All in a day's work

Read this old joke somewhere.. guess on a friend's Gtalk status message, and enjoyed it.
It read
"My company pretends to pay me and I pretend to work" :)

Musicals

Though I generally like all movies I watch, there are some musicals that are my favourite and I think I can watch them over and over again.

My Fair Lady - The movie, based on GB Shaw's Pygmalion is a visual and aural treat. Audrey Hepburn is phenomenal as Eliza Doolittle and so is Reg Livermore as Professor Henry Higgins. I just love the song 'I could have danced all night' and the use of alliteration such as 'The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain'. Other songs such as 'Just you wait Henry Higgins, just you wait' is equally witty.

Manpasand - Closer home, our own Bollywood has made a remake of My Fair Lady starring Tina Munim and Dev Anand. This movie also has an amazing sound track with songs like 'charu chandra ki chanchal chitwan' that are on the lines of use of alliteration in the English version and the title song 'pankh bina udoo' which is the Hindi version of 'I could have danced all night'.

Thoda Sa Rumani Ho Jayein - This 1990 musical stars Anita Kanwar (of Lajoji fame from Buniyaad) and Nana Patekar. The movie compares a beautiful parallel of drought in a town to the drought in the lives of the movie's characters. Nana Patekar plays a rain seller (incidentally, many claim this movie is also a inspired by a Hollywood movie Rain Maker) who is able to get the rain back in the life of Anita Kanwar. Songs like 'Nanhi si Silu' celebrating the imending motherhood, 'main sundar hoon' celebrating moment of self realisation by Anita Kanwar, 'Do ghaton ke beech' celebrating victory over inhibitions and 'Thoda sa rumani ho jayein' celebrating victory over dismay are heart touching and leave a deep impact. Kanwar has done a class act in portraying the life of a not-so-charming-girl-nextdoors Binni Rai.

Morning Raga - Shabana Aazmi steals the show here. The movie is about Swarnalatha (played by Shabana), whos is a budding artist, who has taken to believe that she is the cause of death of her childhood friend and quits singing. The plot goes on to bring music back in Swarnlatha when her dead friend's son comes to her for a recording. Songs like 'Mahaganpati' and 'Thaye Yashoda' are a superb blend of Karnatic and Western music.

Sardari Begum - This movie is the cause of this entire post that I am writing at such an odd hour. The story which has Kiron Kher playing the main protagonist is a lovely story of a once famous thumri singer. The movie runs in a flashback after Sardari Begum dies in a minor religious tiff. What ensues is a reporter's (who also gets to know that she is the neice of Sardari Begum) further research into the life of the singer through interviews with people around Sardari. This movie would delight those who have an ear for thumri. If you ever enjoyed 'Piya tora kaisa abhimaan' from Raincoat, you would not be disappointed by songs in this movie.

Sound of Music - Julie Andrews is the show stealer. This cropped hair nun-to-be comes into the lives of a widowed naval captain's family as a governess to his children and overturns their monotonous routine. The plot is interesting with a hint at the pre-world war II Nazi era as well. 'Doe-a-deer' from this movie is the song which all of us have known since our childhoods. 'Edelweiss', 'My favourite things', 'How do we solve a problem like Maria', 'So long, farewell, auf weidersehen, good bye' are treat to one's ears.

As I write this post am reliving the experience which I have enjoyed I don't know how many times now. Though I wouldn't recommend these as a must-watch but they are an absolute treat for any 'parallel cinema' lover.

To any of you who may plan to watch any of these, just a word of caution. Do not watch these with a big group. You would end up listening more of 'uff yeh kya ho raha hai...fir ganaaaaa..nahinnn' rather than the film's musical score....

The view from my window

I love coffee.
Though I 'm not a big fan of CCD but am loving this coffee here. What makes me love this horrendously overpriced coffee at the airport is the view from the window.

I can see the planes landing and taking off at a distance. The whole place is lit up with thousands of twinkling lights. And, I am sitting in this cozy little corner sipping my hot café latte along with some not-so-great samosas.

Ah! there comes the announcement. Flight 452 is boarding, and off I am to home for one chilly weekend in the otherwise subdued winters of Mumbai!!!

Broken Images - Indeed!!!

I was taught in my childhood that one should never scribble over books, which I was following untill I met this veteran actress - Shabana Azmi.

I am usually a no-autograph-for-me-please-type person, but I don't know why I felt like asking Shabana (sorry can't call her Shabanaji for various reasons) for one. What followed is a lesson for life.

We (Me and two other friends from XIMB days) had gone for this new play by Girish Karnad - Broken Images.

The play arose some interest in me for two reasons: 1) Shabana Azmi, the protagonist; and 2) Use of technology.

The plot of the play is simple and yet has a suspense that unfolds beautifully towards the end. Manjula Sharma (played by Shabana) is an English lecturer and a small time Hindi writer till she comes up with her magnum opus - a novel in English which becomes a worldwide bestseller. Manjula is at a TV studio launching her book in India when she gets face to face with her conscience. What follows is a dialogue between the two that takes us through Manjula's life and her eventual breakdown in front of her own self.

Shabana Azmi, as anyone would have guessed, was superb.

What added more stars to the act is that the Shabana's conscience was also played by Shabana albeit through a pre-recorded video being played on a large plasma TV. There was perfect coordination between the video and Shabana just as it would have been between two actors.

The play got over and as we were walking out, my friend started bugging me with her whimsical whim to meet Shabana in flesh and blood. I ignored it completely and soon we were standing out in the crowd doing some star gazing (the smalltime actors of tellytown were there to make their presence felt in the social circles, but no-one seemed to be noticing them except us). But this lady's urge to meet Shabana was so strong that she cajoled my other friend to get back to the green room and meet her dear actress, while I waited downstairs for both of them to be shooed away by the guard.

Quite a few minutes passed by and there was no sign of the two of them. I was getting curious, so I also decided to join them. To my astonishment I found the duo engrossed in a blah-blah that Alyque Padmsee was delivering in some strange accent. Shabana was nowhere around till this friend of mine decided to venture in the green room. The assistant informed she would be coming out soon. Suddenly the door opened and there was a little commotion. It took us quite some time to realize we were standing next to Shabana.

My friend didn't loose a moment to "catch hold of" her dear actress and congratulate her for the lovely performance. This poor little girl had thought Shabana would be all ooh-aah at her praise. Instead she got a cold response. Shabana scribbled her illegible signature on a book that my friend was carrying without even looking up in her eyes.

It is precisely at this moment when I suddenly felt this inner urge to get rid of my habit of keeping my books clean. I dug out a copy of Pather Panchali that I had purchased barely an hour ago and slyly forwarded it. Her hands once again moved in the same mechanical movements to scribble.

Once I had the book back in my hands, I realised my mistake. I felt like tearing off the page or throwing the book away. Alas! I could not do so. I had purchased it from my own hard earned money. It would always stand as a testimony to my fallen self respect in front of a damsel from the tinsel town.

This page, dirtied by the illegible signature of Shabana, would always remind me to continue to be a no-autograph-for-me-please-type person.

I would always remember those words from Shabana, as she climbed down a flight (just one flight) of stairs - "Yahan lift nahin hai kya".

I wish Shabana would not have said this. I wish she would have at least looked up in my eyes for one moment as she scribbled on my book. I wish she would have courteously replied, or at least smiled, to my friend’s wishes.

Then, I would have never minded calling her Shabanaji.

Another year and they will call it Twenty-Ten!

I had posted this long back, almost a year back. A friend of mine asked me "Has anything changed, or you can still use the same post for this year"

The other day, I sent a mail to everyone in office inviting them to a small celebration that we had organised in office on the New Year's eve. The mail had a line that read "a year full of sweet memories..." and my colleague commented "are you sure (of the sweet memories)".

Am still trying to find answers to these two questions.

Yes, many things have not changed.. but some things have, and for the good!
And the year may not be full of good memories, but it wasn't that gloomy either.

When I sit back and count, there were more reasons to be happy that to crib about.

Home bound always!! I was home on all festivals and important occassions :)

Marriages Galore!! Three of my very good friends got married, and I could attend the wedding of at least one of them.

Two of my cousins also got married (looks like the entire year went away in marriages) and I thoroughly enjoyed the family reunions.

That one SMS. A friend made me realise the value of friendship through that simple SMS
that she sent while she was exchanging the marital vows with her beloved.

Pooo....My long time friend in the US of A is still in touch with me and we still share the same warmth.

Dube the painter. Friends gave me an amazing gift on my birthday.

Still stuck to Mahavir Classik. and I am loving it!! :)

That lovely 5-star dinner. And what a lovely time we had that night! Thanks Tushar and Ruchika for a memorable evening.

The Voice & Accent training. Learnt how your teeth need to pain(t) the tongue when you are saying "thank you" and that I have to bite my V's and kiss my W's. Crazy stuff!!

The unionbaazi at office. Though our lunch table has shrunk to three members for erstwhile figre of four, the unionbaazi continues. We have found some new members who have the potential to be a part of our union :)

While my mind has probably given up at this hour, I am sure there would have been a thousand other instances that would be a part of my happy memories for 2009. Not that I did not have my share of not-so-good memories, but what is the point is crying over spilt milk :)