Requiem of a Dreamer

Should I come to life today?

Or wait for you to speak

In monosyllables of negligence

No. Not today.

I may as well play the dead

For some more time.

And then you shall pass

Not like the gale

Not the breeze

Only a fleeting thought

From a lonely night

When the candle tired

Of peeping into lives

Through the hollows in the wall

We call windows

Blew out cold.

Let it pass.

This feather of thought

And glide to some place

Where it finds a tomb

Then I shall rise

Enlightened

And Wise

To claim my piece of land.

I shall haunt your joint no more

Or kill to show I care

Or wallow in some forest deep

Greener by my tears.

I shall leave as silently

As I should have come then

“What the Eyes pledge

The Lips cheat” -

will read my requiem.

photo: gettyimages.com

Joker takes it all in 'The Dark Knight'

Though half of the first half was an experience akin to watching some silent classic by Charlo owing to bad sound quality in the theater the man we all went to see allayed our pain and then transformed it slowly into a sort of manic glee as our eyes twinkled at his menace with awe. The Dark Knight is Batman. But the Shining Armour Trophy surely goes to the Joker.

I was half skeptical about Heath Ledger doing justice to the originality and ominous eccentricity that Jack Nicholson brought to the character of Joker. He immortalized it in all its maniacal menace. He made it an emblem of maverick villainy. But Ledger has done more than fine to inspire awe amongst the Caped Crusader's most ardent admirers. He has brought immortality to the deranged depravity on that painted face. Christian Bale is good. Michael Cane is suave. Maggie Gyllenhal is wasted. Morgan Freeman is just fine. Gary Oldman and Aaron Eckhart are superb. Heath Ledger is just magnificent. It is his film.

I don't want this to be a detailed review. I would only ask you all to go watch the movie and discover it for yourselves. No one will rue it, I am sure.

Not a Sob-Jantaa Flick!

My first real outing after a sabbatical forced by an injured leg came after I was cajoled into watching 'Jaane Tu ...Ya Jaane Na' by my friends.

The film is custom-made to suit the tastes of the college-goers and owing to a simple narrative and good, clean renditions of the characters the audience is kept engaged. Same cannot be said about the second half as at places it becomes a tad too monotonous and predictable. The new-comers in Imran Khan and Genelia give off their best and it shows. Imran as Jay Singh Rathore looks fresh and promising as he keeps it straight and simple. Going by the look of things it seems he might well be the new poster-boy of Bollywood. Genelia looks disarmingly naive and innocent in her comeback vehicle into Mumbai filmdom. But for me it was Ratna Pathak Shah, as the mother of Jay ( Imran) who really stole the show. With some very intelligent timing of dialogues she sinks into her role with grace.

It will be better if I say nothing about the music at all. A.R Rahaman or Bappi Lahiri I just cannot digest lyrics as inane as 'Pappu can't Dance'. Spare me.

My take is the film will be a hit going by the swarm of people I was forced to avoid stepping on my healing foot in front of New Empire. And it was lucky that it didn't rain.

Thank God for small mercies.