How Hero and Dilwale won my heart !

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It has been brought to my attention that in 2015, I have liked two movies that I would never have watched even! One is Hero and another is Dilwale. And to be honest, I agree. But when I thought about it, I realised that they both share one common formula. Here's what it is ...

Formula = One Hit Song + One Likeable Couple

Hero [2015] marked the entry of two young fresh faces into Bollywood: Sooraj Pancholi and Athiya Shetty. It was so refreshing to see some nice new faces on the big screen. But I don't think I would've loved them as much if not for Armaan Malik's hit number "Main Hoon Hero Tera" (which was so commonly liked, that they decided to repeat it multiple times in the movie! Salman Khan liked it so much, he decided to sing it himself). And here, I will not take away credit from these youngsters either. It was their first film, and they have done a pretty decent job of not making a fool out of themselves. Perhaps they were terrified of their actor-turned-producer Salman Khan. They look good, the music in the background is good, some locations were breath-taking and overall this film was enjoyable.

Hero [2015]

Dilwale [2015] was the joke of the century. People were waiting with bated breath to somehow beg, borrow or steal first weekend tickets to this film. The production house did some excellent pre-release marketing and social media coverage. Everybody wanted to watch this movie! And as high as their rise was, the movie went through a sharp fall the first weekend. The producers made their money and all that, but the fans were disappointed that there wasn't any story. The problem here was that Shah Rukh and Kajol were put as faces of the movie (and we have known them for the romantic DDLJ that they gave us). This was a problem because people assumed that Rohit Shetty could pull off a Yash Chopra. Or rather, they expected it. Quite clearly, their expectations weren't met.

Dilwale [2015]

So why did I like this movie? I felt like I was going home. People who grew up in the 90s idolised Shah Rukh and Kajol and rare gems like Johnny Lever. Seeing them all on screen made me feel like I was back in my childhood. Yes, they don't look like they did before. But their chemistry hasn't changed at all. For those of you who have seen the movie: The 5-min date scene is a #RelationshipGoal. If you can't go crazy and act lunatic with the person you love, you might not have found the right person for you. For Shah Rukh and Kajol to effortlessly bring that up, they must be really good actors.

Now if you remember the Formula, there should be a Hit Song too right? And there is. In the heart-melting voice of Arijit Singh, the song "Janam Janam" (again commonly liked by all) has been played throughout the movie. There is also another favourite - Gerua. I love the original as well as the spoof !

Story. No Story. Lights. No Lights. Fancy Cars or not, if you are able to apply the above Formula, you will have one Happy Suchi.

And she will watch your movies on loop.

Happy 2016 !

Overcomplicating to Impress

Masterchef is back on television and it is quite addictive to watch a show about people cooking food. This show is conducted in such a beautiful and crisp manner which makes it very interesting to watch. If you've been living under a rock, Masterchef is a television reality show about amateur cooks competing against each other.

Now these guys are all home cooks. Somewhere in their daily routine, they realized that they have a passion for cooking and wondered 'why not do it professionally?'.

But when that thought of professionalism crept in, it also brought along a friend -  Mr. Insecurity. "I am only a home cook, I can't make a complicated dish, I can't make my dish look like the product of a fine restaurant", it moaned. Mr. Insecurity totally forgot about the concept of deliciousness. It only worried about impressing the judges and scoring those marks.

In the initial few weeks, almost all the contestants cooked from their hearts -  dishes that they were familiar with and their family loved to eat! Then they went through a phase of questioning if it was enough. And in the quest to push the bar, they started overcomplicating their dishes. Did it make the dish look overwhelming? Yes. Was it delicious? Hell, no.

Thanksgiving Plate#1 (from Wordpress)
Just for representation purposes :-)

One of the mentors, Marco Pierre White, kept going on like a broken record "Keep it Simple". They heard him, they understood him, but under pressure it became second nature to overcomplicate. How is it that we subconsciously think 'more is good'? Whenever we are caught in a pressure situation (with food or without!), somehow we think it's rational to put in many elements and let the audience pick up the ones that they want.

While leaving this choice to the audience, we totally ignore the negative effects that the bad elements could have on the good ones and that could completely cloud the entire situation. As they've always said, one rotten egg is all it takes...

Take a moment. Think about what you want to plate up. And go ahead and do it. If you throw in too many elements, all you're going to end up with is a mess. And frankly a mess doesn't look too appetizing, does it?

But this sure does! Beautifully plated dessert...
Courtesy: johnvalls.com

How old are you?

About two weeks ago, I had a very interesting conversation with a teenager. Her formative years were spent in Muscat, in a popular school where a lot of my other friends studied (many years ago!).

We were engrossed in comparing Muscat schools vs. the ones here in Chennai. We are roughly ten years apart in age but it didn't seem like much had changed as far as the school-scene is concerned.

When I enquired about a friend that she was mentioning in one of her stories, she was very quick to point out that the girl wasn't a "friend". How could she be? She was TWO YEARS younger than her! This was her reasoning.

That's when I realised how much of importance we give to 'age' as a 'number'  in schools and colleges. Today I work with people, some of whom are ten years older than me, some are five years younger than me,  all in the same team -  and it's a level playing field for all! After a point you don't even think about how old your teammate is. It's just the skills or talent that matters.

But when you're in school, somehow your brain maps your seniors / juniors very differently. They cannot be your 'friends' since they aren't your age. Surprising, isn't it? You would look at seniors as know-it-all's and underestimate your juniors' maturity levels. Even if they are barely months younger or older to you.

All of this doesn't really matter after you cross 20. Really! So, how old are you? You're just as old as you want others to see...

Make a Request

While I drove towards an intersection today, a small kid waved his arm requesting me to stop. His school was on the opposite side of the road. I stopped and let him cross and wondered why he didn't wait at the zebra crossing 100 metres away.

And then I wondered why I even stopped in the first place?! Shouldn't I have just kept going? This kid would've crossed when the traffic thinned down, or the traffic policeman might have asked him to go to the zebra crossing and wait for the light.

So why did I stop? When I asked myself that question, I realized that I responded to a request. This kid requested me to stop, and I obliged.

Several times I have stood at an intersection assuming that people would stop for me, because in my head I thought -  'isn't that the way to be?' . In the western countries, several people show courtesies like giving way to pedestrians, giving way to drivers who have been waiting in a no-signal zone, etc. And here in India, no one does that. Maybe that's why people try to push their way to get through.

But this little kid made a request. He didn't try to push his way through. He made a request and I stopped for him. Now this isn't a Bollywood movie - He didn't smile or wave after walking past, but somehow I felt happy. Happy that I was able to do something for someone else. And I guess that's a natural feeling. We all love to give, we all love to spread happiness.

But how would we know what makes you happy? Tell us! Make that request. It wouldn't make you a smaller person.

Dancers caged in a Studio!

Dancing. Just reading those letters makes you feel like sighing of relief. Many of us love to dance or watch someone else dance. It soothes the body and mind!

"Dance is a way to find yourself and lose yourself, all at the SAME TIME". Many dancers would relate to this quote, since dancing is one activity where you feel like everything else around you stands still. Dancing makes you feel free.

Which is why, I find it ironic when I see the plight of dancers in this generation. All of what I've observed is in the Indian subcontinent - hence my views will be heavily biased by the culture and tradition here.

I've known many types of dancers - classical, jazz, freestyle - and all of these dancers have been a part of an institution, studio, company, etc. Many kids right from the ages of 5 begin to learn dancing. Ofcourse, some would quit along the way but there is a significant population that realizes their passion for dance along the way and aspires to take it up professionally.

This latter population is unfortunately caught in some very thick soup. 

In India, your teacher is your 'Guru'. And your Guru is probably the most important person in your life (or so, our culture asks us to believe). This may have been relevant in the medieval ages where, students used to live at the Guru's home and learn in a system called Gurukul. All of their adolescence is spent at this Gurukul and the Guru teaches every student all the knowledge that he has (and imparts life's lessons along the way too!).

Today, the teaching system happens in parallel with life. You study in school, you study in college, in parallel you learn to play the Piano, dance jazz, juggling perhaps and many other skills. But yet this Guru believes that he/she is the most important part of your life.

Courtesy Pinterest; Pinned from weheartit.com

Lets take Dance Gurus for instance.

"You cannot dance with other organisations / other dancers"

"You cannot learn from other teachers"

"You want to start-up something new on your own? What will happen to this class then?"

Many Gurus do not embrace the concept of diversity these days. Our Gurus believe that this would 'dilute' the purity of the style you've learnt so far. And you might also start taking them for granted, spending lesser time in your original institution.

What about the dancer's freewill? Dreams, aspirations, goals? The Guru is an established person who has made a name for themselves in this field. When do the dancers get such an opportunity? Why should they shadow under your light for eternity while you demand for them to hold you in the highest regard?

Several institutions have signed contracts with dancers regarding the terms and conditions for their time, money, choreography copyright protection, etc. Dealing with such professionalism is actually quite refreshing to hear.

Most other Gurus 'assume' that their students will blindly follow instructions. "I have taught you all this while, now I am asking you to teach new students - how can you not oblige?". What is in it for the students? Nothing. No value for time, no value for money, no 'thank you' in return even. 

Courtesy: Flickr; Velocity Implosion

Shouldn't dancing be considered as just another profession? Write the rules of the game clearly, give people the space to evaluate what THEY want (instead of deciding for them) and keep things as simple as Black and White. 

If Gurus continue to believe that dancers will feel indebted to them for life, they are in for a lot of disappointment. And this disappointment results in questioning their loyalty, which leads to a dark vicious circle hurting everybody in the process.

Dancing is all about feeling free. Let them Go. Don't cage them in, they aren't yours to cage in the first place. Make life easy for them, without all the emotional turmoil. Be a leader, not a teacher.

Let them free...

Why do we worship under-preparedness?

I like entertainment. I am willing to pay for entertainment. Now this combination is quite difficult to find among Indians where we are so used to freebies. So when people like me exist, we have only one expectation - to get entertained. Sounds simple enough doesn't it?

Here's the back story. There was a concert I attended recently where four amazing kids from a singing reality show came down to my city to perform. Their voices sounded just as good as they did when I saw them on TV, maybe even better. But overall the show was quite disappointing. There were so many gaps in the middle of the show, the singers weren't sure how to keep the audience engaged (they're kids, they did try though). To avoid those gaps, the kids tried to sing their next song as quickly as possible, (which is sweet) except that their voices couldn't handle such back-to-back singing. Now there was an emcee in this show who did bare minimum and assumed he was amazing and the people loved him (sigh!).  Since he was effectively kissing ass,  his paycheck would come through.

I paid a lot of money for my ticket and what's more important was my Saturday evening time. Was I entertained? Meh!  Now don't get me wrong,  the kids were great.  They are such brilliant singers and they might be the only saving grace of the evening. But I would've preferred to watch this on TV with the editors doing their thing and delivering some crisp entertainment. The funny part is I don't know whom the hold accountable is this case.

The sponsors. They felt like they have done Chennai a big favor by bringing these kids here for their first ever concert.

The emcee. He did not know the composition of his audience and didn't know how to connect to them. Language was a huge barrier. If this happened in a less sophisticated auditorium, I'm sure he would've been boo-ed away.

The musicians. They tried to keep up with the singers,  but clearly they hadn't rehearsed before. Or matched tunes. Or knew what key to play in. There was a lot of back-and-forth between the singers and the band leader.

The singers. Their first concert, so I'm assuming they didn't prepare for the gaps between songs. One of them showed some leadership and gave some background about the song that they were to perform,  so the others followed suit. Given the fact that they are under 15, I don't think it's right to expect too much off them.

The organisers. Who or where were these guys?

Now to top it off, the emcee announced on stage that these singers were singing with the musicians for the first ever time without any practice. "Wow, give it up for them",  he said. 😕

Are you kidding me? I gave you my money to be entertained. You're doing a fairly average job and now gloating about the fact that there was no practice or rehearsals? Give me my money and time back!

Anybody in the music industry can vouch for the fact that you need to rehearse before you do live shows.  Now present before me a spectacular show and tell me there were no rehearsals, I'd be surprised! Present before me a half baked show and expect me to clap for no rehearsals - No.

I don't understand why we worship under - preparedness. Yes spontaneity is good,  but that doesn't mean you come under prepared. Spontaneity can be showcased when you are ready for any possible scenario and yet right there at that live moment,  you're faced with something new.

The kids practiced their songs themselves.  They should have practiced it with the live musicians too. The organisers should've known there'd be breaks between the songs and handled it better. They should've analyzed their audience and  brought in a more suitable emcee who does more than just kiss-ass.

Practice makes man perfect. Haven't we heard this time and again? Loads of practice makes you so perfect that you are effortless when you need to perform. You cannot be perfect unless you practice.  You cannot beat a hundred gundas unless you first go to the gym and build some muscles. Films are unrealistic. And being filmy is overrated.

If you want my money, you better be worth it.

Friends

How many Friends do you have? 20, 10?

Have you ever paid attention to the types of friends that you have? What if I tell you that you are only comfortable with 2 (or maximum 3) types of people? Well, its true.

Think of your closest friends whom you spend maximum time with, or your 'inner circle' as you'd like to call it. Think about what makes you like them, which quality of theirs you find endearing, why do you like spending time with them... Take a moment here and think!

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You might realize that there are mainly two types of people we hang out with:

1. Those who make us feel happy.
2. Those whom we aspire to be like some day.

The first category pretty much speaks for itself. Their company is enjoyable, your conversations are enriching and you both laugh together!

The second category might seem a little 'strong' for some of you. I'm not talking role models here. But some people possess traits that we subconsciously want to exhibit (but aren't doing so, for some inexplicable reason). Only in this category I can relate to the age old phrase: "Opposites attract".

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Let me give you a self-example. 

I am a tad bit on the lazy side. Hence, I quite enjoy the company of diligent people. I'm always in awe of how they meticulously get things done. Most of them are structured and disciplined people, and somewhere deep down I believe that 'life would be better that way'.

It is a debatable topic where most of friends say - the grass is greener on the other side. And they talk about wanting to loosen up a bit. But the point is, I realized that if any new person I meet possesses these traits, there seems to be an instant connection. Immediately your mind maps their traits to someone similar in your circle and hey, you are buddies pretty soon!

Have you ever felt this before? How similar are your friends to one another?

What traits do you find most endearing? I'd love to know.

Minions

What is cute, tiny, yellow and bring a big wide smile to your face? A banana.

Now this wonderful yellow banana is also quite appealing to someone else we know. Who? A minion.

Who knew that these side-kicks (who were once planned to be just that) would end up becoming movie stars themselves? They have quite literally taken the animation industry by storm with the latest release of Minions 3D.

The business doesn't quite stop with the movie, there are several merchandise of Minions which are getting quite popular these days! McDonald's has their advertisements screaming all about it !

But why is any of this happening? It is only because of how instantly like-able these little things are. They are tiny, their language is like baby-talk and they go about doing their own thing. They all have normal human names (Kevin, Bob) making them feel like one-of-us. And they are quirky in their own ways: they laugh at the weird noises made by the water cooler.

I was unbelievably excited for the release of the Minions movie, but for some reason it did not release in my city! Terribly disappointing. But recently, I came across a minion who was dressed in the traditional attire of my land. And I fell in love with these characters all over again! A normal Tam-Brahm 'Subramanian' is now Subra-Minion.

Tiny. Cute. Yellow. Bananaaaaaa... !

Where all magic comes to life !

If you love animation films, you are probably a huge fan of Pixar. Especially one of their latest Academy Award winning blockbuster, Frozen.

The visuals, the music, the story line just takes the movie experience to a whole new level and all of this is possible only because Disney and Pixar keep reinventing their characters. They are intelligent enough to not repeat the saturated stories of Cinderella and Snow White.

But with the release of Frozen, the internet has been ranting about the depiction of the female characters. Lots of people have noticed that the sisters Anna and Esla look so similar that they could pass off as identical twins. Here's a picture to prove it:

This made a lot of people talk. The only way you can perhaps identify them uniquely is by their hair colour and dressing sense. Disney fans went back to their drawing boards with their favourite characters (Rapunzel from Tangled and even the latest additions of Joy, Sadness and Disgust from Inside Out). Pixar's definition of a beautiful female face always seems to involve a small nose, while the men enjoyed all kind of face features and noses ! The telegraph gives you some graphic evidence here.

The Afictionado points out the Dreamworks has done things a little differently. They have given a variety of facial shapes in their meant-to-be-liked heroines, which not only help you distinguish them, but also make them feel more real. Imagine how awkward it would be if your mother and love interest had the same face !

The reason we are all here talking about Pixar and their faces is because we want them to listen. We are drawn to your movies anyway, but let's not contain female beauty to one design. Let me make things clear - I'm not treading the lines of objectification of beauty, I am more interested in identifying the characters uniquely on screen without much difficulty.

Waiting for more...

Are you just a figment of my imagination?

Facebook saw a lot of posts where people shared this idea: "Some scientists agree that if you saw a clone of yourself, you wouldn't recognize it. This is because our idea of what we look like (from pictures and reflections) is so different from what we actually look like."

Take a moment here to think about this. You have never "seen" yourself in reality - buying vegetables, taking  a walk in a park - never. People around you have always told you what YOU look like (with the advent of technology of course you could visually see yourself on a different medium - paper, print and now digital). You had to believe these people and the prints in front of you. There was no reason, not to... Right?

Now picture yourself in 3D walking down the street and assume you're watching yourself as a third person. Would you recognize yourself? Is the person that you 'see', reflective of who you 'think' you are? Notice how your mind and your visually senses can be contradictory and deceptive. 

If you cannot recognize your own self in reality, what is to prove that the people around you are as real as you believe? You speak to them, you laugh with them, you live with them, you can see and feel them. That's your senses. And your brain perceives all the emotions that you attach to these people.

Who are they? Are you sure they are real, or just a figment of your imagination?

~ A Beautiful Mind