I See You

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Note 1: I have blogged about "Love" before - Love (and Networks). For that matter, I have blogged about Avatar before too - The Pandora that is KGP. This one is almost like a tribute, referenced to a movie which released exactly 6 months ago, that is still driving people crazy all over the world. :)

Note 2: Doctors reading this, please DO NOT confuse 'I See You' with 'I.C.U'; it will kill the charm these words have. For the rest, DO NOT confuse this with the movie 'I See You', a movie which came and went, and no-one bothered to "see".

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Avatar is one movie that has so many interpretations, so many themes and inspirations, so detailed, shot so tastefully and aesthetically, that this was probably the reason why people all across the planet fell in love with Avatar and the mythical Pandora.

While on one hand it has political overtones, it is about colonialism, it addresses an environmental issue, it is about a philosophical self-discovery, on the other hand, it is a plain, simple, honest, pure and divine love-story. And, this movie gives us one of the most romantic lines written for cinema, ever. 'I See You'. I am not aware of any other movie that makes seeing such a metaphor! Seeing, truly seeing, right into each other. "No-one can teach you to see". Yet, the moment you begin to see, the feeling is indescribable.

Jake enters into Pandora's dreamy wilderness, and is discovered by Neytiri. The first time they meet, we know that they are meant to be together. Even Jake knows, you can see it in his eyes. He is almost killed by Neytiri. But, there is a sign, a sign for Neytiri, by the sacred tree, Ewya. It beats logic, yet it doesn't seem illogical. It is meant to be.

Walking through a dream

I See You...

Jake: "Fine, if you love your little forest friends, why not just let them kill me instead? Why save me?"

Neytiri: "Why save you? Why save you? ... You have a strong heart. No fear."

Neytiri teaches Jake the Na'vi ways. Jake experiences higher perception through 'tsahaylu', the bond. He is able to connect to nature around him, in an absolutely new perspective. The 'civilised humans' turn out as primitive, jaded and increasingly greedy, cynical, and brutal — traits only amplified by their machinery — while the 'monkey aliens' emerge as noble, kind, wise, sensitive and humane.

You teach me how to see

All that’s beautiful

My senses touch your world I never pictured

I pray in my heart that this world never ends

Tsu'tey is the heir to the chieftainship of the tribe. And Neytiri his partner, naturally. Jake is an alien, not of their race, not even trusted by the clan, yet, he comes close to Neytiri. Against that which is natural.

Jake: "Oe-l nga-ti kameie. I see you!"

Norm: "But, its not just like 'I see you in front of me', its more like 'I see into you, I see you, your soul, I understand you' "

My light in darkness breathing hope of new life

Now I live through you and you through me

I pray in my heart that this dream never ends

I see me through your eyes

Neytiri takes Jake to the 'Tree of Voices', where prayers are heard, and sometimes answered. He becomes an Omaticaya, and has to choose a woman.

Jake: "I've already chosen. But this woman must also choose me."

Neytiri: "She already has."

They bond through the 'tsahaylu', a bond into each other, completely surrendered to each other, that when made, cannot be broken in the lifetime. It is a spiritual and divine connection between two lovers.

As destiny would have it, there were problems, mistrust, and fear. Eventually, its love that brings them back together.

Neytiri: "I was afraid Jake, for my people, I am not anymore."

When my heart was never open

(and my spirit never free)

To the world that you have shown me

But my eyes could not division

All the colours of love and of life ever more

Oe-l nga-ti kameie

I See You

I See You...

Listen to this song now, and you shall see. :)

Lefpom ftxozä!

I C U . . .

Raajneeti

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Note 1: I have written positive reviews for movies till now. But, I just had to write this one for Raajneeti.


Note 2: Watch it if you want to, but don't go to watch it because everybody says how "awesome" it is, it is so not.
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The Good...


(1) Ajay Devgan's and Manoj Bajpai's Acting


Ajay Devgan is the only thing that shines in the movie. Manoj Bajpai pulls off a decent performance. Very tastefully does Ajay Devgan portray the dilemma and the conflict faced by Sooraj's character. His controlled acting makes you want his presence on the screen.


(2) Mind-boggling scenes


I don't like Ranbir Kapoor. There is a scene in which Ranbir Kapoor gets slapped so hard, that he rolls turns twice in the air before landing on the ground. Paisa Vasool! I so hope that this scene took atleast 10-15 retakes. :D But keeping personal prejudices aside, he does well. He carries his role gracefully, and you can actually connect his character to some real people in Indian politics today. The scene in which Ranbir Kapoor addresses a political gathering and double-crosses his cousin is one of the best scenes in the movie.


There is a scene in which Ranbir Kapoor's foreigner love-interest, Sarah is out shopping, and some people kidnap a girl right there in the market place. She can't come to believe what just happened, and yells, "Why doesn't anybody do something? Call the police!". It really makes you think how such things have become so common in our country, that we have stopped taking notice, and it doesn't matter to us anymore. "Wake up" is the message, and it hits you hard right at your face.


The Bad...


(3)  Arjun Rampal


For God's sake, somebody please ask him to stop acting. He is SUCH a misfit in this role, it looks as if a cool-dude-guy from Bombay is put right into the heart of dirty politics. He hasn't worked on his accent, has an absolutely shoddy dialogue delivery, and attempts desperately to portray a baahubali, only to result in a huge failure.


(4) Mahabharat


Why did Prakash Jha need to lift 'The Mahabharat' to portray the current state of affairs in Indian politics is something I fail to understand. Does Indian politics lack the so called masala? And lift if he must, why does he have to do it in such a shabby way? That is a plain insult to one of the richest epics in the history of mankind. The scene in which "Kunti" meets "Karna" lacks any emotions in "Kunti", a scene which could have been so emotionally charged and powerful. Dialogues like "jeshth putra" delivered suddenly out of nowhere is amusing to say the least. "Krishna" almost makes a joke out of the "Gita updesh". "Dhritrashtra" looks like a caricature. Only Ajay Devgan and Manoj Bajpai managed to truly bring out the nature of "Karna" and "Duryodhan". The movie is not as gritty as I would have expected it to be, and there almost a feeling of disgust at the end of the movie.


The Ugly...


(5) The Godfather


Lift if he must from Mahabharat, why 'The Godfather' then? The scene where they plant a dead body in Babulal's bed is clearly an attempt to re-create the legendary horse-head scene from the original, without re-creating the same magic. The car bomb-blast scene is also lifted, in a situation where the same could easily have been achieved through an original dramatic instrument. 


(6) Katrina Kaif


This character pained me the most. Because, it had so much potential! But it was dumped into the trashcan. To me, it seemed Katrina Kaif's character had been merely reduced to a sex-starved woman who was forced  into politics under the circumstances. The public rallies shown in the movie were bad, the worst being the one in which Katrina addresses the crowd.   "Abhi humaari haatho ki mehendi ka rang bhi nahi utra tha, aur humaara ghar berehami se ujaad diya"! That too with such a lack of emotions! WTF? Did she even study Priyanka Vadra's appearances, like she said she had in her interviews. My case of putting Katrina at #1 in the list of women I wished were less famous is only stronger now. 


(7) Prakash Jha


Sir, after you have made brilliant movies like 'Apaharan' and 'Gangaajal', why this? Atleast you could have pulled off something original.  I fail to understand what will it take to develop "writing" in India! It is high time that movies focus more on "writing" than anything else. High time! Prakash Jha can take a lesson from Anurag Kashyap's 'Gulaal', which was original and intriguing.


Raajneeti...

Why I like to f***(book)

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Note 1: Like in the Hollywood, when they run out of ideas (I haven't yet, still...), they make sequels, or reboot a series, to make it darker or deeper, so am I, completing my 'The f***book trilogy'. But, it often does not work. So, I promise, there will (probably :P) be no more posts about f***book after this.

Note 2: I would have liked to call this post 'The f***book Revolutions'. In which case, 'The f***book Reloaded' can be found here, and 'The f***book' can be found here.
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I have pretty much lashed out on f***book in the previous editions of my posts. In my final installment, I would like to end it on a good note. Well, truth and happiness should prevail in the end, isn't it? There are some very good things that I like about f***book.


1) Lists

Your online-social-life can get pretty f***ed on f***book when you have several members of your family/boss/office colleagues/professors/other (unwanted) people in your friends list :D . Only if you don't know how to use lists. Head straight to your friends list, and segregate your friends into different lists, it would take 5 minutes. This done, you can share updates only with specific lists of people, read updates by people in a specific list, and appear online only for people in a specific list. Like they say, use protection on f***book. Better safe than worry.


2) Games / Applications

Some of the games and applications are pretty neat. I am not talking about Mafia Wars, or Farmville here. I am talking about some pretty cool and classic games like UNO and Scrabble, which one can play multi-player, in real-time, with their friends, or with people from around the world.


3) Idiocy

Trust me, it will keep you engaged. When you see some of the updates, you realize that there is practically no limits to the idiocy people can do on f***book. I thought Failbook was fictitious, until, similar updates started creeping into my updates. Its fun! Forget the status updates, it is hilarious to know what people "like". I didn't know 58,969 (and counting) people like "Breathing", 534,155 (and counting) people like "Food", and 1,245,847 (and counting) people like "Sleeping"; so much that they feel it imperative for other people to know. I don't know how will this get any better and more hilarious than this, but I trust f***book to get even better, the people will make it. Period.


4) Shameless self-promotion

When I make a post, I would goddamn shout upon you to read it. Read it. Read it. READ IT, WILL YOU?  And, 'like' it. 'Like' it. 'LIKE' IT, WILL YOU? I would naturally do it on f***book. And now my blog is integrated with f***book, so you can 'like' my posts on the blog itself. \m/ \m/ Do I feel ashamed doing this? Hell no! I deserve this after suffering the atrocities of people in my friends list in my updates. \m/


5) Privacy settings

F***book has pretty strong and powerful privacy settings. BUT, people don't know how to use it, and mess up. Oh the joy! When you visit a profile, and are able to circumvent the privacy settings, knowing that you are among the few people who can do it. :D Geek-joy in f***book-dom. :D


6) Google ka baap

There was a time when Google was Microsoft ka baap. Until, Google realized that its baap has pwned the web. F***book is already ahead of Google in terms of the time people spend on the site. Further, Google seems so intimidated by f***book, that it had to launch Buzz to counter it. The problem with f***book being more powerful is, the more powerful the beast is, the more scary the beast is. But, as long as two mighty and gigantic beasts are busy fighting it out in the ring, we might very well sit back, relax, and enjoy the show! I 'like' it.


P.S: I have only listed six, and not the usually attempted seven, for a reason... ;)

Why I like to f***(book)...