Dream on....

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Dreams have a long history both as a subject of conjecture and as a source of inspiration. Throughout their history, people have sought meaning in dreams. They have been described physiologically as a response to neural processes during sleep, psychologically as reflections of the subconscious, and spiritually as messages from God or predictions of the future. But who said only the asleep dream??? Most of us have at some point or the other been 'accused' of and reprimanded for 'daydreaming', but people who daydream more than average may have some psychological strengths, such as increased empathy. While we spend lives chasing money, fame, fortune and aspirations, I feel, the only thing worth chasing is dreams, especially those that are recurring and continually haunt you. And like Paash said.... Every one doesn't have the propensity to dream that's why the fuse of a dynamite lies dormant in the belly because....

Umrao's woes

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It is one of the most awaited films this year and as Umrao Jaan prepares to resurrect on November 3, one feels the reasons for the many debates and noises around it are all too trivial. For one, the lead pair, Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan's off-screen 'chemistry' seems to be more a source of curiosity and intrigue than the interaction between Nawab Sultan and Umrao Jaan Ada. In a day and age where any publicity is good publicity, it is acceptable by all means, but personally one feels, a little bit of a disservice to the beautiful literary work that is Umrao Jaan Ada. The other is of course, the whole comparison between the old and the 'remake' debate, which to one's mind, seems completely unnecessary. Written by Mirza Hadi Ruswa in 1905, Umrao Jaan Ada was perhaps the first great modern Urdu novel. Ruswa interwove his....

From Speed King to Also Ran

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So it has finally happened. Michael Schumacher climbed to the top of the podium, where he has been 90 times - a record in itself. He took a long look at the sea of scarlet-clad Ferrari fans below, and told them what they didn't want to hear. He said he was retiring from Formula One after the season, ending one of the great careers in sports. Fittingly, his announcement Sunday came after he won the Italian Grand Prix. He reportedly consulted his team on radio after reaching the chequered flag before he made the decision. Schumacher, in true champion style, cut Fernando Alonso's championship lead to just two points with this victory. 37-year old Schumacher will be stepping off the gas in style - he holds seven F1 titles. Michael Schumacher may be the most successful driver in Formula One history, but (I now I will invite a lot....

From Speed King to Also Ran....

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So it has finally happened. Michael Schumacher climbed to the top of the podium, where he has been 90 times - a record in itself. He took a long look at the sea of scarlet-clad Ferrari fans below, and told them what they didn't want to hear. He said he was retiring from Formula One after the season, ending one of the great careers in sports. Fittingly, his announcement Sunday came after he won the Italian Grand Prix. He reportedly consulted his team on radio after reaching the chequered flag before he made the decision. Schumacher, in true champion style, cut Fernando Alonso's championship lead to just two points with this victory. 37-year old Schumacher will be stepping off the gas in style - he holds seven F1 titles. Michael Schumacher may be the most successful driver in Formula One history, but (I now I will invite a lot of....

In our times

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The title of this blog is actually borrowed from a poem by a Punjabi poet (Avtar Singh Sandhu, 'Paash' wrote 'Saadde Samaya Vich'). But it couldn't really some up the reflective, introspective mood that the last fortnight has put me in. A fortnight of a lot of events - more touching than enlightening. First, the passing away of an era of filmmaking with Hrishikesh Mukherjee's death - the man who taught me that you could indeed laugh and cry at the same time. In fact, I could never pin-point a single emotion when I saw Hrishida's films - whether it was Anupama, Satyakam, Mili, Guddi, Bawarchi - or my personal favourite, Abhimaan. There were just too many emotions that would choke me at a given moment. I sniffled when Sharmila Tagore's emotionally withdrawn father surmounts his long-festering resentment towards his daughter and comes to the railway station to secretly rejoice....

Sabse khatarnaak hota hai...

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A lot of things have been happening on the news front - netas taking bribes, witnesses turning hostile. Things that have been reported not just on your channel but many across the board. These are also instances that have not been reported for the first time. The press - in all its manifestations - the fourth estate of our society has been bringing up, unearthing, exposing issues, problems, people for a long time. What do we as individuals look upon the media as - forms of entertainment - of mass communication - of propaganda - of raising public opinion? But the media has been doing this for as long as one can remember - but with what result? Do we as members of a society realise our role in bringing about change? Or do we actually think and believe that each one of us can be an island....

Debate over Shayan

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"I was just 19 then." "I was not even supposed to be there" "My peace of mind is more important to me, I don't want this shit in my life, it was just a bad dream." When I came to office to file the report on Shayan Munshi returning to work on the set of one of his films, I was a rather disturbed person. I guess it was a natural reaction when you are hearing the so-called defensive response of a person, justifying his action of turning hostile in the murder case of a young girl, who was the victim of a trigger-happy individual's sense of false pride. It was disturbing not only because his explanation failed to convince me that he was doing whatever he was doing in self-defense, it was disturbing because one couldn't imagine that one would actually be successful in keeping 'peace....

Taxi Driver...really???

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"Madam aap ko TV par dekha hai", said the bespectacled, cell-phone dangling cab guy who was ferrying me to office on a dull but hopeful-for-the-approaching-Sunday weekend morning. "Accha? Kab?" "Aap Dilip Kumar ke saath baat kar rahe the" "Ji, main TV mein kaam karti hoon".... "To aap heroine hain??" At this point, my eyebrow raised, I asked him, "Nahin nahin, ham filmon ki khabrein dikhate hain...." "Toh phir to sab fillum waale aap se darte honge?" I must admit that I became a little self-conscious and began to feel a little nervous about what the next question would be in the on-going cross-examination.....so playing safe, I just laughed it away and asked him, "Kyon?" "Nahin nahin khaas kuch nahin, hamein Salman Khan se milna tha?" There, another crazy fan, I thought to myself, but as if to check the quotient of his madness for Salman, I asked him whether....