Random Musings

In recent times, whenever there has been a cricket game scheduled for a Sunday or a holiday, its got rained out or something like that.

Today, we had India playing at home, after a long time, and against England, and it was a Sunday, and thankfully, it did not rain, and we had a full game to view.

It was fun. Of course, because India won.
Munaf Patel bowled really well. I do believe he is one of the better players for India. Yet, India remains fascinated about Irfan Pathan. Before the game, all they could talk about in the fast bowling department, was about Pathan. Sure, he is good talent too. But the guy who has come up very well in recent months, who is always a threat to take wickets, who is a genuine wicket taker, is Munaf Patel. And he delivered today too. Bowled a beautiful line and length and kept plugging away. Of course, it was a good day for Pathan as well. So it worked out well, in the end.

From the display today, it is clear that England will not be a threat in the tournament. Whatever happens to India, but England just does not have the talent or the firepower deep enough, to be a threat to anyone.

India did mess up the chase a bit. What should have been a cool and confident chase, turned out to be a little worrisome one. But we emerged victorious finally.

Contrast that with Sri Lanka’s win over West Indies. A ruthless job, both with the ball and the bat. We were in a similar position today, but we did not finish England off so well, after having all top batsmen back in the pavilion. And we also did not get to the small total with fewer wickets and more emphasis!

I guess Sri Lanka is a clear favourite, not just because of this one game, but because of the way they have played over the last few months. Amazing consistency and killer instinct.

Ahh.. serious cricket after a long time!

My commute takes me past some hutments, each day. The car also tends to slow down there, and when I am not busy reading or on the phone, I take the opportunity to look inside the huts. To get a glimpse of the life there.

To see if people are depressed at their state..
To see if there is grief written all over their faces..
A sense of resignation about their lives..

That is what I would expect to find. Because we grieve when we don’t get the TV remote control, and when the newspaper comes a little late in the morning, and when the traffic delays us by five minutes, etc.

So I would believe that these people, living in huts, with little fun or luxury, would have lives of complete depression.

Only to find reality very different, as I glance into those hutments.

Kids taking bath on the streets, with water poured out of their aluminium containers.
Do they care that the world is looking at them or that its cold water (not the comfortable geyser water that we “must” have each morning)?

Working men getting ready, getting into their shirts and trousers, combing their hair to a nicety, as they head off to their jobs as peons or clerks or whatever.

Women going about the cleaning of the huts, the cooking, oiling and combing their young daughters’ hair..

Elders sitting together and chatting.

The “room” if you may call it, is a single one, at most, with several people spending the night inside. It also has space for their meagre assets. And several of these will have a TV set – finally their one low cost source of entertainment.

I am sure there may be days or times when depression must be coming in. Perhaps when there is no job. Or if they are daily earners, then on the day of a strike, when nothing comes home, or when there are floods and water’s all over their homes, and there is no income for the day.. there will be those days.

But if one was to think if there is a daily depression, at least what I observe is far from it. There is a certain acceptance of life. Perhaps the generation may never come out of that state of life. I mean, the bread earner of the family supporting 10-12 persons, could be earning what, Rs. 3000 – 4000. Or even lesser. And that may go gradually to 5000 or so. But quite likely, it may plateau out at a point. With that kind of money, two square meals, and an occasional trip back to the village is about what can be dreamt of. Is it possible to move to a pucca house at this level? Unlikely. It can only be a miracle that can rescue a family out of their state.

But they seem to be fine with their state of affairs. At least outwardly!

And we need to contrast that with lives of our kind of people. Far better off, with a nice roof over our heads, good food at each meal, many comforts and luxuries. And yet we fret for the smallest of inconveniences that hit us. We lose our temper, we are ready to take on a fight!

Lets learn from those living in the huts, to appreciate the life that we have.. !

Yeah, I missed mentioning it in my earlier posting on remakes.
What is my feeling about this new Umrao Jaan?

Lets start with the maker, J. P. Dutta.
I see that he generates a lot of interest and respect from the industry.
Like each time his ‘next big film’ is talked about, written about, etc.
Maybe I might be missing something here, but honestly speaking, I don’t remember his last great winning film! So whats the brouhaha about, with J P Dutta’s films? Is it just that he has the money to get big stars together for his films, which are big budget ones and which is the reason for the great interest that he generates??

So from that point of view, I have a doubt about the film, in the first place. Unlike a Sanjay Leela Bhansali who remade Devdas (and even then, my expectations were very low – inspite of the HUGE respect that I have for SLB), its only J P Dutta who is making Umrao Jaan. If a Refugee is anything to go by, I am not sure he has the ability to convey a certain romanticism that Umrao Jaan demands.

Aishwarya Rai doing what Rekha did? Well, this will be the huge factor, whether the film succeeds or not. This is the absolute clincher. Is Aishwarya just a little too perfect a beauty? More of a princess than a courtesan? Rekha had a clear sensuality, and with her brown features, could do complete justice to the role.
But heck, thats only as far as looks go. And certainly looks are not the be-all factor to do a good job of this role. There is dancing – which Aishwarya can do very well. But most importantly, there is acting. Where aside from a few great ones, Aishwarya has not been so good consistently. A HDDCS or a Taal were the clear exceptions. In between, there have been a host of oridinary films, and ordinary acting. Blinded by her perfect looks, we may often miss the point. But fact remains that often enough, she has given very ordinary performances. If JP Dutta manages to bring out the best in her, the film may yet work well.

And then there is the other critical factor – no, not Abhishek – I am referring to the music. Where Khayyam was absolutely brilliant in the original (we are still haunted by those tunes he composed – “In aankhon ki masti mein, maikhane hazaron hai.. ” and others!). And against that, we have Anu Malik. Not an inspiring comparison at all. But I would hasten to add that Anu Malik, in between his plagiarised tunes, has come up with some extremely good original compositions too. So if this is one of his better efforts, again, we could be pleasantly surprised.

And why should Abhishek not be a factor? Well, at least in the original, it was Rekha all the way. Farouqe Shaikh who played the role that Abhishek is playing in the new one, was hardly there in a few scenes. And there was little that he had to do, except look all lost in the beauty of Umrao Jaan!! So unless that role has been enhanced for the new UJ, Abhishek cannot have a large role to play in the success or otherwise, of this new version.

And like Devdas, I have a question about the theme and its relevance to today’s times. Does today’s audience go to a Devdas or an Umrao Jaan, viewing it like an incredulous fantasy (“oh, how they lived in those days, maaaan, wasn’t that too funny to be believed?!”) or would they actually identify it to be a real story??

Back when Dilip Kumar’s Devdas was released, or when Rekha’s Umrao Jaan came by, there was still an audience present who identified with those characters. In case of the former, people had seen such undying love, sacrifice and the like. In case of the latter, there were people who had seen or heard of the Lucknowi courtesans and those mehfils.

But today, a generation later, are these concepts that are not identified with at all? Today a dancer is associated with a dance bar (“Chandni Bar”) and not the mujras as seen in a Pakeezah or the original Umrao Jaan.

On that concern, I wonder whether these films can make a dent with today’s audience at all?!

All in all, my feeling is that Umrao Jaan has a chance of success. A lot of things have to go right for it. But potentially it can work. Lets see if it does or not..

I have already dwelt at length about the new Sholay that Ram Gopal Verma is making, and why I feel that it will be a non-starter.

Likewise, I am not so thrilled about the other one in the pipeline, Don, either. Whatever I have heard (SRK’s dialogues) or seen (rushes / previews) of Don, do not make for an adequate comparison with the original. Those of us who have seen the earlier one, and remember it frame by frame, are likely to feel disappointed. Very.

If they are aiming for a new audience, who are seeing it like a new film, I don’t know. Maybe it may work for them.

For that matter, I was not very impressed by Devdas either. Sanjay Leela Bhansali is one of my favourite directors. I am completely in awe of Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, and also loved Black and Khamoshi, and yet, I believe that he erred with Devdas. It was not a film for our times, and it was thrust down our throats, by excessive marketing.

In case of Devdas though, there was a chance of its success. At least it was less likely to be compared with its previous versions, as those had come many years back. But for Don and Sholay, memory is still fresh for a large part of the audience. So I am afraid that it will be challenging for these to work. And they say that Amar Akbar Anthony is also being remade by Salman Khan and his brothers. Oh brother! Another glorious mistake, if you ask me!

There is a huge market for movies at this time. People are paying good money, lot of filmmakers are raking in the moolah. And yet good, new scripts are not easy to come by. So they are resorting to this remake rehash business. Sorry, I am not impressed!

What is he trying to achieve?
Ram Gopal Verma has been talking of making a remake of Sholay for more than a year at least. And the film is yet to complete its casting, and yet to go for shooting.
So what is the sense in talking so much, so early??

In any case, I think he’s fighting a losing battle. An iconic movie that Sholay was, everyone holds it in such high regard, that nothing-repeat nothing – will compare well, with it. And so fans will be disappointed, one or the other way.

Now, the details, on why things look so challenging (suicidal??) for RGV:
1. He is basing the movie in a city. A large part of the success of Sholay had so much to do with its setting. The dacoits in the ravines, the train robbery, Basanti, Imam, the Holi song, etc. And those rustic dialogues – “bahut yaaran lagta hai”, “ab aaya hai oont pahad ke niche”. How can you speak such dialogues in a city and look credible? And without them, what kind of Sholay will it be?

2. They write that it took a long time for them to figure out a “look” for the Gabbar Singh, that Amitabh is to be. And that look that was finally revealed resembles Amitabh in Deewar, sitting with a rope around his neck, inside the warehouse, waiting to take on the goons. Only older. The same swagger, the legs on the chair, look. So not really a ‘new’ look, also not half as menacing as Amjad Khan. Again, whats the point??

3. The casting that we know so far. Katrina Kaif as Jaya?? One part that is right here, is that the widow Jaya hardly had any dialogues to speak. And yes, the less you make Katrina speak, the better you are! But there was also the young unmarried Jaya. That was an amazing cameo. The Holi scene – chutti waali Holi, etc. Running behind the cart, blabbering away, huge energy, etc. Cannot imagine Katrina doing anything like that!
Then we have Mohit Alawat as Jay (Amitabh in the original). So yes, you first ask the question, Mohit who? And then because you don’t know him, you have no idea what kind of justice will be do to Jay’s character.
Urmila as Helen, doing Mehbooba. That part is fine. I guess as good as you can get when you cannot get the original Helen. But wait a sec – who’s going to do the Jalal Agha routine? Because the playback for that song, I believe, is going to be (oh God!) Himesh Reshamiya. Puhleese.. the original was RD, and we have Himesh now. Just riding on Himesh’s current popularity does not work. If you want to repeat the magic of the original, I would have believed that Shankar Mahadevan or Sudesh Bhosale would have been far better choices.
And then we have Ajay Devgan as Veeru. I am a big admirer of Ajay Devgan’s. And perhaps he is best suited today, to swing one of the most challenging roles. Veeru had so much character in Sholay. In the limelight that Amjad and Sanjeev Kumar got, I think one of Dharmendra’s best performances was given lesser importance. I would believe though, that Dharmendra was very crucial for Sholay, and he had a tremendous role there. Ajay Devgan, with all his talent, will have to do a fantastic job, to come up close to that role.
Rajpal Yadav as Surma Bhopali is fine, I guess. Maybe the only place where the remake may even have a better performance than the original.
And Mohanlal as Thakur. Again a huge question mark? With his accent from the South, can he deliver those deadpan dialogues, “jao, gabbar se keh do ke Ramgarh vaalon ne kutton ko roti daalna bandh kar diya hai”? Very challenging for Mohanlal.

4. Then again, RGV claims that its an urban story, and its really a revenge story, so it can be adapted. Sure, its a revenge theme, but then don’t call it Sholay. Take insporation from it, adapt it, but dont call it Sholay. For as soon as you call it that, there is forced comparison, and consequential disappointment!

5. Lastly, where is the passion? The passion came from Salim-Javed writing that great script and dialogues. From RD’s music. The sets. The cinematography. The support from the producer, G P Sippy. And most importantly, the dream and vision of Ramesh Sippy. Where will RGV find that??

I believe this is one non-starter.

I am going to trust movie reviews lesser and lesser.

They gave 4 stars and a very flattering review to Khosla Ka Ghosla.
And I went and saw it. And came out wondering if, with the stakes that there are in the film industry now, are all reviews “purchased”??

How can anyone give 4 stars to this dumb ass movie?

Its an extremely ordinary effort, perhaps deserving a slot on DD’s movie channel, for budding film makers, more out of encouraging them, and not for any serious commercial opportunity.

But with numbers panning out the way they are, a good run for a week, and money is recovered, any kind on nonsense comes out, and is getting purchased and released as well. And to get that first week push, they are able to get the reviews manipulated.

Damn!

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.. !