Mhen the stars bescenbeb…

Quite a long time since my last Bollywood love-hate relationship post was written on this space. Actually been busy with classes and exams on weekends so hardly had been catching up with movies. The last movie I had seen till a few days back was Jab We Met and that too forcibly. I mean watching a Kareena Kapoor movie in a theatre is blasphemous. But trust me when I say that I loved watching Kareena for the first time in a movie (and in general as well). I had gone to the movie just for the sake of accompanying and was expecting crap but what I got in return was one wonderful movie and a very melodious track which I can’t stop playing now and then. I thank the people who forced me to join them :D. Last week I saw Taare Zameen Par and I was floored. Not watching Aamir Khan’s movie in a theatre is blasphemy :D. For the second time in my life I cried in public and I was not the only one who was shedding tears because literally everyone in the theatre was sniffling. A dyslexic child of just 8 years is labeled as a duffer by his parents, teachers and peers. He fights a lone battle with each and everyone until he finds a saviour in his arts teacher. This movie doesn’t preach and doesn’t have those long boring sermons in the end and yet it convincingly delivers what it wants to. Darsheel Zafary, who plays the role of the child, is sweet and has quite an expressive face even when in one scene he is blankly staring down in the void from his school terrace. In another scene when his elder brother in the movie asks him how he dared to roam on a busy street all alone he replies Bindhaas with a grin laced with confidence and the no-worries attitude of childhood. Aamir Khan who essays the role of his arts teacher never lets his character overshadow the kid’s role. Prasoon Joshi’s lyrics score a homerun and especially the track Maa is heart touching especially while watching the movie. This movie definitely is now listed in my favourite list and one of those which can be watched over and over again. That makes Aamir’s tally 5 with Andaz Apna Apna, Sarfarosh, Dil Chahta Hai and Rang De Basanti already there.

Apart from being good, this movie brought back fond memories to me. On my right there were 2 kids (probably in their 8th-9th grade) from my school and had directly come to the theatre as they were in their uniforms. During one scene in the movie, when the English teacher was scolding the boy on top of her voice the kid next to me promptly uttered "Shirish Patil madam". She was my Science teacher in school and remembering her yelling at us like that just made me smile that day. I recollect only one day when we students had seen her smiling… though can’t recollect the incident that made her smile. The drawing competition in the movie reminded me of the numerous drawing and painting competitions I had taken part in as a kid. Those Sundays’ when dad used to drop me at the venue (mostly it was Saras Baug) and then sitting among hundreds of children I used to showcase my ‘talent’ on the blank drawing sheet. I never won any competition then but have loads of certificates of participation :D. I was (and ‘is’ as well) never good at drawing and being slightly colour blind had many a times painted trees brown (under the guise of modern painting :P). But mom and dad had always praised my scribbling and had diligently enrolled my name in all those competitions and waited in the afternoon summer heat for me to enjoy rubbing crayons or dabbling with water colours… coz every child is special and so are you. No matter how old we are there is still a child within all of us… pamper him, respect him and don’t let him out in this bad world :-).

This is the last post of the year 2007 and I would like to wish all of you a very Happy and Prosperous New Year. I sincerely hope that the New Year brings lot of happiness for each and everyone in this world. And like I say every year please don’t mix drinking and driving... have a great time folks.