Tuesday, August 22, 2006

ah, to paint!

these days i am painting, and how! in the last three days i have completed three pen and ink work. of which, two i did today.

of course, the impetus has been provided by p, who very cleverly made a deal with me. he offered to pay me for a lot of 30 paintings which i would have to deliver in three months. the offer was irresistible. so i agreed. and here I am painting against a deadline - 10 paintings each month. i have completed five for this month. five more to go.

and as i paint, i feel more and more emboldened. throughout my life i have been plagued with the fear that i am not a 'pure' artist. as in, i can make something great out of an idea 'given' to me, but to come up with something creative on my own was not what i thought i was capable of. and that's the reason why, when i had to choose my specialisation in the second year of art college, i decided to do applied arts. moreover, having seen papa paint ever since i remember, the belief in me only strengthened that i could never paint like him.

after all these years now, i have come a full circle. back to my roots. facing the fear, and the uncertainty, and all the doubts within me, i have started to paint. funnily enough, all these years, my teachers and lots of friends, who know to appreciate paintings have always believed in me and my creativity. but i have never believed in myself. and now i can see for myself why they did...

now i know why i have always loved bamboos - they are like me. bamboos take six to seven years before the shoots come out of the earth. till then they grow roots and strengthen themselves. in some ways, all these years i have been learning and observing and growing my roots. i have chosen those same bamboos as one of my themes. and what i painted today has zapped even me - i am wondering, did i do that?!

ah, to paint!

Friday, August 11, 2006

karan johar says alvida to his 'picture-perfect-family' theme with kabhi alvida na kehna

finally, indian cinema is waking up to reality! or rather, directors of the so-called mainstream cinema are acknowledging the maturity of the audience. and what better proof for that than the fact that karan johar's kabhi alvida na kehna (kank) deals with confused people in messy relationships. to me, karan johar represents that section of indian cinema which makes movies about people who are out-of-this world, have picture-perfect families and relationships, who live larger-than-life lives in mansions and palaces that are bigger than laxmi mittal's london residence. basically, it's all about flamboyance, moralistic values that sounds good and stuff that dreams are made of.

thankfully, kank is refreshingly different from johar's earlier movies. and yet it fails to make a statement.

the theme of the movie is that good friends don't necessarily
make good marriages, only love can make a marriage work. no problems with that. but kank doesn't give believable enough reasons for the characters to act the way they do. the plot revolves around the marriage of two couples - dev (shah rukh) and rhea (preity); and rishi (abhishek) and maya (rani). they are all happy with their marriages, with rhea and rishi completely in love with their respective spouses. problem: dev and maya are looking for something deeper in their relationship and finally find that with each other. and trouble starts. their already shaky marriages start a tsunami which finally end in their divorces. and yet, for three years neither dev nor maya, who are now free to do as they please, get in touch with each other and lead solitary lives. it takes rhea and rishi, who, since then have moved on to more fulfilling relationships and lives to bring these two love-torns together.

the character of dev is realistic as a bitter man who has turned so, since he broke his leg in an accident, leaving him with a limp and a shattered football career. he is cynical and looks at only the negatives in life. he criticizes his wife, his son, his coaches, and even fellow pedestrians. until he meets maya, with whom he suddenly becomes a totally different human being - tender, loving, friendly and one who even knows to laugh. not bel
ievable... and add to that king khan's pout and melodrama.

maya is a woman who believes love is important in marriage. she has been brought up in rishi's home by his father sam (amitabh bachchan at his sexiest!). and because she didn't find her love, she agrees to marry her long-time friend rishi. she doesn't feel any passion towards her husband, she can't have any babies so she looks after other kids in a playschool and is a compulsive home cleaner. must say rani mukherjee looks beautiful and also has managed to pull of a not so likeable role of the 'other woman' quite nicely.

rhea is a successful fashion magazine editor who is going places. her marriage doesn't seem to go anywhere. she is in love with her husband dev but is not able to give him or their son the time she should be giving. which is also because she has to ensure that she provides for their comfort since dev lost his million dollar career as a football star after his accident.

rishi is a boyish, childish, take-it-easy 'dude' who is charming, successful, and completely in love with his childhood sweetheart and wife, maya. he is forever hoping to get intimate with her and despite her coldness, doesn't show his disappointment too much. he gets treated by her like a kid.

the star amidst all these sometimes-grey characters, is sexy sam or samarjit. he is a raunchy, sexy old man who is forever running after anything that moves in skirts. and yet he balances it with his understanding of relationships and the love for his dead wife. the character has been beautifully portrayed by amitabh bachchan. he is definitely at his sexiest best!

the first half of the movie is enjoyable, with the director holding on the story tightly and in control of the characters. the second half drags on with everybody crying buckets of tears, a song that was not required (where's the party tonight), and an end that somehow comes as an afterthought addition - in a hindi flick, the lovers have got to unite in the end, you see!

all in all, karan johar's kank comes out as a weak and apologetic attempt at presenting the intensity of relationships in marriages going wrong, infidelity and the aftermath.

Thursday, August 03, 2006

kerala visit ~ part 4


ha, this is beginning to be like the ekta kapoor 'k' serials which just don't seem to end!

i was going thru my blog a few minutes ago and saw a comment posted on the part-3 edition. i was excited and immediately checked it. and i couldn't believe it - somebody actually had the nerve to write that s/he went thru my blog hoping to find something and didn't. but instead found a great way of making money, and then went on to give a link where i could make $900 or more a month! some way to advertise!

right, we had completed contemplating on the scenic beauty of alleppey, and walking thru the fields to reach the family temple. that morning i also received a treat - a boat excursion thru the backwaters of alleppey courtesy my sis-in-law's in-laws. they felt they owed it to me as i had taken them out when they were visiting mumbai, especially since i was at the time limping and recuperating after having broken my leg three weeks before their visit. also, somehow they seem to have taken a fancy to me - ain't i just lovable!

so, over-riding all protests from achcha and amma to not take the trouble to arrange for a boat and all, they hired one for the morning. we were welcomed at the jetty by our bro-in-law's sister. the boat was nice, a small one which could comfortably seat six adults. the seating was inside a small shed kind of thing with windows and a sliding roof to protect from rain. and one could also climb up on the shed for a 360 view. the backwaters in kerala are almost like the canals and waterways of venice except that here one finds more greenery instead of buildings and the affluence and cleanliness perhaps is lacking.

after a visit at the famous mangam temple and a short stopover for breakfast at our relatives' we were dropped back at our start point. on the way back we finally managed to use the huge square umbrella that i had carried with me. it's blue and can accommodate three people at a time. so, a la raj kapoor and nargis, in the rain, p and i walked along... that umbrella was something that caught everybody's attention throughout our trip. it came in very handy when achcha lost his slipper on the track while boarding the train at thrissur - we used it to scoop the slipper up!

the next morning we had a rather hectic tour - three homes from chengannur to etumanoor to kudamalur and then back to ernakulam. whew! by this time i had had enough of food down my throat and p had countless cups of tea. now, tea is worth a mention here. in kerala, tea is not served in tiny little china cups as it is in other places. here it is served in tumblers or glasses as if it were some fruit juice. mostly it's a watery kind with milk added just to give it the light brownish colour. how people drink loads of it is beyond me.

breakfast was a wonderful affair at a family friend's place. it also happens to be sn's parents' place. finally met his brother - he is a 'character' as per the stories that i had heard from everybody in our family and mutual friends. he is as different from sn as chalk is from cheese. the common things being that i found him quite affectionate, and friendly. he has a dry but terriffic sense of humour. and the breakfast was just yummy. even tho i am a veggie, i easily gobbled up the onions and potatoes in the hot and spicy egg curry with some awesome appams.

(alright, i am going to stop now. am tired of this travellogue. shall write instances and events as and when i remember in future posts).