Isn't she a doll. She fell down and her teeth cut in to her tongue.. so freaking scary. she is okay now though.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Theatre debut and such like
Diary notes so i dont forget.
I directed 3 short plays (10 minutes each) in the last 1 month. The first was a play called "Meet cute" and was showcased at the Short and Sweet Theatre festival in Bangalore. That was the first time Short and sweet is being hosted in Bangalore - its origins are in Australia and it has been hosted also in Malaysia, Singapore, Dubai, Chennai, Delhi and now in Bangalore.
The other 2 were for Evam's 'First Rush' batch. First Rush is an acting workshop whic Evam runs for people who are interested in giving acting in drama a shot. At the end of the workshop they get to be part of a production. So as part of that production, i directed 2 plays - 'Floored' and 'The Pillow'.
All of it was such great fun. No big promises - just.. I will try and do more.
I directed 3 short plays (10 minutes each) in the last 1 month. The first was a play called "Meet cute" and was showcased at the Short and Sweet Theatre festival in Bangalore. That was the first time Short and sweet is being hosted in Bangalore - its origins are in Australia and it has been hosted also in Malaysia, Singapore, Dubai, Chennai, Delhi and now in Bangalore.
The other 2 were for Evam's 'First Rush' batch. First Rush is an acting workshop whic Evam runs for people who are interested in giving acting in drama a shot. At the end of the workshop they get to be part of a production. So as part of that production, i directed 2 plays - 'Floored' and 'The Pillow'.
All of it was such great fun. No big promises - just.. I will try and do more.
Saturday, March 03, 2012
Revisiting Rockstar
I watched Rockstar again today. Actually that’s again and again. The DVD has just released and I watched it once with documentary from Imitiaz Ali and Ranbir Kapoor and once without.
This is late for a review but I had to write this anyway because this movie is special. So let me not call this a review – it is an ode to a film that has shaken me up every time I have watched it. I’ve been thinking about why that is –What is it about this movie? I am not completely sure yet… I don’t think it’s a movie you connect with because you relate to the characters or a movie that brings back memories.
You may or may not have been part of a love like this or a journey like theirs but this is movie unfailingly reaches out to a space within you and not only makes you feel everything that Jordan and Heer must have felt but makes you imagine that you have been through it with them – all their heartbreak, pain and overwhelming emotion becomes yours. And here is my salute to Ranbir Kapoor and Imtiaz Ali for making that happen. Very early in the movie when you see Janardhan getting advise from Khattara-bhai on how to become successful and the necessary pain you must feel to get there you make a connection to this “halka aadmi”. From there his journey becomes your journey.. all of it - his failed attempts at impressing a girl he is not even interested in, his friendship with a girl so out of his league, his inability to grasp how ahead of him his emotions have gotten and his overwhelming all consuming love.
I think the greatest disservice done to this movie was its title, leading you to probably believe what I did before I watched it – that it would be about a Rockstar’s journey from being a nobody to fame to the expected final debacle, with alcohol and drug abuse thrown in for good measure. Rockstar is about a journey but thankfully not the journey I described above but a far more real journey… The journey of a boy who does not even like drinking – he only pretends to drink throwing a little alcohol on his face and collar and then acting drunk. This endearing confession in the beginning of the movie - cut to – the latter half of the movie where Jordan is drinking from a hip flask and throwing up at parties.
For me ‘Rockstar’ was all about these transformations.
A boy who has nothing to complain about, who doesn’t know the meaning of pain to a man who has been thrown out of his home, lost the only person who he is “set” with and whose pain becomes the anthem of a generation.
And Oh the music! Nothing has played on my mind more than this set of songs – they are songs that have lifted me, flared me up and soothed me. Never has music played such a role in telling a story in Indian Cinema before. God Bless AR Rehman and in some of these songs – truly, God is AR Rehman.
For me the most beautiful moments in the movie were - the moment in Kashmir before the wedding when Heer asks Janardhan to hug her and insists that he really hug her, the conversation on the day of the wedding when Heer answers a question even before he asks it, and then leaves it hanging when he does ask it. The moment when he meets her in Prague and asks her to come with him, she says a lot of things about her health but he already knows she is meant to come with him and come she will. The foresight of experience when Shammi Kapoor’s character sees Jordan and recognizes him for what he is – a bada janwar, who will not be caged in mediocrity and the constraints of society. The meeting after she comes back to India and admits that all she wants is to be hugged by him – I have to say truly, the hugs were so beautiful and so much more spectacular than even the kisses… The hospital scene.. and so many more.
This movie was special also for the little little touches that make a movie stand out -> the orange rockstar sweater in the 1st half, the powder on Khattara bhai’s neck, the beautiful authentic Kashmiri wedding. All so beautifully done!
And Imtiyaz Ali, what a stroke of genius to come up with a story that has such a remarkable ironic touch to it. Jordan is her medicine with his magic touch but he is also her illness. His love will make her feel life and also cause her death.
But I have to admit, I wished for more. I really wanted one cathartic moment when Jordan breaks down and weeps for all that he has lost. Some may feel like this would be too much but for me the build-up of this angst that Jordan was going through was too much, I would have loved for a moment of release for this character (and for us). Also this is clearly pain that will bring you to your knees and I would have liked to see that happen physically to Jordan.
I know a lot of people who didn’t like the movie and really didn’t see what the big deal was – and then there were others like me who were just in love with the movie and everything it made them feel. In that sense, this is a true cult movie – you may / may not have a hit but you have created a very loyal fan base. It’s a movie I want to watch again and again and always privately – because of how exposed parts of it make you feel. I am still on a mini journey of my own discovering things about the movie and the music.
(Back to viewing the Bonus DVD now.)
This is late for a review but I had to write this anyway because this movie is special. So let me not call this a review – it is an ode to a film that has shaken me up every time I have watched it. I’ve been thinking about why that is –What is it about this movie? I am not completely sure yet… I don’t think it’s a movie you connect with because you relate to the characters or a movie that brings back memories.
You may or may not have been part of a love like this or a journey like theirs but this is movie unfailingly reaches out to a space within you and not only makes you feel everything that Jordan and Heer must have felt but makes you imagine that you have been through it with them – all their heartbreak, pain and overwhelming emotion becomes yours. And here is my salute to Ranbir Kapoor and Imtiaz Ali for making that happen. Very early in the movie when you see Janardhan getting advise from Khattara-bhai on how to become successful and the necessary pain you must feel to get there you make a connection to this “halka aadmi”. From there his journey becomes your journey.. all of it - his failed attempts at impressing a girl he is not even interested in, his friendship with a girl so out of his league, his inability to grasp how ahead of him his emotions have gotten and his overwhelming all consuming love.
I think the greatest disservice done to this movie was its title, leading you to probably believe what I did before I watched it – that it would be about a Rockstar’s journey from being a nobody to fame to the expected final debacle, with alcohol and drug abuse thrown in for good measure. Rockstar is about a journey but thankfully not the journey I described above but a far more real journey… The journey of a boy who does not even like drinking – he only pretends to drink throwing a little alcohol on his face and collar and then acting drunk. This endearing confession in the beginning of the movie - cut to – the latter half of the movie where Jordan is drinking from a hip flask and throwing up at parties.
For me ‘Rockstar’ was all about these transformations.
A boy who has nothing to complain about, who doesn’t know the meaning of pain to a man who has been thrown out of his home, lost the only person who he is “set” with and whose pain becomes the anthem of a generation.
And Oh the music! Nothing has played on my mind more than this set of songs – they are songs that have lifted me, flared me up and soothed me. Never has music played such a role in telling a story in Indian Cinema before. God Bless AR Rehman and in some of these songs – truly, God is AR Rehman.
For me the most beautiful moments in the movie were - the moment in Kashmir before the wedding when Heer asks Janardhan to hug her and insists that he really hug her, the conversation on the day of the wedding when Heer answers a question even before he asks it, and then leaves it hanging when he does ask it. The moment when he meets her in Prague and asks her to come with him, she says a lot of things about her health but he already knows she is meant to come with him and come she will. The foresight of experience when Shammi Kapoor’s character sees Jordan and recognizes him for what he is – a bada janwar, who will not be caged in mediocrity and the constraints of society. The meeting after she comes back to India and admits that all she wants is to be hugged by him – I have to say truly, the hugs were so beautiful and so much more spectacular than even the kisses… The hospital scene.. and so many more.
This movie was special also for the little little touches that make a movie stand out -> the orange rockstar sweater in the 1st half, the powder on Khattara bhai’s neck, the beautiful authentic Kashmiri wedding. All so beautifully done!
And Imtiyaz Ali, what a stroke of genius to come up with a story that has such a remarkable ironic touch to it. Jordan is her medicine with his magic touch but he is also her illness. His love will make her feel life and also cause her death.
But I have to admit, I wished for more. I really wanted one cathartic moment when Jordan breaks down and weeps for all that he has lost. Some may feel like this would be too much but for me the build-up of this angst that Jordan was going through was too much, I would have loved for a moment of release for this character (and for us). Also this is clearly pain that will bring you to your knees and I would have liked to see that happen physically to Jordan.
I know a lot of people who didn’t like the movie and really didn’t see what the big deal was – and then there were others like me who were just in love with the movie and everything it made them feel. In that sense, this is a true cult movie – you may / may not have a hit but you have created a very loyal fan base. It’s a movie I want to watch again and again and always privately – because of how exposed parts of it make you feel. I am still on a mini journey of my own discovering things about the movie and the music.
(Back to viewing the Bonus DVD now.)
Wednesday, November 02, 2011
Friday, August 05, 2011
GIRL INTERRUPTED...
Susanna: I'm ambivalent. In fact that's my new favorite word.
Dr. Wick: Do you know what that means, ambivalence?
Susanna: I don't care.
Dr. Wick: If it's your favorite word, I would've thought you would...
Susanna: It *means* I don't care. That's what it means.
Dr. Wick: On the contrary, Susanna. Ambivalence suggests strong feelings... in opposition. The prefix, as in "ambidextrous," means "both." The rest of it, in Latin, means "vigor." The word suggests that you are torn... between two opposing courses of action.
Susanna: Will I stay or will I go?
Dr. Wick: Am I sane... or, am I crazy?
Susanna: Those aren't courses of action.
Dr. Wick: They can be, dear - for some.
Dr. Wick: Do you know what that means, ambivalence?
Susanna: I don't care.
Dr. Wick: If it's your favorite word, I would've thought you would...
Susanna: It *means* I don't care. That's what it means.
Dr. Wick: On the contrary, Susanna. Ambivalence suggests strong feelings... in opposition. The prefix, as in "ambidextrous," means "both." The rest of it, in Latin, means "vigor." The word suggests that you are torn... between two opposing courses of action.
Susanna: Will I stay or will I go?
Dr. Wick: Am I sane... or, am I crazy?
Susanna: Those aren't courses of action.
Dr. Wick: They can be, dear - for some.
How Knot to Sleep
Something happened. Or will.
I am anxious, fearful, nervous - all at once. Like before a presentation.
Like before a presentation that you know in the pit of your stomach will not go well.
And that's just it - somewhere between pit of the stomach and center of the chest there is what seems like the weight of the world.
Mornings are the worst. About 4.30 am or so, i wake up without wanting to.
And then there is no going back. I know almost before the thought has entered my head that it will... and even before the thought kicks in - my body obliges with the knot in the stomach and the hammering of the heart.
It's all downhill from there.
I can cover my head with the blanket all i want but now that the thought has entered the head - there is apparently no covering it again. I can toss - turn, wake up, drink water... it will not help.
The knot and the hammering will stay... sometimes picking up pace, sometimes dropping - but always there. Now that it has come - it will run its course ending only about mid-afternoon.
Quiet and peace then till we do all of this again the next morning.
I am anxious, fearful, nervous - all at once. Like before a presentation.
Like before a presentation that you know in the pit of your stomach will not go well.
And that's just it - somewhere between pit of the stomach and center of the chest there is what seems like the weight of the world.
Mornings are the worst. About 4.30 am or so, i wake up without wanting to.
And then there is no going back. I know almost before the thought has entered my head that it will... and even before the thought kicks in - my body obliges with the knot in the stomach and the hammering of the heart.
It's all downhill from there.
I can cover my head with the blanket all i want but now that the thought has entered the head - there is apparently no covering it again. I can toss - turn, wake up, drink water... it will not help.
The knot and the hammering will stay... sometimes picking up pace, sometimes dropping - but always there. Now that it has come - it will run its course ending only about mid-afternoon.
Quiet and peace then till we do all of this again the next morning.
GINGERLY
It has been long and a lot has changed.
No. That is incorrect - a lot has happened, nothing has changed.
Good things and bad things have happend, some exploration, some travel and a lott of thinking as well.
The thinking is what i think has done me in. I have more thinking to do tomorrow.
I was telling R the other day - multi-tasking is not my forte.. so while i think and dwell and wonder - i have really let a lot of life and what i really want pass me by.
I must stop now..
I am trying to articulate how i feel .. and the only word coming to mind is ... gingerly. How very random.
No. That is incorrect - a lot has happened, nothing has changed.
Good things and bad things have happend, some exploration, some travel and a lott of thinking as well.
The thinking is what i think has done me in. I have more thinking to do tomorrow.
I was telling R the other day - multi-tasking is not my forte.. so while i think and dwell and wonder - i have really let a lot of life and what i really want pass me by.
I must stop now..
I am trying to articulate how i feel .. and the only word coming to mind is ... gingerly. How very random.
Monday, January 03, 2011
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Making of "The Arabian Nights"
King Shahryar discovering his wife's infidelity has her executed, but in his bitterness decides that all women are the same. He begins to marry a succession of virgins only to execute each one the next morning, before they have a chance to dishonour him.
The vizier whose duty it is to provide these virgins to him each night quickly runs out of supply (Surprise). Scheherazade, the vizier's daughter, to rescue her father from execution - offers herself as the next bride and her father reluctantly agrees.
(Note to self: This is not clear. Because reluctantly hi sahi, her father agreeing to the daughter giving herself up implies that he either (a) thinks his daughter is very bright and can save her own neck. Knowing fathers, we know this is not even possible or (b) he is okay for her to get herself killed. because he figures that if she is a virgin at 40, she should kill herself anyway (somewhat more likely option)
On the night of their marriage, Scheherazade begins to tell her first story in a valiant attempt to save herself from execution. She wisely tells him only a part of the tale and strategically gets to the suspense part of the story only close to day-break... the king eager to hear how the prince and the princess of the story meet postpones her execution.
(This is also where all saas-bahu serials have got the inspiration to close the hour with accident scenes (did they kill off the hero?), a husband's hand raised in the air (will the otherwise loving husband slap his wife? and the like)
The next night, as soon as she finishes the tale, she begins (and only begins) a new one, and the king, eager to hear the conclusion, postpones her execution once again.
Each night she picks from a wide range of storytelling techniques researched by her(while other pretty girls were busy getting laid) - sequels, trilogies, character detailing. Her best work was undoubtedly 'Ali Baba and the forty thieves' where she spent a night each on each of the forty thieves...no detail too small to be omitted- bathroom habits (more lately used in- atithi tum kab jaaoge), wardrobes (refer 'Veer' for more contemporary use) and so on.
She manages to come up with about 350 not so original stories. But what she lacks in originality, she makes up in technique (this is not true for Madhur Bhandarkar or Sajid Khan or Siddharth Anand or...) because Princess Scheherazade tells these 350 stories for 1,001 ARABIAN NIGHTS.
At the end of the 1001 nights, the king discovers he is in love with his clever wife and would like to stay married to her forever.
-----------
Notes to self:
1) IF not creative, please try to lose virginity to avoid execution
2) In unlikely event of creativity - try not to marry murdering king.
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