Lost?!

For the time awake
Lost in reality
She moves on aimlessly
From one act to another

For Hours under the blanket
Lost in dreams
She moves on aimlessly
From one sequence to another

For what seems an eon
Lost in thought
She moves on aimlessly
From one point to another

For all that time lost
in reality, dreams, thought
Has her aimless wander
Lost her her life?

 

Left Liberalism and all that Jazz!

For a long time I didn’t know the difference between left liberals, right wing conservatives and so on and so forth – they seem like such daunting words. I now know but don’t entirely understand. I have always been a bit wary of leaning to one side of this balance or the other. Well not always ..but maybe always 😛

I am still sitting on the fence. Well, not really on the fence; I am not a right wing conservative – I can assure you that!  But hey I am not a hard core left liberal either! (Ok, so I am a pseudo conservative – you’ve said that!).

I am not a left liberal because I don’t understand what being a left liberal means. Well, all I am trying to say is this. At times left liberalism seems the same as right conservatism – just that it is the other side of the spectrum (or balance) 🙂

Ok, so now that I have visibly upset all you left liberals (alright, the one left liberal) who are (is) either muttering about my pesudo conservatism, idiocy and other such things or openly calling me names or thinking why the hell should I be upset about some idiot who doesn’t understand what left liberalism is all about but is farting about it or may be just plain exasperated – I can peacefully move on.

I wonder if one is a left liberal then shouldn’t one be more tolerant? Religion is the root of all problems, you say? I beg to differ ..it is the religious fundamentalists who are. And by vehemently opposing religion, left liberals are only taking (giving more fodder to chew) on the senseless heedless fundamentalists without really tackling the deep rooted issues that they initally sought out to tackle.

At the end of the day it doesn’t matter which religion these fundamentalists believe in, it doesn’t even matter if these fundamentalists believe in any religion or not! Just being fundamentalists is enough! And hence I am saying, its not religion that is at fault, it is us with our extremes one way or the other that is at fault. And in that sense aren’t left liberals fundamentalists as well (now now, isn’t that a dangerous (you’d say stupid) remark to make).

Freedom of expression gives you the right to express your ideas, views on religion and any thing else you feel like; it certainly does. But the question to ask is does the way we express this right help solve the problems or not? More often that not it ends up creating more menace which I am sure was not the original intent. But what about the idea of painting Jesus in a purdah or say some Hindu God on a cross. It could even be argued that it propogates unity!  I most certainly have a problem with right wing fundamentalists who create a ruckus about this for nothing. But left liberals supporting this in the name of freedom of expression is a bit much, I would say. Now personally I couldn’t care less, (even if this is not exactly my idea of creativity), but I certainly am cynical of the intentions and talents even of the painter in question. Well, that’s just me I think, a confused cynic, who is now bored!

Rant over!

And if you are going to tell me that my ranting above only shows my ignorance and misunderstanding (or is it non understanding in this case!) of left liberalism..then pray enlighten me!

 P.S – I have been trying to write one post without the use of brackets and without the excessive use of but, now, so, well etc.,. But if you cared to notice, I surpassed my own levels by using brackets within brackets 😛 ..ok so you don’t care..whatever!

 

Of Bridges & Reincarnation!

I am truly surprised at my ability to like someone who stands for everything I hate otherwise. Yes, SRK is a megalomaniac, self obssessed, a true capitalist and any  & all such words one can think of. But, I still like him and I don’t know why. So, I knew all to well that I would end up watching OSO. Despite the hype, despite the megalomaniacal promotion of the saga of reincarnation; despite my claims and promises to self to not watch the movie, despite being appalled by the heights of ridiculous marketing, I made my way to the theatre.

Hey, I am the ‘I liked Main Hoon Na’ variety. Some one who likes ridiculous ‘bollywood movies’ (oh, now our fraternity is hating this term – why?) – for to me they offer the best form of escaping reality (well…even if I am hardly ever in it!) And ‘Main hoon na’ and the likes offer just that. OSO only promises escapism of highest order, does’nt it?

So, I watched OSO and no surprise there, I liked it. It was entertaining (but I must say the over exposure and excessive review reading took some of the entertainment away 😦 ). But even then I thought the movie was enjoyable. The music rocked; SRK rocked; Arjun rampal and Shreyas Talpade rocked (No, I wasn’t on the rocks..). Some of the scenes were truly truly hilarious. And of course, there was every legtimate excuse for the ‘King’ to be at his OTT, overacting best!

Well, this movie can’t really be made without SRK. It simply can’t. It’s basically one of SRK’s funny, self indulgent, cocky outings with the bold Farah, that incidentally became a movie. Having said that, I was a bit disappointed 😦 , it could’ve been funnier (the KWK – SRK rapid fire anyone?) After the first half I wondered how they were going to get away with all the dig at yester year actors. They anwered, in the second half. By obviously laughing at themselves harder. That’s one ability (even though laced with a touch of cockiness!) that I just absolutely adore about SRK (also Farah I guess!).My pick when Shreyas Talpade says ‘Ma (KK) bahut overacting kar rahi hai’ – SRK replies ‘Woh to humari Family Problem hai!’  – Ok sorry I shdn’t have spoilt it for you (but then I don’t think the only person who reads this blog would care much about it!).The best thing about OSO was the music. It sounds much better in theater and they have all been pretty well picturised I’d say. I didn’t think that the song ‘Dhoom Tana’ (the one Deepika dances with the old actors) was that nice until I saw it on screen. Even the ‘Dastaan’ (the title track) was good. I’d say it is one of the best albums to come out in a long time – probably since RDB. Obviously the 2 melody numbers were top notch! Dard E disco and Dewaangi were ok ..fun to watch I guess. But can we please stop having these hordes of stars making special appearances in songs/dances with this movie?

As for the rest, the suave Arjun played the chilling villian with such grace…well, for his looks he doesn’t really need to act…(a liberty he always uses), but he is pretty good in this movie ….Shreyas is good but that’s no surprise I guess. Deepika is ok….

[‘hey tum bore tho nahi ho rahi na’, Thanks!]

 So now to the bridges? No re not Saawariya 🙂 ! I happened to watch this movie the day before OSO – ‘The Bridges of Madison County’. A Clint Eastwood movie (btw who is known as the Clint Eastwood of bollywood?). Now this movie is everything OSO is not. Real (well..atleast I’d say so!) & beautiful. But more than anything, there is one reason why one must watch the movie. That compelling reason is called ‘Meryl Streep’. That woman’s portrayal of the Italian housewife in the (to quote her character’s words) ‘middle of nowhere’ was so real, that you could well be witnessing a real Italian housewife’s life in the middle of nowhere.

One can hardly call it acting, but I guess that’s exactly what acting is. Stunning is probably an understatment for her performance. The range of emotions- from being a bored, lonely, discontented housewife, to her surprise at Clint’s free spirit (see her when she asks him how he’s heard of her village in Italy and her reaction to his reply), her irritation, disbelief, frustration even at his level of independence, to being drawn to him emotionally, physically, her ability to finally break off from self imposed rules to do what she wants and then holding herself back again for her kids to finally being at peace with herself …nothing short of amazing

She wasn’t Meryll Steep but Francesca, the Italian Housewife in the ‘middle of nowhere’ (which Clint Eastwood reminds her is not middle of nowhere but her home!)

 2 Contrasting movies, but I liked them both. Variety is the spice of life, I guess! 🙂