Saas Bahu… apne rang itne bhi mat chalakne do!

Indian television has grown bigger in terms of the output in the last few years. There are innumerous channels airing uncountable shows telecasted every single day, through the night as well.

The television is all about exaggerated expression of anything and everything. The scripts, characterization and dialogues are so garish in spirit that each time we watch one of those saas bahu sagas we seem to say ‘Apne rang itne bhi mat chalakne do’ that all of it looses sense, importance and its meaning.

The saas bahu sagas are dramatic exaggeration of life in reality. The character shades are the top. The setting and backdrop of each of the saga is shown to be extremely cultural, traditional and conventional. It is funny indeed to see the twisted and crooked storylines accumulating all that’s scheming, evil and negative and missing out on all the little joys and colour of life. The little things that these shows miss out are the most important ones; they are the shades of trust and respect within the family.

These soaps do not seem to respect audiences and totally negate the fact that audience today is grown up. The regressive representation of household and women’s characters, the drag of the scripts, multiple weddings of lead characters, swapped relationships speak of nothing but the blackness and greyness of evil. It is time to move beyond the decked up caricatures of an ideal bahu who is so dumb that she misses on the most obvious of things, a treacherous vamp who sleeps with her make-up on, a saas who looks more than often younger than her son and doesn’t allow any kind of say to her husband or anyone else. It is time to look beyond the sarees, manicures, pedicures and jewelry contributing to create a farce of real life shades!

Wake up janta for its time to let go of fake colours of over expressions and embrace the real and creative ones!

Fight the mid-week blues

Everyone fights the Monday morning blues, how about the mid-week blues? Work is no play and hence is hardly enjoyable for most of us. No matter where you are, no matter what you do; work life does take a toll sometime or the other. People think of weekend the whole of the week. So, what does one do to fight off the weekday blues that come several times a week?!

The best thing that one can do to drive away the blues is to get some yellow sunshine and breathe deep soaking and absorbing all that one can in the air. This exercise really helps in accumulating some fresh energy. Another way to relax and feel happy is to stretch under the cool sky of the early morning. All you got to do is stand under the clear blue sky and stretch your arms upwards and believe that you’re touching the blue sky. As you extend your arms you would find that white and tranquil calmness spreading through each part of your body.

Music also has a very powerful calming effect on one’s mind. Just when you start feeling the weekday blues, just plug in your music and play your favourite song. Feel the tranquil blue replacing all that’s stressful and all that’s gloomy grey. Do little things and turn dark days to bright coloured cheerful days. Hug someone, smile some, share a joke, eat a fruit….do something bright and splash some life in colours that are in you and some colours in life that need a touch-up!

Evergreen Dev Anand

Dev Anand was the most ever-green actor that has ever been there in bollywood. Dev Anand died on the 3rd of December in London due to a heart attack. Although, the physical presence may not be there but the legend of the actor would live through space and time in the hearts of everyone.

Dev Sahib has been literally worshipped for the tremendous variety of shades he exhibited with panache and determination. His life was a celebration of green, the colour of alleviation and renewal. Not just his acting but his very life spoke of the colour and made him evergreen in the literal sense.

Dev Anand acted in a wide range of movies which touched the hearts and sensibilities of many and won appreciation from all sides. Words would fall short to describe his supreme career and his marvelous acting coupled with his playful and adorable looks. His style was classic and absolutely modern. The ultimate reason behind his popularity is and would be his style that is so rich in youthful energy and speaks of a mind that refuses to limit itself.

Dev Anand’s directorial debut and projects marked revolution in concept of the cinema almost everytime. The trenchant tropical themes in Dev Anand directed movies put forth a sensational and daring nerve which not many filmmakers have. His movies were adept to his findings in life and always stood way ahead of times in terms of subject matter.

Dev Anand’s life remains a celebration of life itself. Right from his movies to his autobiography which is aptly called ‘Romancing with Life’… the man’s quest for soaking in life and breathing the pervasive, tranquil and refreshing evergreen made him unfathomable and truly spirited. RIP, the evergreen legend.

Dev Anand lives beyond death

In life we come across many people and each one of them has a different persona, aura and air. Some influence as we meet them while some affect us by setting examples for us to follow or otherwise.

One such persona who has been revered by everyone for his delectable charm and spirit is Dev Anand, the legendary and evergreen actor. Dev Anand died but he lives and will always live in the hearts of each one of us. People like Dev Anand symbolize the very spirit of determination and dedication. They influence people in a way that is much stronger than they realize.

Dev Anand Sahib lived a life which was marked with a remarkable career, coloured with the goodness of his spirit and such strong perseverance that stood exemplary for everyone. Today as we fondly remember Dev Anand, let us remember him with all that he exuded and exemplified. Let it be a tribute to the great man who embraced the colours of life so beautifully that his entire personality shined with vibrance and light. His never dying attitude, modern outlook and his way of life is something of an example for all of us. He embraced the essence and colours of eternity and life. Just like Dulux tag line- Apne Rang Chalakne Do; Dev Anand’s take on life was conditioned by acceptance of all the colours of life- warm, rich, fresh… His was a life of confidence and pursuit with a lot of glamour and exuded flamboyance. One colour that Dev Sahib had on him was the colour green, he was indeed ever green with sheer energy and so much life all packed in one soul. If eternity had a colour, it would be all that Dev Anand exuded, had and did through his lifetime and beyond…with actions and his spirit.

The Dirty Picture is red

What’s the most rascal red movie you’ve come across till now? Latest example of a rascal red movie is The Dirty Picture. An intended bollywood biopic, the movie spells red. It’s all about passionately following one’s desires and equally passionate engagement with one’s sexuality. The dare bare red sensuality and sexuality is what colours the movie red and spicy!

The movie is an interesting intersection of what’s past and what should be. The movie and characters follow a formula of entertainment. The movie is a tribute to all the masala movies of the 80s were sheer drama and saucy entertainment. It pursues and explores the spirit of red that resides in each one of us and is waiting to be accepted by the society. The masala formula of heavy thick one liners, exaggerated cinema, unapologetic and bold script intersects with the need to accept the streaks of passion, sensuality and red hot sexuality in the experience of The Dirty Picture!

The characters speak a definite colour; they represent the red, speak and embrace it without any apologies or restraint. Naseeruddin Shah is the rascal red character of the movie as his is a character marked by the flaming excesses of sensual pleasure. He exhibits the multiple colours of greed, excess and rascal-ism with an unmatchable ease. Naseer’s character has elements of being a womanizer, but the sheer audacity of the force of successful acting makes him a delight to watch. The magnificence of red, the rascal-ism of red and the flames of the colour are well-captured and represented by the ace actor.

Movie makes a character and characters make a movie! The Dirty Picture is red because of the brilliance of execution on not just one actor but all the actors’ part! Go check the movie out and let’s celebrate that red with each other!

Saucy and red, The Dirty Picture

Just like very other branch of art, Indian cinema has also been extremely dynamic and has been transforming over the years. The Dirty Picture, the freshest arrival on the bollywood floor is the perfect example of fearless and dynamic cinematic attempt.

Vidya Balan plays the lead role of South Indian siren Silk Smitha, who once lived a life of tremendous adulation and fell through a downward spiral later on. Vidya’s priceless acting, red hot sassiness and fearlessness make the movie a remarkable shift from the misogynistic and conventional cinema that’s still much preferred by majority of the population.

The Dirty Picture is about a celebration of the spirit and symbolism of the colour red. It’s a tribute to the hyperbole cinema which was marked by a racy red tempo, green crassness and fury red punch lines! The Dirty Picture, just like the title suggests is a laudable, flamboyant and uninhibited celebration of sensuality and passion that’s red and is usually hidden deep inside ourselves. Right from the oft repeated Tamil song Nakka Mukka to the saucy Ooh la la to gyrate dancing by Vidya…the movie is red hot in spirit and representation!

In a country where the concept of sexuality is ducked from, a movie like The Dirty Picture with an out and out red celebration of sexuality, sensuality, boldness and uninhibited spirit of being makes for an amusing, entertaining and engaging attempt in cinema! The movie seems to echo our tag line ‘Apne rang chalakne do’…let there be a space where we shed off all that’s taboo, all that’s conventional and all that’s misogynistic… for once break out and celebrate the red of your spirit!

New Year’s Colourful Resolutions

New Year is around the corner. It is the time when everyone makes some resolution or the other. What’s so special about New Year resolutions? Can’t we have resolutions just about anytime we want? Why is it so much about the New Year’s? Well surprisingly so, but something which is absolutely true is the fact that new years bring with it a spirit that’s coloured with fresh energy and a wish for a new beginning. The beginning is not of anything that’s outside, but a beginning which comes from within.

New Year is a time marked by nostalgia for what’s gone and a strange enthusiastic anticipation for what’s going to come. That’s the reason as to why people set resolutions in the first place. We have a certain understanding of what really went wrong and what really needs to be altered in the New Year to come to make things different, to colour our lives with hues that are more vibrant and wiser than before. Resolutions come from a lot of interrogation within and the gestalt of all the introspection that one goes through day in and day out. The misses and catches all come in full circle to give oneself a feeling of enlightened perspective conditioning a resolution that one may make to better one’s life and year to come.

One thing that each one of us should remember to resolute and make a promise to oneself is to colour oneself with a sense of responsibility that one holds for oneself. So just close your eyes, breathe in and assimilate all that you can hold to slowly colour your life in the spirit that’s livelier and rainbow-ish.