Random chakallas: films, career, and chemical locha

I just finished watching this beautiful film called 'Luck By Chance'. Though flimsily titled, the film carries enough power to set one pondering. In my case, more than it moved me with its self-hilarity and endearing characterisation, it inspired me. It fuelled and supported my gradually subsiding fire of pursuing a career in film-direction and script-writing. Now, I'm not going to trespass any further on the plot, lest it spoils your own experience of watching he film.

What I realised was, when the film ended, my mother, with whom I was watching the film, though having been touched by the film, stood up and went about on her day-today work, without even waiting for the credits to start rolling in. This put another useless but engrossing thought in my mind: How can a movie, a good, meaningful movie, not scintillate you enough to chain you down till atleast we have the credits? I know that some guys would waste no time to point out that in my very last post, I had proclaimed that those who take films seriously, are fools. And now I'm saying the exact opposite of that! My answer is, I don't want you to take a movie seriously, but something must be in a good film, that made you feel a part of it, that enabled you to escape your already boring life and belong to the universe of the film. At least that very success of the film is worthy of some kind of acknowledgement.

With me, a good film, or even a fairly good one for that matter, does make me think as to what the film-maker had in mind. I tend to be over-analytical, and still, at the end of all my analysis and thought-process, I end up with nothing but the face value of the film.

I also tend to stay in the film for days, months even, if I find it good, but for my parents, my family, and my friends, films are just films. There is a sort of casualness and non-seriousness attached to even the best of movies. 'Its good, its great, but lets face it, it is just a movie. It brings not a hair-width of a difference to your life' they say. And hell, they are right. Maybe I am wrong, not the people. And this is how I learnt about humility and tolerance in various tastes and habits.

In our country, there are just too many stereotypes. That's because 90% of our population is still grappling with a chronic disease called mediocrity. In the midst of all the mediocre people whom we tolerate and deal with every other day, there are some few honest guys who work their arses up to earn a square meal for themselves, but eventually fall trap to these stereotypes. One such big stereotype is the famous 'nerd'. Yes, I am referring to guys who get admitted like herds of goats every bloody year in prestigious institutes like IIT, SRCC, and what-not.

Interestingly, some of these guys are actually those who romance with subjects like Physics or Economics, who derive passion out of their studies. Volumes of thick books written on droopy subjects actually are a drug for them. Their motivation is more than just a heavy paycheck and a coveted position in the society, but genuine interest. And these few people appear as nerdy muggers to laymen like me and millions of others. Maybe, for these irrational and genuine guys, people like me, who are inclined towards obscure, non-conventional and insecure interests, might seem like bunch of fags (please forgive me for my increasingly blasphemous writing). But the crux of the matter is, no profession in its pure form is bad. I know I am stating the obvious, but the obvious is true in this case!

What I want to justify in this post is the reason why I get so immersed in films, I get so carried away with cinema. That is because of my own unique chemical locha, or faulty brain wiring, that made me a film-fanatic and a gullible guy at the same time. We humans are unique because of these irregular interests which, at the first glance, might seem unrelated, but form an interesting combo which add up to our personality. That is the very essence of being human. You are, even if you don't have any apparent talent, one in a zillion.