A tight slap to our education system - '3 idiots'

Comedy, a genuine & needed message, a big but not boring screenplay, good editing and poor lyrics but good dialog - thy name is '3 idiots'! I'm not sure if I need to thank Chetan Bhagat for the plot of this movie, because, the movie takes almost a U-turn at the middle from the novel of Mr. Bhagat, 'Five Point Someone'. Thanks for inspiring the director though, Mr. Bhagat...perhaps he found a good point of start with this bestseller novel.

As we have seen the previous works of Raju Hirani in Munnabhai duo, I was sure this new movie is coming with a message. But I just couldn't imagine that the message could be this powerful to hit the education system of India so hard. Let's not discuss the storyline which will take out the interest of the future viewers, but this message to the viewers was long overdue. Perhaps this movie made ten years back could have saved some lives of the unborn Picasso or Shakespeare who go to the engineering/medical colleges on family pressure and end their lives.

Aamir is as good actor as he can be, and same goes for Maddy & Sharman Joshi. The trio jelled together well, but Kareena hadn't much to play. Above all, I must mention the superb acting of Boman Irani; he again proved that he is a character player and currently there isn't anyone nearby him. Kudos, Mr. Irani!

Editing of the movie is so good that audience will not feel bored even for a minute. Choice of location gave a fresh look to some of the scenes. We need this sort of movies to speak out for each rotten segment of the society. Parents, please watch this!

‘Paa’ – a must watch!

The promo was jaw-dropping, which actually took me to the box-office to buy the ticket of ‘Paa’. And after coming out of the theatre, I think the160 bucks are well spent.

The complete movie is about a 13 year old kid – ‘Auro’ who is suffering from a rare disease which is genetically acquired. ‘Progeria’ – the official name of this incurable disease and Amitabh Bacchan played the role. It will be an understatement if I just say he ‘played the role’; actually it’s a complete reinvention of this 67 years old veteran actor. Again he proved that he is highly under-utilized in Indian cinema. R.Balki did a great job in selecting him, as it was only possible to bring out ‘Auro’ by him and in title showing, ‘Introducing - Amitabh Bacchan’. This is truly a reinvention of an actor.

Abhishek & Vidya were good to their extent; mainly Abhishek was great in picking up the intricacies of new-age politicians of India. Balki is surely an exceptional director who makes unconventional movies, but this time he proved that he’s capable to make absolute stunning ones. The dialogue was humorous, keeping the audience engrossed to the movie throughout.

I would say there are two things that Balki could’ve avoided – the political issues which we usually see any bollywood movie and do some more study about ‘Progeria’ before making the movie. As most of the viewer is unaware of the disease, its okay for him to create scenes like ‘Auro’ dancing in rain and roaming on Abhishek’s back. But the fact is none of these are actually possible by a person suffering from ‘Progeria’. They can’t even stand even if ceiling fan is running at its full blow.

‘Paa’ is surely a must watch movie for all ages. Just because each of us should know what Mr. Amitabh Bacchan can do! Kudos!!!

Few updates

Sorry for not being very regular here for almost a month & half. Lots of developments and I put this post just to give bits & pieces of them.

I became father of a baby boy on 26th of August, birth of a new identity for me! Enjoyed fatherhood for a week or so which I spent with my wife & new born child in Kolkata. Coming back to Mumbai on first week of Sep, I started touring for some official work through Gujarat. And yesterday we just finished with 'Durga Puja' of this year.

I had almost 3 consecutive holidays till yesterday, and I spent all the time reading some great novels by Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay & Manik Bondhopadhyay.

Oh yes, I must mention watching Buddhadeb Dasgupta's 'Uttara'. It's good work from the director, but the artist mind wants little more.

Old smell...memory forever!

How it feels when you suddenly come across an old smell? Be it your mother's hair oil or the smell of known perfume which your first girlfriend used to use on special days; they are living in our deep down memories, but comes afloat only something reminds them. When the smell of the warm earth comes with the first rain, my bloodstream gets a shake! It reminds me the childhood, running bare foot from one field to another, playing with friends and I used to inhale deeply the smell of just-wet earth.

Smell of the Chatim flower (flower from the Devil tree) on a full moon night used to make me think of the neighborhood girl, perhaps I was in verge of completing a decade on earth by then. Today when I get the same smell, I remember that full moon night when I first encountered it; but time has washed away the image of that neighborhood girl...now it's just a soft shape all together.

Smell of chicken being cooked on the Sundays was another feeling of happiness. Even after thirty odd years, that smell tells me, it's Sunday! How we identify each day, event, person using one or all of our senses. Neither the day, nor the event or person stays, but the smell stays back with us till we die.

Amadeus

The story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is not just told in this movie (1984), but actually felt the pain, laughter, love & dejetion of the artist so well that viewers can connect to it easily. It's an exceptional movie which could go beyond just a life-story and made it a movie to remember, thanks to the script of Peter Shaffer and direction of Milos Forman.

Surprisingly the movie starts & roams around with the character which hated Mozart to the greatest extent, Salieri. Being a mediocre composer, Salieri used to envy Mozart, but he knew its the music of Mozart that reveals God, not Salieri's. The entire movie is the confession of Salieri who's old and now in an asylum and confessing to a priest.

The movie only showcased the 10 years of Mozart's life that he spent in Vienna (1781 - 1791). Awesome representation of their characters by Tom Hulce (Mozart) and F.Murray Abraham (Antonioni Salieri). The other most important character which actually was the most powerful but invisible is the music of Mozart. It just flowed from one opera to another and viewers just became ecstatic with each movement of the tunes.

Amadeus is not only treat to the eyes, but also a great treat to any music loving mind!

Recommended: Director's cut (3 hours)

Settled, are you?

The question of when one can call himself ‘settled in life’, disturbing me for last few weeks. At what point? When one gets a well-paying secured job? With a sustainable balance in the savings account? With a happy married life? After having a bright kid or two? Or when the children are educated enough and they have a handsome job and their own house?

Staying in the business capital for almost a decade with good jobs in hand coupled with a satisfactory family life, can I call myself ‘settled in life’? Not really, I guess. Not a guess, but surely I’m not settled. I hear the call of the mountains from Ladakh, I can see them coming to me to take me with them if I don’t reach them myself. I can literally hear the call of the sea on a full moon night and can feel my body is getting wet with the salty water. Someone says within me to leave everything right away and rush the mountains, to the sea or to some dense forest that I’m yet to visit.

Escapism? Not really. It’s the wish of re-birth, and this time I’ll decide to choose the place, parents and school. And once I’m grown up amidst the nature’s school reading the best poetries, painting my heart out on a canvas and die on a snow-clad mountain, surely that day I can call myself ‘settled’.

Moonrise on desert

It was a chilling day of January in Bikaner city and I was busy shooting the camel fair organized by the Rajasthan Tourism Development Authority. As most of the events were happening inside a stadium, I was not feeling very energetic to shoot the crowd. By end of day one, I came to know the second half of next day would be interesting as it’ll showcase their camel race and other folk stuff in a desert village called ‘Ladera’. Accordingly I booked a vehicle which will take us to that village & will take us back in the evening.

The journey to the village was interesting. After we crossed the main road & entered the mud road, the surroundings changed dramatically. A complete feel of a village where women are in brilliant colored saris, and moustaches of men kept on growing multiple folds with their age, the turbans, everything were giving a sense as if I’m back in the era of Maharajas!

The car parking lot was little far and we had to walk a kilometer or so to reach the place where the actual fair was taking place. Paratroopers from Indian Air Force were showing their stunts and there were few cultural programs. The best part of the afternoon was the camel race where the local camel jockeys took part with their best breeds. I really couldn’t imagine that the lazy animal can really run that fast. Perhaps the laziness is the guise of the camels.

After the race, it was some common shots of sunset with the camels here & there. I was little tired after shooting continuously for few hours on the desert. Just to take some rest, I sat on the sand with some snacks & tea and was enjoying the twilight on the desert. After sometime, when it was almost dark, the moon started rising. I suddenly remembered that it’s a full moon night and the desert was almost deserted by that time. There were few local people burning fire on the mid of the desert to keep them warm. It was a heavenly beauty to see the moon rising on the desert and those villagers warming themselves on the sand. Though this is one my best shots, but yet the camera of my mind took much better image than the handheld one!