New Dawn

So many things unsaid, at the back of my mind,

Some people that went away, and some that were left behind,

Come back once a while, bringing some pain,

Because it sometimes hurts, when you walk down memory lane,

But you grow, you learn, you change, and find a reason to go on,

With a smile on your face and a hope, that there will be a new dawn. 

Angel of Death

Sarvesh could walk no further in the desert. His feet gave in and he slumped on the ground.

Before him appeared an old man with red eyes, covered in dark robes. An angel of death. In a very business like tone he spoke ‘ Name: Sarvesh Jadhav. Age: Twenty four years, five months, two weeks, three days and twenty nine seconds. Cause of death: Dehydration. Time of..’

‘Wait! Please wait!’ Sarvesh uttered. ‘I don’t want to die yet. I CANNOT die so soon.’

Very calmly the death angel said ‘Yes. You can.’

Desperately Sarvesh said ‘But look I have done so many good things in my life! Why can’t you consider that and give me a second chance?’

As the angel looked into Sarvesh’s  dark brown eyes, he could see that this boy had not done anyone any good deed in his life. Everything was done with a selfish motive. This boy needs to be taught a lesson.

 ‘Very well Sarvesh. I give you three days to live. If you survive at the end of the third day, you shall live for another fifty years.’

As the angel said that, Sarvesh felt his surroundings blur and his eyes get heavy.

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Sarvesh snapped awake and looked around to realize that he was in his bed. Was it all a dream?

As he looked out of the window he saw the clouds move to form four words, Three days to go.

Shit, shit, shit. Not a dream.

Sarvesh had thought that the photo shoot in the Sahara desert would really help his career. It would have, if he hadn’t been stupid enough, to go around scouting on his own for a location. Now he wondered, how will he explain to his boss that he had suddenly returned to Mumbai. Freshening up quickly, he left for office. 

The boss was not very pleased. With a lot of pleading Sarvesh managed to secure his next assignment.

 If there was one thing that Sarvesh was good at, it was how to manipulate people , to get things to work his way.

Great, he would be covering a photo shoot of Madhuri Dixit. She’s getting old, but people seem to like her. He thought.

Sarvesh sat down at his desk to have some break fast. As he began eating the large paper masala dosa, his mind turned back to his near death escape. Why did that guy be so kind to me?

He happened to glance at his dosa, and to his horror saw that out of the masala, there was a hoard of small tarantula’s creeping out. He quickly threw the dosa out of the window.

What the f*ck?

Sarvesh wanted to go home and lock himself in his bedroom. But how would he explain this to his boss? Damn, I have to go to the photo shoot.

Nervously looking around, scared out of his wits he walked down the pavement leading to the studio.

He reached the studio and with a shivering hand he started to set up his equipment. Suddenly he felt an instinct tell him that he should not stand where he is standing.  And as he quickly leaped away, a replica of a yellow IAF Mig-29 crashed on the exact spot where he had stood.

A crane operator came running towards him. ‘Arre Sirji, aap thik ho? Sorry woh crane shayad thoda kharab ho gaya.’

Sarvesh ran away. He ran like is life depended on it. Then realizing that running perhaps won’t help, he stopped. Looked around and locked himself in a toilet cubicle.

There must be a way to beat that b*stard. There must be..There must be..

He started crying and suddenly started laughing hysterically.

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The angel of death sat somewhere in the Himalayas away from humanity and its stink, when he heard someone call to him. 

Listen, I give up. I give up. Just come and kill me..I..I can’t take this..kill me..KILL ME.

He smiled. The boy has learned.

As Sarvesh was washing his face in the basin of the public toilet, the angel appeared. 

The angel solemnly said ‘So I understand that we are ready to go.’

A worn out looking Sarvesh turned around. He gazed at the angel and said ‘I guess, when you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go.’

‘Indeed.’ agreed the angel.

‘Except,’ said Sarvesh now smiling coolly, ‘Its not me who is going.’

For the first time the angel felt confused. And as he looked on, he saw Sarvesh’s eyes change from dark brown to red. The color of the eyes of a death angel. 

Sarvesh now adorned in dark robes, looked on at the angel. He said ‘Satan requires a young, energetic motivated employee. And apparently according to him, I fit the bill better than you.’

‘It is time for you, my old friend  to die.’

The old man now stood with no shred of cloth on his body and stripped of his eyesight. 

‘But wait! NO! YOU CANNOT DO THIS TO ME!! I’m a loyal servant!!! I HAVE served well!! YOU CANNOT DO THIS!’

The old man ranted and raved. Then suddenly, he stopped ranting and raving. Forever.

As Sarvesh carried the old man’s soul to hell, he thought to himself, Now this is what I call job satisfaction.

Teesri Manzil: Movie Review(Spoilers)

I wrote a review of Teesri Manzil, you can read it here. But there were certain other things that I wanted to elaborate on, which would not be possible without giving out a lot of the story.

So here goes..Warning spoilers ahead.

As I said in my review, this is a movie which at its essence is about how dangerous love can be. I felt that the major motive driving the actions of all the characters in the movie was love or a perversion of it.

We have Rupa, the sister of Sunita(Asha Parekh) who is engaged to marry Ramesh (Prem Chopra). But on going to Park Hotel gets infatuated with the hotel band drummer Rocky (Shammi Kapoor). When Ramesh finds out about this he is infuriated with her, and is involved in some capacity in her death. 

After the death of Rupa, Ramesh very quickly shifts his affection to her sister Sunita.

There is Ruby(Helen) the hotel dancer who is in love with Rocky. She tries to create conflict between Rocky and Sunita, and is portrayed to be a vamp of sorts. But she also sacrifices her life to save Rocky.

Rocky our protagonist is in love with Sunita. As the story progresses he is seen to be working towards winning her affection. There are a few other interesting elements to Rocky’s character. While being the hero of the movie, he is also a naïve fool at times. 

He trusts the suspicious looking hotel staff Daka with delivering his confession to Sunita. Daka gives it to Ruby, who uses this to try and end Rocky’s relationship with Sunita. 

At the point when Inspector Das reveals to Rocky that Rupa was murdered, Rocky stumbles around in a haze of confusion and does a few not so intelligent things.

In one scene, a lady comes to his room instructing him to get in a car and go to a hotel where he will find the killer. Rocky trusts her and does not suspect that the car is rigged. (Break failure. Yes I know, extremely unique right?)

But after nearly dying in a car accident, the Rocky that emerges is a slightly changed one. And I liked how Rocky learns to think better on his feet towards the end of the movie. 

Kunwar Saab on discovering that Rocky has survived the car crash insists that he sleep in his bungalow. And to insure that Rocky takes rest instead of dashing of doing something stupid, he locks him in the room. This does not strike Rocky is odd.

Now in the locked room, Rocky discovers  a coat with a button missing. And all the other buttons are of the same kind as that of a button found on Rupa’s dead body. Rocky realizes that Kunwar Saab is the murderer.

Next comes the smart part. Rocky is stuck in the bungalow on a hill. He has no mode of transport to take him to the police station. He can try walking. But there is a possibility that sometime in the night, Kunwar Saab will be coming to his room (For murderous intents, not romantic ones). And on not finding him there, he will chase Rocky. Bruised man walking vs murderer in car. Not great odds.

So what does Rocky do? He makes it look like he has run away from the bungalow and actually stays back. Rocky also manages to get Sabina, Kunwar Saab’s mistress to admit on phone to the police, about their hand in the murder of Rupa. 

Another smart thing that Rocky does is when Kunwar Saab barges in, as Sabina is confessing. Kunwar  Saab shoots Sabina. It is a very late hour of night and there is only the electric lamp illuminating the room. The only way to improve the survival odds for Rocky, would be by reducing room visibility(Or becoming bullet proof). In the few seconds of Kunwar Saab firing the shot at Sabina, Rocky smashes the electric lamp. Smart.

Kunwar Saab is a quite complex character. In front of the world he plays the part of a rich, kind industrialist while really he is a cruel, manipulative and cunning man. 

A domino effect of sorts leads to the murder of Rupa. Kunwar Saab’s wife finds out about his affair with Sabina. One night she walks in on them in a hotel and tries to shoot Sabina. While trying to stop his wife, Kunwar Saab ends up accidentally killing her. Rupa happens to stumble onto Kunwar Saab disposing the dead body. (Rupa was on route to meet Rocky in his room. She had threatened to kill herself if he does not meet her.) Kunwar Saab chases Rupa to Park Hotel and pushes her from the third floor.

Rupa had knocked on Rocky’s door that night when Kunwar Saab was chasing her, but Rocky did not open the door because he did not like her and wanted to distance himself from her. Rocky probably also felt that letting strange girls into your room at a late hour of night was wrong.

Interestingly if Rocky had opened the door that night, not knowing that Rupa was being chased by a murderer, then she would have lived. His sense of moral principles partly contributed to her death.

Also if Rupa had not let herself get infatuated with Rocky, she would have lived. Her engagement with Ramesh(Prem Chopra), a boring, arrogant and rich guy could have possible allured her to Rocky. Who in comparison was a kick ass drummer.

I feel that Rocky was more well matched to the vivacious and rebellious Ruby. But maybe it was not acceptable to have that sort of girl as the heroine in those days of cinema.

Kunwar Saab as a person sinks lower and lower to protect himself as the movie progresses. And I think the process starts when he first gets into an affair with Sabina. In the end as he is hanging from the ledge of his bungalow, he looks down at the people standing below and realizes that the truth is no longer hidden. And he chooses to die instead of living in shame.

Sabina herself is not exactly innocent. Her reasons for standing by Kunwar Saab seem mixed. Partly fear and perhaps partly greed.

And oh yes, inspector Das smokes a lot throughout the movie. 

You might think that you would not want to see this movie, after reading all this. But even after knowing the climax, you can still enjoy this movie!

At its essence Teesri Manzil  is a movie about mystery, crime and suspense with a flavor of Shammi Kapoor’s style and certain elements of Indian cinema. So if you get the time, then do have a look. Watch it!!

Teesri Manzil: Movie Review

Firstly I would like to state that I loved this movie. I would not have been able to put as much effort into writing this, if I did not completely and utterly LOVE this movie.

As I write this review I ask myself, is Teesri Manzil the greatest movie of Indian cinema? Well, no. Perhaps not.

Is it a movie that changed the world of film making? Hmm, not really.

But it is a great movie, a memorable one. It has the kind of content for which it will be remembered or at least should be remembered for a really long time.And as I said, I loved it.

What I would like to also state is that after watching this film, I love Shammi Kapoor. 

You see, in this world there are actors. There are method actors, there are serious actors, there are versatile actors. And then there is this man. A rebel, a clown(a sexy one), a wild burst of fierce energy and passion that is the unique signature of the one and the only Shammi Kapoor.

Okay now to proceed with the movie review.

Teesri Manzil is a movie about a girls hatred towards the man she thinks is responsible for her sister’s death, this man’s need to prove his innocence and love to her, while the real killer lurks after him.

Rupa the sister of Sunita (Asha Parekh) dies, seeming to have committed suicide by jumping from the third floor of Park Hotel Mussoorie. But Sunita thinks that Rupa killed herself because of Rocky (Shammi Kappor), the hotel band drummer fooling around with Rupa.

When Sunita arrives at Park Hotel, Rocky comes to know of her hatred for him and hides his identity from her. Rocky takes the guise of Anil Kumar Sona, a rich industrialist’s son. Slowly Sunita and Rocky fall in love and Rocky wants to tell her the truth about her sister.

The question is who was responsible for the death of Rupa? The police inspector Das, who has been trailing Rocky thinks that it was most certainly a murder.

Is Rocky a murderer? Is Ruby(Helen) the hotel dancer, the culprit? Is it Ramesh(Prem Chopra), the fiancé of Rupa? Or is it someone else entirely?

Rocky was also on the third floor of Park Hotel, the night Rupa jumped from there. There is a lingering doubt in the mind of the murderer that he/she left some proof behind and Rocky might be the person who has knowingly or unknowingly found it. 

Rocky has to find the real killer with the help of Inspector Das, before the killer gets to him. And the murderer is the kind of cruel, shrewd person who will not stop at anything to protect himself/herself.

At its essence Teesri Manzil is sprung around the theme of how dangerous love can be. It is also about a young man discovering his capabilities when his survival is at stake.

Besides the story this movie has some great songs. To pick a favorite is difficult, but I think I liked O Hassena Zulfowali and O Mere Sona the most.(Though watching Shammi Kapoor perform on any of the songs is a treat.)

At the very start of the movie there is an amazing scene where we see Rocky(Shammi Kapoor), Sunita(Asha Parekh) walking towards the train ticket counter but the camera focuses only on their legs.

So if you want to find out who the murderer is, watch this movie. If you love Hindi movies, then watch this movie. If you saw this movie many years back and vaguely recall what it’s all about then, watch. This. Movie.

PS: There is another part to this review containing spoilers. Click here to read.

The Taxi Adventure

There are some things that you do, and then there are some things that you do not do. When you see a guy standing in a dark street in Byculla, with a noticeable bulge under his coat that looks like a gun, you probably wouldn’t want him as a passenger in your taxi. But when you are high, the way Raghu was after having too much to drink, you tend to miss these things.

Raghu picked up the shady character with the gun from Byculla west and headed towards Andheri station. Five ten minutes into the ride, Raghu thought he could hear the clinking of bangles. Slowly he realized that this was perhaps slightly unlikely, unless the passenger tonight was a bit kinky.

When he turned back he saw that his passenger was casually flinging bullets in the air and catching them.

The guy looks at Raghu and smiles. “Kya beta? Never seen a bullet before?”

Yes Raghu had never seen a bullet before.

As the taxi swerved around a signal, there was a crash as the right window at the back exploded in pieces and the passenger had blood spewing out of his arm.

This was something else that Raghu had never seen before. In all this evening was filled with a lot of ‘Never seen befores’ for Raghu.

“AAAAAARRRGGHHHH!!” the passenger screamed.

Raghu looked on horrified trying to figure out what in the world had just happened.

“DRIVE YOU ASS****!!!!! DON’T STOP DRIVING!!” the passenger screamed.

From both sides of the road two black range rovers were rapidly approaching the taxi, strewing their path ahead with bullets.

There comes a time in the life of men, when they have to act and prove their mettle. For Raghu Bisht, that time was now.

Raghu stepped on the accelerator and took the next left. It was a clear road at 2.00am in the morning. He looked about. They had crossed Dadar. The nearest police station from where they were was about three kilometers away. As he was figuring out how to get there, he heard the front left tire burst.

Then there was a faint pop as both the tires in the back were deflated with bullets

The taxi was now an unstable mass of steel. Death would either come from a terrible crash or from an unfortunate bullet.

Think! Oh God what should I do?  What should I do?

Raghu looked back in the passenger seat and he saw that the passenger was clasping a small briefcase against his chest. He grabbed it from him and flung it open.

There were five grenades.

Throwing grenades is something that needs to be taught. You don’t just play around with it and learn.

But sometimes, you just do.

The first grenade landed five feet away from the black car to the left.

The backseat doors of the taxi were now shredded by bullets.

The second grenade lands on the bonnet of the car to the right. But it didn't explode.

The taxi fuel valve had caught flame.

In his desperation Raghu unpins all three of the remaining grenades and flings them down the road.

If anyone would have been passing by that road,, at around 2.15 am in the morning, then at this point they would have seen two black cars exploding across the horizon.

Raghu jumps out of his taxi and looks on at the exploding spectacle. Luckily the taxi doesn't explode.

Raghu was not a handsome guy. He was not educated. He didn't have any money and yes, consequentially he also did not have any girlfriend.

But after today, what he did have, was the guts to face any damn thing life threw in his face.