Has Marathi Lavani finally come of age?

Considering the number of foreign beauties swarming our shores for lucrative careers in the film industry, it’s not unusual for a German actress to make her foray into Bollywood & Mollywood (Marathi film industry; please excuse the imitation). But who would have thought she can hold her own in a Marathi Lavani Dance reality show, “Dholkichya Talavar” and can actually be a strong contender for the title of Lavani Samradni i.e. the ultimate queen of the dance form?

For the uninitiated, Lavani (Marathi: लावणी) is a genre of music popular in Maharashtra, southern Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Lavani is a combination of traditional song and dance, which is performed particularly to the beats of Dholak, a percussion instrument. It’s noted for its powerful rhythm and erotic sentiment. Its contribution to the development of Marathi folk theatre is noteworthy. It is generally performed by females attired in a nine-yard sari & ghoongroos (small metallic bells strung together to form a musical anklet) which are said to weigh up to 5kgs sometimes. According to a tradition, the word Lavani is derived from the word lavanya which means beauty. Traditionally, this genre of folk dance deals with different and varied subject matters such as society, religion, politics and romance. The songs in 'Lavani' are mostly erotic and naughty in sentiment. Many of these Lavani performers are women whose poverty has driven them to become Lavani dancers and perform for a living. Any mention of Marathi Lavani would be incomplete without the mention of Surekha Punekar, a charismatic Lavani dancer. She’s the lady who for the first time in history opened the male oriented Lavani shows exclusively for the women. She’s a Lavani legend of our era, not to mention one of the honorable judges of Dholkichya Talavar.

Marathi films have played an important role in making Lavani genre accessible to masses. Movies such as Pinjara and Natarang not only attempted to blend traditional music with social messages but also helped portray Lavani to the world in positive light, rather than the biased way in which Lavani is many-a-times looked upon. These epic movies not only became super-hits at the box office, but literally revived this dance form in the minds and hearts of the average movie-goers, and for that the Marathi film industry will forever be grateful to them.

Coming back to the topic of discussion, Dholkichya Talavar is a Lavani Dance reality show currently being aired on ETV Marathi. It has nine talented women competing for the title of Lavani Samradni. These nine being Aditi Sarangdhar, Sonali Khare, Tejaa Deokar, Sneha Wagh, Sukanya Kalan, Purva Pawar, Ashvini Apate, Suzanne Bernert, Sonali Pawar, Vaishali Jadhav, Reshma Musale, Piyusha Patil. Most of them are Marathi actresses who’ve starred in various films, daily soaps etc, some are professional dancers and some are in fact quite proficient Lavani dancers, Suzanne being the only non-Indian participant and a complete outsider.
Suzanne has done a lot of work in Indian television & films. She starred in Hindi films like Honeymoon Travels, No Problem, Sharukh bola khoobsurat hai tu, Marathi movies like Palkhi, Gallit Ghondel, Dillit Mujra, television serials like Sanskar Laxmi, Kasauti Zindagi Kay, Jeete hain, jiske liye etc. She’s even starred in the Titan watch advertisement opposite Aamir Khan, if anyone remembers. She’s married to Bollywood actor Akhil Mishra (of 3 Idiots fame).


In her own words from a recent interview, Suzanne said, “I started learning Lavani after I had to perform a Lavani item in a Marathi film. I trained by understanding the dance form from within, including its various gestures. I have worked in three Marathi films too. 'Love Recipe' will release in January, and ’Doosrya Jagatil' will release in the Pune International Film Festival. Besides, I am also awaiting the release of another Marathi film 'Palkhi'.

“I had to practice to ensure that my slippery feet wouldn't mess up my steps though. Ashish Patil, who choreographed me, would explain each word to me patiently, and help me understand and express accordingly,” she said.

Her impressive resume speaks volumes of her versatility, energy, enthusiasm and love of acting, dancing and performing. But her participating in an extremely traditional dance form competition, which is completely alien to her, is also a tribute to the great art form that is Lavani. Today it has gained such momentum and popularity that even an actress of foreign origin who was hitherto unexposed to it, is not shying from an opportunity to learn and excel in it. In spite of being eliminated in the early stages of the show, Suzanne has made a comeback through the callback episode once again beating homegrown competition. Has this German actress recognized the true grandeur of Lavani which even Maharashtra’s own blood hasn’t? You guess is as good as mine.

Cricket Meri Jaan!!!

Today was an experience of a life-time, not just for me but for everyone who watched the clash of the Titans in the second semi-final of World Cup 2011 between India & Pakistan. I was just lucky enough to be in India to witness history and realize one thing!!!! Cricket is the only and the single most unifying factor in a country riddled by corruption, inflation, terrorism and division. We may fight amongst ourselves over the silliest of things like which city should be named what or denizens of which state should work in which state, and whether a temple or a mosque once stood on the most disputed piece of land in Indian history, but when it comes to cricket, we are one nation and one voice. India..India..India!!!! Was the only war cry resounding, resonating, and echoing throughout the country on 30th March 2011 after India beat Pakistan.

Today’s traffic jam at 11.30 pm on NIBM Road was unusual in only one way, that it had nothing to do with bad road conditions, lack of traffic signals or road encroachment by street vendors and car parking. It was caused by the mob that had gathered on the streets to celebrate India’s victory over Pakistan. No sooner did Virat Kohli catch Misbah-Ul-Haq off Zaheer Khan’s bowling, did the fireworks start. They were bigger, brighter and seemed happier than Diwali itself, perhaps because this was the first time that not only Hindus, but Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis et al came together to put up a brilliant show that lit up the dry, hot and lackluster March skies like a heavenly abode radiating with thousands of suns. I sincerely wonder if so many people just happened to have such expensive fire-crackers at hand or they had planned for this precise moment. But it felt like a planned series of events where one after the other people from all buildings around started the fiery visual displays. The entire universe seemed to echo with the go-India war cries. And soon after residents of my society started flooding the road shouting, screaming and cheering. Hundreds of bikers hit the roads, all carrying at least 2 to 3 pillions and waving flags of various sizes and heights. Following them were dozen odd cars with people reeling out of their windows and shouting, clapping and waving. After that on-lookers and passers-by also joined the celebrations along with the people from the other societies on our street. All were dancing, singing, cheering to a single tune. For almost an hour the police did little to curb the celebrations. But then many people started stopping passing cars and bikes and started dancing in front of them and lighting fire-crackers stark in the middle of the road. Some did not fall short of even rolling on the road to express their ecstasy. Seeing this, the police had to intervene and bring order. Not be discouraged though everyone then re-started the celebrations on the footpaths and inside the societies. The revelries continued well after mid-night and I can still hear some fire-crackers being burst.

It was a very very happy, jubilant and innocuously infectious atmosphere and I doubt anything but cricket would ever make the people of this country so happy and most importantly come together on such a platform and express their excitement and joy unabashedly, united in true spirit! Today’s match wasn’t important just because it was the semi-final, but more so because it was against a young and volatile Pakistan. It was the first Indo-Pak clash and any game between these two rivals is exciting, let alone a knock-out match as important as a semi-final. After 26/11 and the heavy human losses suffered by India and the following investigations seeming like flogging dead horses, the thirst of revenge and desperation to win had spiraled skywards. Add to it the diplomatic and strategic (read political) move of inviting the Pakistani Prime Minister by our own counterpart Manmohan Singh and Yousaf Raza Gilani accepting it, and we had The Perfect Recipe for a thrilling, edge-of-the-seat, gripping encounter and the Indian team didn’t let us down even once. The match was a perfect entertainment package with all the right ingredients of masala and chutzpah.

I too was a die-hard cricket fan once, long time back during my school days I didn’t miss a single match of Team India. Even when the matches were played abroad during our nighttime I used to sleep in front of the television, set an alarm and get up in the middle of the night to watch the matches. Me and my girl friends in school used to bet on which batsman would score more runs and who would take more wickets. I had a crush on Rahul Dravid and one of my dear friends on Saurav Ganguly (Tilo, if you’re reading this, yes I’m referring to you ) and we constantly argued over who’s better. We collected posters, photos, information, gossip on everything related to cricket and the then on-going World Cup. In those days India-Pakistan relations though not very cordial were not as strained as they are today either and liking Pakistani cricketers was not totally un-happening. We even teased one of my best friends with Wasim Akram just because they shared birth-dates (Not points for guessing that best friend is you Shef) and I know all you guys reading this are thinking we girls are hopeless. Yes hopeless we were, but not as hopeless as we became when all the match-fixing scandals came to light. It broke my heart. All our time, energy, enthusiasm wasted on cricketers who never deserved our admiration and hero-worshipping. The whole of India was let down and I somehow lost complete interest in the game, having practically stopped watching it. Team India has come a long way since then. Winning the first T-20 World Cup was a turning point in Indian cricketing history as well as my feelings towards Team India. After today’ match my interest in cricket has started re-kindling and I hope it never dwindles again.
I will never forget today's match and the events following it. Nor will I forget the smiles of unadulterated joy that lit up each and every Indian face I saw today, and the one and only reason for all those smiles, Cricket Meri Jaan!!!
Looking forward to the nail-biting Final on Saturday!!!

Jogwa

This is my first attempt at writing a Marathi film review. Until quite recently I was hardly into watching Marathi films, I was a hard-core English & Hindi movies’ fan. The very fact that many others like me, have now taken to eagerly watching Marathi films bears testimony to the fact that the Marathi films have come into their own. Their quality, substance, popularity has suddenly taken a surge and a sort of much needed re-birth, not only at the box-office but also in the viewer’s hearts. I profess myself surprised, albeit happily, that the storylines have taken a bold turn. They are more open-minded, contemporary, experimental and brazen.

One such completely unconventional, bold and groundbreaking movie is Jogwa. Not for the faint-hearted; it is a heart-wrenching tale of a society still riddled with superstitions, hypocrisy and exploitation of an oppressed community, in the hinterlands of Karnataka. Jogwa literally translated means “alms given to a person”, in this case a jogta (he-devotee) or a jogtin (she-devotee) of one goddess Yellamma, whose wrath the people of the village are afraid of. The story revolves around two protagonists Tayappa (a man played by Upendra Limaye) and Suli (a woman played by Mukta Barve) who are forced into becoming a jogta and jogtin. A jogta has to dress and live like a woman, a jogti has no rights to get married or have children. The villagers’ belief in superstitions is what feeds and fuels this outcaste of certain people and them being turned into so-called devotees of the goddess. These people include those suffering from strange or unknown diseases, people signaling so-called bad omens etc to name a few. These devotees are condemned to a hellish life of being ostracized from society, sacrificing their lives in the so-called service of the goddess, living off alms and being denied many of their rights as human beings. They are ill-treated by society, made fun of, taken advantage of sexually, viewed as nothing better than eunuchs and prostitutes and in a nutshell treated like vermin, all in the name of God. Their lives are a living hell filled with nothing but misery, woe and damnation.

Tayappa and Suli are both thus damned by a self-proclaimed messenger of the goddess. Tayappa is forced to wear a saree, bangles, necklaces et al and live and behave like a eunuch just like the other jogtas. However, he is never able to accept this fate. Hidden behind the garb of a woman he instinctively behaves and thinks like a man from within. Suli on the other hand, in spite of becoming a jogtin, dreams of love, marriage and children. Her dreams come crashing down when her lover abandons her thereby dashing any hopes she ever had of leading a normal life again.

One educated and open-minded educator tries to change the mindset of the villagers and help these distressed souls only to be laughed at and thrown out. Tayappa and Suli find a friend, confidante and companion in each other and end up falling in love. But their attempts to break away from their shackles and live normal lives do not go down well with the rest of their community and the society. The movie outlines their emotions, afflictions, betrayals, struggles and their final triumph over the very superstations and hypocrisy that destroyed their lives. Upendra Limaye and Mukta Barve’s power-packed performances are par excellence as is the direction. The music by Ajay-Atul is simply superb. The movie has won many a well-deserved National Awards. It might leave you reaching for a hanky time and again, but the happy ending showcases the triumph of perseverance and common sense over prejudice and blind faith, as it defends to death the right of every human being to a fair life and happiness.

The Gift of Hands

“Absence makes the heart grow fonder”, is so true. We never value the things we already have, running after the ones we don’t, we realize their value only when they are taken away from us by some freak twist of fate. “Ghar ki moorgi dal barabar”, you know. 

Each one of us is in that mad race for money, fame, success, that overdue promotion, that pay hike, that latest state-of-the art sleek car, that designer diamond necklace and so on and so forth. Wants, wants and more wants. Mahatma Gandhi once wisely said, “There is enough in the world for man’s need, but not his greed”. But in the midst of this insane rat race how many of us pause to think about what we already have? How many of us express our gratitude towards God for all that he has already given us. I didn’t till a few days back.

Like any normal person I too wanted this, dreamt of becoming that etc. etc. All I thought of was what I didn’t have and cribbed about it. I worked too hard to prove myself, to climb up the corporate ladder and have a meteoric career graph. I worked till my limit’s end and then went on to stretch those limits. I worked 9 – 12 hours a day regularly, even weekends sometimes. Sounds normal I know, because most people do that now-a-days. Nothing could stop me, after one achievement there was always the next rung to aim for. Suffering from constant neck and shoulder pains was routine, nothing that Iodex or a pain-relieving spray couldn’t cure. “I’ll worry about it later, I’m too young to suffer from anything serious”, I mulled. 

Then suddenly out of the blue, my left upper arm started aching beyond normal proportions. Typical of today’s fire-brand, stop-at-nothing, always on the move generation that has grown up looking for the fastest solutions, I gulped down some pain-killers and as usual did 'Iodex maliye kaam pe chaliye'. All was hunky-dory for a while and then the pain re-surfaced. This time much more aggravated. I did the same thing till my body decided it had had enough and broke into a mutiny.

I hardly slept that night, twisting and turning from one side to another as shots of blinding pain crippled by arm and shoulder. A visit to the doctor the next day revealed an appalling story of cervical spondylosis, bone degeneration, oesteopenia, muscular spasm and possible injury. Terms meant for the aged, as I’d not so long ago thought. I couldn’t lift up my hand by even an inch, its movement completely restricted by the sudden spasms of pain. I was confined to my house, had to miss work for 10 days, and could pretty much do nothing else that didn’t classify as killing time, except writing. There’s only so much you can do when you’re denied the use of the faculty of one of your hands. One hand, such a small, simple thing mundane even, that brought my life to a standstill. All my life I took my hands for granted, never thanking God once that He gave me two normal, natural, strong, beautiful hands. I was so much luckier than the unfortunate ones who are born with defects, crippled, or lose their hands in accidents.

Now I realize that one should always count one’s blessings, the very fact that we breathe is by God’s grace, but do we thank Him for that? If we don’t then it’s time to take a long, hard pause and do now.

F.R.I.E.N.D.S

Who hasn’t heard of “Friends”? This ubiquitous group of six friends struggling to balance their love lives, career, relationships and finding solace in their redeeming friendship, has spawned generations of fans or what me and my sis call Friends’ Fanatics. We’ve lost count of how many times we’ve seen the re-runs, re-re-runs, re-re-re-runs and so on and so forth. But not once have we tired of watching the repeats. We know the dialogues by heart and could rant them off in our sleep, but we still laugh every time we hear the very same jokes.

Ross’s histrionics, funny faces and expressions, Chandler’s sarcastic gags and a knack for getting into awkward situations, Joey’s slow brains and smooth “How you doing?”s, Monica’s finickiness and obsession with cleanliness, Phoebe’s weird and ludicrous antics and Rachel’s girly habits all make you roll with laughter. So here are some of my personal favorite episodes. Spoiler alert for all of you who aren't Friends Fanatics. :)

1. The episode where Chandler’s hyper-annoying girl-friend, Janice with her “Oh my God”s and a laugh that drives you up the wall, proclaims that it’s impossible for six people who are such good friends, so close to each other and who spend so much time together to have never gotten involved with one another. Now, we all know about Ross and Rachel, and Monica and Chandler. But this proclamation has everyone scurrying away from the scene as they reminisce about their past ‘almost encounters’.
   
   
2. The episode of ‘What-If’s, where sitting at Central Perk, all of them try to imagine how different their lives would have been had Rachel married Barry, Monica still been fat, Phoebe accepted a job proposal to work at Meryl Lynch, Joey still been on ‘Days of our Lives’, Chandler quit his job to pursue comic writing and Ross still been married to Carol. Hilarity ensues!
3. The series of episodes of Ross’ doomed wedding to Emily when Monica and Chandler hook-up and do everything within their power to keep the affair under wraps and how each member of the group finds out. Phoebe pretends to hit on Chandler to freak him out and worm the truth out of him, and Chandler (on Monica's instructions) in turn pretends to reciprocate, to give Phoebe and Rachel (who is Phoebe's partner in crime) a taste of their own medicine. The kitschy competition between Phoebe and Chandler is uproarious.
4. The Las Vegas episode where Rachel and Ross try to embarrass each other in a bid to prove that the other one gets more embarrassed. They however, go overboard and get married in a drunken stupor. Ross’ obsession with not getting a third divorce is hilarious.
5. Monica and Chandler's wedding episodes in which Chandler, finally in keeping with his character, gets cold feet at the eleventh hour, triggered by the epiphany that they are soon to become the "Bings". Ross and Phoebe leave no stone unturned in trying to catch hold of Chandler and eventually do manage to find him and bring him back, while Rachel stalls Monica at her apartment. All is well and Monica completely in the dark till Joey blurts it out right in the middle of the wedding ceremony. Once the cat is out of the bag, all the secrets start pouring out including, Chandler and Phoebe's belief that Monica is pregnant.
6. This is the next one in which one by one everyone except the real father realize that it is Rachel who is pregnant, not Monica. They start the hunt for the real dad whose identity Rachel has kept secret, only to discover that the real father is, hold your breathe, none other than Ross!!!
7. The episode in which Ross buys a new couch and being too stingy to pay for the extravagant delivery charges, takes it on himself to carry it, without successmof course. No point for guessing that one. Then he takes Rachel and Chandler’s help with disastrous results and rib-tickling entertainment.
8. The Unangi episode in which Rachel and Phoebe take self-defense lessons which Ross thinks are not enough, much to his own chagrin. According to him they need to have “Uangi”, a state of constant and total awareness, to protect themselves from danger. He tries to prove his point to them and ends up getting beaten up himself.
9. The episode of Ross’ inappropriate song, where Ross makes his daughter with Rachel, Emma laugh after singing an inappropriate, sexist song “Baby got back” and Rachel is furious. But after many failed attempts at making Emma laugh again, she too resorts to the same means and finally both end up singing and dancing to the raunchy number to make Emma laugh, only to be caught by the rest of the Friends.
10. The episode where Rachel's sister Amy visits her for Thanksgiving and joins the celebration at Monica's place. It no longer remains a celebration as she broaches on a rather sensitive but comical topic of who would get Emma's guardianship after Ross and Rachel's death. What follows is a cat fight between the two sisters & a laugh riot, and one that I'm not gonna ruin for you.  

     I could go on and the so would my list of personal favorites. But I don't wanna kill the fun of actually watching the episodes for all of you out there reading this blog, who haven't seen all these episodes. As for the rest who remember all these episodes and nodding your heads and laughing, welcome to the the club of Friends' Fanatics.

     PS: I'd love to know your favorite episodes :) .

Why women hate women?

   Sounds familiar or absurd? Well if you’re a woman, I’m sure it doesn’t sound all that absurd. At some point of time in life, you too must have taken that instant dislike to some fellow woman for no apparent reason. Mind you, I’m saying apparent, but deep down you might even know the reason, but choose to ignore it. May be she has a better face, better body, better job, better salary, better house OR this one’s gonna hurt, better boyfriend. By now we all know there is no such thing as a better husband.
Have you ever realized:

• How if you were to be given a choice to pick a co-worker, between one male and one female, you would, most of the times, automatically pick the male?
• How if you were to give a girl or a guy your car to drive, you would throw the keys towards the guy faster than he or she can say, "Sure I’ll drive"?
• How if your cable company sent you a female technician to fix a technical glitch, you’d be surprised and instantly express your doubts about her capabilities, in a not so subtle way by nudging your poor husband in the ribs?
• How, way back in school and college, you felt your female professors always favored the guys?
• Imagine you're having one of your small coffee breaks/ gossip sessions at the office vending machine with your gang of girls and a gorgeous woman passes by. Men are not the only ones checking her out. You and your gang of girls do it too, but only with the purpose of finding faults. Her top is too tight, her hair is messy, shoes are out of fashion and so on and so forth.

   Bottomline is we women bitch too much and worse we bitch the most about each other. In one movie that I recently saw, called "Mean Girls", one of the female teachers conducts an impromptu attitude adjustment session for the entire female population. She asks everyone to close their eyes and raise their hands if they've ever felt that their female friends have bitched about them behind their backs. Not surprisingly, all the girls open their eyes to find each hand in the auditorium raised. Then she asks them to close their eyes again and raise their hands if they have ever bitched about their female friends behind their backs. No points for guessing that once again they all open their eyes to see each and every hand raised. Says it all about female mentalities right?
   But have you ever wondered, why our brains work this way, why instead of admiring the women who’ve done better than us and empathizing with the not so lucky ones, we’re jealous of the former and gloat at the latter? I have! Many times over, but never really found any logically satisfying answer. And then one fine day when I was watching TV, I came across this movie being aired, in which a divorced women’s group met every once in a week to discuss their problems, share it, more like, exchange advice and basically do everything else that divorced women are likely to do together. Something about what one of them said hit me, hit me hard! According to her, we women are raised to perceive each other in a certain way, to hate each other since childhood. It’s engrained in our systems; we don’t even realize we are doing it. We might be staunch bra-burning, protest marching, loud thinking, screaming from the rooftops feminists, but we still hate the next girl’s guts. And the answer is simple; it’s because we're so used to seeing each other as competition. It starts right from school where the competition is for scoring better in exams, getting male attention, then for a better college, better job, better husband, better this better that.
   When will we give it a rest? Only after we rest? We women have enough issues to deal with already; female infanticide, sexism, eve-teasing, molestation, rape, dowry, the list is endless. Wouldn’t it be better if we all could always bank on each other at least for support, for comfort, for empathy? Who would understand better than another woman? That’s what girl friends and agony aunts are for right? Why don’t we start seeing each woman we meet as a potential best friend rather than competition? I know it's extremely diffcult to change deepset attitudes even if they are towards one own gender. It might be too late for some of us OR may be not.

Breaking Dawn

After watching Eclipse I felt obliged to read the next book of the Twilight series. For the uninitiated, this is the fourth book in the series of the Twilight saga penned by Stephenie Meyer. In this captivating, edge-of-the-seat thriller this unusual love triangle between a human, vampire and werewolf takes some totally unexpected turns. It centers around three characters. Bella Swan, an average teenager who has an uncanny knack for attracting trouble, and who falls in love with Edward Cullen, a vampire. He belongs to a coven of vampires who consider themselves vegetarians since unlike others of their kind they feed only on animal blood. The third protagonist is Jacob Black, a werewolf and a family friend of Bella’s who also loves her. The love triangle ends in a new element of surprise as Bella and Edward tie the knot much to Jacob’s chagrin.

If you thought this was mind-bogglingly intriguing, then wait till you get to the biggest twist in the tale when Bella gets pregnant, raising a million questions about her unborn child. What will the child be, a human, a vampire or a hitherto unheard of hybrid? Will Bella survive as the child grows stronger than her and in some bizarre pregnancy sickness, keeps her from eating normal food? And even if she does can she remain human or will she have her heart’s desire of becoming a vampire fulfilled from Edward, in his fight for her survival? Yes, that’s what she ultimately yearns for, to become a vampire and live happily ever after with the love of her life, Edward, locked in a beautiful body that will be forever young at eighteen. How will Jacob and his pack of wolves, which considers it their mission to save human life at all costs, take this new and strange development? And most importantly what will the all-powerful Volturi, an ancient coven of vampires who are akin to dispensers of justice and who are responsible for protecting the secret of the existence of vampires from the other species react? Will they allow this latest addition to the Cullen family?

If you’re a fan of the Twilight saga, it won’t get any better than this, or will it? And if you’re not a fan yet, you only have to pick up this book, to become one. So go read it for its raw suspense and thrills!