Rant

This post was written after having endured about 16 minutes of  the newly released "Phir mile sur mera tumhara" video telecast on Zoom TV. Before I rant any further, I must say that the whole "fusion" touch to the original score has been done quite well, and I did enjoy listening to Louis Banks' take on the evergreen original for the most part.That however, is where all the good ends...

I am not trying to dissect the new version on any technical aspects like many other bloggers have done. Here is one that everyone seems to be talking about. For me, the original (I like the way Kris Ashok calls it MSMT) was an emotional uplifting experience. It reminds me today of the times of Ramayan on Sunday morning, of "Aamchi mati Aamchi mansa" daily at 7pm  and the "News in English" with the lady sporting a bindi bigger than a one rupee coin. This video, combined with its equally illustrious cousins, was probably watched by every Indian who had direct / indirect access to a television set in those days. Even in the early 90s, that was a fairly large number.

Some of my favorite moments from the old song include, but are not limited to...

- The guy on the elephant -absolutely priceless.
- Narendra Hirwani !! (This is his claim to fame :))
- The Calcutta Metro scene (with Arun lal of the " match aint over till Arun Lal does the presentaion" fame)
- Amitabh, Jeetendra and Mithun singing together.
- The Sketch by Mario Miranda.
- A hot Mallika Sarabhai
And of course, the way it ends in the national anthem.

Btw, at 6 and something minutes,  MSMT was definitely better timed and did not get monotonous or boring  at any point. It was also meant to always be telecast at one shot, and not broken up into bits and pieces, which, if done, defeats the whole purpose methinks.

This brings me to MSMT 2.0, or PMSMT. This might actually have been a decent short video, like say Bharat Bala's Jana Gana Mana, or Rahman's Vande Mataram. The big mistake was to try to pass this off as a sequel to MSMT. Please don't blame me now for comparing, you asked for it. For starters, is it only me, or did someone else get the feeling that the whole thing was shot in and around Mumbai??

How many times exactly am I supposed to see someone against the backdrop of the Taj or the sea-link? Amitabh and Shaan (that quintessential Bengali...ya rite...) are both filmed on the street outside the Taj. Shreya Goshal (Who the fk is she?) is on a double decker Mumbai-darshan BEST bus outside V.T. station. Abhishek and Aishwarya are at what is either kanheri caves or Ajanta/Ellora. SRK is in front of the Bandra-Worli sea link, so is Louis Banks. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy are probably at the Silver sand beach, Juhu. Ranbir Kapoor appears to be somewhere near Lonavla.  (I do admit that I could be wrong, but I don't think I am).

Glacing through the previous para brings me to another irritant. PMSMT suffers from identity crisis. Is this a song about national integration, about showcasing Indian greats in the 21st century, or is it a showcase of the Hindi Film Industry at large? Shahid "one hit wonder" Kapoor, seriously, what were you guys thinking? I can understand AB, the Khans and Aishwarya Rai being included (OK, maybe Abhishek too since its a package deal looks like), but why include half of bollywood?

Which brings me to my pet peeve. Where were the "real biggies", the representatives of that ultimate past-time of the nation, that game of all games, good ol' SRT and co.?? Someone mentioned hefty fees and playing Bangladesh as reasons, but surely Laxman doesnt charge too much? I would've even kept my extreme (unfounded) hatred for K.D. Karthik aside for this one. Another friend mentioned that there are way too many "common men" (read: people no one knows or really cares about :) ) in PMSMT.

And ya, the maharashtrian in me really cringes each time the mainstream entertainment channels turn to Atul and Sonali Kulkarni as the typical maharashtrians. Also, there is a maharashtra beyond the "Kolis" of Mumbai, can we please show some of it for a change?

Other peeves/cringe-worthy moments:
1. Aamir Khan picking off a part of the "Aati kya Khandala" tune.
2. Salman Khan feigning a "bite" looking at the kid standing behind him -- all very questionable I tell you.
3. Gurdas Mann
4. Deepika Padukone standing probably the only way she knows how to, the typical "left leg bent at the knee" pose models give us on ramps. Also - someone should've told her that this is NOT a movie, so spare us the bad acting.
5. Everyone whospread their arms out - please just shoot them.

What a waste of time...

Do watch these sometime though - surreal I say :)
MSMT
The "run"
Baje Sargam