20 Frame Dissection - Tiger Tiger on the wall !!

Meri Jaan, as I sat down amongst the 700+ Desis in a packed Bellevue downtown theatre blowing whistles and claps at the dialogues of Bajirao Singham, I wished !!!

I seriously wished if only I could have seen some of those movies made between 1975-1982 on screen.

If only I could have witnessed THAT HYSTERIA on screen amongst not 700 but 7000 people shouting and screaming and clapping for THE ANGRY MAN !!!

I wish !! I wish !!!!

Well, wishes aside - lets dissect this "Jigar-waala", oh I mean Mr. Singham !!

Frame 1: Entry of Mr. Singham.
Some seeti maar dialogues - "Main leta nahin deta hoon" ! Ajay Devgn in good form - simple entry !!

Frame2: Entry of Guruji
A perspective of the National political scene. Amongst random questions by the reporters a clever slip of "a saas bahu" actress been nominated as a party candidate.

Hmm...I have heard that somewhere !! Arre bhai - kahin tou suna hogaa..."kyunki saas bhi kabhi bahu thi" !!

Frame3: Entry of the bad guys: A funny act by Amol Gupte (I love this guy - same style of acting but does a good job !). Loved it when baba gets into his comfy shorts !!

Frame 4: Entry of the lady love.
Kareena looks ravishingly red. Gabbar hota tou kahta - "Arre oh samba - kaunsi chakki ka ataa khilate hain ye kapoor family wale?"

Frame 5: Build up of the key character - Mahesh !!

Frame 6: Some comic elements - guju mota guy again and repetition of the "main leta nahin" seeti maar dialogue at the police station.

Rohit - koi tou gaadi waadi girao yaar !

Frame 7: Mahesh and the tragedy - good scene.
Chalo - bhains, I mean ,gaadi gayee paanee main !!

Frame 8: Ambulance nikalo and all that media-vedia. Some great shots of Maharashtra remote locales - bridges, fields, toll nakas !

Frame 9: Another tragedy - good sequence with lots of trains in the background. Some more cars up and down !!

Yaar Rohit - Anupam Kher ko thoda tou jyaada role do ! Itna bhi kam role mat do ki yeh sab ab TV pe aane lag jaaaye !!!

Frame 10: The hunt begins and the same 'ol good v/s bad fight begins !!!
Baba and Singham !!

Frame 11: Lets give the audience some break and introduce some comedy - ek gaana ho jaaye ! Jadhavgard fort tou dikhao !! Maharshtra tourism !!

Frame 12: Forced comedy but Kareena in her element - and bechara Taavde !!

Frame 13: Lets roar !!
Lets get back to work on the mission Singham !!!
Lets roar !!! Jadhavgadh main bahut rah liye !

Rohit - ab bore ho rahey hain, can you please show some more cars jumping and fire - yaaar action movie hain !!

Frame 14: Phir wahi criminals and police.
Some great sequences around Mumbai - loved the sea link bridge sequence with boats coming around the bridge.

A little over-the top. but chalta hain, let the dialogue roar - ataa maajhi satakli !!! Public was waiting Rohit yaar !! Some more seetis !!

Frame 15: Dargah and faith - wah !!!
 Idhar dua udhar Altaf utha - wah !! Dua and Dawaa !! But a great mahim dargah sequence !!

Frame 16: Phir thoda rona dhona, wahi chor-police, politican ko pakda-choda kinds. Politician ko thappad and civil rights of women - wah  moral messages also Rohit !!!

Frame 17-20: Roopa Frontier Baniyaan
Roopa baniyan walk (best way to advertise Rohit !!)

Ab Roopa baniyaan waale hamesha line main aage rahenge !!!

Tum bhi chalo hum bhi chalein and lets go for the kill Singham !!

"Dayaa - darwaaza tod" and finally what a perfect goal of the van into the electrical grid - and what superb aatishbaazi yaar !!! Rohit tum tou expert ho !!

Finally chalein - Nope - Aaja - Yo-Yo's - tere gig ka time hain !!!

Cute kid in the song - Ataa maajhi satakli - malaa raag yete !! Ataa maajhi satakli !!

So what is the bottomline?

Meri Jaan, main bolegaa tou bologe ke bolta hain !!!

Its a typical 80s movie told in Rohit Shetty style - but kudos for keeping the screenplay progressing !!.

Except for some 30-40 mins - overall it was a moving frame all through out !!!

And I as came out of the theatre, all I wondered - Tiger-Tiger on the wall, who is the angriest of 'em all? Aur aapke options shuru hote hain yeh...!!

a) Wo " jab maarne lagta hain tou maarta nahin - maar hi daalta hain", ya
b) wo "jab silent nahin tou violent hota hain", ya
c) wo - "jab ek baar commitment karta hain tou khud ki bhi nahin suntaa" !!!

Meri Jaan, if you don't want to lock any of these options, tou till next time, if you really want to watch a tiger - just rent a nice Bachchan movie (from the 70s) or even watch HUM - when the TIGER just turns his hair and you can feel the TIGERROAR !! (with that background sound of course - Tanaa na ta naaaaa)

OR...if you are into something softer.. just listen to Katy Perry say - ROAR !!!! O-O-O-O-O ROAR !!!!
 

Seriously !!!

As I sat down to write some mumblings on the most anti-happy people that I can recall, it kind of took me back to the lane where I grew up. A lane in a small town called Jaipur.

First serious kinds jinki #ConditionSeriousHai - that I remember - are the "time-bound" characters.

Every evening the kids had a routine to gather at the gate of this garden; waiting for it to open at 5pm. I still remember the gatekeeper - we called him Hawaldar ji - he had these huge mousse - never smiled and would always keep jamming  his stick on the ground asking all the eager ones to make a line. "I will not allow anyone to enter if you do not make a line".

Man - he was serious about the line business ! I think he sometimes even gave a solid on the tushy to few of those really eager ones - trying to climb over the walls !! Phew - get a life Hawaldaar ji !!!

Second serious kinds are the "routine-bound" characters.

So right across the garden was a Sindhi shopkeeper - we called him Mr. Gajju, I think he had very little hair, but I am not sure how his name transformed from "Ganju" to "Gajju".

He had a very sharp business of keeping few boys around who would capture all the balls that came towards his shop. He would wipe them clean, cover them in a plastic, put a sticker and keep them back in his shop for sale.

Kids would come around looking for their lost cricket balls - when they could not find the balls, they had no other option than going to his shop again to buy - and he would keep selling those "captured" cricket balls again and again !!!

Problem was his was the only closest shop - else one would have to go really far for a ball - and when the guys had a match going on - you really needed the ball right that instant. Even after making so much profit - I never saw him smile ever !!!

He always had the same words - "what do you need", which ball? "small" or "big", I dont have change, or go bring change. Damn - give us another serious word or sentence - Mr. Gajju !

The third kinds are those "serious gossip news" neighbours - ahhh!! What a delightful happily serious folks. "You know today I saw that kid/ your daughter/ son speaking with that boy/ or girl in that bus/ or that place at that time."

And the parents - go - "accha", hmm, ok - thanks for letting me know !! In their minds they are going - Dude - who are you?? And if those kids do have serious parents that do take those newsy neighbours seriously, the kids do have a very serious time - without any serials !!!

There are all the others too - that can never be happy when others are having fun, be it in a group, or a shop, or a mall, or a party - these folks have that face that is a wall of serious-ness !!!

I have always wondered on people with serious mannerisms, teachers, principals, admins, bosses and so many others - some tied by routine, some by their work, some by habit - but hey - those used to the worlds and words of seriousness are seriously not word-ly or world-ly !!!!

So till next time - what can I say - Chill people - Be Happy - Seriously !!!!

-Pankaj Purohit
 

The Date - When love calls !

This story is about me, a live-life-each-day-as-it-comes dreamer, who was lost in the skyscraper capital till I met the love of my life.

I still remember the sprawling skyscrapers, the Hudson Bay, the New York skyline and the sunny sailing days! A vista view embedded in my eyes because that was where I worked for quite a few years and yes where I met my someone special !

Here I was, sitting at Rocker Feller center at the center of 5th Avenue and 48th street and I could feel my heart slipping away to the person sitting across. This person had an impressive charm, she had the prettiest smile, and yes, she could talk non-stop - Seriously - she still talks non-stop!

Opposites attract, and post that day, I could not find my heart!!!

Isn’t it funny how sometimes life just join's together the pieces of your scattered jigsaw. Life just joins the jigswaw together to show you a much clearer picture of the future.

My future was formed on 4th of July and let me take you forward into the Circles of Flashback !!!!

It so happened that some of us were working in Virginia had plans to go and see the fireworks near the Statue of Liberty. The problem was that most of us were new to the country and never drove on their own ! So we were pretty much dependent on this one friend to take us to NYC.

On a parallel front, I was in constant touch with "my special friend" and she had also planned to be around the waterfront that day! Stage was almost set for The Date !

Like they say, as is Murphy's law, the one dependable friend who would drive us to NYC got stuck with flu two days prior. Now our options were either catch a bus from DC, or rent a car - but even to go the bus station, we would need some transportation.

So renting a car seemed btter option, but who would drive? For some of you that have driven across the NJ turnpike and the Washington beltway would know that the roads are easy to drive as long as one can follow standard directions !

Well, I had never driven on those roads myself, but hey I was not going to miss my Date, so I volnteered to drive. Whatever it took, I was going to be with "my someone special" that weekend. My only requirement - I need to hit the road as early as 4am. This way, I would not feel intimated by the traffic.

This requirement had serious pullbacks from my friends. 4am - are you insane? I never got up at 4am for my engineering exams - one of them said! Hell, I also never woke up at 4am, but how could I miss THIS NYC trip? Cmon guys - we can make it !!!

With the directions all printed, we rented the car previous night and made sure the car was pumped with gas !! I probably slept only 2 or 3 hours and 4am it was - on a nice summer morning !  I felt very scared and nervous as we got on the road. I said - lets stop at the gas station to grab some coffee. I guess the mocha latte helped and off we went on our rendezvous!!!

It felt like a nightmare navigating through the turns - and the signs - go west or east? Go Cars lane or Trucks? Take toll road or non-toll? Bridge or Tunnel? HOV or non-HOV lane? Why cant they just have one straight road - without so many options !

Finally - we all managed somehow to live through those directions to reach our parking destination.

As crazy as this may sound, but I could not believe that it was my first drive on my own and I was able to navigate through all the crossings and turns! Finally after driving 300 miles, we entered the parking garage nearest to where we could catch the boat to Ellis Island !

I still remember that day, I asked the guys to go ahead while I grab some Donuts. I was standing in line still trying to figure out what to order, and I heard a voice - "excuse me - are u going to take longer"? I turned my head - and there she was standing with her hair all glowing with sun-rays gleaming through those golden streaks !

Hey - you? I thought you would be coming in a little late?

She smiled - I thought I would beat you to the statue, but are you not too early?

How could I tell her that I also could not sleep, I said - yes I like to hit it early on the road.

Great - same here ! She said. (Damn - I hope she never finds out this was my first trip on the big bad world of turnpike and beltway. Phew - dont ask how we just made it - all in one piece).

..and we kind of were lost in some conversation !

Our lovely conversation was sadly interrrupted with this lady on the counter - "could you two please move back to make way for others"?

Ah - suddenly as my mind was all clear - I turned around to the counter and said - "12 chocolate donuts and 2 chai latte to go please" !

12 chocolate donuts? You will have some serious sugar rush !!!! She said.

Well, it would be lesser than the adrenaline rush I have right now - and we both smiled !!

I probably dont need to go into the details of how the rest of the day went, but I definitely believe that when love calls - you just know the way to be with your love !

- Pankaj Purohit

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