Idle musings

The greatest downside of becoming an actor in the industry today, is having to encounter  the paparazzi wherever one goes. To such a level that your wardrobe is disseminated and your honest reactions misinterpreted by the ruthless media and a mass audience vying for another peek into the private lives of their favourite celebrities. The situation has escalated to such an alarming extent (owing to imitation of Hollywood, is my guess) that maintaining a calm visage and learning when to speak, what to reveal, becomes an art in itself. We say all of life is an act, but these guys took it to another, more exasperating level, don't you think? The best part of being an actor, then and now, from what I infer as an audience, is the sheer freedom you experience once you slip into the designated role. This applies to actors dedicated to their craft, who are willing to experiment beyond the enticing realm of commercial cinema (a phenomenon that is happily gaining ground these days in Bollyw...

It is the strangest paradox. So many of us suffer owing to selfishness of other people, and yet we have to force ourselves to face other humans to keep growing, so as not to prevent the flow of the stream of life.

You know it's a twisted world you live in when you begin to mistake birdsong for a cellphone's ringtone. When you hear a meow while on a train and look around to find the cat, you realize it is only another passenger watching a video on his smartphone. Similarly, the sound of a giggling baby may or may not be arising out of an actual, live human. In this techy world we live in, you never know. Better to makes sure first, always. If you are one to pay attention to these things, I mean. Otherwise, by all means, continue to converse with your gadgets.

No, I am not going to speak about the Penal Code or the constitutional rights of Indian citizens. Today's post is about a Malayalam film helmed by youngsters, that has been blown way out of proportion. Those of you who are informed regarding matters of film will know(but may not agree with my opinion)that I'm speaking about Dijo Jose Antony's debut directorial Queen. The film's trailer had garnered a whopping 1 million views within a short span of its being released on Youtube, and youngsters had been eagerly awaiting its release for almost a year now. Interestingly, the movie became an instant hit with the audience, especially college-goers of the mechanical engineering background, whom the director had unmistakably targeted, atleast as concerns the first half of the film. By the time the beginning credits roll in, we get an idea that Queen aspires to be more than an enjoyable flick about campus life. But to what extent is revealed only if you persevere through the...

We have all been lured into believing that there is a so-called "Prince Charming" or "Cinderella" waiting at the end of the aisle for us, via popular media; especially romance novels, mainstream cinema, and maybe popular tv shows as well. Some of us do belatedly realize that these dolled-up versions of actual people belong only in the script and not in real life, while others have irrevocably heightened their standards for a prospective life partner to impractical levels. The latter group can be said to be predominant in India, what with Bollywood shaping our views of love for almost half a century now. Who isn't familar with heroines decked in makeup, sashaying about in a saree, in staple boy-meets-girl tales? Or heartthrobs like Dev Anand and Shah Rukh Khan? Yes, you get the picture. Now those of you who still live in Bollywood dreamland, kindly refrain from reading the rest because it may not be to your liking. Think about this - How utterly beautiful it w...

Watching The Greatest Showman on the not-so-best of days - best decision of my life. Alright, alright, that may or may not be the immediate hangover of watching this spectacular film onscreen, but whatever. A musical that weaves the story of a family which rose from rags to riches. But that is only the film simply put, because it is so much more than that. The Greatest Showman begins with the endearing story of a loving family, the central character being Phineas T. Barnum, one of the pioneers of the circus. Beware, this film is going to put a huge smile on your face, with a few tears in between, and it is going to make you rediscover the child in you, to see the world untainted once again, and to shake a leg, because the tunes are so groovy. Regardless of whether you witness the magic unfold alone or with family, if you are prepared to suspend your disbelief for a couple of hours, you shall be rewarded. For those of you who still soak in the big screen experience ...

Directions is a brilliant movie I chanced upon at IFFK. It is a Bulgarian film directed by Stephan Komandarev. What begins as a seemingly normal neighbourhood brawl develops into a deeper look at the lives of taxi drivers- six of them, to be exact. The realistic, insightful narrative is sprinkled with dry humour and social critique( ranging from violence and globalisation to emigration and economic depression). The director explores the life of cabbies - how and why they took up the profession, and where it leads them, and emerges with a universal tale of human woes. Warning - Spoilers Ahead There is the father who wandered into this line of work to pay off his debts and send his young daughter to school. There is the young man, a teacher by day, who, despite being brushed off by a passenger, swallows his ego, and saves the latter from committing suicide. There is the driver who could not care less about his passengers; who openly smokes, listens to loud music on the radio,...

In recent years, it is quite a common sight to see shopfronts lighted up for obvious security reasons. But this practice has added flavour to the Christmas season with the welcome variety of colours in the form of Christmas stars and lights adorning not just stores, but homes and churches. The spirit of the season is made infectious with this dash of colour and conveys a feeling of homecoming. Add to that the magnanimity of strangers wishing you a good year, and one can't help but feel a sense of fulfillment.

Technology has made cowards out of most of us. Now we have the luxury of saying watever we want to express, whenever we want to, either through personal chats, or to a global audience, via social media platforms. In an actual conversation, one has to pay attention to the listener's body language and facial expressions. Even a tiny twitch of the eyebrows or lips could tell us much about the other person's receptivity, or the communicability of our own ideas. But in the virtual domain, none of this comes into the equation, which , I imagine takes off a huge weight from the shoulders of those who don't have the courage to hold a heart-to-heart conversation in the eye.