Thursday, March 21, 2013

Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda

With new transition in life, I happened to get a lot of time exploring what I really loved...Painting, reading, photography, exploring new tastes, new places and even watching old TV serials and movies. I love and relish cinema with substance. This may sound both weird and interesting but I enjoy characters from movies and novels and like how they shape in different situations. I am not critical about movies but do enjoy watching classics, comedies, romance and art movies. Oh yes, I love art movies. Something about these movies makes them beautiful, stimulating and live long in my memory. One of such classic art movie that impressed me most is 'Suraj kaa satwaan ghoda' or 'The Seventh Horse of the Sun"(1993) by Shyam Benegal . Its a retro movie based and named after a famous book by Dharmveer Bharati Ji. This movie is beautiful, mysterious and very thought provoking. The more I watch and think, the more it walks me to a void of question and answers. Film maker Shyam Benegal's choice of actors and editing is so perfect that it brings life to each character.The beauty of both movie and the book is that every character is so real and shares a story of their own which is entangled in a captivating and thrilling manner. The movie shares sets of mini-narratives by the lead character Manik Mulla that are interwoven beautifully. Each of these mini narrative includes stories of three women in Manik's life -Jamuna, Lily and Satti and how class, economy, intellect and society decides and changes definition of love in his life. A few more prominent characters include Mahesar Dalal and Tanna. The movie also includes narratives and extracts from a classic Devdas that adds meaning and creates a new perspective for characters. The main lead includes - Rajit KapurAmrish Puri,Neena Gupta, Rajeshwari Sachdev and Pallavi Joshi.

A Brief Look: Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda

My recommendation - Must Watch!

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

The Art of Saying No


Can I say 'No' to someone? Will it be okay if I say No...Ohh its rude if I say ‘No’! What will others think if I say No!
Have you ever faced this scenario? Honestly, all of us do it at some point of life or rather let me take the liberty of saying we do it every day, and may be every time. What is the thought process – Does the dilemma of our inner conscience always wins with strong opinions for not supporting ‘No’ as an answer or is it that saying ‘No’ is a taboo that projects a non social behavior. I always had a hard time saying ‘No’ , possibly because in my head the image of ‘Yes’ is better and more convenient while ‘No’ is negative, stubborn and selfish. Yes pulls a nice self image, with a question free zone and makes me look good even though the side effects of saying yes may be questionable. No matter how easy it is to say Yes, hard times demand for hard decisions and when there is no choice you tend to choose the hard option which in my case was saying – NO.just-say-no It was spontaneous, and came with a relief. A relief of nothingness, a relief of free self image, a relief of making the right choice and not overcommitting. Saying No was the easiest thing. As easy as saying Yes. It made me also realize that like Yes, No is also a complete answer. All the reasoning I had was for myself and no one other  The key lies is in maintaining the poise and appreciating that its okay to say No. No is not a sign of arrogance, but of respect. A respect of humility of not overcommitting. In some places, a No may be acceptance to our inabilities. Be a child, accept you don’t know something and be open to learn. Saying No may be key to new doors that lead to freedom.