वेलकम टू हिन्दी

पिछ्ले कुछ दिनों से ये एहसास हुआ की ज़रूरत पड़ने पर हिन्दी भाषा के उचित शब्द दिमाग में नहीं आते। थोड़ा दुःख भी हुआ और शर्म भी आयी। खैर ज्यादा कुछ किया नहीं जा सकता, आप उसी भाषा का प्रयोग ज्यादा करते हैं जो की आपके आसपास के लोग प्रयोग करते हों और जो लिखबे में आसान हो। याद आती हैं हमें अपनी दसवीं की क्लास जब हम टीचर के नोट्स अंग्रेज़ी में लिखा करते थे। बड़ा मज़ा आता था दोस्तों को समझ में नहीं आता थे के ये ऐसा क्यूँ करता है, अब लिखना आसान हो जाता था और थोड़ा भाव भी बढ़ता था।

हाल फिलहाल में हमने देखा "वेलकम टू सज्जनपुर"। फिल्म तो वाकई तारीफ के लायक है और हमारे लिए तो बहुत ही। पुरानी यादें ताज़ा हो गई। फ़िल्म की कहानी सज्जनपुर नाम के गाँव की है। ये कोई काल्पनिक गाँव नहीं है, वाकई में हैं। इलाहाबाद और जबलपुर के बीच में। बहुत ही वास्तविक बनाई है - भाषा की बात करें या पहनावे की , एक्टिंग की बात करें या जगह की, सब कुछ बहुत ही ग्रामीण परिवेश में नज़र आता है। फ़िल्म में काफी बातों का समावेश है रीतियाँ, कुरीतियाँ, हसी, दुःख, जलन, सभी कुछ। सभी किरदार बड़े सटीक बैठे हैं। सीधे साधे लोग, चालाक और धूर्त लोग। सज्जनपुर ऐसा गाँव है जो कि उन्नति की और धकेला जा रहा है अस्पताल है, रोड है झाड़ के घर भी हैं और पक्का मकान भी है, पोस्ट ऑफिस भी है और यहीं से जुड़ी है नायक के ज़िन्दगी। वोह लोगों के लिए चिट्ठी लिखता है, समस भी लिखता है, सबका दाम निश्चित है। कुछ लोग पैसा देते हैं तो कभी कभी जडीबूटी भी मिलती हैं ..... (आपको हसीं जरूर आएगी इस सीन में)। अंत में कुनाल कपूर भी देखने को मिलते हैं

ये बात तो हुई पिक्चर की। लाइफ में सब कुछ ठीक ठाक ही है. कई दोस्तों की शादी हो चुकी है अपनी कोई गर्ल फ्रेंड भी नहीं.... :)। अभी एक मित्र ने बहुत गाली दी, हम अपने बचाओ में कुछ कह भी नहीं पाये। खैर लाइफ चल रही है।

some updates

Couple week back I traveled to one of the remote districts of MP. I went to learn about Pradan's work in the district. Dindori is a tribal district and has a beautiful landscape. I was so mesmerized by the beauty of the place that I wanted to go there often on weekends. But it is 150 kms from Jabalpur and requires a drive of 4 hours on bike plus the road is not still very good. The adjoining picture is nothing when I remember the actual scenery. Every thing was very fresh and green.

On the bus there were couple of people traveling to same office and we never knew about our destination. It was a surprise to see them in the office again :). We were then together for most part of the day talking to SHG members and looking the greenery. He commented later on that - you actually looked a very serious personality in the bus.. but you are totally different, you are so alive.., its great to meet you.." wow!! I was on some level of heaven!
Passed some time "late night" in one of the cinema halls watching the "tully" movie. Uff there were really too many slaps. It doesnt happen in dreams even; how could director decide to do that? There are thousand other means to show the rudeness of girlfreind you know, like various other things including wearing women dresses.. but slaps! Its not indian for sure... But the movie still has typical indian masala - girl doing away with scant dresses towards end, songs with no relation to the story, and perfect mis-match between the lead-lady of the start and end (in this case it is girl's character in this case the one who slaps vs who cries!). One can watch the movie for perfect Ranvir Shorey.

Everything else is going fine in my life. The question to ponder however is it moving anymore??

movie, book, ???

There are two things for this blog today. (rather three). The third one is a secret.
I watched the night show for Jaane tu ya jaane na. The movie is running successfully all over India.
I guess so, coz I had to buy a black ticket for it. I actually wanted to see it a week before, could not get the ticket. At that time I did not buy the black ticket. I did today. Why - oh its again cost benefit analysis, leave the crap.

Quite obvious that I liked the movie ( as of now I have written only about movies which I liked!). Whom did I like the most. The girl. I saw this girl first in her debut movie tujhe meri kasam. That movie is my favorite till date. The story was quite similar to JTyJN. Girl and boy not knowing (aware is better word) about their feeling towards each other and find it only when they get some body in between. Well this blog is about the new one. What I liked most in the movie the most was sudden glimpses of Nasiruddeen shah, Khan brothers and Paresh Rawal. A perfect Rom-com.
While at present I am listening to the great tamil music on my TV, I still remember the song (kahin to ...) . I also felt very happy for the fat guy who got a GF jlt. [People jlt is Just like that and I use this often]. I wont say anything about the movie, but that you should watch this movie for sure.. apan ki bhasha mein mast timepass hai re.

The second thing is this new book I finished this evening "keep off the grass". This tells more about author and the book. I really enjoyed the book. I would recommend it for every MBA. Very serene, prudent, funny and pertinent. Karan bajaj the author has written it very well. It is at time very simple like Chetan bhagat and at times very philosophical like.. i dnt know.
Ohh. the book actually has more philosophical narration but you would love that for sure coz they are all in typcial MBA jargons. I will write the famous quote from the book, one of those which I remember - "why do they have quotes at the begining of a book? If you want to say something, just write it in the fucking book". You will love the way Karan tells the storys of protagonist's dilemma everytime. Sala everytime cribbed about leaving Investment banking, big money and comapring this with stupid situations....
Read the book. I rate it at par with five point someone and catcher in the rye (a little bit).

The third thing is - am drunk dude!

Black and White

आज ब्लॆक एन्ड व्हाइट दॆखी, नाइट शॊ!! मज़ा आ गया. क्या एक्टिग है. Well was trying to write in Hindi, but this is taking a lot of time!! There is lot out on movie, so I am writing what I liked:
Songs - perfect, All the songs right from Mehndi to Haq Allah! I dnt know the music director but the blend is perfect. And where is the lyricist, these songs are melodious because there is cute combination of words, hindi, urdu, punjabi all in one. Music does the rest of mesimerization.
Anil Kapoor - for a moment, I thought he is trying to repeat Virasat and wasn't interested, but he has impressed a lot. The best from him is - when he is trying to say and isn't able to speak after his wife's death and then consoles his daughter.
Shagufta - Internet is really bad here, otherwise I'd have written her real name. Shagufta is a character in movie. But I liked the girl more, GORGEOUS ALL THE TIME.
Dialogues - Kudos to Subhash Ghai. Continuously sends out messages, very loud and clear! Two are my favorite (sorry I am mentioning them as I remember) - "this currency note, for this one forgets religion, caste, creed, this is what matters" And, Anil Kapoor towards end "they sent a terrorist here, we made him a human, this is our response to them" wow!!
Hey, isn't the first one a reality, this happened to hinduism (intra-religion) and is happening inter-religion, inter-region. At last people are seeing people by qualities!! I like a tribe because of their qualities, I love freinds because they love me. People loving people, I hope this messge gets across.
Do watch the movie.

Why Offbeat Movies are Cup of tea?

I was in an isolated place when two high profile movies - om shanti om, sawariya were released. I was lucky not to get CDs. Many freind's had pathetic reviews, except hindustantimes, and timesofindia most of rating portals also said similar (bad) things. Though I watched some part of sawariya at Rajmandir in Jaipur but I went to see the cinema hall not the movie and came out in half an hour. Khalid (HT) and Nikhat (ToI) used to write good reviews earlier don't know what happened. Do they talk to decide what to write??..

Well, I watched Water, and a real investment in Cd. The movie moves you, not just the story but acting, background, and slow pace but best suited. Though shot in Sri Lanka resembles Banaras quite well. The small SriLankan kid looks pretty as Chuiyaa (in movie). Lisa Ray very comely even after her hair were cut later in the movie and then Seema Biswas - terrific performance. And there is Raghuvir Yadav in the role of eununch -perfectly played, a fact I found only after I read about the movie. Another interesting fact is that Raghuvir's three movies have been nominated for Academy Awards in best foreign language film category viz salaam bombay (india), Lagaan (india), Water (Canada).

Yes, canada the sad thing about the movie, its a canadian movie, not an indian. It was released in 2005 worldwide, but got released in India much later in March 2007. The movie originally was to be shot at Banaras in 2000 but nothing worked out.

The movie is about tradition of leaving widow women from in-laws houses. How difficult it becomes for them to survive, some women are forced into prostitution to save others. Prostitution is a bad word, lets us say "some women are forced to satisfy lusty riches to get living support". The contemporary (1938's) Indian society is very well shown in the movie. Raghuvir the eunuch always appeared suspicious of gandhi [to quote " you know what he says, (pause) Who (asks to listener)?? GAndhi!!! says widows should get married, they are unaware of love, who does not know love (mocks)" in a perfect eunuch style]. And then there is Vinay Pathak and Waheeda Rehman very happy, having blind faith in the type of lives they are living, and there is John Abrahim, Gandhi's fan.
One should watch the movie, its a change and a good movie. A different plot and different era!

ps - I am listenning to Aaja Nachle's title song repeatedly to find out what is that which UP and Punjab's government have found - I think it is "bole mochi khud ko sunar..." in second paragraph. Not sure.. but is it something which should stop screening. Politics Politics...

pps - next blog on travel!

jodha-akbar

I read in some news column that Ashutosh Gowarikar found a chemistry that existed between Queen Jodhabai and king Akbar. They are showing that chemistry in a movie called Jodha-Akbar, due for release in January (someday which is lucky for Ashutosh). The movie is also called a magnum opus and depicts the chemistry of 15 years (from age 13 to 28).

Wow! am enthralled. First thing I did was search for the word "magnum opus" cause I had seen usage of "opus" quite often in cinema news. Opus means 'musical work that has been created' and magnum means 'great'..... sahi hai!! I was also wondering what chemistry (that is musical too, science and arts together) Ashutosh found; because history says it was all politics. Since the film is well researched, may be they found a hidden magnum document, where jodha expressed her feelings for Akbar and he in turn attacked their Place, bargained her later. Moreover later lured brother-in-law to become one of his loyalists. May be there was some reincarnation kind of thing for these two. I would look forward to see that, because that is something history didnt find out.

There is one more possibility, the movie depcits the marital life of jodha-akbar. May be they found it was unique and which mughl-e-azam could not show or didn't show. Ask me, and its all imagination. I dont think people were that open to write love stories on records, in those times. It is all imagination and little attached history. Like Shahjahan bulit the Tajmahal, and revolted for Mumtaj. Now everybody can make a story of what happened. If this reasoning sounds ok, then choice of jodha-akbar for this imagination sounds ridiculous to me at least. People would certainly doubt the possibility of it.

Why didn't he assume a normal couple to depict that chemistry! Would have been great, may be a hit too, but lesser on chances of Oscar selection.... :). Well what I really like about the movie is that the female's name is before the name of great king. See this is trick, Akbar-jodha always sounds better than jodha-akbar, but they went with lesser easy option, they want support of women organizations too. And beacuse I like both the leads and Ashutosh, I will see the movie.

Oh! I forgot, Ashustosh has this art of finding stories from histroy which everybody overlooked. Remember Lagaan... Has he got Links?? May be metempsychosis or reincarnation

Reviews

My last writing talked about pshycology, I wrote that often you can learn from books and here is this book 'Above Average' by Amitabha bagchi - IIT-D Prof at present. It is not the types of Quirkology, but an account of a boy's mentality, how he deals with friends who are different in all the aspects, and how he sees his Profs, freinds, girls... and his life. A long train journey provided me an opportunity to read as much as 80% of the book in one go and I was deeply nostaliged by the stories. Later I finished the book in haste as I promised to give it to a friend before I left Chennai. Well, there are few things which I really liked - names of I E Irodov, SL Loney, ML Khanna ...guys preparing for engg exams would know that the first two books are like key to IIT. The book has stories of wanderings around Delhi, efforts to learn play Drum and being a 'Drummer' and there are very well analysed incidences with friends. And the book is written in a really different style, a story starts and then it is left unfinished and a different account/incidence starts, it is left and then one more starts... all these not linked, but by the end of whole account there appear links which may not necesarily be a direct, may be just a psychological link.. :)

From book to movie - watched 'Gandhi my dad' oops 'Father' last week. Whats in the movie??Watch it for the acting and screenplay, watch it for direction, watch it for the way story has been told withour hurting many!! Though I thought movie would be very direct but many things were left unsaid and now this is a beauty of the movie. I loved Akshay's terrific performance. He didnot overact, did not shout and when he shouted everybody would have moved for sure. I liked the movie definately. Its 3.5 out of 5. The other movie which I have not seen yet, but would be watching it very soon is 'Chak De'. I know the plot, I know the message but I am going to see screenplay and direction and obvioulsy Actresses (there are quite a bunch of them in the movie, all unknown, my friend says they were very good!) and I want to see how Shahrukh can act in his similar ways everytime and get applauds.

India won the test match series against England.. Great, I thought they would win the third test match too.. I just saw that the match is withdrawn. Well the win is a feat.

Why I Knew JBJ will FLOP

Very simple - its yet another yashraj films (I told sometimes back how much i hate plots of yashraj movies) and there is no Rani!!

Do watch Dharma guys.... brilliant plot and superb acting!!

kAbhi aLvida nA kEhna

Watched KANK this weekend, I was in Pune meeting a friend, watching movie was a time pass we thought, and hence did not go for Omkara as it would have been a serious movie, Well soon after watching movie, my head started moving, there is a lot to think for this movie, as we thought it was a time pass without doubt, but it certainly has something to say about - the gOods and bAds.

Am an Indian so would start by goods for this west style packed movie..... the legends are really legends so be it Big B or SRk they are damm good in their parts and it was really moind boggling to see Amitabh as a playboy, whenever he wud ask a gilr with him How was it? the answer was "yeaah" the girl was trying to indianise her feeling otherwise the answer would have been " it was grt swthrt wth kiss again", Srk acts good, my first apprehension of the movie was "Srk ...ufff now he cant do romantic roles he is gonna old, well he is not doing much romance here rather trying and hence looking good, he is acting nicely despite some wrinkles and he really was good. Abhishek ...wow he is coming man, now delivering dancing nicely with father and even matching in acting, well long road for him. the Girls.. Preity is Ok, she doesnt have much to act or show in the movie but whatever she does she looks preity,not very sexy or attractive this time, Rani on other hand is better, may be due to the part she played she had to wear some really attractive clothings.
So the good part was acting, everybody acted nicely, the choreography, the cinematography.. all are good, KAjol is good, John is good, evryone.......... so whats baD.

The story is bad, plot is all waste, Karan is really confused with love, love and friendship , and all other love related things except love and parents and his confusion is not new he is confused frm KkHh, Man dnt try to play with love and friendship, there can only be love between boy and girl and dnt try to confuse yourself and viewers, Karan plz watch : "wen harry met sally", u will be releived.

Well so this movie tells whats in it wen Rani asks very initially " what if we discover love after marriage" he he srK smiles here well, the characters of Srk and Rani were made badly confused in the movie, i think tryting not to copy Silsila karan did this but No he did it wrong - out of nowhere rani and srk fall in love or prior to it come closer hey karan becoming goD, decideing destiny of these characters but then the process looked very much artificial and thats bad for film. There should have been a good reason why these are not happy with their spouses, while both match in every respect, there is no funda of "ghar ki murgi dal barabar" because the fights and disliking were from start. So the story lets the movie down and everything else keeps up and I know story is more important to remain alive, so lets see what happens, no wonder movie goes hIt , ppl do like the sTars.