Trance

for me would be the knowledge of functional & pure Urdu, doing good lifting Science, pure & authentic Jazz music, reading some good pieces of writing, may be new books, some more music, writing more, and soul lifting stuff above and beyond the mundanities of daily material existence. I have said this before and it is so true even now.

I agree with so many wherewithals at disposal material, and otherwise, realizing most of this stuff is in my hands.

mani matters-3

It is noteworthy that the team the magician has comprises of people who wax eloquent and who hold forth on any platform on any given topic, not just cinema. Probably it is the synergy of all these positive energies and thoughts that has made his work click for almost close to three decades now, and stand the test of the time over which many a man has come with far more promise. Probably as someone put it his success could be attributed to the fact that he chose the right pearls lying scattered and threaded them into a nice garland. Read, watch any interview of Sujatha, P.C.Sreeram, Santosh Sivan, Sabu Cyril, A.R.Rahman, Rajeev Menon, H.Sridhar, Sreekar Prasad, Thota Tharani, Ravi.K.Chandran, Balu Mahendra, and in a different league Ramgopal Varma, Shekhar Kapur, and it will be clear what I mean. What delights me is that these people are the behind-the-screens variety, and yet give the stars and starlets a run for their fame. Each understands and acknowledges the medium as a whole rather than projecting his own craft as the limiting factor. Isn't that an advantage for any director who has the padding of so many "directors" and alter egos? Sreekar Prasad is an Editor and H.Sridhar is a Sound Engineer, and their interviews are read to be believed. When H.Sridhar talks about planting red herrings in Hassan's D by not showing two of the ten roles leaving something for the audience to ponder over, you know these guys understand human psyche more than anything else. Then broaching 6- track, 4-track, stereo, mono, DTS would sound dumb! The irony is that in the overall success, and the general impact generated by the movie that is in question these souls are never the recipients of instant and direct fame.

Yet they contribute, and how!

Kabhi Kabhi

I have written reviews for movies and I picture myself doing the same for soundtracks, but going ga ga over a single piece is a first. A.R.Rahman's tracks take time to warm up to and that is a known. So it came as a surprise that one of his latest offerings needed no time to get hooked to. It is such a relief to see him get out of period, patriotic, issue based stuff which of course he has been doing for a while with much panache in a way only he can, and get into contemporary fare. At least I have looked forward to him doing that, and what a track! I haven't ventured into listening to the rest of the album and I blame it on this gem of piece from Jaane Ya tu Jaane Na. Part jinglish, part fun, the first two lines from Abbas Tyrewala are magic and Rashid Ali's vocals on Kabhi Kabhi Aditi Zindagi seem so lissome.

awesome

I Pee L

Unparliamentary title aside which reeks of urea, I think the Sreesanth-Harbhajan-BCCI episode smacks of smart, sickening revenue strategy generated by smart asses in the Modi-Shah Inc. I am willing to hedge a bet on the likelihood of the scenario comprising of the PR/Chartered Accountant/Treasury guys involving the top brass at BCCI with a willing pair of scape goats in Sreesanth and Bhajji, pitching proposals across tables.

"Sir, we have noticed that the gate revenue isn't as much as we expected, and this is a blow to the very format which promised a couple of hundred crores to our kitty"

After careful deliberation it might have been decided to play the dirty card which everyone is up to in the entertainment-amusement-media-sports industry today; pluck the eyeballs when you fail to grab them. Oh, the instances are many, the mediaspace abounds in such examples. Rakhi Sawant tamasha, the Star News tamasha, the Yash Raj tamasha preceding any release are legendary.

They would have found two readily available jackasses in the said pair, and within time that would have subnuclear reaction times to shame, decided to have a drama at whose expense, the ever gullible junta janardhan.

"Sreesanth aur Bhajji ko line pe lagaao"

Come to think of it,

1) Harbhajan slaps Sreesanth hard in the field/dressing room
2) Sreesanth lets his emotions get better of him, sobs on the field like a kid who has been robbed of his candy by the highway dacoits
3) The fellow cricketers run up to console him
4) Hours later when IBN reporter asks him how it felt, Sreesanth plays the slap down cheerfully, smiling when he says "The shakehand was at the wrong place" with his sense of wit intact
5) Punjab XI complains to BCCI who take up the issue seriously, and what have we now Harbhajan faces a life ban

It doesn't take a Harvard MBA grad brains to smell the urea in this! I am all for banning a cricketer, sportsman when he doesn't uphold the spirit, or brings disrepute to the game at frequent intervals taking the very game for granted.

But at the end of it if Bhajji and Sreesanth are seen waltzing to Daler Mehndi beats at the closing ceremony, do not shocked or let the feeling of having been taken for a ride bother you.

Or is it that I am showing the signs of early senescence? Should I be taking all this with sacks full of salt as I am supposed to, and enjoy the circus?! Since IPL, ICL, 20-20, Honkong Sixes, Sharjah were always meant to be the junk versions of cricket aimed at the coffers any amount of cheap publicity or gimmickry was deemed okay. So this might have been one more instance.


Whichever way I look at it,

it is not cricket Gentlemen.

Scrapped!

After being a part of the utterly chaotic, silly, juvenile, social phenomenon for close to two years, I feel purged. The world seems so lighter, fuller, and richer after I grew out of it. I don't know if I might miss out on any good things owing to my not so impulsive decision, but I promise myself that I will keep in touch with all those fantastic souls whose associations have made my life so far worthwhile.

Not that I didn't enjoy while it lasted; I had fun, I met most of my buddies lost in time, met not so new faces, relived a few memories through photographs, videos and things like that. I would give full marks to Mr.Büyükkökten for his apocryphal search for his lost girlfriend something that served as the seed for this project networking people to a great extent, and hassle free that too.

But there came a point when saturation threatened to take its toll and I had to decide between two things; take it forward being a part of this customary social circus,

or kut the crap

I chose the latter.

Ab initio

It boils my blood when I see individuals becoming larger than the institutions themselves; the same institutions whose service they start off with, and in due course assume unsurmountable positions at least in their minds climbing on the small steps that the institutions offer at every corner.

While this is largely true of different arenas and streams viz. politics, sports, entertainment, and academia, disastrous it is when this disease afflicts those who are in the service of science. These moles by the virtue of a few degrees that they earn seem to be in the know of everything, and precisely at some point start acting Gods. While it is supremely beneficial for people doing science to be critical, cynical when required, and detailed what drives me up the wall is the fact these noble souls seem to reason out everything, and rationalize every known and unknown thing with our minuscule limits of reasoning. There exists nothing called "being in awe of nature", same nature which has an answer to every theory of ours and could unleash out fury with a latent smile. I am all for people advancing in science with newer pursuits adding a few material degrees to their names along the course of these pursuits. Science has progressed to a vast extent with contributions of endless number of such inquisitive souls, and will in future. No harm. But when they do not let an ocean as magnificent as science broaden their mental horizons, it is just not worth it.

Let us not even fool ourselves into thinking that we know all for we all are in the bigger picture mere moles.

On the Right Track

There are moments in cinema when you give it to the medium, apart from the reasons you should be, that is for content. This is for me one of those rare instances and for good reasons when form blows you away. Then you put all those ideas of perfect cinema being the one with content dictating form into your mental trash cans, and just enjoy the beauty. Well I agree if form were to dictate the content that would be manipulation at some level. But isn't cinema all about manipulating you at some level? Good cinema is about conviction and more of conviction, and when that is present everything is justified. Audacity, chicanery, urge to show off are all pardoned, and considered the core elements of the medium.

For me I have not seen such an audacious display of kinetics in a long, long time. Okay, the last time was Saving Private Ryan (1998). Joe Wright and Seamus McGarvey take us on this long ride (pun unintended), and a display of coordination, free flow whose highest quality is its seamlessness. I would have felt let down or downright "cheated", "fooled" if it were CGI phenomenon at display. Thankfully the digital additions were bare minimum, just restricted to a few ships, and some smoke I learn.



Atonement (2007) 5minutes 6 seconds



But had this prepared me enough for the Orson Welles' "Touch of Evil"?! Considering the time it was made in when tracks ruled the roost, and steadycams were unheard of, the opening sequence took my breath away.

Sweeping across the roads and junctions, hovering over buildings... aaah! framing, and what framing!

Touch of Evil (1957) 4 minutes 31 seconds



Tracking shots at their very best. What a ride!

People Trafficking

If you were to break the rules on road in Hyderabad during the non-peak hours, you pay for the crime.

You get to serve as a traffic constable for a day.


But do we want a city filled up with "traffic constables" to the brim?


Do we!

Evolution

The call for the "upliftment" of the Marathi Manoos well may turn Raj Thackeray into a Marathi Manhoos for Maharashtra, and worse, India in the bigger picture. The agitation no matter how justified by the MNS goes against the very fabric of India, something I have been personally proud of. If Raj can be practically evil, I could be devilishly ideal. The fact that a region, a country could be held ransom to an individual's ideology is frightening. Call me outdated but I feel fundamentalism will have it's share of limelight in may be 3049 AD.

I gushingly went in with my dad earlier. I win this this round appa. May be some other time for you.

Deep Throat

When God made Anu Malik, Strepsils were still in clinical trials

Khan Film Festival

,which is just an alternative name for the cinematic farce that has been celebrated and quite irritatingly venerated over years, the Filmfare Awards do it this time? While it is quite remarkable on their part to have Darsheel Safary nominated in the Best Actor in a Leading Role category, skepticism and cynicism in equal amounts come to the fore when the ultimate outcome is thought of. Bennett,Coleman & Co. might pat themselves for doing this groundbreaking act, and emerge winners in the first round. It truly remains to be seen if they are worthy enough for self appreciation the next time around, and when the unthinkable happens the gentlemen at B, C&Co. needn't worry for the whole cine folks shall salute them. Can they rub the power batteries on which their businesses run the wrong way? Wait! have Power awards 2.0 or some such crap have already been created to appease the powers that be? Nuclear Power awards, may be! or Power of Powers; or worse a Life Time Achievement marking the elegies. While these could be imagined when the stars in the fray do not have anything considerable or nothing at all to brag about, the bad news is that near apologies of performances in the form of C' De India, Guru of 2007 could be very well honored and Darsheel Safary might have to go back with some Critics' lollipop.



If the unthinkable were to happen the gentlemen at B,C & Co. needn't worry for the whole cine folks shall salute them

Knotty People, Knotty Ideas

Aalasyam amrutham visham should read their motto.


The top honchos of the Law Commission of India would have us believe that 18 is better than 21, the sooner the better, or in other words the marriageable age of men had better be brought down to 18 from 21. Their rationale is that if we guys could think for ourselves and better, decide for ourselves, why wait till 21!

Probably they haven't heard of my family.

Uncommon Man

An Iyer in Pune.

A quirky, wry, insouciant, double-tongued fantastic soul. Great lineage with two brothers making for two contrasting case studies.

Extraordinary.

Uncommon.

Rasipuram Krishnaswami Laxman



Thank you Anuradha SenGupta, Thank you Sudhir Dar, Thank you Dileep Padgaonkar, Thank you Abhishek Singhvi, Thank you Ravi Shankar, Thank you Rimanika Laxman, and Thank you CNN-IBN.

Thank you Bennett, Coleman & Co., The Illustrated Weekly and The Times of India.

Double Negative = Positive

"Zindagi kam hui hai, khatm nahi" Vishal Bhardwaj ("Blood Brothers")



God bless Vishal

God bless Guillermo Navarro

Surely in this case Lahu Ke Do Rang!

:)

Ozy Anthem

Humko Monkey Shakti Dena

US vs them or us vs them?

For a while now I have tried, in vain I realize in hindsight, to compare and contrast the two places that have meant so much to me in terms of sensibilities, and now geography. I have tried and tried, and realized I have been barking up the wrong trees. May be Pluto and Neptune, may be Madagascar and Honolulu. Not the US and India.

The US is as confused as India is, and may be at some level it has come to terms with the dichotomy in the application of its principles and well, living with it. Both the US and India cannot be pinned down, and that really says something.

Q.E.D

I have also realized it is good to take the best of both the cultures, and make it my own. Geography never came in the way when relating to the other sensibilities. People assume a lack of identity. I don't blame them. Sometimes I doubt my belonging. I do not know if I fit in "them" or "us", and that probably explains the title in whose word play otherwise I would have felt a little smug.

Exclusivity, anyone?

There are twelve astronauts who have walked the moon. The number of CEOs who have walked a golf course with Tiger Woods isn't much higher.

Del Jones
USA Today

Handling with Care?

Why is it that the carry bags in the US, no matter what load they are supposed to take, do not have handles?

Why is it that the boxes that are supposed to ferry loads of stationery in academic circles do not have handles or bars?

Earlier I had seen this in the movies, seeing it first hand now.

Life's Like That

of frozen tears
of supple bosoms
of inclement gods
of unrelenting water
of receding goals
of suppressed anger
of Frozen Tears

aiseech!

lalo, lelo, aur andar lelo, kaatlo, aur kaatlo, achhi tarah dabao...

for all the perverts letting their imagination run wild, that is a parking lot volunteer guiding a car into the right spot.

Hyderabad.