“Tera zikr hai ya itra hai, jab jab karta hu, mahakta hu, behakta hu, chahakta hu;
Sholo ki tarah mastiyon me uchhalta hu……..”
Can the memory of a beloved person be described better? I don’t think so. It exactly describes the feeling of a person when he hears the name of his beloved. Anyone who has loved truly even once in his lifetime can understand these emotions perfectly. These are the lyrics of the song (I don’t know whether it’s famous or not which is actually a tragedy for such a beautiful song) from the love-coated movie GUZAARISH..! From the time I watched DEVDAS from the God of grand-cinema maker Mr.Sanjay Leela Bhansali (fondly called SLB by us), I have been in awe of this director. My closest friend-circle are kind of hooked to SLB’s DEVDAS not because we relate to his story in any way but every dialogue and every setting of this film is just awe-inspiring to say the least and like “Dil Chahta Hai”, this film in some way or the other had the most influencing effect on us with respect to understanding friendship, love and longing. Now, please don’t argue that a movie or two can have so much of a effect on us, but yes for cinema-crazy people like us, it does. We are from those breed of humankind who strongly believe life is nothing but a big opera-like cinema meant to be lived LARGE and by large, I mean it REALLY LARGE i.e. laugh uncontrollably, love without regretting, giving it all, hate with a vengeance, cry inconsolably i.e. total ‘melodrama’..!
Now when somebody like SLB who’s a master in depicting larger-than-life melodrama gets Hrithik Roshan as his lead actor, eyebrows are bound to be raised. After SLB’s BLACK and Hrithik’s KOI MIL GAYA were released back in 2004-05, the highest anticipation, as a cinema buff, I had was of these two geniuses working together just because they both had raised their bars so high with these two films that it was a salivating prospect to watch their magic unfold together. And unfold it did!
First of all, I want to apologise to all those to whom I had said SLB has copied ideas from the Hollywood classic movie PRESTIGE. Guzaarish could not have been farther from it. While PRESTIGE was all about envy, jealousy, sabotage; GUZAARISH is only about love and the beauty of living life to the fullest. It’s about feeling the emotion in which the protagonist feels like “Keh naa saku itna pyaar, seh naa saku itna pyaar karta hu” which if translated in frugal English goes like this “I love you so much so that I cannot say it to you or even I cannot bear the intensity of my love for you.” The biggest plus-point is when you have Hrithik portraying this intensity or angst to you. The love and suffering are depicted so meticulously by this gem-of-an-actor that you fail to understand what’s actually more between the two. The scene where he asks his mother to pray so that he can fling his arms open, which he cannot, to give her a hug is bound to give you the biggest lump in your throat. Or for that matter every scene featuring the inimitable Aishwarya and Hrithik make it so much more delightful to experience. And what to say about Aish? Does she look beautiful? I sometimes feel this “beautiful” word was itself invented after the world noticed Aish. And for the record I loved her acting as much as her beauty only in this film directly after GURU. Sure, I must have missed many of her films in between but like most others I have been too enveloped by her beauty than her acting skills. Nobody other than her could have done better justice to SLB’s vision of showing a devoted nurse (to a paraplegic) who faces the dilemma whether to support her beloved’s request for Euthanasia. The passion between the two is unrelenting throughout.
The credit for creating this masterpiece should of course go to SLB. There’s his stamp particularly the way in which he builds up his songs or where the camera is panned to Hrithik’s feet trying fruitlessly to feel the water of the sea in the backdrop of the yet-another wonderful song “Sau gram Zindagi……..”(Actually every song is a gem. I can’t say much about music but the ‘lyrics’ of each song is simply intellectually fulfilling). I have only one thing to say- TAKE A BOW, SLB..!
I didn’t want to end this piece this way by writing what I am going to write now but cant help it. There was this guy besides me in the theatre who said after hearing Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s name, he just cannot forget what a dud SAAWARIYA was! It was here I remembered the phrase which goes “No matter how many good saves you make as a goalkeeper, people always remember the odd one which you missed!” So, please for God’s sake, remember that he’s the same man who gave us the eternal HUM DIL DE CHUKE SANAM, KHAMOSHI, DEVDAS and BLACK. And here I know, there are still people who will criticize his films saying they are never close to reality. For them, I have just this one line to say from DEVDAS….
“Kitna itara raha murakh, Taalab ke kamal ko chhodkar, kaagaz ke phool par mandra raha hai..!” (wherein SLB’s movies are the Lotus from the lake and rest many movies churned out mindlessly which we ‘seem’ to like are flowers of paper; so we are the fools who pretend to like the latter!)
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Sunday, October 3, 2010
ADDICTED..!
Addiction to any goddamn thing be it cigarettes, alcohol, drugs or CRICKET is such a "kamini" thing that it makes you get out of control to such an extent that if u haven't slept for 36 hours, still u r kept wide awake as fresh as a soldier doing his routine rounds just before a big battle.
In the same way, here I am fiercely addicted to cricket sitting in a bus on my way back to Pune writing this blog just to get out of the uncomfortable zone which my own addicted mind has created. There's the physical uncomfortability which stems from the fact that my each and every body part is wholly drenched in sweat which in itself is a reason on which i'll write my next blog. But then comes the "mental uncomfortability" which can be explained arising from the following slew of reasons-
1. I had got up on Friday to witness the start of the MOTHER OF ALL CRICKET BATTLES and was expecting India to bat first. But as it always happens, u just don't get what u want desperately. Sometimes Paulo Coelho's THE UNIVERSE CONSPIRES TO FULFILL WHAT U WANT FROM THE BOTTOM OF UR HEART principle does fail.
2. Then Australia also didn't get all out on the first day.
3. So it became inevitable that Sachin will come out to bat on Sunday only with me being not there to witness the occasion of the 49th. Mind you, every time HE'll come out to bat for whatever small amount of cricket left in him, for a Sachin-addict, if he misses this, it's equal to a CRIME!
4. So I committed a crime as it was impossible for me to watch HIM today as I have come here in Mumbai travelling with my sweat out.
5. And ever since my exam finished, I am constantly online and I can't tell u how much I am controlling myself to visit cricinfo.com just coz I have decided that when I get back I will watch the HIGHLIGHTS package as if I am watching the match LIVE. I am doing this just because in highlights too I want to enjoy the AGONY and ECSTASY of every moment of HIS innings. I have no problem if HE gets out on 99 but still I want to FEEL that very moment whole-heartedly.
6. Now on top of all this, my friends and brother and even my uncle have joined together to harass me mentally that how they are witnessing even a back-foot defensive touch while I am away somewhere. They are in a way just teasing me. I have nothing against them. But i got to accept I AM INDEED GETTING HARASSED. It kills me if Sachin is batting in HIS 80s or 90s and i don't get to watch HIM. It really does.
That's the kind of effect an ADDICTION to cricket or anything else can have on a person. Sometimes like today it can be killing but most of the other times, it's a PLEASURE unmatched. A pleasure only an addicted person can feel. It's inexplicable..!
In the same way, here I am fiercely addicted to cricket sitting in a bus on my way back to Pune writing this blog just to get out of the uncomfortable zone which my own addicted mind has created. There's the physical uncomfortability which stems from the fact that my each and every body part is wholly drenched in sweat which in itself is a reason on which i'll write my next blog. But then comes the "mental uncomfortability" which can be explained arising from the following slew of reasons-
1. I had got up on Friday to witness the start of the MOTHER OF ALL CRICKET BATTLES and was expecting India to bat first. But as it always happens, u just don't get what u want desperately. Sometimes Paulo Coelho's THE UNIVERSE CONSPIRES TO FULFILL WHAT U WANT FROM THE BOTTOM OF UR HEART principle does fail.
2. Then Australia also didn't get all out on the first day.
3. So it became inevitable that Sachin will come out to bat on Sunday only with me being not there to witness the occasion of the 49th. Mind you, every time HE'll come out to bat for whatever small amount of cricket left in him, for a Sachin-addict, if he misses this, it's equal to a CRIME!
4. So I committed a crime as it was impossible for me to watch HIM today as I have come here in Mumbai travelling with my sweat out.
5. And ever since my exam finished, I am constantly online and I can't tell u how much I am controlling myself to visit cricinfo.com just coz I have decided that when I get back I will watch the HIGHLIGHTS package as if I am watching the match LIVE. I am doing this just because in highlights too I want to enjoy the AGONY and ECSTASY of every moment of HIS innings. I have no problem if HE gets out on 99 but still I want to FEEL that very moment whole-heartedly.
6. Now on top of all this, my friends and brother and even my uncle have joined together to harass me mentally that how they are witnessing even a back-foot defensive touch while I am away somewhere. They are in a way just teasing me. I have nothing against them. But i got to accept I AM INDEED GETTING HARASSED. It kills me if Sachin is batting in HIS 80s or 90s and i don't get to watch HIM. It really does.
That's the kind of effect an ADDICTION to cricket or anything else can have on a person. Sometimes like today it can be killing but most of the other times, it's a PLEASURE unmatched. A pleasure only an addicted person can feel. It's inexplicable..!
Friday, October 1, 2010
The RAJNI effect!
“The tickets of all the shows for first 20 days got booked in one hour with people queuing outside the theatres from as early as 5 am.”
When I read this line in the newspaper, I was like- “What the f***? Are people there crazy? So crazy that they stood in queue from morning 5 am for a film? And the poster will be showered with milk at the start of 1st show, is it real?”
A Rs.100 ticket guarantees a value of Rs.1000, a profit unheard of in black ticket market in India. And for the record, the superstar doesn’t even promote his film. Just him being part of the film and people knowing it through trailers is good enough for generating a hype known only to HIS films and shows getting booked this fast. Even I am a cinema-addict but I wont go to a theatre getting up at 4 am even if a coup of sorts is managed by some producer getting Sanjay Leela Bhansali to direct a film starring Big B, SRK, Aamir and Hrithik with each star having a credible role in the film to play. Real stars and real fans are, indeed, a different breed altogether, aren’t they?
So when this film released here in Hindi, I made up my mind to watch this film with the masses. Not in the multiplexes, but in those single screen theatres where even a shake of a head by the superstar is greeted with thunderous claps! I decided to go to the theatre with the mindset of a street-vendor of some unknown street in Chennai, who before the release of a RAJNI film saves for an entire month only for the sake of watching the film on the ‘first day’. And I did watch it getting soaked in the atmosphere with myself bajaoing seetis and taalis at every tantrum thrown by the “Demigod” of Tamilians!
I don’t know why exactly nowadays I am getting enamoured by this RAJNIKANTH brand of cinema (Earlier last month came “Dabangg” and now this “Endhiran aka Robot”). Maybe because you don’t need to think much while watching this brand. After enjoying a lot of world-cinema, I think the word “Enjoy” suits this RAJNI-brand the most. This can be explained by the fact that I was never even once serious while watching the film; I was smiling and laughing even at the most serious of junctures when the villain threatened to destroy the world or take away the heroine from the hero! (Hero-Heroine? These words seem so ancient that I felt a discomfort while writing them. They are outdated now. Modern cinema is all about Actors & Actresses but Rajni keeps this outdated concept alive and believable.)
So what about the film? Ever since I watched “I-Robot” five years back, I wanted same kind of movie produced in India with all the Indian masala of emotions and grandeur. And masala is what we get in ROBOT! The tagline “Man, Machine, Mohabbat” couldn’t have been more apt. The ‘mohabbat’ angle adds the much-needed spice to the done-and-dusted formula of Man-machine war. And who better than the eternal beauty Aishwarya Rai to create a soft corner even in a robot?
She’s sweet, cute, hot, and sexy, all at the same time. I got to tell you, everytime I see her onscreen, she mesmerizes so much with her perfect beauty to the extent of being labeled ‘plastic’. But she isn’t plastic for sure. One can safely place all the newcomers like Katrina, Deepika or Priyanka on one side, and Aish on the other. She’s a benchmark. Even the robot accepts in the film, “Insaan ne do hi cheeze acchi banayi hai….ek main aur ek tum.” (By the way, this line got the loudest cheers). Junior B is the luckiest man on the planet.
Coming back to the film, the last 45 odd minutes of the film show the most outrageous stuff going to the extent of being said as downright ridiculous. But you got to give credit to the scriptwriter of the film for imagining those things (though they are a mixture of Hulk-cum-Matrix-cum-Transformers) which are shown and for the director and our dear Rajni to execute it. The budget which they say goes about to 160 crores is rightly justified and every penny is well-spent.
With all the razzmatazz going on in 3 hours, the film doesn’t forget to give a message. A message where the Robot in the film wishes that like his ‘red-chip’ which he (or should I say ‘it’) plugs out in the climax, humans should have had a red chip, which they could throw out and with it all the bad feelings like jealousy, anger, etc could be thrown out. Hmmm… A Rajni film with a message! What more can Rajni-diehards ask for?
When I read this line in the newspaper, I was like- “What the f***? Are people there crazy? So crazy that they stood in queue from morning 5 am for a film? And the poster will be showered with milk at the start of 1st show, is it real?”
A Rs.100 ticket guarantees a value of Rs.1000, a profit unheard of in black ticket market in India. And for the record, the superstar doesn’t even promote his film. Just him being part of the film and people knowing it through trailers is good enough for generating a hype known only to HIS films and shows getting booked this fast. Even I am a cinema-addict but I wont go to a theatre getting up at 4 am even if a coup of sorts is managed by some producer getting Sanjay Leela Bhansali to direct a film starring Big B, SRK, Aamir and Hrithik with each star having a credible role in the film to play. Real stars and real fans are, indeed, a different breed altogether, aren’t they?
So when this film released here in Hindi, I made up my mind to watch this film with the masses. Not in the multiplexes, but in those single screen theatres where even a shake of a head by the superstar is greeted with thunderous claps! I decided to go to the theatre with the mindset of a street-vendor of some unknown street in Chennai, who before the release of a RAJNI film saves for an entire month only for the sake of watching the film on the ‘first day’. And I did watch it getting soaked in the atmosphere with myself bajaoing seetis and taalis at every tantrum thrown by the “Demigod” of Tamilians!
I don’t know why exactly nowadays I am getting enamoured by this RAJNIKANTH brand of cinema (Earlier last month came “Dabangg” and now this “Endhiran aka Robot”). Maybe because you don’t need to think much while watching this brand. After enjoying a lot of world-cinema, I think the word “Enjoy” suits this RAJNI-brand the most. This can be explained by the fact that I was never even once serious while watching the film; I was smiling and laughing even at the most serious of junctures when the villain threatened to destroy the world or take away the heroine from the hero! (Hero-Heroine? These words seem so ancient that I felt a discomfort while writing them. They are outdated now. Modern cinema is all about Actors & Actresses but Rajni keeps this outdated concept alive and believable.)
So what about the film? Ever since I watched “I-Robot” five years back, I wanted same kind of movie produced in India with all the Indian masala of emotions and grandeur. And masala is what we get in ROBOT! The tagline “Man, Machine, Mohabbat” couldn’t have been more apt. The ‘mohabbat’ angle adds the much-needed spice to the done-and-dusted formula of Man-machine war. And who better than the eternal beauty Aishwarya Rai to create a soft corner even in a robot?
She’s sweet, cute, hot, and sexy, all at the same time. I got to tell you, everytime I see her onscreen, she mesmerizes so much with her perfect beauty to the extent of being labeled ‘plastic’. But she isn’t plastic for sure. One can safely place all the newcomers like Katrina, Deepika or Priyanka on one side, and Aish on the other. She’s a benchmark. Even the robot accepts in the film, “Insaan ne do hi cheeze acchi banayi hai….ek main aur ek tum.” (By the way, this line got the loudest cheers). Junior B is the luckiest man on the planet.
Coming back to the film, the last 45 odd minutes of the film show the most outrageous stuff going to the extent of being said as downright ridiculous. But you got to give credit to the scriptwriter of the film for imagining those things (though they are a mixture of Hulk-cum-Matrix-cum-Transformers) which are shown and for the director and our dear Rajni to execute it. The budget which they say goes about to 160 crores is rightly justified and every penny is well-spent.
With all the razzmatazz going on in 3 hours, the film doesn’t forget to give a message. A message where the Robot in the film wishes that like his ‘red-chip’ which he (or should I say ‘it’) plugs out in the climax, humans should have had a red chip, which they could throw out and with it all the bad feelings like jealousy, anger, etc could be thrown out. Hmmm… A Rajni film with a message! What more can Rajni-diehards ask for?
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
The UNCONVINCING Religion..!
Take-1: On my birthday, I was on a family outing and as it always happens when I travel with my family, a temple visit is outright mandatory. I was along with my father, mother and my grandma. My father entered the main gabhara nonchalantly and we were about to follow when my mother stopped in her stride and exclaimed, “Bhairavnathachya mandiraat bai-manus jaat nahi!” (It’s not allowed for women to enter the Bhairavnath temple). I reacted, “What? Who the hell made this rule?” Mom, well aware of the fact that I will keep pressing my point, firmly replied, “No, means no.” But I was reluctant to listen to them and almost pushed them inside saying, “Let’s see what happens when a woman enters. Will this temple crash or will God punish us for not obeying the rules made by some idiot who obviously had a thing against women or some incident had happened in his life which prompted him to make such a hopeless rule?” My grandma almost threw herself out begging God to forgive her but I held my mom’s hands tight and asked her to pray without thinking of anything else. She did pray after I calmed her with my father staring angrily at me and her. I tried to explain but as always, ‘how much one tries to explain people with “prejudices”, one seldom succeeds.’
Take-2: Yesterday, a message on my mobile read: Please do not react to provocative SMS targeted to create a rift in the name of 24th September verdict. Regards, Commissioner of Police, Pune.
Take-3: While having a chat with a ‘doctor’ friend this morning, he happily said how he was excited about coming Friday and how he and his friends were planning to celebrate after the 24th September verdict. He seemed so overwhelmed from his voice as if the verdict was already declared in the so-called Hindu group’s favour. They planned to burn crackers to let the world know about their happiness. I, being always opposed to such tactics, tried to explain how their step may fuel something as bad as riots. But then he gave me that old cliché “I know how me and my family have suffered from these riots. U don’t know a thing!” Obviously I kept mum given the gravity of the situation.
Now, what is with this religion and God concept that people get so emotionally flared up? If they are emotional about it, why can’t they be ‘peacefully’ emotional about it? Why there is so much vengeance in their minds when they talk about religion? Or should I say religious disputes? Why are there disputes in the first place when religion is all about peace-of-mind i.e. spirituality?
The answers are not so simple. The issue related to the 24th September verdict is not of the present. It dates back to almost 1889. I am not going to discuss the issue here coz according to me it doesn’t even merit a discussion. What I am going to discuss is what is at the root of this issue. At the root lies our so-called great Indian culture and tradition which teaches that there exist a ‘x’ number of religions co-existing peacefully in India and every religion has its explanation for the existence of God while also stating that people are still divided on the basis of the faith they follow and people should be careful while commenting on religion in public. It’s almost forced upon us to be ‘proud’ of our culture.
Now tell me, how and why should I be proud of a culture which has for ages prevented women from entering a particular temple? And now being in the 21st century, we are still not in a position to change that mindset? Why should I be proud of a culture which till today hasn’t been able to resolve a conflict over a mere piece of land? Whether this land belongs to Hindus or Muslims? (Oh, come on! Can’t a common temple-mosque stand over there just as a show of UNITY to the world?) Are our hearts converted into stones when precious human lives are lost in the name of God and religion? When just for a simple reason that the other person belongs to a different faith, people pick up swords and mercilessly kill each other, does their pride go for a ride? I really don’t find any pride when the second thing asked after my name in any job-application or even a school admission is religion & caste.
According to DR.SARVEPALLI RADHAKRISHNAN,”Nothing is so hostile to religion as other religions. The world would be a much more religious place if all religions were removed from it.” I couldn’t agree more. Taking into account both the functional and dysfunctional aspects of religion, I have found the dysfunctional aspects more convincing than the functional ones. As in the ‘Take-1’ above, rather than giving importance to praying whole-heartedly, the restrictions imposed were thought about more and not to break them was taken care of. There’s no need of “mores” to be followed when what we have to do is as simple a thing as pray. And by the way, who decided these customs and usages? It must be a person or a group of people brandishing themselves as ‘protectors of the tradition’ or ‘servants of God’; but just coz they are being followed since ages, it doesn’t make them RIGHT!
As far as I can remember all the greatest of disputes right from time immemorial have had their seeds in religion or caste. Actually, religion is a byproduct of CASTE. People compared and divided first on the basis of professions then on the basis of their faiths which is unfortunately going on till today. People haven’t been able to break free from the prejudices what their forefathers had, when there’s enough proof to suggest otherwise. This is where I feel is the bane in this problem- it’s easy to teach a 3-year old kid to read and write but it gets impossible to flush out the preconceived notions from a grown-up or even a well-educated adult.
This brings me to the point where the great KARL MARX went to the extent of saying that ‘religion is opium to the people’. When people aren’t able to find solution to their own problems, they search for answers through God who is nothing but a sort of intoxication, maybe at a peaceful level. At first it seemed blasphemous to me but then I came upon another great French philosopher VOLTAIRE’s lines which plainly said, “If God did not exist it would be necessary to invent him.” For once, it seemed so true to me. And why not? It is some person who is responsible to create this image of God. All these religious scriptures and holy books did not fall from the sky. They were hand-written on this very earth. There is lack of REASON. On the other hand, “Science does provide satisfactory and rational explanation to the evolution of human life which any religion has not been able to till date.”
When the same religion which promised to be peaceful turns life-threatening for my countrymen or my near and dear ones as in the case of 24th September verdict, it’s better to look at that religion ambiguously. Still, I would not describe myself as an atheist. An AGNOSTIC would be better. I know there is very little to separate the two concepts but, who knows, maybe that little itself may become path-breaking in times to come. After all, as the finest English romantic poet PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY said, “The more we study, the more we discover our ignorance!” Maybe there’s a lot of ignorance (even in my own self) around which is needed to be discovered. Maybe or may not be! The whole concept stands on the edge of “MAYBE” which makes it so intriguing and fascinating to study!
Take-2: Yesterday, a message on my mobile read: Please do not react to provocative SMS targeted to create a rift in the name of 24th September verdict. Regards, Commissioner of Police, Pune.
Take-3: While having a chat with a ‘doctor’ friend this morning, he happily said how he was excited about coming Friday and how he and his friends were planning to celebrate after the 24th September verdict. He seemed so overwhelmed from his voice as if the verdict was already declared in the so-called Hindu group’s favour. They planned to burn crackers to let the world know about their happiness. I, being always opposed to such tactics, tried to explain how their step may fuel something as bad as riots. But then he gave me that old cliché “I know how me and my family have suffered from these riots. U don’t know a thing!” Obviously I kept mum given the gravity of the situation.
Now, what is with this religion and God concept that people get so emotionally flared up? If they are emotional about it, why can’t they be ‘peacefully’ emotional about it? Why there is so much vengeance in their minds when they talk about religion? Or should I say religious disputes? Why are there disputes in the first place when religion is all about peace-of-mind i.e. spirituality?
The answers are not so simple. The issue related to the 24th September verdict is not of the present. It dates back to almost 1889. I am not going to discuss the issue here coz according to me it doesn’t even merit a discussion. What I am going to discuss is what is at the root of this issue. At the root lies our so-called great Indian culture and tradition which teaches that there exist a ‘x’ number of religions co-existing peacefully in India and every religion has its explanation for the existence of God while also stating that people are still divided on the basis of the faith they follow and people should be careful while commenting on religion in public. It’s almost forced upon us to be ‘proud’ of our culture.
Now tell me, how and why should I be proud of a culture which has for ages prevented women from entering a particular temple? And now being in the 21st century, we are still not in a position to change that mindset? Why should I be proud of a culture which till today hasn’t been able to resolve a conflict over a mere piece of land? Whether this land belongs to Hindus or Muslims? (Oh, come on! Can’t a common temple-mosque stand over there just as a show of UNITY to the world?) Are our hearts converted into stones when precious human lives are lost in the name of God and religion? When just for a simple reason that the other person belongs to a different faith, people pick up swords and mercilessly kill each other, does their pride go for a ride? I really don’t find any pride when the second thing asked after my name in any job-application or even a school admission is religion & caste.
According to DR.SARVEPALLI RADHAKRISHNAN,”Nothing is so hostile to religion as other religions. The world would be a much more religious place if all religions were removed from it.” I couldn’t agree more. Taking into account both the functional and dysfunctional aspects of religion, I have found the dysfunctional aspects more convincing than the functional ones. As in the ‘Take-1’ above, rather than giving importance to praying whole-heartedly, the restrictions imposed were thought about more and not to break them was taken care of. There’s no need of “mores” to be followed when what we have to do is as simple a thing as pray. And by the way, who decided these customs and usages? It must be a person or a group of people brandishing themselves as ‘protectors of the tradition’ or ‘servants of God’; but just coz they are being followed since ages, it doesn’t make them RIGHT!
As far as I can remember all the greatest of disputes right from time immemorial have had their seeds in religion or caste. Actually, religion is a byproduct of CASTE. People compared and divided first on the basis of professions then on the basis of their faiths which is unfortunately going on till today. People haven’t been able to break free from the prejudices what their forefathers had, when there’s enough proof to suggest otherwise. This is where I feel is the bane in this problem- it’s easy to teach a 3-year old kid to read and write but it gets impossible to flush out the preconceived notions from a grown-up or even a well-educated adult.
This brings me to the point where the great KARL MARX went to the extent of saying that ‘religion is opium to the people’. When people aren’t able to find solution to their own problems, they search for answers through God who is nothing but a sort of intoxication, maybe at a peaceful level. At first it seemed blasphemous to me but then I came upon another great French philosopher VOLTAIRE’s lines which plainly said, “If God did not exist it would be necessary to invent him.” For once, it seemed so true to me. And why not? It is some person who is responsible to create this image of God. All these religious scriptures and holy books did not fall from the sky. They were hand-written on this very earth. There is lack of REASON. On the other hand, “Science does provide satisfactory and rational explanation to the evolution of human life which any religion has not been able to till date.”
When the same religion which promised to be peaceful turns life-threatening for my countrymen or my near and dear ones as in the case of 24th September verdict, it’s better to look at that religion ambiguously. Still, I would not describe myself as an atheist. An AGNOSTIC would be better. I know there is very little to separate the two concepts but, who knows, maybe that little itself may become path-breaking in times to come. After all, as the finest English romantic poet PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY said, “The more we study, the more we discover our ignorance!” Maybe there’s a lot of ignorance (even in my own self) around which is needed to be discovered. Maybe or may not be! The whole concept stands on the edge of “MAYBE” which makes it so intriguing and fascinating to study!
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
I love MY CRICKET!
The other day in the opening match of the Champions League T20 when Kieron Pollard, after smashing 16 runs in the first five balls of an over, got clean bowled at a crucial juncture, a definitive statement fell on my ears from a corner of my home's drawing room which said, "It's all fixed, why the hell are you so serious about it?" It was said by my brother and I was irritated to say the least. I retaliated, “Come on, those two murderous shots over midwicket cannot be fixed and neither can that awesome Yorker which got Pollard or Tendulkar for that matter!” But my protest was in vain.
When everyday at least a couple of articles on match-fixing go from under your eyes or an explosive half-hour episode on some channel like India TV( which just takes pride in applying the word “exclusive” to any and every good-for-nothing masaledar story ) is shown over and over again, any diehard cricket follower can also be convinced into believing that “it’s all fixed!” But I was never convinced. Just because some a**holes named Mohd Aamer or Asif bowl a front-foot no-ball, you can’t say it’s all fixed. Even if the three accused were playing in that match, it doesn’t mean the other eight players are also guilty. After learning this news, my mind just rushed back to the most awesome jaw-dropping chase I had ever seen on the cricket-field. In the semi-final of 2010 World T20( in which, unfortunately, the above two were playing ), I had seen 70 runs being scored from 30 balls in an intense pressure situation in an extra-ordinary fashion when Aussies were six-down and Michael MAD Hussey had came to the party and ran like his life depended on it and struck sixes in a super-human effort. It was one of those days when I was glad that I enjoyed cricket. When somebody said that this match was fixed, I was plain angry. You can give up a match through match-fixing, but sorry, you cannot snatch a match from the jaws of defeat through fixing. It takes planning and single-minded effort to do what Hussey did.
Also don’t sell me the theory that IPL being the $4 billion enterprise, it is rigged too. The captains of each of the eight IPL teams have not got the captainship only due to their playing credentials, they are the captains because there’s respect in our minds when we take those names. Names like Ganguly, Kumble, Sanga, Gilly, Warne, Tendulkar, Gambhir, Dhoni are respected not just for ‘what’ they have achieved but also ‘how’ they have achieved. I have watched these cricketers close enough to know that they will never play to lose. If you give me a hundred instances to prove that a match is fixed, I can give a thousand instances to show that it isn’t.
This brings me to the point- Why do we play sports in the first place? Why people like me are mad about it? What is the essence of sports?
Sports is competition. Sports is watching two humans compete trying to outdo each other through the skill they possess. Sports is about “Unpredictability”. It is about knowing that even a great like Muttiah Muralidharan can be frustrated for his 800th wicket by a rookie like Ishant Sharma (hadn’t our excitement reached a crescendo when Murali was denied his moment of glory for almost 20 overs on the last day of 1st test between Indo-Lanka). Sports depicts human life at it’s varied best.
So when sports is robbed of it’s most crucial factor i.e. unpredictability, then we as sports-lovers are bound to get disappointed. But for the fault of a few rotten apples, don’t claim all are rotten. They may become rotten, but they don’t deserve to be branded as guilty at the start itself. When we love someone or something, WE GOT TO HAVE THE FAITH..!
And by that definition, I have grown up playing, watching, reading, following cricket. I can’t stop myself from following even a Zimbabwe-Bangladesh match going on in the middle of Africa. The earliest memory I have of my childhood is searching a cricket ball in the bushes near my home with a friend when I was maybe 3 years old or my little brother smashing the bat into pieces for the n-th time out of anger when all others claim he was out, only for him to be thinking otherwise (and after that smashing episode, invariably we got a new bat without asking which shows that the love for cricket was genetic).
At the end of it all, what I want to say is, I believe my cricket is clean. No Aamer or Asif can break my belief so easily. I had loved this game whole-heartedly and will keep loving it till maybe somebody brings me the evidence of a Kumble or Tendulkar being involved in fixing. And I know this is impossible. Some things are indeed impossible. So, just for the sake of my love for cricket, for the first time in my life, I am cheering Pakistan. I desperately want Pakistan team to win in their tour of England and in their future matches except when they face India. GO PAKISTAN GO….
When everyday at least a couple of articles on match-fixing go from under your eyes or an explosive half-hour episode on some channel like India TV( which just takes pride in applying the word “exclusive” to any and every good-for-nothing masaledar story ) is shown over and over again, any diehard cricket follower can also be convinced into believing that “it’s all fixed!” But I was never convinced. Just because some a**holes named Mohd Aamer or Asif bowl a front-foot no-ball, you can’t say it’s all fixed. Even if the three accused were playing in that match, it doesn’t mean the other eight players are also guilty. After learning this news, my mind just rushed back to the most awesome jaw-dropping chase I had ever seen on the cricket-field. In the semi-final of 2010 World T20( in which, unfortunately, the above two were playing ), I had seen 70 runs being scored from 30 balls in an intense pressure situation in an extra-ordinary fashion when Aussies were six-down and Michael MAD Hussey had came to the party and ran like his life depended on it and struck sixes in a super-human effort. It was one of those days when I was glad that I enjoyed cricket. When somebody said that this match was fixed, I was plain angry. You can give up a match through match-fixing, but sorry, you cannot snatch a match from the jaws of defeat through fixing. It takes planning and single-minded effort to do what Hussey did.
Also don’t sell me the theory that IPL being the $4 billion enterprise, it is rigged too. The captains of each of the eight IPL teams have not got the captainship only due to their playing credentials, they are the captains because there’s respect in our minds when we take those names. Names like Ganguly, Kumble, Sanga, Gilly, Warne, Tendulkar, Gambhir, Dhoni are respected not just for ‘what’ they have achieved but also ‘how’ they have achieved. I have watched these cricketers close enough to know that they will never play to lose. If you give me a hundred instances to prove that a match is fixed, I can give a thousand instances to show that it isn’t.
This brings me to the point- Why do we play sports in the first place? Why people like me are mad about it? What is the essence of sports?
Sports is competition. Sports is watching two humans compete trying to outdo each other through the skill they possess. Sports is about “Unpredictability”. It is about knowing that even a great like Muttiah Muralidharan can be frustrated for his 800th wicket by a rookie like Ishant Sharma (hadn’t our excitement reached a crescendo when Murali was denied his moment of glory for almost 20 overs on the last day of 1st test between Indo-Lanka). Sports depicts human life at it’s varied best.
So when sports is robbed of it’s most crucial factor i.e. unpredictability, then we as sports-lovers are bound to get disappointed. But for the fault of a few rotten apples, don’t claim all are rotten. They may become rotten, but they don’t deserve to be branded as guilty at the start itself. When we love someone or something, WE GOT TO HAVE THE FAITH..!
And by that definition, I have grown up playing, watching, reading, following cricket. I can’t stop myself from following even a Zimbabwe-Bangladesh match going on in the middle of Africa. The earliest memory I have of my childhood is searching a cricket ball in the bushes near my home with a friend when I was maybe 3 years old or my little brother smashing the bat into pieces for the n-th time out of anger when all others claim he was out, only for him to be thinking otherwise (and after that smashing episode, invariably we got a new bat without asking which shows that the love for cricket was genetic).
At the end of it all, what I want to say is, I believe my cricket is clean. No Aamer or Asif can break my belief so easily. I had loved this game whole-heartedly and will keep loving it till maybe somebody brings me the evidence of a Kumble or Tendulkar being involved in fixing. And I know this is impossible. Some things are indeed impossible. So, just for the sake of my love for cricket, for the first time in my life, I am cheering Pakistan. I desperately want Pakistan team to win in their tour of England and in their future matches except when they face India. GO PAKISTAN GO….
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Salman unbounded..!
First things first. This is my short review of Salman Khan's latest film-
DABANGG! Of Salman Khan, for Salman Khan and by Salman Khan! Oh sorry, forgot to add the adjective- it's SUPERSTAR Salman. Without a doubt, He's our RAJNIKANTH! I hope u get by what i mean. If u have loved apna Sallu for even one moment in ur life, then u just cannot miss this film. Taran Adarsh gave 4.5 stars but if u love Sallu, it's no less than 5 stars! Only he can carry off a name like Chulbul ROBINHOOD Pande yet seem believable! Only he can go on mouthing all d curse abusive words yet be the HERO getting thunderous claps with elan! Didn't even get a ticket on friday morning in 6 different theatres which is a rarity in Pune nowadays. Just enjoy the most f**k-all lyrics ever written in MUNNI BADNAAM HUI song, but still making u smile just watching Salman's tantrums.. Superhit guaranteed..!
So, here we go. When I write a review, it's always within the first few hours of watching the film, so I am always in the emotions created by the after-effect of the film. This film was no different. I was in awe of the reception people gave to this film.
What is with this film that people thronged the theatres and took it on their heads so much so that it beat the 3 IDIOTS day-1 record box-office collections? Granted that the trailers of this film were kick-ass. But there is neither an iota of brilliance of 3 IDIOTS nor a spoonful of genius of the inimitable Raju Hirani ! The storyline is as ordinary as we get to see onscreen nowadays. But still the film clicked and not just clicked, but smashed records.
It was one-man show all the way. Salman came, saw and conquered. With his zany Hindi, with his i-dont-give-a-damn look on face, with his brat attitude, with his ridiculous yet entertaining dance steps and most of all HIS STYLE! Even after all the controversies hounding him, he is still the darling of the masses. He is still loved by most of the people. Even if we know that he has committed heinous of crimes, we tend to forgive him and go watch his cinema. After watching Dabangg, we understand the definition of 'superstar'! A superstar is one who can ensure the success of his film even if it is the silliest film he ever starred in.
Shahrukh, Big B, Hrithik, Aamir are crystal clean, meaning they have never done anything disrespectful in their personal lives. On the other hand, Salman is all about disrespect. In all the interviews he gave to promote his film this past week, he never cleared the air surrounding any controversy related to him. He just played around with all the questions and effectively brushed past them. What is it with him that people still love him? With not a single so-called big director or banner backing him or not a exceptional storyline either, still how does he deliver superhits? Worth a stormy question right?
There's something about Salman that we love. Maybe we have a fondness for his brattish attitude. Maybe we are awe-struck by his confidence. Maybe we love the "MASALA" in his films. Maybe we love his controversies feeding our gossip-hungry brain. Maybe there's a Salman inside all of us wanting to shout out loud and say- "Maine agar ek baar commitment kar di, toh mein apne aap ki bhi nahi sunta"!
It is not always possible for us to give a i-dont-give-a-damn look on our faces, so we are content in identifying with him through his movies and maybe that is the reason why we still love and will keep loving Salman Khan!
DABANGG! Of Salman Khan, for Salman Khan and by Salman Khan! Oh sorry, forgot to add the adjective- it's SUPERSTAR Salman. Without a doubt, He's our RAJNIKANTH! I hope u get by what i mean. If u have loved apna Sallu for even one moment in ur life, then u just cannot miss this film. Taran Adarsh gave 4.5 stars but if u love Sallu, it's no less than 5 stars! Only he can carry off a name like Chulbul ROBINHOOD Pande yet seem believable! Only he can go on mouthing all d curse abusive words yet be the HERO getting thunderous claps with elan! Didn't even get a ticket on friday morning in 6 different theatres which is a rarity in Pune nowadays. Just enjoy the most f**k-all lyrics ever written in MUNNI BADNAAM HUI song, but still making u smile just watching Salman's tantrums.. Superhit guaranteed..!
So, here we go. When I write a review, it's always within the first few hours of watching the film, so I am always in the emotions created by the after-effect of the film. This film was no different. I was in awe of the reception people gave to this film.
What is with this film that people thronged the theatres and took it on their heads so much so that it beat the 3 IDIOTS day-1 record box-office collections? Granted that the trailers of this film were kick-ass. But there is neither an iota of brilliance of 3 IDIOTS nor a spoonful of genius of the inimitable Raju Hirani ! The storyline is as ordinary as we get to see onscreen nowadays. But still the film clicked and not just clicked, but smashed records.
It was one-man show all the way. Salman came, saw and conquered. With his zany Hindi, with his i-dont-give-a-damn look on face, with his brat attitude, with his ridiculous yet entertaining dance steps and most of all HIS STYLE! Even after all the controversies hounding him, he is still the darling of the masses. He is still loved by most of the people. Even if we know that he has committed heinous of crimes, we tend to forgive him and go watch his cinema. After watching Dabangg, we understand the definition of 'superstar'! A superstar is one who can ensure the success of his film even if it is the silliest film he ever starred in.
Shahrukh, Big B, Hrithik, Aamir are crystal clean, meaning they have never done anything disrespectful in their personal lives. On the other hand, Salman is all about disrespect. In all the interviews he gave to promote his film this past week, he never cleared the air surrounding any controversy related to him. He just played around with all the questions and effectively brushed past them. What is it with him that people still love him? With not a single so-called big director or banner backing him or not a exceptional storyline either, still how does he deliver superhits? Worth a stormy question right?
There's something about Salman that we love. Maybe we have a fondness for his brattish attitude. Maybe we are awe-struck by his confidence. Maybe we love the "MASALA" in his films. Maybe we love his controversies feeding our gossip-hungry brain. Maybe there's a Salman inside all of us wanting to shout out loud and say- "Maine agar ek baar commitment kar di, toh mein apne aap ki bhi nahi sunta"!
It is not always possible for us to give a i-dont-give-a-damn look on our faces, so we are content in identifying with him through his movies and maybe that is the reason why we still love and will keep loving Salman Khan!
Monday, August 23, 2010
When U R Down And Out..
“Allah ke bande has de, Allah ke bande....
Allah ke bande has de JO BHI HAIN KAL PHIR AAYEGA..."
The song couldn't have come at a more appropriate time for me. I was down and out. I had nothing but negative emotions surrounding me, stabbing me from every angle possible, and drowning me in knee-deep water. I was compelled by myself to see the ‘glass-half-empty’ rather than watching it ’half-full’. I was at my negative-best. Sometimes one failure is good enough to take us into deep deep shit. This shit is created by our own mind, so we can’t even get away from it.
I had failed to pass the most important exam of my life. This exam means my life to me. I have spent two years of my life now just to be eligible to compete. Last year, I had it close; close enough to squander the chance at the most opportune time. Maybe Life doesn't give second chance. So I was a fool to miss the first chance. But I felt that as I was that close in the first attempt, I deserved to get a second one. When that second one came and went, I didn't even understand. It was like in a flash of a second something struck me bad.
One bloody line conveyed it to me- "Sorry, your name don't figure in the list of successful candidates." (In the tragedy of that moment, I still noticed the grammatical error committed in the sentence most tragic to me. What to do? Can’t change the wiring of the brain.) Some SORRYs help to cool down your hurt ego while some help to console you. I didn't understand what this SORRY did to me. It did a bit of both while also bringing some of my 'inflated' ego down.
So there I was, in between a thousand emotions which arise from various questions engulfing me. Questions like- “What went wrong? Didn't I prepare well? Wasn't I able to handle the pressure? What next? Is there enough fuel left in me to undergo the same pressures all over again? Is there enough PATIENCE (the biggest casualty of all this process) left?” I didn’t know the answers. I just kept staring nowhere. I got severe headache. For the first time in my life, I had to apply balm to my head and switch off the lights to sleep, which also got so hard to come to such an obsessive sleeper like me. This was all still the easy part. The difficult part started the next morning...
I started to read an article on some ‘CWG corruption’ issue from the newspaper. I had a habit of noting down important points from any article which I felt necessary for the exam. I started to make mental notes of the issue given when it suddenly struck upon me that “It was all futile.” If at all I get a chance to write about this issue next time in exam, it would be directly one-and-a-quarter year later by which the said issue may get irrelevant. It dawned upon me that all this while of the last one year whatever I have studied is plain futile. No other feeling frustrates you more than the feeling of FUTILITY. What added to the frustration was the fact that “I was better prepared this time to face the test than the last time.” I had managed to iron out the loopholes which had rendered me inefficient last time round. I had studied my mistakes and taken steps to prevent them but alas... After a closer analysis of ‘what-actually-went-wrong’, I was disturbed worse. Going into the exam, what I had marked out as my strength actually brought me down. It was no mean strength. It was as if after 4 hours of uninterrupted tennis, at a crucial point of saving the match, Roger Federer was let down by his strongest shot i.e. his forehand. It is as horrifying as it is to watch his forehand come crashing into the nets.
Other disturbing part is to reply to the consoling messages from friends or talking to the family members whose demeanor kept changing from something like “End-of-the-world-for-you” to “Its-ok-there-is-always-a-next-time”. As they say, THE GREATER THE EXPECTATIONS, THE GREATER THE HEARTBREAK. Sometimes, the heartbreak really gets impossible to handle.
So, where and how you go from here? How you pick yourself up from this mess? Is ‘time’ the best solution or some inspiring words?
At this point, if some song like “Allah ke bande” falls on our ears, it gives the best feeling in the world. It explains us so subtly that whatever was there to come will come by again. We should stop ruing the ‘what-could-have-been’ factor and begin to smile as the world is not over and we are not effortless. Maybe we’ll have better chances; maybe we’ll be able to achieve bigger things than the what-could-have-been. It is just up to us to change this ‘maybe’ into ‘definitely’. What’s needed is “optimism”. Only optimism is what can rise us up from our most pessimistic view. After all, as I had read somewhere,
“Optimism is the first cousin of love, and it’s exactly like love in three ways: it’s pushy, it has no real sense of humour, and it turns up where you least expect it..!”
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