Viking

LOVE/DRUG

2011-11-07T17:43:00.006+05:30

Love is a drug
the more u take u enjoy it
a tiny kiss or a little hug
makes you feel there’s nothing above it

Love is a bird
Above the earth it flies
It creates a rage, if put in a cage
Like everything else in this world, it dies.

Love is a road
Farther u go, u know it well
One sharp turn and it will burn
and the heart will start to swell.

Love is a game
It’s trust, not points that you earn
Cats and mice, rolling the dice
The more you play, you learn

Love isn’t black,nor is it white
It can never be wrong and still never right.

Love is divine, love is a sin
It’s a war, which you can never win...

I Like It Anyway

2010-10-08T13:36:00.000+05:30

Some like it hot
Some like it cold
Some like it brave
Some like it bold

Some like it black
Some like it white
Some like it dark
Some like it bright

Some like it wet
Some like it dry
Some like to laugh
Some like to cry

Some like it baked
Some like it fried
Some like quiet sea
Some like high tide

Some like it soft
Some like it hard
Some like it clear
Some like it blurred

Some like it sharp
Some like it blunt
Some like it iced
Some like it burnt

I like it blue
I like it glad
I like it anyway
I like it bad

Coming back to life again

2010-09-17T02:07:00.002+05:30

I start to feel like an albatross

when sea breeze blows beneath my winds again...

I've found everything, but I'm lost

I lose my conscience when i try to gain

If there's someone around, someone with me then...

I'll be coming back to life again

All around the day, I used to fly

There was no purpose or no reason behind

I never asked what when where or why

I always tried to control my mind

If there's someone beside, someone with me then

I'll be coming back to life again

STAY WITH ME

2010-09-16T01:57:00.000+05:30

5 years back, when I was in my post-graduation college, i had formed a band with my two friends, Noyon Jyoti Parasara & Avinash Borooah, We used to call ourselves 'The Mantra' [ Dunno where we had got this name from]; Avinash knew how to play the guitar, I was as usually the jack of all trades and Noyon was there for vocals [ and off course moral support]. When we first thought about the band, we didnt have any instruments. Then we borrowed Samyukta's guitar, and made the college buy a guitar for us [ The money came from the fines we paid that month]. The guitar was a beauty though, a Hobner Jumbo [ I'm still not sure where it went after we left college]. We actually had started practising seriously [ Except Noyon, he was never serious in anything, until now].

Well that left only Avinash and I. I used to write songs and he used to give music to those. Since we were roommates, we had the liberty to get the guitar home and practice. We wrote many songs during that period... Songs about love, about friendship, parodies, fusions, everything... One song which always will be close to my heart is a song called "STAY WITH ME".

I wrote this song on a day, when my then best friend trusted someone else instead of me, the idea of friendship had just crash landed infront of me. I came back home, stood under the shower for 40 minutes, came out and penned this down... There's been many times I wanted to make this into a song, but couldnt... Though now this song might sound very generic but yes, I want to share this now with everyone...

The sky is so blue today
Just let me roam, don't call me
The colors which are bright in your eyes
Don't cry it off, let it be
Just call me friend, be my friend
At every step, be with me
Stay with me...

There are no titles or no trends
Who cares about stupid blood and gene
Time always stops within true friends
Friendship is truly evergreen
There is no end, so be my friend
Day or night, be with me
Stay with me...

THE CURIOUS CASE OF A SHOW OFF

2010-09-01T12:09:00.001+05:30

For once I want to be Hiccup

For once I want to fly

To touch the clouds and taste the rain

To float like a feather in the sky

For once I want to be Harry Potter

For once I want to learn a spell

To fight some earthly muggles

For whom the earth is hell

For once I want to be Tyler Durden

For once I want to fight

My shortcomings, whatever I lack

To get my innerself right

For once I want to be Sam Gamjee

For once I want to defend

Let the world break into two

I want to be there for my friend

For once I want to be Jack Sparrow

For once I want to go insane

To find a way to pay all my debts

To find a world without pain

For once I want to be Matt Parkman

For once to hear my thoughts

To find out how many straight lines are there

How many squares, circles, how many dots

For once I want to be Dexter Morgan

For once a life without emotions

two lives, true lies, darkness and despair

Donuts, beers and job based on notions

For once I want to be Tony stark

For once I want to feel the power

The money, the girls, all the gadgets of the world

But the hearts not there, it can stop any hour

For once I want to be Andy Dufresne

For once to feel the power of hope & patience

To rise against all odds, to think big and bigger

To feel the freedom in dark when it rains

But for this life I am a person with

one life, two souls and three wishes

four friends, five possesions, six virtues

63 hours without sleep, couldnt do anything to my seven senses

30000 comic books, more than a lakh songs

experience of seven lives to stay in the game

My name is Victor Mukherjee

and I'm sure you've heard the name....

The Foreign Star

2010-06-01T03:10:00.002+05:30

" Amar Bhindeshi Tara, Eka rater akashe, tumi bajale ektara, amar chilekothar pashe"

[ My foreign star, alone in the night sky, you played the one stringed instrument, besides my attic]

This song reminds me of no human being... but a feeling of someone, an unknown entity. Someone in my imagination, some one who is there with me from very long... There is a big chance that it is actually my alter ego, it can also be my guiding star, the devil in my mind or the angel in my heart. The song always take me back to a sense of nothingness, especially when it's dusk, the song says

" Just before the dusk, someone calls you by your name, whom do you tell your story, hiding in someone's heart"

There are many incidents in life where I've heard this song just by chance, and I went on listening to it. Surprisingly all the times I was having a mood swing and the song helped me get it right back. And the mediums of playing were different... as if the song is made to cool me down. Another coincidence was, every time it was late at night when the song played. I think it wanted to be true to the lyrics

" My night watching star, u stay somewhere else, My face looks scared, I am actually a novish"

Some months ago, after a very hard days work, when I came back home, I had this un- satisfactory feeling inside me. And i thought, the feeling will go if I go for a night drive. Generally driving at night on Mumbai Roads are really fun, but that day, I was not feeling the fun, the joy that I generally get after driving, and as a result I became more sad, and was in a very irritating mood. I cut the journey short and came back, and as soon as I parked the car, before I could switch of the AC, through my car stereo these lines came.

My kite which has seen the sky, some dares and some lies,
Cover my eyes and give me light, give me a cold shelter
You are as good as my mother, I feel very lonely

Around a month ago I had a serious fight with one of my very good friend. I am generally a peace loving person, but this situation was something different. I was in a very sad mood and i was sitting infront of my laptop and started my itunes. Some songs were playing randomly which I never bothered to listen properly. I opened facebook and was going through the pictures and I stopped at a picture where me and my that friend are together, I felt very sad & the Itunes guessed my mood right, within 30 seconds I could listen.

" My naughty star, you never listen to me,what's the hurry? please cross the road carefully."

And if that's not enough, the biggest Deja Vu happened two days back. Before leaving for office I got a call from my mom. She said one of my old students had commited suicide as he got just 15 marks less than a first class degree in his 10th exam. As his teachers looked down upon him he decided to jump infront of a train. Though I am infamous in my surrounding for lacking human emotions, this news really made me feel bad for that poor guy. I sat in the rickshaw and to let go off his thought, I turned my ipod on, put the headphones on, and as soon as i pressed the 'shuffle songs' option, all I got to listen was...

"Dust can't touch you, but I am no rich man,
If you touch my skin and feel the water with your both hands
In the night of grief, please come as sleep in my eyes"

Now i am sure about the connect with this song. it wont let me be sad, it will always help me find solace whenever I am down. This song by Chandrabindoo will never let me feel alone. It will give me new hope, new beginning, new way. No matter what the situation is, no matter however sorrow is there in my life, I know I could always fall back on this song, I could always listen to...

" My nocturnal star, my house is touching the sky,but I cant touch you, I really feel alone...

SMILE PLEASE...

2010-05-20T02:28:00.000+05:30

" Lambi Judaai, Char dinaunda, pyar o rabba badi lambi judaai"

At least a dozen of my friends would identify the person attached to this song. I guess they also remember the person when the listen to this song. Some relationships in this world are already made when you are born. And some relationships you make when you grow up. You choose your own friends, and friends have classifications also; school friends, college friends, online friends, facebook friends, colleague turned friends blah blah... among them there are some people who come very close to you. The closest among them becomes your partner [ girlfriend or boyfriend ] but there are others who are also equally close to you. They become more like your brother or sister, and some best friends who are the soul friends. Unlike a typical Bong boy, I have made umpteen sisters in my 27 years of lifetime... and most of them said that I am a great brother material [ once my girlfriend also thought so]... In 27 years I have gathered at least 127 rakhis [ among those 20 came from my cousin sisters]. And I guess every year I was the most sought after brother in all my educational institutions [ What was it? my non existent jawline? my never bulging biceps? My non-macho personality? I never could figure out] and I enjoyed every bit of the attention. Among all the sisters I made over the years, there are actually three sisters whom I really treasure... Lambi Judai reminds me of my this sister, the cutest person on earth, owner of the most beautiful smile, and the most melodious voice among the people I know... Indira, the prettiest girl in whole Imphal.

Indira was my junior in my post graduation college, and her claim to fame was her voice. On her first teacher's day, the whole college clapped for her when she sang Jaanam Samjha Karo. That's my first memory of her, and after that a dispute in a management class over her north east Indian accent. That's what I remember of her during my college days. But I recognised the real Indira, when she got a job in my company in Mumbai. During her initial days in Mumbai, she used to find it pretty hard to communicate with the people around. But with her famous 'Kya keh rahe ho' she won everyone's heart very soon and in three months she had learned the art of survival in Mumbai.

That's when Indira came close to me. She always respected me & loved me like a big brother and always came to me whenever any advice needed and I guess I tried my best to live upto her expectations. [Wait... am I losing the plot here? where's the song connection Vic? Oh yes... ]. Once we were working at the edit suite and one of the editors was asking her to sing a song, I also insisted as I hadn't heard her since that teacher's day. And she started this song... " Bichhde abhi to ham bas kal parson... Jioongi main kaise, is haal mein barson" It just blown me away. Never heard anything so sweet, so melodious, so content... She truly deserved a gentle pull on her plump cheeks, and I did exactly that. Since then whenever there's been a get together at my house, I made sure Indira sings this song. Every time before singing she did hazar nakhras and atlast when she sang people had the same feeling like me. The irony of life is now she's not in Mumbai and every Sunday I miss her [ every sunday she used to some to my place for home cooked food], her Manipuri style potato chicken, her shampoo ad [ she has such silky & straight hair that she used to demonstrate it like a shampoo ad], the soan papdis and mostly the gossips.

Indira was a sister and a good friend till she did something which brought her much closer to my heart. Victor, in his 27 years has never been so surprised as he was on 6th August 2009 at 7:30 am. The bell rang and to my ultimate surprise I found Indie standing there with a rakhi. I didnt even know that it was rakhi and she came in the morning without eating anything as she knew that sisters should eat after tying rakhi. For heavens sake... I must've born with the luck of a lifetime to experience this... That was my best rakhi ever... will always be till she does something else to surprise me. With Indie I can always expect a surprise...

Indie... I know that u already know, but still felt like saying it... Whenever in life you need me, I'm there for you. Miss you dear sis... miss u a lot...

DUTTA IN DARJEELING

2010-05-18T15:45:00.002+05:30

Anjan Dutta is known as a good parallel filmmaker in the country. But much before I could understand his films, I got addicted to his music. Anjan's songs are mostly a mix of country & acoustic and there are clear impressions of Dylan & Denver in his songs. But there's some kind of secret melody in his songs which are made clear by his unique voice and and the sweet guitar tune. It's very easy to identify his songs because of these characteristics.

Anjan's songs were a craze among the teenagers and some of his tracks were superhit amongst the college students also. The song which I'm gonna talk about is called 'Darjeeling'. It's about a kid's memory of Darjeeling in his childhood. I strongly believe the song has something to do with Anjan's childhood in Darjeeling. And this song reminds my of Sutirtha, one of my very good school friend.

Sutirtha came to our school when we were at class six. From the first day itself, he left no stones unturned to prove the fact that he is good singer. indeed he was, but the problem was the way he used to vary his voice in between a line [ And he still does]. After sometime it used to get on our nerves, [and it still does], but somehow all the pretty girls from other schools who used to take tuitions with us, used to find his voice very sexy, and the annoying part of it was Sutirtha was actually a handsome guy [ He is not even close now, the beer belly did the trick], and because of that girls were easily attracted to him. The song which he used to sing the best was 'Kanchan', I remember whenever there used to be a get together, he always used to sing Kanchan. But I would always remember him through 'Darjeeling'.

We used to take tuitions of Biology from our school teacher S.D.Pal. For some reason Sutirtha was his favourite student [ a little bird says, more than that], and we always used to tease him for that. After our class XII exams, we made a trip to Gangtok & Darjeeling with all our batchmates and sir organised the tour. It was one of my best tours as I bought many electronics goods on that trip. Whenever we used to travel through hilly roads all of us used to sing songs to pass time. And Sutirtha used to sing the most songs. Once when we were travelling from a very narrow road, Sutirtha started singing Darjeeling " Chater dharer railingta [ the railing near the roof] and in the second line he started the variation, and all of us looked at each other [with that thought, it started again], and he continued doing that. On the second stanza, it just became un bearable. Firstly it was cold and we were anyway shivering, secondly it was a very bad road and it had sharp turns, so the turns in his voice were scary at times. And then miracle happened... he was singing at the top of his voice and the driver of our car was taking a turn and suddenly he stopped... He looked at us and said please dont sing till I cross the sharp turns. Sutirtha was about to sing the third stanza and Poor driver even he couldn't concentrate....[ smileys]...

From that day, the song Darjeeling always reminded me of Sutirtha. It's been long since I've left Baruipur but Sutirtha is always there whenever I think about my school friends. Actually Sutirtha has been a friend with whom my friendship has grown over the years. And now if I look back at my school days I only find five good friends among whom Sutirtha is one of the best. This March when I went back home I met him after a long time with three of my other friends, we chatted over a drink and I found out he is still the same, nothing has changed in him [ other than the weight and the size], not even the variations. But this time when he was singing, it felt like heaven, as if I was missing those variations for so long. We switched of the lights and were listening to those songs and I realised, I actually missed Sutirtha in my subconscious mind. Back in school those variations seemed like just add ons to his songs which could have been easily done away with. But now I understand, the variations are the soul of Sutirtha, those were his improvisations [ sometimes went wrong, but who cares??]. Now I'm proud of my friend's voice, I'm proud that he is still the same, he maintained his originality.

Even when I'm writing the blog I got a call from him, he was sitting with some other friends and was missing me. He's planning a trip where us friends can go for some days and chill out with loads of drinks and a little bit of nostalgia. Well that's when I miss my home, being in Mumbai I can't meet my school friends often, but I make sure when I meet them, I make it an unforgettable affair. After all that's life all about, and that's why friends are there to be with you. I'm really lucky to have a friend like Sutirtha....

My favorite bag : Binny-bag

2010-02-20T15:31:00.002+05:30

"Sama hai suhana suhana, nashe mein jahan hai

kisiko kisiki, khabar hi kahan hai..."

I've always been a great fan of kishore kumar. Actually I grew up on Kishore Kumar and Hemant Kumar. Mostly because of my dad, but also because of the puja pandals, which used to play only kishore during my childhood. Somehow, how i used to love the sad part of Kishoreda's voice. It was different and unique. It seemed all his grief and all his sorrow is stuck in that voice. Later on when I was in class nine or so, I tried to listen easy songs by Kishoreda. Tried to move away of the 'Chingari koi Bhadke' or the ' Mere naina Saawan Bhadon' and bought an album HMV ke anmol ratan vol 4. And the first track was Sama hai Suhana Suhana. Instantly it got me into a trance [ though I hardly understood the meaning of getting into trance that time, neither do I understand now], and I kept on thinking about the song for two days, especially two lines from the song ''dekho yeh dil ki ajab daastaan hai, nazar bolti hai, dil bezubaan hai.".

Surprisingly In my 27 years of lifetime, i have seen many Kishore voicealikes. But none among them sings this song in any performance, and more surprisingly none of them even mentions this song in their top 10 kishore songs. 12 years had passed after I heard the song for the first time and I didnt come across anyone who likes this song other than me. But then i found someone..

Sometime in August 2008, I was sitting at our fiflth floor office room of Imagine Showbiz. It was six o clock in the evening, and as ususal I had less work. So I thought of listening to some music and i put this song on. In the antara some female voice from my left side said " oi volume kar na thoda". I increased the volume. The song got over and to my utter surprise the voice said " please play it again noh, I love the song". I had to turn to my left and it was Binny... Binny Kapadia... the cutest Gujarati girl I've ever seen.

I first met Binny in April 2008. We needed an associate producer badly and My colleague and friend Imtiaz referred Binny. She joined our office and on the first day itself she was given loads of work. That time i was editing my shows in four bungalow Mhada and at night I had to come back to NDTV Imagine office and make the next days schedule. Three days after Binny joined, I came back to office at 2 pm, i went to check what is happening in the office edits, and I found Binny taking a powernap on the yellow beanbag after a hard days work. She was cuddling there like a little pup, and the name that came to my mind was ' binnybag', and since then I started calling her by that name.

Time flew by and Binny became one of the very good friends in office. And then the song incident happened. this song also made binny a very special friend. There are so many memories those are attached to Binny. From sharing her aunty's gujarati dabba, to rinku aunty's dabba, from retake to breaking bollywood [Dont worry Binny bag, we will break the bollywood, very soon], her new hairstyle [which was awesome, if you ask me], her excitement about the South Africa trip, From planning to go to Acid factory, to actually going and watching Holmes, from carter road coffe day chat to those auto rides [from neelam food mart to oshiwara generally]. But the best memory was the night Ruhi got married. Binny came to the party a little late, and i was meeting her after eight months or so. She was looking very pretty, and we spoke for a long time. All of us danced on the party songs and after that she had to rush for some birthday party. I also had to leave early, so both of us went to have food, and when we were speaking while having dinner, I noticed something, her eyes. It's the same as the song says. " nazar bolti hai, dil bezubaan hai", very dense, very expressive. That's maybe the reason why she likes the song. And while leaving she gave me one of the best compliments of my life. That was the most memorable moment with Binny.

And that day onwards, wherever I listen to the song, I remember Binny, Some days back when we were returning from office together, I told her about this blog, and told her about the song. Well Binnybag... this song is only for you...

P.S: sorry for taking the pic from ur facebook, dint have a solo picture of u :)

You are on a pretty long holiday, my friend...

2010-01-25T03:04:00.000+05:30

" Let me take you far away, you'd like a holiday" - Holiday, Scorpions

My introduction to Scorpions was merely coincidental.My first year in college and I got exposed to bangla rock very soon [ That was the golden age of bengali rock]. And while enjoying the Bengali rockers, i wanted to increase my rock knowledge by listening to english alternative and hard rock. Though our class was very much culturally inclined, among the 43 people only one used to know to play guitar. That was Piku...Abhinandan Ghosh. All of 5 feet 2, piku was a powerhouse of enthusiasm. He is the one who had given me the audio cassette called 'Best of Scorpions', and he had specifically mentioned about the song 'Holiday'. The song is 11 minutes long and the prelude itself is about 3 minutes. A masterpiece in its own right, 'Holiday' takes you to the peak of escapism and then suddenly brings you back with a ray of hope. The song took no time to be one of my favorites, and so did Piku...This song is always for you my friend...

Piku used to be with me in almost everything that I did in college, Be it playing battleship sitting at the last row in UB sir's class, or visiting chandni chowk after college hours and eating beef biryani in A K Alam restaurant. Watching a movie in the Rs. 15 balcony of New Empire, or tryin to prove his fast bowling skills in Harish Mukherjee park, piku was the best companion anyone could get. The best thing about Piku was, he was always there whenever any of our other friends needed him. For Kingshuk, he was the younger brother, for Philomel, he was the best friend, for Souvik, he was the philosopher and guide, for me... I was just lucky to have met someone like him, in the first day of our college.

Coming from a small village, studying in kolkata, was a big thing. Moreover, i was studying English literature, without proper spoken english skills. Piku understood that in the first day itself, and he put forward his helping hand at the first meeting itself. Time flew by, Piku came home sometimes. Be it playing cricket or the food my mom used to make, he thoroughly enjoyed it. After college life he went to Chennai, and me Bangalore. Then also whenever both of us are in Kolkata, he made it a point to meet me, either over dinner at scoops,
esplanade; or a quick bite in KFC lindsay street.

From college days, piku wanted a girl in his life badly, tried his luck many times, never suceeded though. The last chat I had with him, standing near Rabindra Sadan metro station,; that he wanted to get married by december 2010.That was January 2009, we went to buy Kingshuk's wedding gift together, we were waiting for Philo and planning his marriage. Little did I know, that would be my last meeting with him. He passed away in June 2009, following a road accident. I didn't believe it, I still dont believe it, I am scared to go to Kolkata now. Every place in Kolkata will remind me of piku. His presence lingers in my everyday life, be it the first number in my mobile phonebook, or the first name in my facebook friend list. Still at nights when I check my orkut profile, I open his scrapbook and try to write something, try to talk to him, but my wet eyes never let me do that.
Piku... wherever you are, I am sure you are happy and enjoying the holiday, i will come someday to spend the holiday with you. I owe you a packet of Davidoff cigarettes, will give you once we meet. Miss you a lot bro...

My dream was to fly, don't give a damn about the rainbow...

2009-12-29T15:14:00.000+05:30

Since I am writing again after almost two months, today there should be something different. Today, it’s not about one person, it’s about a place, rather an experience. Now whenever I listen to this song, my memory takes me back to the place.

The song is “ Tujhe Dekha to yeh jaana sanam,’ from the film Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge. The song featuring King Khan and Kajol is probably the most famous song in the history of Hindi films. It always reminds you of the yellow mustard field, Kajol in her white dress and Shahrukh standing with his arms wide open. Though I never really liked the voice of Lata Mangeshkar, the song has gained eternal fame in Bollywood.

It was June 2009; the heat in Mumbai was becoming intolerable as the rain god had planned to postpone the monsoon by two three weeks. I was back from a office offsite trip in Goa, and the heat was just getting on my nerves. So packed my bags and drove down to Panchgani, the nearest hill station. There was another reason for us going to Panchagani. It was the last official week for paragliding this season. There were four of us and everyone was equally excited about the whole funda of gliding in the sky. We reached and the next day at 11am we were there, waiting to fly…

But the wind had some other plans, the two girls with us went up in the air in ten minutes, as the wind was favoring lightweight people; But us boys, who were eighty and hundred kilos respectively [ and still increasing], had to wait for two hours till hanuman’s dad took pity on us and started blowing faster. And then I got the chance to fly. There was captain Ajay who was supposed to take me up in the air. I got the glider tied to my waist, Captain Ajay settled behind me, patted on my back and asked ‘ do you have vertigo?’ I thought of screaming “Vertigo!!! are u nuts!!! I only know vertigo comics, and the U2 song.” And we started running towards the edge of the cliff… and yes we are flying. We went straight up in the air, took left and right turns and then when we are at the highest point, Ajay’s phone started ringing “ Tujhe dekha toh yeh jaan sanam”. Wow.. I mean first of all, 10,000 feet above the ground Vodafone is still following us and secondly my boss Shahrukh Khan’s presence is still lingering here. That’s called omnipresence I guess.

But after that time, whenever I listen to the song, I can see the the open sky, the green fields, the top angle view of everything as if I am viewing something on google earth. Well if you guys want to feel the same, please visit Panchgani between Jan-June. [ Can’t promoise SRK though]!!!

PRAT THE BRAT

2009-11-13T13:56:00.000+05:30

“Wonder, this time where’s she’s gone,
Wonder, if she’s gone to stay”…

Blues, as a music genre, was not one of the favorites till I came to Bangalore. It all started with the ‘Best of Eric Clapton’ CD that my friend Mrinal gave me as a parting gift. And in no time I was addicted to ‘Layla’, ‘Cocaine’, ‘Nikita’ and many more. I got interested in the genre and started listening to the likes of Stevie ray Vaughan, B.B. King, and most importantly Bill Withers. When I speak about Bill Withers, the first song which comes to everybody’s mind is ‘Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone’. And that is the song which reminds me of one of the most talented actresses I’ve seen among my friend circle. I liked her acting so much that I had casted her in all the student films I had directed. And in every role she proved that she is a powerhouse of talent. Be it Sanjana Saigal or Anusha Banerjee, she has done every role with perfection. A good newspaper editor, superb actress, excellent dancer, and more than anything, a very good friend… Pratiba Raman

“I ought to leave the young thing alone, but ain't no sunshine when she's gone, ain't no sunshine when she's gone, only darkness every day.”

After completing my first film in the first year of college itself, I planned my next film very soon. And I was very sure that I would cast Pratiba as the protagonist. My films generally dealt with the dark side of women [The Femme Fatale], and somehow Prat has that look in her, combined with her classical Bharatnatyam expressions. Often I used to tell her that she will make a superb Komolika. So when we were preparing for my second film, I just had to frame a story around her. Kavita and Sherry wrote a wonderful story called ‘Reflection’. The story was about an actress’s journey through guilt, and Pratiba was brilliant as usual. Be it as the horrified actress, or the jealous friend, Pratiba was outstanding. But the part which I love the most was when she confessed her crime to the psychologist, and she’s trying to get back to the normal life. She washes her face and looks up in the mirror and has a smirk on her face [ Before that scene every time she was looking at the mirror she could only see a reflection of her distorted face].

While editing I had many soundtracks in mind for the film; disturbing soundtracks like the OST of Max Payne, Apocolyptica version of Fade to black, enter sandman, nothing else matters clubbed with heart beats and water flow. But for that part I couldn’t find a proper soundtrack, I went through my music collection over and over again but the right track was not there. I needed some track which could provide a refreshing feel. A song to start everything from the beginning, a song which helps to forget the past and inspire the future, a song which is like a new sun starting a new day. That’s it… I got the song… sun, sunrise, sunshine… Ain’t no sunshine, when she’s gone…

The song was depicting every mood that Pratiba had onscreen. Her smile, relief, reprieve from the guilt was so evident with the song that we all just loved that bit. This song is not a song for me anymore, it’s an inspiration, motivation, encouragement, hope for a new sunrise. From that day whenever I listen to Ain’t no sunshine, I don’t see Bill Withers in a orange pullover, sitting with a guitar and singing. I see Pratiba Raman as Anusha Banerjee, getting a new lease of life, trying to break through, trying to feel alive again. Haven’t met Prat after college, but thanks to facebook, we are in touch. This post is for you Prat… trust me whenever I make my own movie, you will be the first person whom I will offer a role, will you be game for it?

Ain't no sunshine when she's gone.
It's not warm when she's away.
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
and she's always gone too long
anytime she goes away.

Simply Samir

2009-11-06T04:12:00.000+05:30

Antabiheen ei andha rater sesh
Kotha je tomari chokher alloy dekha
sonali sadher desh
[ Atl the end of the endless night, where is the land of the golden wish, which you have visualized]

I guess this is more or less the transliteration of this song. This song was composed by Bengali music director Salil Chowdhury and if I am not wrong, he has sung this himself. It is considered to be one of the most popular Bengali songs. Personally I don’t like the song much; neither I’m a big fan of Salil Chowdhury. My knowledge of Bengali music is not quite up to the mark, actually I don’t know much about Bengali music before 1990. In the 90s, with the emergence of the Trio [Nachiketa, Suman, Anjan], I got into the habit of listening to Bengali Songs, and the evolution of the Bengali bands in early 2000 was the icing on the cake. I have heard almost all songs till 2005, after that so many bands started forming that it became like Band-emonium, and I lost interest in Bengali songs again. Before getting into the main part let me answer an obvious question. Why am I writing about this song if I don’t like it? Because the incident attached to the song was so funny that every now I then I remember the song. This song reminds me of Samirda… one of the biggest nutcases I’ve ever seen in my life… And I like him for whatever he is…

Samir Naskar is one of the most famous personalities in our small village. His funda-mental problem was, he was so experi-mental in everything without being judge -mental, people used to think [and still think] that he was mental [Oh!!! I missed senti-mental]. Jokes apart, Samirda is actually a cult figure at our place, there are so many stories about his frenzies, that if I write all, it would be a book and I can easily make a film called ‘Being Samir’. From film I remember, once when all of us friends were discussing about what we all want to be in future, I said I want to make films some day. Samirda’s remark was “When you make films, please give me the role of a fisherman, who is singing folk song in his boat, and rowing towards the sea”. Samirda actually is a good theatre actor, though his face never allowed him to be a hero, but he is really good at performing arts. Be it painting, acting or dancing, Samirda always had his own style of doing it, and those were appreciated also. But he wanted to be a master of a certain category of performing arts, which always used to turn out as a nightmare for others. Singing … is what he wanted to do, and singing… is where he was at his worst…

Let’s time travel to 9 years back, sometimes in the month of October. It was the sixth day of the Durgapuja and there were hints of celebration in the atmosphere. For Bengalis, Puja starts from this date; so at the Puja besides our house every year a small cultural program happens. That year I also sang some Bengali band songs with my band. Ours was the last performance, and Samirda had requested the coordinator to let him sing one song and end the program. Though that dude agreed at that point of time to let Samirda calm down; he had other plans in mind. The moment our program ended, he shut down the lights and blamed it totally on load shedding, and by the time electricity came back, the audiences were gone. Samirda was so depressed, he didn’t speak, didn’t eat , straight went back home. We thought he will forget it after a good night’s sleep….

During Durga Puja, coconuts are required for some rituals. The young club members, instead of buying those coconuts, they used to steal it from different people’s trees after midnight. Since our house was the closest to the Puja pandal, before going to sleep, I made sure that no one is in the garden and I locked the garden door and went to sleep. It was about 11:30 then. Suddenly I woke up at 2 o clock following a loud yell. I could hear my dad shouting “who is this uncouth bastard, who has no sense of civilization? How inhuman this can be?” I asked my dad to calm down and went out to find out what has happened. And what I found out was this…
The coconut thieves had jumped over our fence and made full plan of theft and all, one of them went up to the tree and was throwing the coconuts down. It was the same tree where the loudspeakers of the puja pandal were tied for morning mantra chanting and all. The coconut thief was intriguely busy in his craft, suddenly a screeching noise besides his ears blasted his eardrums as if a bomb had blasted nearby, he lost control and fell down from the tree, straight in the paddy field, which was full with mud. And before the team could go for his help, they heard my dad shouting. They left all the coconuts behind and ran somehow carrying the injured thief [he didn’t sustain much injuries, other than a broken left arm]. I met them outside our house and all of us went to find the source of the sound. And then…

No no, let us go back three hours, we should follow Samirda. After that depressing program, Samirda went home, sat in his courtyard for some time, had a smoke, and the artist inside him started poking him again. So once the coconut thieves left the pandal, he went back to the pandal, bribed the sound guy with a bottle of country liquor, pretended to drink with him, but dint have a single peg, and the moment the sound guy was sloshed and out, he got hold of the amplifier and the microphone. But not necessarily every singer will have the knowledge of sound equipments, Samirda also didn’t have… Instead of connecting the small speakers, he connected the four huge loudspeakers hung at different trees around the village. He opened his music diary, cleared his throat and the moment he sang the first two lines all those things mentioned above happened..[ just to remind you, the loudspeakers blasted, my dad shouted, the thief fell down, broke his hand, the team escaped without taking a single coconut etc.]. And the punishment???

Samirda had to pay for all the coconuts used next day, he had to bear the cost of treatment of the thief, he wasbbanned from the pandal for a day… And when the next day I met Samirda, surprisingly he was humming the same song…
Khuje khuje firi hay re hay [ I go on searching]

The Immortal Banny

2009-11-04T02:58:00.000+05:30

“I'm so tired of being here, suppressed by all my childish fears
And if you have to leave, I wish that you would just leave
Your presence still lingers here and it won't leave me alone”

When I was studying in class IX, I was introduced to rock music by one of my cousins. That was quite a big jump for me as then Ricky Martin used to be the god of music for me. Like all others I also used to go to the nearby audio cassette shop and inquire about the release date of Max 6 [the max series by Sony music used to be collection of current hit pop songs, and I had bought Max 5]. But then when I heard Hotel California for the first time, there was no looking back for me. Ricky, Brian Adams, Marc Anthony flew out of the window only to give place to Eagles, Pink Floyd, Deep purple and many more. The cassette shop owner used to get troubled big time, when I used to ask for Scorpions or Dire Straits albums. And my journey with rock music started then…

Surprisingly I never liked any of the female rockers, I tried listening to Alanis, Sheryl, Janice Joplin; but none of them sounded interesting. Then I realized I really don’t like listening to female singers. I actually never liked any Hindi female singers also other than Shubha Mudgal, that too because she has a powerful voice. When I finished graduation, Heavy metal had taken the place of Classic rock and still I was searching for a female voice that I can relate to. And then I got it… I was watching Daredevil at new Empire theatres, Kolkata and the end credit song was sung by this gothic rock band called Evanescence and the lead singer was a girl. By the time I found about the lead singer and more about the band, I had already shifted to Bangalore. And one evening sitting in our college computer lab, I got hold of this song called ‘My Immortal’ by Evanescence and the name of the singer is Amy lee. This song still gives me Goosebumps whenever I listen to it, and also reminds me of my one and only friend from the beautiful city of Shillong… Baniaikynmaw… Banny...

What a coincidence, you guys won’t believe that my ITunes playlist is actually playing this song at the very moment I am writing these lines. Anyway, Banny has been and will always be a very special friend to me. I remember the first conversation I had with her was when I asked her to give some Khasi rock songs to me [ Which I never got, by the way]. While sitting in comp lab Banny always used to hum to the songs I used to play [ Since I had my own speakers and which eventually was the only set there]. Be it Leann Rhymes or Deep Purple, there were very few songs which she didn’t know. And when it comes to John Bon Jovi, Banny used to go mad. Coming back to my immortal, it was two days before teacher’s day in our second year and I was having a hard time getting people to perform and after a full day’s search, when I was sitting tired at comp lab and trying to relax by listening to my immortal, I could hear banny humming to the song. That was it… I convinced her to sing the song for the teacher’s day celebration, and what a voice she has. She was no less than Amy Lee that day and the applause she got after that was minblowing.

After college I didn’t get a chance to meet Banny till this September as I was in Mumbai and she was in Chennai and Bangalore. But trust me whenever I listened to that song, I could see Banny standing at the podium with the white kurta and singing away to glory. I could see her smiling, jumping, singing, and saying in frustration ‘neee’. Miss those college days, love you a lot Banny.. . and these lines are for you...

‘When you cry I’d wipe away all of your tears…
When you'd scream I’d fight away all of your fears”

BY THE POWER OF HE-MANT

2009-11-02T13:36:00.000+05:30

“Beqarar karke humhe yun na jaiye,
Aapko humhari kasam laut aaiye”.

The song from ‘Bees Saal Baad’ is one of my favourite songs of all time. From childhood I had an addiction to music. I used to listen to every kind of music, though Bollywood music was the love of the life that time. As late 80’s [the time I grew up] had very few good songs and there was no other TV channel than Doordarshan, my exposure to new music was only limited to ‘Chitralok’ on Vividh Bharti, which use to come at 8:15 every morning. Because of that I got addicted to old songs, Kishore Kumar, Mukesh, Manna Dey, and especially Hemant Kumar [I never used to like Mohd. Rafi, until I developed a taste for his songs during my college days]. I knew every song of Hemant Kumar at the age of 5. I couldn’t speak Hindi properly then, but I used to sing perfectly in Hindi. And every time I listen to this song, it reminds me of my dad.

My dad is a decent singer otherwise, but when it comes to singing Hemant Kumar songs, I seriously believe, he sings better than even Shivaji Chatterjee [ The guy who sang ‘yeh safar’ from 1942 a love story]. Because we used to stay in a very small town, a village rather, load shedding used to be a very regular occurrence there. And once electricity is gone, it wouldn’t come back before 3-4 hours. As kids me and my brother used to sit at our verandah and wait for dad to come and sit at his favourite jhula [We had a big one at our verandah]. His first song on the jhula was always ‘A chalke tujhe’ [Kishore Kumar, from the film Door gagan ki chaon mein’]. We used to join him in singing and though we never understood the lyrics, the words were always right. Once we are tired, dad used to start singing Hemant Songs[ That’s the time when my mom used to come and join us, she loved to listen my dad singing Hemant]. From ‘apna dil toh awara to ‘zindagi pyar ki do char ghadi’, dad taught me the A to Z of Hemant, sitting on that jhula.

But ‘Beqarar karke’ was actually the song which was his patent song. He made the song famous among the huge Bengali music listening audience in our village. As everyone used to know about dad’s talent; whenever a cultural programme used to happen, my dad used to be the guest artist who will end the programme with five Hemant Kumar songs, ‘Beqarar karke’ being the last. And you can’t even imagine the amount of claps he used to get. Whenever my friend kalla used to come to my house he used to ask my dad to sing the song for him. But surprisingly he never used to get the lyrics right. Sometimes back when I went home for a vacation, I recorded him singing the song, and as expected, he mispronounced some words, but then I noticed that he gets so much engrossed in the song, that he doesn’t realize his mistake. I have never corrected him, and I won’t ever.

Much later when I saw Bees Saal Baad on Doordarshan, I saw Biswajeet singing this song, but in my head I couldn’t accept Biswajeet there, I could visualize my dad there, singing this song to Waheeda Rehman. It’d always be my dad’s song….It’d always be him singing…

“Yun kadam akele na yun badhaiye,
Aapko humhari kasam, laut aaiye”

THERE'S A SONG FOR EVERYONE

2009-11-01T17:17:00.000+05:30

I had stopped blogging completely. didn't know what to write,as daily updates can be given through facebook, twitter and photos through hundred image sites. So what should I write about, this thought was in my mind for quite a long time. I had gone through several topics, like comics, sports, metal, work, reviews, but nothing seemed to be that interesting which can get meback to blogging after two years. Last night i got the idea...[and it's not walk while you talk]

Last night i was at Enigma, the disco at JW Mariott , Mumbai. It's been exactly one year, since i went to one, the last one being 'Blue Waters' in Manipal, on 31st October 2008. Nevertheless, since last night was halloween eve, there were people dressed as devils, vampires and all kind of spooky stuff. Though everybody were grooving to the wonderful mix played by DJ Niraj, there's was this fat chick who was just not dancing. She was standing at a corner alone and drinking away to glory, her friends tried several times to get her to the dance floor, but she was not interested at all. As I have this uncanny knack of observing people, I couldn't help watching the poor soul throughout.

Surprisingly when the title track of Tum Mile [the new fil starring Emran hashmi & Soha Ali Khan] started playing, the girl jumped out of nowhere and started dancing like there is no end. And she danced really well. I was surprised to watch her dance like that. As soon as the song ended, dhan te nan [kaminey] started, so my whole attention went to my dancing rather than observing her; and when i stopped dancing, she was gone by then.

While coming back home, in the radio, I again heard Tum Mile. And surprisingly instead of visualising Soha and Emraan dancing, i could only visualise that chick dancing her guts out. And then I realised, that ,most of the person I meet or i know, have some kind of music attached to their memories. Whenever i listen to those songs, I think about them, I remember them. And that's my blog topic. Every post will consist off one song, the person attached to it and my memories with them. Wot say guys, is it interesting enough???

2009-10-23T02:19:00.000+05:30