Being Idiot!

According to Oxford dictionary, Idiot means a very stupid person but the movie ‘3 Idiots’ gives a new dimension and meaning to the word Idiot.  Idiot means one who question and break conventionality.  It means one who thinks differently. People make fun of you and call you Idiot when you try new things because majority of people don’t understand your point of view. But when they do understand your point of view, they admire you. Being idiot means following your heart even if it beats faster.

I think that the title of movie ‘3 Idiots’ is bit inappropriate. It should be ‘4 Idiots’. Any guesses who should be 4^th idiot in the movie?  Pia, the character played by Kareena Kapoor, should be 4^th idiots as she follows her heart and marry Rancho. The irony is in real life guys like Suhash and Chatur gets all the beautiful gals. In real life girls are not at all idiot. They are very practical. They only love peoples like Rancho. But they don’t marry him. They definitely like price tags.

If you looked into famous peoples, at one point or other they have been criticized and have been called idiot for their different ideas and approach. For example, Larry page and Sergey Brin, founders of Google, are known for their unconventional way of working. They didn’t found Google with sole purpose of earning money. They don’t run the Google the way conventional company works. They didn’t adopt conventional management framework and policies. That’s why lot of people also criticized them. But that’s reason Google is unique and known as one of most innovative company.

Who is the biggest idiot? I think God must be the biggest Idiot. Only a true idiot like him can create a strange world like ours. The sole mantra of being idiot is not to be afraid of making an    idiot of you. Being Idiot is necessary because the things that are worth knowing can’t be taught. You have to explore them by yourself, sometimes by being idiot.

Movies I like most

I am a movie buff. But that does not mean I watch every movie I came across with. When it comes comes to movie, like everybody, I also have a taste. I don’t stick to any specific genres of movie. I like the movie which has a captivating story, well portrayed characters and some awesome dialogues. Whenever I like some movie, I add them to my will-watch-it-again list. I watch them a lot when I am alone and really want to have a good time. I just enjoy them. With each time I like them more. My list of favorite movies keeps changing. Following are 10 Hollywood movies which are currently at the top of my list. Let me tell you why.

1. The Matrix: – Hats off to Wachowski brothers. It is truly master piece of art. To be honest when I first watch Matrix, I couldn’t understand the story and the concept seems very esoteric. But later when I understood it, I just loved it. It is quite different from traditional save-the-earth sci-fi movies. To many people it is just another high definition action movie but when you go deeper and understand it, you will get its philosophical flavor blended with the concept of reality.
2. The Cinderella Man: – This is a story about human endurance and love. This is a story about courage and integrity. This is the story about a champion boxer, James J. Braddock, badly affected in great depression of 1930 and his struggle to support his family.
3. The Shaw shank Redemption: – This is the story of two murder convicted prisoners, Andy and Red (played by Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman) and their stay in Shaw shank prison. Andy, innocent but convicted for murdering his wife, never gives up hope. At times Life seems irrational and ruthless but still we can’t lose hope. Hope is a good thing, maybe best of things. Hope can set you free.
4. The Godfather: – The Godfather offers a deal you can’t refuse. It is a ware house of business wit and wisdom.  It is a trend setter and undoubtedly best gangster movie ever made. Marlon Brando immortalizes the role of Don Vito Corleone.
5. The pursuit of Happyness: – It’s not “H-A-P-P-Y-N-E-S-S”. Happiness is spelled with an “I” instead of a “Y”. ‘Don’t ever let someone tell you, you can’t do something. Not even me. You got a dream, you got to protect it. People can’t do something themselves, they want to tell you can’t do it. You want something, go get it. Period. All right? ‘This is my favorite dialogue from the movie. Dream is what this movie is all about. If you have a dream, it is you who have to achieve that.
6. Forest Gump: – ‘Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you are going to get.’ Life didn’t give Forest Gump high IQ and that makes him unique. Because of his low IQ he doesn’t understand the world fully and doesn’t try to change himself to be like others. He sees the world through his childish innocence and honesty. He does what his heart says and does that like maniac. Tom hanks brilliantly portray the character of Gump.
7. Brave heart: – This is an epic adventure and story about William Wallace. He fought for his freedom and his love. He fought with passion and lead by example. Though there was controversy about movie having historical errors but still I like the screenplay of movie.
8. As good as it gets: – A different love story. Melvin Udall (Jack Nicholson) is a successful novelist but a sarcastic and unpleasant person. He was suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder. He locks the door five times, washes the hand with fresh soap every time, does not walk the on the lines in side walk  or in short, he literally has problem with everything. Nobody likes him. He also strongly dislikes peoples and dogs or he expresses so. Carol Connelly (Helen Hunt) is the only waitress who tolerates his behavior in the restaurant. He falls for her.
9. The Bourne trilogy: – It is the only series where the sequels are better than its previous parts. It is fast paced action-cum-thriller about Bourne, a CIA agent suffering from amnesia, and his quest for his identity.
10. The terminal: – Viktor Navorski (Tom Hanks) is denied entry into US and can’t return to his own country due to war and trapped in JFK international airport. The terminal becomes his home for undefined period of time. He doesn’t know English well and doesn’t have any money. Instead of getting frustrated, Navorski start living there. He starts making friends and finds himself a job. It is cool comedy movie with a simple message that life can be enjoyed.

My take on Life!!

I keep wondering from time to time what is life? Life mean different to different person. It is faceless but yet it comes to us in many faces. When you are in love, it seems life is only to Love. When you are heartbroken, Loneliness becomes your life. When we succeed, we say Life is a miracle. When we lose, we console our self by saying life is Journey. Enjoy it! To somebody Life is a box of chocolate, to some it’s melting ice cream. One of my friends thinks that Life is a party because he believes 2012 is going to happen. Every time I make my mind and settle for a definition, Life through a googly and I am forced to change that definition. After spending 25 yr of my Life, I still ask myself what is Life? I am yet to receive an objective answer to that. I think  it is impossible to objectively define life in single sentence.

During Engineering one of my friends has very strange philosophy about movies. He was a big movie lover.  He used to say if you really want to admire a movie, watch only first day first show. All the reviews kill the true charm of a movie by making you biased. I asked him what if the movie is boring. He used to say do the ‘Paisa wasool’. Paisa wasool means value for money. Try to enjoy as much as you can to maximize your return on the movie ticket. Let say the movie ticket is 50 bucks. If you like actress, you get back 10 bucks. If you like the action sequence, you get back another 10. If story is good, you earn 15. Like this you get value for money and if movie is good you will make a profit. Tough I was not fully convinced with his movie philosophy. But his philosophy definitely applies to Life. Why live life according to other. Live it unbiased and do full ‘paisa wasool’.

Dancing Big and wide!!

No one knows how dance originates. But it is the major form of entertainment since the early civilization of human being. Dance is a medium to express our feeling and emotions. It is a way to express your thoughts without saying anything. According to Martha Graham, American dancer and choreographer, dance is hidden language of the soul.

Since childhood I am a big fan of Michal Jackson. He revolutionized the world of pop music but I enjoy his dance more than his songs. His dances and songs have the energy. Every time I watch his song, I regret that I don’t know dancing.

For the sake of trying something new I enrolled for Shaimak Davar summer funk 2009 dance classes as beginners. Initially I was bit confused whether I should enroll or not as I generally don’t dance. But finally I decided to at least give it a try. So I enrolled for the classes. Next day was my first class. Total 14 people enrolled in my batch. To my surprise I found that people from all age groups (from 4 yr to 60 yr) have enrolled for the dance classes and that too as beginners. In my batch also there is a couple who are in their early 50’s (I guess so, I never ask them) .When I saw them my initial reaction was “At this age, dance. Wow! “Their energy was infectious and their enthusiasm was laudable. They remind me of Socrates. Socrates learned to dance when he was seventy because he felt that an essential part of him had been neglected. The motto of Shaimak’s dance classes is to make everyone dance. That’s why punch line of his institute is ‘Have feet, Will dance’. Age is definitely not a bar in dancing.

The dance class includes body workout and performance in front of live audience. The most important thing I learnt in the class was to smile. My trainers always urge us to smile. He used to say dance will come to you automatically when you enjoy it. If you enjoy dancing you will smile. Smile will bring expression to your face and charm to dance. And you will dance like no one’s watching. That was an awesome and fun filled experience for me. In future whenever I’ll get chance, I’ll definitely learn it.