Facebook has the Memories feature. Every day, it shows the posts one had written on Facebook on the same day in prior years. Today, Facebook showed me a picture I had posted from the Iowa City library in 2012. It is the DVD of Dilwale Dulhanie Le Jayenge. It took me back to the days when I came to the US in August 12 years ago. I still have the embarrassing first post I wrote on this blog when I came here. It was one of the most eventful days I have had. This blog used to be my diary. Time flies. So much has changed in these 12 years that I cannot even begin where to start. There are the physical changes. Studying in Iowa City, working in Seattle, living in Luxembourg City for a while, coming back to Seattle, moving houses. There are also the mental changes. I have become a different person. Sometimes, I don't like the person I have become, but maturity teaches us that we must do some things even if they are uncomfortable. I wish I was more confident and more masculine in life. I am working towards it. One day at a time.
Talking of memories, I was listening to Phir Dekhiye from Rock On!!. The film ends with this message. And, today, CDs are virtually non-existent. Time changes so much.
There has been no good Hindi film worth watching for the last three to four months. It's such a terrible time. I was looking at the films released in 2007 and 2012. What years were these? There were so many good films. I don't feel like writing about any film because there is not any worth writing about. I sometimes follow Reddit these days. I occasionally come across posts about film stars, which makes me dislike them a lot—I know Reddit is not to be trusted, but there is some truth somewhere. No one is a saint, and these people are humans, but the kind of adulation these stars receive and how they behave—one just starts disliking them. That is why I am not a fan of any of these people. I can never be a big 'fan.' I admire their work and wish to learn something from it. And I have always been able to separate the art from the artist. I have no moral compunctions in that sense. If a good film comes, I will watch it.
Because there are no good films, I find comfort in old films. I was watching parts of Rangeela again. My god. While I wish the film's production quality was better so it did not look dated, it is terrific and era-defining. The way it presents Urmila Matondkar in the songs is gorgeous. Somebody put in the effort to be different, and it worked beautifully. Simply amazing. And, the music. The best. The flute at the beginning of Tanha Tanha Yahan Pe Jeena makes me so joyful. I was also thinking that Ram Gopal Varma gave Urmila two contrasting heroine roles in his films. The commoner becomes a star in Rangeela. The star runs away to live as a commoner in Mast.
