Friday, July 30, 2010

Repeats

This didnt make the August Issue because the Editor thought it was just a filler, so it goes to the next best place!!

There are movies which inspire, and movies which motivate, ....... gives you one such collection which have in the relative past made the audience feel fervently patriotic without being patronizing!

Roja (1992): Mani Ratnam’s first national super hit, Roja had everything going for it- the lilting music, the necessary background of Kashmir to give it substance and some heavy duty patriotic scenes – like the one in which a fervent Arvind Swamy leaps on a tricolor set on fire by the terrorists and douses the flames in the process igniting the imagination of countless movie goers.

Swades (2004): Arguably SRK’s best performance till date, it moves the audience with its muted, understated and almost nonchalant charm. A prodigal son returns and learns to love his motherland. The scene when an Americanized SRK chucks his mineral water bottle to drink water from a mud kulhad for 25 paisa says it all.

Rang De Basanti (2006): Rakeysh Mehra’s throbbing drama about a bunch of disillusioned Delhi kids learning to respect their nation and taking on corruption was a huge hit with a young nation and made nationalism popular as well as awoke an entire generation. Check out the touching climax when the motley group confess on Radio about the murder they have committed and you gasp at the cinematic intensity of it all.

Lage Raho Munnabhai (2006): The film which has single-handedly salvaged Sanjay Dutt’s sinking career also revived one of our forgotten legacies- gandhism. It made fashionable- sending flowers and smiling in return for abuse. The scene which stands out is the one when a calm Gandhi asks Munna to apologize to his loyal friend and commander Circuit, watch Sanju Baba return from the ashes replete with Gandhian grace.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

The rains are here

It's my favorite time of the year and I had to honour it by the only way I know- by writing about it! There's nothing quite like the rains, it's accompained smells and the glorious greens, never mind the power cuts, traffic jams and pot holes...each time it rains, some innane part of me sings. Nothing quite beats the joy of enjoying the rains- be it from a distance (maybe with steaming chai) or getting drenched completely allowing the tugging water to feel you, really really feel what you actually are and allow the fiesty drops to wrench out your innermost turmoil or satiate your inherent pleasure!

Two memories spring instantly whenever I say rains- One immensely rainy day in my childhood when my cousins, my sister and I got thoroughly wet and relished the feeling like nothing else. We talk about it still, it seemed like we were giant specks of rain drops..all in one, one in all. United never to be parted again. That was one of the few times that I felt that under such tremendous ferocity there is immense joy. Another experience was quite recent, three years back in my college where when it rains it looks like paradise. Everything so greeen and so beautiful, so calm that it rustles your feelings and they take flight. That particular day was so breathtaking that I chucked my bike and took a walk, I still take in that heavenly smell of dew and mud when I think of it strongly. I didnt even need anybody to soak in and embrace the moment, the rain was my company and dissolved any furtive/farcical desire for sharing it with anyone....Rain, I am looking forward to the monsoons, hope it keeps its date.

Aisha...August 6th...Sonam Kapoor...I'm in love!!!

Monday, July 5, 2010

Small things

add up to so much!! I've never been a believer in the fact that small things matter much in the long course called life, but like most things the change has been swift and extreme. They are like punctuation marks, you dont realise once they are in their place but if they aren't you know that something is amiss. Like that flower once in a while or the relief a smile serves you when you are down or a hug that's unexpected...little things always matter. A relationship is always made or unmade by those little gestures which will not make you sit up and notice immediately, but will serve as gentle reminders when you sit back and think if the ride is worth it. Life is balanced by such severe checks and balances that you need all you have to stay afloat.

I realised this much to my peril when the latest issue of the mag I work for came out last week. I previewed a couple of books and actually typed the name of Jeffrey Archer's book as "Hereby Hands a tale", instead of "Hereby hangs a tale". A photograph which accompanied the write up only made my error more glaring. No use crying over split milk but I could only kick myself for not checking it. Shows simply, one letter wrong and the whole page goes kaput!!

The rains are here and I hope the gentle pitter patter tugs away the gloom that threatens to envelop this heart of mine.