Taare Zameen Par - every child (read Aamir Khan product) is special

Bollywood today is a well-oiled assembly line of showcases, churning out stereotypical love stories, ‘musicals’, ‘thrillers’, ‘murder mysteries’ and the like or mastering the art of reverse technology and offering ‘inspired’ (read unabashed) remakes of Bollywood & Hollywood and God-only-knows-which-wood classics. One really is forced to think whether Bollywood is run by humans or state-of-the-art humanoid robots, such is the beaten-to-death monotony of scripts.

But this is when a marvelous piece of art named Taare Zameen Par is eased out of the workshop of the amazing Aamir Khan. Everybody knew he was a multifaceted and extremely talented actor whose performances were punctuated with perfectionism and undeniable class, be it his Coca Cola ads in various regional Indian flavours, his first home production Lagaan or any of his performances till date, barring a few aberrations. But now we know he is an equally brilliant storyteller. TZP is a touching peek into the tortuous alleys of a mind that craves to blaze its own trail instead of militarily aligning itself with the moribund monotony of rate race philosophy. The character of Ishaan Awasthi has been extremely well conjured and portrayed, thanks to some amazing acting skills displayed by Darsheel Safary, apart from Aamir’s directorial brilliance. The Calvin-esque animations of the child’s fertile thought process and imagination are extremely entertaining. The struggle of the differently-abled child to come in terms with his existential complications, the daily rebukes from the unsentimental society and the natural knee-jerk reactions of his parents are absolutely heart-wrenching. Some frames from the film are sure to moisten the eyes of anybody made of flesh and blood. The scene where Ishaan sobs uncontrollably on his first night in the boarding school, the scene where Ishaan’s dad watches him reading the notice board, or the scene when Ishaan runs into his art teacher’s arms on winning the art competition – these are portrayals that are memorable pieces of cinematic brilliance. Perhaps the genesis of TZP has its roots in Aamir’s personal life, which gives the film an eerie semblance of reality. Shankar Ehsaan Loy have, as usual, given the film the music it demanded and deserved and have enhanced their already enviable reputation of master tune-smiths. But the icing on the cake, without doubt, is Prasoon Joshi’s lyrics writing. He may be a blue-chip adman, but he is arguably one of the best lyrics-writers in Bollywood today. His wordwheels are innovative and unconventional but immensely effective and suitable. The song that is played when Ishaan’s family leaves after admitting him at the boarding school is a highly emotive statement. All the other characters in the movie play their parts to perfection, as can be expected in an Ammir Khan product.

In a nutshell, a must-see. They don’t produce such stuff in their factories these days.

Twenty Twenty - New kid on the block!

The World Cup win by India was too big an occasion to pass by without a post from my side. So here goes.

Twenty twenty has hovered around the cricket scene for some time but had failed to grab international attention. It’s a known fact that no phenomenon in cricket can hope to find its place in the sun unless and until it has the blessings of the Asian viewer and fanatic. So, having said that the T20 World Cup was a great step by the ICC to push the concept forward, an India – Pakistan final was an absolutely God-sent opportunity for the sport to burst into international spotlight. The format definitely has its plus points. The shortened duration and innovative rule book brings the game of cricket, traditionally seen as a dour game of the classes, almost on an even keel with facts-paced games like football and basketball. The fact that you can get over within three hours with so much excitement appeals to the present populace to whom the busy daily schedule doesn’t accord much free time. Many people were unaware of the bowl-out rule before the Indo-Pak match, and there were many animated discussions later on as to how a cricket match was won 3-0. The 270 odd sixers hit during the tournament were an ultimate treat and the info bars displayed entirely new types of statistics about players like the longest six hit and time since the last six. Statistics like number of fours and economy rate were in a state akin to Ustad Bismillah Khan, once jewels in the crown but now pushed into ignominy. The Yuvi scorchers would ever remain etched in everybody’s, particularly Flintoff’s mind. And last but definitely not the least, the cheerleaders……. what a treat they were! They really added a dash of colour to the game that sees dada-style shirt twirling as indecent ungentlemanly behaviour.

On the flip side, there are some points to ponder. Just because a Hero No. 1 becomes a hit at the box office doesn’t mean that a Maachis has lost its sheen. The fifty overs format still is the better test of skill and talent. The T20 format requires big hitters much in the baseball mould, and deft strokeplayers somehow aren’t stars in the shorter format. Also, the 50 overs game allows you to stage a fightback even after initial reversals, which is very difficult in T20. Australia has been losing ealy wickets in both formats, but they somehow tasted dust in T20 because there was almost no time for rearguard action, the same rearguard action that sucked the wind out of Team India’s sails in the home series. The art of building and pacing an innings cannot be perfected in T20.

These are some off-the-block musings. I am open to comments and criticisms.

Chak de... a feel-good experience

I must admit the initial teasers of Chak de India didn’t catch my fancy. One probable reason for this was that I’ve always associated Shah Rukh Khan with loud over-the-top animations that may have moved many a female movie-goer to tears but have always moved me out of the movie hall. The only SRK movie I liked was Swades because SRK was delightfully restrained al through the movie and gave full justice to the character that was, I concede, tailor-made for him. Therefore, though the concept of CDI sounded interesting to me, I suspected CDI would be a movie in the Main Hoon Na mould, portraying a superhuman SRK with expansive and superlative dialogues and minimal substance.

But the reviews that CDI received pushed me to the movie hall, and my suspicions were happily proved wrong. The movie is a lovely attempt to enthuse the average Indian with love & respect both for the country and its national sport. I have always been a supporter and follower of hockey, and have often thought & commented on the beleaguered state of the game has been pushed to. Cinema is a powerful medium to make a statement & I’m delighted to see that someone has had the thoughtfulness to bring Indian hockey into focus. On that count, full marks to Pradeep Sahni & Shamit Amin. Exquisite care has been taken to make the movie as realistic as possible, and it shows on screen. Ace hockey stalwart & hockey crusader Dhanraj Pillay and the goalkeeping coach of Team India, M.R.Negi, have trained the actors in the movie and that is why the game scenes look like they were footage from actual hockey games. The acclivity of the team’s performance in the movie has also been kept realistically punctuated with fallibility & fluctuation. They lose to the men’s hockey team but gain respect & acclaim from all & sundry for their guts, talent and spirit. That was, for me, a very special moment in the film. They also lose their opening WC fixture disastrously but come back to win the WC, so typical of our team performances in cricket & even hockey. The execution & cinematography of the penalty corners and the penalty shootout is amazingly life-like. The climax of the final match is also extremely nail-biting & realistic. Having briefly played hockey as a goalkeeper, I was glad to see that the goalkeeper is portrayed as the captain of the team & its eventual saviour and hero. Frictions between the team members for various reasons have also been treated with maturity & restraint. Last, but not the least, SRK, as a former national center-forward and an inspirational coach of the women’s hockey team, turns in a refreshing performance & is immensely convincing in his portrayal of Kabir Khan. One of his landmark performance this!

CDI is somewhat in the Lagaan mould due to the fact that it’s a sports based movie. But the similarities end there. While Lagaan cashed in on the country’s craze for cricket to weave a tale of grit, patriotism and triumph, CDI has attempted to bring back a forgotten game with a splendid past back into focus, seeking assistance from the buoyant patriotic spirits of the nation close to august 15, and probably from an X-factor arising out of the portrayal of eves hockey and not men’s hockey. The film has whipped up a sudden national interest in hockey and reportedly boosted hockey sales in the country. The nation has been forced to look beyond the glitz and glamour of cricket and cast more than a glance at the game that has given us as many as seven Olympic gold medals (compare it to the solitary cricket WC triumph and you’ll know the sheer gravity of this statistic). I had sadly mourned a decision elsewhere on my blog when Indian hockey had been unceremoniously pushed off the status of a priority sport by the India government. I hope the leaders would reconsider that decision now. CDI is an honest attempt to foment a new beginning and I sincerely hope it yields the desired results.

Motley masala

Its been a while since I last posted. People have been asking me to post something. I've been having this urge myself. So here goes ..... as usual a collection of thoughts and musings.

My first thoughts reach out towards Indian hockey which has been abused and mishandled for a long time now. Insensitive managements, callous policies, frequent appointments & dismissals and lack of backing from the public and sponsors have reduced Indian hockey to a farcical and threadbare organization. To top it all was the Indian government's decision to pull the sport back from the status of a priority sport. The timing was even more disheartening for player and fan alike, the day we reached the semi finals of the Azlan Shah tourney. No wonder we couldn't make it to the finals. I happened to be at the New Delhi International airport when the team returned from the tourney, and their body language said it all, a sense of achievement mixed with an exasperation of getting a raw deal. The logic that the sport requires a jolt to get its bearing right is, at the least, insensitive and unfair. I would only hint at analogies that could be drawn with Indian cricket and the brazen dissimilarities in status and attitude.

Moving on, Indian cricket itself. Indian cricket is too big to merit a complete omission from my blog, given the time & circumstances. The WC'07 debacle has elicited a knee jerk reaction in Indian cricket like never before. With players taking on coaches and the management taking on players, and players hitting back at the management, it cannot get any baser than this. I agree we performed quite poorly in the Caribbean, but the average Indian cricket follower has a vision that is downright myopic and this has become the nemesis of the regal Indian cricketing star.

Meanwhile, two very close friends of mine have fallen in love and blazed a trail that can be taken as a sound guiding path for anybody looking for a filmy kind of lived-happily-ever-after life. The process is still sporting the "Caution! Men at Work" tag but the most complicated and diifcult stage has been completed sucessfully, that of realizing that both are made-for-each-other and articulating as much to each other.

Otherwise, life moves on. Here and there, the rolling stone of life gets caught in dense undergrowth of worries, tensions and melancholy thoughts, but the sheer inertial force of spirit releases it carries it headlong downstream towards the ocean of fulfilment and happiness, and meanwhile gets moulded into a beautiful form by waves of experience and strokes of achievement.

Waah, kya likha hai......... par kuchch matlab nahi nikla. koi baat nahi, kuchch nahi se thoda bhalaa....