And then there were stars...........

Do you ever recall the days when as a kid you'd hate to get up for school, hate the exams, hate evrything in this world which came in your way of having fun?? When you were noted all around for being a brat?? Sample this now, what if you were the parent? How would you react? Will you look into the matter or simply subject your kid to the pressures of the rat race.

Much has been said about how in today's competitive world children are suffering, but very little has been done. Take a look around. The next door kid rushes off to tennis practice at 6:00 am, school from 8:30, tutorial classes from 4:30 and finally home at 9:00 pm. The trial doesn't stop here.... there are assignments to be done, projects to be made, exams to be prepared for (you need top marks!!) weeks in advance if not months. In the process, I personally a kid loses out the very essence of childhood fun. Having been part of this rat race for years now, goen through more or less a similar regime, I can safely vouch for its side effects.... I dunno in the process the basic skills, or may be the one which are really special in the kid might be getting lost. Not many are bold enough to withstand expectations and other pressures and still make a life out of what they love and can do best!! And what's more... sometimes the parents are so ignorant of the problems that can plague their children that they fail to look into some genuine problems that the kid might be suffering from attributing the dismal performance on soemthing else.

Aamir Khan in his directorial debut upholds this very problem.... He artfully weaves it around a typical aspiring middle-class family of today. Ishaan, was never good at school. He couldn't understand a word... he was pathetic at his lessons... couldn't clear papers... yet he was imaginative... an artist!! But then, ebing an artist doesn't count does it?? So, given his dismal performance at school he was sent away to boarding school in the hope that he'd be discipline d into performing. It was there, while shrinking into the world of a recluse, that he was meets Nikumbh and then the world slowly turns around.... and Ishaan turns out slowly to be a brilliant boy....

The entire journey leaves you smiling, fuming and at times tearful... for when rational and ata distance from the situation we all do understand the right and wrong of the situation. Along the way we come across papa NandKishore, mum Maya, big bro Yohann and friend Rajan, all lending that essential flavour to the plot making it a story that you'll remember, understand and indentify with at one go.

Darsheel Safary as Ishaan makes a mark that cannot be ignored. Splendid is the word for him. Tisca Chopra (Maya), Vipin Sharma (Nandkishore), Sachet Engineer (Yohann) and Tanay Chheda (Rajan) provide a strong support becoming key elements in the movie and assuming their own importance. And finally, Aamir Khan plays the part of Nikumbh sir, who with his intense charater portrayal sets out to set things right for Ishaan. Another wonderful performance from this perfectionist!!

Taare zameen par... questions everything about the education system. And quite rightfully so... After all, if I imagine starts to be on the ground why is it wrong??? That's my imagination and that is how I like to sketch it.... what's wrong with it???

Or is the title pointing it out to you, that if not handled carefully, we'd lose our kids to soemthing unknown.. and the result would be similar to one fine day waking up to a ground full off stars for they've fallen!!!

Kids are like stars in the sky... please guide them but let them be kids!!!

Pink Flloyd said it right years ago in the song Another brick in the Wall!!

In the end I ask you youngsters who are gonna be parents in the future, have you understood exactly where parenting, depsite the best intentions, is going wrong???

Sugar Free (or is it less :D )

Is age a measure of the ability to fall in love? No, I am not talking of the general ability of love, I'm talking of the ability to love a woman or vice-versa. May-December love stories is something of a taboo thought/concept in our society. The west is just marginally better off. The usual eyebrows are still raised though they perhaps take in their stride much better than they take it here.

For example, consider a 64 yr old man, chef by profession and a 34 yr old woman, software engineer (ah!! someone from my tribe!! :)). They meet, walk around, go for coffee, lunches... (may be a few dinners), have their share of suggestive talks and finally decide to marry. Now is the real trouble. How to tell their parents??? Yes!! our male protagonist's mother is still alive (and kicking!!). Mum gleefully agrees. Now for the lady's father. He being a regular guy, naturally is left aghast after coming to know that his daughter wants to get married to a man, 30 yrs older to her. How odd?? Is it not?? Are you thinking the same as the Dad. Well......... What follows is a show where the couple try and convince the father. Finally he relents. And thus the couple happily get to walk into the sunset together.

This in short is the gist of the recently released flick "Chini Kum", starring Amitabh Bachchan, Tabu, Zohra Sehgal and Paresh Rawal. Every bit a good flick. I found Big B portraying 64 yr old Buddhadev Gupta in a very convincing. A grumbling old man who doesn't believe in the usual ways of flattery nor perhaps courtship. Sample this:

1. What's the point of giving flowers, they dry up after a few hours.
2. A necklace though worth 25 lacs, might appear to be to worth 25/- without the price tag (thanks to fakes) and obviously cannot be gifted with the price tag.
3. A sunset/candlelight dinner may sound very romantic, but neither would one be to able to figure out the other person nor the dinner.

Infallible logic!!! :D

On the other hand is 34 year old Nina Verma essayed by the elegant Tabu, who is every bit the modern working woman with a mind of her own - smart, confident, proud of her own identity, independent.

They happen to come across each other over a "sweet Zaffrani Pulao" (of all things : ). That leads to coffee, several meetings, roaming the streets of London. Sounds interesting?? Well.... to know more check out the movie.

Worth mentioning:

1. Sexy: a 8 year old girl, who is suffering from a terminal disease. The character is beautifully sketched and displays a maturity far beyond the years. The moments between Sexy and Buddha are worth memorising!!
2. The delicate manner in which the May-December love story is treated and how certain bold concepts like sex and condoms have been dealt with aplomb.
3. Great music..... Illyaraja has done a wonderful job here!! Kudos to him....

A must watch. Go ahead and invest your money on this.......... Don't hesitate!!

Gurantee Humari............. Kismat Tumhari.............. Chini Ki Kasam!! :D

Enjoy!! :)

P.S. - This post was due last Sunday, but due to certain disturbing circumstances had to delay it!! Thus such a late review!!

The emotional high drama!!

A recent visit to the movie hall had me staring into the large screen with Saif burning tyres on a race track somewhere in New York, buying stuff on installments, Rani going against her Dad for the man she loves and believes in ("oh so romantic" - did I hear that?? well, whatever!!), the pair settling down having kids, going through their highs and lows and......... a lot of emotional shots which are supposed to make you reach for the box of tissues. And the way they stretch it.......... phew!! This fellow has a phobia with speeding and overnight he comes along and gets to put up a racing team together and go on to win a race, all because of his kid's op. Nice, very nice... but isn't it a bit too far fetched???

Another movie, again a Saif starrer, had him and Preity bickering at each other because of an unplanned pregnancy. Ah!! The bickering was too much at times, and the way it ended what with a radio show helping everyone to look out for some RJ (dat wud b Preity) was again far fetched, but fed the emotion diet of the more than a few audiences.

Oh btw, if you happen to be watching a Sunny Deol flick you might have some chap with inhuman strength bashing up people just because they had teased his sister, and then proceed further to be a cleansing agent, ridding the city (for the time being, the country wide operation is on hold!!) of all the scum.......... And the numberof times you hear a teary "beta', "bhai", "behna" would leave you feel like gagging the the person who convinced you to watch this movie!!

Is dat all you ask??

Alrite then, let me take you into the drawing rooms of an average Indian household. Check out the show on television please. More often not it would one of the serials from Ekta Kapoor's stable or some distant cousin of the particular breed (language no bar here!!). All that you shall have is an overdose of emotional high drama. And worst of all, the ladies just gobble it up with amazing regularity and manage to keep track of the entire show. And again strangely enough the people rarely seem to get any older, though they may end up having their great grand-children!! Ummm................ Can we have that anti-aging formula please???

And so at the end of the day I'm left to wonder why does the Indian audience have to be fed on so much of emotion??? Why does there have to be a love story thrown in for just about every movie. Can't there be a movie simply about say "A Day in Mumbai"?? Or is it that the Indian audience still not ready (a generalisation please) to accept such movies??