A humming word

Movies that speak of outdated concepts such as "Happy Family, despite anything" must be banned:  Hum Saath Saath Hai and Vivah and most importantly, Suraj Barjatiya , are the biggest culprits of this nonsensical drama which hold no truth.  In the name of niceness, one cannot sacrifice personal peace and its pursuit. And if doing so is being bad then better to be bad and happy than being "nice" and "melancholic". Instead, movies like Akaash Vani and Dil Dhadakne Do must be aired continuously till everyone watches it. Much like the Vaccine drive. And it should be driven into minds that life is not about keeping the family honour alive. Ironically, it is the meek and the mute (metaphorically) who are asked to do so. So, moving on: Dose 1: Akaash Vani is the story of a happy-go-lucky couple (Akaash and Vani) who are separated as Vani gets married to another man, her parents choose. She succumbs to the pressure as her parents are maligned by society.  And wh...

 Dear Jug, You taught Kaira how never to put anyone on a pedestal and treat everyone as a human and that lesson stayed. You taught her to forgive her parents and circumstances dictate a situation and the person's reaction of response. You have introduced the concept of therapy in so many lives that I felt you are Bollywood's own therapist. To the SRK within: Your movies. Your songs. Your dance. Gave solace in bleak times.  As Jug, you emphasised the importance of stories and narratives and alternate theories and a different lens. Remember how you told Kaira about different soul mates or a "special friend" for every interest. I loved that. Indeed, how can you lay the responsibility on one person? Some could be your Pizza friend, some, your coffee friend, some, your book friend.  Jug, you were the torchbearer for therapy and thank you for that.  Warmly, A patron    

  If women start speaking up, all men will be in jail - Raje, Family Man  Note: Not a post targeting any man but a reflection of what Raje does. Dear Raje,  Keeping your political affinities aside, you are a woman wronged. From the scene in the bus, where you were groped to the scene where you shoved your anger on his broken bones, it made me want to whistle.  While many enjoyed the boss thrashing scene, I found the scenes where you bashed the sexual deviants more engaging.  I speak on behalf of many, who have gone through the silence of sexual abuse, be it a person of any gender, the real torment begins after the trauma and your scenes brought solace.  Society, Rules, Boundaries lets people suffer - be it of any age or creed or caste. Pain doesn't have a caste or a religion. But when you beat up the wrong-doer in the bus my heart pounded and I was scared. You know these lady bullies in schools who are do-gooders but are loud, you reminded me of them. You a...

  They stifle us with sections of caste.  They tighten the noose with a glorious past.  Then they make a dish of your choice.  And slowly hush your voice.  They give us things we don't need.  When we get accustomed they remind us of our greed.  We are stifled by their demands.  We are haunted by their commands.  Loosen the tie.  Let us fly.  We will come back.  With wings in our bagpack.

An early morning discussion with my family and friends about how life was took me back to the memory lane when our weekends was about events and adding value to life by doing some meaningful work or at least, we thought we did . We did not know of terms like "community building" "branding" and "coaching" but we were doing that, anyway.  One idea at a time.  In this blogpost, I am going to write about Ignite Hyderabad . We had done five volumes of it in Hyderabad. At NIFT, Madhapur, ISB Hyderabad, State Art Gallery (two volumes), and the then-newly born Lamakaan, Road no 1, Banjara Hills.  What is Ignite Hyderabad though? It was night of presentations where the heroes were people amidst you and me: yes, ordinary citizens who did extraordinary work.  Ignite started in Seattle and Ravi, my classmate from Bhartiya Vidya Bhavans, formed a team to pursue a chapter in Hyderabad in 2010 . The organising team was a bunch of nine, including me; each, an emerging sp...

Bachieanna was the model child for all of us in the family: good at studies, intelligent, kind, fun to be around and most importantly, humble with a strong moral compass. As we grew up, I still remember getting irked when he was compared to the actor Abbas of Prema Desam. Bachieanna even knew the lyrics of the famed song: Mustafa Mustafa. Argh!  My aunts and mother would circle around him in my Ammamma's home and ask him to sing and applaud, leaving the rest of us red-faced. Bachieanna enjoyed this adulation as much as he enjoyed fighting over the last bite when Ammamma fed us sambar rice and beans. Normally, none of us would eat it but when Ammamma fed it, it became sumptuous. However, I remained the undisputed champion of the last bite!  Growing up, often, we gyrated to Hrithik's dance numbers. Bachieanna watched Kaho Na Pyar Hai seventeen times. Back then, it was a huge rage to watch it more than thrice. We extended our madness for dance to even participating in Boogie Woog...

An excolleague had once neatly explained to me, how we are taking feminism in the wrong sense and how it began for a focus on equality and basic rights and now has its own sects, which is fine. But with the remake of Pink as Vakeel Saab, there is choice to focus on entitled feminism. Why entitled? Take the premise. Three women who go out late at night.... The entire sentence reeks with entitlement. Many women are not even allowed to step out. There itself lies in the entitlement.  Pink is a beautiful movie. It was also great for the careers of the women and the man involved.  But what about movies like Parched which ask for basic rights to still be looked at? The film neatly portrays the camaraderie of three battered women who are victims of Khap Panchayat in Rajasthan. In one scene a young bride, abused by the father-in-law, is asked to return only because that is the law for a married women. There are several such scenes like these which question the purpose and existence of...