In a parallel universe
Where gravity does not exist
Nor the impenetrable boundaries created by the human race
I will meet you there
And hold your soft and delicate hand
Only to float away in the limitless blue-sky.
Floating in the Sky
0The Girl at the Railway Station
0
I happen to meet you at every railway station.
I see you in that Hizab wearing girl
She has been sitting next to my bench
for so long that I have taken several dives into her black eyes.
Quiet unaware of me, she carries on with playing with the one extreme her dupatta
I find you in that girl
Who with her crooked tooth and silver nose-ring
Could have easily inspired thousands of warriors to sacrifice their lives for her.
I meet you in that girl
Who has been talking incessantly on phone
She has been moving her lips as if they were rose petals
And were fluttering in the cool breeze of autumn
She too does not get transfixed by my unusual renderings.
What about that girl
Whose red-white polka dotted Salwaar appears to me as if thousands of murderous wars have been fought there
Doesn’t she look like you
Ah! You may declare that these all are just my glorified imaginations
And you don’t shadow chase me everywhere
But what about that mischievous smile of yours
which kills me thousand times
when I happen to meet you at the railway station.
Satya : a mafia story or a family melodrama
0
When I was done with my work yesterday, I thought of watching a movie. I didn’t have any particular movie in mind. I had been watching world cinema for a while but this time, I wanted a change. I didn’t want to watch a movie this time which was full of discourses on life and death. Yet I was not prepared for watching a movie which would have a low content value. It was like going for a healthy soup for a change instead of having full course of Chinese herbs. I didn’t anticipate that this soup was going to be a movie called ‘Satya’ directed by Ram Gopal Varma.
As I was always a great admirer of mafia movies, I thought of just to watch two or three scenes of Satya and then see if it was anyway near to ‘The Godfather’, a greatest mafia movie ever. 
I also wanted to accomplish an aesthetical comparison of Satya with a French mafia movie titled ‘A Prophet’. I have watched other mafia movies also, both in Indian and foreign languages, but I have never come across a mafia movie like The Godfather or A Prophet. What I really liked about The Godfather was its true representation of American way of life. Don Corleone was not just a gun-trotting, bad-mouthing gangster, but a firm believer in family values. Though he had become a billion-dollar, Rolls Royce owner don, his middle class values were intact. He was powerful enough to challenge the police system of his state, yet he preferred to play by the rules of the game. Today if we are anyway familiar to Marlon Brando, it is only because of this movie. He won Academy award for best actor for his performance in the movie.
A Prophet is definitely not best cinema from France but it is surely among one of the best movies released in 21st century. French have very classy tastes when it comes to cinema and I think France the only country in the world where movies are watched in palaces (theatres are like palaces). A Prophet is about an Algerian immigrant in France, blamed for inciting violence against the police, and hence imprisoned. He faces hatred from fellow jail-mates because he has an Arab origin. 
Muslim jail-mates also dislike him as he doesn’t grow beard and like to be left alone than participating in religious discussions. He is an outcaste. Movie is a beautiful depiction of an inner struggle of a man, who knows that he is not a wrongdoer but society suspects him to be one. Jacques Audiard, who directed this movie, opens up layers of pseudo-religiosity, fake solidarity and pathological hatred from our daily lives. This movie too was received with critical acclaim and won many awards at Cannes Film Festival.
It was not that I was watching Satya for first time. I had watched it long ago when I had no exposure to world cinema and was not aware of cinematic senses. This time, watching Satya was like a revelation for me. I found a very realistic representation of middle class life of Mumbai, over-crowded and over-burdened yet very lively. The protagonist of this movie, Satya has no knowledge of his parents. He has nothing to lose, he considers death not more than a deep sleep. He is close observer yet he remains detached. He rarely speaks but his eyes reveals everything. Bhikhu Mhatre has sense of humor, he loves his friends like a child loves her toys. 
For Bhikhu Mhatre’s wife, love and hate are not dichotomous. Even her hate for her husband seems to be overflowing with love. They all laugh, cry, joke, drink and dance. There is no pretention. There may be some disagreement, but when right chords are touched, music is just amazing. There are no rules and if there is any, it is made to be violated. For me, Satya is only mafia movie, which is so emotionally loving. I find no parallel of this kind of mafia movie in Hindi cinema and in a pan-Indian scenario, only Tamil movie Nayakan has the same social values but overarching presence of Kamal Hasan makes it less interesting. Nayakan too won a national award for Kamal Hasan.
What I find interesting is, movies like Satya has more social and cultural values than movies like Satyagraha which are labelled as a socially oriented cinema but have little social and cultural values. I just don’t agree with filmmakers who differentiate between styles of meaningful cinema and mainstream cinema. You can be a mainstream film-maker yet make socially-relevant cinema like Jean Luc Godard did in France. Now I am thinking of watching more Indian movies, just to see if I am able to create any new meanings out of it.
Light and Tunnel
1
Life is like Konkan Railway
Where tunnels keep coming in
Every now and then
Moment after moment
One after one
Even blocking the rays of mighty Sun
Their unending dark embrace
Arises in me feelings of
Disgust, suffocation and frustration
But as the famous saying goes
At the end of every tunnel
There is a light
That brings life in natural form
And this way
Journey of life goes on...
The Art of Losing
3When you make
Deliberate effort
To leave things unsaid
And questions unanswered
When your thoughts vacillate
But your soul is not bothered
When you relish
The fullness of void
With a silent nod
Believe me
These traits of your personality
Are not the indicators of
Psychological or schizophrenic disorder
Instead this non-random randomness
Simply shows that
You are perfecting
The art of losing
A Fool's Paradise 