Dhobi Ghat – A Blurred Memory of Unfinished Events

Dhobi Ghat doesn’t blow your mind off, nor does it make you say the “Awesome” word at the end of the movie
But it does make you think for a while after you cross the “Exit” door. There is no hidden message in the movie. DG is like a lullaby that fails to make you sleep

Dhobi Ghat, not at all for the masses. Agreed there are some funny moments here and there, but its definitely not an awesome movie. Its a narration of 4 different lives, which do not culminate at a point, but stand in their own paths, waiting for something..

Movie doesn’t leave a mark in your mind, after its over, very unlike other Amir movies. Kiran Rao, could have done a better job. Movie lacks the appeal. Background score remains an anonymous and sleeping beauty that doesn’t hit your ears. At times, it seems that the movie has become very silent, with silent moments also rendered, music-less

Characters of Amir, an artist; Prateik, a dhobi+rat killer+wannabe actor; and Monica, a banker on sabbatical. Do they really gel together? NO… They do not. They seem rather absurdly distinct and disconnected. With four stories, running their own course and without no reason, why they should culminate, it seems rather odd for the audience to figure out if there is going to be something crucial happening as the movie progresses.

Almost all the characters, in the movie are loners. Including the ones, who are shown to be socializing.

I personally felt that almost half the scenes in the movie were unfinished, and NOT at all in a way where audience can think of finishing them. The movie has nice cinematography and nice views of real mumbai (as we love to call it). Yasmeen is also an unfinished part, although she is shown to have died after having come to mumbai, but that doesn’t really mean the part was finished.

In the end, Amir’s character is shown to be just a wanderlust, with no idea what exactly to choose between going to home and choosing a new place to stay. His family in Australia is just another loose end. Prateik just ends up moving from one place to another, still wanting to chase the girl who is confused. Monica ends up trying to understand whether she loves or doesn’t love Amir. Yasmeen’s story makes Amir, feel bad, but about what? Loneliness?

ALthough so many questions remain unanswered, still at the end, you are not left with a mark that “Oh is this Mumbai?”, or “IS this how the life in mumbai would be?”

Dhobi Ghat is a noteworthy try by Kiran rao, to try and make a not-for-the-masses, art-type movie. I would not say its a must watch, but it surely is a good watch.

What you may not have thought while watching “The Social Network”

I saw “The Social Network” yesterday. Brings out quite fiercely that what we are is sometimes a result of some kind of occasional hate or apathy or revengeful nature we have due to some incident

Facebook was an instant success, because it gave me power to be boastful about myself without talking much by my mouth.
You could literally say what you wanted to say on it, keeping a lot of what you are intact.
You could show a thousand people what you are doing in a single click

Social network is the defining entity. FB success adheres to the fact that we are constantly in need of attention.

We are attention seekers by default.
We want recognition, acceptance and confirmation.
This applies not only to those who have internet access, but also to everybody else. Anyways, internet did not happen at first. We happened and our wants and needs happened

Being an entrepreneur takes guts and lot of stomach to digest the ill side effects of it. If Mark had to start his own, he would dot it anyways.

If the Winklewoss’s were waiting for 4 weeks (or whatever) for Mark to get back on something concrete, then they were either absolutely crazy or absolutely intelligent enough, to have guaged that Mark has already stolen the idea and working on something of his own
They could either confront Mark any how at earlier stages or could wait for the baby to get born and then ask for a partial claim on the grounds of IP theft

I personally felt that Mark was a victim of the 2nd situation explained above

Nevertheless, movie was very much focused on the lawsuit showing flashbacks of the journey of Mark while developing. But doesn’t leave a huge mark on your minds on the aspect of entrepreneurship

A better movie would be our own "Rocket Singh" that has all the elements of being a pro-entrepreneur movie.

TSN is still one of the best combination of out-of-the-court settlement drama and journey of a high-school grad who built something.

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Gulaal – A Powerful Intense Depiction of Dirty Politics

वो कहें हैं की दुनिया ये इतनी नहीं है,
सितारों से आगे जहां और भी हैं,
ये हम ही नहीं हैं वहाँ और भी हैं,
हमारी हर एक बात होती वहीँ हैं,
हमें ऐतराज़ नहीं हैं कहीं भी,
वो आलिम हैं फ़ाज़िल हैं होंगे सही ही,

मगर फलसफा ये बिगड़ जाता है जो वो कहते हैं,
आलिम ये कहता वहां इश्वर है,
फ़ाज़िल ये कहता वहाँ अल्लाह है,
काबिल यह कहता वहाँ ईसा है,
मंजिल ये कहती तब इंसान से तुम्हारी है तुम ही संभालो ये दुनिया,
ये बुझते हुए चाँद बासी चरागों, तुम्हारे ये काले इरादों की दुनिया,

ओ री दुनिया

….is how Gulaal ends with a “Pyaasa” movie song spin-off

 

Only God knows how I missed Anurag’s movie “GULAAL”. May be I was unknown of the brilliance of this movie. There was a time, when I had just confused this movie with some other low grade movie without even taking a look at what it was. I never checked the plot summary ever before I saw it yesterday.

Gulaal is an intense depiction of dirty politics happening in a town in Rajasthan, spanning off from the an anti-nonrajput sentiments. Plus a race to capture the leader position for the fictional Rajputana revolution gang. Anger, hunger for power, rebel, revolt, broken relations, sexual harasment and violence color the frames of this movie.

Be it the sexual harassment of a young female teacher who joins the college or the ragging of a newly joined law college student Dileep, or the keep-your-mouth-open kind of acting by Kay Kay menon, you arre glued to screen by the powerful gripping drama in which dirty politics eventually win, and sacrificing brothers, sisters and fathers.

With songs like “…Door des k tower me ghus jayo aeroplane…”, Anurag has taken a funny take over the dirty politics around the world. Afghanistan, Bush, Uncle Sam… sabki bajayi hai is gaane me. Or take the scene where Kay kay is outrightly challenges the state rulers to jump in the revolution bandwagon. Or the cold heart Kiran for whom her goal of becoming GS of the college is way above emotions, relations and ethics.

Is movie me dum hai.. Dum us baat ka k jo satya hai use usi gehraai se pesh kiya hai Anurag ne. I was always a die hard of Anurag for making DEV D, which is a true to the heart, contemporary, bold and highly melodramatic depiction of love, hatred, betrayal and doubt ridden minds.

Anurag, Hats of to you!! SOmeday I will work with you…

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The Stupid-neeti of Rajneeti

Well as decided yesterday was supposed to be the "Rajneeti" night it didnt happen fully. So just completed it. First of all let me first congratulate apni pyari Kat for the hilarious speech on the stage. I was literally rolling on floor trying to control my laugh. What an ishhtyle madam-jeee..(gaowalo aur sheherwalo, jao aur us speech wali clip ko bar bar dekho aur pura anand uthao).

Its not that the speech was funny, although nothing katty does sounds or looks ever funny which is another problem, but this speech had so serious words which jab apni katty was ‘uvach’ing felt like she shuda been awarded the funniest commentary award. Topi band!!!! (yane hats off!!!) She recites the speech as if an 8 year old has been made to by heart it and made to reproduce it word-to-word on the stage for a national-day ceremony. tab jaise bachcha bolta hai, ekdum waiseich

Few mins before this you realise that Universal Amma has just found that uska pehla beta, uski pehli "santaan" is alive. So Mahabharat ka realization hua. All other maaramari is typical Godfather ishtyle. Isko maro , usko bam se udao

And yar, kshama chahta hu Jha-saab, par ek baat bataiye, when all this happened were all the condom-factories closed down, or the birth-control companies gone bankrupt? Every incident of random sex creates a new dialogue "mai maa banane wali hu". In fact the movie starts with it and ends with this(katty also gets one)

and hey hey, mr script wroter, atleast show some respect to the guy who goes to London to do PhD. Dude do you even know what kinda guys go to do PhD and apna Jr Hrishi Kapoor comes back and suddenly knows everything about politics. Chalo ye bhi maan lete hai ki bhaiyya ji Arjun ka kirdaar nibha rahe hai and Nana’s (as always in his – he he he – ishtyle acting) is Krishna who’s keeping everybody around on tracks making them aware of their "Dharma", aur Ranny is trying to now become the all-vighna-harta kinda ‘dawg’ who’s got everything clear in his minds and behind those innocent looking eyes and spectacles of this slim trim guy, lies an evil minded + good spirited protagonist who wants to keep his family line on the political upfront whatever it takes for him to do so.

Chalo is fillam me sab kuch posshible hai.. no issues brotha. I’hv seen much worse movies.

With a huge starcast, it becomes difficult for the scriptwriter to write extremely good dialogues for every character. Thats what happened in this movie. Take an example, Katty is a pagal-in-love girl, who’s suddenly at the end of the movie given the wholesale respo to be the face of the party. WTH, the speech was a disaster and i mean it. It looks as if, trying to imitate modern day modified version of draupadi and script-wroter-given tint of “bitiya” has taken its own toll on the brains of audience. (Anyways Indian audience is brainless and stupid, thats what i have seen for all these years I have seen and heard people talking about movies, so it doesn’t matter much coz recent Bolly-movies have trained the audience to go and watch a movie without carrying brains inside the theatre) So what happens is that you are not able to connect whether katty is draupadi or ‘bitiya’. Nevertheless the overall script of the movie doesnt have any major resemblance to our congress story.

Problem is that when the movie ends, you wonder what was the moral of the story

Whether it is that one should always wear condoms whenever you have an extra-whatever kinda sex?

OR

Politics is just a stupid mindless game that can be played by a guy who comes back from abroad pursuing studies and undergoing PhD?

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IDIOT = I DO IT

3 Idiots is one of those rare movies, in bollywood, that actually has a morale from a student perspective. One never knows what a so called “idiot” might do or become.

Lot of times, they are the so called “IDIOTS” who do a lot of things in life.

They are idiots, for they are unconventional. They look for an inherent value add in everything they do.

 

I was attending my sunday session( which has become a normal thing for me now)  in college. As always my mind was randomly struck by the word IDIOT, And I realised that…

IDIOT = I DO IT

Just an anagram, but has a powerful meaning. Nobody is an idiot. It may really not be about the potential. It is about the ‘will’. Idiots may just want to do, speak, activate, try, reach out to, experiment something different which the regular “folk” is not able to fit into the routine. So for the folk, people like the formers are idiots. A person, when called an idiot, must be in a position to double up what he is actually saying. It may happen, that the person is seriously an idiot, but that should not deter one from pushing oneself back.

 

Those who don’t push themselves back and still are able to sustain the word are DOUBLE IDIOTs.  Idiot++ or simply 2+ idiots.

DOUBLE IDIOT = BE LOUD (when you say) I DO IT

By now you know that it’s not about the literal meaning of word “idiot”. It is really necessary to be loud at times when there are forces around you, that are ready to curb what is being said. It does not mean, one has to be rude. Being loud is about taking a more focused approach to communicating what one has to say, finding out the ways to do it. Loud is not be decibel, but by the buzz-bel that you generate.

 

And then when you are done being loud, and then you have said it all, outright, clear and straightforward, you are on the way to becoming a CANDID IDIOT. Then you question yourself, about a lot of things, about what you said, what you did, what you did not do. Question yourself, question the very existence of what things are, how they work, why they work the way they do.

CANDID IDIOT = (you) CAN (ask yourself) DID I DO IT?

 

The biggest reality in life is that we all are situational idiots and circumstantial fools. And we must accept the fact.

The 4th IDIOT

I am generally not much keen about watching bollywood movies, but since Munnabhai, have become a great fan of Rajkumar Hirani (For few of you who may not know, he was also there in the very first of Fevicol Ads “Jor laga ke….”, a slim “aam aadmi” standing and smiling). “3 IDIOTS” has been subjected to so much publicity that even I cannot avoid to know about it. And being a Hirani film, I was also looking forward to watching it.

Lot to talk on this movie. It grips you till the end. Life is just not about securing marks and trying to bag the first position in a race that has been started long back by people who make us run and run. At a point I did not really think that trying to gun the first position is wrong. Everyone wants to win. So do I. 3 IDIOTS refreshed my memories of what my school and college life was like.

My early school days were also filled with always being first in class. I was always a topper till I reached a stage when I realised there is much more in life to study. I used to read a lot of philosophy then. Being first became no more a regular affair. But I now think back and laugh at people who thought that my slipping rank on school-walls was equivalent to me going down. Thanks to my parents who were always positive on everything, I have learnt to a great extent that in life what matters the most is the respect you have. And thanks to professors who have till date been inspiration for me that life is about learning and trying out new things.

My first three semesters during engineering were also a race. Against time and against self. To hit for the 1st position again. But yes, I was pretty unconventional. I had learnt the power of “Mindmaps” way before engineering. I used them during my X and XII exams and then used them in engineering too. I was being looked upon as a genius at a point (only I knew, I wasn’t one. For then I thought I would have been in one of the IIT’s :-)) Race against time stopped after my 2rd trimester. I took up to reading a lot. I was mostly found with my books. Read biographies, read books that a lot of engineers would not even know or would not even touch. Bought myself books whenever I went out. Yes had parties, spent on food, and watches, but still loved the books so much that even if I felt I wouldn’t read them, I would buy them and bloody hoard them.

Being unconventional, going against the norms, challenging useless conformism was something that developed in me unknowingly then. My class mates were afraid of me asking continuous questions in class and that too out of the world kind of. Used to call me stupid. At times, my profs were pretty bugged coz of me bugging them a lot.

Thing I have noticed is that in engineering colleges, they don’t teach you to challenge, they teach you to conform and standardize yourself and listen to what is being said (not taught).

So this unconventional attitude remained when once I was denied, during a lab experiment, the power supply kit, and I ran to another lab and picked one and started walking, when the caretaker told me that I couldn’t possibly take it like that (mind you it was  Govt College then) and that I need to write an application to borrow it. WTH, I told him, I am taking it, ago and complain to Principal if you want to. Yeah, but this does not always remain all the time.

After being  a TCS-er for almost 3 years, am a am back to college to learn more, this time about business. Will be a holder of a degree called MBA in a couple of months from now. But the learning in these two years has been much more than just the degree.

Everyone who must have watched this movie, must have seen his/her own image somewhere there embedded. I too saw mine. May be I was reassured that being different, unconventional and absurd is not that bad. Having a thinking that is too out of the track than what the mob thinks, may not be so bad at all..

Hoping for the best.