Film Review- Thappad

It's a resounding slap to the patriarchy, and shows that men are not the only ones who propagate it. It's also the women who train their sons to perpetuate it, and their daughters to accept it and move on.

Very hard-hitting, but very understated. It's unusual to see a Hindi film without over-the-top acting, unnecessary frills or masala elements, and yet remain gripping in every scene. The discussion of the issue on hand is a moment of realisation that the heroine has, and her only supporters (apart from the lawyer who is supposed to as part of her job) seem to be her father, and her neighbour (Dia Mirza after long).

In the face of almost everyone trying to ask her to compromise, she does not. And in the process, inspires other women (including her lawyer) to introspect about patriarchy in their own lives, and do something about it. Taapsee Pannu rocks. I liked one particular dialogue of hers, when she says that as a young student, she had dreamt of only two things in life- respect and happiness, and even today, desires the same two things. The supporting cast is excellent, to the last man/woman/girl.

Inspiring, a must-watch, and even if it succeeds in changing a few lives because of watching it, completely worthwhile.

The Merchant of Venice Comes to Indore

The canals and mansions of Venice came alive, through the unusual love story of Bassanio and Portia, and a couple of other couples, at the IIM Indore auditorium last evening. A brilliantly assembled ensemble cast performed the Bard's immortal play to perfection. Shylock, the Jew, contrasted well with the generous Antonio and his gentleman friend Bassanio.

Some of the cast was changed to female characters in this adaptation, to good effect. The Duchess of Venice (Kiara), for instance, replaced the Duke, and Lancelot, the servant who switches jobs from Shylock to serve Bassanio, was also played by a female, and quite effectively portrayed by Prachi. Students from the IPM, PGP and FPM came together to play all the roles. Shreya Surana played Portia like a veteran.

The major characters- Shylock, Portia, Antonio and Bassanio, and the supporting characters- friends of these two, the Princes of Morocco and Bombay (a change from the original), and the lady in waiting, and others, were just right for their roles. The set design, lighting and sound added to the impact, not to mention the wardrobe/dresses which made the women look beautiful, and the men elegant. It was a hat-trick of sorts for Shweta Kushal, the director, who earlier directed Where There is a Will, and The Importance of Being earnest at IIM Indore. Some glimpses of the play-

 The diabolical Shylock casts a menacing shadow..

 The court of the Duchess of Venice. (above)

 Dramatic moments involving Bassanio (above), and the servant and her mother (below)

 More drama involving Portia and Antonio (above)-

 The cast (above) with the Director (centre) and a couple of backstage supporters.

 The backdrops of Venice were effective in creating atmosphere

Portia (in disguise) with Shylock, and her/his clerk and accomplice while pronouncing the judgement.

Summer Versus Winter

People have their preferences for seasons, like they have for Democrats or Republicans. But for me, summer is a clear winner-winter, the loser. I shall give you five good reasons-

1. Summer is pro-poor. You don't need a lot of clothes to protect yourself, and the poor can sleep at night even in the open, if there's no shelter. Trees can help in the daytime.

2. Winter makes you want to curl up in bed. Summer creates animal spirits that spur exploration, entrepreneurship...hiber-nation versus a Hyper nation, you see?

3. Mango is the King of fruits..and it comes out in Summer..the U.S. has no mangoes, in most parts.

4. Have you ever tried swimming in cold sea water? I have, and trust me, it's no fun.. Goa, it's summer-like even in Winter. Any arguments?

 5. And the clincher- you can eat ice cream without fear of catching a cold. Isn't that a great plus?

What it Takes to be a Baba

There are two categories of Babas (Holy Men)- one, those in jail, and two, who are not in jail.

We will concentrate on those that are out of jail. So, to be one, what do you need?

One, a working knowledge of Sanskrit and the names of the old texts like the Vedas, Upanishads and of course, The Bhagvad Gita. You need not know a lot about these, a stray shloka or excerpt will do, because none of your followers will actually read them.

That reminds me, you need followers to be an effective Baba. That is not so difficult. Our large population comes in handy. Find a few unemployed youth and offer them food and unlimited growth, and a place to stay.

Oh, yes, you need a place to call your own too. An ashram, in other words. You will have to ensnare a rich devotee quickly, one who may have some spare acreage lying unused, and promise him salvation, so that you get the land.

Now all you need is a nice name, and some robes-of any colour that's not taken by competing Babas. A beard may help- like a suit, it makes anyone look impressive. You are all set! You can make a career out of it..but stay out of jail, if possible.

The Art of Getting Offended

Of all the skills needed to survive today (2020), the one of paramount importance is knowing how to get offended. You don't always have to lead a riot, though that can grab headlines in national media for a few hours to a few days. But you must do it right, and therefore, there is a market for Skill-building courses involving this skill. Entrepreneurship, e-commerce and food delivery are passe.

There is no need to impress upon you why this skill is important. If you don't get offended these days, you are a nobody. You may think you are something great like a Social Media Influencer with thousands of followers, but if you don't get offended regularly, you will lose all those followers. The only other way to get loyal followers is to get into scandals regularly. But getting offended is easier. Let me explain.

You can get offended by almost anything. That's a huge advantage. If the name of a new film is not to your liking, you can get offended. If the film shows your profession in a bad light (even if fictionally), you can still get offended. If the director does not apologise for the imaginary slights, you can get offended. Even if he does, you can get offended by his insincerity in apologising. You get the point?

If someone tells a joke involving gender, ethnicity, nationality, eating habits, accent, what-have-you, you can get offended. Humorists and cartoonists (the ones that are out of jail) will have a tough time because of you too- an added plus for getting offended.

If you are offended by this blog post, it would have served a purpose-of educating you as to the importance of the whole thing.

Mumbai Meets

Generally, I do meet some old students whenever I can. I usually have a partner-in-crime who gets in touch with some of their friends, and this time it was Sheetal Garg, one of my pals from IMT Nagpur. Though I never taught her, we get along famously, and thanks to her effort, we (Abha Kulkarni was the third), met and chatted for a couple of hours effortlessly, about various things-life included, but also kids and grown-up kind of stuff. We decided that we'll offer ourselves up to Abhinav Kamal (another IMTian) for acting in his films, since he's the only chance we have..we also did a photo-shoot to impress him.. Abhinav, here it is! Also pinning our hopes on the fact that Sheetal has just won the Miss Congeniality title at a Pageant..you can see why!

Crowning glory- we even managed to put the Taj in the shade! Sunshine around me!!

Death

I just read an online article about a guy wanting to die at 75.

He has a lot of nice ideas about why he wants to die at 75. One of them being that he does not want to burden others-kids or siblings-with taking care of him or his illnesses.

A very good reason is that he wants to be remembered as an active, independent, healthy person rather than an invalid or chronically ill patient.

He is not going to kill himself at 75, but he has opted out of medical tests (which I think is a great idea at any age unless it's a must), and any expensive treatment that will prolong his life but may not give him back his active life.

Even if you don't want to die at 75, his fundas about planning your final years are worth a read. Here is the link-
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/10/why-i-hope-to-die-at-75/379329/