Giving Credit when due

BTW one should take notice, when the casting credits of Taare Zameen Par are on. Just check if you find something unusual. If you look carefully, you will find that Aamir's name comes after Darsheel's name.

Why this is unique is because this is not Indian mindset. We are a race which tries to belittle other's achievements to showcase ourselves. In the movie itself Aamir has shown this as wrong and is happy with Ishan's achievements. However it is nice to see that Aamir is following that outside the movie too. Darsheel is indeed the hero of the movie and he deserves very bit of accolade, even higher credentials in the casting part too.

Aamir is evolvong into a very matured filmmaker and a better humanbeing. Hope to see many more great movies coming out of his production house and his mind.

Taare Zameen Par : Best movie of the Year

भीड़ में यूं न छोडो मुझे, घर लौट के भी आ ना पाऊँ मा
भेज न इतना दूर मुज्क्को तू, याद भी तुझको आ ना पाऊँ मा
क्या इतना बुरा हूँ में मा
क्या इतना बुरा मेरी मा

This para of the song Maa holds the thought process going on inside the innocent mind of Ishan, when he is sent to the boarding school. Life is never easy. Even a child like Ishan has his share of problems. Sometimes he tries to fight against it, sometimes he just ignores it, but all the time, he has in the back of his mind that there is someone who can sort out his every problem. He trusts his Maa, like every child does. But when his Maa does not understand him, he breaks down from inside. This song shows his desperate plea to his mother to come back and embrace him. But there is nobody to hear him. If someone can hold back tear when the song is on, he/she has to have a heart of stone.

The movie Taare Zameen Par is indeed a nice Christmas gift to everybody from Aamir Khan. He is known as a person who uses his mind, while choosing his work, quite unlike others in Bollywood. If he is there in a movie, you can be rest assured that it has to be a stunner. But once in a while, he stars in some dumb movies too. Remember Mangal Pandey or Mela. This movie had no known stars except Aamir and there was a grave danger that this could be termed as a part of parallel cinema. But the final product turned out to be the best entertainer of the year. Its not in the same league as Hey Baby or OSO. But only because they are way below it. Even Chak De can not match TZP. Sweet sound of money, awards and accolades are sure to come Aamir's way again.

But sometimes you can feel some movies are way above the petty affair of money or awards. If these things were on the mind of Aamir while making this movie, then he could never have made such a touching movie. Each scene is so full of emotions and Aamir's golden touch, that viewer is bound to be mesmerized by it.

The movie also tries to explain that not everybody is same. Every person's knowledge can not be judged by comparing him/her against some standard scale, like exam results. Every person has the right to be the way he/she likes and given the opportunity, he can achieve something out of extraordinary. The movie also shows you can bring a lot of difference to somebody's life, if you can actually care (KHAYAL) about him/her. Just a second spent with somebody might mean a lot more to him/her, than anything else. We just need to take a step forward towards them and all barriers will break.

So the question is can we take that step forward? Do we have it in us?

Mini movies : Big experience

Tomorrow, I am going to watch a movie called 'Dus Kahaniyan'. Its an un-bollywood like movie with 10 different short films being shown one after another. Short films!!! Its quite an interesting phenomenon. It can be about anything and not necessarily need to have a full length storyline or moral learning behind it (like the 3 hr movies). But they have to be brief and strong in every scene. You just cant afford a weak second there, unlike the big movies.

Few days ago, the passionforcinema site hosted a short film competition. My previous flatmate Anand was very eager to participate in it. He somehow convinced me to be a part of his mini movie. I had no idea what I had to do and was nervous. This was very new for me. But then he told me that he had developed the concept from a real life scenario and I was already part of that scenario. Hence he believed, I could play the part very well.

Lets focus on the incident first. It happened a few days back, when all of a sudden our main door refused to shut down, without the lock from inside being used. The problem was that both of us had different office timings. Mine was from 9 AM to 6 PM and Anand's was from 2 PM to 11PM. So when it was time for me to leave for office, he used to be asleep. Without disturbing his sleep, there was no way we could close the door from inside. And the idea of the door opening up due to wind or human force, when he is sleeping, was scary. We could have lost valuable stuff from out house or there was danger to Anand. We had to find a solution and I found one, which was very effective. I tied a shoe lace to the chitkani (lock to close the door from inside) from inside and took the two ends of the lace to the outer part of the door. Now when I pulled the shoe lace from outside, the chitkani got closed from inside. Thus I could close the door from outside without Anand's help and Anand could later open it from inside.

our home was safe now, because of a very simple idea. Didn't get the idea??? Then watch the short film that we made on this. Click on the below URL and watch the movie 'THE DOOR'.

http://passionforcinema.com/pfcone-2007-day-three/

Then when I was shifting to a new place, Anand asked me to star in another movie, in bargain for the advance that he had to pay me :). I agreed due to the fun I had during filming the first one. This movie was based on a fiction, with the only truth behind the story being the death of our fishes, Sania n Sarapova. May their souls rest in peace.

In order to watch this movie, go to the below URL and watch the movie 'FISHES'.

http://passionforcinema.com/pfcone-2007-day-four/

When these movies were hosted on the site, we got some good responses and some bad. I guess the effort was really there and we did a good job, considering that this was our first attempt at it. After watching some other videos, I realized how a good short movie can be made. Especially the short movies, 'Itch', 'A Day In The Life Of India', etc. Do watch these movies once you are there.

The Real Come Back

The Prince of Calcutta, DADA, The god of off-side, The captain courageous...he has been given many names. Now the press has given him a new name, The comeback man. Everybody is eager to shower praises on him. Why?? Because he is the man of the moment. Because He is a success story.

But then what really brought this change. You can find quite a few reasons here. I don't agree with all of them. Especially the part where Ganguly says that the way he was ousted was not right and this motivated him to perform better. If that was the case, why was not he performing well in the first class matches, when he was kept out of the national team? His Ranji average was pathetic and his average in English county cricket was in single figures. Once when Laxman was kept out of the team in 1990s, he went back and scored 9 conscutive first class centuries. He was immediately brought back. Recently when Dravid was thrown out of the team, he scored a double century and a century in 2 matches. How can anyone keep these players out of a team after such performances?

When Ganguly was brought into the team in 1996, it was due to regional politics. Again when he was brought back in 2006 South Africa tour, it was because of his experience and not because of his performance (much like the way sehwag has been selected for the current Australian tour). When did his performance pave the way for his entry into the team? So to say that he is motivated to do well, because he was not treated well, is all rubbish.


Again his achievement in the Pakistan series has been great, but in the context of the series, it has not been significant. His performance in the test which India won in Delhi was nothing great. Scoring 2 centuries when the pitch least suits the bowlers and when the opponent team has actually just 2 good bowlers, can’t be taken as a sign of greatness. So I shall wait for his performance in Australia. I pray to god that he plays well. If he does, then it will be great for the team and for the cricket loving public. But more than anything else, if he succeeds in getting the man of the series in Australia (by helping India win the series there), he will become the true come back champion of all time. Till then let’s just wait and watch.

Manjilen aur bhi hain

Ruke hue har saans ko chalna sikhaya tha is dil ne
Har ek saans mein tera naam firoya tha is dil ne
Apni ummedon ko thokar maratha maine tere pyar mein
Kyun ke mujh pagle ko deewana banaya tha is dil ne!!!

Bheegi hui raat mein, halki si barsaat mein
Haathon mein tere tha haath mera
Chal rahe the hum sapnon ke sehar mein
Maan ki umango ka na tha koi thikana mera!!!

Woh bhi ek raat thi, yeh bhi ek raat hai
Tab zindagi mehki hui thi, aaj tanhayi ka hi saath hai
Khule darichon se sard hawa ake ruh ko pighla rahi hain
Beimaan mausam mein tumhari bewafayi hi to bas mere paas hai!!!

Par jeene ki kashish aaj bhi jinda hai mere maan mein
Aasmaan chune ke khwab aaj bhi buland hai
Is safar mein tera saath na raha to kya
Manjilen tay karne ko mere pair aaj bhi taiyar hain!!!

Woh Dagar

My first poem (don't know if it is good enough to be called a poem :))

Jindagi ke har mod pe ruk ke kahin
Jab aankhen meri dhundti hain teri halki si parchayi,
To uzli si ek raah nazar aati hai
Kahin woh mere jahan mein basa tere khayalon ka khali dagar to nahin!!!

Woh dagar jisse hum kabhi chod aaye the
Is jamane mein apni pehchan dhundna tha maqsad apna,
Us dagar ki gilli ret pe padchinhh aaj bhi hain
Par zindagi ki qitab ke panno pe humari saqsiyat ka ek akhar bhi nahin!!!

Kabhi ruswa hoke tum se kaha tha humnein
Ki tere choukhat pe fir naa rakhenge qadam,
Par Aj zamane se hare hue ek musafir ka
Us choukhat ke siwa koi sahara, koi kinara, koi aur manzil bhi nahin !!!

One more milestone

The greatest batsman of our time crossed another milestone today. He became the all time second highest run getter in test cricket. He now has 11,183 runs and is only 770 runs behind another great Lara. Add to that his 37 test centuries, 45 half centuries and you are looking at one of best players of all time. Every match he plays now-a-days, he creates at least 1 new record. Who is he??? if you don't know, then chullu bhar paani mein dub maro.

To me Sachin is much more than just a great cricket player. My first memory of a cricket match is that of a 16 year old Sachin scoring 4 sixes in a well known but overconfident Abdul Qadir's over. Then and there, I fell in love with the game called cricket. My friends will testify that the Love is not only still there, but it is also stronger than ever. He has completed 18 years in Cricket, but still has the enthusiasm of a youngster. Even though the body does not have the same reflexes, but the face has the same innocence of a 16 year old.

I hope he plays for many more years for India and retires on his own term, rather than allowing any joker (read selector) to drop him from the team.

CHAK DE SACHIN:)

Mahabharata or just a katha of a great manipulator

I was watching a movie on the epic 'Mahabharata' a few minutes back. Watching the movie being centrally based on the character of Krishna, my atheist mind started running. I loved the serial on the epic (B R Chopra wala) a lot during my childhood days, but since then many questions have raised in my mind regarding the happenings in the story.

Being an epic, the writer Vedvyas has given equal footage and screen space to both Gods and Men, even to such an extent that the main character is an incarnation of Vishnu and some others are son of Gods (much like the epic Iliad). Many people claim that Mahabharata is not a story after all and happened actually during some 5K BC or something. Then how come the people in Mahabharata were so advanced during that time. The kind of material used in Mahabharata suggests that the people were way ahead of their time and that does not seem to be correct, considering the time period. If the setup was say 1K BC, then why is it considered an epic and why no concrete historical evidence exists. Also if this would have been the case, then we could have seen the God angle in other stories of the same time like that of Asoka.

This makes me question the authenticity of the epic. What if Krishna was actually not some incarnation and was actually a ruthless king and a great manipulator. Its a known fact that history has been manipulated a lot by powerful kings, so that it suits them. What if Krishna was such a character, who hired a guy named Vedvyas to write a grand story about him being some incarnation of God. What if the kurukhestra battle was much lesser in proportion and was actually fought between 2 brother clans over a piece of land, without the Dharm and Satya angle in it. What if Duryondhan was actually a nice guy and Pandavs turned him into a monster after they won the Kurukhestra war.

These are just questions, which no one can answer in this world for sure.

Jab I met the Cadburys bytes

Kareena missed her train twice in 'Jab we met'. I almost missed my train twice on 22nd Nov. kareena missed her train for Shahid. I almost missed my train for Cadburys Bytes.

The idea to restart my blog was suggested by PPP, when this incident happened. So here is the story from the horse's mouth and believe me, it’s a very long story. So bring out the popcorn and Pepsi and enjoy the tale of crazy train journey.

As Mickey says, ' Shuru se Shuru karte hain', so lets begin from the beginning. It all started when I could not have a proper lunch on 21st Nov. Then I missed the dinner too, as I was getting late for the train to Vizag. I was traveling with PPP and by the time we boarded the train, I found that we had forgotten to get the water bottles too. Hence stuck in the train without any food or water, the only option was to wait for the next station. Meanwhile we chatted about each other's crazy train journey experiences and little did I know that I was going to prove my tryst of bad luck with Indian Railways again that night.

So at last when the train stopped at the next station (Katapeddi, if I am not mistaken and I have no idea where it is on the world map) at around 1.30 AM on 22nd Nov, I got down from the train. Our compartment was on one end of the platform and the food stall was on the other end. I am fond of morning walk, but taking a walk at 2 AM with empty stomach is not the right fitness regime. Anyways after buying water, I found that the only food available was 2 packets of Cadburys bytes. I bought them, but lost quite a bit of time, which turned out to be critical in the end. In the mean time, the train had started moving and I had to make a dash.

I had to cover a distance of some 10 compartments (no idea in terms of meters), before I could reach mine. Running in the opposite direction of the train, the laws of physics were coming into my mind. By the time I reached the 6th compartment, it seemed the train had picked up a lot of speed due to the concept of relative velocity. So I decided I had to jump at that time. With 2 bottles & 2 packets in hand, it was impossible to jump. So I threw the bottles into the compartment and jumped. I went till the last sleeper compartment to find that there is a shutter between the AC coach and sleeper coach. I called up PPP and got to know that the next station will come in 10 mins. But it never came. After 15 mins of darkness in S8, a TT came and told me that next station will come in another 2 hrs. Just at that the train stopped in the middle of nowhere and I thought of trying my luck right then.

But still there were 2 obstructions. One was the unevenness of the track which was 5 feet below the train level and full of big stones. & the other was the door on B1. I had kept that open when I came out of the compartment, but some great man had closed it again. So after a torturous walk of 15 meters, finding the door closed was the last thing I wanted to see. At the same time the train again started moving. I again had to run and board it. This time it was even more difficult, as running on a floor full of stones the size of a cricket ball is difficult. Also the stakes were high, as if I had missed the train there, there was no way I could have got any help. Somehow I was successful in covering the distance and getting on the train again.

The TT said that the shutter was closed from the B1 side and it can be opened from that side. I called up PPP and asked her to open it up. The door was some 200 pounds and PPP barely reaching 100. So again we had to wait for some time before she could find someone. Neither the TT on B1 nor the attendant was ready to help and a good fellow came to our help. That guy was holding a pack of Chips and a bottle of water. He handed it over to PPP and opened the shutter. So when I entered into the compartment, I first saw PPP standing there with a water bottle and a pack of chips. Looking at that, my face must have resembled the look Dhoni had, when Sarat Pawar took all the credit for the 20-20 WC win. I mean this is the stuff for which I almost missed the train and here she was enjoying all that. But later it dawned on me that may be it was not hers. PPP had a looked at my face and understood what I was thinking and laughed. We then had a good laugh about the whole incident.

Like most stories this had a happy ending and I thank god for that. It all happened because of the Cadburys bytes packets and we had a great time eating them. I think I shall write about a similar story, which happened during my college days, in future if I find time.

Public apology

As per instruction received from my inspiration (and also under the spoiler threat), this public apology is being given precedence over my next post .

I wholeheartedly regret describing the brief interesting chat I had with her on train regarding her blogging experience as 'dragged on'. From now onwards, this mistake will never be repeated.

Aye Hi Maam.

Comeback Part III !!!

Making a comeback is never easy. Except if it is smoking :-) Ask Uday Chopra, who has been shamelessly launched 6 times by his father in Bollywood, each time unsuccessfully. Poor lad never got the hang of it. I hope my blogging career fares better than that. After all, its my 3rd comeback.

But as a great man once said, to make a comeback, you need a lot of inspiration and determination (i vaguely remember saying this once). Well in my case, the inspiration came from a dear friend, who started narrating her recent blogging experience to me on a recent journey a few days ago. She also picked up blogging few days back after an year of lull, but is now enjoying it so much that she cant not stop talking about it. Since it was along journey, the narration literally dragged on, but kind of awakened a sleeping giant inside me. With so many things happening around me now-a-days, i felt the urge to pick up the writing pad again.

Since the last few months, I have been wasting my time on the Internet (said in the right spirit). Except downloading some of my most favourite and recent movies, the 256 KBPS unlimited download Internet has not been put to good use. Now i feel the time ripe to do that. And BAAM, there i have the determination.

So all set and ready to start with a true story of 'Jab i met Cadburys Bytes' in a few hours. May God bless this venture. AMEN