Gerald D'Cunha

I wasn’t aware of the phrase, ‘How’s the josh?” and its response, “High Sir” till I read about it on the newspapers. Apparently, our Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi, had used this while addressing a Bollywood event in Mumbai. Last evening, my wife and I decided to watch ‘Uri – The Surgical Strike’, finally. I said ‘Finally’, because, we were a bit apprehensive about any political overtures… The movie was released on the same day as ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’ was released and there was so much noise about the latter. But, when we heard from every source that ‘Uri’ was a brilliant movie, we wanted to watch it. In the end, PM’s josh did it… He, literally, pushed us to the cinema hall! ‘Uri’ is an action movie, a war movie. As movie buffs, most of us grew on the bollywood or regional flicks, which had the revenge story in them… Yes, ‘Badla’ … “Tera ghar me ghus ke marunga tuje’ … ‘Khoon ka badla khoon se’ … and all that. There is a child in all of us, and, n...

“What is destined will reach you, even if it be underneath two mountains. What is not destined will not reach you, even it be between two lips.” - An Arabic Proverb I was watching an interview with an actress – a great dancer - of yesteryear. She was an outsider with no connections in the film industry. She did not look Indian and she did not speak Hindi at that time. But, she went on to carve a place for herself as a sensuous and graceful dancer. What surprised me the most was her outlook towards Life and Success. She said, “If you are a hard worker and if you are very sincere with your work, your destiny has to be good… So, that counts a lot. There are so many artists who are much-more talented than we are…They are struggling, and they are struggling all their lives. So, you need Lady Luck along with your hard-work and sincerity. It’s everything put together. In my case, everything just came my way. See, I will tell you this: What is yo...

“It is hard to befool a fool who has already been fooled so many times”  ―  Munia Khan I did not intend to write a word on the controversy surrounding Sanjay Leela Bansali’s film ‘Padmavati’, which, now has been renamed as ‘Padmavat’. Having seen in the past many, many such controversies – be it relating to a movie, play, book, song, painting or even a tweet – I knew from the day one, that it was a deliberate act, stage-managed by many self-interested parties… where the main objective is to divert the attention of the masses from the most worrisome issues plaguing the nation… Yes, from my past experience, I knew it… that, Bansali and his film just happened to be there in the crossfire… Just as the school bus ferrying tender children and the innocent people and their hard-earned property happened to be there… I don’t watch the TV debates about ‘Padmavat’… When I do, I get a disgusting feeling in stomach! I find the anchors, spoke...

T oday isn’t a Friday… But, this Bollywood movie – ‘Secret Superstar’ was released today, on a Thursday. Because it is Diwali, an auspicious day! Like so many around me, I, too, wait for an Aamir Khan movie to come…. We all know that his movies come like Comets…. Very few, but very special…. When they come, we all rise up and give them a standing ovation… This side of Aamir Khan is unlike the quintessential Bollywood… This man does things on his own terms… does things which he completely believes in… invests all his time, energy, money and, above all, his heart and soul… I hadn’t been a great admirer of him before ‘Lagaan’ came. With ‘Lagaan’, I started following his professional career very, very closely… With ‘Tare Zameen Par’, Aamir carved for himself a place too among the rarest of the stars… with ‘3-idiots’, he became a permanent resident in everyone’s hearts… ‘PK’ transported us to another world with laughter and innocence… With ‘Dangal’, he restored our self-bel...

Pic.; Ashwin Mohta M y Hindi was always bad. It still is. One reason for this was, that they introduced Hindi for us only in 6 th standard. Or, was it in 8 th ? I don’t remember… I only remember struggling to write and read… leave alone speak! But, I loved Hindi movies, and, strangely, I could understand the dialogues and the lyrics of the songs… I used to sing those songs (of course when no one was around me!) as if I was the lyricist… One of the songs was a very funny one. ‘Muthu Kodi Kawari Hada’. It was from Mehmood’s super-hit comedy – ‘Do Phool’. I was a 15-year-old high-school boy when I had heard that song (not watched the movie). I could grasp the meaning of two words – ‘Muthu Kodi’… which meant ‘Give kiss’… But, what ‘Kawari Hada’ meant, I have no clue till date! It was just like ‘Why this kolaveri di’... Yes, why ask? Simply enjoy the beats… And, the beats are great… The rest... Who cares? Really! So, whatever bit of Hi...