CHAK DE

SRK is back!!!

And back in style. The movie has absolutely no story...it is the most cliched of all movies created in the past one year. In fact, it surprises one with its predictability. But then, therein lies the movie's victory. To sustain interest for 3 hours, and hold the seasoned Bollywood audience, in anticipation, almost against their good judgement and sense is not the work of a lesser director.

And to hold his own in a movie crowded with more than a dozen girls, set up with no great chance of performing, a predictable and done to death script, and yet to infuse the character with a life, a vibrancy of its own, a zing that changes the look of the entire excercise...........is not the task of a lesser actor.

Shah Rukh Khan proves to us all, why he is called the King. And, why, when no one have dared do this movie today, he not only does it, but delivers an excellent performance, and creates a hit of a potential loser.

Why do I call this movie a potential loser?

No, let us harbour no illusions. It is not because I am an avid SRK fan. I am not. And it is definitely not because I have been blinded to the other key factors that have almost carried the film on their shoulders. No. It is simply because, if analysed objectively, the movie contains absolutely NO ingredient for being successful. It has ( I repeat), an EXTREMELY hackneyed storyline, one that surprises the audience with its predictability. I mean, you almost WILL the story to throw at least ONE minute surprise somewhere...............but it dosen't. The director plays too safe to be even considered a hindi film director. And the concept of the underdog emerging victorious is in itself a concept straight out of the Stone Age. Couple with this the fact that there are no other seasoned actors, no great songs ( apart from the title track), and absolutely nothing that can give the audience ANY reason to sit and look up, and we can appreciate why the movie had all chances of bombing in the BO.

But it will not. Because, the movie, despite all its drawbacks, is told in a gripping manner. The director has almost perfected the art of story telling..........an important tool for capturing the audience. And yes, I can never tire of saying this....because SRK absolutely steals the show. Maybe his personal stance as a hockey player comes in handy, maybe he does the same amount of homework for all his characters ( the training and home work of the girls too is worthy of high praise), maybe his seasoning as an actor shows all the more with time....it could be anything, but fact remains, that he executes the most important task as an actor. He breathes in life to a character which is flat and insipid, and he brings zest and shows his acting skills within the limitations of a script and character that give you no chance to prove anything.

And of course, there are the other two important, rather, most important factors that, as I said, carry the film on their shoulders. PATRIOTISM and EMOTIONS. We are an emotional lot, and the film maker knows that. And he leaves no stone uturned to cash in on that. All the world loves an underdog, and if he has been wronged against, and branded a traitor despite being a patriot, God would not dare stem the flow of sympathy that he will arouse!!
So, bring in all of these factors, take care to release the movie just as India celebrates her 60th Independence, and of course, rely on SRK to pull it all off in a masterly stroke, with apt and equally sturdy help from some 12 beautiful ladies, and there you go!!!

You have a Chak De, and it is a HIT!!

WE ARE A VOYEURISTIC PEOPLE

Hi everyone!
Was recently watching one of the popular "talent hunt"s on TV, one claiming to look out for the singers of tomorrow, when I came to notice this amazing phenomena......I cal it a phenomena, because it later occurred to me that almost ALL these shows were doing the same thing. No, it's not about rigging the show or lobbying, not even about how the war between the judges could be (or most definitely is) rigged. No, that is all passe. The organisers have now hit upon a still more crass method of generating "interest". They are now delving deep into the family and personal secrets of the contestants, and flinging these "nuggets of information" at the audience, discussing them, blowing them out of proportion, and making the entire personal life and affairs of these gullible contestants a matter of public debate.
And sadly, the contestants comply. Sadder still, the judges, who are "respected" names of the entertainment industry, play party to the charade.
The competitions revolve round which contestant has given which other contestant a, horror of horrors, red rose!! Or, who is falling for whom, and worse still, who the judges think is falling for whom.......frankly, anything that would add any amount of yellow journalistic tinge to the show. Only, in this case, the entire affair revolves round people who have no face value beyond the ambit of these contests. Not that I support such inane discussions about more "known" faces, but come on, lets face it: an Abhishek falling for an Aishwarya is definitely more interesting, and worthy of mention than a XYZ reportedly falling for a ABC on the sets of the show.
And frankly, is anyone even interested? That was the first question that had come to my mind. And I must say, I knew the answer even before I sought to find it. YES. We are interested. Our dinner table conversations revolve round these trivialities, and more. We live and thrive on these information. About why the girl next door is seeing the guy she is seeing, and how the neighbours fight everyday, and WHY, and did the little girl pass her class test, and yes, how much did they pay for the new piece of furniture?
WE ARE A VOYEURISTIC PEOPLE. We thrive on knowing "secrets" about others, and nosing in on to areas beyond our access.
And then, we try and put up a sham of not knowing, and better still, of not being interested.
How else would one justify the phenomenal popularity of the soaps that do the rounds in our TV? Or even, the other shows that exist on the basis of how much information on the personal affairs of those connected to the soaps and serials can be supplied to the audience?
And who is to blame? The TV channel management, or we, as audience? For once, let us forget all shams and delve into ourselves. Let us see and evaluate what is for exactly what is. We, as a people, thrive on gossip. We LOVE to read about scandals relating to our movie stars and other public figures. We devour every scrap of article that is written about Amitabh-Rekha, Aishwarya-Salman, Saurav-Nagma, etc, etc, etc.
But we are not DUMB. There is a limit to which they can "sell" titillation to us. We are definitely not interested in knowing the details of every Tom, Dick and Harry that shows its face on screen, and God knows there are just too many nowadays.
For, the channels should realise, every being that shows his/her face on screen does NOT become an icon. It takes much more that 20 minutes of airtime to become one. It takes a LOT more to become a personality whose personal details would interest us, as the audience.