Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Jingle Bells!

Spent a lively afternoon at Mood Indigo, billed as the world's largest youth festival. Held at the sprawling Powai campus, it was easy to fool myself I was anywhere but in Mumbai! The panel discussion was on Media Ethics and Censorship. Hmmmm. Some tough questions from the audience. Anything less would have been a disappointment~
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This appeared in Bombay Times on monday...

Jingle Bells!

Is X’Mas in the air? You tell me! Going by the December heat, it’s pretty hard to believe we are in the last few days of 2011. And as always, everybody is sighing and saying, " God! Can’t believe how fast this year has flown by…” Well, it’s been a comme- si- comme- ca year, with more ‘goodbyes’ than ‘hellos’ to mark it. Far too many legends passed away – starting with M.F. Husain and Jehangir Sabavala.These two stalwarts were the first to go, followed by Gautam Rajadhyakha, Bhupen Hazarika, Shammi Kapoor, Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, Dev Anand and Mario Miranda. I am holding my breath and hoping we don’t receive more tragic news before the year is finally over. But at least there were two brand new celeb arrivals to cheer us up – Bitiya B, and Azad. The arrival of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s daughter was perhaps the most anticipated birth announcement ever. Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao’s little boy arrived with less fanfare but an equal amount of joy. More star babies are in the offing – Lara Dutta’s and Shilpa Shetty’s ,at last count.
The biggest surprise package (googly!) of the year turned out to be Vidya Balan, whose performance as Silk in ‘Dirty Picture’ set not just screens but collective male imagination on fire. As a mass circulated text message succinctly put it, “Critics’ verdict for ‘Dirty Picture’? Blouse-full!” Another one recommended a Best Supporting Role award for Balan’s white bra! Sandwiched between all these naughty jokes was Balan’s bindaas, uninhibited performance that won her widespread praise, not just from fans but from her own fraternity. ‘Vidya is the only hero in Bollywood’, it was dramatically declared. The statement did not go down particularly well with the male megalomaniacs in the business. Especially with those superstars who were still sulking over their own lackluster box office showings. Who would have thought a modestly budgeted movie about a dead porn star from the South, would lead to such hysteria? And who could have predicted the madness generated by a nonsensical, tuneless song that went viral? Not only has ‘Kolaveri Di’ wiped the floor with far more established competition, it has triggered off an unprecedented wave of really clever versions in countless languages. My personal favourites are the Panju and Gujju attempts. I hear the Japanese one is pretty good, too. As is the Chipmunks’ number. The Harvinder ( ‘Thappad Sardar’) Singh send-up is also excellent. With this one freak internet video hit, a semi-unknown guy has become a national figure overnight. Take a bow, Dhanush! The stupendous success of Balan and Kolaveri Di, proves just one thing: If you have it and are willing to boldly flaunt it, there are countless enthusiastic takers out there. But … you’ve got to have it in the first place. There is no explanation, no logic behind the unbelievable success of either Balan as Silk, or Dhanush and Kolaveri Di. When something goes viral, it goes viral! That’s it! No manipulation required. It is obvious we really adore our homegrown folk heroes. For all their international status and fame, a Lady Gaga leaves most Indians cold, and cannot match Vidya’s sizzle. And even a Tom Cruise needs hired fans when he comes to India, while Anil Kapoor walks away with all the attention! Ajeeb? Not really. Let’s call it confidence. We don’t need imports when our own ‘products’ are world class. Why not indulge in some chest thumping and plain jingoism as another year comes to a close?Sentimentality rocks!

16 comments:

Pooja Rathore said...

you are right this year(2011) has been year of "Deaths" when i opened my tarot deck this year(every year new deck -AT Mann mandala tarot - the moment i say the death card my intution told me this year many will leave us and also the year adding to 4(2011=4) its a number of change, wake up call and of upheavel ,saying goodbye to the old and saying hello to the new,the wake up call came in the form of 'Anna's call to end corruption' in other places old regimes were thrown out via revolution,4 also stands for unconventional no wonder vidyas hatke(unconventional) role ,or kolaveri di etc are all out of the box which made their mark in the year 2011.
2012 =5 year of communication- all forms of communication will be the highlight - so make most of your communication skills and modes of communication(phone,internet etc) to make your dreams or whatever come true .5 is ruled by mercury which rules communication in a big way and yes keep your mind in good condition or mostly people will suffer diseases relating to mind ,mercury also rules mind- avoid overanalysing and give rest to the mind and believe in the power of communication and reap the fruits of the year 2012!

Anil Kumar said...

Sharad Pawar escaped death...There are 10 more days to go though. Still some hope.

Had that gentleman slapped this bastard with twisted face little harder, I am sure his one side of face would have collapsed and he would have died or at least should have been in comma these days.

This year also saw emergence of more slutty girls and dirty songs -portrayed by some as BIG acheivement here.

The TRUTH of the matter is that Indians are getting chance to get hand on filthy/slutty/Randi money only recently. Had this kind of money be there 40 years back - Ms De would have seen same bold attitude from Nutan, Jaya Bhaduri or even Madhubala.

Butt or bra ko dikhane or usmein ungli firaane ka zamana fast-track per hai - Hindustaniyon ko nanga ho-kar paisa kamaane ka mauka kaafi late mila hai...compared to rest of the world...So Ms De you will keep finding more bold acts on regular basis.

Boya ped babool ka tto aam kahaan se hoye?? The seeds sown by the likes of Aishwarya Rai, Sushmita Sen, Mallika Sherwat and scores of other sluts has done a mass production of such so called bold woman. Ms Pandey is still unlucky.

Enjoy your silver years Ms De and next time when some inncoent girl is gang-raped by youths having seen these bold performance in bollywood but not taught by family or society (Forget about bollywood educating people) how to respect a woman - Please keep your old wide mouth shut on and don't preach on state of affairs in this country.

चंद्रमौलेश्वर प्रसाद said...

Censorship on media, facebook...etc. and further censorship on jasmine or rose .... revolution :)

The Unsure Ascetic said...

Mam
silk is not a porn star! and yeah , Sillk and kolaveri did what the tamil politicians could not..keep the hate-agenda-spread promoted by the malayalee politicians at bay..

Divya (Virmani) Chadda said...

There's a joke which went viral: Thank God Kolaveri Di was not sung by Dhanush's father-in-law...else it would've been our national anthem by now! Like seriously... but yes this year definitely goes to the hohaha of Ash baby/Kolaveri Di/and definitely Vidya Balan! Just by the trailers I went bonkers at this movie...even though I never thought it would be a superhit like this... Hats off!
divyavirmani.blogspot.com

Nitin Kumar said...

Hi i just read your view...appreciated..i will following your blog regularly. I also just started my blog please follow me if u can do this favour...thanks and god bless you.

Latha said...

Yeah, balan did it again. Did put munni & Sheila to shame & raked the moolah. But I loved munni & Sheila.
I love the Pakistani & Chipmunk versions of Kolaveri di. Seems like Dhanush has dedicated another version in favour of the BigB ?

Life Unordinary said...

Loved the song, yet to see the movie. What a wonderful year end post, you've captured most of the highlights!

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Archit Gupta said...

hello ...

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My work is done!
Please do take the pains of liking the videos and ask as many people as you can, it would help me a lot.Please don't forget to ask other to do the same.
Thank You

hoping for ur reponse...

Truth Chariot said...

Kudos! A very well woven post.

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Nyxster said...

Awesum & inspiring blog..
Thank u :)

Buzzintown Blogger said...

Men talk to breasts, but in The Dirty Picture, even a loser horse wins the race when Silk gives him a peek-a-boo of her twin assets. So, the makers of TDP and Vidya Balan understand the power of the bosom and when you hear the dialogue - “Humein public ko titillate karna hai,” you know they have nailed it!

Regards
New Year events New Delhi
New Year events 2012 Bangalore
The Dirty Picture Movie Review

love sms said...

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love sms