Mumbai Diwali '08

Kal mangal deep diwali thee!!!

....and i guess it was the first time , i was out of my home in this festival.I missed my family , my friends, pooja rituals , joy of being with family,crackers , my small town and last but not the least , some delicious food prepared by my mother and sister , and i personally realised an old favourite quote "Absence makes the heart grow fonder", how true!!

Yesterday is gone and i try to re-collect my whole yesterday here in Mumbai,it was a good gathering and after gulping a dozen of Beers by our group ,the day before Diwali , we all got up late with hang-over hanging in every one's eyes. But soon we all were back and started the day with the Dipawali "Shagun" ritual, called Teen Patti (:D).Everyone took their seats ,ready with coins ,notes and luck.I was the only first-timer and took some time to learn the tricks of the game and in the process lost some money too, but it seems, i am a quick learner because,soon i was displaying my tricks and winning games continuously and when after 5 hours games halted , i was some 100+ INR in positive. Thanks lady luck and MaaLaxmi for shining on me, and i wish it continues life long [:)]. Its good that all the winning money went into a pool , created to celebrate the pooja.

Evening we all were charged up and roamed in markets and shop to appreciate the beauties out in traditional dresses , lighting and other stuff, and for some shopping too. Oh and i have a wonderful incident to share with. As we all were in market and purchased some Prasad, for pooja , one of my friends expressed a great desire to visit his neighbour aunt and wish her "Haardik Subhecha ( Best wishes in Marathi)".So a few of us, including me supported the idea and went to the aunty's place, what followed was hilarious!! . The real intention behind visiting aunty's place were her three beautiful daughters and we  deciphered it, only after entering into the home. 

A beautiful rangoli welcomed us, and as we stormed in, were all taken back by the gorgeous ladies, we looked into each others eyes and shared the common and trivial feeling (warm dipawali).Originally we had planned to just pay a one minute visit but it lasted for more than 15 minutes and we distributed the sweets to the young ladies, greeted them with our praise and flirting and in response aunty too invited us to sit down and have some snacks etc and we obliged her :D it was only a friends call which recalled us that we had to go back to home and do the pooja , so with a heavy heart we said good-bye and came out. We had to buy the prasad again as that was left at aunty's palce, and the gals were still lingering in every one's mind.

We reached our place , got scolded , but once we explained the whole scene to others , they were frustrated and said nothing.Hurrr... now we came back to a religious mood,set up our small pooja ghar ,arranged the prasad (Haldiraam rosogulla :D)and offered our prayers to the Maa Laxmi , Ganesha and wished each other Happy Diwali!! (picutres attached) ,it was all boys Diwali this time and everyone was in pooja mood. It was already very late (read 11pm) and we then participated in the rituals of lighting candles and crackers and once it was all over, clock banged 12 and the day was over.

Another Diwali, another festival of the year got celebrated and I wish we all get blessings of God and celebrate everyday of our lives like a festival only.

© Ajay kr Saxena

Dog's day out :: RoadSide Romeo

Originally published on Passionforcinema.com

Author : Ajay Kumar Saxena 

Every dog has its day!! Yes the same happened this Friday, with the release of Roadside Romeo. Animation found another taker, this time in form of YRF and in debutant hands of maasoom Jugal hansraaj. First thing first, animation is at par with Hollywood and its obvious, walt disney is co-producer of the movie and you expect at least this much from a proven production house .Walt-disney scores full marks for the animation quality , now comes the Yash raj brigade and they don't do bad either.

Okay, so story belongs to the Dog, Romeo, once a favourite pet of a rich family and once the family decide to move to London, dog is strayed and is roaming on Mumbai streets. It meets a band of 3 dogs, 1 kitten and 1 mouse to form a hair cutting band cum saloon and soon they are the talk of the town for styling the local dogs and bitches. But mind you, its Mumbai and doesn't matter where its humans or dogs, a DON is the need of the city, and we are introduced to the Bhai of movie, Anna, a bulky bull-dog with south-indian accent ,but yes it works, and works big time. What is Charlie Anna doing, he is collecting hafta from the local businesses, commands three Charlie's angles and a side kick Chennu (it isn't even remotely connected to Shotgun's character in Gulzar saab's debut classic Mere Apne!!).Oops! And you always knew, there is charming BITCH (... what else should I write, though in movie it says " mai aise vaise ladki nahi hoon", can I call her a girl, no i can't).Okay, cut this bitch/ladki crap and call her by name, Laila, a night club dancer and apna Anna is ga ga over her and of course Romeo is in love with her. The moon sequence, where Romeo and Laila meet, it's so visually rich and charming.

Story moves in typical bollywood ishtyle without little or no innovation, should I call it its demerit or playing safe?  But the filmy dialogues, Charlie Anna and animation keep you glued to the movie. Oh boy! I loved it, the climax, and a spoof on DDLJ's eternal Simran-holds-Raj's-hand-in-running-train sequence. Whoever pitched in this idea to the team, i hats off him! It works well and the characters are put to rest in one and half hour and it's something good that YRF didn't try to tweak the script to stretch the movie reels. Happy ending is what the audience takes back to home and it's a good Diwali Gift from YRF to the audience,especially the kids!!!.

Okay, let's do the cheer-faad of movie, animation top notch, script "play-safe" and Jugal hansraaj definitely deserve a mention for a neat and clean direction. Saif ali khan , looks more like Saif than a DOG or Romeo, Laila hmm.... Kareena's voice doesnt suit her, period. And it's the side kick, chennu (ha ha... bhaiya ab ka bataayein, aisan kaamal ka kaam karis hai ki bas pooncho na... lage raho bahiya..yes you got it right, he is our own Mr Sanjay Mishra ) who is in full form and delivering his C grade type (but effective) lines with aplomb and leaves audience in split every time he opens his mouth, he should be given a lot of credit, if movie mints good money. hirish virjey,k.k.menon and tannaz karim all have excelled in lending their voice to respective characters on screen and wait last but not the least hail the finest(now its unanimous) mimic of India, Javed Jaffery donning south indian accent and displaying a range of emotions apt to his character Charlie Anna.

Roadside Romeo is definitely a watch to laugh a bit and crack some laughter crackers in your life. Happy Diwali.

© Ajay kr Saxena

Inaugral post

Zizivisha will take you to beautiful places!!

Yes , its true!! I inaugurate my blog with this amazing word, i love like anything, 'zizivisha'. its a Hindi word and means "ज़िन्दगी जीने की अदम्य इच्छा ". An energy booster for soul, the guiding force behind everything in every one's life.

If i go back to my 10+2 days , that's where i read this word very first time, it looked good, sounded different, but i couldn't decipher its true meaning. Life , was an unknown entity for a school kid and i moved on with comic books and course curriculum ,but yes the word stayed with me , somewhere in my psychic.

As you grow up, you willingly or unwillingly face something called Life,some say its unpredictable,some find it a conundrum and for some it remains a beautiful mystery, but one thing is for sure, its ever changing,ever evolving and full of surprises.I take liberty to quote one of my verses , written long time ago....

Like pendulum,

i swing between

highs of mortality and immortality

and proudly 

call it LIFE.

when,this pendulum 

will cease, 

ball falls in your court,

to summarize my LIFE

as you wish!

And its this zizivisha which helps all of us to face Life with aplomb.Its taking me to places, i had once dreamt of and offering me chances to dream more and more.

Thank you Zizivisha!!!

© Ajay kr Saxena