meera

meera... its not just a mythical name, but a mystical one. there's something about meera. it gives a sense of calmness n smooth caressing feeling about it. Mythology was that she was the greatest devotee of lord krishna, a disciple who would go to the length of dancing in the streets of the city to proclaim her affection and devotion for a person. A character of immense overflowing love and equally divine feel about her.

No, this post is not about deepika padukone's role in Love aajkal, her name meera, and her expressions, her sense of acting, brilliant. She seems almost flawless doing scenes of flirtacious happy-go-lucky girl and equally marvellous making those impressive smiles to remove the ground beneath your legs.... she hooks onto your desires and just leaves that feeling of wanting more with her smile. Yes, Saif, you were right in the movie, her smile can knock the living senses out of a person.

Neither is it about the lovely meera-ji of office office, the smart, suave sweet lady whose like all other women near you, a little flabby, a little nervous but most importantly, a lady to be loved. She's the main role of the series (which ended, though i wished it never did). And its definately not about that new 'meera' serial on NDTV depicting the mythological character.

its about the memory of the person named meera. all i could manage was just a small picture of her, on http://www.tribuneindia.com/2002/20020115/ldh.htm#com .. scroll down and you'll find a young girl, who has no substitute for hardwork. Its the only reason that explains i liked PECFest's for the 4 years, why i find valentines to be an interesting day and why i like girls in honda city. missin u meera and wishing you a happy life, wherever you are...

the age of experimental cinema ...

i got a chance to see this year's Filmfare awards.. It seemed a fixed, or more rationally, an affair dominated by big-wigs of the industry. though bakwaas movies like dostana, rab ne etc got 1 or 2 awards, they had nominations in many of the categories. however, the unforgettable movies of 2008, like A Wednesday, dasvidaniya etc. were just nominated for 1 or 2 categories. Further a fact came up that sholay, the biggest blockbuster india offered just 1 filmfare, that too for editing. Sadly, It seems that these award business is closely linked with the power at bollywood.

Nonetheless, Its heartening to know that the age of relevant, experimental cinema has dawned over bollywood. I'd believe its inception was started in around 2007, with low budget comic flicks proving commercial successes. Am talking about Khosla ka ghosla, bheja fry etc. Before you appreciate these subtle movies, i'd tell you a little history. The start of 1990's were dominated by family romantic movies with the backdrop of indian traditions. (sadly that age hasnt ended and we still see that stuff on TV, nowadays.). Adventure movies like khalnayak, tridev etc, which had poor acting, bad story deserve a mention to tell the taste of the audience.

Then comes the most bad time of indian cinema. Govinda's movies (with the title carrying no. 1) were most popular and widely liked by audience. Only 1 good thing i find about 1990's is that it gave andaz apna apna and maine pyar kiya ...

coming to late 90's shahrukh's romantic movies had changed Indian mentalities. with the advent of kuch kuch hota hai, the concept of girlfriends and boyfriends in teenage life started in metros, which was soon to be copied by in the name of westernisation of india. Then these themes continued till it got so sick that people finally realised yash raj film's movies suck. i personally have stopped seeing any movie of that banner since Kabhi alvida na kehna.

Then i'd call the start of experimental cinema. Till the time people get a particular topic to associate with, experimental movies are finding decent revenues and a lot of acclaim. Black friday, aamir etc deserve an appraise in that matter. more importantly, movies of paresh rawal, naseerudin shah, om puri, kay kay, irfan khan, rahul bose, abhay deol and shreyas talpade have been hits despite no one dominating the industry.

this 2009 has seen the use of mainstream actors into experimental cinema, which shows that the bollywood is finally accepted the age of experimental cinema. with delhi-6, the stoneman murders (i saw it yesterday and loved it), dev-d and luck by chance in 2 months, i hope more meaningful cinema is on the cards for the 10 left.
oh please dont remind me of billu barber .. it sucked really .. whatever optimistic that post says.