A couple of weeks back, on a casual churning of television channels, happened to catch the old Gol Maal, of Amol Palekar. I picked it up in the middle somewhere, but spent the next couple of hours or so, watching it. And thoroughly enjoying it.
I had a very high regard for Amol Palekar, the actor. And if not for Paheli which he directed and made a disaster of, I would have retained that old respect and regard for him. I must find a way to erase the memories of Paheli, and retain the Chupke Chupke, Chit Chor and Gol Maal of Amol Palekar.
What amazed me about Gol Maal in particular, and that cinema represented by the Amol Palekar touch that time, was the simple innocence involved. Where a real boy-next-door or girl-next-door could be the hero-heroine and the film would still run to packed houses. No larger-than-life, no whirlwind romance, no international locations. Just a simple day to day life story, which a large number of middle class Indians could completely identify with, and enjoy.
Of course, popular cinema is truly representative of the mood of the nation at that time. And in earlier days, mood was also morose, and we had tear jerkers that became hits too. Am glad that those times are gone!
But I repent the loss of those innocent Amol Palekar times. You shave a moustache, go see an India hockey match, get together with friends in a simple garden and sing songs, and go and put in a hard day’s work, and be blissfully happy with the 800/- salary + 200/- conveyance that you get. Ahh.. the good old days!
What’s happened now?
Just far too many books to read, movies to see, video games to play, friends to meet, restaurants to go and eat at, pubs and lounges to try out, new beers to chill with, fascinating destinations to visit, cars to drive, groups to participate in…. list is endless.
And yet.. and yet.. one thing has not changed.
We still only have 24 hours in a day.
And this insane obsession that we don’t want to miss out (if we can help) on that one more book, that one more restaurant, that one more place to visit, that one more television program..
So while I would be perfectly happy in spending say, a good 4 hours, just listening to Panchamda’s music – and doing nothing else – and find immense enjoyment and satisfaction in doing so, do I do so?
As long as I have the mobile phone with me, can I control the urge to go check emails or look at my Twitter feed, for something interesting that might have come in?
Constant multitasking.
Somewhere in that, we have lost the Amol Palekar innocence and put ourselves into the Matrix mould.
I want to be different. Watch this space.. 🙂
Random Musings 