A sabbatical of sorts

There could be nothing more frustrating or annoying than giving up on your one-of-the-most likened things. For the last 5-6 months, my blogging had to endure a test of wait amidst all the frentic and sapping schedule of my life. Even after putting a resolve every now and then to get back to it, I was unable to devote much or rather any time to it. And sorrily, I won’t be able to give any time in future too, for at least 4-5 months.

It is all for a greater cause only; but I hope, I will come back more learned, energized and focused then.

So, it is an official sabbatical till then. Hope life continues to cherish all of us!

3 Idiots to My Name is Khan

Oops! Such a long time. The hiatus owed to a lot to the recent activity in my life. So much so that I could watch just one movie in the last two months. Unsurprisingly, it was 3 idiots.

I need not sing hosannas how good the movie is. It has already been hawked to the stale limit now. But one aspect of the movie that has gone unmentioned is how the movie has elucidated the topic of education in such great and aesthetic detail. Earlier the heroes of the movies were all backbenchers and study-loathers, as if mocking studies imparted them the macho to attract the pretty damsels of the class. Nowhere there was an emphasis on how good education creates suave human beings. But 3 Idiots paints this with an added philosophy of how that good education should be like. It is an unfettered ride, evoking some wonderful moments of college life. Only Raju could have made such a film, and only Aamir could have enacted such a rule. Hallelujah.

Moving on, I believe ‘My Name is Khan’ is going to be the next stop. And what a delight it would be to watch it in a theatre in India again. It has been a bloody long time since I watched a Hindi movie on the big silver screen, with the augmented aura of grand landscape suffused with melodious songs. The movie percolates with the environs too inside you. Undoubtedly the movie will have that same bigger-than-life SRK rendition to sprout all feel-good vibes inside you.

The awe and answer of Saw

A great fan of Saw series! I am. Conspicuous it is, as there is an avowed pledge by me of not watching gore and pessimism. But Saw is an exception, and I solicit pardon here.

This infringement though has its roots from the germane fascination that Saw-I had cast on me. That single factor keeps me glued to the next versions. A great thriller Saw-I was, never mind its trend-setting portrayal of death contraptions and methods. I have always related, or tried to relate, the subsequent Saw movies with the first one. Because …. I believe the Saw series will end only by tying with the first movie.

My belied is shaken though as I watch the irrelevant plots in the sequels. Saw VI, in point, added nothing to the story, except extending the series by one more part. It was enjoyable, but certainly you expect more in the storyline.

I am not deflated though. I still believe the missing doctor, who had left the cell with one leg cut in Saw-I, holds definitive answers to the mystery of the story.

Avatar and 2012

Undoubtedly both these films are good. In fact, they are brilliant. I wanted to mention them in the same breath; not only because I watched them within a span of two consecutive days but also because they are the typical supernal ideas - heavily employed in Hollywood - converted into celluloid of mass appeal.

Avatar is more conspicuous of the two due to the return of James Cameron and his high-end use of technology. In the theatre with 3-D screening, the movie seemed to play right out of a real-life disposition –people and their movements, the forests and the strange creatures, the fights with guns and arrows etc. It looked very surreal, but also fulfilling. For the first time, I felt delving into the cinema rather than the opposite way around. To quote one of my friends, for the first time, we saw human beings going to an alien land and also being technologically superior to the aliens. In fact, many firsts coming from this film …. I can transpose it to feel what jig the novelty of Star Wars would have caused when it was released way back in 1977.

2012, on the other hand, is an aggrandized talk of people’s conspiratorial side. It delivers what people want to see. Mayan prophesy of earth’s destruction coming to reality in the most devastating way. People decide to build a ship to survive the last beings of human race; the similarity with Noah’s Ark is substantial. The earth is in shatters but still human treachery and nepotism are on play. The good guys are taken for a ride by the rich and resourceful. The President of the US though stays behind, as also quoted in the movie, as the Captain of the Sinking Ship. The protagonists, playing the commoners, get into the ship through the backdoor. The climax is reached with the literal countdown of the ship’s collision with Mt Everest, and the hero’s underwater effort to avert it. For a change, the Black Actors took the center stage. A perfect potpourri!

And I repeat; I liked them both. But again I repeat; they both had the same worn-out renditions of Hollywood. The aliens, earth’s doom, mass-scale rescue effort, the brewed love in between etc – how many times have we seen them. It is another matter that the above two films defied the monotony, and shaped up as great in the end. But how long will the directors keep mashing the same stuff? Just my concern – as I am fearful of again drifting away from these movies if they are dished in plenty. Sounding cynical amidst the riches, but it is justified if you too look beyond the obvious.

3 Idiots' Songs

It was really the moments played over again. Another Aamir Khan movie’s music album release, and another set of dilated ears. 2001-Lagaan, 2005-Mangal Pandey, 2006- Rang De Basanti and Fanaa, 2007- Taare Zameen Per, 2008 – Ghajini. The music release of all these had been a waited event for me, for they were the harbingers of the actual stuff. Like with all the movies in Hindi cinema, if the music is good, the movie is definitely going to be great.

But to admit truthfully, none of the above music albums had managed to raise my feathers up. On first listen, the songs looked banal, worn-out and placid, not having that extra to create a buzz expected of them. Even the now-campus-theme ‘Paathshala’ had seemed a bit loud and tacky. There were some melodious and to-the-gallery songs like ‘Chaand Sifaarish in Fanaa’ or ‘Guzaarish in Ghajini’, but as a whole, the albums had failed to generate a collective oomph. I remember my colleagues in the hostel promptly changing ‘Ru Baroo’, ‘Waari Waari’ etc whenever I tried to play these songs to impress upon them. To sum it up, the songs were really too arcane or mystic for all of us when they were released. It was only when they were listened again and again, and when their superb films released afterwards augmented their meaning and mood, that these songs attained the great cult status they possess now.

I say it is deja-vu all again. 3 Idiots songs have just been released. And if I would have written this blog a week earlier, I would have really lamented the ineffectiveness of the songs. But now after having listened to them a few times, I do find the songs involving. The songs possess an inherent charm and melody. Barring the blaring ‘Aaal Iss Well’ which I still feel is a badly chosen theme song, the songs are full of message and lilt with the occasion. ‘Give Me the Sunshine’ is an after-word of a college worn-out student; ‘Behti Hawa Sa Tha Who’- a sincere appreciation for the hatke student amongst the streamlined ones; ‘Jaane Nahin’ a rendition of friendly bonds. But the song I like most is the Zoobi Doobi. A masterly work indeed, lyrics and music suiting aptly to the rain-filled sensuality of the song. You have to listen to it:-

Zoobi Doobi

It is typical Bollywood stuff, pulled right from the yesteryears for sounding music to the ears.

Harry Potter - The Magical Realism

I was asked this question once, “Which of the two series you like more – Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings?” My answer was unsurprisingly quick – Harry Potter, of course. He scowled, but he knew he didn’t stand a chance for a debate of any kind.

My infatuation with the wizard boy’s stories is long and keeps on growing every time I imagine them. In my solemn free times, I have replayed the older Harry Potter movies’ scenes in my mind, just to feel good and escape into the world of magic realism. After watching the Half Blood Prince, I feel I am again in a different world now- full of magic, even though surrounded by dark forces.

No, I haven’t read the novels. And I don’t intend to, before I see the full series. I know, no movie can match its provenance. But for me, Harry Potter movies have been interesting enough to delight me on their own. Hopefully reading the novels later can bring both additions and shortcomings of the movies in glare.

Which movie of the series I like the most? It is the ‘Chamber of Secrets’, followed by ‘Half Blood Prince’ and ‘Goblet of Fire’. Which one was the blandest? No guesses, ‘the Order of the Phoenix’, as it would be for most of the cine-watchers.

What do I like most in the movies? Obviously, the characters. Dumbledore is such a profound character. His death (sorry for the spoiler) in ‘Half Blood Prince’ was a heart-rending view for me. The three main characters-Potter, Ron and Hermione are seriously well-delineated ones, and it has been both fun and insight to see their characters grow, both in age and behaviour. Hagrid, Minerva, Snape, Sirius, Lupin etc – all are very relevant, and seem to be part of one big family. But I like, above all, what the characters depict. The good and the bad of the world, and how the struggle between them is always on. The good will ultimately win, no doubt, but how that good develops or should develop is the instilling part. I have always felt a direct pertinence of the stories to the current world.

For many, Harry Potter movies might just be fantasy, but for me, they have been a source of comfort & fun, a mirror of virtues & vices, and also an imparter of goodness & strength. What else do you want from a movie?

Wanted !!!

Leave the Angelina-starrer one. Our own Sallu bhai’s is here. Dhisoom dhisoom …. What a masala flick!

I liked it, to the core. If Prem is sooo sober, Radhey is sooooo stylish. Better make Radhey the benchmark. Tere Naam’s one was brash, brusque and besotted with beauty in the end, but here he is only one – committed to himself. So he doesn’t listen to even himself if he has made a commitment.

More so consider the way he pooh-poohs his lady love, Ayesha Takia in the movie. A real first for me. Not the usual till-my-last-breath suitors and lovers of women. So, change for Bollywood? No. The songs are splashed at will, but you know their arrival time beforehand, courtesy the experience, and you can go out for a wee, a phone or a smoke. And come back to see another baddie being rolled down by our atlas-built hero.

Some of the fight scenes are really damn good. In the train, when he rams the rogue guy into one of the bars, I was thrilled. Omg, I have turned gory! But it was damn good. Didn’t you see how the other guy just jumped out of the train, in fear of that?

Our heroine too is ekdum kamaal. The perfect siti-inviter. Alas, she has got married, but still has the best tanker, sorry the best face, in the tinsel town. The villain though doesn’t look ike the villain. Now-a-days villains too have to do some comedy. Never mind though, he shoots as often as he jests.

So, what then? Go and just watch the movie. It is a perfect paisa wasool. If it doesn’t work for you, don’t come back and shout at me. Probably you still don’t know how to appreciate these cult kinds of movies.