Border, Nayak, Shaurya and Launch of a Book

Well..eventful week ! Wasn't it ? I happened to watch Border (long overdue), Nayak (yet again ) and Shaurya (incidentally) this weekend, all on television. Three movies portraying emotions of different people towards the nation ! Then i also attended the Bangalore book launch of Chetan Bhagat's new offering '3 mistakes of my life'. I will talk about them one by one.

Border (3/5)

I had expected Border to be a great movie. It was a good movie, my expectations were not fully satisfied though. There was an overdose of love-stories and a totally unnecessary suhaagraat scene ! Sunny Deol was literally shouting almost every single dialogue that came his way, unnecessarily many times. Akshay khanna, Sunil Shetty and others have performed well though. Movie doesn't spread anger towards the enemy soldiers. Politics is blamed for the war, for good enough reasons , i suppose. Movie succeeded is sending its message across beautifully.

Nayak (3.5/5)

Another movie showing that Indians do care about their nation. Reporter Shivaji Rao who is appointed as chief minister of Maharashtra for 'one day', displays great knowledge and readiness to deal with the problems plaguing the state. While the problems shown in the movie are very close to reality, solutions are not ! Suspending every accused is a very dangerous way of handling the problem ! That was the only part which I found unrealistic. Other then that, a great movie !

Shaurya (3.5/5)

Movie focusses on human rights violation by army officers in J&K. It shows that if there are officers who kill people belonging to a particular faith for their revenge (as sunil shetty does in 'Main Hoon Naa') , then there are 'a few good men' who are not afraid to follow the rules (or discarding them) to preserve communal harmony even if it means a lot of trouble for them. Movie has a lot of content unlike other contemporary bollywood movies. Performances are good if you ignore appalling Minisha Lamba. In short, a good bollywood movie after a long time !

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Chetan Bhagat : 3 Mistakes of My Life
Book Launch
18 may, 2008
Big Bazzar, Old Madras Road, Bangalore
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India's most influential youth writer Chetan Bhagat launched his third book ' 3 mistakes of my life' today in Bangalore as part of a series of book launches in different cities of India. Chetan Bhagat himself, Director Atul Agnihotri who is directing movie 'Hello' based on chetan's second novel 'One Night @ a Call Center' and Preeti Vyas - business head of Depot- big bazaar's book shop - graced the occasion with their presence.

Chetan told that the book was about Govind, a young businessman from the city of Ahmadabad and a few of his friends.

A few excerpts from Q & A session with Chetan after the book launch ( There were many other interesting questions but I can not recall them all now. Please pardon me for that.) -

Q: What is your source of motivation for writing?
Chetan: I write for fun. There is no motivator as such. Yes, I started writing to take revenge from my bad boss in Hong-Kong, who used to think I am working, while I used to write books in my office !

Q: How do you approach the publishers ?
Chetan: It's easy now. My first book 'five Point Someone' was rejected by 'nine' publishers. Things were difficult initially. I kept improving the draft and finally 'Rupa & Co' published the Indian bestseller.

Q: Why do you write about small towns ?
Chetan: There are a lot of writers who write about big cities. Only 5-10% of India lives in big cities. Others live in small towns and villages. Somebody should write for them. I have taken up this job.

Q: How do you know that the book will be a hit?
Chetan: If Chetan has enjoyed writing the book, readers will love reading it. I can not compete with my first book but I try to make them as enjoyable as possible.

Q: Were you concerned about the impact of this book on people from different communities as it deals with religion also ?
Chetan: Yes, I have tried to be cautious not to hurt anybody. Book has been received well everywhere so far.

Q: Why do the names of central character resemble the name of Lord Krishna in all your three novels (Hari, Shyam, Govind) ?
Chetan: Lord Krishna was a great mythological personality. He can not be compared with. I try to make my characters as big as him.

Q: Why in all your novels, a girl proposes a boy ?
Chetan: Well. Boys always like it this way (laughs). i also like it this way. I just convey my feelings across and incidentally they get noticed.

Q: Your novel titles contain a lot of numbers ('Five', 'one', 'Three'). Do you have a fancy for numbers ?
Chetan: I am from IIT. I am an engineer. Every engineer loves numbers, so do I. I unintentionally choose the titles. People have started noticing the patterns!

Q: You have written about IITs. Will you write about IIMs too ?
Chetan: I spend four of my best years there. Lot of events tool place so I could draft them into a book. Nothing much happened when I was in IIM, other then getting a life partner. What should I write about that ?

Q: First IITs, then call centers, now a businessman ! Scope of your stories is getting bigger with every book. Will the stage be even bigger for the next one ?
Chetan: It depends on what I choose the topic as. It can even be a lot smaller then IITs. I choose a topic which my readers will enjoy reading. I don't look at the scope, though i try to keep it manageable.

Q & A session was lively. Chetan answered all the questions enthusiastically. Atul Agnihotri presented two promos of his upcoming movie 'Hello' which is based on Chetan second novel - One Night @ a Call Center- starring Salmaan Khan, Katrina Kaif, Sharman Joshi, Sohail Khan, Gul Panag, Dalip Tahil and others. It was very well received by the audience. Each of then had to be presented twice on audience demand.

Event was full of glitches though. Sounds and lighting was not good. Atul had to finish his speech in four parts because of the sound trouble. There was not enough space for audiences. Big Bazzar can learn a few lessons in event organizations from there. But Chetan's presence made up for all that.