ANICCA

The twisted life of a steadicam operator!

2009-07-19T12:40:00.002+05:30

From Shanker's facebook!

Le voyeur

2009-07-09T09:33:00.004+05:30

Aeng couple at Moshe's doing lots footsie and handsie

Mr. Chhaya of the 9th floor hugs the corner of the lift

Hand

Arm and poster for 'Partygirls' on bus

Old friends on a rainy day

2009-07-08T13:38:00.003+05:30

Rohan and Chitra on a lovely rainy day.

Met in college, went to town, had lunch and great coffee at Indigo Deli. Saw the exhibition SOAK at NGMA, with Bahaar, Kuntal and Ranjit. Went to Jehangir for the OSIAN exhibition which had already closed. More tea at Samovar. Then got soaked in rain and went to Haji Ali! My first time there in all these years. Then, a 3 hour drive home via the Bandra Worli Sea link in pouring rain! But all worth it.

2009-06-27T20:39:00.003+05:30

I am told that this name was a true expression of relief by the inhabitants of this house, refugees from Bangladesh. This was at EPDP, or East Pakistan Displaced People's Colony, which later came to be known as Chittaranjan Park, Delhi.

Rain again!!!

2009-06-26T08:45:00.002+05:30

This morning at 7:45!

Dilli art and history tourism, personal and otherwise

2009-06-25T09:55:00.010+05:30

The lovely 'Dancing Girl' sculpture of Harappa at the National Museum. It is really small, something I had never imagined, having only seen photographs in text books till now, a total of four inches in height. Somehow, I have always found the description of the sculpture as a 'dancing girl' unconvincing. It is nude, with well-articulated sexual organs and jewellery associated with a courtesan and that amazing posture, but still the one-liner description does not convince me. Mortimer Wheeler and my history teachers from DU may damn me. Sculpture in ancient India has funnily been of a Bunuelesque nature, where women are either goddesses or the prostitutes.

Phallus and terracota figurine.

Vasantsena the courtesan, Gupta period.

Kuber, the god of wealth, Gupta period. Wealth and pot-belly go hand-in-hand!

Map of Banaras.

Map of Jammu with amazing perspective shifts.

Trust GOI to do this in the miniature gallery, making it look like a silly Punjabi restaurant.

And this.. GOI creativity.

Nehru automata at Teen Murti Bhavan. It makes small moves as it makes the 'Tryst with Destiny' speech, in a room replicating the Parliament House.

Dr. Rajendra Prasad and a security guard who seems to be looking at the camera.

Ambedkar and Govindvallabh Pant in the audience.

Nehru's sitting room.

Nehru's office.

The famous portrait of Nehru and Gandhi.

A cartoon in a Marathi newspaper, saying 'remove all dirt from the country'. The dirt is Churchill.

Inside the Red Fort. Small shrine outside public toilet, behind the Meena Bazaar.

The bridges across Ring Road. We discovered the new Freedom Fighters museum, mainly the INA, across from the Red Fort, at the Salimgarh Fort. I crossed these bridges for the first time, having always driven below them.

You cross teh railway line using a bridge that cheaply but cutely replicates the ramparts of the Red Fort.

British interventions.

Lutyens homage trip.

And lunch at our family favourite, United Coffee House in CP.

Guard at the Indira Gandhi Memorial, where they have made a 'River of Glass' on the path she last walked and transparent glass where she fell. Who thinks of all this? The Memorial is actually very well made, also partly because she was way more photographed than other leaders and very incredibly photogenic and charismatic at that. The memorial skips any mention of the emergency, by just talking about her losing the elections and returning to power three years later. All this is way more palpable than the Nehru or Gandhi memorials as we saw all this happen. The memorial becomes morbid as you move through the rooms (and how many tourists, my god, brought in hordes by tour operators), as they display the clothes worn by and bag carried by her when she was shot - a bullet-holed orange saree. And then seamlessly it turns into a Rajiv Gandhi memorial, with his tattered clothes and Reebok shoes too on display. Why?

The new high-tech multimedia exhibition at Birla Bhavan, the Mahatma Gandhi memorial, funded by the Aditya Birla Group, done by NID alumni. Above, a kaleidoscope, with changing Gandhi images. All form and little content. Lots of video projections, lots of interactive displays and all video content sourced from either old DD style documentaries, or Richard Attenborough's film. Surely they could have generated more content? Then, things like a 'Tree of Unity' sculpture, where you stand on either side and hold hands and the tree lights up with blue lights. Its a one-liner fair.

LCD screens in Gandhi's eyes!

Ladakh 2

2009-06-19T17:37:00.010+05:30

The Main Market, Leh

Kebab seller and hordes of Bihari migrant labourers in the market

The only cinema house in Leh, just called Cinema house, with no name.

Lobby.

The small and intimate Samkar Gompa. The only women monks we saw.

Courtyard at Samkar Gompa

Tibetan refugee market

Apricot tree in a bylane

Dawa's toy son at the guest house

Stupas at Shey Palace, DD transmitter

Shey Palace, where the king of Ladakh stays

Medieval paintings at Shey Palace

In the prayer room

Hemis monastery

At Hemis

Rivers of sand

Guest House at Tang Tse, near Pangong.

Rivers of snow.

The Army restaurant at Pangong Tso

Pangong Tso. 1/3 in India, 2/3 in China (Tibet).

Crystal clear water. Salty to taste!

On the way back from Pangong Tso Lake

Chang La Pass at 17500 feet! You are advised not to stay longer than 20 min because of the rarified atmosphere. Complimentary apple tea, courtesy the Indian Army.

Chang La.

The way down from Shanti Stupa, Leh.

The highest golf course in the world, Leh.

Twister over Leh town.

Ladakh sketches

2009-05-03T17:05:00.009+05:30

Apricot flowers at Alchi

So this is my veryyyyyy delayed report on Ladakh, delayed due to too many reasons to list, including my bad MTNL connection! Most of my friends already know about the trip, have seen the pictures, read Rohan's lost post, but I would still like to write about it as it was so beautiful, plus, I will remember it better if I put it down.

That scale is unimaginable, over-powering and very beautiful. What follows is an annotated photo-essay . Of course, like I told my parents, no pictures can ever describe it - the vastness, the deep blue sky and the ever changing landscape, which is a geologist's paradise, so varied, every few kilometres.

At Alchi, by the Indus

At a restaurant on the way back from Lamayuru

At Lamayuru monastery

Moon landscape near Lamayuru

DD relay centre at Basgo, in the middle of nowhere!

Leh

I had given up on writing this post. But the pictures of Ladakh in the papers in the last two days, due to elections there, just brought it all back. This is still a very incomplete post. Will upload more pictures, write more when I can.

Meghe Dhaka Tara

2009-03-24T21:58:00.005+05:30

On the wall of FTII's main theatre.

In Bangalore

2009-03-22T19:21:00.000+05:30

oh man!

2009-03-18T11:46:00.003+05:30

kuntal and me, probably at the end of the second year at ftii! me and my famous shawls, delhi style! this surfaced on facebook. :)

From Chennapatna

2009-03-18T00:15:00.003+05:30

Sponsor an executive

2009-03-07T12:51:00.002+05:30

4th March 2009

2009-03-05T10:48:00.001+05:30

excuse me?

2009-02-11T18:01:00.002+05:30

at shoppers stop, juhu.

The other day

2009-01-19T23:10:00.004+05:30

I took a picture of the boy who was making hungry faces at us across the window pane, miming eating the food he would buy with the money that we wouldn't have given him. This was one of his intermediate nasty faces before glee.

I often tease kids at crossings and they play up the performance that goes with professional begging a little longer.

Pune, Mulshi and Nandurbar

2009-01-17T22:48:00.007+05:30

Just returned from a week long shoot in these places. Was excited about going to Nandurbar for its quaint name that we had heard in relation to the bird flu outbreak. And we traveled there from Pune by an all-night sleeper bus. That is something you should experience once in your life - and once is enough!

See more pictures here.

School at Nagsar village, Nandurbar

Ponderous, arty school kids

Quilts made of Congress flags

Drying red chillies

Paani..

2008-12-26T09:38:00.000+05:30

Paani doodh se mehngo hai..
Ve paani tel se mehngo hai..
Ve paani..

Religion and therapy

2008-12-23T23:03:00.003+05:30

In Argentina, they say, there are two kinds of people - therapists and those who go to therapists. Somewhere else (I forget where), it was those who go for confession and those who go for therapy. If religion and therapy are different kinds of mindfucks for fucked minds, give me therapy any day. It doesn't jam city roads.

Have been driving to and from South Bombay with frustrating regularity and the current traffic jammer is the urs at Mahim. If not that, it could be Ganpati, navratri or the Mahim fair. Today it took two and a half hours, including all the jams along the eternally under-contruction Western Express Highway (express highway?). Yesterday was similar. Last week, it took two hours when we had left town after 11 pm.

A friend had said, 'every god has it's day'. Tuesdays it is Siddhivinayak, Wednesdays, Mahim Church and Thursdays, the dargah at Mahim. The naive atheist that I am, I still shake my head at what all people do, the lengths they go to, to feed the abstraction called god. Having grown up in a religious family hasn't helped understand things any better. Someone once told me, religion may be there to teach you tolerance, be tolerant towards the religious. If only the religious were tolerant, or could be religious without jamming roads, blaring loudspeakers and the flavour of the month - go around killing people.

So, between religion and therapy, it is an easy choice for me, if ever I have to make that choice.

Manto ki truck

2008-12-21T17:56:00.005+05:30

Through the pitter-patter of thick, dusty raindrops on my windshield I saw this. 'Good man di lalten' written in Gujarati on the back of a truck. Some very literary truck-wala, quoting from Manto's 'Toba Tek Singh'. Or, is that a truck-art way of saying 'Use dipper at night'? Great, nevertheless!

Terror by Highly-Trained Terrorists and Misguided Journalists

2008-12-02T18:17:00.003+05:30

Our mailboxes have been flooded with terror-related e-mails, forwards and petitions. It is indeed very sad and shocking, everything that has happened. While one deals with the implications of the massive terror strike we have just gone through, what saddens me more and fills me with utter despair is the callousness of our free media in the way they brought it all to us. They have come under severe criticism for their loud and irresponsible reportage of the attack on Mumbai. The inciting tone still continues and I do not believe that they can separate duty from the need for profit and TRP ratings. Believe me, I am from the media, I know bad work when I see it.

I firmly believe that the media's role is to report to the public, share and shape informed public opinion. It cannot be based on conjecture, which is a natural part of live coverage of news events, where they clearly lack information. Even worse is the background music and gunshot laden portrayal of a very grave tragedy and personal grief. Our reporters have shamed us once again, whether it was Barkha, Arnab or Rajdeep. I cannot bear to watch Hindi news, so I don't have any names.

This situation dismays me beyond hope. If there is war against Pakistan, our news channels will have a major hand in facilitating it. They will lead to loss of innocent lives, pretty much like the misguided youth who attacked Mumbai. Cynics have believed that apart from arms dealers, it is the news media that needs war and strife to sustain themselves. I am beginning to agree.

Have you noticed how everything on the media is about war? Family soaps are about warring clans. Sports is about war in its imagery - armours and weapons. Even a music show like Sa Re Ga Ma Pa is called 'Sangeet ka Vishwayudh'. The next time you watch anything on Indian TV, please pay attention to the background music. It is war, in our living rooms, regardless of what you are watching.

Did you notice that there were ever any images of dead bodies, in neither of the Gulf Wars? I shudder to think of the Indian media's reportage of war, riot or any other man-made calamity. We clearly need a definite media policy that lays down the rules for broadcasting, especially in sensitive situations like this one.

I do not believe that as a culture we are so hungry for violence for our daily sustenance. I do not believe that our television channels, like our films, give us what the audience demands. They cater to the basest of human emotions, play on our insecurities, to keep us glued. In this instance, it is worse then the CM's callous attitude to the whole affair. The news media, FM radio included, are shaping a very perverse public opinion. Yesterday while driving, I heard FM radio jockeys use words of terror and pain to lead to film songs and worse, advertisements for new films. If this isn't an anarchy, nothing is.

My anger is at the people in positions of responsibility. My anger is, of course, at perpetrators of terror. But in this case, I don't know who is more misguided. I don't believe our media is responsible or well-meaning. For, if this is well-meaning, so are the terrorrists, in their own view. Don't misread that please. I am not supporting the terrorists. I am criticising supposedly well-informed shapers of public opinion and popular culture. Unfortunately, the players are all very big and however much they may claim to represent the public, they do not. This afternoon they were asking for an SMS campaign on whether India should launch a military offensive against Pakistan. If this is not downright shameful and inciting, nothing is.

Here is an article that appeared on Facebook. Thought I would share it.

Terror by Highly-Trained Terrorists and Misguided Journalists
By Sona Jain

India watched in horror as images on our TV screens showed NSG commandos being dropped from a helicopter onto the rooftop of Nariman House on Friday morning. We counted the number of commandos, could see their landing spot and the doors behind which they disappeared. So perhaps could the terrorist masterminds directing their operatives inside Nariman House through satellite phones. At Nariman House, we lost five innocents and one commando.

The terrorist masterminds had a clear mission- to create mayhem and spread fear. In their quest for higher ratings, did the Indian media become an unwitting partner in the terrorist masterminds' quest?

There are cases of high-profile persons found murdered inside hotels, whose presence in the hotels had been revealed on television while terrorists still had control of the hotels. In some cases, relatives had been interviewed and these interviews were repeatedly broadcast. Even if the harried relatives did not have the clarity of thought at such a traumatic time to withhold the identity and last known location of their loved one, isn't there a media code-of-conduct in place that instructs editors of news organizations from muffling such stories till the missing person is out of harm's way? Is it possible that carrying such information on TV- that is easily accessible to the terrorists- may have put some missing person in jeopardy?

What do our NSG jawans think of the media's minute-by-minute reporting of their strength and movement inside the Taj Hotel while their operation was underway? Did such reporting compromise a single effort or put a single life at risk?

We have heard that the authorities asked all media outlets to stop such reporting and desist from showing images of locations where security forces were operating. Sadly no media outlet complied, atleast not for long.

Official briefings by security forces, including the police, the naval command, the Army and the NSG were not enough to fill the 24x7 coverage, which the viewing public was clamoring for. Did the competitive zeal of journalists, their rivalry for breaking news and the pressure from viewers hungry for information, provide the terrorists with more information than they would have otherwise had?

Sadly, we must also consider the tone and tenor of the reportage, especially when we hit day two and three of the siege. As a filmmaker, I know a bit about using words, visuals and sounds to draw emotions in audiences, but then, I work in the realm of fiction. In the last few days, we have witnessed audio-visual tools used in fiction, being applied to news reports. One television promo was set to a powerful soundtrack of well-edited gun shots, rising to a beautiful crescendo, leaving the viewer quivering in his chair. Anchors and editors lost their voices and composure repeatedly, leaving the audience disconcerted. Our channels repeatedly showed the same images, as if they were happening over and over again, without the required caption stating "Repeat Telecast." The effect: passions were fanned and fear was stoked.

As hapless survivors were led out of hotels, journalists thrust their mikes and bodies in their way demanding exclusive interviews. A woman crying for her missing husband became the focus for an entire hour on our TV channels- her personal grief turned into national drama. A gentleman searching for his wife (who was later reported dead) was asked, "What are you telling your children?" at which point he broke down; instead of letting him go, he was repeatedly asked by the journalist "Have we upset you? We think we have upset you. We must have upset you. We don't want to upset you."

In the journalists' defense, they were working in extreme situations for 30-40 hours without a break. Can you blame them for losing their composure and falling victim to melodrama on national TV? The entire media machinery, each producer, reporter, editor, assistant and office boy who is a part of that machinery, has worked very hard during the last few days and for this they deserve our admiration.

But these individuals and organizations also deserve better guidance that puts their talent and hard work to best use. They deserve a clearer leadership from their owners and managing editors who should urge them to follow a code-of-conduct that is beneficial to society, especially when calamity strikes.

Will the owners and managing editors stand up at this time in Indian history and take responsibility for their hasty reporting of the Bombay tragedy? Can they rise above the TRP race and together create a Common Code of Media Conduct Manual for the future?

A few guiding points for such a manual can be: Don't upset the viewer, inform them. Don't tell them what to feel, give them facts. Fan their minds, not their hearts. Don't manipulate. Don't dabble in emotions- leave that to the fiction departments. Don't use images, words and music to terrorise. DON'T SPREAD TEARS AND DON'T SPREAD FEAR.

The terrorists have done enough, the media must not carry on their work. Media's terrorism must stop now.

hair

2008-11-17T20:39:00.000+05:30

History

2008-11-15T11:34:00.004+05:30

Now this is what I call good photojournalism. Reuters picture, published on the front page of the Indian express on the 12th of November. Check out the setting, the Oval Office at the White House and check out the body language.

Much has been written about the 'White House' in the context of Obama's victory - the irony of the fact fact that it was built by black slaves and that it finally has a (half) black president.

More pictures here.

Pardon moi, Raj?

2008-11-07T19:36:00.003+05:30

The Marathi version of Grandeur sounds deliciously like a cross between a gaali and an animal!

chhat puja!

2008-11-06T18:20:00.005+05:30

so thanks to surabhi, we were on juhu beach on the tension filled evening of the 4th. tension, that dissipated for us the moment we arrived there, for the place was lively, the singing great and the atmosphere vibrant and festive.

never heard of chhat maiyya all my life. a prayer to the sun at sunrise or sunset by the river or sea. a local ritual turned into a festival by laluji. what great atmosphere and a lovely shoot. and the less said about raj thackeray the better.

heard we were seen live on ndtv!

Ramnagar

2008-10-29T20:05:00.001+05:30

personal posts?

2008-10-02T15:58:00.003+05:30

just out of the dentist's surgery holding wisdom tooth in hand, photographed by the professor.

Kaushik in Bombay

2008-09-29T21:19:00.003+05:30

Met after seven years!

Ganesh Chaturthi

2008-09-29T21:11:00.001+05:30

At Rohan's house. And outside Avon.

Ma Pa

2008-09-29T20:53:00.003+05:30

Ma and Pa on the flight to Lucknow

DROVE my car INSIDE the Bombay airport!

2008-09-21T11:16:00.004+05:30

Drove my car inside the airport and around the runway, man! Lovely post-rain moist evening, lush grass around the runway. Actually we have seen it in a million news pictures, the Bombay airport being SO visible and accessible from Kurla and Kalina, but the kick of DRIVING one's own car inside the airport premises is unbelievable.

So, you follow a green 'follow me' jeep in areas that have that familiar air of supremely high security. Past parked aircraft, luggage trains and aero-bridges at the two terminals, to the sacrosanct service and surveillance road around the main runway. A police/security/maintainence vehicle passes you every minute and you stand there shooting away something that we don't ever dream of scripting as we will never get the permission to shoot it, right?

However many times I have seen it before, I can keep looking at planes land and take off. It is among the most beautiful and graceful things one can ever see. This was for a corporate film for GVK, the company the owns the Bombay airport. Otherwise, no way one would have got such access. Wish I could have taken better stills.

the lift

2008-09-14T11:13:00.002+05:30

evening at home

2008-08-31T19:48:00.008+05:30

the brothers

2008-08-30T15:38:00.003+05:30

anirudh paul and rohan shivkumar

about cars

2008-08-26T10:28:00.002+05:30

'the interesting thing about going somewhere by car is that you always return by the same car.'

i love that quote by sonal. :)

portraits from a shoot

2008-08-26T00:06:00.009+05:30

portraits from a shoot in some villages in the chandrapur district of maharashtra. lots of kids, happy ones, all of whom go to school. CSR film for an industrial house.

sernya uncle

2008-08-24T20:59:00.003+05:30

uncle john at sernya, a tibetan restaurant in oshiwara.

The return of death

2008-08-23T09:27:00.002+05:30

An artist must never have to do accounts and the converse of that just got shot down by the memory of a certain Mister Khakhar.

Michael... khana kam khaya karo!

2008-08-20T12:10:00.001+05:30

In Bohemian Rhapsody, what do "Scaramouche-Fandango-Bismillah-Beelzebub" mean?

2008-08-18T17:32:00.004+05:30

Ahh... Bohemian Rhapsody, the 1975 musical epic by Queen, regarded by many music fans as a classic.. What follows is a little note on the history of every head-bangers favourite. Ajoo, Kuntal, Sur, Anshuman, this one is for you. A Google search led to the title of this post and many such.

Some of the worlds most well known lyrics, but what do they actually mean? Below is my attempt at a translation of some of the songs lyrics.

"Bohemian Rhapsody": Bohemian refers to the youthful vagabond set, whilst rhapsody describes the technical definition of the type of song.

"I see a little silhouetto of a man": Since silhouetto is, in fact, a made up word, we can only assume that it means silhouette. In the context of the song, it probably refers to the moment where he spots and is spotted by a police officer.

"Scaramouche, scaramouche will you do the Fandango": Scaramouche (also spelt Scaramouch) derives from Tiberio "Scaramouch" Fiurelli, a seventeenth century Italian scoundrel. This indicates that this line is being said by the police officer ("Scoundrel, scoundrel will you do the fandango"). A fandango is a type of dance. It is possible that this is a reference to execution. In 17th and 18th century Britain, criminals being hanged were said to "dance the Tyburn Jig", so named because of the location of the most famous gallows at Tyburn. The sentiment comes about because of the involuntary writhing movements made as the body runs out of oxygen. However, it may simply be a colourful euphemism for prison.

"Galileo, Figaro, Magnifico": Perhaps these are simply three words that rhyme and sound powerful and fit the Italian theme of the verse started by Scaramouche and Fandango. Galileo was, of course, a scientist, Figaro was the Barber of Seville, and Magnifico is from magnificent. The reference could be simply that he is a Bohemian, implying that he is slightly pretentious, and therefore likes to use long and obscure words.

"Bismillah": Arabic word for 'In the name of Allah', perhaps said in order to emphasise the distance between the boy and the police, although the argument could be made that it's in there because it sounds quite cool.

"Beelzebub": The biblical voice of Satan according to Christian theology, its presence presumably to counter the police's invocation of the name of G-d.

Is this the real life-
Is this just fantasy-
Caught in a landslide-
No escape from reality-
Open your eyes
Look up to the skies and see-
I'm just a poor boy, I need no help-
Because I'm easy come, easy go,
A little high, little low,
Anyway the wind blows, doesn't really matter to me,
To me

Essentially the song appears to be about a poor boy who kills someone and subsequently gets arrested. This appears to be a manifestation of his psychosis as he waits for his punishment.

And I learnt a new word and it's etymology- G-d. Run a Google search again.

for sanah

2008-08-16T16:25:00.002+05:30

two pictures

2008-08-12T20:47:00.001+05:30

cal bus

2008-08-10T11:20:00.003+05:30

crazy cal, crazy bus. decrepit, but full on attitude. the cab driver argued that flury's was not a good resaurant, they would cheat us. he had never heard of it so it surely was a bad place. conferred with other cab drivers at the red light about flury's. a waiter in a fancy restaurant argued with us as we hadn't filled up the comments and suggestions column in the response card to his satisfaction. madness!

Travels and shoots

2008-08-09T16:09:00.008+05:30

Jamshedpur. A leprosy rehabilitation colony with this statue of a healthy, happy and moustachioed Gandhi.

Sabby. The production person in a moment of unsuspecting angelic glow!

Driver in the rain.

Trains carrying industrial waste from the steel plant. Photography was a big no-no, even though we were making a film for them.

Every evening the sky turns red and stays red until late into the night, after the waste on those trains is dumped. There are hills and hills of waste products which have small plants growing on them after the rain.

Happy boy with surma outside an HIV and reproductive health camp. He wasn't part of it. The ones who were knew the facts of life and sex backwards.

Shooting in a hospital I came across this Genelec fitting on the ceiling! Dad worked with Genelec from it's inception almost till it's demise after a take-over by the Chhabrias.

Chemical plant in Mithapur, Gujarat.

Same! With a small green cap in front, to prevent waste ash from flying around.

Thin boatman-boy.

Dwarka temple. It is huge. And there seems to be nothing else in the town.

On the Jamnagar-Mithapur highway! Looks like a large Nehru cap!

Groundnut cultivation.

Dwarka, looking like American suburbia.

The pretty, virgin beach at Mithapur.

Naughty jeans moment!

This woman, in a Gujarat village, wearing a cake of make-up, pink lipstick and carrying a TV.

Security-bens at Jamnagar airport!

the drive and le marche

2008-07-19T20:06:00.002+05:30

The view

2008-07-19T09:35:00.002+05:30

The view from a friend's house overlooking Mindspace, Malvani and the creek. The changing view.

Brilliant

2008-07-11T09:29:00.002+05:30

Unny's cartoon in the Indian Express today. Brilliant.

2000 frames per second

2008-07-10T09:51:00.004+05:30

shot at 2000 fps with a high speed digital camera. awesome! thanks, namrata.

somewhere on the old poona highway

2008-07-06T17:21:00.000+05:30

waits this woman - ghar kab aaoge..?

microwave popcorn

2008-06-27T16:50:00.002+05:30

this is mind blowing, crazy.. is this for real? well, its a great ad for bluetooth headsets!

thanks mayur, for sending this.

aunty's concert

2008-06-24T23:44:00.003+05:30

was beautiful!

and some more...

2008-06-24T23:30:00.002+05:30

illustrious bald pates - shyam and nihalani, ajay os, plane over parla station and juhu beach pink candy.

one evening at marine drive

2008-06-24T23:04:00.002+05:30

signature tune

2008-06-22T17:32:00.001+05:30

Now thats how I'd like each day to begin!

Zürich Chamber Orchestra, Roller Coaster

the balcony

2008-06-19T16:40:00.003+05:30

its a photo post kind of day

2008-06-08T17:47:00.001+05:30

'John and Jane' at PVR

2008-06-04T21:20:00.002+05:30

Guys, John and Jane, Ashim Ahluwalia's feature length documentary on call centres is going to show at PVR Juhu from Friday, 6th June! A must see.

Check out the website.

lost phone

2008-05-11T09:10:00.002+05:30

i lost my phone today and with it all my phone numbers. do mail me your phone numbers at avimuk at yahoo dot com. thanks!

i mean, i am shocked speechless..

2008-05-10T16:00:00.001+05:30

hall of fame

2008-04-14T09:00:00.000+05:30

Kuntal quotes

2008-04-13T08:23:00.003+05:30

Reflecting on Suresh decked up with his sound mixer, mikes and a thousand cables:

Sound recordists have to carry a lot of stuff. Directors just have their baggage.

When Subhash Ghai directs Don

2008-03-08T00:39:00.004+05:30

Ok, this is a brilliant video made by Whistling Woods student. It has Mr. Ghai mighty unhappy, it seems! Check it out.

udaipur pictures

2008-03-06T23:36:00.002+05:30

dad at city palace museum

boat to nehru garden, on fateh sagar lake

nehru garden

more udaipur and nathdwara pictures here.

Job's comforter

2008-03-03T11:39:00.002+05:30

More media bashing, this time from wordsmith.org!

Job's comforter (johbz KUM-fuhr-tuhr) noun

A person who tries to console or help someone who not only fails but ends up making the person feel worse.

Originally there was not just one, but three Job's comforters. In the Biblical story these people tried to console Job, an upright person, that his troubles must be divine retribution for his sins.

There are Job's comforters in current times as well: soon after any disaster these TV preachers are ready to explain how the afflicted had offended gods and brought it upon themselves.

And much worse, as we know..

From Udaipur

2008-03-02T15:03:00.002+05:30

at a bank, while looking for an atm! more pics soon..

feb 14th!

2008-02-15T07:57:00.000+05:30

message on the wall

2008-02-12T09:27:00.000+05:30

from the marathi vigyan kendra in chembur. there were messages on the wall about great scientitsts, good health and habits. funniest was the picture of dr. kalam and his space programme.

2008-02-02T07:59:00.000+05:30

Family pictures

2008-01-25T18:32:00.000+05:30

Priya was visiting home after years and she dug out old photos. This was probably taken in the late 70s.. 1978 perhaps, by Om phupha. Brilliant photographer. Held my hand, helped me buy my first camera - a Zenit 12XP and gifted me one of my first photography books.

This looks like the park outside the Allahabad house, with the Bachcha party lined up, with Baba watching over us all. Theres me, Lovie, Sunny, Rajul, Vimi, Parul, Sonal and Anshuman.

Thirty years later.. Thanks Priya. Upload more pictures soon.

Priya-Mona, Mona-Priya

The entire extended family at the time of Guriya's wedding, 1993.

pink humpback elephant

2008-01-23T11:48:00.000+05:30

pink humpback elephant roaming the road. for ranjit.

shooting shooting

2008-01-21T22:06:00.001+05:30

suresh does un chien andalou, while i worked very hard at shooting time lapse footage from a colaba building.

uploaded loads of pictures taken from the 28th floor. see here, all ye bombay lovers, all ye bombay missers.

i am a yo-yo

2008-01-13T22:20:00.000+05:30

today i left home at 630 am. my travels and stops were like this:

borivali to bandra to colaba to bandra to santa cruz to oshiwara to juhu to bandra to oshiwara to juhu to oshiwara to borivali.

i'm home at 10 pm and ready for more, on sheer momentum.

and i'm still liking it..

jet lag

2008-01-09T15:04:00.000+05:30

ok, it is official. i get jet-lag driving from borivali to bandra and hobble around zoned when i step out of my car.

notes on indian art cinema

2007-12-25T11:30:00.001+05:30

while running an internet search on indian films i came across this bulletin board. the messages are highly entertaining. read on..

arnab
Jul 22 2004, 12:43 PM

while satyajit ray is the most well-known serious indian film-maker outside india i have heard many say that ritwik ghatak was far more influential on the younger generation of directors who came of age in the 1970s. thoughts? does ray matter as much within india as he seems to on the film-festival circuit outside it?

poorvi
Jul 26 2004, 08:25 AM

What about the guy who made the documentary on Siddheshwari Devi? I think he has a Sindhi last name and was involved with the FTII for a while?

Poorvi
ajit
Jul 26 2004, 11:16 AM

Mani Kaul.

arnab
Jul 26 2004, 11:18 AM
QUOTE (ajit @ Jul 25 2004, 11:46 PM)

Mani Kaul. yes, and he was one of ghatak's students at pune. which may or may not reinforce my point.
roshna
Aug 7 2004, 06:39 AM

Ajit,

Which Mani Kaul films would you recommend? Are they available on DVD?

ajit
Aug 7 2004, 07:11 AM

Roshna, actually I am not very Mani Kaul literate. I remember seeing 'Duvidha' a miilion years ago and didn't understand it at all. And I can't recall if I saw 'Uski roti'.

poorvi
Aug 8 2004, 01:57 AM
I've seen only Siddeshwari, which has no speech, only music and visuals. It doesn't really tell you her story (I mean, I didn't understand the story it told, if it told one) but it was just beautiful.

I haven't seen any others by him.

Poorvi

arnab
Aug 8 2004, 02:04 AM
i believe the words "i don't understand" are heard/read more in close proximity to the name mani kaul than of any other indian art film-maker.

nonetheless, it is sad that films by kaul, and other less opaque directors, are so difficult to locate. the criterion collection has released their version of michael bay's "pearl harbour"! but try to get your hands on something by adoor or gautam ghose or ketan mehta or the mirza bros.

here's a link, by the way, to ghose's latest: "abar aranye". apparently a tribute of sorts, among other things, to ray's "aranyer din ratri"--which, along with the rest of his middle period films, should also be restored and released!

anil
Aug 9 2004, 06:06 AM
QUOTE (arnab @ Jul 22 2004, 12:43 PM)
...i have heard many say that ritwik ghatak was far more influential on the younger generation of directors who came of age in the 1970s. thoughts?

Didn't Ritwick Ghatak die young ? I recall seeing a few of his films in early 70s. In those days my spoken Bengali comprehension was so so, so the power of the visuals were just about the most important criteria for me biggrin.gif

I'd say around that time an up and coming director was Shyam Benegal, not a classical Calcutta (Kolkatta) film circuit type smile.gif

indiachef
Nov 27 2004, 08:42 AM

Has anybody seen Avtaar Kaul's 27 Down - made in black & white - a must see although hard to find

M.S. Sathyu's Grama Hawa was an outstaning movie too. MS has also influenced a whole generation of film makers

Although I think Shyam Benegal's movies have been more appealing, purists believe Adoor Gopalkrishnan is the best movie director from India - not that I have seen any of his movies, and some say he has lost his touch too

And then there is Mani Kaul who stands apart from everyone else

One recent film that was stark shocking was "Maya" directed by DigVijay Singh - a must see for serious film buffs

And then there is Muzzafar Ali of the Gaman fame - actually he got his fame from "Umrao Jan"

And how can we forget Ketan Mehta's Mirch Masala - although I liked Bhavani Bhavai more

A couple more - Saeed Mirza's "Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro" and "Albert Pinto ko Gussa Kyon Aata Hain"

There is also "Jait Re Jait" by Jabbar Patel

And some offbeat mainstream movies made by Basu Bhattacharya

And "Massey Sahib" - with Raghuvir Yadav - another must see

And "Asmaan Se Gira" - a children's movie - so well paced and lovable with one of the best and no-nonsense actors of the Indian screen - Raghuvir Yadav

And yes of course - the only Hindi movie made by Ray - Shatranj Ke Khilari - more for Jaffrey's acting than anything else

AND YET WE HAVE THE SORRY LAGAAN SENT FOR OSCARS!

Sue Darlow
Nov 27 2004, 01:15 PM
QUOTE
AND YET WE HAVE THE SORRY LAGAAN SENT FOR OSCARS

Hmmmmmmm, after all the excitement of Lagaan being seen as a contender, and then having seen it, I was left scratching my head in disbelief. Glad to know I wasn't the only one!

Your list, indiachef, makes me curious to get my hands on some of these films, but the major hinderance to appreciating most of these films is actually being able to locate copies of them on video, DVD or even in a cinema hall.

Wouldn't it be great if some wealthy foundation could be set up to preserve, remaster and distribute these non mainstream films in India and abroad? smile.gif

Sue
roshna
Nov 27 2004, 08:57 PM

Do you think desi log's talent for pirating films ("Alexander" hit DC theatres yesterday, but I'm sure pirated DVD copies are already circualting in Mumbai streets) has something to do with art film makers' reluctance to issue their films in VDR or DVD format?

Sue, google Dilip Basu, professor at UC Santa Cruz -- he has devoted much time to preserving Ray's film legacy.

arnab
Nov 28 2004, 12:44 AM

well, i certainly hope someone is trying to preserve/restore this part of the indian film heritage. even if it is only simple dvd transfers as have happened for older bombay films. at least the shyam benegal movies from the 70s are now out on dvd--i hope the same will happen at least for adoor, aravindan, mani kau, ketan mehtal and the mirza bros.. and someone really needs to give ghatak's work the satyajit ray treatment.

how about the younger (post '85) art film-makers? is any of their stuff coming to dvd in a timely fashion?

ajit
Nov 28 2004, 02:16 AM

Is 'paar' (1984) available anywhere on VHS or DVD ?
arnab
Nov 28 2004, 02:44 AM

QUOTE (ajit @ Nov 27 2004, 01:46 PM)
Is 'paar' (1984) available anywhere on VHS or DVD ?

that's the gautam ghose movie right? i don't know if it is available but it contains one of my favorite movie lines: uttered by naseerudin shah, comparing the likelihood of getting employment to the possibility of a dog urinating in one's mouth. strange how it sounds so much better in the coarse hindi.
indiachef
Nov 28 2004, 11:25 AM

small talk

2007-12-21T11:29:00.000+05:30

hey. having pretty much abandoned this space and yet putting in two bits now and then i come up with something i had written many years ago. and this posting of old thoughts was triggered by this picture in vinesh's blog.

if you are fed up with my delhi nostalgia, let me explain, i write about it more than i have time to feel it. but it is also the season for it. winter. and here, the sardarji with the 70s kwality ice cream thela at india gate, plus the sarkari white ambassador and the soft evening light, are reminiscent of times and spaces lost for good (i sound like doordarshan). rajiv and sonia are incidental, but it is striking just how parsi rajiv looks.

so here goes. fished out of sent mail of many years ago. its a tad personal.

small talk

the early nineties. delhi university.

i used to love delhi winters. the mist, well, thick fog at times. when we were schoolkids papa dropped us to school in our beige ambassador. deb 1417. early morning, 7ish. the headlights would make yellow circles in the whiteness. that was the car i learnt driving in, on my own.. well not entirely. our house was on a slope. i used to sneak in and press the clutch till it would roll back. 12 i was and i'd stop it with a jerk just before it hit the milk-booth. dad used to drive us to rashtrapati bhawan at night and i would drive in neat ellipses between the north and south blocks. lutyens and baker, right?

got the 7:20 u special to college. green, yellow and silver. dtc. twelve and a half rupees a month, all route, anytime student pass. still is.

i never understood why the guys talked so loudly. laughed so much. how could they have so much to talk about? we got ragged in the specials. thankfully, i was mostly left alone. the outsider, right? never felt i wanted to participate, but these guys seemed to be having so much fun..

so the special would cross rajpath and there'd be no rashtrapati bhawan, no india gate, just the lovely symmetry of the trees and the road on either side. red gravel. whiteness. my morning whiteness. remember no sound, just silence. maybe these are rushes straight out of the lab, the first screening of the virgin print, sitting in darkness on an early sunday morning at film institute, waiting for the lights to dim, the projector to whirr and the arc to light the still dark
whiteness. my first ruhes. image in its pristine beauty as we love. sound can enliven, alter, or
diminish.

i am an eternal optimist, right?

delhi university. we would go past the row of political samadhis by the river - gandhi, nehru, shastri, recently joined by indira and rajiv.. not to forget babu jagjivan ram. rajghat, shantivan, vijay-ghat, shakti-sthal, vir-bhumi, samta-sthal. a prime graveyard, right? just as well - the lungs of delhi as they call them. the ring road is so beautiful. bahadurshah zafar's lal qila.. the back side of it, with all the mahals - diwan-e-aam, diwan-e-khas, hamam, and tansen's pavilion. the road would go under three bridges linking two parts of the qila, three distinctly different bridges, arched above the road, the last one being british, all sandstone red. now there is a fly-over just as you emerge from the last one, glowing dividers, red circular reflectors on the side. quaint if you think about it, very alive and today. makes me smile.

sitting by the side of the auditorium. winter sunlight on that lovely girl's hair. political science, right? or was she in math-stats? she played cricket with the boys, her file as bat. lawn between the library and the audi. all around her, boys and girls. how could they play? they looked so good, young. chirping, them all. she hit the ball and sent all her papers flying in the sunlight, flying like her hair. the papers fell in slow motion and sounds echoed. the taste of morning tea in the canteen. i never had much money on me. just enough.

bharat was always with the girls. he in his lovely comfortable shirts, jeans, kolhapuri chappals and rajasthani shawls. my friend who now writes two precious lines a year. i cannot tell you how precious those are, saying nothing. but he writes. i write threats, insults, big font, make full-rate std calls to his office. how much i miss him. that moustache and chipped front tooth. idiot.

there was this pretty deaf-mute girl in the library. well, not really, but she was pretty dumb. exam time. i loved history when i finally studied it before the exams. well, mostly photocopied notes, but good ones, right? ratna srivastava is now a district collector, married to another ias. history department. the ias-lickers' cesspool. what is he going to do? he dropped out of exams in 89.. 90 he did not write anything in his papers. hey hey.. i cleared my english and hindi. and shut up, i did 9 papers in the final final year. so shut up, okay? so the deafmute girl let out the sparrows stuck in the reserve section of the library as we all stopped studying, looking at them run from window to window, hitting beaks against the glass and then perilously close the fans. fans? winter? yeah - exam time right, march-april. i always thought, what a pretty and dumb girl, but this here was one sensible person, who made no eye-contact, much like me and returned to her books by the sunlight next to the window. sunlight on her hair and nehru jacket.

the world went by in slow motion those years, still does sometimes. slow motion, backlight and diffusion. simple, so simple that i feel arrogant not to shoot things like that, right? hard light, contrast, over-exposure, under-exposure. things i should not have learnt at film-school. ma warmly smiled, eagerly suggested we shoot a lovely song like 'dil hai chhota sa' for our playback. all the sisters of mercy are not departed or gone, right?

and now were are back at the d u campus. ma grew up there, with nani at the department. the university and its association for me. laburnum trees, eucalyptus. its pretty, okay? bhel puri at the bus stop, tea and omelettes at jai-singh's. how can people smoke? dope? i ran the first time i knew they were doing dope at the festival. samina could not stand straight at pilani. i wanted to call roshan and tell him - maybe she needs help? its drugs after all. mom's college was a thrill and a nightmare. the girls.. they would eat me alive when i went there. shy, looking at the floor and walking straight to the staff room. namaste mausi, namaste mausi. but ah! they were looking at me right? or is it just a figment of my egotistical imagination?

bad du jokes

2007-12-18T21:44:00.000+05:30

studying history at delhi university, we had silly in-jokes. i just remembered a couple of really bad ones. here goes..

when someone would bunk lectures, it was often attributed to their belief in class-less society.

and when they studied hard, it was because they were marks-ists.

dr. wahi won't be amused, nor will suchitra gupta.

sorry, really bad. no wonder my b. a. was such a disaster!

This time last year

2007-12-06T13:35:00.000+05:30

Winter time again. And now that I've been blogging for three years, I've got used to the cycle of my faithful reports of the seasons, whether it is the Avon rain pictures, or now, winter pictures from last year. We were shooting in Meerut for Paromita's film, 'Morality TV and the Loving Jehad - Ek Manohar Kahani'. The film is going to be in MIFF 2008 along with 'Where's Sandra?' Party-time again, congrats, Paro!

In the pictures, Paro at 7 a.m. while we were shooting thick fog for what is now the opening sequence of the film; with Samina.

Then, boys near a dhaba, which is actually a reply to Space Bar's post 'waiters'; red bouganvillea in Girjashanker's garden and Gaurav's mother in Dehradun.

immersed

2007-12-02T18:35:00.000+05:30

in the brackish waters of gorai i saw this bust of a woman wearing glasses, looking deceptively lifelike, or deathlike at first..

my cousin marco

2007-12-01T20:56:00.001+05:30

marco tushar, my cousin in bologna. just got a modeling portfolio done. great pics!

surveillance cam

2007-11-29T14:16:00.000+05:30

yesterday while surfing channels i discovered what looked like random unedited footage with people walking around, on channel 99. it looked like feed from a surveillance camera. i had seen it earlier and thought the cable guys had done some gochi in cabling, or inadvertently connected their own surveillance feed to an rf converter. but hello, this looked very familiar and it turned out to be a live feed from the entrance to my building!

later i discovered a fly on the wall lens fixed directly above the security guard's desk at avon.

for people abroad such surveillance may be the norm, but i have mixed feelings about this. at one level it allows elderly people living alone to screen visitors. but i can't stand the increasing paranoia and distrust among people living in gated communities, fostered by the likes of security phone cameras and their ads all over the city, not to mention the horrid news media. i often had arguments at home about leaving the house keys with the maid, which guys like me can't manage without with our crazy hours and travel schedules. and i do sound like naseeruddin shah in 'katha', who leaves his house and cupboard open, as he is 'against the lock and key culture'. but what to do, we live crazy lives.

but i can imagine there are people who feel genuinely comforted by such things - people who are at risk, at some level. its funny but the way some close friends feel about their little kids, i find myself feeling about my parents. of course, there will be those who are just bored and will watch people go in and out of their building live on tv, checking out their shopping bags or their dresses and jewellery and ask, 'kal kahaan gaye the??' or, 'kal raat bahut der se aaye..'. sigh. my own paranoia multiplied by the number of flats in my building.

Papa's 70th birthday

2007-11-26T09:50:00.000+05:30

It is papa's 70th birthday today! Time to celebrate!

Ramchandra Babu's FTII blog

2007-11-25T10:28:00.001+05:30

Senior cinematographer Ramchandra Babu started writing a beautiful blog, titled 'Remembering Film Institute Days'. The picture above is from camera practicals from 1968-69. The lady with the umbrella is Jaya Bhaduri and the guy on the right holding the reflector is Babu himself!

The trolley in this picture was still around, like most things at FTII, carrying the weight of the studio's history, while we were students at FTII. We never took any shots on it, just used it for carrying equipment. And I remember Samiran Dutta once left Shailesh Gupta rolling down the main FTII road on it, with a whole lot of camera gear on it, towards the main gate. Gupta had been insisting on steering it and evil Samiran agreed to push it down the sloping road - and let it go. Gupta had to crash the trolley into the parapet near Meher Singh Rana's bungalow to stop it from rolling all the way out - the trolley does not have brakes. Circa 1996.

Pearls

2007-11-19T17:47:00.000+05:30

Ganju Anshuman

2007-11-18T22:29:00.001+05:30

What a Wonderful World

2007-11-18T22:19:00.000+05:30

This came on Facebook. Louis Armstrong would be amused.. Lovely video.

evening

2007-11-18T18:23:00.000+05:30

its one of those quiet sunday evenings, alone at avon after very long. watched the evening fade into dusk over my cup of tea and music that sounds so my own and so removed, for i just haven't been around.

been reading again and if you know me, you know what an effort that is for me, but very rewarding, very nice. can't get myself to write, blog or otherwise these days. hopefully, something's cooking!

Bizarro!

2007-11-15T21:39:00.001+05:30

Holiday!

2007-11-15T21:01:00.000+05:30

Andaman holiday!

Diwali and other pictures

2007-11-10T18:12:00.001+05:30

2007-11-10T17:53:00.000+05:30

'... aur Andaman aur Nicobar dweep samuha mein bhari varsha hone ki sambhavna hai..'

the days are just packed!

2007-10-31T11:42:00.000+05:30

royal palms. highrise slums in thick forest.

soup in bandra

ranjit at project 88 opening

end of days

parents' first visit to bandra reclaimation

cute coffee at brio

troffick jaam at kandivali

bandra kurla complex

car fell down at fun republic

main yahaan hoon yahaan hoon yahaan hoon yahaan

2007-10-25T09:01:00.000+05:30

and having said that, got this in the mail.

thanks, nandita!

2007-10-23T22:50:00.000+05:30

am tired, exhausted. this morning it took me an hour and a half to reach film city from borivali. then everyday after shooting i resign myself to hours in an auto, reaching home when i reach home.

in the morning there are days when i am an hour early on location, because there aren't any jams where you expect them and days when you get stuck in these giant ones that just open up inexplicably after you've spent an hour inching through a km.

7 Islands wins award!

2007-10-16T21:49:00.000+05:30

7 Islands and a Metro won the special jury award at Film South Asia, Kathmandu. Cheers Madhu, and everyone!

family viewing

2007-10-11T22:06:00.000+05:30

the other night rohan, sonal and i went to silver coin, our usual hang out in i.c. colony, for dinner. it was candle-light night, which i quite like - nicer and you don't see much of the mural on the wall.

in front of us sat a huge christian family, like in the last supper, on three tables joined together. father, uncle (i guess), brother (i guess), son, three women - sister, sis-in-law and mother. what we witnessed was a balaji soap with a christian setting. excerpts of the conversation, mostly among the son, mother and sisters:

she threw her cross and gave my (something) away..
she spends all money.. spent so much on carpentry only.. i bought sofa and only you two are enjoying it.. (enjoying?)
we are only concerned about you.. (compassionate smile)
i will pray to god and go live in an old-age home
she has to go to her mother's for the first delivery, her mother does not spend a penny only..
12 lakhs..
she sleeps till 9'o clock.. i am kachra maid or what?
why should i give 12 lakhs?
you don't do anything.. i have looked after mummy all time..
i will die.. after i die..
i will only speak the last words like pontius pilate..
daddy you don't speak.. ha ha.. (some laughter)
she doesn't do anything! i saw mummy washing her clothes..
i pray to jesus..
but why does mummy wash clothes? we have servant and washing machine..
i will die (stifled tears).. i will go live in an old people's home (more stifled tears)..
you give me 20 lakhs i will go live somewhere else..

it was ugly as hell. and while we started out being embarrassed, we grew amused soon and irritated in a while. it was an ambush against the guy and all those well-meaning, compassionate faces, absolutely ugly with all their hideous good intentions. basically, kyunki saas bhi kabhi bahu thi..

i sang the title song a couple of times. wish i had sung it louder, shut them up for a bit. and wish i had never seen the drama queen mother, the well meaning smiling relatives, or the wimpy silent men.

i guess when people say that indian soaps reflect 'the truth of life' - whatever THAT may be, there might be a grain of truth there.. and god, i'm pissed off that it makes me feel holier than thou in all this. and the concerned smiling faces saying all this.

afternoon. saurabh

2007-10-10T22:00:00.000+05:30

PS 2

2007-10-07T23:12:00.000+05:30

15 days each in Europe and Morocco. Not once did anyone hassle us for permissions. We were at it, tripod and mixer and all. Here in India, we often shoot hand-held and scoot, at the risk of being stopped, questioned, hassled by the police, traffic police, or the BMC, with a production person or AD ready with palm grease, just in case.

While we were checked a couple of times, the official letters from the channel sufficed. Nice, as anyone would jump at the sight of foreigners with complete film equipment filming in your public places.

Was just looking at some earlier pictures and it is scary to think that I will never see some of these people again - the fossil seller and the shepherd boys in jeans and Nike caps..

Singer and woman

2007-10-05T21:11:00.001+05:30

In Granada. The woman asked for money at the end!

This may be slow to download.

Post scripts

2007-10-05T20:58:00.000+05:30

Great things about the first world:

Every place, every small restaurant in every petrol pump has disabled access and loos. In fact, one sees many more physically disabled and mentally challenged people outside, in the markets, in varying degrees of independence and it is very nice to see that. We here are dealing with very dal-chawal issues to think of that, still. Surely we have many more disabled people here, since we have more people here! But we don't see them on the streets, on trains, in shopping malls.

Then in a Barcelona airport they had a box where people could dispose off used needles safely. Now, that is such a huge proactive step towards acknowledging the safety needs of intravenous drug users and to a lesser extent insulin users i guess. Over here our guys will hide behind layers of morality and guilt-trips over drug use. All this openness about drug use and sexual behaviour actually came out with safety concerns over HIV. And let me rant, yet again, that the BJP types and Sushma Swaraj banned condom advertising on television and radio as talking about health concerns was seen as promoting promiscuity. Ostriches. Dodos.

More to follow!

Morocco, Spain photo post

2007-10-03T20:40:00.000+05:30

Lots of pictures from my month-long shoot in Morocco and Spain. I will let the pictures do the talking, with some vishesh tippanies thrown in.

Finland

Arrived in Finland on my birthday!

Major cootchie-cooing on the train. I had to take a peek!

It is all very Turneresque. Breathtakingly pretty. They say Finland is 70% forested. They are heavy timber consumers, but they regenerate their forests. Never seen so much timber being transported. I was shocked at first.

Gissy

Morocco

From all the greenery, water and cold of Finland, we arrived in Marrakech.

Essaouira, on the west coast.

The city has a blue and white colour code. Everything is painted white with doors and windows painted blue.

Boy with rainbow

Cat with rainbow

Mint tea. You get it everywhere. And there's a whole ritual of pouring it really high, frothing it up and then putting it back, doing it a few times over, then slurping it in. We were taught to cheer "Bismillah" before every meal!

It is strange to visit a foreign country and rush through everything. Many places, many people, lots of shooting. Plus Morocco is a country whose revenues depend hugely on tourism. So it is all, well, rather touristy and that was really disappointing. Like being in Rajasthan, or an ITDC hotel with the customary door-man in turban and dancers thrown in. Kitschy desert paintings on the walls of every hotel. Plus people demanding money for getting their pictures taken, everywhere. That was the side we were exposed to in our 15 days there. Plus I guess we were asking for it, a television crew with a white host!

Really, I guess I am so used to documentary and all its politics that experiencing a new country only through touristy hotels and places was strange. We would travel a lot, film and spend nights in hotels in small places along the way.

Tuareg dude. They have at least one thrown in at every hotel, like Rajasthani door-men!

This is Ait BenHaddou. It is almost like the Taj Mahal of Morocco, painted everywhere - on walls, t-shirts, wall hangings. Plus, it is the location for many Hollywood films. Morocco is the favourite desert shooting location for Hollywood. They've shot everything from Lawrence of Arabia to Babel here. And this is where our camera lost its aperture control. That was a huge setback - being stuck in the desert with a broken camera! They sent a replacement camera from the US in four days.

Ouarzazate. They have a huge production facility here - studios, equipment, the works.

The whole country has this rough, mud-brick finish. Like many Ait BenHaddous or Berber villages. And how do you shoot in a place where people don't like being photographed? Especially women.

The Western Sahara. I cannot ever describe the scale of the dunes. Of course, looking at movies you think the desert is made of huge dunes everywhere, but not so. They are pretty much these tourist places that you drive to and suddenly you see them - pinkish and orange, complete with camels for hire, desert jeeps and lots of rustic camping sites and hotels. But the scale, my God! Its all very The Sheltering Sky, which too was shot here.

Must say, we had great olives pickled in all kinds of ways - green ones, yellow and black ones. And olive oil with bread - the staple snack offered with tea. Plus lots of meat - roast goat with just butter and salt. Fleshy.

Before and after

Desert village, close to the dunes

A family we shot with

The village of Imilchil

When they say village in Morocco it looks like that. And in Spain it looks like this:

Spain

A bull-fighting ring converted into a parking lot

Our entry into Spain was at this place! Lovely, we had a day off and it was raining, the light was golden, and there was cellphone signal if you walked to the end of the hill.

I realised what a big thing 'rural' tourism is in Europe and that was an eye-opener. There are hotels that are certified as rural! And we did stay in a bunch of rural houses, in the middle of fields, on the hills. Spain was absolutely gorgeous and I would love to visit it again, more on my time, when I can. Had great food and I realised just what a carnivore I am - great ham, great pork - very tasty food.

Shot a story on Iberico ham, at this free range farm, where they have one pig per hectare. Almost got bitten by a small one while shooting and missed a great National Geographic shot when a tiny one came and snapped at the lens, his snout large and distorted - the camera wasn't rolling. These fellas are fattened on pure organic acorns and they lounge in the shade, play around and can fetch up to 200 Euro per kilo in the international market.

Its nice to map places through the people you associate with it. And it was great to visit Bunuel's village - Calanda. We shot a peach story there - and them peaches were something out of Bunuel itself - massive, like apples and a pain to eat as they would drip all over your hands and clothes. They gave us a crate of them and at the end of the day our car was smelling like Peach Schnapps, but a bit on the sickening side!

Calanda peaches

Also, the province of Castille - La Mancha, which was full of Don Quixote and windmills, both new ones and 'heritage' ones, Cadaques, Dali's town with some spectacular landscapes. And Almagro, where Volver was shot.

Rice festival at Sueca, near Valencia

Dresses in Seville

Sunrise in Granada

Alhambra, Granada

Ram Teri Ganga Maili Christ in Almagro

Gissy again!

I so wish we had more time in the cities, especially Barcelona. What a city! We were there for just six hours, shooting the landmarks really fast. It was quite the way Suresh describes it, like a rat on a ship, visiting every port and seeing none!

But Barcelona was awesome, I guess we have become incurable city freaks. Has huge energy, and what amazing architecture. The closest I got to seeing Gaudi's work was this!

Came back via Helsinki and slept for two whole days!

P.S. Blogger needs desperately to fix its font bug! The sizes are all over the place and I'm bored trying to fix them.