Julia Roberts: An ode to a great artiste!!!

Remember the days when pop used to be hot as hell
And Ms Roberts was an obsession of every single male,
The day when a pretty woman walked down the lane,
And Mr Gere made us all fall in love with her again....

A Tribute to an Epic!

No wonder I am a movie buff, I was born to a couple who have seen almost
all the movies released in their 20s 30s and 40s. They just lost count
when they entered 50.
Well lets not diverse from our topic. I think it was my fifth birthday,I definitely have an elephants memory,when I first saw the epic. For the first time in my life. My father had
brought the new VCR (it was a big craze then, the days when rock n roll were famous and Pop was cult!) and he wanted all of us to see the best
movie of his era, SHOLAY. As a kid I never minded all those actions and chases and Sholay had a huge clearance sale of both of them. I fell in
love with the very first train robbery scene. The horses and the bullets and ofcourse Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra. I was glued to the TV for
the next 3 and half hours. Didn't even move to have food. Sholay had some magic around it and today when I see it I still feel the same
magic, even after watching it for more than a hundred times. The best thing about Sholay is it was unabashedly Bollywoodish. Naach Gaana Drama
and Action. It had it all and in plenty. The movie stayed with me even after it was over. 35 Years and its still with me.

There are various trivia about the movie. Mr Sippy had hired a couple of stunt experts from London to help him in this movie. That the movie had
two endings, the one in which Jai doesn't die. It ran for six months before it was declared a hit: reason being the cinema halls were running
houseful but the people were silenced by the action, drama and tension in the movie, so much so that not even a single person talked. Its only
when the second visit to the theatre started that the hooting and shouting started. Amit Ji always wanted to be Mr Gabbar, well Ramu gave
him his dream role but it turned out to be a nightmare (Aag is So-low and not Sholay, sorry RGV you sucked here BIG TIME). Even Amjad Khan was
not the first choice as Gabbar, our very own Hari Bhai was first taken as Gababr. None of the characters were the first choice for the movie,
for that matter. The movie also happens to be one of the cleanest Dacoit Saga of that time, it had no rape-scene or bathing scene. I am not
trying to be voyeuristic but movies at that time used to be loaded with such scenes to cash in at the ticket counters.
The movie had some of the dialogues that were immortal. Salim-Javed made Kaalia and Sambha famous with just one dialogue. Asrani will always be remembered
as Angrezon ke zamane ka police and Mr A K Hangal (the grand old man of Bollywood) "Itna Sannata kyun hai bhai". The popularity can be gauged by
the fact that it made inane / one scene characters famous. Take for example mousi ji, Kaalia, Sambha. Ram Lal and even Jalal Agha and Helen.
Everyone has his or her own Sholay moment and I too have mine. My Sholay moment will definitely be the one in which Jai goes to mousi and asks
for Basanti's hand for Viru. By scale, popularity, music and entertainment, it will be the biggest movie that Bollywood have ever
made. 3 Idiots might have grossed 100 crores. But I don't think any movie would have a mass following and popularity, a movie where the
actors are remembered by the character they played like Sholay, a movie where the characters have made an impact on your life and you have
accepted them albeit their larger than life projection.

फिर तुम याद आई

बड़े दिनों बाद तुमसे मुलाक़ात हुई,
हाँ ख्यालों में ही सही
तुमसे मुलाक़ात हुई।

फिर आँखें कुच्छ नम होने लगी
कुच्छ यादें ताज़ा हुयी
फिर हवा भी तेरी खुशबु से महकने लगी।

मेरे काश, मेरे शायाद
मुझे तेरे संग जोड़ते रहते हैं
मैं लाख भुलाना चाहूँ तुझे
तेरी मेरी राह फिर भी मिल ही जाते हैं।

सोचूँ के बरसों बाद जब मिलेंगे हम तुम
तो कैसे मिलेंगे हम तुम
कुच्छ बीती यादें,
कुच्छ भीगी पलकें...

MAHAAAABHAARAT

I was in the office cab and from somewhere we started talking about this war thing. The old mythological war. And I am sure about my generation, who have seen Mr Ramanada Sagar’s Magnum Opus: Ramayan and Mahabharat, must remember that they use to have this code of conduct by which the war ended at evening. I mean there was no war at night.

We were thinking, say for example. Arjun (The Mahabharat Fame) has drawn his bow and then at the far end you hear the sound of hooter and the oh-so-familiar-voice of Mr Bachchan saying: 'Afsoos Mr Arjun, samay samapti ki ghoshana’ (Alas! Mr Arjun, that ends today’s episode)

And then think how would the war be starting the next day. Think of a situation when Bhim would have disarmed his opponent and about to smash his club on him when hooter was blown, next day they should start at the same position or not? Secondly did they fight the same opponent they fought yesterday. Or can they choose to change. Who use to be the match refree, to ensure that no one is cheating?

I think the stoppage of war at night is more to do with the fact that there is no light than anything else. And therefore, if there is a cloudy weather and the light is below permissible limit. Is the war suspended?

And wat about the cheergirls. Just think of the boundaries of the War field with Cheer Girls jumping around with every single good move. How interesting and colorful would that be. Well that’s a bit far-fetched.

And I have never seen any star warrior getting killed by a minnow. Is that by rule or is that by respect. I mean a lowly soldier coming close to Yudhistir, almost ready to take his shot and realising its him, says: ‘Oh Shit jyasttha bhrata shree, oops I am sorry’। And goes away.

Sorry for annoying any sentiments!!!

तुम्हारे घर की वोह छत

याद होगा तुम्हे,
वोह गर्मियों की शामें
जो गुजरती थी तुम्हारे
घर के छत पर।

सारी दुनिया से दूर
दोनों में खोए हुए
घंटों काट देते थे उस छत पर
तुम ले आती थी
साथ अपने दो प्याली चाय की
और में चुरा लता था कुछ नज़्म गुलज़ार के
और कुछ कबूतर बैठे रहते थे साथ हमारे

यूँही पूरी शाम गुज़र जाती थी
एक दूजे को उन ग़ज़लों में ढूँढ़ते हुए

और फिर एक शाम मैं तो आया
पर तुम न थी साथ मेरे
अब रोज़ तेरे आमद का
इंतजार करता रहता हूँ

सुना हैं आज भी उस छत पर कोई दो जोड़े
मिला करते हैं
दो अध् - पिए चाए की प्याली भी थी रखी हुई
कुच्छ कबूतर थे बैठे हुए,
और वोह गुलज़ार की किताब
पड़ी थी उस पत्थर की मेज़ पर ...

A Bowling Match - 2 : Revenge of Nirep!!!

It was not actually revenge rather a point to be proved kinda match. I always thought that i am a better player. So getting beaten by Nirepinder for the first time at Bowling was like a wake up call for me. But then I thought it was just a bad game and then challenged Nirep for another set of games. This time i was sure that the things would change and I would reclaim my lost glory.

Well no such thing happened. There were a couple of close games. So I graduated from losing badly to gave-a-fight. Thats it, thats all that happened. I played my heart out and still lost the game. Nirep said: ' Well you tried your best'. Which means your best is not good enough and I sulked more. Well, winning and losing is a part of life and why do i have to lose all the time. Cant I win once?

I need a divine intervention next time. Nirep you played well.

A Bowling Match

Long time back when bowling was supposedly the coolest thing to do. There was a guy who played it like no one did it in his group. He was thus the coolest guy in the group. Some year later he was back at an alley and there also performed pretty well, thus reconfirming his belief that there can never be a bad day when he has a ball in his hand and ten pins waiting to be rolled. But they say sunny days are not there for long and so it was for him.

Yesterday this guy went out playing with his bosses. Knowing that they are older than him and probably a bit less cooler, he thought he would be able to spun his magic again. But he was grossly mistaken. He was bitten, smashed and downright squashed by the two. Well that guy was me and the people who trashed me are: Nirepinder and Anuj.

I started the game pretty well and then lost to Nirepinder, with only a few points margin. Anuj was nowhere in the contention at that time. Then in the second match: Me Vs Nirep, I was demolished beyond repair. But as they say beauty lies in the fight and I decided to fight again. Well I was wrong: Sense lies in accepting defeat and moving on. I lost again, this time even Anuj scored better than me!

Nirepinder was on cloud 9, he won all the matches. I had a bruised ego and a trampled spirit. But I am not going to give up: Wait tomorrow and I will be back with a bang. Nirepinder watch out!