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.

Sugar Daddy

Some of us are more famous for being directionally challenged, than successfully letting go of ‘things’ from their handbag. In my case, the famousness extends to both, in no particular order. As some may generously describe there is a higher permutation for the earthen plates to realign till the destination finds me v/s me seeking out the destination.

Landmarks, they say, are an easy trick. So I go by landmarks. Large neon signs, the smell of a bakery round the corner, a hut at the curb. But it’s not always that easy I discovered late one night, when the neon sign was out of order rendering the hut into darkness, as it stood still next to a lonely bakery out of business!

But life’s not always that harsh. I have found solace in one such landmark that has claimed to challenge the earthen plates and has not moved for the last 20 yrs. A sugarcane cart. A 5 ft man has been selling sugarcane juice from his manually operated cart for as long as the last 20 yrs. As a lone warrior he talks about how he’s been around long enough to experience the changing topography, depleting ozone layer, increase of methane in the atmosphere and other such decade defining events.
The first thing that caught my fancy about this arrangement was not his expertise on life but the fact that in today’s technologically advanced era he still uses a manual juice extraction machine. An electronically operated one would churn out twice the amount for the time it takes him to swing a whole 360 degrees on his handle for 1 cane.

After getting past my initial expression of ‘are you for real?!!’ I was deeply moved by what I thought was an attempt to save the environment. I felt sorry for the situation and did the unthinkable (no! not buy him a machine. Though the thought did cross my mind once, and then I moved on very quickly). Feeling pressured to bond, as I quietly sipped on my tall glass in his company I launched upon him my array of questions.

Very soon all my suggestions were being scoffed upon and run down into the rising dust. “Your fingers never come back” was the reason for his decade long association with an obsolete machine. “the electronic on machine sucks your hand in, if you get too close” . If not love for environment its love for the limbs, equally important. Suggestion number two: “maybe you should try taking the afternoons off, it’s so hot, you stand without a shade and still serve into the wee PM’s.”
“best business in the afternoon, when the schools and colleges get off” . Strike two!
“Ok what about the monsoons?” I wondered. That’s when a blue print of a shed and ‘yearly plan B’ came into swing. Was I not listening when he said he’s been around! Actually it was more of a relief to not hear the words ‘shut shop’, cause I’d be lost without him.

Not that there is a left or a right turn situated on the plain he stands. And not that I can easily tell a left from a right without being given two tries, but the close proximity of his cart to home, makes me feel a little..well..less lost, a little familiar with my surrounding.
Day in and day out as I leave or return to my humble abode, there is a strange security in seeing him around. I subconsciously find myself looking out for him to gauge how much further away from home I ‘m. The sight of his cart seems to inject the last dose of adenosine triphosphate when a much prescribed 10 mins evening walk begins to break me. He’s become synonymous with ‘being home’.