As I was idling on Social media over the weekend, I chanced upon this video of BR Chopra 's interview with his younger brother Yash Chopra where he talks about the only remake in his lifetime - Dastan , which was a remake of his own movie Afsana . And that took me down the rabbit hole ... As I researched more about Afsana, I discovered that it was a trend setter in many ways: first of ' double role ' with identical twin brothers separated in childhood, an oft-used plot in Indian Cinema; second one of the first to use the international literature [notably its plot is inspired by The Corsican Brothers ]; and third, a pioneer in Film Noir category in Hindi cinema. What impressed me is that the movies were so well integrated with what was happening on the global scene (even though adapted to the Indian audience). I set out to search more on this subject of how Indian cinema was inspired by literature and film making of the rest of the world. So let me take you through my...
In my post in January 2021, following the farmer protests at the Red fort, I had penned this piece where I postulated that anyone and everyone who has ever tried to "win" over the Lal Quilla has suffered subsequent defeat and obliteration. I illustrated my point based on the fate of: Shahjahan - the builder of the fort Nader Shah - the Persian emperor who's dynasty was wiped out after his win over the Lal quilla The Maratha's who lost at hands of the Durranis after the fort fell into their protection The British who lost power in India after they chose the fort as the venue of INA trials My conclusion is that anyone who touches the fort has suffered a bad fate subsequently - and I believe the curse continued with the Farm protests . After the hoisting of Nishan Sahib at the Red fort in mark of solidarity, the entire Farmer agitation movement just fell apart over the period of a few months. The tractor rally to the fort was the last of the large gatherings which c...