Sunday, December 28, 2008

Dear Aamir

Hello Aamir,

Suhel here. We haven't communicated so far because of my SRK camp leanings and all that. But hey, no hard feelings at all! In fact, let me start with a confession. I love SRK, admire him, adore him. Have done so since I saw him in 'Circus' (don't remember much about 'Fauji'). I am his 'fan' to say the least. I look forward to SRK's movie as a purely personal experience. It is something I cannot define or back with logic. But I also happen to be a lover of this medium of cinema and if by some weird script a movie was to save my life by it's sheer cinematic experience and excellence and I was down to my last penny, I would place that penny on a project of yours. Yes, Aamir Khan's!

I have the highest regard and respect for you. No, not the grudging one you will expect from a thoroughbred SRK loyalist, but genuine awe and admiration from a lover of the medium for one of it's greatest proponents. And the respect has been accumulated over masterpieces like Sarfarosh, Lagaan, Dil Chahta, Rang De Basanti and reached the zenith with Taare Zameen Par. And now, when I went in to watch Ghajini this afternoon the expectations were similarly high, in spite of some not so flattering reviews. I must tell you, when I left the theatre three and a half hours later, the expectations had been cruelly dashed (much like the way Ghajini smashed your head in the movie) and the respect climbed down quite a few peaks.

I am still to come to terms with what I saw. With all due respect to everyone, this movie had three names written all over it - Sunny Deol of Gadar, Mithun Chakraborty of any of those Ootywood movies and any of Thailavaar's movies. Even scratching to the core, the heart of the movie you could not find the name 'Aamir Khan' anywhere. I will not go into the flaws and weaknesses of the movie, the plot, the characters or anything. Because if I start the list will be so long that even a completely able person will remember only half of them by the time I finish.

I just want to let you know that there are millions of silent admirers like me who look up to you as far as Indian cinema is concerned. And you are far too talented to let us down like this. We really can do with eight or ten fewer packs on your abs, we will not complain if the ushers don't sport the same hairstyle as you do, we are just fine with you calling whoever whatever you want on your blog. But the only request is to respect our expectations from that one movie you do in a year. Ghajini is a slap on the face of Indian cinema, more so because it has been delivered by you.

Hope to write to you again, and soon, and with very different feedback to share:)

All the best.

Regards,
Suhel

An ardent fan of Indian cinema

6 comments:

maxdavinci said...

fan boy!

i wud have bought it if you came out with something similar for rabji's jodi issues!


till then its an SRK fan throwing mud!

Suhel Banerjee said...

@maxdavinci - I think that's a bit harsh! Haven't I made my loyalties, allegiances and admiration very clear?

And I wanted to write about RNBDJ but was quite disappointed to start writing:(

RaunaQ said...

I completely agree with you, word for word.

shaon said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
shaon said...

I like Aamir in Ghajini too (along with all other great works of his). But I like your post :)

Suhel Banerjee said...

@shaon - Happy to hear! And yes, Aamir in general has a good body of work behind him. Looking forward to better movies from him.