I wholeheartedly support Anna’s crusade against corruption but  I am afraid from this focus and insistence  on Jan Lokpal implementation in a hurry.  Jan Lokpal  was first introduced in 1977 by  Mr. Shanti Bhushan ( father of Prashant Bhushan), a former law minister, an advocate who represented Shaukat Hussain Guru in 2008 for an appeal against his 10 year conviction for his role in the 2001 Indian Parliament attack.  Why should I believe him blindly? Why Jan Lokpal team has a father son duo in their 6 or 8 members committee? I am sure that a  country of 125 crores can offer more variety. And, why Anna was chosen to do Anshan ( fast unto death) ? Because , he can generate more sympathy??  It seems like that they are using corruption  as cause , Anna as mask but the real agenda is Jan Lokpal, a bill which might create a parallel power against our democratic system.

As I read more about the bill , I become more doubtful. According to Kejriwal, few judges of supreme court and few Padm- Shree aur Padm -Vibhushan  awardees will  help in choosing the members of Jan Lokpal committee. What the hell!!! So , these few people will decide the fate of 125 crores? The recent Padam Shree awardees   like Aishwrya  Rai Bachchan or Akshay Kumar might find a clone of Amar Singh as a deserving member of Lokpal ( just an imagination)? What will happen in that case?  Yeah, our democratic system is rotten but it still gives  the power to 125 crores to decide the fate of a nation.

Why Jan Lokpal bill says to limit the rights of CBI and shut down CVC and put everything under Lokpal? I’d have appreciated  more if they’d argued for a much stronger CBI, may be an independent CBI. If a new Janlokpal is possible, then a campaign for making changes in existing law is also possible.

I would have Preferred a more innocent campaign by Baba Ramdev who was insisting on bringing back the black money from Swiss banks and was focused mainly on corruption, not on implementation of a particular Bill.

SHYAM BENEGAL

Shyam benegal, one name in the Indian film industry who achieved the heights which very few film-makers can imagine. Popular Indian cinema always tries to give different names to meaningful cinema. It was called parallel cinema in the times of Shyam Benegal, now it is called DARK in the era of Vishal Bhardwaj, Anurag Kashyap, Dibakar Banerji and others in the same league. “Art movies”, this term sounds like an abuse and sends this hidden message that these kind of movies do not deserve a commercial success. The fact is that there are only two kinds of cinema, one is intelligent and other is stupid. Though, there could be many sub-categories into them like highly intelligent or most stupid.

Well , before I get distracted completely, I should come to the point. This post is about the movie “Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda” a highly intelligent movie by Shyam Bengal where one of the best actor in Indian cinema “Rajit Kapur” played the lead role. Suraj ka Satwan Ghoda is based on a novel of the same name written by the prestigious scholar of Hindi literature ‘Dharamvir Bharati’ ji.

This is the story of unfulfilled love of Manek Mulla ( played by Rajit Kapur), a genius who is a source of inspiration and knowledge to his fellow companions. All his life, he is searching for the meaning of love in his own life and life of others but unfortunately this search ends in a black hole. A black hole of social restrictions, economic compulsions, pressure from peers and a life of compromises. This movie transports you in a real world of the real characters of real circumstances. Most of the time, circumstances are playing the real villain, mostly out of the control.

Director Shyam Benegal deserves highest honor, specially for this movie ( he already got all of them ) because his treatment to this story is rather brilliant. Dharamvir Bharati’s novel already has a high reputation for its unique narration and treatment of characters. Touching a subject like that and making a movie on it is no lesser than any challenge. But , Shyam Benegal not only accepts the challenge but sometimes seems on an undeclared war to outdo the novel with his technical brilliance and mastery on the medium called cinema.

Manek Mulla ( Rajit Kapur) who narrates the story of three leading ladies of the movie is an observer, as well as a participant in the stories. He is a detached man, has complete control on his emotions, more like a silent observer. And, how brilliantly Rajit Kapur played this complex character. He is just superb!!!

Jamuna (Rajeshwari Sachdev) is a free spirited girl who believes in fairy- tale love- stories but she had to face the harsh realities of life. Because of social and economic compulsions and more than that, the lack of courage of her love ( Tanna) to rise above his circumstances, she had to marry a man much older than her age but she never gives up and finally finds the new meaning of her life with her own means.

Tanna is the regular good guy in a bad bad world. He has a dominating father Maheshwar Dalaal ( played brilliantly by Amrish Puri) who is also a womanizer. Tanna never changes himself and his world gets from bad to worst and finally Tanna gives up. Well , he gets what he deserves! What more you can expect from a man who can not stand for himself. Perhaps, losing legs was just a metaphor before he dies.

Lilly (Pallavi Joshi) is another love interest of Manek Mulla who also gets married to a boy not of his choice, again because of social and economic compulsions and she finally leaves her husband ( Tanna).

The story is so brilliantly woven that every character seems to connected with other in not one but from many angles. It looks like a game where one can not live without affecting others. The movie has seven distinctly different stories and in all these stories, same characters come in and play their roles without changing their characteristics. Brilliant! The more I think about the movie, the more I get immersed into it. I am overwhelmed, completely mesmerized and amazed. Why don’t we see more movies like that?

Neena Gupta

Third love interest of Manek Mulla is Satti ( Played by Neena Gupta), a girl of lower cast who works for a man who owns a small soap factory. When the girl needed Manek’s protection and support most, he betrayed her and left her in the hand of a person who already raped her once. Again Maheshwar Dalaal (Amrish Puri) plays a villain. Maheshwar Dalaal exists in all these stories and plays a villain in one way or other. Or, I should say only in one way, his weakness for women was the cause of miseries in the life of all the characters in the movie.

You will be amazed to see the editing and observation of technical details in the movie. There are many scenes which are repeated from the different angles which gives you feeling that all stories are interconnected , yet separated. Wow! Magic!……….!!!

The end of the movie is unexpected, horrible and literally dark! The bright and genius Manek Mulla with complete control on his emotions who played only an observer or narrator until now, suddenly meets his past in the form of Satti, the girl whom he betrayed. This time he couldn’t control his emotions and for the first time he stops moving forward. He leaves his journey, leaves his friends , starts following his past and finally became disappeared. Manek Mulla who had talent to make instant stories on the objects he saw, was an inspiration and guide for Shyam ( played by Raghubir Yadav) who was not as bright as his friends but ended up becoming a famous writer.

Raghubir Yadav

Now the question is why the movie and novel is given this title ” Suraj ka Satwan Ghoda”? Can’t say for sure! In fact , if you observe the story minutely , there are many characters who rose above their circumstances. May be, the writer was thinking about them when he was giving the book this title.

I still feel that more than a love story of Maanek Mulla, it was the story of lost friends who inspire us, teach us and help us to make our personality on the cups of tea in a corner of small city. The unforgettable days….

And now if you are confused after reading this blog , don’t blame me. I am not a genius like Dharamvir Bharati or Shyam benegal. But, if you really want to experience the meaning of cinema, don’t miss ” Suraj ka Satwan Ghoda”.

Long live Cine-Maa!

Amen!

32 Comments

1. ram says:

   February 24, 2011 at 9:12 am

   Yes this movie is outstanding..it also requires a stage in life to understand..it is not a movie i got when i was 18 but at 38 having lived life more, the layers of the movie speaks to me. The ability to take time and transform it the way Shyam babu has is quite something..

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2. ROUSHAN says:

   February 24, 2011 at 9:21 am

   Shyam Bengal has been the greatest directors of all times. Suraj ka Saatwa ghoda is a milestone work of his. What ideas directors are developing today from the realities, Shyam Benegal did this when the country had a different social makeup.

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   • Rahul Katyayan says:

     February 24, 2011 at 10:31 am

     Very true! There is long list of classics made by him. I really admire his courage and conviction.

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3. Raul Katyayan says:

   February 24, 2011 at 9:43 am

   Very true! Movies like these stays with you even when you do not understand them completely. And, in later stages of life, meaning becomes more clear.

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4. Adithyajones says:

   February 24, 2011 at 9:56 am

   Yes a great movie…

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5. crazyrals says:

   February 24, 2011 at 9:56 am

   @rahul: well written..
   .
   the explanation for title is given by manek. he says that the chariot of the sun god [surya] is pulled by 7 horses. 6 of the horses just follow the set path, but its the 7th horse which actually possesses the power to change the course. the 7th horse depicts ambition, intuition, decision making ability, adventurer, creative and non-conformist. the 7th horse is always wayward because of its inherent non-conformist nature and hence it can change the direction of the chariot while the 6 others follow.
   .
   coming to this brilliant movie, the title is ironical. every character had a shot at becoming the 7th horse, to change the course of their lives, but none of them did. as u have stated, all of them compromised and lived life as it came and were akin to the 6 horses that just goes on with its existence. in the penultimate sequence where manek disappears, that seems to be his last chance at becoming the 7th horse and following his heart. hence, the camera did not follow him. manek probably did find his love interest and lived happily everafter, in some corner of the world; or maybe not. but at least he gave it a shot by following ‘satti’. there could have been no better ending to the story.

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   • dazedandconfused says:

     February 24, 2011 at 11:07 am

     thanks for the explanation crazyrals…i wish the maker had included this thought in the movie somewhere…it wouldn’t have been very difficult…!

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     • Rahul Katyayan says:

       February 24, 2011 at 11:14 am

       @dazedandconfused Actually, this is one explanation, there could be many! Writer and director leave it to the viewers to run their own horses of imagination to reach on the conclusion.

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   • Fan says:

     February 24, 2011 at 11:30 pm

     Just recently saw this film- for 2 reasons- firstly Shyam Benegal- and secondly this intriguing title.

     I was quite lost on what was the movie trying to say with so many parallel stories that are told in a sequence – each time from some new character’s perspective.

     I was quite lost- till i read your interpretation on the 6 horses and the 7th horse. thanks for this explanation, that makes sense in itself- and also the different stories of within the film fall right into place.
     thanks.

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6. ram says:

   February 24, 2011 at 10:05 am

   This is remarkable piece of work and the way he has played with time and synchronicity

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   • Rahul Katyayan says:

     February 25, 2011 at 10:12 am

     that’s the most amazing part, actually( time and synchronicity) !

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7. Kanika says:

   February 24, 2011 at 10:05 am

   @ram I totally agree.

   This is an example of intelligent Cinema with full of mystery which makes it very interesting. People can understand it only after they reach on a certain maturity level. But yes, It has power to get you in it’s grip at every stage weather you are mature or not. Without understanding the movie’s true meaning, you can still love it, it’s magic of Shyam Ji

   Kanika

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8. Rahul Katyayan says:

   February 24, 2011 at 10:20 am

   @crazyrals Thanks for sharing your wonderful interpretation. It seems very logical! Though, I have some entirely different point- of- view in my mind. The beauty of classics like “Suraj ka Satvan Ghoda” is that they have so many layers that you can not say anything for sure and everybody can have their own interpretation.

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   • Fan says:

     February 24, 2011 at 11:32 pm

     hi rahul,

     let’s hear your interpretation.

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     • Rahul Katyayan says:

       February 25, 2011 at 12:04 pm

       @Fan, my interpretation! Well, according to me Manek Mulla is not the seventh horse. Though he was a genius, intense and brightest among all his friends ( and Rajit Kapur made us fall in love with this character), still he was very selfish, insensitive and irritatingly in- complete- control- of- his- emotions, except in the last scene when he started following Satti. I could hardly believe that he could ever live happily with Satti in a society where it was difficult for even Jamuna and Tanna to get married. If you see the movie, you realize that he washed his hands and feet after meeting Satte for first time.Yes, the society is more open now but things are not much changed on social level if you are not in metros. Jamuna, Tanna, Lilly and Satti are not very special and out of world characters, they are people from the real life and we meet and talk these kind of people on daily basis. There are many stories of love, betrayal and infidelity which born and die daily among us in this chaos of life. But Maanek was an intelligent observer who had ability to pick them from the life. But ironically , Maanek himself is a story who in last scene leaves his role of a story -teller and enters into in the depth of some other untold story.

       The seventh horse is the one who is responsible to continue the journey and to bring the light of knowledge finally to the people. Shyam ( played by Raghubir Yadav) , one friend of Maanek was not even confident to tell his mind among other friends. In the movie, he always tries to meet Maanek when other friends are not around and tells him his vision. His other friends were much brighter than Shyam. They used to discuss Karl Marx and other philosophies but Shyam was touched by Maanek’s stories on human level. He was not an intellectual but was more sensitive. We would have never been able to know the story of Jamuna, Tanna, Lilly, Satte, Maheshwar Dalaal and others if Shyam would not have brought those stories to us, the lesser intelligent person among his friends. According to Shyam , Maanek became disappeared after they had their last tea on that tea-stall ( Was Manek the first Horse?) .

       According to me Shyam is the seventh horse.

       This story is more like a tribute of a successful man to his lost friends who inspires him to reach a certain mental level, to enhance his vision and confidence on the cups of tea at a tea-stall in some small city.

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9. Kanika says:

   February 24, 2011 at 10:38 am

   @ram I totally agree.

   This is an example of intelligent Cinema with full of mystery which makes it very interesting. People can understand it only after they reach on a certain maturity level. But yes, It has power to get you in it’s grip at every stage weather you are mature or not. Without understanding the movie’s true meaning, you can still love it. It’s magic of Shyam Ji

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10. Nauman says:

    February 24, 2011 at 12:00 pm

    I saw this movie first time on DD around 1993-94. The shooting of movie was reportedly over within 20 days flat!!!

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    • Rahul says:

      February 24, 2011 at 12:23 pm

      @Nauman just 20 days? That’s amazing!

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11. Rasik says:

    February 24, 2011 at 10:45 pm

    There’s only one scene which I had seen of this movie which I guess is the last scene, and man was Rajit Kapur impressive in that! Awesome actor! Have you seen the short film ‘The Bath’?

    I saw the play Me, Kash and Cruise…Rajit Kapur was awesome in that as well…

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    • Rahul Katyayan says:

      February 24, 2011 at 10:53 pm

      No, I haven’t seen the short film “Bath” and the play! Will try to see now. I got a chance to meet Rajit Kapur once in St Andrews Theater, Bandra when I went to see the play “I am not Bajirao”. He was in the ticket counter, distributing tickets

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12. Preet says:

    February 25, 2011 at 2:37 am

    True. The movie is a masterpiece. Way ahead of it’s times. I could hardly imagine anyone else playing the lead than ‘Rajit Kapoor’. Also, who could forget the beautiful song sung by Udit Narayan – Yeh shaamein, sab ki sab shaamein kya inka koi arth nahin…

    Simply amazing work by Shyam Benegal. He has always been above and beyond any comparison as well as genre.

    Good that this movie is being mentioned again. Reminded me of watching it one more time, though with a different outlook towards life that it depicts.

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    • Raul Katyayan says:

      February 25, 2011 at 10:05 am

      @Preet true! Its indeed a classic and Shyam ji is beyond comparison.The other day, I was watching Raajneeti, an adaptation of Mahabharat. It stands nowhere when compared to Kalyug by Shyam ji.

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13. Adithyajones says:

    February 25, 2011 at 12:45 pm

    As per novel(which I read recently,english translation published by national book trust),the seventh horse represents the horse of future,the children of Tanna,Jamuna and Satti,whose life will be better in a society not having divisions…

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14. Rahul Katyayan says:

    February 25, 2011 at 1:06 pm

    @Adithyajones This could be the most appropriate interpretation.

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15. ANINDYA says:

    February 25, 2011 at 6:41 pm

    A brilliant movie!!I still remember when I first saw it on doordarshan in the early nineties,I was amazed and immediately wanted to watch it again…Watched it over and over again…still find it amazing..Its like reading a novel.Entire cast performed well and amrishji…miss you so much nowadays..

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16. Rahul Katyayan says:

    February 25, 2011 at 7:40 pm

    @ANINDYA Doodarshan was one of the producer too! And yes, one of the best performance of Amrish ji! You immediately start hating him.

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17. ahmad raza says:

    March 2, 2011 at 11:05 pm

    it definitely is one of the best movies made in India!! It has that novel-like feel to it…ek kitaab ki tarah khulti hai aur barasti hai.true to the book, in essence as well.
    I think the 7th horse signifies hope more than anything else.
    The devdas effect on Indian society played out really well in the first half, and in the second half, the cure to devdas.

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18. Raul Katyayan says:

    March 3, 2011 at 9:46 am

    @ahmad Devdas syndrome is still very prevalent. After Dev D, we might need a fresh take on classics like Suraj Ka Satwan Ghoda.

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19. Akash says:

    March 4, 2011 at 8:48 pm

    Just saw the movie – bcoz I saw this post. But I had just seen the post… read it only now after watching the movie. I must say the movie, the post and some comments above are really great.

    Initially I found the movie dull, but gradually got sucked into it… and the ending was just awesome.

    And I found that particular dialog very paradoxical – Technique kise chahiye? Us lekhak ko jise kuch kehna hi nahi hai”. I found it paradoxical because the narrative of this movie uses a brilliant technique of saying it through different characters’ story and beautifully interweaving them.

    So now I am just curious to know if the original novel has the same narrative style or was the narrative style used by Shyam Benegal for the screenplay? Either way its brilliant… but just want to know who should get the credit .

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20. Raul Katyayan says:

    March 4, 2011 at 9:42 pm

    @Akash, Obviously, this movie leaves you curious with so many unanswered questions!I have seen it three times within a span of 10 days and more I see the movie, more I get sucked into it. Discover more each time! Hats off!!! And now, I myself is looking forward to read the original novel

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    • ram says:

      March 8, 2011 at 2:12 pm

      I am going to forward your review to Shyam babu..he will like reading it

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21. Rahul Katyayan says:

    March 8, 2011 at 3:30 pm

    @ram Thanks Please also convey the message that we are great fans of him and thanks for giving us these wonderful movies!

    UA:F [1.9.7_1111

Link for the original post published @ passionforcinema.com http://passionforcinema.com/suraj-ka-satvan-ghoda-a-timeless-classic-by-shyam-benegal/

Leaping Windows : Inspirations unlimited

Finally, a service in India for comic-book lovers and graphic- novel fans where they can find their favorite books on rent at a cost as nominal as Rs. 500 / month!

Last weekend , when I visited Mocha Mojo, Bandra to see the 10 minutes preview cut of Chitrakatha: Indian Comics Beyond Balloons and Panels, I met some wonderful people there from the  Leaping Windows. In fact, they were the guys who presented the event.

Leaping Windows and Mocha TRIP presented preview of Chitrakatha

I realized that they have wonderful collection of comics both Indian and International. When I talked to them , I came to know that they have more than 15000 graphic novels/ comics in their library. You just have to place an order of your favorite book and you will find it on your doorstep within 24 hours.

Available at Leaping Windows

Remember the days of childhood when we used to have comics-friends and purpose of these selfish friendships were  solely based on the comics-exchange . My one friend even came out with this rule to exchange the comics only of same cost to avoid any dispute

Amar Chitra Katha @ Leaping Windows

But, those were the days when reading a comic-book was in the reach of children as the cost was only Rs. 4 or Rs. 5 but now with the exposure of international graphic -novels , competition has become fierce, standards have changed. Gone are the days when we used to buy and read 10 comics per month . Now the cost of the graphic novel is anywhere between Rs. 400 to Rs. 1000. I accept that standards have changed but still we need to read our favorite books, Boss!

Some of the Great collection of Leaping Windows on display

Leaping Windows is an online rental service which makes it possible to read as many books as you want in one month on a very reasonable cost. You can follow Leaping Windows on Facebook and Twitter.

I really thank them for coming up with such a great idea and taking this initiative!

Best of luck!!!

Phantom @ Leaping Windows

CHITRAKATHA: Indian Comics Beyond Balloons and Panels

( This post has already been published on passionforcinema.com, you can click  here to see the original post)

As the tag-line says, “Comics, Beyond Balloons and Panels”. This is precisely what the Writer, Director and Producer Alok Sharma is aiming for, with his first movie Chitrakatha. This movie explores the history of Indian comics, its origin and its development over the last three generations.

Comics lovers, watching the 10 minutes preview of Chitrakatha

I was fortunate enough to participate in the latest event of Chitrakatha at Mocha Mojo, Bandra, sponsored by Leaping Windows. Director Alok Sharma presented the 10 minutes preview cut of the documentary. Later, he answered the questions of the viewers related to the movie.

Aabid Surti , the creator of Bahadur and Dabbu ji

The movie started with a touching story by Aabid Surti, the creator of first Indian comic hero “Bahadur” and the most popular comic strip “Dabbuji”. He told an interesting story of his childhood when with other children of his age, he used to run behind the open trams of British troops, passing through Bombay port during the Second World War. Sometimes, children were lucky to find various imported chocolates and sometimes, some other things! But one day the soldiers threw something which became the reason of the birth of an eternal Indian comic hero and many other creations.

Yes !!! One day, a soldier threw a Walt Disney comic- book for the running children and child Aabid was lucky enough to find a ripped page of that comics which had Mickey Mouse illustrated on it with obvious “Balloons and Panels”. This incident changed the world of Aabid. He started trying to draw characters like he saw in the comic book and as Aabid ji told in the Chitrakatha documentary, he is a cartoonist today because of that page of comics, thrown by a soldier unknowingly.

Story is simple but it tells the tale of amazing possibilities. I wonder, how the energy and creativity of Walt Disney traveled all along in the form of comics and touched the little Aabid who later became the face of Indian comics and inspired millions of the children of this country. He also told what inspired him to create a character like Bahadur ( illustrated by Late Govind Brahmania) who was born among the dacoits from Chambal but still is a savior of law and humanity.

Bahdur and Bela, characters developed by Aabid Surti

We all had been a great comics buffs and we know how these books inspired our lives knowingly or unknowingly but as the time moved ahead, those sweet memories became a thing of past. Alok’s Chitrakatha is an attempt to revisit our past, to live our childhood again.I saw many of adult children in this Chitrakatha event at Mocha Mojo, who were reading comics, discussing their superheroes and having a great time in a quiz where the prize for a correct answer was a rare comic-book.

Well, Chitrakatha is not only about the revisiting the past; its also about giving the unsung heroes ( writers/ illustrators/ artists) of Indian comics their due credit. These artists never got the money they deserved when compared to the artists of foreign lands. But, their sheer love and passion for comics kept them moving ahead.

Alok’s Chitrakatha explores the world of these artists whose name we only used to see in some corner of book written in black ink. Alok has done this marvelous job to capture their lives and words on camera. We also saw the interview of cartoonist Pran who told that when he was creating Chacha Chaudhary, his focus was on creating a hero whose power lies in his mind.

Pran with his immortal character Chacha Chaudhary

A rare interview of immortal “Anant pai” in Chtrakatha was a real treat for Amar Chitra Katha lovers, also saw some clips of the great artist Dilip Kadam who drew The Mahabharat published by Amar Chitra Katha.

When I was watching the movie , I had tears in my eyes while hearing all those inspiring stories of creators who filled my childhood with colors of imagination. When I looked around and saw Alok, I found that his eyes are also  moist .  Now, I can understand his love for comics which inspired him to leave his secure job and going through all this. When asked how is he financing the movie, he told that they work for 3 months on freelancing projects to earn money and for the next three months , they work on Chitrakatha, the movie. But, he is determined and confident about what he is doing and what he believes in!

Alok Sharma, Producer/ Writer/ Director of Chitrakatha

I salute his passion!

I am sure that his movie Chitrakatha will inspire many more children like little Aabid and they will change the face of Indian Comics scene forever.

Amen!

Anant Pai, founder of Amar Chitra Katha

Dear Uncle Pai,

Thanks for all those stickers of wild life albums, posters of historical and mythological characters, also thanks for the time-table you sent to me.

Thanks for all those returned stories of mine which never got published in Tinkle ‘s ” Reader’s Choice ” ( paathkon ki pasand) section. Thanks for sending all those consolation prizes for winning Tinkle Paheli Pitara.

Thanks for Amar Citra Katha Tinkle Club t-shirts.

Thanks for Kaalia, The Crow, thanks for Suppandi, thanks for Naseeruddin Hoja, thanks for Shikari Shambhu and thanks for all those stories from traditional Indian treasure. Special thanks for introducing us to Mahabharat . Thanks for Ramayan, thanks for Shakuntala, Vaalmiki and Devi Chaudhrani comics.

Also thanks for indian-ising The Phantom into Ve-taal, Chalta Firta Pret  for us Hindi readers living in an interior city of U. P.

Thanks for welcoming me  at your office and home for so many times. Thanks for telling my newly married wife that you knew me.

Thanks for all those inspirational stories in your letters with your signature ” Tumhara Pai Chacha”.

Rahul

Mayan Rishi Amar Tinkle Club

Mainpuri(U.P.) 205001

Letter to:

Uncle Pai,

Editor ” Tinkle”

22 Bhulabhai Desai Road , Mahalaxmi Chambers

Bombay

Click here for online booking of "Yeh Saali Zindagi"

Love is our basic human right. In fact, its right of every living being and may be of non-living too. Love is democratic, love is only refuge and sometimes love kills too.

Love is not found only in the in the eyes and plastic-smiles of mini- skirt clad girls. Its not necessary to go to the mountains of Switzerland to celebrate the love, it could be celebrated in a filthy room in the dark bylane of Delhi and amount of this passionate love and romance could be so much that life sometimes refuse to carry weight and breaks you down. So what! Who cares?! After all, life is a bitch!!!

Sudhir Mishra’s new movie explores the theme of love at most unusual places. He tries to tell that love not necessarily belongs only to a clean shaven/ good looking/ NRI / Hero kind of guy. A ruthless, tough goon who lives continuously among the unpredictability of life can be in love madly with his wife. And, a selfless love can exist in the life of a scheming man who can take any risk to save the life of his lady love, though he is not sure if she will ever accept him.

The life of these two guys are not a straight road , its a roller coaster ride. In this game , they switch places from bottom to top and top to bottom with every next moment. Uncertainty is the only certain thing. Life plays games with them and they never fail to respond and that is what makes this movie interesting. Every character seems so uncertain about his/ her next move. This unpredictability of characters and situations makes the movie exciting. Interval of movie seems longer than usual because you can’t wait to know what happens next. The movie’s pace and the way of story -telling also seem to follow the rule of unpredictability. The typical Bollywood movie viewers who are habitual to see a HERO winning every time may find this unpredictability a bit difficult to digest. But its really refreshing to see this change. The characters in the movie connect with you immediately because this super duper romantic movie is all about emotions. Hands do the crime, mind makes the schemes but hearts follow the rule of love and emotions take the driving seat. There is light in the dark room, hope in the end of tunnel. Love leads!

You can not expect lesser than the great performances from each and every actor in the movie when the director is Master Sudhir Mishra. Irrfan is great as usual as a hopeless romantic ( Main apne baap ki kasam kha kar kahta hun..you can even see this movie  only for Irrfan’s dialogues ) , Chitragnda is hot and carries forward her image of an independent and free woman, Arunodaya and Aditi are promising. Aditi abuses and slaps her husband time to time  and you can still feel the love in those ( realistic ) moments and that is the beauty of this movie.

Saurabh Shukla and Sushant Singh are hilarious.  I specially loved Saurabh Shukla as Irrfan’s boss  who sometimes almost plays as an alter ego of  Irrfan who has strong reservations against Chitrangda -Irrfan association. Well, he also has his own problems but still life goes on for him.  I loved  specially the scene in massage parlor where he tells the lady masseur to continue the massage after a smashing threat. There are moments, many moments which make you smile.You burst into laughter in most unusual situations.

Sudhir Mishra

I again salute Sudhir Mishra for his craft. Dialogues by Manu Rishi and Sudhir Mishra are so natural that sometimes they come on your tongue simultaneously with the characters while watching the movie.

From the first frame, Yeh Saali Zindagi song grabs your collar and made you sit with attention undivided and then one after other great compositions follow complementing with the great background score. Ishq Tere Jalwe, Dil Dar- Ba- Dar and kaise-kahein-alvida are the heights of ultimate hopeless romanticism. And well, the title song Yeh Saali Zindagi is an adrenaline -raising song. I am listening all of them again and again.

Music director Ustad Nishat Khan and Lyricist Swanand Kirkire deserve three cheers to come up with such a great score.

Wow! Am I falling in love again???  Yeh Saali Zindagi…….

Click here for online booking of Yeh Saali Zindagi.

Finally! An award by people for Best movie, artists, technicians who they really find deserving.

Its a well known fact that lobbying and purchasing of these so called credible awards is not a new thing. Most of the award functions are poor comedy circus which focus more on making it a TV show rather than recognizing and encouraging the new talents in industry.

Yes, we know that we are frustrated, hopeless and don’t know how we can shout to say that this is not the cinema which we want to see. Purposely and may be , in a planned manner new and innovative talents are ignored in Bollywood and we are made bound to see the regular stuff from the same so called successful production houses, with the same so called stars with mediocre talents.

We want to see more movies like Udaan, LSD, Peepli Live, Phans Gaye Re Obama, Daayen ya Baayen and we want a break from Action – Replay kind of stuff.

Twi-Fi award, an initiative by Nikhil Taneja and Somen Mishra gained a massive support from thousands of movie-lovers within no time and its getting bigger and bigger by each moment. Its an award where a deserving candidate will be chosen by online voting. The procedure is 100% transparent and there is definitely no buying and selling.

This award also got some support from Bollywood. Anurag Kashyap, Mallika Sherwat, Vivek Agnihotri , Ranvir Shorey, Shweta Pandit and many others sent encouraging tweets for Twi-Fi awards.

First Democratic Award

In fact , movie lovers from Facebook and Twitter are organizing meetings in different parts of country to decide an strategy to go further. I was in Cafe Goa , Bandra yesterday regarding one of Twi-Fi meetings and I saw that great enthusiasm of movie-lovers for Twi-Fi awards.

The change has begun. Definitely!

Twi-Fi Awards Meeting, Cafe Goa, Bandra

Last week I watched Mirch, a movie by Vinay Shukla who also directed National Award winning movie ” Godmother”. The movie stars Konkona Sen Sharma, Raima Sen, Shahana Goswami,Arunoday Singh, Shreyas Talpade, Rajpal Yadav and Boman Irani.

Raima Sen looked stunning in the story from Panchtantra

This movie exposes the hypocritical attitude of Indian male and it also shows that though we have moved from ancient times to modern times but things are still the same.

Raima Sen, Shreyas Talpade with director Vinay Shukla

Something very daring, refreshing and sexy! The way in which the director tackled the subject is rather brilliant. Though, it could very well become the cause of indigestion for Indian males but the fact is that Indian society was far more open in its old days.

In Mahabharat , when Pandu suggested Kunti to begot their sons with the help of  different Gods , he gave reference of a story of vedic era. He suggested that women were free to move according to their will in Vedic times  when people were highly intellectual and learned and marriage as an institution were  introduced only later by a saint named  Rishi Shwetketu who was not happy with some incidents occurred in his life.

One thing, I couldn’t resist to say that I hated the publicity campaign of Mirch. Mirch is a visual treat! They created a beautiful ancient India in the Panchtantra story. Compared to that, the posters of Mirch were a BIG let down. I hope that these publicity mangers  learn something about their job and  become able to do justice to the efforts and dream of a director.

Anyways, it was refreshing to see women on driving seat in Vinay Shukla’s Mirch. Its a must watch , do not even think to miss this masterpiece.

The movies which floored me were Caterpillar, Aftershock, Face, The Professor and his beloved equation, Ayla, Biutuiful  and many many more. I tried to earn maximum visual experience as much as  I can with my single pair of eyes.

There is long list of movies which challenged, shocked and confused me as a viewer. One of them is  from a young  independent director Srinivas Sunderrajan titled as ” The Untitled Kartik Krishnan Project”.

The Untitled Kartik Krishnan Project

Movie is about passion of a software professional Kartik Krishnan who has this burning desire to break away from his routine life and join the bandwagon of world class movie-makers.  His love for cinema makes him to take initiatives to call a director (Srinivas Sunderajan)  and requesting him to help in realizing his dreams, asking his love to join as leading lady but as it happens to most independent dreams, things  start getting screwed up at every front for Kartik and finally he escapes into some rare phenomenon. Movies doesn’t end here, it descends to another level of consciousness called reality where the real director Srinivas Sunderrajan ( played by the director himself) seems to loose control on his real and dream world both and left with not much in his life ( Again, the after- effects of reality versus dreams ).

While watching the movie, you wonder sometimes if the director deliberately tries to surprise or shock  his audiences. The frequent blank screens in the movies which are deliberately extended for those few moments seem like a plan to frustrate the viewers. Does he try to make a fool of us?? Is he deliberately trying to give us a piece of nonsense and then enjoying the intellectual interpretations of highly intelligent critics ??? Does it really matter for an audience to know what was  his personal struggle while making the movie?

Well, answers of these questions are not easy. According to Srinivas Sunderarajan and Kartik Krishnan, they never got a chance to make a movie which they actually planned for many different reasons and ” Untitled Kartik Krishnan Project”  is something which eventually came out while walking through the road of making a movie.

You can not ignore the fact that every movie is a story of a person, real or imaginary. In my personal opinion, Srinivas Sunderrajan can be called a genius filmmaker who brilliantly picked up the threads from reality and imagination and knitted them well to create a visual experience which can be called a frustrated journey of an Independent filmmaker who has talent to make it but our Bollywood “System” is all set to break him and his dreams. He is almost broken down with almost no hopes ( the extended blank screens) and then surprisingly made it on the strength of sheer will,  hope and determination.

If cinema means art and art means to express oneself and inspire others , then this movie definitely succeeds. This movie encourages you to come out with idea which really means to you and don’t care if it seems absolutely absurd. After screening of ” The Untitled Kartik Krishnana Project” , I immediately started thinking about my absurd but truthful experiences and dare to think that I could turn it into a movie someday.

Srinivas Sunderrajan may be just 26 years old but he is not new to fim making. He has already made two short films ” Tea Break ” and “Vaapsi”. His “Vaapsi” won best short film award in 2008 in Mami festival.

Srinivas receiving his award for best short film"Vaapsi" at MAMI

One more reason to see this movie could be the absolute mind-blowing performances from Kartik Krishnan, Vishwesh K, Swara Bhaskar and D Santosh ( who played Rajguru in The Legend of Bhagat Singh). Dialogues are witty with a flavor of dry sense of  humor , written by the actors themselves and supervised by  Srinivas Sunderrajan. Camera work by Hashim Badani,  music by Sujil Sukumaran, vfx/sound design by Vijesh Rajan who  also got a credit as  script consultant.

And , on a lighter note, Kartik Krishnan can easily be called a star of shoe- string budget movies. He recently worked in a movie ” Auto Madar ###”  by Vasan Bala for filminute with a budget of just Rs 200. ( $5.00)  and now a whole feature film with a budget of just Rs. 40,000.00 ( $1000.00). (Guinness book of world records?)

A message to all those Mega budget star studded mind-less shit film makers that wonderful cinema can be delivered in a thenga -budget if few strong -willed, dedicated artists join together.

Well, today is 9th October. John Lennon’s birthday. A celebrity who took a stand against the USA establishment. Quite opposite in nature to our own Bollywood celebrities. Not to forget that Amitabh Bachchan was younger brother of Rajiv Gandhi in Congress days. Decalared Mulayam Singh Yadav like his father in Samajvadi party rule in U.P. ( UP main hai dum , kyunki jurm hai yahan kam ). Now he is a brand ambassador of Gujrat government. Amazing flexibility of ideologies!! Same is applied to other so called stars.

John Lennon inspired a whole generation of artists ( singers, writers, directors) in west. He also got a mention in critically acclaimed movie ” Gulaal” by Anurag Kashyap where Piyush Mishra played a character who is inspired by John Lennon. We must thank Anurag Kashyap for bringing this intelligence to Indian cinema.

Piyush Mishra in Gulaal, he played a character who is inspired by John Lennon