"Water keeps flowing but stagnant water creates problems. Many people in the film, which is set in the late 1930s, lived a rigid life as prescribed by a religious text more than 2000 years old. Even today, people follow such texts, which is one of  the reasons why there are millions of widows in India. Traditions should never become rigid. They should flow like the good water."
                                                                                                       - Deepa Mehta, on the significance of the title

I have owned a dvd of Water for 6 months now. Quite convinced that the movie would be a depressingly grim tale of widows in India, I have never been able to play it. It was quite the contrary. Neither pitiful nor didactic.
A tale told beautifully at the ghats, in the scores of Rehman, in the poem of Kalidasa, in the romance of meghdoot, and in the rains while Chuhiya and Kalyani play.
A tale told blatantly at the ghats, on two different banks of a river which Gulabi boat-rides to trade widows, in the plight of a 8 year old widow who is still a stranger to love, in the might of Narayan who is a strong follower of Mahatma Gandhi.
A tale told unforgettably at the ghats, where the conversations between the pandit and Seema Biswas are subtle and powerful, where the hypocrisy of religion and sex are detestful, where the screening of child marriage was important to show us how much of hinduism has actually reformed.
And finally a tale told with a subtle message , where "Hare Krishna" - 108 times in a day, is not your way to mukti, especially for an 8 year old girl widow.

         


Water is the story set in 1938, in Varanasi, about the widows of India. The widows, who lived a life of self denial. Self denial - wait, that's too bookish a word.
They lived out of only one piece of cloth, a plain white saree.
One meal a day, which they ensured to chew long enough to fool their stomachs into believing, less is more.
Ensure a clean shaven head.
Beg on the streets in the afternoons.
Afford the rent of the widow-ashram cum brothel.
And just grow old, waiting for death to embrace.

What's terribly disheartening is that these instructions come from our scriptures. And must we say, it was an improvement  over "sati". Oh, thankyou, holy books, for migrating from Sati to Vidhwa ashrams. 
The movie infuriated me for a while, I detested Hinduism at every choking revelation in the film.
But then it was also heartening to realize the social reforms that has taken place in the last 70 years.
To realize how Gandhi stood against these inhumane practices that have been opportunistically linked with our religion.  He believed in remarriage in a society that was so convinced that the gods told them that a widow had to live a life of torture and self-denial; going against moral and spiritual beliefs of the strongest proponents of his faith (he always remained a devout Hindu); he stood tall and advocated remarriage. He brought about social reforms not only in society but mainly in perception. 

It's great that he did do that - he must have helped thousands of widows reclaim their lives. But it's greater still that he stood up for what he believed. That he knew that the others were wrong, and was ready to battle, lose popularity, or lose his life for his beliefs.
I question myself though - where has that sense of total belief in ourselves gone? Why aren't we as sure of ourselves? Why don't we have the courage to stand up? Why do we chose convenience over Truth? Why don't we even venture to think we can change our society? Why don't we even dare to believe that we can be the  leaders of our country? A leader of men?

"Main maanta tha ki ishwar his sach hai... magar ab main maanta hoon ki sach hi ishwar hai."  (Until now, I believed that God is the truth, but today I believe that Truth is God.)
                                                                                                                                                     - Mahatma Gandhi.

The tale is starkingly brilliant for the number of things it tells you without actual narration.
For the poignant relationships between the 8 year old Chuhiya, Kalyani, Madhu Didi, Narayan, laddoo-craving old woman, and for the subtlety with which some rather strong messages are delivered.

"When widows are segregated from their husband, family and property, they are: “One less mouth to feed. Four saris saved. One bed and a corner are saved in the family house. There is no other reason why you are sent here.” And while the treatment of widows is disguised as religion, “it’s all about money.” These few sentences illuminatingly introspect the matter. 
To all the socio-political complications due to which the film took more than 5 years for completion, here is my opinion.
There is no controversy over derogating religion in the movie. The movie does not potray Hinduism in bad light. It potrays hinduism in true light,
The message is not that hinduism has treated widows wrong. The movie is not only of the widows in the 1930's, the message is bigger, there is water everywhere, in so many more hollow, baseless religious practises that are still being performed. "Water" is happening now too, maybe not in the form of widows, but in another form. After all, humanity will always be the same - filled with hopes, desires and wishes!
The only controversy that it probably draws, is the one between faith and social progress.
We Indians have something to learn from here and also something to be ashamed of.

The messages, art, dialogue, feelings shine right through. A movie, every Indian must see!
The ending note did not help the lump in my throat -
"According to the census in 2001 there were over 34 million widows in India, many of them still living in conditions of  social, economic and cultural deprivation".

 

"And it was at that time that I thought about Thomas Jefferson writing that Declaration of  Independence. Him saying that we have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And I thought about how he knew to put the 'pursuit' in there, like no one can actually have happiness. We can only pursue it."

Chris Gardener, the bone density machine salesman, the-about-to-leave-him-wife, double shifts laundry worker, works hard to manage a square meal. However they cannot even afford the luxury of clearing rental bills. Chris oft wonders, as he walks across the brokerage homes seeing happy faces, as to what makes each one of them so happy. Happiness eluded him. 

For Chris, happiness would begin with not having to worry for money and getting rid of the "no faith" his wife has in his abilities. Oops! he needs money for that too. Being able to take care of his child - he needs money for that too. To pay his taxes, his rent - well money again! So where do you begin when you do not have a decent education which could get you a decent job, which would get you the money. Money - the least volatile commodity! Life is neither pretty nor easy without money. Where do you begin? Where do you begin? Chris begins with a dream! Not a dream which has been baked and preserved in his head for years but a dream which will help him with the bread and butter or at least the way to it. A fighter's dream. A survivor's dream. Where do you begin when the only people in your life have no faith in your abilities. He begins with an ability to dream, and then faith in his dreams. And then holds on to his dreams with one iron testicle.

This phase of Chris Gardener's life is called RUNNING.

Chris Gardener, is a box of mentality and will, tough minded, has a mind which is quicker than the mind of the educated or the uneducated. So what if he is not the hottest talent around, he still dreams to be the trader, trade money and not just securities, and sit on the pulse of the market until it pukes gold coins. 

Christopher Gardner: [to his son]  "You got a dream, you gotta protect it. People can't do something themselves, they wanna tell you that you can't do it. You want something? Go get it. Period. Don't ever let someone tell you, you can't do something. Not even me."

Watch the cinema, to go back to the basics, to remember times when we each harbored a dream, when we valued money more than we do today. To go back to those times, when earning that buck in need was the happiest of things ever. When satisfying a need gave THE happiness, when living a dream seemed  happiness, when proving your worth to someone, more so to yourself began your pursuit to happiness. 

Will Smith is flawless in the potrayal of a homeless man. One of the richest stars, and yet every shot, every frame of his homelessnes was filled with the character. You will unconsciously buy his portrayal. 
I cried just when Chris Gradener cries in the movie. At all the other points when he could have cried, he doesn't. He is a man. Men don't cry! And the direction ensures you don't cry either but with him in the parting shots. The movie has moved me deeply. I highly recommend this movie to each one of you who breathes on this planet and hence has to earn his bread to keep the system pumping. To each of us who must watch the cinema to realize that after all we are, we are, most singularly blessed. Our battles have been easier and had they been as difficult, iron would be ok by reckoning. To realize how we musn't overlook any success that comes our way, it after all, has taken in our hard work, our sweat and all the passion from our dream.

Please do not come back and tell me that "Oh it was all so predictable". Yes it is. So?!
C'mon guys, they ain't offering you a thriller or a mystery. They are offering you inspiration. Go fill your mug up-to the brim!

Kabhi kisi ko mukammal jahan nahin milta
kahin zameen to kahin aasmaan nahin milta
tere jahan mein aisa nahin ke pyar na ho..
jahan ummeed ho uski, wahan nahin milta
 
Kabhi kisi ko mukammal jahan nahin milta
kahin zameen tou kahin aasmaan nahin milta

Jise bhi dekhiye woh apne aap mein gumm hai
zubaan mili hai magar hum-zubaan nahin milta
Bujha saka hai bhala kaun waqt ke sholey
yeh aisi aag hai jis mein dhuwaan nahin milta 
Kabhi kisi ko mukammal jahan nahin milta!!

Life will keep intriguing me. The joy, the pain, the packaging of them all!
Sigh, talk and yearn! In search of utopia! Do all that one would to get out of stagnant rank waters! Out of delusive contentment!

Eventually its all about money, honey! Making your first buck to setting up an empire in a single generation is experience enough. Especially when we come from a developing nation, which has not tasted the luxury of low interest finances, the clear path, capital, security and not to forget the extraordinary force of gravity (people) pulling you down, as  you take each step up the ladder! 

Sometimes a story is so strong that it does not need much direction. A story like- Guru!  How much of direction did Iqbaal need. Not much! And then there are stories which are simple (say- on human relationships) which need great story telling flair and special direction.  I appreciate Mani Ratnam in picking the powerful subject that he did and appreciate him more for not camouflaging the story with his extraordinary direction.  A subject on determination and strength of mind does much more, needs much less. Its more about revealing to you and me, how a common man's struggle can move mountains. Its with a cause. Its to fill you and me with determination and it reaches out to us asking us to break barriers. You have to break barriers to move ahead of time. The law makers are not always the visionaries.

Oh yes! It takes more than balls, to kick a promotion and three times the money and get to the rut to make a new start. A start because you wanna live your dream, because you believe in your dream! 
People live off each other's energy. People live off each other's determination. Guru is about -  just this.  
I loved it, when the camera stays on Guru's belly - and he wonders if he has twins, and the wife  retorts saying - 25 thousand people.
I loved it - when Guru compliments his wife only in terms of the silk he sells.
I loved it - each time he oozed with confidence
I loved it - when Guru's drooping shoulders and pot belly also impress!
I loved it - when he dropped words such as, himmat, mehnat, sapne!
I loved it - when the camera does enough justice in showing what an unstated unstinted support a wife plays.
I loved it - when they intertwined power of ambition and ordinary loving relationships a human can  share by bringing in Vidya Balan and Guru together.
I loved the Mithun-Guru love hate relationship.
I loved the Madahavan's conviction and simply loved the fact that people know how to stick to their  guns.
I loved the confident portrayal of a polyester man with a big vision out to make it at any cost.
I love strong characters. They inspire me to stand by ambitions, by personal values!

To do something which is different, you have to be prepared to do things which are different. It takes a solid determination, belief in yourself and the ability to disagree with everyone. So guru's father does not believe in him. Neither does yours and mine. Its a common story. The world is changing faster than what our fathers can think. The world is changing faster than the revisions that our law undergoes. Laws will change, they are bound to, but not until we have rebels and  ambitiousness like Guru's. You have to be a rebel to make a difference. A visionary! A visionary and  a rebel are no different!  

Ghulami kabhi kanoon tha, aazadi naya kanoon bana.  
I love such inspiring stories. The story of a common villager, on a common land in a common country sold to all we common people! Today I sleep with borrowed confidence from Guru! 


The screening reminded me of the aptness of the India Poised anthem!

There are two Indias in this country.
One India is straining at the leash, eager to spring forth and live up to all the adjectives that the world has been showering recently upon us. The other India is the leash.
One India says give me a chance and I'll prove myself. The other India says prove yourself first and maybe then you'll have a chance.
One India lives in the optimism of our hearts. The other India lurks in the skepticism of our minds.
One India wants. The other India hopes. One India leads. The other India follows.
But conversions are on the rise. With each passing day more and more people from the other India have been coming over to this side. And quietly, while the world is not looking, a pulsating, dynamic new India is emerging.

An India whose faith in success is far greater than its fear of failure. An India that no longer boycotts foreign-made goods but buys out the companies that make them instead.
History, they say, is a bad motorist. It rarely ever signals its intentions when it's taking a turn.
This is that rarely-ever moment. History is turning a page.
For over half a century, our nation has sprung, stumbled, run, fallen, rolled over, got up and dusted herself and cantered, sometimes lurched on. But today, as we !begin our 60th year as a free nation, the ride has brought us to the edge of time's great precipice.
And one India - a tiny little voice at the back of the head - is looking down at the bottom of the ravine and hesitating.  
The other India is looking up at the sky and saying it's time to fly. 
INDIA POISED
Our time is now!

Ooh baby, you are gonna miss that plane! 

.... and the credits rolled. 
For a minute I was terribly sad wondering why has the movie ended and the very next minute I was in awe on how beautifully it came to a close.

                                                
                                                  I was having this awful nightmare that I was 32. And then I woke up and I was 23. 
                                                                           So relieved. And then I woke up for real, and I was 32

I liked this movie much more than I liked Before Sunrise. Oh wait a minute. I liked that and this! More or less is not important here. REAL! Thats what this movie is!  Everything, right from the age of the characters, to how they behave, to how much they hold back, to how much they share, to their different beliefs, different experiences, each is REAL!  

Some movies fit the bill and there is such an instant connection with the characters, with the plot, that I find it difficult to even pen a word or two. It was a wonderful experience being a part of Jesse and Celine's conversation yet again and  smiling and uttering to myself -- oh That's me. That's so many of us out there!

As I was stretching after a 9 mile cardio today, Poison played on my headset.
Will I see him on the tv, preaching bout the promised land
He tells me to believe in Jesus, and steals the money from my hand
And give me something to believe in
If there's a lord above
And give me something to believe in...

Even though the song trails on a different note, I was filled with thoughts about the life of an atheist. It must be such a difficult world out there for them. They live in a world where they have nothing to believe in. Ouch! That hurts! We all need something to believe in.  Trust me, there is solace in being a believer. We are at peace because we know there is someone out there on whom we can unconsciously fall back upon. We believe in this faith. This faith, this belief gives us a comfort which we are unaware of.  There is power in believing. There is power in unconscious awareness!

Atheists are aware of the discomfort because they have nothing to believe in. They feel the weight of their decisions on a much higher scale than what a believer does. His mind has no-one to fall back on. He is more insecure than you and me. He is! While these thoughts were clouding me up, I had a strong feeling that Curt Kobain must have been an atheist to have shot himself at 21. He had nothing to believe in. All he needed was belief when he said "Its better to burn out than fade away"! 

Atheism and God-fearing share shades in ways that both of them keep you on your toes. Higher responsibilities on the mind! A believer and a god lover is off this burden! He travels lighter! 
Sometimes I wish to God I didn't know now
The things I didn't know then
And give me something to believe in! 

Ek pal main jahan badal jaata hai.
Issi ek pal main pyaar ho jaata hai,
Aur issi ek pal main duniya lut jaati hai!!
If you so feel that the above-mentioned words are bookish, you must go and watch “Bas Ek Pal” to see how real they can be.  A story of interconnected lives and of interconnected love. One man’s dreams can be another man’s reality. But when this one man is your friend how easy is his reality to you?
 
Nikhil(Suri), a boston university graduate returns to his motherland for good, and on an ordinary evening in an ordinary discotheque is smitten with Anamika(Urmila). Down the fun-lane where our ordinary infatuations take us, Nikhil and Anamika walk that path. Rahul(Jimmy) and Steve(Rehaan) accompany Nikhil to the discothèque in search of the crush. Anamika has a date on the dance floor. This date is no sly fry but keeps a gun for security. A petty fight results and in the fiasco there is a gunshot, and Nikhil is seen behind the bars. The movie has to unfold. 

 What you predict, see and feel beyond this frame is each going to be individualistic. Mature cinema is what I label the film. This movie contains shots which I have always wanted to see in a film but have believed are difficult to achieve. Interwoven with brilliance, the story keeps reality close to you as you watch each frame. The movie touches so many simple human emotions and truly does justice in explaining them. It just doesn’t dialogue out the obvious, rather leaves the frames dumb to help you understand. How does a huMAN deal with rape, how does one deal with unrequited love and especially how does one deal with obligatory love?
 
To one man an infatuation can last a lifetime and to the other remain as a sweet memory. Love, either touches you by and or doesn’t. It is an individual’s destiny. The movie touches the right chord to show how marital abuse can take away a ray from the wedding. How “ek pal” can kill something within you, which can never ever make you feel bliss in a marriage. How an extra-marital affair is just so right and just so wrong.
 
The scene when Urmila puts up Sanjay Suri’s picture on her dinner table is my personal favorite. This is one shot, which no ordinary director could have framed. So, is she looking back at a love, which she could have had? Is her mind craving for him? Is she unsatisfied with her personal love life to want another man, or is she open to another relationship? Here is where a lesser movie would have supplied an explanation. None of the above would cross your mind; rather you would automatically understand the inexplicable, the girl thing, and the human thing. The movie depicts it better than our personal experiences possibly would.
 
When the truth unfolds, each one in the movie realizes how the other has been such an important ingredient to his or her life. What follows are neat individual shots on each of them, on how each one’s mind deals with it. 
The movie is about the love, which Sanjay has for Urmila and Urmila for Jimmy. Yet, you would never sense an ordinary love triangle. Because the film will keep you so busy with other human emotions of jealousy, sympathy, helplessness, passion and humanity. Humanity, which Juhi Chawla depicts. The power of fate that maketh and also the same power that destroys. Moments that have just the right expressions and the right conversations.
 
The Clock doesn’t necessarily sink with the time. There are moments, which pass by, but the clock hands fails badly to reveal them. To those moments, to that pal, which aren’t recorded or planned, here is a great movie! To those moments that are anti-clock! Anti-clock is just where this movie begins - a discotheque in Mumbai.

The avenues of koramangala and I, go a long way. I have lived a big chunk of my life here. I've had the longest relationship with these trees in koramangala. They have seen me grow, from a timid shy person, to a bold audacious teenager to a head-on-the-shoulder woman.  I have felt safe and encouraged under their shade. I have always leaned on these trees for support, from time to time, always.
These trees flower once a year and when their flowers fall to the ground, on to the street outside my home, the grounds are almost completely yellow. And sometimes, walking on them, driving through them, used to be the only way to make a path. Unconsciously, sometimes life fills your ways with flowers, and they seem to be the only available path.

Today, I am reminded of this tree in the kiosk of my school, of my dependence on it. It was strangely always encouraging. Re-assuring. It was completely dependable. I have never had people to depend upon, but these trees never let me feel the pinch. They sway, they shift, but are sturdy and dependable, unlike people. They are my pillars of strength. They have always been!

These guys have met each other less than 24 hours ago. Have you ever experienced a strange connection with somebody at a time when you least bit are seeking or expecting one? The story is about this one day, when romance surprises you. How two people meet by chance, how a conversation over a meal leaves each one of them with special memories. Linklater's carefree narration of an accidental boy meets girl, and a quick gut decision to spend a day together will surely re-affirm your belief in romance.

You see no backdrop to either of the characters. For all you know Jesse  (Ethan Hawke) is just out of the bars, Celine (Julie Delpy) has been a part of a bigger battle. The director is not interested in showing you all of that. He is not interested in their state of minds until they meet. He wants to show you, just that one day, when they meet and connect, immaterial of the experiences, problems, status they carry. They connect! Simple! A connection, which can't be diluted with an explanation. Your connection with God, your connection with faith, they each are personal and inexplicabIe. In this one lifetime, we better experience this at least once. We better. So do let yourself go, even if you can't hear the explicit calling. The priest will not come to you with the message.

Jesse and Celine wander the streets of Vienna and share more than chemistry and conversations. The movie will touch you intelligently. You would seem a part of the film, you would realize that each statement dropped in the conversations are so out of their personal experiences, experiences which need not be narrated to you. Because these experiences are not so uncommon, Jesse could be you, Celine could be me, our experiences could be different than theirs, but we would still relate to them. These experiences even though different have brought us to the same platter.  

  
This scene in the movie is a personal favorite of mine, when Jesse and Celine shoot questions at each other. 
Transitory, fragile questions, but questions that your presence better answer.

So would you be open to a day like this? Or would you just overlook it in your busy schedules. Life might just pass you by, and you would have failed to notice. So what, if this life that we talk about, is just this one special day!
Infact what makes it special, what makes the screen romance special is that it was meant for a day.
'Well, who says relationships have to last forever?' They don't. They shouldn't. I genuinely believe they shouldn't. What do you believe?

Times when I want to be an I-Banker
Times when I want to run an independent mutual fund and make money with your money.
Times when I want to work on this next commercial hotel construction project.
Times when I want to spend the next 6 years with academia in Harvard.
Times when I want to be a movie critic, a script writer.
Times when I want to be an author.
Times when I want to be a school teacher.
Times when I want to be a fitness instructor.
Times when I just want to be a mother and a housewife.
Times when I just want to love and be loved
Times when I don't want to love or be loved.
For the now times, I am just testing the limitations and the capability of a software product. 

Times times times!
Sometimes all of the above times are timed at the same time. Hysteria is what results.
Insanity, thy new name is 'my times'.

Parveen Babi had live in relationships with Danny Denzgopa, Kabir Bedi and Mahesh Bhatt. Apparently a short lived affair with Amitabh Bachhan too. Parveen Babi drank to death, her dead body was discovered two days after her death in her mumbai apartment. Woh Lamhe is a movie about Parveen Babi. Its a tribute to her by Mahesh Bhatt. None of the above mattered to me while I was awaiting the release of this movie. Shiney Ahuja was all that mattered. But after the movie experience, somehow, life seems to matter. Love seems to matter. 

A Kangana Ranaut's story throughout. Just hers! Sana Azim is a star and Aditya, a struggling director. He needs her star material to make or break his first move in the industry. Its interesting how he capitalizes on human ego to attract her to work with him. The frames are bold, bold enough to make Sana throw her undie on the director's face when provoked. Bold enough to show an in-house rape a woman experiences. The scenes have a feel in them. The frame when water strips Kangana Ranaut of her makeup is  copiously done. There are many moments in the film. Moments which stay between Sana and Aditya. Moments which stay with you. Moments! Just many. Woh lamhe, Bahut saare lamhe!
The moment when Sana tells Aditya "I love you". A genuinely expressed emotion of love for times, when one truly just wants to let the other person know. Aditya's hesitance and his reaction to her wasn't reel life. It was very real life.
Every moment when Aditya and Sana hug. They were each special. Each hug somehow attenuated her fear which lived right in her mind.
Moment when Aditya overcomes his attitude, his dream of pure success to a pint of love. Moment when he sheds his dead skin of  the ride to success because his other feelings seem so much more urgent.
Moments of unexpressed emotions between Sana and Aditya.

The movie caters to human ego, to a detrimental state of mind, to the human need - love. Sana breaks all bonds to work with Aditya, and as success walks in, as love walks in, delusions walk in too. Sana suffers from schizophrenia, a state of mind which makes her life violent. She looks this one way, sounds this one way, and thinks this one way. Its needling to see how people mean business when it comes to business. But its pleasing to see how love means comfort when it comes to need. Aditya sticks by her, to bring her out of this delusional mess. 

The story narrates how both characters deal with delusions or don't deal with it. How their pain remains separate and so do they! Its a story about these two characters who disappear into the mysteries of your heart. Kangana Ranaut looks stunning as a half clothed beauty and a bare rib cage which stares out at you. Here is an extraordinary role from an actress who is more of a fashion model but has found resources within herself for these powerful roles about unglamorous human fears. Shiney Ahuja walks and acts with an air of confidence. He simply adds to the movie experience.
 
As for me - as the curtains rolled I walked away with a feeling that Sana was truly blessed for the kind of love she found in Aditya. Truly, this lifetime is worth it when you have someone love you the way Aditya loved Sana Azim.

She read to me after dinner, a chapter last night, from the Bhagvad Gita.  My mother has undying faith in karma, in spiritual intelligence, in the Gita. She carefully went over each page, explaining every word, answering all my questions.
uddharedaatmanaatmaanaM naatmaanamavasaadayet.h |
aatmaiva hyaatmano bandhuraatmaiva ripuraatmanaH ||  
A man rises up with his own efforts. Do not let the fresh air detoriate you. Your best friend and your worst enemy, is your own self. No one out there, but your very own self.

'Keep company of people who have "unche vichaar". Age no bar. Sex no bar. Status no bar. Vichaar - Bar Bar!
The tree which bornes the maximum fruits bends the most. Wisdom gives you this humility, and you must reach for it.
There isn't just a few steps to happiness. The steps are neither too steep nor can you climb too many at the same time.
It's unhealthy to think that life is going to be perfect. You change your spots.
Goals are important - you need to have things to reach for.
Learning a new lie is easy. Avoid it.
Sex requires a lot of emotional maturity.
People are different in different times and places. People are different with different people.
Earn your keep. Aur aisa kuch na karo ki dil muft main badnaam ho.'
Above everything else, she tells me - 'Never miss being a mother - Never! Your life begins there! Its the true abundance of womanhood.'

Good night Sweet Pea! 
She has a new name for me, each time she puts me to sleep. She is my Queen Mum! My Rani Maa!

Friday evening! Gandhi class, front row. Indian men, lips, lungs, whistling, whistling, whistling, whistling!

The cast has repeated the same jokes, word to word, and it still seemed fresh and ticklish. The frames are the same, the gali ka gutter is the same, haath main daroo ki botal is the same, but the message is new!  Rather messages! So many! Just so many!  Every time you rock on your chair with laughter, you inhale the tiniest of message for happiness.  You rock for a good 150 minutes, so don't just count your blessings, count these messages too! 
I am awed at a comical treatment to a reverent subject, the sanctity of respect intact. This reverence didn't have to be taken too far to leave you with some wisdom. It's an easy path. Easy things are the most powerful. Pity we don't do them because they are easy! 
There's a right and wrong. Pick the right one! Yes - Just do the right thing!
It's about Gandhigiri! Bande main tha dam! Vande Matram!

Friday evening! Gandhi class, front row. Indian men, hands, laughter, ovation, clapping, clapping, clapping, clapping! 
Not very often do you hear an audience clap after the screening is over!

To the innumerable mails, and over the top discussions I have had with friends on why did I strip the movie so bad, here it is. There is something that I like about every movie I watch. Yes! Every! I get mocked at this too. Then why didn't I like KANK?  
Now that its been a week since I detached from the cinematography of the movie, you wouldn't see a striptease of KANK unlike my previous post. 

The story was honest, the narration was flawed. The characters were genuine, the actors were defective.
Rani's character was genuine. She exists, in so many women. The woman, who can be a glacier, if not romantically inclined to a man. She would care, wash and clean, but she can't give you the intense physical love. A woman gives sex to get love and a man gives love to get sex. Subconsciously a woman would never give you much, if she doesn't want your love. It's the brutal truth. The story enumerated this, that there are blues and grays for a man, but a 0 and 1 for a woman. If you don't feel, you just don't feel. Nobody can help it.  The marriage between a weak man and an ambitious lady was real. The woman might be running the show, but the man still wears the pants. His pumpkin sized ego makes him helpless. 
Now that we had two real life genuine marriages in place, and couples in their 30's, didn't we expect a more gentle and polished way of handling the subject. I was looking out for more sensitivity in telling the world, that if you are stuck in a loveless marriage, choose to step out. Step out for that love you have found, sure. If a woman is independent, self sufficient, but misunderstood for just that very reason, she can graciously make a choice. I wanted to see a clear line, of when a couple chooses to salvage a marriage and when not.  A movie is not about the script alone, a good script makes a good book, but it needn't make good cinema. There better be something in the cinema that meets the eye.

For a story that is so real, in our vicinity, the projection demanded more substance and genuineness.
An honest script sometimes fails in the hands of a director. A Sarfarosh wouldn't have had an impact if projected in K3G style.
The misfit that makes the movie tank is that the story was for a matured audience, and the direction was for a 20 year old something audience. I was against the direction and I will be, its a very personal opinion. To each one, its own.
I rest my case.

How many stars? Some movies don't deserve to be rated!
Gosh! Failure sure can peak!  I have never experienced a more confused director than I did in this 3 hour screening. Arggh! How could he? Karan Johar has failed miserably as a director in KANK.  
So what if he had a real life rampant scenario for a story line, so what if he could have shown us some emotional rapism in the familial mess he had in hand, so what if he could have handled it as wise as Salaam Namaste did, he just chose not to and battered it badly.  Immature is what one would utter, when you think of the director. He spent all his time, money and energy on the locales and just honestly skewed up the movie. He claims to have spend enough on clothes but unfortunately both the women are so average on screen, and you just figure it out more, when you see Kajol for a 20 sec presence in a saree.  She gave them a run for all the expensive urbane outfit they wore. 

Every single actor on screen was a misfit. I could not feel Maya and Dev on screen. Never. Not in a single shot.  It was an old haggard Shahrukh Khan and a dolled up Rani Mukherjee. Its unfair when an actor fails in a character after years of experience in the profession, how could Shahrukh trip this time around. Shahrukh doesn't deserve to be paid for failing at the basics of acting. 
None of the stars casted in the film suited the role that was offered to them. None.
Amitabh Bachhan was the greatest misfit in there. He needs to get over dancing with nude women in KJo's films, there is more to life than this repetitive business, which might not even be paying him. The packaging of the movie is the same like his previous K series. Nothing seems to have changed. Grow up! We are bored of the atypical ambience and locales. The only thing fresh in the movie was John Abraham (drools!)

Every dialogue in the film is flawed. Wonder whether the editing suffered or the direction. KJo forgot there exists an audience between his projector and the screen, who needs to feel. 
Strangely the caption "The love which broke all relationships" was the biggest misfit! There ain't no love in the movie at all. Dev and Maya who are supposed to be in flares are the most pathetic cold actors on screen. They put in efforts to romance each other on screen. There couldn't have been a bigger withdrawal than this. I couldn't see the furnace of Dev and Maya's love. The most important of shots had the poorest of direction. The frame when Dev and Maya sleep with each other seemed more of an act of obligation than an act of passion. They  pleased the director more, than the character's they played. At every point in time one feels that the director has intentionally showed a confused love, a love which is only on the protagonist's mind, and not in the heart.  There are two stories in parallel here, one on KJo's mind, and one on your mind, for the silly reason that you can't understand what the director is trying to project and you get comfortable with your own little story.

I am thoroughly disappointed with the movie, and regret skipping my weight training for catching it on time. I am not against the 'live happily after' ending. I am against a bad script, against a movie which is not very felt, and against a man who ruined my wish that bollywood was getting real! I don't care about your blue, I like pink! Is somebody paying attention?!

I have my 2 cents in here:
An actor should choose his movie carefully, under no influence of obliging your friend director who is superstitious on having you casted in the film. Do not play roles that you have not understood and are not convinced about, it shows on screen and is the most repulsive to an audience.
 
Well, the only thing that I took back from the movie was, what I already knew. 
We are most intolerant to a marriage out of all the relationships we live in this lifetime. Why? is not a simple question.  There is a big element of sexuality involved in this relationship, which makes it different.
Mohabbat ke zamaane chale gaye, ab to chote mote pyaar se hi kaam chalana padta hai!!! 
 

I drove past a man last night, who was drunk, lying on his chest, and licking the muck on the road.  It zapped my memory of one of the numerous accidents I have had on my construction site. The watchman at my site, Laxman, suffered 3 bad bouts of seizures, right in front of my eyes.  Until that day, I had never imagined, what fits can possibly do to a human being. The entire body is thrown into convulsions, and you are absolutely in no control of your own body. What's worse about a fit attack is that you have no memory of how your body had reacted, and the ones who saw you in convulsions are shell shocked, helpless. When I saw Laxman's body in  tumultuous fits, I was only full of fear and had lost my reflexes to help him. 
During a fit, the best one can do is to let the patient be in an open space, to prevent any self injury that may occur.  Laxman, unfortunately ended up having a head injury due to tons of construction material that was lying around. He had a deep cut, which extended from his forehead, almost unto his eye. Two other  workers managed to put him in my car, and we rushed him to a private hospital in Belandur. Here I was with a middle aged unconscious man, with blood soaring, and a doctor, who insists on the filing of a medico legal case, before he may choose to help me out.  Amidst all this Laxman suffered another series of non stop fits on the hospital bed. The diagnosis needed a CT Scan, and alot of other machine generated reports, without which the doctor refused to lay his hands on Laxman.  Since I was clueless on the possible cause of a fit, and was assured by the watchman's wife, that Laxman has never had a history of epilepsy, I chose to gave the doctor the last few days work schedule of Laxman on my site, which involved work with hydrochloric acid for a period of 10 hours each day. I was under the impression that the inhalation of HCL might have worked against his system and triggered the fit.
Panic on a face is never a good sign, it works against your honesty. A medico legal case becomes a must, after all he was working on my site, and his life was my due responsibility. Little did I realize that the doctor wanted a case to be filed, because he assumed that he had suffered a head  injury at my site which might have provoked a fit. You have to speak a little more than what your honesty possibly does, if you need to survive in here. Or eventually let the money do the talking. I was more interested in the treatment which was the need of the hour, and the doctor was simply more interested in my honesty levels. Laxman's wounds were sutured and he was injected with an anti-epileptic, and referred to Nimhans for further diagnosis. I chose to bring Laxman back to his shed. By the time, we reached, he was conscious, not completely though. His eyes open and dis-oriented, and he looked at me in ways which made me uncomfortable. He behaved more than drunk and seemed to be quite in bliss, unaware of the kind of fiasco that had just passed by. He was the same Laxman with whom I have been comfortable every single day for the last two years, immaterial of the fact whether he was sloshed or not. Really, his inebriated state, which happened at-least once a week on my site never made me uncomfortable, just made me angry and abusive at him.  The short term memory loss was more than obvious in his mannerisms.

Epilepsy is a disease which is not curable, either you are born with it, or acquire it at some stage in your life, after which you just need to live on ant-epileptics all your life. There is no possible reason for the hyper activity of neurons that your brain faces. But in a pure case of fit/seizure, one should never be left undiagnosed on the cause of it. If you are not an epileptic patient, there better be a reason to what triggered that fit. It could be a trauma, a lesion in your brain, an infection in your brain or a physical injury, that stimulates the hyper activity of neurons resulting in such pitiable convulsions. 
One of my closest friends, a doctor by profession had first time ever series of fits last month, his CT scan showed presence of pigworms in his brain. Pig worms are generally found in vegetables. Blame the areas of harvests or the irrigation systems. They can very well travel into your system through one of the daily meals you survive on. Pig worms, unlike tape or round worms have the capability to ascend from your intestine to your nervous system, and such an infection sends out electrocuted shock waves to your entire body. Watch where you buy your vegetables from. Namdhari's Fresh, SAFAL foods are trusted sources.  The highest animal shit is transmitted to our system through the greens we buy. Right source of vegetable supply is most important for a healthy living. 

I was with Laxman at Nimhans on the day of Holi for further diagnosis. He earned a meager 700 per week, and if I had chosen to give him the money for his treatment, it would have just served the purpose of alcohol or debt settlements. 
Nimhans - I have never seen so much morbidity at a hospital ever. Innumerable diseased people cramped in one hall, awaiting their turn. I found it difficult to sympathize because I found it difficult to stand there. I was confused, I couldn't decide whether I was in awe of doctors who worked at government hospitals amidst diseases every single minute, or whether I was already pathologically ill, at the sight of so much illness. My friends thought I went out of my way with Laxman. Medical expense is the  most incidental expense one has to be comfortable with, when you extract physical work out of people. They thought this is all that I needed to understand. But I thought otherwise. I did not want to overlook Laxman's diagnosis because he gave me many a peaceful night's sleep while he guarded material worth lakhs on my site. Not because he was my factotum, and took care of many a petty issues which are big, since they have to be dealt with daily. But because I always form a bond with every person that I work with. Whether he wears a white collar around his neck doesn't really matter to me. I have never had a problem sitting down with my workers and lunching with them. Never!  
Anyways, no serious brain infection was diagnosed and Laxman was put on to anti-epileptics. He could get on to work in a week's time. I had a smile on my face.

Oh yes, and before I forget, I wonder how many of you know the life saving act of CPR. If your physical trainer or a school/college camp never taught you the act, shall I request you to add this to your "to do" list right away. I have seen my sis revive my granny in less than 5 pumps at the back seat of the car during a cardiac arrest. You need less than 15 minutes to learn it. You can indeed save a life in a time of need!

I have fabricated the story of KANK (Kabhi alvida na kehna for the not so movie hungry) with most of my friends over a coffee. Its been the flavour of my coffee for days now. We have formed multifarious plots, themes, story lines and debated over each one of them. By now, we have quite a few scripts ready which could actually make for some good movie. Is it going to be the modern day Silsilsa, will Karan be adept at the direction of a movie which has already been the cult in its times. Will it be worth presenting that old wine in a new bottle? Or is it going to be Mike Nichols's Closer, where one gets seduced by seduction itself.

Here's the verdict:
KANK is going to be fresh, new and nothing like Silsila or Closer. Get over this silly wish people! Silsila was bold in the times it showcased, not bold enough for today. Karan will give us something more daring for these faithless times. More daring than Closer? Wait and watch. Given that, it will still be a typical Karan Johar film, very felt, and peppered with dialogues which keep you home. 
One thing is for sure, he is going to take away the "Rahul" that he has created in our lives. The Rahul, who is the ideal son for every mother, ideal boyfriend, and the ideal hubby. The ideal emoional Rahul is going to be out of the sets. 

While I am happy that we are done with Rahul for sometime to come, I must say - from loving your parents to leaving your wife is quite some leap! Ahan!

"The man who said "I'd rather be lucky than good" saw deeply into life. People are often afraid to realize how much of  an impact luck plays. There are moments in a tennis match where the ball hits the top of the net, and for a split second, remains in mid-air. With a little luck, the ball goes over, and you win. Or maybe it doesn't, and you lose"


It's a chic apartment, that Chris and Chloe share - Do I love it, or do I love it?!


The finest movie, I have watched till date. I have watched many a movies on the same subject, but never quite understood so many perceptions I could personally derive out of it. This one did it for me. 
The time when Chris confesses to a friend, about the fiasco he actualized in his own life, he says, that he seems to have finally figured the difference between love and lust. I too for sure understood the difference in the two. Lust can be so easily mistaken for love. Some of us need both in our lives. We just have to be smart to know, how to keep the two. I know, that this observation of mine, ain't shallow. 
Simpler, to keep love.
Simpler, to keep love, and satiate lust, after all cheating on your wife is not the most dishonorable thing to do, if it can actually teach you the difficult difference in the two. Really!
 
"Love" - I believe should never be used to define a man-woman relationship. Sexuality, passion, lust are more appropriate..
To me, love is more object oriented, than emotion oriented. Love and greed are synonyms.
You can love the comforts, but can't possibly lust for them. Lust, you would but only for a man/woman.
So what do you do, when you have to pick between lust and love? Why couldn't you just marry lust? You chose to marry comforts, which means you chose to marry love(greed)! What now?! He had to pick! 
He was more human to himself, than what morality actually teaches us to be. Morality anyways is farce. It sure is. 
I like the man in Chris. I liked the human he played. True to his desires, unlike to nothing that most of us are.

Watch it to see Chris, Chloe and Nola, how each one caters to love, greed, passion and lust. But caters independently.
Beautiful and brilliant at the same time. Into the true, not dark fissures of human beings. Each scene in the movie is debatable but not inexplicable. I too, would rather choose to be lucky, than good!

Srikanth believes the movie is scary, and is also convinced on why MPAA gave it an R rating even though there is no graphic display of violence in the movie. why? Because of the criminally convincing rationalization it provided!  
Oh! I seem to have forgotten to wonder why is it called Match Point?
Anyways, I have been looking out for "Belle De jour", in every DVD Shop, that the steering has been taking me to.
Owners, if any, who choose to be lenders, would get a share of my gratitude!

main Annie.
Mumma Papa ka voh namoomkin sapna jo sach hua hai
Main unki dil ki dhadkan hoon, jise voh sun nahin sakte
Main unki pehchaan  hoon, unki awaaz hoon
Hamari choti si duniya hai, sirf teenon ki
Lekin main, main aasmaan ko choona chahti hoon, gaana chahti hoon..
Awaaz aur khamoshi takraate gaye, phir bhi sapne zindaa hai
Hai na yeh namoomkin sapna?
Lekin voh zindagi hi kya, jisme koi namoomkin sapna na ho?!