DesiDabba - Boss, Thoda Sa Roomani Ho Jaye

It’s that time of year again, when all the Bollywood glitterati put in even extra thought into what they’re wearing - and some of them even get rewarded for it.

Tune in to MTV at 5 pm on 1st November 2007, to see, the good, the bad and some, just plain ugly. Also worth the watch are performances by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Trilok Gurtu, Midival Punditz, Salim Suleiman, D J Aqeel and C21.

Every weekend, I look forward to catching up with my “favourite” serials on Indian television. And one of the main reasons I look forward to this time is that, it has never happened that it hasn’t inspired me to ask some fundamental questions of life.

Just take my today’s thoughts as an example:

1. As far as I remember, taking aatmas of dead people is a task allocated to Yama (and his Yamdoot) in Hindu Mythology. Since when was the task “outsourced” to the scythe-bearing Death?
2. And is that why sadhus now recognize Death? Is this what they mean by “Global Village”?
3. Death being such a mean, old (yup, mean and old both) thing, shouldn’t its aura be black, and not such glowing bright Rin-ki-safedi white?

Continue reading ‘Food for Thought : Courtsey Indian TV Shows’

Does the Media reflect the Society we live in or influence it?

The above question was posted on MIR just yesterday. Shockingly it failed to grab their reader’s attention and therefore no comments. If you ask me, I think it is a thought provoking subject and more importantly very much relevant to our present state Society.

In my opinion, Media does reflect the day-to-day routines of the aam junta and highlights it further with the examples of popular faces so that their story is widely accepted. However this doesn’t mean that what we see, read or hear is always entirely accurate. In today’s competitive times, especially in the main stream media, they are required to market a common story in a hatke packaging in order to stand out from the rest of the pack. And this is where, manipulation comes into play.

The Indian media tends to twist and turn their interpretations, keeping in mind – the commercial viability, the maximum quotient of exaggeration and the desi-public’s acceptance level. Today they may be on your side but tomorrow they wouldn’t mind joining your detractors, as long as the end result is more power and more money.

Continue reading, ‘Thoughts On Media And Our Society’.

There are times when you get reminded of serials that one watched a long time ago, at a time when Doordarshan was the only channel in town and the only entertainment that you got on TV were the serials and Chitrahaar that Doordarshan would dish out.

One such very popular serial of the Doordarshan time was called ‘Nukkad’. What does Nukkad mean ? It literally means the neighborhood, and was all about the characters who would live in the neighborhood or a locality (in the case of the serial, it was a locality of people that were not well-off by any means, in fact, they were poor). The idea of the serial was to show their life, and for many of us, it was a good awakening to see how people separate from us lived, what were their hopes and aspirations, and most of all, they emotions, their ambitions, and their despair.

Continue reading ‘Nukkad From Doordarshan Days’

Frankly speaking, I am a little confused here – Pradeep Sarkar’s Laaga Chunari Mein Daag (LCMD) is impressive at times but overall it’s just not “daagi” enough, as I would have liked it to be.

It reminded me a lot of Karan Johar’s Kabhi Alvida Na Kahana, potentially strong story line but totally ruined by Bollywood glossiness. Though I didn’t find LCMD’s plot power-packed but I do feel that the film could have turned out ten folds better had the Yash Raj chaap not been all over it. In my opinion films based on social subjects such as extra marital affairs, prostitution, AIDs, etc need to be dealt with more seriousness.

Continue reading ‘Review Laaga Chunari Mein Daag : Don’t Bother.’