Movies like PK and OMG are on one side and movies like Ship
of Theseus are on the other side. PK and OMG have taken a stand. God men are
really not what they seem. Blind faith is WRONG. You are getting fooled and in
many ways you need a misfit to question them all. Both these movies question
god men on supposedly logical grounds but unabashedly believe in God. I find
the stand a bit illogical. On a premise of cold rationale and logic and science
– belief in God itself to my mind is questionable. But let’s not start that
debate … not yet at least. But they take a stand and once you take a stand you
tend to preach and once you tend to preach you tend to be the same as what you
oppose – a preacher. Can you oppose a preacher by preaching? Hmmm…
That’s what I think is wrong with the films. They preach. On
the other hand, I believe a film like Ship Of Theseus tries to also take a stand
but not by preaching but by discourse, by question. It lays open a situation (rather
3 situations) and doe smore to spread religious belief and further society by
question than by decision. But therein also lies a problem. The number of
people who have seen Ship… versus PK is starkly different. By a matter of hundreds
I would guess.
Tipping Point is alovely book by Malcolm Gladwell. I started
reading it but thought at first that it was ok ok, and then my Guru – Dharen Chadha
starting reading it one evening and by next day morning he had a strategy
presentation to be made out of it. I felt so dam embarrassed and he showed me
how to read a book. The book argues that for a fire to start you need a tipping
point. To get there you don’t need to sell to everyone. Just the right people –
the mavens. Who are mavens? – “A maven
(also mavin) is a trusted expert in a particular field, who seeks to pass
knowledge on to others. The word maven comes from Hebrew, meaning "one who
understands", based on an accumulation of knowledge.” It is these
people who need to be touched and then the message is to be passed on. Therefore
then Ship is doing a far better job of spreading a question than possibly PK
would be. PK would try and spread a message by strong use of media. It tells to
believe just so… But if I challenge you to think and then if I challenge you to
see other sides of a question, if I plant just a seed in your head, it’s
enough. I think a seed is far more powerful than a tree transplanted.
A slow movie in that sense is like a book. A book allows you
to reflect, set your pace, reflect, pick up and read on. A slow movie possibly
also does that. It continues to grip you but at the same time allows you to
question, think and reflect. It allows for a seed to firm implanted. A big bang
commercial movie is like a tree that is trying to be implanted in loose soil. It
may hold for some time but a strong gust of wind might just blow it over.
Over the years in my teaching style as well, I have moved
from trees to seeds. I question, I push, I ask. I keep thinking and urge the
kids to think as well. I try to throw seeds in the tilled soil. Earlier I used
to throw a conept at them every lecture. Teach and move on. Now I have changed a
lot of my style. I have many lectures, all different examples but try and
firmly put in one seed. One common seed through many different ways. Who knows
which one will sprout, where, when. The idea is to keep hammering one idea…
hard. And also I think it’s amazing if subjects in each year can essentially be
driven around one idea… one central idea. The rockbed of what you can actually
take away from the topic. That would be pretty cool, and usefull. Suddenly
subjects can have so much more meaning. Hehehehe… to have more meaning reduce the
idea… opposites reconciling anyone?
