A Black Friday

Two treats were on offer in TV. Thanks to my friends, who had messaged me about the shows on air, I saw both. The first one was ‘Best of Lollu Sabha’ with the spoof king Santhanam and Co mocking some of the best films like ‘Devar magan’ and ‘Mudhalvan’ with delightful ease and creating a laugh riot. Santhanam is badly missed these days because of his foray into films. His witty dialogue delivery and charisma had enthralled us long and it was quite pleasing to see him back, though atleast as memoirs.

The one which touched me most was the second one. It had been a while since I switched onto DD National for a program other than Cricket matches( because of the damn SetTopBox zombie that had been haunting the only cosmopolitan in India). I don’t see a movie for a second time unless it’s an awesome one. The movie which was shown fell into that category. ‘Black’ is one of those films which has to be applauded for tremendous performances of the cast, its offbeat theme, beautiful screenplay, camera work, editing ( almost everything was a perfect fit), all crafted by a wonderful director. It can make one cry and titillate your every sense. Every movie buff would consider this as one of the best movies they would have ever watched in their life time.

But I was pondering and had been doing so since the time when ‘Paheli’ was announced as the Indian nomination for the Oscars. Black was easily the movie of 2005, Paheli was no match for this exceptional movie. Paheli hadn’t been that big a commercial hit either, while Black had won rave reviews and earned huge box office success. Still politics and money influence and play havoc for nominations and awards.

The Film Maker deserved something better. These kinda movies really need to be encouraged and awarded so that the quality of movies coming from a big movie Industry like Bollywood can set new scales and scale new heights.

When I went to bed, I remembered what my friend had said when I enquired about the movie ‘Black’ before seeing it for the first time. His satirical reply was ‘A guy who can make Salman act ( Hum Dil De chuke sanam) should be a gud director man, an exceptional tool from his arsenal and a must see’. Can the National Film board pay heed to his advice and come out with something better when it comes to awards and nominations??????

Run Buddhia Run

Last week, Plagiarism was the toast, now the focus has shifted to physical endurance and the extremes that human body can plunge into. A four and a half year old boy doing a Forrest Gump like act of running his way into history by becoming the youngest marathon runner in the world on Tuesday. Running 65 Kms from Puri to Bhubaneshwar in 7 hours is no mean feat, that too at an age when one would be busy playing with toys, is a paramount achievement. Hats off Buddhia Singh, may you bring many more laurels to our nation.

After the feat, during an interview he sat quiet naively in the laps of his coach Biranchi Das quite oblivious of his achievement and was staring at the camera rather curiously as if sprinting is quite inherent. His talent was spotted inadvertently by Mr.Das who had punished him (for straying into a sports ground and abusing some person) to run laps. After 5 hours, he found the boy still running.

Looks very much analogous to Gump who ran for "three years, two months, fourteen days, and sixteen hours", crossing coast to coast several times, inspiring many people on the way, but for no reason. Fiction apart, hope he inspires many people to take to something in which their heart is. But he shouldn’t set a wrong precedent and parents should be careful in not dwelling their kids in gruelling Summer Camps to emulate this kid coz not many are born with a strong heart and a body with an exceptional stamina to run for 7 hours continuously. Ramifications and the tolling that body takes, runs deep when an inappropriate person tries to do it. Rather they should take pride in the fact that when a kid coming from the down trodden society (a slum dweller to be precise) can corner glory by exhibiting his reportoire, they should nurture their kids and spot their dormant talent and groom it.

The second breathtaking stunt came from a quite accustomed American illusionist David Blaine. He has started a new “Drowned Alive” challenge by entering an 8ft (2.5m) water-filled spherical tank in New York and he intends to remain submerged for a week. He will have an air line for breathing, liquid food will be provided through a tube and he will sleep for short periods. Fans will be encouraged to touch the sphere and offer words of support. At the end of the seven days, Blaine, 33, will remove his air supply and attempt to hold his breath longer than the world record of 8min 58sec. Some times I feel this guy is one crazy son of a bitch. He has done some heart wrenching acts on TV shows and a famous suspension in a glass box next to the Thames for 44 days three years ago (and had a lot of eggs thrown at him for his trouble).

Lots of emotions and mental influences are involved in all these Dhamaka acts. They require a lot of habituation and hours of physical and mental training. These acts should be taken in a proper notion. Blind adherence just for getting into the limelight can sometimes prove fatal.
To quote Gump again “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you are going to get”. We all have a destiny, we should know it and course our path, otherwise we have to just float around like a leaf on a breeze accidental like and take things the way they come.