hip hop

I saw a new Indian movie this weekend, Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, CRAZY. Here's the synopsis on IMDB:

"Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna centers on the budding romance between Dev and Maya, who are both married to different people. Settled into a life of domestic ritual, and convinced that they are happy in their respective relationships, the protagonists still yearn for something deeper and more meaningful, which is precisely what they find in each other. From a relationship starting off in pleasant barbs, the two begin to develop and acknowledge the feelings they have beneath the surface. When their feelings come to the forefront, what results is a collision of lives and emotions, affecting everyone involved and changing them forever."

CRAZY. I'm about to spoil it, so if you can care to see it, stop reading. But the movie had a few points that I had never seen in Bollywood cinema:

1. The married characters that were in love with each other allowed themselves to explore their feelings for each other, emotionally as well as physically even if it would have meant betraying the sanctity of their marriages. In most other movies that explore similar topics (most of which don't allow any physical-outside-of-marriage relationships to exist), the protagonists return to their marriages because that's "the right thing to do," or they die. Huh.
2. Dev was a famous hot-shot soccer player who lost his hops, and a $5 million contract, after getting hit by a car. Thus becoming a bitter, angry man who took his shit out on his wife and his kid. His wife, Rhea, was the head editor for the #2 soon-to-become #1 fashion magazine in the US, so she was doing pretty good for themselves. In one scene where they're confronting each other about their relationship, Shah Rukh Khan reiterates his feelings that she's never there for their son cause she's too busy working. She sharply responds that when a man isn't around for their kid cause he's always working, no one ever questions him, why should he question her just cause she's a woman? Oh SNAP!
3. Rishi and Maya don't have a very physically intimate relationship at all. And this is explored through scenes where they're in bed together, and Maya is off in another world. In scenes where they're confronting each other about the unhappiness in their relationship, Rishi talks about how the physical aspect is an important, legitimate part of a loving relationship, a topic that's that I haven't seen discussed in Indian movies at all.
4. In the end, the characters got a divorce, and still lived somewhat normal lives! Rhea was still head of the fashion magazine, Rishi met someone else and remarried three years later (although she was white. Would a "good Indian girl" not marry a divorced man?) has there ever been an Indian movie where the characters got a divorce and still lived normal lives without being out-casted from society?

So the movie talked about a lot of "progressive" ideas for Indian movies. But, the movie took place in New York, focusing on NRI American characters where it might be more acceptable by resident Indians for such relationship dynamics to exist, perhaps with a 'not in our house' attitude. I'm not gonna hate, cause at least the movies out there, being watched, and possibly stirring discussions. But it shouldn't be ignored that the characters were somewhat removed from the norms that South Asian societies exist in. Would uncles and aunties watching the movie in India allow themselves to believe that such relationships may exists in their own communities? Would the storywriter have written the same story if the movie had taken place in Mumbai? Or Karachi? Would they have gotten divorces? Would they have had extra-marital affairs? Would the film have been banned by the local governments if it were to take place in South Asia? Maybe, maybe not, but interesting things to think about.

Check this out, too, this is pretty cool, Mos Def showed up outside Radio City Music Hall during the MTV Video Music Awards in a flat bed truck outfitted with speakers and amps, and started doing an impromptu freestyle performance. That would have been sweet to see! But his set was cut short cause he was arrested for disorderly conduct. Huh?! Apparently, being the conscious rapper he is, most of the content of his raps were criticising the Bush administration for the slow response to Hurricane Katrina, and talking about the the fact that even after a year, the people of New Orleans still need a lot of help. What happened to the right to public gatherings? Check out the article here, where you can also listen to a part of his performance.

This past Thursday, I woke up at about noon, trying to take advantage of the day off I had for Thanksgiving, and recoupe from the All Natural show I checked out the night before. Although it was a normal day when I arose, Thursday night was a momentus evening among the extended Trivedi family household.

After I woke up I showered up, then headed to Caputo’s with the moms. Picked up a bunch of herbs I’ve never used before—like sage, marjoram, celery seeds—and about 4 pounds of tofu. After I got home, I mashed up all the tofu, squished it into a strainer-bowl thing, put a plate and a gallon of milk resting on top of it and let is sit in the fridge for about 2 and a half hours. Meanwhile, watched the bears finished getting wailed by the cowboys, and cut up some vegetables—celery, mushrooms, onions, and garlic. I sauted the vegetables for a bit, added a bunch of dried bread, and the herbs.

After I took the bowl of tofu out off the fridge, I hollowed it out til I was left with a one-inch bowl of tofu. Dropped some of my stuffing in there, covered it up with the tofu I scooped out, flipped it onto a baking sheet, and ‘viola’ as they say. I had on my kitchen table a Tofu Turkey. It's on.

I basted it with sesame oil, soy sauce, jalepeno mustard and a bit of orange juice a few times while i let it cook for about two hours. But in the end, my family for the first time in our lives, had something kind of comparable to a turkey on Thanksgiving. Damn, when I put it that way, it doesn’t sound so momentous. But with all the dramatic Star-Wars-ish music you guys were humming in your head while you were reading this, I’m sure you got the same effect I did. It's on. Lol.

Wednesday night checked out All Natural at The Metro. It was tight, lots of local hip hop. But Cap D took the show, as usual, with his brand of conscious hip hop. Tight, tight shit.

So I went to this hip hop thing that took place in the second floor of an auto garage last night. That was a cool-ass place to see a hip hop show. There was a big area for breakers to break it down, there was a live hip hop band there performing for a bit, Primeridian performed, too. I’ve been hearing their names around Chicago forever, but I’ve never had a chance to see them live. They were tight, all original beats, and two dudes flowing some hot shit. And at the end of the night, the man himself Afrika Bambaataa hit the decks for two hours. It was tight, he spun some super old tracks, and some fresh takes on newer tracks, like the milkshake song, lol, that was funny. Price’s Kiss over this TIGHT beat. It was cool. Tolgar came by, Tina came by, and my boy Ranjit helped throw the event down. Crazy, this Indian b-boy bringing Afrika Bam to a garage to throw down. Apparently the show was organized to protest against a hip hop show at the vic friday night sponsored by Kool cigarette’s. I still gotta talk to some people to get a better scoop on what exactly their beef is with that, so I’ll let you know as soon as I know.

The rest of the weekend was... cheap. I’m leaving for Mexico to go to a friends wedding on Wednesday, so this weekend I kept on the downlow so I can keep my funds for the trip. Friday I chilled with Eric, had a beer at his place and just hung out. Saturday... what the hell did I do saturday? Oh yea, chilled with Tolgar, got a bite to eat with Tina and her old buddy from work Phil. Sunday went to a Capoiera class, then hit up the Bam show. It's on.

What I’m listing to right now:

manilal nag, raag jog: My boy Ajit from Michigan hooked me up with a bunch of good Indian classical CDs when I was up there last weekend, and I’ve been listening to this CD incessantly. His melodic development just sounds so sweet and serene. There’s this part of the song where he’s doing his jhala (the fastest section of an instrumental in which the melody played on the main strings is accompanied by rapid strumming of the drone-strings) where for a few beats he’ll stop hitting his drone strings altogether, play through a few dissident notes, and resolve back starting up the rapid strumming of the drone strings again, and is just sounds SWEEEEEEEEEEEEET. I’ll put a sample up on my site if I can, you gotta hear it. Or just go out and buy the CD.

Whad up.

So I’ve been more sporadic on my diary-uh than usual. For those of you that came to my site more than once since my last post, I sincerely apologize. Those of you who didn’t even notice, I hope you die a lonely and miserable death (just kidding, i’m sure you’re really great).

So I went to a hip hop show at The Abbey last Wednesday. It was pretty cool. I only saw the last few songs of the first opening act, but they were pretty good. They were a live hip hop group, so props for doing it live. Hell yea. The second act was this guy named Diverse and a DJ. He wasn’t all that. And he kept saying ‘I’m from Chicago, man.’ The novelty got old after the 4th or 5th time he reminded me. And like I said, he wasn’t even all that. His beats were alright, and he was flowing, but that’s about it... I was at the boards at okayplayer.com, and there was a whole thread comparing Diverse to Talib Kweli. What?? Hello?? I was like ‘people’ve even heard of this guy? And they’re trying to compare him to Kweli??!! Helllllll no.’ Kweli’s waaaaay tighter than this guy was. I’ve seen em both live, and Kweli’s tight as hell. Anyway, whatever. Then the main act, RJD2, came on. He was pretty freaking good. He was on 4 turntables, so he was mixing a few records together and scratching and stuff, and he had an MPC and he was playing out melodies and stuff on the sampler with images of fish on a screen projected behind him (?). It was tight. Good show.

So I ran two miles on Saturday and again on Monday. So I’m getting there. I was looking at pictures from this event from last year that I’m doing the 5k run for, and I think I’m taking it way more seriously than I should. The road is gonna be MOBBED with people, and Jared at work was saying for the first half mile, it's so crowded I’m probably gonna end up walking, even if I try to run. Worthless.... So yea, I’ll be fine... Either way, I’m gonna try to run the full 3.5 half sometime before the race, hopefully this weekend.

I’m going to the Indy500 on Sunday with my cousins. That’ll be fun. Crystal, my little cousin (who would kill me if she heard me calling her ‘little’ cause she’s 17) is HUGE into Nascar, and racing in general, so it’ll be fun. Hell yea.

Out.