It's difficult to explain how good this movie is and how much support it should get. But I'll try. Boy meets girl. They fall in love. They have problems between them. They get separated. Do they come together again? Cliched? Formulaic? We've seen tons of films like that. What more can be done? The prospect of watching a film with a premise like that didn't excite me at all. Band Baaja Baaraat , I smirked. Wedding planner... grrrr. It must be one of those love-shove-shaadi films from the relentless Yash Raj banner, I thought. Yash Raj makes love stories every year to keep up their brand image as peddlers of love stories. In the past, it met their commercial goals. They made different love stories. If something succeeded, they'd do it again and again and again in several other films with Rani Mukherjee, Shah Rukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Preity Zinta, sometimes different stars but with same lighting, same backgrounds, same fields, same houses in Australia or elsewhere...

Life is... weird, fascinating, fun, sad, painful, mysterious, simple and lots more, at different times or even all at the same time. That's been my experience. There's so much to learn about one's own self. Even that learning can be relevant or irrelevant depending on time. Similarly, everything is valid or invalid depending on time. I am not prompted by a desire to philosophise about a black hole out somewhere out there. This is about my life. There's enough here to investigate and understand-myself and others-with a little bit of help from others. My life is weird, fascinating, fun, sad, painful, mysterious, simple and lots more. Last night, I met my sibling. I found myself flying off the handle late into the night. It was only when my wife, who was trying to sleep in another room asked me a couple of simple questions that I became an observer, of myself. She asked me "Why are you shouting so loudly and attacking your sibling?". One moment I was mad a...

I woke up this morning and got down to making tea as usual. As I stood by the stove while the milk boiled, I noticed my fainter heart beat. It beat so softly as if afraid of disturbing others with its presence. Thud.. skip, thud... skip... thud... skip... thud... skip... That beat wasn't a stranger to me and it always came with another guest-fear. I noticed ma enter the kitchen as she made her way to the sink. I wished her "Good morning" and gave her a hug with feeling. She said "Thank you" awkwardly. It was not consistent with what we usually do with each other-we beat each other up with un-called for advice and suggestions. Fear has been a regular visitor at my doorsteps. I always put on a brave face, growl at her and shoo her away. But that's exactly what she wants to see. When I put on a brave face, she instantly realizes that I am afraid. Why else would I need to put on a face? Pleased, she laughs as I shoo her away, fully knowing that my actions are ...

Try holding dry sand in your palm Chances are that some of it will pass through your fingers. A day in my life seems like that sand. It comes and goes. I can't even say what I did the whole day. I felt busy... but I don't know what I did. Today started with me saying aloud-I need to write another piece for this blog. Then, wifey and me chatted. It may not have been the most pleasant of conversations but I felt fortunate to have such conversations with her. It's a blessing we can talk like that. That day, she had stayed back a little longer as she had already gotten late for work. As she stepped out for work, she reminded me that I ought to write. But I had other pressing things like checking accounts. Accounts for the production of a shoot always put me on a high alert. It doesn't matter if it is a thousand bucks or lakhs. Bad tracking of accounts can burn a hole into your pocket. Then, it also impacts planning for future projects. Getting it right is critical. Stri...

Watching my first film, in a theatre, was one of the most fascinating moments in my life, at that time. I must have been about 6 or 7 years old. I can't remember the name of the film, but I always think it was Paheli (1977). Right now as I watch the film to confirm, the only similarity I can remember is a group of friends coming to a village. Beyond that, it doesn't seem the same. In the backseats of a suburbian theatre (Mehul) in Mulund, I stood with my neck stretched, trying to peer over the heads of people as the large screen lit up with characters, story and music.  All I remember now was that it had a group of naughty, city guys bumbling their way through a rural setting. They are joined by a girl, they sing songs and have a lot of fun (for a good part of the film) until something goes wrong. That's when my fascination for films really took off. Since then, I have seen many, many films. I could go on and on about them, but I'll save them for later. A few yea...