Bachchan 739 & 740 (a friend writes and Bachchan’s response) & 741 & 742 & 743 & 744 & 745 & 746 & 747
LINK
“Nothingness is, in all reality, a most fascinating state to be in. Having a digital luminous time keeper in the bedroom is the virtual precursor to a nothingness that will follow as a result of it. The alarms may be set, on the clock, on the mobile, on the wrist watch, yet it is the call of nothingness that keeps requesting you to push that pillow back a bit, come out from under the summer duvet and check with ‘digital’, on whether it is time to be up or not.”
LINK2
“Yes Ali, I do remember you and the cricket with Ashok and Sudhir and that wonderful day on the school pitch when you and fellow classmate Subhash Bose made centuries. Ashok and Sudhir remained with me in Delhi too, in University and then in Kolkata, where we were all together hunting for jobs. We ‘chummeried’ together.”
LINK3
“My leg injuries during a million action sequences have pulverized my veins and valves, so that now there is a circulation problem and during the shoots for Parvarish and Don an action dive on a hard surface damaged my L4 and L5 in the lower spine and a similar damage on the neck. They suggest surgery to cure it because the chord is bent, but I have had enough of operation theaters and desist.”
LINK4
“It has taken me a bit to remember what all occurred with me. This is not some bravado that I exude. Its my genuine condition that I really do not remember. It is not that much cliched remark of ‘ i do not want to remember’. I genuinely do not remember.”
LINK5
“Whereas one would tend to acknowledge the journalists sense of honesty in what he/she feels, what makes me wonder is why he/she would want to share such feeling with me. You are the medium Mr/Mrs/Ms Journalist. If you have such strong opinion on the matter, why not have the courage to admit it on your medium and more, correct it. I have not responded back on this sms, not because I did not have anything to say, but because I did not want to fall prey to the possibility of my remark becoming the voice of debate, question and who knows, insinuation. Media is past master in turning words around.”
LINK6
“Is being private then a disqualification. And if there are various strengths, albeit hidden, attributed to a man because of this, does this make the person a symbol of envy and perhaps hate.”
LINK7
“Nostalgia has its own little matters and going down this memory lane, a most pleasant journey. We tend to forget what we may have done when it was supposed to have been done.”
LINK8
“Some funny sms, from my friend Ram Gopal Varma throughout the day, kept me in splits and with some sense of awareness. I think it would not be prudent to air them here at this sensitive moment in the lives of the country, and so I shall abstain.”
LINK9
“May I first give an introduction to myself. I am you. Difficult to comprehend, but sadly it is a fact of immense importance. I have lived inside you from the moment you took your very first breath, from your very first scream as you entered this world. It is therefore prudent to know that in these circumstances I do become your own voice, your own mind and your own body.”
May 2, 2010 at 12:32 PM
[Moving piece on your friend’s part and a truly superb followup from yourself. I enjoy these bouts of nostalgia from you almost more than anything else. Like your friend I too wish you a long life and even more importantly one as rich and as seminal as it has been so far. I have been on this greatest of life’s rides for as long as I’ve had memory and I would never wish this carnival associated with your signature to stop operating..]
May 2, 2010 at 12:57 PM
wow what a memory and what a great response! maza aa gaya !!
May 2, 2010 at 3:37 PM
For some reason, I was very touched by this post.
May 2, 2010 at 3:37 PM
as was I..
May 2, 2010 at 3:50 PM
It was truly one of the best posts. I wish the project which Amitji was talking about a few months back regarding a book from his blog posts becomes a reality. Amitji as so much to offer in his writings. Just Amazing. Satyam please do reminde him about this.
May 2, 2010 at 4:10 PM
It’s one of his most “Proustian” posts, especially the portion that Satyam has excerpted here, bringing together some everyday themes that we take for granted, but that can be mined so richly: sleep, death/nothingness, and time…
May 2, 2010 at 5:31 PM
You’ve got to read his latest entry in his blog to know that he’s really one of God’s chosen people. His medical history is vitually unmatched if you take into account his achievements. You finish reading it and there’s nothing you can say but believe he is who he is not because of just luck or plain hard work even though they play a part in everybodies life but because he is meant to be the man that he is. The fact that he was given the name meaning ‘EVERLASTING LIGHT’ sums up the very essence of who the man is. He will shine bright forever.
May 2, 2010 at 5:44 PM
agreed.. hard to think of a more apt name for this ‘subject’..
May 2, 2010 at 5:35 PM
After reading his latest blog…i am stunned into silence……
May 3, 2010 at 1:59 AM
aby2000/Satyam:
Please persuade him to write a book or follow up with Bigadda team which he had mentioned was bringing out a book from his blog posts. It is high time that that his writings reach out to a non-blogging crowd. Also if it comes out in Hindi and other languages it will be in reach for the left-out Big B fans.
May 2, 2010 at 5:47 PM
[Extraordinary.. not just your medical history but also the recounting of the same in your writings.. the last post and then today’s have been deeply stirring..
Even Gods are tested..]
May 2, 2010 at 5:54 PM
[Truly stunning.. I cannot get over this post..
One keeps imagining one has gauged your pre-eminence as a star and public figure, one keeps thinking one has understood your extraordinary personal strengths, one feels one has absorbed the truly ‘enormous’ personage (this word seems more adequate than the commonplace alternative) that ‘Amitabh Bachchan’ is.. and yet.. reading this kind of post one realizes how hopelessly equipped one is to comprehend this ‘event’ let alone get to the depths of its meaning..
Your father’s greatest poetic act might have been in naming you so appropriately! In your life you have taken up the challenge offered up by the charge of this name..]
May 2, 2010 at 7:21 PM
Satyam, have you read Harivanshrai Bachchan’s autobiography? He relates that the name Amitabh was not chosen by him, but by his close friend the eminent Chhayavaadi poet Sumitranandan Pant. I also ask because I know you are out to understand the Bachchan legacy, and in my mind there is no better place to turn. Dr. Bachchan has a great sense of history, legacy, and destiny himself, and of the themes that run through his own life, those of the seven generations of his family before him, and the lives of his children and grandchildren. If you have read it, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
May 2, 2010 at 11:11 PM
I haven’t unfortunately.. the English translation was abridged and I dislike this sort of thing.. couldn’t get my hands on the Hindi though to be honest reading Hindi at length and for a work of this sort would be a challenge.
May 2, 2010 at 11:48 PM
I see. I don’t actually read Hindi myself, but it seems from the translator’s notes and from reviews that he was very sensitive both in his translation and in what he chose to include in the abridgment. Of course there’s still something lost, and I understand why you’re reluctant, but in my opinion it’s still more than a worthwhile read and much better than not having it at all!
May 3, 2010 at 12:07 AM
fair enough… love the title in the translation though.. ‘In the afternoon of time’.
May 3, 2010 at 12:10 AM
Somewhat off-topic, but for all those interested in Hindi literature (in translation or in the original language), check this out.
May 3, 2010 at 12:12 AM
I had also stayed away from the abridged version, but Kats you have persuaded me to give it a shot…
May 3, 2010 at 1:40 AM
Oh, that makes me happy! Please do, I don’t think you’ll regret it.
May 3, 2010 at 1:38 AM
Fantastic post From Amitabh’s freind and again a fantastic response by BIG B…I wonder Amitabh writes a book some day or may be his own auto biography…he is such a delightful writer…
May 3, 2010 at 1:55 AM
Did anyone else notice the comment at #136 of Day 741 from AB’s childhood friend Sudhir, as mentioned in his previous post? He sounds genuine.
May 3, 2010 at 8:58 AM
thanks, hadn’t seen it..
[ Sudhir says:
May 3, 2010 at 4:10 am
Dear Amit,
Good piece as usual. Serious omission in not remembering Ravi Dhawan and Ganesh Roy, who both happen to be the only ones amongst us left in Allahabad. Also, the legends that were our dedicated teachers!
If you happen to have Rifaquat’s contact details please email to me. I have been trying to contact him for years without success.
Kaki and I have been in the US since 1995. Now settled in Burlington, WA but we retain a place in India. Our visits home have become less frequent since the parents passed on. Maybe you can join us for a BHS get together, usually arranged by one of the guys based in Delhi.
Hope this message gets to you through the cordon of security and the process of filtration. Say Hi to Jaya. Take care and stay in touch.
Sudhir]
May 3, 2010 at 11:31 AM
Oh, this man is killing me.
It is a tribute to his spirit that he carries on inspite of such seemingly unsurmountable physical challenges and it doesnt show at all in his performances.
I always believed that he was one of God’s ‘special’ people. Now, I know it to be true.
May 3, 2010 at 11:41 AM
This is incredible. I’m simply speechless; I had no idea about all these injuries/ailments — makes his energy/activity all the more impressive!
May 3, 2010 at 12:12 PM
In some ways a singular post on the blog..
May 3, 2010 at 4:25 PM
[I went through your post yesterday more than once. A singular one in the history of your blog. I have been unable to find the right words on a response even if I attempted one yesterday. It was very moving to read of course, equally inspiring at the same time. One would not have thought that your off screen person(a) could be such a match for many of your on screen ones in terms of actual heroism. This last word seems appropriate to describe not just your medical struggles but the very fact that you have still accomplished so much in these nearly three decades while having to cope with all the debilitation brought about by all of these problems.
I remember watching Agneepath and noticing for the very first time that one of your hands seemed burnt, wondering about it on and off over the years. I also noticed that one of your shoulders stooped more than the other one in later years and knowing that this wasn’t true in your older films also puzzled over this. There is so much else of the medical history I was completely unaware of. I realize now that your Coolie accident, which is of course the stuff of legend and mythology, actually papers over a whole host of issues. Heroism is therefore not a bad word to describe what have obviously been remarkably difficult trials for you. Freud always felt that the ego was a ‘bodily’ one. In other words no ego that is not linked to one’s sense of one’s body. How might this work for a public figure, a movie star who achieved unparalleled success and resonance and was then forced to confront his ‘body’ rather too early in life? A god or demigod who discovered bodily injury all of a sudden or who was confronted not just with mortality but ‘illness’. These are not the same things. Heroes in myth usually live astonishing lives and die amazingly dramatic deaths. But they usually do not fall ill! This sort of ‘weakness’ is denied to them. Closer still, could one imagine Vijay suffering any of the things you outlined in your post?
There is a great moment in Desh Premee where the ‘always-soaked-in-Ben-Hur’ Desai has you enter a complex of caves while escaping from the police where you run into your, yet unknown to you, mother who is a leper. You ask her to help you with your bullet wound, she hesitates suggesting she has leprosy and your response even as you wince with pain is ‘mujhe kod [leprosy] nahin hota’. Entirely appropriate! A hero of the kind you were in your films could not be afflicted with disease. Such a condition would have violated those epic registers your films so relied upon. In other words you could never have been Anand! But sure enough you could die all those heroic deaths.
But here a God in an epic vein discovers illness all of a sudden! Incredibly no one learns about this. Because the God carries on as before. Perhaps he has the instinctive understanding that illness cannot fell him. This is a bit like a curse. From other malevolent supernatural beings. Whose potions damage your body, whose pesky furies hound you all the time (media to the nth power! politicians too). But all of this cannot quite destroy this God. Or if one prefers the less elevated word ‘hero’ then this hero always operates with a ‘blessing’ that protects him much like those great figures of the Biblical age. But this God-hero carries on as before. The very same work ethic, the very same public demeanor, the very same stoicism in so many ways. Coolie in many ways marks the dividing line, the space where the destinies of Vijay and Amitabh Bachchan truly bleed into each other (unfortunate metaphor from your perspective perhaps..). The mythic hero actually encounters the very mortal Amitabh Bachchan. The one who can only die meets the one who can be made very ill. After Coolie the history of this ‘Bachchan’ signature is never the same. It is too dominated by the trauma of this accident, this wound. In the Bachchan archive or memory banks this is the equivalent of the heel of Achilles. I have said much about this before. Note how art and life intersect. How the 786 badge comes into play again. How Vijay loses his life, how Iqbal (and ‘Bachchan’) almost lose it…
The final Coolie moment is useful. Iqbal thanks his audience for the prayers. You have always had the ‘blessing’ and one which is reflected not least in this incomparable reserve of emotion which binds your ‘fans’ to yourself. If this post-Coolie history illustrates anything it is the fact that this God could be wounded in profound ways but could not be ‘defeated’ in this fashion.
One might introduce another register here. There are so many cultural traditions in which ‘names’ mean a great deal. They exert a certain power (not always positive) on he (or she) who bears it. Perhaps there is more than a little of a Buddhist in you.. how could you bear so much otherwise with so much patience? How could you will yourself so much over such great adversity? One day someone will have to write an adequate ‘history’ of all your names, all the great ones associated with you…
I have so often urged you in the past to cut down on your work at all levels, follow a less frenetic lifestyle. This entire medical history you’ve outlined would seem to confirm the necessity of all such advice. And yet I find myself rather paradoxically being pulled in the opposite direction today. You have prevailed because you have been so active. You have used this energy to fight off those demons. Even as I, like so many others, fret over medical episodes that occur from time to time and that seem to affect you for the worse in one way or the other I now realize that this is routine for you, something that you have to overcome each time to win ‘absolutely’ each time. If there were not this entire history you would be a lesser god! I could never have imagined that ‘Amitabh Bachchan’ as the figure who is also ‘other’ than his screen history could ever rival his heroic screen selves in certain attributes. I see now that there is a contest even here..
Today I wish for you to carry on as you always have.. for this has been your source of strength.. these are the reserves where you’ve drawn the ‘force’ needed to ward off all challenges.. you must go on exactly this way.. the ‘blessing’ shall always remain with you.. how small and insignificant so many of my ‘debates’ with you about your film choices and so on seem in the light of these revelations.. or I should say how much these seem part of a larger ‘destiny’.. I have always been in awe of so many aspects of your signature.. I am in the deepest awe once again today and my reverence for your ‘name’ is once again renewed…
All the very best Sir.. in everything and anything that you touch..]
May 3, 2010 at 5:05 PM
Satyam Sir,
Take a bow..What a response…!!! Have to read it again.As Aramak rightly says “you can put in words what others think”..I ‘am the one who cannot even think on these lines let alone write them. Great comment Satyam once again. Amitji and you keep raising the bar on each passing day on your posts.
May 3, 2010 at 5:06 PM
thanks very much as always Rajesh.. you are WAYYYYY too kind..
May 3, 2010 at 4:36 PM
I must say Satyam that in that post you’ve said everything that is needed to be said about what makes Amitabh Bachchan, Amitabh Bachchan. Kudos to you once again for being able tp put in words what we can only think to say to the man.
May 3, 2010 at 4:58 PM
thank you so much Aramak..
May 4, 2010 at 4:26 PM
[Interesting piece you’ve posted there. and of course an equally interesting post. After all the ailments you’ve outlined I think you can be given a break for not being able to respond very frequently to members here!
Getting back to the piece I tend to think that what is defined as ‘pseudo-reality’ is increasingly becoming the only reality in the age of mass media and ‘info-news’ not to mention all the other manifestations of the information superhighway. Desai says as much. I depart a touch from him though. In the age of consumption coupled with so many digital avenues this ‘pseudo-reality’ becomes more ‘real’ than anything else. It is not that we become our online IDs or what have you but that the world of cyberspace and so forth informs us far more than our ‘non-ID’ world. The Avatar principle if you will. Jake’s ID eventually takes over! He starts identifying so much with his other self that he eventually (and willingly) crosses over to the other side. In other words many of us would probably not mind migrating into cyberspace and become our respective IDs!
So there is a psychological element here. We are increasingly governed by cyberspace much as we are incessantly ‘informed’ (to greatly abuse this verb!) by the news media (an aside: this was precisely the problem with Rann.. RGV ‘revealed’ in fact the most mundane reality about the news business.. we already knew it.. or should have known.. the film is effective but the truth it offers has been stale for a while). One could backtrack here and suggest that the cinematic age begins this transition from ‘reality’ to the ‘represented’ one of the ’simulacrum’ or the ‘image’. Today one should say that this latter ‘pseudo-reality’ is completely triumphant. Again, not because we do not have lives away from out TV and computer screens but because this simulated reality has intruded on our lives to such an extent that we can never break free from it even when we don’t have the instruments and devices switched on. Of course not being ‘connected’ in some fashion or the other is increasingly becoming a dream. One would like to shut down all these systems for a bit. But it is no longer possible.
But there is definitely a class angle to all of this as well as a geopolitical one. Not everyone can afford this pseudo-reality or have equal access to it.
Perhaps ‘pseudo-reality’ reveals the truth of what is always defined as ‘reality’ in rather facile fashion. We ‘represent’ the world, we access it in certain ways, we depend on various circumstances in life that program us to receive the ‘world’ in precise ways, there is no question of accessing simply a world ‘common’ to each and every resident on earth. This has never been true. Yes they were larger social or cultural narratives that held more sway over ‘communities’ than they do today. Perhaps there is no longer a ‘community’ (as a number of French thinkers will remind us) for this reason. In any case ‘representation’ has never been divorced from reality. So there is a certain truth revealed by ‘pseudo-reality’.
The much darker secret though relates to the loss and even collapse of imagination that ‘pseudo-reality’ seems to herald. Again one go back to the advent of the cinematic age and discover in the time since how ‘images’ have cannibalized any ‘normal’ sense of reality. We now relate to the world through the reality of images. The cinematic age begins the world of ‘virtuality’.
I understand where Desai is coming from but I do not rate this moment and its ‘effects’ (some of which he discusses) as being more or less important. Because ‘pseudo-reality’ is precisely that which elides the difference between the two. For example, sordid details of the sex lives of Hollywood stars are not less important than a recent nuclear summit. Or terrorism on TV is as real/unreal as blockbuster movies. Two different symmetries here but either way the mind consumes both equally, the form in which both messages are delivered is one and the same.
All of this does not mean there isn’t a danger in this moment. A very great danger. there is still something ‘other’ than pseudo-reality. And we are increasingly losing sight of this ‘other’. Perhaps we could define the latter as ‘reality’ and be a little old-fashioned about it. We do however need to understand that there is something there on the other side of pseudo-reality. Avatar is still comforting on this matter. Jake chooses a different civilization that is ‘really’ there. He uses an ID to naturalize himself to that world but it is as real as the human one he comes from. In cyberspace there is no such solace. Yet for all this it can ’seem’ as real. Therein lies the danger..]
May 5, 2010 at 3:28 PM
[Two news stories inform me that Santoshi’s Outsider has been delayed but he is starting a crime thriller with yourself, Dutt and Devgan instead. Meanwhile Prakash Jha’s Aakarshan also has you with Devgan and Kaif. Not sure if all these media stories are correct but both of these are projects to look forward to, especially the Santoshi one.
The other day you mentioned the journalist who went after Raavan to get at you. Everytime such an incident happens I am reminded once again of just the enormous animosity that comes your way from the media and in a professional sense towards Abhishek. Even with many of the Raavan reporting I noticed this. The print media and the channels couldn’t stop talking about it but many of these stories contained ’snarky’ comments with respect to Abhishek. It was often subtle but it was there. This is also what happens when the movie in question finally releases and does well. Then it becomes about an engagement (as if people keep spending money for a film they otherwise don’t like based on this sort of reason or for that matter any other reason!) or something unrelated to the film. Or the very same folks who clearly harbor a deep bias also choose to pick up the most negative box office stories or the most understated ones. This kind of attitude which is perhaps an anxiety of history (Amitabh Bachchan will have been the colossus who cannot be dislodged, Abhishek’s career ensures the continuation of the signature) or a more deep rooted and more than generational opposition to the ‘politics’ your films represented. either way it’s very apparent.
Even as Paa was praised universally by the media, even as all the performances were appreciated I wasn’t very happy. Because it takes a more or less perfect effort from you or Abhishek to get that kind of response (even then the trade played dirty with the box office reporting). They keep denying him if you will. How many major awards did he win for Guru? I am now eagerly waiting for him to get ‘best villain’ for Raavan!
One sees this attitude on the blogosphere as well among many partisans. Attack Abhishek when he has a film that doesn’t work. Attack him for everything including his breakfast choices. But when a film like Raavan comes along that seems to be so unimpeachable on so many grounds (certainly the images here are the very best I have ever seen for a Hindi film in just about forever) he is attacked for other reasons.
It is not that I believe the media can influence the ultimate fate of a film but ‘creating opinion’ is something a 24/7 media can do very well and the effects of which cannot be underestimated. Note how on Paa you and Abhishek also got ‘ahead’ of the narrative and handled the film in optimal fashion at every turn (something which has not, if truth be told, been necessarily your modus operandi on his) which then led to the right sort of media narrative. But I don’t believe that the media makes or breaks a film let alone the blogosphere. I keep bringing this up however because the ‘form’ that the criticism takes interests me greatly and as I’ve said many times before there is a deep rooted structure of anxiety to all the unfairness that is prevalent on this subject.
getting back to the Raavan shot that journalist took it was another rather cheap one and clearly said more about the person taking it than anything about the subject or film to which it was addressed. It would be a nice world if journalists could be even an approximation of the paragons of truth and objectivity they claim to be. But as with so many other things we do not live in such a world. For the world as we have it the struggle is necessary and we should never fool ourselves into believing otherwise..]
May 5, 2010 at 4:05 PM
what did the journalist say about Raavan?
May 6, 2010 at 3:55 PM
my mistake.. it wasn’t a journalist:
“One respondent on the blog wrote in to say that since I do not waste a moment to take a swipe at the media, is it any wonder then that they hate you and that despite its prominent music launch, Raavan is not getting any mention by the media. Sorry to state miss, Raavan will get its own merit and the amount of hype that it is creating without your kind help is sufficient and considerably more noticeable than you would have imagined. Eventually dear lady, the film will succeed or fail because of its quality, not because of any and certainly not your, media hype or the lack of it.”
May 6, 2010 at 4:10 PM
[I made a mistake the other day. I thought a journalist had made that comment about Raavan but it was actually a respondent here. You had of course mentioned it so the error was mine. I am however amused as to the extent to which people feel the need to resort to the ‘lie’ to make a point. One can be anti-Raavan, anti-Abhishek or anti-everything that carries the last name ‘Bachchan’. But one doesn’t have to invent things. The assertion was made that the media wasn’t bothered about the film. There are first of all tons of pieces marking it as one of the big upcoming movies. Beyond this there has been enormous coverage on all the TV channels and if one just did a cursory search on youtube one would find it hard to keep track of all these videos. And these are just ones that people have posted there. presumably it’s not everything. Based on a great deal of anecdotal evidence first hand and then based on opinions I respect there has been extraordinary buzz about the images and the previews. does all of this automatically translate into a box office hit? of course not. But that’s a different argument. Similarly the music has just taken off instantly and it has been an extraordinarily well reviewed soundtrack even by Rahman’s standards (i.e. he usually gets good reviews). But again the point is that if one has seen all of this and nonetheless adopts that position one is resorting to the ‘lie’. If one has ‘missed’ all of this then again one does not quite have the right to possess an opinion on what clearly one does not know enough about. There are things in life we can have opinions about and then there is the realm of the factual. I would think that the media coverage that we witness on Raavan indicates the latter. In a related vein I would say that one does not need to be a fan of Rathnam (my commiserations for anyone who isn’t) or be a fan of any of the stars either to accept that the images are simply stunning. Again getting back to the original point one can have any view whatsoever but let’s not invent ‘facts’ as well.]
May 6, 2010 at 4:26 PM
Thanks for the clarification…
May 6, 2010 at 3:52 PM
[“Nostalgia has its own little matters and going down this memory lane, a most pleasant journey. We tend to forget what we may have done when it was supposed to have been done.”
I am weary; yea, my memory is tired.
Have we no wine here?
Coriolanus (Act 1, Sc 9)
This seems to be an opportune moment to re-introduce part of an older comment:
“I am reminded of a moment in Kabhi Kabhie that I consider to be the canonical one in terms of ‘nostalgia’ in Hindi cinema. The very summa of such representation in Bombay film. This occurs when you are re-introduced to Rishi Kapoor on the construction site by Shashi Kapoor as his (and Rakhee’s son). The father and son then start chatting and as they do their gregarious bits you are staring into space. At that point the entire meaning of the film, of the relationship your character has lost but nonetheless cherishes, is condensed into that brief scene. One can see everything passing through your eyes..”]
May 6, 2010 at 4:21 PM
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCesInDvf08&feature=channel
this Komal Nahata interview with Sajid Khan is a classic example of everything distasteful about ‘Bollywood’. Has there ever been a worse example of such extraordinary and self-congratulatory and even downright bankrupt mediocrity than Sajid Khan in this interview? And it doesn’t stop here. He too decides to make up his own facts. Housefull has done very well, the initial has been very good too. But it is nowhere as historic as Sajid pretends it is and as Nahata also agrees. It is miles behind Ghajini let alone 3I. But here’s Sajid bringing up comparisons with Titanic. Is there no end to such obscenity? It’s one thing to hype a film but to say the most idiotic things imaginable to exaggerate the box office and to have the country’s so called premier trade analyst (or one of them) agree at every point when both know better? Forget everything else, the film is hardly likely to trend like a Munnabhai or display that kind of stability week after week. Sajid acts here as if he is Spielberg and of course plays the great populist too. Both brother and sister (farah) are remarkably annoying for their brashness and really crassness in every sense and it’s sometimes hard to choose who’s worse. Sajid possibly wins in a photo finish.
This is not a genre of cinema that I find it easy to watch. I haven’t seen most of these films barring bits. I wish Akshay would attempt something more useful. At least a masala effort like Wanted with more of a mix to the narrative. Be that as it may I am very pleased that he has a success here after a poor run at the box office in recent times. I find myself rooting for him even when I don’t like his films. His best role to my mind remains Khakee.]
May 6, 2010 at 5:05 PM
This will a great piece by Amitji..A talk about his movies, the shoot, the incidents….It would great to watch. I hope some day Zee will release the DVD alone of his talks and the snippets of that movies…I’am sure it will reach the youtube soon.
May 8, 2010 at 2:43 PM
[All that ordering, all that naming should happen in the form of a book. You should select your best posts and put these in a volume. With links provided so that people reading the book can access online responses if they wish. Eventually there could be a second volume and so on.
Online let’s have more freedom.. let’s get away from the tyranny of labels and thematic groupings and so forth.. let’s enjoy these ‘unmarked graves’.. those who have participated in the daily digging know what’s buried even if we might not always be able to find our way back to specific graves..
I would be completely unoriginal in suggesting that writing is linked to death as certainly as it is linked to birth..]