Movie and Magic…

I finally know what I want to do…I might not be able to do it just yet…but I know now…and I know what matters…

Permanence and Uncertainty…

It’s a contradiction of sorts…and it’s me…there has been nothing in my life which has even a semblance of permanence…I start counting the days if not hours if something exists beyond a year in my life…and added to it I fundamentally believe there is nothing permanent…I mean what if a meteor strikes the earth tomorrow…where will all our future plans go…I seriously believe in the cataclysmic end…then why the contradiction…that’s ‘cause I also believe that we all need to have an anchor…some place, someone we can always go back to…a thread that runs through all your uncertainties and ties it all together…and if you don’t have it you are truly lost…but the fact is that this anchor doesn’t have to be external…actually it can’t be…it’s that place in your heart…the believe in yourself…but then again it is one of those catch 22s…you don’t get it if you keep on looking for it…and you get it the moment it becomes redundant…

बस यूं ही...

के आज हाथ थाम लो...एक हाथ की कमी खली...

यादें...

लिखना चाहा तेरी यादों को,
कुछ कही अनकहीं बातों को,
रेत के टीलों पे गुज़री शामों को,
रात से शर्माती सुबह को,
लिखना तो चाहा था...
यादों को लिखने लगी तो लगा...
मेरी कलम तेरा वजूद बन गयी है...
और स्याही में जैसे मेरी आज़ घुल गयी है...
दानिस्तः मैंने कलम को स्याही में डूबोया...
कलम जड्कने लगी तो स्याही और कलम जैसे एक हो गए थे...
फासला करती भी तो कैसे...
फिर सोचा की टीले पर जाकर वही सूरज को रेत में बदलते देखती हूँ...
शायद कुछ कह पाऊँ...शायद कुछ लिख पाऊँ...
पर सूरज की भी जात देखो...
उस दिन कम्भक्त ढला ही नहीं...
बस अपनी गर्मी चाँद को सोपकर जाने कहाँ गुम हो गया...
और में इंतज़ार करती हुई उसके पाऊँ के निशान भी ना देख पायी..
रात का आखरी पहर बचा था...
वोह भी बस चाँद का हाला बनकर मुस्कुराती सी मेरा हाथ छोड़कर चलदी...
सुबह तो वैसे भी रात की जाई है...
क्या कहती और क्या लिखती...

Avatar...the movie

Avatar is a sensational visual delight which will tease your senses…free your spirit as you waltz in the open spaces with natives…your eyes will pop out in wonderment at the delightful colors of lovely ethereal plants and strange animals…you will fall in love with the athletic, fast, earthy natives – but all for five minutes…

Remember star wars and Padme Amidala, young queen of the planet Naboo, remember Lord of the Rings and Tolkien and the whole new language he created and Peter Jackson who brought to life the magnum opus…remeber Pocahontas, the last of Mohicans, Dances with the Wolves...and innumerable others...

Well if you remember all that I doubt you will want to go and see James Cameroon’s Avatar…The visuals are no doubt grandeur but severely limited in imagination, the planet Pandora reminds you of the images you conjured up in your head while reading all those numerous Enid Blyton’s books…Remember making up various fairy tale creatures in your head (…you have to give it to the dame)…maybe it’s not all James Cameroon’s fault that all he talks about in his story has already been conceived and written about by a children’s author…now I do concede that he did come up with the hugely innovative concept of mining “unobtainium” on the planet Pandora…shrewd, money minded corporate at loggerheads with humanitarian researchers and savage mercenaries…added in good measure is the fight between the good and the bad, your own specices or the aliens...

All is not all that bad though…the precious connection that the “aliens” share with nature and the reverence to the spirit or gaya or ehwya as you would call it does inspire us to go green and think about the planet…Though I must say at the risk of sounding stale the tree the natives dwelled in did remind me of “The Faraway Tree” (…remember moonface, silky and Mr. Whatshisname)…I know I know…I grew up on a healthy diet of child fantasy…

The movie evaporates between the stunning visuals and mediocre performances…you leave the theater (and remember to watch it in 3D) thinking why you braced Friday night traffic to watch the movie in a theater which supports 3D and is about 20 kms away from where you stay…Its high time that the director of this and all such movies learn that no amount of visual extravaganza can replace strongly etched out charachters and a crisp storyline...

Seriously man…you need to take the audience seriously…all of us are not nincompoops…