Friday, 31 January 2014
God And Me
Emile Durkheim explains religion on the basis of concepts of sacred and profane and presents a neat analysis of the same showing how certain things turn to be sacred due to their utility and the others remain profane. It does explain why cows are such a big deal in India. It makes sense because God does seem to be a convenient concept. What remains beyond my comprehension is the reverence shown by man to an entity which hasn't ever revealed itself to him in recorded history. All fragmants that support God's existence are grabbed and held close while anything that doubts it turns to an element of a subculture, as opposed to the mainstream culture. God according to Marx, (well, religion actually) is the opiate of the masses. Is it really a mass hysteria which is continued so long. The doubt in His existence makes sense in a scientific setup yet, people would still treat it as deviance.
The concept of prayer, too, is beyond me as to someone who is in constant need to be praised and acknowledged doesn't seem to be God. The purpose of prayer, is according to its supporters, to be one with God, feel closer to Him. It's not Him but us who need Him. That does make sense except, what if I do not want to pray. What about the times when I am not in a crisis? I might pray only it remains the last option. Does that make me selfish? Isn't God, by nature, transcendental and hence, would appreciate me praying only when I feel like. When I am enjoying good food, am in great company; why would I stop and thank God for it? Wouldn't He want me to take Him for granted? If I am His design, why would He want me to stop playing the role that He assigned to me and acknowledge His presence? Would a movie director like it if the actors stopped acting and looked at the camera and thanked him for the wonderful direction?
The origin of religion is more convenience-based than divine. You can realize that with the multiplicity of religions existing and the differences in their preachings. Origin of new cults, sects and even religions shows that it is a human created concept. How did religion emerge then? Did the power-hungry ones create it? Or was it due to fear and awe of nature? (Naturalism) Or did the seekers of those times- the intrigued ones (animaism) design it? Sacredness and Profanity do explain the reverence but yet, the perpetuation of that reverence; why no one would ever question the 'faith' throughout the history of mankind until the modern days is something to ponder upon; or am I overestimating human intellect?
I do not think the seekers of power created religion. That is something a conspiracy-theorist would argue but in Indian context, I think the Brahmins did believe in what they preached and the power its corruptions came later. The "varna system" was uniform in terms of status at the outset and later turned to be hierachy-based. Fear does seem to play a role in emergence of believers but then, the non-believers should have also continued to exist since the very beginnning. Because, where there is fear, we also have courage and bravery; rejecting a proposition and forming own hypothesis is a very human trait. The "mass hysteria" nature of relgion still demands some explanation, Mr Max Mueller.
Now, as all these questions remain unanswered, and to sleep well, every human needs to know what really happened, I too have my own theory to believe in. I think the non-believers always existed and there were varying degrees of penetration of religion in different societies and among different individuals. But as crowd has an IQ of zero and all the voices of dissent had no other, better option to explain natural phenomena; plus religion had the advantage of solidarity and control, it perpetuated and percolated through generations.
Through decades of such reaffirmation, now it has clear-cut norms and a definite following. I am sure, I am not stating anything novel and it might already have been a discussed theory, it is my official viewpoint. As to whether God exists or not, I don't know but even if he does, he loves randomness and chaos over order. So, I prefer to be random. Microwave!
The concept of prayer, too, is beyond me as to someone who is in constant need to be praised and acknowledged doesn't seem to be God. The purpose of prayer, is according to its supporters, to be one with God, feel closer to Him. It's not Him but us who need Him. That does make sense except, what if I do not want to pray. What about the times when I am not in a crisis? I might pray only it remains the last option. Does that make me selfish? Isn't God, by nature, transcendental and hence, would appreciate me praying only when I feel like. When I am enjoying good food, am in great company; why would I stop and thank God for it? Wouldn't He want me to take Him for granted? If I am His design, why would He want me to stop playing the role that He assigned to me and acknowledge His presence? Would a movie director like it if the actors stopped acting and looked at the camera and thanked him for the wonderful direction?
The origin of religion is more convenience-based than divine. You can realize that with the multiplicity of religions existing and the differences in their preachings. Origin of new cults, sects and even religions shows that it is a human created concept. How did religion emerge then? Did the power-hungry ones create it? Or was it due to fear and awe of nature? (Naturalism) Or did the seekers of those times- the intrigued ones (animaism) design it? Sacredness and Profanity do explain the reverence but yet, the perpetuation of that reverence; why no one would ever question the 'faith' throughout the history of mankind until the modern days is something to ponder upon; or am I overestimating human intellect?
I do not think the seekers of power created religion. That is something a conspiracy-theorist would argue but in Indian context, I think the Brahmins did believe in what they preached and the power its corruptions came later. The "varna system" was uniform in terms of status at the outset and later turned to be hierachy-based. Fear does seem to play a role in emergence of believers but then, the non-believers should have also continued to exist since the very beginnning. Because, where there is fear, we also have courage and bravery; rejecting a proposition and forming own hypothesis is a very human trait. The "mass hysteria" nature of relgion still demands some explanation, Mr Max Mueller.
Now, as all these questions remain unanswered, and to sleep well, every human needs to know what really happened, I too have my own theory to believe in. I think the non-believers always existed and there were varying degrees of penetration of religion in different societies and among different individuals. But as crowd has an IQ of zero and all the voices of dissent had no other, better option to explain natural phenomena; plus religion had the advantage of solidarity and control, it perpetuated and percolated through generations.
Through decades of such reaffirmation, now it has clear-cut norms and a definite following. I am sure, I am not stating anything novel and it might already have been a discussed theory, it is my official viewpoint. As to whether God exists or not, I don't know but even if he does, he loves randomness and chaos over order. So, I prefer to be random. Microwave!
Thursday, 23 January 2014
Book Review- The Other Side... Dare to Visit Alone?
Title- The Other
Side... Dare to Visit Alone?
Authors- Faraaz
Kazi, Vivek Banerjee
Publishers-
Mahaveer Publishers
ISBN-
9789350880760
Genre- Fiction/
Horror
Price- Rs 150/-
Pages- 320
Ok, what I have
in my hands right now is an author-signed copy of "The Other
Side" all thanks to The Readers' Cosmos's Book Review Program
and Nimi Vashi.
Let's talk about
the cover first- We have a graveyard, silhouttes walking, hand rising
from the graves, a haunted mansion in the background in a full moon
night, bats flying, and two eyes lurking in the corner, looking to
pounce on you and tear you apart... ok you get my point. The Hindu
review reads (on the cover itself)- "Engrossing in ways more
than one, it surprises, it shocks, it holds you in vice-like grip!"
Well, the "in ways more than one" part might be because it
is not one story but a collection of short stories- 13 (Ooo... the
cursed number) short stories of pure evil to be specific.
The author Faraaz
Kazi is recipient of the YCOF National Excellence Award and the
winner of the National Debut Youth Fiction Award 2013. He owns his
own academy and is a fellow member of the the 'Film Writers
Association of India'. The other guy- Vivek Banerjee is a
pediatrician by profession and has written stuff for Westland's
Chicken Soup for Indian Doctor's Soul and other well-known
publishers.
The book begins
with a prelude with the authors sharing horror stories in a horror
movie like set-up and we just know that something ominous is in the
offing. Soon the idea snowballs and they decide to write a book
together and that's how we have the book in our hands. The thing with
reviewing a short stories' book is that you cannot judge the book as
a whole. Every story is a living, breathing tale here and should be
used for haunting the nights, one story at a time. Anyway, horror
thrives on the element of tension. Just like surprise is the tool of
thrillers, tensed heavy air with the characters seemingly walking
into a trap is the typical horror fiction structure. Very few are the
gifted ones who can write short stories on horror without rushing the
plot and doing the plot justice by the patient build-up to the
eventual unleashing of the demon, ghost or whatever. Also, since we
have only a few stereotypes of ghosts in our mind, the author runs
the risk of overusing the cliches like backward-feet, white floating
figures, blood-dripping, eyes rolling back in the skull etc., I think
with the limited tools, the authors have done justice to the stories
and kudos to them for that.
As someone who's
not spooked easily, I deliberately chose to read these stories at
midnight hours just so that I could get into the mood and yes, the
mood was created and how! I'd be lying if I say I didn't wonder if
someone was hiding under my bed before sleeping after reading the
book.
Coming to
individual stories, some of the stories have been written exquisitely
with the execution of a professional where the author grips you and
you cannot but turn the pages to find out more. But a few of them, in
my view, fall in the trap of too much detailing. The thing with
ghosts is that we are scared of them because we know nothing about
them, if they were to live next door, we'd actually kind of grow
friendly to them. That happens only once or twice, but in the rest of
the stories, the narrative is spot on!
Talking about the
language, I think it's a bit difficult to judge Indian writers on the
basis of language because most of them are trying to make their books
more appealing to the masses and sometimes that happens at the cost
of the language. I could have done with some grotesque detalings but
then I think about the teenage girls reading the novel and then
finding themselves unable to sleep the whole night so, maybe it's for
them that the authors have gone a bit easy. I'd like to mention here
that there is no such thing as an awful horror story. If told in the
right mood, even the story of the rabbit and the tortoise can spook
you out; and I think Faraaz and Vivek have the tools.
Another art that
seems to be of particular importance for short stories in general and
horror ones in particular is the art of landing a perfect climax.
Anton Chekhov's short stories used to end abruptly sometimes making
you want to go up to the author and demand explanations, sometimes
feeling a bit cheated but the purpose of the story ie to make you
restless and worried about the characters was served. Of course,
Chekhov is Chekhov and Faraaz and Vivek are no where close but in
terms of the art of ending the story with a bang, these guys nail it
almost everytime. The 'almost' is because of the occasional lingering
when the plot has already ended but then that's just my view.
"Short
stories" is a genre close to my heart because of my early tryst
with Chekhov, Ruskin Bond and also every Indian kid's favourite-
Malgudi days by R K Narayan which is why maybe I had high
expectations from this book. It does live up to them for a certain
extent. I'm looking forward to a sequel where the "The Other
Side" gets spookier and the ghosts get deadlier. I'd not mind if
the stories were longer. We actually need the authors to take the
ghosts more seriously, crank it up a notch, you know!
The book needs to
be appreciated for the sheer novelty of the ideas though. In a market
ridden with thrillers and love-stories, this genre comes as a fresh
change. It's about time the Indian reader grew up and woke up to
newer themes and genres. It's very reasonably priced and the book
will place the authors in a slot where the audience would expect them
to experiment and innovate more. I hope they continue the good work.
I'd rate it 3 out of 5 stars!
Book Review- Baramulla Bomber- Svastik Triology- Eka
Title:
Baramulla Bomber
Author:
Clark Prasad
Publisher:
Niyogi Books
ISBN
code: 978-93-81523-97-1
Price-
Rs 395
Genre-
Sci-fi Espionage Thriller
Pages- 313
As
the back cover introduction reads "An ancient weapon from the
Vedas and Bible once hunted by the Nazis, powered by the sound of the
universe, reborn with the help of quantum physics going to be
unleashed onto the World and Kashmir holds its secret.", I
cannot help but get intrigued. This book sells itself through its
very description. Science fiction meets espionage and a fast-paced,
action-packed saga is born. The book is only the first "Eka"
of the Svastik Triology and leaves one wondering what else has the
author in store for us in the coming sequels.
A
word about the author Suraj Prasad aka Clark Prasad- "a
healthcare management consultant who had dreamt of being an
archeologist or an astronaut." it says in his bio. Well, when
you read the book you'd come to know how the novel is actually an
extension of his own self. Currently based in Bengaluru, the author
has lived in Lagos (Nigeria), Delhi, Mangalore and Kozhikode and is
deeply influenced by Carl Sagan's "Cosmos". I see
definitely influences of Jeffery Archer and Dan Brown in his writing
and also a bit of Tolkien. You'd understand what I am talking about
once you read the book.
Now,
the book starts with a 'Warning' in bold letters not to flip through
pages lest the suspense will evaporate and a request to the bloggers
not to reveal the plot. I sense a deep attachment of the author with
his story and I'd like to talk as less about the plot and characters
as possible. Then science and religion are brought to a confluence on
the next two pages where Albert Einstein, Rig Veda and the Bible are
quoted hinting toward a cosmic religion. The book has graphic
illustrations at different places which make the story come alive and
give it an eerie realness. The main characters are Mansur Haider- A
Kashmiri and his girlfriend Ahana Yajurvedi. We also have Swedish
intelligence officer Adolf Silfverskiold who is a non-believer. These
are the pawns being played on a chessboard much larger than they can
imagine. Let's leave it at that.
Every
chapter begins with a World map and a target focus sign above the
area where the event is about to transpire, that gives the novel the
feel of an action movie. The novel has broad spatio-temporal horizons
and at one juncture we're talking about the ancient times, suddenly
we're in medieval era and the next moment we're in present day World.
The book is bigger than its characters and they all come to life in a
World where conspiracies run deep and high. The chapters are also
designed to serve as a countdown to the climax which makes the book
to be read in a single sitting with zero distractions.
The
language used in the book caters to an average Indian reader who is
just starting out with Indian fiction. The author tries not to be
fanciful with the wordplay and is probably because he has already
given the reader too much to munch on already in terms of drama and
suspense. Personally, I could have gone for a language that suits
with the intricacy of the plot but maybe to the author, the thickness
of the plot was enough codification already. The pages are crisp and
the novel is a definite page-turner. At 313 pages, the novel is
fast-paced read and ideal for journeys and long waiting hours. To be
very honest, Clark does not try to do an H G Wells or a Tolkien with
the theme, he takes the story and slowly weaves it around with tools
that he finds fit.
One
more thing is the clear lack of intellectual snobbery in the book.
The book is not about turning non-believers into believers. When you
go to the movies, you don't reason with the director about the themes
and theology of the plot, similarly, this book requires you to
indulge yourself without any pre-conceived notions and simply enjoy
the read. There are books that are for niche audience and there are
ones for everyone. This one is somewhere in between.
I'd
give the book 2.75 out of five stars.
Happy
reading.
This review is a part of the Readers' Cosmos Book Review Program. Thank you Nimi Vashi for these amazing opportunities. :-)
Wednesday, 22 January 2014
Sunday, 19 January 2014
Book Review: The Hunt For Kohinoor- Manreet Sodhi Someshwar
 |
| http://abhyudayatoons.blogspot.in |
Title: The Hunt For Kohinoor
Author: Manreet Sodhi Someshwar
Published by: Westland Books
ISBN- 978-93-83260-60-7
Price: Rs. 295
Genre: Thriller (Fiction)
Ebook- Available
Pages- 425
As you might have noticed above, I actually took the pains to create an artwork of sorts for this book. It hasn't happened before and it is just because the character descriptions in the book were so vivid and it'd have been utter injustice to my own creativity if I hadn't put them to canvas. I'd first like to thank Westland books for this amazing book. It was one of the quickest 400+ pages' read of my reading-reviewing career.
A quick word about the author- Manreet Singh Someshwar is an engineer by training and she has worked in marketing, advertising and consulting. An award winning author (Commonwealth Broadcasting Association), she is a popular blogger as well. (Link to her blog- http://the-long-walk-home.blospot.com.) The book in my hand is Book 2 of the Thriller series featuring Mehrunisa Khosa. Book 1 was "The Taj Conspiracy" which I have to get my hands on, now specially after reading this gem of a work.
The story is about Mehrunisa Khosa- An art historian with a knack of keen observation and her tryst with destiny. As is evident by the name, she is part Sikh and part Muslim with an Iranian Muslim mother who is no more and an Indian Sikh father who is estranged. The story revolves around her relationship with her father, and then there are those gun-trotting, blood-thirsty, warmonger Talibani jihadis headed by the dreaded Babur Khan who have nothing but trouble cooking in their kitchens. The character of Babur Khan stands out for its pure evil demeanours and recklessness. The author has put in a lot of research and thinking behind the multi-layered plot where emotions run high as the thrill deepens and the plot thickens. The details of Indo-Af-Pak region's politics and the geographical features of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa region in particular, in the novel, have been well described. It actually makes you feel the snowy wind of the valley in your face as Harinder Singh Khosa aka Harry aka The Snow Leopard makes his way through the mountains. The unsaid bond of love between Mehr and RP Singh aka Pratap is the stuff good love stories are made of. The unconditional nature of their love sends oodles of warmth gushing down your heart and you cannot help but smile at the mysterious ways of love. Then we have Raghav, Mehr's aid in distress, I feel this character can be further developed in the forthcoming novels of this series. As a fan, I can sense a love triangle but it's not that simple and can only be understood when you get to know the characters yourself. The complexity of these relations makes the novel, though surreal in its theme, closer to reality.
The sense of regional pride is visible in the description of people of various regions. The author is well aware of the cultural values of Sikhism, Islam in general and Pathans in particular. Her description of a typical Pathan who could die for a promise is endearing. Equally endearing is how as an Indian reader, I could not feel any sense of alienation with the cultures of Pakistan and Afghanistan. We need more such stories to actually understand the subaltern approach in studying things; and that's why this novel could be of interest to an acadmecian or a student of history and sociology. In sharp contrast to these emotionally motivated brushstrokes, the character of Jag Mishra has been sketched as a cold calculating "Chanakya" who puts his duty and profession above friendship and suchlike emotions.
The plot moves at a steady pace and there are no dull moments. The format of beginning different events with place and time stamps gives the novel the feel of a thriller movie. A movie should be made on it in my view as it does contain all the elements of a good thriller. The language is simple but not at the cost of elegance. Other contemporaries should actually learn from Manreet Sodhi's choice of words and the how to effectively use the right words to create the right kind of effect. The action sequences are particularly energetic and the hard work that goes behind putting thoughts to words actually shows. The reading is effortless and it's hard to put the book down once you pick it up.
The only downside I can think of is that the build up for a deeper conspiracy is in the plot but then the author plays safe a little. But then, it's subject to individual taste. If you like simpler stories, you wouldn't even notice what I am talking about.
A word on the feminist undertones in the book. I did scurry back to the last page like a bad reader and instead of revealing the ending, I was face to face with the author as her delightful photograph is what's on the last page.
I couldn't help but notice how the female protagonist subtly went on unshackling the female soul from the burdens imposed by society as she went about her mission. I do feel that a part of the author's personal thoughts have been lent to her protagonist Mehr; and ever since I felt that, the read became even more interesting. Unlike radical feminists like Firestone et al, Someshwar drives home the point without slamming her fist on the table which is a fresh thing to notice. I do hope that her clan grows in number so that we have more such books which are wonderful on so many levels to read.
I would rate the book as-
4.5 out of 5.
Perfect for a late night read.
Wednesday, 15 January 2014
Toon On Kejriwal and A Good News!
Here's the link-
http://win.blogadda.com/view-blogs-voting/humor_satire/Creaky_noises_doors_make/
Sunday, 12 January 2014
My Favourite "Different" Movies.
This post is a part of the Miss Lovely Activity in association with BlogAdda.
Offbeat cinema has always attracted the attention of thinking audience who want something more from their movies than just raw masala. Complexity of emotions, shades of characters, a topic that is fresh and novel, all those thing come together to define and comprise what's known as offbeat cinema. This "hatke" (different) tag attached to offbeat movies is such a big compliment that people working on the same old repetitive movie scripts also don't shy away from calling their films "hatke", so much so that it has become a cliche these days.
In Hindi Cinema, we rarely have such gems which either create a new genre for themselves or turn into a cult. In a country like India, where we're all born movie buffs, there is room for every kind of cinema.
Unfortunately, filmmakers do not understand this fact and base their stories and direction on certain set formulae and fixed themes which are redressed and refabricated again and again; instead of getting creative with their themes and perspectives. There is no such clear demarcation between a mainstream film and an offbeat one. Any movie which is 'safe' in terms of storyline can be said to be made for commercial purposes while the opposite is what we can call 'offbeat' cinema. Here are five such great films that I could think of right now, although I am sure the list is much longer-
1. Chupke Chupke (1975)
Here we have two actors in their primes, playing ordinary characters. It is a comedy of errors and a gem from Hrishikesh Mukherji's stable. It was based on Upendranath Ganguly's Bengali story Chhadobeshi. The humour is so effortless and is picked up from our day-to-day lives. It was so uncharacterstic of all the larger than life movies of those times. The English Literature Professor Sukumar Sinha played by Amitabh Bachchan is more of a cameo but steals the show with his amazing comic timing and unique mannerisms. Dharmendra's Professor Parimal-cum- driver Pyaremohan is his finest comic act till date. He is not punching goons or flexing biceps here. Here, we have Dharmendra donning the shoes of a Botany professor who just wants to pull a prank on his wife's jijaji played by the ever so amazing Om Prakash. The dialogues are picked up from everyday conversations and that's why the film has an earthly feel to it. Many movies came later, trying to copy the themes or situations but the magic could never be recreated.
2. Taare Zameen Par (2007)
This is one offbeat film that achieved commercial success too. The plot was about Ishaan Nandkishore Awasthi (Played by Darsheel Safary), a dyslexic kid who fights his way in school with Indian education system expecting nothing less than genius from the poor kid. Creative director "Amol Gupte" whose "Stanley Ka Dabba" is another marvellous offbeat film and director Amir Khan bring the problems of the child to the fore in such a way that the child in each one of us cried while watching the movie. The scene where Amir discovers the child's flipbook and notices how he had depicted the pain of feeling cut off from his own family left a lump in all our throats. In a world of movies about mindless action and romance, this film was a fresh breeze.
3. Go Goa Gone (2013)
Directed by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D K, this movie should be applauded for its utter weirdness. ZomCom or Zombie Comedy is a concept which was unheard of in India until this movie came. In the age when people were trying to make money out of scaring people in the name of mindless thrillers like Murder, Jism and Raaz, these people tried to make us laugh on the same theme. There are certain scenes which are so witty that you need a funny bone in your head to catch them. The scene where Anand Sharma's character justifies that he would die soon just because he looks like a "hero ka dost" or sidekick and that's what sidekicks do in horror movies is pure gold. The scene where Vir Das tells his girlfriend to f*** off after she admits to cheating on him, the scene where Saif Ali Khan admits to his desi roots are again very fresh and original vis-a-vis contemporary Indian cinema. I hope Indian cinema wakes up to this form of "in-your-face yet subtle" humour and we get to watch more such movies.
4. Sadma (1983)
This is a clear case of a film being better than whole of it's cast added together. It breathed like an organic whole and had a life of its own. Directed by Balu Mahendra, it is a story of a school teacher Somu (Kamal Hassan) and a young woman Nehalata (Sridevi). Kamal Hassan is capable of making you laugh and cry at the same time. Another movie of his- "Pushpak" can be said to be a testimony to his skills. His performance at the climax of "Sadma" can bring every soul who has felt helpless in love to tears. Unlike the happy ending romances, this was a story of nuances. The characters fell in love with each other in due process of time, there are so many sweet moments in the story where their "puppy love" fills your heart with love, makes it worry, want to snuggle and be a kid in love again. But the real show-stopper of the movie is Sridevi. Her performance as the amnesia patient who behaves like a child after memory loss is remarkable. She dropped her sexiness for just this one and went all artsy for this one. This is how the thinking man fell in love with Sridevi.
5. Swades- We The People (2004)
Ok, this one had to be in the list. Directed by Ashutosh Gowarikar, this movie is a connect between today's man and his roots. Shahrukh Khan held back all his mannerisms (we had forgotten that he could) and slipped in a pair of jeans and some simple shirts to give us this eye-opener of a film. The conversations between the female protagonist (Gayatri Joshi) and him, his views on the conservative, rural India; all those and multiple frames of Indian landscape, calling out to its sons and daughters- make it a great movie. It tanked on the box office which is a shame but, it did get the respect that it deserved ultimately. The naive villagers played by myriad character artists are endearing and certainly add spunk to the film.
There are various other films which equally deserved to be in the list. Most Irrfan Khan movies, especially Pan Singh Tomar, most Amol Palekar, Farooq Sheikh movies; Rajnigandha, Golmal, Chashme Baddur and suchlike could have easily been included here. But for now, I'll close the list and pray to the Cine Gods to bless us with more such gems!
Cheers!
Jai CineMA!
P.S. Here's a poster of Miss Lovely. Seems like an interesting one. :-)
Now the trailer-
In Hindi Cinema, we rarely have such gems which either create a new genre for themselves or turn into a cult. In a country like India, where we're all born movie buffs, there is room for every kind of cinema.
Unfortunately, filmmakers do not understand this fact and base their stories and direction on certain set formulae and fixed themes which are redressed and refabricated again and again; instead of getting creative with their themes and perspectives. There is no such clear demarcation between a mainstream film and an offbeat one. Any movie which is 'safe' in terms of storyline can be said to be made for commercial purposes while the opposite is what we can call 'offbeat' cinema. Here are five such great films that I could think of right now, although I am sure the list is much longer-
1. Chupke Chupke (1975)
Here we have two actors in their primes, playing ordinary characters. It is a comedy of errors and a gem from Hrishikesh Mukherji's stable. It was based on Upendranath Ganguly's Bengali story Chhadobeshi. The humour is so effortless and is picked up from our day-to-day lives. It was so uncharacterstic of all the larger than life movies of those times. The English Literature Professor Sukumar Sinha played by Amitabh Bachchan is more of a cameo but steals the show with his amazing comic timing and unique mannerisms. Dharmendra's Professor Parimal-cum- driver Pyaremohan is his finest comic act till date. He is not punching goons or flexing biceps here. Here, we have Dharmendra donning the shoes of a Botany professor who just wants to pull a prank on his wife's jijaji played by the ever so amazing Om Prakash. The dialogues are picked up from everyday conversations and that's why the film has an earthly feel to it. Many movies came later, trying to copy the themes or situations but the magic could never be recreated.
2. Taare Zameen Par (2007)
This is one offbeat film that achieved commercial success too. The plot was about Ishaan Nandkishore Awasthi (Played by Darsheel Safary), a dyslexic kid who fights his way in school with Indian education system expecting nothing less than genius from the poor kid. Creative director "Amol Gupte" whose "Stanley Ka Dabba" is another marvellous offbeat film and director Amir Khan bring the problems of the child to the fore in such a way that the child in each one of us cried while watching the movie. The scene where Amir discovers the child's flipbook and notices how he had depicted the pain of feeling cut off from his own family left a lump in all our throats. In a world of movies about mindless action and romance, this film was a fresh breeze.
3. Go Goa Gone (2013)
Directed by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D K, this movie should be applauded for its utter weirdness. ZomCom or Zombie Comedy is a concept which was unheard of in India until this movie came. In the age when people were trying to make money out of scaring people in the name of mindless thrillers like Murder, Jism and Raaz, these people tried to make us laugh on the same theme. There are certain scenes which are so witty that you need a funny bone in your head to catch them. The scene where Anand Sharma's character justifies that he would die soon just because he looks like a "hero ka dost" or sidekick and that's what sidekicks do in horror movies is pure gold. The scene where Vir Das tells his girlfriend to f*** off after she admits to cheating on him, the scene where Saif Ali Khan admits to his desi roots are again very fresh and original vis-a-vis contemporary Indian cinema. I hope Indian cinema wakes up to this form of "in-your-face yet subtle" humour and we get to watch more such movies.
4. Sadma (1983)
This is a clear case of a film being better than whole of it's cast added together. It breathed like an organic whole and had a life of its own. Directed by Balu Mahendra, it is a story of a school teacher Somu (Kamal Hassan) and a young woman Nehalata (Sridevi). Kamal Hassan is capable of making you laugh and cry at the same time. Another movie of his- "Pushpak" can be said to be a testimony to his skills. His performance at the climax of "Sadma" can bring every soul who has felt helpless in love to tears. Unlike the happy ending romances, this was a story of nuances. The characters fell in love with each other in due process of time, there are so many sweet moments in the story where their "puppy love" fills your heart with love, makes it worry, want to snuggle and be a kid in love again. But the real show-stopper of the movie is Sridevi. Her performance as the amnesia patient who behaves like a child after memory loss is remarkable. She dropped her sexiness for just this one and went all artsy for this one. This is how the thinking man fell in love with Sridevi.
5. Swades- We The People (2004)
Ok, this one had to be in the list. Directed by Ashutosh Gowarikar, this movie is a connect between today's man and his roots. Shahrukh Khan held back all his mannerisms (we had forgotten that he could) and slipped in a pair of jeans and some simple shirts to give us this eye-opener of a film. The conversations between the female protagonist (Gayatri Joshi) and him, his views on the conservative, rural India; all those and multiple frames of Indian landscape, calling out to its sons and daughters- make it a great movie. It tanked on the box office which is a shame but, it did get the respect that it deserved ultimately. The naive villagers played by myriad character artists are endearing and certainly add spunk to the film.
There are various other films which equally deserved to be in the list. Most Irrfan Khan movies, especially Pan Singh Tomar, most Amol Palekar, Farooq Sheikh movies; Rajnigandha, Golmal, Chashme Baddur and suchlike could have easily been included here. But for now, I'll close the list and pray to the Cine Gods to bless us with more such gems!
Cheers!
Jai CineMA!
P.S. Here's a poster of Miss Lovely. Seems like an interesting one. :-)
Recharge Your Hair!
The following contest is for Indiblogger's Recharge Your Hair, Recharge Your Life Contest!
I have a story to tell.
There was this really nice guy, he won hearts at the drop of a hat, he charmed the ladies, girls swooned over his cool demeanour. One day he met the girl of his dreams. They fell in love and wanted to get married. Only problem was, the girl's father was an ex-Army personnel. Very particular about self-grooming and discipline. "No problem!" the guy thought. The girl's father called him for lunch. Dressed up in a formal suit, he went to her place on his bike. He made a good impression with his smooth talking skills. At the end of the whole thing, the father asked- "Son, I am giving you my daughter, you have to take care of my precious little baby. If you have any problem with that, raise your hand right now!" The father's eyes widened with anger on seeing the guy's hand rise above his shoulder! "How dare you!? You said you wanted to marry her! Now you say you can't take care of her? This wedding cannot happen! Leave my place right now I say!" he shouted. Before he could say anything, he was thrown out of the house. "You idiot! Why did you raise your hand!?" annoyed and angered, the girl asked before their final goodbye. The guy answered-
"I just felt something itchy in my head!"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A bad hair day can put your whole self-confidence down to the dogs and that's why I think recharging your hair is a good idea. Have you looked at yourself and found your (earlier black) hair to be turning a sorry shade of brown? Ever came back from the beach looking like this!?
There are times when you have to let your hair loose and just enjoy the moment but when the moment is gone, you realize that you have horns growing on your head.
Times when you go to the beach, enjoy water sports and later your hair start getting stiff, times when you wake up on a winter morning, with that flakey feeling in the head, times when you dress up for a party and later realize you have every hair strand standing for itself, ready to sound the bugle of revolt...
all these times are the ones which could have been avoided by getting them recharged. Recharge them by plugging them to Sunsilk. So, yea, those are my reasons to get my hair recharged! Also, you'll feel like this after the recharge-
I have a story to tell.
There was this really nice guy, he won hearts at the drop of a hat, he charmed the ladies, girls swooned over his cool demeanour. One day he met the girl of his dreams. They fell in love and wanted to get married. Only problem was, the girl's father was an ex-Army personnel. Very particular about self-grooming and discipline. "No problem!" the guy thought. The girl's father called him for lunch. Dressed up in a formal suit, he went to her place on his bike. He made a good impression with his smooth talking skills. At the end of the whole thing, the father asked- "Son, I am giving you my daughter, you have to take care of my precious little baby. If you have any problem with that, raise your hand right now!" The father's eyes widened with anger on seeing the guy's hand rise above his shoulder! "How dare you!? You said you wanted to marry her! Now you say you can't take care of her? This wedding cannot happen! Leave my place right now I say!" he shouted. Before he could say anything, he was thrown out of the house. "You idiot! Why did you raise your hand!?" annoyed and angered, the girl asked before their final goodbye. The guy answered-
"I just felt something itchy in my head!"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A bad hair day can put your whole self-confidence down to the dogs and that's why I think recharging your hair is a good idea. Have you looked at yourself and found your (earlier black) hair to be turning a sorry shade of brown? Ever came back from the beach looking like this!?
There are times when you have to let your hair loose and just enjoy the moment but when the moment is gone, you realize that you have horns growing on your head.
Times when you go to the beach, enjoy water sports and later your hair start getting stiff, times when you wake up on a winter morning, with that flakey feeling in the head, times when you dress up for a party and later realize you have every hair strand standing for itself, ready to sound the bugle of revolt...
Here's a link to sunsilk's official page- http://www.sunsilk.in/
Enjoy!
Thursday, 9 January 2014
Friday, 3 January 2014
Elections, Voting and Social Apps!
This entry is for the Indiblogger contest by WeChat.
THE TOPIC
How would you inspire and mobilize India's youth to vote in the 2014 Indian General Elections using social mobile apps?
Well, social mobile apps like WeChat these days have become indispensable for an urban social life. Any news spreads like wildfire and mainstream media struggles to catch up with the pace in this scenario. With this great power, comes great responsibility. With general elections round the corner, a social media app can be instrumental in mobilizing Indian youth to vote and be participative in the political proceedings. This involvement will not only help making the elections successful but create a sense of belonging and trust among the youth; there is good chance that they'll feel more connected to the government and policy-making which is a fundamental requirement of any democracy.
How these apps can achieve this? Here are a few ideas-
1. A Reminder Message on the day of election. Asking them to get "inked".
The apps can setup their programs to send a broadcast message to every member, preferably in local language.
2. A Badge to inculcate a sense of achievement among voters.
The app, can send link to a page which hosts auto-generated images that one can share on social media or use are profile images on the app itself. These images can have funny cartoons or motivational messages concerning election awareness.
3. Competitions on group chats and social media pages.
The developers can host competitions where the participants have to post and share videos or images of themselves queuing up for voting, coming out after voting. Most shared/ creative post wins some exclusive merch!
4. The power of voting!
The app can also depict the power of voting by inviting its users to vote for the features they want most in their favourite app. The most voted features get introduced in the app's next update. (Have to be practical of course).
5. Special Election Day Button
On the day of election, the app can have a special button on its home page which when clicked, would display options like sharing a video message (maybe by a celeb) or a picture about the value of voting with their contact list. There can be points for every share. It can be made into a contest!
So, yeah, a social media app can play a lot many roles in nation-building! Hope someone is listening!!
WeChat official site- here
Indiblogger website- here.
THE TOPIC
How would you inspire and mobilize India's youth to vote in the 2014 Indian General Elections using social mobile apps?
Well, social mobile apps like WeChat these days have become indispensable for an urban social life. Any news spreads like wildfire and mainstream media struggles to catch up with the pace in this scenario. With this great power, comes great responsibility. With general elections round the corner, a social media app can be instrumental in mobilizing Indian youth to vote and be participative in the political proceedings. This involvement will not only help making the elections successful but create a sense of belonging and trust among the youth; there is good chance that they'll feel more connected to the government and policy-making which is a fundamental requirement of any democracy.
How these apps can achieve this? Here are a few ideas-
1. A Reminder Message on the day of election. Asking them to get "inked".
The apps can setup their programs to send a broadcast message to every member, preferably in local language.
2. A Badge to inculcate a sense of achievement among voters.
The app, can send link to a page which hosts auto-generated images that one can share on social media or use are profile images on the app itself. These images can have funny cartoons or motivational messages concerning election awareness.
3. Competitions on group chats and social media pages.
The developers can host competitions where the participants have to post and share videos or images of themselves queuing up for voting, coming out after voting. Most shared/ creative post wins some exclusive merch!
4. The power of voting!
The app can also depict the power of voting by inviting its users to vote for the features they want most in their favourite app. The most voted features get introduced in the app's next update. (Have to be practical of course).
5. Special Election Day Button
So, yeah, a social media app can play a lot many roles in nation-building! Hope someone is listening!!
WeChat official site- here
Indiblogger website- here.
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