Author Archives: Abhinav Bhatt

I'm not a movie buff

Yes, I am not a movie buff. I don’t watch movies much nor do I remember them for long. I think I stopped taking movies seriously after 1994. I last danced (without being pulled over in a baraat or DJ in college) on Pak-Chik-Pak-Raja-Babu (The song lifted from Chikku-Bukku-Raile and made ‘awesome’ by Govinda by wearing Michael Jackson’s Bad attire) on my own by doing all those moves and rolling over the floor dancing / ROFD. I could also do that stuff kids used to do back then which was imitating a fan by rotating one of your legs squatting on another leg while dancing. I have seen Allu Arjun do the same recently. He only got to know about it now? Poor chap.

When I was growing up I was told that watching movies is not a good thing at all. Instead, it was taught that one should concentrate on studies. I used to play a lot and watched Cricket at odd times. But no movies. Probably because my experience of watching movies was weird. Once I had to gone to watch the movie Dil along with my uncle when I was just 3.5 ft tall in a nearby movie theater called as ‘Lakshmi Mandir’ in Jaipur. Now they show only 18+ movies there sadly. Or rather good for some. While I was entering the hall, because of it being crowded, I got lost in the darkness. When my uncle finally found me after 10 minutes, my cheeks were all wet because of tears. I mean how can a 3.5 ft tall guy tolerate being lost in darkness while Saeed Jaffrey unleash wrath on Aamir Khan and Madhuri. Then once I went to see Bol Radha Bol with my parents (I think that was the last movie I saw with my father and mother together in a theater). Sadly, we couldn’t see the climax because my younger brother kept on weeping throughout the movie and father decided to go home because he didn’t want others to get disturbed. I felt so bad that I told them that ‘leave me and go, I will come back on my own’. He instantly declined the plea because it was a night show and I was just 3.7 ft tall. Later, I got the video cassette of the movie and watched it on VCR at home itself. I loved the movie by the way. During the period from ’94 till ’98, I just watched very less Hindi movies and usually Animated movies or Jurassic Park sequels only in theaters. Including Godzilla.

Studies weren’t helping either. Probably I was in 7th and read this beauty of a story in Hindi called as ‘Punchlight (पंच लाइट)’ by Phanishwar Nath ‘Renu’. It was a story about a village where the Punch (village headmen) weren’t able to use a Petromax lamp and then a guy called Godhan (who was considered a useless and छलिया types guy because he used to watch many movies and sing indecent songs from them) helped them because he knew stuffs. Although the story was pro-movie watching as it said that watching movies makes you aware of stuffs but till then I had decided that movie watching is a waste of time.

Now after coming to Bangalore, the only pastime left here is watching movies because there is nothing else to do in this city frankly. In past 2 years, I watched more movies than I had watched all my life. Moreover MMP happened. I got in touch with so many people who are movies aficionados that I feel awkward to comment on anything. I have been often called as a movie buff whenever MMPIndia was featured in newspapers which made me feel bit weird. If one makes some graphics out of movies, that doesn’t mean that he is into movies or anything as such. But. But I don’t hate movies. I just hate useless movies. I admire some cinematic brilliance and want to know more and more about those people and watch all the movies they have made. People can discuss lengths about certain characters portrayal on Twitter and write thousands of words on what they interpreted about certain movies on their blogs. I don’t. I don’t review movies because art is subjective and carrying out discussions over fiction is not my cup of tea till now. The movies which were offered to us in 90s and 2000s kept me at bay as well. When I watch a 70s movie, they look so much better (and so slow but still good) because their content was worth watching. Seriously, if you keep feeding a person with bad quality food, one day he get used to it. And when suddenly you serve him great quality food, he won’t like it at all. The taste of the movies of my friends has moulded in such a way that they can watch Salman Khan movies and like them. I cannot. For me to become a movie buff, I need to see better movies. Better directors who are plenty in number nowadays can do that. There are some great people on Twitter who know a lot about movies and I am keen on learning from that. Being an Indian, one cannot be separated from Movies and Cricket. Hence, I should not get away anyways.

Having said that, if you find out the number of movies an Indian watches on an average, I would still have seen lesser number of movies than that number. And I would like to keep that this way. As they say that if you start watching more and more movies, you begin to explore for more and more about them. I am currently in that phase.

Bol Radha Bol
Bol Radha Bol

 

P.S.: I watched Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola today and liked it instantly. Great quirky and intelligent humor. I recommend it and refrain from giving any rating.

2013

कवितायेँ लिखने मैं हाथ कुछ तंग है मेरा,
कभी कभी तो लहजा भी थोडा सा  भंग है मेरा |
हिंदी में पहली कोशिश है, फिर से शुरू करूँ, खुदी से कुछ बात,
माफ़ करना, खा जाऊं, अगर मैं मात।

 

स्ह्याही के कलम की तरह, हिंदी कहीं छूट सी गयी थी,
फॉर्मेलिटी की गलियों में, भटकती कहीं रूठ सी गयी थी।
गलती से घुमते फिरते, जब पड़ती है हिंदी अख़बार पे नज़र,
भाग कर उठालेने का, अन्दर बजता है एक buzzer |

 

अंग्रेजी में तो बड़ा सरल है राइम करना,
फेविकोल को अल्कोहल से जोड़ के पेट्रोल के मायने बयान करना |
शब्दों के ढेर से जब निकालने पड़ रहे हैं अल्फाज़,
लगता है, नौसीखिए से बजवाया जा रहा हो जबरदस्ती कोई कठिन साज़ |

 

खैर, यह मकसद नहीं था की मेरी waste कोशिश की चर्चा करूँ,
बस यही था की इस साल फिर से कुछ नया करूँ,
2012 कुछ हद तक मेरा रहा,
बाकी समय हम सब से बहुत कुछ लेता रहा,

 

आशा है की इस वर्ष, खुशियाँ ज्यादा, गम कम रहेंगे,
थोडा गिरे भी तो, फिर से उठ खड़े होने के लिए हम कहते रहेंगे!
जो बाकी रह गया, पूरा करवाएगा आने वाला सवेरा,
दो हज़ार तेरह, साल हो यह तेरा!

Water Cannons vs the drizzle

Read a tweet in the morning that they’re holding a peace protest at Freedom Park, Bangalore at 4 PM and it will continue till night. I decided to go for it. After lunchtime, I thought of getting ready for it. It started to rain. I thought that it is going to be difficult to travel in rain. The good distance of my place from Freedom Park wasn’t helping either. I thought, let it be, what am I going to change by going there anyways so better chuck it. I planned to sit, watch TV, write some angry tweets and move on.

Then realized that I have decided not to go because of Rain. Rain? Rain? Suddenly, mind started throwing pics in front of the eyes. The pictures of Water Cannon being unleashed on young kids up there in Delhi in such cold unbearable weather. Felt ashamed of myself. Then made one poster (last post) to depict shame. Coincidentally, a friend (female) SMSed me to come for the Candle Light Vigil at Freedom Park. The quota of shame for myself was done for the day. I stood up and got ready. It continued to rain, but we went there. Many people were there, speaking all sorts of Indian languages but the message they wanted to send across was clear and heartwarming. We people can still be united, however pessimist you may think. It was so windy and drizzling continuously that the candles were hard to handle. Hot wax was, for the first time in life, falling on the hands giving an uneasy irritation. Plus rain. Plus Bangalore traffic mixed with Rain on the way back. Some wax has fallen on to the Shirt and rest on shoes. Will clean it tomorrow.

Here are some pics from there.

 

P.S.: 3rd time feeling proud of myself. (After donating blood, attending Anna Hazare Movement and now this) I know nothing is going to change just like that but better to try than to crib. Thank you Kalpana for motivating.

Save the 80s People

Man! We’re seriously in trouble. We as in people born in the 80s (and 1-2 not-so-smart ones born in the very early 90s). The things which are happening nowadays are totally going out of the hands. Just look around! Everywhere you will see a total devastation, purposefully or naturally directed towards the people born in the 80s. Here are some examples:

  • Old people dying. Not that old people didn’t die earlier but the rate is alarming. This is seriously sad and happening too often lately. All the icons which we idolized all our 20-ish-year-old life are dying. The whole era is ending as if everyone is rushing for some sort of party up there. Is somebody attracting them to come there? Some set of new Menakas in heaven or what?
  • Weddings. Heh. Everyone is irritated because of this social issue and I’m no different. I mean I am an earning, 25+,  unmarried (read available for hush hush general friendship purposes), better looking than many South Indian Lead Actors and a fairly famous man. And being a person with such elusive credentials is criminal. Despite being not-so-famous, so are most of you. I totally know how you feel when every time an old friend pings you and asks ‘When are you getting married dude?’. Nonsense. You go home on holidays, hoping to eat homely food and before you put one helping into your mouth, all your family jumps on you asking you to get married. To top that, Facebook is not helping either. ‘Me and my hubby on honeymoon’ albums have ruined the lives already. I am not going to elaborate on this dire straits situation because I am not that evil.
  • Sachin Tendulkar retiring from ODIs. Now, this is a killer. Whole life is finished with this 1 sentence. What is there left to see on TV now? Who’s name will be chanting now? That straight drive, who is going to hit that Straight Drive down the wicket? Although, lately he used Adidas’s sticker on his bat, but whole life, we craved to get that red MRF sticker on our bats. Although I am a technically sound text-book type cricketer like Sir Rahul Sharad Dravid but even Dravid would have wanted to be Sachin-like. I have been crying to him to retire earlier for obvious reasons that I don’t want any mortal person to raise any finger against him for not performing but when he won’t be there, who will hit that non-stoppable 4 towards extra cover uppishly. Who is going to come out of the crease and hit that 6 down long-on which made Tony Grieg lose his vocal chords in 1998 at Sharjah? You must have read Sidvee’s post so I will leave experts to comment on his career. For me, it is like removing the heart out of my Cricketing body.
  • Government going berserk on young people. Those who were born before India got independence had a cause to fight for. They had the blood that boiled and they finally achieved what they wanted. Those who were born in the 50s knew that country is building so they cooled down a bit. Those who were born in the early 60s didn’t know what was going on, whether to be angry about the government’s stupid policies or to jump into the sea of corruption and make the ‘system’ what it is now. The 70s born finally noticed that the country is not going in the right direction so they did try to do country-building stuff by improving India’s standard on the world map. But till then 50s and 60s people had ruined it so much that they couldn’t change much. Complacency you can say. But then the people of 80s, who have seen Black and White TV and Internet, Cricket in White gears with red cherry to T20s and IPL, Atari Video Games and iPhones, Goldspot to Redbull, have had enough. They have seen the contrasts and the changing world. There are opportunities but they are shadowed by overgrowing corruption, reservation and sadly, molestation. The ‘System’ has been damaged beyond repairable. So people of the 80s stood up against the government to protest. 2006’s medical student’s protests, Anna Movement and on-going protests against Bloody Rapists are good examples. But what do they get? Lathis? These lathicharges and water cannons will only help the 80s people to think and cast their votes appropriately come 2014. We will finally be kaamyaab ek din. Phew.

There are helplines for Children, why cannot be there any for people of 80s? The whole India wants answers from them, who can they approach at this moment?

P.S.: Sorry I should have started the post by saying ‘Woman!’. We must respect Womenfolk as well and this mindset cannot change until we start it now!