Movies

It's been sometime that I have been wanting to write about some movies , I have watched recently. It actually began with Taare Zameen Par, a movie I ended up watching three times and not once felt let down. TZP deserves a complete entry and not just a few words of appreciation. That I will soon. But for now it's the other flicks I shall opine of. (Gee!! I sound like an English critic of the 18th century)

Om Shanti Om- What's this doing here? Well my friends I watched the movie. Found it to be ridiculously stupid without much of a plot and yet was guilty of wearing a smile of a satisfied mind at the end of the movie. Sigh! I am, at the end of the day, a masala greedy, spicy curry loving Indian. OSO had it all and hence the guilt of satisfaction. If the infamous adage that "Sex and Sharukh sells" is to be proved true, believe me it does not need much but a small sting op on the people who shrieked (six pack) and laughed (include me also) at the slapstick and cliched humour of the movie. In retrospect today I guess the kudos should go to Farah and Sharukh for providing what the Indian mass required- the daily dose of spice with a pinch of salt. I will not delve into the plot or characters but will certainly pick up Vishal and Shekhar for being inspired by The Phantom of the Opera for the climax song. When the song began I was racking my brain to identify the familiarity of the tune. Bingo! the ambience gave it away- Phantom of the Opera. Inspired- My good friends- Well a long time since the Musu musu haasi inspiration.
OSO gets ***1/2 (which implies watch it at least once)

Jodha Akbar - Aha! Opulence has a new name- Ashutosh Gowrikar. Mr. Gowrikar's tryst with magnitude after Lagaan is on a different scale of history and fiction. Lagaan was fiction against the canvas of history. It did not pick on any character, living or dead and hence escaped the ire of a reticent and politicized public. Swadesh was completely based on history with shades of fiction, but the protagonist was not someone who occupied the mind of the public and hence the movie escaped public display of affection of any sorts. (Oh Yes! the pun is completely intended). Jodha Akbar is a tryst with history and an attempt to recreate the missing strands of an association so less talked about, yet by far a very important association that went on to shape a political dream of an emperor. If Akbar married Jodha as a part of a political alliance, then all Haider Ali and Gowrikar tries to do, is to provide a fictional element of a love story that by all possibilities may have bloomed in the courts of the Mughal empire. If we question this tale of love then I guess we must question the tales of all the iconic lovers like Laila-Majnu, Heer-Ranja who like this tale also is a perhaps only a song of the wandering minstrel. However, history does suggest that there was an emperor Akbar and indeed there was a princess Jodha bai. Then, Jodha Akbar is indeed a great tale featured by AG on the silver screen. The canvas of the movie is opulent and so is the performance of Hrithik Roshan as Akbar and Aishwarya Rai as Jodha. What struck me was the restrain of expression in love and the pine between the characters, which was very well executed by Hrithik and Aish. Keep in mind that the movie is 4 hour long and yet I did not notice the audience being bored. Keep away from what 'professional critics' of the movie have to say. You must watch it for the sheer grandeur and performance of all involved- from actors, director to the cinematographer.
**** (beat this Mr. Kazhmi)

Ok Next to follow are the following Elizabeth-The Golden Age, No Country for Old Men, The Bourne Ultimatum. Keep reading this space for more

Change

Have any one of you read Benjamin Holt's The Tao of Pooh?(try following the link and you will get some bytes) I guess you should read it. Not that it will help you achieve instant nirvana or sorts, but it certainly will make you feel better if you face some unexplainable condition or to put it more simply if you feel that your heart and head are going different places. No prizes for guessing that, yes, your truly is in such a situation. Sigh!!!

Change is difficult. As human being we have a very enviable quality of adapting, so says our texts of biology and sociology. Ask me, indeed we do but perhaps not well adapted to accept a change as easily as other animals. And tell you what, it all boils down, very ironically to the very quality which differentiates us from animals- Reason and Emotion. Because we can reason we manage to emote and resist a change. (Well, most of the time we do). I am in the threshold of change right now. I have a new job, a new place, a new location and new people. The transition is easy when I reason with my career graph and pocket in mind. It definitely is difficult when I think of the friends I am now going to be less associated with. It is even more difficult when I realise that lunch hours will be in a different place with different people. Yes, the logic says that I'll get used to this but somehow this time my emotions are not giving in easily. The transition from DIREM to Music Today was easy owing to the fact that I was somehow prepared for it from sometime but, from MT to somewhere else- I guess it happened a little to soon and caught my emotions off-guard. My father changed his job only once to join from Cotton College to a University. 35 years and only one change. Me-Two years and two changes. What should you call it? Inconsistency, aspiration or plain struggle to survive the rat race as the best rat perhaps. I'll select the latter but wish I could change the rat bit, because rats should not be emotional and I am. I will miss my friends here. Music Today/Business Today seemed to me like a pulpit of energy where I felt like an electron. Guess electrons do not make much difference but they do create energy and I did manage to do that, only because I had lots of friends to receive and give back in return. Now I'll miss all this and I am resorting to Pooh to sort my dilemma. Well, he did to some extent...

"Rabbit's clever," said Pooh thoughtfully.

"Yes,"said Piglet, "Rabit's clever."

"And he has Brain."

"Yes," said Piglet, "Rabbit has Brain."

There was a long silence.

"I suppose," said Pooh, "that that's why he never understands anything."

There we go.. you see, I guess I do not need to understand and only feel happy that I'll miss them because I cherish them. Oh Yes, I do!!!