Manish Joseph

Rahman & the idea of India Gandhi Talks music is fab! All three songs released until now are a treat for rahmaniacs. And with release in all those languages it is Rahman magic once again. Rahman is idea of India pro max. He is the musical glue who joins the very diverse & different North & South India, especially the 50% hindi speaking crowd with south indian states. Infact Roja in 1992 started north vs south music discussions, in a beautiful way to unite. When hindustani and carnatic blended with commercial bollywood & entered our homes. When we all loved Yeh Haseen Vaadiya (especially that glass shattering beginning),  it was almost the first time millenials like me were discussing about a pan india artist, at that scale in music. That glass shattering moment was his announcement to the desi musical scene. It is quite natural for a music creator to reach that level of universal appeal out of all dimensions of art, as music is truly universal. The way Dil Hai Chhota sa or Chinna Chinna Aasai starts and progresses, made us understand how preludes and interludes are songs within songs. The flute was dissolving into the ears with newly discovered walkman's and philips cassette players. To our surprise, each interlude was different. The end of the song was like the sumptuous dessert after a full course meal. Here comes a music director who has a universe within a 5 minute song. Undiscovered galaxies like layers and those small electronic sounds, which can be discussed and discovered, slowly with every listen. To well understand a Rahman gem, any number of listens aren't enough. Apne haatho se apni kala ko taarashne wale Michelangelo ki tarah, pehla music director.

Pepperoni Kyunki oni ko koun taal sakta hai?

Both are good. Ranbir Kapoor is restrained, effortless, subtle and layered. Ranveer Singh is a little evident & loud. However his effort, energy and dedication makes him stand out again & again. He is very colourful.

Desis treat 'duty' also differently due to British & kings time influence and use the word as a replacement for kartavya, farz for regular jobs..kind of related to naukari coming from naukar, service, servant. 'Job' and 'Duty' and 'work' etc were used interchangeably not just for government jobs. The not so good parallel idea seeped in is to do whatever is told without asking. Modern jobs give you more ownership and power however to question albeit still constrained.

Salt played a very crucial role in 70s cinema & north desi circles. Lots of idioms hinting towards loyalty, betraying, duty, karz. 'Karz' (chukaana) was its own cinema landscape. Best one was Salim-Javed in Sholay 'Sardar maine aapka namak khaya hai' 'Ab goli kha.' Salt became essential for life via food and relations. Interestingly the moral drama extension of salt got heavy via persian courts, urdu influences. Salt can also be seen as a hero in biblical and middle east references. Convenant of salt. Salt of the earth.

@MrNarci That was our film names Antakshari cue. Namak series. And Namkeen.

I just think it's quite funny there are movies named Namak Haraam and Namak Halaal and both star Amitabh Bachchan

Biryani is an over marketed term from restaurants, as per Pushpesh Pant. Like paneers, biryani has been beaten to death as a spectacle delicacy. Too much ornamentation. The original sweetheart dish was Pulao. Like Yakhni Pulao where taste supercedes spectacle. That's why we make Khayali Pulao in imagination and not khayali biryani.

There is a thin line between a good speaker, poet or artist and a responsible speaker, poet or artist. There is a thin line between impact and intent. There is a thin line between integrity and manipulation.

Movies represent the times & the story should resonate with people. The theater business has turned into a spectacle like going to watch aatishbaazi & a box office tamasha, Dhurandhar is a better representation of today's cinema lovers, as people actually can feel the paisa wasool spectacle with what non bhakts feel like loud, jingoistic, political conspiracy ridden, violent alpha man flavors. But clearly most people like it. Swades and Lakshya aren't that chest thumping spectacle and may not find audience. Swades and Lakshya for that matter didn't work even then & is just part of later nostalgia. Nominating for OTT release. RDB can clearly work. But it needs guts from the makers and support from the audience especially bhakts, both of which are missing today. It will not work either. Chakk de, Lagaan kinds can clearly work in the present as in past, as it dives into sports and des, evergreen topics. May need a few tweaks. A little extra self gungaan.

Yeh wala toh feeka nikla. I like the exact golmaal setup. Sunil gets the advantage of a great production quality, script & make up, which many yesteryear mimic artists didn't get.

Interesting to know that they don't like our desi alpha-man revenge saga. Sirjee, we have in-house revenge, conspiracy & conditioning specialists. If you want to twist anything in history & popular imagination ,we can add you to the grand family whatsapp group.

Desi DNA: Three Layers That Bind Us Behind the diversity of languages, regions, and cultures in the Indian subcontinent lies a shared genetic story built on three deep ancestral layers. 1. AASI : Ancient Ancestral South Indian Time: Present since 40000-60000 years in indian subcontinent. Origin : The great Out Of Africa migration, which populated the whole world.  Role : Our base genetic layer across pan india ( not just south) Found across indian subcontinent but stronger in: Tribals, Andaman Nicobar Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Odisha South Indian states(Karnataka, Andhra, TN, Kerala) + Sri Lanka States in East (Some distant matches with Australian aboriginals and other out of africa ancestry) 2. IRAN_N or Iran Neolithic related or Zagros farmers Time : Arrived 7000-4000 BCE Origin: Farmers ( and herders) living in Zagros mountains in Iranian plateau.  Role : Promoted Agriculture of wheat and barley. Interesting note: Present significantly in Indus Valley Civilization people(3300-1300 BCE) & then spread across whole of India. (Indus Valley Civilization itself was however more a combination of AASI + IRAN_N).  Found across indian subcontinent but strong in: Western Coast - Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa. Northwest, indus region and Pakistan 3. Aryans or Steppe_MLBA or Indo Iranian Time: Arrived in 2000-1500 BCE(post Indus civilization decline) Origin : Kazakhstan / South Russia / Ukraine region. Associated with Yamnaya, Sintashta, Andronovo cultures. Role: Associated with bringing Indo-European language roots, especially Vedic Sanskrit roots, & Early Vedic culture roots. Pastoral traditions. Present more in upper castes. Migration path: Steppe - Central Asia - Afghanistan - Northwest Found across Indian subcontinent, but strongest in: Northwest India, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan Decreases gradually toward South and East Interestingly matches with the genome which allows easy dairy/lactase absorption(13910T), which also surprisingly matches with dairy habits of consumption (as well as production) being the highest in current north west, (coincidental relationship) Modern desi population genome is a combination of above three, & classified in these two models: 1. ANI (Ancestral North Indian): Iran_N + Steppe More in the north and north west of india and in pakistan. Shows how pastoral and milk cuture is common. As well as influence from indo-European languages. 2. ASI ( Ancestral South Indian) : AASI + Iran_N More in south, central, tribal, east india. Less steppe.Where ANI and ASI genome is not strictly north or south and is present throughout. Two significant regional layers: 1. Austroasiatic (East/Central India) AASI + Southeast Asian ancestry Time: ~2000–4000 BCE Origin: Southeast Asia( Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos) Found in: Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Bengal Introduced austro asiatic languages (Munda). Came in waves via east, opposite direction from steppe. Associated with Rice cultivation practices. 2. Tibeto-Burman (Northeast India) Time: ~2000 BCE onward Origin: Tibet / Southern China region (Came via burma when coming from china. Came via Arunachal when coming via Tibet. Slightly less AASI mix.) Found in: States in northeast India Introduced sino tibetan languages. Takeaways: 1. No one is "pure" Most Indians are a mix of AASI + Iran_N + Steppe (in different proportions) 2. AASI is the deepest layer Oldest ancestry, widely distributed 3. Iran_N is the civilizational backbone Comes via Indus Valley and is present everywhere 4. Steppe is the language-cultural layer. Smaller in % but historically influential 'Indian subcontinent DNA is built on AASI roots, structured by Iranian farmers, shaped by Steppe migrations, and regionally enriched by eastern Austroasiatic and Tibeto-Burman influences'

Dhruv Rathi daring to share common sense to the whatsapp crowd.

`गेंद में थी चालाकी, लेकिन बल्लेबाज़ में थी समझदारी । गज़ब की गुगली थी! गेंदबाज़ ने पूरी तरह से बल्लेबाज़ को छकाने की कोशिश की, लेकिन देखिए ये अनुभव… आखिरी पल तक इंतज़ार किया… और बड़ी नर्मी से बैट का चेहरा खोलते हुए गेंद को पढ़ लिया।`

Modern desi blockbuster recipe (Can have different proportions and intensity in each movie): Base: 1. Setup: Selectively frame history or politics. Refer to Whatsapp university. Controversy creation & provocation. 2. Motivation: Justify the hero's anger. 3. Villain: Find the enemy, the root cause of his anger. Othering or Us vs them (some from within preferred). Clear binaries. 4. Arc: Write a solid revenge plotline. Ingredients & tez masala: 5. The Alpha hero: Making of hyper masculine macho hero. Good camerawork needed to show his walk. Close ups. Beard preferred. 6. Extreme Violence & Extreme emotions 7. Identity amplified: Hyper versions of national, religious, cultural identity. Tadka & Creation of Theater spectacle: 8. Solid background score(need not be very original) & Trend worthy memes: Background score or copied/remixed old famous songs from asian subcontinent well integrated with the movie.Since the hero is angry and busy, keep romance light. High pitched background songs showing dard and gussa preferred. Give fun songs to villains like bobby and akshaye. This can be used in desi baarat and sangeet. 9. Grand spectacle: Lots of aatishbaazi on screen. Visual extravaganza. Theater worthy. Genuine smart film techniques to pull the audience. Great Camera work. Great sound. Some faadu sequences. 10. A nail biting climax. Important:: The hero should be a good actor and be able to pull the narrative. Cook on high heat. Serve loud.

That is more of director Shoojit being bengali creating that universe. And credits to Juhi who has worked with Shoojit for long for detailed writing. Deepika is simply portraying an urban confident independent desi women (her forte) who can belong to any metro city, with a rooted culture of any state. Can be called 2nd gen bengali or cross culture kids. Many confident yet rooted nri kids are same. Also credits to the culture of bengal which allows women independent characters look so believable.

@vip_nair True. It has a very good sound. I meant...not our usual hindi lyric word choice. 😛

@itsmjhere Pungi is musical though😬

Amitabh Bhattacharya mentions in an interview that how he has a list of weird/unique colloquial(not so musical) words which he wishes to use in songs. Pungi, second hand jawani, emosanal atyachaar, ainvayi, bhaag dk bose.

Common thread is revenge violence, provocative themes, patriarchy, anger & extreme emotions, with alpha man & hyper masculinity at the helm. Louder understanding of religion, nation. Creating the evil neighbor or other from within. Clear binaries. Some controversy.