Whims published... It's not an expert's opinion, It's not an online diary, It's not a web journal... It is just my whims published

The song, "Dil mera muft ka..." from Agent Vinod got added to my playlist little late. I must say, much after the Pungi song. "Dil mera muft ka..." has been played in endless loops during my long runs. Though the tune is catchy, it is the singing which I loved the most. On spending little time on net, I found out the singer's name is Nandini Srikar. She is the one who had sung 'Bhare Naina..' from Ra.One. It also led me to some of the non-filmi compositions by this amazingly talented woman. 'Naina baan paDi' is a song composed and sung By Nandini Srikar for her private album Beete Pal which was released in 2011. It is originally written by Meera, which also has a version sung by legendary Asha Bhosle.

For now, check this soulful composition and rendition by Nandini Srikar... Ever since, I listened to this song, I have become a huge fan of hers. Let me know if you like it or not...

PS: Can you believe that 'very Indian sounding' piece of stuff from 3 Mins 29 Secs is actually Electric Guitar..!?!! That's by guitarist Prasanna

PPS: Sunidhi Chauhan, Richa Sharma, Harshdeep Kaur and now Nandini Srikar... not sure how many more such names get added to this list in future. Bring it on Bolly Music, I have kept this list open... :)

Greenathon is an NDTV-Toyota initiative to address environmental issues and spread awareness about usage of alternative sources of energy, wild life conservation, restoring forests and also whole lot of things. This year's Greenathon is a 4th annual event which kicked off on Earth Day on 20th of April. Model cum Actor cum Ultra Marathon runner Milind Soman has been actively taking part in this initiative every year. This year with a team of 4 runners he has started his run of 1500 Kms from Delhi to Mumbai in a span of 30 days!!! That means the team has to run a Ultra Marathon of 50 Kms at least everyday for a month...!!!!! Along the route, he would be meeting school students, social workers and other common people who have worked towards the cause. Some of the local runners too could join the team on and off.

The updates by Milind on his run and videos from NDTV team could be tracked here on daily basis. Today is the 6th day of their run. They must have covered over 300Kms already. Some of the videos in the site shows the team running mostly during the night to avoid the scorching summer Sun of Delhi and Rajasthan. Guys, running a marathon itself is not easy. For 2 days after running my first ever marathon, I did not feel like getting up from my seat for a  sip of water. That's the level of fitness we common people have. Now imagine running an Ultra Marathon everyday for a month in peak summer. It is just superhuman! Kudos to Milind and his team members - Sajjan Dabas, Apurba Kumar Dass, Raj Vadgama and Sumedha Mahajan. I wish them all the best and pray for their health.

Dir: Shekhar Kapoor

Screenplay, Dialogues, Lyrics: Gulzar

Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi

Music Composer: R D Burman

I just wonder how could I miss such a wonderful movie for all these years. The movie I am talking about is Masoom, directed by Shekhar Kapoor and written by Gulzar saab. D K Malhotra and Indu [played by Naseeruddin Shah and Sabana Azmi to utmost perfection] is a happy and loving couple living in Delhi with their kid daughters Pinky and Mini [adorably cute Urmila and Aradhana]. This perfectly happy family gets devastated when Naseeruddin Shah gets to hear the news that he has an illegitimate son from his once classmate Bhavana [played by Supriya Pathak] out of their brief affair they had in one of the school reunions in Nainital, that too when his wife would be expecting their first child back home in Delhi. Bhavana would have concealed this news from Naseer to save his marriage with Shabana. After Bhavana's untimely death, Bhavana  and Naseer's masterji would be the caretaker of their illegitimate kid Rahul [played by Jugal Hansraj]. Eventually, when masterji dies, Naseer would be left with no option but to bring Rahul to his home in Delhi. Further, the story delves into how Shabana initially hates to accept other woman's child in her life, how Naseer is torn between his dutifulness to his illegitimate kid and regaining the trust of his loving wife, how Rahul gets to know that Naseer himself is his father.

One of my observations in the movie was - how could the scenes and the dialogues can look so real. For instance, check the scene where Shabana Azmi talks to Naseer in the bedroom. She speaks so incoherently finishing her chores for the day- "Main bol rahi hoon, main us kutte ko nahin rehne doongi (referring to the puppy Naseer would have brought home)", "Yeh Bela bhi nahin aayi aaj(must be the maid)", "Maine kitni baar kahaan ke woh cheshma utaar ke phenk do", "peet ka dard kaisa hain tumhaara" all interlaced with Naseer's brief answers. Though it seems so incoherent, it comes across as a very real private conversation of a husband and wife. I read in Shekhar Kapoor's blog that he used to insist the cast of the film to have lunch/dinner together so they bond together as a family. And the result is very evident from the on-screen chemistry. It was even mentioned by one of the members the cast that, he used to curiously observe the kid actors on the sets and incorporate some of their playful tricks, rhymes recitals and interpolated them intelligently in the script. No wonder, their fights, their incessant questions, their dance, their pillow fights look so perfect as done by toddlers of that age. It's so rare to see kids in movies appearing the way they are and not as how an adult director would conceive they would be. It is for this reason, the kids immensely contribute to many of the lump-in-throat moments in the movie.

The characters of Indu and  D K Malhotra are made to look of flesh and blood by monsters of the actors Naseer Saab and Sabana ji. Check the way Shabanaji emotes when Naseer breaks open the secret about his affair.. check the scene where Naseer confides about the same to his buddy Suri [Saeed Jaffrey], his very posture on the chair says volumes about  his acting prowess. All the three kids are adorable and cute. How can this movie reco be complete if I do not mention about Pancham Da's music. Almost all the songs in the movie are very very melodious. 'Huzoor is kadar..' jointly sung by Bhupinder Singh and Suresh Wadekar is my favourite of them all. I liked the playfulness of the lyrics and amazing renditions by both the singers.

One of the beginning scenes in the movie where the puppy at home drops the photoframe of the family contaning pics of Naseer, Shabana and their daughters to the last scene, where the camera focusses on the new family pic with Rahul sitting along, the movie is surely going to remain close to my heart.

PS: Not a complaint, but just an observation about Naseer Saab's acting in drunken scenes! I feel he is "caught acting" when he overdoes some little things when he has to act drunken. Observed this in "Huzoor is kadar.." song, I had the same feeling when I watched him swaying at the last ever scene in "Ibn-e-batoota.." song from Ishqiyan!!

I was in my high school when Dravid made his Test debut at much coveted Lord’s. I remember discussing with my friends about the century made by Ganguly – the other legend and the then debutant in the same game and a nearly missed century by Dravid. This episode made me like Dravid, like the way I love any underdog! In later games and tours, I realized, I was loving Dravid for all the wrong reasons! After all, he was not an underdog; he was a silent giant with unmatchable patience and determination, always masked by his modesty. 

We choose our heroes. Dravid could be a very unlikely hero. He was not termed a genius like Sachin, he seriously lacked aggression that Ganguly showed on and off the pitch, most of his good performances were often overshadowed by other legends in the team. I have cringed many times, when the match was actually saved by Dravid, but he ended up being the 2nd top scorer of the side. Dravid was never an attacking batsman [I had jumped off my seat when he had scored a six off Allan Donald, that went like a rocket propelled parallel to the ground and very few such handful of moments I remember and cherish], his strength was his solid defense, his perseverance, his ability to take back seat and let his partner at the other end attack. I am sure, when The Wall was at the other end of the wicket; batsmen have swung their bat freely without any inhibitions. Ravi Shastri once rightly said, it is not the number of centuries of half centuries that measures the greatness of players like Dravid. It is his number of double and triple century partnerships he has produced with his teammates. Yes, he was such a player. He was the damage controller of our team, when we lost wickets in quick succession, when our openers could not stand against the pace attacks on foreign pitches, Mr dependable at No.3 would take over. 

Sometimes when India used to lose badly in tests on foreign pitches, ignoring the team’s performance, I remember glancing through the scorecards hoping to see Dravid as the lead scorer of the team. Such was and still is my loyalty for Dravid. 

I am bad at statistics. Ask me the best centuries by Dravid, I would surely fumble. But I do remember things like how Jonathan Trott wished Dravid after latter’s last ODI innings in England in last September. I am sure Indians would want to forget this tour of England where we were beaten black and blue in test series. Then selectors threw a surprise to Dravid and his fans by selecting him for the ODI side after many years. Soon Dravid announced his retirement and said, that ODI series would be his last which left BCCI red faced. So in September 2011, Dravid was to play his last ODI international, the last of the 5 match series. India batted first. After scoring a half century and sharing a good partnership with Kohli, Dravid was bowled out by Swann. Dravid, being a true gentleman, started to walk towards the pavilion. Then most of the English players came to Dravid and shook his hand wishing him on his last ODI. But, Jonathan Trott did something unusual. He took his cap off before shaking Dravid’s hand. Now, that’s the respect Dravid had earned from his opponents. That’s greatness of Dravid, to be respected by his teammates as well as by his opponents. It’s easy and very natural to be disliked by the opponents, but it requires true character to be respected by the opponents. Well, it was nice of Trott too to gesticulate that way. That’s how Dravid played Cricket. That’s what he meant when he said, it is important to be respected in the dressing room as well as on field by opponents in Sir Bradman Oration speech he delivered recently in Australia.  

Well, retirement in sports is tricky. It has to come at the right moment, before you are made to feel your services are no longer required for the team. Not all get a heroic farewell. Dravid too did not get. Even if he had got big scores in the last tour of Australia, I doubt it would have fit into Dravid’s scheme of things. He made a silent entry; he has now made a silent exit. In the midst, he has scored a whopping 24000+ runs collectively in both the forms of the game. I think this figure speaks volumes about this man.

To end my tribute to my hero, I would like to quote from my favorite cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle from this column about Dravid – “He will be missed, as the great always are. He will see his children grow, take them to school, imbibe in them the reading habit (for he read more than most people I know and couldn't understand why others didn't), but from time to time he must tell the new flowers that will inevitably bloom in our cricket of the need to put grit over beauty, team over self, challenge before rejection, humility before arrogance, for that is what he stood for.”

Good bye Dravid, you will always be my hero…….

Image courtesy: Anthony Devlin, The Guardian

Get Set, Go

I had told Jitendran that that was my first Full Marathon. An excellent runner by himself, he asked me if I have set any timing goal to finish. Being too ambitious in setting my goals, I said I have set 5 Hours in my mind as target. 5 Hours is a good time to finish a marathon.

Amol and Akshita wished Romel and me for the race. Few minutes before the race, there was an announcement about having a group warm-up session. An old white lady was giving us the demonstration of various stretching postures. We all followed her. We were all given a torch as, there were no lights on the way of trail.

At 5AM sharp, the whistle was blown. I started my first ever marathon with hundreds of other runners. The bunch was really diverse, from few college students to 60 year olds. Yes, marathon running is indeed a sport for all ages.

The spilt timing and the ‘complete surrender’

Though I found it tough to make way and run carefully on the mud trail with just the light spot emitted by my torch, few minutes into running, I got adjusted to it. Fair amount of moonlight too helped us.

I finished my 10Kms in 1Hr 06 mins. I do not think I could have run better in dark on an unfamiliar mud trail. After 10Kms the fair amount of sunlight made us run without torches. I finished my 20Kms in 2Hrs 14Mins. Not bad either. I had not lost much of pace. Some seasoned runners say marathon running is like meditation, some say experiencing Runner’s High is a joy incomparable. I felt a tad philosophical too while running. Osho says, a real disciple should completely surrender to his master. There should be no element of doubt in his mind about his master or master’s teachings. Though my heart agrees to it, my mind has often raised the finger like an inquisitive student who is disliked by the teacher. But I was an obedient student on this trail. The tired legs were directed towards the destination by the signboards always. I never questioned it, I was damn sure that the trail will surely lead me to my destination. There was the complete surrender Osho referred to, I had completely surrendered myself to the trail.

The tough part and the ‘spirited’ last lap

To reach 30Kms, I seriously struggled. I had lost my pace. I did a bit of walk-run-walk. I drank more and more of electrolyte and water at the aid stations. Had few bananas and orange slices too. Different aid stations gave us runners different food supplements. Some supplied dates, some chocolates, some groundnut chikkis. But, all of them had bananas and oranges in common.

I reached 30Kms mark in 3Hrs and 35Mins. The run between 32-33Kms to 38Kms was the toughest for me. The Sun was blazing already; the humid weather of Pondicherry had squeezed every drop out of my body. I walked a lot and ran intermittently. I dropped my ambitious target of 5Hours to finish the marathon and stuck to the realistic target of 5hours 30Mins.

When the signboard read 38Kms, I know I was not very far from my first marathon. I am not sure, where that reserve energy was all that while, I attained a good speed. When some of the runners who had overtaken me were walking, I overtook them as if some spirit had gotten into my body.

The much awaited finish

When I was done with 42Kms and it was the last 200 mts left for the completion, A thought came across my mind whether to celebrate the finish with a swear-all jig like Virat Kohli does or a gentle acknowledgment like my idol Dravid does after his every century. The people near the finish line started clapping loud and cheering me. I can’t believe myself that I was almost into tears! Remember the scene in ZNMD where Hrithik gets teary eyed after finishing his deep sea diving? I had totally empathised with his character while watching it, but now after finishing the marathon, I experienced it. Finishing a marathon gives you a great sense of achievement; it makes u feel humble and strong at the same time. It makes you thank your own body, that we always take for granted. As a fellow runner told me before the start of the race, the joy of finishing a marathon is simply inexplicable, it can only be experienced.