3 Cheers for 2 Directors

    One is basking in the glory of his most recent success-3 Idiots and the other quietly showing his prowess without any fuss. I am talking about the well known Rajkumar Hirani and the not so well known Shimit Amin. Both of them have given three back to back hits . Raju Hirani - Munnabhai M.B.B.S, Lage Raho Munnabhai and 3 Idiots. Shimit Amin - Ab Tak Chappan, Chak De India and Rocket Singh: Best Salesman of the Year (not sure if it is a hit yet).

    I liked each one of these movies. Each one had a message which was served in a very engrossing and entertaining way. Although, I have to say that I liked Shimit Amin's movies slightly better because of his subject choice. In fact, my favorite Shah Rukh Khan movie to date is Chak De India (mentioned in one of my other blog postings earlier). Shimit Amin breaks a lot of stereotypes and the protagonist of the movie is the story and narration itself. There was not much publicity about his most recent movie, Rocket Singh. It is a very well made movie and it definitely deserves a look.

    Both these directors have been able to get stellar performances from their cast. Both of them are humble and do not hog the limelight. Their work talks on their behalf. Indian movie industry is changing and I guess changing for the good. Having said that, the ratio of bad or pathetic movies to good movies is still huge. The Indian movie industry needs such new breed of directors who can bridge this gap. Directors and film makers always hide behind the excuse for making bad movies (repetitive theme), that the audience is not mature enough to accept different types of movies. I think the contrary is true, audience is always eagerly waiting for these directors to give them fun and meaningful cinema.

    We need stories which resonates with people and touches a chord in them. Movies, if used properly, could become a medium which could bring about revolution or which could dumb down people. That is not to say that every movie should have a social message. Tell stories and the movies would get made by themselves. Let us make India the biggest movie maker in the world in terms of quantity (which it already is) and quality.

Platform of Success

    A few days back I read a news article which talked about a few villagers in Taj Nagar, India, who built their own railway platform. Taj Nagar is just outside of the national capital Delhi. It now has two platforms and some trains would make a scheduled stop there. This would help the residents of Taj Nagar to have a better commute to work and in turn to have a better quality of life. For this project to materialize, each resident contributed Rs. 3,000.

    Indian Railways had, in the past, declined to construct the platform because of budgetary reasons and the insignificance of the place. The one good thing about this whole project was, that at least the railways did not create any hindrance in the people's effort and rather agreed for some trains to make a stop, if the residents built their own platform.

    It is a great example of team work, will power and perseverance. This just goes on to show that if we decide we could achieve anything. Think about a bunch of villagers taking over a giant, the "Indian Railways". I sometimes feel that the city dwellers lack the enthusiasm and drive to change the society, that the people from small towns and villages have. Urban people want the system to change but they do not want to take any steps to change that. I include myself in this group. The only meaning we, as citizens of India, have understood of democracy (people power), is to destroy the state machinery in the name of protest.

    I hope this platform becomes a launching pad for many more such successes for India. I also hope to be a part of at least one such success story in the future.

The Delhiwalla - Blog on Delhi

    Hindustan times started a new section online called the "Blogs". Here the Hindustan Times reporters write their views about a certain topic on a regular basis. I was a regular reader of Vir Sanghvi and Khushwant Singh's articles in the past. Vir Sanghvi's "Counter Point" has been replaced by his blog called the " Medium Term". One blog in particular really caught my eye, "The Delhiwalla" by Mayank Austen Soofi. He writes about the soul of Delhi.

    We always take, the place where we live, for granted. I never really appreciated or rather gave it a thought to the place where I was born and grew up, Delhi, for its beauty and historical significance. Now, when I read about Delhi, it brings lots of nostalgic feelings and also I learn about so many aspects about Delhi which I never knew about.  

    The other day I was reading the "Delhiwalla" and learnt about a canteen tucked inside the teen murti bhavan. Immediately it brought back the days when I used to take the bus which used to go past teen murti. It was as if I was transported back to Delhi.  Obsession to know more about Delhi came up (keeps coming back now and then) last time when I visited India in 2008. I bought a book "The Last Mughal" which gives the description of Delhi, specifically old Delhi, during the 1700-1800 A.D. Ever since, I was looking for a nice book about Delhi, not a guide book but more on the lines of Mayank's blog. I found one (I hope it is a nice read) and have saved under my Google books selection, I intend to read it some day.

    One more posting, that I remember, of his was about the old Delhi and the surrounding area of Ballimaran. I felt so proud to have been born in the Ghalib's playground. I had gone to Nai Sarak (neighborhood of Ballimaran where Ghalib lived and breathed his last) without realizing that one of the world's greatest poet lived there. Nai Sarak is new only by name otherwise it is pretty old and congested. So many different types of business like books stores, garment shops, eateries, handicrafts etc, all coexist. Hindu-Muslims have lived and worked side by side with out any problems for so many years. It is a great example of communal harmony for the whole country.

    I remember during one of my outings in 2004, when I went to Nai Sarak to buy a Urdu to Hindi dictionary, so that I could better understand Ghazals (form of poetry) and ended up buying 6-7 books on poetry including "Madhushala" by Harivansh Rai Bachchan. Shopkeepers may not be learned in the typical sense but they know so much about their books that they can put Borders and Barnes & Noble to shame. Nai Sarak is a congested little booketeria.

    There are many such things about Delhi. Book Fair at Pragati Maidan, used book market at Daryaganj . "Delhiwalla" also had a posting about the Daryaganj book market which the municipality is thinking of dismantling because of "public nuisance". Dilli (native name of Delhi) is the heart (Dil in Hindi) of India, literally. It is the capital in every sense of the word. I hope the essence of Delhi lives for years to come.

Gay and Happy

    I applaud the historic judgment given out a few days back by the supreme court of India on same sex relationships (I am not sure if that judgment also allowed the same sex marriage). All this while, we have been in a denial mode. It is a giant step in making India a liberal society. It might take a while for people to change their attitude and be open towards homosexuals and to accept them as equals. Some of them may never change, but for those we can only feel sorry, who think they are the privileged lot.

    I do not understand why homosexuality should be something to be ashamed of or shunned. First of all, people are wired to be a certain way and second of all, even if it is not true, it is no one's business to interfere in anyone's private and personal matters. I have heard arguments from people, saying that it is against the very nature of life. Every species is supposed to procreate and homosexuality works just against that very principle (and by the way they are the same people who do not believe in evolution and natural selection).

    But who said that homosexual people could not have babies. Moreover aren't there heterosexual people who choose not to have babies and those who cannot have for medical reasons. So, what is so wrong about not having babies. It would only do good, at least for a country like India, to be cutting down on our population. But if someone really wants a baby in the conditions mentioned above they have many ways to do it, adoption, artificial insemination and surrogacy.

    I have also heard the extreme argument that what if everyone turns homosexual. In that case the human race would come to an end. First of all I do not think we are anywhere close to that and secondly, sexual liking and wanting to have babies are two different things. People could still have kids using the methods mentioned above. If the species has to survive then it would find ways to do so if not, we will become extinct but that cannot be a reason to prevent homosexuals from leading a dignified, normal and free life.

    This decision would certainly kick off discussions in the society. This would definitely give the homosexuals a legal recourse. Where countries like US are still grappling with this issue of same sex marriage and equal rights for gays, a conservative country like India, ruling in favor of the gays was really commendable.

Senseless Killing and Destruction of Public Property

When would people who do senseless killings and destroy the public property be brought to justice? How long are people supposed to suffer for someone else's misdeeds? Punjab is burning, why, because a sikh break away faction guru has been killed in Vienna. Now, what has that got to do with the people of Punjab ? Perpetrators who killed the guru should be brought to justice in India or in Austria.

Why should the common man suffer for some ideological clash between the religious groups? This is not the first time this has happened in India. We will find plenty of such examples in the not very distant past, if we turn our history pages. How is it possible that the police is unable to do anything in such matters? It is all because of the political support and the power behind these anti social elements.

Government of India should intervene in such matters swiftly and should have severe punishments for such people. There should be zero tolerance for such anti-social activities. Nobody has the right to kill anybody or to destroy any public property. For every step we take towards prosperity we slip down two steps because of such activities. It is a sorry state of affairs that we never learn from our past mistakes. 

Nagesh - The Ultimate Comedian

    Nagesh is dead, long live Nagesh. No one who watches Tamil movies would have remained untouched by his comedy. His sheer presence on the screen would make people laugh. He did not restrict himself just to comedy though. He played the role of a villain, a character artist and a comedian with equal ease. But he will always be remembered for his impeccable sense of comedy.

    It is very sad that such a stalwart has completely been ignored by the prime time Indian media while they were busy getting to know the affairs and split ups of today's actors.  Nagesh's death is a great loss, not only for the Tamil movies but for the Indian movies as a whole. Was it the same, when Hindi film comedian Mehmood died ?

    This post actually also ties very closely with what I had written an year back on the Padma awards and how the people from the south are not honored or recognized as much as someone from the north. I actually came to know from the obituary column in Hindu that Nagesh had died and that he was not even conferred with Padma Shri. It is a disgrace to our society and the committee which confers such awards on eminent personalities. The newest entrants to the Padma club are Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai, Akshay Kumar what more need I say.

Slumdog Millionaire

I do not understand what is all this hype about the movie, Slumdog Millionaire. It is coincidental that I am writing about my views on the day of the Oscars. I watched this movie in the first week of its release. Ever since I watched it, I have been thinking about writing my views. I have objections to it at various levels. My objections are not emotional at all like some others, who are saying that India has been shown in a negative light.

1) There was nothing new in this movie, at least not for the Indian audience. I went in to watch this movie because of the hype that was created by the people who had already watched it. This was, at the heart of it, a romantic movie with highly unlikely events tied to the life of the protagonist and not to mention some directorial glitches along the way.

2) There are many Indian directors who have made much better films that this. There are many Indian movies with a similar kind of theme of struggle, romance and success. Just because it was made by a westerner, it got all the publicity which according to me it does not deserve. Would the same movie made by an Indian director have made it to the Oscars, definitely not.

3) Indian media, the film fraternity and Indians, as always, are owning it as if it is an Indian movie. Just because the dialogues, actors and the story is Indian, does not make it an Indian movie. Would you call Gandhi an Indian movie ? I certainly would not say so.

4) This is not A.R.Rehman's best music score. It is just about average. We all know what he is capable of doing. I do not think I need to get into it now. But I am happy for him. I do wish he wins the award for the best music score.

5) Anil Kapoor was just horrible in the movie.

Finally, there is nothing wrong in aspiring for an international recognition but I do not think that Oscars are the benchmark for movies.

One more blast to add to the tally

    How many blasts would it take, for the government of India to wake up to the reality? Blasts have become so common these days that people have literally stopped talking about them or rather started saying that this time the blast killed only 5 people as if it is okay if the count is in single digits. Have we given up on our government? Can the government really do anything in countries like India? Has the government taken any steps to curb the spread of terror? How many of our places are really safe? Why are we so such a soft target? Do we never learn from past mistakes? Why are we so lax and why do we have a "chalta hai" attitude for anything and everything.
   
    Those days are gone when politicians used to own up to the responsibility and quit on moral grounds. These days the politicians feel no shame in their incompetency and proudly boast about not quitting. The politicians also come out to be very insensitive. Delhi's chief minister, while talking about a murder, instead of saying that she would take immediate action and punish the culprit, said that the lady-who was murdered-should not have gone out at 3 A.M. Politicians, police and intelligence keep pointing fingers at each other as more and more innocents are killed day after day. We keep forming committees for everything but the common man never comes to know about the results of all those committees.

    Yes, it is difficult to govern a country as big as India with one billion population. It is physically impossible to keep an eye on everyone. Even if the government does keep an eye, it would immediately be criticized for invading the privacy. Government definitely has to take tough steps to ensure the safety of people. People would also have to give up some of their freedom to ensure a safe living for everyone. Lets hope for a safe and soaring India.
   

   

Go Green

    These days, going green has become more a fad than a concern. It is the "in" thing. I do not care as long as it helps the environment. At least fifteen years back - my adult years - in India, my family had already taken this initiative, albeit in a small way. I had always seen my mother reuse things, whether it was to use the old cloth material to make cushions, curtains, pillow covers etc, or making a notepad from used paper. Wastage of any kind was strictly prohibited. I imbibed all these things subconsciously and still continue to walk on those lines.

    We would not go out to buy anything without a tote bag. We would refuse to take plastic bags from the shop keepers and would in fact give the ones we had back to the vendors and shopkeepers for reuse. For things like newspaper, bottles, iron etc we used to have people who would come pick it up from the houses based on the weight for each type of item. I remember bargaining with them for the best price.

    Using things judiciously was ingrained in the Indian psyche, at least to some extent, and to a large extent in my family. One reason could be that it made good financial sense, but more important was realizing that it was the right thing to do. One could argue that may be the society was not developed enough so people had to resort to such methods, but if development means more wastage and burden on our planet then we should shun such type of development. Baby steps by each individual in the right direction would bring about a sea change in the quality of our environment. I think it would also make good business sense for the companies. It is a win-win for everyone. We just need some change in the attitude and be conscious of what we do, that is all it requires.
 

In The Greater Good

    "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country", these are the famous words by John F. Kennedy. How much are we really willing to give up of our own, for the greater good of the country and society. This question has always troubled me. If a road construction project goes through a farmer's land, should the farmer give up his livelihood and accept the compensation for the construction of the road. Many of the concerns of the affected groups are genuine, but it is also true that in countries like India most of the protests are politically motivated. The mantra for the new age is, be prepared to change with times or perish.
    I think it is imperative on the part of the government, before starting any huge project, to educate people to see the greater good, to compensate the affected people appropriately and to assure them of job and training in a new sector. A neutral body should look at the merits and demerits of all the projects. I am sure if people are treated fairly and with compassion there would be no such problems. It is only when one side tries to benefit more than the other, that we encounter all these issues.