Ding Dong Rakshasa Mar Gaya

I was gonna shut it from the mountain tops — DING DONG DING DONG vah mar gaya aur ab asha aayegi! — but since I'm playing The Matrix in the background and scanning through scholarly articles that touch on the movie (or the trilogy), I realized a couple of things:

1. I may think of him as an evil little shit but to so many others he wasn't and still isn't one. If you were 'born' and 'live' in the Matrix, telling you something else about your perception of reality isn't going to change your mind. And that's fine — some people are genuinely happier not ever knowing — but it's better to slowly and gently educated those than force them to look at something before they are ready to.
2. There's really no fucking point in remaining even a little angry at something dead, even if it had been an evil little shit while alive. My energy and resources are much better diverted to something more positive and productive. And instead of complaining of the mess and stink the evil little shit left behind for all the living to clean up, why not do something to make it better for everyone else in this swamp?
3. A lot of me runs on anger but, while anger has served me well and fueled certain passions and drive, it's now consuming me. And it's not healthy — not to mention helluva counterproductive. I must learn to ... ♫ let it go, let it go. ♫ (Haha.)

And, with this, I must focus on the lovely things.

Like, how I've taken a day off today (and how my day started with news that brought about hope).

Like, how I've finally collected my certificate in Visual Communication and spent almost two hours at the book sale held by the library at that art school. (I bought over a dozen items, mostly for my senior librarian, but a couple for myself too.)

Well, I didn't manage to make it to Mustafa to look at Hindi DVDs (those book sale items were heavy) but I guess that's how I managed to be thrifty this week. Anyway, I'm not sure I'm mentally ready to watch Ugly just yet ...

Weekend of Female Vengeance

One of my favorite genre of movies is the one where a wronged woman gets her revenge, served cold but deliciously punchy. For that reason, I only rewatch Ek Hasina Thi when Urmila's character starts toughening up, first by beating the shit out of her bully; then by fucking Karan over until she leaves him to the rats.

It's not really the schadenfreude I enjoy; it's watching women beating the ever-loving shit of out their attackers or whoever wronged them, get their revenge.

Yesterday, I finally saw Kahaani (which I bought on Friday). I'd put off watching it because I'd read the Wiki synopsis (spoilers and all), so I'd thought I'd not find the movie engaging. Boy, was I ever wrong ... (I only bought the DVD because I wanted to see Nawazuddin Siddiqui in a movie in which he has at least a supporting role; the kinda films in which he has a leading role are usually not my cuppa).

In fact, I found it very engrossing (despite Wiki's spoilers). Vidya Balan is just phenomenal in it. The three best things about Kahaani are: Vidya Balan, Nawaz (who was scary-intense; to watch Vidya calmly asserted herself, throwing his arrogant words back at him, was sweet as), and the sweet, shy Rana's crush on Vidya. My favorite scene is the rise of Durga in Vidya. The moment she opened her eyes and directed at Milan Damji a stare that burned with a thousand fires ...

... then proceeded to kick his fucking ass to hell. Yeah, asshole, you're fucking roadkill. That was when I tumbled over from mere admiration into devout worship of Vidya.

I mean, she stabbed him — twice! — with a fucking pencil. Who does that?! I love watching women kick ass, and Vidya did so with particular style. (That is prolly the scene I'll keep rewatching in days to come! I've already rewatched the entire film once today!)

And thank you for the sweet, sweet irony of a contract killer with a life insurance agent cover! Bob Biswas's unholy crossing of himself (with throat-slash motion) was also quite inspired. (The one aspect Kahaani failed in was everything that has do with computers and 'hacking' — couldn've been done better. Did the writers/director not have a consultant for this?)

So, after rewatching Kahaani today, after my Nautanki Saala (just bought on Friday, with Kahaani) failed to work, and I'd thrown a fit, I went in search of something that isn't an insipid love story ... Found Mardaani.

Mardaani I also avoided watching (even though I adore Rani Mukherji and read good reviews of the film) because I can't stand watching children get sex-trafficked and harmed in any way. But, today, watched it I did.

I like Rani in it; the film, on the other hand, is still a little too masala for the direction it tried to go. It was a little hard for me to completely believe Rani's character was able to physically kick ass because her face is so sweet and innocent. (By god, they gave her bangs and long hair for this — what?! Look, I'm not expected the tough-woman pixie cut nor G.I. Jane's crew cut, but bangs?! An easily grabbed long plait/ponytail?! The fuck ...)

But kick ass she did — and, by that part of the movie, I enjoyed the hell out of it (and also the fact that she wasn't afraid to hit below the belt). And hell yeah I enjoyed the girls venting their collective fury on the shithead. It was, for that moment, extremely cathartic (for me).

Because movies are vicarious for viewers, no?

Shorts

Decided to rewatch The Lunchbox last night because IRRFAN KHAN + NAWAZUDDIN SIDDIQUI = AWESOME POSSUM!

These are two actors I admire greatly even though I can't bear to watch most of their films — often on account of how 'dark' and 'heavy' I perceive them to be. They both are so great at comedies though; I hope they get to work together on an intelligent and funny movie soon, something like Delhi Belly without the farts and shits.

OMG I would love to Khan and Siddiqui together with Vijay Raaz — that might just be TEH BEST CAST & SHOW EVAR!!!

Anyway, The Lunchbox reminded me that I actually haven't anything else of Siddiqui's works, the small role in Peepli Live and the even smaller blink-and-you-miss-it role in Munna Bhai MBBS notwithstanding. So I did a random search and found treasures!

'Bypass' (Irrfan Khan is in it too!) is one of my favorite types of narratives — full-circle (quite literally) and neat (in every sense of the word). I don't think I have read/watched many books/films that do the coming-full-circle thing well and not lazily or unimaginatively.

'Bypass' is the circle of life: you get what you give — or, in this case, you give what you take. I like 'Bypass' so much more than 'Mehfuz' in Shorts (which I found dark, depressing, and quite incomprehensible). The actors — Siddiqui, Khan, and Sundar Dan Detha especially — are all so expressive in this wordless short.

I also found '"OP" Stop Smelling Your Socks'. I've always found the idea of being unable to wake from dreams terrifying. Happily, this one is funny and not at all scary — it also puts on display Siddiqui's great potential in comedy!

'Salt 'N' Pepper' was decent (having not read the synopsis, this short certainly didn't go the way I thought it would from its first few scenes); 'Recycle Mind' I watched without subtitles but it was easy enough to figure out the story which was engaging enough.

I hope Siddiqui won't get typecast as the poor/violent type; I mean, he's already the face of Gareeb Aadmi on Twitter ...