The Ghost Who Walks

One of my favourite characters lived in a skull cave in the jungles of Denkali, among the pygmy Bandar. Guran was a friend of his from that tribe, who shot poisoned arrows. Jungle drums were used to relay messages to the Phantom.

He was The Nemesis of Pirates.

He had a girlfriend called Diana.

Old Jungle Sayings about the Phantom abounded. For instance,


Phantom moves faster than lightning. (when striking opponents too).

You never find the Phantom. He finds you.

The voice of the angry Phantom chills the tiger's blood.

He used to walk the streets of town like an rdinary man sometimes, and order milk in a bar. Devil, his wolf, accompanied him on his trips.

The Phantom Chronicles were stored in a secret vault in the skull cave, and contained the history of how he came to be.

Lee Falk was his creator.

Happy Bhag Jayegi- Film Review

Happy Bhag Jayegi leaves you feeling happy. The story of a girl running away from her own wedding is not new – Caravan had Asha Parekh doing it, and many after that- but ending up in a new country may be a first.

Right from the first scene to the last, the movie kept me engaged, with witty dialogue, fast-moving storyline, and general goofiness. Has not happened too often of late, I am sorry to note. This director did something right, obviously.

Piyush Mishra with his Urdu-spouting ways is a stroke of casting genius. He adds to the charm of the film. I have never seen most of the cast before, so I had no expectations. They bring to life a semi-philosophical romantic runaway comedy. Jimmy Shergill is getting good at playing the losing groom (Tanu Weds Manu 2) and does a good job again.

Abhay Deol is a favourite, so I would like him anyway. But Diana Penty has done a fabulous Happy (she is the hero), and the lovely Pakistani actress Momal Sheikh is a nice counterpoint. There is a subliminal message in this film-maybe only I caught it. The message is- Running away might make you happy.

Media Scams

In the good old days, there were some scoops- Dharam-Hema, Amitabh-Rekha, and other varieties, splashed across Stardust. Now there are scams- Harshad Mehta (stock-market scam), Lalit Modi-Shashi Tharoor-investors, blah, blah blah (IPL scam), Nirav Modi scam, Fodder scam, Abdul Karim Telgi (stamp paper scam),  Nityananda (the holy smoke scam), Ram-Rahim, Asaram, and a few other Babas in a jam...

What our scam-thirsty public can endure, or even cherish, we don't yet know. The boundaries of common decency and privacy have already been breached, and the paparazzi rule our lives- sometimes, a la episode Diana, causing deaths too.

Scams can get boring too, but then you have the IPL (not the scam, the game), FIFA (not being anywhere on the world map doesn't stop us from watching those who are), the child bride shows, the dance beta dance (or some similar titled one). The nice comedy serials are somehow missing after Kapil went into a depression, and any serials with an intelligent story are even more missing. The GOT is the only GoTo serial, it seems..