My name is Khan!

SRK’s detention at Newark airport in NJ, USA, has primarily generated two, but very different, reactions. The first one, as always, is that how the US in the past few years has become so much paranoid for it’s security and that how most Muslims entering the US, or even for that matter many brown people, are humiliated at the US immigration due to racial profiling. The second reaction, again an expected one, is that how we should not make a big deal out of this and that how each person is equal in the eyes of US immigration & therefore has to go through the same set of security measures; no matter even if that person is India’s biggest star Shah Rukh Khan. Both reactions, in my opinion, need to be qualified.

Vassup! I’m Sacha Baron Cohen.

Sacha Baron Cohen is one person whose company, I suspect, most people wont enjoy much; especially when he is masquerading as Borat, an uncouth Kazakh or Bruno, an aggressive Austrian gay fashion designer. He manages to insult every group he could: gay and straight, black and white, Kazakhs and Americans, Jews and Christian evangelists, New-yorkers and Southerns, celebrities and middle America, stage parents and terrorists. But even after he insults us so much, I still believe we really need him. Not just because he is supremely talented- perhaps the best comedian of our times- but more because we do need somebody really courageous who pushes all limits and holds a mirror for us to see our not so beautiful face.

Can you beat these Japanese inventions?

The New Sardars of Bollywood

Since early days, Bollywood or Hindi film industry has been dominated by Punjabis. Many producers, directors, writers and especially heroes of the past were Punjabis. Quite a few among those Punjabis were either Sikhs or came from mixed Hindu-Sikh Punjabi families. But still the Sikh characters in Hindi films during those days were mostly reduced to stereotypes. Either they were there to provide a comic angle or to play an over the top super nice/super brave character. I guess the reason that in spite of the presence of many Punjabis at the helm of affairs during those days, we still didnt ever see a full Sardar as a hero was that both producers and the directors thought that a turbaned Sikh with a beard wont find much takers among the masses. Also, remember that those were the times when even some Muslim actors and actresses changed their names to more North Indian sounding Hindu names. I guess most people wanted to play safe in the still nascent Bombay film industry of the 50’s and the 60’s.

Of fuel prices and Capitalism

While I was trying to get air tickets to Philadelphia and , in the process, fretting over overly expensive tickets for even a small journey such as that ( due to rising fuel prices), I read this post at Shekhar Kapoor’s blog. More than the post, it was one of the comments and then subsequent response to that comment by Shekhar himself which made me wonder about so many different interpretations of Capitalism. My limited knowledge and reading on this subject prevented me to take sides, but I also realized that how much more I have to learn and understand before I can make an informed opinion on this issue. Iam reproducing the original post by Shekhar and subsequent comments by Himanshu ( a frequent contributor on Shekhar’s blog) and Shekhar.

Socially unacceptable behavior

Missed Connections

Couple of weeks ago, I came across ‘ Missed Connections ‘ ads under personals in craigstlist website. I find the whole concept very amusing. It’s true that everyday there are so many missed connections for people around the world…

A cute girl sits opposite you in the metro and you both talk with eyes till she leaves..you wonder if there was something more to it but you have no way to know that..

Or let’s say you are a girl & there is this nice guy in your office with whom you talk occasionally & whom you find cute ..he also looks at you in a different way sometimes… you wonder if he likes you too & is probably too shy to express that..

Finding love/mate through matrimonial sites

I know many people who use/have used matrimonial web sites to find life partners; Some have been successful and some not. Well, that’s not the point here.

I just find the whole concept of finding husbands/wives through these channels very weird. Is finding a life partner similar to finding a job? Because, the way it works is that guy/girl first matches the coordinates with prospective profiles before he/she decides to communicate…age, religion, caste, height, education and so on…After that, people start communicating through emails/phone calls..and then, if they really start feeling that he/she might be the one, they meet in real…and so on…….. Isnt the whole modus-operandi works like a job search???

But is that how love should happen between two people??? Isnt it a very unnatural and contrived way to go about love/marriage??? I mean the whole foundation of this exercise is so unromantic and bland ; Just imagine two people talking/meeting for the first time and the sole intention of both parties is to judge if the guy/girl on the opposite end will make for a suitable partner…For me, that expectation itself will kill any chance of genuine chemistry developing between the two…

I find it gross; But, I wonder if many of those who go for this route have any other option.

Navjot Singh Sidhu- fall from grace

I liked Sidhu, the cricketer. As a member of Indian cricket team, he was always an underdog..always struggling to cement his place permanently…but he was also tenacious..persistent..always coming from behind and silencing his critics. He was like a phoenix..He hardly used to speak much during those times ..was known to be an introvert, a shy person..sort of an intellectual and philosopher who read Leo Tolstoy and Vivekananda and admired Sam Manekshaw….

I was not sure of Sidhu, the commentator. I mean , yes, he used to speak eloquently and amused people with his high voltage commentary-bordering on theatrics sometimes–. But, somehow I didnt take much fancy for this ” loud ” Sidhu and his famous sidhuisms..Nevertheless, I didnt have much problem either..I mean I thought if he is happy doing that and atleast some people like his style, that’s fine…

The Sidhu I see now is a pain in the ass. I hear he has become a successfull politician now and is a prominent face on Indian Television ,where he features on some comedy/reality shows..I havent really seen these shows except some random clippings on youtube..but, those clippings are enough to tell me that what he is up to….He has become a parody of himself and seems to behave in a silly and annoying manner in these shows.

Recently, I came across this clipping http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvI29DRaWIk

Here, this joker is idolating Narendra Modi, the murderer, during an election rally. I almost puked while watching this piece..I guess I puked less from his theatrical idolation , but more from thinking that here is a guy whom I almost looked up to not so long ago!!!

Virtual vs Real life encounters….Movies of Satyajit Ray

I got a long mail from Elizabeth last week. It was surprising that she could express herself so much better through her mails . I mean when she used to be around me, she didnt say much on her own ..it was more reacting to what I said or responding to my queries. Not to say that she was shy or anything like that, but I always thought she could say more. I think that’s the case with lot of people, especially girls. People are so different when they have virtual tools like email/blogs at their disposal. And I guess it becomes even more true when they dont know you in real life and communicate with you through chatting and blogging as virtual buddies. There are countless stories of people turning out to be very different when their virtual counterparts met them in real life.
Earlier, I used to think that in virtual world, people are more honest as they can get rid of the masks which are so essential in real life. Now, I have very strong doubts about it.. infact now I feel that it’s much easier to manipulate your real self in virtual world. That’s one of the reasons I try not to fall for people ( chat friends, blogs etc) in the virtual world beyond an extent, no matter how cool and liberated they sound.

Nowadays, Iam watching Satyajit Ray’s Cinema. Before this , only movies I had watched-long time back- were Shatrank ke Khiladi, Aaguntak and I think Ganashatru. I remember when I was in India, I always wanted to watch his best movies, but never got the opportunity. Local video stores never kept them and only ways you could have watched them were either watching on national television ( if you knew beforehand that they are showing) or in film festivals. There might be other ways, but it was tough to lay your hands on such movies. It’s funny that I could get most of his movies in dvd/vcd form here in my University Library. It seemed to me as if West has taken more care of him.
I watched Charulata and Mahanagar..Pather Panchali is so much in demand that there is a long queue to get that. Anyways, I liked both the movies I saw. The main lead in both movies, Madhubina Mukherjee is a stunner beyond doubt. Who says offbeat heroines are not very beautiful.. even with simple saree and no makeup, she is much better looking than half of current Bollywood actresses..mind you no exaggeration here..just plain truth.
I guess lingo of Ray’s cinema is very different..closer to neo-realistic cinema of Italy. Characters are very real, performances underplayed, tragedy without melodrama. All in all, compassion for his characters and their situations.
Will write more once I understand and feel more about his cinema.