Had a good weekend – felt even better because it came after a stressful & long week. Stress & Pressure taken for really not so important things in life. Both Bashuli & I are movie buffs but our record over last 4-5 months is nothing to write about. So this weekend we decided to catch up on movies… and we were damn lucky to see two movies made around similar themes but with totally different messages & treatment.
‘A Wednesday’ touched my heart – it is an uncommon story of a common man. And the beauty is that you don’t know till the very end that it is all about a common man. It is all about how a common man creating a plot to fight terrorism & get rid of anti-social elements. It demonstrated the power of one and actually ridiculed the general attitude of ‘Why bother when its not your direct problem’. As always Naseeruddin Shah & Anupam Kher lived up to their reputation.
‘Mumbai Meri Jaan’ was more tragic and captured the impact of 11 July 2006 bomb blasts in Mumbai Local Trains. I lived in Mumbai for 6 years and travelled extensively through its public transport. I was terrified & sad when the blasts took place a couple of years ago as I have many friends in Mumbai who do travel by public transport. The movie was effective in putting forward different stories, different point of views and different fears & traumas. Paresh Rawal did a fantastic job.
Both the movies aptly exposed the senseless Indian News Industry – specifically TV news. With all due respect to my friend in Indian News Industry – NEWS on Indian TV channels is nothing but a mockery of Human Life. TV reporters & cameras asking really insensitive & stupid questions to the victims (or relatives of victims) of tragic accidents.
Being part of advertising industry I felt responsible for the mockery on Indian News Channels because the we support these channels by means of advertising money & keeping them in business. I think somewhere we’re (as an industry) rubbing salt on peoples’ wounds by putting our ads on these channels to get the eyeballs. What we don’t realise is that we get the eyeballs but they’ve watery. We can collectively stop this mockery – what if the industry decides to boycott ads on TV News Channels unless they get rid of stupidity & deliver some responsible NEWS.
I salute to all the brave people of Mumbai & India who put behind these tragic incidents & keep moving on.
