gulaal

this is a hurried post before i leave for university. yesterday morning i saw Gulaal. i know soon my blog will be more of a movie review related ;) but cant help not telling some of the aspects:
1. gulaal has brought out an excellent lyricist. piyush mishra's lyrics and music rock! his range is from political to mystefying to erotic! be it " jis raat sheher mein khun ki baarish ayi re" or " o beedo" or my favourite one liner- jaise har ik baat pe democracy mein lagne lag gayo ban! "
the lyrics suit to the whole mood of film very well. apart from great soundtrack, he has also played a rajput version of say err..john lenon?
2. it is a heavy movie. and trust me, quite dark. noir. doesnt create a happy mood in you. i wonder why is anurag kashyap so heavily obsessed with the dark side of life! the movie doesnt make you think orrelate to your surroundings like dev d. but it just.. i was numb for some time :(
3. all female charachers are into politics in some way :p kiran's character is very well written- the only female protagonist who is directly into the muddy political ground. the model teacher is more of a shadow- or say in the background. and the mujrawaali mahi gill- tabu's look alike- is more into gender politics! :p
4. KK and abhimanyu singh are the staarrs of the film! KK has a character which is overpowering, he plays it very well, a role which his acting range deserves. his role is across the length of the film. but abhimanyu singh, with his Ransa, rocks even though he doesnt survive even till the internmission! he is a must watch!
these are the short wires of thoughts hanging in my mind. more detailed version might floow soon.. till then, log in to any site and listen to gulaal songs! adios!

rain rain come again :-)

i hate the poem we sang in school. rain rain go away! i live in a part of country which has rains hardly for three months, that too would not count much in inches. people in most parts eagerly wait for rains. really eagerly! no heavy rainfall there. their living is dependent on rain, my agriculture, my dams, my water systems, everything! i get power cuts and water cuts in every summer, and somewhere the surroundings are hottest by march end- 48 degree selsius already! and i still sing rain rain go away! how amazing!
well, it was the fault of our education system, or rather the education material we blindly copied. our educationists just refused to do indian adaptations of their literature. but well, i recently saw a textbook of english grade 2. it said
rain rain come again
we will play another game
rain rain do not fail
paper boats we will sail !

cool eh? i am happy! thats like a perect adaptation of a poe suiting your surroundings :-)

and to add to the joy, yesterday it rained! rained heavily, compared to teh situation in march. it was torturous wrt heat! hot hot week! (in all senses including politics and cricket :p) but it rained. first, the wind blowed heavily- everything waas hazy- i cunt drive properly. suddenly it stopped at a point. the sky above became darker and darker. . the fragrance of mud drove me mad. and then the drops came. small. bigger. bigger and bigger. and then it started pouring! poured and poured! hah! and i was half wet, but probably one of the happiest persons around! :-)

i love rains in pune. i really do. they are like romatic gesture by nature, not the aggressive one like mumbai( or even cherapoonji :p) probably coz i was born in june, the moth of romantic rainfall! and this morning i woke up, stood in balcony with a cup of tea in my hand and again the feeling of content filled me. the day has started in a better fashion! yay! :-)

dev D- my take

inspiration for writing this: Mr. Aniket Mokashi and Mr. Tushar Mahule :P
both these gentlemen (?) told me that earlier post is descriptive and lacks my commenets, so here i go..
ok, i once again state it. Dev D is completely relevant film. it really is. in couple of ways i would say. first and foremost, right from the protagonists' external appearances to their thoughts, their behaviour pattern, their internal pathos and just every other aspect of their selves. Anurag kashyap has very well brought out Dev's disconnect with both the cultures, (and his i couldnt care less attitude, which generates through this disconnect in my opinion). he doesnt know where he belongs, he doesnt know how to blend both indian and western culture in a balanced way, he cant make a decision for god's sake and he is just happy in going in any direction the flow,(or the destiny or his own bad deeds) take him. i see a strong representation of todays youth in Dev's chaaracter graph. and i am sure atleast 20% of urban junta identifies with him to the core. all our urban youth doesnt roam around in BMWs, nor do they dope and dope and dope. but the aspirational values for most of the urban youth are represented through Dev and here it becomes extremely relevant. i am sure everybody who watched it could identify with it atleast for a mmoment or two.
point 2: the changing value system: lets face it. urban youngistaan in 2009 have a set of coctailed values which are not indian nor western. most of the times, it is convinence which is looked for while adhering to certain norms. i will accept only what is convinient for me , for my life style, for my acceptance in peer groups. casual smoking, casual drinking and casual sex, do not clash with value system of most of urban young indians. it could be seen in paro's desperation, in DEv's asking her for nude pics, and cornering any attarctive woman he comes across. but still, he wants her nude pics and cant stand the doubt about her virginity! complex values!
point3 : WOMEN! i know the slightly older generation would die of shock or would be outraged at the way paro acts in this ( chandramukhi too, but after all, she is a TAWAAYAF). but she trys her best to get Dev, and when he stops entertaining her, she acts similar. MOVES ON! meets him once again, and shows her acceptance and may be, her affection towards her husband. Rasika, the new character is unashamed of roaming around in cleavage showing dresses, and cornering dev , and even meeting him once he is in delhi. casual, casual! changed morales changed values, changed lifestyles.
chanda is the character which i liked the most, she comes in bazaar with a history, she has her own preferences in life, she is tactfull, she modifies herself as per client's demands, she teases him, and she is emotionally attached to him at the same time. complex, but true. relevant. i would like to write a different post on her later!

all in all i would say, Dev D is a movie which shows that we, today are not black and white, but gray! we always were, but we are grayer today, and we accept that. we dont wanna rotray us black and white. nor does Dev D. and hence relevant. makes us think. makes us predict our future, makes us care about ourselves, again!