Jootha hi sahi last night was fun. However, just for the 2^nd time they showed ‘I-want-her-coz –the-other-man-does-too' syndrome.

Madhavan leaves the girl and when sees her hooked to another one, starts vying for her again. Before this, I saw this being featured in an episode of Friends.

It’s yet another classic example of using someone else’s yardstick to measure yourself. And this innumerable circumstances and in or common lives. From the common question “Am I fatter than her?” that you throw to your husband to youngsters going for career counseling to the Madhavan syndrome I talked of earlier, it’s all about what the other person thinks of what I think or do. We have gotten so engrossed in this process that any individuality that comes around is either revered or snubbed. It is not regarded by us commoners as anything normal.

[Wonder if readers will like this!] ha ha ha

A mature Supreme Court

Inactivity is a boon for the cowards & imbeciles; cowards & imbeciles like certain fractions of a government. If you do not want to be that harsh, you can say some issues are tricky & demand a lot of will to take action on. Prostitution is one such issue.

What is commendable is the will and maturity of the Supreme Court that asked the government to either curb or legalize it. Knowing that Supreme Court doesn’t take sides, I find it futile to stuff this little happy blog with why-ban-prostitution arguments.

Have a go at it the main article on the link below; if you are too lazy to do it, be content in the knowledge that our SC judges are behaving mature. http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Search&Source=Find&Key=TOIA/2009/12/11/9/Ar00900.xml&CollName=TOI_AHMEDABAD_DAILY_2009&DOCID=103453&Keyword=(prostitutionlegalize)&skin=TOINEW&AppName=1&PageLabel=9%20&ViewMode=HTML&GZ=T

This & that

I am more than tempted to point out the similarities between 26/11 (2008) & 25/07 (2000). Yes I know what you're thinking, and any writer/ blogger would like to spice it up a little with an element of suspense.

26 November 2008 was when a warrant was issued against Hotel Taj & Mumbai by Ajmal Kasab & company; & 25 July 2000 was when the warrant issued against Balasaheb Thakrey by the world-famous (in India) Mumbai Police.

During the latter, I was in Bombay (is Thakrey & company listening?) & my friend & host Ashish called to tell me to duck under any desk, shop or covering nearby because it's supposed to be a catastrophic day. The same frantic calls were made, I am sure, on the former date.

On both the dates, a group of extremists romped the streets of Bombay (he he he) & destroyed property & harmed people. Police & administration failed to curb them for a lot of hours because of various reasons and the harm was done.

They knew they were doing the harm and o they were loving it; and proud of it.

I am sure the people who follow the blog are smart enough to add more points of reference. I sign off here, please take charge.

Hum Tum mmm mmm

There’s no guarantee of this blog coming through when I’s confessing my twisted views on sex & religion to Khushboo yesterday. And it actually wouldn’t have if I won’t have seen Hum Tum the same evening.

Watching that movie also reminded me that liberal or conservative views on sex are not decided by gender. It’s a surprise to a viewer when the woman, Rani Mukherjee, having spent a pleasant night with the boyfriend of one hour Saif, comes out in broad daylight blushing & unapologetic. And on the other hand, the guy’s head is full of guilt of pre-marital, though consensual sex. The confrontation & rona-dhona that follows is saved from being the typical Hindi movie one because of a simple gender reversal in the game.

There’s sure no pride in high divorce or teen pregnancy rates or post-Navratri high rate of abortions or nervous break-downs of bachcha log; but media will have to change more, so will have to entertainers, and artists and decision makers. Because the hues of society are changing, and rather than trying to reverse the flow, they might as well channelize it well.

Unapologetic Cinema

Watching Nishabda last week was the flash point for this blog - & I watched it despite a hundred warnings, including Nisha's, that it isn't worth a sniff.

And after watching Salaam Namaste last night , the starkness was unmissable. The combination of these 2 movies made me fully realize the amazing packaging of apologetic-ness, guilt & stereo-typing that Indian film directors do through laughter, songs and silly fights & romance.

On one hand is the sophomore film of Saif's 2nd inning (who I quite like for sneaking away Bebo from another man) where through fun, romance and PZ's maiden kiss the director tells us that the man in the relationship should always yield to the lady's fondness and pregnancy. And he doesn't take any chance and so passes on the same message through animated sonography, dramatic Doc, babe in the mall and even through Arshad Warsi. He says you got to get married if you don't want, you got to yield if the girl goes pregnant and you got to be apologetic if you even dare to think otherwise. And we've been, for all these years, lived in the time of apologetic mind-frame. This has been communicated and exhibited to us through movies, art, Kandahar plane hijack episode, ad of VIP undies and long queues at the train station.

Thankfully, there're people who have realized this across the years and have tried to tell their side of it - art movies, M F Hussain, Dhirubhai Ambani, Taslima Nasreen, Saurav Ganguly, Mahesh Bhatt & in a tiny way, Shri :) Ramgopal Verma.

I heard one such message from RGV when I saw Nishabda. The first reaction was of bemused surprise when, towards the end of the film, Big B confesses messing up and laments not only the loss of wife and daughter, but also the young muse! That was as unapologetic and vulgar as it gets. Had it been some other director, he'd have shot the scene where the protagonist throws out the young muse from the house; but then would have shown him guilty as hell and kneeling before the family and friends. But not this one, not this time. In this one, the Big Daddy of Bollywood says he misses the wife, the daughter and also the gone girlfriend. What a twisted old man! Not that I appreciate all such old men, but surely the director's brazen gut.

However, in the genre of unapologetic cinema, Rani Mukherjee scores teh highest. In Hum Tum, she scoffs at Saif's Sorry-for-premarital-sex attitude and shuns his I'll-support-you mindframe. Again in KANK, she leaves a perfectly normal and caring husband for charming ill-tempered Khan.

The audience should, rather than looking for moral lessons in all our films, appreciate different hues of story-telling. And also accept that these are nothing but the images of a changing society.

baby with the bathwater

Throwing the baby out with bathwater is common in any society; especially the one that’s threatening to turn fascist by the hands of moral police. This tide had ebbed, now I fear there’s going to be some reawakening.

The cause this time is a very unfortunate incident of a minor girl being raped by youth in the wee hours in Surat. The anguish is but predictable; so is my worry that in the name of security and moral policing, many a innocuous people will be blamed, and may also be penalized. The bigger threat, however is that ideas and thoughts will suffer a bigger blow and few will oppose it because it comes wrapped in and attached with a very sensitive cover.

Many a things around me force me to take such a stand – the pro-people language used by daily newspapers; the headline that writes – Muslim Youth – clearly citing and inciting junta; the news tag-line – Rape on Wheels - developed by Divya Bhaskar; blaming coaching classes for early morning class timing; totalitarian organization like the VHP announcing a bandh on Monday.

Hoping the victim kid recovers and find her life soon; and the hoopla that has surrounded the real issue doesn’t take too much toll; as a safety measure, I have taken off some party pictures from the online photo gallery.

99 = 100

Karan’s facebook status – 99 is 100% wouldn’t have helped if it wouldn’t have been the psychological pull to theatre after the strike is over. For this reason or that, however, I did watch 99. Like I didn’t realize in Fiza (name of the character) or Tamanna (ditto), it never occurred to me the movie featured a story of year 1999.

I still can not think of the reason they did it, but they did it nevertheless. Though I am not a very keen person when it comes to observing things, but have a list of the technically best movies. Khosla ka Ghosla sits at the top of the list; and then there’re a few more like Bheja Fry, Saudagar (the old one), Dor, etc. the newest entrant to this list is 99.

I didn’t fully realize the period element when they showed the bigger black mobile-phone first; then it all started to connect. Right from the bulky mobile phones, monotone ring tones, greenish displays to a mention of T20 cricket, the novelty in the concept of coffee shops, MAC Donald’s board – it was all there. The superb presence of Boman Irani, Cyrus Brocha and Vinod Khanna added to the charm of the movie. And for a change I also liked Soha & Khemu.

The superiority of the film was also reflected in the screenplay and dialogues. The innovative references used for Cyrus’s thick frame and the kaminapan of Boman Irani only helped make the movie complete.

99 sure is 100%.