A Series Won or LOST…’Chuck’ De India

The morning pictures in TOI left me with mixed emotions – pictures of the Indian cricket team celebrating after beating England in England in a test series after 21 long years.

Happy? Jubilant? Proud? What am I suppose to feel?

On the eve of India’s 60th year of Independence, the day we won against the Colonial regime, in our hearts we have again gone back 60 years and given our own countrymen a reason to believe that we are not ready yet…Not Ready to compete with the best, Not Ready to have faith in our abilities and Not Ready to back ourselves.

No country and I believe this, no country with half the talent and ability of our team would have squandered a chance to go for the kill and win a test match ‘away’ from home. To draw the match from the verge of winning it comprehensively is as good as loosing it. Infact by deciding not to ‘follow on’ the opposition, we nearly threw it away.

Strangely, I had a premonition of this, the evening before and I did tell a couple of friends that Dravid choosing to bat again is a strong option considering the result of the India-Aussie test match in Kolkatta, in which India came back from nowhere, after being made to follow on and won it. Infact both Dravid and Laxman were the backbones of that famous win. That coupled with the fact that we our not the greatest 4th innings chasers, recent case in point – the loss in West Indies when we have had a paltry 120 odd to chase.

I am sure these were the reasons and not the ‘fatigued’ bowlers as suggested. If you call bowling 55 odd overs amongst the 3 pacers a lot of work, then why play test cricket. Test, as the name suggests is meant to be a test of your physical and mental endurance over a period of 5 days. The point being, we would rather (which is the smallest of chance) risk drawing or loosing the match then having played like the cowards we did. Not really the best example to gift to your nation on the eve of it sixtieth year of Independence!

Chuck diya India!

Annonymous is not fun!

And i thought only I read my blogs..actually even I don't! But it would be really good to have you leave your name on the COMMENTS SECTION and not sign as annonymous. It just makes for easy correspondance!

Happy ID 60...

Chak De India!

Nemo - if its you..dude, i expect a 'Me' on there.. but funnily i think it's you cause only you and me are on it..haha..

Chak again...

I had to do this...Saw my second show of Chak. Only twice have I seen two shows of a movie in the theatres (KalHoNaHo was the first), but never before two shows in the first weekend of its release. Chak in the stalls at Chandan is an absolute must-see. Its an experience! Every dialogue is met with applause and every goal with loud whistling and cheering.

Phenomenal! I might do a 3rd time on this one...

Mujhe 'ChakDe' de de de...

Every once in a while comes a movie which makes you sit up and take notice. ChakDe is hardly that!

You just don't sit up and notice, but rise and applaud to the 'Team ChakDe'.

CD is easily my most favourite film of the year and the best I ve seen after Rang De and Lage raho. Uncanny nah! Rang De...Chak De.. Hoping that with Haal-e-De (purposely forgetting the 'L' in the end), I can safely complete the trilogy of my favourite films and films which audiences will love. (fingers crossed) :-)

Where do I start...Never before have I seen a script and screenplay in hindi movies which is made to order with all the ingriedients which contribute to a full on, masala, commercial yet emotional, heart wrenching and inspiring tale, coming together and gelling so perfectly well. Take a bow Mr. Jaideep Sahni (writer)! The funny thing is that it is as predictable as any underdog story which you have seen yet so finely executed/written/acted that you sit up and cheer for every goal when Team India slugs it out with the aussies.

Shahrukh as the disgruntled coach of the Women's hockey team has made Kabir Khan come alive and how! The scene where he says,' Hockey mein chakkey nahin hote' or 'Is team mein ek hi gunda hota aur woh main hoon' or the time he makes his 'sattar minute' speech and the best of all, his expression and body language when we save the final penaly shoot out goal! Dude, I owe you one! You Inspire! ( I am being dramatically understated)

But to be honest the real heroes of CD are the director - Shimit Amin and the superbly casted 16 girls, who come from nowhere and remain with you at the end of the movie. Just like the gang of RangDe. A special mention to the actors who played Bindiya Nayak and Chowtala. superlative! and cannot not mention Preeti Sabbarwal...Gosh! ;-)

ChakDe...Makes you want to go the movies again. Makes you want to make great movies...movies which make you happy, movies which make you cry, movies which make you think and most importantly movies which entertain. And above all movies which make you want to live an 'inspired life'.

Oye Chak De!

Leh,mumbai,manali,kalka,shimla...Back

That's a lot of travelling in a month, which is one of the perks of my job. Don't I completely love it... 3 weeks in Leh has been the most amazing time i've spent close to nature and to think of it I am a complete city person.

The first thing which struck me about Leh was its abundant natural beauty. Imagine watching snow clad mountains covered in fog from your bathroom window while having a shower every morning or driving to bazgo village everyday (my set) through a narrow road in between the huge mountains or through the Indus and Zanskar river beds or passing the huge army cantonment at nimoo village which looked straight out of a war movie. It is unreal!

The next thing which comes as a great suprise is the local people. They are by far the sweetest and most helpful people i've met in a long time. So untouched by commercialism and so very naive for their own good. Michael, Jimmy, Anees, Saleem, the entire staff at Rafica, the monks at Spituk, the people at the bazaar,the kids at bazgo, the old man at the army store.

But most importantly, Leh will be a place where I shot nearly the entire 2 half of h-e-d. A time when i got closer to my unit, learnt a great deal, worked with some good techicians (Raju Khan, Rajiv), did some good work and had a very smooth and good working equation with everyone on set.

Coming back to Mumbai for a couple of days was probably not the greatest idea as I fell terriblly sick and carried that to Manali, Kalka and Shimla. Shot only for half a day at the Kalka station and all I rememeber of Manali and Shimla is the time i spent sleeping in my hotel and maybe the one odd time i got out to visit the Mal road or catch 'Partner' at Ravoli in Shimla. Shimla i found to be the most commercial and unplanned hill station. It has hotels all around and is quite ugly. Maybe we were destined not to climax there (shoot our climax scene) and that is something we have carried forth from our long sched.

Its been couple of days that i've been back and gosh, I feel I deserve a vacation already. Till we climax!

Ladakh Calling

Its my second day in Leh. God! This place is beautiful! Landed at the Leh airport on the 21st morning at 7 am and gosh I woke up just before landing to witness what easily is a nature at its best. The airstrip is surrounded by beautiful mountains, someof which are snowclad. I hav'nt been to a place with temperatures below 10 degress in some time now and it felt good.

The airport though is quite a small tin shed, slightly bigger than the airport at Port Blair (of what i remember since my time in A&N islands in '92). Got to Hotel Rafica, that's where I am put up by 7:30 ish and instantly i felt slight breathlessness which I was prepared for. Though headache is not something I anticipated. Its the second day, yet this uneasiness and heaviness of the head has not left me. The first day was spent entirely in my room, slept a lot, saw a bit of 'Pursuit' (I can watch this movie again and again). Ate light and drank tons of water. It's a must to survive your days in Ladakh with comfort.

Today, I finally got out of my hotel, went to the local market, did some shopping, people are sweet and speak good hindi. Met a man named Michael, who happens to be my taxi driver and guide on demand (his demand) ;-). He is amazing. Pretty much knows everyone around, got me into the Leh Palace after its closing hours and shared great anecdotes. I like him already. Have shot some great footage. Looking forward to viewing it when back.

Shopping is not bad actually. A lot of Thai-bangkok stuff and some tibetian jewllery which is quite fascinating.
Can't wait to get on floors. Looking to start shooting by the 25th, that is 3 more day. I think we are headed for something special, can just feel it! Looking forward to a memorable shoot which will make Leh all the more special...

JULLEY! (Namaste in Ladakhi)

Ramblings of an abstract mind...

I remember reading this not too long ago, 'where you'l be five years from now will depend on two things... The people you associate with and the books you read'.

Infact I have a corrollary to that. The people you 'associate with', will to a big extent be determined by the kind of books you like/patronise, because books give you thoughts/ideas/dreams, thoughts/ideas/dreams make us cultivate habits and habits become the choices we make as people and that in turn affects our decision of welcoming people in our lives.

In the alternative, the people we associate with influence us in our choices, thoughts and our growth, which in turn determines the books we read. Get it!

I have always wondered, how do you classify people you meet in your life. Its very easy to be generic and call them 'friends' but is that really what they are.

I believe you meet tons of people in day to day life.

• Some faces stay with you and you might just acknowledge them with a smile or a tilt of the head.
• Some faces you recall but cannot place them, so you let them pass (but they ring a bell in your head, maynot be strong enough)
• Some faces which for no strong reason you do not particularly like and choose to ignore. (But even in that ignornace is the awareness of their existance)
• Some faces which you end up exchanging pleasantries with and it continues but with no real motivation or inclination of getting to know them better.
• Some faces you strike a conversation with and realise that they are potentially people you would like to be in touch with. May or maynot materialise.
• Some faces who you want to be in touch with but may not reciprocate and hence, you loose a potential friend.
• Some faces who just come by in your life and grow on you, leading to friendship.
• Some faces, which the moment you see you know that there is a vibe/connect and you go on to be great friends.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, lot many permutations & combinations are possible. But coming back to the core of the issue. How does one decide on who really is a 'friend'?

Friends are people you need to invest time, energy and emotions on. Three very rare and draining resources. Everyone in their heads have a sort of a flowchart or graphic illustration or so I think, about their relations with people.

I operate in a circular fashion. Wherein there is Core, the Auxillary and the Perepherial circle. Its more of a mental note and basically helps you put your priorities in perspective. Its extremely important to know who your CORE is... Though the 'CORE' and 'AUXILLARY' have a semi permiable membrane wherein there is not a major difference and both really could be classified as 'friends', yet very few people form the 'core'.

Perepherial are the people who do not feature in the Core or the Auxillary but are people who form a part of your outer circle, yet are connected to you at some level. So are they friends? Again, some of them could be 'potential' friends or people you are friendly with but majority is what you call 'acquaintances'. Now acquaintances is not really a poor cousin of being a friend but it really is not a 'Friend'.

But what the hell, you would only be richer by acquiring people in either of the three circles.

As a great man once said, 'There is nothing in this world more valuable than friendship. Those who banish it from their lives remove as it were the sun from the earth, because of all of nature's gifts, its is the most beautiful and most pleasing.'

Predictions can go wrong..sometimes completely

Ok. I had predicted that the Kangaroos are not going to win the 'cup'.I also predicted that India and WI will make the cut for the semi's. But my strong feeling that SL will be special this world cup, did come right, only if they had another opposition in the finals!

When the Pepsi's and Coke's of the world can go wrong by betting millions on the Indian cricket team, I am only an ardent fan of the game, NO nostradamus.

But what really got me thinking was the way the aussies play this sport. Undoubtedly they are a very talented unit, but what makes them an absolutely non-chancey/fierce/dominating to the extent of burying the opposition is their 'extreme self belief' and their 'attitude' which can be extemely humbling for any opposition. Their body language on field refects their respect for the opposition which could range from absolute disdain to mockery. You can see in a Hayden's or Symond's eye's, what they feel about the opposition bowlers.

Not probably the best ambassadors for the sport but maybe this is where modern day cricket is heading. It sort of reminds me of how the astro-turfs and the super quick european/australian hockey player's changed the face of modern day hockey, leaving 'us' miles behind. I only hope this will not be the fate of Indian cricket in time to come.

What we can definately learn from the aussie's is their superb homework, great self belief and killer instinct. This does not mean we need to ape what has worked for them cause then we'l only be following them and Australia being the great side it is, will by then have moved on to setting newer benchmarks/strategies and leaving the rest of the teams with a lot of catching up to do..

Personally I love the aussies for what they stand for on a cricket field. It's a battle out there and they have the belief to win every time!

1st sched.. It's a wrap...

30th April'07 is a day I'll remember as the the day I wrapped up my first schedule, which also means that the work i've done in the past month has been saved and printed and I c'nt go back and change anything, which can be a scary thought.

It has been a 21 day sched spanning the entire month of april, starting with the muharat on the 27th of March'07.

How do I feel... exicted/dissapointed/satisfied/.. Its tough to put an exact feeling to the entire experience. When I look back now, I realise its been a process... a process of learning (how to cheat light, to keep my ears open to the man behind the camera),a process of self discovery (shit this is how I sit/walk , shit this is how my hair looks, shit what are my hands doing,or cool that smile works, cool I like that improvisation, cool i like that expression), a process of trying to find comfort and ease in the situation, a process called being in the moment/acting.

I ve begun to realise that two things which drive me to work besides the fact that I want to be on the big screen. Its the simple joy of giving that good shot, its a sweet feeling which is hard to describe, you know it when it happens between 'action' and 'cut'. Getting your director's approval is an added motivation. I find that peace, calmness everytime I deliver that 'good' shot very addictive. I have started to enjoy being in that state.

Besides that, the second most important thing which makes me go do this job, is the happiness/joy which people around you, on the set transmitt. Its this positive vibe of being on a set where everyone looks forward to seeing you every morning, be it your sound recordist or the light man or the spot boy. This feeling makes you want to go out and do your best..

Its been 21 days of good work and I hope it gets better from here. Looking forward to doing even better work :-)

In studios... h-e-d..oye-hoye

The best part about shooting in your own city is that you come back home, to ma's dinner and your own bed. (no pun intended) I hate watching tv aimlessly in a hotel room till your eyes are ready to shut, which I end up doing most of the times. So its indeed, very refreshing to be back in Bombay.

I like the set, very close to the real thing, designed by LC. Day 1 on studios, we spent shooting a scene. I thought it went smooth, I liked a couple of improvisations which I did. I try and avoid thinking of how it went or was it very funny, because it's very easy to fall in this trap of liking what you are doing and thinking that is the correct path but in actuality the audience is not going to go by that one joke/nuance, it has to work in the entirety for them to like it and you cannot predict that (unless you have been around and worked for a while). I've decided to do it with my best abilty and honesty at that very moment and forget about it.

Day 2, we started working on our first song shoot, which might be my first song in the film. Again, it very easy to like your own song, but that is because you connect with it instantly and see yourself in it. But a viewer does not feel the same attachment for a movie song at the first instant. A lot of film songs, that i did not think much of, watching them for the first time and subsequently really liked them once i saw them as a part of the entire movie. In that sense, I am happy that this song has been growing on me and the entire unit every time it's played. When the light men, the spot boy's start humming it, it is probably an indication of good song.

Coming back to the first day of picturisation, it's not a day i would like to remember very fondly. I guess, I just was'nt in form. It's like when you batting, you hit the ball but it does not come from the middle of the bat, you dn't hear the sweet spot on your bat. We packed up early and I went for my reharsals. Did not get much sleep that night. Nervous/anxious to start my next day. I have to add that GA has been very patient, motivating and has some real cool choreograpghy worked out. Made a nervous start next day, but quickly got back to form. Worked till 10 pm and I am satisfied, if not thrilled with the day's work. The more I shoot, the more I realise it's all a game of self belief and how well you can translate that to the camera.

Today is a 'chutti', much needed. C'nt wait to head to the studios tommorow and kickass!