it India's Gold or Abhinav's?

2008-08-14T01:48:00.000-07:00

Abhinav Bindra has won a gold at Olympics in Beijing and obviously it was one of the most celebrated sporting feat of the recent times in a "medal starved India". Newspaper and TV say that India has won its first gold in 112 years. But, has India won or only Abhinav won?

Abhinav Bindra stays in Chandigarh in a posh bangalow. He has his own gym, swimming pool everything a Karan Johar movie has in it for its hero. His dad has said that INDIAN OLYMPIC ASSOCIATION AND INDIAN GOVERNMENT HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO ROLE IN HIS SON'S ACHIEVEMENT. The father's businesses are worth some Rs 600 crore, which is not the market capitalisation of hundererds of companies listed in Indian Stock Exchanges. The family has spent lakhs of rupees on Abhinav's training, his rifles. Moreover, on his confidence building training (i am sure MBAs must be amused to hear this) which happened in Germany.

Heres a guy, Abhinav Bindra, who has nothing Indian (at least economically) about him, whose family has borne the expenses of everything, which they would have anyways done if he had been in India or any other damn country. Ironically, the medals tally says Indian Gold 1 Silver 0 Bronze 0..It should be Abhinav Bindra Gold 1 Silver 0 Bronze 0.

An Old Post

2008-07-26T07:03:00.000-07:00

In July 2007, a series of bomb blasts had rocked Mumbai. That was referred as 7/11 in popular media. At, that time no one could have realised that cities as peaceful as Hyderabad, Bangalore and Jaipur and as low profile as Malegaon are next in line to witness similar kind of events. The latest case being of Ahmedabad.

I can recall the happenings since late 80s. The 1980s were the worst time for the beautiful state of Punjab as the sikh militancy reached its height and the situation was worse than 1947. Sikh Militancy, took an ugly turn specially after the massacre of thousands of sikhs in '84 riots post the assasination of the then PM, Indira Gandhi. Well, no one can say that the Punjab would have been completely free of tension had riots not happened. But, one would agree that the terrorism would not have reached its heights unless the militants could provoke the ordinary sikh, which they could when that ordinary sikh felt that he was foreign in his land after seeing his own relatives, family members getting slaughtered by those who felt this was the way to avenge their leader's death.

Similarly, muslims were targeted post the Godhra incident. This time, the effect was so bad that after partition Gujarat riots come next in terms of casualities. That was 2002 and ever since then there have been incidents of bomb blasts. I for sure think that if not the only reason, the massacre of ordinary muslims in Gujarat left many helpless, shelterless and even more hopeless. And, what happened in Gujarat in 2002, is definitely behind the recent bomb blasts. My friends said the recent blasts were due to anti India activities in Pak and Bangladesh. I think Pak has been sheltering anti Indian elements since a long time. The question to be asked is why there has been such an upsurge in bomb blasts since 2002?

A Hats Off to Indian Politicians

2008-07-21T07:03:00.000-07:00

The recent nuclear deal has again shown the nudity of Indian politics. While, the left parties are principally right to the extent they were always against the deal. And, they are actually against the deal. It is the actions of BJP, which is surprising. Any kind of agreement with US, should be closer to the ideology of BJP as it was the party which started the process of India bending into super powers of world. While, I am in fact in favour of such kind of bending else without US support, countries like Japan and South Korea would have been nowhere.

What I am against is that BJP is in fact voting against the government. This makes it a naked combination of ill-willed politicians as they are opposing a deal just because they are in opposition. Tomorow, who knows if Manmohan Singh goes to Lahore, BJP will stage a dharna compeletely overlooking that it was Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee who started the process some 10 years back by being the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore.

This is in stark contrast to the west. When Bush decided to attack Afghansitan and Iraq, entire Congress be it Republican or Democrats supported him. As democrats knew that the voter would think that they are against the nation if they dont support Bush. While, it is difficult to say how Indian voter interprets BJP's action. In fact, those who vote in India dont do it on the basis of foreign policy. They still vote based on issues like hunger, poverty and education. This brings home the point that if Mr Jawahar Lal Nehru or Ms Indira Gandhi were to take a re-birth, they would definitely be successful politicians again as the issues remain the same.

Fed up with Stock Market - Part 1

2008-07-11T09:30:00.000-07:00

I am getting increasingky bored with any kind of talk about stock markets. Let me trace back my interest in stocks. I joined MBA course at T.A. Pai Management Institute in 2003 with the wish that I would specialise in marketing. Not that I knew what it is? But, I was unable to avoid making impressions without actually seeing things.

The first term made me realise that I have too little patience for understanding things and discussing which are not backed by some kind of numbers. This is also because I am a commerce student and by default commerce guys think in linear fashion. Second term made me realise that I can score better in Finance courses and have some kind of conceptual understanding.

At that time decision was made that I would be taking finance as speacialisation. Today, I find it very silly that every finance student wanted to become an equity analyst. If I think deep, there is no reason which I can site. Of course, none of us knew the career prospects of other areas of finance to discount them in favour of stock markets. I can say that it is just that everyone talks about stocks and it is the "in" thing.

Often, novices in the subject of equity listen to the so called experts with an awe and same desperation one would see his saviour when he is drowning. Somehow, an upper hand is given to any fucker who talks about stocks. There are other adviosry professionals. People do not look at lawyers which such kind of awe. Why stock markets experts are the priviliged few?

This clearly shows that to what extent fashion impact the society. A subject in fashion draws students of all kind. I would continue this in my next post.

Is Nadal the greatest player

2008-07-09T05:13:00.000-07:00

Nadal is the new Wimbledon champion. Before Nadal started playing well, am talking about 2 years ago, many great players like John McEnroe said that Roger Federer is the best tennis player to walk on earth. In fact, whatever I had seen, even I thought that the world has not probably witnessed a player who can better Fedex.

I started watching tennis from 1993. I have seen game of Jim Courier, Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi. I have no qualms in accepting that Fed has anyday better game than all these greats. I have never seen even Sampras being so immaculate with his returns. Sampras had a serve and volley game and he always wanted to finish the game as fast as possible by going on net. Agassi has uncomparable returns but his serve was like worse than female players.

Becker was called boom-boom becker because of his high and fast serves. But, this kind of game suited only wimbledon. Moreover, none of these greats had any chance on french clay. Sampras's best performance on clay was quaretr finals. Becker's performance on clay must have been even worse. Moreover, Becker's record at US Open is also average.

Contrasting to all these players, Federer reached the finals of French Open twice. He has won wimbledon 5 times. So, the remaining 6 grand slams are Aus Open and US open. This clearly shows that this man has game irrespective of the nature of the court. Moreover, he has great mental control which can be seen by going to www.youtube.com and typing "Best Shot Federer". This was when he returned a volley which came like a bullet from Roddick with such an ease that Roddick would have lost the match out of sheer disbelief of Roger's talent.

Moreover, Fed's classy one handed backhand is his greatest strength which was absent in any other players, I talked about.

However, Nadal started improving himself and he has beaten Fed thrice at French Open. Last year Wimbledon, Nadal could also have won the match. And, this year he has won it and dominated the match. This clearly shows that Nadal has a huge edge over Federer on clay court and even on grass, he can beat Federer.

This leads to a logical conclusion that Nadal is the greatest player of all time. But, somehow, no one is saying this. Even, I do not want to accept this. One reason could be that Nadal has still now shown his game on US hard court. But, he reached this year's Australian Open Final. This all shows that Nadal sure is the greatest player at least of last 2 decades since I started watching tennis.

But, still I am unable to accept. Seems these titles are difficult to garner for any player. As people take into consideration the aura, the personality of the player too. Hard for Nadal!!!

Federer Vs Nadal - An Epic Wimbledon Final

2008-07-07T06:10:00.000-07:00

It was 2008 Wimbledon final between top seed Roger Federer and number 2 Rafael Nadal. Federer was gunning for his sixth consecutive title at green grass of Wimbledon. Nadal was gunning for his first title at Wimbledon as he is known to be only a clay court specialist.

In 2007 final, Nadal had tried everything in his book to stop Federer, but could not succeed. This time, Nadal started with an upper hand as he made it very clear that if Federer has to win, his serve has to be more acurate than it has ever been. Federer was not that good with his first serve, which costed him first two sets.

In fact, in second set, Federer was 4-1 up and trying hard to break Nadal's serve. I told Avis why Fed is trying too hard, even if he holds his serve games, he would win the set. Avis replied "you should not give any chances to a player like Rafa".

His prophetic words came out to be true as Rafa broke Federer's serve twice to take lead of 5-4 in second set. With balls in our mouth (me, Eric, Avis & Santa), as we were praying the "King" (if Lawn Tennis ever had one, it has to be Federer) to win second set. But, in hindsight, I can say that since we were praying, it reflects that Nadal had completely outclassed the five time champion in first two sets.

The third set started with both the players holding their serve games. It was 5-4 and rain intervened. We wished but all in vain. Chox left and he had reached Andheri that the match started. I must say if I was in Chox's place that would have been first time, I would have loathed that I am away from TV. The last time, when I used to miss DD serials while coming back from coaching classes in school.

The match resumed and I could not see it as I was coming back from Santa's place but friends informed that King won the third set 7-6 and takes on the match to fourth set.

The fourth set was replica of its predecessor as neither player could break the opponent's serve, The tie-break and Nadal is ahead 5-2, two points away from Championship, commits a double fault and 5-3. Federer makes it 5-4 and then goes on to win the fourth set. The score card says Nadal to Fed 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7.

In the fifth set, Fed was playing better than prior 4 sets and it seemed he would win. The set went on to 7-7. Then what happened, I would say the turning point for Nadal. Nadal broke Fed's serve and now he was serving for the Cup. Nadal was 40-30 up and he came on the net, Fed played a low backhand passing shot. Only, Fed could play it and he showed what mental strenght he had in a match in which it was clearly visible that Nadal had an answer to all Federer's shots.

Thus how the golden cup landed in the hands of 22 year old spaniard Rafael Nadal

Maqbool

2008-06-30T06:02:00.000-07:00

I bought the Dvd of film 'Maqbool'. The movie is directed by Vishal Bhardwaj of 'Omkara' fame. It is actually incorrect to say that Vishal of Omkara fame because Maqbool came before Omkara. Maqbool is an adaptation of 'Macbeth', a shakespeare novel. The movie is about a Mumbai don known as "Abbaji" and played by Pankaj Kapur. Abbaji has built his empire through gold smuggling and land mafia. Tabu, a much younger woman, is his mistress. And, she in turn is getting attracted to "Maqbool" played by Irfan Khan.

Tabu instigates Maqbool that till Abbaji is alive, Maqbool can not think of his "gaddi". And, even if Abbaji relinquishes his gaddi, he will give it to 'Guddu', Abbaji's to be son-in-law. Maqbool, initially, is fiercely loyal. But greed takes over and he kills Abbaji.

Soon after Abbaji is killed, Maqbol takes over the riens of his predecessor's empire. But, guilt takes over Tabu as she had planned her own master's (yeah, shes just shown as mistress of Abbaji and not wife) murder. The first sign of guilt is shown when Maqbool finds it hard to believe that Tabu is impregnated with his kid. Tabu finds it hard to belive that the father of her child is not sure that he actually is the "father".

And, then it gets on the top of Tabu to such an extent that she thinks blood is spilled over walls, mirror, floor and everywhere.

Seeing Tabu in this condition, Maqbool too breaks.

The movie is remarkable as its a tale of a human emotion never dealt in hindi cinema before: guilt. And, to keep guilt away from remorse is difficult and the most challenging part for the director because with accomplished actors like Pankaj Kaput, Irfan & Tabu, the director can be sure that they will live upto characters. But, the director's job is to color those characters by guilt which is exceptionally done.

Aamir - Movir Review

2008-06-15T21:52:00.000-07:00

Ever since Aamir is released, reviews havent stopped coming on how good the movie is. Viewers also say that it shows the condition of modern muslims in India and both the actor and director have done amazingly well.

I watched the movie yday with friends. Somehow, I found the movie just above the average (given that average is often taken in the sense of bad and not good as fas as hindi movies are concerned). The good part is that the movie was just 90 minutes long as it shows what happens in the time frame of 6-7 hours in the day. It had pace and was not dragged at all. It had scenes which reinforced the state of mind of the protagonist well. For instance, when Aamir passes through the bazzar, the director repeatedly shows a butcher cutting meat into pieces which aligns well as Aamir is all the time thinking of the impending doomsday his family is heading to.

The scenes are well directed, when Aamir vommits after seeing a toilet in a building which houses countless people is well shot and the fact audience feels giddy tells that the job is well done. The filth of Bombay is shown as the actor vommits in the dirtiest dump.

The movie has an interesting twist when the bag which Aamir thinks has money is smartly exchanged with another which has a bomb. The reason, I dont think this is a movie which shall remain long time in my memory is it has very few scenes which can really surprise the audinece or something which has not been seen in other movies. And, for sure it only shows the condition of muslims in Bombay and not in India...

It does not explain why Aamir was chosen for the act. My friend also said that in a similar hollywood movie, Phone Bhooth, this was explained neither. But, I think this is not a good enough justification as in the entire length of movie, Aamir wonders why only he has been chosen for this such acts..The director would have done lot of justice to the script had he explained..

Monsoons and Mumbai Local

2008-06-11T07:26:00.000-07:00

This morning, I had the first experience of bombay monsoons. It was bright when I left home at 8:30 am, reached Borivali station at 8:45. It started raining the moment I got out of auto. I was drenched completely. Came back home at 9:00, changed and wore a t-shirt n jeans and finally reached office at 11:00 am. 2.5 hrs after I first started, pretty much the time it takes to go to Pune from Bombay outskirts.

Local trains provide you an oppurtunity to observe human instincts. The train was crowded, as usual. There was a little gap between me and the man standing next. There was another guy who saw the gap and rushed towards it to fit his lean body. The space was only sufficient for a man not more than 50 kgs of weight. Seeing this, the man standing next extended himself and covered whatever gap was there. So, the oppurtunist who wanted to grab that place was left stranded in between. Seldom have I seen someone reacting so fast. The reaction was as if both the guys are in a war for that place and fittest shall survive. What is special - the guy who could not get the space dint have any grudge against the other (this is a common thing in Delhi) and the man who grabbed the place had no hint of achievement...oops I think i have written more than what you would like to read.....hahaha

Oil Prices and Indian Communists

2008-06-04T07:18:00.000-07:00

The government today increased the petroleum prices by approx. 10%. The losses of oil marketing companies were mounting and they were bleeding. This compelled the government to take a measure which is so unpopulist especially when the elections are nearby. This shows that the government has done the least it could have done for oil companies and the most for the vote bank. Now, lot of experts can complicate the issue by saying central and state duties, which I frannkly dont understand. But, what is clear is when the oil prices were almost doubled, government has subsidised the present of India for its future. This all is not surprising, this is another shot in the government's arm much like reservation etc etc. What is surprising is that, even such a little hike has given an oppurtunity to communists to "impose" (yes, its always impose in communism) band in West Bengal. What do these guys want, given that they have so many economists, luminaries. Where the hell there brains have gone? What the hell they want? I feel like saying the dialogue from departed which says "Do you want them to cut me into pieces and feed like pork". Politicians in India would never improve. In morning only, one of my collegue said she does not think one man or one institution can fool many. Probably, she had little idea about politicians and more so about communists. The hard work done on the city Calcutta on the way of making it business hub which started with the rule of East India Company has been undone to a large extent in the last 30 years of communist rule.

Surprising Move

2008-05-29T08:54:00.000-07:00

I unsubscribed from the gmail group of 30 odd friends dating back to more than 3 years. Well, I did this as I am addicted to gmail and cant do without internet so much so that I have sent mails while taking important calls. So, I thought lets close this chapter...Pcp, my room mate in tapmi, described it as "familiarity breeds contempt"..Pcp is outstanding with his use of language..one of the few who have their own original way and not a "borrowed" one..

I was apprehensive that my group will take it otherwise. But, to my surprise, these guys were upbeat, not at my leaving the group:) Great spirit showed by the group as its still alive after 3 years of our convocation. Perhaps, this was the reason this group excelled in most of the things it did at college....

Tag Heuer's Ad

2008-05-28T01:12:00.000-07:00

I just happened to see a Tag Heuer print Ad. And, can say that its beyond perfection the way that ad is made. We have, Uma Thurman, known for doing offbeat roles, wearing a black dress and sporting a silver watch. The "watch" is in fact not clearly visible in Uma's photo. To have a clear glimpse of watch, theres a separate foto for it. What amazed me is..

a) They have taken, Uma Thurman, who is little in common with SRK, the indian endorser of the product. Thurman is known for her hard to digest role in Kill Bill. So, what is the message the company wants to convey by taking her???

b) Shes wearing a black dress which looks awesome on a fair skinned actress.

c) Tag Heuer has this knack of showing a personality in a way that it seems the personality actually deserves the prized product. As I mentioned, I am fed up with SRK in my last blog, still if you remember SRK's Tag ad, he looks classy and elegant in ad which is thanks to the admaker and photographer.....

Celebs and Publicity

2008-05-26T04:13:00.000-07:00

Well, at the outset, I must state that my comments can go out of the way as the topic i am going to comment on is unclear for me. I completely dislike the way Shah Rukh Khan sms to his team got leaked to media and got so much publicity. I dont understand how can one write such a long SMS..assuming it was sent from computer and not mobile, how can SRK expect his team to read a deluge of messages (at least 15-20). Moreover, how and who leaked it to the press.
Now, coming to the topic of celebs using press or rather the other way round. I had great respect for Aamir Khan as an actor. Recently, he mentioned in his blog that Shahrukh is the name of his dog. I mean I cant accept that this has been done without SRK's approval and this is completely staged. What explains Aamir's decade long claim of always trying to be away from centre of the stage. It clearly shows he wants to be in "public memory". Well, in other parts of world, like in Hollywood, acting is as much an art as business. Al Pacino went back to theatre in his 40s because he thought that he is getting typecast in mafia kinda movies. It was done to hone himself as an actor. Can we ever expect such standrads in India. I dont think ever. Almost every thing is made fun of and this goes on to show, how much all of us disrespect ourselves.

2008-05-21T08:30:00.000-07:00

I watched this movie on Saturday. The name is such that I had almost written off the movie even before watching it. But, having watched it, I can say that it is one of the better movies of the season. Completely for its no nonsense approach..there are no dialogues when not required..no background music to make it melodramatic..A simple script of a muslim girl born and brought up in UK brought to Pakistan by her father and forcibly married to her cousin is very well told..Amazing is to see that people in Lahore speak exactly similar language as my parents..So much of similarity was difficult to digest. Interpretation of islam by nasseruddin shah towards the end lent more meaning and power to the movie.