पुराने जूते

एक बात थी कड़वी,
जो किसी से कही थी कभी,
याद की चम्मच में काढ़ा बन,
आज सोच का स्वाद बिगाड़ने आई है,

वो एक पल है पुराना
जो उम्र में बड़े एक दोस्त सा,
आज मिला है वापस, तो याद आ रहा है ,
कैसे बचपन में उसने मेरी कोहनी मरोड़ी थी,

हँसी में एक खनक थी तुम्हारी,
आज मेरे रूठने पे जैसे मनाने आई है,
में उसको ताकता रहूं, तो बड़ी अंजान सी लगती है,
ना जाने किसके पास रहके आई है इतने दिन,

पुरानी याद अगर लंगर होती ,
तो डाल किनारो पे बैठा रहता,
तुम पानी पे परछाई सी हो, जो किसी के खेल में,
एक पत्थर से बिखर जा रही है, ये क्या ख्वाब है?

सच नये जुतो से मिले घाव सा है,
काश पुराने टूटे ना होते

 

Ek Tha Tiger - Movie Review

http://www.planetbollywood.com/displayReview.php?id=f081712081230 

What does one expect from a Salman Khan movie? As Vidya Balan says in The Dirty Picture, “entertainment, entertainment and entertainment”…and he is entertainment alright! He remains, in the true tradition of Bollywood, one of the heroes for whom movies are written. You do not expect a story when you enter the theatre hall, you expect a lot of masala though - you expect good looking locales and dances, dialogues and action. You expect a larger than life setting and character for Salman Khan. So does the film deliver on expectations. After the phenomenal success of Dabangg, Ready and Bodyguard, does this movie generate enough whistling, hooting and dancing for its audience to call it another “classic” Salman movie? Almost!

There is a scene in the middle of the movie when Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif are both running away from the secret services and you see two efficient officers of ISI and RAW shooting at them together. There is a pause in the scene as their eyes meet with each other. It is probably the first time when ISI and RAW go hand in hand to kill someone – and that is the story of the film. A love story of spies with a lot of spice! The Story (and it was slightly surprising to know that there is one), traverses the love life of RAW agent Rathod (Tiger) and ISI agent Zoya (Zee). The movie starts with a chase sequence in Iraq and ends with another one in Cuba. Tiger is on a mission to Ireland tracking movements of an Indian Scientist (Roshan Seth) where he meets Zoya. There is Girish Karnad and Ranvir Shorey on the Indian side of spying, paying the bills for Salman Khan and there is Gavie Chahal on the Pakistani side.

The mission, as you can expect is not as important as the love story that develops, so much so that the writer leaves the mission like an open ended thread where you don’t know what happened to the scientist. But you do not have time to croon over it because soon you are transported from Ireland to Istanbul via Delhi. And then as the lovers elope you move with them to the colourful Cuba. Salman Khan movies are like love- you shouldn’t think much over them and if you just go with the flow you will enjoy them. Just like the scene in the movie where the characters read “ Amor cuerdo, no es amor” – A love without madness is no love.

The movie is replete with chase sequences and behaves differently from other spy movies. As the movie traverses continents, people and countries there are umpteen numbers of wide angled landscapes at sunrise and sunsets, leading lines of convoluted roads where the chase happens and keen feel-good production design which is aptly supported by James bond-meets-Dhoom series background score. Songs appear when they are not required but they won’t irritate, as else there are very few occasions when the good looking agents get a chance to dance. Dance is a subtle part of the movie.

Salman Khan as Tiger, is a treat to watch for his fans. He slips into his larger than life role with ease and enjoys the action sequences. Acting skills are not important here but the sheer charisma that he carries can be felt in the darkness of theatre hall around you. Katrina Kaif looks beautiful (though a little plump!), and does extremely well in the action sequences. Dialogue delivery was never her forte and it still looks like an unattainable peak. The rest of the cast is wasted including Girish Karnard as a RAW senior with almost silly lines to utter along with Roshan Seth as an Indian missile scientist who is not given a single dialogue to deliver. Finally Ranvir Shorey a competent RAW officer who is not allowed to talk about mission and its complexities. Ditto with Gavie Chahal who gets a good debut though.

Direction by Kabir Khan is at best average. If he was not ably supported by his assistant directors that managed the grand production locations and were it not for the impact of his lead actors, it would have been difficult for him to pull this one off. The ambitions here are at an entirely different scale compared to his prior works – Kabul Express and New York. He mixes the feel of Kabul Express and New York at various points in the film. Where Kabir Khan disappoints is partly in the story and screenplay (although that can be forgiven) but particularly in the dialogues that are written alongside the talented Neelesh Mishra. Some of these dialogues are outright silly – imagine an ISI senior telling his subordinate “Bibi, ek aurat ke liye uski izzat hi sab kuch hoti hai” or a senior RAW agent telling his junior “thi ek sweet si ladki”. There are no classic one liners like “Maine ek baar commitment de di…” or “Mujhe pe ek ehsaan karna….” In the film. This dries up what could have been a constant stream of whistling and madness in the movie hall. The movie had a lot of scope for dialogues which were missed thoroughly.

Aseem Mishra’s cinematography is top notch, something that is very much a pre-requisite these days. The approach taken here reminds one of another great movie of yesteryears, The Great Gambler. Low camera angles to cover the rising mosques of Turkey, wide angle shots to show a barren Iraq, a hurried camera in the chase sequence and colourful Cuba are all nicely utilized. The art direction in particular, with local team hires to set up the production design for Cuba and Turkey is top notch. Chase sequences are beautifully edited by Rameshwar Bhagat with sharp cuts, beautiful pauses in slow motions and narration and nicely choreographed action shots. Action sequences (with Input from Hollywood – Mark Rounthwaite) are the key highlight of the film.

Vaibhavi Merchant and Ahmed Khan gets enough chance to show the dance movies, its well-choreographed with Latin numbers in Cuba, ball room dancing at UN assemblies and ballet dances in Ireland. Music by Sohail Sen and Sajid Wajid is thankfully less intrusive and the background score (by Julius Packiam) is racy but could have made a bigger impact.

Overall, Ek Tha Tiger delivers what it promises to deliver. It is a well made, charismatic, and larger than life film with beautiful cinematography and splendid action to boot. Dialogues and story leaves a lot to be desired. The movie is intentionally simplistic and silly at times but fits the bill for a masala movie. It is strongly recommended to Salman Khan (and Katrina Kaif) fans. For the rest it is just passable but a key element of Bollywood is diversity – for every exemplary Gangs of Wasseypur there would be a charming Ek Tha Tiger.

जो है मज़ा मझधार का - A song

 

जो है मज़ा मझधार का, वो ना किनारो पर मिले,

जो मंज़िलें हो नाव की ना वो लहर बन कर मिले,

एक चोट पर हो घाव तो एक चोट पर मरहम मिले,
हम कल मिलेंगे जीत से जो आज सौ ठोकर मिले,

होगी कोई मजबूरियाँ, जो कह ना पाई तुम मुझे,
बेबाक सा वो इश्क़ भी तो कर ना पाई तुम मुझे,
कब तक कहूँगा प्यार के में झूठ अपनेआप से,
जब याद में चुभते हुए सब बेवफा खंजर मिले,

आँखें भरी हो दर्द से, हो भूख का लावा जवान,
जब रोशनी जाती रहे, दुश्मन लगे सारा जहाँ,
तब होसला बनकर कभी वो साथ में आ जाएगा ,
थे ढूँढते उसको बूत्तों में वो मगर अंदर मिले,

हो एक साया एस ज़मीन पर जो मेरा रहबर रहे,
चाहे वो हो बेज़ार सा या बादशाह अकबर मिले,
सागर रहे, गागर रहे, या बूँद भर हो ओस में,
अब जो मिले वो ठीक है, हो नूर या पत्थर मिले

 

Poem - अधूरी आस सा भारत

कहीं चलती कहीं रुकती, बताओ आग कैसी है,
बुझा दो हर वो दीपक जो अकेला रोशनी चाहे,
लगे ना जो सभी में वो बताओ आग कैसी है,

जलाके रूप ना बदले वो अंजन हो नहीं सकती,
जलाए जो नही सोना वो कंचन हो नहीं सकती,
अगन जब भी लगे तब वो कोई बदलाव लाती है,
ना लिपटे रूह से ज्वाला तो बंधन हो नहीं सकती

करे जो राम सा शासन, वो रावण नहीं मिलता,
बड़े भाषण तो मिलते है मगर राशन नहीं मिलता,
हमारे देश के नेता, सभी है भूख के मारे,
कभी चारा कभी दाना, कभी सावन नहीं मिलता

कभी था कृष्ण की भूमी, खुदा के नूर सा भारत,
हैधर्मो से, या जनपथ पे, लो जगड़ो में फसा भारत,
कभी सारे जवान बेटे कहे, पैंसठ की बुढ़िया है,
अकेले गाँव में रोता , अधूरी आस सा भारत,

बुझा दो हर वो दीपक जो अकेला रोशनी चाहे,
लगे ना जो सभी में वो बताओ आग कैसी है

Gangs Of Wasseypur -2 : Movie Review

http://planetbollywood.com/displayReview.php?id=f080712055332

The first part of Gangs of Wasseypur had left the audience wanting for more and the expectation with GOW 2 are therefore sky high. Does the film live up to the expectations? Even before we answer that let us make a point first : this movie reinvents the genre of revenge themes and redefines the use of violence and dark humour in narrative. It is surely one of the most well researched movie which tries to capture every possible detail of the characters it portrays.

You know right from the first frame that revenge is the end motive of the movie and the nemesis of the protagonist is going to face it brutally. But it goes beyond brutality. It is probably the most violent scene you would have ever seen in a Hindi film. Nawazuddin Siddiqui with that little smirk of satisfaction on his lips and the unshed tears in his eyes defines the gist of revenge. He exactly puts his finger on what all the revenge movies till date missed – satisfaction and relief of ending a story.

All of Anurag Kashyap movies are well layered and this is no different. Obsessed with storytelling, his indulgent, amoral themes transcends the boundary of good and bad and leaves aside the age old motifs of victory of virtue over vice. The illegitimate and deprived part of the society supersedes the one containing legitimate power owners and is the focus of attention throughout the move. This form of storytelling works for many as it is very relatable to people. There is a strong political power struggle, a think family bonding, and a rich narrative that adds to the dark theme of the movie. In between a marriage celebration, as the leading lady of the movie (Protagonist’s mother) while singing a wedding folk song, moves into the agony of her past – of death of her elder son and her husband, the mood swings from celebration to sadness. That scene almost summarizes the crux of the movie- a family’s story written in blood, power struggle and precedence of enemy over lover.

The story of GOW 2 starts with the demise of Sardar Khan (Manoj Bajpayee) and rise of the next generation. Danish (Vineet Singh) gets killed and Faizal (Nawazuddin) takes over. Two colourful characters of Definit (Zeishan Quadri) and Perpendicular, former copying Salman Khan and later Sanjay Dutt, make the story edgy. With Sultan (Pankaj Tiwari) and Ramadhir Singh ( Tigmanshu Dhulia) growing older the story of revenge intensifies with introduction of characters like Shamshad (Rajkumar Yadav) and killings now include that of women of the family as well. The pointlessness of all the killing and violence is well mentioned by Faizal’s character at a point.

The style of narrative is strongly influenced by world movies, film noir and pulp fiction. Unlike the sentimentality of movies that we like to fall for, the movie treads the thought process and theme of the story. Action is the prime mover. The blood and gore in the movie might remind you of Tarantino and it’s unique because there is no precedence to such violence in Hindi films. Yet it is strongly rooted with the impact of Bollywood on the common man. References to eras and times of Khan’s, Qureshi’s and Singh’s are done through Bollywood movies. Yashpal Sharma’s character with his songs like “Teri Meherbaniya” , “Yaad Teri Ayegi” and “My name is Lakhan” is an exceptional point in case. Dark humour apart from this song is everywhere as well – do check out some of the chase sequences in a crowded town as well as goof ups during the gang wars.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui is the find of the movie. Of course we saw him in Kahaani and Pan Singh Tomar this year, but this surely will be a landmark role in his career. Evil, simple, greedy, ruthless and charming at different times, he delivers an extraordinary performance. Zeishan Quadri who also happens to be the writer of this epic story, is the next in line as definit. He portrays his character with ease. Vineet Singh, Pankaj Tiwari, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Piyush Mishra, Satya Anand, Jameel Khan – all are pitch perfect like the first part of the movie.

Anurag Kashyap seems to understand women better now. Unlike mostly powerless and oppressed females of Gulaal and victimized chanda of Dev D, Nagma (beautifully essayed by Richa Chaddha), Mohsina (Huma Quereshi), Sama (Anurita Jha) and Durga (Remma Sen) are more in control. Huma Quereshi stands out from the lot this time. She shines and charms the audience in the love scenes with Nawazuddin.

Dialogues for the movie (Zeishan and Anurag Kashyap) give a beautiful earthly feel to the almost unrealistic backdrop of violence. The story and screenplay are absolutely spot on as you do not feel bored even with a little extra length of the movie. Zeishan Quadri has done a great job in characterization, giving enough space for individuality. Cinematography by Rajeev Ravi adds to the screenplay. There are times when the screen goes completely black and those pauses in the visual story telling are beautifully taken, as you move around in your seat trying to squint and find out what happened to the character. Some of the violent shots with unstable camera movement has a gritty nervy feel about it. Visuals of perpendicular – a well-built teenager playing with the blade in his mouth and Definit taking a cobra like a muffler are tightly integrated with the screenplay. Editing again is to be blamed but with the kind of indulgence, you tend to feel that editing just to keep the length short would not have done justice to so many characters and their backstory.

One of the strongest and omnipresent character for the part 2 of GOW has been the music. The movie for the first half deals extensively with percussions. The drums, the dhols, the daflis – all keeps you hooked to the movement of the story. The occasional flavour of folk songs and the experimental songs with lyrics like “Frustiyao na moora, Nervasao na Moora” being used absolutely intelligently adds to the flavour. Sneha Khanwilkar, you are the chosen one!

All in all, this is the best movie to come out from India this year so far. It is gritty, well-paced, extremely well-acted, genre defining, path breaking work of art. The movie is not for the ones who are not comfortable with violence being depicted graphically. If you can digest violence on screen, it is a sure winner.

Gazal by Jaykumar Shah

સફળતા સમય ને જુઠા પ્રેમ ના છે,
ઘણા છે મિત્રો પણ બધા નામના છે,

ન સમજાય ઍવી જગત ની કથા છે,
અગન જાનકી ની, ભજન રામ ના છે,

દુનિયા નકામી દુખો માં બળે છે,
સુખો તો બધા તોય પરધામ ના છે,

ન સ્વતંત્ર માણસ, ન આઝાદ ઈચ્છા,
જો યુધ્ધે ચડેલાં, ધરમ-કામના છે,

હૃદય લાગણી થી સભર રાખવાને,
આ મારા બધા તો દુખો ગામ ના છે,

મફત માં મળી જાય મૌલિક વિચારો,
નકલ ચોર અહ્યા વધુ દામ ના છે,

બધી ભૂખ ની ઍ પરાકાષટા છે,
ઘરે પેટ ખાલી, પિતા જામ ના છે,

હવે કોઈ સામે ન માથું નામવું,
બધા દેવતા હાડ ના ચામ ના છે,

ખુદા તો કહે ત્યાગ કર કામના ને,
સભા માં મજાની તોયે નામના છે,

બપોરે સળગતા સૂરજ આથમેતો,
અધૂરાં રહે જે સપન શામ ના છે.