Sita, Ramayan and the Blues

Was checking the reviews for Bollywood movies released this week which included an animation film: “Ramayana – the epic”. Some said it was good others said there was no story – there was no innovation or inventiveness in the film. I have not yet seen the movie but to be honest I believe reinventing a story that has been told atleast a billion times can be daunting.

Mahabharat and Ramayan has been told and retold countless times – in books, films, TV, folklore but still there is something that we never get enough of them. Anyways I am not writing about them today, we all know how great these scriptures are.

I just wanted to share with you a film on Ramayan. One of the reviewers had mentioned this film in his review so I just tried my luck on Youtube and guess what.. I was not disappointed :) Actually the film has been made under a creative commons license and cannot be released commercially so the best way for the maker to reach the audiences was to share it on Youtube (Also seems like the maker struggled long with the copyright holders of the 80-year-old songs recorded by Annette Hanshaw which made it difficult for them to release it commercially).

The name of the film is “Sita Sings the Blues”. The “Blues” in the title is a pun intended to reflect the music genre that is used to take the story forward and as well as the suffering she has to go through. The film is a modern take on the story from Sita’s perspective. The film apparently is based on the experiences of the maker Nina Paley whose husband had dumped her after moving to India. So when she was introduced to Ramayan, she couldn’t help but draw parallels between herself and Sita.

I think it is a nice third party.. I say third party as she is not an Indian.. so she will have an unbiased view. As Indians we consider these scriptures holy and sacred; hence don’t dare to question them. But the film is not at all offensive ( as per me) as I said it’s a neutral modern take on the story.. it just asks a few questions.. and it answers some while others are just left unanswered. The movie really impresses as it cuts all the distractions and focuses on the main plot involving Sita. There are flaws like for example Lakshman’s character is almost missing but the film overall gets the point across.

One more word of caution is that the film amply uses “Blues” (the music) . Nearly half of the film has songs so people who don’t like the genre will have to be more patient. But all in all if you are bored of hearing the same story again and again there is a good attempt at alternative story telling.

Let me know what you think of it……

Everything is good, everything is just right...

“Theek hai theek theek sab kuch theek hai

 Paas hai sab kuch rab nazdeek hai

Hey Rab ke hazur mein kasmein bhi kha li

Duniya ki auni pauni rasmein nibha li

Phir bhi na maane koi to dafa kar

Maane jo maane na maane to bhala kar

Duniya na maane khasma nu khaye

Khasma nu khaye marjaani”

These are the lyrics of a popular Bollywood number written by Gulzar. I tried to translate it as follows (I hope the translation is somewhat close):

“Everything is good, everything is just right

You’ve got everything if God’s in sight

We’ve kept promises to Him,

Followed the itsy-bitsy whims of this world

If people still don’t agree, shun them

They accept or not, it’s all well

If the world doesn't care, don’t dread

Let the damn thing go to hell”

I like this song a lot because although it has been comically filmed, has a loud score with exaggerated dances but it’s still philosophical and highlights a sad truth of life – How so ever hard you may try you cannot keep everyone happy. So the best thing is to do your best and forget everything else.

All that said and understood it pains me no end when people who have accomplished little in their own lives tend to question the greatness of people like Sachin Tendulkar and A R Rahman and criticize them. Just read the comments on the recent CWG song controversy or the chat logs of a cricket website when Sachin is playing, it will make you sick to the stomach for the way people tend to spew hatred, bile and total disregard for the accomplishments of these two. Not that Rahman and Sachin have been infallible, they have made their mistakes, but their greatness lies not in their mistakes, but how they have outgrown them and set new standards every time.

My concern is not just the criticism that these two have been receiving, their records and awards speak for themselves; but I am more concerned with the general cynicism and negativity that is engulfing our everyday lives. Just open any news website and go through the news headlines; even worse try reading the comments on the news items you will understand what I am saying. Is it that the common man suffers so much in his daily life – in his quest of getting the very basic things ( roti, kapda and makan) – that he is left with little choice but to vent his anger at public forums? Is that the only way he feels he will be heard?

For a nation that got it’s independence using Non-cooperation as a main weapon along with non-violence; probably the only way we know we’ll be heard is by not cooperating with the law and government – hence the pride in breaking the law in our everyday lives and a ‘band’ or a ‘hartal’ for every other non-issue (and of course, we forgot non-violence and discarded it as soon as we had milked it’s benefits). Sometimes I think Gandhi got us independence through ‘Asahyog’ or ‘Non-Cooperation’ which was great but in the event paralyzed the Indian mindset for ever. Now that is the only way we know of getting our demands met, add to that the general apathy that the administration has towards the issues/problems of the common man – you get what we have today- Chaos. In other countries they wear black arm-bands while working as a mark of protest or work over-time, in India we stop work, shout slogans burn buses and later brag about it.

So in a way it is good that we have so many News (Shout) Channels and the internet now, it gives common man a platform to vent out their angst and is way more preferable than burning public property. Public opinion is a strong force in any democracy and these are excellent tools that help us form, strengthen and propagate beliefs. And the media, as much as we hate it for sensationalism and cheap publicity, plays a very important role in the whole process as is evident from whatever little that has been achieved in the criminal cases against the rich and the powerful and of late in case of the urgency shown by the government to get the CWG preparations completed on time despite all the corruption and delays.

I understand the power of the medium and fully support and endorse it but still don’t understand when we act like thankless morons, when we try to bring down people who have achieved so much over the years, proved themselves time and again.

Let me know your thoughts on the topic?

A Sporty Evening...

Recently got a chance to watch a FC Dallas Vs. Inter Milan soccer match in Plano here. Didn’t have really high expectations of the match, but it turned out to be quite a good one ending in a 2-2 draw. I always wanted to see a soccer match in a stadium and this was my dream come true. I also got a chance to strike off an item in 50 things I want to do list :)

Plus watching big names like Samuel Eto'o, Maicon and Materazzi was an added bonus even though I and Jai paaji spent most of the time figuring out what jersey number was which player and the dear lady accompanying us spent most of her time in queues buying water to keep us hyderated on a hot humid evening.... it was all great fun.

But what amazed me the most was the atmosphere of the stadium and the support for soccer and the local team. Even though US is not known to be a soccer nation and most people don’t even know the rules of the game leave alone following it, the turnout was huge. Each goal scored by the home team was followed by huge fireworks and great applause. The stadium facility was nicely built and well kept….no doubt these guys take home the most medals in each Olympics. If they can do so much for a neglected sport by US standards, God only knows how much they put in for the sports they love…got to watch a American Football match now….

I hope the same happens in India some day…Kids see sports as a career and parents support them and some portion of those 36000 crores earmarked for the CWG goes into sports infrastructure and facilities……

Sakhi Saiyaan to khoob hi….

Heard this delightful song from Aamir Khan’s next film Peepli Live and have been humming it over and over again since the time I heard it. Although I am not an expert on music and can hardly tell one genre from the other but I definitely know when a song sounds good .

Of late, Bollywood music is opening up to new horizons and has been stretching it’s boundaries; music directors and film makers have started experimenting a lot nowadays which is a very welcome change. The music in some of the recent films is both unconventional and refreshing. Films like Oye Lucky Lucky Oye’, ‘Dev D’, ‘Gulaal’ and now ‘Peepli Live’ belong to their own different genre of music determined more by the story, the location and the film instead of the conventional commercial wisdom.

What I like even more is the fact that when situation demands filmmakers are ready to explore folk music and not like the old days when they would just copy a folk tune and completely reinvent the song with filmy lyrics. I am talking about the songs where the folk essence still remains and stays alive – the simple lyrics, ground level issues, problems, happiness, and feelings in the simplest language – a language that is not confined to books or literary circles but a language which thrives in the hearts and the conversations of the common people; a language which is not so pure in literary terms but so pure in its essence and so flavorful. I think purity is over-rated, there is so much emphasis placed on it that it isolates and thus disconnects. Anyways I will leave that topic for some other time.

And right now just stick to Bollywood films and the use of folk music. Who has not liked or hummed ‘Sasural Genda Phool’ from Delhi 6. Rahman, the genius that he is, didn’t kill the essence of the song yet added modern beats to be liked by one and all. Another delightful example would be the music of the film ‘Oye Lucky Lucky Oye’. The song ‘Tu raja ki raaj dulari’ is actually a folk song from Haryana. ‘Jugni’ from the same film is sung by a 70 year old folk singer and he has sung it with so much power that you can hardly make out the age of the singer.

Mohit Chauhan has been including his version of at least one Himachali song in each of his album of late like ‘Morni’, ‘Thanda paani’, ‘Maye ni meriye’. These and a lot more little gems keep coming and leave me smiling…………

Thank you South Africa for a great great world cup!!!

I have refrained from writing this past month as there was a lot happening around me which kept me preoccupied and then of course there was the World Cup…the only real world cup I would say as this is probably the only event for which each and every country of the world vies for and participates – that includes playing a lot of qualifiers till you reach the last 32 which go into the ultimate battle to be the champions of the beautiful game.


Now that the football extravaganza has come to an end it is time to reflect upon what has transpired in the last one month. I‘ll not go into facts and figures but stick to my takeaways from the World Cup.

First and foremost, the biggest takeaway is the victory of Spain. I had predicted at the very beginning that Spain might win this one which of course nobody believed at that time and not many were convinced even until they defeated the most favored Germany very convincingly like they were playing a bunch of school kids. It is incredible how a team which has scored only 8 goals in the entire tournament managed to be the champions. I personally do not favor the defensive genre of soccer which Italy and now Brazil uses. But Spain might have scored less but their soccer was never boring they played a beautiful passing game all through which was delight to watch. The only chink in their armour was that they were missing another striker apart from the exciting David Villa since Torres was injured and out of touch for most of the tournament. But they never let anybody expose that weakness and managed to cover it up with their beautiful midfield play. Although the entire team played extremely well the following players need special mention: Casillas, Ramos, Iniesta and Xavi.

Spain were the ultimate champions but the revelation of the world cup was Uruguay – what great team work, what great fighting spirit and never-say-die attitude and of course the player of the tournament Diego Forlan – what an incredible player who single handedly inspired the whole team to play the football of their lives. I know many people would start pointing fingers at Suarez for that handball. But honestly, that looked more of an instinctive reaction than a deliberate attempt. I think he got duly punished as per the rules. All this finger pointing is because Gyan wasn’t able to convert the penalty for Ghana. Had he done that everyone would have forgotten the incident. I believe all the booing by the crowd was unnecessary and embarrassing. Suarez I believe is a talented young player with a great future. Somehow Uruguay of Forlan and Suarez reminded me of Chile of Salas and Zomarano – you could never write them off against anyone.

Germany was playing like a dream and at one point even I thought the cup belonged to them. But they somehow lost their game against Spain. Was it psychological pressure because of what the tentacled Oracle predicted or something else….we would never know. But it’s true they were in the best form of their life before Spain left them clueless in the Semis. Muller was one of the best players of the tournament. On paper I believe they had the strongest team.

It would not be fair to leave Netherlands out but compared to Spain they had a much easier path to the finals. And they always have been good enough to be touted as the best team never to have won a World Cup and they kept the reputation alive. The only highlight for me was their win over Brazil. And Robben and Sneijder showed that they were class players but the rest of the team was pretty unimpressive. They might still have won the cup on the shoulders of Robben and Sneijder had they concentrated on their game than on the fouls. Probably it was part of their plan to upset Spain’s flow through some rough play but they overdid it. It is at this point Spain showed how mentally strong they were as they stuck to their game unflustered.

Argentina was my other favorite but they were absolutely clueless in the game against Germany. Messi was difficult to spot on the field; he hardly came near the ball that day much less display the magic he is known for.

This world cup all in all proved one thing for sure that football is a team game and no single Messi, Ronaldo, Rooney or Kaka can make you the Champions. But on the other hand it also proved that if you have one inspirational leader like Forlan, Honda or Gyan and the team is ready to rally around him and support him, you can still certainly make a mark.

Rest France were a shame, Italy disgraceful, Brazil strong but too tied up with their defense, England had the firepower but not the will, Portugal was just relying on Ronaldo, Serbia - I had high hopes and Ivory coast disappointed . But this cup had more positives than negatives – A new Champion, the meteoric rise of Uruguay and Forlan, exciting discovery of players like Gyan, Muller, Ozil, Donovan etc. Honda was a revelation.



Thank you South Africa for a great great world cup!!!

PS: I found this slideshow published by The Huffington Post which IMHO is the most complete summary of the World Cup 2010 : http://huff.to/dAk4Os

Everest and the Indomitable Human Spirit

The day started with this bad news: http://bit.ly/d5yBSD


It is so sad that a young mountaineer died a premature death. As per the story, after scaling the peak he developed snow blindness and was not able maneuver the descent. His team mates tried to help him for several hours but ultimately had to abandon him or else they would have met the icy grave because of hypothermia and exhaustion. The story not only made me sad but also for a moment made me think how would have I reacted in a similar situation. It would have been great to say that I wouldn’t have left him but frankly, I still can’t make up my mind as to what would have I done. I am sure these guys tried their best to save him and situation would have been completely hopeless and it would not have been an easy decision at all. But survival instincts finally must have taken over. How would have you reacted in a similar situation?

Also made me think how helpless we humans still are against the forces of the nature. We challenge and claim that we have overcome natural challenges and we can use nature to our advantage. We drill holes in the bottom of the sea for oil, we scale mountain peaks to establish our supremacy but then tragedy strikes and we all know who the boss is. But still this helplessness pains me, wasn’t there any way he could have been saved – by probably airlifting him maybe. I know and it’s sad that we still don’t have the technology. But nevertheless we still have that indomitable spirit, a never dying desire to control all, to conquer all that makes a man gather the courage to scale these peaks fully knowing that it is dangerous and life threatening. Everybody who sets to climb a peak is aware of the dangers that would be there, that death would be lurking around the corner, and still nothing dissuades them. I salute this indomitable human spirit!!

The incident also reminded me of Sir George Mallory who was one of the first people to attempt scaling the Mt. Everest in the 1920s. I read “Paths of Glory” by Jeffrey Archer a couple of months back which I believe is a fictional account of his life. George Mallory disappeared on his final expedition and his body was found in 1999 couple of hundred feet below the peak leading to speculation that he was the first person to climb the Mt. Everest and he died on his way back. The story of Peter Kinloch sounds so similar. And it is indeed a matter of dismay that even after close to a century we did not have means to save his life but atleast we know that he had achieved what he wanted to – stand at the top of the world.

My condolences to the near and dear ones of Peter Kinloch…R.I.P.!