Friday, June 15, 2007

back to bombay

got back to bombay last night at midnight. Met Mohit Chauhan on the way. For those of you who don't know who he is , he's the guy who sang Dooba Dooba from Silk Route. He kept wearing a cap throughout and I think it's to hide his bald spot though i can't be sure. Anyway I took his autograph for Anshuman who really likes the song.
When I saw him standing in line to get to the security check I asked him,' Excuse me, aren't you the guy that sings?' He was taken aback and then mumbled silk route so I exclaimed, ' I love your song!' He said ,'Thank you' I am one of the most tactless people i know, although I like to think of myself as spontaeneous in order to delude myself.
So Delhi was hot as hell. I bough five kurtas from Fabindia. (Anshuman is reading the last sentence over and over again! heh heh ) I came home and decided to try one of them. I picked up a beautiful yellow one and as got into it I realised it's a nightie. It's difficult to explain the surprise.
I bought a bone for Ninna which claims that it will clean her teeth and may be even take care of her doggy breath.
I am at Avon as I write this. Had lunch with Mukul which was cooked by him. Bajra roti, rice, chicken and mashed aaloo. So I'm listening to Pet Shop Boys on the comp. I get very nostalgic in this house. I spent so many years here. And now it looks all different. The walls are the same and are new all at the same time. Mukul has done an excellent job of cleaning up and organising this space. Although I feel like a Bergman movie when I'm here. I see myself singing, dancing and being in love in this house. Probably the reason why I can never stay here for too long and run away to Raheja. I resist nostalgia with all my might. I prefer the present but the past has all enveloping soft arms beckoning as I walk away.

Saturday, June 09, 2007

Some words

had to take an early morning flight last night so got up at an unearthly 3 am...slept through the flight. Came home had tea and slept again. Bombay was hot as sin and Delhi is hot as hell. The poor little ac in my room has given up and is throwing hot air.
SO the film is finished. DVD copy made. Mini dv and Digibeta will be picked up tomorrow. This film has happened so quickly that my teachers at NID would be really proud. Like a lot of other students I nearly always ended up finishing my projects way past the deadline. At the end of my diploma jury I was gently told to make sure I was careful about schedules and deadlines or else the industry would not tolerate me. Like a lot of good teachers they were right.
I managed to make good use of Ananth’s handycam and Navnita’s alive eyes and expressive face. The poem with little Nonie is the only one I really like. I haven’t decided my feelings about the rest of them... at least being undecided is better than disliking the film altogether which I did till Mukul insisted he really liked it...at first I thought he was just being really kind but I think he was really being sincere. Now I think may be it's not all that bad. The film is called Some words although in hindsight I should have called it A lot of words. Heh heh.
I'm so glad it's finished.

Sunday, June 03, 2007

in mumbai

so I got here day before yesterday. Took an ac taxi thinking the traffic would be killer at night like the last time I was here. The taxi did not stop even once on the way. Went to town and shot at the Time out magazine's office with Mukul. Met Kuntal's daughter Meha who looks like a reduced xerox of her Grandmother. Had lunch and sandwich with Kuntal at a coffee house on top of Crossword. Purely out of habit went to the occult section and found that the only tarot cards available are beginner sets. Touched some books at random. I like touching books. It's a feeling which borders on intestinal excitment and cardiac thrill of opening a virgin page. People in bookshops are almost always very relaxed. I love that about bookstores apart from the books themselves.

Have booked a studio and editor for the film and will begin the process tomorrow. Will choose music from Mukul's extensive collection. I ask myself if I really LIKE making a film and honestly I don't know. While in the process of it I get strangely disconnected from it and after it is over I completely disconnect. I recently told someone' I am not emotionally connected to my poetry. I am connected to it while I write it but once it's on the paper. I easily forget.'