The morning after.....

The morning after.....

Circa. 2013  Date: 17th Nov. Time: 7:50 A.M.

The doorbell rings on a routinely lazy but an unprecedentedly heavy Sunday morning. It is any other day in office for him, the milkman. I give him a mild stare while collecting the milk pouch. At this moment I am not at all motivated to grab the news paper from the door latch which is quite unlike me. It is possibly the most uneasy day for me in my recent collectible memory. I had to literally force myself on to the sack as late as early this morning at 4 AM after struggling with my already nocturnal turned / sleep challenged bio-system.

What to do? Am I alone to be feeling this nausea? Certainly not. The entire nation is going to wake up with a sombre contemplation of all of last 24 years' fond memories that seemed to have evaporated in a flash! It's a profound feeling and I dare not make any attempt to stake a claim that I am sufficiently endowed with such literary sensitivity to be representing even an iota of how much emotional wrecks myself and my fellow country people have collectively become in a matter of just one day!

And the common denominator among us is GOD (If it was for any other mortal human nature's forces wouldn't have colluded to get it coincided with the very day when it all started in 1989)! Com'on dude you must be kidding me. How could GOD inflict so much of universal pain on HIS disciples?

HE only could do that when people realize that unlike other 330 million deities worshipped all over since time immemorial HE descended on Earth only four decades ago & by the time HE hit sweet sixteen aficionados in us wasted no time in identifying that HE indeed was KALKI of the modern times. Alas! HE has decided to deprive all of us of his miracles from today. How & when would this feeling ever sink in? NEVER.

"
The ascetic prince Lord Kalki, the Lord of the universe, will mount His swift white horse Devadatta and, sword in hand, travel over the earth exhibiting His eight mystic opulences and eight special qualities of Godhead. Displaying His unequalled effulgence and riding with great speed, He will kill by the millions those thieves who have dared dress as kings.

—Bhagavata Purana, 12.2.19-20
"

The Puranas describe the date of Kalki's birth as twenty-one fortnights from the birth of Krishna, which itself falls on Janmashtami in August. This would put HIS descent at Vaishakha, between April and May (source: Wikipedia).

Do I need say any more as to why then have we all so collectively & convincingly believed all these years that Kalki was indeed born on 24th April 1973? A wooden willow bearing unusually more weight for lesser mortals to hold is HIS metaphor for the modern times' sword. Does HE need to swing one when HE could artistically win (and not kill) millions & millions of hearts the world over by HIS timber tool's swaying alone?

HE for sure has travelled the world over & over again and has relentlessly left a mark of HIS own each time. HE has not just eight but perhaps eighty (or more) special qualities of Godhead (depending on what all one is able to identify). There hasn't been a single flaw in HIS demeanour all this while though HIS worldly performances have suffered from an occasional dip (which also is perhaps HIS way of evidencing another virtue viz. humility). Also, just to make HIS opponents a little comfortable HE has suffered from physical pain & injuries like Tennis Elbow. S'A'CH has been HIS Lila all these years!

When HE would fight HIS motherland's aggressors the whole of it would just shut itself from any other worldly chores. And the beauty is that never did any powers try to even curb this impulsive streak in all of us. Bosses (including the toughest task masters) would ignore having noticed their team's detachment from their assigned tasks simply because they themselves would be salivating on the prospects of a building century. Deep in their hearts would they also acknowledge that nothing but another three digit produce from HIS willow would satiate the thirst of millions whose own productivity & enthusiasm would shoot manifold on any S'A'CH eventuality.

Hearts would sink with subdued sounds of 'Ooh' & 'Ah' every single time HE would smilingly showcase HIS worldly incompetencies (which existed only theoretically for HIM). The whole stadiums, coffee & pizza parlours, tea joints, paan shops, office conference rooms & wedding halls, barbers' salons and what not would simply reverberate with thumping chants of HIS name every time HE would showcase HIS signature class while executing that picture perfect straight drive or that disdainful pull or that on-the-up cover drive or that truly truly improvised paddle sweep. Complete strangers would get into a bear hug on each of HIS fours! Sworn enemies would plant a kiss on the other's cheek when HE would reach a milestone by that 'Upper cut' six! Would you & I ever be able to associate anyone else with these soul pleasing sights which became the very purpose of life?

HE has unwittingly given births to so many careers be it those incompetent commentators / writers who sheepishly knew that they just have to shower eulogies on HIM to be able to heard / read or visiting team players who would get smart with time to know that there is just one simple way to not only avoid hooting while being in India but in fact earn a support base i.e., by heaping praise on HIM. I wonder what will they now do to make their existence noticed? Not that HE needed any of it but the fact remains that countless brands made a killing just by anyhow associating themselves with HIM.

S'A'CH was our unadulterated adulation & belief in HIM that in a country infected with corruption in all walks of life no eyebrows would be raised in jealousy on hearing news of HIM signing a hitherto unheard of commercial deal. As a matter of fact many of us would raise a toast on HIM achieving any S'A'CH milestones, both on & off the field. Controversies would curse themselves on having the temerity to even think of attaching to HIM. HIS nemesis (including the Pindi Express) would eventually have to swallow their own ill intended verbal excreta.

As I said earlier HE indeed is the modern day Kalki Avatar and if anything it's we who are fortunate to have born in an era when HE for all of 24 years uninhibitedly showcased HIS Prabhu-Lila. When some idiosyncratic person sitting in a high office thinks that s/he has done something special by conferring a title on HIM & thus wants to politically capitalize on this timely Executive Decision I just can't help laughing his/her IQ off. For heavens' sake HE always was a "Bharat Ratna" whether or not HIM being called one after the formal Presidential stamping.

So, what do we do now? How to get used to the new world order after HIM leaving the scene? Hello!! HE can't ever leave the scene! HE will always be there as a guiding father figure, nurturing budding talent & instilling in them those very values which were so dear to HIM. For now & in near future I foresee HIM essaying the role of an administrator with sheer aplomb. What would HE want from us as a return gift. Just a small question to ourselves with a candid answer to it. "Kya mujhme hai Sachin?"

(C) Rits Original
Scorpiofury.blogspot.com

Following is another musings titled "Rehabilitation" which was originally published by yours truly on 15th Oct. 2013, couldn't help redoing myself for the occasion.

Never before have I become as conscious as I am right now even as I am struggling to put words to the myriad thoughts which have been doing an indulging juggernaut for close to a week now since THE NEWS broke. I confess that I have longed to valiantly do justice to my sense of restlessness all this while before I could eventually manage control over some outrageous thoughts to put here.

At the outset, I run the risk of being stoned to pieces by all of my readers for daring to do what I finally believe remotely justifies my randomness (my apologies for this verbal diarrhoea already).

Many of us have faced at least some form of addiction to one or more of some (in)famous drugs, even if it was for a short time, active or passive. Marijuana, Cocaine & Heroin fervently fight among themselves to claim the tiara befitting the queen bee of the world's illicit drugs not many know that it is the (comparatively) humble and perfectly legal Nicotine which is hardest to let go once it clutches its addict in its vice like tentacles.

Drawing parallel in real life one could name a battery of icons (which are adored the world over) in one breath but if an Indian were to be asked to name a personality that has become a part of their nervous system it has to be unequivocally The Great "T". You give them a choice to name few more and they would have a hard time recalling who should come even remotely close in this one man "league" of extraordinary gentlemen. Sorry Mr. Big B, for all the adulation you might have received since the time you broke the popularity Zanjeer it is the dainty maestro (who was just born then) who has transcended beyond individual frustrations to have not only emerged as the SOLE & UNANIMOUS Superhero in the last quarter of a century but has also ensured that his legacy is not transferable to anyone who dares to wear this smiling assassin’s shoes. Do I add any incremental value to the debate by stating the cliché that "He has reigned over the collective conscience of the entire nation all these years".

Am I ready for the D-day when HE would do his famous little squat one last time in full public glare? How could you even ask an addict who probably got a high on HIS bespoke straight drive before she learnt her alphabets two & half decades ago to suddenly be pushed into rehabilitation centre? So what if the centre warden promises her to provide for no less intoxicating (& ostensibly addictive) cannabis cultivated in the farmhouses of Nazafgarh, Ranchi & Delhi? Could a heady concoction of all of them be even one tenth as hallucinating as THE ORIGINAL? I don't even feel like laughing over this puerile curiosity.

HE gave us the sense of belief in being able to do a Superhero all the time while still being a shy, coy boy next door. Who among us have not bunked countless lectures and/or shut our lives of everything else just to be able to focus on HIS exhibits? Go, find me a soul who has not shadow practiced the famous "Upper Cut" in the Pindi express all these years! I won't be surprised if you even end up sharing the romantic euphoria like feeling your granny had while expectantly sitting cross legged on that corner couch of your living room. Who is now going to bring that captivating, childlike exuberance back to our ecosystem that had the charisma to cast a spell on generations? Where is the father of "Dolly - The Sheep"? Can't he clone HIM in the next five weeks? I don't have the time left for me to LIVE the way I so very fondly cherish.

"Main to loonga wohi khilona, machal utha Dina ka Lal!"

(C) Rits Original         
scorpiofury.blogspot.com

Ramlila -> Ram-leela -> Goliyon ki rasleela....Ram-Leela!!

Ramlila -> Ram-leela -> Goliyon ki rasleela....Ram-Leela!!

That's precisely how this just born baby of the self-fascinated Sanjay L. Bhansali went through its pre-birth journey in the womb of its (perpetually dreaming) creator before its umbilical cord was snapped yesterday. Incidentally it was also the very day when the modern era's Ram (as is commonly known to the Earth's inhabitants - that of Maryada Purushottam fame) was so uninhibitedly exhibiting HIS own Lila for that very last time @ HIS karmabhoomi (commonly known as Wankhede). That was the Lila not only the entire nation but rest of the cricketing world wanted to last a little beyond before it so unceremoniously got cut short by HIM only (perhaps somewhere HE only can decide HIS own fate).

When the feeling eventually sunk in that the real life Lila got to its FINALE did I (with a heavy heart of course) decide to check what a reel life Lila has to offer. It helped my confidence that I knew it was the baby of someone I have admired growing up.

What stumped me was the initial disclaimer to desperately disjoin this work of fiction with the more popular story. Why to get into all of this truly avoidable controversy unless you want it to take shape that way only? Through the running of this cinematic piece of work I couldn't help wonder that SLB indeed had "Ramlila" only at the back of his mind while camouflaging it as being inspired by the videsi "Romeo and Juliet". Just to ensure that he has his cake n eat it too SLB 'renamed' this epic twice from what it was intended to be known as.

First up, guys just do not take your young kids to this noise-pollution & soft-porn drama. After sharing my concern on Krrish 3 just few days ago for similar reasons it came as a rude shock to notice that this one too could manage to skip through our dreaded censor board which so generously awarded it a U/A!! I ask them "on what grounds"? There is definitely something crazy with the sensitivity of these people sitting in high offices. Or is it that they have also joined the "corruption only" mantra (blossoming give and take relationship) of the UPA in whatever they do? This is an out and out adult entertainer!! Period. Take your toddlers & adolescents along at your peril only. I might sound old fashioned but don't curse me later for not having warned you well in advance. Now having said that I take liberty to do a critique on this purely as a "for adults" movie (or I’ll have to struggle really hard to rate it later).

Before the movie started an interesting, small but impactful audio-visual clip showcasing the virtues of Dolby Atmos was shown and it truly left all the viewers in awe! Few minutes into the saga did I realize as to why that hitherto subtly boasted asset of an auditorium was launched in the public conscience (as a USP) today only. If ever there was a contest to nominate for the cine experience with the maximum decibel generated on a sound meter during its run-time Ram-Leela would beat everything else hands down.

SLB believes that everything he does (or as his audience would expect him to deliver) has to be just perfect. That explains why his works are just too good to be true. All his sets appear to be replica of how an Indra's courtyard would hypothetically look like. There is not a single shade of imperfection or sub-standardness in his most ambitious project till date. But what about the basic set-up?

In today's times where in Gujarat would you be able to visualize a village where rounds of guns are fired more than the number of times all the villagers would collectively relieve themselves of nature's calls during the course of a day? Where a sex-parlour running Casanova would be able to so openly (and acceptably as well!) get into one-night stands with virtually all village girls? Where despite all his infamy on his weakness of looking at all females as nothing more than sex objects the most gorgeous of them all would feel "head-over-heel" on him at the very first sight itself?

Weird as it may sound but the so-called chemistry between the lead pair is nothing more than their unabashed ability to portray lust in their eyes towards each other every time they meet (or greet each other over phones)! There is absolutely no such thing as romance between them as the filmmaker would want us to believe. Generously infused with double meaning references it's just plain "Lust" all the time (if the villagers' guns are resting meanwhile).

Oops! I just forgot that I am actually penning my views on a film for a "mature" audience (which may still not have evolved to be comfortable watching it with their families).

As said earlier, set designing indeed is a hallmark of this story. To compliment it picturization is equally brilliant. Especially, the songs make you feel as if you have got teleported to a royal & grand Mogul Darbar.

As for individual performances, Ranveer has an inherent rustic appeal to his personality & overall demeanour. He knows it jolly well and makes no bones about it publicly. On screen he is shamelessly at ease with his act. Deepika has been seen in similar roles earlier as well but in a rural setting also she pulls off her character's demand astonishingly brilliantly. As a control freak Supriya Pathak Shah packs a punch and I couldn't help feel she has been wasting her immense talent all these years just sitting at home! Come on Supriya. Bindu's fans have been wanting her successor for long and you are just fitting it to the 'Tee'!!

I would rate this strictly "not for family viewing" portrayal at 8 on REndex. If you put a gun on my temple forcing me to give it a more popular rating for masses it can never be more than 4 (and that too considering the fact that in urban multiplex audience kids are already exposed to PSP's & FTV when they still are of a very impressionable age).

(C) Rits Original
Scorpiofury.blogspot.com

Diwali Reflections...

Diwali Reflections

They say, "Diwali is a festival of infinite lights & we celebrate it with gay abandon to commemorate the famous victory of good over evil" (as it finds its maiden reference in the Hindu mythology when on the occasion of Lord Rama returning back to his constituency Ayodhya after a hiatus of 14 years and immediately after conquering the all mighty devil king Ravana his folks got jubilant and made merry while unleashing all their quota of fun which was suppressed for all these years).

To me it is an opportunity to purge our whole beings of all the impurities we have so (in)voluntarily stuffed in our systems in the past one year. It is also a chance we give to ourselves to let bygones be bygones and make wish for a fresh beginning. For some of us who have had a remarkable last year we celebrate our happiness by bursting fire crackers & by distributing sweets among our near & dear ones. For others who didn't exactly have a noteworthy outing out there it is another fresh dawn today full of promises for the next twelve months (or so) allowing us to get the monkey off our shoulders and make a resolution that we shall strive hard to set the record straight as we bow our heads with uncompromised faith in front of the elephant God Ganesh & Goddess of wealth Lakshmi.

This is also one such festival which helps bonding the losen strings as all family members make it a point to rush to a common reunion joint, mostly their parental homes. No matter where they are across the globe they engineer their plans in such a way (months in advance) that on this day they get to greet each other.

To all those who couldn't find a reason to cherish today, "Go, find your happiness in the smallest pleasures of life. Just don't sulk or wander about with no purpose. Life is so full of surprises, and i am sure you can easily find at least few pleasant ones to bring a cheer to your sombre mood. If not anything else, read this post at least once again along with the never ending archives of the author on his blog but please...." and yes, make merry but do responsibly top it up by making it peacefully rocking!

:-)

Festively yours
Ritesh

(C) Rits Original
Scorpiofury.blogspot.com

Krrish3 -> Kkkrriissh'N'(??!!)

Krrish3 -> Kkkrriissh'N'(??!!)

Those who have had basic exposure to algebra in their formative years won't sweat a pain in figuring out that 'N' stands for a variable whose real world value could be anything & theoretically it could indeed 'tend' towards infinity. So, should this be the guiding principle for even the "thinking" filmmakers as they conceive sequels to their "original" labour of love? Well, there are two school of thoughts on this. The idealists would condemn the very idea of stretching the inches on a worn out suit's waistline even if its owner has written his/her most cherished success stories while donning it. The more practical ones would espouse the cause of milking the cash cow nonchalantly. Some of the Hollywood franchise have done it remarkably well over and over again. In Bollywood the idea doesn't exactly set the box office on fire by each of the successors of the original classics.

Krrish3 takes over from where its last avatar left us dazed after we savoured the original's 'Jadoo' in "Koi Mil Gaya". And thinking man of his craft that he is (this one is his just the third serving in 10 years!) Rakesh Roshan knows how to evolve with times. K3 is an out n out exhibition of modern age state of the art special effects. Throughout the 150 minute length of this tale of good prevailing over bad they are liberally injected (so much as to create a sense of an overkill at times). We have been witness to some of the most tacky of them in other so-called "Super Hero" bolly ventures but one has to see K3 to get the real goose bumps. Alright, the heavy dose of VFX appears outrigthly impractical in many of the scenes but their sheer sophisticated execution render them more than the desirable credibility. Why to be nit picking always? We are here to watch a Sci-fi fiction only & not to solve a real life murder mystery. A job well done indeed!

What leaves a sour taste in mouth is the music composed by the ever-so-reliable in-house young brother of the Captain marvel. This has to go down as the worst ever album the family team has cut. Save the hummable "Raghupati Raghav" all the compositions just unnecessarily interferes in the engrossing audio-visual extravagenza and are immediately forgettable.

In his father-son double roles the Indian "Greek" Hero once again stands out from the crowd of his contemporaries. There is something about his persona that makes him "by default" a credibly likable superstar. He doesn't have to do anything special to garner his fans' adulation but his innate honesty reflects in each frame he is present. Nobody from Bollywood should even try to do what he so effortlessly manages to do. Even after decades of sipping his last Martini onscreen Sir Sean Connery still is the last word when it comes to naming the most believable Bond, James Bond. History will prove that if ever there was one Superhero in Bollywood it was Hrithik Roshan. Period. Uske aage baaki sab paani kam chai hain.

The surprise package of this fight between human race & an army of mutants is Kangna. She looks just so near perfect in her characterization that you might get shiver down your spine if you end up seeing her in flash n blood after the show is over. Her emotional vulnerability also comes out very well. Her role is much more ingrained with the plot than that of her bete-noire Priyanka and to her credit she has actually managed to overshadow (would you believe it) PC! The villainery of Vivek Oberoi keeps on oscillating between being subtly scary & sub par. His casting could have been a borderline case as there is no dearth of mean spirits in aamchi Mumbai. Surprisingly, the mutants' roles were not developed enough as they were supposedly the USP's (Unique Selling Propositions) of this episode of the franchise.

Though I personally had a blast for most of the movie's duration (which my three other companions found amusing as at best they were neutral in their review) I have a serious complaint with the Krrish team. It has projected (or it be perceived as such) young kids as its main audience but it has not evidenced sensitivity associated with young impressionable minds while depicting all the loud & prolonged violences (which were indeed graphical in many such scenes). Censor Board should come up with something like "Only 12+" or "PG" (Parental Guidance) certification for such maniacal display of brute power on silver screen.

K3 gets 7.5 on REndex.

(C) Rits Original                                                 Scorpiofury.blogspot.com