'DIVA'

Ning Baizura, a real life Diva stars in the film 'Diva'. Diva marks my foray as screenplay writer in Malaysia. I remember a couple of years ago Sharad Sharan my friend and a famous director handed me a script called 'Dian' He asked me to offer few suggestions to make it better.

The idea possessed me, Dian became Diva and what was a teenie bopper caper, became an emotional tale of some fruitful and some unrequited relationships.

I believe the film hits the screen on 28th of June. My next release wil be Tipu Kanan Tipu Kiri, which is a comedy and I am sure will be a big hit. Diva is a a unique film in many ways, in its genre, in its treatment and style, i am nervous to say the least because I am unsure how it will be received.

What I am sure of is that, it's a great film, extremely well made, best part is that what I wrote has been filmed, unlike my work in Indonesia, where by the time i saw my work, i was in disbelief wondering when did I write what I saw! However that's the way the production houses in Indonesia work, they chop and change till they kill he script totally. They say they know what they are doing and ultimately I was thankful they never gave me the credit for writing their scripts.

I believe the music of Diva is doing very well, I hope the film will do very well too...I send my Good luck wishes to Sharad, Renu & entire team of Diva.

Aryan Invaders

A new story of mine required me to research on roots and origins of Aryans. Having gone through what western writers and Indian historians have to offer, i am more confused than i was when i started research. There are inconsistent presentation of time lines, events and history. The major problem that faces me know is whether Aryans invaded India or Indian Aryans invaded Europe.

Celts of Europe have uncanny connection with Vedic Aryans, they have huge pantheon of Gods as in India, similarity of languages (In Scotland there is a gaul dialect called sans crit) The holy men of Celts were Druids (remember Astreix comics?) The root of the word Druid is Dru (immersed) & Vid (sanskrit for knowledge) It can further extend to Dravid... The dravidians of India whom westerners believe were pushed back into India by Aryans. The Vedic demigods are called devas.
Celtic gods are called deuos.

Then there are many similarities in languages and it appears that Sanskrit is the root of whatever is spoken. Sanskrit Pitar and English father (or Latin Peter), Sanskrit Matar and English Mother. (or Latin Mater) Sanskrit Bhraata and English brother (or Latin Frater) The list goes on: Gav and Cow, Dev and Devine, Navas and New, Dant and Dental. It cannot be a coincidence that there a relationship between ancient languages.

Celtics gauls are similar to Aryan Gwals, or gwalas the modern milk men in India. The Celts are regarded by historians as "the fathers of Europe." Genetically as well as culturally they played a major part in laying the foundations for the great achievements of the White race. Celts regarded themselves as children of Danu, with Danu meaning the Mother Goddess, who was also, like Sarasvati in the Rig Veda, a river Goddess. The Celts called themselves “Tuatha De Danaan”, while the Germans had a similar name. Ancient European river names like the Danube and various rivers called Don in Russia, Scotland, England and France reflect this, as do place names like Den-mark (Danava-Marga), to mention but a few. The Danube which flows to the Black Sea is their most important river and could reflect their eastern origins.

In fact, the term Danu or Danava (the plural of Danu) appears to form the substratum of Indo-European identity at the base of the Hellenic, Illyro-Venetic, Italo-Celtic, Germanic and Balto-Slavic elements. The northern Greeks were also called Danuni. Therefore, the European Aryans could probably all be called Danavas. Germans claimed to be descendants of the Mannus, the son of Tuisto. Tuisto relates to Vedic Tvashtar, the Vedic father-creator Sky God, who is also a name for the father of Manu. This makes the Rig Vedic people also descendants of Manu, the son of Tvashtar.

In Greek Pantheon we have gods like Janus, (Ganesha) Zeus (vedic Dyaus) Mithra (Vedic Mitra) Ignis (Agni) Bacchus (Bakesh, Triambakesh) Hercules (Hari Kulesh) Now add to the confusion vedic devas are actually demons for assiriyans (Vedic asurs, who were always at war with devas) Iranians also call themselves Arya. Their earliest language is Gatha-Avestan, a very close sister-language to Sanskrit. It is obvious that they are two dialects of one language. The name 'Iran' derives from Aryanam, which means 'of the Arya', and they claimed to come from a homeland in the north called Aryanam daisha, 'land of the Arya'.

Further confusion comes from the fact that harrapan & mohen jo daro citizens used to bury their dead and were meat eaters, so were they Aryans as we have come to classify them?

To me the brief that i had received was to record and fictionalise the Aryan invasion of the sub-continent. A few weeks later I need to have the brief changed- Aryans conquered other places, then why the religion undergoes changes. Hinduisim is a word coined by westerners, the vedic religion is tolerant and allows modifications- perhaps Aryans adapted to the regions they settled into.

I am not going to fulfill my brief in a hurry, if anyone can come up with insights their inputs are very welcome