Spiky Reviews

A long pending post. About 2 months back when I watched Rang De Basanti, it gave rise to the stir that I want to de-stir here.

After Sanjog watched it, he said I would not like the movie; I was never a very emotional type—not for people, not for country, not for anything. I am a tin box. Still I went for it; I think it was because a girl asked me out.

I watched the whole movie mechanically. Though Sanjog was quite correct in his assessment about what I would say when I stepped out of the theatre, there was a spikiness I could feel inside me; and I knew I would write about it someday. And today the day has arrived. Just went through the contents of the site http://www.youth4equality.org/. I can see it happening – a generation awakens.

I remember the day Pamela had commented on Rang De Basanti—"It's an impractical movie. What Amir Khan and his friends did was an emotional fit."

What are we doing now? Are we being practical? Though I agree being practical is an important part of achieving any goal, the practicality itself needs to be driven by the impracticality of heart, the heart that can dare to dream and dare to look for 'practical' solutions in 'impractical' circumstances.

I'm in love these days—with a Chinese girl. She's a total kid...sings and shouts and laughs all the time. She can't come with me to India, she just won't fit in the society back home; and she's not a compromising sort. I have a choice now...be practical or be impractical. I will leave Beijing in 2 months. I can go and find a girl to sleep with for the rest of my stay here. No one gets hurt. Or I can go ahead and watch myself falling head over heels for her despite the fact that there's no future. I can feel it's going to hurt like hell once I am back in India. I talked to Sanjog. He's the white matter of my mind. I myself am the grey matter. And for once we both agreed to go by heart—sometimes pampering the heart is worth a fatal heart attack.

And I remember what I answered to Pamela's comment—I would have done the same if it was my best friend who had died in Rang De Basanti. Sometimes pampering the heart is worth a fatal heart attack.