I watched Rockstar over the weekend. By this time movie's fate is well known, RK has won several awards for Best Actor, ARR's music which was topping the charts has won awards, Irshad Kamil has won award for lyrics and so on. So when I started watching the movie I knew I was in for a treat. I had always liked Ranbir Kapoor, I had loved all the songs, I could tolerate Nargis in trailors, so why not? But what those 2.5 hours of movie did to me was something I was not prepared for. End of it, I was tired, I was numb, I was restless, I was anguished, I kept on turning and twisting and couldn't sleep well through the night (until I woke my husband and spoke with him again about the movie and lots more). Here is what stayed back with me after the movie:
* The movie opens and closes with Rumi's quote:
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I will meet you there." - Rumi
I have all along believed this. I have believed that there is field beyond all the prides and prejudices we live by - waiting to welcome all of us.
* The major theme around which the movie revolves is the Sufi ideology that pain and suffering produces art that is usually beyond normal human capacity. I am stuck with this question. Is it true? How much does one go through? Is there a way back? does joy of creating a great piece of art compensate for the pain? I don't know the answers to this, all I feel is small and insignificant.
* Its a turbulent story of Jordan who goes through spikes of love and loss, fame and misfortune, self-awakening and self-destruction, enlightenment and illusions. But above all its a story about Love. The most powerful yet least internalised element of our lives - Love. Its an blindingly powerful love story. I was not prepared for it and as I suspect correctly even the characters were not ready for it. Love kept on happening to them and they kept dancing (and singing) to its tunes helplessly. Crying in the movies is not new to me. But this one movie, went beyond. Heart kept aching but tears didn't come out. All I had was a big vaccum by end of the movie.
* They say, 'Be wary of what you wish for, for it might come true'. Jordan wanted that one heartbeark to happen which would help him become a great musician. Ironically, at later point of time, he was willing to give up all the fame just to have his love back. Love always triumphs over everything else !!
* Music is outrageous. I am not even sure if I am qualified to comment on music. All I know is, never before music was so soul-stirring, lyrics were so befitting and voices were so divine. This is undoubtedly Mohit Chauhan's best. Sometimes I went so mesmerised that I could not make out where his voice ended and the music began. Hava-Hava surely is a lyricist's song. Kun Faya Kun where Jordan finally realised the power of music - every time I watch that particular moment, my heart stops beating. 'Tum Ho' doesn't belong to earth, its a song of Heavens. Jugalbandi between Ustadji and Jordan was no mean feat - one poised, spiritual; other one natural, animal like. Music could personify both of them. So aptly named 'Dichotomy of Fame'.
* Ranbir Kapoor breathed life into Jordan. He was intense yet vulnerable, he was innocent yet arrogant, he was thriving yet dying. Bollywood has some hope after all. Nargis and Heer both were good. She was the only colour in the movie rest everything was black, grey or brown. Jordan must have done something right with Heer that she felt like lowering her guards and sharing her innermost fantasies with him.
* But this is through and through director's movie. He knows how to handle complicated emotions. He knows how to paint strong willed, fierce and high spirited women characters better than anyone - be it Geet of JWM, Meera of LAK or Heer of Rockstar. He loves to show different landscapes like many other directors, but the difference is the locales in his movie do not stand out, they bear the same shades as that of the story. He is closely in touch with his sensitive side, how else could he handle - girls' desire to watch desi-porn or get drunk on desi daroo or wanting to draw the line or the way they dealt with their sexual urges - so elegantly? He has messed up a bit when he chose such a complex way of telling his story, editing could have been finer but what the heck..
(There is a scope for nitpicking too. But you know what.. My dear friend AA once said to me 'Never question good things'. I am listening to him...)
Monday, February 27, 2012
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
10 reasons why I recommend EMAET?
I don't know if you know that I take movies seriously, Very !!! They have to make sense to me else I actually feel cheated. There is always a post-mortem of movies that I do but have never bothered to put anything on record.
Now let me get straight to the point. 10 reasons why I recommend Ek Main Aur Ek Tu.
1. One of the rare movies where a female lead inspite of being bindass, beautiful is not a brainless bimbo.
2. The movie where the guy doesn't shy away from admitting his failures, doesn't mind living with the 'rejection' and he does it with immense dignity.
3. There are 'hints' given and 'hints' taken and more importantly disconnect between the two. Have we not expereicned such disconnect in our lives?
4. There are no lies, no big drama. Everyone is true to themselves and to each other.
5. A very unlikely scenario in hindi movies where characters play their real (offscreen) age. Kareena looks older, acts mature and story never hides her age.
6. The life in US is closer to the reality than shown in most other movies.
7. The movie ends on a note of ambiguity, uncertainty telling us subtly that there are no easy answers to difficult questions.
8. The casting is bang on. Imraan's socialite mom, Kareena's cool catholic family - they fit so well in their own places.
9. Music - very fresh, very groovy and sooo foot-tapping. Dialogues are funny and the script is well written.
10. Its a relatively family-friendly movie. Not that I approve of Lavanya watching it. But its still far better than most other movies where I get forced to change the channels watching them along with elders (and kids) in the family.
On a slightly unrelated note, I am sooo inspired to get 'Talli' and why not, if thats going to result in such beautiful mistakes!!
Now let me get straight to the point. 10 reasons why I recommend Ek Main Aur Ek Tu.
1. One of the rare movies where a female lead inspite of being bindass, beautiful is not a brainless bimbo.
2. The movie where the guy doesn't shy away from admitting his failures, doesn't mind living with the 'rejection' and he does it with immense dignity.
3. There are 'hints' given and 'hints' taken and more importantly disconnect between the two. Have we not expereicned such disconnect in our lives?
4. There are no lies, no big drama. Everyone is true to themselves and to each other.
5. A very unlikely scenario in hindi movies where characters play their real (offscreen) age. Kareena looks older, acts mature and story never hides her age.
6. The life in US is closer to the reality than shown in most other movies.
7. The movie ends on a note of ambiguity, uncertainty telling us subtly that there are no easy answers to difficult questions.
8. The casting is bang on. Imraan's socialite mom, Kareena's cool catholic family - they fit so well in their own places.
9. Music - very fresh, very groovy and sooo foot-tapping. Dialogues are funny and the script is well written.
10. Its a relatively family-friendly movie. Not that I approve of Lavanya watching it. But its still far better than most other movies where I get forced to change the channels watching them along with elders (and kids) in the family.
On a slightly unrelated note, I am sooo inspired to get 'Talli' and why not, if thats going to result in such beautiful mistakes!!
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
What has mommy-hood taught me?
My very sweet blogger friend and a super-mom Radhika tagged me to do this. Well, long ago. I slept on it for a long time. But this is an inspiring topic. As I start thinking about ‘what mommy-hood has taught me’ stream of thoughts start flowing in my mind, sometime to the extent of getting choked (literally)
I am going to take a small liberty of changing the original topic into ‘what mommy-hood did to me’ (besides of course a bit of paunch, a sweet tooth and one size larger clothes)
1. Once I became mother, I truly realized significance of my parents’ values. The certain acts that I grew up criticizing like being spend-thrift, being conscious-eaters, maintaining relationships (at heavy price), watching words (and temperaments) forgiving and moving on, persistence with children inspite us being rude and insensitive etc etc.
Today consciously and unconsciously I am doing what they did all those years and my heart sings loud ‘thanks’ to them every time. I have completely understood that though I criticized these values that time, somewhere I had already imbibed them. Today I pass them onto Lavanya without even slightest doubt.
Not just values but the small and big things they did. I never bothered to remember how my severely asthmatic father had run behind me, holding my cycle, helping me balance until I did it for my daughter. My mother was a working woman (that too in Government office where most of the staff is of semi-demonic nature), we didn't own a car, we didn't have fleet of maids (basically the support structure that we swear by today)- yet I never remember being abandoned by them. They paid close attention to our studies, our health, our food and everything else that was needed. I never acknowledged this to them or to myself until I started facing the rigour of situation.
2. I have learnt the hardway that everything turns out fine in the end, so live a regret-free life. In the last few years, lot of things have gone wrong or against my wishes – some horribly and some not so horribly. But I know that things always happen in their natural rhythm with some larger purpose and they just work out fine in the end. Now the question is, what motherhood got to do with this?
For initial years since Lavanya’s birth, I lived with this constant grief that I was not able to breast feed her. She was totally brought up on bottled lactogen. I hated myself for being unable to provide her which was most rightfully hers. I feared low immunity, lack of bonding between us and that she would never identify me as her mother unless someone teaches her. I regretted not having tried enough (that time I thought I did try very hard). But as far as I remember this was the last ever time I regretted. As she grew up I figured that we bonded just like any mother and child would, Lavnaya turned out to be as healthy, fit and active like any other child and she didn’t need any tutoring from anyone that ‘I’ was her mother.
That was the last ever time I regretted. I have learnt a lifetime lesson that if this can be rectified in its natural course, everything else can too.
3. I have learnt that, Grandparents have pivotal role in the life of any child. So, if your child has grandparents, hold onto them dearly. Even if your ideas (stolen from parenting books and internet) about parenting clash with theirs don’t deprive your child from love, attention, care and time s/he would get from the grandparents. Lavanya is positively influenced in many ways from both the sets of grandparents and I consider her lucky to have them around.
4. I have learnt that 'TIME' is the best gift I can give to my child. Be it time spent on cooking simple meals (instead of deploying maids), or organize birthday celebrations (instead of renting MacDonalds) or teaching her by wracking brains for simple/interesting ways or choreographing dances for her or teaching her help me with domestic chores or making cards along with her: in short, instead of finding means save time (and spend money), I prefer to do opposite. It pays off in the long run, I have already started experiencing that.
5. Motherhood made me care better for my health. I have become conscious of what I eat (well, I slip sometimes when my entire meal comprises of only Pani-puri and/or likes), of following exercise regime, of how overall my body functions or how my lifestyle is (in areas like eating out/late bedtimes/late wake-up times, binging on junk food etc). One reason is of course, I want to live longer. But more importantly I know that Lavanya is going to follow this if I do. All this is as much part of the value system as much honesty and truthfulness which should be passed onto her.
6. I have learnt that some questions have no or difficult answers. We need not resolve everything. I have started feeling more comfortable with uncertainty or ambiguity than before. ‘Time’ changes, situations changes with that problems change. Sometimes ‘letting go’ is a great option than holding onto things.
7. I can understand plausible challenges of single parents. Simply because, at our home, I cant ever imagine me doing parenting job single handedly. My significant other half is equally (Am I shying from saying ‘more’??) into it and there is no way I could have ever done what he does as a parent.
8. I have learnt that I need to blur the boundaries between men and women. I hate myself when I say to Lavanya that ‘Lets have Papa do it, because I cannot’. I don’t want her to have a feeling that men can do certain things and women can’t. So I put on brave mask and drill holes in the wall, drive Scorpio, tighten screws, lift heavy things, try hand at repairing things. I have long way to go considering Neeraj is completely DIY sorts of fellow. But I earnestly try.
Ofcourse there are more things to man-woman equality. Everything can be, should be and is done by everybody in the house. If I go out and work, Neeraj cooks, cleans toilets, irons clothes and gets her ready for school. So what does that mean? Does this mean that if she draws ‘my family’, she will not draw her mother working in the kitchen? Well, she might… but I am sure she is growing up seeing that while men and women have expertise in certain areas, there are no fixed territories and that she should not be tied down to/assumed to be performing certain roles as a natural way of life.
9. Last but not the least, this experience is teaching me that I will never be a perfect mother. That’s a very elusive phenomenon. I need to keep trying, try hard with all my might. But I need not worry about becoming ‘that’. It’s the process that’s so enjoyable. It’s the journey of making mistakes, learning through them, being taken by surprises, exploring myself is what makes it worth. She is growing up and we are growing with her as parents.
Thanks Radhika, I truly enjoyed writing this.
I am going to take a small liberty of changing the original topic into ‘what mommy-hood did to me’ (besides of course a bit of paunch, a sweet tooth and one size larger clothes)
1. Once I became mother, I truly realized significance of my parents’ values. The certain acts that I grew up criticizing like being spend-thrift, being conscious-eaters, maintaining relationships (at heavy price), watching words (and temperaments) forgiving and moving on, persistence with children inspite us being rude and insensitive etc etc.
Today consciously and unconsciously I am doing what they did all those years and my heart sings loud ‘thanks’ to them every time. I have completely understood that though I criticized these values that time, somewhere I had already imbibed them. Today I pass them onto Lavanya without even slightest doubt.
Not just values but the small and big things they did. I never bothered to remember how my severely asthmatic father had run behind me, holding my cycle, helping me balance until I did it for my daughter. My mother was a working woman (that too in Government office where most of the staff is of semi-demonic nature), we didn't own a car, we didn't have fleet of maids (basically the support structure that we swear by today)- yet I never remember being abandoned by them. They paid close attention to our studies, our health, our food and everything else that was needed. I never acknowledged this to them or to myself until I started facing the rigour of situation.
2. I have learnt the hardway that everything turns out fine in the end, so live a regret-free life. In the last few years, lot of things have gone wrong or against my wishes – some horribly and some not so horribly. But I know that things always happen in their natural rhythm with some larger purpose and they just work out fine in the end. Now the question is, what motherhood got to do with this?
For initial years since Lavanya’s birth, I lived with this constant grief that I was not able to breast feed her. She was totally brought up on bottled lactogen. I hated myself for being unable to provide her which was most rightfully hers. I feared low immunity, lack of bonding between us and that she would never identify me as her mother unless someone teaches her. I regretted not having tried enough (that time I thought I did try very hard). But as far as I remember this was the last ever time I regretted. As she grew up I figured that we bonded just like any mother and child would, Lavnaya turned out to be as healthy, fit and active like any other child and she didn’t need any tutoring from anyone that ‘I’ was her mother.
That was the last ever time I regretted. I have learnt a lifetime lesson that if this can be rectified in its natural course, everything else can too.
3. I have learnt that, Grandparents have pivotal role in the life of any child. So, if your child has grandparents, hold onto them dearly. Even if your ideas (stolen from parenting books and internet) about parenting clash with theirs don’t deprive your child from love, attention, care and time s/he would get from the grandparents. Lavanya is positively influenced in many ways from both the sets of grandparents and I consider her lucky to have them around.
4. I have learnt that 'TIME' is the best gift I can give to my child. Be it time spent on cooking simple meals (instead of deploying maids), or organize birthday celebrations (instead of renting MacDonalds) or teaching her by wracking brains for simple/interesting ways or choreographing dances for her or teaching her help me with domestic chores or making cards along with her: in short, instead of finding means save time (and spend money), I prefer to do opposite. It pays off in the long run, I have already started experiencing that.
5. Motherhood made me care better for my health. I have become conscious of what I eat (well, I slip sometimes when my entire meal comprises of only Pani-puri and/or likes), of following exercise regime, of how overall my body functions or how my lifestyle is (in areas like eating out/late bedtimes/late wake-up times, binging on junk food etc). One reason is of course, I want to live longer. But more importantly I know that Lavanya is going to follow this if I do. All this is as much part of the value system as much honesty and truthfulness which should be passed onto her.
6. I have learnt that some questions have no or difficult answers. We need not resolve everything. I have started feeling more comfortable with uncertainty or ambiguity than before. ‘Time’ changes, situations changes with that problems change. Sometimes ‘letting go’ is a great option than holding onto things.
7. I can understand plausible challenges of single parents. Simply because, at our home, I cant ever imagine me doing parenting job single handedly. My significant other half is equally (Am I shying from saying ‘more’??) into it and there is no way I could have ever done what he does as a parent.
8. I have learnt that I need to blur the boundaries between men and women. I hate myself when I say to Lavanya that ‘Lets have Papa do it, because I cannot’. I don’t want her to have a feeling that men can do certain things and women can’t. So I put on brave mask and drill holes in the wall, drive Scorpio, tighten screws, lift heavy things, try hand at repairing things. I have long way to go considering Neeraj is completely DIY sorts of fellow. But I earnestly try.
Ofcourse there are more things to man-woman equality. Everything can be, should be and is done by everybody in the house. If I go out and work, Neeraj cooks, cleans toilets, irons clothes and gets her ready for school. So what does that mean? Does this mean that if she draws ‘my family’, she will not draw her mother working in the kitchen? Well, she might… but I am sure she is growing up seeing that while men and women have expertise in certain areas, there are no fixed territories and that she should not be tied down to/assumed to be performing certain roles as a natural way of life.
9. Last but not the least, this experience is teaching me that I will never be a perfect mother. That’s a very elusive phenomenon. I need to keep trying, try hard with all my might. But I need not worry about becoming ‘that’. It’s the process that’s so enjoyable. It’s the journey of making mistakes, learning through them, being taken by surprises, exploring myself is what makes it worth. She is growing up and we are growing with her as parents.
Thanks Radhika, I truly enjoyed writing this.
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