Camera I

History may not repeat itself but it rhymes.

Stories of imagination tend to upset those without one. As I set along to pitch my story to various producers, directors and distributors, they had different requirements. Some asked for Stars, some the moon and some said "arre what's there in a name," "I'll buy the story and I may share the credit with you". I packed my bag and said thank you. I have stories, without Stars, without the Moon, but with real people who dare to dream and take the journey to achieve them. Like Hari and Shibu, taking a break from their weaving class,roaming in their half pants near kalna, a small village town in West bengal but they have dreams of studying in college some day. Kalna is accessible by train and road. Its some 81 kms from Howrah railway station. Its main attractions are Sidesheshwari Kali bari, established in 668 AD, by Rishi Amburish, first time the Goddess Kali was worshiped with earthern pots and the idol is made by a single Neem log. The other major attrac...

Kids mostly of 6-8 yrs old, all know and love Handy Manny, because he single handed fixes their broken tools and dolls. The Economic Times seeing the Indian verdict of change has given Mr. Narendra Modi the nick name Mr.Fit It.  The big question how will Mr. Fix IT start mending India? If we take a glance at the economic scenario of India we can draw parallels with two countries that had faced a similar condition when their head of State had come to power.  Ronald Regan;USA in 1980 and Mahatir, 1981, when he was sworn in as the PM of Malaysia. The problems were somewhat which India is facing now: 1.   Lac of economic growth 2.   High inflation 3.   Bureaucratic paralysis So how will Mr Hand Manny handle this? Will he have just like the Caltex ad- short term goals and long term goals? The good part of his short term goal is; the gestation period he has only 9 months for this year’s budget plan. The new budget will anyways be ...

Every one, who claims himself a literary person is aware of Tagore's "Mind is without fear!"   Imagine if RNT, had to pen in 2days times, how would the composition be? An attempt- When your mind is filled with fear And your eyes have tears; (advertisers for tear-drops can advertise) Where knowledge also is not tax-free, (edu ads) where the world has been broken up into fragments; (politicians speech, advertorial) By concentric-castiest walls. Where words are sugarcoated with lies, (promo ads, read the fine lines first) where tirelessly people stretch  their arms for more alms.(country's corruption on rise-case-files) Where the stream of reason has been diverted from its original course. Where the mind is asked not to work, Into that hell of fiefdom-my father-my country-men-keep awake! (slogan space....)

This is a question in everyone’s mind as one read today’s headlines in mostly all the Indian news-papers. A shifting society, like India’s is bound to generate an interest in appearance and in the philosophical sense. It is significant that the only character in Hindu mythology, a King, to be given a title of “ekam-patni-vrata”, devoted to a single wife, that to when the King, Ram/Rama, abandons her for protecting family reputation and keeping his kingdom. In 1936, the British Empire faced a crisis, when its Monarch, Edward the VIII th , abdicated the throne to live with his lady love. Now 2010, Minister of State for External Affairs , Shahi Tharoor, submits his resignation, because of his then friend, Sunanada Pushakar, had equity stakes in Rendezvous Sports World (RSW), heading the consortium that owns the Kochi team. It was later disclosed that Pushkar got sweat equity of the value of Rs 70 crore RSW following which the opposition has been gunning for his removal on the...

The story is of a modern man and a woman, their accomplishments in their lives and how effectively they put their idiosyncrasies’, petulance, rudeness in the service of perfection.

Last Sunday, as I switched on the TV, the hindi movie of 1975, Deewar was on. It just made my Sunday, what a movie! A crime drama reflects the reckless society and the wayward politics of the 70’s. Directed by Yash chopra and written by Salim Javed, starring Amitabh Bachchan and Shahi Kapoor. As I enjoyed the movie, I realized a myth that Indian commercial cinema cannot give a good story. The moot point for a good cinema is the amalgam of all the ingredients in right proportion.   Now what are those ingredients? The answer: Story line, plot, director’s ability to orchestrate that story into drama, the scene division, dialogues, continuity and believing in the ability of the talent chosen for delivering the characters. When Deewar was released in 1975, it was a groundbreaking film. The protagonist, an angry young man, his character somewhat similar to John Osborne’s Jimmy Porter in Look Back in Anger. Though the play is that of a Love triangle, the movie, differs...