A rewind button...Pranayam aftermath

There is this climax scene in a classic Malayalam film called Meghamalhar – Two much married couples in their 50’s bump into each other outside a hotel. The guy in one of the couples says a polite “Hello” to the lady in the other couple. She nods back and says hello too. And they move on…

These two, as the film reveals in the reels before the climax, had an affair in their younger days and eventually fate forces them to split. To me, this is one of the best ever meeting scenes between any We-loved-each-other-but-could-not-marry-each-other couples in Indian cinema.
There have been many films that have dealt with triangles and love failures. I was expecting Pranayam to be one such film.

To connoisseurs of Indian cinema, a Blessy movie is an event in itself. As with other Indians world over, Malayalees in particular, yours truly too has been deeply touched and moved by Blessy movies like Kaazhcha and Thanmatra. You probably already know the theme of the movie. The characters played by Anupam Kher and Jayaprada love each other, elope and get married and have a baby. A turn of events makes them separate, legally. She gets married to the character played by Mohan Lal and has a child. He stays single and the child grows up with him.

In the autumn of their lives, the ex-husband-wife duo bump into each other. A friendship is renewed and this also includes the husband of the ex-wife. It is typically a difficult meeting- meeting the husband of an ex-wife/girlfriend/flame- difficult for all the parties I guess. Amongst the best scenes in the movie is when the two men meet each other for the first time- one of them who is recovering from a second heart attack and the other, a semi paralysed man confined to his wheel chair.

The dialogues are superb and the performances are superlative. The background music is apt and the photography and art are superb. This may not be Blessy’s best, but ranks amongst the best Malayalam films I’ve seen in the last couple of years.

Let me highlight to the readers a few scenes that touched me. As with most languages, there are some words that leave an impact only in one particular language. Translation cannot do any justice, for example, Ghalib’s “..Mat pooch ki kya haal hai mera tere peechhe, tu dekh ki kya rang hai tera mere aage…” … No point in writing the dialogues here…

There is this scene… the setting is a small platform on the Arabian sea shores of Kochi… The character played by Anupam Kher throws a stone into the sea and then, another. The second one travels a greater distance than its predecessor. He then compares this as an analogy with second innings in life, about men and women having a second chance to relive certain moments/ situations or just living life anew- again. I guess all of us go through such moments in life when we feel, “…if only I had done that differently…”. That feeling can be quite depressing if not addressed in its budding stages… We often end up wishing if the lord-up-above-the-world-so-high had given us that rewind button… Isn’t it?

What I like best about all the characters is the maturity with which they accept the present and act without malice or grudge.

What I also like is the complete trust between the characters played by Mohan Lal and Jayaprada… the husband and wife have 100% trust…not an iota of distrust. That scene…when Mohan Lal sings “I am your man”…sitting on a wheel chair in a lounge bar is superb…
So is the climax… na I’m not giving you what that is…

I only wish Malayalm films that release in the north release with subtitles. I sincerely wish some of my friends who do not understand Malayalam could see the film.

Blessy begins his film with a rather controversial statement- “One always returns to one’s first love”. I am not sure if that is correct and am certainly not sure if that is good. As I said earlier, Blessy movies are an event and here he certainly does not disappoint. If you have the time, do watch Pranayam.

aaj rang hai..

The moon shines in all its glory tonight- it is a special full moon- it is Guru Poornima today.

The Qawwaal, his back towards the Dargah of Aamir Khusro , front facing the Dargah of Hazrat Nizamuddin, sings the eternal “Aaj Rang Hai...”.

A power cut.

Just the moonlit night, the dargah and the divine song.

Heaven.

ghanan ghanan

"The sky over Delhi is in a state of continued labour. It is pregnant with clouds, but not delivering the rains..."

(c) Chala Denominator, Numerator Ban-ne

Of happiness and barking dogs

"Unhappiness remains; causes change" #ConversationswithHP

So..once there was this conference of dogs and big...handsome...well-fed American dog meets this skinny, poorly-fed dog from India...

The Indian dog looks with envy at the American counterpart and says..."wow, what a life you seem to have...great food...great life...you have all that I aspire for...you can do all that I can only dream of...wow"...

The American dog takes in a deep breath and says, "well, you can still do something I really wish I could do, but I never can do"...

Perplexion in the expression..."What is it?"...

"You can bark as much as you like, any time...any where.."

#Grassisalwaysgreenerontheotherside
#ConversationswiththeSages

Life Rules #2

The Mentor looks with amusement at the Confused taking a pill for headache and says, “When I have a headache, I don’t take a pill or apply a balm.”
“So what do you do?”, asks the Confused, almost as if he doesn’t really care about the answer.
A pause... and a deep breath later comes the reply.... “I go through the pain.”

#DialogueswithARA

(c) Chala Denominator, Numerator Ban-ne

life rules#1

"It is good to be idealistic. But do not remain a prisoner of your own ideologies."
# conversationswithforefathers
(c) Chala Denominator, Numerator Ban-ne

sentimental... na... kilomental

I distinctly remember my first day at Oxford school. I stood outside classroom VIII-A, saying "may I come in" to the lady who was my class teacher. She did not hear me. I remember the boy sitting in the first bench saying something to me. I could read the lips- "zor se bol". The looks were enough to confirm that this guy was south Indian. For somebody from the south who'd moved to the north, this was a very very comforting factor.

I think what brought me close to him in the initial years was the south-India-familiarity factor. We grew closer in the days ahead for reasons beyond sharing Tamil as our mother tongue.

We were both entering our teens when we first met. Our friendship was not without its share of skirmishes. He was and has always been an embodiment of all that is conventional and I have been at the other end of the spectrum. He was the perennial front bencher and I was the proverbial last bencher. Our teachers often wondered how we stuck to each other. Our friend- Scientist (Mridul) completed our gang.

When I look back at my life@Vikaspuri, I always have a smile- primarily due to this gang. Our regular visits to Rathore for the chaat, our half yearly vists to Satyam, the very regular sessions at Arjun park, visiting each others' places regularly and definitely on Diwali... And girls are a definitive factor in the life of all teenaged guys... and in adult life of course...

These 2 friends have always been there- to share the happy and not-so-happy moments in life... to share happily that I cleared this entrance test...or to complain that my love interest is marrying somebody else... To happily share that I got my dream job... or to happily reminisce at this that I was at a place we visited together.... These were amongst the first few people who I informed from the Thiruvananthapuram airport that I finally got hitched :-)

I will always thank God that he has always brought some wonderful human beings into my life.

As I stood clapping watching you go on your knees and put that ring on to Radhika's finger, I knew that my next entry on the blog was for you ;-)
This is for you, Gautam... I wish you and Radhika a very happy life together.

This is for you, Scientist. You suprise me hamesha... As I type this, my eyes are moist... You are absolutely mast... Your strength is an inspiration...

This is for you, Anusha... Kid, I want you to know that you are the only reason I have ever envied Gautam for...