THE DIARY OF Z

The success of ‘3 Idiots’ has planted the seed of change in the minds of many people.  The ideas and value system of Aamir Khan’s character can be taken to address several issues that need a fundamental change.

During the IBN7 Bajaj Allianz Super Idols awards, Khan honoured 18 people who have achieved success despite being physically disabled.  Khan said, "Our society barely thinks about the physically handicapped people. It’s necessary. There should be proper infrastructure - be it buildings, theatres, roads - everywhere so that they can too have a comfortable access to every places like a normal person does”. 

According to a recent survey done in Pune, 80 per cent of government and semi-government buildings are not disabled-friendly.  Perhaps with the kind of change a movie like ‘3 Idiots’ has inspired, we can start to improve our infrastructure to accommodate every individuals rights.

Contributed by Prachi Jain

3 Idiots is continuing its dream run. Realistic, funny and with an accent on thinking out of the box, the film deserves all the moolah it’s making. At last count, the Indian box office collections stood at Rs 185 crore after tax. A box office record, making it an all-time blockbuster, even beating the likes of Ghajini, Gadar and Hum Aapke Hain Kaun.

While it’s hard to pin point reasons for its monumental success, some of the reasons for its fantastic opening include:

1. Aamir Khan’s marketing wizardry: In industry circles, he is being called ‘god’ and a marketing maverick. With good reason. The way he disguised himself and played tricks on the ‘aam junta’ and celebrities alike made many heads turn and filled so many column spaces in newspapers and sound bytes on TV channels.

2. The script is king and with a director like Rajkumar Hirani of Munnabhai fame, the story could relate to just about anyone, class and caste no bar. It was as much a multiplex film as it was a single screen film. As much a success in urban and rural areas.

3. The casting was apt. Everyone did their job well. From eccentric professor Boman Irani to the room boy to Sharman Joshi and R Madhavan to even Kareena Kapoor. Very few films have the best cast and crew. Sample this one. It had No 1 director Hirani; No 1 actor Aamir; No 1 actress Kareena and No 1 producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra.

4. Ladyluck is on Aamir’s side for the last two years. Sample Taare Zameen Par, Ghajini and now 3 Idiots. Everything he touches turns to gold. Midas touch!

Here is my suggested wish list for celebrities stepping into 2010…

Madonna: Stop giving young boyfriend Jesus a $10,000 monthly allowance and adopt a dozen more babies instead.

Rakhi Sawant: Find a maid (male) in Mumbai on reality TV.

Kareena Kapoor: Ditch ‘size zero’, so Saif has more surface area of his beloved to explore.

Sachin Tendulkar: Organise more auction workshops for charity than play the actual game. Keeps him ‘fit’ that way.

Shashi Tharoor: Stop being a ‘Twitter minister’ and start being out and about.

Nicole Richie: Three resolutions - eat something, eat something, eat something.

Mukesh and Anil Ambani: Smoke the peace pipe even if it contains the harmful petrol fumes.

Jude Law: Not to get back together with Sienna Miller for the fifth time and instead find a woman to date with less of a penchant for shacking up with co-stars.

Shah Rukh Khan: Stop making news based on caste, creed or colour.

Paris Hilton: To get a real job other than just being a party girl and lose the catch phrase, “That’s Hot” because everyone is sick of hearing it now.

Ashutosh Gowariker: Start cracking jokes at himself, so others don’t.

Paul McCartney: Perform thorough background checks on all future girlfriends and start work on new album to increase cash flow.

Salman Khan: Find a surrogate mother and end all speculation regarding Katrina Kaif. He is no Salman Rushdie.

Kevin Federline: Buy condoms in bulk and actually use them, and also get a real job other than just being Britney’s ex-husband.

Britney Spears: Wear underwear on a daily basis, especially underneath dresses in public.

Gul Panag:  Replace frequent tweeting with regular conversations and stop calling up friends from an unknown number and offer them loans.

Amitabh Bachchan:  Stop blogging, because the more he blogs, the more enemies he makes.

Cameron Diaz: Continue with the same New Year resolution of last year: stop smoking, stop shopping and start wearing a bra.

Time was when Miss Indias were pretty as a picture. Neat, clean, well-groomed, and quite a joy to behold. But over the years, and particularly after 2000, the quality of Miss Indias have come down and this year is no different. No matter what others say about beauty contests being personality contests, I firmly believe that they are largely about looks. Because if it were brains that they were looking for, then they may as well have started quizzing contests, IQ tests and what not. But no, they have started beauty contests where contestants are made to strut their stuff in swimsuit rounds as well. So there.

This year’s winners are not a patch on the winners of yester years - Juhi Chawla, Sushmita Sen, Aishwarya Rai, Nafisa Joseph, Dia Mirza, Priyanka Chopra, Lara Dutta, Celina Jaitley, Gul Panag, Madhu Sapre, Yukta Mookhey, Sangeeta Bijlani, Mehr Jessia, Rekha, Zeenat Aman, Swaroop Sampat, Nafisa Ali and so on… All of these winners were easy on the eyes, intelligent, and mature. But this year’s winners may appear to be intelligent and mature through their answers in the personality round (I particularly liked 20-year-old Parvathy Omanakuttan from Kerala for her quotable quote: ‘Marriage is not when one completes the other but when both share their completeness”). However, she didn’t score high on looks. Even my neighbours are much better looking than she is.

After all, what’s a beauty contest if the person isn’t good looking to begin with?

Just when I thought there’s nothing original under the sun, there comes a case which is not only original, but has been stolen by somebody else who calls it their own. It’s called an ‘idea theft’. And it’s rampant in the TV and film industry.

But I didn’t know that an acclaimed film director like Anubhav Sinha (Tum Bin, Dus, Cash) would steal an idea, cast Shah Rukh Khan in the film, and call the story his own. Apparently, Sinha’s wife Ratna heard of the horror story first from Mrinal (Who has written, produced and directed such shows as Dulhann, Mano Ya Na Mano, Movers & Shakers, Kahiin Kissii Roz). But nothing happened. Mrinal Jha, in the meanwhile, had also brought out a book of her story called The Prayer, that became an instant hit on Amazon.com. Promising a money-back guarantee to any reader if the book doesn’t scare, her publishing house, Undercover Utopia, did good business.

Today, things are a bit muddy. Mrinal’s husband Abhigyan, who partners her in the publishing venture, is looking at ways to get his pound of flesh if only to send the right signals to the TV and film industry that you can’t steal an idea and get away with it.

Here are some links that will help you better understand this case.

LINK 1: SRK’S PRODUCTION HOUSE TO MAKE COSTLY FILM
The bottom of the link outlines the premise of the film being made with SRK in the lead.

LINK 2: http://undercoverpro.abhigyanjha.com/theprayerbook.php#theprayerglimpses
This is the premise of ‘The Prayer’ by Mrinal and Abhigyan.

LINK3: AMAZON REVIEW OF THE PRAYER

This was written by Anubhav’s wife after reading ‘The Prayer’. She had met Mrinal for a script session and was apparently so terrified after reading The Prayer that she took refuge in Archie comics before she went to sleep. What’s more, she ends her Amazon comment with a wish that the book’s story be made into a film soon.

PS: Anubhav says he’s making this film at a budget of Rs 100 crore. Can’t he atleast ‘buy’ the story that’s helping him make his magnum opus a reality?

Just when I thought there’s nothing original under the sun, there comes a case which is not only original, but has been stolen by somebody else who calls it their own. It’s called an ‘idea theft’. And it’s rampant in the TV and film industry.

But I didn’t know that an acclaimed film director like Anubhav Sinha (Tum Bin, Dus, Cash) would steal an idea, cast Shah Rukh Khan in the film, and call the story his own. Apparently, Sinha’s wife Ratna heard of the horror story first from Mrinal (Who has written, produced and directed such shows as Dulhann, Mano Ya Na Mano, Movers & Shakers, Kahiin Kissii Roz). But nothing happened. Mrinal Jha, in the meanwhile, had also brought out a book of her story called The Prayer, that became an instant hit on Amazon.com. Promising a money-back guarantee to any reader if the book doesn’t scare, her publishing house, Undercover Utopia, did good business.

Today, things are a bit muddy. Mrinal’s husband Abhigyan, who partners her in the publishing venture, is looking at ways to get his pound of flesh if only to send the right signals to the TV and film industry that you can’t steal an idea and get away with it.

Here are some links that will help you better understand this case.

LINK 1: SRK’S PRODUCTION HOUSE TO MAKE COSTLY FILM
The bottom of the link outlines the premise of the film being made with SRK in the lead.

LINK 2: http://undercoverpro.abhigyanjha.com/theprayerbook.php#theprayerglimpses
This is the premise of ‘The Prayer’ by Mrinal and Abhigyan.

LINK3: AMAZON REVIEW OF THE PRAYER

This was written by Anubhav’s wife after reading ‘The Prayer’. She had met Mrinal for a script session and was apparently so terrified after reading The Prayer that she took refuge in Archie comics before she went to sleep. What’s more, she ends her Amazon comment with a wish that the book’s story be made into a film soon.

PS: Anubhav says he’s making this film at a budget of Rs 100 crore. Can’t he atleast ‘buy’ the story that’s helping him make his magnum opus a reality?

Here are some more luminaries who stood out during the course of my journalistic career spanning a little more than 12 years.

Karan Johar, filmmaker: This was at the launch of his film, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. I asked him when he cried for the very first time in a cinema hall. “When Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn part ways in the film Roman Holiday,” said the 29-year-old filmmaker. “Now of course, I first think a lot, then cry and then laugh.”

Suneet Varma, designer: He exploded on to the Delhi fashion scene more than a decade ago with his show-stopping Greek collection that showcased, among other things, a brass nipple bustier. Several years later when he came to Bangalore, his eyes were at it again. But he clarified to me that he hasn’t trained his eyes on areas below the waist this time. Instead, he has decided to move his operations from the polluted capital (Delhi) to the salubrious Bangalore. Don’t know if he said it so he could be quoted, because he still hasn’t.

Madhuri Dixit, film actress: For answering all my questions with a deadpan expression; from whether she is planning to open a dotcom (that time every Bollywood type was hopping on to the cyber-wagon) to how much she charged for a live performance. Dixit showed no inflection, no nervous ticks, no display of emotion and no thousand-watt smile. Was it peeved professionalism at work? I would never know.

Celina Jaitley, model/film actress: When asked, what’s weird about fashion shows, she said, “In India, nobody comes to watch the clothes; everybody comes to see the models.” But what beat me was the following tete-a-tete:

Do you believe in spirits?

“Yes.”

Have you met one?

“Yes, when I was living in a haunted house in Ranikhet. It was a 300-year-old British bungalow.”

How did the spirit look like?

“It was a misty human form.”

Was it a person who was long dead?

“I don’t know. Never spoke to it.”

Rahul Dravid, cricketer: For shyly asking me not to give his phone number to anyone other than myself.

Ken Ghosh, filmmaker: For saying, “I am sure the casting couch exists, but I haven’t tried it.” After a pause, he continued: “It exists wherever a woman needs a job and money. It all boils down to the woman. Men like to hit on every woman but it’s really the way a woman responds to the man’s overtures. Eighty per cent of the time, it’s because of the way the woman responds to men. The remaining 20 per cent is rape.”

PC Sorcar Jr., magician: For saying, he will make the Vidhana Soudha disappear for a few minutes if he was given Rs 50 lakh.

Quirks are human. And so are celebrities. Here are a few I gathered on some of the glitterati I met over the years.

Actress Aishwarya Rai: I ask for her email id, and she asks for mine in reply. You ask the Fuji people how much money have they set aside for their advertising campaign, and Rai interjects smilingly, ‘I don’t get all the money’.

Veejay Cyrus Broacha: You never know when he’s serious and when he’s funny. So the way to go? Believe him. I did, and realised that what he said about his mother checking the emails for him was indeed true.

Cricketer Rahul Dravid: He is a shy guy. I ask him for his phone number. He shyly obliges, but hastens to add that I shouldn’t give this number to anyone else. When I get someone close to him to oblige for an interview before his impending marriage, he says he will but only after tying the knot. He is, oh so family, who doesn’t mind getting drenched to the bone at the Rolling Stones show.

Actress Raveena Tandon: Whenever I sms her, she thinks I am back on the trail of ‘who is the new man in her life’. And sometimes, when a topic catches our fancy, we are sms-ing each other and before we know it, it’s over an hour of furious texting. Sms is highly addictive.

Film director Tanuja Chandra: She is the fastest to reply to your sms. Till date, no one has beaten her. Even if she’s in the middle of directing Juhi Chawla and Priyanshu Chatterjee, she will pause, send a quick sms, and continue with her ‘lights, camera, action’ routine.

Actor Jackie Shroff: You meet him for the first time, but that doesn’t stop him from hugging you like he’s met a long lost friend. And his hug seems very warm, very genuine. That’s Jackie, very likeable.

Actor-director Rahul Bose: You text him at 5 pm and the ‘better late than never’ dude does respond – at 3 am. Wondering what he was up to? Partying with Nafisa, of course.

Model-actor Priyanshu Chatterjee: You sms him and he will call you, no matter even if he’s in the middle of shooting for a film in Rajasthan or it’s the dead of night. That’s him, very direct, very personal.

Actress-director Pooja Bhat: She is never reachable on her cell. It’s always someone else’s. Call her when she is in the middle of shooting her film, and her father Mahesh Bhat picks up the phone, directing you to call a certain number where she is reachable. When you call that number, you realise it’s the director of the film, answering the phone. Pooja, of course, is not far from him, and you get to speak to her finally.

Fashion photographer Prabuddha Das Gupta: He believes in pushing the envelope, even if it’s giving his next press interview he makes sure the story has a fresh way of presenting him. So when this reporter says it’s to know what’s inside the mind of Prabuddha that he readily agrees and gives you a free-wheeling interview for over two hours.

Actress Preity Zinta: She is as sprightly as they come. If she is on the phone to you, she is not sitting on a sofa like a coy pussy cat; she is hopping all over her home and office. She is such a kid. Tell her about one particular scene you liked in a film of hers, and she will go into the details with relish.

Infosys head honcho Nandan M Nilekani: He walks into a party wearing tracksuits, and is least bothered by the unsolicited attention. Another reason why he doesn’t mingle in the crowd? He’s happy with his wife Rohini at his elbow and a drink in his hand.

Former cricketer Javagal Srinath: He is the humblest cricketer I have met. Before you stand up to greet him, he is already giving you a handshake. His honest eyes and sincere warmth break the ice faster than the first syllable uttered by him.

Actress Suman Ranganathan: She makes a great pretence at guarding her privacy, but when you peel it open a bit, she gives in and tells you all. That’s her, as kooky as they come.

Actor/TV anchor Annu Kapur: He knows more about Islam than the average Muslim and he’s more energetic than the average 25-year-old. And his passion for music is no holds barred, and his dimples show for it.

Heart surgeon Dr Devi Prasad Shetty: This man sure knows how to keep himself busy all of 24 hours. And despite his busy schedule, he does oblige you with a hurriedly written edit of 400 words for City Info (earlier called Bangalore This Fortnight, our mother publication). And he is indeed one of the most disarmingly charming persons I have ever met. Exudes warmth from a mile away.

Model-actress Celina Jaitley: She loves men, and if she likes you, she will not only tell you where’s she’s staying but also invite you over. And she loves men ogling at her. But how will you know that she does? When she shows more of her healthy cleavage by leaning over to hear from you, silly.

Model Laxmi Menon: She might lose all her inhibitions (and clothes) when it comes to photo shoots with Prabuddha Das Gupta, but ask her if you could do a pub hop interview with her, and she gives you a shy smile and says no. She is a woman of few words, and more action (on the ramp and outside).

Model-actress Isha Koppikar: Ask for her email id, and she blinks. Ask again, and she gives her brother’s instead. You mail her brother, and it bounces. That’s her, electronically disabled.

Singer-actor Lucky Ali: He always seems to carry a mighty burden on his shoulder. But his warmth only de-stresses you.

Bangalore-based MG Satya (46) who scripted the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Swades, is back to what he does best: write stories for the big screen. Two of his stories have been bought by producers and one Tamil film is to take off shortly. Another story of his is being considered by Yogaraj Bhat, the director of the super hit Kannada film of 2007: ‘Mungaru Male’.

After 11 years of making TV commercials, Satya has now decided to go back to making films and TV serials. “When I went bankrupt in 1996, I started doing ad films and corporate films,” recalls Satya. “Now I want to get back to fiction work and films in particular.” Satya will be collaborating with other production houses and co-producing films in Kannada, Hindi and Tamil.

About his biggest screen triumph, Swades, he had this to say: “From time to time, new characters emerge from the soil. Bangalore offered me an NRI as a villain which I turn into a hero in my tele-film Vapasi in 1994. This became Swades in 2001 and created a little Gandhi out of Shah Rukh Khan.”

For a writer “where the narration and treatment is more important than the language”, we asked Satya to pick five stories that have stimulated and instructed his take on scriptwriting the most.

‘Mysteries’ by Knut Hamsun: It’s a Nobel-prize winning book that scores in its narration and story-telling techniques. It’s the story of a mysterious stranger who suddenly turns up in a small town one summer and just as suddenly disappears. The obstacles that are created are all in the head… it works on the minds of the characters. The deceptive narration technique makes the reader fall into the trap even if he has experienced the very same situation in real life. Nothing in the story should be taken at face value. By the time, you have formed an opinion on the character based on the way he dresses, talks and behaves, the author surprises you by placing him in a situation where his reaction is entirely different. That’s the mystery.

Chomana Dudi: This Kannada film’s title means, ‘Chomana’s little drum’. Directed by BV Karanth, it’s based on a novel by Shivaram Karanth. It’s all about the new economy soon after the arrival of the British. The story is all about coffee plantation and bonded labour juxtaposed with the arrival of Christianity. It’s the dilemma of the new economy that is brought out here without taking sides with anyone. The film is brilliantly shot and I have seen it 3-4 times when I was a little boy in the late 70s. It’s a contradiction that continues till this day. It was a perfect story and a perfect film. You need to have courage to write something like that. Today, if such a film is made, there will be no takers. Our values have changed.

Saaransh: It’s brilliant direction by Mahesh Bhat. The violence was shown on screen without any gross visuals. The story works on the premise of standing up and saying ‘no’ to injustice. This film shows what everyone wants to do but never end up doing. Today, the media plays a proxy war for the reader and the viewer. In those days, this film waged a proxy war for the viewer who will go away thinking that atleast cinema waged a proxy war on his behalf. The best part is that after watching the film, you feel like going and rebelling in your own little way.

1947-Earth: It’s a story of partition viewed through the eyes of an eight-year-old Parsi girl. Ice candy man Aamir Khan is in love with maid Nandita Das who works in the Parsi girl’s home. It’s also about Aamir trying to learn English because this girl has picked up English in the Parsi household. This happens just during the partition. And then, the bloodbath begins and the characters start dealing with their personal demons. Eventually, some die, some convert, some live and some come through unharmed, but not unscathed. The best part is, director Deepa Mehta doesn’t take sides. The best phrase in the film sums it all up: “Mere Mulk ke do tukde kar diye. Aur Phir bol rahe hai Happy Independence!” (My country has been split into two and they are still saying, ‘Happy Independence!’

Lagaan:  I love the way director Ashutosh Gowariker used the Gandhian ideal of non-violence to get back at the British in their own game of cricket. The best part of the film is that the plot creates the hero unlike most films where a hero manufactures the story. It’s not even coincidence like it happens in most other films. It was a perfect film in terms of the language used. Every song was part of the screenplay and had everything a commercial film needed to make it an absorbing story. He also uses Gandhi’s other issues like untouchability without being too in your face like Lage Raho Munnabhai. That is the triumph of the script.

Quizzing can be very addictive. A new game application on India has been started by my friend Dan on Facebook. If you know about India or want to know about India, its heritage, mythology, culture, tradition, Bollywood, cricket and fashion, this could be your ticket to some interesting information.

Happy quizzing.

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