..An Opinionated Blog about You, Me, Our Society, Our Politics, and Our History. A place where I share my Personal Opinions through Humorous Ironies, Satires, Short Writings, Stories and Philosophical Verses..
First of all, Talaash is not Kahaani and so people please stop comparing! Talaash is a well made mystery thriller with a frivolously handled climax. However the way the movie unfolds gives you a hint of something mysterious to happen. As a matter of fact, the starting song sequence itself had a spooky mysterious feel. The director is playing in between real and surreal and it is never easy to make such movies as you have to convince people about something they don't believe in! But still the director has done a brilliant job to make people keenly interested with the gripping pace and story. The second half is a bit dull but only relatively. In fact many important sequences unfold in second half. Different aspects of human behavior are traversed and handled proficiently.
All in all, Talaash works. It's just that the climax is frivolously/amateurishly handled but still I will give it to the director for daring to make such a movie in bollywood where everyone else is playing with same old romance/comedy/telugu action genre. Hopefully the next one will be far better by her! For this one, please be more receptive and don't watch this movie with your presumptions! 7/10 from my side.
- KATH BLOOM
Before Sunrise - Ah! I remember when I saw this movie 5 years back. I just did not want it to get over. Since then I have seen it more than 30 times I guess. The best part is that it still excites me...every time I see it! There is something about it that brings me back to it time and again!
They say life becomes beautiful if you can share what you you feel, what you believe with someone who understands what you are trying to convey...howsoever crappy it might be! This surely is an instance of the same...an incredible instance!
Every single frame has been made with so much heart that it makes me delve into the character of of Jesse and Selene time and again. The way the conversations just happen in between them so smoothly is something so splendid! 16 minutes after talking to each other they tell each other their names! I mean right from the time Jesse asks Selene to spend time with Selene just because he thinks that both of them have a connection and both of them must keep talking as this opportunity probably they will never get ever in their busy lives. And most importantly, Selene agrees! You know, they don't know what they are doing but their is something thatt they knew! They try to know each other and the process is so natural!
I mean I can go on and on about it for eternity. I have always believed that conversations build relationships. That knowing people one on one is so beautiful! Trying to know what the other person believes in and what his/her ideologies are! Perhaps that is why I love this movie. Two people trying to know and understand each other after deciding to spend time with each other whimsically! I find the idea resplendent!
If you have not seen this, its high time you must watch it! :) And yes 25:44 (my favorite scene.)
The only problem is.. that the night had to get over and the morning had to come!
I don't sleep for a single day. I don't sleep for a single day.
Are we doing things that we love to do? This question has always been there but now probably the bubble has exploded. With every passing day I realise that all my life whatever I did, so irrelevant everything was! In school, I was forced to learn science. I don't even remember what I wanted at that time but surely I never wanted to learn science. Then the overloads of computer science and the pressure to perform in each and every exam. Every single day in the past...as far as my memory can delve into...the only thing I remember is managing the situations and handling the expectations. Too many things I did that I never chose for I never knew what I wanted...I still don't. Only thing I know is that whatever I want now is the manifestation of what I have been prepared to want by the things that I have already been forced to learn. The education forced me to do engineering without even having the slightest of the idea of what it was. It's not as if I could not do it..I did it as a matter of fact in the most gracious way I could...but I never enjoyed it. 22 years of my life I spent, doing things I did not enjoy...things i never loved! Sad... isn't it!?
The story is the same for all of us and I will take the freedom to presume that! Just look at the level of dissatisfaction and lack of confidence in people. The problem is the same with everuone, be it mid level employee in the organisation or the boss... they are not happy. All our lives we prepare ourselves to earn money and do big in our lives. We even start believing it as the objective of our life. We think that we are doing what we always wished to do only to realise one day that everything that we had thought of attaining came at the cost of ourselves! Sadly and unfortunately in the process of achieving our specious dreams... we have lost ourselves in real.
I believe that education is the real culprit. People were happy when they did not know anything. Then suddenly they started knowing things and started dreaming for the same. In the process they forgot that we are humans and all of us are different than the others. So some are better, smarter, more efficient, and luckier than others and so they will surely achieve more and others even if try as much hard as they can will remain the way they are. Probably if they will try to be better in their domain of expertise, still there exists some chance but then because of the excessive information they wanted to follow the same path! So they started going to schools and then to the engineering colleges as now everyone wanted to become engineer and others went to become doctors. In search for the destination achieved by others, people started treading the path they were not made for and the result? They failed and failed miserably! The problem now was that nothing could be done as the life was invested in doing the same and so there was no way back and so they continued the drudgery unwillingly untill they died. Lives got wasted and are getting wasted. We are getting wasted every single day in the insinuated dream of happiness. There is no way back now as we have invested everything...I have invested everything...and so I will continue the drudgery for the rest of my life.
But do our kids deserve that? Should they be like us...the brain dead robots. Or should they be like humans and live the life like living beings! If the answer is yes then they should be prevented from learning the irrelevance. For prevention is better than the cure and if they won't learn stupidity, they will be better evolved humans. There has to be a process to make kids learn what they are best at and not what the others are learning. There has to be a process to make them understand and realise what they actually want in their lives.The senseless race that we are a part of has to end and for that a new world is required where there will be no place for materialism.
I wish some one told me.. The deep down is far forlorn That here if alive, merely alive we are and nothing more still in the flow, moved by the row trying hard still cant get slow for the stream always is there to propel the way it wants and we just guide the way chosen for us by the unknown.. the easiest is to flow with the flow survive...persevere in the midst of clones. I refuse that we are different.. for we think what we are made to.. for those who decide to row upstream.. the compensation comes in form of esteem.. and they bargain their lives for the same... easily nobbled by the demons of fame. What is life if not lived with life? and What is Fame.. If acquired after zillion byzantine strifes? For life would have been like living.. the way we would have wished.. may be we would have had fallen and failed.. still had learnt..atleast in a virtuous way... I wouldn't have had wished.. only if someone had told me that the wishes we wish fell into a wish bin and are recycled into a disguised gin and we accept them with all our heart unknowing of the malefic work of art When wishing and achieving is not the same.. and the distance is draconianly insane for a few fortunates reach till the end and rest are lost in the dreams of the zest. Like the coals in fire they simmer the same and fall like ashes while the few soar in the heavenly air. I wish someday this will happen that "they" will be forced to think.. what went wrong in our hardwired world howcome they are thinking that "we" never had enabled? That day perhaps "they" will reverse engineer and in the process...accidently...will repair us and the world they made to tinker with..that we failed. The day is far but I believe is not forlorn... I wish someone told me that this wish is the chosen one to be heard and not trashed that this one will rise and will not stay with ash... That day will be when life will enliven Yes that day..The Life Will Enliven.
We learn out of everything around us. Human minds are equipped, blessed as a matter of fact, to observe and then analyse. With that power of analysis, we learn and we evolve. Little do we realise that what we observe and what we learn and how much we retain. But if one can keep a track of things that happen around and try to learn something from it then surely the person will retain the maximum. They say that Knowledge is a process, and not a destination. It is an add-on process that never ends actually. If you can understand that, then trust me it is one of the best lesson you will ever learn in your life!
During my graduation days, I used to observe people and wonder that why they worry so much about the exam. Infact I never understood the concept of exam..I still have not! See, very simply put, we study to learn and that must be the ultimate goal. Why should there be a process to judge someone at a particular time?
Human beings' brains are all different than others. Some are smart and agile genetically and most of them are not. Those who are not take time to process the information. Even if at a particular time, they fail to know something, things will be understandable to them in some time later in their lives. Judging them all on a single scale at a particular time is profoundly useless I will say. For they will be better at other things which are not judged..never.
Then people come up with the concepts of REAL LIFE ..that we need to be in the race..and in fact ahead of every one else. So which race do they talk about when in a race there can be only one winner! But still we want to run in that one race as we have gotten used to mediocrity. We don't want to digress out of our learned path. So yes we are ready to run in the race where we will probably be lagging almost all the time, but we will never run in the race where we can always be the winner. How sad! Anyway it's not our fault as we have been hardwired to be like that congenitally. The worst part is that we even fail to realise that there can be another race where winning can be a reality!
Learning is a subjective term for nothing in this world at all is irrelevant. No one can learn the same out of one source of information. It's like a group of people who are made to see a beautiful picture asked what they see. One might say the color..another might say the sky...and another might say the trees! So who is right or wrong? The day our education system understands that, we surely will evolve. Till then...nothing can we do but live in the mediocre world.
So I stand to the left of the dark
It wants to hold the hand that is mine...
I see it stretching ...it's hand begrime..
And I am afraid of the dark adjoin...
So yes I am terrified.
Why cant I find the way disguised...
Is it fact or fiction...
For I have always known to find
the place to stand still..
but now the balance has been compromised.
I used to walk towards the light..
It's still clear in the sight..
But I am not moving.. just standing still..
Enamoring the dark on the right.
Things surely have gone tart.
Why.? I say..Why?
Is it fine to stop for sometime...
and disperse in the obfuscation...
to wait..for own self..
to steer away the grave sign!
Yes I am waiting...
for you..my dear self..sublime...
rush..and take hold of me..
Else soon I will be gone...
I know .. only you are mine..
Yes my love.. only you are mine.
You picked the knife and held it high…
Said sorry ...then sliced and incised
You were forgiven for the pain you incurred…
But what about the trust you said you will abide..?
Now the question you ask your own self…
What made you cling to the demon and why..?
Was it you or someone else in disguise..
Or have you changed into the devil…that you thought will remain inside?
Are you in control of yourself...and the one that you concealed…?
Or have the concealed gained the power to subjugate… now that master has gone weak..
You remember you believed you were in hold…
Inside and outside..everything you controlled…
Now the beast you tamed...has overhauled…
And has successfully claimed the power it always sought…
Things once done can’t be retraced back dear…
So now you have lost me…the relationship has gotten seared…
You have betrayed yourself…now hide where ever you can…
I think I am crying…on your deeds..
your life’s end you yourself have reared...
Whenever the beats of the so called "Kolaveri Di" fall in my ears, the only question comes to my mind is that why is it such a huge hit? I mean seriously, the song does not have any lyrics or any comprehensible tune, which I as a purist when it comes to music, am able to relate to. It does not even have a semi nude dance by an 'item girl' nor does it have any star value. Still, subverting and henceforth surpassing all the cliched must-haves, the song is an instant hit, and has already broken so many records as far as revenue-generation-via-songs-marketing history is concerned. Come on! it does not even qualify to be called a song! It's more of a farfetched attempt of mixing some syllables from 2-3 different languages and conglomerating them with some nonsensically disheveled beats! Still it is rampantly obliterating all the musical records. In 2 months, it has garnered more than 36 million hits on YouTube along with extensive downloads of the songs in audio format. Along with that, all the parties and club numbers are pumping up varied versions of the songs and crowd is going mad at each and every different versions!
Personally, as I am biased to the kind of music I like, it's a pathetically stupid attempt. I wonder what Sonu Nigam or A.R Rehman would have opined after they would have heard it playing around them. However as a budding marketeer, I am bound to think beyond my personal biases and analyse the market brandishes being created by different variables, latest in picture to be the 'Kolaveri Di'.
So yes the song is creating waves. Some say, that they love the song for it is stupid. Others think that they like the song for it's catchy beats and unstructured lyrics. However, there are many others who like it "just aise hi!"!They don't know why but still they 'enjoy' it! Strange is not it!! It probably was being shared by everyone on their facebook wall. Since everyone else was sharing, it forced them too to share it (the mirror neurons effect! or in my terms "the aping effect"). And since everyone else was enjoying it, they too developed a hypothetical admiration for the song (you know, to blend in the social groups). However the hypothetical admiration soon subverted their rationality, as it does almost always in Indian Consumers context, they forgot that the admiration was hypothetical and since then they started 'enjoying' the song! And why I am so sure that it happened like this? Well ask your own selves...Is the so called 'song' actually a song to be admired and promoted! if yes then why do we encourage young people to come and participate in music talent hunts considering that songs like these become popular and earn money..and not the Sonu Nigam's songs that after sometime are lost in the oblivion and at max are able to occupy a mere 5 Mb space on our ipod's playlist.
Ultimately it proves that anything and anything can be popularised today, if marketed ingeniously. Viral marketing is definitely a boon for marketing, especially for online marketers who know the concept of exploiting the so called social networking!
Quality was never important in Indian context. How many goods do we actually see that are being promoted and advertised on Rational Appeal?? We are emotional people, and we are extremely susceptible to people's behavior around us as whatever they do, more often or not we too have the tendency to emulate the same to be admired and liked by the community. Or as the Dexter would say .. "Blending In the Social World"..!!
Anyway, the good news is that "Kolaveri Di" certainly has proved that my understanding of Indian Consumer is absolutely right. Anything or everything can be promoted or popularised today by smart marketing and powered by the (so popular!) Viral Marketing today for people fall for anything that they see happening repeatedly around them. Poor content will definitely not sell but definitely can be popularised. And yes..Kolaveri Di is not a poor content.. It is an insanely stupid content and stupid content can not only be popularised but even be sold tremendously by adept marketing as is already being done over here!
I have always liked watching movies.. No seriously!..I can spend days with my laptop and an internet connection! As a matter of fact there was a time when I used to submerge myself in the world of movies. I remember watching 6-7 movies a day back to back. Such a freak I was! Movies Freak!
Among all kind of movies, ones with sequences enamor me the most. LOTR being the best in my list, Bourne Series is a close second. Yesterday I was watching Die Hard 2 and then I saw Die hard 3. I realised that they actually came up with fantastic stuff! Bruce Willis at his raw best! Action ...Adventure and the thrill..Almost just perfect! Before Sunrise(1995), the best romantic movie till now I must add!, faded and ended with a promise that the couple will meet again in next six months. The next in series came in 2004 and it showed how they had changed with time. Obviously they never met again in six months but had to wait for good 9 years to meet again. And then with the new sequence you refresh your memories of the time when you had seen the earlier one. You remember the anxiousness and the anticipation you had to know what will happen next! And when you saw the next one you again live the similar moments..for once more..!
The same thing happened with me while I was watching Star Wars. Though personally I did not like the movies, not a single one of them except the latest one!, the way it was treated and the vision the director had in late 70s is definitely worth admiring. In case of Bourne Series, with every sequence, you see the people changing..in physique..in the way they carry themselves...in the way they act etc! Matt Damon definitely grew up as an actor with these movies and yes it clearly shows. Mission Impossible is the another one that makes me nostalgic. I remember I was in school when I first saw MI-1 and today with the fourth installment in theaters, trust me.. it is a lot more than just a movie!
So what is so special about the movies with sequences? Well I personally believe that they not just carry the story forward but they also travel with time. Since the media is the best mirror of the society and its culture, the advancement in the quality of the mirror definitely improves the quality of the image. Everything changes..surroundings..behavior of people... style of acting...directing...fashion...science and technology...everything. And yes, that very everything is captured and then reflected back with fresh thoughts and a new story.. A story that carries forward the chain of imaginations and transcends it to the next level. See, how fascinating it is to witness the change...especially when you yourself were and are a part of it!
These changes constantly remind me that today whatever is new will change to become obsolete tomorrow. But the ideas...the thought process...and the memories will make the obsolete refreshing again in the future. Actually it is because of the old only that we are able to appreciate the new, for we conjure our new starting from where we stopped at the end of the old! And it is because of the deeds in the old, that we see the new strings of imaginations and thoughts being added to the same. Yes, it is because of the old that the factors of nostalgia always confront us and remind us that the time is changing!
Today, now that I see another new beginning with the new year, I wonder what the new changes will be? I am pretty sure that few years later, when 2011 will be a distant past, I will again reminisce this very time...and movies definitely will play the most important role...in my life at least... to remind me of this very fact.. that yes we are growing up!
Happy New Year my friends.. Let the old one, which was carrying us till yesterday, actually see that we left it too far when we soared with the newness of the new year..!
.jpg)
