Dev. D

I don't remember waiting as eagerly for any movie as I did for Dev D. The first rushes were promising, the soundtrack like nothing I had heard before. Dev D was taking shape in my mind.

After a long wait, it was time for the release. I was discussing what to expect with P and I told him that I'm hoping to be hit by a monster. To see the monster come out of me and take form on the screen. I really was expecting to see a few things inside me to run naked there, unapologetically.

I planned to see it over the weekend but got lucky and went for the late night show.

The initial part seemed like a slow build-up for what I was promised. The flavor was different and while there were some stark moments, it was mostly tamed and within the frame. There was humor of nicely dried variety, but I had not gone to get humor. I was itching to see it break loose and expose all edges. It was only after Chanda walked in that the movie took off. Andy Warholesque sets and dexterous camera-work started painting the mood. But it was the soundtrack that added texture and richness to the movie, something that was found missing in the dialogues.

Delhi, in the lanes of Paharganj, looked bewitching and mysterious like never before.

On the whole,  I was a little disappointed. The movie was not inward-looking. Not enough(maybe intentionally so, to make it more palatable for everyone). It also needed some more depth, some theheraav. That's what I missed the most. 

Learning from the American presidential elections...

A lot of people around are following the American presidential elections. And even if you don't intend to, the amount of coverage that it gets, you end up catching bits and pieces anyway.
It's all over the place. On the web it is understandable, as most of the content that we follow is American. But on the Indian TV? The reason, they'd say, is US being the most influential nation on the planet, you need to know what's happening at the power-station. But I doubt that.
'Impacts your life, hence you should know' was never a good enough reason. Most of us Indians (read urban middle-class) are not much interested in our own general elections when they happen. It definitely affects us more.
So why are we listening to Palin trying to explain the role she's going to play in the administration, if McCain got elected?
The answer lies in understanding the way American presidential election gets staged.
It is nothing less than a great drama - replete with impressive actors with impressive oratory skills, great settings, one-on-one debates, showcasing of emotions and family values, catchy slogans, personal stories...
Economy, internal issues, foreign policy etc are all good.
But at the end of the day it is the entertainment quotient that will get you public involvement.
Sad, but true.

So what is the lesson for us, here in India?
'It affects you and hence you should...' or 'It's your duty' hasn't managed to get the middle class involved in the elections and vote. (There is a campaign by Tata tea currently on air, on the same plank)
How about a reality show? Get all the ministerial candidates from the major parties on a show. Let them speak, fight, crib, cry... and get the audience - the whole electorate in this case, to vote thru sms.
And for all you know, the very same people who can't take out time now, will pay, vote and feel rewarded by the experience.

Up Next....

Puneet just introduced me to Italo Calvino. I read a quote of Italo: 'Everything can change, but not the language that we carry inside us, like a world more exclusive and final than one's mother's womb...'
Sounds interesting. I should read him.

Rushdie says about Italo - 'Reading Calvino, you're constantly assailed by the notion that he is writing down what you have always known, except that you've never thought of it before.' ...
That is something people say about Rushdie.

I'm starting with Six Memos for the Next Millennium. Hope I find it.

I can write the saddest lines tonight...

Found this poem from Pablo Neruda...I remember the first time I had read him, I was almost stunned. The words flowed like a turbulent river through a jungle...I had to spend some time with the lines to grasp all that was being said... there was so much being thrown at me at once ...I was overwhelmed.

This one below is apt for the times...

-------------------------------------------

I can write the saddest lines tonight.

Write for example: ‘The night is fractured
and they shiver, blue, those stars, in the distance’

The night wind turns in the sky and sings.
I can write the saddest lines tonight.
I loved her, sometimes she loved me too.

On nights like these I held her in my arms.
I kissed her greatly under the infinite sky.

She loved me, sometimes I loved her too.
How could I not have loved her huge, still eyes.

I can write the saddest lines tonight.
To think I don’t have her, to feel I have lost her.

Hear the vast night, vaster without her.
Lines fall on the soul like dew on the grass.

What does it matter that I couldn’t keep her.
The night is fractured and she is not with me.

That is all. Someone sings far off. Far off,
my soul is not content to have lost her.

As though to reach her, my sight looks for her.
My heart looks for her: she is not with me


The same night whitens, in the same branches.
We, from that time, we are not the same.

I don’t love her, that’s certain, but how I loved her.
My voice tried to find the breeze to reach her.

Another’s kisses on her, like my kisses.
Her voice, her bright body, infinite eyes.

I don’t love her, that’s certain, but perhaps I love her.
Love is brief: forgetting lasts so long.

Since, on these nights, I held her in my arms,
my soul is not content to have lost her.

Though this is the last pain she will make me suffer,
and these are the last lines I will write for her.
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A potent name is a join-the-dots game...

I saw the cover of a book on a post somewhere:

Love Is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time

I like the title of the book. It will make me buy it.
I think potent names are ones that manage to capture numerous latent(and often disjointed) associations in one place. They are like join-the-dot games...incomplete and full of dots that you fill with your own associations. You join the dots and suddenly it's no more a title lying on a shelf...it is a story that has your memories and moments in it...it is personal.

I remember Puneet buying a book called 'Emergency kit of poems for strange times' without even checking it out... it turned out to be a regular compilation of poems. But I'm sure there must be many more Puneets around who would have bought the book by just looking at the title. And that is what a good name is capable of doing.

Going back to 'Love Is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time' , I read the review and it seems to be just as interesting as the title is.
So if anyone is planning to gift me a book, you know which one to gift.

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Seen the pug lately?

I have recently switched to Hutch and since then I have been struggling with it's bad network. Pretty amusing, since this brand was built on a memorable (and hugely popular) 'pug' campaign which was all about how the pug (network) follows you wherever you go.

Yesterday, while we were going back home, I got a couple of phone calls..but couldn't talk as the network kept coming and disappearing. I was pissed off.Standing there, a campaign idea came to my mind...
Imagine 20 second clips which just show how the pug is ill and has no more the energy to follow people around.

So you will have the first clip showing him just struggling to run, stopping every some time to catch a breath. The clip will end with just a line, nothing more:
The pug is not keeping well.






Another clip will show him lying on a couch, trying to stand but again struggling...message at the end:

The pug is not well.




It is said that a good idea is one that naturally gives birth to multiple ideas..the Hutch idea qualifies, it seems ;-)