dialogue ho toh aisa

Life mein dialogue nahi diya toh kya kiya.

They don’t call me the dramebaaz for nothing. I must have watched the most movies as a kid where videos made their big first impact. I still remember the first day when my dad got a video player home. We were in Dubai and I was near the door. Dad comes in carrying a big brown box. It was billed as mom’s birthday gift. I guess I must have been around 6 years old. And if I am not mistaken the first movie we watched was the Kamal Hassan starrer Ek duje ke liye. Though I am not completely sure. Though the release year fits well but not the month… I wonder.

I remember when we saw the movie we were first introduced to the concept of fast forward and we used it to good effect. It started the trend in our family of using the button to fast forward all the songs. We laughed our head off when it was first used. Kamal Hassan (or whoever) dancing at twice the speed. And then the invariable miss of the song ending to miss a few dialogues so then you press rewind to come back to the exact point when the song ends and the acting starts. Rewind… yes that reminds me of another ritual. When you rent the video from the library the first thing you do is put the tape in the player and press rewind as the last guy who saw the movie obviously returned it without rewinding it. I would rush to take the tape, put it in and then press rewind. Then I would call everybody and then we would gather around and watch the movie. Full on family time.

I was imprinted by the amitabh movies and the amazing over the top dialogues. It was the era of Sholay and Deewar and of course Manmohan Desai cult multi-starrer blockbusters. My mom tells me that once when I had to go to the dentist (or was it the doctor for stiches) I kept my top two buttons open and said “nothing will happen to me – I am Jeetendra” eeps. Jeetendra? Even Dharmendra would have been ok. my only retort is that my mom doesn’t remember the name too well and it was really Dharmendra which I called Jeetendra

But clearly most of the dialogues are the Amitabh variety. So the other day when suddenly when an old student called me up – I just told him – congrats. He was like how do you know. I have learnt over a period of time that you ant really be in touch with a professor. Its typically when you are in trouble and need advice or when you have something nice to share is when you will call. The trouble types or the advice types typically start with an sms, or mail or a whats app. The random – hi sir – is typically a occasion and in Sunny’s case – he was about the age to get married. So I congratulated him up front. He asked me – how did you guess. “sunny, suddenly aisa koi phone karta hai toh either olumpic ka race ho ya police ka case ho ya ladki ka face ho”.

I am sure you did not get this one unless of course you are a bollywood fanboy – especially Amitabh. Amitabh famously said in Amar Akbar Anthonny “Aisa toh aadmi life mein doich time bhaagta hai. Olympic ka race ho ya police ka case ho. Tum kisliye bhaagta hai, bhai”

See it here at  around 1 min and 16 seconds into the video.

“so sunny bhai – tu toh koi Olympic mein jaayega nahi, aur tu police mein phasega nahi… toh obviously – koi ladki ka face hai. Bol kub hai Shaadi”

A ha . I am so impressed with myself. To get a dialogue, connect it and then even rhyme it that too in conversation time. It’s pretty neat. What say?Aapun hai ich aisa.. style.

i dont gamble, but i am The great gambler

Jispa is playing the fool with us. Up until last year she still wasn’t too sure whether to believe in Santa or not. This year at around eight years old, she has decided to tease us. I had told her the last time around, it doesn’t matter whether you believe in him or not. If you asked for a gift and if you got it then you really don’t care if the dam guy exists or not. Similar to the God philosophy. You decide what works for you.
This year Jasmine and I were pretty sure she has outgrown Santa. So unlike last year we did not bother to start the ‘write a letter to Santa’ charade. So we skipped the whole thing. Yesterday just on a lark I wondered what to do about the Santa thing. So we called her in and asked if she wanted anything from Santa. It seems she and Jasmine have had some conversations, though not serious on what she wanted from Santa. Pretty cool. So what were the options? The first was a bigger house to keep all her toys. Beeeeep. Thats not happening. Second, a big toy house. Beeeeep. That was not happening as well. How about a game boy/DS Nintendo. Ok.... interesting. But I told her that Santa wouldn’t be able to get the game boy in time. Ok then I want a cello tape. Hmm. Why is that? “in my box, I don’t have a cello tape and mom doesn’t let me use her scotch tape”. Before you pass judgements on poor mom. Anyone who sees her use scotch tape will stop her from using it. Ok Done. ‘Now that is something Santa can possibly in time for tomorrow evening. Surely.” “buy?” she asked. “he makes the stuff he gives”. “errr. Ya... makes... he will make it in time, I guess” I added, sheepishly.
When she left the room, Jasmine and I looked at each other. This girl is making fun of us. She is playing with us. She obviously doesn’t believe in Santa. She knows enough to know about the myth thing. She is merely having fun at our expense. If believing in a Santa will result in a free scotch tape at the least, then what’s the harm. I guess I am the architect of my own doom. Funny.
So Jasmine is going to buy scotch tape and is getting it gift wrapped. Jispa also like every time is planning to leave milk, cookies and muesli for Santa to eat. I guess she will also leave a note for him on the white board. Hmm. I am also thinking, what if Santa leaves some footprints thins time on the floor. Every time he leaves crumbs of cookies and muesli on the scene of the crime. Hmmm. Depends on how sleepy he is. But could be worth a shot.
I have always wondered when we play with our children, I don’t know who is playing with whom. Are you making your child play or is she playing with you. Who is the child in all this. So many times it is she who is leading the game and we are the object of her affection. And she grows older she is going to play on me all the tricks I manage to play on her.
Slowly as she is getting older she is getting better at the various games. I can play a decent game of Six (the one from Dr. Woood) with her. This is a simple but interesting game of strategy. She is no push over. Once I sat to lpay with her while I was all tired and sleepy she jammed my happiness, defeated me a couple of times and even held me to a draw. This after I tried concentrating. So yesterday while I was fresh I invited her to a rematch. This time I restored my pride and won a few games. I still managed to lose a couple, but those were silly mistakes.
She also already wallops me in swimming. I just can’t keep up. I thought I was very fast while using the kickboard. I go faster than most people swim. She whizzes past as if I am in kindergarten. Whew. I can also just about keep pace with her for a single round. When it comes to multiple round I am no match.
It feels funny for a competitive guy like me. I like to compete and win but in matters like these winning leaves a slightly hollow feeling and losing leaves a warm emotional feeling. Chest swells on losing. Funny thing parenting is.
Suddenly I am reminded of this dialogue from Baazigar. You will have to sit through three minutes to get to the dialogue with is at the very end. But the really corny clip will make it worth your while.

For those too bored to see the whole thing, here is a much older and shall I say better looking Shah Rukh saying his lines, slightly better.

Loosely translated into English the gist of the line is - sometimes in life, to win somthing you also need to lose something. And the one who wins by losing is called...The Gambler