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Thursday, December 21, 2017

The man from the Mountains.

The steep concavity between mountains, with the soft and sensuous sun light trailing through their bends make me feel as if I can read their curves, bends and slopes like books of sonnets and stories, tracing each page in its sacred soliditary; as the curved landscapes ramble , roam and converge with each other like enchanted lyrics.

Although they seldom talk, but when they do, their thunders frighten me, their swift flowing rivers try to take me along their deep canyons that had been labourously carved out by million of years of erosion. To everyone else their song seems ever frightening yet my fear dissapears for I know they love me, as I am the man from mountains.

One Fine Evening




He was rolling in laughter
In chocolate dirt.
He was falling in love with his mud castle
And I with his beautiful dreams,
The shells were shining beside him
And so were his baby teeth.
He played and played till sun called it a day.
I kept sitting there as the dusk was over, but too old to play.

Alas, the days will not come back.
Alas, the world will be Grey and black
Alas I will never be a child again
And believe the world to white once again.

To the crimson sun over the ocean so deep.
I bid a farewell but did not weep.
I took a shell from his mud castle and in my pocket I keep.

Saturday, August 5, 2017

Hindi poem - A reply to Sharad Kokas jee

Sharad Kokas's famous poem

वह कहता था,
वह सुनती थी,
जारी था एक खेल
कहने-सुनने का।

खेल में थी दो पर्चियाँ।
एक में लिखा था *‘कहो’*,
एक में लिखा था *‘सुनो’*।

अब यह नियति थी
या महज़ संयोग?
उसके हाथ लगती रही वही पर्ची
जिस पर लिखा था *‘सुनो’*।

वह सुनती रही।
उसने सुने आदेश।
उसने सुने उपदेश।
बन्दिशें उसके लिए थीं।
उसके लिए थीं वर्जनाएँ।
वह जानती थी,
'कहना-सुनना'
नहीं हैं केवल क्रियाएं।

राजा ने कहा, 'ज़हर पियो'
*वह मीरा हो गई।*

ऋषि ने कहा, 'पत्थर बनो'
*वह अहिल्या हो गई।*

प्रभु ने कहा, 'निकल जाओ'
*वह सीता हो गई।*

चिता से निकली चीख,
किन्हीं कानों ने नहीं सुनी।
*वह सती हो गई।*

घुटती रही उसकी फरियाद,
अटके रहे शब्द,
सिले रहे होंठ,
रुन्धा रहा गला।
उसके हाथ *कभी नहीं लगी वह पर्ची,*
जिस पर लिखा था, *‘कहो'*।



My reply to him

अब खेल वही है, लेकिन उसके, मायने गए है बदल |
क्योंकि अब वो पढ़ना लिखना सीख गई अविरल ||

पहले उसके साथ होती थी एक निर्लज   बईमानी |
मीरा, अहिल्या और सती, पर्ची का 'कहो' पढ़ना न जानी ||


अब जब इसकी पर्ची पर आता है 'कहो' ऐ नारी |
उसकी सिंह दहाड़ से कंपा जाती है भू सारी ||

जो काली का क्रोध भी है और महिसासुर का वध है ।
वो मलाला का साहस और विजयलक्ष्मी का नट है ||

एक दिन नारी ही चलाएगी इस भू की कमान  |
क्योंकि उसके आंचल से ही निकले सब, मूसा हो या राम ।।

कह गए कवि अदिश सुनो वो दिन जब भी आएगा ।
देख लेना तुम ये विचलित जग तभी शांति पाएगी।।in

Sunday, May 21, 2017

Movie Review : Hindi Medium.- Class is the new caste.

There was a time when caste decided norms of the society - dining, marriage, education et.al. Caste is now limited to remote villages, in cities it is now restricted to arranged marriages. One good thing about class is that it can be improved upon whereas caste cannot. The movie is a fine struggle of a young couple trying to up their class.

The first step towards this is of course to secure an admission of thier child into an 'elite' school. Complete movie is centred around this. Whether they were successful or not, only movie will tell.

Screenplay and Direction

Screenplay was awesome in the first half but average in the second half. Many scenes were dragged in the second half and unnecessary drama was introduced. Same is true for authenticity also. Direction was good though.

Acting and Cinematography

Cinematogrphy was average. Irfan khan stole the show with his awesome acting. You will fell in love with the charm of Saba Qamar. Other actors have also played their role well.

Music and Sound

This was the best part of the movie. All songs are paisa wasool. You will be humming "tainu suit suit karda" while leaving theaters.

Final Verdict

Die hard fans of Irfan Khan should not give this movie a miss. The movie is safe to be watched with family.

I will give it 3 stars out of  5.

Friday, January 13, 2017

Movie Review : Haramkhor

Lust and jealousy are older than human existence. Many bollywood movies have tried to potray lust as love and jealousy as competitiveness, this movie is different from the other ones in the fact that it has not done that.

The movie is narrated from the point of view of two kids. All the small town 90s people who did not study in today's corporate schools would relate to the two. At least I could relate. There used to be a lot of free time to think about un-necessary stuff, do various chutzpa. Many of us would also go to tutions where we would do everything but studying. We would have a best friend. Of course the best friend and you will plan and execute various gimmics for one of your 'crush'. The gimmics would be successful or unsuccessful depending upon your luck. The movie is all about those but with two twists. One is that the 'crush' loves your teacher. The second is that the teacher is 'Haramkhor' unlike our teachers who were living examples of morality, uprightness and discipline.

Acting, Screenplay and Direction

Movie seems incomplete. I donot know if sensor board is to be blamed or the writers. Direction seems to be poor and lacking. Acting was average except Shweta and Nawaz. The side actors and the two kids could not match up the high standards we set up for a Nawazuddin movie.

Screenplay was very poor. There are some points when Nawaz finds it difficult to carry the movie. The director probably wanted to make a very dark movie, but failed miserably.

Who should watch the movie:

Other than statutory exclusions, people who are not die hard fans of Nawazuddin should skip the movie. Kids and Newly married couples should especially avoid.

My ratings for the movie : 1/5


Image credit :Internet (official poster)

Sunday, December 25, 2016

Kahani Review Part 2


In the part 2 of movie reviews, I will concentrate on the following.
1.     What is the social impact that the movie has tried to make ?
2.     If there are some improvement points.

1.     Social Impact
1.1  Women Characters : The movie boasts of strong women characters but the case in not so. The character of Arjun Rampal’s wife was especially troublesome. Even after knowing about his another marriage, she remains apologetic is disturbing and sets a wrong example. The central plan was also executed by the character of Arjun Rampal himself. This waters down everything that I had expected of the so called strong character of Vidya Balan. Although her character remains strong uptill the last 5 minutes, but the take home feeling is that she just executed the plan made by someone else.
1.2  Taking up Social Causes : The movie takes up a very important yet neglected social evil of ‘in family sexual exploitation’. It happens everywhere. The issue is taken up fairly well. However the problem is that no solution is proposed. Running away with the girl and shooting the culprit is not the correct thing as per me.
Overall the movie scores low on social impact. The impact is limited to realization and highlighting of a social evil.


2.     Improvement Points
2.1  Movies are a powerful medium to bring about social change. They impact the subconscious mind and indirectly the decision making. If I were the story writer, I would have given more power to the women characters.
2.2  The indifference of the small girl’s grandmother to the sexual exploitation of her grand children is unrealistic.
2.3  The over attachment of Vidya with the small girl is also unrealistic as per my understanding.


3.     Social Impact Rating 0.5/5

Friday, December 23, 2016

Dangal Review - Part 1 - For viewers who have not seen the movie


It is incredible to see how an expected storyline was so beautifully crafted by the screenplay and writing team. I had expected the story line to be something like this –

  • Ø There would be a failed wrestler,
  • Ø  He would train his daughters and
  • Ø The family would eventually win.

Unsurprisingly this is exactly what happened, yet I could see tears rolling down my cheeks whenever the girl misbehaved and whenever the helpless father was defeated (once even by his daughter). The audience in our theater thoroughly enjoyed though, there was roaring applause after every point scored, massive clapping and whistling after every match won.

The movie opens up in a government office where Mahavir Phogat (Aamir Khan) is working. He then makes a grand statement by defeating state level champion both in fight and in wits (What we call Baatbaazi in hindi and urdu) and with turn of events the movie ends with the girl winning CWG gold. Father Phogat infact won the much deserved standing ovation towards the end of the movie.


Authenticity
The movie is very spontaneous. As some critics have argued, it never tries to manipulate you. The movie does not fell prey to any 'isms'. Even while making a strong push towards feminism, it has not a single dialogue attributed to it. The deeply patriarchal society is shown without becoming an apologist or a critic. Things are shown as they are and left to the audience to reflect and decide.

I want to say a lot more on this in the second part of review that will be released on second sunday at 10 PM. I hope everybody would have watched the movie by then. PS - Kahani Review Part 2 will be released this sunday.




Screenplay
The characters are so real. I think I have lived with almost all of them. Aamir khan, the always stern and serious father, Sakshi Tanwar -caring and low profile mother, a random helping cousin, an arrogant coach and a sister who is also a guide. These things comprise a typical Indian family. The movie scores high on importance of indian family values also.

Technicals :

  • 1. Costume Design – Fabulous  – Especially the description of local Haryanavi women and men..
  • 2. Cinematography and Direction – Nitesh Tiwari is Awesome as always.
  • 3. Sceenplay is superb. Not a single frame is without purpose. Not a single dialogue is without reason.

Go and watch this movie to pay your respect to Mahaveer Phugat and for the charm of Fatima Sana Sheikh. (I know most of you had secret crush on her from childhood days).

Who Should Go :

Everybody should watch this movie. It is definitely in the league of best movies that Bollywood has made so far (Eg. Sholay, Border etc)

My Ratings for the movie 4.5/5