Life of cinema

Talaash released today after innumerable delays making it the most-awaited Bollywood movie of the year but I'm still hangovering on the magnum opus that hit the marquee last week. Yeah, Life of Pi. This exceptional movie is so brilliantly made that you'd want to watch it over and over again at least 3.14 times. But you won't as it's in 3D and your wallet is basically cheap. In case you haven't watched it yet, there's not much i can do except one thing—ask you to do the needful before it's too late. You can't afford to witness the novel-turned-alive on a small screen and ruin the whole experience. Intriguingly, it's quite strange that this spiel is coming from a guy who shamelessly watches 9 out 10 movies illegally downloaded from internet in spite of being part of the media. Well, blame it on Ang Lee and his ambitious project for the change. After all, you don't make films like these (read: Avatar, Cloud Atlas) just like that. It takes years of meditation. In working class hero's words, hardcore labour makes all the difference. So many people coupled with equal number of minds bind together to come up with one coherent film. Isn't that magical enough? Count the number of people in your office team and then count the number of problems you face despite the relatively smaller group. Hmmm. Well, that's the undisputed beauty of cinema. Avatar pushed the cinematic boundaries. Cloud Atlas not only pushed those cinematic boundaries further but also screwed with our minds. Life of Pi did neither. What it does, however, is stand out on its own. There's no precedent to the kind of visual treat it offers. The sheer craziness of having a human, tiger, zebra, organ-tun and a hyena stranded on a cast away boat is more than what cinema is meant to gulp. Moreover, it's just the beginning. Things get more and more spectacular as the story proceeds. Speaking of which, there is no set plot. Everything is hazy and God is somewhere hidden within this gorgeous chaos. Speaking of chaos, Balasaheb would have related to Richard Parker. There were a few downsides too. Like in the early part, secularism is shown in a rather simplistic and seamless manner—something even Indians won't relate to. But by the time the credit rolls, you're in awe and don't want the movie to end. You literally find faith and your talaash ends.

A minute in the loo

The highlight of an otherwise dull day was standing next to Ang Lee in a washroom. Yes, you can claim that I piss and tell. Who cares? He's one of the finest filmmakers to ever grace the world of cinema. To top that, it was one heck of an extraordinary experience though it didn't last very long. I was just going about my business when the corner of my left eye caught a pale figure. And when I rubbernecked to see who it was out of curiosity—because the whole room was empty if you exclude me and he could have chosen any other spot—everything came to a standstill. The time crystallized for a moment and I stopped urinating out of sheer awe. Kegel would have been proud of what I did to my bladder at that very moment. In fact, the urine in my system went back to where it came from. The worst part, however, was that I've never been more tongue-tied before in my life. If I knew what was going on, I would have said something to the effect of "Sir, I'm going to tell my grandkids someday that you and I pissed together once upon an era". Alas, this memorable dialogue was not to be delivered. Besides, he had this Zen monk smile on this face while accomplishing what he arrived there for. I'm happy that he smiled back at me. I'm happier that I kept my foolish thought to myself. I'm happiest that I didn't bother to accomplish what I arrived there for.

Hippie in Me

One of the biggest regrets I have in my life is that I got late. I got late by not minutes or hours or years but by decades. I missed the Hippie Movement that rocked the world in the 60s.

I never fit in anything I do today. Be it at work or home or any miscellaneous things at large. I’m a perfect misfit so may be I’m born into the wrong generation. Its no surprise that my tendency to stay unkempt give rise to the word “Hippie” everywhere I go!

This introspection or rather a superficial retrospection got kick started last weekend when I watched Ang Lee’s “Taking Woodstock” which revolves around the time when Hippies were making their presence felt, not only in their solitude and insular state of life but also in their gregarious flocking towards the finest of music, smoke and drugs.

The last time I asked myself these questions was when I watched Sean Penn-directed “Into the Wild” that follows Christopher McCandless’s solo journey into the white of Alaska and his eventual death from wild berry poisoning at the tender age of 24. That movie too made an emergent impact on my psyche and kept me glued even in my subconscious array of thoughts. I know this sounds exaggerated but you don’t know me. Neither do I!


The funny thing about these movies is that they both star “Emile Hirsh”. I’m pretty sure he is one the vanguards of Hollywood for future, thanks to mature acting and daring choice of movie scripts.

Coming back to me, I think I got late. Or else I too would have swayed to the beats of drums and strums of guitars and ripples of Sitar! As far as growing my locks is concerned, it isn’t an issue (no matter how much my Ma tried to taunt me to chop them off!!) and for career or any other societal bonds goes, I’ve been disconnected from the real world since I came to know of its existence.