Being a freelancer with the Features Desk of a newspaper is both fun and a terror. It is fun because you can choose, and be chosen for, each and every beat. Why, you get a byline on the very front page, an honour regulars rave about. You can come up with an idea, and you get a free hand most often.
The downside is that you have to prove yourself each time with every article. Absolute trash in extremely poor English is the run of the mill, and is accepted, given the hurry-n-burry of publishing a daily. But you have to burnish like a pitambari polished copper vessel every time. It is good for you though because thus you truly re(de)fine your art!
Well, one gets all n sundry assignments, in brief. During my stint as a freelancer with the "New Indian Express", "The Hindu", and "Newstime", i enjoyed this privilege hugely. A great break from n an interesting contrast to my academics, the journalistic assignments aplenty often included film reviews as well. A special place would be reserved. I had perfected thus the art of writing in the dark, too, 'coz I had to jot down details, as in early 2000, the Google was not such an efficient search engine.
In 2001, for example, when 'Lagaan' was released, I had to review this cocktail of the two great Indian obsessions, films and cricket. The audience was treating the film match as if it were real. The cinema hall was literally charged.
Of course, I wrote a laudatory review. Oh, yes, my review snippets, titles (along with the newspaper title) used to be quoted in the newspaper adverts! Well, long lost are those heady days. At times, when I had to board the 8.30 Hyderabad-Pune express, I used to watch the afternoon show, go to the newspaper office, file the review, and rush home, and thence to the railway station, carrying all along my sparse luggage at times.
Well, the 'Lagaan' watch is etched on my memory. Why was the film so very special? For one thing, it is an upright and honest refusal to bow down to the crudity of mindless power. It is an ode to collective responsibility and collective action, so very rare in India where most all shirk every possible responsibility under some sick pretext or the other!
Basically though, it is a paean to an inspired individual taking on the powers that be. It is in my opinion an example of how an organic leader emerges from the embers of opression, deceit and lies. 'Lagaan'(लगान) is actually 'lagan' (लगन). No wonder, in an India obsessed with the hero (he can be from the field of films, cricket or politics), the film's success was a thunder!
Pratima@Well, the 'Lagaan' watch is etched on my memory for a very personal reason, too. Papa loved cricket hugely. In fact, in our family, I happen to be the only ignoramus as far as cricket is concerned. Since childhood, Papa, my brothers, they all loved cricket. Aai loved their love of the game.
Papa would watch the match till the last ball was bowled even if the Indian team would be losing. He did not like castigating loose remarks on the calibre of a player as he felt that playing at the international level was TOUGH. He would sure know as he was himself a cricket player in his college days. Somehow, the 'Lagaan' memories are interwoven with his, and hence are poignantly special for me
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