Chillar Party - I Love "Offbeat" movies

I watch a lot of movies comprising of all kind of genres. But I love to watch these offbeat movies which come with a different package as a whole. Recently watched the movie “Chillar Party” which on the first look seems to be a children’s special but packed with lot of sensible message for the grownups. The movie shows the grit and determination as well as the sensitivity and emotion with which the kids react to situations and the narration is perfect. The Story, Direction, Screenplay and overall taking of the movie is awesome.

The movie is a nice entertainer with lot of comedy blended with a social message. It shows the importance of values and team work in a narrative style with full of humor and emotion. In the movie, the way a kid reacts emotionally to his mom, when he realizes his mistake in creating trouble to others, shows the sensitivity of the kids. It shows with a touch of humor, how kids grasp the surroundings and try to imitate others. Finally in the climax, it says about values with utmost conviction, that the elders tend to forget what they study in books and tend to behave differently from what they are taught and what is good. Last but not the least, in the movie, the way parents love and support their kids is really commendable.

I am neither a specialist in writing a movie review nor I want to load you with the story in this blog. The main point I want to highlight is the reaction of the so called “Movie Critics” to such movies. The movie is given a rating of 2 out of 5 in Times of India (TOI). Rest of the critics are a bit considerate and praised the movie, but still rated the movie to average.  I know and I completely agree that everyone has their own opinions and they need not align with others. This is especially true in the case of a movie. But TOI reviews influence people to decide whether to go for the movie or not.

The TOI review states that the Indian Tweens are smart and are loaded with Cartoon Network & Hollywood and hence you need to have a story, adventure, drama and pace.  I don’t know what the critic means by saying the movie is lacking in Story, Drama, Adventure or Pace. May be Dabaang, Murder 2 or Singham have all the above which were able to get 4 star ratings from him. I think he missed the term “MASALA” without which a movie is not considered good by him. The most ironic thing is that this is the only movie in recent times which got a 2 rating whereas some movies which will make you mad got 3.5.

Whenever I read an article in newspaper, I try to read the comments and the reactions of readers about the article. When I have gone through the comments for this article, I couldn’t find even one who is in agreement with the critic. Some of the audience really felt bad that they would have missed the movie, if they just decided based on the Ratings. Anyhow, I am really glad that I don’t watch movies based on their reviews or ratings but based on my convenience.

One more point to highlight is the publicity of the movie which determines the success and hence the ratings. There are some real good movies for example Anjali, Little Soldiers (Telugu) , Pasanga (Tamil) and the famous “Taare Zameen Par”. I feel major factor in the success of Taare Zameen Par is Aamir Khan and his publicity expertise. The other movies like “I am Kalam”, “Stanley ka Dabba” etc. (forget for a second whether they are good or not) couldn’t make to box office or couldn’t even get noticed by general public just because of the lack of stars and publicity. Hopefully Salman Khan will grab some attention for “Chillar Party”, after all it is his production. 

Anyhow, "Chillar Party" is one more proof to the statement that 

“Children movies are much more mature than all the grownup movies put together.”

PS: I watch all kind of action movies as well, but unable to agree to the trend that the success of the movie is solely based on the commercial elements alone and to consider a movie to be hit, it has to fetch crores of rupees. Hence this blog post. :-)

School Days - The Most Memorable Days- Are They Now a Days???

Every one of us might have thought (at least once in our life time) to go back to the childhood and enjoy those lovely school days. Those were the most memorable days with lots of fun and learning. Coming from a small town and an upcoming English medium school, I had the privilege of enjoying the school days at its best.

We used to have lot of fun in school, whether it’s inside or outside of the classroom. I will talk about the stuff that is outside the classroom, which we don't find current day schools and about the rest in future posts.

Every Kid has the "Right To Play"

I still remember those school campuses that had a big playground (may not be the property of school but considered as playground of the school) and a play period of 45 min for exercises, drills and games. I remember those playgrounds with lush green grass on which the whole school used to there in the evening. There used to be prayer Vandemataram in the morning & Jana gana mana in the evening followed by some activities like news reading etc. Though the games period was only 45 min we used to extract 2 hours of play time from lunch hour and small recess breaks.

I never went home mentally exhausted like the kids of current day. We used to have a lot of physical exercise in the form of games and all the stress due to study used to get vanished by the time we reached home.

The games were innovative and we played by our own rules involving both physical and mental strength unlike current day video games designed by someone else. I remember those days in rainy season when the school was closed in case of heavy rains and those paper boats of different sizes and styles. We used to display our creativity in making our own kites or the marvelous designs of decorative items made out of clay. Those creative games which we used to play, creating the rules on the spot and manipulating them as per the conditions. A foot ball game in case of rain used to become mud rugby and in case of heavy downpour a swimming pool. :-)

I can hardly find any such school now a days which has a good playground or giving any importance to Sports or any other extracurricular activities for that matter. All the time kids are taught only to mug up, mug up and then mug up again just for the sake of grades in exams.

I came to know recently that one of my nephews is attending a 10+2 college (about to write the IIT exam) and has to study 14 hours per day. They teach Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry for 5 days a week, one day for languages and exam for another half day leaving only half a day of rest time per week. And after all this, probably he will end up as a financial consultant in a multinational bank. My another nephew is attending a secondary school that teaches him 12 hrs per day. I am not sure what they teach and what their course curriculum is but he is being prepared for the IIT JEE in his 6th standard.

IIT from 6th standard !!!! 

Teaching specific subjects only during childhood might not be a good strategy. If a kid is told about only the subjects that are important for IIT from 6th standard, what happens to the languages, natural sciences or social studies? They play very much important role in the growth of a kid. Language is the means of expression, Natural sciences teach about functioning of nature and Social studies teach about the way of living. All these help in developing a healthy relationship with our environment and hence a better social life.

Pressure and Burden of School

At our time the choice of subject was done after our 10th standard when we have to decide between Engineering, Medicine, Social Studies or Commerce. Many of us, though less, had an option to choose History and Commerce as their subjects. Now a days there seems to be no option for a student to decide what his favorite subject is. Parents decide in advance for them during the primary school itself and join them in such a school.

We cannot blame parents for this, as this has become the way of education and they feel their children will be left behind if they don’t do so. The current day education system is concentrating more on the earning for living rather than on living itself.

We have to appreciate the kids that they don't complain about attending the school. They think going to school and studying is the only thing they need to do during childhood. The real problem with this kind of pressure is they consider only success matters and are unable to take failure. This might have very damaging effects on the future of the Kid.I read somewhere that Life is about taking a chance, making a choice and dealing with the results and now a days kids don't think of taking  chance, parents and teachers don't allow them  to make a choice and finally they are unable to deal with the results.

I am a real admirer of the competition and I don't think this kind of pressure can be called competition.Whatever might be the gains, they are not worth enough at this cost, at the cost of the most precious time of life, childhood. There is this heart touching song by a graduate student from the movie 3 IDIOTS about the lost childhood.

Give me some sunshine, Give me some rain.

Give me an other chance. I wanna grow up once again..

Saari Umar hum mar mar ke jee liye,

Ek pal tho ab hume jeene do..jeeneee do...

Let’s give Kids the chance to grow up during their first chance itself. Let‘s not create a condition that they will regret one day. Let’s not Balaatkaar their life in a hurry to make a chamatkar.

One day, and that day should never come, Kids might say that they don’t want their childhood back.

PS: Please leave your opinion on this subject and provide your suggestions in the comments section to break this viscous cycle and make the childhood of current day kids more memorable.