An Ode to The Little Sparrow~ Edith Piaf

Raw words cut across my veins

They pass like silk, through the velvety petals of a rose

And prick my senses and caress my soul

I look across the room, you stand there

Your song sees through me

Your voice, soaked in wine and sunshine

Spreads like the scarlet rays of dawn

Touches, Nourishes, Mocks, Shocks

Enthralls me, appalls me

I can hardly breathe

There is a lot of smoke in here

And you fly across every wing of imagination

Charmingly, you sit steady on every mind

My heart goes to you, stops in the way

Looks back, finds me. Fills me, thrills me.

And you sing

Like a dove on a careless flight

Like the moon with all its might

Like a smile, like a poisoned arrow
In the crowd, like a Little Sparrow

The 'Allahs' and the 'Mullahs' of Wasseypur!

So I have been waiting, patiently, just like the fictional Faisal Khan and our hero director Mr. Kashyap. After my last blog post, many a things changed. Mr. Nolan completed his trilogy and the world chanted 'Deshay Basara', MC Mary Kom won a bronze and India suddenly rose to the occasion and everyone's heart went out to this great icon of the North-East, epitomizing womanhood and spirit. As for me, I attended the Osians Cinefest and saw good, bad, ugly cinema. And though I missed the chance to watch GoW2 with the cast & crew, I waited patiently for 8th August and the penning of my next blog post.

Let me make one thing clear.. This is not a film review post and definitely not a AKFL paid blog. (yes, some people thought that I was paid to write all this.) And yes, though both my blog post are about the movie Wasseypur, it is just due to the fact that I was really busy past one month and "patiently" waiting for GoW2 to get released.

While most people commonly asked me which out of the two I liked more, I'd say this- I cannot and should not compare them and judge them in isolation. The entire epic saga is one story, almost a 6-hr journey that spans from 1940s to late 2000 and covers the rise and fall of local thugs, goons, mafia, political leaders, the rich, the poor, the all powerful residing in the mineral belt of Bihar & Jharkhand, with focus on Dhanbad & Wasseypur and the way of work and life in it.The "electric" romance between Faisal & Mohsina, the wonderful songs which by the way always take place as action unfolds, the "Chhe chha" killing of Ramadhir are some of the major highlights of the movie. And the way the gangland, the myths, the characters have been portrayed and the story of a "hero" is subverted is where its brilliance lies.

Bollywood has always celebrated the "hero". From Romantic Rajesh Khanna (RIP), to Angry young Bacchan to King Khan, the "hero" is what we are obsessed with. And yes in that regard, the movie celebrates its two heroes- Sardar Khan and Faisal Khan. Or is it?
A closer look will reveal the excellent use of subversion through this "hero" figure and the strong point it presents. Sardar Khan, our first hero from GoW1 dies. And no, he doesn't stand to his "keh ke lunga" words. That's sheer foolishness. And the first scene of GoW2 symbolizes this. As we see a grief-stricken family and a dead Sardar, Yashpal Sharma's song cracks us up. And hola! We laugh. Atleast I couldn't stop giggling for the entire song death sequence. And from here, as the movie unfolds, you enjoy the spectacular celebration of all the so-called hero characters, only to realize the simple, stunning fact, that they are all really nothing but mere fools. Kashyap takes his protagonist "heroes" and turns them into fools who just faff and die. Oh yes, the glorious death of a fool. Quite Shakespearean, actually!

The characters are extremely unique and it is through them, Kashyap ne keh ki li hain!. "Perpendicular" actually etches a memory in the mind through his razor sharp characterization. Ramadhir Singh, Sultan, Danish, Tangent, Faisal, Shamshad, Definite and even the yellow-tooth policewala, fools of all varieties make for a perfect ensemble. Bloodshed and Business- it all happens without planning and an agenda. And this absence of motive makes it dangerous. In one of the most compelling scenes, Faisal Khan bares his heart out to wifey Mohsina and admits that he has no clue how the events kept happening and life got tangled in the mess, and no it is NOT about "badla". That story was pretty much over. A brilliant satire on the mafia world. Similarly, Ramadhir's dig at Cinema and how it affects the Junta, followed by a romantic sequence between Faisal and Mohsina and the latter singing "Dil to pagal hain" over the phone is hilarious. Kashyap really turns on the black humor and sarcasm, and how!

The play with the 'real' and 'apparent' heroes is amazing. Ramadhir's son turns out to be the smartest one! The step-son, Definite gets the last word and the movie ends with a quiet, brooding, Piyush Misra (he is the wisest of them all!), doing what he always does-taking care of the Khan clan as life comes to a full (fool?) circle. And as Wasseypur comes to an end, all I have in my mind is this- Enough of the heroes. Nakshebaaji haath mein lekar, sab rangbaaji saath mein lekar.. Let's celebrate the chutiyas now!

WWW- Why Wasseypur works?

Why Wasseypur works?

The much-awaited, highly anticipated GoW released this Friday amidst speculations over the great reception it received in Cannes, the catchy Manoj Tiwari’s ‘Jiya ho Bihar ke lala’ being the talk of the town and the ‘keh ke loonga’ phrase that seems to have caught the fancy of the entire junta.

“Hamare jindagi ka ek hai maksad hain.. badla”. As Manoj Bajpayee’s baritone-like voice cuts across the air, the audience breaks into a frenzied applause, whistling and hooting for their “hero”. Sitting in a houseful, tightly-packed posh South Delhi theatre, I look around for a minute. The pretence of the Puma chappals, the arrogance of the expensive cocktails is lost for a moment. The fat uncle sitting beside me, who couldn’t stop browsing his iPad & talking in accented English (or whatever that was) five minutes before some men on the screen gunned down Tusli Virani’s welcome song, is besides himself. The iPad is nowhere to be seen, the accent is gone and he happily exclaims to his Zara-clad wife, “Kitna raw dialogue likha hain.. How amazing! Le li bande ne sab ki! I can’t believe this”. Out of curiosity, I try to gauge the wife’s reaction too. And yes, there she is- laughing, with an expression of bewilderment, awed by the charming “hero” speaking in rustic dialect. Cut to 2009. Three years back I sat in a similar theatre with similar people watching a somewhat-similar genre movie. A similar catchy song had caught the fancy of the people and driven them to watch an anti-hero, gulping vodka; a love story between an addict and an estranged prostitute. Some said it was awesome, some said it was an Attyachaar. But none let go of the arrogance and the false poise, till the time it attained a cult status and critics talked about it, young film-makers raved about it, media and socialites ranted about it and it became a cool thing to smoke some good marijuana and listen to Amit Trivedi’s hard-hitting songs and yes, people judged you if you did not have a DVD rip of DEV D in your hard disk. Wasseypur no longer requires that “social acceptance” which a Paanch never received, a No-Smoking hardly got, and a Dev-D earned, but only in due course of time. The story is very, very different today.

How Anurag Kashyap managed to pull this is somewhat history and a bit of a mystery. In 2010, one of the other extremely talented Kashyap Brothers had managed to pull the same trick. He made the audience leap up their seats and go mad over Munni. But to make a Wasseypur work, according to me, is a more Dabangg act. With no top-line Bollywood actor in the crew, a tale of Dhanbad Mafia, and a director with no major “commercial” success (mind it, critical acclaim is different) Wasseypur scores in every parameter required to make good cinema. As I sit and watch the gruesome, gory play of blood, power and politics, I marvel at Kashyap’s way of storytelling. I do not know whether the audience has really matured over the years, become flexible and approachable in the way they consume cinema or is it a false display of double standards and hypocrisy, but all I know is this: To make the Zara-clad aunty comprehend dark humour and laugh at Richa Chhada’s stellar performance as Nagma, to make the Uncle forget his accent and pay attention to Sardar Khan who carries his onslaught with an almost-human like absurd manner, is no joke.

The display of such varied characters, a Marquez-like magic realism setting, and the grandeur of Neo-noir style is compelling. Wasseypur is a gripping story that spans across generations and promises an epic conclusion. As the end credits roll, and Wasseypur II trailer shows an all-powerful Faisal, the names of the characters and their oddity and audacity strike you. In my head, I can imagine a smiling Anurag Kashyap saying to the established, hierarchal, old order of stale Bollywood: “Box-office nahi maarenge, Keh ke lenge sabki- in a DEFINITE, TANGENT, PERPENDICULAR manner.”  

The Introduction!

Dear Junta,

Saddened by the fact that "blog" is still not a word that Web Dictionary recognizes and the little, red, very disturbing underline that appears beneath the word (It makes a Grammar Nazi like me feel illegitimate!) is driving me crazy, I shall move on and give you a very brief introduction. So I had an all-poetry blog (Ya ya, I know it's a combination of the words 'Web' 'Logs') and that blog is now gone. I have been busy updating my poems on Facebook and have absolutely no idea as to what makes me start a new blog (Oh! Stop it already you red little bastard) but here I am, and here you are. The name is self-explanatory, and I shall talk about random topics/ trends/ news/ whatever. The "baap" and the "blah" element in tact, I shall rant about things, make comments, pass judgements, be good, bad, ugly.
Your comments are welcome (Bitch Please, I'm moderating them) and one more thing, thanks for reading!

P.S.- In case you didn't understand the "blog" and the little, red, annoying underline analogy, just type the damn word in a web page. And in case you are exempted from the line, feel lucky.