5 INDIAN BIO-PICS I WANT TO WATCH ON SILVER SCREEN

Let's face it, Bollywood filmmakers have not been able to treat a biopic properly since the last hundred odd years. Well it's not that they havent tried, some films even came close to being called a proper biopic. 'Paan Singh Tomar' was one of the very good ones, 'Bhaag Milkha Bhaag' came close but the vain attempt to make it commercial at the same time, killed the essence of the film. Well box office collections and the award show organizers will beg to differ with me on this, but let them beg, who cares...

Over the years, Filmmakers in Bollywood have tried three different formulas while approaching a bio-pic, but never treated it like one. A lot of those were commercially successful like 'Dirty Picture', but they lacked good screenwriting, treatment of the lead character and ended up just as a gimmicky run of the mill film 'inspired' by someone's life. 

I love watching biopics, not because I am that overtly intellectual snob who takes inspirations (claims to) from others life and try to apply in his own life, but for some completely different reasons. Biopics make a real life turn into fantasy, and I am a sucker for fantasies. It shows the different layers in someones character and it tests the acting capabilities of an actor, to literally get into someones shoes. I dont watch biopics for the stories, I watch biopics for the acting

Some of my favorite biopics would be 'Bronson', 'Capote' (long live PSH), 'Finding Neverland', 'The Doors', 'Ed Wood', 'Malcolm X', the list would just go on. But we are here to talk about the five Hindi Biopics, that I want to watch on silver screen. Well, in the next couple of years, we will have atleast three sports biopics coming our way. The Mary Kom one, the one on Azharuddin's life and the biopic of the legendary Dhyanchand. I would love to watch all the three movies, especially the Dhyanchand one. But my list doesnt feature them. Before we start getting to the list, I would like to mention that this is not a top five list, It's just my personal wishlist of five eminent personalities...


5. GURUDUTT

Who better than the Indian 'Orson Welles' to start with. A man born before time, a visionary director, a passionate lover, a loyal friend and India's first celebrity who od'ed. What more do you need from this story.

Set in the backdrop against a post World War II Indian glam industry, this biopic will very well cover the ups and downs of his life as a director, his relationship with Geeta Dutt and the alleged affair with Waheeda Rehman, his friendship with Dev Anand and the alcohol and substance abuse which eventually led to his death. A noir treatment will add to the film...

Dream Cast

Abhay Deol as Gurudutt/ Deepika Padukone as Waheeda Rehman/ Jimmy Shergill as Dev Anand/ Rani Mukherjee as Geeta Dutt/Arundhati Nag as Vasanthi Padukone (his mother)

Dream Director

Mani Ratnam. period. Guru was as close as it can get.


4. SANJAY GANDHI

 The prodigal son, the future leader prospect, the cunning politician, the enterpreneur, the assasination attempt, the reforms and the film controversy and the untimely death (allegedly a sabotage). Thats a Frederick Forsyth novel on your plate. 

The film can start in the backdrop of the pre-emergency period with him working at Rolls-Royce. It can cover his pilots training, starting of Maruti Udyog and planning the Indian middle-class car, marrying Maneka Gandhi, entering hardcore politics with the emergency and outshining Indira Gandhi, running the sterilization program, getting imprisoned for 'Kissa Kursi Ka', assasination attempt, him getting elected as the secretary general of congress party to his death a month later in a copter crash. Just add a conspiracy theory and it is a political thriller.


Dream Cast

Akshay Khanna as Sanjay Gandhi/ Divya Datta as Indira Gandhi/ Benaf Dadachandji as Maneka Gandhi/ Rahul Bose as Rajeev Gandhi/ Amit Sadh as Bansi Lal


Dream Director

Shoojit Sircar. He nailed it in Madras Cafe...



3. SHAKUNTALA DEVI

Our very own John Nash, Mathematics genius, child prodigy, Guiness book of world record holder, author and the pioneer of homosexuality studies in India. This one is a national award winning role if done properly.

This biopic will have to cover huge time span from a pre-independent India to the new millenium. It should start at her fathers circus where he was a trapeze artist, lion tamer, rope walker and a magician, where she memorised a card game at the age of three. Her dads roadshows with her, performing at Mysore university at the age of six. Them moving to London,her Europe tour, coming back, marrying the advocate, performance at NYC, divorce,  Guiness book of world records and the piece on her by Arthur Jensen, her fight for decriminalizing homosexuality. The film has the spices of a brilliant biopic using the narrative style.


Dream Cast

Tabu as Shakuntala Devi

Dream Director


R.Balki. 


2. RAVI SHANKAR
 
A brilliant musician with four different ladies in his life. Mindblowing backdrop for a musical biopic.

The film can cover his growing up years when his dad left their family, his relationship with dancer brother Uday Shankar, training from Ustaad Allauddin Khan to marrying his daughter Annapurna Devi, separation, relationship with Kamala Shastri and later Sue Jones revolving around his different tours and then marrying Sukanya Rajan and relation ship with his two daughters. A tales of Love & passion in the backdrop of music.


Dream Cast

Ranvir Shorey as Ravi Shankar/ Konkona as Annapurna Devi/ Kalki Koechlin as Sue Jones/ Revathy as Sukanya Rajan/ Isha Sharvani as Kamala Shastri

Dream Director

Mahesh Bhatt



1. AMRITA PRITAM

Romance cant ever be better than this. One of the best poets in India with three love stories in her life and her words which can kill and make you feel alive at the same time.

Set in the backdrop of the pre independent India, her first collection of romantics poems, marrying Pritam Singh, moving on to social causes, career in All India Radio, relationship with Sahir Ludhianvi, her work during partition, divorcing Pritam Singh and love life with Imroz, numerous awards and the play based on her by M.S. Sathyu. The film can be narration through M.S. Sathyu and should finish at the screening of Ek thee amrita. A very poetic screenplay with some amazing music.


Dream Cast

Raveena Tandon as Amrita Pritam/ Kay Kay Menon as Sahir Ludhianvi/ Jackie Shroff as Imroz/ Rajit Kapoor as M.S.Sathyu/ Parmeet Sethi as Pritam Singh

Dream Director

Vishal Bhardwaj

AND MANY MORE

While writing this, there are so many other personalities which came in my mind but I could put them in the most-wanted list. Want to mention five among those names...

6. Prannoy Roy: A man who made news out of news. A biopic seriously needed for the 'Television personality of the millenium'.

7. Rekha: The queen bee of Indian film industry

8. P.C Sorcar: The king of Indian magic

9. Tenzing Norgay: Aint no mountain high enough for the most popular Sherpa

and 10. Mughal emperor Aurangzeb: The most power hungry human being born on Indian soil.

That sums up my list. To all the readers, I want to mention that this is a list based on what I feel and its totally my perspective. Well you might like a movie made on Akash Chopras life for all that matters,  but this list is MINE and I demand to watch these personalities on screen. So please inform your filmmaker friends to go through my list very carefully if they are short of any ideas. Just let them know, I would charge a meager five percent of the story fee as concept charge. Until then, this viking is signing off with a thought worth pondering over.

" Melody itna chocolaty kyun hai bhai"?

My favorite top 10 romantic Hindi films released since I came to this planet

Romance and me have a very old and weird relationship. We simply dont understand each other. Keeping that in mind when you read this feature, please expect some choices that you will simply not agree with, but what the hell... this is a list of MY favorite romantic movies, right? 

You will obviously notice in the title of the post I've mentioned 'films released since I came to this planet'. Well  many romantic, passionate, earth shattering movies had been released when I was in Jupiter, but frankly speaking I would have not listed more than three of those if I had to list 'my favorite top 10 romantic films of all time'. The reasons would be

1. I am not a die-hard romantic movie watcher. So out goes 'Pakeezah' and all the similar kinds

2. If the movie doesn't stay with me after watching it's not worth it. So 'Mughale e azam' doesnt make any sense to me as after watching it for the fifth time, the only thing that stays with me is the song 'Pyar kiya toh darna kya' and the mirror shot in the song.

3. If I cant relate to a love story, it doesnt work for me. Well its a little tricky, because I dont relate to most of the love stories. This is the benefit of doubt category, where there are some brilliant Yash Chopra films, but I somehow couldn't relate to those.

For me romantic films should make you feel the love, you want to relive the moments which are happening in the film and at some point during the course of the film you wont even know when there are a few teardrops rolling down your cheeks. And the ten movies which has given me these exact feelings more or less are...

NO. 10: DILWALE DULHANIYA LE JAYENGE (1995)


Well, at least 15 million Indian women would want to stab me to death because of putting this at no. 10. Well for a generation growing up on Trashy Hindi movies, DDLJ was a revelation. This film is like a religion to many romantic souls, I've know several people who know all the dialogues by heart. The scenes have inspired many filmmakers to write scenes for their movies and many young hearts to propose to their loved ones.

Why I love it 

Come on, its actually a brilliant film. The moments are so good that even Lata Mangeshkar's unbearable voice (She is a great singer, no doubt, but her voice didn't suit Kajol at all ) doesnt make any difference while watching the film. The journey factor added a different element to it and obviously Shahrukh Khan doing what he does best.

My favorite moment 

The whole palat sequence. I mean how many times I have wished that happens to me too. Alas! all the time I just look like a stupid guy standing in the middle of nowhere, looking at someone going away.





NO. 9: JAB WE MET (2007)



I have seen this movie almost four five months after this was released. And I was blown away by the enormous possibilities this movie had opened. I feel, that I like the love stories which had the elements of journey in it. This film has an uncanny feel good factor, which makes our lives seem beautiful.  I mean after a tired days work, you come back home and watch this movie, I guarantee you will feel refreshed


Why I love it 

Kareena, Imtiaz Ali, brilliant dialogues and a great support cast. Surprisingly, though I dont relate to the story much, but the moments keep me glued onto it and feel good about Geet and Aditya's happy ending. 


My favorite moment 

Well the most favorite moment would be Tarun Khanna screaming " Kyun jaun main ganne ke khet mein? kya rakha hai ganne ke khet mein, nahin dekhna mujhe ganne ka khet". But that's not a romantic moment. So I would opt for the scene where Aditya is encouraging Geet to blast all her emotions to Anshuman over phone. That was brilliant



  NO. 8: SOCHA NA THA (2005)                                                                 

Another Imtiaz Ali genius. A classic tale of love realizations and feeling helpless at love. I bet 70% of youth in India goes through the same dilemma which Viren (Abhay Deol) had went through in this film. This is a film about an average Indian young man, but this is not an average love story by any means. Its very practical and very realistics. Well Abhay Deol seems to be quite confused as far as romancing in films are concerned. He was also confused in Zindagi Milegi Na Dobara as well as in Aisha.

Why I love it

Abhay Deol and Ayesha Takia. Brilliant chemistry between them. The way Imtiaz has treated this film, it didnt seem like his first film. A new cast, new director, new approach towards love, thats what makes this film a must watch.

 My favorite moment 

When both of them elope just before the end. The emotions were so real that I always thought I would elope one day . Alas!!



  NO. 7: SAATHIYA (2005)

Yes yes I know it is Alai Payuthe, I also know that Madhavan had done a much better job than Vivek Oberoi. But its the same love story, and if I dont mention Saathiya in my favorite
romantic films' list, then it would be a sin. Probabaly this is the only Yashraj film which has made an impact on me in the last 15 years. I watched Saathiya almost twelve times, among which four times in a theatre. I loved the film that much. This film is made of a gamut small but significant moments, but thats what made this film brilliant.


Why I love it 

Rani Mukherjee never acted better than she did in this film. Like Socha na thha, this film also was very real and dealt with real characters. This was probably the last glimpse of the brilliance called A.R. Rahman. What we are getting from him post Saathiya is not even 30% of what he used to be once. Music was impeccable and did justice to the screenplay, which eventually gave me goosebumps at certain scenes. For once, Vivek Oberoi looked the part he was playing. (Yeah yeah, apparently he did that in Company too)

My favorite moment 

 Aditya (Vivek) jumps on to a running train and when Suhani (Rani) asks him to jump off the train. Very sweetly he says "train rukegi toh kud jaunga". Fine moment...



 NO. 6: TAAL (1999)

Can you tell me if there's one romantic soul in the whole country who hasnt been moved by the song Ishq Bina, when the video first came out. I dont remember waiting so long for any
other movie for that long. People talk about Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam when they talk about new age love triangles, but for me, Taal was the ultimate love triangle. I watched this film on the first day first show, then second show and then next day night show. Taal had a huge impact on the way I look at romantic films.

Why I love it

I remember buying the audio cassette of Taal twice, the first time I had used it so much that the prints started skipping. Music is the best part of Taal. Rahman had got everything right for this album. Secondly beautiful backdrop for the movie helped it look good on screen and off course Anil Kapoor. In the post Dev Anand era, no one looked as flamboyant as Anil Kapoor did in Taal. 


My favorite moment 

Undoubtedly, the video of the song Ishq Bina. The play with the shadows, Aishwarya in that white dress, Akshaye Khanna with his identical smirk. Elegant indeed...



 NO. 5: DIL SE (1998)


Love can be dangerous too, and no other film (not even the Bhatt camp erotic thrillers) can portray that better than this film. Before this film released, the names attached with it had created a stir amongst all film lovers. Unfortunately I was not allowed inside the theater when I first went to watch this film as this was an adult film and I was not allowed to drink by then. So I had to wait for few months till the VHS released.


Why I love it

Tough question, everything was brilliant in this film (oh! except the horrific bomb blast vfx in the end). Santosh Sivan's each shot, chiaroscuro lighting, shadows, locations, dialogues, music. Everything made me fall in love with this movie. The premise created all the difference for me, it was something in between dangerous and unrequited love, and that worked brilliantly. Monisha Koirala expressed with her eyes and the silence was so loud that at times it was trippy. Once again A.R. Rahman created some tunes which always haunt me whenever I hear them. Especially Ae Ajnabee


My favorite moment 

The first time when Amar (Shahrukh) sees Meghna (Monisha), on the railways station, with the glass of tea in his hand. I dont remember how many times I have seen pretty girls at stations and I remembered Dil Se.


 NO. 4: JAANE TU YAA JAANE NA (2008)

 You might stop reading once you read the next line. I love Imran Khan. There are some roles in some Hindi films that only he could pull off. I would put my money on Imran if there is a comparison debate between Imran and Ranbir Kapor on who would have been better for 'I hate love stories' or 'Break ke baad'. No one could do those roles better than Imran.
He should stay away from doing Kidnap-esque movies or the films which breaks away from his lover boy attitude., at least for the time being. Similarly Jai in jaane tu ya jaane na can only be Imran and he single handedly pulled off one of the best debut films of all time. This movie is somewhat similar to Genelia's debut film 'Tujhe Meri Kasam'. But JTYJN is much more vibrant, much more dynamic and much more romantic than Tujhe meri kasam. The premise of best friend romance is always a very intriguing one, but Abbas Tyrewala (A little birdie said Aamir Khan) handled it brilliantly. 


Why I love it

Most of my girlfriends had been my very close friends ( well, thats a different story that they no longer stayed friends after they dated me), so I absolutely love the idea of fromance (friend romance). JTYJN was perfect that way. It was about college students but not at all a college romance, which I loved. Imran, like I said was custom fit for this role, Genelia is always pleasant and her one smile makes me fall for her everytime. The progression of the story, the supporting cast, the narrative made me fall in love with the movie in no time.

My favorite moment 

Airport scene undoubtedly.What makes it funnier is Murali Sharma on the walkie.



 NO. 3: REHNA HAI TERE DIL MEIN (2001)

How many times this has happened to you that you go to watch a movie without even hearing the name of it and come out under a spell of that movie? How many times this has happened to you when your friends have forced you to watch a movie and you end up watching it more than twenty times in your life?

Well for me RHTDM happened. And I was bowled over. Yes it is a very simple story, yes it is a very done to death love triangle, but how many of them do you remember? how many of them you remember scene to scene, dialogue by dialogue. With RHTDM, I do that, and thats why it's at number three


Why I love it

Have you seen the pain on Madhavan's face? have you seen the glare in his eyes when he sees Dia Mirza? Madhavan is probably one of the best actors of our time. Rehna hai tere dil mein is all about him, and he made sure we notice that. I fell in love with him, I felt the pain when he couldnt get a chance to tell the truth, I got disturbed when Saif came in between. Madhavan has showed the different emotions of love, all in this one movie. All Dia did was looked pretty and presentable. But Rehnaa hai tere dil mein wouldnt have been as marvellous without Harris Jayaraj's music. Zara Zara, Dilko tumse pyar huwa, Sach keh raha hai deewana, these gave me goosebumps. And the RHTDM theme is the best OST ever made for a Indian romantic movie.


My favorite moment 

"Ek ladki dekhi bilkul bijli ki tarah ... one flash ... ek chamak aur main apna dil kho behta ...  bas ab ek hi tamanna hai ... rehna hai uske dil mein". Madhavan's voice still echoes in my ears.

 NO. 2: LOVE AAJ KAL (2009)

 When I came out of the mutiplex after watching this film, there was something inside that was telling me that I want my love story to be like this. I also wanted to love someone but
didnt want to realize that I've loved her. At that exact point my girlfriend called me, so all my thoughts got diverted on how would I explain not taking her to the movie. But jokes apart, 'Love Aaj Kal' had put many things in perspective as per romantic movies are concerned. It is very believable, very today, very young yet traditional, and emotionally very accurate.


Why I love it

Deepika Padukone... The very fact that it starts with them growing apart yet getting closer is enough for me to like the movie. Plus there is Deepika Padukone. The doubts of Saif, the intercut with Rishi kapoor's love story, and the constant disbalance between professional and personal life because of unfulfilled love. Yet again the journey element by Imtiaz Ali. Whenever I watch this film I become Saif (No, I dont say waaaoow), and get engrossed till the film is over.  There is a kind of unexplainable romanticism in unfulfilled love and no other film shows it better than Love Aaj Kal. Also there is Deepika Padukone...


My favorite moment 

Actually there are two. One is the next day after Deepika got married she realised that this is not the way it should be and her all going psycho with Rahul Khanna.  And the other one is when she breaks down when Saif comes to Delhi and profess his love for her.



 NO. 1: TUM BIN (2001)

Tum bin jiya jaaye kaise/ Kaise Jiya jaaye tum bin/ Sadiyon se lambi hai raatein
Sadiyon se lambe huwe din/ Aa jao lautke tum/yeh dil keh raha hai


When I say this is my most favorite film of all time, dont be surprised. Not many people have seen this film, but whoever did, loved it. And I dont know any soul who hasnt cried after seeing this film. Four new faces, a new director, new music director and the result was mindboggling. Surprisingly none of the actors became stars later, director Anubhav Sinha went on to make big budget action and so called super hero films, music director Nikhil-Vinay have vanished without a trace. So what was in Tum Bin? It was an unusual yet very very mature love story. It didnt have the fun element of jaane tu ya jane na, neither did it have the confusion element of Love Aajkal, nor the vibrance of RHTDM. Tum bin was emotional fragments knit together in a very, very matured story. Supported by an apt soundtrack and a very promising and talented Priyanshu Chatterjee


Why I love it

 I dont just love it, for me Tum Bin is a benchmark for romantic movies. Tum Bin is a movie that I want to remake for the next gen viewers, maybe 20 years from now. Priyanshu Chatterjee had shown so much of promise in the film, we dont even remember the wooden Himanshu Malik and blink-n-miss Rakesh Bapat (who is now known as Rageysh Vashisht, bledy numerology, I tell you). Sandali Sinha did her best to look the part but it was Priyanshu who made Tum Bin my favorite romantic film. Music was brilliant and perfectly blended with the screenplay. Koi Fariyaad still haunts me everytime I hear it. 


My favorite moment 

There are umpteen, but I want to mention only two. One is when Priyanshu leaves the 100 dollar bill on the bridge. And the other one would be when he tells Sandali " Jaanta hoon aapko sahare ki zaroorat nahin hai, main sirf saath dene aaya hoon." That's been my go to line for quite sometime.


THE ONES WHICH I MISSED

Choosing ten favorite is no easy task, had to ignore some other good films too, but a few are worth mentioning. Lamhe, Wake up Sid,  Kuchh Kuchh Hota hai, Ranjhana, Khamoshi ( Mr. Bhansalis only watchable film by far) and for some strange reason Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa.


That sums up my list. To all the readers, I want to mention that this is a list based on what I feel and its totally my perspective. This shouldnt stop you from going 'aww' over the outrageous 'Dil to paagal hai' or  the intolerable 'Mohabbatein'. This is your life, your choice and you have all the right to watch and love whatever you like. On that note I sign off today. Will be back soon, with another list, or another poem or anything that I would want to share.

Wohh jo adhoori si baat baaki hai

The words that we havent said, the words we wish we had said
The love we havent experienced, the respect we should have paid
The anger which never exploded, the laugh which never made us cry
The run which never touched the finishing line, the jump which never made us fly

The dream which didnt come true, the nightmare never meant to end
The book which was unfinished, the letter which was never sent
The kiss which didnt touch the lips, the paper plane which never took off
The free-kick which never reached the nets, The train which did not stop

The lines which never got written, the prayers which never got heard
The tune which never got a voice, the focus which was always blurred
The storm which never destroyed anything, the plant which never had a seed
The mimic who forgot his identity, the creative mind who never smoked weed

Things we didnt, things we couldnt, things we would have, things we should have
Things we repent, things we regret, things we avoid, but we never forget
Stories we store, deep inside the mind, recycle and reuse, whatever they depict
The heart is a fool,  very old school, a stereotypical, nostalgia addict

Well there are two ways to live a life they say, either to let everything be
Or to change it they way we want it, create our own destiny
Let's think from our head, feel from our soul, let there be a whole new dawn
It's tough, its  awful to let go, but its the fact; NOW is the time to move on
 

Being Subodh...

I love Subodh, I admire him, I respect him and I look up to him. To some people, he might be the biggest loser to take birth on this planet earth; to others, he is a freak. Well you can call him anything, but that doesn't change the efficiency and effectiveness of a person like Subodh. He is not only a person, he is a cult. For a whole generation inspired by Dil Chahta Hai, 'Subodh' is the one thing that affects people the most. A man with an amazing memory. Thats all that you need, thats all I ever wanted to be. Believe it or not, women want their partners to be like Subodh. One who remembers everything, especially dates...

Lets see how many dates are we supposed to remember in a man's lifetime. Let's start with birthdays. From childhood, other than your birthday, you have to remember your parents and sibling's birthdays. In a joint family, you will have your uncles and aunts, cousins and dogs. It's unsocial, not remembering their birthdays. Once you start mingling outside your family, you definitely have to remember your friend's birthday (depending on who gives you better gift on your birthday). Then you grow up, you start getting attracted to the opposite sex. As a flirting tactic, remembering birthdays rate very high. So you have to remember her birthday too [most of the times it's more than one, hence more pressure to the brain]. Some girls respond to the flirting, some tie you rakhi instead. So unintentionally you get tied up into remembering some more numbers. Above all these you have those important dead people whose birthdays you forcefully remember in the quest of public holidays.

You go to college, where celebrating birthdays at cafes/restaurants/pubs with newly associated friends have pretty much been in fashion over the last decade. Now is the time when you start enjoying other people's birthdays. If you by chance remember these birthdays you get welcomed into the brotherhood, which wins you couple of beers, couple of colas , some fries and chips or at least a chicken mac-grill. Then you start working in any organization, remembering you boss's birthday acts wonderfully for your career, remembering the accountants birthday stabilizes your finances, remembering the workaholic colleagues birthday lets you reduce your work pressure and remembering your receptionists birthday, of course can give you some cheap thrills at the office loo, lift or at the parking lot.

Now there will be a time when you finally want to settle down in life with someone's birthday you already know. That saves you some grey cells. But if you decide to marry a new birthday , there will be a whole lot of newer birthdays which come as tag-along with it. Namely her cousins, her family, her friends, her colleagues (very rare), her doggy etc. Quite unexpectedly they expect you to remember these dates clearly. And the list goes on and on and on. It is very safe to say, in a facebook free life, men are bound to remember at least 50 birthdays. Thats when we first realise, how being a Subodh is a boon...

Well other than the birthdays, we have the anniversaries [ parents', friends', ex-girlfriends' and off course your own], we have the graduation days, school establishment days, we have the company annual days, annual holidays, dates of a well spent trip somewhere, blacklisted days in the history of the country, world, even universe. I mean the 15th Augusts and the 9/11s. It sometimes gets very confusing you know... No wonder Veena Malik screwed up between 26th January and 26th November. 

But Subodh is beyond this, he kind of remembers dates of first coffee, first kiss, first dialogues, first dates, first altercation, first movie watched, first ever music piece. And he never needs the help of facebook or any kind of social network to remind him of such events. You can safely call him a Human Timeline.

But why am I writing about Subodh? what is this whole blog all about? It's about a little worrying fact actually. It's about our dependence on social network, how we depend on a website to remind us of the birthdays of our close ones, how we have stopped maintaining a diary with the birthdays of people we care about, how we have started blaming facebook for something we should remember ourselves. Its about the lack of usage of a very interesting & intriguing body part called memory. Facebook is indeed a very good tool to remember the birthdays and other dates of all the other people you deal on a need to know basis. But your friends and family, they close ones, they don't deserve this. They dont want a belated wish from you simply because you forgot to check facebook on their birthdays...

In the whole line up of different characters in Dil Chahta hai, I would choose Subodh every time. You can make fun of him, but you can never underestimate his efficiency. In a social network driven generation, Subodh is the odd man who evens out the discrepancy between control and chaos. We need more Subodh's in our society to make relationships less virtual. Why am I so bothered? Lets go back to the first line. I love Subodh, I admire him, I respect him and I look up to him. He is me, I am him...

How Dexter has affected our (especially mine) eating habits...

Unbelievable, isn't it?

Dexter, arguably the best series on earth is coming to an end in a couple of months and I've been thinking a lot about it. About how it affected us over the last six years, about how it has become a part of my life in this time, about how I refer to Dexter at every small thing that happens in my cereal killer life...

Thousands of people across the globe have been affected and influenced by Dexter in many different ways. Some became serial killers, some started having conversations with their own selves, some even started believing that they dont have emotional connect with people after the first season and the same people returned to normalcy with Dexter connecting to different people in different seasons. But for me, Dexter influenced me into generating some weird eating habits over the years.

I never liked having coffee in a takeaway cup, it always spills. But after seeing Dexter having coffee like that in the morning, I had started doing that for some months and then one day it spilled really bad on my new pant. That went out of the window since then.

In one season Dexter ate a sandwich while driving his Ford. I drive a ford, and for the next few months, every morning I would pick up a sandwich from 'Birdy' and eat it while driving. Man... it was damn tough concentrating on both.

I hated french fries, but have you seen Dex and Deb munching on the delicious french fries on the double date in the first season. Gawd, I am still addicted to french fries since. 

Have i already mentioned Lundy's Ham and cucumber sandwich which I made a few times at home afterwards, always got fascinated by the different shaped donuts, the big-ass cheeseburgers that he hogs on at each date, the tomato spaghetti Dex makes, the mexican fast food Deb eats from the food truck, makes me hungry each time I watch the show

But nothing beats the beef steak that Dexter makes. It looks succulent, soft, juicy, well done  and whenever he eats it, I feel that it is melting inside my mouth. Like Deb says, 'it must be worth living for'.

So as this show is coming to an end, I feel that some part of my life would go missing from now on. Well being a foodie, it's normal for me. And why wouldnt it be? Dexter makes me more hungry than Gordon Ramsey does...



                                Unbelievable, isnt it ?
 

CONVERSATIONS: CANDID WITH AN AUTO DRIVER

Conversations are what makes life worth living...

I love conversing with people, people might call me talkative sometimes but I love to know more about people, especially common people. Their thoughts, their outlook, their ideologies mesmerize me sometimes. Whenever I have a long journey in an auto or in a cab, I try and talk to the driver, know what he knows, see what he sees and also to observe what he observes. It has always turned out to be completely different that what we assume about them.

Last Monday I got down at Mumbai domestic airport and headed towards the auto stand. When I reached there, two pimp-ish auto drivers tried to make me understand that the autos have also fallen under prepaid charges. So my destination which normally would attract a fare of Rs. 120, apparently it would charge me Rs. 350 now. On top of that, the auto driver said that if I dont take the pre-paid slip, he would only charge me Rs. 250. After 8 years in Mumbai, I have learned to play my cards well, so I denied and asked them "do you guys have any meter autos?"

At that time I noticed, on my right side there was a huge queue of auto rickshaws, who are looking at me with sad faces. Now the guy who was in front of the queue, rode forward," Saab, I will go". With stoned-jaw and burning eyes, the first autodriver said " Fine, then go with him, dont come back to me later about lost properties." I was stunned, what did he think of himself? Asked him 'you think you are their king? What's your name buddy?" He just walked out...

I, visibly pissed, sat into the meter auto. The driver said, " saab, was in the queue for over half n hour. If it's possible, please give me twenty bucks extra". That calmed me down immediately.  One one hand, there was this rude auto-bourgeois, who is trying to rob me even before he rendered any service, on the other hand, there is this guy who is asking for a few meager extra bucks, in the most polite way possible. 

Curiously I asked him what is the scene? And the story that he told me, revealed a big racquet, which is about to corrupt the Mumbai auto drivers. According to him, that first auto driver is the self-proclaimed leader of airport auto drivers. He always does this prepaid scam and asks for more money. If the passenger falls for it, he still doesnt go with them. He rather asks one of those meter drivers standing in the queue, to drop them at meter price and takes the extra money from him before they leave airport. So the meter driver looks like the cheat, and the leader-driver earns by standing at the airport and pimping the rides. Now some of the passengers have tried to contact the cops nearby, but apparently they get a cut too. For example, had I agreed on Rs. 350, the leader-driver would ask the meter driver to pay him Rs. 200 and take the passenger. With that Rs. 200 he pays Rs. 100 to the cops and keeps the rest to himself.

When I expressed my surprise at this story, he started giving me examples of what all happened to different passengers, how the leader-driver shoes the passengers away from the meter drivers, if they dont take his deal. I had always thought that nothing can beat Chennai and Bangalore auto drivers as far as cheating is concerned, but this was way beyond that if it's true.

As we cross the Jogeshwari flyover, I asked him why he goes to airport if he knows that there are so much of tension. What he told me was another shocker. Apparently other than the auto drivers in a certain auto-union led by a certain leader, no driver is happy with the base fare increasing from Rs.12 to Rs.15. With Rs. 12, they would make about Rs 700-800 per day in an average. But with Rs.15, rarely they can make more than Rs.500 a day. According to him " previously, passengers would queue up for one auto, now autos queue up to one passenger. Other than the 10,000 odd autos in the union, no other driver is happy in the city, and as a result, they are delving into the trap of these airport hoodlums."  With govt. sanctioning another 90,000 auto and cabs in the city, earning bread would be a great challenge for the existing drivers. 
  
I tried to make the situation light and asked him about his native place. He turned out to be from a small town near Varanasi, where I have shot once. He was excited to know that I know about his village. He has one son and one daughter. The daughter is studying to be a nurse and the son is in 2nd year engineering in a college in UP. I couldnt refrain myself from asking about his past, what brought him to Mumbai? He was in his first year, political science major in a Varanasi college, when his father passed away because of poisonous liquor, he had to take responsibility of the whole family of six. Mumbai seemed to be the only place where he could earn enough to support his family. But he kept his interest in politics intact. " Saab, i can discuss any political issue with you" he smiled and said. Well I indeed observed that, when I saw the folded newspaper on his rickshaw-dashboard, with the Durgashakti Nagpal case visible from where I was sitting. I was impressed...

When he dropped me, I gave him Rs.30 extra, he gave 10 bucks back. He said 'saab, I dont need pity, we had a great conversation and I enjoyed talking to you. If you are a man in some position, do something about the airport scam. I can still figure out other means to earn, but there are many others who can't. Bye" he left. I stood there with my blue trolley bag, thinking about the last one hour. He taught me so many important lessons in life, but I didnt even ask his name. Maybe that extra 10 bucks I tried to give was self pity, maybe it was guilt, maybe just a tip or maybe just for the amazing conversation I had. It undoubtedly made my day and gave me an unforgettable memory. A memory that's worth remembering throughout a lifetime...
 
 

Village Post: Part 1 - Drama in the blood

I always keep talking about my small village in mostly all of my blogs. Well it's not that small also. Almost 5000 people stay in my village. It's actually a very weird place full of weird people and weird incidents ( No doubt why I am proud to be one). A full epic can be written on the place and the people and would be a bestseller without any doubt (Someday, someday). As far as social, cultural, educational and moral value goes, my village holds a very respected position in the whole district of the southern part of West Bengal. People are culturally drawn towards performing arts and every week there used to be some kind of cultural program somewhere in the village.

My family owns a school there, so being a part of the school committee and the whole cultural jingbang all around, from childhood, I used to feel very culturally inclined and used to take part in arranging such kind of activities. Every year April-May used to be a super fun month for us as the annual cultural program of the school used to happen then. Other than the performances, we used to also sort out gifts for the winners in annual sports and used to award the good students. There used to be songs, dance performances, recitation, mimicry, but the main attraction was the drama performed by present students. All students, teachers, guardians, shopkeepers, local bigwigs used to wait for that one big thing.

The year was 1994. The date was, 24th May( If I'm not wrong). Before that, all the dramas used to be of 20-30 minutes, and mostly those were based on classic books. That year we broke two rules
1. We came up with a parody which was written by the great Bengali writer 'Narayan Gangopadhyay' and had no classic value whatsoever, and 2. We got two ex-students (including myself) and my friend Arya (who never was a student of the school) to act in the drama. It was called Bhim Badh ( The killing of Bhim: the second pandava)

The story was about a drama group who is staging a play called 'Duryodhan Badh' ( The killing of Duryodhan: the captain of Kauravas). But the actor who was supposed to play Duryodhan doesnt want the villianious role and doesnt want to die in the end, so he wanted to be Bhim and approached the director Kaluda, but the director shuns him off and forces him to play Duryodhan. So he takes his revenge by messing up the whole drama, creating chaos on screen and thus making it Bhim Badh.

We rehearsed for several days, almost a month and then the day finally came. My friend Sayan portrayed Kaluda-the director, Arya was playing Krishna , Bhim was Debashis, I was playing the prompter, Souvik & Mridul were two soldiers 
(more like props, they didnt have dialogues), and my brother Inder was Duryodhan. All of us were quite well known child-actors in the locality, especially Sayan. So relatives and other people flocked the ground and the place were choc-blocked before we could even start the function

April-May is also the time in Bengal, when the Nor'wester storm happens on most of the evenings, and heavy wind with rains cause all the ripe mangoes to fall. We were all ready to perform and heavy wind started to blow. It was an open air performance, so all viewers ran for shelter. In the dressing room a visibly depressed Arya was actually wishing if his chakra could work and he could do something about the weather; fortunately the storm calmed doen in less than 15 minutes. We were all unhappy that most of the audience have ran away. But as soon as we enter the ground, we could see atleast 1000 people came that day to watch that drama. We started, We acted and we conquered. Well in between once the power went off, but Sayan, as brilliant an actor he was, didnt even miss a small cue. We had swept the whole crowd of their feets.

The cast of Bhim Badh [ from left, Me, Mridul, Arya, Sayan, Debashis, Inder and Souvik]

And then Bhim badh became a cult drama in the vicinity.  I somehow directed Bhim Badh once more, when I was in class twelve. I did that play in my high school. This time I didnt act though :). But drama has always been something that held the village together. There are umpteen anecdotes about the dramas that has happened over the years, the local actors, imported actors ( from Kolkata theatre), the actor who was specialized in playing 'conscience', the actor who pronounce Mahatma Gandhi without a 'hi' and with a 'u', the actor who was the reason behind many dramas getting stopped in between and many more. In my village posts, I will talk all about them, all about my village, and all the weird experiences of my time there. Do visit in once before you lose the weirdness in you...