“Cinema in India is like brushing your teeth in the morning. You can’t escape it.”
Had it not been this particular tale, I might have written it in a different manner. But of course, I wouldn’t have even liked to write it in any other manner. Bollywood as you know dear readers was quite famous for this sort of thing. This tale has all the elements- drama, tragedy, love, sacrifice, the low-on-content-high-on-voracity dialogues, the evergreen ‘kutte-kaminey’ expletives, the crybaby ‘Ma’, the martinet ‘Dad’, the scheming aunt, a ‘rakhi ka bandhan’ devoted brother, a modern desi mem as sister, an unemployed brother-in-law who is excellent in licking people’s boots yet ever ready to strike the knife in the back when the slightest opportunity presents- without all of these tangy spices, a Hindi movie might have been a tad boring. But today in the 23rd Century, we have lost this sort of thing. We have become too genteel for our own good. Long gone are the days where the protagonist would come roaring, punching his way through the hordes of hire-for-paisa goons, who, being stitched with feather flew with every jab delivered to their rubbery face. The hero had yet not finished. He had a fortress to penetrate and save his bony lass from within who had been crying her throat out, calling his name. The final showdown boasts of a fifteen minutes tête-à-tête between the protagonist and the super bad villain and some dhishum-dhishum and pow-wow between them.
Interesting, isn’t it? It would be the great failing on the side of the writer, which is me, Alienman, if I do not render the life of Captain M. in Technicolor. His life as you might all know is a colorful mosaic, just as Bollywood was. So putting two and two together I decide to use this ancient ‘Cinema Form’ to present him in literal flesh-and-blood in all his shades. So, recline easily in your chair, keep close your tub of popcorns (I always wonder how they survived for so long?), you are surely gonna enjoy- as I give you prime time cinema!
P.S.: Maybe with a bit of encouragement, I would plod beyond this pithy preface!!!!!!!! Nudge me readers……!!!!!!
Alienman 