Twenty- five Seven

Shuddh Desi Romance – Not even remotely funny

September 11, 2013
Shudh Desi Romance is
– Pure garbage
– Pure nonsense
– Pure waste of time

Raghuram Sitaram as true blue as Jaipur Pottery is an itinerant tourist guide in the Pink City. He is also a minor con man who moonlights as a Wedding Guest on Hire (yes – there is such an outsourced service specially for runaway brides and grooms who don’t have their own guests to dance at the wedding) working for the jovial Mr. Rishi Kapoor a.k.a Mr. Goel who also plays cupid, agony aunt and counsellor apart from his real job of recruiting people to sing and dance at weddings. Gayatri is an IAS aspirant who has come to Jaipur ostensibly to enrol herself in Kota’s Crammer but spends all her time smoking ( chee chee and actually sleeping around with various boyfriends for some strange unknown reason). The two meet on the bus to Raghuram’s own wedding where Raghuram falls in love with Gayatri and indulges in some bus seat romancing in which the groom to be is so dazzled by her torrid kisses that he actually stands up the bride by running away via the toilet.

Gayatri ( Parineeta Chopra) and Raghuram ( Sushant Singh Rajput) shack up for what reason I still can’t fathom and we are treated to some really disgusting scenes which supposedly pass off as romantic and funny. Several inane songs later the two decide to get married but this time round it is Gayatri who pulls the plug at the wedding by again making a toilet escape.

By this time Raghuram is contrite and nursing a broken heart and in one Hired Wedding Party trip he comes across his jilted former bride (Tara) who is a cousin of the groom to be. There is a show down of sorts between Tara’s Uncle and Raghuram but Tara saves the day by asking her Uncle not to make a scene and gives Raghuram some money to go home. She also writes down her phone number. Raghuram meets her and again hooks up with her only to find that she was just interested in giving him a taste of his own medicine. But, cupid plays tricks and Tara falls in love with Raghu. But this is not the end of the movie…………..

At yet another wedding Tara and Raghuram come across Gayatri . Gayatri and Raghu are asked to go to the station to pick up the priest and when they return to the venue bump into each other (yes outside a toilet) and there is a showdown between all three. Eventually Tara realises that she is not really in love with Raghu and allows Ragu to marry Gayatri. But…….once again both of them run out on each other (again via the toilet) and land up in their love nest vowing never to get married because they are scared of relationships that bind.

The story was convoluted and silly, the dialogues hardly evoke a smile, the costumes garish and loud, the actors loutish and bad, the direction slow and boring……………

This movie is not Desi because it had
- no parents involved in the weddings
- young people who had not a care in the world but just traipsed around without any apparent financial support
And as for Romance – there’s nothing romantic about it.

Finally,this movie deserves to be banned for perpetuating the myth of the stereotypical single woman who smokes, drinks, lives alone, indiscriminately sleeps around and goes for men who are losers and who play rough. Frankly, I think the Censor Board is terribly irresponsible passing such a film in the light of the current need to educate our boys and men to treat our women with respect.
Bhaji Gully

September 10, 2013

Yesterday I was walking through Bhaji Gully when it suddenly struck me how wonderful it was to walk through a space that was so alive. Every day there is something new that is happening on this narrow street , one of the many side lanes which connect Nana’s Chowk to Grant Road Station. When this road was the road it was meant to be, I’m sure it was a discreet lane with residential buildings on either side. Somehow or the other ( I don’t know when) vegetable vendors started setting up stalls outside the building till gradually it became better known as Bhaji Gully.

As usual it was a mess with the road still slushy thanks to the occasional rain shower. The street was narrower than usual with the huge Pandals erected to welcome the neighbourhood Ganpati. The loudspeakers were blaring songs which though sang praises of the Lord were set to music more appropriate for the traditional folk dances (tamasha or lavani), the lyrics of which are usually raunchy replete with double entendre. In fact I first thought the music was distinctly inappropriate till the vegetable seller asked me to listen carefully – that’s when I realised that they were indeed playing “Godly” songs albeit with a distinctly un-Godly vibe.

But I’m not complaining because Bhaji Gully is truly a living almanac and reminds you of which festivals are round the corner especially during the festive season when it sells specialty produce for the festival to come. Special flowers meant for worship, garlands, bunches of fruit, incense sticks, oil lamps, brass trays, camphor pellets, cotton wicks, masks to assemble idols, bangles and beads, bells and all the stuff that you need to conduct a pooja.

So with today being Rishi Panchami, the vegetable sellers had all the veggies that go into making a special vegetable dish that is only eaten on this day. ( Read more on my blog foodities)
Welcoming Lord Ganesh

September 9, 2013

Somethings are just meant to be. Last week a friend of mine sent me this beautiful verse from the Quran :

“Be patient and strive with constancy and perseverance

For all suffering and sorrow as well as

All bounties proceed from God, Whose plan

Is righteous and for the good of His creatures”.

How do these words connect with Lord Ganesh?

Well, it’s a long story.

When I was a little girl, I remember walking up to the stalls near Bandra lake to pick up a tiny clay idol to bring back home to my granny’s house. That tiny space had Ganeshas of all sizes perched on shelves, waiting to be picked up by worshippers like us. There were some people,my mother told me who brought Him home every year as part of family tradition and those people had the very same idol made year after year! But ours was meant to be just for us, to initiate and familiarise us with our rites and traditions and my brother and I were allowed to chose the idol that we liked the most. We made a tiny procession my brother, mother, granny and I walking home solemnly with a garishly coloured Lord Ganesh. My mother maintained this “tradition” till as long as we could manage it and I felt sorry that our family didn’t have its own Ganesha to worship. Even though my granny did the puja every day, the fragrance of agarbatti and camphor,the warm glow of the lamp , the clanging of the cymbals, the ringing of the bell and the chants that we joyously sang seemed extra special at this time of year. I had always wanted to re-create this atmosphere in my own home and was overjoyed when Hubby Dear came home one day with a silver Ganesh idol that someone had gifted him! And what a magnificent Ganesh He was, sitting grandly under a carved silver canopy just waiting to be revered on Ganesh Chaturthi. My wish came true that year with the Lord walking right into my home.

My little girls were as thrilled as I was seeing this glorious gift and we celebrated Ganesh Chaturthi that year with special enthusiasm . For around ten years we kept Lord Ganesh outside in the living room for all the ten days of the festival, each day decorating His corner with flowers and rangoli designs. We sang prayers and we lit lamps and when all the Ganeshas slipped back into the sea, we put ours back in the cupboard to be brought out again the next year.

Our ten day festival shrank to 1 1/2 days as the girls got more involved with their lives but our enthusiasm did not diminish. However, this year with the house left with just us Golden Oldies with bad backs weighed down with memories I was debating whether or not to install him in our living room…..Festivals don’t seem that festive without children running around, invigorating the house with their energy and presence.

But obviously God had other plans because by last evening I somehow found myself cleaning up the house, bringing out the idol, buying garlands and flowers to welcome Him home.

Ganpati Bappa Morya!

Shuddh Desi Romance – Not even remotely funny

Bhaji Gully

Welcoming Lord Ganesh