Background Music

Over the years, background music has increasingly become as important as the movie or play itself. (For me, that is).

Ever since, A.R Rahman was the only artist who had the power to move me with his background scores. Some people I'm sure have no clue as to what I'm talking about. Just watch (and more importantly listen to) the movie Swades once more, and you'll find out.

Now, though, there are many more artists focussing on background music. Its truly satisfying.

Amit Trivedi is one of them. And he's got this unique style in his background score. He actually uses poetry or 4 to 8 line songs, which perfectly suit the situation. Amitabh Bhattacharyya gives his music some captivating lyrics, and together they make the background music stand out as an intergral part of the cinematic experience.

I'll leave you with two classic examples, both from Wake Up Sid.

*****************************************************

Ruthi hui hai tu,

Ek pal mein maanegi,

Dil se hamesha hai bacchi

Aye zindagi tu bhi,

Mere hi jaisi hai

Dikhti sayani, hai kacchi.

Bura mood leke

Baithi Kyun hai tu

Ungli meri, chal thaam le

Jahaan mai chaloon, wahin tu chale,

Jahaan tu chale, wahin mai chaloon....

****************************************************

Boondon ke motiyon mein ghul ke ehsaas aaya,

Waqt se nikalke lamha dil ke paas aaya.

Chhoo ke guzra tha par dil ko na mehsoos hua,

Ab jo dekha toh woh lamha dil ko raas aaya.

Kyun, yeh tay..kar na paaoon re,

Dil ki baat mai hawa ke zariye pahuchaaon re

Ya khud hawa pe chalke jaoon re

Tumse pyaar hai yeh khul ke,

Kyun kah na paaoon re

Shabd woh kahaan se laaoon re!

*****************************************************

I wish God had made us so that our life and its events had a background music playing in our ears!

Inflection Point

There is no better way to describe this part of my life, and the lives of the people that surround me. There are some who have finished their studies and are beginning to take up their first hard-core jobs. There are others who are leaving their jobs and going back to studies to some of the best campuses in the world. The points of inflection are by no means restricted to career alone. They span personal life, marriages, engagements, family commitments, bonds, promises and geographies.

Change is never easy. But change is also inevitable. We are in that stage of our lives in which only uncertainty is certain. But the uncertainty is accompanied by hope and excitement which is the essence of life.

Having recognized this fact, there is possibly no better way I could have encountered this change. Because this inflection point, as opposed to the previous one in my life in 2004 when I first went to IIT Kharagpur, somehow seems much less lonely. In some way or the other, I’ll be accompanied by some of my closest friends from all stages of life. And I’ve waited long to write this, but leaving alone again would not have made me even a fraction as happy as I am now and not just for selfish reasons.

I leave Bombay, I leave India and I bring an end to what I consider to be the best two years of my life. All with the hope of seeing more of the world. It is important to recognize the right time to leave a place. Leave before you start disliking it, leave before you start forgetting the happy memories and leave while you’re still loved.

But…everything can’t be so perfect, right? Life always gives you some lessons. Having gained so much, and being so comfortable with what’s going to follow comes at a price. I’ve probably lost the most amazing thing I once had and it’s pretty much irreplaceable. Then again, what makes it alright is that there is really nothing I could have done to prevent it. I lost it to the ego of a place in the other side of the country. Just makes me realize that unconditional friendship is probably the rarest thing on earth and perhaps also the most short-lived.

This comes with the best of wishes. God bless all on this point of inflection.

Play Review: Ismat Aapa Ke Naam, Part 2(9.5/10)

Rarely has a ‘part-two’ lived up to the bar set by a superlative ‘part-one’. Ismat Aapa Ke Naam Part 2 is one of those rare part twos. I knew I would enjoy this play even before stepping into the Experimental Theatre at NCPA, but I had not imagined it matching up to Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah’s top notch work in Part 1.

This play too is a collection of three of Ismat Aapa’s hilarious and heart breaking short stories – Amar Bel, Nanhi Ki Naani and Do Haath, recited and performed verbatim by Manoj Pahwa, Loveleen Misra and Seema Pahwa respectively. The stories have the wonderful Urdu and Lucknow-style Hindi feel. The characters, costumes and the language create the atmosphere which rekindles the experience of watching Part 1 to perfection.

Manoj Pahwa does a superb job in Amar Behl. Only a person as “healthy” as him would be able to pull off the comic impact required!

Lovleen Misra is energetic and enthusiastic playing Nanhi ki Naani. The story has a RK Narayan feel to it, wherein the author simply spends the whole story building the character of the Naani. This story is very different from the five other Ismat Chughtai stories that I’ve come across (in part 1 and 2).

The “show-stopper”, though, is the incredibly talented Seema Pahwa in Do Haath. She puts up an absolutely remarkable performance, makes you laugh till your stomachs hurt and makes you wish you were a theatre actor. Her comic timing is impeccable, so is her command over language and pronunciation.

Amongst us who watched the play, three of us had seen part 1 and were glad we did part 2 too and the guy who had not seen part 1 only has more to look forward to.

PS. I sent my parents for this play the very next day too.

Play Review: The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (8/10)

The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial is your classic quintessential navy court-room drama – intense, evergreen and clever. It is a two-act play (one act each for the Prosecution and Defense respectively) by Herman Wouk, which he adapted from his own novel, The Caine Mutiny.

In India, the Motley Group under the experienced direction of Naseeruddin Shah performs this celebrated play with oodles of zeal.

Ankur Vikal (the guy who played the negative role in Slumdog Millionaire) is the star of the show, hands down. He plays Lt. Commander Philip Francis Queeg, the captain of the Caine, with sheer brilliance. He captures the emotions, mannerisms, thought process and body language of the character with perfection. His strong performance drives my score for this play to go from a six to an eight. His court-room monologue, with the marbles in his hand, and dimming lights is a masterpiece. I truly have never seen something like it before. The Defense Attorney does a commendable job while the two doctors who come as witnesses play small cameos. Some of the other actors are a let down, the novelist of “Multitudes Multitudes” for example, stutters with his English diction and pronunciation, which in itself is an oxymoron. The play, in my opinion, has potential to be amongst the best ones, but for the lack of attention to detail in casting.

Though it is a gripping post-World War 2 courtroom drama, the play emphasizes the psyche of those at the forefront of battle rather than the battle strategy or a complex plot. This is definitely a must watch to complete the spectrum of contemporary Indian theatre. I’m pleased I did so and more so because I was accompanied by my “core-group” of friends.

Play Review: Classic Milds (8/10)

Light, funny, intriguing, smart and classy. That’s Classic Milds for me. It is a collection of 6 short plays, with no common theme in particular written by legendary playwrights in the hundred years between 1885 and 1985.

Intelligent comedy is a genre of its own. It is also probably the most difficult genre to conceive and enact. The treatment of unique situations is what makes you laugh instead of funny accents, confused make-up or wrongly matched clothes. It is subtle and not on your face. Again, it is intelligent comedy and not “mad-comedy.”

While mad-comedy tends to do really well in our country, with movies like Welcome being big successes; it is rather unfortunate that the rare intelligent comedy kind of entertainment gets unnoticed. I sure hope that plays like this inspire movies too.

Amongst the 6 plays, the best one is saved for last. The Still Alarm by George Kaufman is a beauty while Seduction by Neil Simon is almost as good.

The stories are fantastic, the actors not as good, but even then the experience is very satisfying.

What’s more I got two free tickets on purchasing two. Sold the two that I got free and ended up watching the play free of cost! Thanks to my idiotic mix-up of buying Sunday tickets instead of Saturday’s.

Anyway, all’s well that ends well.

Play Review: Ismat Aapa ke Naam, Part 1 (9.5/10)

Remember when we you were young? Remember your grandmother’s stories before you went to sleep at night? Remember the days when your forehead never wrinkled with worries? Seems long ago, right?

Relive those days by spending a couple of hours with Naseer-ud-din Shah and his family as they take you along a journey into Ismat Aapa’s land of fiction. Revisit that corner of innocence, which you did not know existed in your mind anymore. Come out and see the world in a new light, at least while the impact lasts. It’s been over 24 hours and I’m still feeling the impact – it’s a high in itself.

Okay, I have to digress here. Unfortunately, or rather sadly, I had not heard of Ismat Chughtai before. The loss was mine. Naseer-ud-din Shah begins the show with an introduction of Ismat Aapa and takes her name alongside O’ Henry.”That might be stretching it a little”, I thought to myself. I’ve read some of O’ Henry’s short stories, and they’re fascinating. But after listening to narrations of three of Ismat Aapa’s Indian, very earthy and captivating stories, I surrendered all my suspicion.

Ismat Aapa ke Naam is a collection of three stories, “Chui Mui”, “Mughal Baccha” and “Gharwali” narrated and acted by Heeba Shah, Ratna Pathak Shaah and Naseer-ud-din Shah, individually, one after the other. So it’s not your conventional play.

Ratna Pathak Shah –I always thought she was nice, but I would never really refer to her as a “beautiful” woman. But that was before this play. As she dresses up in unique attire, kajal in her eyes, and warmth in her persona I realized that this kind of “beauty” is priceless. Her narration of Mughal Baccha is so genuinely surreal.

Post interval is the master himself. Naseer-ud-din Shah has kept the most exciting story under his experienced hands. The expertise with which he conducts himself never stops amazing me. Such a master of his craft. Just look at his eyes – the depth, the experience, the skill, it’s all there. Also in his narration, be prepared to laugh

The lights, set design and background music is simple, yet so perfect.

I’m glad that I’m disproven in my hypothesis that famous actors make not so good plays. (Waiting for Godot, Salesman Ramlal, Kuch bhi ho sakta hai, The Blue Mug)

I’m glad that I could watch this play and experience the magic of Urdu – a truly charming language.

I’m glad I did so with the right people, followed it up with good food, and a solitary car ride home with Fuzon’s Aankhon ke Saagar.

Play Review: Hamlet (8/10)

A friend of mine had been raving about this play since almost two years. I finally got to see it and was more than satisfied.
Hamlet is arguably Shakespeare’s finest piece of work. It is quite a pity that it’s not known to a lot of people in our generation. Though, I don’t blame them. It is not necessarily easy to find the “thy” “thee” “thou” interesting. Rajat Kapoor thus comes up with a spoof, which while entertaining, also manages to convey the events and emotions which Shakespeare intended to show in his greatest work.
The actors are quite remarkable, their French accents impeccable and comic timing a sheer delight. If you’re sitting in the front rows, be prepared to get “involved.” And if you are a female, suffice to say you may just get a flavour of stardom or disgust depending on how you see it. Confused? Well, go for the play to find out.
The play, being one dimensional, may not completely satisfy the thespian in you, but it will definitely make you forget a long week in the office as you revel in the comedy which was originally a tragedy. We laughed till our stomachs hurt, developed an appetite and followed it up with a nice dinner at Temple Flower next to Prithvi Theatre. Nice way to end the week.

The last three months

**In no particular order and just the good stuff

The Phantom of the Opera…Meryl Streep…Julie and Julia…Chicago, the broadway musical...Woodside Inn, Colaba…Araku Valley... 2 States …TOEFL…Interest rate immunization model….Hyderabad airport…The winner takes it all…Don’t tell mama’s piano bar... The Arrangement…Wonderful weekend in New York with an old friend…Devil wears Prada…Walk from 42nd to 72nd and back to 14th…GMAT …Piano in the lobby…Falafel and hummus…Don’t stop me now, Queen…. Bade Miyan, Colaba…Rocket Singh: Salesman of the year…31st December dinner in all stir fry (the old dogs)… Mamma Mia, the musical…Commodities correlation matrix…South Indian thali at Minerva…JC Penny…The gift email…the SOP…the winter… Mocha in good company…Visit to Pittsburgh…Chocolate brownie at south city port in the rain…CMU Music and Drama building…Hussain sagar,Hyderabad aka gay lounge lol…Onion rava dosa at Status…Photograph exhibition at Marine Drive…Definitely, Maybe…Kuch bhi ho sakta hai…500 days of Summer…New York in the fall…Guntur idli…Iktaara in a New York subway…In the Heights…Embraceable Me…Banana pudding…g talking – Dun to NY…Broken neck friend…Anand Mela…Pizzeria…Drive on the flyover…Central Park bridge…Mamma Mia, the movie…Shaam tanha…The Namesake…Konkona Sen…It’s Complicated…All you need is love…Kimchi…Wake up Sid…Being called nice by nice…Byomkesh Bakshi…Babulnath mandir…November rain (literally and the song)…Midnight sukh sagar pav bhaji…JP on FB…Old friend’s sister’s wedding…Baccha made us proud…A recommendation…Mary Poppins…The music of the night…Makai ki roti sarson ka saag with the guy who introduced it…Mr. and Mrs. Iyer…Exotic fruits of the forest cake…The Last Lecture…Asset-liability management…Everyday you make me proud, today you get a card…Mice are nice…The ecstatic phone call…Life is crazy