Parineeta ...

This saturday, my old friend Anu and myself watched the movie "Parineeta".
It was quite some time since I watch a movie this profound. Indeed I must confess I haven't watched Company nor Yuva, and have been left behind in the malayalam filmdom. So I must be quite and more justified in quoting that Parineeta was a fine motion picture.

One of the best factors about this movie, is that the director successfully takes you back in time and the settings, costume, culture, music, lifestyle and mindset represent the 1960s era.
There are many other aspects. Parineeta is one such movie, where the magic in the air, transends you completely from the current. The emotions portrayed are so subtle, yet so powerful. It leaves you with a certain feeling of nostalgia, which is so painful, yet so cherishable, especially if you have had a taste of love in your life. More so, if one has gone through a surge of emotions at some point.
Such was the state of mind, that we got ourselves a personal copy of the original work translated into English.

A brilliant play of emotions, makes you wonder about the basic fundamentals of all relationships we encounter in life. It might not pass for an art movie in the true sense, but yes it very much is a subject of substance.

The story of Parineeta, is in no way complicated, but is very simple yet powerful.
and definitely introspective. Perhaps Dil Chatha hai or even "Mr and MrsIyer", has so much a complex plot than Parineeta.

The icing on the cake is the music and the rich lyrics of every song. Its quite typical, that one would leave the theatre humming away the song "Piya bole" which is extremely melodious and addictive. There is one sentence in the song, which goes as
"lab to na kholuu.n mai.n kholuu.n na lab toparaa.nkho.n se sab kah diya "
This reminded me of the old song from Shubha Mudgal's album,
"Seekhonaa .. naino khi bhaasha piya".
Aahh ... The power of words and the analogies introduced by poetry always remain incomparable.

A second song, is the one with Rekha singing for us the imminent unanswerable question we ask ourselves at some point in life .....
"kaisii pahelii hai yeh kaisii paheli zi.ndagaanii"
(look here for all the lyrics :http://www.bollywhat.com/lyrics/pari_lyr.html)

Kudos to all the artistes. Sanjay is reassuring, SaifAli leaves you spellbound.Vidya Balan (who is Lolita or the protogonist) is highly cherubic and has definitely made a mark for herself (i feel a lil more proud, as she shares my name ;-)). I am more than glad that she graduated to good cinema from advertisements which cite "Maine mechanic kho engineer bana diya, woh bhi, budget mein".

Parineeta is definitely a "must see". Its a moving story. If you`d like to watch "life like" movies from the old hindi collections such as "anand" or "pyaasa" or kannada or malayalam award winning movies, or even recent ones like "raincoat" you'll adore this one and its not in any way depressing.

http://www.parineetathefilm.com/

Parineeta is quite a Pari-puurn movie.

I never knew

When we watched the titanic sink,
holding hand in hand ...
i never mused that our lives would too
we don't hold hands anymore

When we built our dreams on dusky evenings,
standing face to face ...
i never knew, our lives would blacken like the night
we don't face each other anymore

When we `thralled on a working code
sitting side by side ...
i never knew, our lives would never compile,
we don't sit beside anymore

When you said good bye to follow your dream
with tears in the eyes,
i never knew it would be forever
for there are no tears left anymore

Black Day

Wednesday, March 9th, 2005
I still can't recall why we picked Black. The last time the girls in the group, had organized an ethnic day (which was incidentally my initiative), I cud not participate for personal reasons (my darling paty expired). Being naturally enthusiastic about wearing a saree to the workplace, I tempted the girls to have another ethnic day. This time around, it was a "Theme day" or we thought we cud all wear clothes of the same colour. So whatz the most common color ..... yep BLACK !!!! I think this thought came to cause co-incidentally the movie BLACK was running in the theatres and I was so pre-occupied with watching it.

So my dear friend archana (archu as we call her) triggered the whole event .... WE WEAR BLACK on the 9th MARCH, 2005. Excitement had no limits, Roopa got herself a new Black Shirt. Valli had to make sure her salwar was pressed. Goody .... everyone seemed to be on the move.

Come the 7th, archu called a small conference in her cubicle. 8th is Women's day, letz prepone the celebration to the 8th .... Sounds wonderful .... But then ... 8th is Shivratri too (Shivratri, the holy festival of the Hindus, commemorating Lord Shiva, the destroyer).Nandu or nandini said, no way she was wearing BLACK on shivratri. She would rather appease the "destroyer". So the plans were back to the 9th ....

The sun dawned on the 9th ... and it was BLACK day in the BSC Team @ sasken. BLACK day was rather a contradiction here ... were we celebrating womanhood ... psst .... it was just to break the monotony.

A treat for the eyes, the bachelors' in the team ... missed a heartbeat (;-) ok chetan said that) ... it was the GIRLS in BLACK .....Hema looked gorgeous in a lovely salwar-kameez with exquisite embroidery, Soumya and Ramya in dashing black salwars, valli and anu in a green and red combo respectively, nandu in a full black salwar, preetha was donned with polka dots against the black background of her kameez, archu was ravishing in saree (me too inferior in comparison). And the most important person, roops was indeed roopavanthi in her black trousers and black full arm shirt. I must give it to her, its she who celebrated "Black Day" to the tee !!!!! The two people missing are Asha and Deepa, sadly ill today !!

At 5, we are gonna have a photoshoot. Its 5:15 and no one is budging from their seats. A queer dedication to the work all of a sudden.We gathered ppl around my cube, but anu and preetha were missing, coffee i suppose. Two cameras, one of archu's friendz and the other belonged to nalin. Flashes, flashes everywhere, oops hope no one from the security notices us. In some time, when the whole crowd gathered, we had a few sessions at the magical hands of partha (who i learnt lately has taken up professional photography).There ends another exciting day, which was so bright due the energies and smiles of one and all, that it was no where near anything BLACK. hurray !!!!!

My favorite things

The irresistable song from "The Sound of Music" rhapsodically sung by Maria (the perpetual nuns' problem - Julie Andrews) makes me add a few more lines ... read my version

The arc in the sky with colors of seven,
Late Sunday mornings, when I wake up at eleven,
Nights beside mom, Oh how I love to cling,
These are a few of my favorite things

The waters so vast, I lose myself in space,
The gusts of salt, that caress my face,
Riding the rains, Oh God give me wings,
These are a few of my favorite things.

The breeze so chilled, gives me a goose pimple,
A baby's smile, so tender so simple,
My sighs, my crushes and romantic flings,
These are a few of my favorite things.

A sip of black coffee at twelve in the night,
The chirp of the birds in the morning twilight,
Warm popping corn, and the memories they bring,
These are a few of my favorite things.

The peace in the arms of the man whose just mine,
A kiss on the lips, life's just so fine,
Under the moonlight, my heart wants to sing,
These are a few of my favorite things.

My darling friend

My darling friend, a fine person you are,
Close to my heart, yet so far,
You fill my life with so much love,
Blessing of mine, sent from above.

You make me smile, you make life so fine,
I'm glad you are there, I'm glad you're mine.
My heart does sigh, we missed times together,
But now we don't, we have one another.

Love and trust, does our lives bind,
Where will you such friendship ever find !
As life tumbles into paths anew,
Be there for me, I'll be there for you.


Dedicated to Viji, my close and indeed darling friend, who touched my heart with a lovely card, and touched my soul by her mere presence in my life