Boo whom???

    Recently the show "Aaja Mahi Ve" debuted on Star Plus. Dance shows are a form of entertainment. That real-life couples dance together is not a new concept. But, this show had a theme; where-in couples who participated in the show were lovers who had gone against the wishes of their families. Marrying against family's wishes is commonplace today. But, what smacks of all decency and family values is that you 'boast' of marrying someone against your family's wishes on national television. I just couldn't imagine that people can stoop to such lows, for 15 seconds of fame.

    During my college days, I was 'linked up' with a girl, though I always maintained that she was 'just a friend'!! Nothing new, you may say. But, that is not where I stopped. I went further to always clarify that I didn't have the confidence that we an acceptable pair for each others' families. Some of my friends still laugh at me for thinking long-term saying "who would disown their son/daughter?". Today, every time I watch the trailers of the show, I boost my moral-ego and feel happy that others don't see me plying cheap tricks on my own people.

    Compare this with another dance show like Boogie-Woogie. It has been running successfully for 12 years, without seasonal breaks. It still has the common people participating. It stands apart on the values of the participants, be it children or elders. It has a clear prohibition on participants performing for inappropriate lyrics, dance and costumes. They try to instil positive values in children and elders alike.

    So, would you say Boogie-Woogie "Boo"??

Aamir Khan is dead.

Don’t be searching fervently for this item on a news site. Also, don’t be surprised that a blog is reporting a news item, ahead of a news site!! Well, the Aamir Khan you know, an actor, is alive and kicking (literally, to loosen up the injured knee!!). But there used to be an activist called Aamir Khan, who looked and spoke like the actor. It’s the activist Aamir Khan who’s now dead!!

On a more serious note, Aamir Khan took to protest (meaning publicity; Source: The Aamir Khan Dictionary) with the Narmada Bachao Andholan. Probably, he was told his films’ name was Narmada. Co-incidently, at the same time, his film Fanaa was due for release. The media went ga-ga over the activist “who had always stood for his ideals”. Many hours of content was wasted over him. He demonstrated his acting skills effectively, with most the country believing he was indeed supporting Medha Patkar-led movement and had genuine concern for those displaced by the dam.

Not that his other recent film, Rang De Basanti, was free from dirty publicity. I have no objection to the special screening of the movie to the defence minister. The movie was marketed as revolutionary, saying it asked citizens to fight for a cause. Killing a central minister at will and taking people and institutions hostage with the aid of weapons is not social revolution. A film can’t be good by just showing its countrymen in poor light, as in policemen attacking silent protesters. A film can start a social revolution, only if it offers positive inspiration. Munnabhai was able to achieve that. Gandhigiri is now prevalent all over the country, including the Parliament. Years ago, Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustaani , another mainstream movie showed how a small journalist could bring together a lot of people to fight a powerful social menace. These and more such movies can create social revolutions, since they didn’t try to achieve it by killing politicians.

There have been a number of mainstream movies that have showed some aspects of the country in poor light. They were not troubling the society, since they didn’t call themselves revolutionary movies. RDB was a good movie to watch, but my objections are only on how the film was marketed. Another reason I believe it wasn’t marketed well is because Aamir Khan was playing a supporting role to the lead character played by Siddarth. If you don’t agree on this, watch the movie again and you will observe that I am correct.

Not that every Aamir Khan movie needs dirty publicity. Taare Zammen Par was a beautiful movie. He knew that and hence, he didn’t see the need for dirty publicity.

With his recent remark on Shahrukh, the dog/actor, Aamir Khan has proved he is intellectually dead. It, though, reminded me of a Kannada cult comedy, Ganeshana Maduve and the Ramanamoorthy scene (Google Video). He has to take help of these cheap tricks, now that a movie under his banner(Jaane Tu..) is being released. That explains the sudden “outrageousness” erupting from his blog, which has been on for some time now.

By the way, despite the remarks on SRK, Aamir is learning the antics of a producer from SRK himself!! What else can explain Aamir Khan sitting next to Sachin, during the IPL final?? So, what’s next Aamir??? Hosting a TV show??