Gopi's boss s(t)ings!!!

Gopi's meeting with an American colleague...

when Gopi meets a little monster...

The day after my best day

Just finished No Condom No Sex and what a relief that has been. Films always tend to grow on you towards the end. That’s the worst possible phase to loose out because that when you are doing what most essentially has to be done; finish in style.

Editing was a bit tiring towards the end, because of the complexities of the software that we used. Although it was far simpler than some of the other tools available in the market but the creative process drains you and you are left with nothing but a tired feeling of accomplishment. In fact you don’t feel that accomplishment either as you have gone through so much toil any amount of success in return seems to be dwarfed by the efforts put in. However, you still cannot take disappointments at this stage. This is strange. Success doesn’t make to ecstatic, but failures dip you down.

Before my next project I will take up certain writing assignments. Writing oxygenates me. I think I have used that word “oxygenate” many other times too. I like it, one of those rare words who are able to measure up to the emotion behind. Writing is mainly a challenge as my mind wanders into too many plots at the same time. This morning I actually wrote 3 different stories simultaneously. Absurd? I don’t know. I might want to develop a style of my own soon or I will fall into the danger of loosing sight soon. Some of those plots die their natural death. But once started, a plot doesn’t leave you that easily, even if it dies. It lives in your memory and come back stronger later.

So, one good news is that now days I don’t have to deal with writer’s block. I am kind of superstitious; I don’t want to talk about it lest it may hit me again. But what I suffered from was not exactly writer’s block. It was amateur’s block. But I am now suffering from a new block which is more profound than the earlier one. My obsessions to avoid clichés are bothering me. No matter what writing I do, I always come out dissatisfied. It raises big questions. Questions that have unpleasant answers. Where ever I see any interesting writing I look for that element of originality that outshines the rest of the piece. I feel I lack the spunk. I become glum and restless. The battle goes on, until one moment comes where I see that phrase, in my grasp. Then I move on.

Brush Strokes

I have been having various emotional experiences yet not been able to put them into words. Sometimes I wonder what is more oxygenating to me; reading or writing. I read mostly to reach to those hidden emotions where once reached, I don’t want to come back to reality at all. The fiction becomes a bridge to travel to the reality within me. I see reality but only perceive it when fiction intoxicates me.

About writing
For me, writing is rarer yet more permanent. When you lift the pen, you don’t merely put thoughts on paper, you churn yourself, for all the emotional imbalances. Inevitably, words only come out when you want to create a balance out of an unbalanced situation within you. When I write I feel more close to my inhibitions, more concerned about my fears.

Poetry
Writing poetry is another difficult experience to bear. Like someone said, “as a writer you have a whip which could only be used for self-flagellation”. But the fruits are so enriching that you want to go through the pain and fire to see the end.
A full-blooded poem is a journey to a road less travelled (to use the cliché). Once you embark on that inner journey within, the road gets wider and you get lonelier. The absolute solitude of those moments of thoughts sets a rhythm in you which few people experience. Those who claim to have had a ride on this inner rhythm are gifted.

Why say it out?
Why a few things cannot be left unsaid? Why does human heart seek satisfaction by opening out an emotional secret? I see that many story tellers create situations and circumstances where people move towards that center point of utter revelation. And worse when others around them seem to be questionably interested as if the whole set up was meant only for that one moment when the character will speak her heart out. When the emotion was inside the character somehow the audiences were carrying the burden too and when it is blurted out, the audiences feel unburdened. This drains them out and emptiness follows. You almost feel cheated. Things should be left unsaid when there is no particular motive to reveal them. If it is not a narrative necessity, don’t speak out.

Fly in the eye

A striking moment occurred to me yesterday when I was watching something beautiful and imaginative on the screen. The image does not escape me yet. It has lingered on ever since. It was the image of the eyes of a dying horse and of the tiny flies hovering over it. Death was waiting to embrace the animal and flies to eclipse the eyes, but he was still breathing on. His eyes were dozing off never to open again.

There were other some very touching moment through the 2 hour long film called “Waltz With Bashir”. I am sure many of you have seen this film and agree to what I am about to say. This film takes you through the broken images of the lost memory of a war soldier in Israel. Although the film revolves around this character but the theme is essentially war. What is most striking about the film is the freshness of the story and psychological element around it. It depicts brutality of the war yet avoids direct narrative. Hence the overall effect is quite sublime and profound.

This is animation at its best. You cannot make out the fine line between the real and the surreal and the film travels between these two genres very effortlessly. You hardly notice the shift. Sometimes you are transported to the war scene with guns and flares, and interspersed between these are dreamlike experiences owing the complex nature of human mind and how it reacts to warlike situations. There are also some very interesting almost scientific insights into the minds of humans especially during trauma and war.

The film is very brisk in the narrative but never hurries on to you. It pauses to ponder when it should doesn’t drag on when it shouldn’t. The film gets over in under 100 minutes and ends up telling a whole lot of things about life, war, people and crime, mostly through those striking images. It is an irony that whatever you can achieve with animation can hardly ever been imagined other genres yet there are very few experiments in animation in most of the big film industries. Agreed that you see a lot of animation work but most of it carries a stereotype of big entertainment value rather than serious and solemn cinema. If the success of the cinema is measured by how much it moves you and whether is it able to give you something which is unique in nature and very distinctive observation about life then this film has be of a great value to the world of cinema and viewers.

बढे चलो

एक बार फिर वही हुआ जिसका अंदेशा था
झारखण्ड में खंडित जनादेश।
फिर सिलसिले शुरू होंगे,
खरीद फरोख्त और सीटों के बन्दरबाट के
फिर मारकाट मचेगी

अन्याय के नारे गूंजेंगे फिर शांत हो जायेंगे,
ताकि आगे की कार्रवाई शुरू हो
कुछ जेबें गरम हों,
कुछ घरों की आग से

जल जंगल जमीं सब जायज है
मगर हर जायज चीज़ जरूरी नहीं
जिसको आगे बढ़ना हो वो रास्ता खुद निकाले
खुद को जलाये या दुनिया को
इतनी दूरदर्शिता लेकर सोचना बेकार है
आज में जीने में ही भलाई है

उद्योग ही विकास है
उनकी जरूरत सर्वोपरि,
क्यूंकि वे समाज का स्तर ऊँचा किये हुए हैं
वे हमारे देश की बैसाखी हैं
उनके विषय में बहस निरर्थक है,
इसीलिए कुछ समाज के उत्तराधिकारियों का
उनके इशारों पर खेलना अनुचित नहीं,
जो वादे किये जा चुके हैं,
उनसे पीछे नहीं हटा जा सकता,
अनदेखा नहीं किया जा सकता।

आदिवासी क्या हैं ?
उस सभ्यता के पद चिन्ह,
जिन्हें परिवर्तन की हवाओं से मिटना होगा,
और आखिर वो भी तो गतिशील समाज हैं,
जिसमें कुछ भी ठहरा नहीं रह सकता।

यह जरूरी नहीं कि
सारी मानव जाती सिर्फ जल जंगल जमीं की उपासना में जुट जाये
और भी मक़ाम हैं काबिल-ऐ-हासिल