Saturday, May 30, 2009

Impromptu

Somewhere in the background, he could hear the whirring of an engine. He couldn’t make out where he was; it was too dark. He tried to move, but he felt too tired. His joints ached and his right hand felt sticky. He lay in the darkness for some more time, listening to the engine revving up. Then the sound faded away, indicating that the vehicle had left. He tried once again to move, and ever so slowly, he moved his left hand. His fingers felt some cloth, coarse cloth. He tried to move toward his left, but the pain was unbearable. He grabbed at the cloth with his left hand and tried to move it away. The effort left a small opening and a beam of light shot in. The beam fell on his right hand, which was on his chest and now he could see that the sticky substance was drying blood. He moved the fingers of his left hand a bit more to make a better opening in the cloth covering him and more light shone in. The light blinded him and his efforts to close his eyes alerted him to his bruised face. The smallest grimace hurt when the facial muscles contracted to allow him close his eyes. He lay there panting for a few more minutes. He tried to ascertain where he was. The ground beneath him felt hard. His right hand slipped off his chest and he felt concrete as it hit the ground. He was on some sort of road. He panicked. The fear made adrenaline rush to the muscles of his body. He turned himself to his left with all the strength he could muster and clawed at the opening. It would open only to a certain extent. Soon he realised that he was in a sack, and it was tied at the top. He fidgeted around and tried to untie the knot. He heard some noises. Sounded like people. He hesitated; should he shout and attract attention so that someone could help him out of the sack? Or should he keep quiet, lest these people be more attackers? He listened attentively, straining to hear even the slightest sounds. Soon the sounds subsided. He tried again to untie himself. This time, someone, held the fingers.

“Quédate quieto! Estoy tratando de ayudar!” he heard a voice say. “Oh fuck! They’re going to kill me!” he thought. He tried to fight back with his fingers.

“Quédate quieto! José, que me ayude con este tipo ...” said the voice. More hands came to the opening. He panicked. He got his fingers back to himself and started shouting in the little Spanish that he knew, “Help! Help! Ayudar!”

“Cállate la boca! Estamos aquí para ayudarle!” exclaimed the voice. Suddenly the sack opened up and he was bathed in light. He tumbled out to find himself surrounded by three men and a woman. “Please don’t kill me!” he screamed. “Please! No matar!” he blurted in his faltering Spanish.

“Nadie te está matando, estamos aquí para ayudar!” said one man, the first voice which had come to the sack. “José, ¿sabes Inglés? ¿Alguien aquí sabe Inglés?” he continued. The man who was José looked towards the other man and then to him. “Un poco de ...”

“Pues bien hablar con él, tonto!” shouted the first man, sensing his rising fear and tension. “No es necesario maldición ...” said José. Then turning to him, he said, “We, help. No kill. Only help.”

He relaxed a bit, the adrenaline still keeping him standing. José continued, “From where?” Before he could reply, the woman screamed, “Oh, Dios mío! Él es el sangrado!” “What?” he asked as he was fainting. “Blood! You are blood...” José’s voice trailed in the back...

Sunday, March 29, 2009

"1""0":A decade since we took the red pill

cachik... 
DHICHKIAYAON WHOOOSH 
DHICHKIAYAON WHOOOSH 
DHICHKIAYAON DHICHKIAYAON WHOOOSH WHOOOSH 
DHICHKIAYAON WHOOOSH 
DHICHKIAYAON DHICHKIAYAON WHOOOSH 

Only human. 
DODGE THIS! 
DHICHKIAYAON 

It's been 10 years since this jaw-dropping moment in cinematic history! 
Yippee!!!! 


This was a post on The Matrix board that I put up on 31st March, 2009, the 10th anniversary of the film. As you can see, I'm childishly enamoured by this film. The way it has influenced me, I can't tell you enough about it. Simply put, I'm a Matrix geek. I know almost everything there is to know about The Matrix trilogy (barring the goings-on of The Matrix Online). And it has affected my film choices and some other significant choices in my life.

I first saw The Matrix at my friend Varun Verma's place. He had a VCD and I'd heard a lot about the film from my cousins. It was the year 2000/2001, I don't remember. Me and Anirudh Nanda had gone to Varun's house expressly to see this film. For the first time, I see the Warner Brothers' animated logo, the one where they show the factory or whatever that is (believe me, I tried finding out what that place is, but I guess my searching techniques are bad. If you know what they show, lemme know!) It's in green and then there's the grey background. And that music. And then the digital rain, the falling numbers, Matrix script. I'd already fallen in love with the film.

Many had commented that this film is difficult to understand and I agree. Because we were watching it on video, I could get my doubts clarified by pausing the video and asking Varun what was going on. It definitely is a very confusing film, but once you understand it, it opens up your eyes to so many new perspectives. The first time I saw it, I saw it just for the action sequences. Trinity jumping up and kicking that cop in the throat, Trinity jumping across the road from building to building ("That's impossible!") the agent firing and Trinity dodging and jumping through the window, down the stairs, whips out guns ("Trinity, get up. Get up, get up. GET UP!") phone booth, truck, phone, agents ("His name is Neo") zoom into the earpiece, digital rain again... You can tell I'm in love, can't you? :D

The second time round, I saw it alone at home, after borrowing Varun's CD. This time, I understood the concept of The Matrix, the virtual world, the real world. Why Neo could do the things he did, how he 'learnt' kung fu so well, so quickly, all that jazz... The funny thing is, my dad related better to it the first time he saw it. He said, "this is Hindu philosophy. A materialistic world and a real world." Even today, he brings up Matrix references when discussing spirituality and philosophy with me, because he knows I'll connect immediately. I appreciated the film better, but still was giddy when I saw/heard that guard in the hallway go "FREEZE!" That was the signal for a GOOD time! :D:D

This was before the advent of broadband Internet in India and so web time was a scarce resource. So whatever trivia or info I got about the movie was either through friends or repeated viewings of the film. Then came 2003 and the two sequels. While they're good and took the story forward well, it is the belief of every Matrix fan that nothing came close to the first film. I agree, although personally, I appreciate The Matrix Reloaded, because I think it showed us the power and responsibility of The One.

During the promotion of Reloaded, there was talk of something called The Animatrix. At first I assumed it was to be some sort of animation series based on The Matrix. And see my luck that my friends managed to see the sneak preview of The Final Flight of the Osiris on HBO and I could not. And these guys were not even fans! "Haan, kuch toh Animatrix karke dikhaya kal... Tune nahi dekha?" I was like, FAAAACK!! I've been waiting for some dope on the series for so long and this happens!!

But then, luck was to be on my side. My neighbour, who lived two floors above us, had got his hands on a 'pirated' cam print copy of Reloaded! Those days, this was a new trend. This was much before, Limewire, Ares, Bittorrent, utorrent and the likes. There was just the local video rental guy, who had his stall on the footpath, renting out pirated copies of the latest film. So I get the earliest copy of the film in the locality (piracy hounds, don't screw me please! I was deperate!) That night, I watched it and went mad. The much awaited sequel had finally arrived! And the end was such an awesome cliffhanger! The Revolutions fiasco and disappointment is another story and should not be present in this 'fluff/puff' piece. No, but really, I don't want to say bad things about my favourite trilogy. Not now.

When permanent Internet became a reality in my house, I once again steered back to The Matrix Trilogy. I followed up the Wachowski Brothers, the prodigious directors of the trilogy. I followed up the official site, read The Matrix comics (wonderful work), saw The Animatrix on youtube. Special mention for The Animatrix. I finally realized that it is a mini- series of 9 animated short films, thus making it of a combined length of 90 minutes. It gives a whole new meaning to a lot of things in The Matrix series. Especially The Final Flight of the Osiris and The Second Rennaissance. Groundbreaking animation in Kid's Story and Matriculated. Wonderful commentary on the life of those freed in Program. Watch this!

The Wachowski Brother's lead me to their next project, V for Vendetta. They're the screenwriters, not the directors. This lead me to the graphic novel. Which lead me to Alan Moore. Which lead me to Watchmen. We'll get back to Watchmen. Actually, Alan Moore lead me to Frank Miller. Which lead me to Sin City and 300. Which lead me to the movies Sin City and 300. Which lead me to Zack Snyder. And we come back to Watchmen!

V for Vendetta is a brilliant piece of fiction. While the film looks grim, it actually is very uplifting and gives us a sense of hope and purpose. The book is much darker and has anarchy reigning supreme.
Which is why I somehow liked the Watchmen translation better. It stayed truer to the book and retained it's dark ending. Not that I didn't love V for Vendetta, the movie, I did! I spout V's introductory monologue at the drop of a hat!

Another important influence the Wachowski's have had with their film is my interest in VFX. I forced my friends into doing our Trimester VIII presentation on VFX, because of my fanatical interest in Bullet-Time and what not. I'm now looking to get into that field, (coz I'm an engineer) Hopefully, it'll pave the path to me making it in films. But that is an entirely different story...

So, I must say. The Matrix has been the most influential thing to have ever happened to my life. I took the red pill and came down the rabbit hole. I saw how deep it goes... and it's been a decade since then!

Sunday, February 1, 2009

H.U.D.-2

Hi friends. I did write 'To be continued' in my last post and so I'm trying to continue it. But since I'm a HUGE Matrix and Terminator fan, elements of these will surely be present here. Also there are references to The Tripods trilogy, which I haven't read actually, but I've read an excerpt from the first book, The White Mountains. In fact, I can hardly call this work truly original, but I'm giving it a try. Try to think of it is as a homage to great sci-fi work from before...



"No goddamn HUD.?!", he screamed. The year was 2009 and he had just popped in the disc for a very popular and critically acclaimed game, Dead Space. "I pay 50 bucks for this thing, 50 GODDAMN BUCKS! And there's no HUD? What sorta crap game is this?!"
His name was Wilson Lewis and he lived in New York. He was your average American. This is not meant to be disparaging towards him or Americans. He was just another guy. He was 17 at the time. And he was very angry.

"It's to give it a sense of realism", remarked his friend Phil, who had recommended the game to him. "Gets you immersed in it's universe!"
"What sort of reality would I want in a game which involves killing zombies in space? It's not meant to be real, so gimme the goddamn HUD so that I can plan my moves! Sheesh man! If I wanted reality, I'd be watching NatGeo!", Wilson scoffed.
"Well, just remember, there's no HUD in real life..." trailed Phil as he walked into the kitchen.
"I just said this game isn't real-life!", snapped Wilson.




His eyes flickered. It took him some time to get accustomed to the light around him. He involuntarily switched on his infra-red night vision and soon things were clearly visible, like the light of day. When a nurse entered carrying a halogen lamp, he was prompted to switch off the infra-red view. "This just keeps getting better!", he chuckled to himself. The dopey, dreamy feeling that he had in the morning was wearing off now. He was awakening to the real world around him. He realised where he was but not why he was there. The last thing he remembered from before the morning's proceedings was that he was entering a chamber of some sorts. It was all hazy.

"Hello, Private Wilson. Do you feel rested now?", asked the nurse. Wilson was still a little drowsy and didn't understand why he was being called Private. "No, not quite yet. Could you please give me some more time?", he requested of the nurse. She looked a little impatient, but very politely said, "Oh that's fine. I'll be back in five..."

"Back in five?", Wilson wondered loudly. "Like five minutes is going to make much of a difference!"
"You'll have to make do.", said a voice from his left. Wilson turned around to see another man, just like him, with mechanical plugs all over his body, waking up. He looked a bit older than Wilson himself, but seemed fresher and had a better idea of what was going on.

"Excuse me?", Wilson said irritably. "I'll have to make do with what?"
"The amount of rest that you've got. 'cause things are gonna just get shittier from here on...", the other man said. Wilson was all the more disturbed by what he was just told. "First I'm turned into a cyborg. Then I learn I'm a cyborg soldier. Now there's gonna be more shit! Wow!", thought Wilson. As he was ruminating about the mess he was in, the nurse returned. "I hope you are done resting now!", she said a little irritably. "Doesn't look like I have a choice!", Wilson retorted. "Lead the way..."

Wilson followed the nurse through a maze of corridors filled with patients. A lot of them looked severely malnourished and seemed that they would die just by remaining where they were. There were also a lot of cyborgs just like him, moving around, trying to maintain the order in the building, although they weren't doing a good job of it. The nurse continued forward, leading him outdoors. Outdoors was simply that, outdoors. It wasn't outside. They were underground, a maze of pipes surrounding him. A narrow path led them to the surface of a pipe that was wide enough to walk. "This is isn't the normal route, there are better, actual walkways to get around here. We're just taking this route to cut short time...", the nurse mentioned on the way. "Cut short time, or cut short my time on earth?", murmered Wilson under his breath.

Major Carlson had had a rough day. Although this may sound a cliche, the major had really been worked hard this last fortnight. With every psychologist in his precinct either injured or on holiday, and him being the only officer with a formal education in psychology, he was the only person equipped to handle the hundreds of debriefings of the men from the infantry who were being churned out every day. This soldier now was to be the last for the day. The major was more comfortable with managing the action in a war room. He wasn't cut out for handling temper tantrums and nervous breakdowns every five minutes. "The blessed point of joining the army is lost...", he grumbled to himself. He rubbed his eyes and had a sip from the mug of coffee placed on the table. He cricked his neck, ready for his and the day's last metal baby. A nurse entered, as was the norm, to provide the details of the soldier he was to debrief. The nurse placed the file of the next soldier. He waved her away and opened the file. He read the name, the rank. And then he read the special note.

Wilson was waiting outside the makeshift tent which was the debriefing chamber. The nurse had left him there with strict instructions telling him not to proceed unless there was a call from inside. The surroundings were bleak and depressing. Metal everywhere and no sight of the surface or any natural lighting. Wilson couldn't believe that this was the sort of place that he had been inhabiting prior to this mess. His thoughts were interrupted by a shaky and weary voice calling his name from inside. Wilson swore at himself and went in.

Major Carlson's lethargy had left him the moment he read Private Wilson Lewis's file. A new energy filled him as the private entered his office. He motioned Wilson to have a seat. When he was comfortably seated, the major, trying very hard to control his excitement, asked him the simple question, "How are you feeling now, Private?"
"Still very confused, honestly... Sir", Wilson replied, unsure how to address the ball of energy sitting across the table from him.
"I'm Major Carlson. I'm here to tell you why you are here and what your mission objective is."
"Mission objective?!",Wilson exclaimed, standing up from his chair, as if he had been electrocuted. "I don't even know where I am, and you're talking about...!" Then realising his folly as Major Carlson glared at him, he regained his composure and took his seat again.
"I'm sorry about that sir. I'm very... distressed."
"Which is why we have this debriefing session, soldier. I'm hoping not to see that sort of behaviour from you again, or else we'll be forced to take certain drastic actions. Actions that we haven't hesitated in taking earlier."
When there was calm in the tent again, Major Carlson began.

"Some years ago, we made contact with sentient beings in space. Although communication was not perfect, we were made to believe that "they came in peace". They landed, there was a reception, more communication, and in a show of good faith, they lent us some of their technology. We blindly accepted their gifts and tried to use them. To cut a long stoy short, we were scuppered. Their "gifts" were booby traps, we were left vulnerable and then the proverbial shit hit the fan. Before we knew it, we were under attack. What's funny is that the USA was the first to be engaged. Guess they had access to all out films which depicted the USA as the only true saviour of the earth. While we sustained heavy losses, other prominent nations in Europe and Asia started preparing for a retaliation. When we couldn't take it any more, we started doing what the Asians had done; we started putting our military into stasis and went underground. Thus, most of the human population on the planet had gone underground, leaving these sentient visitors to occupy the surface. There are skirmishes now and then which allow us to acquire the technology that they actually use in the battlfield.

"This is where you and your kind come in. You are part of the military that had been sent into stasis. We knew that we wouldn't have enough resources to train new soldiers once we went underground. So instead of losing the soldiers that we did have, we sent you into stasis.
Now, you see the visitors had with them a technology that allowed them to convert captured human soldiers into cyborgs, which they would then send to fight against us. We've been able to acquire quite a sizeable number of these units, which allow us to create you cyborgs. But rest assured, you're not infected by their software, programmed to attack us. You have been left with you're own intelligence and are capable of making your own decisions."

Wilson quietly soaked in all this information like a sponge. It was all too much to take in at once, but it felt good to know where he was and what his position was in this new world order. The Major gave him some time to digest this information. He glanced down to read Wilson's file once again. When he felt that enough time had passed, he resumed.

"Now, there is something more that I need to tell you specifically, something that I haven't had the need to tell others."

Wilson looked up with dread in his eyes.

Saturday, January 31, 2009

The Short Story: My shot at Sci-fi - H.U.D.

Before I begin this story, this is very spur-of-the-moment. I got this visual of a man connected to a lot of wires, when I saw the myriad of wires coming out from my computer's CPU case. It might seem slightly inspired from Robocop. So here goes...


He just sat there, on his special chair. He looked around contentedly and had a smug smile on his face. He was very happy.
There were a lot of people around him. All of them wore a special suit, a sort of glistening, metallic suit. They all looked very important and "classified" in their attire. They were carrying around a lot of electronic equipment. Wires, transistors, chips, motherboards, the works. He looked down suddenly at his hand and noticed some wires jutting out from his wrist. They were small wires, the sort that bring the telephone connection to your homes. He looked at them with some curiosity, but was not altogether alarmed at their presence. "Nice!", he thought to himself. "I'm wired!", he joked to himself and chuckled at his seemingly intelligent joke. The truth was not far from what he had just stated.
A woman came to him, carrying a large bundle of cables with her. She came over to him and connected one end of cables to his neck. Mind you, "connected" them to his neck.
Now, behind his chair was a wall of metallic fluid. It seemed to continuously flow downwards. It was a circular wall of fluid and seemed confined to that perfect circle. And it had this appearance of a flow. Around this fluid was a lot of machinery, a huge mechanical being of some sort. Lots of wires and metal and pipes and gears and pistons and machinery basically! You get me, don't you? Just this big mechanical behemoth.
The woman thrust the other end of the cables into the fluid wall. They seemed to float for sometime, before being pulled in and made taut. One could hear a sound of some sort of connection on the other end, a loud click. All the workers stopped in their tracks and looked towards him. He looked back at them and waved at them, smiling all the time. It was at this time that he realised that he had wired attached to his arms too. A lot of thick wires. "Hmmm... Cute!", he said to himself, then turned to the workers and said aloud to them, "I've got a lot of wires attached to me!" They looked back at him with incredulity and carried on with their work. "Awesome!", he replied cheerily to their cold demeanour. He looked around him now, for the first time realising that there were wires coming out from almost every patch of skin on his body. He made an expression of being impressed and continued to smile. Then another woman came over to him, carrying a clipboard. She also carried some sort of sensor, which she thrust into his right eye. He complied without any fuss and continued to smile. Her elbow scraped his chest and he chuckled. "She likes me!", he thought to himself. He was still beaming brightly when she was done noting the results of her eye scan. She took a deep breath and asked him stand up. He enquired with actions, "Stand up? Me? Ok!" He was cheerful as ever. He stood up.
Creaks. Newly attached titanium joints were creaking as they moved for the first time. He was oblivious to these noises. "Please move forward" requested the woman. "Sure!", he replied. He took his first step.
A loud metallic thunk on the metallic grilled floor as metal foot met metal floor. He continued to walk. As he walked, the myriad of wires attached to him and flowing into the fluid wall started to unravel behind him. They started coming out from the fluid; long, continuous wires. He walked and the wires continued to follow him, still taut. Everyone was recording his progress in different contexts. He was oblivious to all the activity around him. He simply walked. Then suddenly, he could walk no more. The wires wouldn't allow him. They had stopped unraveling. He didn't understand what had happened. He wore a bemused smile as tried to move forward. And then, he had a vision.
Not "a" vision actually, it was his vision which had changed all of a sudden. It first acquired a greenish tint. Figures started appearing in his sight. A lot of numbers seemed to be juggling in a mess which he could not make out. Then, some coherence. The top left showed a battery symbol, with a full charge. The top right showed him that his current primary weapon was single fire semi-automatic pistol. The bottom left told him that he had at the present 5 flashbang grenades at his disposal. The bottom right told him that his body chasis was currently at a 100% with no physical damage. The center of his vision had a cross-hair. He lifted his right hand. He focussed on the top right of his vision and a drop-down menu appeared. Simultaneously, a compartment above his wrist opened and out popped a barrel. The drop-down menu had just two options at present. Single-fire and automatic fire. He selected automatic fire, because it was the other option and it seemed fun. The barrel rotated and a second, slightly different type of barrel came in its place. One of the workers pushed a button and a target appeared in front of our man. He aimed his hand at the target and let out a burst of automatic fire. Deafening sound resonated in the chamber. The target was riddled with bullet holes at all places. His top-right vision now told him he had 38 bullets left from a clip of 50 bullets. He looked at that portion of his screen again and felt like putting away the gun. The barrel shut itself back into its compartment. He looked around, all stunned and dreamy.
Then suddenly, he shuddered. The wires seemed to give him jolts of electricity. He sat down on his knees as the shuddering became unbearable. "Please make it stop!", he whined for the first time in pain, as he grabbed the leg of the nearest worker. The shuddering continued. And just as suddenly as it had started, it stopped.
The wires on his body went limp. One by one, they disconnected from his body and were dragged into the fluid behind him. His eyes closed for a while. When he opened them, his vision was once again full of the information that he had been fed a while ago. Text started appearing in front of his eyes.
WELCOME TO HEADS UP DISPLAY SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION SYSTEMS. THIS SYSTEM IS DESIGNED TO ASSIST YOU ON THE BATTLEFIELD AND PROVIDE WEAPONS SUPPORT AND STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION WITH ONLINE SYSTEMS.
More text followed, but it all seemed too technical for him. He only realised that it was all just to help him. Then, for the first time, a friendly woman stepped up to him, as all his displays were finished and he was in a stand-by mode, ready for action.
She said these helpful, re-assuring words, "Welcome, Hud!"



To be continued...

Xenophobia

I'm sitting at my computer and this word pops up in my mind. Prior to this, I was surfing IMDb.com, looking at hot pictures of hot actresses in the updates, which mentioned they were brand new pictures from G.I.Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Alongside that, I was chatting to two sets of friends; one, a school friend, two, college friends. All three of them are doing some sort of management school/MS entry exam class (GRE and CAT). So are many others. My plan to meet an old friend tomorrow got cancelled because he has classes in the afternoon. And I'm here, slacking like a character from an Apatow movie! F***!!

Anyway, so this word pops up. Pretty cool word, I think. My keyboard's "r" is giving me a lot of trouble. I typed in 'Petty' twice in the line above before realising the 'r' is missing. The consequences of playing too many games, although I don't remember using the 'r' in too many games... Hmmm...

So this word pops up in my head. Pretty cool word, I think (got ya this time "r", you...!) I've got Chrome. My browser... is Chrome... You got that? Yeah, right, that. So, I've got Chrome and I press F6, type in xenophobia and Enter. Educated folk out there must be shaking their head (this guy is writing a blog and he doesn't know what xenophobia is?), but anyway, I searched it. First entry is the wiki entry. Clicked it, hmmm, ok, fear of people. Right, isn't that like misanthropy? (Yeah! I know that word!) No wait, that's hatred for people. This is FEAR of people. Right...

F***! I'm suffering from xenophobia! No, honest! Like I mentioned in my first post (first as in, after the makeover), I HATE MEETING NEW PEOPLE!! See xenophobia is actually fear of strangers. Ah, crap it, I'll put in the first paragraph from Wikipedia:

Xenophobia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Xenophobia is an intense dislike and/or fear of people from other countries. It comes from the Greek words ξένος (xenos), meaning "foreigner," "stranger," and φόβος (phobos), meaning "fear." The term is typically used to describe a fear or dislike of foreigners or of people significantly different from oneself.

General

According to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), the word xenophobia consists of two parts: xeno, a combining form meaning "guest, stranger, person that looks different from you, foreigner", and phobia, "fear, horror, or aversion esp if... morbid...".

Ok! So I have an intense fear of strangers! Really! I'm always scared to meet new people. I'm very shy, and very rarely mix well with people. In parties where I don't know anybody, I'm sitting in the corner, with my soft drink in my hand, just looking at all those social butterflies socializing. I do not have the guts to go up and talk to someone new. I always wait for the other person to make the first move. Agar koi nahi aaya, kisi ne baat nahi ki, toh aur bhi acha! No tension. Damn!

This is serious! I'm suffering from a cool word...


Rant Over.

Friday, January 30, 2009

The types of post one might expect here

1.The Rant - When I'm mindf&%*#d. This post will be rambling with no coherence. If anyone finds coherence, then I'll thank that person for making me feel like a modern artist with words. This post will usually end with Rant Over.

2.The Film Review - I thought, why not? I see SOOOOOOOOO MANY movies. Might as well put what I feel about one in writing. This post will start with The Film Review.

3.The Script - I'll try coming up with some random scenes, short film scripts or something else of the sort. Interested parties can contact me and we can try and make some of these a reality. This post will start with The Script and end with The End.

4.The Short Story/Story - Structered version of The Rant. Hopefully will have some coherence and will be written when I'm in a better state of mind.

5.My Book - I'm trying to write a book. I started in 2006 (! :P) and have so far written only the prologue and one chapter. Arjun knows. Let's see if I can revive that. These will start with Chapter No. 

Now let's see if I can keep up with this format that I've put up for myself.
Cya on the other side, brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers and............... you get the picture...

That script I mentioned in the earlier post...

For your reading pleasure...

INT/NIGHT/HOTEL CORRIDOR
(We use a track-right camera movement, in a slow pace. We are focussed close to the ground, and we see a pair of legs walk into the frame. The trousers are gray in colour, formal trousers & black leather shoes are worn. Also to the top of the frame, we notice the lower portion of what looks like a briefcase. We are still tracking right, when a door opens and the man walks in.)

INT/NIGHT/HOTEL ROOM
(The briefcase is thrown on the bed; it falls right in front of the camera. In the background, we notice the man, out-of-focus, going into the bathroom.
We have a tight close-up on the tap, water is running from it. Hands in the water. Water is splashed on the face. The towel is pulled down from the rod. The face is wiped [the first time we see the face of the man] and we hear a phone ringing. The man looks down to his pocket. He whips out the phone, looks at the caller-id, grimaces and answers the call)
MAN
Haan Smita! Bolo...Kya?! Nahin, abhi nahin, mein busy hoon! Kaam kar raha hoon baba...!
(Man walks towards his briefcase, still talking. From the POV of the briefcase, phone between shoulder and ear, opening the briefcase, he continues.)
MAN
Ae, aise mat bol, maine kal hi bataya tha!! Haan! Ab tum sunti nahi toh...!Abhi... abhi.... arre! Accha... haan haan, le kar aaonga! Arre ghabra mat! Accha theek hai... Haan haan I LOVE YOU!
(Snaps the phone off. Goes back to his briefcase. Walks towards the window, surveys his surroundings, looks out, opens the window. Frame is from outside the window. Goes back to his briefcase, comes back with a frame of some sort. Places it and goes back.
We now see tight close-ups of equipment being snapped into place. We see his fingers calliberating meters and eye-scopes.
From behind him, he exits the frame, we realise, it's a SNIPER RIFLE.
Man goes to the fruit basket, gun behind him, out-of-focus. Takes a banana, starts eating. Again phone rings.
He is walking as he is talking.)
MAN
Haan sir, haan sir. Mein yaheen hoon. Haan haan, koi dikhat nahin thi, bahut aasaan the woh dono. Yeh thoda difficult lagta hai, kaafi door hai naa, isliye. Haan, sir. Ho jaayega. Theek hai sir. Ok sir.
(Snaps phone shut. Looks out the window. We see what he sees, OS [Over-Shoulder].
Focus on the building, across the road. We see a window light up.
Back to man. He sits at his position. Calliberating his scope. Now, we see his scope's view, with the cross-hairs, focussing on the lighted window. We notice there's another SNIPER on the other side.
Tight close-up of main man's pupil.)
MAN
OH SHIT!!
(BANG! Focus on man's back, he falls bacl towards camera, gun all alone. Now, we Dolly out [camera movement] from main man's window, go across the road and into the other SNIPER's room. He is dressed in T-shirt with some rock band's image printed on it, having long hair, like a rocker. He calls.)
SNIPER
Haan bhai! Rathod ka aadmi tapka diya, haan! Theek hai...
(Disconnects. His phone rings. He answers.)
SNIPER
Hmmm? Arre dudhi laya hai baba!!
(Now we see his side profile, man is in focus. He goes out-of-focus, foreground comes into focus, we see a plastic bag with dudhi in it.)

THE END

There might be some linguistic/grammatical errors. Deal with it!

Rant Over.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

I am broken

People who know me, say I'm funny and a joker. That may be true. Wait, it IS true. I am a joker. Nothing like Heath Ledger, but nothing less either. If that makes sense.

Let me let you in on a secret. It's no secret actually (why am I doing this??), but the truth is that I'm a bit shy. I'm very scared to meet new people. Ask anyone whom I've met for the first time. So, when I meet new people, I'm all very shy and everything. And then when I get to know them, WHAM! I'm the Joker! No, really! I turn into this beast, who just can't stop cracking the worst jokes ever known to mankind!

And then there's this other habit. I stick to people. You see, I've only ever had this many real friends. They're the ones who don't mind me sticking to them. So, I just stick to someone who gets a little comfortable with me. And that sucks. The sticking bit. Everyone wants their space...

And this is the worst bit! I KNOW MY FAULTS!! I f&%*$)g know my faults! And yet...!

This has caused me to lose many prospective friends, the result of which is that I'm a very bitter man. I'm never anyone's confidante, never anyone's run-to guy, never anyone's come-over-let's-have-some-fun guy. Just a lonely bum. This is why I’m a bitter guy.

There's this person on Facebook, who's my "friend". Arjun introduced me to her writing. She tags me in her notes now and then. And I can't tell you how much I identify with her work. It's a different thing that I absolutely do not understand why she writes dark stuff in her work when she appears to have so many true friends who dote over her. Her pictures tab shows so many photos of her enjoying with a large group of friends. Try finding something like that in my photo area. And yet, her words fit my feelings of utter despair like a hand in a glove. Her name is Anisha Sharma. And I salute her.

So, even though my "friends" think of me as a funny person, I'm not. See my last two creative works, The Assignment and Neighbours. Short films that I've made. Both have grim endings. And people expect me to make comedies.

I act in comedies, that is, the school/college plays. But I'm just so full of shit!

I attended this script-writing workshop. At the end, the guy asked us to write a small script. Even there, I wrote one where someone dies. I'm so full of death and misery! The concept I have in my head right now also ends with the protagonist’s suicide. Oh God!

I need help.

 

Rant Over.

Setting the mood of this blog...

Rant begins.

Just so you know, these past few posts are just so yesterday and juvenile. This is just to show you the sort of change that you'll will see from me now onwards, atleast as far as the blog is concerned. Cliched and overused as it may seem, this time the blog is going to be regularly updated, so one might just feel like looking at it once in a while. And I'm really sad.

Rant over.

Monday, March 3, 2008

The Assignment

“Mr.Bala is a popular philanthropist. He is doing his good deeds. But someone now desperately wants him dead...”

Yeah right! So I thought I’m Spielberg. The next big Oscar winning director. Somehow this dramatic bug has always been a part of me. Sometimes, I’m inclined to act, sometimes to sing. Now the bug had caused a new disease – the disease to direct! I wanted to see my actors being treated like cattle. But then I even thought I’m Alfred Hitchcock…

What intrigued me most of this field of dramatics was what I saw backstage, or what I saw when they aired those “Behind-the-scenes” footage of any recent blockbuster. I saw these moments and realized that those invulnerable actors and actresses were vulnerable after all. They were all answerable to the director. It was this person who told them what to do, when to laugh, when to cry, when to jump. I wondered who would want to be an actor now. Heck, I’d like to be their boss, their head. Their ruler!

The idea to direct my own film, however small, struck me when I was preparing for the 3rd trimester exams. Here I was supposed to be trying to understand the tenets of “Electronics-2”, but I was busy imagining myself in a business suit, running around with a silenced gun. Enthusiasts of a popular cult computer gaming franchise would here know which fictional individual I was attempting to imitate, although I looked nothing like said individual. I pitched the idea to my friends, who too found the circuitry and connections of film-making more interesting than Electronics-2. I clearly remember me and my friends frantically throwing ideas and visuals and plot devices onto a notebook, while Boylestad lay unattended in one corner of the table. What resulted from this exercise was the screenplay of our movie. Weeks later, it materialized as our first bonafide short film. Months later, it gave me an abysmal GPA of 2.85 (yes, that IS an abysmal and pathetic GPA!) Anyway, who cared about scores when we were on the path to fame and fortune! For now, we were bonafide filmmakers! Short duration not withstanding.

Our exams got over on 26th April, 2007. Two people from the principal cast were to leave the city on 30th April. One on 29th. So time was at a premium. The crew included my class mates Sanjeev Krishnan and Rushabh Shah. Other members consisted of Kriti Mehan, Ashwani Rathod, Shailaja Sukumar, Tripti Jain, Dev Sharma, Mrinal Tiwari and Vivek Shah from other divisions. We also had a few seniors to help us, namely Mrinal Sharma, Pratik Kothari and Urvish Kukreja. Another senior from DJ Sanghvi College, Bhavya Acharya was also part of the cast. So this motley crowd of fourteen took it upon themselves to make a film!

On the evening of the 26th April, as soon as the exams got over, we were down in the canteen with a notebook. My “cinematographer” or “Director of Photography”, Pratik Kothari was bearing down on me for the lack of planning. We sat there and wrote down the plan for the shooting, deciding when to shoot which scene and where, what would be the props necessary for the particular scene. We had got down to shooting the bulk of the film on the first day. On the second day we were to shoot two indoor action sequences. The climatic gunfight was left to be shot on the final day. Later on we added another optional scene for the last day, which we actually shot when everyone had come to my home on the last day for the celebratory lunch. But we are going too much into the end already. Lots left yet.

The two of us were kept waiting for a long time on that first day itself by a majority of the crew. My hopes were being dashed on the rocks at sea, when my great film stars arrived, (pardon the cliché) fashionably late. With a quick discussion, we dispersed for the day. Then two of us, Sanjeev and I, went about procuring the props. Plastic guns and red paint. We were making an action thriller! Props in hand, I headed home. I didn’t even have the luxury of enjoying the end of the exams; I was busy preparing the schedule for the next day. And the joke was that I was going to wake up the next day, earlier than what I usually woke up for the exams. Talk about priority.

Early next morning, at around an astounding 8:00am (that is early right?), six of us met at college. We then got into two rickshaws and headed for the BSNL colony at Juhu. The guards looked at us suspiciously as we carried fake firearms that looked ridiculously authentic. We went straight to Mrinal Tiwari’s house, where the first day’s shoot was scheduled. We all felt so professional about it. A planned shoot, deadlines, a screenplay. All those great airs went for a toss when I realized that I had forgotten the notebook at home, in which the great screenplay was written. The order was slipping already at 8:30 with hardly anything started and chaos began its reign. But this is also where the amateur beginner’s fun began. Armed with a Sony Handycam, we were about to make cinematic history!

First, it took us 15 minutes to figure out how to handle the tripod stand that my father had given to me for the shoot. That settled, we plunged into our movie. The shoot began haphazardly with Pratik shooting the first scene that came to his mind. Let me tell you, the feeling was exhilarating! It was supposed to be a mute scene, to which we would add music later in post-production. Yet, the high that I got as I instructed my actors to do my bidding was unimaginable! It wasn’t authoritarian or anything, as I mentioned before, but very beautifully sublime. I was collaborating on art, on a piece of cinema with other individuals! Seeing Sanjeev and Rushabh play out a silent make-believe discussion made me shiver with joy. My whole body was shaking.

Soon we kept finishing scene after scene. Pratik was in charge of the camera most of the time, so I was having a tough time trying to persuade him to follow my vision. He almost always had something or the other to say and he had the feeling his was the better option. With a few heated arguments, we managed to move ahead slowly. By noon, we realized that we had completed only 3 scenes. Suddenly the time pressure started telling on all of us. We began to get frantic, most of all, Sanjeev and me. Two of the most hot-tempered people on the group were losing their cool. God alone knows what stopped us from banging each other’s heads on the wall. The storm soon passed and we moved down to shoot an outdoor scene.

Now, there were some children playing in the compound. As we were attempting to finish off the shots quickly, these children started playing truant. Believing they were witness to a big-budget future box office monster (how I wish!), they started appearing in almost every frame! Like those crazed civilians we see in news channel footage, where the newsperson is telling us of the suffering the common man is going through, and we see these nuts laughing their guts away to glory because they are on screen! Somehow, we completed the shot, with one of us shooing away the children like goats.

Some more temper tantrums and hoarse throats later, the first day’s shoot was officially over. I had a feeling of triumph, although it was just the first day. Tired, but happy, I headed home for a good night’s sleep.

The next day, most of us got a breather. The shoot for the day was to start in the afternoon at my house. At approximately 2:00pm, Pratik and Vivek arrived. Vivek was doubling as the music director and action choreographer! So he was fixing the fight moves that Sanjeev and me would be performing. Sanjeev had lost his way and was frantically calling me up for directions. I spotted him from my window and started giving him directions like how one would give a robot – move straight, halt, turn left, move straight again, look right and so on and so forth. He finally did make it to my house. The fight scene was proceeding nicely, when we had a “wardrobe malfunction”! Sanjeev, in his excitement, tore his trousers, right in the block hole! Chaos ensued, as we were trying to find a remedy. Putting a safety pin didn’t seem to solve our problems. Then I rummaged through my wardrobe and Lady Luck smiled at me and helped me out by providing me with a trouser of the same shade. Shooting resumed and got over with no further obstacles. In the evening, we headed to a flat where Urvish and a few other seniors stayed. It was here, on the second day, that we finally managed to shoot the opening scenes of the film. This method of shooting according to location and not according to the canonical timeline of the film was also a very new and interesting aspect of filmmaking that I got to learn about. Experience counts, and this was one of those, so-this-is-how-it’s-done experiences.

Finally, the last day of the shoot dawned. We were really on a tight leash as Vivek, who had an important role to play on that day, was to leave for Baroda in the afternoon. This “racing against time” situation had me tingling with excitement! This time, four of us met at 7:00am, (even earlier!) at Jogeshwari station. The shoot was an outdoor shoot, the climatic gun battle of the film! Bhavya Acharya was playing host to us that day. The interesting thing to note was that at every apartment we went to shoot, the parents were conveniently absent. Even at such times, early in the morning! We were not complaining!

Guns in hand, and paint bottle in tow, we headed for the location, a little vegetated patch behind the building. Half an hour was spent in assessing the location and choreographing the scene. Soon, we were (finally!) running around with guns! I felt so footloose and insanely happy, that my wildest fantasies were playing themselves out in front of my eyes! Pratik, very sportingly captured us in the frame from very weird angles, lying in ditches and what not. Sanjeev, Vivek, Bhavya, Mrinal Tiwari and myself had a blast of a time, acting like FBI agents, out to capture a wanted man. I tried to put in every action movie cliché and motion in this scene. What we finally got wasn’t very far from professional action sequences and was a very impressive scene indeed.

That afternoon, everyone came to my house to have lunch in celebration of the completion of the film’s shooting. We watched the entire footage and laughed at ourselves as we made complete fools running around and fighting. A beautiful time had gone by.

The next few weeks were spent in post-production. I edited the film, Pratik assisted me in the editing. Mrinal Sharma saw a test preview and gave his suggestions. Vivek made some original music with his friends in Baroda and sent it over e-mail. Music in place, the film was finally done.

College re-opened. All of us very proud and happy with what we had managed to do in the summer. It might not have been very great, but we tried our hands at something we obviously keep dreaming and fantasizing about most of the time. We had managed to become “film stars” and “dream gurus” in our own right. The film was shown to a few friends at first and then we managed to show it to our entire class. The film is now uploaded on YouTube. Some random people from around the world have seen it and have given positive reviews. So the day is not far now, when the Oscar will come to India. When you have me! Oscars, here I come!

P.S.: To watch the film, access:

Clip1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Rx8ihUGU8w

Clip2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tlJZ2OMVQY

Clip3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLXrIjs8kHM

or contact Himanshu at 9819593680

or Sanjeev at 9892732334.

We would be glad to arrange a viewing.