Teetotaler Anonymous

Nights on end without a wink
Days full of empty marooned time
Now and then, a feeling of hope
A sense of despair in the mean time


‘Have one, just one before you leave’
‘Never have, besides, I’ve brought my car’
‘Really, I insist, have one for the road’
‘I’ll down the cola and hit the tar’


Amidst screeches and tears
The ambulance wails its way on
They stare at me full of rage
Verdict announced; conclusion foregone


Trying to remain sane
But I’m on the brink
One thought persists
What if I’d taken the drink?

Epics of the Kalyug

There is either inordinate reverence or deplorable scarcity of originality or simply the lack of courage in the minds of filmmakers who find they must resort to the Ramayan or Mahabharat to make a saleable flick.
I strongly suspect the latter.
Raavan, following closely on the heels of Raajneeti just left me confounded. Why two obviously intelligent directors with excellent track records made films that were so obviously shallow, pointless and implausible beats me.

Agreed that these epics are deep wells to draw from, with intricately woven characters and social backgrounds relevant to all eras; but surely there’s a reason they were television serials, to quote Mayank Shekhar.

Exploring deeply into a particular character or relationship is always fascinating, as is depicting a particular portion of the narrative. But to reduce entire epics into two and half hours of banal travesties, well, that’s something else again.

All I can hope for is that others take a lesson and don’t go that way.