Thank you for "No Smoking"

The very reason(apart from my laziness) that I have picked up my pen(read logged into my blog page) after 5 long years since the last post is simply because of the strong urge I felt about expressing my views on this particular topic (Please do not take the title with its literal meaning).

What is "Cinema" all about? In a particular youtube video I hit upon(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjJAL5emp74), Anurag Kashyap mentions about his experience when his so-far unreleased debut directorial was screened for the Censor Board. One of the members of the board who watched the movie defined "Cinema" to be "Healthy Entertainment" and since "Paanch" (the so-far unreleased Anurag Kashyap debut directorial) was neither healthy nor entertaining (as per the gentleman from Censor Board), the movie was deemed unfit for screening. Whatever the issue with the gentleman and Anurag Kashyap, can we just hold back for a second and define what does "Cinema" mean to us? When I posed this question to myself, I found that for me Cinema is something that should leave me mesmerized, so deeply involved in the plot that I should forget all else for as long as the closing credits dont start rolling.

One such movie I hit upon only recently was "No Smoking", one of the biggest disasters(or perhaps The Biggest Disaster) of 2007. Perhaps it belonged to a genre whose time had not yet arrived (at least not in Bollywood). The story revolves around K (played by John Abraham) who happens to be a chain smoker. When his wife leaves him as she cannot put up with his smoking habits, K decides to visit a certain "Prayogshala" (laboratory), recommended by his chain-smoker turned non-smoker childhood friend Abbas (Ranvir Shorey), who himself got his addiction cured at the same place. What follows next is a bizzare and labyrinth-esque experience for K and the viewers. And that is exactly what makes this film stand apart from its peers. Needless to say, I could not fully and clearly understand the story after a certain point, but more importantly I was left spellbound by the viewing experience. That also made me curious to find out what did one of the critics I follow often had to say about the movie. He dismissed it with a 1/5 stars citing the "reeking of arrogance from a promising filmaker" and "incohesive screenplay" as some of the reasons. However, I, as a viewer will never judge a movie by textbook parameters taught in a filmmaking school. What I will look for is mentioned in my definition of Cinema quoted in the previous paragraph. It is absolutely alright for me if the movie is not "realistic", or even if I am unable to fully grasp the story.

I wonder if such a movie had been made by Martin Scorcese or Quentin Tarantino, we would have praised them no end and considered ourselves idiots as we could not fully fathom the movie. But since this one was made by our local boy Anurag, we would instead label him an idiot because he made a movie we could not fully understand. Trust me guys, its an altogether different cinematic experience. Any attempt to describe the plot or the theme would not be able to capture the essence of the movie. Go indulge yourself in No Smoking. But be warned, if you do not have a taste for the unconventional or if you wish to seek common sense and logic (though you might happily waive them off for a David Dhawan movie), stay away from it. Its dark, its chilling at times and its surreal! Bollywood came of age in 2007, but we missed it :( . Anyways, 5 years is not too late to make amends, is it? Last but not the least, Dear Anurag Kashyap, Thank You for "No Smoking".

Lazy Indians...hmmm

Recently, on my way back home, I had this co-passenger who began a conversation with me. A self confessed "The Hindu" fan, he had tremendous knowledge of whatever is going on in the nation that would be of direct consequence to us. He spoke about many issues with terrific ease. But one thing that surprised me was this mans theory of we Indians being lazy, a genetic trait, he insisted. Here goes his justification : Ours being a tropical country, whatever u throw will grow. So people really dont have to strain their asses to live comfortably. On the contrary, in Europe and America, there is no food at all in winter.

After giving it some thought, I thought its pretty true. Not so much amongst the educated class perhaps. But I remember my mom telling me about daily wage labourers in our village. If you pay them well, they'll work only for 3 days a week, since thats enough for them to make end meet. Or by chance if they work for more than three days, the surplus earnings will be spent for booze.
Even otherwise, we are quite lazy, arent we?

Sivaji - I saw it finally

I had been eagerly waiting to check out this latest Rajni flick. Not at all a fan of Rajni, but I had faith in the director Shankar, since I have liked most of his previous films. This one too was quite worth the wait. Considering the excessive hype that surrounded the movie, one could be forgiven to have expected it to be the best film so far for both, Rajni and Shankar. But it isnt quite so. Having said that,considering the standards that Shankar has set in the past, exceeding those would have been absolutely phenomenal. The film starts with Rajni being jailed for laundering money worth Rs.40000cr, which he insists he did for the betterment of the people. Might sound too cliched but one has to see Shankars picturisation and narrative to believe it. Then the movie goes into a flashback....Rajni arrives back in India from the US after a long stint there. He has girls swooning over him as soon as he appears. They are amazed by his chewing gum trick....(quite funny, intentionally, i suppose). He wants to start an educational trust which would run a University. He asks Adiseshan(Suman), a real estate and education baron for assistance. He agrees, but insists on Sivaji dropping the idea of education and going for a 5 star hotel and residential complex instead. Sivaji tries his luck himself running around various offices seeking clearance. Initially reluctant to pay bribes, he finally has no option. Finally, he starts work on his project. But the irritated Adiseshan uses his political clout to stop Sivaji from going ahead. Trying to avoid troubles, he ends up paying Rs.50cr by pledging all his property to go ahead. with his project. But Adi doesnt stop here, he plays tricks again and finally Sivaji has to move the court. Our hero loses the case and is left bankrupt. In the meanwhile, the movie provides comic relief with Rajni chasing Shriya and trying to convince her to marry him. Adi gives Siva a one rupee coin taunting him and saying that begging is the only option left. There is a brilliant scene just before the interval, which creates the right amount of suspense just before u leave for popcorn.
The second half is what the movie is all about...bot Rajni and Shankar come into their own. It has a well crafted narrative, wherein Rajni tries to filter out all the black money in TN and manages to credit it to his charitable trust. Narrating the story over here would make it sound stupid. I read in ET today that the movie will be dubbed in Hindi soon. Its better if you check out the movie yourself. Vivek as Rajnis constant companion is superb. Suman has done a good job. Technically, the movie is flawless. Everything, art, cinematography, action and SFX are first rate.
One thing I noticed after watching this movie is that its not about a movie being good or bad. Its about how well it goes down with the target audience. This movie is an absolute treat for Rajni fans...the dialogues, the style wouldnt have had the same effect with any other actor. All in all, a must watch movie. Miss it at your own risk.

The Train

No, this is not about the movie...its about my train journey from Mumbai to Mangalore, aboard the Matsyagandha Express. Chetan Bhagat mentions a sola aane sach baat in the prologue of his book , ' One night at a call centre'. Whenever, we guys travel by train, we expect to have a good feminine company. And since I was travelling alone, I was all the more eager to have such a company. When I got in, I just saw uncles sitting beside me engrossed in some conversation. I looked around again, farther this time and saw a chick sitting in a corner in the set of seats behind. There was no way I could strike up a conversation with her. I felt a bit disappointed, but nevertheless it was ok since i could kill time by joining the uncles conversation.
Since it was peak afternoon time, i went for a short nap. Little did it occur to me then, that there could be someone sleeping in the uppermost berth. A few minutes after I woke up, the angel alighted from the heavenly upper berth. She had this mature look which made her even more attractive. Soon after she bought some bhel and offered me some of it. I was shocked to say the least. She was not at all like the run of the mill babes, who look at every young man as their potential rapists. Maana zamaana kharab hai, but u shouldnt be over-sceptic. Coming back to the point, I realised I could start talking to her and was very happy. One of the uncles sitting just beside her started talking to her and they went on for hours and hours. I was a bit far away, I could neither join them nor steal her attention towards my charming self. I gave up. I knew it was only possible the next day. I got up early the next day. Waited for her to wake up as well. In the meanwhile the uncle had also woken up. I started chatting with him till she got up. Soon after she got up, Uncles station arrived and he got down. Now, it was just me and her. I knew nobody else would start talking to her this time. I was really nervous. To be frank, I've never casually chatted with a female stranger. The first few seconds were really interesting, we both started speaking at the same time and then one would say to the other, you carry on. It happened two or three times. I dont know why, but I quite enjoyed that. We spoke for quite some time till my station arrived and I bid her good bye. I really had a good time in this journey. The thought of acompanying her till Mangalore did cross my mind, but the heavy downpour made me decide otherwise and rightly so. I hope I'll continue to have such interesting journeys in the future as well.

Mumbai Aamchich

Recently, as usual, there was a Marathi movie by this name that was stuck at the censor board office as it had portrayed that the immigrants to this city do not deserve the same treatment as the natives do.
Now, considering the influx into the city from all corners of India it is natural that the natives of this city would feel a bit concerned about preserving their very own culture. As a Mumbaikar myself, i really feel that the prominence of Marathi in this city is slowly fading away. Any person who does not know Marathi can enjoy his stay here as much as anybody knowing Marathi. Try going to the other Metro or so called Metro cities in India viz. Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore. If you really want to lead a comfortable life in any of these cities, you ought to know the regional language in that particular state. Simply put, say after spending ten years in Hyderabad, you wont be excused for not knowing Telugu. But, in Mumbai, people have stayed for generations without knowing to even greet others in Marathi. If you ask my personal opinion, Marathi in Mumbai is virtually non-existent. I myself admit that even after having spent 21 years here, i am not fluent in Marathi. For some unknown reason i feel that the non Maharashtrians do not want to be a part of the Maharashtrian culture. A Tamilian identifies his motherland as Tamil Nadu, for a Keralite it is Kerala. Most of them do not feel at all that they are inevitably partly Maharashtrian as well. This, i feel is very wrong. I confess that this was the case with me as well. But staying away from Mumbai for a year made me realise how wrong i was.
Taking drastic steps to protect the Marathi culture would do more harm than good.
All i want to convey is that, the non-Maharashtrians in Mumbai should relate to, protect and savour the Marathi culture as their very own.