Gult hero antics explained

A series of forwards sent recently on yahoo, featured video clips of one or two film heroes from 'down south'.
(Btw, i wonder why people think south is 'down'. They probably never grew out of those 2-D maps used in high school:P)
Neway, the reason these clips were being fwded is obvious. The protagonist is shown performing ludicrous stunts like a)causing entire trains to move backwards with a simple index finger gesture b)resisting electric shock c)setting off timed-explosives by hurling a bullet at the device with his mouth....and the list goes on.
What seems stranger to the viewers than the scenes themselves, is the fact that people 'down south' (damn now i cant stop saying 'down') actually watch such movies. After numerous futile discussions at the mess table, i am convinced i know why this happens. And since i have my blog to yap about nething that goes on in my head, i decided to present my argument here.

I start with the following declaration: Everybody likes to have a hero; someone who they believe is invincible; someone with abilities which an ordinary person can not possess himself. The stories of Ram and Krishna are probably direct consequences of this hero worship.
Now for the relevance of the declaration to the topic.
Consider this. You need a superhero. But lets face it, if u were told there exists a person, today, who has super-human powers, you would guffaw in the face of the messenger. Strangely, you are always ready to accept the Ramayana as truth but you are not ready to believe that something like that is possile again. So where do u look for such heroism, without worrying about its feasibility? Yup, in the movies! No wonder then, that we like the matrix or spiderman. And the southie movies are a more complete package. The plot revolves around a main story and the hero's super-human powers are only incidental. The movie isnt about his powers per se. I like to call this magical realism (borrowed from fiction).
After so many years of interacting with movie audience back home, i realised that they dont bother about the probability. They know it is not possible. But they cudnt care less. "Why the hell do u need a movie if u want to watch feasible feats?", is what they say. Makes sense.

But there is another lil problem. There are a good number of southie 'superstars' who are old enuf to have superstar grandsons and yet continue shaking a leg with the likes of katrina kaif. A lot of people expressed surprise at this too. "How on weird earth can u watch a 50 year old guy paired with a gal fit to be his daughter?"
This can be explained neat as well. While unearthly 'herogiri' is a must in these movies, it is also necessary for people to be able to relate to the character. The average southie hero is more similar to the common man than say SRK or John something. While its just fine to watch aishwarya dance along-side Bacchan junior, it is actually encouraging to watch katrina go crazy over Venkatesh :P

And before i get bored myself, one last point. Today the plot of a decent southie movie is way more creative and interesting than that of any bollywood movie. Barring an occasional RDB, a successful hindi movie is either a remake of a hollywood flick or a routine love/marriage/tragedy/bounce-back combination (Now-a-days its that godawful Emram Hashmi and the equally loathsome Himesh Reshammiya in a cap). So the antics and/or looks of the southie hero can be tolerated, as long as the story holds ur attention.

There. I am done presenting my argument. I am not open to any counter-argument. If u actually have something to say against such strong points, u are either dumb or jobless.

how different is the last lecture neway?

Very different! So are the last set of exams. And ridiculous as it may seem, you are sure you will miss both. But that's probably true for most irksome things in life. They don't seem all that bad once you are done with them.
I am a stickler for keeping track of all firsts and lasts. So I battled a very adamant thursday afternoon nap and scurried through the heat (OT, its blazing hot these days!) into an air-conditioned Microprocessors class/lab. And since I've never been the type to keep nostalgic feelings to myself, I put the thought into everybody's head. And imagine my surprise when most people reacted the exact same way that I did with an "aaw...its the last lecture". We never wanted them to happen. We never wanted them to end. And thats the beauty of it.

When i saw God...

22nd March 2006 is one day I'll not forget for a long time. The day started off with the impossible. Some 3-4 friends of mine and I got out of our sacks at 6:00am, which, for most people around here, is unthinkable, leave alone managable.

What was behind this new-found zeal to rise early? It was day five of the final India-England test match at the Wankhede Stadium and we hoped to see India chase to win. Or so I told my friends. Inside my head, though, there was this other, more prominent reason. I wished to see my idol, probably the greatest player to have occupied the batting crease in recent times, in person that day.

We reached about an hour ahead of the scheduled start of play and entered the West stand (mid-off view), which isn't really among the popular vantage points in the stadium. But imagine our joy when we found the entire Indian team going thru their warm up rite infront of our stand! There was no time to waste. We scampered down to the fence and I jumped to occupy the position in line with the man himself...Sachin Tendulkar! I was at loss for words, as I am even today when I sit down to describe the feeling. It was sheer joy bordering on silly euphoria. And after that, nothing that happened in the match mattered (thought it kinda hurt to see India crumble the way they did and lose the match to a depleted England team). I shouted to him the standard Sachin chant - Sachiiiiiinnnnn...Sachin at the top of my voice, taking the wind out of my lungs. And voila! He looked! No sign of any emotion though. Which is understandable, given the number of people who wudve done that earlier.

Neway, the last few months have been pretty interesting for me in terms of meeting the biggies, from nobel lauraetes to cricketing legends. Keep 'em coming!