A must watch for everyone!!!

              I spent the entire Sunday afternoon lazily watching re-runs.I managed to squeeze in Memento as well. You can call it the Ghajini effect. The English version was a million times better. Somehow, we lack the subtlety to make/ re-make a movie like Memento.I saw Mumbai Meri Jaan for the fifth time that day. This movie is a very intelligent take on the 2006 Mumbai train blasts. The movie is based on the aftermath of the ghastly attacks. It traces it’s path through five common men.

I loved the characters in the movie. Tukaram Patil (Paresh Rawal) is a policeman who is due for retirement in a week and has done little in the 35 years of his career. He colleague, Sunil Kadam (Vijay Maurya), is disgruntled with the system and is frustrated at his helplessness and ineffectiveness in bringing about a change.

Kadam’s leave is cancelled because of the blasts. Maurya is paired with Tukaram Patil for the routine patrol following the blasts. They come across a bar that is operating beyond the scheduled time. Kadam marches into the bar and orders the patrons to leave.

“Aaj Shehar main bomb phootey hain aur tumlog ko beer peeneka hain? Chal nikal!” Bombs have exploded throughout the city and you guys want to drink beer?

Tukaram Patil calmly walks into the bar and demands a  bribe from the bar owner. He asks the owner to give the money to Kadam. Kadam storms out of the bar.

“Patil Saheb mujhe ek baat batao, yeh shehar main Bomb blast hota hai..mera chutti cancel hota hai.. lekin sahab ko raatko beer bar chalu rehta hai, voh chalta hai?”  Sir, they (his superiors) cancelled my honeymoon plans because of the bomb blasts yet allow the beer bars to operate beyond the time limit, is this fair?

Paresh Rawal answers, “Abhi Bomb Blasts ke baad tum yeh beer bar bhi band karega, toh Mumbai main ‘Spirit’ kidhar se aayega?” After the bomb blasts,if you close down the bars as well, where will Mumbai get it’s ‘Spirit’ from? (Pun intended)

                 It was one of the most memorable scenes in the movie. Apart from Soha Ali Khan, the movie has some really terrific performances by Kay Kay Menon, R. Madhavan , Paresh Rawal and the best perhaps, Irfan Khan.

Irfan Khan plays a tea vendor in the movie. Personally, he is unaffected by the blasts but the feeling of being left out by the city’s elite, he find a way of retribution by making hoax calls to the Police. His Tamil-accented Hindi is a revelation and though he does not have many dialogues, he is the most expressive in the movie.

                 I frequent malls a lot. We shop, dine at malls. Until this movie, I never gave thought to how left out an ill-educated, tea vendor would feel in a mall. Irfan Khan did that with a few incoherent mumbles.

In the end, Paresh Rawal says, “Mumbai ke mills gaye, hartal bhi khatam ho gaye. Aur ab toh, Mill ki zameen par ek bahut badha, alishaan mall khada hai. Par kabhi kisi garib, bechare aadmi ko uss mall main dekhta hoon na, toh lagta hai ki uske mann main toh yeh hartal abhi tak chaalu hai.” With the mills, the workers’ agitation also died. And today, there is a luxurious mall in it’s place. But whenever I see a poor man in a mall, I realise that he still agitates, silently.

 The movie depicts the human side of the cops and it ends up endearing a much maligned lot. As the proverbial stone thrown upon an anthill, the film depicts the aftermath of the incident, traversing individual journeys of five worker ants, amongst the millions that belong to the colony, towards normalcy.

Of Mumbai and the Rest of India...

Some time back, our city was known for it’s accommodating nature. The way Bombay welcomed everyone with open arms and embraced their culture, was what defined it. Our culture was a tad different from the rest of India and so was our language..and yes, the Mumbaikar was proud of it. It was the city where dreams were made and shattered daily. A city that created Bachchans and Ambanis ,  Shahrukhs and Tendulkars out of common men.

What has happened in the recent times is shameful and has destroyed what Mumbai has stood for so long. I knew that there will be ugly repercussions , but what has again hurt me is the apathy of the Police and the authorities.

The loss of property was enormous. Some lives were lost too.

1. MNS workers beat up Railway applicants from UP and Bihar at the Kalyan railway station. One Man succumbs to his injuries.

The Police say that this was a railway accident.

2.  Well, some educated guy from Patna holds a bus to ransom and tries to do a “Rang De Basanti” in real life. Shoots a commuter in the leg out of panic.

Result : The Police fire  5 rounds into his head and body.

Eyewitnesses say that the Man (Hell, he was only 23) was repeatedly yelling that he would harm nobody. A la Rang De Basanti climax from the Police still.

3. Some goons bash a poor guy in the train just because he is from North India. He loses his life.

The Police attribute this to a fight over a window seat. They say that it was not a hate crime.

This is not a state of denial by the Mumbai Police, but mere hogwash. The rise of regional terrorism has damaged the very social fabric of the city. I know some people stand to gain from these moves and most of them have been largely successful. Raj Thackeray has certainly managed to hog the national headlines. From being the sidelined Thackeray, he has emerged as the roaring cub who is willing to fight for the Marathi cause. From being a rip off to the Shiv Sena, the Maharastra Navnirman Sena has now carved off an identity of it’s own. Mayawati’s BSP would now fight for the Bihari cause whereas the Congress has divided the Shiv Sena’s Marathi Vote and the and Mayawati’s Dalit Vote by giving Raj a free run. That was a nice political move. I know that a sense of morality was never there but this unabashed display of apathy towards the National cause has hurt me.

The hatred that one attributed to political parties and fanatics has slowly started seeping into the common man’s mind as well. The hate has trickled down to households now.  I have seen instances of educated individuals indulging in discrimination and also the educated being discriminated against. No place in Bombay is bereft of hate now. Trains, buses, schools , BPOs you name it, the hateful propaganda is running successfully everywhere.

But one can’t confine hate to a particular community. Most of the Maharashtrians I know are disgusted with the way the things are turning out to be. I for one, am ashamed for having hailed the formation of the MNS once. For me, Bombay without the quintessential Bhaiyya is not Bombay. We all are the “Sons of the Soil” so what if the language spoken is a tad different? I’d rather not be a part of a Bombay that is not welcoming anymore. I would rather settle in a hated Patna than be a part of a hateful Bombay.

I hope. I pray that sanity prevails.