No Smoking

Oh My God!

This is all what I can manage when I now get what 'No Smoking' was really about. The movie is as close to about 'quitting smoking' as Laloo Prasad Yadav is a fashion photographer( Okay. Bad simile this, I concede. I just wanted to get my point across). All I want to/should say is this, Anurag Kashyap is a fucking genius. Period. I should have known it before watching 'No Smoking' and hence, should have watched it with a bit of respect. I almost slept through the movie and now, I regret it. And how.

This is one movie which makes you think. We Indians, have the habit of being spoon fed right from the academics to even movies, as I realized lately. There is almost a fixed pattern in our movies, there are very few directors who push the envelope and even if they do. they are panned by the 'Critics' and the mass alike. Although, there has been a surge a of directors who have gone beyond the stereotyped Circular motion around the trees and have given us some quality movies. Anurag Kashyap is one of the clan. Deriving inspiration from the David Lynch, Stanley Kubrik, Martin Scoresese School of film making, he gives us a philosophical treat. Yes, this movie has tones philosophy, the cigarette shown in the movie is a metaphor to John's soul. It is about one man against the whole society. Whether he will confirm or will he stand his ground? And then the 'Baba ki prayogshala' is about this structured moralist world which is so far removed from reality that makes one living in it possible (Although, I don't agree much with this version of the director) and hence, the constant references to the obscure Cigarette Shashtra and even the weird fees, which is some 21 Lakh 1 1 Thousand and one. Yes, this is very much your one man against the whole society whine. Very Fountainhead like. Although the idea itself is much talked and written about. What stands out for No Smoking is the execution. The manner in which the Director has drawn parallels from the real world leaves you awe struck.

The movies does take inspiration from the Franz Kafka's The Trial(the protagonist Joseph K. is taken to Jail without any fault of his) and David Lynch’s Quitters Inc. But, that takes nothing away from the Director who gives us a movie which delights you, teases you, makes you think.

I've not seen the movie second time around so I can't elaborate that much on the movie plot but what happens is this, K, the protagonist of the story is a Chain Smoker, smoking almost 5-6 packets of Cigarettes without any worry, admiring himself in the mirror and says, 'No one tells me what to do.' Cigarette to him is an integral part of his living, his identity card, his soul in this directionless 'idol seeking' world. Yes, Cigarette being used as a metaphor for soul to many would sound rather weird. But, why not? It is up to the Individual to decide where his soul lies. We didn't decide for Howard Roark that his soul lies in Architecture. It was he himself. Similarly, we can't decide for anyone else. No matter how bad or how good, a soul is a soul. Sorry for digressing, so, K doesn't want to part away with Cigarette at any cost and then starts the constant nagging of his wife, the 'advice' of his peers. Symbolically, it can be interpreted as: Here is one man who is doing something and he loves it. It may be unconventional for the conventional society and thus, they try molding him, try converting him, try breaking him.

will post more later..tired.. :)

B for Bihari...

My small tribute to the greatest language ever. Bihari.

I’ve always wasted my time convincing people that there is no language as ‘Bihari’. Although the people of the state can be termed as Biharis, there is no language of the same name. Majority of the language spoken in the state can be loosely categorized as: Maithili, Bhojpuri, English, Hindi, Bihari English, and Bihari Hindi. Now, every state presents a distorted version of Hindi and English which is so comical that it is insightful in ways. So wide is the spectrum, that an entire language can be spawned by the colloquial usage. So in that way, Bihari(the language here) also consists of some of the most interesting and strange words that one will possible encounter.

Bahooot : This is actually a contorted version of ‘bahut’. Bahut in Hindi means plenty and is pronounced conventionally bereft of any enthusiasm between the alphabets h and t. But, Biharis extend hut to hoot to give a completely new word.

Usage: Indian Team ajkal bahooot accha khel rahi hai.
Indian Team is playing very well these days.


Thethar: It means a stubborn person. Someone who is oblivious to all the advices coming around.

Usage: Hum apne beta se tang aa chuke hain. Ek number ka thethar, baat hi nai sunta.
I’ve given up all my hopes on my son. He is very obstinate, doesn’t listen to me at all.

Hehar: It conveys the same meaning as ‘Thethar’ and thus, is a duplicate of ‘thethar’. The only difference being ‘Hehar’ is used sparsely as compared to ‘Thethar’.

Bhutlana: It means to get lost or to lose your way.

Usage: Aap humko unke ghar ka address de dijiye nai to hum naye shehar me bhutla jayenge.
Please give me his address or else I will be lost in the new town.

Konchi: It means ‘what’. It is generally used in the sense of enquiring, sometimes used with a slice of frustration.

Usage: Konchi bol rahe ho? Humko kuch bhi samajh me nai aaa raha hai.
What are you trying to say? I’m not getting anything.


Palthi Maar ke baithna: it means sitting by crossing your legs, the Punjabi counterpart of it is ‘Chaukdi maar ke baithna’.

Budbak: A stupid person is labeled as a ‘Budbak’. It is generally used with a sense of levity and is used for someone who commits silly mistakes or shows immaturity.

Usage: Arre Budbak, baat samajh me nai aata hai kya.
Stupid! Don’t you understand a thing as simple as this?

Fascination with‘s’ and ignoring the ‘sh’: Generally, the hardcore biharis are detected by this full-proof (or fool proof?) test. Though, not all biharis swap the ‘sh’ with s but most of them do it. Here the‘s’ and ‘sh’ are the Hindi’s ‘dant sa’ and ‘talabya sh’ respectively. Mostly, it is the ‘sh’ which is exchanged by‘s’ and is never the other way around.
Therefore, ‘Ashok’ is pronounced as ‘Asok’ ; ‘Shyam’ as ‘Syam’, ‘Station’ as ‘Sta-sun’. etc. Biharis also have a great grievance with the word ‘v’ so much that they have sworn never to use it and replace it with their much loved alphabet ‘b’ or ‘bh’. Thus, Vinod will become ‘Binod’ , ‘Van’ will become ‘Bhan’, ‘Available’ becomes ‘Abhay-label’ or in the most trying circumstances ‘Abhay-labool’.

Chooche: It is not the same word which you think it is. This word is very much a vegetarian word amongst the Biharis and is generally used when one is eating a particular thing without adding anything else. For, example if you are eating rice only or only having ‘rotis’, the chances are pretty ripe that a Bihari would advise:
Arre Chaval chucche kyun kha rahe ho, Dal le lo.
Why are you eating only rice, take some Dal also.

Garda: it is an adjective used when praising something/ someone. It is used both for living and non-living things. Or, sometimes it is used entirely in itself without any sentence to portray a complete emotion.

Usage I: Kya Garda shot maara hai.<>.
What a terrific shot he has hit.

Usage II: A – “ Tumko pata hai, humko Maths me 100 aaya.”
B – “ Garda!”

A- “You know I got 100 hundred in Maths.”
B- “Fabulous!”

Dhoot teri ki: it is used in moments of acute frustration when an act produces a result different from desired or when one anticipates his undoing by a certain action.

Usage: Dhoot teri ki, kitna aasan question choot gaya.
Shit! What an easy question I missed.

I know there are plenty of words that skips my mind right now. All the hardcore Biharis are invited to extend the collection.