Second serving on ...."A wednesday"

Dearest Gowi

Suchoo back again with another (damn) serious musings with lot of energy and enthusiasm !!While it is quite an irony by itself (I mean to have such stuff @ blog titled "Jolly musings"), let me also clarify at this stage that during the brief & very successful fist fortnight at coimbatore, I had been quite meticulous on the area where I have to improve – taking care of the physical fitness; was getting up at 4 AM on most of the days for Hatha yoga and Surya Namaskar…..
I can now see the deadly connection between the energy levels, the control of mind and the cheerful spirit though I had only a theoretical understanding about the same until now. In fact after being quite active yesterday and sleeping bit later than usual, I was able to get up at 4 AM dot today morning without much irritation and sleepiness hanging in eyes for my physical exercises session just because the body got a good taste of being fit and has started beginning to see the point of compromise…..(between briskness and more sleep) and I just allowed it to get up and going….Who says only bad vices are addictive ??

You are wondering now why I had to be quite “active” on a holiday particularly after coming home after a fortnight….Huh ? Well, one of my activities was seeing “a Wednesday” for the fourth time and before you conclude seeing a cinema is just a relaxation, I want you to reconsider your decision on how intense I could be watching a movie (not this one, any film for that matter) and it should be construed as an “activity” but definitely not a “work” or a “pain” or “karma”….

Well, Had you ever had urinary infection in your life ? I had serious bouts of this peculiar disease (I meant “dis-ease” {Courtesy ::: Sadhguru}) during my childhood and until I was in my higher secondary school I had many sleepless nights suffering with pain and restlessness when ever I had some thing hot on the prior night (Like Tomato pickle or cut mango pickle for eg). Unable to resist the temptation of tongue, I had even decided to “have” the U.I on few days – you must be amused !! Well, over a period of time as I got smarter, I discovered couple of tablets that relieves me from this disease and I used to proactively take them before going to sleep (of course after enjoying the feast of tomato pickle…..or so !!). Yes, I was able to be in touch with truth even when I was quite young…If we cannot compromise on a particular thing (in my case, hot and delicious food), we need to compromise on lot of other things (taking tablets, deciding to have UI and so on).

Now, why this bragging ? Very similar to this unique disease where you find your own urine coming out in trickles, I had few more thoughts to share on “a Wednesday” ….which I am presenting herewith. Don’t want to spoil the original posting by including these points along with it....and hence this separate posting. Now, please do not get irritated (I know you too have a breaking point)..

I am neither trying to prove any thing, nor I am considering you to be naïve and dull ….and it is also a fact that I have too many other things to be done in the next three days. I consider this as a part my duty to put these points down in this dedicated space for me…..and it is quite difficult for me to speak any thing in relative terms….if this is the most important thing amongst the activities that I want to do….I do rate this activity at par with the Kpuram stay tonight and talking to my amma, Pizza at Gayathri’s home tomorrow by 3 PM, Swimming session tomorrow evening along with you, meeting couple of my school friends “somehow” during the Tambaram stay…..and couple of other works to be completed on the Republic day before I bid good bye to Chennai……
I will be delighted to have your feedback on this posting too (like how you gave a long one after reading my earlier posting on “a Wednesday”….). As I have already mentioned to you, I do not normally expect a feedback for my postings and you may please consider this a request just to let me know if these specific points struck you too when you watch (mean, watched, watch and will be watching) the film by yourself…..In return will be glad enough to receive some more points that was not covered by our earlier sharing with each other when we saw the film together AND these two postings….Are the ground rules of this posting clear….Please go on….

“A Wednesday” - The sequel....!!

Why a musings on this subject once again…?? (that is over and above the anology of Urinary infection)
Before jumping to specific points let me add couple of points on this favourite question for me that takes us closer to truth in all our pursuits. First of all, “a Wednesday” is bound to happen week after week because it is NOT “the Wednesday” !! Further, I just could not hold myself without getting excitedly scribbling few more things that I seemingly missed out in my earlier experience though I sincerely consider that even earlier I was equally intense. The big difference was that the earlier posting was more extempore without any aid for my memory but this time I helped myself with a scribbling pad , a pen and the remote (just to “pause” when I had to write). Now, before you brush me off that I am bit “too much” please read through and get reminded of the request made in the last para of the earlier section. Please be aware that I am going bit chronologically as per the sequence of my scribblings and will cover few macro level points towards the end…

(1) Intro of Inspector Jai singh ….Telling his wife to give a call….Inspite of being in such difficult profession by himself, this shows how genuine he is towards the innocence and peace at home. This also reminds me the concept of Karma Yoga – as doing the life-threatening incidents at the career at the intense level dispassionately (Mind you…The same person also says that he does not mind getting killed to the IG when he was asked to find out the bombs in next 10 minutes).
(2) The Hero who complains to Anupam on his phone call threat……the way Inspector Jai Singh responds when the hero hugs quite unexpectedly…..I was thrilled to see that Jai singh behaves as exactly as one behaves in front of boss. He gets startled for a second but gathers himself and keeps himself in right posture in front of the boss. Well done Jai…
(3) The other inspector (or sub inspector ?? I have to watch again !!) Arif and the way he is introduced (before the informer arrives in the scene)….Busily playing video game in the mobile while mouth is chewing the gum…To show how much he is used to dealing with gripping things while remaining casual…..!! Some times a moment of a scene speaks more than volumes of words….
(4) Again, on Arif, the way he understands the complaint made by the informer, gives him the necessary “treatment” to facilitate his hospitalization and giving a solution to him just with a simple question “what is the number of the security guard” & the way he follows up on the response with his “action” ..?? Astounding……Should we really talk so much….?
(5) Lets come to Shambhuji / the electric Baba….After a thorough rehearsel, the manner he delivers the “dialogue” quite aggressively and after finishing the first part of the same, the way he turns towards Naina and smiles broadly like a kid….just like a kid…..cho chweet….
(6) The way shambhuji keeps smiling at the camera when Naina summarized towards the end….with a pride and awareness of his being in limelight….!!
(7) Intro of Anupam Kher…reading paper – rather quickly glancing when he gets the unfortunate phone call….the speed at which he reads - I felt – on how quickly they have do their QII activities before they get any unexpected work of the day….Am I bit too imaginative ??
(8) Arif while hitting the Security guard who does ill to the family of the informer without even a single word on why he is beating up….Should any explanation be given for filthy acts ? ….Punish him straight….and make him repent out of his pain….!!
(9) Nasrudhin shah after his first talk with a deliberate slowness and a nice BG (will come to BG later) removes the sim card and puts in inside a dust bin…..How nicely the camera is placed at the bottom of dust bin…I got bit philosophical on the angle of camera in this shot….”at times we should be ready to accept the filth thrown upon us IF we decide to be of some utility / we work with some purpose”….How ‘s that ??
(10) I think the way the CM role is handled…the process on how to approach him even in emergencies (Anupham Kher just checks his availability when he gets the first call), and the manner all the swivel chairs turn up towards the phone when the CM comes on the line. This person has played the CM’s role quite effectively and I felt he added great value to the overall story and giving some respect to the legislature…the manner he nicely delegates the responsibility after hearing Anupham kher on “unlimited responsibility”……by giving a simple instruction to his Home Minister “I should not have any complaints from prakash”…Superb…..They always say, power comes only when we take responsibility….The whole sequence of this scene was depictive of it…..from the elobaration of the extend of responsibility by Anupham and then requesting for power…and then having it granted. This particular piece is also well handled in later stage when Anupham gives an instruction to one of his men that “this is special order of CM”….showing us that it was only a “delegation” of power and cannot become “decentralized”…!! Can Pakistan be more saner with this model instead of the PMs of the past one after the other dying either unnaturally or mysteriously ??
(11) Akash, the inspector who handles the tracking of telephone lines (of course the “outdated ones”) had a good and equal role to play like Jai and Arif which I missed out completely earlier. To add, he is the one who explains the background of the 4 terrorists to the IG…but since I was glued to the terrorist clippings, did not recognize the role of Akash….!! The way this gentleman smiles without reducing the respect levels…when the wrong phone call (credit card) lands up and the manner he introduces the Hacker…While Jai and Arif done their part in outdoors, Akash plays his indoor role to the perfection. Well done, my boy !!
(12) I learnt the power of courtesies in communication like a jolt….Not able to be specific on this point as there were more than one instance when one of the deputies coming to the IG and saying “excuse me sir”….and giving a pause within which Anupam switches his thoughts from the current subject and moves with lot of focus towards the new information…and handling it….So, courtesy is not essentially to be nice rather it is a pre requisite for our message / communication to be handled nicely…(it is most effective if we give a pause –as is required for the occasion)
(13) I made a mockery on the functioning style of the government office with one constable asking for a signature when a mission of finding a bomb was carried out in the police station – in my earlier posting. My sharp eyes observed this time that Jai was dutifully obeying the constable on his procedures…!! When he does not complain…WHY SHOULD I….& WHO AM I ????
(14) The trafficker of the explosives after getting so much of beating from Anupham kher literally keeps his hands in his chest to confess that he does know any thing more….signifying that he is telling the truth. He appears quite pitiable but we reverse our feelings very soon when he urinates upon seeing arif..right in the chair while sitting. WHICH MEANS…..these thugs may appear to be genuine but still there is some more juice (I don’t mean his urine) left with them…..
(15) The introduction of the terrorists by Akash….in ISI formerly Al queda formerly Lakshar…..!!...these people hopping from one organization to other (of course like minded organizations..thats different) reminded me of my BPO comrades who keep jumping from one organization to other….A matured mind does not keep hopping like a grasshopper or flutter the feathers like a butterfly….For that matter one reason for India so rich in culture is because the civilization and people refinement happened here owing to people’s settling down in this place for centuries (courtesy :: Sadhguru)….perhaps due to good climate, natural wealth and other reasons….Stability is the key for evolving….!! (IS some body telling me that Prabhakar and Osama are settled in an organization as bosses for a long time…???)
(16) The way Anupham stares into the eyes of the home minister after giving instruction to Jai on finding out the bomb in next 10 minutes….without telling in words “this is the way we work”……Just few seconds back, the Home minister was trying to suggest some thing to Anupham about the stiff goal that they have….Poor home minister…
(17) Quality of leadership in Anupham’s portrayal….The way his whole body becomes relaxed and calm when he tells “relax boys…” followed by the message that the terrorist would not have intended to have a bomb blast but just to build credibility…. YES it is important we become the change what we want to be!!
Of course the next shot is the snifer dogs and the bomb squad in action. Without relaxed minds, such hectic and time bound actions do not emanate….
(18) When the bus containing the four terrorist slowly rolls in the main road, few extra moments of the top angle showing the birds fluttering in the air…..was telling me the carefree birds enjoying themselves totally unaware about the fateful bus that was in the road below….(this has a touch of my thought on my earlier posting about 1600 Rs cash loss…When I was becoming wiser with this episode, my boss was sitting without any awareness about me and my wisdom OR stupidity…..its very similar to that incident and my description earlier !!)
(19) Inside the bus, Arif gets impatient with the chat amongst the terrorists and releases the lock of his revolver. The difference in personalities between Jai and Arif has been handled carefully…may be because Jai is a familiy man and Arif…We are not sure….!! To add further, when the terrorist jokes “what shall we do with these two ??:”, the pale face of Jai (unsure of how to react) and then gathering a smile and look towards Arif just to pacify Arif that “its all joke only…don’t get tensed up again”….!! This point is about the consistency of portrayal of characters. Good job….!!
(20) Coming to same point above, Nasrudhin playing as cool as cucumber…with his lazy gaze fixed at the horizon and coffee, breakfast enjoying…..gets tensed up just once that too very mildly when he hears Ismail is not yet dead. It is more an upset of his plan than any tension…..Each character is like a sculpture in the right hands…..!!
(21) I was particularly shocked at the dialogue when I watched the film this time “today bomb is most valuable thing to the common man”…..So much to be perceived….!!
(22) The exact reason for the whole plot of Nasrudhin comes only after constant questioning by Anupham. Though he (Nasrudhin) says that he is neither sentimental nor emotional, he is quite upset with the death of a mate in his train though he is not a sort of “soul” mate…..which could make it much more emotional upset for him. I got reminded about what I read some time back that soldiers normally fight aggressively more out of the memory of the loss of their friends than for patriotic reasons…..Patriotism is abstract…while loss of a friend / mate is a physical reality !!
(23) The declaration by Nasrudhin on why he is doing the act that “he is doing it for himself”…..It struck me that the terrorists who upset the society for the heinous crimes for a purpose like religion or others’ orders….!! A common man does most unreasonable things too at times only for himself…..and still some times it could become revolutionary…..(I am getting reminded of your blasting on me some time back on being unpatriotic and self centered at Vanagiri…..Well, no arguments here….!!)
(24) The CM’s last scene when he talks of the course of action ….Do we have any other way ?? and so on…was more a talk with consciousness with Anupham doing the role of CM’s consciousness….and just responding to the extend that is required for decision making of CM….
(25) After the decision CM leaves the hall briskly followed by his two colleagues to attend to other priorities….As mentioned earlier, I got a respect for top posts of any organization by watching this film……!!
(26) The whole irony of the story is the disappointment for Naina…While promised of “most memorable day of her life” she ends up reporting a stray incident when the terrorists were shot dead in the “regular” process of the police… I have a feeling that Naina was disappointed that it was not such a great news…as I assume she does not know the full story. Some times, It happens like this…the most memorable things pass of while we are completely unaware about it….!!
(27) Ismail claiming that he is not afraid of dying and gets startled to see the revolvers in the two mens’ hands…and then goes on justifying on why he should live…..!! DIALOGUES to the minimum…..Great….
(28) Arif after getting a shot in his arm from Jai…I observed only now….tells “why you did not tell me earlier?”…..for which Jai replies “no time”….My god, Does that mean Arif grasps the instruction of Anupham so well and gets the wound as a matter of his duty and part of the extempored operations….I am just shuddering at the mere imagination……!!
(29) In the last scene, when Nasrudhin "begs our pardon" and clearly utters "mather chod"....I felt that Censor did not even feel like cutting the word as they got synch with the film....It was - to me - as if Nasrudhin was apologising to the Censor Board to bear with him for the word as it was "needed" for the scene and thats why it was left scotfree.....
(30) Last but not the least, on few other aspects of the film overall….For the first time I noticed the coordination between camera and music in this film during the Nasrudhin shots in open terrace when the camera just moves around him, comes towards him or moves away from him and the BG heightening the impact of the the sight.
The Rerecording too is a miracle…and still I am amused at when the music is played in the background with Nasrudhin shah spells his dialogues in the last scene…some times only his voice is heard …some times music is also heard….You never can feel the music extraneous or miss it….! It happens when every one is so involved..the film maker and the audience…Understandable…
Coming to Camera, the slow motion for a bit followed by normal speed of camera when the terrorists are being released…is a sample of how nicely slow motion has been used….(we use it when the hero jumps in the air only to land on the head of the mottai boss !!)
The dialogues…..How nicely Nasrudhin communicates about the bomb planted in the police station…(not tom dick harry…..telephone booth….)
To conclude this section, I also thoroughly enjoyed the war between the two main personalities…Think I made a brief mention about this in my earlier posting too but I felt some refinement in my thought about this fight that the same is more tilted towards Nasrudhin’s favour ….while ultimately Anupam takes the superiority with one powerful glance and keeping the whole case within himself sharing only with us….(like how I am writing my postings in a blog…just as a paradox). All the blushes (for eg, Anupham telling Nasrudhin shah “aisaa nahi hai”..when Nasrudhin asks a point blank question if Anupam came to a conclusion that An aam aadhmi will not do such things ??) and frustrations, I feel Anupham won at the end with his steel like glance into Nasrudhin’s eyes when he introduces himself to the latter.

If you are under the impression that this posting has reached its end, you are terribly mistaken. Its time I record few subtle things which were interesting for me but I could not really understand completely. Perhaps, may be they are not really subtle and I am only imagining !!….I never know.
Let me post 4 such points below before I talk about few areas of improvements in the film to make a fitting end for this long posting….
(a) Nasrudhin talking to wife over phone on the open terrace on the opening scene….with the back towards camera and him facing the world below….with only voice heard by us….Not sure if it means some thing…
(b) When Nasrudhin tells about the 4 terrorist names and adds that they are in different jails…he gazes around the city…I felt like may be he is symbolically telling parellelly OR may be it’s a casual mannerism….Not too sure
(c) “copy that” was the order issued by Anupam Kher when he receives the message from Jai that “bomb mil gayaa”…..!! This is more a lack of understanding due to technicality
(d) Last but not the least, I am not sure why Nasrudhin at the end of the “operation” hurries up down the terrace in unusual speed which is highly contradicting his portrayal until now…..Is it just to make us think for a while when he stands still for a while before coming up once again to pick up his bag…? Or is it to avoid the “thud” noise of the bomb planted within the dust bin….??

Now, let me move to few areas of improvements / slips according to me…May be, you have some thing to say on them….Further, these could be the case of wrong understanding from my side…(see, I am a picture of perfect humility in front of Neeraj !!). Please note that I am not just complaining but also giving a suggestion how it could be handled….! (that’s how a critic should be right ??)

(i) I felt that the shape of the bag that Nasrudhin carries does not resemble a bag that we normally use a “subzi”…instead of making it difficult for us to understand that it is a subzi bag (falling of tomato), I feel it is not too much coarse to have (have it heavy if it is justified for the anupham’s dialogue….”is it very heavy ?? want a lift ?”)a normal koodai with vegetables and palak quite visible from outside….
(ii) As we discussed already, keeping a J&K bag at railway station just to arouse some curiosity in us without any lead about it later on. Similarly, the word “bastard” used to describe Nasrudhin by Anupham in the opening scene….again was done only to arouse curiousity….
May be the former could have been justified by a simple dialogue some where in Nasrudhin’s utterances and the latter could be just a gentle childing by Anupam more out admiration than his anger.
(iii) Nasrudhin’s Bhibi voice was bit artificial in the sense that it was slightly misfit to his appearance. It was too feminine, courteous and definitely very young…..I would have tried a voice that is coarse, ignorant and very loud and impatient…..to push Nasrudin’s role a notch more higher
(iv) There was a slip in terms of editing….During the intro scene of Jai, he was found walking with his family at the railway station at the same time (we have to assume so, right ?) when Anupam is handling the “HERO”. The Anupam’s scene was in fact cut in between to introduce Jai. After hearing out the Hero, Anupam calls Jai in….By the time, Jai had left the family into the train, chided a constable who took money from a Taxi Driver on the way and have reached the station….!! I felt the scene could have been continous (I mean the Hero with Anupab) AFTER introducing Jai.
(v) Last but not the least, Why do Anupam rush towards the high rise building which is construction with a decided hurry, taking his pistol in his pocket as if he has to be available for the “last” meeting with Nasrudhin….It was a needless cinematic touch to make the nice natural film bit dramatic. IS there no other way this could have been handled….(Nasrudhin tells his wife when she asks if he has met any friend, as “not sure”)….

Well, I vouch that there will be no more mails neither on “A Wednesday” from me nor on any other mail. I once remember some one asking Cho (think in some interview at television) on why he wasted his genius as a critic of politics which is no heaven and analyzing people and their decisions which is relatively not upto his level of IQ, he gave an emotional response that he has seen people of various realms (Cinema, Drama, Law, Politics, Religion and Publications) and did not ever think that political analysis is any way a waste of his energy….as people , their decisions & his guesses on them are always interesting for him.
In the same vein, let me conclude by stating that these 8 pages which had cost me around 2 ½ hours totally is too precious to me and is a nice tool for me to reach my eventual peaceful state…..!! Thanks for being with me…if at all you were with me till this word.

Krishnaarpanam….