I have no particular penchant for fads. Bhed Chaal, or mass hysteria in the age of viral news can be quiet misleading. Hence I refrain from being swayed away by the trends. This doesn't mean I completely rule out what's "in". But, it simply means that I give them time and energy only if they mean worthwhile to me. I never quite got into the film/TV series crazy college fraternity because for me, dragging myself through the onerous task of watching something for 2-3 hours had often turned into an ordeal. The last time I have into the mass hysteria was for the movie "Kites", for I was a somewhat crazy Hritik Roshan fan, more so after Dhoom 2. Not anymore, I vowed.
Hence I gave the likes of Friends, How I Met Your Mother, etc a miss as I could not enjoy them as much at that time. Since then, I have taken up watching movies, or TV/online shows only if I find them relatable enough. I have since discovered that I have a decent liking for the thriller drama type shows especially. In comedy, I have only been hooked substantially by only The Big Bang Theory, Khichdi and Sarabhai vs Sarabhai. In drama, I just cannot get over Mahabharat (the new one that aired on Star Plus). Desperate to get me out of my self imposed TV series moratorium, my brother after gifting me a Friends DVD and seeing it gathering dust, introduced me to Sherlock. I could not not like Benedict Cumberbatch. I found him and the series equally gripping. Then I got into the Mahabharat phase. Introduced to me by my mother, I thoroughly enjoyed the ethical dilemma laden series. I loved the grandiose and the dialogues. It was a refreshing return to the real "tatsam" Hindi and the granular dissection of the situations that the characters undergo that hooked me. The music, the sets and the dilemmas live up to the longest epic ever composed. I have been told by people that the Doordarshan version of early 90s is the best, and my mother has watched both and liked both. For lack of time I haven't watched the older one. But this one lives up to the expectations really well. Mahabharat was composed by sage Vyasa to act as the catalogue of all possible human emotions, and it is said that whatever happens in this world is there in the epic, and what's not there doesn't exist. So when the works was going crazy for GoT, I devoured this.
I consciously skipped watching Game of Thrones until 2017, much after it became a rate- partly for lack of time from other interests, and partly because of the aversion of being blindly driven by viral content on social media. When I did, I finished off 6 seasons within less than 4 weeks, in between some back breaking projects at work. And I could relate to much of it, without being excessively overawed by the Machiavellian realpolitik. I now try to watch content from a space where I can grasp the finer details of the character relevant to me, without being too swayed by their brilliance. And I think if the character has helped me internalise the situation, its brilliance is materialised :), especially in case of drama or thrillers.
Now, I have become more discriminating with the content I watch, so I pick them up when I'm mostly convinced totally of the return in time and obviously relation with reality. A recent criteria of watching movies has also come from watching the interviews of good actors, writers and directors. For instance, I have watched most Pankaj Tripathi interviews online last year, and have been picking up some other artists, most of whom are very realistic in their profession and portrayal, and above par in their execution of the story.
Through this series Bioscope, I will try to present my perspective on various aspects of movies, acting and television, as and when I can. They will not be reviews or criticisms per se, but my observations and takeaways from what I came across, as a common feeling-thinking human being
Hence I gave the likes of Friends, How I Met Your Mother, etc a miss as I could not enjoy them as much at that time. Since then, I have taken up watching movies, or TV/online shows only if I find them relatable enough. I have since discovered that I have a decent liking for the thriller drama type shows especially. In comedy, I have only been hooked substantially by only The Big Bang Theory, Khichdi and Sarabhai vs Sarabhai. In drama, I just cannot get over Mahabharat (the new one that aired on Star Plus). Desperate to get me out of my self imposed TV series moratorium, my brother after gifting me a Friends DVD and seeing it gathering dust, introduced me to Sherlock. I could not not like Benedict Cumberbatch. I found him and the series equally gripping. Then I got into the Mahabharat phase. Introduced to me by my mother, I thoroughly enjoyed the ethical dilemma laden series. I loved the grandiose and the dialogues. It was a refreshing return to the real "tatsam" Hindi and the granular dissection of the situations that the characters undergo that hooked me. The music, the sets and the dilemmas live up to the longest epic ever composed. I have been told by people that the Doordarshan version of early 90s is the best, and my mother has watched both and liked both. For lack of time I haven't watched the older one. But this one lives up to the expectations really well. Mahabharat was composed by sage Vyasa to act as the catalogue of all possible human emotions, and it is said that whatever happens in this world is there in the epic, and what's not there doesn't exist. So when the works was going crazy for GoT, I devoured this.
I consciously skipped watching Game of Thrones until 2017, much after it became a rate- partly for lack of time from other interests, and partly because of the aversion of being blindly driven by viral content on social media. When I did, I finished off 6 seasons within less than 4 weeks, in between some back breaking projects at work. And I could relate to much of it, without being excessively overawed by the Machiavellian realpolitik. I now try to watch content from a space where I can grasp the finer details of the character relevant to me, without being too swayed by their brilliance. And I think if the character has helped me internalise the situation, its brilliance is materialised :), especially in case of drama or thrillers.
Now, I have become more discriminating with the content I watch, so I pick them up when I'm mostly convinced totally of the return in time and obviously relation with reality. A recent criteria of watching movies has also come from watching the interviews of good actors, writers and directors. For instance, I have watched most Pankaj Tripathi interviews online last year, and have been picking up some other artists, most of whom are very realistic in their profession and portrayal, and above par in their execution of the story.
Through this series Bioscope, I will try to present my perspective on various aspects of movies, acting and television, as and when I can. They will not be reviews or criticisms per se, but my observations and takeaways from what I came across, as a common feeling-thinking human being
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