Transformation of Cinema

Indian cinema has gained huge recognition worldwide in last 2 decades or so. The standards of film making, budgets, technology all have taken a huge leap. An industry which produces highest number of movies per year compared to any other industry worldwide; has also gained a considerable amount of followers overseas which has added to its glory. Surely this transformation has come because of the unconventional approach adopted by industry. Multiplex has given a flavor to cinema and helped in targeting a different segment. Technology advancements such as High definition, 3D effects, digital sound etc. has made the experience world class.

Another sea change has been observed in the approach of Hindi film making that focuses on connect with all segments. Be it merger of art and commercial cinema through “multiplex cinema” or picking up real plots for filmmaking such as “no one killed Jessica” or by adopting bestselling books like “5 point someone”;all have offered a different flavor to audience.

The collaboration with global studios and their significant involvement has also helped in raising the bar of film making. Big budgets, overseas set up and background, involvement of overseas technicians and workforce has become a common trend. A recent trend of risk taking film making is also observed to create something out of the league. Similar is the case with screenplay, cinematography and other key departments.

Recent movies such as Robot & RA One both are classic example of changing flavor and technology involvement, the mega success of “3 Idiots” clarifies the way for adoption in cinema. On one hand there is freshness in masala films such as “Dabangg & Singham” and on other hand there are youth centric films like Rock star, Rock on & Rang de basanti. Another classic example of change in Hindi cinema’s approach is “DON” series, where unlike the traditional Hindi film; the central character is purely negative, greedy & mean. Appearance of international celebrities in Indian movies & vise verse is common now days.

This trend existed in Indian cinema from beginning but remained noticeable in few works. The era of art cinema surely gave the impactful weight to content & quality but it was not always able to lure masses. With new generation coming up with different perspective and ideas I hope the cinema lovers will be served with many exciting flavors in the coming time

All over the place

There are things in life which often come to us very late but when they come; an unknown happiness comes along which cannot be expressed in words. I was always so called busy all these years to take a vacation; a real holiday but this time around there was a strong commitment.

The restless waves of ocean are hypnotizing and take away the restlessness of mind & soul.

My short but delightful visit to Konkan in Maharashra is more than what I can express in words. So I think these pics will do the needful.

The other track of Indian Grand Prix

It is surely a great historic day today when this country hosted a world class event i.e. Indian Grand prix at Greater Noida. Built with Rupees 10 billion cost, this is a world class facility which brings glory and prestige for India at global stage. After the mockery in organizing Commonwealth Games 2010, successful hosting of F1 proves that India is also capable enough of hosting any world class event with same global standards and facilities.

No doubt it’s a great achievement but when I look at other side of scene, it all becomes unexciting. On one hand the media & farmers are howling over land acquisition in Noida Extension and on other hand acres of agricultural land is been acquired for F1 event; against several protests. It’s in the same country where government reduces subsidy on diesel for agricultural use and cites international price hike as the reason and on other hand thousands of liter fuel became smoke in just one event.

The country where official sources claim Rs 32 is what more than half of population can’t spend per day, and in same country millions and billions have been spent by elite citizens of the country just to see cars zooming at 300 km per hour. Just few days back an official report mentioned Uttar Pradesh as state which tops criminal activities and today more than 30,000 force was deployed for F1 event, ignoring their actual objectives.

It’s the same country where a low cost airline operator recently shuts down operation because of the increasing air fuel prices and cut throat competition in low cost airline segment (which caters to the middle class population specifically) and same person spends billions in promoting events such as IPL & F1.

It is not that the views are against organizing F1 in country but we need to maintain balance and indulge in activities which have higher productive outputs. Things need to be prioritize and balanced and even from sports point of view we need to make sure that it should not become a sport which caters to only higher class of society and kills the other sports.

India- In search of Independence

65 years of independence and the search is still on. Yes, this country is still searching for the true independence which was dreamt off; independence from corruption, independence from poverty and independence from many more social evils.

Today in the midst of “second battle of freedom” which is going on in political arena, I as a common youth sometimes find myself in doubt. All I see around me is scams, corruption and oppression. From BOFORCE to CHARA, BLACK MONEY to CWG and then AADARSH to 2G. Every year, every month; a new scam, bigger than the previous one comes to dent this freedom.

Now when a 74 year old man raised his voice against the corruption, everyone started talking about fight against corruption. But question arises are we really ready to fight? Do we have the willingness to eradicate this bug? Are we ready to stop skipping traffic signals, are we ready to say no ‘donation seats’, are we ready to oppose for any demand for bribe?

There are hundreds of question like this that deals with our day to day life corruption, which we our self impose on us. If the answer to all these questions is ‘No’, then this fight is senseless. Only supporting Anna will not help, there is need to help ourselves. Jan Lokpal is only an instrument in this fight against corruption; the real weapon is our will and efforts. I know it’s easier saying than doing but at least we can make an effort by not initiating corruption from our end.