Friday, January 27, 2006

The coming of age...

Yesterday was a day of firsts:
- First time ever that I heard to Carnatic classical music for 5 hours straight
- First time ever (in India) that I saw a movie on the day of release
- First time ever that I got the tickets booked for it online

Now folks, I know most of you swear by Dil Chahta Hai. I am a big fan of Farhan Akthar. In some ways, I think Lakshya din't see the success it deserves. But, Farhan's experiments have have had one great effect on Indian cinema - you now have younger directors daring to make movies different from the stereotypical Yash Chopra/Karan Johar genre feel-goody movies. Its now time to add Rakyesh Mehra to the Farhan school of movie making. (Aks is now on my "must watch" list)

Yes, I am talking of Rang De Basanti. Any details of the story would be doing injustice to the movie (though there would be people who'd probably have already written online reviews, in great depth, giving away the complete plot, which is a pity). DON'T READ the reviews. Go see the movie for yourself. Take my word - you'll not regret it.

Given the storyline, its no wonder that there was so much opposition from various quarters, political or otherwise, before its release.

Its one of the very few slick Indian movies that has a taut screenplay, thought provoking dialogues and you can possibly relate characters in the movie to someone you know - a friend, childhood chum or even, the person next to you. One could argue though that if it were left to you, the ending could've been different. Nonetheless, a GREAT movie.

Thursday, January 26, 2006

A delayed resolution

Anyone who knows me also knows I am not one to make resolutions. But, consistent feedback from people I care to listen, indicate that there are some qualities they'd like to see change. One of them is being too forthright - the "Here is what I think, I don't give a damn what you think of me saying it" attitude.

I confess to being a "spade is a spade" caller, and yes, there have been occasions when I've bit my tongue after having said something. Its one of those spur of the moment reactions. I am now going to try consciously to change all of that.

One must understand that whatever I've said have always been without malice. I know for a fact that the people who gave the feedback realize it being the case.

Bah! Enough of resolution "design" - now to get down to "implementation" ;-)