Politics and Indian Education.

Yesterday I was helping my daughter prepare for her class 5 History exam and came upon this chapter. I am no expert in education but something seems seriously amiss in this chapter. Do our kids need to study about Medha Patkar or Mallika Sarabai or Sharukh Khan? Are these the best examples of achievers in this country? Do we not have scientists or businessmen or sports people who could perhaps be better qualified to be on these pages?  I am surprised that Teesta Setalvad isn't a part of this chapter.  I am sure if someone from the HRD ministry tried to drop some of these obviously dubious names it would be called saffronization  of education. Prof. Amartya Sen and Dr. Verghese Kurien are the other names that make up  and sort of redeem this chapter.

What Makes Me A Good Indian?

I have a mother and I love her very much. I love my country very much too. I must confess I find no special affinity towards a cow, at least no more than I would towards a goat or a hen. I have no confusion in my head about my mother, my country or cows.

I would like to state that I am a patriot and a very proud Indian.  In fact being an Indian is the one identity I value more than any other. Much much more than my religious or regional identity. Being a fauji kid I guess this part comes easy to me.

I don’t think a cow is equal to either my country or my mother.  My mother is not equal to my country or a cow. Similarly my country is not equal to my mother or to a cow.  I think it is important for me to state this because a lot of people are confused between the three.  It is possible for an intelligent person to compartmentalize logically.

So, am I a good Indian? Of course I am. “What is a good Indian?” you might ask. I’ll tell you why I think I am a good Indian.

I am a good Indian because I believe all Indians are equal. Of course I also believe that all people are equal in case some of you miss that.  

I am a good Indian because I believe in a policy of live and let live.

I am a good Indian because I pay my taxes honestly. Sure, I don't like it. But it doesn't say anywhere that I have to like it too.

I am a good Indian because I care about what happens to other Indians. I am capable of feeling empathy for fellow citizens.

I am a good Indian because I don’t discriminate against my fellow Indians.  Did I say that before? Maybe, but always nice to say it again and underline it.

I am a good Indian because I don’t incite violence against other Indians. Actually I don’t incite violence against other nationalities either.

I am a good Indian because I obey the laws of this country. Not just the laws that seem convenient to me.

I am a good Indian because I don’t believe I am right all the time. Actually, when I stop to hear the other point of view I am surprised at how often I am not right.

I am a good Indian because I concede that people I don’t always agree with are also Indians and they have as much right to India as I have.

I am a good Indian because I don’t lie as per my convenience.

I am a good Indian because I don’t cheat or steal.

I am a good Indian because I don’t defraud banks or other institutions dealing in public wealth.

I am a good Indian because I believe in paying for that I consume.

I am a good Indian because I don’t spit on the roads, streets or public spaces. Ditto garbage. 

I am a good Indian because I stand in queues like everyone else.

I am a good Indian because I question everything including second hand wisdom that is often handed down as gospel truth.

I am a good Indian because I don’t try to get ahead at the cost of other Indians. Be it in traffic or in any other aspect of life.

I am a good Indian because I don’t make up angst to suit my politics.

I am good Indian because I don’t forward, retweet or share like a cancer every unverified post, that suits my politics, I see on the Internet.

I am good Indian because I don’t play convenient politics over a dead person. Regardless of their religion or politics.

I am a good Indian because I don’t force my religion upon others. I also believe religion is deeply personal and doesn’t belong in public.

I am a good Indian because a laal batti normally works as a red rag for me.

I am a good Indian because I believe I am an ordinary person with nothing particularly special about me that make either my opinion or me more important than the next person.

I am a good Indian because I don’t suggest moving to Pakistan to anyone who disagrees with me. I have no quarrel with those who wish to live in Pakistan but I am not showing a red card to anyone and sending them off that way.

Playing Safe Is As Good as Being Dead

Ever watched a small film and felt like you’d seen it before? I was just watching a trailer of a forthcoming film and it suddenly struck me that I’d seen it many times before. The formula was down pat to the last comeback. The Hero just the right type of chocolate and the Heroine just the right sort of damsel in distress.  A flowing dress fluttering in the wind, wrapping itself across the hero’s face while he had just the right sort of ecstatic expression. Promo song shot in slow motion in just the right sort of exotic location. The heaving bosoms and chiseled abs doing just the right sort of orgasmic gyrations.  It’s not like there was anything wrong with the trailer, more a case of nothing being right with it.  It was just plastic. Commercially it had ‘Investors will lose big’ written all over it.  The poor sods don’t know it yet and nobody has bothered to articulate the reasons to them. Right now they’re probably popping champagne at a party to celebrate the anticipated success of their classic.

So, why is it that on seeing a trailer of a film most viewers can make out exactly what the film is going to be like? Why do viewers decide to drop a load of money on one film and give the other a complete miss? It’s because most viewers, unconsciously of course, can smell the sameness on offer.  This sameness works in opposite ways for different budget or types of film.

For a large budget film, for example a Rohit Shetty or Salman/SRK film the sameness works as an advantage. The audience knows what to expect. There is comfort in knowing that the formula will be exactly as per template. It is like going to a well-known buffet meal at an average restaurant. The standards are set not too high, yet they seem high enough, and there is a bit for everyone.  Minor variations in story and execution make the experience predictable and therefore enjoyable.  The audience doesn’t want sushi suddenly replacing their chicken tikka. Predictable is nice and comforting.

Now when a mid to small budget movie tries to do the same thing it falls flat leaving many producers/distributors bewildered. After all didn’t they play safe by sticking to a template that works? They dismiss their leading actors as unlucky or worse untalented.  But look at it from the point of view of a viewer. Where is the attraction? Why would a viewer commit to paying money to watch a small film that looks like something that s/he’s seen before?  Using the buffet meal analogy imagine going to a roadside eatery for a buffet meal. The vegetables are less than fresh, the cheese cheap and the curries made with rancid oil. Add to that poor ambience and plating and…. you get the drift.

It is important for filmmakers to understand where they stand in the scheme of things. You don’t need to be Einstein to work out that you are not making a big budget extravaganza.  Even while I concede that there isn’t a formula to bring the audiences in one thing is certain; they’re not coming in to watch tired reruns.

Why then do filmmakers insist on playing safe? I must have been in a thousand meetings where producers have told me how to make the project ‘safe’.  As an investor in a small or medium budget film when you set out to make a ‘safe film’ you are essentially setting out to take the most unsafe punt you can possibly take.  The comfort of B list stars, 5 songs, a love story, 3 act structure, a dying mother’s love and a sappy happy ending are actually no comfort at all.  These devices may have worked once upon a time but now they are sadly out of date. 

Risky is the only safe bet available. 

No matter how much of an oxymoron the previous sentence sounds like it is a truth that producers would do well to understand. Stories that are unusual, stories that are uncomfortable, stories that push you to think, stories that break away from conventionally established norms are the only stories that can bring in audiences for a small film.  The promise has to grab viewers and shake them up.  But before that the filmmakers have to allow themselves to be shaken up. They have to buy into a story that scares them. They have to invest in a story that seems risky or wrong to them. Playing safe is not an option because there is no ‘safe’ anymore. 

Odd-Even and More!

Delhi in January 2016 is going to become a laboratory for the rest of the nation. If Kerjiwal’s ‘Odd-Even’ formula works it will show the way to most of our congested cities. Without qualification I think Kejriwal needs to be supported in this endeavor.  The problem is just too huge to not support any and every effort regardless of political affiliation. 

Like most thinking Indians I too have thought about the traffic mess that our country has become. Would I recommend the Odd-Even formula for my city? Probably not. Here’s what I would have recommended.

(Disclaimer: I am not an expert and most of what I am suggesting seems like common sense to me. I may be wrong but I can afford to be wrong on my own blog. )

1.  Define rush hours.
2. Make it mandatory for all cars entering specified areas/roads to carry at least 4 passengers during rush hours. Those not carrying 4 passengers should be sent a one time bill, a congestion charge, which is steep enough for them to reconsider their choices (say Rs. 500).  So, if you are in a hurry and in dire need you can still use your car but you have to pay for using it if you aren’t carrying 4 passengers. Definition of dire need would change quite quickly I suspect. This can all be done electronically. London is an example.  
3. Encourage offices to provide shared transportation. I mean buses, car pools and suchlike. To encourage businesses a small reduction in their tax (0.5% reduction in service tax should do it) could be introduced.
4.  Smaller offices/businesses could share buses with other similar offices in their buildings/ office hubs. An unintended benefit of travel by car pool/bus will be a more disciplined work culture. This would benefit a huge number of workers who hang around in offices just because they think they have to.
5. Cities must encourage people to live close to where they work. This is a big one. The number of people travelling long distances to get to work is simply unsustainable. Though most of it is a function of real estate prices, which are governed by market forces, I suspect in some cases it is because of the hassle involved. Buying and selling of property should be made easier and more cost effective. Today if a person were to sell their flat for 2 crore rupees and buy a similar flat close to work (Let’s assume both places are similar in real estate prices) s/he would still end up losing about 20 to 25 lacs in municipal taxes, stamp duties, brokerage fees etc. Nobody can afford to pay that kind of money simply to be close to his or her place of work.

There was a suggestion of faster car lanes for cars with 4 passengers but I’m not sure that would work. If it didn’t work for the BRTs I doubt it would work for cars.

I did also consider cycling. But lack of infrastructure and weather conditions in summer would make sure that it doesn’t become a popular option.

That’s my two paisa worth gyan. Feel free to add and keep the discussion going.

A Young Actor’s Conundrum

“Should I be doing one film at a time or should I be doing all the work I can lay my hands on?”

If a newcomer is lucky enough to be getting multiple offers from producers, in Bombay it mostly means you are ‘to the manor born’, this question might play on a young actor’s mind. Of course if you’re the kind who has sold their last belonging to make a leap into Bollyland this isn’t a very relevant question and you can stop reading now. But if you are young and connected by blood or sperm with the royalty of filmdom and are being puff inflated by your managers and/ or mummyji as the next big thing you might have to grapple with this question. At least you should if you have any fucking brains.

There is a case for both approaches. In the past, Amitabh Bachchan’s generation, that lorded over the box-office, used to do three shifts a day churning out 3 to 5 films a year.  While others, mostly from the current generation of ‘Stars’, take a more measured approach doing one or two films a year.  This approach to work was made popular by Aamir Khan at the turn of the century.  He probably decided that it made sense for him to limit exposure and put all his effort into the one film every year or so. And it worked very well for him. Largely because he was meticulous about the story he chose and made sure everyone around him polished it to a level where it was simply impossible for it to fail. But here is the bad news for those newcomers who think taking this route  is their success mantra. Most young actors don’t know how to read a script. Of course it might be argued that many older actors don’t really know how to read either, but then that’s a story for another time.

Today I will argue for the ‘work till you drop’ approach. One of the main reasons to do this is that as a young actor you don’t know shit about reading a script. Your inability to make a distinction between a good script and a god-awful one is the first reason you should be doing more films. It is like taking multiple small bets at the gambling table as opposed to putting your house on the line on one punt. Bandra and Andheri’s streets are littered with tombstones of too many ‘failed’ young actors who were made to believe they were better than the work being offered to them.

The second reason, and this is more important, is that most young actors polishing up in the gyms, swimming, doing parkour and horse riding don’t know how to act. It is a truth that is well known. Directors break into cold sweat in the middle of the night worrying about the next day’s shoot.  DOPs have been known to shoot themselves, with a gun. So, if you are deluding yourself that behind that chocolate face is an acting supernova please dispel that thought. You are in all probability a lousy actor with no real life experiences to draw upon.  There is no real depth to you. You are what would be described as a ‘flake’ in parts of India that are not Andheri west.

But there is hope. Take the example of today’s reigning superstars. To put it politely they were not thespian quality actors at the start of their career.  But they have by and by become reasonable actors. Over time acting like any craft can be polished. You can learn how to face the camera and pace your dialogue delivery.  Timing and use of space is a great skill that can be learned by acting daily in front of camera. You can learn what works and what doesn’t if you spend enough time in front of the camera. Experience can even make you a good actor.  And this experience comes by acting. Also, don’t forget some of those character actors you’ll work with daily, those actors who don’t make it to the film’s poster or publicity material, are actually very good at their jobs and give you a springboard to bounce off that no mirror can.

Since Aamir Khan’s approach to work is the example most touted by young actors while rejecting scripts it may be interesting to see how many films he did at the start of his career.  I have counted 26 films in the first 12 years after his mainstream debut in 1988.  And these are the films that saw light of day. I am sure there were enough that got stuck in various stages of filming.   He was probably doing 3 to 4 films a year.

So the lesson here would be, learn to read a script. But if you can’t make out if a script is good or bad it may be a wise career move to carpet bomb the audiences. Learning from a mistake is better than not learning at all. Please do yourself a favor and go through the list of actors - I suggest looking at the last 10 years - who were billed as the next big thing and see how far they’ve gotten.  This list is full of sons/daughters/girlfriends of Bollyland ‘A’ list who got launched in great style.  You’ll find a huge number, actors who listened to their spin doctors/agents dead set on ‘packaging’ them right, who never made any headway. In this business hot turns to cold rather quickly. Out of politeness I won’t mention names but you get what I am saying.  Choose to do more than less. Less is okay if you are already a star or an exceptional actor.  Also remember that your father’s stardom doesn’t automatically transfer to you.

 Saying no to a script is easy. Saying yes and then working your butt off takes courage. And courage is what makes a great character.