The fight worth fighting for

 We fight for many things. We fight for a better tomorrow. We fight for better materials. We fight for various causes. We fight for many reasons. We fight for love. We fight for hatred. We fight for family. We fight for friends. We find reasons to fight a fight, and we struggle hard to win the fight.

We fight to ensure that we do not lose the love of our life. We fight to ensure that the one we loved once will never come back to us. We fight for the welfare of the company we work. We fight to betray the team we work with. We fight to buy the new iPhone that came out last week. We fight for the retro car that is the earliest model of Ford.

We fight for a dream that we have been nurturing since the beginning of ourselves. We fight for a dream that we just conceived a moment ago. We fight for the friend we had known for more than a decade. We fight for the child who was born just a second ago. We fight for a religion. We fight against a religion. We fight for a cause. We fight against a cause.

We fight for reasons we never understand. We fight because we feel that is what we must do. We fight because we know that we are fighters, born to fight for what we desire. Nothing comes free. Everything has a price. To win what you desire, you have to fight.

But what is it that you desire? What is it that you want? What is it you gain? More importantly, what is the fight worth fighting for?

I believe that it is the memory of the fight that is worth fighting for.

You may lose, or you may win. You may gain or you face pain. You may love or you may hate. You may be praised or you may be teased. It doesn’t matter, for words will fade, people will go away, but the memories and the emotions close to them stay.

If you remember something that makes you cry, you have fought a fight worth fighting for. If you remember something that makes you smile, you have fought a fight worth fighting for. If you remember something that elevates your heart beat, you have fought a fight worth fighting for. If you see something on the wall that you gained after so much effort, you have fought a fight worth fighting for. If you think of the thing you lost and worry about it, you have fought a fight worth fighting for. If you see the one you loved with someone else and feel mixed emotions, you have fought a fight worth fighting for.

In the end nothing will exist. In the end, only the memory of your journey remains. In the end, it is not what you gained or lost, who you gained or lost, where you went or why you did a thing wouldn’t matter, except the journey itself. It is the journey that we fight for today, for it is the memory to be remembered tomorrow.

So let me tell you what I believe. Close your eyes. Let a memory flow to you. Does it prick your heart? Does it raise your heart beat? Does a tear drop trickle down your cheek? Does a smile appear on your lips?

Is it a memory you own?

Then you fought a fight worth fighting for.

So keep fighting, for your fight today, is your memory tomorrow.

(Image Courtesy: The Truman Show)

Everyone deserves a hug

Man is a sensuous being. His eyes are made to see. His nose is made to smell. His ears are made to hear. His tongue is made to taste. And his skin, it is meant for the most amazing feat of them all, to feel.

Some great philosophers have stated many things about feelings, but the one we all know is a simple sentence: SKIN DESERVES TO BE TOUCHED. And it is true. Sometimes everyone desires to hold the hair of the loved ones, to feel the smoothness of the skin over the lips, to feel the hand over the hand….to be lost in the world of wordless emotions. To be able to feel without having to depend on other senses.

But time has flown. And technology has given way to other senses rather than to the skin.  They try to give more emphasis to the eyes, nose, ears or tongue, and give less importance to the skin. And when the skin is ignored, the other senses become dull, and people search for other sources of emancipating their senses. They find solace in drugs when they don’t find friends. They find solace in sex when they don’t find love. They find solace in what they shouldn’t for they find it not in what they have.

Parents have forgotten how much a kiss matters. Wives have forgotten how much a brush of lips matters. Husbands have forgotten how much closeness matters. Friends have forgotten the joys they get from each other. Lovers have forgotten anything beyond the bedroom. When the skin is devoid of feelings, man turns into a beast. He doesn’t turn into an animal, for an animal cares. He turns to a beastly machine that uses humans and adores materials.

Everyone deserves a hug. A hug can destroy voids. A hug can make love blossom. A hug can reassure friendship. A hug can create magic. A hug can lift pains and sorrows. A hug is a medicine, a cure, a drug everyone needs. A hug is a word from the universe, a way of it to say that we all belong to each other and we can ensure that further with a hug.

Man finds himself empty without compassion. He is lost, troubled, confused about himself. He needs an assurance, an assurance from his fellow mates who say “I’m here for you.” He needs the promise of togetherness. He needs love, care, console. He needs compassion. He needs a hug.

Everyone deserves a hug. The wife and husband should hug often. The lovers must hug often. The friends must hug more. The teacher should hug the student. The boss must hug the employee. One needs to hug and be hugged by another. It is an action of love and care, which requires no kiss, no words, no sex, no desire. A hug can evade the illness and evilness in people’s mind. A hug can create solutions to problems, answers to questions. A hug is a nod to love. A hug is the acceptance of one another. A hug is a step closer to the universe that binds you and me.

Everyone deserves a hug. You do. I do. We all do.

Everyone deserves a hug. Now. And later. And tomorrow. Every time and every day.

Who did you hug today?

My Oscar Predication List of 2015

Hey everyone!

I know that last year I missed my Oscar predictions, but this time I am not planning to miss the show, especially because they have got some really good entries this year. And this year, we have the amazing Neil Patrick Harris hosting the show, and we have got some amazing nominees such as Boyhood, Whiplash, Theory of Everything, Interstellar, and so on. Though I am disappointed about Jennifer Aniston not being nominated, and for not seeing Gone Girl in any other list (it would have won for screenplay, hands down!), I must admit that there were movies that literally grabbed my heart and played with it.

Long story cut short, here is the list of those who I think will be the winners of the year. (P.S. When the winners are announced, the blog will updated likewise)

Blue - The ones I got correctly
Red - The ones I got wrong

1. Best Motion Picture of the Year: Boyhood OR Whiplash {Winner: Birdman}
2. Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role: Eddie Redmayne (Theory of Everything)
3. Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role: Felicity Jones (Theory of Everything) OR Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl) {Winner: Julianne Moore (Still Alice)}
4. Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role: J.K. Simmons (Whiplash)
5. Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role: Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)
6. Best Achievement in Directing: Alejandro González Iñárritu (Birdman)
7. Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen: Wes Anderson, Hugo Guinness (The Grand Budapest Hotel) {Winner: Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. and Armando Bo (Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)}
8. Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published: Damien Chazelle (Whiplash) {Winner: Graham Moore (The Imitation Game)}
9. Best Achievement in Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki (Birdman)
10. Best Achievement in Costume Design: Colleen Atwood (Into the Woods) {Winner: Milena Canonero (The Grand Budapest Hotel)}
11. Best Achievement in Sound Mixing: Craig Mann, Ben Wilkins, Thomas Curley (Whiplash)
12. Best Achievement in Editing: Barney Pilling (The Grand Budapest Hotel) {Winner: Tom Cross (Whiplash)}
13. Best Achievement in Sound Editing: Brent Burge, Jason Canovas (The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies) {Winner: Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman (American Sniper)}
14. Best Achievement in Visual Effects: Paul J. Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter, Scott R. Fisher (Interstellar) OR Richard Stammers, Lou Pecora, Tim Crosbie, Cameron Waldbauer (X-Men: Days of Future Past)
15. Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling: Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou, David White (Guardians of the Galaxy) {Winner: Frances Hannon and Mark Coulier, (The Grand Budapest Hotel)}
16. Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures - Original Song: Selma: Common (as Lonnie Lynn), John Legend (as John Stephens) - Song: "Glory"
17. Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score: The Grand Budapest Hotel: Alexandre Desplat OR Interstellar: Hans Zimmer
18. Best Foreign Language Film of the Year: Ida (Poland)
19. Best Animated Feature Film of the Year: Big Hero 6 OR How to Train Your Dragon 2
20. Best Achievement in Production Design: Adam Stockhausen, Anna Pinnock (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

Stalker - A short story

She looked him in the eyes, demanding answers. The person is question was her own sister. And the person who sat in front of her was her best friend. He was simply sipping his coffee, while she was watching. Finally she asked him, "So tell me? What were you thinking?"

He looks up at her. "What was I thinking about what?"

"She is my sister. And she said that you send her flirty messages."
"I did. Yes, I did. You do know that we used t date long time ago, right?"
"That was really long time ago."
"and she still wants to be my friend."
"What's your point?"
"I didn't find any other way to get away from her."

She stared at him, as he continued, "I still love her. But after we broke up, it took me years to get over her. And every time I get over her, she comes back to me, tries to be my friend, invokes my emotions. I fall for her all over again."
"She comes back to you because you are a good friend."
"I may be a good friend. But not to her."

She took a deep breathe,

"So you send those flirty messages to get rid of her?"
"Had to. Once I started talking to her in a different way, she just wanted to get away from me."
"What about asking her to send her pictures and stuff?"
"That was a weird way of stalking. She must have been crept out."
"She was. She actually thought you were stalking her."
"It is a psychological approach. A tactic to make people think what you want them to."
"But she did see you at some places where she had gone with her friends.
"As I said, it was stage 2."

She took his phone. She smiled and asked, "And these pictures you have of hers. You took them from Facebook, huh?"
"Yes!"
"For stage 3?"
"No. For me."

Her smile disappeared, as he continued, "I have fallen for her again. I know this will be over soon, this has been happening so many times over the years. But until then, I need to look at her pictures, to make me feel better, to let me know that I was loved once."

When they left the coffee shop, she knew that he was a friend who would never break his word, and a lover who would break his heart for the other to be happy. Unfortunately, the other will only refer to him now as a stalker. And he doesn't mind. For he was HER stalker.

But she knew one thing for certain. He was a fool nonetheless to not hear to his own heart, and act weird and stupid.

But wasn't he like the many around us?

A walk to Freedom

On 10^th of December 2005, something happened to me. Something fell like the water fall from a height. It could not come back, and it created a gash, though water is harmless. I took that incident, and turned it into my greatest pain. And the great pain gave way to a greater fear. A fear that never left me.

Until that fateful night.

On 17^th of October 2014, I was asked to go to Varkala, for fun, with my office mates. The fear that had been hooded in me for a decade took hold of me. I first rejected, then opposed, and finally I was submitted. Even in the last minute, due to picnic, I tried to back out. They didn’t let me do that.

What great deed from friends you have not known for long!

And I went with them. It was the best decision I ever chose (though not made by me).

After a four hour long drive, we reached Varkala, and stayed at Deshadan Resorts. And I had drinks. I even had a glass of bare rum without water, and I did not regret it. It is indeed quite a revelation to know that rum doesn’t give you any hangover headaches (but it does give you red eyes and a burning heart for 15 whole minutes!)

But yes, I did wake up at 12 noon next day. And I wanted to experience more. So I did the first thing I had to do to keep myself away from my routine. I removed my glasses, and didn’t wear them the entire day. Next, I switched my phone off. And I accompanied my friend to the beach.

Have you ever been to Varkala Beach? It is not actually a beach. It is a cliff followed by the beach, and immediately followed by the infinite Arabian Sea. We had to walk through some twisted roads, before we reached the cliff, where I looked down at the beach, and ahead at the infinite world. For a minute, I thought I was standing on a mountain at the edge of the world.

My friend guided me to the beach. The softness of the sand. The coolness of the water. The moody clouds. With the waves hitting my legs, I wasn’t even bothered about me getting wet. Soon the waves hit me, and the rain poured onto me. I was wet like a turkey in Christmas. But I wasn’t done yet. I went to the sea, and the sea embraced me. I felt free.

Back in the hotel I found myself swimming in the pool. I didn't join the games, because it isn't easy to play with your jeans on! But later we had a nice brunch (yeah...at 3 p.m.!), and later we walked to the beach again. This time the entire team enjoyed the sunset and the sea breeze.

We all have problems, many things to worry about. But standing there, at the edge of the world, I realized something. This earth is so big. The solar system is so much bigger. Then there's the galaxy, the universe, and many more things I do not know. Maybe we are living in a globe in some kid's room as we speak!

But the truth is...I was designed by someone. Call me a loser. Call me a dropout. Call me a lousy writer, or a day dreamer. But in this last world, I, the tiny speck, was designed to e a writer, filled with dreams and ambitions. And if I was designed perfectly in this big vast world, it only means one thing.

Someone up there expects me to keep going, no matter what happens!

It is true that I will still be cribbing and complaining. And I know that nature will reciprocate my moods. And I know this.... I will keep going. Falls and rises are meant for those who move ahead. And I shall move on...

That day...for the first time in my life, I felt free with nature....

Image Courtesy: Jishnu Vediyoor

Deshi Basara...

It was never easy being me, and yet here I am, living as me, for I am perfect as no one else but me, me, fucking me!

I had gone to watch a movie with grandma, and the movie was about a woman who rises against all odds to become a respectable person. While she didn’t enjoy the movie much, I was watching the movie the second time, so you can imagine how much engrossed I was.

There I was, sitting while the credits rolled, showing the director’s name, when grandma asks, “So she actually does that all by herself? She didn’t have her husband supporting her, not even her daughter!”

“But she had that one friend who believed in her.”

“Yes, everyone needs one.”

Yes. Everyone needs that one person they can rely on. It can be a friend, a mate, a family member, a parent, a sibling, anyone. But there’s always a boosting factor that everyone needs at certain points of their lives. The so called cause of success, while reason being inspiration and motivation.

But the next question pulled me down suddenly. “So when are you going to set your next short film?”

Quite frankly, I didn’t have any answer for that, for I was literally falling off the hooks. I was failing to get producers and investors, and I had set a team to whom I had been telling about postponing the dates for the past three months. And they were still hoping for the project to be green-lit from my side soon. And I was about to take the hardest decision of my life… to stop making short films!

I had my reasons. To start with, the first short film had made me broke, and I had just finished repaying the amounts my kind friends had lend me for the shoot. But now everyone had their hands tied due to their own commitments. And as I said earlier, I was finding it hard to get investors or producers.

But the worst of all were the people around me who gave the promise of presence, but would be absent at the time of need. I tried setting the storyboard, would fix everything, and they call me two hours after the designated meeting time and tell me that they forgot, or they were busy, or they didn’t have time. I found myself alone, and unfortunately, for making a short film you had to have a team.

I was failing at every point, and the first short film was not raising up to the mark in the case of views; the worst being the fact that not many people were interested in watching it, for it seemed like a normal horror story with good technical works (thanks to everyone who worked with me, for doing your parts perfectly). But not a project with screenplay brilliance or good direction (I got my reasons!)

To top it all, my parents dropped a big liability on me, for it is expected for the son to fulfil his duty. So now, I am forced to give away whatever I earned to the loan that they made for and by themselves, and somehow it was all for me.

Anyhow, I was at the verge of making a decision, when the question popped, and while riding back home I was coming up with an answer. And it was obvious. I was tired of running alone, so now I am gonna take a break. And why bother? It is not like anyone would give a shit! It is just one man quitting! It wouldn’t make a difference!

I reached Irinjalakuda, and here I saw a teacher from my school, who smiled and came to me and asked of my works. I didn’t know what to say, for she was one of the very few people who discovered the artist in me. As I told her that I have lost the game, she told me about her daughter. Nothing much, except that she had joined an institution in Kochi, but the next words changed my thoughts. “She was telling about her art classes. Same old plain ideas. When she called me last time, she told me that if she had worked with Sachin, she would have come across better ideas in just four days.”

The words just blew me off, as she continued, “Sachin! You may be thinking of yourself as a loser. The way I find it, you hate yourself. But there are many around who thinks otherwise.”

People only tend to see the negative when they want sorrow and pain. Pain then becomes a drug, and a day with happiness just seems misplaced. I knew what I was going through; I knew the tight spot I was thrown into. But to hell with, while they wanted me to do what they want, I was supposed to do what I want!

Two weeks back I came across a college mate, who introduced me as “My mate who dropped out of college to follow his dreams.” To everyone else, I was a stupid dropout. To him, I was a dreamer.

When you think of it, there were many who believed in me, and they still do. But more than that, there was me, the one person, the one soul that I was to not disappoint. Because that soul belongs to a fucking artist.

So here I am stating it officially. I am taking a break from short films. No, not a permanent one, just a small break until I can gather the budget. And until then, I will be working on other projects, which for the time being will just need me.

Why am I not gonna stop?

Because I am a fucking artist!

DESHI BASARA 

P.S. Thank you Ammumma and Anitha Miss for being my points of inspiration and support. And thank you Krishnadev and Manoj for still calling me a friend.

P.P.S. Thank you Ammu, Nits and Justin, and Sajin and Varun, and of course, Venma and Nivi for believing in me.

And most of all, thank you to the entire crew of Gouri… I promise this won’t be the last project. There’s still more to come…

Present updates

Hey everyone!

I know that I have been quite lazy when it came about my writings, but well, even I haven't gotten the mood to right in the past couple of weeks. The hectic schedule I am presently following literally ties my hands and keeps me mum everytime I try to pen down or write something. But the spirit has been challenged, so I asked the Pheonix to come back, and it did. So here I am, back into my usual stuff.

Presently I am working on three short film screenplays: SHE and HE, A SILENT LOVE STORY, കൊച്ചൻ കണ്ട കൊച്ചി! Yep, the third title is a bit bizarre, but since it is based on a funny true story, I am keeping a good hope over it. I am expected to finish all three by the end of this week.

Now that my first short film Gouri has crossed ten thousand views, Aircastle Productions has started upon the pre-production works for Mors Voluntaria and She and He. But the location troubles is giving me quite a headache, and thus they are being further delayed. But I haven't forgotten my promise, and I will be having 5 short films under the banner of Aircastle Productions by the end of 2014.

Meanwhile, I am also working on some short stories, namely THE DAY I LIED, SALALUDHIN, ANUSHA AND MOKSHA and LOVE IN AIR. As you can see, that is a longer list, so it will take a longer time.

However, the main thing has not been told yet. I am currently working on Criminal Part 1, my second feature film screenplay. While doing so, I am putting a little bit of effort over Kattady and Gouri (the feature film version).

Being tied up doing what you like to do is perhaps the most joyous thing in the world. To be frank, despite all the headaches and runs, despite all these work and late night sleeps, I am actually enjoying the life I am having, than the one I was asked to have by many others.