Background: Downtown Los Angeles as viewed from my Department
Sunday, November 01, 2009
Vidushak presents "Piya Basanti"
Every year the Association of India Students organizes a Diwali show where desi students of USC perform various art-forms : Singing, dancing, dramatics and the likes. It is one of the most awaited events of the year here and the performers put in a lot of energy and effort for the show. The appreciation, applaud and the seetis at the end make all the effort worth it. As some you might know, I am the current director of the only all-India Improv comedy group here called 'Vidushak'. We have been performing a skit at the Diwali show for the past 5 years. This is my 2nd year with the group. Ladies and gentlemen, Vidushak presents "Piya Basanti"
After a long time, there is a hindi film which is 100 % pure cinema. Those who have seen it will instantly know that I am talking about 'Kaminey'. Rest should watch it as soon as possible, before getting saturated by the 'Kamney fever' which is already spreading like wildfire. To start with, and stating the very obvious : Vishal Bhardwaaj is a genius. An extremely brilliant filmmaker. Makdi, Maqbool, Omkara, The Blue Umbrella and now Kaminey, he has an extremely impressive resume. And the thing I love most about him is that he makes a film for the love of cinema. He doesn't get distracted by the bollywood formulae. He doesn't think about what will work, what not. He doesn't estimate the kind of money his film will make. He makes a film because he wants to tell a story, his way. I very firmly believe that honest work never goes unrewarded. Imtiaz Ali was honest till Love Aaj Kal happened. I hope Vishal Bhardwaaj remains honest all throughout. Coming to 'Kaminey'. I am not going into a detailed review of the film because there are already very good reviews of the film all around. I would talk just a little about how I feel about it. As I mentioned in the beginning, 'Kaminey' is 100 % cinema. It is an extremely fast-paced story, set in the crime world. 99 % of the characters are evil, and yet very likeable. It is very difficult to single out anyone so I won't. So strong and absorbing were the characters that when one my friends praised the background score of the film, I couldn't recall a single tune apart from "Dhan te naa" which, by now, is on its way to become the new college anthem. All the characters are very well written and performed brilliantly by the actors, most of them with more than 10 years of theater experience. I didn't know about any of them, apart from Shahid Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Amol Gupte (the man behind Taare Zameen Par). And from now, I'll know them by the characters they played. Another high point of the film are the dialogues, written by Bhardwaaj himself. So witty are the dialogues that they make you laugh in the most serious of situations. Dark humour at its best. And to round it off, Shahid Kapoor has made lisping cool !! 'Kaminey' deserves to be a cult film and I won't be surprised if 50 years from now, somewhere in a village, a conversation goes like this :
Teacher : Paife kamaane ke kitne tareeke hote hain? Student : Fir, 2. ek fortcut, doofra chhota fortcut. Teacher : How fweet.
Some macro-shots that i took when we went on a hike in the Santa Monica Mountains. The heavily cloudy weather didn't help the pictures but on the plus side, we got to walk into the clouds !!! Here's the slideshow :
इस अंतहीन अन्तरिक्ष के अथाह अनंत में खो जाऊँ, तो ग़म नहीं तपती मरुभूमि की सुनहरी तपिश में पिघल जाऊँ, तो ग़म नहीं उन अक्षम्य त्रुटियों के प्रायश्चित-स्वरूप अश्रु की इक बूँद में समा जाऊँ, तो ग़म नहीं
As you might know, I am a part [one of the directors, to be precise :)] of Vidushak -- the only Indian Improv Group at University of Southern California. Every year, Vidushak performs a skit in the Diwali Show organized by the Association of Indian Students. This years skit is called : "Prakriti ki Pukaar.. when nature calls.."
