DOSTANA AAJ KAL

Movies have a tremendous influence on our lives, we pick a lot of things from movies, be it hairstyle or the way we dress or the way we talk and walk; we sometimes relate ourselves to the movies we watch atleast the realistic ones. Ain’t most movies extrapolation of real life scenarios? Doesn't Director use the social environment and stuffs it with cultures and values present in the society and create a complete package called movie? Even though all the characters are fictional & far too idealistic, efforts always remain to relate the characters in the movie with real life individuals. So the theme and thought process put forward is in and around that era or can only go a step ahead.

Movies of 70’s were built on concept of 'a friend in need is a friend indeed', coupled with twist in their friendship either due to wealth or women or a villain striking a discord between them. One movie that stands for all these is Dostana (1980). It’s a story of two friends Vijay( Amitabh as Inspector), Ravi(Shatrugan as Lawyer) both falling in love with Zeenat(Miss Sheetal). Their friendship was so deep that it never conflicted their professional lives. It’s a landmark in the INDIAN cinema as it represents Dostana or friendship of 70s or bromance as it could be called. Be it a friend sacrificing his love for the other, or a friend trying to destroy the other in the wake of misunderstanding, it truly was an epitome of friendship. "I can't build castle of mirth on the grave of my friend’s dreams"; that dialogue spoke for the whole decade of friendship.

Things changed drastically when Dostana(2008) hit the silver screen, it gave a new dimension to friendship that never existed much before or something that wasn't spoken or heard off, yes the three letter word 'GAY'. Until then there was a thick line b/w being true friends and being termed gay, but Dostana (2008) reduced it to wafer thin atleast among we INDIANs. To such an extent that it has made two men invariably maintain an arms distance, forget about putting arms over the shoulder. And our approach & thought process to this matter and is as unreal & lighthearted as gay relationship b/w Abhishiek and John in the movie. In today's world just like in the movie one would even pretend to be gay if the necessity demands, be it for an apartment or for a job or even getting close to female.

Yash Johar's 1980 Dostana was known for the dialogues b/w the legends Amitabh and Shatrughan & the intense characters that those two portrayed. Amitabh was an ideal son, responsible brother, caring lover & faithful friend. B/w them and along with Shatru it was a movie that represented the 70's culture. If Amitabh was the heartthrob of the 70's, Zeenat was the woman to watch out for. It was a movie close to be called complete.

Karan Johar's Dostana (2008) filled in all the void gaps that it's predecessor had left. It was complete movie, it had bikini clad Shilpa & Priyanka having a healthy competition for the men, muscular and brief clad John for the women, and the chemistry b/w John & Abhishiek for the rest.

And the term Baap Nambari to Beta Dus Nambari truly holds good for the Bachchans as later made 10 times more profit than the former.

PS: The blogs intention is not to hurt anyone’s feelings. Forgive me if I might have unintentionally.

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Does Birbal Cat Strategy Work Everywhere ?

In an episode in the sitcom "Everybody loves Raymond" (Sarabhai Vs Sarabhi is its INDIAN version) Raymond advises Robert, how to get away from doing the house hold chores. His strategy was basically to messes up the first time so that Debra, his wife never gave any important or extra chores. What struck me was that it was a no brainier strategy; it’s was the same old strategy that I was accused of using to get away from doing work. The fact was that I was inherently messy.

Just mess up a bit or give a cold response the first time and world would never assign you extra task. This strategy was demonstrated by the Great Birbal using a cat. Because he fed his cat with steaming milk for the first couple of days, his cat never drank milk and always ran away from milk. And after a month when everybody's cat had grown big and healthy, Birbal's cat was pale and lean. Birbal even showed Akbar that his cat never drank milk upon offer and always ran away for it. Akbar was astonished in the first place and then praised Birbal for his intelligence when the secret was revealed.

In our busy day today lives we tend to over look these Birbal's cat strategists. In grocery stores, super markets, malls, colleges, banks, offices you find them everywhere. These are the Amitabhs (angry young man), who would spur fire when approached; and with their grin, serious (read: scary) faces one would pass out rather than talking to them let alone seeking help. And with none of us having time/patience that Akbar had to analyze this, we tend to approach people with Madhuri (read: pleasant & smiling) faces and get the job done. The irony is that in the short run these Madhuri faced people tend to get the extra work just because they are approachable.

Next time just observe whom you would prefer to approach Amitabh or Madhuri and see if you can decipher and find those Birbal's cat strategists.

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