Back with a bang!!

I am back to the pleasures of writing.....it's been a long time since I made my presence felt on this blog and I thought this blog deserves a little more time and commitment from my side. As a throwback upon this realization, I plan to start a new series of posts on this blog called "Cinematic Masters". A movie review is purely a matter of 'perspective'. Many a films that were critical disasters at the time of their release have turned to be celebrated classics years later. Reasons for this kind of anomaly are not beyond comprehension. Some movies grow on you - the more you think of it, the more you seem to like it, some movies present a different view with each viewing while some movies confront the ugliness that we were oblivious to and make us feel uncomfortable. Hence "Cinematic Masters" will present my 'perspective' on a variety of films irrespective of their commercial fate - films that have a "cult following", underrated gems of mainstream directors, experimental films that showed what it means to push the envelope and of course, some "classics" that have withstood the onslaught of technology and passage of time. I am neither a cinematic expert nor a 'film festival' regular but as an avid viewer, I have a good understanding of what has worked for me and what has not. So "Cinematic Masters" is not about dissecting the technicalities of a particular film but it is purely a viewer's take on the impact and enjoyability of the film. I hope you will enjoy reading my "perspectives" as much as I have enjoyed reading others "perspectives" of these films over the years.

Coolest thing to do this summer - to vote!!!

I was feeling exasperated and suffocated - beads of sweat trickled down my face. I was after all standing in a queue that had gathered at one of the government offices in my locality. The objective was of course to gain possession of the prized "voter id" card - after all its election season..........The queue was getting lengthier and more boisterous by the minute. Unsuspecting souls trying to cut the queue were treated to a avalanche of pleasantries by the fellow queue-mates, the guy in charge of regulating the line was losing his sanity by the minute, a few of the gray haired "seen-it-all" type citizens were ranting their "Who cares about these sons-of-b****** politicians.....to the hell with these elections...all I care for is my voter id card which is being asked for everywhere nowadays!!!" - now this is by no means a complete account of my observations as a silent bystander but a good indicator of the madness that comes tagged along with "elections" in our country......

Elections have always been great time to witness the complete gamut of pyrotechnics that the "theatre of politics" can summon........"poster boys" are made out of yesterday's nobodies,calling each other names(coward,weak etc etc) is not such a bad thing,loyalties and allegiances to coalitions are being switched as rapidly, "Fronts" are being created where everyone thinks of himself as the Prime Ministerial candidate etc. Politics and media are like parasites - they feed off each other......if one is a theatre the other is a circus.......The media goes the whole hog when it is election time - projecting their innumerable 'this-is-the-most-reliable' kind of pre-election surveys (which invariably never match the actual election results!!), interviewing every politician worth his salt and chewing upon his controversial 'sound bytes' etc. In this whole melee, the only people who are left out are the voters themselves...............That is sad because this is something like writing a Harry Potter book forgetting Harry Potter !!!(excuse me for the bad example.....)

In spite of feeling so left out of the 'drama', we must all vote this summer for the following reasons (order not so important......)

1) Its cool to vote......
2) Its a chance to show politicians that "we-could-screw-you-too" albeit we can give it back only once in 4 years....
3) Its often a chance to choose between a) a devil (read Coalition #1) b) the deep sea (read Coalition #2) c) Nobody (read Independents)
4) Simply because you feel patriotic.....
5) Because JFK once said "Ask not what your country can do for you..but ask what you can do for your country"!!!
6) Flaunting the indelible ink mark on your finger is the latest fashion statement....
7) When you candidate doesn't win, you know for sure that you don't share the "mass mentality"!!
8) You get the moral right to crib that "Democracy is a necessary evil" during your 'water-cooler' sessions in office...
9) You deny a worthy candidate of his right to "proxy-vote"!!
10) Lastly because Aamir Khan is endorsing the "Vote India" campaign!!

Finally to sum it up like an ad-man...."Vote India Vote!!!!" (punchlines sell in India!!)