DAY 577

Posted on: November 19, 2009 - 7:44 am

Comments: 570

Taj Coromandel, Chennai                       November 19, 2009                     Thu  7 : 44 AM


14   Days  to  PAA          releasing   December 4th   2009


The morrow has come, ‘aye Caesar but not gone !’ … a bit of Shakespeare in the early hours between the duvet still. Strange and a most unlikely place for it but …

Remember … those famous lines from the bards, Julius Caesar .. ‘beware the Ides (15th) of March’ .. ‘the Ides of March have come’ … ‘aye Caesar, but not gone’… as Caesar walks up the steps to the Senate where he eventually gets stabbed to death by his own trusted lieutenants Brutus and Cassius, paving the way for Mark Anthony and the evergreen ‘Friends, Romans, countrymen !! Lend me your ears.. I come to bury Caesar, not to mourn him .. the evil that men do lives after them …’

But .. death is not apt for the moment to dwell on so early in the morning. Life is better.. the sun rises, another day begins, the birds welcome it with excited twitter, the world wakes up and moves … life begins !! Much better, do you not think. There is hope and delight in the ambient surroundings. Beginnings are always so. It is the ability to keep the spirit of the beginnings in our lives till the very end that marks a satisfactory existence. An existence we know that shall be tortured and tested every instant, and so it must. For, life and existence would be so complacent without it …

There is a calm that descends upon you as you alight from the plane on to the soil at the Kamaraj Airport, Chennai in Tamilnadu. Development may have taken away some of the natural calm of the city, but it still exudes that serene calm as you drive down to your stay of residence.

That hill behind the arrival lounge, now cluttered with vegetation and structures … the hill that became the meeting ground for the Father and son at the graveyard of ‘Aakhri Raasta’. The confrontation and their diverse philosophies on the way they both looked at life. The 9 and the 6. When you look at it from your perspective it is a 9, when I look at it it is a 6. Recollect ? Shot at this very hill behind the airport. And then as you get closer to the city, the studios - Gemini and Vauhini and AVM - institutions that lived and breathed and created the greatness of not just the Film Industry of the South, but of the North as well. The systematic planning and execution of their projects, the disciplined schedules and demeanor of work, their ethics and work culture, the true Indian Studio system , if ever there was one. But now crowded and lost within massive cement jungles, their identity almost lost in the confines of overlooking and almost shrouded shadows of the commerce that exists about. The creative still flourishes, but somewhere the feel has been dented. The magic of genius still exists, but covered perhaps in an ambience that seems a little alien to me. The open grounds, the distinct settings as you drove in, sound floors lined one along the other, make up facilities and rooms for rest and change in a separate block, recording and laboratory one end, offices elegantly lined on another… it was such a delightful feel for any artist that came over to work And as I drive by today, the nostalgic memories of the many films that I had the good fortune to work in - ‘Pyar ki Kahani’, ‘Sanjog’, ‘Bombay to Goa’, ‘Inquilaab’, ‘Aakhri Raasta’, ‘Andhaa Kanoon’, ‘Shakti’, ‘Mahaan’ …. the list is endless and long. And the wonderful associations with talent of exceptional quality - MGR, Sivaji Ganesan and Rajnikant and Kamalhasan and such greats. The technicians and the vastly superior crew that came along - Directors, assistants, staff .. all filled with that wonderful quality that the South has been renowned for - humility and dedication to their work. ..

I think I shall stay back a little longer, just so I can savor the climate of this region. Not just the weather but the climate of en-dearness and warmth..

…….. ok rude shock .. will not be able to do that … Mumbai beckons .. there are pressing engagements and media and BiggBoss to attend to …. ahhhh … the vagaries of time !!!

And as I punch in the words an sms arrives -

‘In life you will never know what you have been missing until it arrives .. and you will never know what you have got until it is missing ..’

An indicator, almost by providence do you not think for the moment .. life’s like that only ..! Ha

Bye now and love from ..

Auro

sometimes also known as Amitabh Bachchan .. hoh ..hoh !

Posted in: Others

DAY 576

Posted on: November 18, 2009 - 11:14 pm

Comments: 242

Chennai                             November 18, 2009                     Wed 11 : 13 PM

15   Days  to  PAA           releasing   December 4th   2009

The great Ilaiyaraja, pristine in white and just off from Balaji at Tirupati, conducts me at Prasad Studios for the song from PAA. I did it once when he was not around. I did it today when he was around. The world seemed different. The quality improved. The reason for his hand gestures as he conducted the rhythms poetic and his demeanor and expressions synonymous with the flow of the notes he had composed in his private room just behind and beyond the studio.

His eyes wild and bright. His language measured and pointed. His reason behind every note definite and pure and his decision final on the output. The master, the maestro, the magician the ‘little Raja’.

I am struck with emotion. It works its way up the belly through to the chest and heart and waits to explode into the eye lids. And I return back to the Hotel and I believe that I will wait till the morrow for the senses to dissolve before I can go any further …

Good night, my dears ..

I shall return before the morrow is over ..

Amitabh Bachchan

Posted in: Others

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