Breaking news- E-ngaged

E got Pre-rokaad yday night...
E's marriage scheduled for 1st Feb... LOL

E, Pank, Bar and Dil Chahta hai...

I remember having watched DCH 12 times in the hall. I was a student then@KMC... I remember having taken the Rs. 20 tickets at Batra/ Alpana and having watched the movie with different people at different times.

I also remember having watched the movie with Dad. I guess he enjoyed the movie too.

In the movie, there is a sequence when, at Goa, one of the friends tells the other two that they should, together, visit Goa at least once a year. The character played by Akshaye Khanna tells them that...saal mein ek baar toh chhodo, dus saal mein shaayad ek baar bhi mil nahi paayenge...

The end of graduation brought with it mixed feelings... the excitement@joining an MBA...and the disappointment at my friends leaving for different places...

Pank (Pankaj) joined IIM-Indore, however was spotted in Delhi every quarter. E (Abhinav) joined NITIE-Mumbai... Doctor (Harsh) joined MDI-Gurgaon and was never ever seen in Delhi again... Bihar (Sidharth) left for IIT-Chennai... Paul joined IMT-Ghaziabad, steadfastly refusing to come out of his campus...Bar (Luvkesh) joined Fore and we used to meet at the oddest of hours once in 3-4 months...Proole and Buzz left Delhi to join Infy@Bangalore... And none of us knows where Anand vanished...

I joined D-skool...back in north campus... every single visit to my new college filling me with nostalgia and emotion for the 4 preceding years in North Campus.

Only a person who has lived his life (mind u- "lived", not "existed") in North Campus can appreciate these emotions.

Slowly, there were new friends in my life...

I kept meeting my old friends once in a while, however, we have never met- together..all of us... Trust it would be somewhat difficult now...

But I guess they were "there" all the time... be it to chitchat online...on the phone... or to meet up over those Sweet Nothings... or even to counsel me after each of my heartbreaks (with the same girl ;-) )... or to sit by me when I was crying a couple of hours after my MHROD farewell ended....or by "being there" silently... I'm sure all of us realize that after a point in every relationship, we do not need "words" to communicate...

I kept meeting Pank almost every quarter; After passing out, he joined UTI bank in Mumbai. Bihar joined ICICI bank...in Mumbai. Doctor joined Deutche Bank... in Mumbai... Paul joined Citigroup... in Mumbai...E joined ICICI bank...in Mumbai...
Everytime, I was in Mumbai, I met atleast 2 of them...


Proole got married and is now in Mumbai..

Bar joined Citigroup too... in Coimbatore... Now I call him Madrasi...

Buzz eventually moved on to Germany and is now in the US of A... every time he is here, thanks to the proximity of his residence from where I stay, we get to meet...

Sometime back, Bar called to say that he's quit his job with Citi and was shifting to join another organization in Delhi. Pank called to say that he has been transferred to Delhi. On Independence day, the three of us met...and together we had a ball...

Doctor, it seems, is looking forward to a Delhi shift soon.

Sometime soon, I'm sure, we will all meet together- seems difficult, but am sure it will happen.

This one is dedicated to our friend Anand. None of us knows where he is. But I'm sure, wherever he is, he is doing well for himself.

Even as I get sentimental over all this, I'm reminded of an old song...
"Zindagi Ke Safar Mein Guzar Jaate Hain Jo Makaam, Woh Phir Nahin Aate, Woh Phir Nahin Aate.... "

Pata nahi... But,I wish they do....

Watch this space for more on this...

chak de...

I don't want my blog to look like a film review station. But, having been a person so influenced by films and books, I wouldn't be surprised if it tastes like one.

I've been fortunate to see quite a few awesome films over the last month. It started with the OSIANs film fest followed by the one at IHC. Some great films released in theatres too. I've already talked about Gandhi- my Father.

I also saw Rush Hour-3. It is a thorough entertainer, though not a patch on the 1st part. Wonder if Jackie Chan is made of rubber...

Blue Umbrella is one of the sweetest films I've seen. The innocence of pahaadi village life that is so beautifully depicted in the stories of Ruskin Bond has been translated on to celluloid without an ounce of the beauty spilling over. The performance of Pankaj Kapur shows why he is amongst the most under-utilised actors in the country.

The pick of the week was Chak De...India- An amazingly well made sports drama with generous doses of subtle nationalism. The cliched theme of the victory of the underdogs has been given a new life.

Remember Lakshya... remember Lagaan.... and remember the positive energy that one comes out of the hall with. Similar is the experience after Chak De.

All of us know the story right...how Shah Rukh Khan helps the women's hockey team win the world cup. I'm sure there are doubting Thomas' like me who typically choose to give SRK movies a slip. Surprisingly, you don't see SRK on screen... you see Kabir Khan... just as you saw Mohan Bhargava in Swades.

Kabir Khan, the coach makes it clear- "is team mein sirf ek goonda hai aur woh main hoon"... Awesome... See the confidence that oozes out of him as he speaks these lines... witness the conviction...

"Mujhe sirf ek naam sunaai deta hai- I-N-D-I-A"... when he says he can't hear the names of different states...

The tongue-in-cheek remarks when he speaks with the chief of the hockey federation... or the one about the white man hoisting the Indian Tricolour are masterpieces.

Look at the scene after the men v/s women hockey match when the men raise their hockey sticks in salute of the women's performance... witness the scene in the begining when at the registration table, the gentleman welcomes the girls from north-east as "mehmaan" and the girls innocently saying, "aapko kaisa lagega apne hee desh mein mehmaan banke"...

Look at the power in the "sattar minute" dialogue...

The scenes in the women's room... the bickerings... the bullying... and the eventual camaraderie are all well shot!!!

The song, "teeja tera rang tha main toh...maula mere le le meri jaan" plays in the backdrop at the most apt of times...

The scene of the redemption for Kabir Khan at the end of the world cup (watch the tricolour strategically placed) is amongst the best in the movie.

The cake however is reserved for two scenes... one... in the begining of the movie...after the moments of shame...kabir khan leaves his ancestral home with his mom... and a kid saying "gaddaar ko dekhna hai".... And eventually in the scene of his ultimate redemption at the end when he comes back with his mom to the same home after 7 years...and gets a hero's welcome.... and a kid rubbing of the "gaddaar" written on the walls...and kabir handing over a hockey stick to the kid... I think Shah Rukh Khan has excelled in the scene...

I cannot recollect any aspect of the movie that i did not like... The background score is damn good...the editing and screnplay are both tight...the film is beautifully shot... the performances are all superb... in particular the girl who plays Komal Chautala, the haryanvi girl in the movie...see the energy she exudes...

(I've heard the girl who plays the role is actually a garhwali... was wondering if all short garhwaali girls exude the same kind of energy...experience says- affirmative...)

Full marks to Shimit Amin the director...

Dont chuck Chak De...its worth a watch and even more...
Its an experience....again

main shaayar toh nahi...

My good friend Jeetu quoted something sometime back-
"Waqt Rehta Nahi kabhi tik kar...waqt rehta nahi kabhi tik kar... uski fitrat bhi aadmi see hai..."
I was impressed by the shaer (i actually put that on my gtalk status).
I love calling myself a poet and a musafir... I've tried my hand at poetry over the last few years... most of what I've written have been trashed by my ever-loving readers... Some of them I've trashed too... With some, in the past, I've made a couple of girls cry, nay, weep. (I don't know what made them do that.... me or my poem...)
My mind raced back to when I started enjoying poetry. Couldnt recollect when- but certainly not during those days when we had to mug up poems... no better way 2 ruin a child's interest in poems...
Some poems that have captured my interest through the years have been Kipling's IF and Hunt's Abou Ben Adhem. Recently my friend-mentor-senior Himanshu showed me a poem on wind... I'll put that up here soon... That was almost as interesting as the other two I've mentioned.
KMC exposed me to the world of urdu poetry... and ghazals... 7 years back, forget if i had heard ghulam Ali, I had not even heard of Ghulam Ali....
Of late, thanks to my friends- Himanshu and another friend-mentor-senior Doctorsaab, my latest fascination is for Kabir ke dohe and songs sung by Abida Parveen...
I'll go back to my frnd...Jeetu whose quote inspired this blog... he is one of those characters jiske har andaaz mein kuch poetic hai... u almost hear background voices/ noises of "arz hai" and "waah waah" when u meet him....Its his b'day later this month... And to him is dedicated the following lines from an old hindi song...
"oh mere humraahi...mere baah thaame chalna,
badle duniya saari, tum na badalna..."

Gandhi- My Father

"Ab hum use Harilal bulaayein ya Abdullah, pyaara toh utna hee rahega na", says Gandhi to Kasturba when he hears of his son's conversion to Islam.

There are films- some that entertain, some that bore you...there are some that touch you... and then there are those great works of art that transcend just being films and become an experience that remain glued firmly with the viewer, even after (s)he comes out of the hall. "Gandhi- My Father", undoubtedly belongs to the latter genre.

Does it create an impact like an RDB or Lage Raho. Maybe not... Does it bring the viewer closer to Gandhi as was the case with Lage Raho. Maybe not... But, it shows facets of Gandhi- the father, the human being, the family man which was hitherto never shown in films. And it does not paint him black.

The film talks of the tribulations of Harilal Gandhi, Mohandas Gandhi and Kasturba Gandhi and the tumultuous relationship between the father and the son. Isn't it intriguing that the Mahatma's eldest son died as a virtual unknown... as a beggar on the streets somewhere in India.

Its an interesting story. A well educated, well respected gentleman, Barrister of Law from England, and a prisoner of truth and his own principles.... wanting his sons to toe the same line as he... and a son who craves for foreign education, forced to remain a prisoner of his father's principles... unable to cope with the high standards, eventually seeking refuge in rebellion and escapism... swaying repeatedly between good and deceit... desperately seeking to reform self and being unable to do so... " bahut baar bhavishya badalna chaaha maine apna, par ateet peechha hee nahi chhodta..." says the son...

And caught in between the stubborn father and the rebellious son is a helpless mother. I've often felt that Kasturba's role has been underrated in history.

A few scenes in the movie appealed to me. The scene where the father tends the wound (in the knee) of the son. In the process he also informs the son that it is not Harilal, but a nephew of the Mahatma who would be sent on a scholarship (meant for Harilal) to England to study law. Watch the son saying "main theek hoon" and limping away.

The scene in the train bogey, when after the discussion, when the father, mother and son are looking in different directions. How metaphorical!!!

The scene where the father and the son have a long discussion through the night which culminates with the son saying, "mehrbaani karke mujhe akela chhod deejiye".

I've always felt that the father-son relationship is extremely special. From the times as a child, when my attitude was "my daddy strongest" (i still believe that)... to times of conflicting opinion during teens... to times when I've understood him better as a young adult...

The hallmark of the film that I saw shall remain the beauty with which the father-son relationship has been depicted. Watch the scene where Harilal is massaging the feet of his father... or when the father is tending to the wound of his son...or when the father instructs his secretary to arrange for the immediate arrival of his daughter-in-law in south africa... the father and son having the long conversation from evening to night...the father asking "karna kya chaahte ho" (does this ring a bell )... or telling the son... "mujhe tumhaari awaaz sun-ne mein der hui...maaf kar dena mujhe".... Beautiful!!!!

I'm overcome by an urge to read Gandhi's autobiography again. There is so much that the man had to go through. The beauty of his story is...he wasn't born Mahatma... as shyam Benegal would put it- The Making of the Mahatma... It is an extraordinary story of an ordinary man who rose from ordinary to extraordinary... and the collaterals that happened on the way...

Go watch the movie. It released yesterday and there were barely 30 people in the hall including my Dad and me... It would be a shame if this movie flops... Feroz Abbas Khan and Anil Kapoor deserve kudos for the effort... So do Akshaye Khanna (Harilal) and Darshan Jariwala (Mohandas Gandhi) and the rest of the team....