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Qalandar

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I promise somewhat irregular posts on (in no particular order) Indian politics, cinema, and anything else that catches my fancy... Why "Qalandar"? So-called "liminal" religious traditions are a particular interest of mine, and "qalandar" is the sort of untranslatable, ambiguous, yet enormously evocative word that for me touches upon and articulates the experience of the sub-continent's "little" traditions in a particularly memorable way...not to mention the fact that in popular lingo the word has more than a merely religious/spiritual connotation, and can mean a bunch of other things, including a smart alec, wannabe, what-have-you...

“Sapne Dekhne Waalon Ke Liye” — GURU Hindi Review (+ Transliteration)
Qalandar | 18 | January 18, 2007 at 12:25 pm | 268 views | Reviews| Share


by Jagdish Bhatia

सपने देखने वालों के लिये – गुरू
January 13th, 2007 — जगदीश भाटिया

एक बार एक पुस्तक में पढ़ा था “If no one is laughing on your dreams, your dreams are not big enough.” यह वाक्य मुझे हमेशा याद रहा। गुरु फिल्म में गांव का एक लड़का देश की सबसे बड़ी कम्पनी बनाने का सपना देखता है। जैसा कि गुलजार ने फिल्म के एक गीत में लिखा है:

जागे है देर तक हमें
कुछ देर सोने दो
थोडी सी रात और है
सुबह तो होने दो
आधे-अधुरे ख्वाब
जो पुरे नहो सके
इक बार फिर से
नींद मे वो ख्वाब बोने दो….

ख्वाब कभी पूरे नहीं हो पाते, जब आप देश की सबसे बड़ी कम्पनी बनाने का ख्वाब देखते हैं, एक बहुत बड़ा सपना होता है यह और जब आप इसे छू लेते हैं तो आपका सपना होता है उसे दुनिया की सबसे बड़ी कम्पनी बनाना।

बहुत ही रोमांचकारी लगता है उस इतिहास पर फिल्म देखना जिस इतिहास को आपने स्वंय देखा हो। धीरू भाई अंबानी की जिंदगी पर बनी फिल्म ‘गुरू’ में आपको असल जिंदगी में घटा सब कुछ मिलेगा, स्टेडियम में होती कम्पनी की एजीएम, इंडियन एक्सप्रैस, गोयनका, शौरी तथा वाडिया। अंबानी को हीरो बनाने का एक बोल्ड सपना मनिरत्नम ने भी देखा। फिल्म में सरकारी लाईसेंस राज तथा भ्रष्टाचार से लड़ाई में एक्साईज तथा अन्य करों की चोरी को जायज भी दिखाने की कोशिश की गयी है। जहां आर्थिक सुधारों से पहले तक पूंजीपतियों को अच्छी नजरों से नहीं देखा जाता था तथा मुनाफा एक घिनौना शब्द था, वहां गांव के एक कम पढ़े लिखे लड़के के इन सपनों की कैसी हंसी उड़ाई जाती है मगर गुरु हिम्मत नहीं हारते तथा पलट कर पूछते हैं, “क्यों हमें तीसरी दुनिया का देश कहा जाता है, क्यों नहीं हम भी पहली दुनिया का देश बन सकते?”

लोगों को खींचने के लिये फिल्म में गुलजार के गीत तथा ए आर रेहमान का संगीत तो है ही, मल्लिका शेहरावत का आईटम सांग भी है (यदि इसे देखना चाहते हैं तो थियेटर टाइम से पहुंचियेगा, पांच मिनट की देरी हुई तो आप इसे मिस कर देंगे) फिर भी यदि यह फिल्म चली तो अभिषेक के अभिनय की वजह से चलेगी। आज के समय का कोई अभिनेता अभिनय की उस बुलंदी को नहीं छू सकता जिसे अभिषेक ने सहजता से अभिनीत किया है गुरू में । फिल्म में विद्या बालन भी हैं एक मासूम से रोल में। पचास के दशक का फिल्मांकन जबर्दस्त है। यदि आप सपना देखते हैं तो यह फिल्म देख कर आइये, मुमकिन है कि आपको अपना सपना पूरा करना बहुत आसान लगने लगेगा और उसे पूरा करने की एक नयी हिम्मत भी आपको मिलेगी।

I transliterate the review for those who don’t read the Devanagari script:

“Sapne Dekhne Waalon ke liye — Guru

Jan. 13, 2007 — Jagdish Bhatia

Ek baar ek pustak mein parha tha ‘If noone is laughing on your dreams, your dreams are not big enough.’ Ye waqia mujhe hamesha yaad raha. Guru film mein gaaon ke ek ladka desh ki sabse badi company banaane ka sapna dekhta hai. Jaisa ki Gulzar ne film ke ek geet mein likha hai:

Jaage hain der tak hamen
Kuch der sone do
Thodi si raat aur hai
Subha to hone do
Aadhe adhoore khaab
Jo poore na ho sakay
Ek baar phir se neend mein’
Woh khaab bonay do

Khaab kabhi poore nahin ho paatay, jab aap desh ki sabse badee company banaanay ka khaab dekhte hain, ek bahut bada sapna hota hai ye aur jab aap isay choo lete hain to aap ka sapna hota hai usay duniya ki sab se badee company banaana.

Bahut hi romaanchakaari lagta hai us itihaas par film dekhna jis itihaas ko aap ne svayam dekha ho. Dhirubhai Ambani ki zindagi par bani hui film ‘Guru’ mein aap ki asal zindagi mein ghata sab kuch milega, stadium mein hotee company ki AGM [Annual General Meeting?], Indian exports, Goenka, Shourie tatha Wadia. Ambani ko hero banaane ka ek bold sapna Mani Ratnam ne bhi dekha. Film mein sarkaari license raj tatha bhrashtachar mein ladaai mein excise tatha anya karon ki chori ki jaayaz bhi dikhaane ki koshish ki gayee hai. Jahan aarthik sudhaaron se pehle tak poonjipatiyon ko achchi nazron se nahin dekha jaata tha, tatha munaafa ek ghinona shabd tha, wahan gaaon ke ek kam parhay likhay ladkay ke in sapnon ki kaise hansi udaai jaati hai, magar Guru himmat nahin haartay tatha palat kar poochtay hain: ‘Kyun hamen teesri duniya ka desh kaha jaata hai, kyun nahin hum bhi pehli duniya ka desh ban sakte?’

Logon ko kheenchnay ke liye film mein Gulzar ke geet tatha A.R. Rahman ka sangeet to hai hi, Mallika Sherawat ka item song bhi hai (yadi ise dekhna chahte hain to theater time par pohanchiyega, paanch minute ki deri hue to aap isay miss kardenge) phir bhi yadi ye film chalee to Abhishek ke abhinay ki vajaa se chalegi. Aaj ke samay ka koi abhineta abhinay ki us bulandi ko nahin choo sakta jisay Abhishek ne sahajataa se abhineet kiya hai Guru mein. Yadi aap sapna dekhtay hon to ye film dekh kar aaiye, mumkin hai ke aap ko apna sapna poora karna bahut aasaan lagnay lagayga aur usay poora karnay ki ek nayee himmat bhi aap ko milaygee.”

Related Posts

    My initial thoughts on Mani Rathnam’s GURU (Hindi, 2007)

    My Review of LONDON DREAMS (Hindi, 2009)

    My Review of TAARE ZAMEEN PAR (Hindi, 2007)

    My Review of BADLE KI AAG (Hindi, 1982)

    Aamir Khan and Katrina Kaif together for the Guru Dutt biopic???

There Are 18 Responses So Far. »

  1. Rocky 18 January 2007
    12:46:46 pm

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    Vadiya jee, bahut vadiya !!!!Remembered the days when my dad, mom, chacha, chachis used to read Dharamyug, Saptahik Hindutan, Sarita, Kadambni and above all Jansatta !!!

  2. satyam 18 January 2007
    12:55:48 pm

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    आज के समय का कोई अभिनेता अभिनय की उस बुलंदी को नहीं छू सकता जिसे अभिषेक ने सहजता से अभिनीत किया है गुरू में

    (Basically it says no actor today could scale the sort of heights with his performance that Abhishek has in Guru)

    I can hardly disagree…

  3. satyam 18 January 2007
    12:58:31 pm

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    Love the bit on Mayya..

    “yadi ise dekhna chahte hain to theater time par pohanchiye!”

    This thought occurred to me when I was watching the film. There’s always a risk in having an item song too early in the film. Dus weirdly had the best song of the film running over the credits!

  4. satyam 18 January 2007
    01:00:08 pm

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    This piece has a great flavor to it.

  5. Qalandar 18 January 2007
    01:43:31 pm

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    I have added a transliterated version to the post for those who don’t read Hindi. Please point out any errors that I may have made.

  6. Rocky 18 January 2007
    02:13:03 pm

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    Dhanyavaad, Shukriya, Meharbani !!!!
    How do you post Devnagri Script????

  7. satyam 18 January 2007
    02:22:44 pm

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    Rocky: I think this is a simple cut and paste though Abzee wrote some Hindi here yesterday and I don’t know how he imported the font.

  8. Rocky 18 January 2007
    02:38:59 pm

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    Thanks Satyam, Waise have you been experiencing problems posting comments recently, I have been facing problems big time and I end up not posting any thing. I wonder if the Avtar’s are doing this.

  9. Qalandar 18 January 2007
    02:44:20 pm

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    Yes this was just a cut & paste.

    Rocky: problems galore as the site keeps crashing. I don’t even hit “submit comment” anymore without copying, as I have lost so many comments of late. I emailed Rohit and he knows and is on it, and I’m sure it’ll be fixed in a few days.

  10. Qalandar 18 January 2007
    02:49:39 pm

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    Re: “Dhanyavaad, Shukriya, Meharbani !!!!”

    The rhythm of this line reminds me of Parveen Babi’s “Shukriya Karam Meherbani”, beginning one of the coolest B’wood songs ever IMO: “Pyar karne waale pyar karte hain… shaan se” by Panchamda!!!

  11. Rocky 18 January 2007
    03:19:58 pm

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    Q I was actually humming the song from yuva, when I was writing this. The one with Kareena Kapur. Thanks for the crashing info., Copying tip should be helpful.

  12. Rocky 18 January 2007
    03:29:51 pm

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    On second read, the author is assuming Madhvan’s character to be Shourie rather than Gurumurthy !!!! Kya farak padta hai !!!!

  13. Qalandar 18 January 2007
    03:35:00 pm

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    yeah i saw that…it’s a slip as Shourie was in fact taking the position (as we saw in that interview I posted a few days ago) that Gurubhai does before the inquiry commission…

  14. Rocky 18 January 2007
    04:04:53 pm

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    Shourie actually had a big fallout with ramanath Goenka.

  15. rohitkarnbatra 18 January 2007
    06:55:28 pm

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    Our first Hindi post ;)

  16. abid 18 January 2007
    11:33:46 pm

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    Rocky – Bade purane ho yaar

    “Remembered the days when my dad, mom, chacha, chachis used to read Dharamyug, Saptahik Hindutan, Sarita, Kadambni and above all Jansatta”

    Rohit or anyone how do you put up in Hindi here NG

  17. abzee 18 January 2007
    11:48:26 pm

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    Remembered the days when my dad, mom, chacha, chachis used to read Dharamyug, Saptahik Hindutan, Sarita, Kadambni and above all Jansatta !!!

    Rocky, my dad actually works for the publication house that publishes सरिता in addition to ग्रिहशोभा, सरस सलिल, Woman’s Era, India Today, Alive, चंपक, ग्रिहशोभिका, etc.

    Abid & Satyam- You can type in Devanagiri font if you have the font downloaded on your computer.

  18. Rocky 19 January 2007
    05:20:36 am

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    Rocky – Bade purane ho yaar – Abid, abhi to hum jawan hain!!!!!1

    Abzee- I remember Sarita was always very Kanjoos in giving any stars to any movies in its- “Chanchal Chaya” movie review section.

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