Saturday, December 28, 2013

With Amitabh Bachchan !

WITH AMITABH BACHCHAN !

20th December 2013. Today was indeed a day which will be marked as a very special one in my life. I met, interacted and had a chance to witness Amitabh Bachchan working professionally. Till this day I had only heard about the Big b’s professionalism , punctuality, the down to earth attitude and ofcourse his perfect delivery of the job at hand.

It so happened ...We were working on Swatantryaveer Savarkar’s hindi compositions and were looking to have Amitabh to read the prologue for each composition in the final CD. The prologue was written by Shri Ved Rahi and the script was sent to AB for perusal.  There was a sincere effort and to and fro communication with Mr. Bachchan’s office and finally we thought we would never get him to do this. But to our luck, amazement and the great Savarkar’s inspiring will Amitabhji agreed to record it for us today.

Instructions were clear from his office that we should not be more than three to four people, no photographers but yes, his photographers would take pictures which on his office’s approval would be given to us later. Perfect. Recording was to happen at 11.00 am at BR Studios.

We were set with all the preparation and anxiety. Was today the day ? YES

At sharp 11.30 Mr. Bachchan walked in the studio, removed his shoes, and with a stride that would put any youngster to shame rushed to the studio. He was wearing a cream yellow pullover, a white skull cap and white jogging tracks. Swiftly we briefed him about the script which he had carried with him. He listened to us patiently and asked his questions too. 5 minutes of briefing and that was it we came to the recording room leaving him alone with the script and with is back towards us. All we could see was his body language. He began and we sat to cherish our moments which we knew were going to last in our memory till we live.

We suggested alterations wherever necessary and he obliged without hesitation. There were more occasions when he felt it was necessary to modify. We all sunk in his baritone, immaculate narration of the prologue. His narration was a reflection of his perfect understanding of the subject, his literary acumen and his vast experience of dialogue delivery. I experienced goose bumps on few occasions.

Finally I think justice was done to the great Veer Savarkar and the impact of the life sentence, the suffering, the anguish had come out remarkably in the narration. As requested earlier Mr. Bachchan obliged us by letting us take individual photographs with him. We gifted him with a replica of Veer Savarkar's manuscript and had a small chat with him. He left after ten minutes leaving us forever with an unforgetful two hours of our lives.

I salute this great man for devotion in every assignment he takes up and the consistent dedication he has shown for his work all throughout his career. 

Friday, March 8, 2013

Mr.PM, you made my day !



Mr. PM you made my day .

Kitne dino ke pyaase honge yaaro socho to ...shabnam ka katra bhi jinko darya lagta hai..
In times when darkness (negativity) is in the air a gleam can serve as a search light.

The politician's (I don't intend to mean political here  ....) scenario in our country has deteriorated beyond revival. It is high time that we have seen even a physically dynamic ) national leader. With due respect to our office bearers... apart from Rajeev Gandhi we have yet to see a dashing  personality representing our country. Well I am not discussing any political achievements here but simply observing the dynamism in the body languauge of our leaders, the way they relate to the people of this country, how well they gel with the local...., their oratory skills like ... how much of a sincere appreciation do they receive in their public address.

As a matter of fact when I have seen international leaders especially American leaders addressing their respective locals ... they seem to be very extempore and natural .... well that indicates primarily two things ..one that their speeches are well written and second most importantly these leaders do study them before hand. Some of them are natural orators and most of them have undergone training in public speaking. That makes it easy for them to win applause on punching statements, easily modulate their voice on sensitive remarks and so on. We also often see in hollywood movies that during a national crisis there is an official podium for the US President to address the nation. Why would our country leader not have something similar and why does he not talk to the nation once in a fortnight to begin with. He can share his pressures with his countrymen and I think once he does that he obviously will be more empathised with.

Anyways coming to the point as to why our PM, Mr. Manmohan Singh made my day today ?
In the proceedings of the Lok Sabha on the previous day our honourable PM was in a poetic mood and not only that but he spilled it to others in the opposition too. He quoted Ghalib indicating his views on a issue as follows .... Humko unse wafa ki hai umeed jo nahi jaanate wafa kya hai. .....If you are a music connoisseur like me you would start humming the duet  from Mirza Ghalib. ( This for me was a Maxreach point ) Sushma Swaraj from the opposition also retaliated with another couplet in a similar manner.  .... this was not expected in the Lok sabha where we have seen abuses and furniture hurled at each other, that should explain my sentence at the beginning of this blog.

I think these are the light moments that we will have to appreciate amidst our woes and worries. It is this connection that will bridge the gap between the common man and the office bearers. It is important for the common to perceive a minister or a bureaucrat as a commoner and such poetic disposition will be most welcome.

Common Mr. PM take the clue and be what your heart tells you to be everyday that way you will make our moments reach maximum happiness.

For those who are interested in the couplet referred here is the Youtube link ......http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQfQlSaUMt4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQfQlSaUMt4