All The Stuff from 2021

Last year was the second year of the pandemic. It seems to be a part of life now which will not go away for quite a while. I worked on many things, professionally at work, and outside of work. However, things did not turn out the way I had hoped. I am not sad as such (maybe a little sad) but, at least, I took action. I am putting some of the things outside of work that I did in the last year. I was talking to a colleague who told me, sometimes, it is good to give yourself credit for all the things you have done and how far you have come. Here are some of those:

Book on Dil Chahta Hai:

After being in the work for years, I finally decided to publish my book on Dil Chahta Hai. It was a learning experience for me as I got to know about many things about publishing. It was a lot of work to finish it. Looking back, I wonder if it was all worth it. I don't think many people have read it, but if you have, please let me know or consider leaving a review on the book's Goodreads page here.

Podcasts with one of India's best critics Rahul Desai:

1) On Film Writing Part 1—Link
2) On Film Writing Part 2—Link
3) On Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year—Link

Film Discussions at Learning Perspectives:
1) On some business concepts in Dil Dhadakne Do—Link

2) On leadership in Batman—Link

Jury Member for the 16th RMIM Puraskaar: 

I was given an opportunity to be a jury member for the RMIM Puraskaar recognizing the best Hindi music of the year. The awards can be viewed here along with the comments of the jury members.

Lecture: 

I took a guest lecture on character analysis for the students of the film appreciation course at the Film and Television Insitute of India (FTII). Samvartha Sahil teaches the course and he has been following my blog for many years. He asked to take a session. It was surreal for me.

Panelist for India Wants To Know Quiz:

I was a panelist for India Wants To Know Quiz. I have seen many questions taken from my trivia posts on some quizzes. But it is nice to actually sometimes get credit for them as I put a lot of effort to find them. In one of the other quizzes from 2020, they also mentioned my name, and a kind panelist Vibhendu Tiwari gave a shoutout to me for all the collages and things I put here. It can be seen here starting at 1 Hour 28 minutes.

Featured on Nutshell India Social Media Channels:

The people at Nutshell India reached out as they wanted me to talk about the song Satrangi Re from Dil Se. I spoke about the song on their Instagram account here.

Comments by Directors:

The posts on Atrangi Re and the themes of mythology in Sujoy Ghosh's films were acknowledged by the two directors.

ReadingFilms on Instagram: 

I started a film-focused account on Instagram. My blog readership is declining. I feel people have moved on to other forms of social media. So, I started this account called ReadingFilms on Instagram. I still prefer writing on my blog but I have to adapt to the ways of the world. I have tried to post something every single day on this account for the last year. Most of the stuff is from the blog. It has 5.2K followers now. Some random posts went absolutely viral reaching 500K views, while some which I put so much effort into did not get the expected reach. It is all so unpredictable. The account can be followed here.

Focusing on Health:

I joined a training program and started to take care of my health. I lost 11 Kgs. I did this because I want to feel more confident and look good. There is a line in the Gehraiyaan trailer where Alisha (Deepika Padukone) says, "I feel stuck." It hits home. I do not want to feel stuck. I am still not out of the woods but I am hoping I will have more clarity in 2022. 

I hope things will get better for all of us soon. I will continue to do my best and strive to be the best version of myself. I try to be happy and fun because que sera sera.

Dialogue of the Day:

"Le doobi ja rahi hai, gehraiyaan humein."
—Gehraiyaan