A soul departs, the voice remains....

Not many would have missed the female voice in the Rangeela track - Hai Rama. A voice, that along with the versatile Hariharan, made a thumping impact on the audience, and give Urmila Matondkar a new voice on-screen. It was Swarnalatha, a singer who made quite an impression on the music lovers in the country by this track.

The music fans in South India knew her as the singer of 'Aattama Therottama', a popular number from Captain Prabhakaran that was made lively onscreen by Ramya Krishnan. In a very unconventional yet charming voice, Swarnalatha achieved a breakthrough in the early 90s with her rendition of Poovoma Oorkolam, and there was no looking back. She was also the female vocal lead for the song Raakamma Kaiya Thattu (Dalapathi) that went on to become one of the top songs in a poll conducted by BBC.

As a Rahmaniac, I've listened to a lot of her songs ever since A.R.Rahman came into the limelight. Starting with Usilampatti Penkutti in Gentleman till Kummi Adi from Sillunu Oru Kadhal, Swarnalatha has been an integral part of his albums for more than a decade. Listing a personal favorite among them is a difficult task, however the two songs that will remain closest to my heart are Evano Oruvan from Alaipayuthey and Poraale Ponnuthaayi from Karuthamma. She also won a National Award for the Best Playback Singer - Female for the latter song. A few of her popular tracks include Mukkala Mukkabla (Kadalan), Maya Machindra (Indian), Kadhalenum Thervezhudhi (Kadhalar Dhinam), and Kuchi Kuchi Rakkamma (Bombay).

Though I am not a music expert, it was clearly evident that Swarnalatha was one of the very few female singers who could reach the higher octaves with ease, especially in songs such as Mel Isaiye (Mr. Romeo). And she voiced for my favorite actor Jyothika in Poovellam Un Vassam for the song Thirumana Malargal Tharuvaya, too! And, one song that I loved after repeated listenings (thanks to Sun Music) is 'Maalaiyil Yaaro', and I still feel no one else could have done justice to that song other than Swarnalatha.

It was from A.R.Rahman that I got to know that this singer with a unique voice and a humble nature was no more. It was a moment of sorrow for me in an otherwise joyous 'once in a lifetime' experience of an A.R.Rahman concert. You will be missed by us, but your songs will remain etched in our hearts for the years to come!

In her own lines,
'Andha Kuzhalai Pol Azhuvadharku, Athanai Kangal Enakillaye'

(From Evano Oruvan - Alaipayuthey, which translates to, I just have two eyes to cry, unlike the flute with many eyes (referring to the holes in the flute)).

A few of my favorite tracks featuring a few popular ones and a few unnoticed gems (as always):

Evano Oruvan - Alaipayuthey
Ulunthu Vedaikaiyile - Mudhalvan
Kuliruthu Kuliruthu - Taj Mahal
Thirumana Malargal - Poovellam Un Vaasam
Poraale Ponnuthaayi - Karuthamma
Senyore Senyore - Kannathil Muthamittal
Hai Rama - Rangeela
Madrasa Suthi Paaka Poren - May Maadham
Hai Rama - Rangeela
Sunta Hai Mera Khuda/Sollayo Solai Kili - Pukar/Alli Arjuna

Indian Sports: Beyond Cricket?

At the recent world conference on Mathematics, the World Champion in chess, Vishwanathan Anand, was not conferred a PhD in Mathematics. And the reason for this was that, he is not an Indian. It was after some enlightenment that he is indeed an Indian, that this folly was realized and the HRD ministry tendered an apology to the Grandmaster.

(Image Courtesy: http://tortik.wiki.lc/?page=viswanathan-anand) 

Such is the state of a sport (and its stars), other than cricket (and of course the cricketers). For a person who used to look upon Mr. Anand as an inspiration to achieve greater heights in life, this was indeed a great disappointment. Agreed that the nation eats cricket and sleeps cricket, but it sure needs to have people in responsible positions who can think beyond cricket.

And to top it all, Mr. Anand is a part of the 'Olympic Gold Quest' that has been formed to support the country's elite sportspersons and talent towards the Olympic endeavor. It would indeed be a slap on the face of the government, if Mr. Anand continues to serve on this Board. But, I sincerely hope that Mr. Anand continues to serve on this board, because that is the only way for a sportsperson from a non-cricket background to get into in the spotlight despite the step-motherly treatment by the corporate sponsors and the government agencies.

If Mr. Anand not staying in India is a reason for this non-Indian stature, why raise make a fuss about an ABCD Sanjaya Malakar on the American Idol or Sunita Williams' India trip? They don't even represent India, and the government and the media put them in the spotlight for so long.

Indeed this step-motherly treatment towards the sportspersons of merit must stop! I am sure there are lot more Saina Naiwals, Vijender Singhs, Abhinav Bindras, Sushil Kumars and others hidden in the country, thanks to this form of ignorance in India. And they need to be unearthed!

Indian Media - Does it report responsibly or does it just sensationalize?

(This is an entry to BlogAdda's contest 'Is Indian Media misusing its freedom?' sponsored by Pringoo.com)

No serious news follower would have missed the expose carried out on a self-styled god-man by a leading Tamil entertainment channel. A late night crime reporting show that it was, brought out the hidden life of the god-man and showed his non-celibate side being in compromising positions with a yester-year leading actress. For a show that is at 10:30pm, though we don’t expect non-nature audience to be viewers of this show, it was indeed scandalous on the part of the new channel to air an almost X-rated video footage on national television. And the following day, the channel lost it totally. The footage of this tape found its way into the most watched news bulletin in Tamilnadu and by the Tamil speaking population across the globe. Following this, this footage made its way into every other news channel in the country. Whatever may be the gravity of the situation, there are indeed some ethics that a television channel would want to follow, in at least censoring the segments that may be X-rated. Was the channel working towards the expose of the god-man genuinely, or was it working towards sensationalizing a not-so-important issue and gain target rating points (TRP) to boost its advertising revenue? This is a question that even a non-MBA graduate can answer.

26/11/2008 is a date not many people would be able to forget. The Mumbai attacks on this day made it to the news channels all over the world, with some major reporting all around the round. The media sure had its moment of glory, by capturing the footage of a terror-accused, something that even the police couldn’t get. But, what was disappointing about this reporting was that it was also probably one of the most irresponsible reporting by the Indian media. The blasts had disturbing images of dead and charred bodies, injured people and more importantly that of people, whose loved ones were dead in the blast. The news channels didn’t show any responsibility in censoring out these disturbing images on national television for a while. Also, just to gain TRPs and once again sensationalize this national disaster, all the news channels began interviewing the victims of the blast and the loved ones of the dead ones in the blast. The last thing that some one who is in such a situation would want to do is to explain what happened inside the hotel where the blasts took place. Whatever happened has happened, and we need to take steps to get these people to lead a normal life. Instead, the news channels only ended up grilling the already depressed minds of these people, just to make their own bread and butter out of these victims’ grief. It was also a very disgusting sight that the editor/owner of one of India’s leading news channels brushed aside a witness’ statements, just because it was not sensational enough for him to air it on his news channel and moved on to the next witness. What responsible media would have done and should have done is to help the help people in the blast area get back to normalcy, and aid in the police and army’s rehabilitation efforts.

A Hindi movie made based on a popular and best-selling Indian ‘novel’ garnered a lot of attention in the media and amongst the public. The reason – the book’s author was unhappy that he was not given enough credit for his contribution to the movie and that the film’s producer and director took credit for the story. The author raised a hue and cry about this situation, resulting in press conferences given out by both parties – the book’s author and the film’s production team. In one of the press meets, the film’s producers lost his cool at the media and asked a reporter to shut up. And this was enough for the news channels to magnify this issue and blow it out of proportion. At the end of the day, we are not too sure who gained from this – whether it was the producers of the movie that made more than Rs. 350 crores, or the author who found a new fan following. But surely, the media houses which kept track of every single movement that the two parties made, thus made sure that the viewers have their eyes glued to the screen, as thought there was a natural calamity, and eventually made idiots out of the idiot box viewers.

Off late, a news item that’s garnered national attention is not that of any national calamity or disaster, but that of the marriage of the captain of the Indian cricket team. The Indian cricket team skipper married his school friend, and this was enough to have our news channels splash pictures of the bride, the groom and the many link ups that the captain had. After all, a wedding is a private life event and anyone not invited to the wedding should respect the privacy of the bride and groom parties. Instead, the media goes into the details regarding who was invited to the wedding, who made it to the wedding, and more importantly where the couple first met and how their relationship blossomed. This was the exact same situation that happened when a former Miss World got married to the so-called first family of the Indian cinema, or the actress who made it big, thanks to her Big Brother win due to the racist slur got married to a London millionaire. I am sure the Indian public deserves better food for thought, than the generic gossip that cricket and Bollywood have been churning out for decades.

There’ve been many instances apart from these where the media has misused its freedom of reporting, expression and thought. These include instances where a former prime minister of India voiced out curse words against the current chief minister of Karnataka, the publishing of photos of a dead model in compromising positions with her significant other, or creating a ruckus thanks to intentionally misread celebrity twitter statements. Sadly during an election, the opinion polls of each of the news channels show a different figure thanks to the different political parties that they are biased towards. (This is the case not only in our country, but also in the so-called developed nation, United States of America.)

Thanks to the mushrooming of TV news channels every day, it seems like anyone with a good command over English, an opinion and with some financial backing can open a new channel of his own. And to maintain their position in the TRPs they end up resorting to cheap gimmicks. This needs to change! The news media in India needs to understand that the thoughts of the Indian public have grown beyond what it sensationalizes, and responsible and unbiased reporting is what the public demands.

Originality
Risk

Moments of Madness

(This blog was one of the winning entries in the Moments of Madness contest by BlogAdda.)

Trying to categorize moments of madness can be quite challenging, especially in the life of a person who provides entertainment to his friends around, with his unintentionally funny antics. Listed below are a few of the trivial events in my life, which have brought the retarded nature in me to the forefront, and made me get amused at my own doings.

Cart thieves

A graduate student in US, who does not have access to a car to go to the nearby grocery store invariably struggles in carrying the couple of gallon-cans of milk, juice cartons, watermelons, along with other stuff, back home. Usually we pick up things from a market that is open beyond midnight, the best time for us poor souls, and walk all the way back home carrying them. A few stores would let us take the carts back home and pick up the carts the next day. But a few stores that weren’t generous enough, would have a magnetic sensor in their carts, and the cart would not move past the stores’ interiors.

A couple years back, myself and another partner in crime bought half the items in the store and not being able to carry the stuff, tried to lift the cart across the wall and miserably failed. This was a disastrous experiment and I vowed I would never try it again. But, 'laziness overcomes any vow'. Once again, we (a group of four this time) were there and as usual swiped our credit cards away to glory. I tried an age-old tested experiment on the cart then, just for fun. I lifted the cart’s front wheels and just pushed the cart, which stood, on its rear wheels alone. The trick worked, the cart wheels were not locked by the magnetic sensor.

Later, when we were on our midnight trip to the store once again, each of us took a cart to try the trick, and the trick didn’t work. The cartwheels were stuck. But my accomplice in crime saw a unique thing. It was just the front wheels that were locked, that too only from in front. So she gave us the ‘Nobel Laureate’ idea of pulling the cart backwards. And the cart moved with ease. Even though it meant complicated handling from our side, it did save us that day from having to lug back the groceries home.

Jump to (from) death

The time was 12:40am. The store that we frequent closes at 1am. It is only past midnight that, either me or my good friend would end up discovering that our houses will soon be drought-affected and we need to get some basic food. Basic food in some cases also includes watermelons, ice creams, flavored yogurt and more, thanks to the wonderful 45 degree centigrade summer weather we are in.

That night, to fight against the impending drought, we decided to make the trip to the grocery store. It was also a known fact that a goods train that would run longer than ten episodes of ‘Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi’, would pass near the store, thereby blocking access to the store. Hence we hurried up and walked towards to the store, only to hear the train engine from a distance. The Usain Bolts that we are, tried to run towards the track hoping to cross it before the train arrives. And we were probably a couple of meters away from the crossing, and we saw the train approaching, slowly though. Just like how a hungry monkey jumps to catch its food, no matter what the circumstances are, we just ran in front of the train to cross the track, with no thought of what might actually happen. And when I next opened my eyes, we were there, present on the other side of the track. And we looked back at the train, and it turns out that it had stopped midway. You surely can imagine the look on our faces then!

White Water Rafting with a White face

Once on a trip to the Great Smoky Mountain national park in Tennessee, we had dedicated an entire day to trails, hikes and white water rafting. The not-so-adventurous person that I am, didn’t want to venture into white water rafting. But my ever-persuasive friends (who doesn’t have such friends?) somehow convinced me into this. Upon reaching the spot and paying for it, we were made to sign an agreement that read: ‘I am responsible for my life, and severe injury or death may result in case of unforeseen circumstances.’ My heart skipped a beat, and I wanted to get away from them there as early as possible. But, I put up a brave face and got into the bus that took us to the river, where we were instructed on how to row and also provided some safety tips.

We got to our raft where our instructor made the five of us sit in appropriate positions, such that the raft was balanced. Two of the braver friends made it to the front, followed by the girls, followed by the instructor and me. Apparently, the level 3 and 4 rapids were the most common ones that day, and my heart skipped another beat (though I later learnt level 5 and 6 were the harder ones). Having heard horror stories about the instructors having to abandon a drowning rafter, in order to save the rest of them on the boat, I made up my mind to hold on to the grip on the raft. Wait – there was no grip or handle on the raft, all that I could do was to lock my foot inside the raft safely. Having done that, we embarked on our journey, and our instructors gave us good instructions, and we had a good time. There were three instances were the raft was about to capsize, but it ultimately didn’t happen. But my friend in front lost quite a bit of her hair, as a result of me trying to hold on to it for grip. And the end of the rafting trip, I vowed I would never ever go on one again. This nerve-racking experience was sufficient for a lifetime! The pictures taken during the rafting showed me as a white-faced coward, much to the amusement of my friends.

Good deeds Eclipsed

Recently, I was at the cinemas with two other friends to watch ‘The Karate Kid’. Walking towards the theater from the parking lot, we saw a girl in her teens trying to get a few chairs out of her car, and she requested us for help. Assuming the chair was for her old parents or handicapped friends, we helped her carry the chairs. On the way, upon enquiring what movie she was going to watch, I got to know it the teenage girls heartthrob Robert Pattinson starrer Eclipse, the third installment of the Twilight Series. I got a suspicion then, since the first show of the movie was not going to be screened until midnight. We continued talking, and took her chairs along and she pointed to her friends who were waiting there in the line to get the tickets. And who were the friends? Two other girls who surely were Twilight fans, and were munching away pop corn and chips to glory. That was the moment! I was mad at this girl, not for having made us carry it, but for having made us carry it for these two useless friends. And I got another reason to hate the Twilight series!

Final moment of madness

It was 11am. I’d just then woken up, for the nocturnal person that I am. It takes a while for me to get out of the bed and head to perform my mandatory morning chores. But on that day, I was fresher than ever, and I wanted to get the maximum out of the remainder of the morning, in terms of work. Heading to the restroom, and realizing after a flush that the water tank in the restroom is not getting filled up, is not the best thing that could happen to a person on a Monday morning. I open the tap in the washbasin and I get the coolest breeze of air that even my air-conditioner has failed to produce. And you surely can imagine the moment of madness then! I will not get into the details of the events that followed, but I sure realized that, it’s for a reason that people have said –‘early to bed, early to rise.’

This blog is in response to the BlogAdda contest ‘Moments of Madness’ sponsored by Pringoo.

I am Mad
I am Mad

Old wine in a new bottle, hoping it ages better!

I started writing my blog in 2006, and blogged regularly in 2007 and 2008, before taking a hiatus in 2009. And in 2010, I am back, thanks to the wonderful contests by BlogAdda and IndiBlogger.

It was meant to be a personal blog, and I had my name and sister's name together as the blog URL. However as time passed by, the blog seemed to cover a lot more thoughts than I'd imagined it to cover. Hence I'm renaming the URL of my Untitled Blog to Untitled-Thots.

And by doing this name change, I've lost all the comments that have been posted on my blog. Especially the few recent blogs had a lot of comments, thanks to better readership via BlogAdda. I am hoping those comments are restored by Google soon. Else, I shall take this as a clean slate and blog better and a lot more! (Google/Blogger restored the comments recently!)


Thank you for visiting my blog!

What Women Want - A guy's perspective

(This Blog is an entry to the BlogAdda contest ‘What Women Want’ sponsored by Pringoo)

Mystic girl
Mystery girl

If there is a question that even the creator of mankind would be baffled, it is probably this very one, ‘What Women Want!’ This is probably going to be the toughest thought process that I’ve ever undergone and would probably undergo in a while. The output has not been quite as expected, since a friend of mine, a woman, herself told, women themselves are not sure of what they actually want.

And, I am going to be taking extreme caution in wording this post, because I definitely do not want to earn of the wrath of the fairer sex, for this expression of my thought! But, with the explicit frankness in my way of expression, I’ve ended up in awkward situations quite often, and I can expect it to happen now as well.

I have made good friends with a few women/girls that I’ve interacted with in my life and of course my mother and sister are an integral part of my life, and hence have personally noted a few key points. Professionally as well, since my PhD advisor is a woman, I have been able to observe carefully what Women want in professional life too. However, it is indeed going to be hard for me (or for any guy) to really answer this question. I’d treat this subject from various points of view, as in ‘What Women Want’ from different aspects in life, and ‘What Women Really Want’.

What a Woman wants from her career is independence and self-esteem. Clichéd it may sound, since this is true in the case of a man too, but it is indeed true that a Woman who is a working professional certainly on the path towards independence, especially in a gender-biased society (not anymore!) like ours. In trying to prove her merit to her peers and superiors, she probably wants to prove she is as good as any man who would do the job. What can be a little disturbing in these cases at times, is that, there might not be any competition from the opposite sex; but still there is a competitive spirit and a ‘feel of being important’ that exists within a woman just for her to show her worth.

What a Woman wants from her family and siblings is unconditional love and support. Again, in the gender-dominated Indian society, girl child was not preferred a few decades ago. The reason for this being, the belief in parents that the son is going to care for the parents in old age and the high costs associated with marrying a daughter off. These beliefs have been broken and are no longer valid in today’s scenario. All that a girl needs these days is supportive backing in the form of basic education and moral support while she evolves to be an educated woman. There have been instances, where so-called dependable sons have disowned parents, and many a time, a daughter has come to the rescue of the parents. This unconditional love and support has quite often helped a Woman realize her career goals.

And, as a mother, the contribution of a Woman to the lives of her children is immense. Writing about the role of a woman as a mother, might fill up this entire blog. I briefly mention it, even though I understand that motherhood is an important phase in a Woman’s life. What a Woman wants from motherhood is a worthy contribution to mankind, a daughter or a son who will make her proud in the years to come, and her living a fruitful one.

The toughest part is to answer what a Woman wants from her personal life, or more specifically her partner. This is probably a question, the answer for which is not known to most women themselves. In trying to reach out to extra-terrestrial men, whose species are not found on earth any more, Women end up leaving out or rather ignoring the worthy mortals who might be able to make their lives together an memorable one. The amount of expectation that a Woman has from a man, to even consider him as a friend, let alone a significant other is quite complex. (I will not deny that men have comparable amount of expectations, though!) A Woman probably looking at a secure future would want a partner who is well settled in life, and probably placed in a respectable position. With this, what they also expect is good looks, hospital manners, and someone who respects their views and thoughts. A good combination this might actually sound, is probably only attributed to Rama of Ayodhya, who existed centuries ago. Hence affected by the harsh reality in the nature of guys, a girl may settle down for a compromise either in looks or in profession, the former being more common and with a hope of transforming a Mr. Okay to a Mr. Right. Also, a Woman doesn’t want to be viewed as an object of lust or attraction. However, they do want to be noted as a beautiful Woman. This would probably be possible, if a Woman is dignified and graceful in looks and attire, as opposed to the contrary these days.

In a lighter vein, Women do not want the ‘safe’ guy as a boy friend, but as a husband yes! If a guy is to qualify a boy friend, the guy must not be boring and a Woman will be willing to accept a lot of compromises in profession, looks or views, as long as the guy knows how to keep her happy.

Finally, what a Woman wants of herself is a question which a woman herself might have trouble answering. However, it might seem that a woman would definitely appreciate the following: a caring family that is supportive, a loving guy to spend the rest of her life with, a respectable career position that does a justice to her potential, and above all a life that when looked back at, should not be a cause of any repentance.

Appa – To my Father

When I wrote the post ‘Amma – to my Mother,’ I knew that this post was soon coming up, just for my father. And BlogAdda came up with this contest to mark Father’s Day, thus helping me get rid of my laziness and get this post out faster.

(Image Courtesy: Kannathil Muthamittal - A Tamil movie by Mani Ratnam, one of the few recent movies to explore a father-child relationship)

To a father, who made a lot of sacrifices professionally and personally, the only thing I could do was to help him realize his dreams, in the form of my success. I might not have been able to succeed a full hundred percent, but he still is happy with the few little things in life that bring joy to him, in the form of this daughter and son’s achievements.

Being a person who was forced to study borrowing books from the library, give up an M.Tech seat in the prestigious IIT-Madras (now Chennai), or give up on an fully-funded PhD offer from University of Florida upon landing up with a government job, my father made sure that his children do not have to undergo any of these and get better facilities in life. I am sure any father of this generation does this, and it is indeed heartening to see a lot of us trying to fulfill our parents’ dreams.

Just because I said I needed company while preparing for my class 10 exams, my father pursued an MBA course (via correspondence), and ended up working harder than me at the age of 43. When I was in class 12, whether it was an early 5:30 am tuition that I needed to be dropped off at, or picking me up from there after a long day at work, he did it all without a showing any sign of tiredness no matter how hectic his work would get. It was indeed a moment of pride for him and a sense of unattainable happiness for me, when my father went to pick up the academic achievement award from my engineering college (since I was in the US). I then thought I have at least been able to do to this bit for the sacrifices you made for my sake. And to add to this, my sister topped her class in Class 12 exams, the same year, and there was my proud father, picking up another award, on my sister's behalf! This is probably a moment that he might have not anticipated, but surely wished, when he picked my sister or me from the doctor's hands when we were just born.

With multiple books being prescribed for a single course in class 11, 12 and in engineering, I was told by my father, 'I so wanted to read all these books back then, but couldn't. I want you read them all, so I'm going to get them all for you!' I would stand at the bookstore every time, me standing short of words, and thinking of this: 'you never buy clothes for you at all, and say you have enough new clothes, while the last one you bought was a good six Diwalis ago!'

For my graduate studies, I chose to come to the US with my father's (and mother's) encouragement. Being in my final year of engineering, I got busy with the project, seminar and coursework. Getting to the US on an F1 visa demands a lot of paper work in terms of financial documents and other paperwork. For a VISA interview in June, my father had to literally run around starting March to get all the paper-work including bank statements and chartered accountants (CA) statements ready. I am sure, most of us have an idea of how effective the banks or CAs can be, and he showed no sign of taking a break till it was all done. All that I had to do was, to sit with him in the hotel room in Chennai on the day before my VISA interview, and he went over the documents explaining them one-by-one. I was really surprised and probably even shocked at the amount of effort he had put in to get each of the documents, and the amount of detail that he provided. Especially after seeing many of my friends running around all by themselves to get these documents, or even worse with parents asking them to take a job after engineering, I felt really lucky to have a father like him.

I have always had this respect for my father for the reason that, he made sure my mother got back to studies after she got married to him while in the first year of college. It was probably under forced familial circumstances that he had to marry her, but ensured that my mother's future was not going to be in the kitchen and in the backyard of our house. She went on to get three professional degrees and become a well-qualified teacher.

Also, a father's role is quite important in the upbringing of his children. I discussed this point with director Onir (of My Brother Nikhil fame) in a conversation on the micro-blogging site Twitter. He agreed with the fact that, if a father helps in the household chores at home and spends a lot of time with his children, it helps in the better upbringing of the children. The children will make sure that they help their spouse in managing the house later on their life and probably bring up their children that way too, thus creating a good example for the generations to come. By believing in division of labor, my father usually helps my mother, (a working woman) in many household chores, thus setting a good example to us. There are a few guys even in this so-called modern age, who delegate their wives to just household chores, without giving them a chance and forget that the wife needs to have a life too! He values her independence too, and helps her take a break from the routine chores by making/getting breakfast and cleaning up the house on most days. From a very young age, my sister and I have helped our parents together in managing the house, and I am quite proud of this fact because, this helped me be a lot more independent when I got to the US for my graduate studies.

He surely respects my sister's independence and mine too. As with many parents, with a set of restrictions (which I feel is mandatory while growing up), we have evolved to be young responsible adults. Depending on what was considered a necessity and what was a luxury, my father helped us by marking a good line between the two of them, and this aspect has helped me a lot in the recent days. By being open about every aspect my life, I seek advice from him, because I believe that he is my best role model. I truly value his words of advice that have come at the right instance.

I surely cannot take after this wonderful gentleman, who has been instrumental about every success in my life, stood by my failures, adequately handled my ignorance, put up with my childish pranks to this day and more; men like him are not made often. The only thing I can say to him is – Appa, I am really blessed to have a father like you.

I wished for
Dad

Raajneeti – My View

Having seen the trailer of Raajneeti earlier in January this year, the movie with the usually non-performing Katrina Kaif in a lead role seemed to instantly capture my attention. Prakash Jha, the director of the movie has had great reviews on Gangajal (which I am yet to watch), and this definitely made me look forward to the movie more. The star cast of the movie – Ajay Devgn, Arjun Rampal, Katrina Kaif, Manoj Bajpai, Nana Patekar, Naseeruddin Shah, and Ranbir Kapoor seemed to a different blend of performing stars and eye candy stars, and was another thing that made me curious of how the star cast was going to be used.

Having seen it now, I surely am not disappointed by the movie. It deals with the current state of Indian politics, with corruption, dynasty-based politics, sex, exploitation of backward castes, and more importantly the opportunistic politicians. The story line of Raajneeti seems to be a routine one, liberally borrowing from Mahabharatha and Godfather, and the movies inspired by these, such as Dalapathi, Nayagan, Sarkar, Sarkar Raj and the like. Definitely a long watch at 3 hours (with no interval here), the movie seemed to have some good writing, cinematography, music and above all performances.

Ajay Devgn, Manoj Bajpai, and Nana Patekar are all seasoned actors, and a great performance is always expected out of them. And they do not disppoint. Manoj with great political aspirations exactly portrays what a neglected son of a politician would do. Ajay Devgn as Sooraj, the leader of the Dalits gives a realistic performance, but surely looks worn out in a few scenes. Nana Patekar as the party mentor, play crucial role in the movie proceeding and gives an underplayed but splendid performance. Naseeruddin Shah comes in a cameo is wasted in the role; just wish we got to see a little more of him.

Ranbir Kapoor as the silent mastermind behind all of the happenings, emerges as the new find in Raajneeti. He was surely good as the boy-next-door in Wake Up Sid, but this movie definitely brings out another dimension in this immensely talented actor.

Arjun Rampal, without his usual wooden expressions, gives a great performance as Prithvi. This is surely one of his best roles, along with Rock On! His characterization was quite interesting, as he oscillated between being a person with gray shades to a really good person. His outfits in the movie were too cool and definitely benefited his characterization.

Katrina Kaif doesn’t really have much to do in the proceedings of the movie initially, but surely has come a long way from the non-performing eye candy she used to be. Also, without her British accent, she definitely made a mark as the Indian political dynasty’s bahu (daughter in law). She had some really good ethnic outfits in the movie too!

The others stars contributed well to the movie as well, and definitely made a mark in their roles.

The movie as I said, reflects the state of Indian politics very well, and some scenes in the movie can be related to what we see in the TV news daily, especially during election times, when the dealings between political parties is in a denomination no less than tens of crores of rupees. The opportunistic attitude of the Indian politicians, and the state of how the wives of the Indian politicians retire to their fate and play a fiddle to their exploits, is quite well depicted too.

I loved the song Mora Piya, sung by Kavita Seth (of Iktara fame), and a few others running in the background. There were no full-fledged routine songs, which usually act as filler to a loose script. The script in this movie was quite tight and never was there a boring moment. The cinematography employed two schemes - a fresh theme for the outdoors, and a sober kinda nostlagic theme for the indoor scenes, and I loved it.

Raajneeti, despite it’s three hour length is a good watch for the performances and more!

(Image Courtesy: IndiaGlitz.com)