Coconut Cruncher

22nd June 2014         This movie is one of the most underrated films if IMDB's got to give it a 6.6. The only disappointing thing about this movie is the title and the poster. The people who rated this film obviously read the misleading sysnopsis and saw the misleading poster, expected some amount of explicitness and got disappointed. This film is more than about getting over somebody. It's about how you should treat people, how people should treat you. Carter, the lead character moves in with his gradmother. Being a writer he has a thirst for new stories and characters with depth. He percieves things differently from others and doesn't care to express his opinion if asked for one. The film has such subtle beauty in it, and such full characters that you actually live as someone else for a while. I aspire to make a film like this one someday. Hats off to Jon Kasdan for writing such lovely people. I'd give it a 9/10.

8 th May 2013 As Aakash and I rode to the theatre, we chatted about work and our personal growth. “Man, I spend about 8 hours on it. I don’t even know when it’s a weekend. I thought today was Saturday. ”  “That’s it? I easily spend 10 hours on work everyday” he said. “Well, I wouldn’t mind, it’s just that it’s a different pipeline, we’re going from pixel to vector based work, and I have to learn new softwares that I find so time consuming to learn and get accustomed to. Sometimes I feel like I’m that old senior in the studio who has a bunch of good skill sets, but the newbies have learnt to do the same thing in an hour’s time instead – and you do it great alright, but you’re slower. You could learn to use the new software by letting go of your comfort zone, but you’re too old now. I used to be that way, but I’m learning how to let go and shake my ground. It’s too early for me not to learn different methods and mediums.” I said. “Exactly. I’ve been completely shak...

6 th April 2014 So I was downloading the Oscars about a month back, contemplating whether I should allocate all my bandwidth to it, since I was disappointed with Oscars 2013. Jared Leto and Matthew McConaughey won best actor over a lot of really good nominees for Dallas Buyer’s Club. And then I knew – I HAD to see it. I had no idea what it was gonna be about. TDBC is about Ron Woodroof, an AIDS patient fighting the disease and helping others fight it by using non-approved FDA drugs smuggled in from Mexico and eventually fighting a case against the FDA for making no difference in the lives of AIDS patients. I am just floored by Jared Leto’s performance, who plays a Rayon, transgender woman suffering AIDS. There are some really moving scenes which made me feel so much for the character that I was heavy hearted for the rest of the film. Matthew McConaughey has seriously outdone himself and absolutely deserves that Oscar. His acting is so convincing and heart wrenching –...

9th November 2013       I approached the coconut seller and asked, "how much for one?" "30 for malai wala and 25 for paani wala" "Patli malai wale ke liye kitna?" "30 memsaab", he said.        I asked for one with the thin malai. It was delicious. The first sip from the straw, and images of coconut trees and paddy fields flashed in my mind. Narrow roads and clear skies, palms swaying in the breeze - it cut back to the straw. The water was over. I looked inside the coconut, hoping for more water. "Kahan se laate ho aap?" I asked. "Mysore se. Yaha toh koi nikaalta nahin hai pedh se. Pakh jaate hain." he said. "Aur aap kaha se ho?" "Main Allahabad se" he said, smiling. "Itni door se? Poori family yaha hai?" "Haan ji. Ek flat tha, lekin usme jagaha nahin thi, toh hum bhaade pe reh rahe hain." he said, "aap kaha se ho?" "Main Goa se hoon" I said. He smiled. "Toh a...

28th Oct 2013 I had a wonderful time in Ahmedabad. The first day we got there, we settled in Athithi hotel. It was such a dirty looking place, but we cleaned it up and made ourselves comfortable. We used to have breakfast at this south indian restaurant called 'Udipi Palace'. It had pretty decent breakfast but it smelled so badly of cockroaches and phinyl that it got really unpleasant. Everyday we started waking up a little later, often talking in the morning or trying to convince the others that it would be a great day. I was busy trying to keep everyone positive - somehow it was upto me to satisfy everyone's wants. When I failed at that, I'd fall into the pit and pull myself out. I told myself there was something more important happening at NID than people's eating preferences or personal problems - I had come here for inspiration and I'd decided to take it under any circumstance. By day 3 everything started getting better, and that's how it had happene...

2nd October 2013 – Nashik It’s the second day of work at Regh animation, and it has been tough. I feel mentally exhausted and overly emotional. The small sign of home, a thought of comparison can bring a huge lump, an uncomfortable swelling in my throat. I feel my heart ache in pain, and my eyes start watering uncontrollably for no reason. I don’t feel weak, but tested, really. My heart gives up, but my mind tells me to fight and be stronger. It’s a new place, with new people. A new language and a new culture. Fitting in has never been easy, but I always end up finding the right people and getting comfortable; that – has been exceptionally difficult here. Marathi is not my forte, and whether I wear a loose Tshirt, or a spaghetti, I still have a few eyes on me. Maybe it’s my fair skin, or my ‘different’ features, but one look, and the locals know that I’m not from this part of town. My roommate Rekha is really nice. She must be about 25 and reminds me an awful lot of my old housekee...

31st August 2013 I hate that technology can do as it pleases to us. I am an artist. I come from a very creative background. My ancestors used only their hands to do the work they do. They used pencils, charcoal, pigment colors, and papers. Today's artist uses the traditional mediums as well; but with the growing demand for digital illustration, and it's advantages of getting work done so much faster and cheaper has forced the artist to learn new techniques of producing their work. The same goes with the animator. Back in the day animators used papers (cells) and ink and paints. They used cameras to capture every frame on a reel, and project it onto the screen. So many hours went into trying to hone their skills without a preview of the animation. Previewing meant developing expensive film, and so the animator made do with flipping the sheets to create persistance of vision. We solely depended on the naked eye, and groomed it, trained it, and honed it to see art in the broade...