The cover page illustration to this book gives a little reference to what we are about to unearth inside. A welcome first for Indian fictional publishing, this collection of short stories edited by Ruchir Joshi is what can be easily labelled as some of the first erotic writing to come out of South Asia, although I would still hold short of calling it the best. Most South Asian fiction writers skirt around the topic of eroticism in their writing. And so this book makes one feel squeamishly uncomfortable at first, but still ends up as a delightful read. But if you are hoping for some wet dreams when you finish this book, you can keep that thought aside. Let's proceed with the stories one by one:
1) The Wedding Night Or, Bachelor Boudoir 9 - The most explosive of the lot of stories, this story sets the tone for the rest of the writings. And it is no holds barred as it explores a night of wild sex amongst three people, a menage-a-trois. And it is set during that most common place ritual in the Indian context - a wedding. It's funny that none of the action is attributed to the newly married couple, rather it's their group of friends who indulge in it. The writing is unrestrained and the author Samit Basu crosses over the terrain from subtle erotica to titillation smoothly. Not for the faint hearted, all this talk of sex in dhotis and sarees. Sample this -
"'And if that doesn't seal the deal, nothing will.'
'What deal?'
'Hush. You're not supposed to know. Whisper.'
'What deal?'
'I fuck you, she watches. She fucks Debo, we watch. She wanted to do you, but I told her Debo was too big for me.'
Now I was definitely awake. The heartbreak confirmed it. 'Where is she?'
'There, by the window. Didn't you see her? She was jilling off like a madwoman when you went down on me.'
I look, and there, crumpled up under the window in a heap, lies Sreemoyee. Her sari's off, wrapped loosely around her legs, and in the shadows I can see her silhouette; small, perfect bare breasts, slender arms splayed out on the floor, clouds of tangled hair, the hint of her beautiful face."
2) Tourists - A fantasy tale, this one starts off with the slangest of all Bambaiyya-Hindi abuses - "Arrey bhonsadi ke madarchod sala halkat ullu ke patthe". Set in Bollywood kingdom, Sahir Khan (easily referenced from our ver own King Khan) and Paolomi, a small time assistant on the sets are transported like through a time machine to a household in Andaman and Nicobar Islands from the 1970s. And they have their wildest sex in the lush holiday destination from the 70s. Written by Paromita Vohra with just a hint of subtlety, its probably any woman's fantasy to be lost in a time and place with just their favorite movie star for consumption. Vohra clearly writes for the female reader here.
3) Heavenly Ornaments - Set in a conservative Moslem family in Karachi, Pakistan, this is one of the most touching stories of the lot. Written by Sheba Karim , this story is about a little girl’s introduction to pleasure and fear, to tenderness and humiliation, through her life in her grandmother’s family. The young heroine of this story Bina is just reaching the teenage when she begins exploring her sexuality. The temporary absence of parental protection in Bina’s life leaves her defenceless against the real, but once it has impinged on her childhood world, she has to surrender herself to the “dark waves” of the Arabian Sea.
4) Confessions - This was probably the story which I disliked the most in the entire lot. And this was not really because of the story, but because of the style of writing. There were way too many side notes. At the end of each page there were two-three side notes, which really diverted my attention from the main story. Maybe it was just me, but Abeer Hoque, the author, can explore some simpler writing styles.
5) The Advocate - Set in rural India, this tale evoked an 'Ishqiya' or 'Omkara' kind of landscape in my mind. Ripe raw material for Vishal Bharadwaj to set his next rural sexcapade in. Written in a rather edgy style by Sonia Jabbar, it narrates the sexual fantasies of an advocate and his newly employed assistant as they explore their own friendship. To the point, where they end up sharing the same lay on the same night. The story also brings forward the sexist and casteist machinations of rural India, where being a woman and that too from a different caste would most probably have men from the other castes leering at you with evil intentions.
6) The Cat - The only gay story of the lot, this is a short story which narrates how the sex has fizzled out of a long-term, steady gay relationship. The partners then need some out-of-town guests and a cat to revive their sex life. Written by Niven Govinden, my only gripe with this story was that the sex was very fleeting. It was almost as if the author chickened out of narrating the act.
7) Love's Sunset by Kamila Shamsie is an evocative tale, at times it seems too cloying romantically, but it is engaging nonetheless. I loved the metaphorical connection that the author made between Love and Sunset. In the end, when the lead characters in the story move to Alaska where for months together there is no sunset, the love disappears from their lives.
8) Swimming Pool - Authored by Rana Dasgupta, this story has a very Gus Van Sant - Elephant, or My Own Private Idaho - feel to it. Extremely bohemian, this is a tale definitely for the silver screen. A drugged out musician Boris, meets an equally drugged out girl Lara, while travelling on a concert tour to LA along with his muse and companion friend, Irakli. The combination of sex, drugs and the swimming pool brings forward a very satisfying climax to the story and its characters.
9) The Delicate Predicament of Eunice De Silva - Tishani Doshi concocts a very likeable bevy of characters in this story. Eunice De Silva is a matronly, unshapely, almost 40-yr old virgin. How she begins an affair with a married man, who makes her do all those things that she had only read about is what forms the crux of this story. The funniest part is when, in a long-distance train while travelling to meet her mother, they exchange a host of sexual SMSes, and finally Eunice masturbates herself for the first time while in the train - under the tutorship of her lover. All the while, she faces a host of ethical and moral dilemmas, and thus the title of the story.
10) Missing Person Last Seen - Set in the immediate times post 9/11 in New York by the author Jeet Thayil, this is another touching story. Despair is the colour of the air that the characters in this story breathe. The sex is incidental, not really the main focus of the story, and is a result of mind games played languorously in a coffee shop. Well paced, and well structured, I should say.
11) The First Time - Written by Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan, this is probably a tale which most urban, middle class Indian youth can associate themselves with. Having lived under strict supervision for most of their teenage years, an average sampling of this crowd would make you realize that most of them lose their virginity only when they start living on their own. Which in most cases would begin only after marriage. Which would mean that mostly guys and girls belonging to this crowd would lose their virginity only to their respective partners. Which is not such a bad thing after all. In the very few cases, that people do start living on their own before marriage (mostly because of their job locations), they do want to lose their virginity before their marriage. But by that time, they have been so supervised their whole lives, that they can't do a good job of flirting up members from the opposite sex for that purpose. It is quite difficult for all things to fall into place for that momentous occasion to occur. And when it does, it does quite end up as how this story ends up.
12) The Quilt - The sidenote by the title reads thus "With apologies to Ismat Chugtai. I hope she would have been amused". Never having read Ismat Chughtai myself, I had a hint at the start itself that I am reading into unknown territories. Interesting premise here - lesbians making love while critiquing and deconstructing Ismat aapa's "Lihaaf" (Urdu, which in English translates as "Quilt"). But it didn't work for me, primarily because I had no idea about Lihaaf or any other Ismat works. Also because there were way too many labias, vulvas, clitorises and vaginas for my taste. Parvati Sharma's writing was pornographic to the extent of being cringe-inducing. Or maybe it was just my uptight self.
13) Arles - This last story is authored by the editor of this collection, Ruchir Joshi. This one is straightforwardly hot and has an almost Nancy Meyer's 'It's Complicated' kind of feel to it. Not that the story is any complicated, it's just too brattishly sexy. With the lead character in the story just named as D, and her fetish for strange types of lingerie, the story is just waiting to be shot into a short movie. Strong characterization and witty one-liners make this story very interesting.
So that's it - 13 different takes on sexuality and erotica from the land of Kamasutra. The stories did influence me to try my own hand at some sexual writing, but it is too amateurish an effort to be even acknowledged. While the book is not top-notch sexual tales from India, it is surely worth a read, and worth repeating - a welcome "first". Looking forward to more such collections with more inclusive kinds of sexual tales in the future.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Work in progress...
Working on a story of the love and longing involved in a long distance relationship...can't think of how to proceed forward...suggestions are welcome!
Happy Anniversary
It's been 65 months since you went down on your right knee at Bandra Bandstand and proposed and I embarassedly, gleefully, nervously said yes. Things haven't changed much since then. We looked for a place to fuck at the end of that evening. We are still looking for a place to fuck at the end of many more evenings. More often than not, without success. Thankfully, God gave us hands. But I've been alone with my hands for so long, that I don't know what my cock will do when confronted again with the daunting task of the actual physical act. I hope God has a plan for us, a plan which involves love, in its physical connotation. I am pretty secure about the emotional part of it. Pretty soon, we will be again faced with the problem of long distances between us as well. And that will push the timelines for the jobs undertaken by our hands by some more months. I hope some more months only, it is. Happy anniversary again. You know, I love you, I don't need to repeat it. But it is the season of love. So it doesn't hurt repeating. Let's try and follow it up with the real act.
Happy Anniversary
It's been 65 months since you went down on your right knee at Bandra Bandstand and proposed and I embarassedly, gleefully, nervously said yes. Things haven't changed much since then. We looked for a place to fuck at the end of that evening. We are still looking for a place to fuck at the end of many more evenings. More often than not, without success. Thankfully, God gave us hands. But I've been alone with my hands for so long, that I don't know what my cock will do when confronted again with the daunting task of the actual physical act. I hope God has a plan for us, a plan which involves love, in its physical connotation. I am pretty secure about the emotional part of it. Pretty soon, we will be again faced with the problem of long distances between us as well. And that will push the timelines for the jobs undertaken by our hands by some more months. I hope some more months only, it is. Happy anniversary again. You know, I love you, I don't need to repeat it. But it is the season of love. So it doesn't hurt repeating. Let's try and follow it up with the real act.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
From the train
I am writing this note in the train. I have nothing better to do to kill time. I have been up from 6 am. It's 7.05 am now. I have to kill time until 5 in the evening, when we are scheduled to reach Mumbai. I am lying down in my side upper berth. There is a middle aged lady and a gentleman below my berth discussing the rentals in Mumbai. Both businesspersons, i presume. You meet all kinds of ppl in the train. It is fun at times. This lady who I referred to earlier, had started chatting with me yesterday evening. Extremely chatty, and blower-of-her-own-trumpet types. I got so bored of her telling me abt the greatness of her daughter and herself, that I immersed myself in my book to avoid talking to her. But too much, I say. She is again starting off on that 'I love where I stay, it's right besides the mountains'. I know where she stays, it's hardly that cool over there. But no, our lady has to tell the entire world abt how hot it is inside the AC compartment as compared to the 'fresh' air she gets in her apartment. Also she mentioned yesterday how she helped a needy guy. Does it help to be helpful when you take credit for it later? Or do we belong to a generation where we need to sell everything we do? More abt that later. Now they are discussing their kids, and this is the part i hate most abt our Indian culture. There is really nothing called 'personal' in our world. I hate it when my relatives and other elders are intrusive abt my personal stuff. But I guess, it's comes with the territory. So the gentleman has a 13 yr old daughter, and he says she is already 5'6” in height. So he is scared if she grows on to be taller say 5'8” or even more, then where will he get a suitably tall alliance for her. Isn't it ridiculous? You are wishing that your daughter doesn't grow anymore taller! Are weddings, child-births and funerals the only thing that matter in this part of the world? I have to find out the reason for this. Why is our culture so fixated on weddings? Why is it an omnipresent topic in every conversation? Maybe it is from a culture where getting married means the only legal way to fuck, and the entire population in the village realizes that the sooner we give two people that right, the better. Maybe also because marriage then leads to child birth, and having kids around them is a good pastime for the village elders. It gives them something to be busy, rather than sitting around doing nothing in their post retirement days. Also the fixation on weddings might be coming from ages ago when weddings were the only means of entertainment in a village. Weddings and festivals would be the only times when an entire village or tribe or clan would come together to celebrate and have fun. And hence an entire community of elders would conspire to get two of them wedded, just so that there can be further celebrations.
So now I got down with the intention of sitting on my assigned seat and continuing with my reading. But what do I find? The same elderly gentleman who is sitting on my seat, is not even offering to get up now that the person who owns the seat is there. I stuck around for a while near him to make him realize that it was my seat, and he ought to get up, and go back to his allotted seat, no matter how inconvenient it were to him. But being Indians, we aren't obliged to follow basic norms of civility. So we spit, urinate, wash, throw garbage everything out in the open, and rules of decency are not really meant for us. Anyways, I think I will have to tell this man to get up from my seat.
So now I got down with the intention of sitting on my assigned seat and continuing with my reading. But what do I find? The same elderly gentleman who is sitting on my seat, is not even offering to get up now that the person who owns the seat is there. I stuck around for a while near him to make him realize that it was my seat, and he ought to get up, and go back to his allotted seat, no matter how inconvenient it were to him. But being Indians, we aren't obliged to follow basic norms of civility. So we spit, urinate, wash, throw garbage everything out in the open, and rules of decency are not really meant for us. Anyways, I think I will have to tell this man to get up from my seat.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
2 new things I learnt today
2 items I came across today, which I thought I should record for my own reference later -
1) Michael Lucas's sculpture - 'The Menger Sponge level 3'
Check out this pic (Source).
So that made me look up what is the Menger Sponge? You can read more abt it here.
2) One of my friends updated his facebook status to the following -
THE FACEBOOK TRICK: press up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b, a, Enter key, then right click and then press up and down and magic circles will appear. The only way to get rid of them are to log off or refresh the page.
I tried it out on Facebook and it really worked and was perplexed why that was so. That is when I learnt from one of my friends that it's the konami code, from an old video game. You can read more about the Konami code here.
1) Michael Lucas's sculpture - 'The Menger Sponge level 3'
Check out this pic (Source).
So that made me look up what is the Menger Sponge? You can read more abt it here.
2) One of my friends updated his facebook status to the following -
THE FACEBOOK TRICK: press up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b, a, Enter key, then right click and then press up and down and magic circles will appear. The only way to get rid of them are to log off or refresh the page.
I tried it out on Facebook and it really worked and was perplexed why that was so. That is when I learnt from one of my friends that it's the konami code, from an old video game. You can read more about the Konami code here.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Hampi
I recently had to write about one of my travel destinations for my office magazines. Reproducing it here on the blog as well...
Hampi – A UNESCO World Hertiage Site
Last year I travelled to Hampi during the winter and unarguably had one of the most culturally enlightening trips of my life. Hampi is a village in northern Karnataka state, India. It was the 14th-mid 15th century capital of the Vijayanagara empire and is the world's largest living UNESCO heritage site.
The rickshaw ride from Hospet train station will give you hints very early on what’s in store - a temple here, a large rock there. But nothing prepares you for what you see in Hampi - gigantic boulders arranged as if with geometric precision, ancient water ways and of course the ruins of temples and palaces, harking back to a magical kingdom that your grandma's stories always began with. By day two of my stay in Hampi, on a ride back to my hotel on a deserted road, I could swear I saw one of those couples etched in stone on a nearby temple scampering across the road.
Though the temple ruins spread across a 26 square kilometre areas date back to the 14 century Vijayanagar empire, the mythology goes back to Lord Shiva and the monkey kingdom of Kishkinda , that features in the Ramayana.
Though nothing – not even the pictures – can put into perspective the sheer grandeur of it all, I am sharing some images below to give an idea of what you can expect when in Hampi.
1) Virupaksha temple
The Virupaksha temple is located at the foot of the hill called Hemakuta hill is the core of the village of Hampi. The temple, often called Pampapathi temple, is the most sacred of the temples of this place. The temple contains the shrines of Lord Shiva, Pampa and Bhuvaneshwari. We were witness to even a small marriage ceremony in the temple precincts when we visited there.
2) Hampi Bazaar
Starting at the entrance of the temple is Virupaksha Bazaar or market, largest of the many bazaars of Vijayanagara. Each major Temple complex had its own bazaar around which a township developed. This is the only bazaar around which a township of a sort still exists. Domingo Paes said of Hampi bazaar in 1520: "There is a very beautiful street of very beautiful houses with balconies and arcades, in which are sheltered the pilgrims that come to the temple"
3) Tribals having their stores and living across Hampi Bazaar
Some structures from Hampi bazaar still survive to this day, but many have been taken over by squatters or hawkers. And, inside a 16th century colonnaded arcade, one is likely to find a tea shop or a telephone booth. Here we see a group of tribal artisans living within the Hampi bazaar
4) Achyutraya temple – View from the Hemakuta hills
Achyutaraya Temple is a large complex built by an officer of the King Achyutaraya, Salakaraju Tirumaladeva.
Following is a view of the temple complex from Hemakuta hills at night time
5) Ugra Narasimha
This image of Lakshmi-Narasimha, popularly called Ugranarasimha, meaning Narasimha of terrifying countenance. Originally, the icon bore a smaller image of Lakshmi sitting on his lap, which fell off due to an act of vandalism and is now housed in the ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) museum in Hampi. Narasimha with an articulately chiseled and well delineated mane and large bulging eyes and broad chest still retains His awesome charm. He is seated on the coils of the snake Adisesha, who rises behind him with seven hoods, which serve as a canopy.
6) Vitthala temple
Any number of words would fail to do justice to this wonderful monument dedicated to Lord Vitthala or Lord Vishnu. Legend has it that Lord Vishnu found it too grand to live in and thus returned to his own humble home. The Vitthala temple respresents the highest watermark of the Vijayanagara style of art and architecture. Vitthala is the Krishna aspect of Lord Vishnu. The cult of Vitthala or Vithoba, originates from Pandharpur in Southern Maharashtra. Although associated today with Krishna, Vitthala was worshipped in pre-Vijayanagara times as a folk god of cattle
7) Stone Chariot
The Stone Chariot is situated inside the Vitthala temple complex. By far, this is the most amazing monument in Hampi and is often portrayed as the icon for Hampi. Stone chariot has stone wheels which some believe actually rotate. The chariot is a miniature temple. It resembles the temple chariots or rathas in which the idols of the temple are taken out on a traditional procession.
8) Lotus Mahal or Kamal Mahal
This two storied palace, is one of the finest examples of Indo-Islamic architecture, with its typically Hindu base and Islamic superstructure. The palace has nine pyramidal cupolas or shikharas on the second story of which the central one is the largest. The patterns on the arches are typically Islamic in influence.
9) Hazaara Raama temple
This temple for Lord Rama is popularly called "Hazara Rama Temple" because of the large number of Ramayana panels on the walls. This temple is believed to have been the private place of worship of the Royal family. The Ramayana epic is carved in detail. Incidents in the story like Dasaratha performing a sacrifice to beget sons, the birth of Rama, his exile into the forest, the abduction of Sita and the ultimate fight between Rama and Ravana are all carved in a vivid manner. In these panels, the story of Rama and through it the triumph of good over evil is brought out.
Hampi – A UNESCO World Hertiage Site
Last year I travelled to Hampi during the winter and unarguably had one of the most culturally enlightening trips of my life. Hampi is a village in northern Karnataka state, India. It was the 14th-mid 15th century capital of the Vijayanagara empire and is the world's largest living UNESCO heritage site.
The rickshaw ride from Hospet train station will give you hints very early on what’s in store - a temple here, a large rock there. But nothing prepares you for what you see in Hampi - gigantic boulders arranged as if with geometric precision, ancient water ways and of course the ruins of temples and palaces, harking back to a magical kingdom that your grandma's stories always began with. By day two of my stay in Hampi, on a ride back to my hotel on a deserted road, I could swear I saw one of those couples etched in stone on a nearby temple scampering across the road.
Though the temple ruins spread across a 26 square kilometre areas date back to the 14 century Vijayanagar empire, the mythology goes back to Lord Shiva and the monkey kingdom of Kishkinda , that features in the Ramayana.
Though nothing – not even the pictures – can put into perspective the sheer grandeur of it all, I am sharing some images below to give an idea of what you can expect when in Hampi.
1) Virupaksha temple
The Virupaksha temple is located at the foot of the hill called Hemakuta hill is the core of the village of Hampi. The temple, often called Pampapathi temple, is the most sacred of the temples of this place. The temple contains the shrines of Lord Shiva, Pampa and Bhuvaneshwari. We were witness to even a small marriage ceremony in the temple precincts when we visited there.
2) Hampi Bazaar
Starting at the entrance of the temple is Virupaksha Bazaar or market, largest of the many bazaars of Vijayanagara. Each major Temple complex had its own bazaar around which a township developed. This is the only bazaar around which a township of a sort still exists. Domingo Paes said of Hampi bazaar in 1520: "There is a very beautiful street of very beautiful houses with balconies and arcades, in which are sheltered the pilgrims that come to the temple"
3) Tribals having their stores and living across Hampi Bazaar
Some structures from Hampi bazaar still survive to this day, but many have been taken over by squatters or hawkers. And, inside a 16th century colonnaded arcade, one is likely to find a tea shop or a telephone booth. Here we see a group of tribal artisans living within the Hampi bazaar
4) Achyutraya temple – View from the Hemakuta hills
Achyutaraya Temple is a large complex built by an officer of the King Achyutaraya, Salakaraju Tirumaladeva.
Following is a view of the temple complex from Hemakuta hills at night time
5) Ugra Narasimha
This image of Lakshmi-Narasimha, popularly called Ugranarasimha, meaning Narasimha of terrifying countenance. Originally, the icon bore a smaller image of Lakshmi sitting on his lap, which fell off due to an act of vandalism and is now housed in the ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) museum in Hampi. Narasimha with an articulately chiseled and well delineated mane and large bulging eyes and broad chest still retains His awesome charm. He is seated on the coils of the snake Adisesha, who rises behind him with seven hoods, which serve as a canopy.
6) Vitthala temple
Any number of words would fail to do justice to this wonderful monument dedicated to Lord Vitthala or Lord Vishnu. Legend has it that Lord Vishnu found it too grand to live in and thus returned to his own humble home. The Vitthala temple respresents the highest watermark of the Vijayanagara style of art and architecture. Vitthala is the Krishna aspect of Lord Vishnu. The cult of Vitthala or Vithoba, originates from Pandharpur in Southern Maharashtra. Although associated today with Krishna, Vitthala was worshipped in pre-Vijayanagara times as a folk god of cattle
7) Stone Chariot
The Stone Chariot is situated inside the Vitthala temple complex. By far, this is the most amazing monument in Hampi and is often portrayed as the icon for Hampi. Stone chariot has stone wheels which some believe actually rotate. The chariot is a miniature temple. It resembles the temple chariots or rathas in which the idols of the temple are taken out on a traditional procession.
8) Lotus Mahal or Kamal Mahal
This two storied palace, is one of the finest examples of Indo-Islamic architecture, with its typically Hindu base and Islamic superstructure. The palace has nine pyramidal cupolas or shikharas on the second story of which the central one is the largest. The patterns on the arches are typically Islamic in influence.
9) Hazaara Raama temple
This temple for Lord Rama is popularly called "Hazara Rama Temple" because of the large number of Ramayana panels on the walls. This temple is believed to have been the private place of worship of the Royal family. The Ramayana epic is carved in detail. Incidents in the story like Dasaratha performing a sacrifice to beget sons, the birth of Rama, his exile into the forest, the abduction of Sita and the ultimate fight between Rama and Ravana are all carved in a vivid manner. In these panels, the story of Rama and through it the triumph of good over evil is brought out.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Kaminey, just good.
If there is anything other producers can learn from Vishal Bharadwaj and the production house UTV motion pictures, it is how to market your movie well. With all the tricks in the book and some out of the box, from expected Shahid-Priyanka romance rumors to pandering to the artsy school of Vishal's followers, the makers got the marketing machinations right. The buzz surrounding the movie in the week upto its release was so great that one and all were awaiting the release of the movie with bated breath. And then God disposed. The swines flew over the Kaminey's nest, and movie halls and multiplexes in Mumbai and Pune were shutdown by the panic stricken city corporations on the same weekend that Kaminey was to be released. Any producer worth his salt will be able to easily rattle off that Mumbai and Pune constitute about 40-50% of any Hindi movie's opening weekend earnings in India. Rumors suggest that the movie might have easily lost about 5-6 crores because it was not showing in these 2 cities in the first 3 days of its release in India. By Monday when the movie released in Mumbai, the reviewers had mostly given the movie positive reviews, but they had also let out considerable plot lines, and the pirates were out with their copies. In short, the movie lost considerable amount of money, and if it were not for the viruses, it could very well have been a runaway hit.
So it was with huge expectations that I set off to see Kaminey after a long working Monday. Even after reaching the movie hall a good 1.5 hrs early to book the tickets, we got tickets just 4 rows away from the screen. And by the time we walked into the theater it was houseful, on a 9.30 pm show on a rainy Monday. Just goes on to show that probably the virus refused to kill the hype created by the movie.
And then the movie starts. And from there onwards begins the downward spiral. Sure the movie is good, but is it great? Na, I beg to differ.
The movie starts well. An excellent plot. Twin brothers from Mumbai slums getting separated during their school days. As expected they are as different as chalk and cheese, with one added twist. One lisps (says 'f' in place of 's'), one stammers. They haven't been in touch with each other for the past 3 years, and then things turn turtle in a span of 24 hrs and they are forced to come to terms with each other. The first 20-25 minutes of the movie is power packed, and if you lose attention, you will be forced to seek clarifications from nearby seats. The movie introduces a slew of characters, all of them more kamina than the other, and that's why the title.
I won't dwell into the storyline. Just suffice it to say that goodie-boy Guddu (the stammering one) needs a huge amount of money to keep his same night wedded Maharashtrian wife Sweety (the Maharashtrian bit is important in the plotline), for which he needs help from cunning-boy Charlie (the lisping one), who quite by accident chances himself upon an illegal drug consignment and has the entire Mumbai underworld and the police behind him. Everyone has a gun, and no one is afraid it fire it. So there are people killing people in every other scene, and you have to keep pace to remember who was the last one killed and by whom. Which is all good, but by the end of the movie, when there are still at least a dozen more characters left who are still ready to be as kamina as it can get, it begins to weigh down on your nerves. There are just too many characters. Except for Shahid, Priyanka and Amol Gupte, there is less screen space for the the director to develop the rest of the characters. They just don't stay enough with you.
Add to that the non-linear writing and the very unpredictable twists and turns. Which is again not bad at all. It reminds you of Quentin Tarantino's style of movie making. And it would come as a shocker to the Bollywood audience, who are used to being treated as an unintelligible species for most of their movie watching lives. So all this is good, but somehow by the time you reach the end of the movie, there has been so many twists and turns that VB had to resort to a forced wrap-up. And that is where probably my biggest disappointment with the movie is. All the characters in the movie indulge in a climactic gang-war which is hugely unconvincing and unintentionally funny at times. It reminds you of the Priyadarshan type of slapstick movies, where in the end everyone ends up dishooming each other. If Priyan does it, the critics pan him. If VB does it, the critics praise him. Partial, I say.
The film's dialogue is top-notch; VB has written some dark, humorous lines. Take the example of the one of the last scenes where Guddu is explaining to Charlie how much he loves his brand new wife and would want Charlie's drug consignment of coke to keep his wife, and in Charlie retaliates "Toh kya meri kokh ujadega?" (kokh-coke kinda analogy)
The movies boasts of stellar performances from all of its lead actors. Shahid Kapur has put on easily the best performance of his life, and in his varied roles as Charlie and Guddu, he brings an amazing range of emotions from innocence to raw sexuality to the table. It was high time he broke away from his chocolate-boy image, and Kaminey was just the kind of movie that would help him move further in an industry which is increasingly looking for younger actors to take the place of its ageing superstar Khans. Priyanka Chopra has another hit and a gem of a movie in her kitty after 2 consecutive hits - 'Dostana' and 'Fashion'. In her role as the feisty and aggressive Marathi mulgi, she initiates sex and abuses her goon of a brother - all in fluent Marathi. Amongst the slew of supporting characters, Amole Gupte stands tall as the 'Jai Maharashtra' chanting Bhope bhau. But it is easy to see him getting slotted in similar kinda roles just like Manoj Bajpai after 'Satya'.
VB again comes across as a very very good music director, and all the songs in the movie are excellent. 'Dhan Te Nan' will probably remain an eternal club favorite, just like 'Beedi' will remain an eternal jhatka-licious favorite from his previous 'Omkara'. And he does a brilliant job incorporating two brilliant RD Burman numbers in the soundtrack - 'Duniya mein logon ko dhoka kabhi ho jaata hai' & 'Do lafzon ki hai'.
In all a good movie, but it comes nowhere close to VB's previous good movies like 'Omkara', 'Maqbool' and even the kiddie movie, 'Makdee'. His last movie, 'The Blue Umbrella', which I didn't watch, also got good reviews. So it was but natural to expect a lot from Kaminey. It's one thing to deliver an excellent take on a solid Shakespearean tale, or a good Ruskin Bond story; its another to pick a script, write a screenplay, and direct it from scratch. Tough ask. The movie doesn't fail or disappoint completely, but it doesn't rise upto all its expectations. If you tone down your expectations, then Kaminey is quite awfome.
So it was with huge expectations that I set off to see Kaminey after a long working Monday. Even after reaching the movie hall a good 1.5 hrs early to book the tickets, we got tickets just 4 rows away from the screen. And by the time we walked into the theater it was houseful, on a 9.30 pm show on a rainy Monday. Just goes on to show that probably the virus refused to kill the hype created by the movie.
And then the movie starts. And from there onwards begins the downward spiral. Sure the movie is good, but is it great? Na, I beg to differ.
The movie starts well. An excellent plot. Twin brothers from Mumbai slums getting separated during their school days. As expected they are as different as chalk and cheese, with one added twist. One lisps (says 'f' in place of 's'), one stammers. They haven't been in touch with each other for the past 3 years, and then things turn turtle in a span of 24 hrs and they are forced to come to terms with each other. The first 20-25 minutes of the movie is power packed, and if you lose attention, you will be forced to seek clarifications from nearby seats. The movie introduces a slew of characters, all of them more kamina than the other, and that's why the title.
I won't dwell into the storyline. Just suffice it to say that goodie-boy Guddu (the stammering one) needs a huge amount of money to keep his same night wedded Maharashtrian wife Sweety (the Maharashtrian bit is important in the plotline), for which he needs help from cunning-boy Charlie (the lisping one), who quite by accident chances himself upon an illegal drug consignment and has the entire Mumbai underworld and the police behind him. Everyone has a gun, and no one is afraid it fire it. So there are people killing people in every other scene, and you have to keep pace to remember who was the last one killed and by whom. Which is all good, but by the end of the movie, when there are still at least a dozen more characters left who are still ready to be as kamina as it can get, it begins to weigh down on your nerves. There are just too many characters. Except for Shahid, Priyanka and Amol Gupte, there is less screen space for the the director to develop the rest of the characters. They just don't stay enough with you.
Add to that the non-linear writing and the very unpredictable twists and turns. Which is again not bad at all. It reminds you of Quentin Tarantino's style of movie making. And it would come as a shocker to the Bollywood audience, who are used to being treated as an unintelligible species for most of their movie watching lives. So all this is good, but somehow by the time you reach the end of the movie, there has been so many twists and turns that VB had to resort to a forced wrap-up. And that is where probably my biggest disappointment with the movie is. All the characters in the movie indulge in a climactic gang-war which is hugely unconvincing and unintentionally funny at times. It reminds you of the Priyadarshan type of slapstick movies, where in the end everyone ends up dishooming each other. If Priyan does it, the critics pan him. If VB does it, the critics praise him. Partial, I say.
The film's dialogue is top-notch; VB has written some dark, humorous lines. Take the example of the one of the last scenes where Guddu is explaining to Charlie how much he loves his brand new wife and would want Charlie's drug consignment of coke to keep his wife, and in Charlie retaliates "Toh kya meri kokh ujadega?" (kokh-coke kinda analogy)
The movies boasts of stellar performances from all of its lead actors. Shahid Kapur has put on easily the best performance of his life, and in his varied roles as Charlie and Guddu, he brings an amazing range of emotions from innocence to raw sexuality to the table. It was high time he broke away from his chocolate-boy image, and Kaminey was just the kind of movie that would help him move further in an industry which is increasingly looking for younger actors to take the place of its ageing superstar Khans. Priyanka Chopra has another hit and a gem of a movie in her kitty after 2 consecutive hits - 'Dostana' and 'Fashion'. In her role as the feisty and aggressive Marathi mulgi, she initiates sex and abuses her goon of a brother - all in fluent Marathi. Amongst the slew of supporting characters, Amole Gupte stands tall as the 'Jai Maharashtra' chanting Bhope bhau. But it is easy to see him getting slotted in similar kinda roles just like Manoj Bajpai after 'Satya'.
VB again comes across as a very very good music director, and all the songs in the movie are excellent. 'Dhan Te Nan' will probably remain an eternal club favorite, just like 'Beedi' will remain an eternal jhatka-licious favorite from his previous 'Omkara'. And he does a brilliant job incorporating two brilliant RD Burman numbers in the soundtrack - 'Duniya mein logon ko dhoka kabhi ho jaata hai' & 'Do lafzon ki hai'.
In all a good movie, but it comes nowhere close to VB's previous good movies like 'Omkara', 'Maqbool' and even the kiddie movie, 'Makdee'. His last movie, 'The Blue Umbrella', which I didn't watch, also got good reviews. So it was but natural to expect a lot from Kaminey. It's one thing to deliver an excellent take on a solid Shakespearean tale, or a good Ruskin Bond story; its another to pick a script, write a screenplay, and direct it from scratch. Tough ask. The movie doesn't fail or disappoint completely, but it doesn't rise upto all its expectations. If you tone down your expectations, then Kaminey is quite awfome.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Ignite and Pecha Kucha style presentations
We might all have sat through boring presentations in our academic and professional life where the talkative speaker just goes beating around the bush and takes a good 10-15 minutes to arrive at the point. I know I have and have also dozed through many of such presentations. In this age of real-time instant gratification, how can corporate presentations be left behind? So welcome to the new world of presentations, a new style that is creating a buzz around the world - present all your ideas in a slotted time of 5-10 minutes in 20-25 slides or less. This brainwave is said to have started first from the Pecha Kucha style of presentations. In Japanese, Pecha Kucha stands for "chit chat" and the aim is to come to the point as quickly as if you were chit chatting with a friend. Recently Mumbai hosted its first Pecha Kucha night and the newspapers were abuzz with news about the presenters and their topics from that night. The presenters on Pecha Kucha night in Mumbai were mostly from the fields of architecture or design.
Taking a cue from this style of presentation, the IT and business world are also fast moving to adopt a style of brisk paced presentations. "Ignite" nights are being held all over the world and sometime in November 2008 and January 2009, Bangalore held its first two nights of Ignite presentations. The format for the Ignite style of presentations is to present your ideas in 20 slides, at the speed of 15 seconds per slide. That would give each presenter 5 minutes altogether to present their ideas. The presenters for the Bangalore Ignite night spoke about topics very diverse from wildlife to mountain biking. There was not a specified range of areas where the speaker had to limit himself to. The Ignite nights in Bangalore have been a huge success and were followed by Ignite nights in Pune, and there are some networking groups looking to bring Ignite to Mumbai next.
Our firm too started on a similar presentation pattern lately, and to introduce the firm members as to how to get used to a brisk presentation style, we held our first session of 'Lightning talks' similar to the Ignite format yesterday. The firm members had to pool in with their topics and an abstract by a particular date, out of which 10 topics were selected for presentation yesterday. I was one of the selected participants and I spoke on the following topic "Decoding Indian General Elections 2009". Since we were presenting from Mumbai for a worldwide audience and video conferencing options are not that trustworthy given bandwidth issues, we decided to record a video with the presentation playing by the side and send it across for the conference yesterday. Here is a link to the video and here is a link to my presentation (Pls ignore the weird master slide formatting differences coming up on the slides, I didn't have enough time to work on those). Play both of them side by side, and you can see the slides rotating every 15 seconds with the audio output playing simultaneously. I had fun presenting my first Ignite style presentation, let me know what you think.
Taking a cue from this style of presentation, the IT and business world are also fast moving to adopt a style of brisk paced presentations. "Ignite" nights are being held all over the world and sometime in November 2008 and January 2009, Bangalore held its first two nights of Ignite presentations. The format for the Ignite style of presentations is to present your ideas in 20 slides, at the speed of 15 seconds per slide. That would give each presenter 5 minutes altogether to present their ideas. The presenters for the Bangalore Ignite night spoke about topics very diverse from wildlife to mountain biking. There was not a specified range of areas where the speaker had to limit himself to. The Ignite nights in Bangalore have been a huge success and were followed by Ignite nights in Pune, and there are some networking groups looking to bring Ignite to Mumbai next.
Our firm too started on a similar presentation pattern lately, and to introduce the firm members as to how to get used to a brisk presentation style, we held our first session of 'Lightning talks' similar to the Ignite format yesterday. The firm members had to pool in with their topics and an abstract by a particular date, out of which 10 topics were selected for presentation yesterday. I was one of the selected participants and I spoke on the following topic "Decoding Indian General Elections 2009". Since we were presenting from Mumbai for a worldwide audience and video conferencing options are not that trustworthy given bandwidth issues, we decided to record a video with the presentation playing by the side and send it across for the conference yesterday. Here is a link to the video and here is a link to my presentation (Pls ignore the weird master slide formatting differences coming up on the slides, I didn't have enough time to work on those). Play both of them side by side, and you can see the slides rotating every 15 seconds with the audio output playing simultaneously. I had fun presenting my first Ignite style presentation, let me know what you think.
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