Will I Do It Again - is the question

It all started in a small motel room . Under the blanket of darkness a long winding day was unwinding. He hesitantly asked me if ‘I wanted to do it’? I was scared at first, but the thought of flirting with the unknown gave birth to new moths in my stomach.

The two hour drive was infested with excitement and jitters. I was surprised to find ourselves on this road – for real. We were booked for a 3 pm jump. Our first sky diving session! We manipulated arriving just in time. Enough to pay up and board, but not enough to room a change of mind. However, after reaching we realized, our batch was scheduled for two hours later. We changed into our diving gear (quite pleased with the astronaut look), ate, sipped on coffee, took loads of exciting pictures of others and ourselves , just in case if we chickened on the jump, we could lie about having done it anyway. Or, if we didn’t make it down safely, they would have retrieved my camera. Either ways I wanted to leave enough evidence of what was about transpire.

We were led into a room and made to watch a safety video. A track from Top gun played in the background, six total strangers bonded over the most coveted task their lives were about to experience. We smiled, exchanged jokes with the instructor while she handed out declaration forms to be signed. My cold palms had no idea about the journey my nervous system was about to embark on. I had been handed a declaration of full waiver – IN CASE OF DEATH.

WHAT?!!!!

The man in me was not about to fright. I decided to read on:
1.…Sport parachuting is not completely safe..we cannot guarantee that both or either of your parachutes will open properly. We do not guarantee that any of your back up devices will function properly.
(Ok! Good to know)

2.…You may get hurt even if you do everything correctly
(Very encouraging)

3...Typical injuries include broken legs, broken ankles, broken neck or death
(hahahaha! Who they trying to scare!)

4.….your instructor is human and is capable of making mistakes.

5.….Your equipment is made by human beings and therefore is not perfect and can malfunction
(Stuff you really should know, before you decide to jump!)

6.…I WILL NOT SUE whatever the reasons are for attaining any bodily, moral or material injury sustained by me or even death due to reasons including negligence….
(the man in me is just about to fright!)

Slow motion was stranger than fiction now, people were blurry, the track from top gun was skipping as it played off a beaten record. I was slowly recovering from my partial comma when a distorted contralto pitch spoke “please sign on each page and have the person next to you sign, as witness.”

They gave us another hour for the message to sink in, or to quietly use the back door. The next hour as we acclimatized with our jump suits there was more coffee, shots of people scooping out of the sky, some perfect landing marvels, some just "landed,thank god!" marvels and nerves were much calmer now. That’s when I heard my name on the loudspeaker.
“Hi I’m chad”
“Great! So you’re the guy who’ll save me from dying?”
“No! I’m the guy who’ll film you dying!”

Rule No:1 – always maintain your sense of humour.

They shoot your first experience for memory with the extra 100$ that you pay. Which reminds me I should ask for a refund cause mine has more branding and someone doing a cheap imitation of me, only a more nervous & nasal combination of Chip and Dale on XTC!

At an altitude of 11,000 ft, my instructor asked me to sit on his lap?!! To get strapped on ofcourse. What if he figures out what my weight is? Knew I should have passed on that cheddar cheese bagel from Tim Hortan’s! At 13,500 ft the doors opened. It was all fine, till I blinked and in that second missed seeing the person ahead of me disappear. That’s all it takes? A second!!!

I was too shocked to scream. The lack of oxygen in the free fall slapped me in the face as I tried to recall a reason for not mentioning ‘asthama and sinus’ under medical conditions. My nose was no longer capable of performing the primary function it was designed for , I grasped for air, panicked and occasionally remembered to smile for the guy filming the fiasco (if something did happen to me, imagine the number of people who’d view this video. Looking half a pro was a must!)

At 5000 ft above ground is when the parachute opens up and whooopaaa! Away it jerks you. This is the point when you start enjoying the ride as your glide slowly descends & the phase of morphing into THE MASK is over. The next one minute was very peaceful and so quiet that I thought I’d reached heaven. While I waited for god to speak a rather familiar voice asked me if I was ok?! He also let me know that in his 26 yrs of experience he’s never been kicked as much as today. I let him talk, I was enjoying the decent. Soon the earth started looking greener, the gushing sound of wind reduced, objects under my feet enlarged , there were more colors than blue. Vision and other senses started to resurface, and I felt the soft ground underneath. Tears of joy clouded me. My bucket list had one more tick.

And Yes! ALL OVER AGAIN!

Rajneeti

After a lot of begging, pleading and when all else failed even threatening, did I finally get passes for the premier of Rajneeti. It’d been a while since K3G released, thus the chance of watching so many actors on one screen sounded alluring. More alluring than that was getting a chance to see Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif and Arjun Rampal walk the red carpet. Due to over enthusiasm I ended up arriving much earlier and was whisked inside the mall by security, in order to avoid crowding outside. So to much disappointment I missed watching them put their best foot and smile forward as the shutter bugs flashed. Instead we had to wait near the escalator, which lead up to the screens (secretly hoping I’ll grab one of them as they came up).

Came they did, one by one, but the time they spent smiling at their fans seemed shorter than a lions intercourse. At least they smiled, Katrina poker faced fidgeted with her hair as if she was a part of the lion’s intercourse! How they behave when media is not watching. These stars I tell you!

After the hysteria, it was time for the real low down. A take on India’s dynastic political system, Prakash Jha’s multi cuisine definitely had the ingredients for a good opening. The story revolves around a few people, who control the destiny of million others. Ambitious minds,lust for power and dirty politics. After the head of a leading political party falls ill, he appoints his younger brother as his successor to run for elections. This however leaves his son Manoj Bajpai out on the dryer. Bajpai is enraged with his father’s decision and hereon begins a bloody war of ballots between the two families. Arjun Rampal and Ranbir Kapoor play Manoj Bajapi’s cousins and thus reigns an ugly battle for supremacy.

The first half of the movie was racy and interesting as each character was introduced with short but powerful performances. Nasseruddin Shah along with age seems to be adding on the risqué factor with each performance. First the ‘khalujaan mein se khalu nikaal do’ act in Ishiqya and now a rain dance, a smooch and a one night stand. But we don’t mind. Aesthetics.

Manoj Bajpai and Ajay Devgan both delivered just as much expected, so there wasn’t any over the edge performance. Arjun Rampal was a surprise to watch. He delivered more than two and a half expressions and looked hotter than ever. So completely forgiven. Also added in the surprise package was Nana Patekar’s performance which was very unlike characters he usually portrays. No hamming, screaming, spurting blood or fire from the eye, or breaking anything but constant smiles. For once I liked and I don’t think the kids got scared either.
Katrina Kaif, they said this performance was meant to lift her into a different category of actors. They were wrong. I still think she looks more believable romancing Akshay or Ranbir, then being a sari clad grieving widow, delivering melodramatic, out dated dialogues in chaeshth hindi. Her dialogue delivery failed to string on the audiences emotions.

Ranbir Kapoor. I’d just like to say ‘perfect’ and end this post right here, but I wouldn’t want you think that my bias stems from the fact that he’s the single most attractive, salivacious, lusted after, dreamaliscious, actor, dancer that we have going today. So putting your bogus theories aside I’d like to expand upon the fact that he played the character of Samar Pratap to the hilt. Due to circumstances he gets sucked into the arena of family rivalry, only to turn into a master of the craft of political warfare. The story portrays his determination to protect his family in the bloodiest of political battle.
He is very convincing when he portrays the introvert brother studying abroad. Equally convincing as he morphed into a calculative politician. Full points for playing a loving boyfriend, and we even empathized with his character when he was manipulating Katrina Kaif’s feelings for him (no pun intended). All in the name of family. During the course of the film, Ranbir Kapoor made you connect with Samar Pratap’s trying circumstances. I’d definitely vote for him.

Moving on to the other titty – bitty’s - Dialogues – OH MY GOSH!!! Which era did Prakash Jha think he was making the movie for?!! Even Salman Khan’s Veer set in 1825 had people speaking a simpler language. C’mmon which mother says ‘tum mere jayesht putra ho!’ no wonder Ajay Devgan looked angry in the scene, I bet even he couldn’t understand that all she meant was you’re my first son.I personally feel, every illegitimate child should be spared the ‘main aur tumhare pita us raat, bhavnao ki aandhi mein beh gaye…’ kind of lines. He gets the point. Referring to one’s self as ‘hum’ is as outdated as Juhi Chawla in Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak. By the time the third leading lady gets preganant, pregnancy too starts feeling outdated.

The only place I’d say Rajneeti scores without a debate is on the soundtrack.Inviting a collection of varied composers offers seasoning for a diverse platter. On loop, on my playlist would be Bheegi Si Bhaagi Si, composed by Pritam,a mid tempo catchy number and thereafter shifting the mood is More Piya composed by Aadesh Shrivastav. Unfortunately they’re both not featured in the film.
So overall if you get tickets for half the price then this movie could be a bargain.