Life's Onward Journey...

I know it would be a cliche if I started this post by saying that I can't believe that the year is already coming to an end. At this point I would quote Geet from the movie Jab We Met,  "Please Baba ji, ab to hadd paar ho chuki hai. Ab is raat mein aur koi excitement mat dena. Boring bana do ji ab is raat ko, please!" If I replace the word " raat " with " saal ", it comes very close to my story! :) This is the year I will hopefully remember as the year I quit mainstream research, though reluctantly, for good. When I look back at each of the troubling episodes, I feel that if I had to relive the past, I would willingly go through all of that to reach the present, that is. The year began at an uncertain note. The tenure of the last job was about to get over and I didn't have an offer from anywhere else. I could extend my tenure by a couple of months, but I was adamant to leave the organization where I had already spent almost 8 years doin...

The strong smell of its absence is killing me. Or is it still around? Seems like it was just yesterday, that I had put an end to the beginning. Though the hateful love has slowly begun to stop growing, a light heaviness is sinisterly creeping. When my palm craves for the gleaming ray, My eyes are shut in dismay. I am losing my breath... waiting for it to dawn on me. Come, hold me, blind me...

In a land far, far away, there is this place where you can reach only after climbing up and down a couple of mountains. The valley with flowers down its slope. As the cool breeze caresses you, it brings with it a mixed scent of flowers and moist air. The best way to feel it is with your eyelids shut. You'll feel the warmth of the winter sun on your toes and hear the  sound of birds chirping somewhere, not too near yet not so far. With no hint of human civilization, this is the place I want to be. I have been thinking about what this dream could mean, since a long time. It is special because this is the first time I have had a recurring dream which has some kind of happiness and a pleasant feeling attached to it. Compared to constantly dreaming of failing in exams, missing a train or a flight, a fire or an earthquake, this current one is a welcome change. All the 5 or 6 times that I have dreamt about this place, there have been small variations. The first couple of times I w...

The good news is that both Imran Khan and Katrina Kaif now have 3 and a half expressions compared to a poor 1 and a half at the start of their film careers; and they look great together. That the director has tried to cash on their cuteness-quotient and the eternal monument of love, the Taj Mahal, is very apparent throughout the movie. But apart from some nonsensical sequences and some unpleasant-while-they-last-and-forgettable songs, the movie still manages to entertain and leave a pleasant after taste.  Dimple, a london-born, bidi smoking, law-breaking, 'wild' ex-DU (Delhi Univ.) student succumbs to family pressure and agrees to go for a conventional arranged marriage. During the groom-hunting process she bumps into Kush, a sau-pratishat good boy who neither smokes nor drinks and also believes in family values, who is looking for a dulhan for his settled-in-london brother, Luv. They remember meeting briefly during their DU days when Dimple was a rebel and a rockstar. To be...

It has been a long time since I reviewed a movie. Two movies I really want to write about some day are Dhobi Ghat and Band Baaja Baraat, the only two movies that have impressed me in recent times. But for now I will stick to Bol. Even though I tried my best not to compare Bol to Khuda Ke Liye , I didn't succeed. There are several commonalities between both these movies and the major one is that both aim at unveiling the evils persisting in the Islamic society. The saddest part is that all this is claimed to be done in the name of God. Even though the story is of a Muslim family in Pakistan, I think the issue is beyond a specific community, language, state or a country. We have our own shame list comprising of female infanticides, khap panchayats, honor killings and many more. The main protagonist of Bol is Zainab who has been sentenced to death because she killed her father. She is granted her last wish of telling her story to the world before being execute...

Ek din, Jab kuch sochte huye aasmaan ki taraf sar uthaya, ek taare ko apni taraf dekhke muskuraata paaya. Jhund mein bhi akela taara. Thoda chanchal, thoda gumsum taara. Mujhe chhedta hua, mujhse baaten karta taara. Us din ke baad main jab bhi akeli hoti, uski taraf dekh usi se baaten karti. Pata nahi woh meri awaaz sun bhi raha tha, ya nahi. Ek din jab haath badha kar use chhoona chaaha, kho gaya mera taara. Bahot dhoondne par bhi nahi mila mera anmol taara. Bhaari mann se jab sar jhukaya, zameen par kuch chamakta paaya. Chhote chhote kaanch jaise tukde chaaron taraf bikhre huye the. Ek pal ke baad ehsaas hua, ki woh kaanch nahi, mere taare ke tukde the. Jo mujhse milne ke liye, apna ghar chhod aaya tha. Aur mujhe milne ka sapna tod aaya tha. Uske tukdon ko apne haathon se sameta. Aur palat ke aasman ki taraf na dekha dobaara. Is tarah ek ho gaye, main aur mera taara.

Dedicated to a friend and some memories.

She didn't remember how much time had lapsed since she had thrown away her watch. The ticking of the only other clock in the room ensured that the time moved on. Her back faced the wall that bore that clock while she lay still in her bed with both her arms entwined around her. A sob could be heard every now and then. May be she was tired now. Tired of crying, tired of life, tired of failures and and more than anything, tired of being alone. On any other day it wouldn't have mattered, but today was not any other day. If only there was somebody who had opened the door for her when she came back home a few hours back. Isn't she obscenely selfish if she is longing for another person to spend a bad day with? She had never before felt a similar void. Then she remembered him.That whole episode of her life came back to her mind out of nowhere and disturbed her even more. Or may be it soothed her. She was confused and that annoyed her. A glass of cold water was what she needed ...

Jo khatm ho kisi jagah, ye aisa silsila nahi... I remember that as a kid I used to like Dev Anand a lot. Thanks to the good old days of doordarshan there were  re-runs of movies like Tere ghar ke saamne, Kaala Paani, CID, Solva Saal.   And then there was the sunday morning Rangoli to catch Dev Sahab romancing Waheeda Rehman in ' Khoya khoya chaand....ho..ho ' and crooning ' Tu kahan ye bata is nasheeli raat mein ' on the streets. The least I could have done for this old love of mine was to watch 'Hum Dono-Rangeen' in theatre. And I loved it, specially the music. The movie begins with an almost 4 minute long dialogue-less roothna-manaana scene which culminates in Mohd. Rafi pleading ' Abhi na jaao chhod kar, ki dil abhi bhara nah i'. Lovely. A few more minutes into the movie, the hero shares his lately acquired philosophy of life with us, ' Main zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya '. Jo kho gaya main usko bhulata chala gaya... And very s...

The silsila that I kept going for almost 3 and a half years finally broke 4 months back. I am talking about being faithful to my blog and  coming back to it at least once every month, no matter what. Although many hearts (or was it just mine?) and dreams also broke but I will prefer talking about 'sagittalsection'  and me. Dear Blog, I would be lying if I say that I didn't cheat upon you. I did and I apologize for it. I had a situation-driven-fling with somebody. You know him well. It's that diary I keep hidden in that drawer. I had lied to you when I told you that I had gotten over it and that I had thrown it away. Instead I kept it close to me all this while. And I felt the need to go back to it because there were certain things that I couldn't share with you...and moreover there were some worries that I needed to sort out without troubling you. D gave me the refuge I was craving for. There were times when I shared with it and inflicted pain upon it by tearing...

Coming soon....within the next 22 hrs... :)

I realized that of late I have been writing just about movies. Been a long time since I wrote something else.  I have rambled about this 3 years back. At that time I was in a relationship with my room. I remember how I felt at that point of time. It was a phase. I was driven to the confines of my room because I didn't like the company of people.  Today, things are different. I do like people. :) However, by spending so much time with myself in the last 3 years, I have learnt that for me the search for the most compatible companion begins and ends at the same person. That is myself (this is not intended to sound narcissistic).  I realize that I have become somebody who is a cross between Monica Geller and Sheldon Cooper- A control freak who does not like anything in her room/place to be misplaced by even half a centimetre. One who has a favourite spot to sit down, such that everything is most accessible, including the chair being placed at a perfect angle to th...

Aamir Khan at the premiere of  'Dhobhi Ghat' at Toronto International Film Festival

Last year I had sworn that no matter what, I would never again inflict torture upon myself by watching any 'Khan-brothers Production'. But, after hearing about this one from my friends back home I decided to go for it. In a nutshell, I don't regret it. :) 'Dabangg' takes you in that long lost era of Karans, Arjuns, Rams and Lakhans.  I am not claiming that those movies were of great cinematic value, but they do have something- a little bit of nostalgia attached to them. A regular sight of heroes in pink tees, heroines in little-black-dresses, dancing away to glory after having tequila shots in posh clubs seems to have bored the audiences a little. 'Dabangg' comes as a welcome change in today's times. The story is set in a small town somewhere in Uttar Pradesh. Chulbul Pandey is a cop who proudly calls himself Robinhood Pandey aka messiah of the poor. We don't see much of Robinhood-ing happening in the movie except once or twice. Most of the ...

It is so much easier to write a bad review for a lousy film. Peepli Live left me speechless in the end. I was laughing all through it. But towards the end the tragedy hit me. Surprisingly the audience seemed very sensible.  I guess only those who were really interested and curious to know about Natha and the misfortune that struck his family came to the theatres in spite of the city having increasing numbers of swine flu cases. Peepli Live is the story of a farmer who is compelled to end his life to claim the remuneration from the government to repay the loans and save his piece of land. The way the idea of suicide is planted in his head and the way he becomes the silent spectator of the whole political and media generated hullabaloo is the primary story. The secondary plots comprise of an Amma mouthing choicest gaalis to her Bahu , Natha's wife, the bond between the brothers Budhiya and Natha, the story of a   local correspondent of Peepli who wants to make it big i...

A story-less fashion parade. And what a waste of Abhay Deol. However, I must stay that all the actors specially Sonam Kapoor were very stylishly presented (except one or two hair-dos). The movie is a pretty collage of trendy dresses, flowers and accessories. It would have been better if 'Aisha' was a coffee table book instead of a movie. Really. The story could have been wrapped up in less than 90 mins. There was no need of a Dhruv or Aarti (or Anita...i don't remember) to add to the length of the movie. Sonam Kapoor is capable of showing only two expressions, :) and :(. And  juggles between these two throughout. In all scenes when she is with her friends she is like :) and whenever Abhay Deol, her major critic, is in the vicinity she goes :(. And this keeps on happening till the end. At the end of the movie we know who Aisha is but we don't know why she is the way she is. The audience doesn't get access to the head of this character on which the whole movie i...

Remember this ? I am back in the land where Ashoka embraced Buddhism after killing thousands. I am not sure whether I will embrace Buddhism but i might end up killing a thousands. Not people, but bugs. The first time I took bath, marked the end of life of a cockroach and a couple of ants and spiders. This year I am more prepared. :) The room in which I am staying is adjacent to the one stayed in last year. So, I get to use the same bathroom. It made me feel at home. I even found the remains of the agarbattis I had lit last year. Who else would light agarbattis in bathroom? The moment I got down the train on sunday morning, I was shocked by the grand welcome provided by two of my friends here. Within 30 seconds of touching the grounds, a coconut was cracked at my feet and then there were garlands... (I swear that happened!). And it left me speechless and embarrassed. Very sweet of them. The city looks the same. Just that this time I am not feeling lost here. I know where to ...

Life is what lies between these two songs.

I liked this one. :) Going to the theater with lowered expectations has become routine now. And after disappointments such as Kites, Raavan, and Rajneeti (second half) I am trying to adjust an even lower expectation level. But I think I would have liked I hate love storys even otherwise. It's a sweet movie which will appeal to all the young college going crowd and a few older ones who are still young (and stupid) at heart (guess who? :-)). I am not saying it is an intelligent movie with out of the world performances. It was just 'sweet', if you know what I am talking about. The movie is about 'love' as depicted in various 'love stories' and the effect it has on the working of all those human minds which dwell on them. Some of these minds end up concocting their own real life stories (which in reality do not exist). A couple of these minds concoct their love stories, and happen to stumble upon their respective Rajs and Simrans , who also have the s...

I have not seen a better first half than that of ' Rajneeti ' in ages. The movie till the intermission showed a lot of promise and raised the expectations from the second half. But in the second half the story-writer/director ran out of ideas and started killing the characters just to pave the way for the most suitable future chief minister of the state. I think it would have been better if ' Rajneeti ' was based on underworld because the killings (in the name of gang-war) would have fitted well with the story. None of the characters (including the aspiring CMs and party workers) showed any concern for the state or the country, while throughout the movie ' Vande Mataram ' played in the background. The main story of the movie is borrowed from Mario Puzo's Godfather and the Mahabharata. There are also some minor resemblances to the life of the Gandhis (Rajiv, Sanjay, Soniya) and the movie 'Viraasat' (or the original 'Thevar Magan'). The wors...