"UNTITLED"

Its been a long time since i last posted on my blog. I think this statement is all set to become my custom statement as a start to my posts with too many posts already beginning with this. I am not the only one to blame for this irregularity, the large chunk has to go to the pathetic condition of broadband connection in my city. The condition is really pathetic and to add to it, this is further receding to worse.
Anyways, these days I am busy studying for my exams scheduled to commence 1 week hence. The study is more of a compensation for the lost hours which I, quite comfortably, spent on doing things at internet, blogging being noteworthy and many others being 'un-noteworthy".
I can't really say from when I will be able to regularise myself though I hope it won't take a long time..............

Adorable Awesome Amitabh

This blog was pending for some time now since I watched Rituparno Ghosh's latest experiment in story-telling 'The Last Lear'. This blog was meant mainly for the movie but with the recent advances leading Amitabh to the hospital and mourning his death today for a few minutes (of course a rumour), has led me to dedicate the blog to Amitabh Bachchan, whose acting incidentally happens to be the only thing in the movie to write about.
The Movie is based on a drama 'Ajker Shahjahan' by Utpal Dutt. It is about a stage artist, Harry, who lives Shakespere in every moment of his life. Due to some personal reasons he has already given up the stage and also has a great distaste for cinema. One day he meets Siddharth, a movie director much like the same in characteristics as himself. Siddharth manages to persuade him to do the lead role in his upcoming film. It was an unusual experience for Harry to watch a film being made and when asked by a journalist about the climax scene being done by a body double, he decides, against all odds, to do the life-threatening scene himself. He suffers the dread of trauma and ends up with a coma. The film is scheduled to be released on Diwali night besides the lead actor sleeping in coma. This is somewhat indigestible to Harry's partner Vandana. Moreover, Siddharth, the director, never even visited Harry's home after the accident to see him.
This is almost the whole about the story of the film which I think fails to connect with the masses and there are too many reasons for that. There is too much of Shakespere in the film and I don't really understand why. I have not read Shakespere's tragedy of King Lear but the wikipedia article on that led me to conclude that there was nothing in the film which could be connected to that story except for the fact that Harry wanted to enact King Lear once on stage but he couldn't do that. Maybe, Rituparno wanted to show the role of Harry as the circus clown in Siddharth's film as like King Lear but even that role didn't look like one; only the element of tragedy was similar. The personal rift of Preity Zinta (Harry's co-star in the film) with her husband and that between Divya Dutta (Harry's nurse) with her boyfriend has simply nothing to do with the story and it seems that it was done only to add some feminism to the movie, not understandable why.
Rituparno's projection as a director of different-looking films doesn't suffer much here. His style of film making truely comes out in this film with the ponderous speed and too much of the unnecessary melodrama in the film. Making a different film is not equivalent to making a good film and this is what Rituparno should understand sooner or later. The whole film is made in English and too much of shooting us done indoors (typical of Rituparno).
Amitabh as Harry (Harish Mishra) is adorably great and has done a job according to his capabilities after much time. Shefali as Vandana is good, Divya Dutta as Harry's nurse is wasted and useless. Arjun Rampal, as Siddhrth shocks me with his acting. I think its his best job till now in bollywood. Other actors are also good in their roles.
At last, Amitabh job is the only thing for which the film can be seen otherwise its better to skip it.

A Wednesday

A Wednesday is a recent film written and directed by Neeraj Pandey. The promo of the film showed yet again a bomb-threatened Mumbai leading you to establish an idea about the film as yet another movie based upon terrorism and terrorists. With the recent upsurge of terrorism in our part of world i.e. south-east Asia, we have in past few years seen so many of these terrorist movies that now I am getting confused about which film was that one or the other one. Watching this film was again not a different feeling till 77 minutes (out of total 94 minutes of movie) where from the movie takes a strange turn and the whole context of the story changes. Though I have (not in many movies) seen common man being dragged into some evil job or him taking on the evil men of the society especially after one of his kin suffers the terrorism, this movie here is something different.
It is about a “stupid common man”, as the character introduces himself, who wants to “clean his house”. The house is his country and what he wants to clean off is terrorism. He is not some superman or some he-man who will shave off every evil from the society but only tries to show a path to awaken the sleeping common people. He only gives you a start on which a splendid end can be phrased. This is in short what the director wants to tell which I don’t agree with and I would come on that later in this blog.
The story starts with the voice of Anupam Kher playing Prakash Rathore, commissioner of police, Mumbai who before his retirement (scheduled to be on the next day) is recalling one of the cases he handled. The case occurred on a Wednesday when a man (Naseeruddin Shah) calls him and says that he has planted several bombs all over the city and wants four of dreadly terrorists out of imprisonment. For the purpose of authenticity he also plants a bomb in a police station just in front of the police headquarters. He has a completely worked out plan of action for this and is unreachable. Finally he gets the terrorists out of the prison and with a full proof-plan, gets them to a runway of an air-base. There he gets those terrorists killed and this is the twist in the tale. After this he reveals himself and then follows an emphatic speech about the common man and his sufferings; the same age old speech of bollywood on this topic is repeated.
The screenplay is really fantastic and keeps you bound all throughout. The director manages to keep the suspense of the film till the very end and really gives you a real shock with the twist; it is superbly great, truly uncommon in bollywood movies are such a fabulous twist. The performances are of the highest order. Anupam Kher and Naseeruddin Shah are both, as usual, brilliant. Anupam portrays the commissioner with all its essence and who can be better than Naseer in showcasing a common man; really commendable performances. Jimmy Shergil and others are good in their little cameos.
Now coming back to the topic which I left earlier, it is a good idea to show in a film about common man doing all this. But is it possible practically? I heard somebody telling that this film should be shown to as many Indians as possible, even if only 1 lakh of them manage to wake up, it will bring an end to 4 lakhs terrorists. Really a nice idea!!! But is it authentic outside the filmy world? I don’t think so. Yes, I agree to the point that what is the need to keep such terrorists alive when you know they have taken hundreds of innocent lives, yes I agree to this. But I don’t agree to the point that common people should take law in their hands to do such a thing. Police is there to do that and let it do its own job and let us support them. When an encounter occurs many of us stand against it saying it brutal and inhumane. There I think, we should be supporting our police and yes I firmly believe our police to be given more of the power to deal with all this.
Final word for the film, really “pathbreaking” rather “pathfinding”!!!

Kidnap

It's been a long time since I have been out of blogging. Was only busy doing the routine studies compensating for my time that I gave to blogging and internet in the past few months. Anyways, as usual, with studies there are some movies that I saw recently and there are some which I saw earlier and could not write about but with these recent movies they inadvertently came to my mind and I think this will be the right time to write about these.
In this blog I want to focus mainly on ‘Kidnap’ and ‘Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na’ rather I should say on Imraan Khan. Kidnap is the most recent movie I saw and Imraan’s second appearance on the screen after Jaane Tu…….. Both these films have nothing in common except the name of Imraan Khan; even for him, its only the name that is common, the role is completely different, not even a single shade is common.
Kidnap a Sanjay Gadhvi film starring Imraan, Minisha Lamba and Sanjay Dutt is a suspense thriller that presents Imraan in a grey shade just opposite to the chocolaty Imraan in Jaane tu…. It is a story about revenge that Imraan takes from Sanjay Dutt for his injail-ruined childhood. To save his friend’s life the adolescent Imraan steals Sanjay’s car with his daughter only to return it after his friend is saved. He only manages to have a head-on accident with the car ramming into a tree with Sanjay’s daughter severely injured. Sanjay, with his approach, manages to have a seven year imprisonment for the boy for attempting to steal his car and abducting his daughter. After 15 years Imraan comes back and abducts Sanjay’s daughter (Minisha) in reality and wants Sanjay to feel sorry for what he did years ago. This is the storyline of the film in short. The credits of the film were presented in the very beginning with the whole story of child Imraan going to jail and feeling the pity of it with the help of cartoon sketches. Film started with introduction of Minisha with a song and soon after her abduction when she goes to swimming alone at a manless beach just after a spat with her mother. Imraan makes Sanjay follow his instructions on phone and provides him with clues to catch him after every instruction is correctly followed. Finally, Sanjay is able to crack the clues and then the whole story of 15 years run in flashback in a quite short time. While watching the film many a times I felt it to be similar with the story of ‘Zinda’ another of Sanjay starrer thriller. The story and the script has nothing much new to present, direction is disappointing, music avoidable, casting pathetic, and the performances more so.
Vidya Malvade (the Chak De goalkeeper) plays Minisha’s mother. Can anybody tell me from which angle does she look like Minisha’s mother? There were scenes were minisha looked like her mother or at best she looked like her elder sister. Anyway, moving on with the cast, Imraan, I think suits well in chocolaty roles. He is too cute for doing this role; nonetheless his performance is quite powerful and this only is his looks that he misfits in this role for. Sanjay Dutt, I feel, is doing the right job, at 50+ now, by doing roles of father of the heroine and in the meantime, doing the role of hero as well. I think the 45+ Khans of the industry should really think over this.
Now the performances, I am really impressed by Sanjay’s energy (and this energy is the only thing I am impressed with in Sanjay's acting in this film) that he has put in this film at an age of well over 50. Vidya is pathetic (I am sorry for my instant vocabulary, I couldn’t get a better rather worse word to describe her here). Imraan is good and Minisha does nothing. All in all, Kidnap is a film to watch only when you think you have too much of money to waste.
Few words for ‘Jaane TU… Ya Jaane Na’, a Aamir Khan produced film introducing his nephew Imraan. I had a lot of expectations from the film with Aamir (my favourite actor) producing the film. I thought it to be another of the perfect work from the Mr. Perfectionist. Disappointingly, the film was only OK maybe due to the high expectations that were from the film with Aamir’s name connected to it. Nevertheless, it had many positives also. Abbas Tyrewala as the director is good and better as the lyricist. His dialogues in Munnabhai M.B.B.S are loved by one and all and here he manages to bring the same magic with the hunky-funky lyrics on the even more hunkier-funkier music by A.R. Rahman. The songs are really nice and a bit new in flavor although many of them are meaningless. Anyway, Imraan impressed ne and all with his performance and another newcomer from south Jelenia Desouza also looked quite fresh. Naseruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak-Shah are surprisingly disappointing in their short cameos probably because they were not needed in the film. So where Sohail and Arbaaz Khan, who always were able to bring headaches on. The story was very simple, the same old ‘Ek larka aur ek larki sirf achhche dost nahi ho sakte’. Nevertheless, the film was OK at least once watchable.

Rock On!!!

Last few weeks have been a bit hard for us in Bihar. I had always read in a general knowledge book about river ‘Kosi’ being called the sorrow of Bihar. It was the name given to the river in the past when it really devastated the north-eastern part of Bihar many a times. Anyway it was in the pages of history only and with dams made over it in my life of over 20 years I had never heard of a flood being caused by ‘Kosi’. This year Bihar is again witnessing the fury of its sorrow. Over lakhs of people have lost their homes, the number of them who lost their lives is not yet known, over lakhs hectares of agricultural land is submerged in the water and the fury doesn’t end here only. It would be remembered for much time to come. Anyways, the spirit of life is still there and I am sure we will get over it and move on. Indeed, the show must go on!!!!!

Now, this blog is about the recent bollywood flick Rock On directed by Abhishek Kapoor and produced by Farhaan Akhtar. It is a movie about four friends and their rock band ‘Magik’. Of late, we have seen some bollywood movies made on the theme of music and starhood in music. Lucky Ali’s ‘Sur’, Amitabh’s ‘Abhimaan’ and one movie starring Zakir hussain and Shabana Azmi, whose name(probably ‘Sur’ again), I am sorry, I can’t recall presently, are among some of them. All these movies have music, starhood and the ill-effects of this starhood in common. Rock On is again a similar movie but has a completely different flavour. Here, first up, we have Rock, an altogether unknown genre of music at least in bollywood. Secondly, we have a musical band that I don’t think is an Indian curry. We have witnessed some bands in India but they have disappeared as quickly as they came up. Another kind of similarity can be brought up about this film with Farhaan’s debut as director and producer ‘Dil Chahta Hai’. Though, these are completely different films but the ego that breaks the friends in this film is something similar to what happened to the characters in ‘Dil Chahta Hai’.
Rock On is a story about a rock band of four friends, Aditya, the lead singer (Farhaan Akhtar); Joe, with the guitar (Arjun Rampal); Killer Drummer alias KD, the drummer (Purab Kohli) and Rob, on the keyboard (Luke Kenny). In their college days they had maintained a band and reached to the verge of being stars but at the crucial time, the ego factor came in and what followed was a miserable spat that broke the band. After ten years, they are all at different paths leading their own lives without even meeting each other. Aditya works as a manager in a firm and is married to Sakshi (Prachi Desai); KD is involved in his father’s jewellery business; Rob continues his passion for music and works for a music director (played by Anu Malik); and Joe having the most miserable lives of all with his wife, mother and a son managing his family fish business with his wife. Aditya has kept his past of a band leader a secret from his wife but somehow she comes to know about it and with her efforts the band members meet again and once again perform together. There are some twists in the tale also that move the story on. Rob’s brain tumour, Joe’s wife’s Villainship to the band and some others. These twists come near the end of the movie when they are preparing for a concert. Their decision of performing in the concert is mainly for Rob who, they discover, has not much time left. On the other hand, Joe’s wife is reluctant to let him perform with ‘Magik’ again and wants him to join a job at a cruise the same day the concert was scheduled. Nevertheless, Magik performs once again after 10 years and creates the same magic.
The movie starts with a stage performance by the band on the street of Mumbai. After that their present day lives are shown and the whole story is then told as a mix of present and the flashbacks. The direction is really nice. The flashbacks are used really nicely and the way they are used to carry forward the story is something that I really loved. Farhaan as the rock star has really stunned me. His acting, to me, is fabulous especially when he has performed on the stage with the mike. He really looked a rock star. What stunned me more about him is his singing in the film. All his songs in the film are sung by himself and man! He has really done a great job there. Arjun Rampal, as usual, is emotionless and again fails to impress me. Luke Kenny and Purab Kohli have fared quite well with their job. Prachi Desai makes her debut in bollywood after showing her talent in the small screen. She has looked cute and beautiful and did full justice to her role although a short one. The best thing about the movie is Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy’s composition. The music really gives you a feel of rock and you can’t stop your feet moving with the beats of the songs. The last song the ‘magnum opus’ is really fantastic. The music is really fabulous, something new (although there have been such hindi songs earlier also but a whole movie dedicated to such music is something new) for our ears, “Rock in Hindi”.
In parts one can feel the story to be a bit on the slower side, nonetheless, the film is really good, if not ‘must watch’, it is more than ‘watchable’, somewhere in between these two grades.

Johnny Gaddar

In my last post I mentioned about watching some movies and this Sriram Raghavan written and directed crime thriller ‘Johnny Gaddar’ is one of them. My elder brother Alok recommended me this movie with a positive review which is quite strange from him especially for a new bollywood movie. I got to watch the movie only recently and am really overwhelmed by it and truly think it deserves the appreciation that it got from him.

This is a crime thriller story about a gang of five criminals who are into a big deal that involves 2.5 crore rupees. They have always been partners in any deal or crime that they have committed but this time with this much of money involved, one of them has another idea about the deal. He is the traitor in the gang, ‘the Johnny Gaddar’, who plans to get hold of the money and elope with her girlfriend. In the process, he unintentionally kills one of his friends and then starts a series of murders to conceal his betrayal. The series of murder involves all his partners and ends with his own.

The story is as simple as this but the twists and turns that come in the movie at regular intervals doesn’t leave it that a simple one. Every single time when the ‘Gaddar’ feels that all the hurdles are gone, a new thrill comes in and twists the whole story again. I think that these twists and turns in a thriller movie are the things that make it great and only these things when used a bit injudiciously or hazily can make it thoroughly complicated. Well! In this case this is the beautifully knitted story by Sriram Raghavan that makes the movie so clear yet so thrilling. Although there are a lot of things about the movie that gives it a place among the best, the presentation of the story is the best thing about the movie as far as my view is concerned. Next to it among the goods about the movie comes the freshness of the theme in the Indian film industry. How many times we get a movie wherein we are completely confused whether the protagonist in the film is the hero or a villain. The character of Vikram, the ‘gaddar’, played beautifully by Neil Nitin Mukesh is a character for which one is not sure whether to keep sympathy or to curse him. Not many times in Hindi movies we get such a situation. This is not the only thing fresh about the movie. Not in many Hindi movies we have all the lead characters dead in the end. There have been movies like ‘Deewar’, ‘Sholay’ or ‘Fanaa’ where we have the hero dead in the end but ‘Kaante’ is the movie that, I think, comes the nearest to this one in this regard (In fact, these two movies have a lot of things in common, anyways). Presenting such a story to the Indian audience really needs courage. Hats off!!!

Another fresh thing in the movie was Neil Nitin Mukesh in the title role. He has looked fresh, charming, handsome and elegant and above all has performed with even more elegance. He is really promising and presently, I think, the best starlet in the industry (although, of course, his father Nitin Mukesh was not a star singer, his grandfather Mukesh was a real superstar as a singer). Along with Neil, other actors have also given fine performances. Dharmendra is back again with one more inning in the films. I really don’t know how many comebacks he is going to make in this industry. Zakir Hussain again is brilliant and so is Vinay Pathak in a completely different kind of a role. He is always known for his roles as comedian in ‘Bheja Fry’, ‘Khosla ka Ghosla’, ‘Manorama Six Feet under’ and many more but this time he is completely different. Ashwini Kalsekar as Vinay’s wife is, as others, awesome.

Sriram’s story and direction, as mentioned earlier, is outstanding. He never intended to make it a suspense drama and does not keep it hidden from the audience about the traitor yet he manages to put so much of suspense and thrill in the film, really commendable!!!!!!! He has dedicated this film, as given in the opening credits, to the thriller maestros Vijay Anand and James Hadley Chase. I have not read Chase yet, so can’t say much on him. As for Vijay Anand, I didn’t know before this that he is treated as a thriller maestro. I remember him for ‘Haqeeqat’ and ‘Kora Kaaghaz’ and in both these cases there was nothing like thriller. Besides, I also remember him for his detective teleserial ‘Tahqeeqat’ that was aired on Doordarshan some 12-15 years ago in which he acted as Sam DeSilva, the detective. Here, this was a bit nearer to be called a thriller; still, I can’t figure anything else out of him that can give me an impression of him as a thriller maestro. That may be my lack of knowledge and nothing else. So, thanks in a sense to the director for improving my knowledge!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One more thing about the opening credits that I liked was the flavor of the 70s commercial Amitabh hits that comes up in it. The way the names are presented and the background score in the credits reminds me a lot about the great hits of the 70s. The use of the plot of ‘Parwaana’ in the film or the extraction of the title from another thriller ‘Johnny Mera Naam’ is also awesome.

All in all a fresh movie with a lot of thrill in it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This Wikipedia article on the film has a mistake regarding the music director of the film. According to it, Vishal-Shekhar duo is the music composer but in reality the music I composed by the trio of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy………………….

These days...

It’s been so long again without any post. After the stitch removal on 9^th August, I have been a bit busy rejoining things that I lost during that resting period. I joined my classes from 10^th and on 14^th was off to Kanpur, at sister’s place on the occasion of ‘raksha bandhan’. I really wonder the importance of this occasion for me.

A few days before it, there was friendship day on 3^rdAugust . After rejoining my classes I got a complaint from one of my dear friends (of course a girl……..since most of my dear friends are girls...:)...) that I didn’t wish her happy friendship day. It is strange but true, despite being my best friend I didn’t wish her that. In fact, I never intended to wish her or anyone and it’s not that I forgot to do it. I usually don’t believe in things like friendship day or mother’s day or father’s day or even Valentine’s Day. I have my own reason for this but I am not sure whether it is correct or not. I truly believe that such relations i.e. father, mother or a friend is forever and there should not be a single day to celebrate such relationships rather one should do it where and when one wants.

Now, thinking over raksha bandhan, this is a similar occasion to celebrate the beautiful relationship between a brother and a sister, really a very important day for every Indian brother and sister. The same reason that I applied in the earlier cases can also hold true as far as this raksha bandhan is concerned. A sister is also forever and you can celebrate your relationship with her anytime. Then why should we have a special day for sister? This question holds true in my case (for my view over other days) at least. Rethinking over this, I can’t get any solid reason for this ‘dual-standard’. One reason may be that we are accustomed to celebrate rakhi from the very childhood and the other mentioned days are like borrowed into Indian culture from the west. Is it non-acceptance to the western culture or non-adaptability to it, I can’t really make it clear for me but in either case it reflects the conservative nature of mine………………………. A typical Indian middle-class man.

Anyways, these days I am also busy in watching films. Recently I got to see really beautiful movies, some for the first time and some other repeated. ‘Swadesh’ was among the repeated one and I personally feel that this is the best movie by Shahrukh Khan ever. Dil Dosti Etc, Fire, Basic Instinct, Johnny Gaddar are among others which I watched and I liked. Maybe I will be writing on some of them if not all.

Besides these, I also watched two recent movies ‘Bachna Ae Haseeno’ and ‘Singh Is Kinng’ that too on consecutive days in theatre. Both were different kind of movies but had something in common between them………..they both are ‘big bakwaas’. Two meaningless movies on two consecutive days, one can feel my mental status on the third day. Apart from occasional grins they had nothing to cheer about. Where ‘Singh…..’ had only to serve the typified Akshay Kumar, ‘Bachna……’ had not even anything one can cheer. The story is meaningless, cast pathetic and the acting even more so. In this respect, at least, ‘Singh……’ fares a bit better than ‘Bachna……’.

Pyaasa

In my earlier post with the title ‘Depression’, I wrote about watching ‘Pyaasa’, a Guru Dutt directed and produced film. As I said there, I was, and in fact I am still, feeling a bit reluctant about writing something on doubtedly one of the best ever made Hindi movie of all times. I am still so enthralled after watching the movie and literally, spellbound by the magnificence of the movie that I am not sure of myself doing any sort of justice to the great work that Pyaasa is. Maybe, this is the reason behind my reluctance that I have already mentioned. Anyways, in reply to one of the comments to the earlier post that asked me to write something on this, I am attempting it here.

I first saw Pyaasa some 7 years back courtesy my elder brother. At that time I had no idea of what the movie was all about and, in fact, had not even heard about the movie, though of course, had always liked some of its songs, unknowingly about the movie of course, like ‘Hum Aapki Aankhon Me’ and ‘Jaane Wo Kaise Log The’. My second encounter with the film came soon in an India Today edition about the best hindi movies. It had a poll where the different Hindi movies were voted by the eminent film directors of the bollywood. I do remember some of the movies that made it to the top 10 list of the poll and Pyaasa was in that. I don’t really remember the sequence of the films in the list but it included the great works like Sholay, Mother India, Mughal-e-Azam, Pyaasa, Kaagaz ke Phool, Deewar, DDLJ, Lagaan (as far as I remember, the first two names here were the first two respectively in the list and Lagaan was the tenth). Only after reading that edition of India Today, I realized what a masterpiece I had watched a few days back. Anyways, this list is dwarfed by the list of top 100 movies of all times that was presented by Time magazine, and this list also included Pyaasa. I came to know about it only after going through this Wikipedia article on the movie. This article contains many interesting facts about the movie and also the plot, so, I won’t go into much detail of the plot of the story.

The movie is about a dejected young poem Vijay (Guru Dutt) who depicts a common-man character of a post-independence Indian youth who faces the problems of unemployment and hunger. One day he is mistaken to be dead and then his poems, with efforts of a prostitute, Gulaabo (Waheeda Rahman) who was in love with him, get published. He receives ‘posthumous’ success with the sympathy of the audience for a dead poet. For the greed of money and more money, his friends and the publisher deny to recognize him as Vijay when he comes back in the picture but his brothers and some other people, again for the desire of success and money brings him to the public as the real Vijay. Anguished by the sad treatment of the world when he was alive and hurt by the opportunism of his near-ones, he then himself denies that he is not the real Vijay.

The film beautifully portrays a common man character in a state that was the destiny of most of the Indian youth post-independence. India at that time was facing lots of social problem and it is beautifully (can I call such a dismal situation beautiful?) portrayed in the film especially with the song ‘Jinhe Naaz Hai Hind Par Wo Kahan Hain’, a beautiful song written by Sahir Ludhiyanavi and sung even better by Md. Rafi as like the other songs of the film.

Guru Dutt as the lead character of Vijay is more than fantastic. Mala Sinha as Meena, his college life love and Waheeda Rahman as Gulaabo, the prostitute who gets him the fame do complete justice to their roles. They both were new actors at that time and their roles in this film must have led the founding stone of the fame that they later got in their life. Rahman as the rich publisher was again brilliant. His role was something like I have seen him doing in most of his later and maybe earlier films. I can’t figure out his earlier films but later in 'Waqt', 'Chacha Bhatija', 'Sahib Biwi aur Ghulam' and many others that I am unable to recall at present, he played a similar rich villain fully suited and booted who thinks of his own profit in every situation. Johnny Walker as Sattar Bhai, Vijay’s friend who helps him to get out to the world when everybody had denied recognizing him does his role as he has done in over 100 bollywood flicks. He is able to make the audience grin at every scene he comes in. Mahmood and others also faired quite well.

The acting of each and every actor was splendid but the best assets of the film were its songs. The lyrics of Sahir Ludhiyanavi and the music of S.D. Burman together does a magic that still most of us have not yet forgotten. All the songs of the film are as great as the film itself. It is a bit surprising for such a film that is sad almost throughout, to have songs with every mood. For love you have ‘Hum Aapki Aankhon Me’, for comedy you have ‘Sar Jo Tera Chakraye’, a heart-broken ‘Jane Wo Kaise Log The’, a song that questions the society ‘Jinhe Naaj Hai Hind Par Wo Kaha Hain’ and a completely outrageous against the opportunistic world ‘Ye Duniya Agar Mil Bhi Jaaye To Kya Hai’, every song just every song deserves a separate post for admiration. Personally, many of these songs were from my list of favourites (they still are) but till few years ago when I first saw the film, I didn’t know that they all were from same movie. I am a lover of sad songs and the Hemant Kumar sung ‘Jane Wo Kaise Log The’ is always at top of my list. I think this is the most hummed song by me for which I still get frowns from my girlfriend who loves me a lot and doesn’t want to hear such lines from meJ.

The songs, no doubt, were the best part of the film. Something that was as good as these songs was the dialogue of the film by Abrar Alvi. He was Guru Dutt’s real life best friend and did a splendid job in every film that Guru Dutt ever produced (as far as I remember, later he also got to direct one of Guru Dutt’s produced films, I don’t really remember the name, just a wild guess…………Sahib Biwi aur Ghulam………..confessions in advance if the guess is totally wrongJ). Anyways, in Pyaasa his job as dialogue writer is just magnificent. Each and every dialogue has so much of pain inside it and really complements Sahir Ludhiyanavi in his emotional lyrics. Few instances have been given in the Wikipedia article on the film and the best to me was “main wo vijay nahi hoon”.

So much has already been written about the acting, singing, lyrics and dialogues in the film but the description is completely incomplete without any word on the direction. Guru Dutt as director is even better than he as an actor. Direction is fantastic and the picturisation of each and every film is truly outstanding. The picturisation of this film as in other of Dutt’s films is great. A great use of lights and camera angles and added to it the fantastic picturisation of shadows especially in the penultimate scene is great. The only flaws that I could get in the movie came in the credits itselfJ. Mala Sinha’s name appered the first in casting but I think the role of Waheeda Rahman was the most important of course after Guru Dutt. The other thing was that there was no any mention about the story and screenplay writer of the film.......……….

Anyways…………………………… All in all a great movie with all the stars in the world and as many thumbs up as possible.………………..Go man…………………………get it………………really………………….don’t even think of missing it.

Depression

How depressing the life may be sometimes! These days I am going through a similar ‘sometime’, in which whatever that is happening to me or whatever state I am in is so much depressing. It is the post-operative period of recovery for me that I am in. I have to be in bed all the time that too alone………. (hehehe). If there is something that is with me is pain and nothing else. On the name of movement, I have only to move from one position to another and then again back, of course in the bed itself, the main aim being to avoid the bed-sores from developing. It’s a feeling that can be described as undescribable yet depression is the most appropriate in my dictionary to describe the state that I am in [I didn't use the word melancholy coz that is borrowed in my dictionary, I owe it to my bhaiya, :)]

In such a period of depression, I am doing a few things as my pass time. I got to read “Old Masters- A Comedy” by Thomas Bernhard. The review about the book at the back of it describes it as a satirical novel. I have started it only a day or two back, so have read only a small part of it. I had thought that this comedy could elevate my mood a bit if not much, but strange enough, it was not to be. From whatever I have read of it, I have been able to appreciate it as a satire on art, artist and many other things that are deemed to be great in this world. Where I have been able to appreciate it, I have not been able to appreciate in depth the satire part of it. Where I had thought it to elevate my mood, it has only been able to elevate the level of depression for me. It has brought in me a sense of unawareness, a unawareness from the beauty of this world, a unawareness from the greatness of the art of the world, a unawareness from the great artists of the world, a unawareness from many other things in this world that people call great. Even, I also called them great but now I feel that I have no right to call them great for I don’t know them, I don’t know the greatness of them, I am really not someone who can call them great, I have no right to do so.

To understand the satire part of it, I needed to know who Goethe, Kant, Schopenhauer, Bach, Beethoven, Mozart or many more are. The list is endless and with every name the feeling of that unawareness increases even more. Though, a few of these names I had heard of, I have not yet witnessed their work, so , I can’t appreciate anyone of them and to laugh on something that you don’t know is something that is the sorriest in this world. Anyway, it is only the start of my life, so, think, I’ll be knowing about, at least, some of them in future.

Today, I watched “Pyaasa” by Guru Dutt. A real masterpiece it is, doubtedly one of the best that the Hindi film industry has ever produced. It is again strange enough that a depressing movie that Pyaasa is, has elevated my mood much. I don’t want to get into the detail of this great work. I can only say one thing about it, a masterpiece. The plot of the story is available in this Wikipedia article about the movie. I wanted to write in detail about it but, don’t know why, I am feeling a bit reluctant in doing that. Anyway, watching Pyaasa, in spite of its depressingly pessimistic story, is able to bring happiness to you for you watch it and you watch a real masterpiece. you get the feeling that you have just witnessed one of the greatest works ever produced in bollywood.

Having said everything about me being depressed, I want to make it clear that I am not that much depressed as I have written. Writing for me is always associated with a bit of, and sometimes more, exaggeration. It’s a confession that I want to make for all my writing till date that they all have that part of exaggeration in them. CONFESSIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!

The 3 Mistakes of My Life

The title may confuse one and all but I want to make it clear here itself that in this post there is nothing like me making any confession or even recalling the mistakes that I have done in my life. Neither I have any intention nor I really want to review my mistakes in life, for, one, they are too many, and second, this is something that one does at the end of life when the hands of Yamraja advance forward to have a handshake. This post is only about the book by Chetan Bhagat which shares its title with that of my post.

As already written in my earlier post, Mr. Chetan Bhagat was the first English author whom I had read. That was his first book “Five Point Someone- What not to do at IIT”. I don’t really want to get into detail of that for it is not at my focus in this post but a few words will do no bad. As written in the book, it was a real story of three IITians and what they all did at the IIT (certainly they didn’t study for the full 4 years period, anyways). While I was reading that story, I believed it to be a true one without going into much insight into the story. The story had all the stuff of a commercially hit masala Hindi movie yet it seemed real for the story was about new-age boys with the ‘I-don’t-care’ approach and such things that happened rather mishappened with them could well have happened no doubt.

Anyway, the debate in the mind of readers on the reality of Chetan’s story will go on until, of course, they read the other stories by Chetan. His next two books till now, “One Night @ the Call-Centre” and “The 3 Mistakes of My Life” both are similar masala stories and both have been forwarded by the author as real stories. Although, I have not yet read the second book but I have heard about it and its plot and it seems totally unreal as looks the statement ‘someone will never die’ and for sure, I am never going to read that.

The third one i.e. “The 3 Mistakes…” is again told by the author as a real story. OK, the story is based on real events that happened in Gujarat but the story as a whole seems unreal. It’s a story about a businessman-minded boy-turned-man Govind and his friends Ish, a cricket buff and Omi, a priest’s son. It’s a story about their business and the natural calamities, religious politics, girl, love, friendship and many other things that come in between them and their smooth business. With so many of incidences that occur to them, you got to feel that it can only occur in a masala Hindi film. Everything that is required to make a film a blockbuster in India is present in this story. You have an earthquake first up to shatter the dreams of the lead men. They all get over it and then you have a communal riot that again puts everything in destruction mode. For Indians, you have cricket. On all of this you have kissing scenes, bed scenes and women topless. What more you can ask for a great commercial hit bollywood movie?

Now, I think, there are a few loopholes in the story. First, why should Govind call a girl who is not yet his girlfriend while he is amidst 200 hundred naked breasts? At least I am not going to recall my girlfriend at such a time when I can fantasize to have, maybe, only 1% of the total available wealth around me (hehehe, just joking). Second, why should anybody preparing for a medical entrance examination should read Mathematics? Only to get F…. by the teacher! (Again joking). Finally, the biggest flaw as I think is that none of the 3 mistakes of Govind’s life are really mistakes.

The first mistake was that he had put all his savings from the shop plus some loan as a deposit for a new bigger shop. It’s nowhere a mistake. Every businessman dreams of expanding his business and this is what he was doing. It was not his mistake that a quake came and destroyed the building in which he was taking the shop. His second mistake, according to him, was his sleeping with his dearest friend’s younger sister. Such things can’t well be mistakes. He loved her and she did too and whatever happened was a decision of both and he was not the only one to blame (Maybe, this time I may be wrong). His third mistake was his delaying his effort to save Ali for a moment. He put his self in front of everything else in this matter and hence this can be agreed as his mistake but somewhere, I get the feeling with so much of fight already done, it was the best he could well have done.

Anyway, these are the loopholes in the plot of the story. The story was not flawless in its writing also. Many a part could have been a lot better than what came out. The quake scene was OK but could have been better. Some more emotions could have been brought into the riot scene. It seems Chetan gave his full effort in making the kissing scenes and the bed scenes worthy. And not to forget the 100 women topless at the Bondy beach at Sydney in Australia!

Nonetheless, if you are a lover of fantasy drama go for it otherwise just let it be at the other side of the counter……………………………

Under the Surgeon's Knife

Ever since I stepped into the Patna Medical College in 2005, to be precise, on 1^st Aug 2005, I always dreamt of something. I had always dreamt of an operation theatre in which a person is standing wearing green gown with a green cap on his head and the disposable gloves covering the fingers uptill where it suddenly vanished into the green sleeves of the gown. A few other persons are also standing here and there in the O.T. who play the all important role of O.T. assistants. I said their role an all important one for they are the surgeon’s hand apart from the two the god has already given him, for he needs more than two hands while cutting out the diseased portion and also some non-diseased healthy tissue.

In my dream, there is one more person lying haplessly, pathetically with the lights focused on his abdomen in front of the surgeon on the operation table consigning himself to the mercy of the surgeon, telling him do whatever you want to do with my body, it is all yours, play with it or cut it into pieces, I don’t really care, for I will be unconscious, done by your partner standing just at the side of my head with injections, masks and cuffs in his hand. Loads of fluids have already flown in the veins of the pathetic character and somebody comes and put some more liquid as antibiotics, sedatives, anti-emetics etc. inside the already placed cannula put inside the vein over his forearm.

Finally the man is unconscious and the surgeon becomes ready with a knife in his hand. He incises the abdomen already shaved, cleaned, draped, and sterilized and opens up the abdominal cavity where the human body puts in all its wealth apart from heart, lungs and brain. I said ‘all its wealth’ because only ‘health is wealth’. The surgeon plays with the long unending shining white loops which these bloody inhumane characters call intestine. He plays with everything he sees inside the window created by him in the form of an incision. Finally when he is all done with his playing and bored, he again seals the window and the anesthetist again puts a few injections and revives the misfortunate man into consciousness. He is assured by the surgeon that he will be alright in one week and will be able to do all his work after that though what follows till one week after is a terrible, awful period of pain.

This was a dream I have always seen in front of my eyes. In my dream the man as the surgeon was me and the operation theatre belonged to me only. Yes, I have always dreamt of being surgeon for he is one who surely cures diseases without giving any empirical therapy as do the physicians. Such a nice dream, NO? YES! It is.

It is hard mate! It is really hard to see your dream coming true with a few exceptions as they came in my case. The operation theatre was not that I own and I was not in the place of the surgeon rather I was the pathetic character lying down on the operation table haplessly.

Yes! I have been operated for umbilical hernia that was diagnosed by me myself. Doesn’t it sound interesting to diagnose your own ailment? Presently, I am gaining health at my residence with still some liquids as antibiotics being poured into my ever consuming veins. I feel for my veins. They have always been circulating the blood inside me and now how much they are paying s much of extra liquid being given to them to circulate!

It is getting hard to pass my time lying idly in the bed. I have already finished “The 3 Mistakes of My Life” by Chetan Bhagat and thinking of reading some more stuff. Maybe, I’ll be writing something on these also. Maybe, I’ll be writing yet another story and when I do it I’ll surely put it on my blog, a few plots are coming in my mind. Hope, I’ll be able to do some productive works in this horridly painful time for me. Hoping for your wishes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"White Nights"

Finally, I am writing something on “White Nights” by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Among the English fictions, I think, it was only my third experience to read something. First one was “Five Point Someone” by Chetan Bhagat and the 2^nd one being “The Hound of Baskervilles” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This time it was completely a different experience. “Five…..” was a sort of fictional biography of three IITians who happen to represent the new age guys with the I-don’t-care approach. It was simple and a nice experience, at least for being the first time. “The Hound…..” was a Sherlock Holmes series novel, so don’t need to say much about it. It was more than fantastic. This time, “White Nights” was a completely different type……………a typical drama that we encounter more often in our Bollywood movies.

It is a story that passes on for four nights and end in the morning after the fourth night. The hero meets the heroine in the first night. The hero, as always in his life, was alone and wandering through the streets of Petersberg whereas the heroine was anticipating her lover who had promised her one year ago that he would come one year since and take her away. On the first night the lady had put forth a condition to the narrator that he had to promise that he would not fall in love with her if he wanted to meet her again. The hero agrees to it and they both come closer to each other through the four nights. The hero helps the lady in getting her love back and in the mid-time calming and cooling her. In the midst of all this, he starts to feel about the lady. He falls in love with her but doesn’t say anything to her for her condition that she had put forth the first night. For her love, he was ready to sacrifice his own love.

On the fourth night when the lady’s love was still not there, she thought that the man has refused her and forgotten her. She thought of forgetting her own love and starts to praise the narrator for the support and love that he had shown her all through these nights. She says him that she loves him because he has not fallen in love with her. It all was playing badly on the heart of the narrator who finally tells her that he loves her. She couldn’t believe it at first but then she accepts him. They start fantasizing their future together. They were together then and were happy. She had started to forget her past. Suddenly, alas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!,when they were thinking of their bright future together, the man comes to them. The lady realizing her love for him again goes back to him and the narrator is all alone again. The story ends with the morning when the narrator was all alone as he was four days ago.

It’s a simple story that we have seen in many of our bollywood movies. What makes it different from many such stories is the wonderful, exquisite, unparalleled, marvellous, fabulous magic of the words that the author comes up with the whole story. The description of the characters in their history, especially the narrator’s, is a masterpiece. The way the story starts with the description of the narrator’s love for Petersberg and all the inanimate things related to it is just fantastic. The web of words that keeps the story together and compact doesn’t allow leaving the story till you finish it. Sometimes, this same play of words was a bit difficult to understand for a beginner like me but everywhere such parts were the best written parts of the story…………………..a notable mention being of the narrator’s history that comes in the second night. It is so splendidly written that it compels you to think over the extremely complex character of a man. After reading it one inadvertently starts to look for the answers that the narrator asks about his life. It is simply undescribably fantastic.

The emotions that form the part of the story especially in the fourth night are again full of life. It feels quite happy when they are together thinking of their future. But suddenly, one starts to feel sad for the narrator when the lady leaves him for her past love. The whole flow of emotions that the author puts in it, is more than resplendent. Everywhere the author compels you to think like the characters inside the story. One can attach himself or herself with the characters anytime. Read the story for the emotions, the love, and the magic of words that forms the soul of the story. A truly wonderful piece…………………………….

Now, few words for Saawariya……………A Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s bollywood adaptation of this literary work. He made the film as a tribute to the greatest Indian showman ever……….RAJ KAPOOR. Raj Kapoor made Chhaliya years back which was also an adaptation of the same work. I have not yet seen Chhaliya, so, won’t be able to compare or comment on that. Saawariya, for me, was a much awaited film of the year. “Black”, a great work by SLB had made me expect a lot from Saawariya. To my surprise, SLB was not even upto his 10% in this film. At that time, I had not read the story neither I knew about it. Now that I have read the story, I feel really cheated by SLB. There is no comparison between the story and the film. The film is as bad as the story is good. SLB intrudes new characters in the film that have no existence in the original story. The Gulaabji’s character of a prostitute is a similar character that has done no good for the movie. There was no need for such a character and with the complex dialogues that were given to her only takes the movie away from a common people’s reach. The complexity of characters in the story is the best part of it but the same thing becomes the worst part of the movie with SLB making the characters more and more complex.

Ranbir Kapoor as the hero looks good and smart but when comes to acting, it seems that at times he did overacting. Sonam Kapoor was better than Ranbir as a childish, innocent, true-at-heart girl. Salmaan Khan does not suit in a role opposite Sonam. She looks like his daughter, the chemistry is nowhere existent. Rani Mukherji as Gulaabji is just a forced character in the movie with a role that had not to be the part of the film. Probably, SLB created the role only to take Rani in the film for the award for her great (maybe greatest) work in Black. Salmaan also might be in the film only for his old friendship of “Khamoshi- the musical” and “Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam” with SLB.

The malhandling of the story by an experienced director as SLB is a seriously sad issue. One thing that SLB has maintained about his style of film-making is the fantastic picturisation of the different shots in the movie. The use of the blue filter makes the whole film take a completely new look in the Indian movies. Only the picturisation in the dark of the film is something that looks good about the film. The association of the movie with Hollywood, I don’t think, creates much magic for the film.

So, better don’t watch it rather read the story………………………………………………

Back Again

It's been a long-long time since my last post. The examinations are over now and though they were well enough, I don't want to get into detail of that. In fact, for the long time that the tension and the intensity was there, now I want to be free and feel free from all of that and I don't really want to talk much about the exams.
In my last post, I had written about reading "White Nights" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. As I had written, I was not sure of myself completing the story before my exams. Surprisingly for me, I was able to complete it well before my exams had even started. My reluctance to having any kind of diversion from studies at such a crucial time didn't allow me to write about it that time. Indeed, writing about something takes a lot out of you in the form of both time and thoughts. As a result, I had to chose in between studies and blogging and, though quite unwillingly, I went with studies. Keeping with my promise, my next post is coming very soon on the same story.
With so much told and written about tension, intensity, importance of time etc. etc. etc., I want to make it sure that I am not a kind of a person who will die studying for exams. For me, exams are just like the spices that come often in your life..........sometimes they give fragrance to your life and at the other times they may be as hard as chilli..............Anyway, the r\tension was there and it was mounting all the time. To relieve it I had to do something. What else could be better than to watch a movie that too with your dearest friend.............:) In the middle of exams I watched "Jaane Tu....Yaa Jaane Naa"..........Hope to write something on that too..........After the exams ended yesterday, it was time to celebrate and again movie was the best option for this............This time "Mission Istaanbul". I didn't like it much so I am not sure whether I wil write anything on it or not.......
Anyways, I hope that I will be able to maintain the same zeal in blogging as before.............I hope that I will be able to make a comeback in the world of blogging................

न लिखने का कारण

It’s been much time since I wrote my last blog. Since then I have been busy in reading and only reading (more appropriately studying……….but didn’t use this word since it is contributed equally by both reading and writing and in my way of doing this, writing comes only when for blogging or in answering the perplexing answers to even more perplexing questions in the examination).

The title that I have chosen for this blog comes from the title of a book rather a collection of editorials, comments and critics on political issues from the pen of Rajendra Yadav. His views on contemporary political issues came up as editorials in some magazines. All such editorials were piled up in a series named “कांटे की बात”. The first of the six installments was named “न लिखने का कारण”. I came across the book almost 7 years back and for the lack of my interest in literature at that time, I didn’t go through that though it was not literature at all. Now, even after getting some interest in literature I have not yet even thought of reading this one, maybe, this time because of my lack of interest in politics. I am not sure whether I would ever read that. Whatsoever the reason may be, it is not of much interest for this blog of mine, a much “I”- centered blog.

I was always fascinated with the name of book so took it as the title of my blog. Hope it’s not illegal………Hope I am not violating the copyright rules………………:). I want to make it sure that only the title has been lifted and nothing else not even the idea or the base. The base here is much simple unlike the book’s. It’s simply the literal meaning of the statement that I am using. It is as simple as that.

I have not been frequent these days with blogging. It’s mainly because I am not getting anything on which I can write something. All these days, with the on-the-head examinations in the college, I have only been with course books and every one of you would agree that writing about that is as useless as the system of examination itself (I am not going to lose my way with the system of examination, whether good or bad…………:).......). Anyway, it’s been a tough time for me. It is examination time and as usual, the preparation till now is not satisfactory………maybe you will think that I am getting much humble with that as many of my friends do for my repute of an most-of-the-time studying guy………but, my dear readers, this time I am telling the truth.……………..Oh sorry! I lost my way…………….

The pressure of examination is the only thing that is stopping me to go through anything, any thought, any view, just anything that I could write in my blog. Apart from the course books, as a way of some refreshment, I am also reading “White Nights” by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Maybe, it will leave me before my examination ends or maybe, I will leave it before the story ends. Whatsoever the fate may be, I will finish it sooner or later. I think that this is the next thing that is going to bore you and let you scratch your heads at my blog. I don’t know when will it come but surely I’ll be back with some action at blogger’s. Since then Happy Blogging to everybody………………………………..

SARKAR RAJ

Hmmmm………………….Sarkar Raj………………Its better watch it than to read about it…………….A must watch for anybody who can seriously get involved in a film, otherwise, it can just pass you past in the theatre as does the cool breezes of the air-conditioner with its slightly complicated plot. Such nice suspense in a bollywood flick, I have seen after much time. The suspense of Abbas-Mustan duo, king of suspense in bollywood, is now a days a bit too fantasized. The twists come in the movies even where not required. For understanding it, fetch out for “Race”, though a good movie but with the number of twists it presents, you are going to beat your head and say every time ‘not again’. I don’t wanna recommend any of you this movie if you love to watch a serious suspense).

When it comes to the blend of politics and suspense, I have not seen better movies than Sarkar Raj in the bollywood. Every movie on politics comes up with conspiracy (much as in real life politics now a days), but this time it is something special. It seems RGV has thought over himself much seriously after the debacle of “AAG”, remake of Sholay. Surely, he is coming back to his self again. Looking forward to his next one……announced to be another one on underworld………

Now about Sarkar raj……..No doubt one of the best sequels (may be the first) in Indian film industry. RGV has not much to do here. He had just to carry forward the excellence that he created in Sarkar. The genre, the aura, the fragrance was well laid down there in Sarkar and he had only to repeat himself here. Barring a few sequences he has done only that. A bit more emotional flow in Sarkar raj is something that is a bit different here. The sarkar is seen weeping here (rightly so) with the death of his son which was something that was not present in “Sarkar”. Though there they said it all with their piercing eyes, here one may feel the emotions are a little overflowing…………Anyway, that’s acceptable. The eyes here again remain piercing as in the 1^st part. The acting is again brilliant. Direction is as nice but the use of characters this time looks a bit injudicious giving more than enough to Abhishek Bachchan.

Abhishek Bachchan is better than what he was in Sarkar. He is improving with every film. I have liked him for some time now but I had not much of the reason to justify myself. Now with Guru, Sarkar and Sarkar Raj, I wanna thank him, I can now justify himself. He gives a complete image of Amitabh in his angry young man days. He gives us glimpse of Amitabh playing an emotionless don in Deewar. He is as emotional as his father in Deewar but does not let even a bit of it come out on his face much like his father did there. The scene where he reacts on somebody in the mob calling his father a ‘chor’ is one of the best from Abhishek in his whole career. Maybe, this is the reason that he has got a place above his father in this blog…………hehehe…….

Amitabh Bachchan, after a long time has done something that can be called his style of serious acting. The angry old man now is one of the highlights of the film in the later part where he takes revenge from the conspirators involved for the murder of his son. In the first part Abhishek does this job for his father’s foeman, here Amitabh does it with so much freshness. One thing that has deteriorated in this film as compared to its prequel is the way Amitabh kills his enemies. If an evil act like killing somebody can ever be called elegant, it was the way Abhishek killed his enemies in the climax of Sarkar. Here, in Sarkar Raj, that elegance was missing.

With Abhishek and Amitabh given so much ‘more than enough’ here, there remained a little for other actors to do. Though some of them did fantastically what they had to do. I was much impressed with Ravi Kale (Chander) in Sarkar. Here again, he has managed to do more than justice to his job as an evil man this time. He is as brilliant as he was. The character of Sayaji Shinde (Karunesh Kanga, Deputy C.M.) is not understandable to me. For me he was not required in the film. His acting, I think, is the weakest link in the film. I have never liked his acting except for Shool. Here again, he has failed to impress me. Maybe, he was there to do a bit of comedy, to cool one off in such a serious stuff. Maybe, he was there because of his friendship with RGV, I don’t know. He has not done well in either. Victor Banerjee (the industrialist) has done well with his job. Govind Namdev (Hasan Qazi) is unexpectedly well here. I didn’t like him much too like Sayaji but he has done well to impress. Upendra Limaye (kantilal vora) has done things much like Sayaji and failed to do justice with his role. Dilip Prabhavalkar (rao saab) has done well to maintain his repute of Gandhiji of “Lage Raho Munnabhai” for which he has won the national award for best supporting actor. Rajesh Shringarpore as the young, explosive, volatile leader Somji is quite good.

Supriya Pathak had nothing much to do this time. The film could have gone by even without her. RGV had to carry her only because she was in Sarkar. Tanisha fails to impress even a single person as Abhishek’s wife. She had nothing much to do again but whatever she had to do, she didn’t do it well.

Aishwarya……..hmmm………She has looked beautiful, as usual. She looked as one of the family members of Bachchan in the beginning of movie where she looked like an angry and arrogant industrialist much like the arrogance over her real-life in-laws in many of their films. She has done full justice with her role but was eclipsed by Abhishek in every frame where they were together. Nonetheless, well done Aishwarya in an altogether different kind of a role!

All in all, this time RGV has not succeeded in bringing the better actors as he did in Sarkar. The whole herd of villain is not much impressive as it was very much in Sarkar made it soulful. Here. The very villainship was missing.

The story, this time, said to be original, is quite good. The Wikipedia article on the film says it to be impressed from the famous Enron issue. I have not heard about that issue, so, can’t comment over that. Nevertheless, some of the sequences like the public agitation against the govt. policy of establishing some industry in an established village reminded me of the Nandigram and Singur issue in West Bengal, still going on. Whatever the source may be the plot is superb as is the film.

In Indian film industry, the sequels have mostly failed to maintain the legacy of their respective prequel, Sarkar Raj is also not an exception. If compared to Sarkar, it ranks a bit low. Nonetheless, it still ranks high up among the movies based on politics and is a “MUST WATCH” one.

एक बार फ़िर...........

My first attempt at writing something that can be called a literary work ended in a disaster for me……. “Dil Chahta Hai”……………….This is my second attempt towards this and the first in the field of short stories………..Hope, this time you won’t be disappointed………………..

कमरे के रोशनदान से डूबते हुए सूरज की आखिरी किरणें अन्दर आ रही थी. दिवार से लगी आराम कुर्सी पर बैठी अवंतिका कुछ सोच रही थी. 27-28 साल की अकेली लड़की इस छोटे से कस्बे के इस कमरे को किराये में लेकर रहती थी. यहाँ उसका कोई न था. बचपन से ही वो अनाथ अकेली ही रही थी. अब तो जिंदगी में अकेले रहने की आदत हो गई थी. यहाँ भी उसे अपना कहने वाला कोई नही था. किसी से भी उसकी कभी कोई बात नही हुई थी. मानो वो किसी से बात करना ही नही चाहती थी. ऐसे ही सबसे अलग रहकर वो अपनी जिंदगी गुजार रही थी. वैसे भी मिलिटरी कैंट के अलावा इस कस्बे में और था ही क्या.सुबह उठकर १ मील दूर अखबार के एक दफ्तर में typist की नौकरी करने जाती थी. दिन भर काम करके शाम को वो वापस आती थी.

रोज़ की तरह वो आज भी उसी सब्जी मंडी वाले रस्ते से होकर लौट रही थी. वो सब्जी खरीदने के लिए वहीँ ठहर गई. “ये परवल कैसे दिए?”,सब्जी वाली से उसने पूछा. “16 रुपये किलो मालकिन”. १ पाव परवल तौलने के लिए कहकर अवंतिका की नज़रें यूँही इधर उधर दौड़ने लगी. थोरी दूर सड़क के उस पार बस स्टाप पर उसकी नज़र जैसे ठहर गई मानो किसी चेहरे को पहचानना चाह रही हो. तभी सड़क से मिलिटरी की गाड़ियों का एक काफिला गुजरने लगा. गाड़ियों की बिच से उसकी नज़रें उसी चेहरे को देखने की कोशिश कर रही थी. तभी सब्जी वाली की आवाज़ उसके कानों में पहुची, “हाँ मालकिन ये लो अपने १ पाव परवल.” उसे उसके पैसे देकर अवंतिका आगे बढ़ी. अभी भी उसकी नज़रें उसी चेहरे को खोज रही थी. काफिले के ख़त्म होने के बाद फ़िर वो उस चेहरे को नही देख पाई. मगर उस चेहरे की पल भर की झलक ने ही उसे उसकी यादों की तरफ़ जाने को मजबूर कर दिया. तेज़ क़दमों के साथ वो अपने कमरे में वापस आ गई.

धीरे-धीरे अँधेरा होने चला था, शाम ढल रही थी, सूरज डूब रहा था और चांदनी अपनी चादर से इन वादियों को ढक रही थी. अवंतिका जैसे अपनी कुर्सी में बैठी कहीं खो सी गई थी. वहीँ पर बैठी बैठी वो ८-१० साल पहले मसूरी के अपने कॉलेज के दिनों को याद करने लगी. इंग्लिश के प्रोफ़ेसर क्लास में बैठे विद्यार्थियों पर shakespere की कोई छाप छोड़ने की कोशिश कर रहे थे . बाहर काफ़ी मूसलाधार बारिश हो रही थी. अवंतिका हर रोज़ की तरह उस दिन भी अकेली ही खिड़की के बगल वाली बेंच पर बैठी थी. वहां भी उसका कोई दोस्त न था. बारिश के फुहारे हवा के ठण्ड झोकों के साथ रह-रह कर उसके पास आकर उसके मन को अपने साथ बाहर ले जाने का प्रयास कर रहे थे. Shakespere के शब्दों और प्रकृति की पुकार के बिच एक अनोखा द्वंद्व अवंतिका की आंखों के सामने चल रहा था. क्लास में बैठ कर प्रोफ़ेसर की बातों की तरफ़ अपने आप को एकाग्र करने की उसकी हर कोशिश नाकाम हो रही थी.

तभी बाहर से बारिश की पानी में भींगता हुआ एक हट्टा-कट्टा गबरू जवान क्लास के अन्दर आया और आकर अवंतिका के सीट के बगल में बैठ गया. अवंतिका के लिए एक नया अनुभव था क्यूंकि उसके साथ आजतक कॉलेज में कभी कोई नही बैठा था. वो हमेशा अकेली ही बैठा करती थी. उसे कभी किसी से दोस्ती ही नही हुई थी शायद इसीलिए कोई उसके साथ नही बैठा करता था. उसे उस दिन बार ही आश्चर्य हुआ. अब बारिश की फुहार और shakespere के शब्द दोनों उसके पास अपनी कोई छाप छोड़ने में नाकाम हो रहे थे. उसका सारा ध्यान उस अजनबी पर चला गया था जो अचानक हवा के झोंके की तरह आकर उसके बगल में बैठ गया था. न चाहते हुए भी उसकी नज़रें उसे एकबार अच्छे से देखने को बेताब हो रही थी. अवंतिका का ध्यान अपने क्लास के लड़के-लड़कियों की तरफ़ कभी नही गया था मगर आज एक अजनबी के आने से अचानक न जाने उसे क्या हो गया था. उसे ख़ुद भी ये सब कुछ अटपटा लग रहा था. क्यों एक अजनबी की तरफ़ वो ऐसे बहकी जा रही थी. क्या था उस अजनबी में जो उसे अपनी और खींचे जा रहा था. उसकी समझ में कुछ भी नही आ रहा था.

क्लास ख़त्म होने के बाद उस नए लड़के का परिचय पूरे क्लास के साथ हुआ. उसका नाम आकाश था. वो मसूरी के पास ही किसी गाँव का रहने वाला था और कॉलेज में admission अभी कुछ दिन पहले ही हुआ था. वो कॉलेज में नया था. उसके बाद से हर रोज़ अवंतिका की आँखें क्लास में उसे ही खोजा करती थी. जब तक वो आ नही जाता था तब तक उसे चैन नही आता था. वो आता और आकर अवंतिका की साथ वाली सीट पर बैठा करता था. अवंतिका उस से बात करने के लिए बेकरार रहती थी मगर कभी उसे हिम्मत नही हुई. और सभी लड़कों से आकाश की बात होती थी. अवंतिका उन बातों को बरे ध्यान से चुपके-चुपके सुना करती थी. उसी से उसे पता चला था की वो एक गरीब अकेली बीमार माँ का अकेला लड़का था. हर हफ्ते आकाश को अपनी बीमार माँ के पास अपने गाँव जाना पड़ता था. बाकी दिन वो कॉलेज के हॉस्टल में ही रहता था. पढ़ने में काफ़ी अच्छा था और मिलिटरी में जाना चाहता था.

कई दिन बीत गए थे. आकाश यूँही अवंतिका के साथ वाली सीट पर बैठा करता था. कभी उन दोनों की बात नही हुई थी मगर अवंतिका उस से बात करना जरुर चाहती थी. एक दिन अचानक आकाश ने ही उस से बात की. शायद वो भी उस से बात करना चाहता था. उस दिन अवंतिका की बेकरारी थोड़ी कम हुई. धीरे धीरे उन दोनों के बिच अच्छे से बातें होने लगी थी. अवंतिका के मन में बातों का सैलाब उमरता रहता था मगर वो इसे बाहर निकलने से हमेशा डरती रहती थी. उसकी बेचैनी उसकी सबसे बरी दुश्मन बन चुकी थी. अपनी दबी हुई सारी भावनाओं को व्यक्त करने के लिए जहाँ एक और वो बेताब थी वहीँ दूसरी और हिम्मत जुटाने में वो हमेशा नाकाम ही रहती थी. उसकी नाकामी उसे खाए जा रही थी.

समय बीतने के साथ सब कुछ बदलता जा रहा था. आकाश की अब क्लास में सब लोगों से अच्छी दोस्ती हो चुकी थी. वो पूरी तरह से इस नए माहौल में घुल-मिल सा गया था. अवंतिका से भी उसकी बातें हुआ करती थी. अगर कुछ नही बदला था तो वो था आकाश का अवंतिका के साथ बैठना और फ़िर भी अवंतिका की अपने दिल की सारी बातें कह न पाने की नाकामी. शायद अवंतिका ने ही अपने आप को रोके रखा था. एक अनजाने डर ने उसके मन में घर कर लिया था. वो ख़ुद ही आकाश के दिल में रहना चाहती थी मगर कुछ था जो उसे अपनी इस भावना को व्यक्त करने से रोक रहा था. दोनों काफ़ी समय एक दूसरे के साथ बैठते थे, बातें करते थे. दोनों का काफी समय साथ में गुजरा करता था. इन सब के बावजूद अवंतिका कभी भी खुल कर आकाश से बातें नही कर पाती थी. उसका दिल पूरी तरह से आकाश का हो चुका था. उसे ऐसा लगने लगा था की आकाश भी शायद उसे पसंद करता था मगर उसी की तरह ही उसे भी हिम्मत नही होती थी कुछ कहने की. ये अवंतिका का सिर्फ़ ख्याल था या फ़िर आकाश की एक सच्चाई वो तो सिर्फ़ आकाश ही जानता था मगर इसने अवंतिका को प्यार के रिश्ते के बरे में कुछ सोचने को मजबूर कर दिया था.

अवंतिका ऐसे किसी रिश्ते के पूरे होने या उसके अंजाम तक पहुचने के बरे में चिंतित रहती थी. क्या ये सही है? क्या इसका अंजाम सही होगा? कहीं उसे बाद में पछताना न पड़े? इन सब सवालों ने अवंतिका के कदमो को बाँध सा दिया था. न चाहते हुए भी उसने आकाश से अपनी दूरी बढ़ाने का निर्णय कर लिया. मगर क्या ये आसान था? साल भर की अपनी दोस्ती जो शायद दोस्ती से कुछ ज्यादा हो चुकी थी, उसे यूँ पल भर में छोड़ देना, ख़त्म कर देना क्या किसी के लिए इतना आसान हो सकता था? उसने ज्यादा कुछ नही सोचते हुए निर्णय लिया की वो आकाश के साथ रहने के बावजूद भी उसके बारे में अपने दिल में कोई ख़याल नही लाने की कोशिश करेगी. कामयाबी का उसे कोई विश्वास नही था मगर कोशिश करने की एक मजबूरी जरुर थी.

दोनों के साथ रहते लगभग साल भर बीत चुके थे. उसने अपने निर्णय को पूरी तरह से अबतक निभाया था मगर आकाश के साथ उसकी नजदीकी दिनोदिन भरती ही जा रही थी और साथ में आकाश के लिए उसकी कमजोरी भी. उसे अब अपने आप को रोके पाना मुश्किल होता जा रहा था. कई रातें उसने यूँही जगे हुए गुजार दी थी अपने मन में चलते हुए द्वंद्व के कारण. उसका दिल हमेशा उसके दिमाग की सोच को धोका देना चाह रहा था. वो आकाश को सब कुछ बता देना चाहती थी मगर उसके शब्द हर बार होठों तक आकर रुक जाते थे. शायद उसकी जबान पर अभी भी उसके दिमाग का दिल की तुलना में जायदा जोर चल रहा था. आकाश ने भी कभी उस से ये बातें नही की थी. अवंतिका को ये डर भी था की कहीं उसके सब कुछ बोल देने से कहीं आकाश उस से दूर न चला जाए. कभी यह भी सोचती थी की न ही बोल कर कौन सा आकाश उसके पास है.

अभिव्यक्ति के इस तूफ़ान में अवंतिका कहीं खोयी सी जा रही थी. आकाश से उसकी एक पल की जुदाई भी अब उसकी जान निकल देने के लिए काफी हो चुकी थी. वो हमेशा अपने-आप को आकाश के सामने रखना चाहती थी. हमेशा उसकी आँखें आकाश को देखने के लिए ही बेताब रहती थी.

आजकल आकाश न जाने क्यूँ रोज़ क्लास नही आया करता था. अवंतिका की आँखें अक्सर तरसती ही रह जाती थी आकाश की एक झलक तक देंखने को. बहुत हिम्मत करके एक दिन अवंतिका ने आकाश से इसका कारण पूछा. पता चला की उसकी माँ की तबियत थोड़ी बिगड़ गई थी. अवंतिका के मन में चल रहे द्वंद्व में उसके दिल ने उसके दिमाग पर जीत हासिल कर ही लिया था. उसने आकाश को अपने दिल की बात बताने का निर्णय कर लिया था. बहुत हिम्मत करके अवंतिका ने आकाश को बताया की वो उस से कुछ कहना चाहती थी. आकाश ने इस बात की तरफ़ कोई ख़ास तवज्जो नही दी. शायद उसकी माँ की तबियत के बारे में उसके चींते के सामने उसने अवंतिका की इस बात को कोई ख़ास वजन नही दिया था. लंबे चले उस द्वंद्व के बाद जुटाए हुए अवंतिका के हिम्मत को आकाश की इस बेरुखी ने एकदम ही पूरी तरह से तोड़ कर रख दिया. अब तो अवंतिका के लिए कुछ भी कहना मुश्किल हो रहा था. उसके मन में रोज़ एक नया तूफ़ान उठ खड़ा होता था मगर आकाश की बेरुखी को देखकर वो ख़ुद इस तूफ़ान को दबा देती थी. अब तो इस तूफ़ान को दबाना भी उसके लिए भारी पड़ता जा रहा था.

एक रात पढ़ते पढ़ते अचानक ही उसने निर्णय लिया की आकश की बेरुखी के बावजूद भी अब वो नही रुकेगी. उसका डर उसकी बेचैनी के सामने बौना बन चुका था. उसके प्यार के सामने आकाश की बेरुखी का कोई स्थान नही रह गया था. उसे पूरा यकीं था की आकाश भी उसे चाहता था. शायद ये उसकी चाहत थी की आकाश भी उसे चाहे जो उसके यकीन के रूप में बाहर आ रही थी. उसने चिट्ठी लिख कर आकाश को सब कुछ बताने का निर्णय कर लिया. चिट्ठी लिखने के लिए अवंतिका ने अपने notepad के पीछे से एक कागज़ फाड़ा. उसके बाद वाले पन्ने में कुछ लिखा हुआ था. इतनी दिन साथ में रहने के कारण उसे पहचानने में कोई दिक्कत न हुई की वो लिखावट किसी और की नही पर आकाश की ही थी. उसने उसे पढ़ने में कोई देर नही की. उसके चेहरे से पसीने निकलने लगे थे. आंखों से आंसू एक या दो बूँद धीरे से बाहर आने का रास्ता देख रहे थे. उसे विश्वास नही हो रहा था की आकाश ने ये सब कुछ लिखा है. उसे पता नही चल पा रहा था की आकाश ने ये सब कब लिख दिया. कुछ महीने पहले आकाश ने उसकी कॉपी ली थी कुछ नोट्स उतारने के लिए. शायद तभी उसने ये सब कुछ लिख दिया था. ये सब कुछ पढ़कर वो बेचैन हो चुकी थे. खुश तो वो होना चाहती थे उस सब से जो उस चिट्ठी में लिखा था पर अपने ऊपर उसे गुस्सा आ रहा था. उस चिट्ठी में वो सब कुछ लिखा था जो वो अपनी चिट्ठी में लिखना चाह रही थे. ये चिट्ठी आकाश ने उस वक्त लिखी थी जब अवंतिका के मन में उन दोनों के रिश्ते को लेकर एक अनजाना सा डर, एक अजीब से द्वंद्व ने घर कर लिया था और फलस्वरूप वो आकाश से दूर जा रही थे.

अवंतिका के सामने सब कुछ पानी की तरह साफ़ हो गया था. आकाश की बेरुखी उसकी अपनी न थी शायद वो अवंतिका की अपनी बेरुखी का ही परिणाम थी. अवंतिका अपने आप को ख़ुद अपना और आकाश का भी दोषी मान रही थी. उसने निश्चय कर लिया की वो अगले दिन सुबह ही कॉलेज में जाकर आकाश से सब कुछ बोल देगी. रात भर उसने करवट बदलने और सोचने में ही बिता दिए. रात भर शब्दों के साथ एक अजीब सी लड़ाई उसके मन में चल रही थी. वो समझ नही पा रही थी की आकाश के सामने वो कैसे अपनी बात रखेगी. कुछ भी हो उसने निर्णय कर लिया था की कल उन दोनों के बिच सब कुछ साफ़ हो जाएगा.

अगले सुबह इसी उद्देश्य के साथ अवंतिका कॉलेज पहुची. एक अनदेखी सी चमक उसके चेहरे पर थी उस दिन. आज जिंदगी में पहली बार उसका उतना समय आईने के सामने गुजरा था. आईने में वो अपने आप को आकाश की नज़रों में देखना चाह रही थी. पहली बार आज उसने सजने सवरने का काम किया था. सब कुछ आकाश के लिए. वो इतने दिनों से उसी की तो हो कर रह गई थी. आज तक जो दोस्ती या जो सम्मान आकाश ने उसे दिया था, वो उसके लिए पूर्ण रूप से एक नया अनुभव था. आकाश के पास जाने को उस से हर बात कह देने को वो बेताब हुई जा रही थी. क्लास में बैठी तो थी पर पढ़ाई पर उसका कोई ध्यान नही जा रहा था. हर पल उसकी नज़रें दरवाज़े की तरफ़ ही लगी थी. गलियारे में होने वाले हर क़दमों की आहट से उसे आकाश के आने का ही आभाष होता था मगर हर बार उसका दिल छोटा पर जाता था. इतना अकेलापन उसे जिंदगी में कभी महसूस नही हुआ था. शुरू से ही जिस सीट पर वो अकेली बौठा करती थी, उसी सीट पर अकेले बैठना उसे बिल्कुल अच्छा नही लग रहा था. हर पल उसका दिल भगवान से दुआ कर रहा था की आज कम से कम आज आकाश उसे मिल जाए. दिन बीत गया, कॉलेज का समय ख़त्म हो गया, आकाश नही आया. अवंतिका पलके बिछाए यूँही बैठी रह गई. अभी भी उसे लग रहा था की शायद आकाश उस से मिलने आ जाए. शाम हो गई, सब जा चुके थे. अवंतिका अभी भी आकाश का वही इन्तज़ार कर रही थी जहाँ वो दोनों अक्सर साथ समय बिताया करते थे. आकाश वहाँ भी नही आया. अवंतिका उस दिन के लिए हार मान चुकी थी.

हर सुबह अवंतिका इस उम्मीद के साथ कॉलेज जाती थी की शायद आकाश आज उसे मिल जाए. वो फिर कभी नही आया. कुछ रोज़ के बाद नोटिस बोर्ड पर एक नोटिस लगा था जिसमे आकाश के कॉलेज छोड़ के जाने के बारे में लिखा हुआ था. उस दिन अवंतिका की रही सही उम्मीद भी ख़त्म हो गई. उसने इस सब के लिए अपने आप को ही दोषी माना. उसने कभी अपने आप को न माफ़ करने का निश्चय कर लिया था. फिर कभी उसे आकाश क बारे में कोई ख़बर न मिली सिवाय इसके की उसकी माँ चल बसी थी. अवंतिका आकाश के अकेलेपन के लिए अपने आप को दोषी मान रही थी. उसे लग रहा था की आकाश को वैसे बुरे समय में जरुर एक साथी की जरुरत होती जो शायद वो ही थी. मगर…………………………………………………………..

तभी अचानक दरवाजे पर किसी ने दस्तक दी. खोल के देखा तो मकान मालिक का पोता आया था. उसने कमरे की बत्ती जला देने को कहा और उसे उसकी कोई चिट्ठी, जो डाकिये ने दिन में दिया था, देकर चला गया. सूरज डूब चुका था, चांदनी अपनी चादर बिछा चुकी थी, रात ने अपने पांव पसार लिए थे. सड़क पर streetlamps जल रहे थे और अवंतिका उन्हें ही देखती-देखती सोच रही थी. एक वो दिन था जब उसने अपने आप को आकाश से दूर कर लेने का फ़ैसला कर लिया था और उसका परिणाम वो अपने प्यार को खो कर भुगत रही थी. एक आज का दिन था जब फ़िर से उसे आकाश दिखा था और फ़िर से वो दूर ही रह गई थी. एक वो दिन था जब उसने उसके पास जाने का निर्णय लिया था मगर तब तक देर हो चुकी थी. एक आज का दिन था जब फ़िर से उसके पास जाने के पहले ही वो जा चुका था.एक वो दिन था जब उसने अपने प्यार को खोया था, एक आज का दिन था जब फ़िर से उसने अपने उसी प्यार को खोया.

एक बार फ़िर ...............................................................................................………………………………..