A Wednesday...fakr hai!!

"usne mujhe apna naam bataya par main wo naam kisiko nahi bata sakta,insaan naam mein mazhab dhoondh leta hai"this is just one of the many brilliant dialogues in a really brilliant movie.A Wednesday is already somewhere among the highest rated ones in my favourites list,its too close to me,in fact its a part of me.

"I want to do something like this" is what one of my friends said when I asked for a comment on this movie.It was a special moment for me.Soon three of us were discussing about the ways we can serve the country,the needs,the possibilities and above all, the dreams and the aspirations...At a time when placements are slowly becoming the talk of the town,we discussed,at length,about trying for IAS/IPS instead,money matters,but service to the country
comes first(as the motto of my school goes"service before self").Watching the youth of my nation discuss these issues,and formulate these ideas,was already a matter of joy,and being a participant in it made me feel even more proud.This was the result of believing in the power of "one common man who has the guts".This was the effect of a phenomenon called "A Wednesday'... :)

A Wednesday,in its title sounds like just another routine bollywood stuff,and then if you hear about the concept,terrorism,police,bombs etc etc, sounds even more monotonous...where and how does this movie aquire this special status,which some people like me are so hell bent on giving it.A basic question...what makes it a special one??

Presenting a systematic analysis in an attempt to explore for an answer to the above question...one point to be noted is that this isnt the work of some film critic,its just the feelings of someone who could feel the movie...and felt like sharing them...and once again its the strong points that I mostly noticed during the 95 minutes,and am hereby discussing them...

MESSAGE: "the morale of the story is" a phrase which all of us have heard on numerous occasions,just like the stories with strongest impacts are often the ones with this morale aspect as their strong point,similarly for movies its the message front which has a similar status in terms of importance(not talking abt the megatalented johars and farah khans)..the impact of the movie is,to a large extent reflected in this message factor...."one common man had the guts"this is for us to realise,each one of us is "a" common man,and any of us can become "that" common man.its not about going around killing the terrorists,in fact,taking another quote from the same movie "aaj main tareeke ke baare mein nahi nateeje ke baare mein soch raha hoon",we may have our own different ways,with different effects,the belief in the idea of a common man making the difference is what is crucial.Simple,yet intensely strong,ever inspiring idea,full marks to the message the movie conveys.

PERFORMANCES:This is something which personally impressed me a lot.Naseeruddin Shah(my favourite actor) and Anupam Kher are two of the world's' best actors,and their performances in the movie can serve as acting lessons,you need to see it to believe it.Actually one also needs to have some understanding of finer naunces of acting to realise
how technically brilliant the two stalwarts are in the movie.The 10 minute long conversation towards the end stands out,Naseer Sir at his very best(this is easily a filmfare winning performance)...other actors provide able support,Jimmy Shergil being the surprise package,and he really impresses.One of my friends compared this performance to Nana Patekar ones.Full marks again.

STORY,SCRIPT AND DIRECTION:Story,script and direction by Neeraj Pandey.The name is new for me but am already a huge fan of him.All the three aspects are awesome,my preference list would read story,script and direction in descending order.The fact that I rate this as one of the best directed movies in last decade sums up how much I admired all these three efforts.The
story has just a few twists(watch race instead to see an insanely twisted storyline) but they are apt and beautifully thought of.To my knowledge,this is an original storyline(in fact Hollywood would be proud to copy such stuff)which has agin been scripted with an equal elegance and expertise.Imaginativ,as well as technically correct direction,gives that added dimension to this movie.
Some of the scenes will remain etched in my memory for a long time.The long conversation towards the end(10 mins!!) no doubt,stands out,but some of the short conversations that Commisioner rathod has with Arif and Jai are also not far behind.Brilliant dialogues are like a necessity to a brilliant movie,and we are not least dissapointed at this front.There are certain minute things which need a little after thought,a slight analysis to get the real taste of
it.The potrayals of Arjun Khanna,CM and his secretary,the media(this could have been better though) and even the police in general(being projected,for a change,as a responsible hardworking unit,though not always equipped enough to counter the situation)are well chalked out and beautifully presented.Its easy for the CM to say things in rallies,also easy to give orders and express worries,difficulty always lies in the actual implementation level.The 'minority group'
comment by Arjun Khanna and the words of Commisioner"ye bacha kaun hai" are among the favourites of a couple of my friends.Also the way Anupam Kher pleads helplessness,and thus makes CM order the encounter of the last terrorist,when he was very sure that the person had not planted any bomb(reflected in the last conversation he has with Naseeruddin)....isnt it all brilliant? :)

Naseeruddin Shah's role is something which actually turns this movie from very good to brilliant.It makes it so much more special,at least for me,when I can watch him at the peak of his charisma,for the good screen space that he gets.The abuse by Naseer Sir,frankly speaking,is another very special moment(I totally support it) for me,just shows how intense the anger is.Indeed its the time for the common man to act...and I do hope that such "wednesdays' are released every friday.

Ek Adhoori Kavita....ek baras baad :)

19 August,this year,saw another milestone accomplished.A week after "Jaane Bhi Do yaaro" completed 25 years,my blog "Ek Adhoori Kavita" completed an year.Like infinite other things in
my life,whenever I look back at my blogging journey,it does make me feel a bit emotional.It started simply by an attempt to share my poems on a forum but for the past few months I have
enjoyed writing on a variety of topics.I know there are a few,who are eager to have me back to my poetic ways,have a Hindi post from my side,actually I myself want this badly.Its just that I havent been much into Hindi poetry lately but will definitely try and come up with,what was the primary driving force behind this blogging idea.Yun bhi kalakar ke marne se pehle kala to maregi nahi...kuchh der so zaroor sakti hai :)

Thank you all for your support in making this a sweet and, indeed a memorable journey.I take this as an opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude towards everyone who contributed to
this.

Kavya,you have been the biggest inspiring force,a friend who always encouraged me to try and improve,one who always made me love my own imagination.A very special thanks to you.

My sister Ankita who often surprised me by commenting on my blog and it was always special
to have support from such fronts.Hope I live upto your expectations in my efforts always.

My friends like Gauri and MK deserve a special mention.You two were the forces behind 4 to 5
posts on this blog."Kya Hindi aisi bola jaati hai" about MK's linguistic genius has the maximum
comments while "Lafzo ki Imaarat" inspired by a line Gauri (Gaurav Saxena from Gzb remember??) uttered remains my personal favourite among my compositions till date.

Pushpak,Nivedita,Vivek,Pallav,Vandana and all others who joined me in this journey of mine from time to time,you made me really enjoy it.I hope I find you people by my side in the future as well.

Now time to mention the biggest contributor,Prashant Bhaiya,the person who inspired me to get into blogging and has been a constant source of motivation and guidance.Bhaiya aapka aashirvaad milte rahe hamesha.In the past few months I have seen quite a few people around
me getting inspired by me to start their blogs,and it really felt special,felt importantant,and it was all because an year back you had a similar effect on me.

I wind up with a note of thanks to this place,called blogspot,where Sajal,the poet,Sajal,the person,Sajal,the dreamer...expressed himself on various topics.

"Mulaakato ke mele lagte rahenge yun hi...zindagi ka kaarwaa jab tak chalta rahega"

Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro....25 years later!!

Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro..summing it in one line I will say "remarkably simple,simply remarkable".Released on 12 August 83,it completed 25 years a couple of months back.Taking some time out of my,anyhow,not so busy schedule to pen down some of my thoughts about what went on to create this masterpiece.A classic,which not only entertains,but also enlightens.I wont comment much about the plot so even those who havent seen the movie are most welcome to go through my take on the movie.I do hope some of them get encouraged to watch it...as the saying goes(again it doesnt,I just made it up) "there are two kind of people in this world,one who have seen Jaane bhi do yaaro...one who havent".

Any movie may be said to be composed of two aspects,the strong points,and the weak points.But at times you come across works where you get to notice just one of them.Lets dicuss some of the
factors which make this movie wonderful,and I leave the negatives to people who were not
intelligent enough to appreciate its brilliance at some occasions.Here we go...

STAR CAST:Probably the best star cast ever assembled,the movie has some of the best character artists.Apart from Naseeruddin Shah and Om puri,all others were fresh faces then.Starcast includes acting stalwarts like Pankaj Kapoor and Ravi baswani,ably supported by fine actors like Satish shah(who brilliantly played a corpse in the movie),Satish Kaushik,Rajesh Puri,Neena gupta,Bhakti barve.Only other movie I can think of being compared to it in terms of starcast is "ek ruka hua faisla".The reason why I rate the cast so highly is that it isnt a combo of biggest stars,but the biggest actors.This ensured that all performances were top class.Ravi Baswani won the best comedian award for the moviewhile Om Puri's comic skils were discovered for the first time in this movie.

STORY:I would like to lay emphasis on the fact that the movie has a brilliant storyline,being presented as a satire(or a farce).There is no forced laughter,in fact the movie actually has some very emotional moments and some serious questions being raised on the social framework.Some of the scenes have dry humour which may not make you laugh but you cant admire the beauty of sarcasm in it(wo gutter ke liye jeeye aur gutter ke liye mar gaye).Many scenes depicting the character sketch of Tarneja fall under this category.

CLIMAX: Personally I consider it as the best climax ever among bollywood comedies.The mahabharat scene is beautifully scripted,excellently enacted and very well developed on the screen.The parody is awesome(watch out for a young Vidhu Vinod Chopra playing Dushasan).The twists and turns keep adding to the fun element.The chase sequence earlier is also damn hillarious.Be it the characters falling on the roller skates or jumping from the first floor,its so much enjoyable.In fact one gets the impression that its very much the inspiration behind all Priyadarshan comedies.The more you pay attention to the scene,the more you can appreciate its beauty.Do not miss out on Satish Kaushik's comment: "Sir laash bhaag rahi hai"The ending of the movie is also a very touching moment,and you are left with a strong after effect.

TECHNICAL ASPECTS: The movie was made on a small budget(of less than 9 lakhs).Some of the better products of Film Institute Pune got their act together and made a
masterpiece out of this small budget.People involved in making and presenting this movie are
some of the talented people from the world of Indian cinema,and thus the movie showcases high
technical brilliance in most aspects.The more one gets to know about the movie the more one can appreciate its class.Kundan Shah's name deserves a special mention as he was the brain behind this movie.

The movie didnt work at box office when it released,but 25 years since its release it has
gradually acquired a cult status(similar to the fate of Kundan Shah's other brilliant work Kabhi
Haan Kabhi Naa)"thoda khao thoda feko" and some lines during Mahabharat Parody are dialogues of eternal value...often regarded as the "baap of all comedies",though in my opinion,its not just a comedy movie,in fact its not just a movie,its a heritage that we can all be proud about.I salute everyone involved in gifting this immortal gem.If you havent seen it,you are yet to have one of the wonderful experiences of your life.Give it a shot :)