A poster of Telegu film star Chiranjeevi contesting the upcoming elections in Andhra Pradesh
On a slightly unrelated note, aren’t the first few notes of the the “Jai Ho” song reminiscent of the first few lines of ABBA’s “Money, Money, Money”? Before you pull out the pitchforks( I’m already ducking for the rotten eggs), my intent was not to suggest that A.R. Rahman is guilty of plagiarism( I’m sure he isn’t) but that ABBA may have been a little underrated.
“The squeaky wheel gets the grease” is the aphorism by which community activists live. And the biggest community organizer of them all is the President of the United States today. But the sleepy suburban town of Fremont is hardly the typical setting for activism. A bedroom community in the Bay Area with a large population of immigrants, the city has muddled along with haphazard development plans for years, with only fringe input from its residents.
But the recent plan to relocate the A’s stadium to one of a possible couple of locations in south Fremont galvanized the usually apathetic community. NIMBY! ( Not In My BackYard) was the rallying cry, as horrified residents in one of the best school districts in the city contemplated the repercussions of traffic, crowding and strain on essential city services. The emotion was strong enough that a quick web group was formed, the Fremont Citizens Network, which actively began advocating against the presence of the stadium.
Deepak Alur is one of the founders of the Fremont Citizens Network. He and his friends enlisted the help of experts in the field to determine the impact of building a stadium on a city and quickly came to the conclusion that no stadium construction has ever benefited a city in the long run.
In the beginning the concerned residents communicated by email. As the numbers grew, Deepak and his fellow techies decided to create a community group called the Fremont Citizens Network with a website that would keep track of the research, resources and plans involving the stadium project.
As befits Silicon Valley, the group is purely a web-based one. The power of the internet was harnessed to mobilize the group to protest the stadium on Tuesday, February24th, right outside the City Hall, where the city council was due to have its meeting about the project.
This was not the first outreach for FCN. “The first thing we did was to ask the city council if they were interested in the research we had done,” says Deepak. ” I went to the city council meeting and was given 2 minutes to talk about it. The response of the city council was that it was too premature to be talking about the project at the time. But within a few days members of the council were making public statements about the stadium coming to Fremont.”
Members of FCN also attempted to present their findings to the Fremont Planning Commission but were rebuffed. That’s when the idea of the protest was formed. “We were dismayed at the lack of transparency and openness in the dealings of the city,” says Deepak. The protest was a way of getting the attention of the city government.
For a small web-only group, FCN has been surprisingly successful. Perhaps the current economic climate has made the development of the stadium less viable but there is no doubt that FCN’s activism made it clear to the parties concerned that the residents of the city were not going to passively accept the decisions of the city council.
A letter from the developer for the project, Lew Wolf, arrived at the eleventh hour, withdrawing from the project, somewhat taking the wind out of the protest’s sails.
But the protest went on anyway. Not being a fan of the stadium project myself, I took my 13-year old to his (and my) first protest yesterday. A large group of Fremont citizens stood on the sidewalk outside the City Hall holding signs saying “Fremont First” and “No Stadium”.( One even asked for Mayor Bob Wasserman’s recall!) Knee-high little kids chanted “No stadium”, “No Stadium”, probably the first few words of their vocabulary. The protesters represented Fremont’s diversity, with an equal number of Indian Americans, Asian Americans and Caucasians. Pizza, chips and protest signs were being distributed.
“It was a humbling experience,” adds Deepak. “Ours is not a funded group but some members just decided to pitch in on their own.” Someone brought the pizza while another distributed T-shirts with the words ,”No Stadium”. Deepak himself got some FCN caps printed for the main organizers.
I talked to protester Shaital Desai who was there with her husband. “This was just too important an issue not to be involved,” she said. She had come in reponse to the email alert sent out by FCN and did not know any of the other people there.
The number of protesters kept growing. An unofficial count put it at 521, which is really significant in a population of just about 250,000. People spilled over to the roads and had to be herded by policemen so as not to obstruct traffic but it was all very peaceful and non-confrontational.The spirit was buoyant and when my son and I left around 7:15 the protest was moving to the main street.
Cars driving by showed their support by honking. Deepak contends that once the populace is informed of the facts surrounding the stadium project, even residents not too concerned about it today will reject it. That is why FCN is now moving forward to assure two things. One that the project is not resuscitated quietly once the fuss dies down and secondly that the matter be eventually put to a vote so that it is taken care of for the foreseeable future.
It was remarkable to see community activism in action. One hopes that through the FCN, the citizens of Fremont have a united voice for their concerns. To paraphrase President Obama’s line from yesterday’s Address to the Congress, “We all love this city and want the best for it.”
For more informationabout the Fremont Citizens Network click here.
By Geeta Padmanabhan
A billion Indian voices went “Jai HO!” as AR Rahman stepped on stage to accept his second Oscar statuette at the Kodak Amphitheater. Crackers were burst in front of his house, his sister was caught gushing about brother Rahman on TV cameras. A nation stood up and applauded.
People in the streets, teashops, hotel rooms, offices, buses, trains, beaches and hospital wards screamed, clapped and hugged as Slumdog Millionaire was called again and again for the various awards. India was awake at 4:30 am – the hour the live telecast on TV began for this big event. And held its breath.
The movie had generated incredible buzz – both good and bad – since its huge success at the Golden Globe awards. Reporters had not wasted even the remotest angles for their stories. Every entertainment slot had something on SM. Who is Dev Patel? How was the cesspool scene done? (Chocolate and peanut butter). They were helped with more than the usual grist by Amitabh Bachchan who made some oblique remark in his blog about the movie. AB was quoted and misquoted. He had “accused” the movie makers of selling India’s poverty abroad.
Then came the questions. “Why didn’t SRK play the games show host?” “Was the movie a success because a foreigner had directed and marketed it?”
As the movie began to make huge box office collections, the accusations turned socio-political. “SM owes its huge success abroad to the slum kids, slum scenes, slum story, slum what-have-you,” said a student on the NDTV show featuring Boyle, Dev, Tandon, Kapoor and Simon Beaufoy.“What are you going to do for them?”
“Goood question,” sidestepped Boyle.
“Why was the name in Q & A changed to Jamal?” asked another kid.
“A multi-religious name (in the book) is a beautiful idea. But movies work on emotions,” said Beaufoy.
The interviews with the cast and crew went on and on – you saw Anil Kapoor and Irfan on one channel, flip, there were Dev Patel and Frieda Pinto on another, flip, the kids on the third, flip, the entire main crew (include Lovleen Tandon) on the fourth, even while you heard Rahman’s voice on the FM waves.
Is this unprecedented national response because we are movie-mad? I don’t think so. A lot of people haven’t seen anything of the movie beyond the clippings rolling behind the studio interviews. There are millions of people in India who speak neither Hindi nor English. A movie about violence and slums, so what’s new?
India’s heart beats for AR Rahman. He is the binding force. People know him. They hum, sing and perform his songs. They have been doing it since his Roja days. His tunes, whether Chinna Chinna Aasai or Kwaja oh Kwaja bring a deeply felt resonance. No, it isn’t movie-madness. It is music-madness. Hs music fills the potholes of Indian life.
Congratulatory messages flew across the globe to him and Rasul and Prasanna, who made the music for Smile Pinki, the award winning documentary. Actor after actor was interviewed through the day. “I waited like I was waiting for my Board Exams,” said Surya. “Rahman richly deserves this award,” said Ilayaraja’s son. Kamal Hasan said something similar.
What did the awardees say in their acceptance speeches? Rasul talked of the silence before and after “Om” and dedicated the award to the nation. Rahman likened his emotions at the moment to his marriage jitters. He looked genuinely pleased as he pointed his mother in the audience. And then he endeared himself to the 10 crore Tamilians across the globe by invoking god in Tamil. He sang in Hindi, was awarded in English and he thanked God in Tamil. In that instant, he became a local, national and global boy. The boy who chose love over hate.
I spoke to him on the 7th January. He was a member of the jury that selected disabled candidates for the CavinKare Ability Awards. Talking of the disabled achievers, he said, “I should have been in London for the BAFTA celebrations. But I’m happy to be with these (disabled) stars rather than the movie stars.”
About 1 in 8 kids in the US has special needs. Despite this alarmingly high number, parents of kids with special needs face incredible loneliness in their challenge to deal with their child’s disability.
Almost 9 years ago, a few Indian parents got together to form a playgroup to get their kids to socialize with others facing similar challenges, and also to form a support group for themselves. The group evolved into Jeena, a non-profit organization in the Bay Area dedicated to helping children with developmental disorders and their families.
Right from the start, one of Jeena’s missions has been to bring children with special needs out of their shell and help them socialize and show off their talents. Jeena Yahaan( “Live here and now”), an annual show, has been the forum for this mission.
This year, the talented kids of Jeena are planning their annual show on May 3rd at the India Community Center. Bay Area’s premier dance company Naach is training the kids to dance to a medley of Bollywood songs. Another dance is being choreographed by the Indian Fusion Dance Company. The kids will also be singing a song taught by Pt. Habib Khan and putting on a play and talent show. Typically the evening will include a silent auction, dinner, and the evening ends with guests swinging to latest Bollywood melodies.
“Jeena Yahaan gives hope to parents. They meet other like minded parents, and form networks and are inspired to live life here and now. My son Neel, who is autistic, has benefited a tremendous amount from Jeena Yahaan,” says Sanjita Dhingra, a long time Jeena member who is putting together this year’s show. “Thanks to Jeena, he has got over his anxiety over performing in public.” 13 year-old Neel is now confident enough to participate in his school band with over a 100 other kids, a real challenge for an autistic child.
Kids with Cerebral Palsy and non-verbal kids also find a way to be a part of Jeena Yahaan as the show is tailored to each child’s special need. With a mix of typical and special needs children, it is an inclusive setting where everyone feels comfortable being themselves and doing their best.
While your pocketbook may be thin because of the current economic environment, I urge you to help Jeena put together their annual show this year. It is an incredibly important event for the kids who look forward to it all year. I have attended previous shows and have been moved by the look of pride on both the children’s and the parents’ faces.
The easiest way to contribute is by using the donate button at the Jeena website if you wish to remain anonymous. But Jeena would like to acknowledge your contribution, so send a check with your name or the name of the person you wish to donate on behalf of to
Jeena
1510 Centre Pointe,
Milpitas, CA 95035
USA
You can also contact Sanjita at for more information at sanjita_1@att.net or 408 2031043. If you are a vendor or products or services applicable to families in the Bay Area, it is worth noting that the event attracts about 400 to 500 families, largely from the Indian American community. Jeena is open to banner displays and vendor tables for your company.
Jeena is doing tremendous work in the Bay Area and also in India where the organization trains professionals in the care of special needs children. Do find your way to helping them out.
I may have just discovered the single most important key to successful weight loss.
But more on that later.
In my last post, I had committed to a day of “uni”tasking on February 21st. Well, Saturday arrived and I set out on my mission to do only one thing at a time. It was inspired by my desire to be more “mindful”, as they say, about my activities during the day.
It did not take long to figure out that this was a flawed experiment. Multitasking falls within a spectrum of behaviors, after all. Does talking to your spouse while having breakfast count? What about humming along to the music on the radio? Still, I was determined to eliminate some of the more obvious multitasking habits like reading the newspaper with my morning tea and watching the television while eating.
By 9 a.m. my resolve was already shaken. The oatmeal I usually have for breakfast tasted like the horse food it is without the the daily spice of the comics page. Driving to an errand, I chafed at not being able to listen to my favorite program on NPR. Only the thought that this was an experiment limited to a single day kept me going.
What I discovered ( apart from the fact that I really don’t have the appetite or temperament to “uni”task) is that our standards become much higher when we bring our complete attention to our current task. The book I was reading had to work hard to capture my imagination and I discarded several choices before settling on the novel I wanted to read the most. While listening to music I was quick to change the song if it did not suit my tastes to a T. While cooking, I hovered over the dish, tasting and correcting till I felt I got it absolutely right.
The corollary to that is that multitasking disguises a multitude of mediocrity. If you have headphones on while writing an essay, the music simply has to be pleasant and non-disruptive..chances are the essay will be too. If you are watching your favorite show while doing household chores, it is fine if the tasks are repetitive and ingrained in muscle memory, but it would be hard to try out a new recipe, for instance. Multitasking allows our brains to give fractional attention to our many simultaneous tasks and they all suffer a little as a result.
Studies by the American Psychological Association suggest that we also lose time while multitasking.
…for all types of tasks, subjects lost time when they had to switch from one task to another, and time costs increased with the complexity of the tasks, so it took significantly longer to switch between more complex tasks. Time costs also were greater when subjects switched to tasks that were relatively unfamiliar. They got “up to speed” faster when they switched to tasks they knew better, an observation that may lead to interfaces designed to help overcome people’s innate cognitive limitations.
But back to the weight loss tip. Mireille Guiliano, author of “French Women Don’t Get Fat”, suggested that one of the reasons women in France don’t overeat is that they savor every bite and know when to stop. I can vouch for that. When all your attention is on the plate in front of you, you tend to be aware of and respond to the cues your stomach and brain are sending you. There is no incentive to keep eating after your stomach signals “full” and another more desirable task awaits your undivided attention. I found myself eating a lot less than I normally do and this is one “uni” tasking habit I’m going to take a shot at continuing.
But right now the oatmeal is neighing to be eaten. Thank god for the Sunday funnies!
Tanya with "Waiting for him"
It is a nondescript salon tucked away in a strip mall on the long stretch of El Camino Real. You may have even passed it on your way to the various Indian restaurants that litter the Mountain View/Sunnyvale corridor. Inside, stations are set up for manicures, pedicures and haircuts, just your everyday beauty parlor offerings.
But just a glance at the walls will tell you that this is no ordinary shop. One wall has a cubist rendering of a reclining woman. On another, the liquid eyes of a young couple stare out from a pair of paintings. An easel on the corner has a painting embellished in gold flakes.
This is the Spoil-Me Salon, home to artist Tanya Momi whose nimble fingers are equally adept at threading eyebrows and wielding the paintbrush. Hers is a remarkable story. Born to an intellectual family in Chandigarh, the shy Tanya found expression in art, showing an early talent. She did her studies in the field and participated in several competitions, winning prizes and acclaim. She became a docent at the Chandigarh art gallery, happy to spend her leisure surrounded by the works of masters.
"Wounded"
Her family found her a match in the US and that’s when the long nightmare began. Rigid and orthodox, her in-laws refused to allow her to pursue her passion, treating her like an “educated maid”, in Tanya’s own words. She took on the role of a dutiful wife and mother, sublimating her passion and desires for nearly 2 dozen years. She was not allowed to make friends, to drive or to step out of the house to shop. After several years a kind neighbor suggested to her that she might want to take a short course and become a manicurist. When the in-laws were convinced that she could bring in a decent income, they consented. Tanya jumped at the opportunity. “Painting is painting,” she reasoned. “So what if it is on nails instead of canvases.” Soon she had a huge list of clients among whom she made many dear friends.
When the evidence of abuse at home became evident, her friends gave her the courage to break out of her prison. With the help and support of friends and parents, Tanya finally separated from her abusive relationship and started out on her own. Clients donated easels and paints and encouraged her to go back to her first love, painting.
"Circle of Trust"
The Spoil-Me Salon is in the process of renovation, but I took a tour of Tanya’s works, currently stored in an anteroom at the salon. The repressed passion of 2 decades bursts out of every painting. Vivid and earthy, each painting has a message. After her divorce, Tanya was shunned by the women of her own community and propositioned by the men and the pain of those encounters is captured on many canvases. A beautiful one called “Circle of trust” is a poignant reminder of the support that only women can give other women. An extra long canvas called “Everytown and Country Therapy Sessions” questions why therapy should not be more easily available for the many wounded souls our modern lifestyle creates. Many paintings display cherished passages from the Guru Granth Sahib, whose inclusive messages are a balm to Tanya’s heart.
Tanya at work
It’s been only 2 years since Tanya resumed painting, but she has over 200 paintings to show for it. She works like a woman possessed, sometimes painting up to 8 hours a day till her fingers cramp. She experiments with many styles from cubism to impressionism to portraits on commission. Her paintings have been featured in many international tours. One set of paintings is currently traveling with Amnesty International’s Stop Violence Against Women Art Exhibit.
Tanya Momi rebuilt her life after a traumatic marriage and divorce and in her own quiet way she helps other women do the same. “Women come into my life through the salon,” she says. “They are like the missing puzzle pieces of my life.” Through her work in the salon and her paintings she reaches out to offer comforting messages of hope and renewal. This Muy Thai kickboxing enthusiast has a full plate – working full time, painting full time and enjoying every moment of her busy life. “Don’t complain,don’t explain, just do something,” says the irrepressible Tanya Momi.
More information on Tanya can be found at www.tanyamomi.com. She would love to be contacted at tanya.momi@yahoo.com. And do step in Spoil-Me Salon if you feel the need for a little pampering.
Tanya will also feature in a panel discussion in a segment on “Following Your Bliss” organized by Narika in a South Asian Women’s Conference on March 21st, 2009.
One might wonder why a movie, whose central premise is President George W. Bush’s visit to India, was released after he left the office. But as an Indian American, I was glad to have the distance and be free to laugh at the mockery this movie makes of our last President, glad to have woken up from the nightmare of the last 8 years.
The President is Coming(TPIC) is a clever little movie made in the style of a “mockumentary”, like NBC’s The Office. W made a trip to India in 2006, badly in need of some TLC from one of the few countries in the world where he was still a Big Man on Campus. In India his ego, much bruised from the fiascoes of Iraq and Katrina, was assured of the balm of sycophancy. While there were a few protests here and there, he received a royal reception in official circles, the kind only a post-colonial nation with a Raj hangover can offer.
Writer Anuvab( no that’s not a typo) Pal’s fancy was tickled by all the hype and hoopla surrounding that visit, and he set out to imagine a scenario where the 43rd President, in his trademark stubbornness, gets it into his head that he needs to shake a “Young Indian’s” hand. This leads to a frenzy over which “Young Indian” is to be chosen. In true reality TV style, 6 finalists from various social and cultural strata are chosen to be trained and assessed to compete for the awesome prize of shaking W’s hand.
The finalists are, in no particular order, a Bengali intellectual, a Gujarati stockbroker, a Marathi social worker( a graduate of IIM Ahmedabad, no less!), a call center manager, a rich Paris Hilton like socialite and a techie from Bangalore. they each have their own eccentric reason for wanting to shake hands with the President; as the story progresses, we discover more and more about them.
Yes, the characters are stereotypes, but these are different from the ones we usually see on screen and the humor is biting. I laughed out loud at several moments in the movie, even when the comedy descended to sophomoric levels( this reviewer though Harold and Kumar at White Castle was hilarious).
The entire movie feels like a college skit( same level of raunchiness) but it it still very very funny. The only recognizable actor is Konkona Sen Sharma as Maya Roy, the intellectual whose superciliousness and ability to quote poetry impress the heck out of Samantha Patel( Shernaz Patel) whose agency has the job of selecting the hand-shaker. But everybody else turns in very fine performances too. Satchit Puranik as the reverse snob Ajay Karlekar( ha!) is terrific as he expresses bigotry towards women, Muslims, rich people, and just about everybody else.
The characters are all slightly overdrawn and veer towards caricature but the script makes up for it. Kunaal Kapur’s direction stays true to the smart script, which exposes the varied neuroses coexisting peacefully in India.
Worth a watch.
The President is coming
*ring – Konkona Sen Sharma, Shernaz Patel,
Written by Anuvab Pal
My rating – 3 stars out of 5.
We take our Blackberries into the bathroom and listen to music while we work. While us old fogeys have to be content with doing 2, maybe 3 things at a time, it is marvel to watch a teenager at it – simultaneous screens on the laptop deal with Instant Messages, chat rooms, homework assignments and YouTube; earphones blare music in one ear while the cell phone is pressed to the other.
Are we really mindful about any of the activities we are doing? Can we really concentrate on or enjoy any of the various appeals to our senses? I sense that multitasking has made us shallow consumers, not of products, but of technology. Our attention spans have gone down and our depth of understanding of any one subject has virtually disappeared.
That’s my hypothesis anyway. In a bid to find out what I’m missing, I plan to make February 21st “Uni”tasking Day for myself. So
-no taking a book into the bathroom
-no drinking tea with the newspaper
-no eating in front of the TV
-no multiple screens on the computer open at a time
-no listening to music or talking on the cellphone while I drive
and finishing whatever show on the television I start watching. You get the point. I plan to give my full attention to whatever activity I start and see if I can survive the day.
Will you join me? Pick any day over the next week that is convenient. See how long you can go without slipping. Share your experiences with me.
Good luck!
“I’m the president of a couple of clubs at my school,” says Arun Bajaj, “ and let me tell you, it is a lot easier managing a group of my peers than a group of 40 young kids!” 17 year-old Arun, a senior at Saratoga High School, volunteered at the India Community Center’s summer camp program last summer as a camp counselor. The program offers teens a chance to learn managerial and leadership skills while mentoring young kids and establishing a connection with Indian culture and their Indian roots.
Now the program has been expanded to include a weekly leadership program during the school year. Over 8 weekends, participants learn project planning, elements of entrepreneurship, public speaking and political advocacy. With distinguished members of the community invited for lectures, it is a tremendous opportunity for kids not only to learn the valuable skills they will need in their future careers, it is also an opportunity to network and establish connections with the movers and shakers of Silicon Valley.
Karan Suri agrees. “I think the once a week program is a great idea,” he says enthusiastically.” Karan, a senior at Los Altos High, has been volunteering at the summer camp program since he was a freshman. “I brought my drum set and taught the kids the elements of drumming. Another counselor who was good at drawing helped the kids design their own comic books.” Thanks to his experience, Karan is eligible to be a camp director this year. In his senior position, he would plan schedules, hire instructors and develop the curriculum for some of the camps, an invaluable training in managerial responsibilities. “I am grateful for the opportunity to meet people in business and develop my leadership skills,” he says.
One interesting element of the new expanded program is the individual project, where participants would have to work with seniors to develop “oral histories”. It is a fascinating way for the kids to get in touch with their own roots and feel a part of the long historic Indian tradition.
The program, which starts on the 8th of March, culminates in June with 2 half-days training for the summer camp responsibilities. In addition, the teens have to commit to 2 weeks in the summer as camp counselors – the whole exercise has been leading up to this responsibility. The cost, given the amount of learning the camp offers, is a negligible $150.
Given the popularity of the summer camp program in recent years, the spots are likely to fill up fast. Parents, if you’ve been looking for a program for your teen which satisfies the 100-hour community service requirement for school while reconnecting your child to his/her Indian heritage, this is it. More details about the program can be found at the revamped ICC site here. The program is open to kids in the 10th through 12th grades.
There is an axiom in the publishing industry that says ” Write what you know.” Certainly director Zoya Akhtar seems to have taken it to heart in her debut movie, Luck By Chance. Daughter of famous poet, composer and writer Javed Akhtar, Zoya uses the movie industry in Mumbai as a backdrop for the story of a couple of struggling actors who come to try out their luck in the big bad city.
Luck By Chance, which is also written by Ms. Akhtar, stars brother Farhan as Vikram Jaisingh, the son of a prosperous shopowner from Delhi who rejects the family business to pursue his dreams of success in Bollywood. He signs up for the usual classes in singing, dancing, horseriding and martial arts. (As one veteran acting coach points out astutely, it is much harder to be a Bollywood hero than a Hollywood one.) Vikram is distilled ambition, pointed like a laser beam at the main chance, and damn everyone who gets in the way. Vikram meets and hooks up with Sona Mishra( Konkona Sen Sharma) who has conducted a Faustian bargain with a producer to keep her dreams of a lead role alive. How their struggles play out is the subject of the movie.
Farhan Akhtar is great as the scheming Vikram, proving conclusively that he is not one a one-film wonder( Rock On) and that his acting chops rival his directorial talents( Dil Chahta Hai, Don). Despite his brooding looks( I call him the intelligent woman’s heartthrob) he plays the shallow and conniving Vikram very convincingly. A well developed physique adds to the credibility of his ambition.
The same cannot be said for Konkona. She is a superb actress and is as good as ever in LBC, but the premise that she thinks she is leading lady material seems thin. Or maybe not, given the number of girls who probably wash up on the shore of the metropolis, convinced they have what it takes to make it big. Anyway, her looks leave no doubt about her eventual fate.
The movie is well directed and beautifully acted. Rishi Kapoor is terrific as producer Romy Rolly who gets his failed actor brother to direct a movie. Dimple as the typical actress mama is perfectly cast. Hrithik Roshan supposedly has a “guest role” but he takes up a good bit of time as Zafar Khan, the number 2 superstar behind Shahrukh. Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy’s music is melodious.
With Zoya Akhtar’s connection with the movie business, the number of movie types that show up in cameos are too many to list and the opening credits pay tribute to the unknown workers who toil behind the scenes. The montage captures the bemusement of tailors, stuntmen, spot boys and grips as the light is shined upon them; it is a moving segment to anyone fascinated by Bollywood.
But LBC is too subtle, too low key and much too predictable. You know how the materialistic movers and shakers in Bollywood are going to behave( though Juhi Chawla as Romy’s loving and concerned wife is somewhat of a surprise). Scenes are telegraphed way ahead of time so there is no element of surprise. As coach Saurabh Shukla says to his aspiring actors, “You need to be a little bit larger than life in Bollywood”. The same can apply to this movie. This is not a criticism of realism in film, but for a movie to catch the audience’s imagination, it must leave them exalted by the experience. Luck By Chance fails to do that, though I would recommend it as a fine debut effort.
Luck By Chance
*ring: Farhan Akhtar, Konkona Sen Sharma, Rishi Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia, Hrithik Roshan
Directed by Zoya Akhtar.
My rating: 3.5 stars out of 5.
Water, No Ice 