Camera I

It was winter in Delhi, when sun sets early and night comes quickly. The roads are generally deserted, which is an unusual sight in India particularly, where the romping population makes any kind of space scarce. Few shops that remain open after 9 Pm are generally the liquor shops and some small Kirana stores (general stores).  16 th of December 2012; a young couple went to a movie, Anglee’s Life Of PI, what a movie, brilliant animation, CG, and a non- linear story telling. The journey of Pi, the hero touched lots of people’s hearts and they might have got the new resolve, not to give up in life, no matter how hard are the adversities. But  then it was a movie, where the writer is taught to write with the hero, his problems and how he overcomes them and becomes a victor in the end of the movie. But reel life is so different from real life. The two young people, after watching the movie, stand out in the cold, waiting for transport, the roads are deserted, bu...

This is one of the most important human rights in the modern society but the fight for this right started in late 17th century by Voltaire, the French historian, philosopher famous for his wit and advocacies on civil liberties. The fight for the right caught up with the aesthetic movement, represented by the school of William Morris and Dante Gabriel Rosetti in 1860-1900. One of the most influential authors of this movement was Oscar Wilde. He was one of the flamboyant and witty playwright  who penned short stories, plays, poetry's and his only novel- The picture of Dorian Gray. The novel first appeared as a lead story in Lippincots monthly magazine on June 20 th 1890. The Magazine’s editor changed some 500 words of the text without intimating Wilde, as he feared the story indecent to publish. Even then the story was greeted with outrage by British reviewers, some of whom suggested that Wilde should be prosecuted on moral grounds, leading Wilde to defend ...

Ronald Barth was the first person to acknowledge the plight of an author when he made a study on structuralism and post-structuralism in linguistics. When you write even a simple essay it requires a structure which has three parts- Intro, Body and Conclusion. When screenplay writers write their plays, they also need to follow a structure, like a thriller generally has a three act structure. As I started my journey of a writer, some producers asked- are you an unconflicted writer? Reading between the lines, I gathered the meaning of unconflicted, which is; a writer is a hyphenated creature.   For him there is no conflict of interest, there is only maximization or juggling of interests of the producer. It doesn't count how you have perceived the idea and written the script. It’s the Producer how he sees it and how he wants to bring it on the screen. For that if you have pitched him a three act structure for a thriller; he had agreed on it and consent...

I read The Great Gatsby penned by F. Scott Fitzgerald, when I had taken the American novel writing in my literature course. And I had become a fan of Fitzgerald’s style and manner, which got me into reading most of his works and other writers of his time. Novels of 19 th century America may be considered at one level as social visionaries. American novels gained its inspiration from there contemporary British novels. The British novelists like Dickens, Disraeli wrote with a reformative zeal. On the other hand American novelists were not interested in reforming their society instead they put their moral energies in portraying the evils in their society. When they were bedeviled by moral issues in their social environment such as slavery, child labor and democratic equality. Fitzgerald with Great Gatsby became the novelist of the great rebellion. In his writing there was a double sense of involvement and detachment which made him the immediate historian of an age, he was ha...

Since declaring its independence from the United Kingdom in 1947 after years of colonial rule, a number of India’s biggest cities have undergone name changes as their states underwent reorganization. Calcutta got its new name KOLKATA, Capital of West Bengal-India, is the union of the race, moment and milieu. In Jan 2001, the name was restored back to Kolkata from Calcutta. One belief is that it is derived from in the name Kalikata - one of three villages present in the area where the city is today before the British arrived. The name Kalikata itself is derived from the Hindu goddess Kali. The name could have also been derived from the Bengali word kilkila which means "flat area." There is also evidence that the name could have come from the words khal (natural canal) and katta (dug) which would have been present in older languages. Kolkata represents a reality which never believes in realizing itself into a settled monolith. As ceaseless innovation to achieve its ow...

My professor started his lecture in the art of storytelling by saying- “Always remember that no one knows anything”. But he knew the basic differences in writing and ingrained in us the difference in Literature writing in fiction/non-fiction and literary writing in fiction/non-fiction. Next is the category of choosing media.  Now if you are writing for films, U’re canvass is bigger and larger and one has the liberty of telling the story with sketch of characters, the protagonist's challenges and how he makes it or breaks it or you can tell your story from medias res i.e from the middle and then go in flashbacks to tell the back story.  In television your biggest nemesis is the remote. If you, in 30 secs of your Act 1, fail to hook your audience, he flicks the channel and there you lose him. Now if you are writing a book, there you have once again the liberty of gradually narrating your plot, but then if you do that same thing in movies, you’ve got to do so with v...

My Photo made it to the KLPF2012 Photo-Exhibition @ Midvalley-KL, Malaysia. Theme- City Life Location- Jabalpur Railway Station- India Subject- Coolie (Porter)