Haider : Movie Review

I usually don't write movie reviews, but then Haider is an unusual movie.

This movie is ingenious due to a myriad of reasons. First thing first, its a Hamlet adaptation. For those who are acquainted with Shakespeare's work will know that Hamlet is one of his boldest of plays. So much darkness was only matched by probably the Macbeth. 

But that is just the adaptation part. Rest what Mr. Bharadwaj did was ingenious.
He brought into notice that one aspect which has been the root cause of all the protests we have been witnessing in Kashmir, Manipur and few other north-eastern states. AFSPA - Armed forces Special Power Act of 1958. The end does not always justify the means, and neither does AFSPA. Torture, unwarranted encounters without any trial or conviction. The people of India were needed to be educated in these matters, and thanks to Mr. Bharadwaj, they did to some extent. I am big fan of the Indian defense, and I do to some extent advocate military actions in disturbed regions, but AFSPA started as something else, and was brought down to something else entirely. What changed? We will never know. Natives have a different version and so does the Army. Both are right in their own account, but the real truth is something else entirely.

And this was precisely what, in a very very subtle manner was depicted in the movie. The army has to do what it does to maintain order. But somewhere down the line it goes wrong, which the natives do not understand and pick weapons and get branded as the enemy of the state.

And it was this, which made me love this movie even more.

Coming to point number three. Acting. When there are stars like K K Menon, Tabu and Irfan Khan, nothing could have gone wrong, but then Shahid Kapoor's acting matched the brilliance of these living legends. Every single actor delivered what was expected of their character, and I mean everyone.

Point number four, of which I usually am a huge fan of - Cinematography. Everyone knows Kashmir is a beautiful place, and few know that it is also the valley of death. This movie has brilliantly shown us both the sides. I remember reading in a novel- "Where there is beauty, one finds death". How apt to put this in the case of Kashmir. One would never have imagined the problems of our jannat and our pride and honor, until now.
Haider shows us the reality, if one looks deeper.

Music and dialogues by Vishal Bharadwaj himself. The composer of our childhood favorite song "Jungle jungle pata chala hai" delivered a masterpiece. The most important song of the movie was "Bismil bismil" which holds a great significance, because even in the play, Hamlet creates what we call a rat-trap play, during which Claudius gets up and leaves the court, which tells Hamlet that Claudius indeed had his father killed.
So, this song was a very very important piece of the whole movie. The lyrics were beautifully written to encapsulate the hatred and of Haider.

This movie is a painting, an art which shall be preserved in the history of Bollywood till the end of time.
5/5. Because - Chutzpah

"Dil ki gar sunu, toh hai
Dimaag ki, to hai nahi.
Jaan lu ki jaan du?
Mai rahu ke mai nahi..."

To be..or not to be.

Era of mindless art

So I woke up a fine Saturday and logged in to Facebook and Twitter. And the trending news obviously caught my eye. It was the news of Chetan Bhagat’s new novel “Half Girlfriend” which is due to be released this October. The book is made available for pre-order and websites started to crash. That is the level of craziness people have for him in India. Not just that, we live in a era where, Sunny Leonne gets the most views in Youtube, Yo Yo Honey Singh (as he is called) is considered as a Rap guru, Salman Khan and his copied movies get over 200 cr within a week and where Chetan Bhagat becomes best-selling author. As my friend pointed out rightfully so, the Mayans predicted the end of the world two years early.

 

 

There was a time, when pioneers in music, film, and writing industry set precedent by delivering master-pieces one after the other, and set examples to inspire and innovate a larger crowd for something moral, and good. But now we have a circus of synchronized nut crackers who do not at any point are obliged to think and act. The only thing required is to sell. And they do not have a problem in doing so either, thanks to the target audience.

I am not stating that they should not do their business and neither am I anyone to point out their duties and responsibilities. I am just sharing an observation that the journey from the beginning of the entertainment industry up to this point today, we have experienced not evolution, but a massive stagnation and even set back in progress in respective areas. Where once we had great literature works, like War and Peace, Pride and Prejudice to Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, we have today literature works (if they are anything like it) like, Revolution 2020, One Night at the Call Center and Can Love Happen Twice.

The worst part is, despite having no class; such pieces have become a populist’s tool. People want to read them, watch them, and listen to them. The intellectual crowd is shrinking at an alarming rate and the clown car seems to be increasing every minute. What we watch on screen, read or listen to has a great impact on us as individuals, and this scenario here is in no way helping us create a better society; in fact it is obliterating it.

Pablo Picasso once said, “The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls”.
Aristotle said, “The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things but their inward significance”.

I don’t know what the current art is washing off our lives or what significance are they representing. I am confused and confounded. 

Creation of a new state or a step backwards to 1947?

565 princely states once integrated to make a country which would be noted down in the history as cultural, diversified and strong. A country whose power lies in its pool of scientists, doctors, engineers and the diversity within. Even for the unification of these princely states, there was a whole different front of politics which was being played on. Piece by piece, inch by inch the states came together in the hope of a glorified future.

67 years since the Independence, we have now 29 states, the last being the newly formed state of Telangana. For years there have been demand and loud protestations for a different state. It all triggered when Andhra Pradesh was carved out of the Madras region, and became the first state to be bifurcated on linguistic basis. And it was not just Telangana, along with that there are persisting demands from Widarbha region in Maharashtra, and a different Gorkhaland in Sikkhim.

The various reasons as to why these demands have come up include, difference in cultural values, development issues (which was the reason for the bifurcation of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, but a peaceful one), and aspiration of a better governance which would address the problems of the people more lucidly.

And whose fault is that? Is there anything wrong in aspiring for better development in ones own area, or is it wrong to hold such notion as a citizen of this country? If our leaders would have been more dedicated towards their actual work, would these matters go out of hand so much? One will be foolish to admit that the bifurcation was the only possibility.

A proper and lucid governance would have been the answer to all the problems instead of carving out another piece of land. But alas, there is a difference between the right way and the easy way and that it what they did. Took a shortcut in order to confirm on the 15 seats in Lok Sabha and unknowingly opened the gates for more protests in Maharashtra and Sikkhim.

We are gradually loosing that oneness and unity for which the great freedom fighters laid their lives. The independence for a different unified country for which we had to cut our arm off and now it is a hostile nation, and 67 years later, we still are fighting over linguistic and regional basis!

If it keeps going like this, a day might come when we will call this country as "Divided States of India" (D.S.I) and there can be no pride in that.

I just hope that the citizens of India put the interests of the country first and then their regional differences. These words have been overused far too many times but have been implemented not even once significantly.

United we stand. Divided we fall.

India: Democracy or Pseudo democracy?

India is the largest democracy in the world. A matter of pride for many of the citizens. But is this what democracy was meant to be? Did we as a nation forget or misunderstand what exactly democracy stands for?
65 years it has been and yet we are not in a democracy, we live in a pseudo democratic country, where we go to vote once in every 5 years and then our so called “elected representatives” govern the nation and forget all the promises in a flick of a second as soon as they take the oath.

What is Democracy? According to Oxford dictionary, democracy is defined as a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives.

Now let us consider the scenario in India. The parties elect a representative which happens in closed door meetings and the “people” do not have a say in this. Yes we can contact the party heads, write letters and voice our thoughts, but the probability that our voice would be heard is as slim as the end of reservation system in India!

Now here comes the first problem and a deviation from the definition and essence of democracy, the elected representatives of the respective parties who will be contesting are NOT elected by the people, but by the parties. Hence any election henceforth is moot and has very less meaning whatsoever. Its like going to a battle with the weapons not of your choice but that which is imposed by the king.

The parties can ask for public opinion and make a candidate from the crowd itself. This way the people have the power, in literal sense the candidate will be “by the people.”

Okay, lets say that the candidates are acceptable to us, and they even win the election, now what? The promises made are forgotten, the manifesto is pushed back with all the un-necessary things and the elected representatives enjoy the power.

I do not say that exceptions are not there, but this is the reality in a broader perspective. We are being fooled by the term democracy and we, though reluctantly, but have adjusted ourselves with the scenario.

Democracy is “To the people, By the people and For the people.” But in India it is only “By” the people.
So, in short, the competing candidates are not among us, they don’t understand the problems and tensions of the area, and yet they contest for elections. They win, and yet they are not one of us, they are not the common man. They haven’t suffered pain and basic problems which a common man has, and yet they claim to solve our problems.

First step in solving any problem is, knowing that there is one. Is India really that big a democracy?
Is it finally time for us to retrospect on it?

Iran's N-Deal and Israel's reaction

The world is changing, and that is to say by looking at one of the biggest and most unexpected Nuclear Deal in the history. The deal signed is arguably the most significant foreign policy  achievement of Obama’s presidency.  Looking at the hostility of Iran towards the west and vice versa, it seemed nearly impossible to expect a N-Deal between these nations.
In a way it sure looks good for Iran which has been facing lots of trade embargos by the west who have never left a stone unturned in showing their global power towards those in disagreement with them. The deal says that Geneva will release $4 billion in Iranian oil sales from frozen accounts and will suspend restrictions on the country’s trade in gold, petrochemicals, car and plane parts. In exchange Iran has to stop enriching uranium above 5% reactor grade (above 5% is the level when one can develop WMDs), which Iran has been doing. Also Iran has to accept more surveillance from the IAEA and lower their existing stockpile.
Now there are two aspects to this. One, which will take Iran on the path of development and an end of a hostile political environment. That sure is a good aspect. Another is, this deal shows Iran as a nation which couldn’t stand up to its foreign policies and buckled under the whims of the western problems. And the first part brings us to the reaction of Israel over this issue.
Israel said “This deal has made the world a dangerous place.”
Lets examine why?
Israel feels that the sanctions pressure on Tehran is collapsing and the Islamic Republic has been granted the right to enrich uranium. The entire wall of sanctions, painstakingly constructed over years, is already crumbling and “will collapse within month.
But Israel’s reaction is not for the given reasons. Its maybe because now Iran is in talks and diplomatic relations with USA, the same country which has referred to Israel as a Zionist regime countless number of times, even in the United Nations. This N-Deal issue has strained Israel’s relation with the US, the country which has been protecting Israel for a long time and was (in Israel’s books) a very close ally. Basically, Israel is insecure with the growing relations between Iran and USA, because if this happens, and USA in the long run neglect Israel, then it will be prone to Arab aggression from which it has been safe for decades due to the support of USA.

So whether Israel’s statement stands true or whether the N-Deal is indeed a first step towards a new peaceful and changed world, we can only know in time.

Pseudo reality shows and the great Indian obsession.

"Arey yaar kal Big Boss me kya hua dekha"?
"Roadies ne Raghu me kya maari uss bande ki"
"Splitsvilla is sooo cool."

 

These are the conversations one can easily come across in public areas nowadays. Be it your classroom, office, bus stop, or a local train, these pseudo reality shows have dominated the Indian media market like a plague virus.
The word I used here is pseudo, because anything and everything that goes in those shows is in every definition, a deviation from what's commonly referred to as an accurate representation of reality.

Reality shows do not present reality in ways both implicit (participants being placed in unusual situations) and deceptive or even fraudulent, such as

• misleading editing
• participants being coached in what to say or how to behave
• storylines generated ahead of time
• scenes being staged and re-staged for the cameras.

Another argument is also justified that the shows are intended to humiliate or exploit participants (particularly on competition shows), that they make celebrities out of unwanted people who do not deserve fame, and that the glamorize vulgarity and materialism.

I understand that entertainment is necessary, and neither am I a nerd who is against it, but entertainment too like everything else does have a boundary. When more than half the youth population of a country is willing and aspiring nowadays to get fame and popularity by entering these shows, there definitely IS something wrong with the whole system.

Earlier students aspired to become engineers, literature experts, doctors etc etc. Their goals were defined and they didn't bask in the glory of people who won a stupid tv show and aspired to become like them. Survey suggests that 1 in 4 of every youth aging 18+ now aspires to become a celebrity by entering in these tv shows.

The big question now. Whats wrong in that?
EVERYTHING!

What is the very purpose of existence of these shows? Entertainment. But that boundary has long been crossed. People are less interested in the development of the very nation which they abuse everyday, but very comfortable in enjoying the bitchiness, gossip and voyeurism portrayed in these so called reality shows.

Our minds have been infected and we need a way out of this, else soon the greatest strength of the country will become its greatest weakness, which is the youth.

I do not say not to watch these shows, but letting it get into your head is another problem. Inception is the right word to describe the current scenario.

Today an average youth knows less about their fundamental duties and apparently everything about Shahrukh's and Salman's fights. Doesn't anyone think that there is something terribly wrong with this country?

Richard Steele aptly said "Fire and swords are slow engines of destructions, compared to the tongue of Gossip."

 

    

In Memoriam - Kargil War '99

26 July 1999, It was a Monday and the whole Nation united to see the end of 60 day war.

May 3rd 1999, Pakistani forces and militants were sighted on this side of the LoC by local shepherds. Pakistani Forces and Militants on the order of Gen Parvez Musharraf infiltrated the LoC and captured the areas which served as the de-facto border between the two countries.

And hence Operation Vijay was initiated with the sole purpose of sending the rats back to their holes. With opposition forces sitting on altitude, they had a natural vantage point.

And then came the Indian Army, the culmination of the fiercest warriors on the face of earth with their motto instilled in their hearts "Service before Self". The same army defeated the same opposition forces not once, but thrice before this war.

June 9th 1999, Indian Army captures two key positions in the Baltic Sector. A crucial point. And by June 13th, we got back Tololing in Dras sector. By June 29th, Point 5060 and Point 5100 were captured near the Tiger Hill.



July 4th 1999, Brave soldiers took over Tiger Hill after a 11 hour long battle. This is now also famously known as the Battle of Tiger Hill, and by 5th of July Indian Army successfully took control over the entire Dras Sector. By July 11th Pakistan begins pullout and on 14th of July Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee declared Operation Vijay a success.

In the whole operation 527 Indian sons, fathers and friends lost their lives protecting the country they swore to defend. And nothing, not even that victory can bring back the souls lost during the war, let this day serve as a reminder of those who laid down their lives in order to protect the lives of 1.04 billion people.

They did their job and more than that. Least we could do is to show them some courtesy, extend a hand of compassion and sympathy for those who are dead, for those who are still out there on the night's guard saying "Nothing is gonna hurt you tonight, not under my watch."

So lets take some time off our daily routine and commemorate the Bold, the Brave and the silent guardians who laid down their lives for us. It is often said, that a dream death of a soldier is to die in action. I could agree no less.

14 years have passed since, but the wounds are too deep to heal. The scars of the war are still visible quite distinctly. And neither should we forget, because the history always teaches us some lesson. In this great War there was again a lesson which would be faded away with the currents of time. The nation who forgets their martyrs and soldiers isn't fit to be a nation at all.

The lines sung by Lata Mangeshkar aptly fits here - "Tum bhul na jao unko, isiliye kahi ye kahani, jo shaheed hue hain unki, zara yaad karo qurbaani."

So heres one. To,
The Indian Armed Forces and the Martyrs of the War.

Jai Hind. Jai Bharat.