TAARE ZAMEEN PE

After a flawed film by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, and a mad cap no brainer masala entertainer comes a film by Aamir Khan "Taare Zameen Pe" It a film that makes you laugh, it makes you cry, it makes you think.

When Aamir in his brilliant portrayal of Nikumbh convenes an art Mela the whole audience knows who is going to win, but when Ishant wins everyone cries, for a change i saw people overlooking a predictable end, but connecting with the characters, all of us in the audience were one with Nikumb and Ishant. This was the brilliant stroke of genius of Aamir as a director.

Never before anyone has made a greater film in India and it will take a long time for someone to better this film unless it's Aamir Khan himself. After the release many film industry people came out and said, it's a long film, boring, dragging and with lot of sermons. I think they were just humbled with the greatness of this film.

I am not sure if TZP will be a blockbuster, but if it isn't I will be disappointed. In these blogs I have praised many other movies that are taking Indian cinema forward in their own way, some efforts have been a giant leap. However Taare Zameen Pe surpasses them all. This is what movies should be like, this is how movies should be made, it's not Shahrukh starrers which make a mockery of logic in order to entertain or a Krishh which despite all the technological revolution is chained in a sixtiesh screenplay.

Taare Zameen Pe is like a breath of fresh air, its just takes forward movie making to a level where maybe only Raj Kumar Hirani has made it to apart from Aamir Khan.

Kudos...

P.S. Maybe one day I will become a filmmaker, maybe a great filmmaker, but sadly I will never be able to make a great film Like Taare Zameen Pe.

"BENAZIR" DAUGHTER OF EAST

Assasination of Mrs. Benazir Bhutto Zardari marks the depth to which subcontinents law & order has sunk to, it emphasizes the giant stature of terrorism present now.

LTTE in Lanka, Maoist in Nepal, insurgency and sepatarist movements in India and the visible terrorist infrastructure in Bangladesh are claming a lot of lives.

Most of all Pakistan has been a hotbed of Terrorism and an evident exporter of Terrorism. Pakistan instead of eradicating terrorism had been trying to distinguish between good & bad terrorism till recent past.

The main patrons of terrorists are in power in Pakistan today, and they are also under threat from this demon they helped create, nurture and now cannot contain. Pervez Musharraf himself has lived by the sword and will die by it, to predict that his end will be as brutal needs no seer or oracle, it simply remains to see how many lives will he endanger while trying to save his skin.

Benazir has been an extra-ordinary leader, an excellent orator, a woman in Islamic world who connected with the masses and came to power through the democratic process which not many men can emulate and will take a long time for a woman to emulate if Pakistan exists like what it is today.

Assasination of Benazir is not just and Assasination of a Pakistani leader, or for that matter a sub-continental leader, her assasination symbolizes the murder of democracy, her assasination is the murder of hope of million Pakistani's who want a regime apart from army. Benazir's assasination is murder of humanity.

Assasination of Benazir will create turmoil in Pakistan, all the American scriptwriters who were busy implementing their screenplay for bringing democracy find their principal actor eliminated. Western intellegence has failed, western diplomacy has been defeated and Pakistan either will fall apart or its people will unite and overthrow the military regime and rebuild Pakistan.

After the assasination of Rajiv Gandhi in India, the people unitedly rose and built a vibrant India that is today. A similar effort by people of Pakistan would be a fitting tribute to its tallest modern leader, who has been slain for their cause and aspirations.

MALAYSIA SIMMERING DISCONTMENT

Malaysia is a country which has progressed outwardly but has remained deeply conservative society. Current discontentment of ethnic Indian community brought to the fore the lack of understanding of diplomacy in political leaders of Malaysia. Mahatir Mohhamed stood like a giant in Asian politics and he stood like a rock, he could defy the Americans, but he did it diplomatically.

Indian are everywhere in the world, however for unknown reasons they have not grown in Malaysia, unlike elsewhere in the world where Indians are affluent and influential minorities in many countries. People are trying to profess that Malaysian government is trying to oppress the Indian ethnic community, something which no sensible person will buy.

If ethnic Indians voice their concerns in Malaysia, then it's definately an internal matter of Malaysia in which no one should interfere. Not Karunanidhi or anyone else. Every society has it's share of unsatisfied groups, we have many in India, and it's better to let the society itself find a solution for its problem. So any action that Malaysian government takes in face of unrest & protests, no one must make adverse comment on it.

The world is changing fast, closed societies are being forced open, anything and everything a society does becomes a matter of scrutiny. Thus the manner in which political leaders reacted to the unrest and unnecessary reaction from Karunanidi was deplorable. What it ultimately it achieved was to attract international attention on the diplomatic faux pax and suddenly the ethnic Indian issue was internationalised. Badawi was with his back to the wall and came out with emotional rhetoric which as much as it was true, it could have been done without.

Despite modernization of Malaysia, people tend to brand Malaysia as a regressive society, which I find totally untrue, even we have a conservative society in India, that doesn't mean we are regressive?

Finally, the protesters were asking for replies from Queen in UK! Why should anyone else answer? Why should Malaysian government give explanations as to their 'care' of the ethnic Indians, let the Queen answer!

Now everyone is asking, is Malaysia truly Asia? Are Malaysian politicians fundamentalists? My answer is, go to Malaysia and see, except for a few blunders on part of the politicos, Malaysia is a country with problems similar to the one's in our backyard, let's look in our backyard and not to worry about the society elsewhere, as for the politicians, the world will hold a mirror to them.