I need serenity....

Alright…I kno it has been like an epoch since I had last posted here.better late than never. Couldn’t resist the urge of posting today/night…I dnt know wat to call this time of the day…its like 5:14 am and still I refuse to call it day since sleep follows this post….Yeah…I have returned to campus..which is an absolute bliss sans the seniors who I had bonded like a family….the junis have taken their place but only on the records…thrs still a long way to go for it to happen….
Anyways…was off to Bombay/Bangalore/Hyderabad for my summers..did it @ LOreal…burnt sum calories..on the streets of Blore and Hyderabad…and finished the summers with a decent presentation @ Bombay….enjoyed a lot in the experience though….returned to campus a fortnight back…and the strings of nightouts and academic loads have already started taking a toll….
Its raining out here in bbsr….it gets really amazing in the monsoon…especially wen u r awake @ 5 in the morning and the clouds jst pour it on u….nature at its best…

Sleep has ditched me for long now
To give me some more time to myself
But the more I give it to myself
The more cynical I become

There are ups and downs
and there are crests and troughs
Its becoming such a whirlpool
From which I shall never emerge
And if at all I do,
I ll hav to lose myself and become new

Right now no more thoughts come to my mind….just getting used to becoming comfortably numb….numb with the void tht exists deep within and questions everytime I lay on my bed and look at the scary ceiling.

Shall keep u updated regularly henceforth…okay I ll atleast try to.

Cheers n Adieu

The Cucumber Seller Of Chennai By Subroto Bagchi

hello all,

The following is an article about a real-life incident which happened with Subroto Bagchi.

Read and feel blessed....

(November 1, 2004)

"At peace with himself and with the world rushing past, this man was dressed in poverty. But in his presence, it was I who felt poor "

On a hot July day, my colleague Moses and I were trying to locate our car on Chennai’s Nungambakkam High Road in front of Nalli Silks when I saw a roadside cart laden with cucumbers. The seller was vacantly gazing at passersby. Clad in a white shirt and a dhoti worn in the traditional Chennai style, he had long hair and an unkempt beard. I did not know Tamil, and asked Moses to find out the price. One rupee apiece, came the reply.

We wanted one piece each. The cucumber seller began deftly slicing them to put salt and the delectable red chilly powder on the neat halves. As we bit into the cucumber, I asked Moses to tell him that his pricing was too low, and that he should raise it. Moses conveyed this. The seller shook his head, and replied that “customer satisfaction” is more important than extra profit. The words ‘customer satisfaction’ were in English. I gulped my patronising comment. At this time, Moses excused himself to find our car. After a few moments, the seller asked me in English where I was from. From Bangalore, I replied. What follows here is our conversation. His statements are highlighted.

Isn’t the Karnataka budget due to be presented tomorrow? Yes, that is true. Living in Karnataka, it was easy for me to concur on this.

I wonder how the governments of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu will ever solve the water-sharing problem. Man cannot solve this problem. It has to be God. After all, it is an issue of how much rain is going to fall! I nodded. I was not sure if I had a view at all.

See the way the monsoon is progressing. It does not look good. The progress of the rains is leaving a ‘V’ of a dry patch as the clouds move north. Bihar, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and the states up north will have problems. Politicians are the ones who use such problems to create a divide among people. They always do it. They use water, religion, anything they can, to create a divide. Look at the way Amarinder Singh of Punjab is taking a stand. I looked at him, in part admiration and part disbelief.

You’re from Bangalore. Things are going well for you folks. But I don’t understand how people with shady business interests can become representatives of public opinion there. It was part complaint and part observation.

At this point, a fellow peddler arrived — helped himself to some of the cucumber, and the two had a quick conversation on some issue I did not understand. After the other person left, I asked him if selling cucumber was his full-time vocation. He told me that right now it was. Earlier, he sold lottery tickets, the trading of which has since been banned. As a result he had to switch his business to selling cucumbers on the wheeled cart. No complaints and no issues. Meaning to engage him further, I asked him his religion. This drew an instant look of disappointment from him: “Sir, I am an Indian. That is my religion. In my eyes, all people are equal, and it does not matter to me at all.”

The clarity of his response and his conviction took me completely by surprise. His net worth was probably equal to his day’s turnover. The newspaper and magazines he reads, to keep abreast of things, wipe off the disposable income he generates. Bare feet on this busy, dusty road, he sold a low-value, perishable product from a rickety cart. At peace with himself and with the world rushing past, this man was dressed in poverty. But in his presence, it was I who felt poor.

We are not complete if we are not connected. It is only when we are connected that things make sense. Only when things make sense, we can form an opinion. Standing there, I wondered how many in the corporate world know who the chief minister of Punjab is, and about the progress of the monsoon! How many have an informed view on river water politics and budget proceedings of another state.

Soon, Moses appeared with our car. It was time for me to go. I shook hands with the nameless cucumber seller of Chennai. Actually, I wanted to touch his feet.

Give me someone sunshine........

hello,

Now that the exams and with them my stint of sleepless nights is over.....its time to cool off a bit.....with 2 good movies(Avatar and 3 Idiots) in the offing.....I cnt wait to watch them.......

Will come up with the reviews once I watch them....

Till then.....Merry Christmas......

Cheers

Yours Truly.

Kasab Denies All Charges

What is common between Bobby Darling, Victoria Terminus (Mumbai) and the Indian Judiciary ??
Ans: All have undergone the famous Sex Change Operation in their lives.... the first one is quite famous and doesnt need a mention.....the second is termed as the greatest ever sex change operation in the history of Indian Railways...changing its name from 'Victoria' Terminus to 'Chatrapati Sivaji Terminus'.
What beats me completely is the fate of the third.....It has become a EUNUCH off late....yeahh that comes under sex change operation too....
For a bastard like Kasab has used the Indian Judiciary as his mistress and keeps fucking it every now and then defying all rationality and logic.
This is what Kasab today claimed before a special court that he was arrested on the night of November 25 and that he was falsely implicated in the 26/11 case. "On the night of November 25, I was roaming in Juhu. I had gone to see a movie when the local police arrested me," Kasab told the court. On being shown the footage of the CST massacre which clearly reveals his photo, he says he was a look alike of the real guy involved in the massacre which he claims the police has already killed.
(This is a notice to Mr. Ramgopal Verma, Mr. Sanjay Gupta, Mr Vishal Bharadwaj and others....please pay attention....there is an awesome plot being made here which can be put to use in a movie by you.....hope u are all ears...)
Kasab even accepted meeting David Coleman Headly while he was in Jail after the attacks.....now I ask...Why did nobody question then as to Why Headly was visiting Kasab...Headly could have been arrested then itself.....and why the fuck is someone allowed to meet a criminal like Kasab....nobody tried to question that out then......The consequence of a paralysed law-enforcement system clubbed with an even more broken-down and eunuch-like Judiciary has resulted to this day when a pimp like Kasab has the audacity to play with the court every now and then.....and what are we doing by giving him a fair trial......Had it been America or U.K or for that matter any other country in the world....they would have beaten the hell out of the bastard ...but We believe in giving a fair trial to a guy who comes shoots people around (167 of them to be exact) , is caught live on a CCTV, accepts the guilt....still we bloody wanna show that we are the most fair country in the world so we allow him to screw us once again by playing with our judiciary and at the same time our sentiments..
Somewhere i had read....its an ernest desire of Kasab to meet Mr.Amitabh Bachchan and some people were in the opinion that Mr.Bachchan should meet him....yeahh I agree Mr.Bachchan should meet him with a Gun in his hand and knock his ass out when they encounter each other....that would nominate Mr.Bachchan for another National Award...

For the first and probably the only time in my life I would agree to someone called Mr.Bal Thackerey for expressing the opinion that Kasab should be hung right in front of Gateway Of India.....yes Mr.Thackerey, I second you....

This sorry state of affairs reminds me of 'A Wednesday' and I start wondering whether its possible to do it all over again.........

So what the fuck is this life all about?????

hello,
back to my usual times of interacting with u guys...i m not sure if anybody would even read this out....but i ve gotta write so i will write....my wish...i wanna write...i will write...(a tribute to a friend).....dunno...ppl tell me here that "Nishit, what the f**k has happened to u??.You werent like that"....i dnt kno watto do....have got an exam tomorrow....Its HRM or otherwise called Human Resource Management.....yeah yeahh i know prbbly there r chuckles out with a few abuses after sighting the word HR but watto do...there are ideological differences and there shall always be.....they want me to throw what i ve got to a bin and concentrate on my acads....i tell them either u fuck off or i suck.....i know its not evenly poised and it can never be.....for life is not a Zero-Sum game.....i lose that doesnt mean u win...isnt it????
Anyways...just got reminded of an age old adage and i twist it in my own way....
"When the going gets tough...change the scale of reference."
Haha ...hahaha....
There you go.....
Cheers n Gud Nyt
Nishit

LSD : Love Sex and Dhokha

hi,

yeah yeah....its not tht i ve got cheesy....thts the name of Dibakar Banerjee's (Khosla ka Ghosla and Oye Lucky Lucky Oye fame) new movie......amazing poster....jst cnt wait to watch this one....i ve read tht its a an ultra low budget (2 crore only) venture....BOLLYWOOD there you go.....this is our reply to the Tarantinos and Scorceses out there....for now jst chk out the poster and hold ur breaths.....


Cheers
Nishit

Jaideep Sahni - The man behind 'Rocket Singh'

Hats off the the brave bollywood for trying out these experiments....the glimpses of which were seen in Sanjay Gupta's "KAANTE" and then greatly re-inforced by Anurag Kashyap's "DEV D" and still more by Vishal oops Vifhal Bharadwaj's "KAMINEY" and not to shy away though Shimit Amin's "ROCKET SINGH: Salesman of the year" stands in a different lane altogether what I want to highlight is that finally there are movies being churned out by bollywood which have finally started respecting the scrips....and realising the fact that if the scripts donot need itsy-bitsy-teeny weeny-yellow-polka dot-bikini kind of songs and no snow-clad mountains then they better chuck them off.....This post goes on to salute a hero called JAIDEEP SAHNI and read on to know why....

Source: http://moifightclub.wordpress.com/

In an industry where every director wants the writing credit and every writer wants to turn director, they are a perfect pair. Shimit Amin and Jaideep Sahni. And they are confident about each other’s talent. When they picked up all the possible awards for Chak De India, the first name that Shimit would mention in his ‘thank you’ speech was Jaideep Sahni. Not Yashraj, Shah Rukh, Aditya Chopra or anyone else, like other suckers of bollywood would happily do. Because he knows that the lanky lad who still looks like a fresh graduate just out of an engineering college, knows some rocket science for sure.

In our filmy friends circle, we all have one common cinema taste. We HATE Yashraj Films and their brand of cinema. And we have one common curiosity. Why is Jaideep Sahni still there ? Right man at the wrong place ? Now we know why.

Slowly and steadily, the man is pushing for his kind of cinema. Otherwise who can ever imagine a film like Rocket Singh to come out of the same factory. No Manish Malhotra heroines, no song and dance routine (no music = big revenue loss), no glamour quotient, no foreign locales and almost no love story! So many unknown faces who look like you and me. Ok, punjabi factor is there but never before has a punjabi character looked so normal. No bhangra-shangra, balle-balle or hadippa! This cant be an easy task from the big bullies of bollywood who are known for their money minting phillum formula. This needs conviction, a very strong one.

The duo proved it with Chak De India (CDI), the film which even Shah Rukh Khan wasnt confident about. Who would come to see him in scruffy beard, check shirts and without overcoat! Nobody came for Swades. And to top that, he is not even romancing anyone, but teaching hockey to some unknown group of girls and none of them were “hot and sexy” according to either YRF or bollywood’s dictionary. But then, its showbiz and as Goldman said, nobody knows anything! Shah Rukh Khan got the intial crowd but as we left the theatre we knew Bindiya Naik, Komal Chautala, Vidya Sharma, Aliya Bose, Preety Sabharwal and even Krishnaji! Jaideep’s pen made those unknown faces mightier than SRK! The numbers at the box office re-confirmed it.

Like all other sports film, CDI was full of cliches but still it worked. To make cliches work is one of the most difficult things and with a sports like Hockey, which may be our national game but is least popular, it was more daunting task. For better answer, ask the makers of Goal. They had Football, Johnny-Bipasha baby and still messed up the most successful formula.

But what was that “sattar minute” ? Too much lecturebaazi, I remember telling Jaideep after its release. Unlike others, he always has an ear for criticism. He said, “we have become too cynical, too corrupt. But in sports, its still the same. The ideals, the morals, the sportsmanship. You know, for us, when they play the national anthem in the theatre, we feel least interested but the sports guys they still get goosebumps. Its life and death for them. When they get into the field, they still feel like going to the battlefield.” I smiled and noded. His honesty and the way he said those words disarmed me. He said he didnt know this world. So, he went into hiding, stayed in the hostels of Sports Authority Of India (SAI), met people and put them on paper. They look and feel so real because they are from real life. Its lot of hardwork of last few years.

You may hate the company he works for but you cant hate the man. Because he is among those rare few who is still like Rocket Singh. He doesnt fake it. Ask Anurag Kashyap, the man who is most vociferous about the YRF brand of cinema. Say Jaideep Sahni and he will nod his head. Because its all for good cinema. He also knows that Sahni knows some rocket science for sure.

Khosla Ka Ghosla, Chakh De India and Rocket Singh – Salesman Of the Year, these three are Jaideep’s baby, from idea to script, casting to its release, he was involved with almost everything. He was commisioned to work on others like Jungle, Company, Bunty Aur Babli and Aaja Nachale. And Jaideep credits all to his good luck, ”From the beginning, I always got a chance to work with such directors who were willing to give me a free hand. More than I asked for. From recee to casting to design, I would get involved and nobody would feel insecure about it.” No, I dont remember reading any so called struggle of Jaideep Sahni ever. As a friend said it was too simple for Harpreet Singh. But then sometimes good things do happen to good people. Moral Education ? Thats paase! Do they still have it in school syllabus ?

2006. They were busy shooting the music video of Khosla Ka Ghosla, just before its release. The film was lying in the cans for long time. Met him on the shooting location and still remember his words “Its like my polio inflicted child. Needs more care. Others have big supporters, big selling points. They know how to run. Its easy for them to win but if this one even gets to run a little somehow, I will be very happy. Its different kind of happiness.” Who would have ever imagined that polio had such magic.

2007. I was dying to watch Aaja Nachale because of Madhuri Dixit but didnt like it much. What was it ? Got too messy ? And you got bad reviews too. “Yaar, I agree with every review. I know what they are saying and why they are saying. You know, people say they have hidden agendas and all. I dont know them, they dont know me, what hidden agenda ? Everyone loves good cinema. All we can do is to keep trying for our best.” I was LOL. Still havent met anyone who is so receptive to criticism. Ask those with million dollar duds. They blame it all on the stars, the critics’ stars.

So what went wrong ? “The story was already there. The main story. Madhuri’s comeback and all that. I could not do much there. I was told to set up the village/small town, the characters there and I did my best with that.” And talking of the town, I still remember the story of Vinay Pathak and Sushmita Mukherjee. The most beautiful track in the film. Its this world that Sahni knows best. The Khoslas and The Khurans. Middle class aims, aspirations, dreams, dilemmas, morals, ideals. And so in all three of his films (KKG, CDI, RS-SOTY), his characters move in similar domain.

In KKG, the middle class Khosla family is forced to take the wrong turn to fix the wrong guy. Anupam Kher doesnt agree. Navin Nischol is shit scared. But the fun is on the run. Its a similar world in Rocket Singh. After Rocket sells the first computer by cheating the company, he comes back home and wants to order pizza. But when his Grandfather gets him to matha-tek Guru Nanak Dev, the pizza dream vanishes. Middle class morality may seem old-fashioned now but those who know it and have ever experienced it, know that its still there, somewhere in one corner. We just dont have any time for it. And if in doubt, ask your dad. Like my Grandma still keeps on reminding me “sukh ke picche mat bhaag, shaanti zaroori hai, mann ki shanti.” If only Grandma knew how good burgers and pizza taste and how expensive they are!

Jaideep started his career in bollywood after dabbling in computer engineering, advertising, image building, ad filmmaking and writing songs for some pop bands. Some great songs happend then. Remember Euphoria’s maaeri ? Or Shubha Mudgal’s pop number. A musician who knows him since his delhi days told me once, “they played smart and ditched him many times. If it was an album, they would put four songs of theirs and two of his. But see where is he now. He doesnt need them.” And “them” are also in bollywood.

No, not trying to give him demi-god status or make him holier-than-thou but thats the man I know. Thats what I have heard, read and experienced. The man is as good as his cinema, much like Raj Kumar Hirani. They are the two Rocket Singhs of the industry. Ask any sane man in the industry and I guess they will agree. Because its not difficult to spot the tinkle in the eyes of an honest artist.

And why does a story interests a writer ? From where does a writer gets his stories ? From his life, his world, unless you are born and bought up in the lanes of Lokhandwala where there is no life and there is no world. Cinema is your only reference. Otherwise no apple falls from a tree for any eureka moment. There is little Italy in Martin Scorsese’s cinema and spain in Pedro Almodovar’s work. Closer home, there is Meerut’s kill thrill in Bhardwaj’s cinema, politics in Sudhir Mishra’s cinematic genes and Delhi in Dibakar’s filmy DNA. Otherwise such honesty would never come on screen. What comes from inside is easy to spot. Rest all is derivative.

In this cynical world of cut-throat competition, its difficult to believe that Rocket Singh can exist and survive. Because character certificate is not cool anymore. But till the middle class believes in celebrating the values and ethics, lets celebrate Rocket Singh. Spiderman is impossible but Rocket Singh is not that difficult. Lets try.

Enough of bollywood for now.....till we see each other....have a nice time!!!

Cheers

Yours Truly....