Random Musings

Saw Dor, the latest effort from Nagesh Kukunoor.
And it was a pleasant experience indeed.

A very interesting script, not really a huge plot, etc. But engaging enough, in terms of the interplay between the key players.

Captured the small realities of life in the interiors of our country, that living in cities, we can hardly imagine. I mean, even as we take mobile phones and the like for granted, there is this location in Rajasthan where at a certain location, standing at a particular angle, you can get a mobile signal, and anyone who wants to talk has to go there and do so. I am sure its real, even though we may find it hard to imagine.

So also, in this day and age, when in cities, we see girls taking rapid strides in society, there is a reality of girls living a clearly backward life, in small towns of Rajasthan.

Where the story could have been drab and dull, there is an introduction of the Bahurupiya character to spice it up and make it a little light and relaxed.

The camerawork and the lights across the desert sands of Rajasthan makes for breathtaking view.

Clearly an amazing, thinking director, Nagesh creates a beautiful picture here. I am very impressed by him. I would rate this along with Teen Deewarein and Iqbal, amogst his best films. Yes, he got famous for Hyderabad Blues, and it was a first effort, but it was clearly amateurish, as compared to these three films of his.

As the radio belts out ads for the new Don, we hear Shah Rukh Khan speak that famous dialogue, “Don ko pakadna mushkil hi nahin, namumkin hai”. Of course, not half as effectively as Amitabh did in the original (that dialogue itself makes me feel that thw new Don will NOT measure up to the original).

But it got me thinking to the so many great dialogues that have become virtual folklore with Indians. Of course, Sholay had 3-1/2 hours of those, and one can give tons of examples from that film:
1. Ye haath mujhe de de thakur
2. Basanti, tumhara naam kya hai
3. Hum Angrez ke zamane ke jailer hai
4. Maut tumhare sar pe mandra rahi hai
5. Itna sannata kyu hai, bhai

etc. etc. etc.

The list is quite endless with regards to Sholay.
But there have been others. Interestingly, MANY of these have been associated with Amitabh. They had some tremendous scripts for him. He must owe a lot of his success to Salim-Javed, Manmohan Desai, Yash Chopra, Ramesh Sippy, etc. for some awesome scripts, dialogues, etc.

Some of the gems that we can remember are:
1. Mere paas Ma hai (yes, Shashi Kapoor spoke this, but made Amitabh famous; Deewar – what a film, man!!)
2. Main wohi Shantidevi ka beta hoon, aur tum ho mere najayaz baap
3. Aaj to bahot khush honge tum
4. Jao pehle us aadmi ka sign leke aao… Bhai, tum sign karoge ke nahin..
5. Aisa to aadmi life mein do-ich time bhagta hai

Often, simple words, but spoke well, crucial scenes in the film, and ended up ultimately, to become folklore. Repeated by kids and others in routine talk, spoofed thousands of times in other films or on late night comedy shows, etc.

Even today when I hear SRK say, “Don ko pakadna mushkil hi nahin, namumkin hai.. “, it gives me goosebumps, remembering the original. What longevity.. thats what great films are. Leave a mark for years after its release.

Most times, it is easy to imagine what motivates a person, why do you see someone working so hard, why is he going the extra mile. Often it can be the lure of money, or of recognition, of growth in an organisation, etc. And then you see sometimes, persons acting in a way that makes you wonder. What is it that is driving them? You come across such persons often, in every day life. When you notice them and realise suddenly, that they are doing what they are for seemingly no personal motive, it staggers you. What is it that makes them do this? And most times, the question remains unanswered.

Let me share with you two persons of this kind that I saw in recent days. Both have left an impact on me.

The first one was while we were on holiday to a South India hill station, Coorg. We were taken for a walk of the plantations and amongst other things, we were shown some really huge trees, that would fetch a price of around Rs. 25,000 for the wood they deliver, but which take nearly 20-25 years to come to that level.
This we saw and learnt from the guide.
And as we walked around, sometime later, we came across the nursery, where the plants were being readied for new plantings. And here I saw a man, who must have been around 75 years of age at least. Sitting on his hunches and painstakingly, and very meticulously, getting the mix ready, putting it into plastic bags, for getting the plants ready to be planted. He was completely involved in his work, not bothering to look back at us, visitors. There were several ready bags that he had made and kept, and he had his task cut out for him as we could see a pile of the mix ready, to be put into the plastic bags. And he was going about that task so very diligently.

It was later that we were told that it was the same plant, that would take 20-25 years to blossom into a tree that would have some value attached to it, thereafter.

And here was a man, 75+ years old, who will never see his work take any kind of final shape, never see the baby mature to a full grown animal, and yet, nursing it with so much passion! Thinking about it now, still gives me the goosebumps. Here we all are, always thinking before taking up any task, as to how its going to benefit us, and when would we see such a benefit! Did he care?

What made him do it? Beats me.. !

Then there was another person that touched me thus.
As a Rotary Club, we have this project, where we work closely with the All Indian Institute of Physical Medicine and Research, and carry on activities to benefit the physically challenged and typically lower income category persons.
At one of the on-site meetings, for this project, we saw a few cases who had benefited from our club’s efforts. These were very young children coming from poor families. What came out of that visit, of course, is that our project has immensely benefited people, to the extent of changing their lives completely, for the better.

But beyond that, what also came out, was the dedicated efforts of the physiotherapists employed by us, and who worked with these patients. In a society where we see medical practitioners turn into business persons (not all, but many) and work with money as a motive, this was such a refreshing change. The therapists had to clearly go way beyond their scope of work, to work the miracles in the lives of these kids. And they had done so, with a smile, with tremendous dedication, with passion and with love. What for?
It was a job, at best. They were serving poor people who were unlikely to offer them anything more, except for their blessings and love. And yet, they put that effort. And changed the lives of the poor souls. These were not some retired persons with tons of savings stacked up, and who were working for the sake of fun. These were young doctors, at an early stage of their careers, still to make any decent kitty of savings for themselves.

What excellent work. In this materialistic age, such persons exist.

There is still hope for mankind… !

Two very interesting films, Omkara and Corporate, intrigue me, for the following reasons:

There is clearly a pattern to a director’s style. Madhur Bhandarkar’s movies are
based on a specific social entity. Chandni Bar was the bar dancers, Page 3 (an
aberration of sorts, in terms of not having a strong story base) was of course,
about the Page 3 culture, and Corporate is about the big bad corporate world! He
does a decent bit of research, builds strong characters and shows the depth of
those characters.

And interestingly, lets the film end with a “no hope for improvement” statement.
Where the good guy loses, because the ills of society will be ‘like that only’.

In Chandni Bar, you see the helpless Tabu left stranded at the end of the movie,
and in Corporate, the same fate holds for Bipasha. So much for the myth that
audience needs a ‘feel good’ end, to make a movie work.
(Not that Corporate has worked that well, in box-office terms!).

Likewise, it is with Vishal Bhardwaj. He made Maqbool earlier, an adaptation of
Macbeth, and now, Omkara, that of Othello. Having not read much of Shakespeare,
one is amazed at these screen adaptations of this writings. One can now
understand the position that he has in the literary world, as we see how stories
he wrote so many years back, are so powerful and capture audiences, even today.
The interesting parallel about these two movies is that both are based on
families in crime, kind of like the mafia. And they both have these characters
with extremely strong emotions – intense emotions. It is an understanding of the
criminal mind, to recognise that it borders on the extremes. Love, jealousy,
hatred, anger – none of these come in mild doses for these guys; all of these
are intense emotions for them.

Also Vishal Bhardwaj is a music composer turned into a director. A shift not
seen too often. Many writers, editors, and film stars, have veered into
direction, but I do not remember other music directors going that route. But in
doing this, one thing is ensured. That the music of the film will have the
greatest commitment and best effort. Vishal manages to get the rustic UP-flavour
into the film, be it dialogues or songs. The “Omkara, Omkara.. ” chant is mesmerising. And of course, the “Beedi..” song has amaaaziing energy seen. You can completely imagine the “lukkhas” of small town UP, freaking out, like nobody’s business, with a single, sexy babe dancing amidst them. All of them hovering around her like hungry wolves, drunk to the core, and having a ball of a time. Extremely well shot, inspite of the ordinary dancing talents of Bipasha (Shilpa Shetty or Malaika Arora Khan would have been so much better here!).

Having also seen Apaharan (a Prakash Jha typical – ‘Bihar in shambles’ film)
sometime back, I continue to be impressed by Ajay Devgan. Not amongst the more
handsome of our stars, he plays some of these hard hitting characters extremely
well. And has a way of “acting” just with his eyes and face contours, without
speaking a word. One of the underrated actors of our times. I am quite a fan of
his. Right from HDDCS times.. !

The film is getting an iconic status, of a level that I have not seen in my life. Yes, I saw people come out of Rang de Basanti, and swearing to do something for their country. That was an immediate impact, but beyond that, there was no real road for them, to get down to actually doing something.

As against that, the Lage Raho theme has the Gandhigiri franchise and that is taking off, like nobody’s business. Amazing.. now here is a real winner, for the film makers. When the product can have such a huge impact on the masses, the society, then you have really created some magic. Perhaps without even intending to create so much of an impact.. !

My own impressions of the film, in general:
I enjoyed it thoroughly. A few thoughts on the film are:
– Good, clean comedy can still work. We don’t need to be slapstick or sexist to have a laugh!
– There is serious potential for the sequel business in India too, when there is good effort behind it; Krissh was also a decent follow up to Koi Mil Gaya. Of course, a phenomenal commercial success.
– A 45-year old Sanjay Dutt and his not-much-claim-to-fame sidekick can still hold the audience for 2-1/2 hours,
– Raju Hirani, I believe, is an FTII product; also the producer Vinod Chopra is a class filmmaker (1942 a Love Story, Parinda, Mission Kashmir to name a few of his fab films). They make a great combine to deliver a really good product. Clean comedy, a nice face (Vidya Balan), some take home value (like the jadoo ki chhapi factor in the first one, here we have Bapu’s principles doing the trick) – things we would have thought to be passe in films, actually working for the audiences!

An aside..
I truly believe that Vinod Chopra has a way with presenting women well, on the screen. I am sure he has a role to play (besides the camera persons and the make up team). Manisha Koirala has never looked as good as she did in 1942, a Love Story. Likewise, I still remember the magical change in presenting Preity Zinta in the Bhumro song in Mission Kashmir (Preity of course, has had many more opportunities since then, and has looked good in several other films thereafter). And this time, its Vidya Balan. A far cry from her Parineeta presentation – which of course, was
also a Vinod Chopra production, but which was a film based in a different decade.

Have you been in a situation on the Mumbai roads, when a BEST bus hustles you up on account of its size and clout, and scrapes your car or worse, bangs it up?? Many of us who drive on the roads of Mumbai, would have experienced this. And usually, except for getting very angry, there is little that we can do about this.

I got into one such scrape off, with a BEST bus few months back. Certainly not my first time. I did not know what I was going to do about it, at that time, except use it in the FIR to claim my insurance money, but I went ahead and took down all the details, including the driver’s name and tag number. The car was not damaged a lot, but I was just very upset because he had bullied his way into my car. I did the police FIR although I was not even sure, if I would claim the insurance money, since it was a minor scratch.

Thereafter, for the heck of it, I looked up, found the BEST website, and located a PRO office email there. I wrote to the person, just to lodge a complaint against the concerned driver, and expecting at best, an apology. And more likely, a “no reponse”. Forgetting it completely, after sending off that email, I was surprised then, to receive a letter from BEST, after a few days.

Typed out (yes, not word processed, but actually typed out on the relic typewriter machines!), the letter did not say much, except that the complaint was noted and being looked into. Subsequently, I got an invitation to take the car to the BEST garage, which is centralised in Mumbai, but luckily, it was close to my home. Here the car was inspected. I got a hint that some kind of claim was being lodged in my favour. This had nothing to do with my own insurance at all. After a few days, there was one more invitation – to visit the depot where the driver was based, for an interactive session with a senior officer there. I dreaded it as I did not know whether I wanted to go all the way, and face the ire of the driver, who might have got some questions asked to him, as a result of my complaint. But intrigued at what was going on, I went ahead and attended that “hearing”.

And then I got a letter that my claim was lodged and I would hear from them later. It took a while thereafter, a fair amount of telephonic follow up, and ultimately, an RTI (“Right to Information”) enquiry, but finally, I got a cheque for Rs. 900 from BEST. For having damaged my car.

Its not the money – in this case, being a small scratch, I guess, I could have not asked for more, in any case – but rather, the realisation that one can actually make a complaint of this nature, directly from the BEST website, that its taken seriously, and that, with some effort, it can actually deliver some compensation to you.

Worth the effort, for me, and certainly to share with everyone.. !

Posting this, after what seems like ages!
After a very long time, have a hint of a feeling that there is less of a backlog on work and home stuff, and I have time to breathe, and hence time to blog!!
Yeah, its been that sort of life, last few months.

Its still very busy but a lot better than say, a month ago.

So hopefully, I will manage to post more regularly now.

Fingers crossed..

I happened to catch in the course of the week, the fact that there were two interesting movies that I had wanted to see, but had missed them in theatres, and which were to be premiered on television on the same Sunday, i.e. Nov 27th. And I decided that I was going to see them at home, and declared to the family that those two time slots of mine were booked. And for a change, I was going to view them, seated in one seat, with the phone off, and without chatter, as if I was seeing the movie in a movie hall itself.

And as it turned out, the effort was worth it.

I caught on TV, then, a couple of very good movies. And here are my views on both of these.

1. Yahaan:
This was the first of the two that I saw. When the movie was to be first released, in theatres, I had been fascinated by the promos that ran on television, and the one haunting song, “Puchhe jo koi meri nishani, naam heena likhna..”. Just that one song that I saw made me want to go and see the movie, but unfortunately, I did not make it, to the theatres then. When I saw this on TV today, the single biggest factor that struck me by the end of the film, was the awesome photography.

I can safely say that more than 90% of this film had outstanding cinematography. This is just so rare. I have seen some great visuals in many other movies, but I have rarely seen a single film where virtually each and every scene, so fascinates you, in the manner in which it is picturised. The lighting, the sepia tones, right through, the beautiful landscapes, some outstanding closeups, all of these were remarkable. That fact itself tells me, that a lot of hard work went into the planning and making of the film, and it for me, is a certificate of the director’s passion, conviction and sincerity. This should always be the case, but unfortunately, today more directors seem to be interested in churning out things, quickly, with the commerce in mind, and not so much the art!

Going beyond the visuals, the film was in a similar genre at a broad level, as 1942, a Love Story, or Mission Kashmir, or even Machis, to an extent. Love in the midst of war. But it certainly was not a copy of any of these films. It had a very clear story, and some very good performances. Jimmy Shergill must be one of the most underrated actors in the industry. When the world seems to be going gaga over the Zayed Khans and Shahid Kapurs and Fardeens of the world, I think Jimmy Shergill is a better actor than all of these guys. And here was one performance where it clearly came out. The new actress also put in a good effort – without fanfare, without much makeup or costumes support, without any item songs, she managed to make a mark. And the look that the director gave her was so beautiful, and very Kashmiri. The red cheeks, the fair face, the eyes, were all a natural Kashmiri look.
The music was also well researched and sounded very authentic. There were no artificial dream sequences put in, to justify and disco song or some unnatural music.

And besides everything, films like this one or Mission Kashmir, bring out so well, the tragedy of Kashmir. A once heaven-on-earth full of prosperity and happiness, now reduced to poverty, terrorism, fear, insecurity. What a shame that things have come to this point. Will the good times ever return? Will it be a paradise again? Films like Yahaan certainly make you think about it, even bringing an odd tear into your eye, even as you are sitting in the comfort of your living room, in Mumbai, and watching the film unfold on your television screen. Now, that is good cinema!

All in all, an afternoon well spent, in engrossing fare.

2. Sheher:
The other movie that I saw at night, was Sheher. Starring Arshad Warsi, popular for his comedy sidekick roles, playing a serious hero, here. And he does a decent job, in this cop-mafia-underworld thriller. Again an oft repeated genre, this film was not anything like a classic or even outstanding. But it was a worthwhile effort, based for a change in Lucknow and UP, and not in big bad Mumbai. There have been several flicks highlighting the Mafia rule in Bihar, and we all associate Bihar with underworld, thugs, dacoits, gun weilding politicians. Here is a film that exposes similar situations prevalent in UP as well.

Well, an okay film, which deserved better returns at the box office, than what it got.

Thats what hit me, about both these films, at the end of the day. At a time when junk fare like a Garam Masala or a No Entry, can light the box offices on fire, well made and interesting movies like Yahaan, and to a lesser extent, Sheher, come and go in a hurry, not getting any kind of a return that they deserve.

Like governments, filmgoers too get films that they deserve. If we do not support good cinema, we should have no reason to complain when we keep getting the No Entries and No Parking Places and No Standing Rooms dished out at us!!

Who would have imagined that radio will be back – and with a bang too?

Those were the days of Vividh Bharati, Binaca Geetmala, radio commentary of cricket matches including early morning wake up calls to catch the Australian games..

Now, if such reminiscing makes me sound old, rest assured that I am not _that_ old! Its been an amazing run – from a lot of radio to no radio, and now again, back to radio!

With the advent of television, and its rapid growth, with Chhaya Geet, Phool Khile Hain Gulshan Gulshan and live cricket from all corners of the world, radio died. Those big sets at home became antique pieces and suddenly came in the way, being pretty useless functionally.

And then we had a large number of television channels, and we got bored with them, and we wanted to listen to simple music all over again – especially when we were in a car, for example. And with the government opening up radio to private operators, albeit with large license fees and some other restrictions too, radio made a comeback.

Like all of these new thingies, many people jumped in. But as with every other fad businesses of this nature, not all can survive.

So we are left with now, in Mumbai, Radio City 91 FM (Star TV), Go 92.5 FM (Mid-day), 93.5 FM (India Today) and Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM (Times Group). In addition, there are the All India Radio’s 107.1 and 100.7 FM channels.

I miss a great radio station that came up, and went down, viz. Win 94.6 FM. It went into coma once (shut down for a few weeks), then came back to life (restarted), but has now died for good. Its popular radio jockeys can be heard on other radio stations.

So how’s the radio scene in Mumbai really?

– We have some utter nonsense going on.. with RJs who talk pure bullshit, and get away with it; random love advise, poor language, and modern young RJs who pronounce old movie and singer’s names with an accent. That part stinks!

– There is a Radio Jockey with as corny a name as “Aapka Deewana number one to infinity”.. yes, ALL of that! And he only speaks in superlatives in describing all the songs and the music directors and the singers that he refers to, on his program. But that can only be expected from one who has a name like that.. !

– The most popular RJ used to be Malishka, on 94.6, when it was alive. In recent times, she is back on 93.5, but she’s obviously trying too hard to recreate that old magic, and is failing!

– In programs that have dual RJs, the best combo is certainly Jaggu and Tarana, on 92.5. They have an amazing chemistry that comes through over the radio. They are very quick and have good fun, and come up with smart lines. Its good to start the day with them..

– The most popular music director continues to be Panchamda – R. D. Burman (Why am I not surprised? If you have a doubt, see the URL of this blog!). The most farmaish happen to come for him, inspite of the generation change!

– In fact, the most remixes seem to be happening on RD’s songs… after all, for a remix, they need to start with a popular song to begin with!

– Radio guys are not allowed to do live news or live stock market updates yet, so we are missing that niche from the private companies, but I suppose it will come now,

– Radio has done some amazing local promotions. Like if a store is stuck with a lot of stock of some SKU, they have promoted on radio that for the next two hours, anyone walking in and purchasing that, gets a gift, for example. And these have worked very well. And similar other promos are doing good.

– With that radio advertising has become more expensive. It used to be a steal few months back, but now radio campaigns are pricey affairs.

– One other program that I have loved is what they call, “Hello, mike testing..”. Here the RJ has a guest with him, and in between talking to this guest, they play the guest’s favourite songs. It’s a good opportunity to know that guest from a first person point of view. I have enjoyed listening to the likes of Amar Singh, Kapil Dev, Mahesh Bhat, and many others, on this program.

I can see radio growing even more with niche programming and reality interactive programs. Indeed, Radio Days are here again.. !

It’s been a while since I blogged here. And at least as far as I am concerned, I can see that once the routine stops, it’s very hard to get back to it. Earlier I would blog every now and then, and I managed to keep doing it. This time around, each time that I thought of blogging, I kept putting it off. So the biggest achievement I see about this posting is that “I am back”!

There’s just so much to write, so in keeping with the name of my blog, this one is going to be some genuinely random musings.

Like I think I spooked my good fortune of an ‘under control commute’ to work. There are these few friends whose pet peeve is the infrastructure in India, or rather the lack of it. And I had been defending India with thoughts like “things are happening, even though they are happening slower than what one would wish”. And I used to give the example of how my own commute time has not changed much in the last 6-7 years, inspite of increasing traffic, more people, etc. Well, I spooked my good luck. In recent times, my commute time has truly gone up, on an average basis. From a usual 35-40 minutes average, I am now averaging between 50-60 minutes. The terrible post-monsoon roads in Mumbai, and the consumer boom with more vehicles on the road, seems to be hitting in now, and hurting me, big time.

Diwali is around the corner, but I don’t see serious signs of the festival in Mumbai at least. Seems like an average shopping season at the stores, and the usual suspects of consumer electronics and real estate developers shouting out their advertisements. But beyond that, nothing major so far, in terms of a build up to the festival. Have not heard big time firecrackers, or seen throngs of crowds at the malls, or a true taste of lights and hanging lamps (kandeels) in people’s houses. It is a low key Diwali? Money cannot be the reason because I am sure that people have a lot more disposable income in their hands. Are we having too many things on our hands to worry about Diwali as much? I wonder..

Speaking of many things on mind, I have heard from more than a few friends about how the hardest thing for them, is to get their children to sit and concentrate on studies. And we are talking about class X students. With the choice that everyone has in life today, is that the reason that one thing cannot captivate a mind for too long? Concentration is harder and harder now?

Which also connects me to my Rotary Club and the ponderings about why attendance at meetings is poor and participation in activities is reducing, when in earlier times, it was not so. And I think back to the time when I started with my Rotary membership. At that time, Rotary gave me a forum to meet new people and make new friends. And post-college, there were not many other places that I could go to achieve that objective. It was that ‘third place’ beyond work and home. And today, Rotary is one amongst the many diversions that I have beyond work and home. Thanks to online networking, there are 3-4 networks that I belong to. Thanks to the same connectivity, my college alumni has been revived to an extent and is active now, and the school one is also in the process of happening. All of a sudden, there are so many people that I can be in touch with, whom I can meet if I want to, whom I can interact with. And Rotary has to find space in this congestion and suffers sometimes, on account of that.

And Rotary then, is just a symbolism of the increasing complexity of life and the demands it puts on you. And it requires a huge will and self control to cut out waste in one’s life and put order into it, giving priority to the ‘right’ things! Easier said than done..

There are a couple of huge debates going on with very strong opinions on both sides, in both debates. One is about Saurav Ganguly’s exclusion from the Indian team and whether it’s all over for him as far as his place in the Indian team goes, etc. There are diehard fans of his, who swear by him, and who are aghast at the idea of his not being in the team. Some have suggested that he should be given a carte blanche entry into the team and he should go, only when he wants to do it, himself. Because of his past, his experience, his runs etc. I am on the other side of the debate and find it so strange to read such strong sentiments. I see these as blind idol worshipping. Where is his form? Where is his fitness? Where is his attitude? A slow and struggling century against Zimbabwe, is not enough. And as regards domestic cricket, in every match there are a few hundreds being scored, so why make so much out of his one hundred. If he has to be back, he has to really win his place back in the side. But then that is what I think, a logical way to look at things, while there are other fans of his, who obviously think otherwise. For now, we are winning!

The other big debate in about India’s nomination for the Oscar awards. They have put Paheli up there, at the cost of a classic like Black, and also many other good movies. I have cried myself hoarse deriding Paheli. A cinematographer and fashion designer’s delight, but nothing beyond that. A story that could have been told in 1 hour, but which was stretched to a full length feature film. A stupid end to the film. Lack of character development, beyond the two main ones. Lack of any sub-plots, etc. My own feeling about the film was the an art film director like Amol Palekar got overwhelmed with the budget and stars that he got at his disposal, for this film. And ended up making a hash of it. Even if a director is good, give him budgets that he can handle and not beyond, would be my learning from Paheli. And yet Paheli is the nominee for the Oscars.

As against that, a film like Black, is not nominated. A film that was made of international standards. Excellent in all respects, in terms of film making, it would have had a genuine chance of winning. But there are people who feel that it was copied from “The Miracle Worker” and therefore, it was a mere copy, and should not be recommended. Again, I am shocked at the strong stand that several people have taken against Black. Irrespective of the fact that it was inspired by Helen Keller’s story and hence the comparison to The Miracle Worker, it was a hard movie to make, and the finished product that we saw on screen was outstanding in all respects. How can you belittle the film by trying to say that ‘it was a mere copy’??

Much as I am astounded by the logic of the “opposite parties” in both these debates, it only drives home that point to me, that there are all sorts of people to make this world, and that there can be different perspectives to a point, howsoever convinced you may be, that yours is such a straightforward, correct and only valid point!

Hope to keep writing more regularly now.
Signing off, for the moment..

– Sanjay Mehta