Death is Never an Option

Losing someone close to you is painful, however what’s more painful is not being able to comprehend the pain a person must have been going through when he was alive. The entire nation is mourning over Sushant Singh Rajput’s unfortunate and unnatural death. People are also emphasising on mental health and with open arms welcoming people to pour their heart unto them. Then the same majority is busy trolling the Bollywood bigwigs on promoting Nepotism. I fail to understand why people are so judgemental all the time. Not a single being on this earth is a pure soul. People who leave no stone unturned in pinpointing others are full of profanity. They are the real troublemakers.

I am extremely heartbroken with Sushant’s death because it reminds me of losing someone dear under somewhat similar circumstances. Having said that I am absolutely not in favour of blaming anyone and putting them down because then there’s no difference between something that may have worried the passed away actor and our actions. Everyone has their own fate. Life’s full of struggle and you got to face the challenges and be strong enough. Someone has rightly said, “Tough times never last, tough people do.”

Our society is full of hypocrites. They are best at humiliating someone by their own damn statements. Targeting someone in particular can lead a person in the same situation as other. Stop bullying! Which industry doesn’t promote nepotism? I have worked with big media houses all my life and I hated this industry only because of the nepotistic approach, biases and ruthlessness. Although I have always and throughout loved my work, not the double standard people I’ve worked with. Giving up is never a solution, fighting and overcoming every bit of a challenge is.

Not sure what mental state of a person forces him or her to take this extreme step of suicide. I’m sure it’s just in the spur of a moment. I neither promote this act nor do I hold respect for people who take this dire step only because it’s not the person who dies, it’s also the family and friends whom he takes along. Some crucial part of his or her loved ones always go with the person who departs from this world.

Everyone makes way through hardships on his own. Some get the support from “godfathers” and some may not reach to that height because they had none, and it’s absolutely frustrating but fine. Live with it! Either learn to bend or learn to accept and move on. There’s no way one can break you until you do.

Who doesn’t have problems? Who doesn’t face difficulties? Who doesn’t face sarcasm and bully? Who doesn’t have to fight hard with the system and wrong practices to make space for themselves? Everyone has to and so have I. Plenty of times!

I feel proud to have stood strong and faced the problems all alone. I never stood silent, always fought for what was wrong. Yes, the outcome was either I was pushed to extremes or I moved on. In both the situations I was always content that at least I spoke and fought for my rights or for the rights of other people. This is no great act, it’s normal. Why am I sharing this is so that more and more people can speak up against bullies.

I had a boss who misused his power in order to control people. He treated people like bonded labours, shouted at them in a way that even your parents would not have yelled at you that way. You would feel ashamed of working in such an environment, coming from a decent family and professional atmosphere. Some managers make people work with respect and some with fear, he used the latter. He would make everyone work 16 hours and inhumanly call you the 20th hour for more work and then even shout at people, insult them for hardly any fault without appreciating their efforts even for once. I was stunned. Why? Because I had seen people tremble while talking to him, they fumbled because of the fear to be shouted and insulted more. Moreover, in my entire career of almost fifteen years I had never come across a manager like that.

I had worked in professionally sound places and having a sound work culture. Even in my family had I not seen anyone raising their voice on any individual. This was terrible, shocking and inhuman. I flagged some of the issues, knowing nothing would happen because I was trying to raise concerns relating the top guy who can use/ misuse his power. Sure, nothing happened as expected but there’s always a sense of satisfaction to give him back as he would think twice before ill-treating others.

Speak up! Bring to light such bullies and idiots who think high of themselves. If you do not speak up neither would you be at peace nor would this professional manhandling stop. Fight it out and don’t give up. Be it any industry, you’ll always find such people. Bring them to limelight so that their acts are known to the world. Do not leave it on people to speculate. Dying is not a solution! You can save so many lives by guiding them from taking one wrong step. Remember, God is your saviour and He always has a bigger plan for you so don’t be afraid and don’t give up on life. All God wants is to see you fight through.

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If you have faced something similar please share in comments and leave your thoughts.

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Movie Review: PK

I would love to hear from those who have watched this latest release, starring Aamir Khan, in and as PK. While those who haven’t, must feel glad that they came across my blog and later decide whether they want to watch it or not.

I’m not a movie buff and highly selective when it comes to going to theaters. Of course, with movies starring Aamir Khan, your expectations are always on a rise. Somewhat inquisitive, the first thing I did the very next day of the release was to check out the ratings on a few reputed websites and newspaper. This movie particularly caught my attention because it was rated 4.5-5 almost everywhere.

“OMG! It’s a must watch”–that’s exactly what I thought and booked the tickets for the same weekend. Least expected, I got 4 tickets for the evening show at Wave Cinemas.

The opening scene of the movie is a narrative with visuals that looks borrowed from some Hollywood Sci-Fi movie. This blends into a comedy that’s bizarre in the subsequent scenes, spiced up with too much of drama. Hard to digest that the movie falls under the genre of comedy.

Nevermind! It is also difficult to connect the links in the opening part of the story as there’s a sudden introduction of the actor Sushant Singh Rajput and actress, Anushka Sharma. Moreover, there is a lot more that is expected from Aamir Khan in a movie and he seems to be a disapponitment especially in the first half.  The expressions that he has maintained throughout the movie did not even look innocent or childlike at all. Aamir Khan, who boasts of attaining perfection in every scene has slightly missed it somewhere this time. His acting and make-up looks unreal and the story looks like a combination of “Oh my God!” and “Koi Mil Gaya”, though I would rate both of these movies to be far better in every aspect than PK.

The first half of the movie is not at all impressive and lack the real entertainment. The second half of the movie looks more like a documentary to me that could have also been an episode of Satyamev Jayate probably.

Performances at a glance

Aamir Khan had looked better without those raised eyebrows and overtly red lips.

The overall performances of all the actors is at par. However, Sushant’s role is brilliantly done. Anushka looks not that glamorous in the new look, but her performance is quite honest to her role. Aamir could have done and looked better without those raised eyebrows throughout the movie and overtly red lips projecting the betel stain; looked awful. Though his Bhojpuri accent seems to come naturally to him, I’m sure there he must have put a lot of effort and practice. Boman Irani looks great and has done justice to his role, however little it may be. Sanjay Dutt’s role is not that eminent.

Let’s talk about the climax now!

I think the climax makes up for the entire movie or the storyline. The twist in the tale was brought up immensely and the emotional satire is worth the watch. The guest appearance of the chocolaty boy at the time of climax would act as a balm to your eyes, especially for girls.

If you ask me, this movie is neither a comedy because it does not make you laugh that much, nor a drama because the emotional scenes look unnatural and forceful except in the climax. The last few scenes of the movie are excellent and may bring tears to your eyes. You may just end up trying to gulp them down your throat before your partner in the adjacent seat could figure out. It’s only the end that would make you feel like you have not wasted your time andmoney.

All in all the movie is overrated. This is purely my opinion and I would like to know all my friends’ views, who have just read my blog about the movie–PK.

Movie rating: 3

Anti-Smoking Ads: Good Intentions but Any Positive Impacts?

“Use, do not abuse; neither abstinence nor excess ever renders man happy.” — Voltaire

I was always aware of the smoking hazards however; the ongoing debate on whether the anti-smoking ads should be a mandate for Indian movies did push me to investigate further. One of the Hollywood Directors was recently in news for being denied releasing a Hollywood movie in India because he was not in favor to insert anti-tobacco advertisements into smoking scenes. As per Indian law, applicable since October 2, 2008, health warning on smoking scenes is mandatory in films and televisions. But, does it really help?
If you go back in 2000 BC, you will discover that there existed a medicinal plant called Cannabis. It was then used in small amounts as a psychoactive drug for mood upliftment or augmenting the brain cells. It was also used in Ayurveda to cure psychological disorders to some extent. Who knew it then that this blessing in disguise will be a cause of concern in the decades to come.
With approximately 120 million smokers in India, it definitely is an issue that drives attention. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), India comprises of 12% of the smoker’s population across the globe out of which 30% are the adult male smokers and 3-5% are the adult female. Additionally, approximately 900,000 people die every year in India due to smoking. And these stats date back to the year 2009.

People, especially Indians are known to follow Bollywood trivia and their favorite celebrities’ big time. The majority of janta (public) loves to follow their star blindly whether it is their style, their tone, the latest fashion in the latest movie or even the way they are portrayed in a character. When people go insane in real life, imitating the reel life actor, do they really care if a line of disclaimer in tiny fonts runs across the screen? As a responsibility, the government has taken a good and proactive measure, which is a rare occasion but, who is keeping a count if it is really helping people to keep away from cigarettes. It’s just like a cautionary message on a pack of cigarettes. The message is put straight however, the production cannot be stopped.
On the contrary, as per Reuters there was a campaign run in the U.S. for four months in 2012 in a national TV ad campaign and also featured radio, billboard and digitally. It was not for long duration, but certainly the biggest campaigns ever in the world. It did make difference as one of the post campaigns research revealed, “1.6 million smokers nationwide made an attempt to quit smoking and 220,000 were not smoking at the end of the campaign.” To read the complete report, you can visit: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/09/us-anti-smoking-idUSBRE9880MQ20130909
Not many of us know that tobacco manufacturing companies, especially in India, maintain Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives and programs to counter negative attention regarding their noxious business. These companies are often involved in noble and charitable causes just to improve the perception of people and policy makers against their devastating trade. Then there’s also the biggest reason i.e. employment to millions and millions of people.
Now, my question is instead of investing on baseless campaigns of which no one has a record of benefits and proven results, why the Indian government cannot do something to eradicate the root cause? Instead of running disclaimers on big screens, primarily in English, why don’t we run campaigns in the local language across villages and small towns first, on a big scale? After all, the study says, it’s mostly the poor and uneducated that are heavily addicted to tobacco consumption.
The “feel good” policies and regulations can do nothing to improve the pitiful state of nation. With the elections coming up, there will be new campaigns, new promises, new “feel good” policies, but that doesn’t work for a nation like ours. We need to be pragmatic. We need an activist, not a politician. An activist–who is strong and does not succumb to handful of crooked politicians. We need someone, who invests money in the right direction than forcing laws that do not make any difference to the aam janta. Or, even if they do make a difference, who’s evaluating it and keeping us informed? Why not?
Coming back to where I started, these anti-smoking ads really don’t matter to audiences. Whoever has to smoke, will smoke irrespective of whether such lines are displayed or messages prompted on the screen of a big flick. Movies are in a way a reflection of society. More than the directors, it’s the role of the Center to improve the societal conditions. The increasing rates of crime like rapes, thefts, murders, drugs are what the media portrays as an eye-opener. Instead of stopping the media or blaming them for polluting the minds of people, we must first focus on how these things can be prevented or eliminated from the society. Probably, media will never have prevalent issues to portray and will come up with better things for its audience to relate to.