मुद्दतों के बाद लिखने बैठे हैं
आज भी ग़म का खज़ाना खोल बैठें हैं
चारों और हसी है, मुस्कुराहटें हैं
पर दिल न जाने क्यों ग़मगीन है
पता नहीं लगा पा रहा है एक ऐसी वजाह
जिसके सुलझाने से मुस्कान खिल उठे
न जाने वोह क्या बात है
जो नैनों में आंसू ले आई है
चुपके से क्या हम रो लें?
शायद आंसुओं के बह जाने पर
ये ग़म का खज़ाना कुछ देर के लिया अनजाना हो जाये
या फिर कुछ ऐसी बात हो जाए
जो चेहरे पर मुस्कान खिलादे.. ?
Heights of Badmaashi
I was showered upon the honour of watching the movie ‘Badmaash Company’ last night. Considering the quality of cinema today, I should say that it was an honour. I look for three things as the essence of a movie – the story, the actors and music. Would you consider a movie a hit, if the movie failed on all three accounts, but left you in splits for one hundred and fifty minutes of your day/week/month?
I watch a lot of movies and my intent is to come out feeling entertained. Thats what I pay for. Not life messages, lessons, how-to-be-a-good-*** kind of movies. Life in itself teaches you a thousand lessons a day, whether you learn them is a different story altogether, but movies are for entertainment and leaving it there, helps.
This movie entertained me right from the first shot till the end. The crew of the movie probably tried to create another masterpiece which would find its place in the laurels of quality cinema, but to me it was a brilliant comedy. The story was baseless – Imagine Michael Jackson wearing a shirt for his concert, that Shahid Kapoor sells to get his uncles stocks up. And Michael Jackson actually wears it. And the brand of the shirt ‘Bleeding Madras’. And thats because the shirts are bleeding in the washer. He washes a shirt 7 times and each time it loses color, it becomes a new shirt!! So you pay the price of one shirt for 7 shirts!! I was WOW-ed!! And top American companies actually believe this bullshit and order for thousands of shirts. What brilliance!!!
Anushka kisses Shahid for the first time and says ‘This is not serious, ok’. But towards the end of the movie she understands, coz she ends up with a round belly, six months!! Thats when the seriousness hits her!!!
Movie previews proudly announce the number of liplocks between the lead actor and actress. 2 long ones, one short one.. But they need to start announcing the number of times, the lead actor cries. Three times, Shahid Kapoor.. Somebody please pass him some tissues. 1 long cry and 2 short cries..
Music was simply brilliant.. Like the chicken egg question I really wonder if the music came first or the lyrics. Jingle Jingle was simply out of this world.. Here are the lyrics.. and you should read each line to get a grasp of the brilliance of indian music. Where Rahman is getting oscars and grammy’s the same music industry is creating such masterpieces –
Kabhi to kismat hi-fi hamari ho
Kabhi to t-shirt se matching ferrari ho
Kabhi to bank mein currency karari ho
Kabhi to apni madonna se yaari ho
Kabhi kabhi aisa lagey, yeh bhi kum hai khwaishein
Khuda mera poocha kare, raza meri and he’ll pay the bill
Jingle jingle sabki jebein, jingle jingle bell
Apne paas to sikka single, so what the hell
Jingle jingle sabki jebein, jingle jingle bell
Apne paas to sikka single, so what the hell
Jahan bhi jaye ek spotlight upar ho
Sensex niche phir bhi hum upar ho
007 James Bond wali gadi ho
USA mein dus baaran kothiyan padi ho
USA mein dus baaran kothiyan padi ho
Kabhi kabhi aisa lagey, yeh bhi kum hai khwaishein
Khuda mera poocha kare, raza meri and he’ll pay the bill
Jingle jingle sabki jebein, jingle jingle bell
Apne paas to sikka single, so what the hell
Jingle jingle sabki jebein, jingle jingle bell
Apne paas to sikka single, so what the hell
Mera check book leke aao, they don’t accept cards
What to do, Dinar, Dollar, Euros, Francs
What’s with the money of the world in bank
Crorepati but my pocket is khaali
Pretending that I’m living on milk and honey
Clothes and cars, diamonds and gold bars
I’m living off love but I’m looking like a star
Hazratein hai badi, full full hai tadi
Qaynaat chahiye, taaron se jo ho jadi
So what if sab chahiye (chahiye), muthi bar sahi
Jo seedhay se haasil na ho, chheen lo
One day jacuzzi wale do teen hotel ho
Apne bhi naam ki beer ki bottle ho
One day versace ka wardrobe total ho
Foreign ki ladki par rate yaar local ho
Kabhi kabhi aisa lagey, yeh bhi kum hai khwaishein
Khuda mera poocha kare, raza meri I don’t take a pill
Jingle jingle sabki deve, jingle jingle de
Apne paas to sikka single, sau baata hai
Jingle jingle sabki deve, jingle jingle de
Apne paas to sikka single, sau baata hai
Jingle jingle sabki deve, jingle jingle de
Apne paas to sikka single, sau baata hai
Jingle jingle sabki deve, jingle jingle de
Apne paas to sikka single, sau baata hai
I couldn’t resist clapping, hooting and rolling on the floor with laughter for such exceptional comedy! I have not enjoyed another movie like this.
Recommended – 100% for those who need a good laugh.
In need of quality cinema..
Every Keralite knows who the two M’s of the Malayalam Industry are – Mohanlal and Mamootty. Most people opine that we do not get to see quality cinema like the 80’s. And I too belong to this strata of people. Quality cinema is of a rare thing now. Some blame it on script, some on the story, director etc. One argument goes that there are no stories to match the caliber of these two actors. But, why is the enacting of the role so bad in whatever roles they get. If they are indeed exceptional actors then why is it that I feel they are acting on screen, as opposed to the feeling one got from the older movies – where you wouldn’t be able to make out that they are acting. They were performing.
I happened to see Ividam Swargamaanu last night. Mohanlal looks so artificial, even in the climax scenes. It feels like he is putting an effort to act. If you pick any of his movies from the 80’s you will be able to mark a clear difference, between performing and acting. Same is the case for Mamooty, his short-length role in Kerala Cafe leaves you surprised. I am not an ardent follower of Mamooty movies, but still the attempt to act is clear in the recent movies.
There may be a lot of external factors like, story, script, director etc, but if the delivery on screen is bad, then how can viewers expect quality cinema?
It is obvious to any viewer, that a movie like Ividam Swargamaanu has been written to bring back the quality that existed in Malayalam cinema 30 years back. I found, Lalu Alex, Thilakan, Kaviyoor Ponamma more natural than Mohanlal.
Paleri Manickyam, was a good story, Mamooty bagged the State Award for best actor, because he was better among the lot. If you compare his old movies to Paleri Manickyam, you would award him 10 state awards for his performance.
Fans associations of these highest paid actors in Malayalam cinema, may give them the returns for their investment, but quality performance from these actors is strongly missing. I would rather watch a move like Neelathamara for entertainment, where the expectations are low and will not fail to entertain me.
There are a few movies out of the blue that actually catch your attention. One such movie was Kaiyoppu. Everything was neat. Another example was Kerala Cafe – Island Express, the one with Siddique and a few others. Awaiting more quality cinema like these.
– An ardent movie viewer!
W kisses..
People who know my younger son, will instantly know what ‘W’ prefix means. When my little guy asks for something, we ask him, how many you want, coz he is never satisfied, he keeps saying ‘cann-i have some more?’ So when we ask him ‘how many’ his instant reply is ‘w’ and he looks at his hand, brings the thumb and little finger together and opens up the other three fingers, meaning he wants three. If it is something that he ‘lubs’ (loves) then he recounts the same three fingers to usually ten or twenty, the biggest numbers he knows and says, ‘I mean, I want ten’.
This little brat wakes up at the crack of sunlight seeping into my room and starts shaking me up, even on a weekend and says ‘amma wake up, its mornin time, see the sun is out’.. this happens even when there is no daylight sometimes. I tell him, ‘no kevi, its night, go back to sleep’ and this is at 9am sometimes on weekends :)..
He has to brush by himself, even on days when I miss the alarm. ‘I wannto do it all myself’.. and he takes ages to squeeze the teeny weeny amount of toothpaste from his train picture flouride-free toothpaste tube to his little Diego toothbrush. He brushes the same set of eight front teeth, over and over again for the next three minutes and spits out at regular intervals. After he’s sure that he’s wasted enough of my time, he says ‘ok, now its your turn’.
The first thing after brushing is his boon of life – paaa.. (Milk). And for this too, he has to pick his own straw, the straw I pick from the same pack of straws finds its place in the trash can.
Then he’s ready to watch some cartoon till I get ready to work. Mickey mouse, umizoomi, dora, diego, max and ruby, everything possible on Nick Jr and Playhouse Disney. He has his share of cornflakes from my bowl, picks up his show and tell toy and he’s ready to go to Grandma George – his daycare.
On the way, he wants either Chak de from Salaam Namaste or Zoobi Doobi from 3 idiots to play on the car stereo. These are the hot favourites now. If the sun falls in his eyes he says ‘amma, tooo sunny’.
Getting down from the car at Grandma George’s place, ends up in my arms and I ask him for W kisses, followed by more, more and more, till Grandma George opens the door. He waves bye and goes inside.
I wonder what he does in there. Eats, plays, sleeps, again plays and wait and waits till his mommy is back to pick him up. I feel so grateful to him, for spending his days at a childcare, longer than the hours I spend at work, silently understanding the fact that I need to work and he needs to be at someone else’s place with other kids, while I am gone.
The gleam in his eyes in the evening when I pick him up lights up the whole room. He comes running, hugs my legs and says ‘amma’, meaning to say, ‘i am so glad that you came back to pick me’. Does he have a fear that I may not come back?
Once home, he is all set to fight with his brother, making up for all the hours of the day followed by ‘I dont wanto tak-a baath..’ ‘Can I eat maamu (food)..’ ‘Can I watch a CD..’ ‘Can I have some appe joos..’ or complaints like ‘amma, i didnot find the remot, and you were making maamu, u did not come, and that is baad..’
After a lot of irritating everyone in the house, around 9pm, this guy lands up in the bed. He turns and rolls for sometime and asks ‘amma can i hav some wather (water)..’ and makes me go downstairs and get him water.. everyday.. After another 20 to 30 minutes of turning around, jumping, playing, talking, he finally rolls over wrapped in a 5feet by 5feet comforter and sleeps. Before he closes his eyes, he says ‘i lub u amma’ gives me w kisses and says ‘i dont want to sleep..’
A thousand expressions on his face, this huggable, lovable, little brat of mine ..
I care..
This piece is an old thought, which was in my draft.. publishing it now..
“I care..” where does the boundarry line start for this statement.. where does it end? Is there a boundary somewhere? Some people make such an explicit statement of this, and some have subtle expressions. And the rest don’t care. How much of showing will actually pass on the message? Does it always have to be expressed in words? What if one had caring thoughts, but never said it or expressed it, would any value be attached to it or would that be equivalent to ‘don’t care’? Expressions! The true soul of existence.. ?
What do you say to a person who tells you that you don’t care? Would you reiterate “No I really do” or cite examples from everyday happenings to demonstrate how you cared for the person? Or would you rethink, do I really care? But if you do care then why was the question posed to you in the first place? And thats exactly where you start going in circles…
Go figure out, do you really care for the people who you ought to care for? Or the people who think that you care about them? Or are you really passing the message to the people whom you care for? The answer is simple, as long as you don’t show your affection in the way the receiver percieves the word ‘care’, you simply don’t care… whatever you do doesn’t matter.
Looking for some calmness on a Sunday afternoon..
My small kitchen window, paints a picturesque image of a small sub-urban city somewhere in the north-eastern part of this mass of land. The winter has receeded to hibernate for another nine months. Spring is waiting to be born. The grass is back in its vibrant green hue. The sun is radiant again and I can feel the heat once again. It is so beautiful outside. My eyes capture the serenity through the window. The winds seems to be blowing ever so gently, the trees are dancing to its tune. The clouds are taking a stroll enjoying the leisure of a Sunday afternoon, trying to decide if they should pour down or hold on. Beyond this canvas are there people walking, children playing, grandma’s and grandpa’s sitting on the porch enjoying this canvas of nature, like me? I could tell, if only my wings would move a little, then I could fly and feel the air hit against my wings. I could breathe in the freshness and maybe then my mind would learn to let down all its chores, worries, thoughts and calm down a little….
My wings are finally beginning to move, but my fingers are turning on the ignition of my car. I can feel the wind of my air conditioner. I can see miles of grey roads. The tune of the winds has changed to a Bollywood song added with humming from two children in the rear seats. As I drive, I take in this image, trying to be aloof from everything happening inside. Alas, the list of chores keeps running like the numbers on a slot machine, stopping occasionally to tell me what to do next… I look outside my car window and yearn, yet once again.
indupatikkal 