Rock On !!!

Too late to write a review I guess. But yes, I had an interesting conversation with my boss the other day, I was asking him if he would take an option of reliving his own life.

His answer was a resounding yes. That s what got me to what the movie Rock On having missed watching it with the gang ( and the fact that I had promised Prem C that I would catch a movie). There are people who have dreams and there are the rest.

I guess most of us would be like Aditya, we will give our best shot at our dreams with a bit of compromises thrown in, but if that doesn’t go through that part of our life is wrapped in a box and put in some corner of our minds taking a part of us forever. Joe is what makes the world a beautiful place, the artist who believes in the purity of art over and above everything else. And importantly atleast in India for most of the people I know there is no overriding dream that junta have. Dreams are replaceable, (as that stupid ad says, we adjust everything even our dreams) so no one talks about a second chance. But that luxury is still not available for people who are left with no options to pursue that to be stuck in the dull life.

The movie itself was pretty good.. Full of clichés ( and as pointed out repeatedly some heart warming moments), not the greatest of actors and as always suspended from reality (ok that s always acceptable)….. but it definitely rocks. But judging from the audience s reaction ( a thundering applause), people like rock music or everybody wishes they pursued their dreams and want to escape their normal drudgery or people were appreciating the shift towards newer ideas. Your guess is good as mine, but I am a pessimist and I shall assume the second option.

Farhan Akhtar is good without being great, Prachi Desai is exceptional, dunno who Debbie was but that was original, Purab was Purab, Arjum Rampal tried. But the music is what makes the movie. The lyrics are awesome, simplistic but then we don’t really want lyrics overflowing with urdu.

Sa hi Besura – Review

Saketnath ( Pandey), Roshni ( Shah), Mohit (Mourya)

Wiritten and Directed by Makarand Deshpande

I managed to see a play after a long time, thanks to the gang as always. Sa hi besura is a brilliant attempt at portraying an artist ‘s inner feelings coupled with an anguished fathers attempts to bring his daughter back into reality.

Act 1 starts off with Saketnath warning that the play has become a part of his life and the twists and turns of the play unfortunately portray the deep anguish that he feels. He is the quintessential old guard theatre actor who believes that the role of each actor on stage is to find his ‘sa’ among the navrasas. He believes that Sa is supreme, the beginning and end of the octave and finding his/her own sa is the true purpose of artist on stage.

Saketnath had a blackout on stage and is being nursed by his daughter through arranged rehearsals. A small time thief Prakash (as good a character as ever written, the comedian , the recent trend among movies/plays almost as if we cant take too much of seriousness) who had earned his bread through selling Sa hi Besura tickets in black helps in boosting the veteran actor s ego. But it is not so easy, Saketnath does not remember what he has done, drinks copiously and thinks the modern generation should spend time finding their Sa.

Roshni, Saketnath’s daughter carries the knowledge that her father wanted the son that had died during her childbirth and remains tormented by that fact, and she believes Sa Hi Besura’s character of a son is why Saket likes the play. Along comes Mohit, the artist who is supposed to play Saket s son in the play. Mohit is a brash young actor who has coached himself in the mannerisms of famous actors. He is earnest and sincere but according to Saket his talents are hidden by his desire to mimic and his impressions of acting. Saket tries to kindle the yearning for Sa in Roshni and Mohit. (Maurya as Mohit is simply exceptional, I cant believe that I laughed so much, movies plays or otherwise).

All through the exchange, there is a constant reference to Saket s wife Suchitra, both as a reference to Roshni s behavior and the (lack of) understanding/conflict between two artists. The end is to put it mildly, simply unexpected. No spoilers here.

The brilliant part of the play is really the openness of it all, the play speaks to the audience, and there is a self referencing loop and there is enough weight for the audience to think about each of the aspects being spoken about. Art, artist, son/daughter, conflict, stability the play is as multi layered as you choose it to be.

Prithvi Theatre in itself is quite a small place and the voice carries over well. Maybe sometimes a bit too loud and maybe a bit shorter, would have made it perfect. But I am not complaining anyway.

My first short story

A look over the lush green meadows, a drop of sweat was running down his face. “Why the fuck I am I sweating?”, he thought. It was pretty cold, especially for his body, used to the bright sun for most of the year. But still he was sweating. Maybe the room was very stuffy or a secret of his was about to be let out. Now that freaked him out, not that he had many secrets to keep, but the idea of his thoughts being laid out made him feel naked and vulnerable. So, he was a bit reserved usually. That charmed the lady, as far he could remember, SP was a ladies man. They had come in all shapes and sizes, most at best a few chats but a few affairs had been long drawn out and painful. There were the best of them and the worst of them. But none could come close to the one woman who had almost ruined him… “another time to think about her”.

He switched on the T.V, the only break from his monotonic life in the US. How different than he had first thought, here he was at the center of innovation on the planet and he was lost, forlorn and lost. A boob here or there did inspire him somewhat, but that need for a goal consumed him or he wanted it to consume him.

“Why don’t things ever consume me? Maybe its because my talent is very restricted? Not possible, I wouldn’t have gotten to where I have without talent. Maybe upbringing, nah too easy to blame. Will? That funny concept of will? Will to do what is my standard counter to that. There I go round and round., need to think carefully about this”

His wife was staring at him. She was quite young and quite naturally quite restless. He had been extremely excited by the prospect of marriage and so was she, but now his old fears began to creep back. He had managed to maintain his wall around himself, but what did she think of him? What exactly did she want from him? And what should he do with her? Fucking had been good, something he looked forward too. She was good at making conversation too but beyond that what? He was really too fake for her or maybe she was too fake for him. And she had that irritating quality of wanting to know everything.

“What you thinking about? Nothing. Now, don’t lie, how can you not think about anything?”, she smiled playfully. SP stared blankly, this is where he lost track always, was the woman serious or was she kidding him. The standard trick, “ I need to make a presentation, need some ideas” “Oh that’s it?”, the wife was visibly relieved, let me show you some sites that I came across. She yapped and yapped, SP dint get most of it but smiled and congratulated at her brilliance.

“Why the fuck wasn’t I born during the war? Atleast I would gotten the chance to be a hero. Even if I hadn’t really managed to kill anybody I would have had stories to tell, maybe lots of conspiracy theories as well”, SP had a thing for war stories actually. They provided him with the chance to be the hero that he never was. The next 2 hrs was spent thinking what he would have done if he had been a war general. That was another thing that bugged him, he was pretty good at the things that he took up, he just did not take up enough things.

And he thought too much. Now thinking never killed people, but it never got anything done too. And thinking with the dick never did help anyone. Bloody hell, “why the hell I am I so hard on myself?” SP settled with a book. One with short stories, “fuck the idiots who write long novels why would anyone be bothered to read 700 pages of crap?”, he smiled to himself, “atleast I don’t waste time like that”. This book was about a guy who was reading about himself.

A drop of sweat was forming on his forehead.

Coldplay Lyrics - " God put a smile"

Where do we go nobody knows

I ve got to say I am on my way down

God give me style and give me grace

God put a smile upon my face

( the most eerie music video I have seen till date)

Where do we go to draw the line

I ve got to say I ve wasted all your time honey honey

Where do I go to fall from grace

God put a smile upon your face

Yeah

Yeah, when you work it out I am worse than you

When you work it out I wanted to

When you work out where to draw the line

Your guess is as good as mine

Where do we go nobody knows

Don’t ever say your on your way down

God gave me style and gave me grace

God put a smile upon your face

Yeah, when you work it out I am worse than you

When you work it out I wanted to

When you work out where to draw the line

Your guess is as good as mine

Your guess is as good as mine

Man can coldplay write or what? Wanted to put down the lyrics for a long time, finally got down to it. The video comes as close to spine chilling as ever can be (or my idea of spine chilling rather).

Wimbledon: Federer Vs Nadal, redux

Federer likes his not, his greatness would be decided this sunday on SW19, with the one man who he does not possibly want to meet. Or the man he most wants to meet.

On one hand you have the raw aggression of the Nadal, the guy who has improved from a muscular kid to one of the fittest, fastest players on the circuit. And the guy can think too. When he plays you play with him, right from his stupid superstition of wiping his biceps and adjusting his undies you just feel in awe of the awesome power of the guy and now you marvel at the sense of stage that he seems to have developed. The cranked up first serves on key points, the heavier spin the strokes and the sheer determination to win every point. Pure inspiration.

On the other hand you possibly have god himself playing, just one look at the guy. 3 sets in an hour, some hard aces, some placement serves, some amazing backhand winners all as if he is straight of the Milan fashion parade, in short pure genius. God will be proud of his creation.

But but but, Nadal has done what no body else has managed to do to Federer, get under his skin and force him to dig deeper and deeper. Federer has shown he is capable of doing that at Wimbledon, but in his heart even the great Federer must be thinking, I will be stopped by somebody in my career, is this kid it? He will not give in, because he might have to consider a Borgesque decision in case of a defeat and even if he does take such a decision he would want to leave on a winning streak.

The conditions this week have been pretty windy and looks like the trend is continuing in the ladies finals, that should aid Nadal, Federer does not like being off this rhythm. Nadal's mini struggle against Scheuttler showed us that the man was fallible after all and that would have offered Federer tremendous hope. Rafa did the same with Djokovic at the french semis, allowed him to sneak up a bit and then hammered him to a pulp again.

If indeed Nadal does manage to win, it will mark one of the most remarkable sports stories of all time. Lest there be any confusion of where my feelings are, Go Rafa Go

The problem of suicide?

The problem of suicide?

We keep hearing a lot of stupid (its appalling actually) stories about suicides these days. ( All religions have condemned it but there have been suicides from as far long as people can remember). Junta seem to be killing themselves on marks, love, sports, sex, religion et all. How they have lived life and killed themselves is important but more importantly what is the motivation for the average human being.

Camus considered the problem of suicide to be the fundamental problem of philosphy and life. Difficult not to agree with him.

The normal vigous that we associate with people ( of course combined with other different states) is towards general enjoyment of life and a fullfillment of potential or the path towards a goal.

If the above are not met, you might have considered the question or have the guts to follow the outcome you are as good as dead. Fucking wierd argument? Morbid, repulsive.

We can't ask camus, he committed suicide. His mind could not grapple with infinity you see.

Can our mind do it?

V

V for vendetta, saw that movie again some time last week and you have to hand it to the wachowski brothers to ask questions.

Is anarchy a long term solution? Looking at countries like china where dissent is killed easily (literally and figuratively) the larger audience seems to buy the official hard line arguments. How do you decide when a soceity is ready for anarchy?

Should soceities head towarda anarchy at all? I think the question is when and not should. The main concern with anarchy is the physical risk that it entails and hence the pain it could cause to the public at large. Historically anarchists have tended towards anarchy, but violent anarchy need not be the only possible method. For glory or infamy sure.

Why should soceities de generate?
1) They are tired of the atocities of the ruling parties. Anarchy as a protest against authoritarian regimes.
2) Against social order: a student backed cultural revolution to fight a dogmatic soceity
3) To throw away an existing way of life. Credit based life anyone? This is the systemic riskthat any soceity has. Most of the world famous revolutions have occurred as an expansion of initial poclets of anarchy.

Is anarchy set to reign in india? Not in the near future, but in my life time yes. Well educated individuals taking up naxalism is the first mark of a need to reject soceity. We are beginning to have deep geographic and economic schism s across different parts of the country and anarchy can spread llike a virus.

What will happen as an outcome of the resultant revolution? I don't want to know