Intezaar ... and Ghost

Intezaar - music video,
Singers Arijit Singh, Asees Kaur
Featuring Sanaya Irani, Gurmeet Chaudhary
Written By Mithoon
Directed by Arif Khan
Presented by Mohit Suri & Vyrl

Beautiful song, beautiful lyrics, good direction, great acting and dancing. So good to see Sanaya on screen again, doing what she does best - acting, emoting, dancing ... she is good in all three. Story woven into the song, a story of love, pain, jealousy, betrayal, anguish, heartbreak ... told in a few short minutes ... emoted beautifully by the two actors. Both are such good actors ... their eyes emoted without words ... the first time watch, I didn't even hear the song ... the story was told through their eyes and expressions. Great onscreen chemistry ... Sanaya somehow manages to have great chemistry with almost all her costars. 

The second half of the video, when the song changes pitch, was beautifully shot ... past and present juxtaposed swiftly and smoothly ... scenes of the buildup and the denouement barely one second long, cutting from one to the other as the music soars ... the effect was brilliant ... an explosion of emotion ... and then a gentle ebbing as they both realise what they had and lost ... and come to terms with ... a love story without a happy ending. Both neither right or wrong ... just not meant to be. 

I liked her previous music video, Main Jaandiyan ... sung by Neha Bhasin ... this one is even better.

Edited: The short video tells a very intense story ... inspired me to write on it. 

If you watch the new music video Intezaar, it's from the man's point of view. A relationship gone sour, love changed to bickering, fights ... bitterness and recriminations ... and break down of the bond they shared ...
But he still waits ... she is still the love of his life ... He remembers the love, the shared laughter, the shared tears, the togetherness ... And then he remembers the fights ... with regret? The video doesn't make that clear. What is apparent though, is that he is not over her ... his wait continues.
And then he sees her with another man. She has moved on. So his wait will continue ... the lyrics say ... maybe another life, another time, another birth ... but he will wait for her.

From her point of view? She has moved on. She remembers too ... she remembers the shared moments, good and bad ... she remembers both. But finally the bad were more than the good ... she had enough ... the relationship broke ...
And she moved on.
She has a new life. A new man. A new relationship. She is happy in her new life ... the video indicates.
But she hasn't forgotten him. She also remembers the times they shared ... the good and the bad.
Maybe she looks back at 'them', at what they were ... with regret. Maybe not. Maybe it's now just a memory for her. A bittersweet memory ... she does remember the good times ... but she remembers the fights more.
And maybe she doesn't have regrets. Or not as many as he does. It seems it was easier for her to move on. It's not that she hates him ... if anything, time seems to have mellowed the bitterness, softened the tension ... so she can look back through a soft curtain of time, a gentle filter that has softened the sharp edges ... the picture is no more all dark ... there is some light among the shadows.
She remembers ... with some fondness, maybe wistfulness ... for what could have been. But not with regret.
She has moved on.
They were at one time ... but no longer.
Two people ... they don't have to be all right or all wrong ... or one right and one wrong. They both could be right in their individual places. But the places they came from were incompatible ... their paths were parallel for a time,but never quite met. They never quite walked the same path.

And so ... at some time ... the paths had to diverge.

She remembers him ... with sadness, with fondness, with wistfulness.

But she has moved on.

The song was apparently written for Aashiqui 2, but never used. So now it's been brought out as a single.

Edited to add ... Ghost released on 18th October ... sank pretty much as expected, though it did reach the Rs 2 cr mark, to my surprise. The movie was not trashed ... and Sanaya got good reviews, whatever few reviews there were. Her character does intrigue me, from the few reports of the story that are available ... so will try to catch it when it appears on some online platform. 

Indian Idol 11

After a long time, felt like making a post.

Just started watching Indian Idol 11. Watched the audition rounds the last couple of weekends,and the contestants caught my interest enough to continue watching this weekend, the so-labelled Great Grand premiere episode.

I have to say, this crop of Indian Idol singers is superb. I didn't envy the judges their task the last few weeks of whittling the contestants down to 15, and I don't envy them their job in the weeks ahead. It will be made easier for them by the public voting, of course.
Apparently some singers have been in other reality shows too, which probably accounts for how good they are, they’re not all raw.

One thing that annoyed me ... there are just five girls in the top fifteen. Come on, judges, you couldn't find six or seven girls good enough?!

What really annoyed me even more though, was that Anu Malik is back as judge after all the allegations of sexual misconduct against him. Sony packed him off last year ... why did they not stick to their guns and get someone else this year.

Saturday -

KK - was brilliant. Got the stage and the atmosphere rocking.

Adris - Naina thug lenge ... beautifully sung, soulful and with depth.

Rohit - is apparently a singer in Marathi films, wants to make a mark in Bollywood. Jee Karda ... Anu Malik stood on the table to applaud him, I felt he was okay, maybe I didn’t like the song so much. The original singer, Divya Kumar was there to support him, he sang the song much better.

Asmat Hussain - qawwali 'Aaya tere dar pe deewana'. Apparently Asmat took past in some reality show as a child, then lost his way the last few years, including drugs. He has just got back to his music. Took courage for him to confront and accept his shortcomings, his mistakes, and that too in public ... and find his way back. Kudos to him for that.

Sunny ... the boot polish boy, I don’t like to refer to him as that, but I really can’t believe that without any training, this boy sings the way he does. Yeh jo halka halka suroor hai ... he is raw, yes ... he could do with some polishing, yes ... but the raw talent this boy has, is just amazing. I hope even if he doesn't win the show, he gets picked up and mentored by one of the composers or classical singers. His voice, with a little bit of training, would be fabulous.

Rhythm/Ridham ... jhoom barabar jhoom ... I like his voice, it’s softer and more mellow than some of the other male singers who tend to get a little screechy especially in high notes.

Sunday

Rishabh ... the poor little rich boy. Afghan jalebi ... haven’t really heard the song before, although I’ve heard of it. Not bad, and he sang it well,, good stage presence. As he himself said, for the first time in his life, he has to work for something ... his parents can't buy it for him. And that will be his first own earning. Hence the hard work he is obviously putting in.

Nidhi Kumari ... aisa lagta hai, jo na hua hai ... from Refugee. Very sweet soft melodious song, sung well. Good jugalbandhi between the singer and the flutist. Not many variations added by the singer ...
if she wants to stay long, she will need to do more.
I had not heard her during the auditions.


Jannabi ... good performer ... make that, excellent performer ... her Humma humma brought the stage to life. I like her personality too. Again, she needs to work on her vocals, but her stage presence is excellent.

Shubhodeep ... I always like singers with a classical base ... he is no exception. Loved the taans he added at the end. The song Mitwa is a favourite with most reality show singers ... he sang it very well, exploding into brilliance at the end. Agree with Vishal, that a singer like  him is needed to attract the young back to classical music ... and most good singers have a classical base.

Chetna  ... hungama ho gaya ... the second girl ... good strong voice again. Very expressive voice, and she used it well to bring the song to life.

Chelsea ... the youngest at 14 years of age. Sings very well for her age. Jaanejaan oh meri jaanejaan ... an older song, lively and fun. Not yet mature enough to add too many of her own variations ... but very good and confident for her age.

Shahzan ... Ishqe di chaashni ... another singer with a good sweet melodious voice. Sang with expression ... liked him.

Stutee ... Kabhi neem neem kabhi shahad shahad ... started off a little shaky ... then stabilised. Soft lyrical voice ... again very expressive ... brought a lot of expression into her voice. Voice not as strong as a couple of the other girls, but sweet.

Pallav ... aaj din chadaya ... another good singer ... not too many theatrics or dramatics ... just a soft sweet song, sung sweetly ... then took off into gentle rolling aalaps ... could have been half note higher, as the judges said ... would have made a difference to the performance.

All in all a good start. They need to balance the episodes out ... six singers on the first day and nine the second day ... seriously, counting karo toh! ... and cut out the drama. The extra guests were annoying ... it would be more fun to show more BTS videos of the singers rather than bring in a fawning mother (last season it was Dadi) or the cross dressing actors of the Kapil show. I liked the little BTS of Rishab taking some of the other boys for an outing to the club and swimming pool, places they had never been before ... and the fun video of the banana honey mask for Chelsea ...

Aditya Narayan has obviously been given the brief to flirt with Neha a la Manish Paul of last year's Indian Idol... he's not a natural like Manish was,  though ... he's too sweet and boyish, Manish had that required wicked charm, and was all man ... Aditya is still a kid!