Muskuraiye ki aap Lucknow mein hain

Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, is a great place.
It has some charisma inherent in its culture and in the way people live their life. The "Tehzeeb" of Lucknow and the famous words from Lucknow "Pehle Aap!" are known to everyone. In essence it reflects the gentle and suave ways of people who stay there.

A great joke goes around about “Pehle Aap” phenomenon in Lucknow:

“A Begum in Lucknow got pregnant and to every ones surprise, the kids were not borne for 4 years!!!! On consulting the doctor’s and on doing MRI scans it was found that there were twin ‘Nawab’ kids saying ‘Pehle aap’ to each other”.

Rightly informed by a friend from Lucknow @ “Confusing Musings”:

“Lucknow hum per fida, Hum Fida-ai-Lucknow
Kismein hai dum itna, Jo Humsey Chhudwai Lucknow”

Also

“You can take a person out of Lucknow,
but can't take Lucknow out of that person :)”

One want's it or not, the spirit of Lucknow lives in every person from Lucknow.

Buzzzzz

Q: Why do mosquitoes always buzz in your ears?

A: For the simple reason that you cannot hear, except from your ears!

From 'Julie-t' to 'Julie'

Last weekend I saw the much talked about movie “Julie”.
A lot has been said all over the media space about the movie and the sex-sational scenes that Neha Dhupia has dared. The words going around, about the movie, are not far from credible.

It definitely has what it takes to call the movie X-Rated. The steaming scenes executed by Miss Dhupia in all but clothes are as good as a love scene in a typical X-Rated English movie. This is not typical of Indian movies.

Reflecting on the idea behind the movie and the maverick content, there are certain distinct ‘things’ that I noticed:

• The movie is definitely not typical of the Indian types as far as explicit sexual scenes are concerned
• The movie definitely conveys a message to the society in general
• The movie depicts how an innocent girl, driven by circumstances, can take to prostitution, this being an eye opener

The movie draws attention of audience only in the second half of the movie when ‘Julie’ decides to air her voice via ‘C TV’. The audience, simply enjoying the steaming scenes of the movie is suddenly taken out of the trance of the sexually explicit scenes and, is forced to contemplate, until the ‘climax’, why ‘Julie’ has taken this bold step of coming live on TV and expose her identity.

The arguments offered towards the end of the movie are bold and enlightening and justify the step of ‘Julie’ as far as the movie and the deep rooted love and sentiments of ‘Julie’ are concerned.

I don’t deny that the situation depicted in the movie cannot happen in real life but the solution suggested in the movie is not an acceptable one, I do not concur on the same, not without reason.

How many people that belong to the masses are like ‘Shandilya’, in India?
‘Shandilya’ is able to take this step because of his position and people are ready to listen to him out of the magnanimity he possesses.

The movie is for the masses and not for exceptions. Reflecting at the Indian social setup, a common Indian accepting a prostitute as his wife is far from credible, exceptions will always be there and we cannot consider exceptions as milestones.

The situation and the solution in the movie are common in western countries, and are a part of ‘There’ social setup and culture. The movie suggests this for India. This is outrageous. We have our own social setup and culture that is far from what western countries have. Such solutions to social problems have the potential to upset the delicate balance of the beautiful Indian system.

The movie has completely messed up with the sentiments, on love, of the masses and the idea of projecting prostitution as a social problem and the rebellious way to resolve the same.

The conclusion of the movie with the maverick decision, of marrying ‘Julie’, of ‘Mr. Shandilya’, reflects the essence of the movie, the rest of it is just to make the movie earn petty bucks.

I have a question for ‘Julie’:

• Why does she have to be a ‘Julie-t’ for every other guy that approaches her???? Which eventually degrades her psychologically and the basic instincts for survival force her to take up to prostitution.

Above question in essence puts a question mark to the making of ‘Julie’. I feel it’s an attempt to create a commercially successful box-office hit.