lights, camera, kalam.

there’s a clock in my class. it’s broken, it shows 7:29 every single time i look at it. it’s nice to see it when i’m restless in class, because it doesn’t give me the correct time so i’m forced to leave it be and focus on what’s happening right then. maybe i should put a broken clock in my room too, or perhaps remove the battery in the one i wear all the time. maybe then i’ll enjoy the present without hoping time passes by faster or worse, hope time stops when i’m truly happy. no constant ticking to remind me of the seconds i’ve wasted, no slowly ticking needles increasing an unexplainable anxiety. it’s still. unlike my thoughts. it stopped. unlike the world we live in. but maybe that’s the point. maybe i need to stop not the world, maybe i get to decide how my world moves. if it’s a rollercoaster ride or a simple walk in the park. maybe my heart doesn’t have to race every time i hear the hauntingly slow ticks nor do i have to hold my breathe in hopes that the time will slow down and i...

Character Background Ved Vardhan Sahni is a middle-class man from Shimla, India, who grows up enthralled by stories, myths and legends. As a child, he visits a storyteller who instils a love for imagination and narrative. However, societal expectations steer Ved into a life at odds with his natural inclinations. He becomes an engineer, adhering to the conventional path dictated by his family and society. His professional life as a product manager in Delhi is mundane and suppressive, lacking the creative spark he yearned for as a child. Ved’s background reflects a clash between individuality and conformity—a universal theme that grounds his struggles in a relatable context. This foundation establishes him as a character torn between societal expectations and personal fulfilment. Psychological Landscape Ved is a deeply layered character, defined by his internal conflict between his authentic self and the socially constructed persona he adopts to meet societal expectations. His rich ...

For this piece I will be analysing and discussing three films: Satya, Black Friday and Salaam Bombay. I will be talking about their narratives, cinematography and editing, in particular for this journal entry. Starting with Ram Gopal Varma's Satya - it revolutionised the portrayal of the Mumbai underworld. It moved away from romanticised gangster figures and presented a brutal, almost documentary-like depiction of gang life. Satya, the protagonist, is not a charismatic leader but a desperate individual caught in a cycle of violence. The narrative focuses on the internal dynamics of the gang, the constant threat of betrayal, and the psychological toll of a life lived on the fringes of society. The film doesn't offer easy moral judgments; instead, it presents the characters as products of their environment. The rise and fall narrative is compressed, emphasising the precarious nature of power in the underworld. Anurag Kashyap's Black Friday is based on S. Hussain Zaidi'...

Wake Up Sid is a film written and directed by Ayan Mukerji. Released in 2009, the film was a commercial success. The narrative revolves around Sid, Sidharth Mehra, a privileged and careless college student whose life takes a turn after he befriends Aisha Banerjee, an aspiring writer from Kolkata. The film utilises the interval well and, to an extent, depends on it, too. The first half of the film is almost monotonous and frustrating to watch at certain points due to the immature decisions and ignorant attitude of the protagonist.  Various elements are used to heighten the emotional impact of the interval. The plot builds up to the scene right before the interval, where Sid has a heated confrontation with his father after failing his exams. The scene starts with him discovering that he has failed, followed by him lashing out at his friends who are trying to be supportive. When he comes home, his mother asks him about his day and why he seems upset, and he yells at her and is disresp...

For this piece I will be discussing the angry young man archetype with the example of the iconic film - Deewaar, which is also considered one of the establishers of this archetype in Indian cinema. Directed by Yash Chopra, the film revolves around two brothers, Vijay (Amitabh Bachchan) and Ravi (Shashi Kapoor). The film explores the tension between morality and survival through the brothers, who are on two ends of the law.  Starting with the archetype, the Angry Young Man (AYM) is predominantly a blue-collar worker who realises that the system is not going to make his life better and decides to fight it. More often than not, the character was called Vijay after the success of previous films. The reason for a blue-collar job is also that it is not considered a desirable job and, to an extent, is even a form of disguised unemployment. The AYM is not trained, nor does he have a gym-toned body; he is rugged due to hard manual labour and is always ready to fight if he has to.  The ...