Sunday, January 9, 2011

Cheapad.. Kanjre.. quintessential Delhi - Band Bajaa Baraat

First week of the new year  and 2 days of the week, I was working real late!!! Tuesday night I worked till 3am and woke up at 5.30am!

But on the bright side - the rest 3 days of the week, I have been home by 7!!

So I am assuming 2011 is going to be a mixed bag really... though I am hoping more of the latter (7pm) than the former (3am)!!

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And on Tuesday, Scarlett messaged me and reminded me of my resolve - to spend more time with near and dear ones.. and to reduce my workaholic ways!

Well, it is going to take time!! But I am happy to report that I am already on that path. We had booked tickets to go to Hyderabad for Sankranti to in-laws place, the added attraction being meeting my sis and niece... this is before the 2011 holiday list was declared.. and to my dismay I found that Sankranti was not an off unlike usual. And to top it, my boss wanted me to travel along with him for an important internal presentation in Bombay.

I vacillated... it is but natural!!!!! An important presentation.. important to my career and a trip to Hyderabad to meet family... ah well!! A very very tough decision for me!! But a decision I took - to forgo the meeting and go to Hyderabad.

Am I happy - yes! But if only the meeting could get postponed!! :)  Well, a leopard cannot change spots and that too so quickly!

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Watched Band Bajaa Baraat. A really really good movie. Definitely in the "Must watch" category.
I have lived for about 25 odd yrs in West Delhi... right next to "Janak Puri" .. in rajouri garden (a surd area) and then Vikas Puri (mixed culture).

And the movie transported me right back into the streets of Delhi!! Its been ages since I heard the words "cheapad" and "kanjre"!!!  Cheapad, pronounced as it is written, used to be one of the "it" words when I was in school - a term used between friends affectionately!! And "kanjre" the bad word, choti aunty (thats how we referred to that aunty) used when screaming at her surd boys!!!!

A very very refreshing movie.. very progressive.. but then punjus are progressive as a race, whatever you may say about them. And the movie captures this beautifully.

I also liked the love making angle to the story - the director doesn't shy away from reality... he shows is as is!! I mean to say there is no post s*x guilt trips or any moral of the story funda and you should not indulge in such acts before marriage that happen in the movie.

I quite liked both the actors - Anushka Sharma, the street smart delhi girl (believe me, to get that you need to live in Delhi) and the newbie Ranveer Singh (the biness guy). They fit in right into the dhingchak west delhi culture!! Delhi thrives on the sir ji culture... sir ji, uncle ji, aunti ji, bhaisaheb, bhaiya (in Delhi everyone is a bhaiya or an uncle, no exceptions. I remember we went to footwear store and the sales guy refused to show us sandals till we stopped calling him Bhaiya.. oh well!!)......... All of us have done that "uncle jis and aunty jis a gazillion times!!!

How much I miss the city is not funny!! The history.. monuments at every corner.. the wide roads.. the people.. everything!!!

One more movie  that I will watch everytime its aired (the first one being Khosla ka Ghosla)

It is a 4 on 5 for sure for Band Bajaa Baraat!!! Worth going a second time.

8 comments:

Gobri said...

It was never on my list of TO WATCH movies but I did and I liked it. I did not particularly like the actor. But then the movie has been made in a very realistic way.
The final wedding was shot in Laksmi Nivas Palace in Bikaner. I was there a couple days before I saw the movie :). Yea!!

besunni said...

I am only going to comment on the first part of your post. Congrats! I think you are going the right way and that first step you've taken to spend time with near and dear vs. the meeting is a huge one, knowing you.
Scarlett, that was a job well done!

Scarlett said...

You should've watched 'Do Dooni Chaar' all the way through. It was pretty entertaining, and again very Dilli.

PS: Your days of missign Delhi are soon going to be over, if you know what I mean ;)

Scarlett said...

Oh, I forgot to comment on the movie!

I took my mom to watch it. Thought she'd enjoy it and she did! What with the entire shaadi theme. What's with Indian moms & their obsession with weddings?

I liked it too, particularly the acting and that Ranveer guy. He was so confident and quite a polished actor too. Doesn't seem like it was his first movie. And he fit the role of sadak-chaap Delhi guy so well.

Scarlett said...

@Besunni - Tell me about it. I had to remind Moonshine of the promise she had made to herself...to become less of a workaholic. She blatantly denied it. Then I was forced to copy parts of her post where she made that resolution & send it to her! Some people!!!

Moonshine said...

@Gobri Ranveer Singh is fine.. not as polished but fits in well with the role I guess!! Realistic it is completely!!! In fact the complex where they showed Shaadi Mubarak office.. in Delhi, lots of places are like that only!!! Loads of small shops in a commercial building! That palace looked beautiful!! Definitely on my list of places to go to!!

@besunni Thanks!! Am sure I would need much more prodding through the year!!!! :) But yeah.. am glad. How glad, I will come back from hyd and tell you!!

@Scarlett I watched initial bit and then the end!!! Next time I guess!! Amen to the delhi trip :) Indian moms and weddings - need you even ask!!

@besunni All that about scarlett sending me a copy of my blog post is true... I denied writing any such thing :))

Ru. said...

yay for sticking up to the resolution of spending time with people who matter :)

Moonshine said...

@melee :)) I hope I can sustain it :))