Guide – An Enduring Classic

The Guide (1965 ) is based on the novel by R.K Narayan who also wrote the Malgudi Days, the movie adaption directed by Vijay Anand and stars Dev Anand-Waheeda Rahman in stellar performances.

Plot Summary 
Guide is about Raju (Dev Anand) who is a tourist guide and his complex relationship with Rosie (Waheeda Rahman) who is a woman trapped in an unhappy marriage with Marco
who is an archaeologist obsessed with his work.

Rosie turns suicidal but Raju comes into her life and helps her break free from her husband and mentors her to become a classical dancer with great success. They start living together which alienates Raju's family. Eventually his insecurities and access to instant wealth makes him jealous and gets  intimidated by her success. In a moment of indiscretion, he commits a forgery and he gets jailed and the difference of opinions drives a wedge in the relationship of Rosie and Raju. 

Once Raju leaves jail instead of returning to Rosie or his family, he runs away and he is mistaken for a saint in a village. Eventually due to a drought, the villagers persuade him to undertake a 12 day fast to evoke the rain Gods. 

Rosie, his mother and friends try persuading him to give up his fast but he refuses as he does not want to break the faith of the villagers. Eventually the faith of villagers is rewarded and Raju dies in the end but in the end after achieving true peace of mind and transforming from a man to an ideal.  

Takeaways from the Movie  

The first and most daring plot device of a woman in an unhappy marriage and her courage to walk out and have an affair with another man. For the 1960's India it was tremendous leap ahead to show a live in relation between Raju and Rosie. 

Secondly Rosie's pursuit of her dreams to become a dancer and how that leads to souring of her relationship with Raju who eventually succumbs to the typical insecurities. The depiction of an imperfect relationship is quite a refreshing change to the typical goody two shoes romances of the 60's Hindi cinema. 

Thirdly when Raju goes to the village, the depiction of rural India, abject poverty and the willingness of the masses to follow anyone as a spiritual guide / leadership. The rich have the luxury to entertain ideas of atheism and the triumph of science over religion but for the poor, only faith in a higher power God is the only comfort to live on another day. 

Fourthly the movie deals is the exploration of Hindu beliefs of the eternal soul and impermanent body, so when finally Raju dies for the village, it is not an unpleasant choice but actually an evolution in his mindset. The transformation of a impostor to an spiritual being is quite plausible and engaging.

Guide as the Metaphor 

The “Guide” is quite the metaphor, in the first phase, Raju is 'Tourist Guide' guiding people as his work, then he becomes 'Guide-Mentor' to Rosie to end her unhappy marriage and also become a successful dancer. The Third phase of his life is 'Guide-Guru' to the masses as the spiritual Guru. But the most significant transformation as 'Guide to Himself' when he is able to rise above his ego, attachments and pettiness to sacrifice his life for the people.

In the name of 'Bold' movies we are subjected to semi-pornographic movies these days but to be honest, Guide sans skin show was a bold, unconventional movie.  

Words do not do enough to describe this great classic of Indian cinema, I recommend you the reader to catch it soon. 

Why do we worry??

An experimental post - I tried using the 5 Why technique to find the root cause of a common problem of worrying.

Why do we worry?

Because we feel we lack control of our destiny  

Why do we feel the lack of control?

Because our plans don’t seem to work at all

Why don’t our plans work?

Because we cannot control things like the economy, people, family problems and other acts of God.

Can we control factors which are outside of our control?

No we need to have patience and wait for things to unfold!

Then why do we lack patience?

It is a lack of faith in our abilities.

Is Faith very important?

The best is to believe in a higher power like benevolent God or at least believe in yourself.

In a terrible situation we lose faith in ourselves and in doing so we also lose confidence in our skills and become a pale shadow of our former selves.

Its remarkable when you need courage the most, we fail. So the only answer to problems in life is having patience, by patience I don’t mean you put up with rubbish but wait enough time for your plans to succeed.

Indeed there will be days when patience will wear thin, those are the days you need to reach out to your friends and family.  Only our true can re-enforce the trust and remind us of our true abilities.

Even Lord Hanuman needed to be reminded of his true nature and skills before He could travel to Lanka to find Sita.

So never be lonely and keep your friends and family close and off course keep the faith

My Top Five Favourite Movie Moments

I was watching Munnabhai MBBS and saw one of my really favorite movie moments and was inspired to think about the really wonderful movie moments which have stayed with me over the recent years.

Number 5 – V for Vendetta

The protagonist V who is an freedom fighter/terrorist who breaks into the official news channel of a fascist British Government and ignites the minds of the masses who have been subdued by a dictator for several years now. It is not a well known movie so I am reproducing the dialogue for better context.

“Good evening, London. Allow me first to apologize for this interruption. I do, like many of you, appreciate the comforts of every day routine- the security of the familiar, the tranquility of repetition. I enjoy them as much as any bloke. But in the spirit of commemoration, thereby those important events of the past usually associated with someone's death or the end of some awful bloody struggle, a celebration of a nice holiday, I thought we could mark this November the 5th, a day that is sadly no longer remembered, by taking some time out of our daily lives to sit down and have a little chat. There are of course those who do not want us to speak. I suspect even now, orders are being shouted into telephones, and men with guns will soon be on their way. Why? Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who's to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror. I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn't be? War, terror, disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you, and in your panic you turned to the now high chancellor, Adam Sutler. He promised you order, he promised you peace, and all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent.”

It is a fantastic scene, especially in the post 9/11 scenario, or even if you consider closer home, the mindset of certain politicians offering security and strong governance who vilify the Muslim community and take a us versus them stance. Secondly creating a campaign of fear,death and destruction. It is remarkable even the tyrannical dictators in the Muslim countries and the Taliban project the western world as a threat and brainwash the people by propaganda,fear,and control through censorship. The strong message from this scene despite all pressures, we must never lose ground and hold our political class accountable to us instead of the other way around.

Number 4 – Munnabhai MBBS

The Parsi Dr. Rustam's old father who has lost the will to live and gives up eating is brought to the hospital and is administered saline drips. Munna bhai and Circuit play a game of carrom to revive the old man's spirits. The touching message from the moment is that at any stage of life, its the will to live and something to look forward too in life which keeps a man going. The legendary dialogue being ..”carrom khelanu, juice piyanu .. Mazzani life !!”

Number 3 – Kal Ho Na Ho

I know it could offend some purists that a Karan Johar flick comes in my top 5 list, but the scene when saif is going to propose to preity, she comes and tells him that she loves SRK and if she is mad enough to think if he will accept. Saif says “koi pagal hi hoga joh tumse pyaar nahi karega abhi jao” with such intensity, that really stayed with me for every guy who has ever had a crush on a good friend and he had to tell her the right thing, that she go for the other guy. Friendship winning over personal feelings is so bitter sweet !

Number 2 – The Dark Knight

Although critics and fans rave about the Joker's performance and his anchary the character for whom I really felt strongly about in the movie was Harvey Dent, a sane morally strong man who is reduced to a n psychotic killer who loses all his faith and belief in the world and system.

“You thought we could be decent men in an indecent time. But you were wrong. The world is cruel, and the only morality in a cruel world is chance. Unbiased. Unprejudiced. Fair.”

The solution which the batman could give the people was the need to have faith, and he takes the fall for the crimes committed by Harvey.

"Sometimes people don't need the truth, they deserve something better... they need to have their faiths rewarded."

The irony being Alfred his butler burning Rachel's letter telling Bruce Wayne that she loves Dent and wants to marry him and lets Bruce believe that one day Rachel would have come back to him underlying the fact even a superhero is vulnerable and needs faith more than truth was the fantastic climax to this brilliant movie. I wished this movie picked up more Oscars than it really did.

Number 1 – Lagaan

The villagers are upset with Bhuvan, that he pit them in this impossible match against the British and vow not to assist him in this foolhardy mission. Bhuvan and the young boy Tipu play the game in the centre of the village to attract the attention of the village folks. “Koi badi baat nahi Tipu,hum isle gilli danda kehte hai aur angrez isse crickut”.

He misses the ball twice, the entire village watches the 3rd ball, and the hopes, fear and tension of the villagers mount and Bhuvan sends the ball crashing to the temple bell and the mute guy Bhagga joins the team and slowly people's faith is won step by step. For me, that moment of gaining the faith of the people was a far more satisfying scene than the 1 hour plus cricket match climax.

So these were my favorite top 5 movie moments, the one which closely missed out the list was Forrest Gump, who goes back to save his friend Bubba in Vientam war zone. Bubba is fatally wounded, has a look at Forrest, smiles and says “I knew you would come back for me” and dies. The sheer beauty of true friendship and faith was conveyed so subtly by the director.

These were my favorite movie moments so tell me what was yours ?

First things first .... why are we here ??

This is going to be my first blog, I was thinking I should be focusing on being articulate and taking time to crystallize my views or be spontaneous type out the stuff on my mind and see if it can be more of bouncing of my ideas with friends....

Since right now i am lacking the discipline to think too much, i think i will just ramble through this one and let me begin with my most favorite topic .... "Why are you here ?? ( as in existence)"
The answer which people give thanks to what popular notions seems to lead back to the fate and god paradox ..... if things go in your favour then thank the lord and in case it goes against you blame fate.... is the world so simplistic or need for us keep our sanity ??

i mean if today i have some thing bad happening to me .... it feels justified because i must have been bad in the previous life or the person hurting me today will have his/her comeuppance on day .... the world is fair and to be said "fairly regulated" if i must add unlike the US financial markets.

My personal feeling is that we wish that there is a grand scheme in all this and we have a major role to play in it .... it gives our life a purpose that puts up on the top of the evolution chain and keep our superiority over other flora fauna inhabiting this habit.

So the fundamentals of our thoughts, persona and rational outlook are based on simple axioms which do not necessarily rational.

Till recently, I saw this world as a random experiment of 6 billion humans and million other variables which play on each other ..... one man's choice is other person's destiny so where does God come into the picture though .....

if life is going good, we trust the fate and the pretty picture it paints ... but it is in the lows we question everything ....

I particularly do not have a definitive answer of why we are here ?? I think perhaps its our intuitive purpose to find out why.

yes I do believe that we have the right to be happy in every stage of our existence in the world .... and if faith gives us that happiness so let it be .... but we shouldn't take it as the gospel truth.