Loved and Lost but Why?

Shakespeare has this famous quote (among his many quotes) "It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all."

Other than the general principle that having experienced something is better than not (not always true) have you ever wondered why it's better to have loved and lost? I will tell you. 

If you have never loved than you would not understand 100% of the world's songs, plays, music, TV shows, novels, stories and films. Okay, I might be exaggerating by about 1.7% but generally it is true that if you have loved, ever, you can understand how a character behaves, in real life or in a fictional world. No matter how stupidly a character behaves you would be able to understand why they are doing it. You may have done that exact stupid thing in your life when you were in love or maybe something even stupider. My money is on the latter. 

By having lived through that kind of intense emotional experience you can understand how someone can be so short-sighted, petty, jealous, insecure, unreasonable, illogical, or loyal, committed, determined, selfless and devoted. You may or may not agree with their logic, but you get it. 

These days I am totally in love with this Hindi TV show called "Mere Dad Ki Dulhan" (My Father's Bride). It's the story of a father and daughter - Amber Sharma and Niya Sharma. They lost her mother 8 years ago and now they have the most co-dependent, emotionally stunted co-existence two people ever had. After a few preliminary incidents, Niya becomes convinced that her father should marry again so that he can be happy and they can both be emotionally independent.

Varun Badola and Shweta Tiwari are in the title roles with Anjali Tatrari playing the daughter. Because of the star cast, you know right from the beginning what the end is going to be. But it's not in the destination, it's in the journey. And the journey of this show is delectable. The beginning episodes can be a bit frustrating because of so much fighting and emotional drama going on but there are quite a few good scenes and episodes in them also, and the show gets better and better as it progresses. I found it on Youtube and watched it all the way through. It took a three months' break when the Covid-19 lockdown hit India, but I found the show after it had already finished so I didn't have to wait for those three months. Those episodes have a lot of gaps because it's a Sony show and they cut out all the scenes where there was copyright music playing. Lots of editing jerks, noticeable. Fortunately, I found it on their website Sonyliv.com and now I am able to watch the full versions of the episodes. Yes, it's worth watching, again and again. 

So back to my point. There are many, oh so many scenes in the show where I scream "Amber Sharma, don't do that, man!" at the screen but even when I am telling him not to do something, I can understand why he is doing that or what he is feeling. I would not have known that if I had not felt and done similar things in my own life. Loved and lost.

I might do more posts on this show to discuss some of my favourite things from it. But I already highly recommend it. 

The Earworm Episode - The Big Bang Theory

Wow! What an episode! The Big Bang Theory season 9 episode 10.

Sheldon gets a song stuck in his head that he can't stop humming it but can't remember which song it is. The combination of these 2 things starts driving him crazy. It takes him more than half an episode to figure out which song it is.

Then he wonders why he had this song stuck in his head. The chain of reasoning takes him back to Amy and how she softened his life. This leads to Sheldon saying one of my most favourite romantic lines "She's like the dryer sheets of my heart."

I feel that that's an amazing way of thinking about a romantic partner, somebody who softens your life, someone who makes life more fun and who gives you the strength to face life's challenges. Love is the thing that makes you weak and strong at the same time!

The way they have written this episode, and how they have edited it - it is fantastic!

Also, the other man in the picture, the actor called "Stephen Merchant" (tall, British, Dave on screen) his role is so hilarious I was laughing out loud even when watching the episode a second time.

This is one of my very favourite episodes, my recommendation is - go and watch it again.

Generally speaking, the writers of TBBT are really good in writing fights and resolution scenes. There are so many that I can't name them all but see how they created then resolved the issue at the time of Leonard's marriage.

You can't keep a good man down

I  am watching Gotham on Netflix these days. In small increments as it is a stressful show. Last week I got to the point where they assign the protagonist, Detective Jim Gordon, to the Arkham asylum. This is quite a step down for him - hard job, physical danger, and a disgraceful assignment.

But even then I was not much worried about it because I knew he would come back to his normal beat soon. And he did. He never stopped doing his best work even at that terrible job and he gave it his all even at the risk of his own health and life. Soon, he made his way back to his normal position in Homicide.

Thinking about it later, I realised that this is a common trend. Even when our beloved hero is in dire straits we never despair. When he's captured by his enemies, when he's under fire from his boss or being beaten up by goons we always know he will bounce back, maybe not in the next frame or next scene but ultimately he will.

If we know this about him, why don't we know this about us? We also go through difficult phases in life when it seems so bleak that we despair for ourselves. And we let it get us down. Why don't we have that same faith in ourselves - that in the TV serial of our life, we may be down now but in one episode or two, we will come back again. We will rise back to our previous glory and work our way up from there.

Because, be it cinema or life, you can't keep a good man (or woman) down.

Peace.

The Big Bang Theory - Let me Fool You - GPS Logic Hole

The Big Bang Theory is my most favourite show. The paradox is that it's my favourite show because I love how they combine logic and humour in their writing, but the same love for logic often leads me to find faults with the story line or a particular item in the story when they go off the reservation.

I have talked about this sort of thing before in the episode where Howard misuses a robot hand and the one where Priya sneaks out to meet Leonard. In this post I want to talk about another one.

Season 6 Episode 13 - The Bakersfield Expedition. The guys are driving to the Bakersfield comic-con and Sheldon pesters Leonard to turn on the GPS turn-by-turn guidance. When he turns it on, it starts speaking in Sheldon's voice. Sheldon explains that he hacked the GPS software last night and replaced the audio with his own voice recordings.

Wrong!

Why?

In a non-Google maps GPS (SatNav in UK) software it IS possible to hack the software audio.
It IS possible to replace the audio files with any audio files of similar size.
BUT the audio doesn't read like a movie script. It is in fact made up of small audio clips with atomic level instructions. The files would say, for example "turn right", "at the next roundabout" or "you have reached your destination."

It will NOT read out the directions in a continuous audio with space to insert quizzes and information tid-bits in-between.

How do I know this?

I HAVE done this hack in the past. I found several flavours of audio packs online that could be used to replace the built-in audio of the GPS software. My favourite one was the one in Marilyn Monroe's voice. In addition to the normal directions in her sexy voice, when I reached my destination she used to say, in her seductive, breathy voice, "You have reached your destination, Mr. President."

Joss Whedon is my personal therapist

Well, it's not like I go lie down on his couch and tell him about my childhood once a week. But when I do have issues, and not always filmmaking-related issues, his words give me solace.

I watched one of his interviews where he was talking about his feelings regarding the cancellation of Firefly. His words, as best as I can remember them:
"It's like losing an arm, you learn to tie your shoes with the left hand but the pain of loss never goes away."

Not saying that made me feel better but it did give me comfort, not just about the loss of Firefly but many other losses in life as well.

Then last night I was watching a Q&A session that he had at the Oxford Union on YouTube and someone asked him  how he feels when his ideas are not supported, or he is forced to change something because the studio wants it that way, or something doesn't get delivered the way he envisaged it.

"Rage!" He replied "Endless rage! And it never goes away either. I can take you through my career, 25 years of rage!" Although he smiled when he said that I could totally understand where he was coming from.

And again it gave me much comfort considering how I had been feeling since my last project. I am a tiny player in the vast world of show business, so if the great Joss Whedon has this rage from his previous projects, it's perfectly understandable for a mere mortal like me to have the same frustrations when things don't go my way despite best efforts.

To be honest, it made me feel good that Joss Whedon and I share the same frustrations and rage even if on radically different scales.

In the climax fight of "Avengers" Dr. Bruce Banner says to Tony Stark "That's my secret!" while he's becoming the Hulk "I am always angry!"

Joss had shared in an interview that he realized that that was him. It was him that was always angry and he could see himself in the character of Hulk that he was writing. I get it now. Totally.

So, I don't need to find a therapist, I just need to watch more Joss interviews.

Peace!

The Big Bang Theory - Sometimes things just click

It just made me laugh out loud so much that I wanted to keep it for later. 

(click to watch the video)

How to tell if it was a good day

One of the reasons (one of many) I really dig Firefly and Serenity is that the dialogue is very witty and sharp. There's nothing blase about the lines, never the cliche'ed crap that turns your stomach.

Example to illustrate.
It's the end of a very tumultuous day. Captain Malcom Reynolds and Dr. Simon Tam are in the cockpit.

Simon: I'm trying to put this as delicately as I can... How do I know you won't kill me in my sleep?

Mal: You don't know me, son, so let me explain this to you once: If I ever kill you, you'll be awake. You'll be facing me, and you'll be armed.

Simon: Are you always this sentimental?

Mal: I had a good day.

Simon: You had the Alliance on you, criminals and savages... Half the people on the ship have been shot or wounded including yourself, and you're harboring known fugitives.

Mal: Well, we're still flying.

Simon: That's not much.

Mal: It's enough.

How To Post Spoilers On Facebook With This Easy Trick

This is a case of necessity being the mother of invention. I wanted to post a comment on my Facebook wall about an episode of Big Bang Theory from season 8. Even though that was last season (we are way into season 9 at the time of this writing), I didn't want to spoil it for anyone who has not yet seen that season. And my comment did contain big spoilers.
(I have been guilty of spoilers before in real conversation without really meaning to, so trying to reform here, people!)

I couldn't find a solution on the internet that would work from the writer's side. If you are a FB user there are apps etc. that you can use to avoid spoilers about TV shows and movies but nothing that helps you write it in such a way that it doesn't spoil things for the people who read your wall. So, here's my trick.

Follow these 7 simple steps:

1. In your post, type the line "SPOILER ALERT" followed by the TV show name, season and episode that the spoiler is about, or the movie name.

2. Press enter to go to next line.

3. Then hold down ALT key on your keyboard and type 255 on the numeric keypad. This will type an invisible character. It's called a hard-space.

4. Press Enter. This creates a line that contains only one character, the hard-space.

5. Copy this line using the keyboard or mouse. Keep in mind that the hard-space will look like a normal space when you select it, but it behaves differently.

6. Paste this line about 10-12 times after your spoiler alert line.

7. Below this type your actual comment which contains the spoilers.

Now, when you post your comment, the readers will only see the Spoiler Alert line, followed by a link "See more" Now they have been warned. If they want to read your comment they can click on See more and read it, or they can just keep scrolling and not read the part of your post containing the spoilers.

If you simply typed a lot of spaces or pressed Enter to insert empty lines, that does not work because Facebook collapses all empty spaces and the post is displayed in continuation. But hard-space is treated like a character not like a space therefore, it works to create the extra space that forces Facebook to treat the post as a long post and display only the top part of it with the "see more" link below it.

Enjoy, and let others enjoy! :)

Thank God Kapil Sharma is coming back

After Kapil Sharma walked out of Colors people were disappointed including yours truly. But now Kapil is coming back with his team bringing his new show on Sony - The Kapil Sharma Show. This is the perfect name for it as "Comedy Nights with Kapil" was also mostly referred as "Kapil's show" among the public and celebrities.

Watch this short clip where a reporter is trying to talk to the team on their set. Even these simple interviews are very funny. You can imagine how great the new show will be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uu7hWjpfSiY

From what I know from watching the various YouTube videos about it, the first episode will be a live show in a stadium in Delhi. The rumour/news is that Shah Rukh Khan will be part of the first episode. Since Colors has served notice on Sunil Grover and Kiku Sharda that they can't do the Gutthi and Palak characters so they will be playing new characters. Ali Asgar will also play a male character. Sumona wil again play Kapil's screen wife.

I am looking forward to it just as all of India is waiting for it. It's starting from 3rd April, 9 PM IST, on Sony. 

The Flash And The Arrow

I must write this post before I watch too much of the Arrow. I have already watched 9 episodes of the first season and I've got to say what a refreshing change from The Flash. The weirdest thing is that it has essentially the same writing team as The Flash (I checked) but the characters and events in the Arrow are so much more sensible. I don't have contempt for Oliver Queen even when he makes a bad decision. His bad decisions come from being human not from being stupid. Like his decision to trust Helena, for example.

Even when I watched the Flash there was some cross over from The Arrow I could see then that I'd enjoy watching The Arrow even before I knew that he was a real character and there was a show called the Arrow. In the first episode when Flash goes to see Oliver to find his way, the Arrow made an impression on me. Then Felicity came to see Flash and oh yeah, that was love at first sight for me.

When I saw the episode name Flash vs. Arrow, I kind of cringed because I don't really like to have hero against hero. But that episode was amazing! And once again the Arrow earned my respect. Another episode where the Arrow came to help the Flash. Every time he appeared on the Flash he dominated the scene, both from an actor's performance viewpoint and the character's screen presence.

So, I am really happy that this show exists, that it has 4 seasons on tape and that it's amazing.

The whole approach here is different. I can't help but compare it with the Flash for obvious reasons. Here Oliver Queen gets as much screen time, more in fact, than the Arrow. Here, his name is still "the Hood" even after 9 episodes. Here his team is building slowly, growing organically as such a team would in real life. He still has only Diggles to help him. I am eagerly waiting for Felicity to join him. Soo, I hope.

Well, I will cut it short and just say, I am really, really enjoying the Arrow and I recommend it highly to the viewers of this genre.

The Flash Season 1 Finale - The Bullshit Continues

SPOILER ALERT: Dude, I am gonna discuss the whole plot of the season 1 finale of The Flash, so major, major spoilers. 

As I mentioned in my last post on The Flash, I find Barry Allen stupid. But not all of his stupidity comes from his character, quite a lot of it comes from the writers of the show. This episode is an excellent case in point. So I will discuss the episode with special focus on Barry.

In this season finale Barry goes back to 15 years ago to save his mother from being murdered. Back to the Future 2 style. Before the move is made it is discussed and discovered that if he goes back and saves his mother's life, the timeline will change drastically, his father would not go to jail, he would not live with Joe, he would not meet Iris, etc. etc.

Some of the characters say he should do it, some say he should not, and there are a number of sappy scenes for all them, so many that it gets annoying. Only saving grace there is that the actors are all good and don't hem it up despite the opportunity to do so.

We get to know from the beginning that this is a very risky experiment and if Barry can't go as fast as needed he will die instantly. Then as preparations progress we find out that not only will he die but the whole world as we know it may be destroyed. Despite all of this Barry decides to do it. I mentioned in the last post on The Flash that he can't make a difficult decision. This is a case in point.  Although he makes a brave decision to risk his life but he risks the whole world for a personal gain.
Other than destroying the whole world, there is a risk that the alternate timeline could lead a to a terrible world for mankind but he doesn't care about that.

But, on the other hand, there are no paradoxes in time travel therefore if his blood was on the scene that means he did go back that means he will go back. The decision has already been made. Fine.

Then we come to the point which irritates the hell out of me! Just because it's a sci-fi show doesn't mean it has to be scientifically correct in every technical detail, especially on the future technology. So, the writer/director will take creative licence and that's fine. But on conceptual level it should not try to fool the audience with mumbo-jumbo. Time travel is a concept with which even the non-geek audience is familiar and at least the geeks know what a causal loop is.

Now, listen to this. Just before Barry is getting ready to go back in Time, Cisco tells him that there will be THREE of Barry Allen's there that night. One, the young child, the other as The Flash who gets the young Barry out and fights Dr. Wells, and the third, this one who's listening to Cisco just before going back. I will number them so we can discuss them without running into our own backs. Barry1 - the small child, Barry2 - The Flash fighting the man in yellow, Barry3 - who is just about to go back and save his mother. All clear? Now raise your hand if you can answer the next question.

Barry1 - The child lives there in his current time line, wakes up by the noise and comes down.
Barry2 - Went back in time to save his mother.
Barry3 - Where did Barry3 come from? 

Why are there 2 grown up Barry's or Flash's there on the scene? One is going back from the current year, but where's the other one coming from? My understanding was that the Flash going back now is The Flash fighting the man in yellow. How do they ADD a Flash? There's no mention of another time journey by a Flash and no explanation why there's a third Barry there on the scene.

I hope someone has the answer to it because it irritated the hell out of me when I was watching this episode!

For a bonus question try this. In the episode "Out of Time" when Barry goes back in time by a day, there is NO OTHER BARRY. He is the only Barry in that world and he has to live his day exactly that same again. So what happened to the Barry who is actually living his life on that timeline? They mention particularly that the Flash "Did not turn back the time" but "Traveled back in time" which means that that timeline should have a Barry/Flash already there that the Barry/Flash from future can see. That's how it works in all the sci-fi in the universe and that's how it make sense. But no, not for The Flash.

And then, they change the rules completely in the finale and add an extra Flash. What annoys me even more is that they keep mentioning Back to the Future, so they do know these things, or should! In BTTF 2 you can see the Marty from BTTF1 and the Marty from BTTF2 avoids being seen by the other Marty. Makes perfect sense. When Marty and Doc go to the future, they can see and hear the future Marty. Perfectly clear. Here however, the rules of Time Travel in the Flash are neglected and played with.

I have 3 theories to explain this kind of writing, feel free to choose one or add a new one if you like.

1. The writers are not real geeks and do not really know about these things even after watching sci-fi like BTTF before.
2. The writers are idiots who can not comprehend anything as complex as time travel.
3. The writers think we are idiots who do not understand something as complex as time travel.

In the end, he doesn't save his mother. He waits off-screen and lets the man in yellow kill her. Okay, that made me admire him as that is THE MOST difficult thing in the world to do and he does it to save the timeline. But then I remember that he risked the whole world and the future of Mankind to say goodbye to his mother and it makes me mad again!

When he goes back, he crashes Dr. Wells' time capsule and doesn't let him go back. What a stupid moron! Instead of letting him go back he stops the one person he cannot beat and traps him in this time. What an amazingly stupid thing to do! And there's no point to it except his personal feelings! There's no real reason for stopping him from going back!

A fight ensues, as expected. At the climactic point, Eddie, Iris' boyfriend, shoots himself as he knows he is the ancestor of Dr. Wells/Ebart and this way he kills himself to kill Ebart. Once again a moronic decision by someone who is supposed to be an intelligent person. Does he not recognize that it would not "Kill" Ebart, it would "ERASE" him completely from the timeline, which means all of his influence on the events of the past will be erased - no particle accelerator, no accident, no Flash, and that's just the obvious things. A change of that magnitude would endanger the whole world! And it does!

So, you can see why I am not pleased with this slipshod way of writing science fiction.

Don't worry, it looks like this will be my last post on The Flash. I finished watching season 1 and have no desire to carry on in season 2. However, what I do like in The Flash, is the cool fast motion effect and how the show reminds me of Sheldon in Big Bang Theory doing Flash. :)

P.S. I am going to watch The Arrow next. That's been my gain from watching this stupid show - I found out about the Arrow and the adorable Emily Bett Rickards! :)

Wrong or More Wrong?

You decide!

Big Bang Theory - S04E06 - Logic Hole

Nerd alert - this is like splitting hairs but it's a logic question and I am going to ask it.

It's an old episode so I won't say spoiler alert.

In this episode Leonard sleeps with Raj's sister Priya and tries to keep it a secret. The truth comes out when the four friends are having lunch at the university the next day and Raj asks, "So what did you think of the new episode of Caprica last night?" To which Leonard admits that he didn't see it.

The implication here is that Leonard didn't see the episode because he was engaged in coitus with Priya at the time...BUT....in the previous scene when Priya comes to Leonard she says that Raj had finally gone to bed before her sneaking out.

So...when did Raj see the episode? If he saw it BEFORE going to bed then Leonard could have seen it as well at the time because Priya wasn't with him (Leonard) yet. If Raj got up AFTER Priya had gone to meet Leonard then he would have noticed that his sister was missing.

Thoughts?

My favourite Big Bang Theory Quote

I just find it so funny.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3jxdGZshpo

Firefly - I joined a cult!

You can't guess what I am watching these days. I am confident enough to offer a wager but let's not go that route. I will just tell you.

It's not a movie, it's not a TV show, it's not a documentary, not a music video, not a home movie, not even an advertisement....give up yet?

Long long ago on a planet called there was this man called Joss Whedon. He wrote and directed a show called Firefly. The show had low network ratings and was cancelled after one season by Fox. But the people who watched the show were immense fans. Not just fans but crazy fans. They actively tried to resurrect the show, even raised some money for it.

It didn't work. But then later on in 2004, Joss Whedon made a movie based on a show, it was called "Serenity". The movie had some overlap in the story from the show and then progressed with the story. The movie was also loved by the Firefly fans and got more coverage than the original show.

Couple of years ago I across the movie - "Serenity" and got it. I love sci-fi movies. But I have a huge choice of movies and TV shows that I can watch so I try and see the trailer, find out about the movie and see which one tempts me the most.

In a quick research I found out the story that I have mentioned above. I read that this show and the movie have a cult following. Now, honestly, I am not much for cults. But the movie itself seemed interesting to I want so far as to watch it.

The movie was fantastic! I love sci-fi and I have watched a truckload of them but this one just blew me away. Not just from effects, they were good, but the story line and characters, the writing was simply great!

Then I just had to get the TV show. And once I watched that...well, there was no going back! I was hooked! And I joined the rest of the world in feeling awfully sorry that the stupid network cancelled this gem. The DVD version of the show has 13 episodes, the pilot is 88 minutes long, but rest of the episodes about 42 minutes each. Even when I was watching them the first time, I could feel that I was watching something special! That's rare!

The thread of this thought. Every year, there are several huge events held in America centered around comic books and other related stuff. I don't know if there's any held in UK at all, but US is the kind of place where this kind of fun things take place. These events are Comic con, Dragon con and Sci fi event.

As you can imagine all kinds of nerds attend these events. As part of these events there are some panels made up of the cast and crew of TV shows and (I am guessing) movies. The cast and crew on these panels answers questions in front of a limited audience. Sometimes the questions are asked by a moderator, other times directly by the audience, it can be a mix as well.


One of my favourite TV stars Zachary Levi (Chuck) has started a charity for which he organizes informal panels where audience can ask what they want of their favourite stars.

All these events are recorded, some on personal cameras, some professional (Zachary's Nerd Machine YouTube channel has the latte) and they can be found online mostly on YouTube.

Even though firefly has been cancelled for 11 years now, there is still a huge demand for a Firefly panel at these events and they are well attended.

And that is what I am watching these days!

I don't know how I found the first video but once I watched it, I was hooked. I had never watched anything like that before. I find that I liked to hear about the show and hear its cast and crew answer questions about it.

In 2012 there was a 10th anniversary of the show's cancellation and there are videos from those panels at Comiccon and other events. There are other interviews from 2013, and some 2010. I am just finding all that I can and watching them. They are damn addicted!

I am very impressed by the cast and the audience alike. The cast members and the crew (writers and director) are always so in love with the show even after doing other stuff in their careers. And you can see the chemistry between the various cast members and director, writers. These are successful Hollywood people and yet when they talk to the audience they are very down to Earth and friendly.

Oh, and they are witty! The videos are so funny because of their wit and leg-pulling humour. But the fans are also amazing! They ask these fantastic questions, some insightful, some cheeky but all interesting.

I am enjoying these videos very much.

The tagline that you see in my previous post "You can't stop the signal!" comes from the movie Serenity and is kind of catchphrase.

You can't stop the signal

Let Me Fool You - Sheldon's Cats

Just watch this okay, just watch these two clips very carefully and tell me what's wrong. I am sure they thought they could get away with it, but.....not on my watch, buster. Actually, not on my watch if I watch the series a second time which is when I caught this.

I don't blame the director, if the actors cannot learn their lines, there comes a time when instead of saying "retake" you say, "Oh, what the hell..."

And the second video clip...

(Clip from Big Bang Theory, Season 4, Episode 3)

TV Show - Anger Management

Thanks to Sagar for reminding me about the new TV show featuring Charlie Sheen. It's a home production of Charlie with his brother and it's good. It's not at the same level as Two and a Half Men yet but it has the same potential. 


As it's a very new show you can feel the new paint on the sets and the brand new furniture but you can also feel that as the cast gets more comfortable with each other it will get really good. It is already funny, and Charlie's still got that charisma which makes his presence on the screen so amazing. 


I am not happy with all their cast decisions, I'd have picked hotter girls for example :), but they show promise. I have only watched 2 episodes yet, I am looking forward to more. 


I'd rather watch this than Two And A Half Men without Charlie. 

Moves and Shakers 2012

It stands to reason that as soon as I said that Comedy Circus is the only Indian TV show I watch it changed. My nephew reminded me that Movers and Shakers has started again and I should check it out. So I did. But this post is about the first season of the restarted show, the first 35 episodes.

The first time when the show started it was in 1997, and to the best of my information it ran for 4 years. At that time I still lived in India and had never been out. I used to watch this show as and when I could. Basically, the show is Shekhar Suman. He is like a star of Indian television and an amazing host and presenter. But saying that is like saying that Taj Mahal is an old building.

Shekhar is a powerhouse of talent and I don't know any Indian who doesn't know him or doesn't admire him. To list all his accomplishment would be a tall order but still I want to mention a few that I know of and like. He was a judge on The Great Indian Laughter Challenge (my favourite comedy show), before that he was an actor, he was well-known for acting opposite the Bollywood legend actress Rekha. He was later a judge on Comedy Circus as well for a couple of seasons and was known for his long comments on performances.

It was during the TGILC stint that he went for body-building in a big way and came back looking younger. They sometimes show the old clips from the old Movers and Shakers in the new one, and I can see that Shekhar doesn't look younger than he was but he looks more handsome and distinguished than he was. I am sure he's pleased to see his old self on screen and enjoys the comparison.

At that time, when I used to watch the first M & S the one thing that I used to be immensely impressed with was Shekhar's speaking style. He has a flow like a river, the twists and turns, changes in tone, and what impressed me most at the time was how he could thread his way through English and Hindi with such flawless fluency that you never knew when he changed and he never missed a beat!

That flow and that flawless perfection of his delivery is still there but I guess as you grow up your way of observing things also changes. By now I have also been to many foreign lands, living in the UK at the moment and I can also go into Hindi and English fluently, by no means with the same skill as Mr. Suman, but good enough for my purposes. His use of the language is not just fluent but educated. He uses pure Hindi words in a way that doesn't look like a show-off but makes me feel proud to be a Hindi speaker. But still...

What I enjoy more about him in this new 2012 M & S is his way of dealing with people. It is a delight and an utter pleasure, (also full of admiration) to watch him interview these celebrities. I watch his manner very carefully as he asks the questions and talks to these people and I see that his way of talking to Om Puri is completely different from his behaviour with Sameera Reddy. He asks piercing, controversial and provoking questions of all of them, but his manner is radically different in talking to Mika and talking to Kader Khan. He always respects the senior guests, plays around with the younger ones, flirts with the girls and in doing all of that he always maintains his class.

That's the thing that I like more about M & S as compared to Comedy Circus. That touch of class. Even when he's mimicing Rabri Devi, or when he's cracking jokes on the prime minister, or dancing with Veena Malik, or flirting with a beautiful female guest, he always carries himself with class and dignity. And he treats his guests with dignity. He never hesitates in asking the tough questions but he never makes his guests feel bad while doing so. It takes considerable skill to do that with such a diverse range of personalities but Shekhar makes it look easy.

This time I am trying to learn that from him.

I am sure it helps that he's a celebrity himself and he has worked with so many people that he has developed this knack. The guests that he has worked with or people he knows personally, his behaviour shows it, within the limits of the show's format he is friendly but also a host. I notice all that and admire him for it.

When I watched the very first episode though (even though I checked it out months after its start, I started from episode one, courtesy of YouTube), there was the starting jingle and as I heard the words "The King is back...Shekar's back, the King is back" I thought, "Hmmm, Shekhar, ego much?" But then as he started talking he mentioned the first incarnation of the show and talked about himself and his activities in the last 11 years, he said, "Gaana nahin aata tha phir bhi album nikaali." Then I knew he was okay. A man who can make fun of himself earns my respect immediately.

Yes, that's another one of his accomplishments. He went into a singing reality show and also published an album of his songs. I have only heard him sing in M & S and I won't say he doesn't know how to sing. It's obvious that he has worked on his music and he has learnt how to sing. But in my humble and outspoken opinion, it's his voice. He has a great speaking voice and I think he's singing in the same voice. I think he will have to experiment and find his singing voice. It should not be hard for him as he's a very good mimic. I am not a singer or a singing guru so I have no right to give him advice but I just thought I'd add my two cents.

There's one thing I admire about Indian TV channels, instead of crying "copyright infringement, oh save us, our money, we are being robbed!" they are leading the YouTube revolution. There used to be so many people who used to upload Comedy Circus a day or two after it was telecast on Indian television. But it was always in 6 or 7 parts per episode and the quality wasn't good. Then Sony TV started uploading on their own YouTube channel. The show is in one long segment and the quality is awesome. I don't know if they make money from it, but I still get to watch it for free just like before and now I don't even look at any other uploads by individual uploaders.

Sab TV also does the same thing with Movers and Shakers. I am still catching up on the backlog so I don't know how quick it is but the quality is good and I love it that I can watch it so easily even though I don't live in India.

Other than YouTube M&S also has a Facebook page which Shekhar announces in each show AND a twitter account. The Facebook page is - http://www.facebook.com/moversandshakers.sabtv. Other than being a web presence for the show, the page has extra photos from the episodes, jokes, people's comments and other tidbits like the upcoming guest's photo etc. Their Twitter handle is @Shekhardobara

Now about the new format that they have started from episode 36. In simple words, I don't like it. They have changed the set but that I don't care about, the things I don't like are these.

The interviews are shorter, instead there are some silly activities which feel like cheap formulas and don't feel like they belong in M & S. They have added a section of comedy with Priya Raina and one of the Comedy Circus comedians. Priya Raina is extremely boring, and the comedians don't do much either as the script for them is 3rd class to non-existent.

Another thing which maybe small but matters to me is Shekhar's entrance. Oh btw, M & S also features the famous Surinder on the tabla, yes, the same one as in Comedy Circus. But I learnt from first episode that he was in the first incarnation of M & S as well so I think he belongs more here than CC. Here also Shekhar cracks jokes on Surinder but here Surinder is more part of it and it feels like he's treated better in this show. I have seen him speak more in M & S in 5 episodes than I saw in 15 seasons of Comedy Circus. I used to suspect he was mute! Here Surinder himself makes the jokes and takes part. So it feels good that Shekhar treats the band members well and includes them in things, otherwise on-air talent can be really snobbish as well.

Yes, so Shekhar's entrance. He used to climb down from steps on the right side of the set. There is a cute girl who stands/sits right in front of the band and most of the time when Shekhar came down the steps she would hold her hand up and Shekhar would give her a slow, soft high-five as he passed her on his way to his mark on centre-stage. Couple of episodes his didn't do this but in about 32 of the 35 episodes he did. (Yes, I do know the girl singer has changed after a few episodes but it still applies). Even though it's a small thing, I used to like it very much. It made me feel like, they were all, Shekhar, the girl, the band, part of the same team and there was a comraderie between them on and off-camera.

Now it doesn't feel like that. Shekhar's entrance is from behind centre-stage he comes and stands on his mark and starts the show. Not so good.

It's not just me who's missing the old format. Judging from the comments on their Facebook page, nobody is liking the new cheap-thrill format. I hope Sab will listen to the public demand and go back to the old format.

One thing they never did in the old or new format is to show the studio audience. I think they should.

Other than that, I am really enjoying it and I love it that it's 22 minutes 5 days a week. 

Comedy Circus Katha

I should warn you now I am going to act like one of those females who spend their evenings watching the soap opera's and then spend the next day discussing the characters of the soaps like they are real people. I am only going to discuss the reality shows and people in them are real appearing in their own person, so I think I am more justified. Oh god no, no, no, no, I don't mean "reality shows" I mean these talent shows where comedians come on stage and make audience laugh. The reality shows? Ugh! I maintain that the sure sign of the decline of our culture is the popularity of those reality shows. But that story some other time.

The first thing I want to say is that I don't like Comedy Circus, never liked it from the beginning. But I watch every episode and even re-watch some of them or part of them later. Contradiction? Well, I am a complex human being, baby!

It was several years ago when my nephew told me about Comedy Circus and I told him I didn't like it. I preferred The Great Indian Laughter Challenge. I had bought several DVDs of TGILC because I loved it so much. Now that I am a regular viewer of Comedy Circus I still say I don't like it, and now I am going to dissect it and explain why it is so.

Some people say that humour should not be analysed and something is either funny or it is not. They are idiots. Comedy is an art but not a mindless art, like any art form it has its principles and like anything else humour can be studied and developed. Note that I said humour can be developed not sense of humour.

At this point I should clarify how I judge if someone has a good sense of humour or not. It's very simple. If they laugh at my jokes, they have a good sense of humour. There is no other definition.

The biggest, most glaring difference between TGILC and CC is the format. TGILC has a very simple format, one comedian or (rarely) a team of two, one microphone, 2 or 3 judges (2 regular plus guests sometimes). That's it. Oh, and a beautiful anchor. But both shows have that. Plus the team of musicians also is common in both.

CC's format is more complex - a writing team, teams of 2 or 3 comedians, an elaborate script, props, sets for the acts and some judges (2 or 3 regular and then guests).

So why I think CC's brand of humour is inferior to TGILC? Various reasons.

1. In CC's format it's easier to do comedy because there are other comedians in your team to help out and give you cues, there is a creative team to write your scripts, there are lot of props and sets to help you create that scene, and overall setup of the show persists from week to week and a lot of jokes are created around that.

In TGILC, it was usually one comedian, coming with his own material and performing in front of the audience and judges. Those who have stood behind a microphone (I have) know how terrifying it can be. But there were some really talented people who created such amazing performances with only their words to create the scene. Some of those performances were really memorable, while unavoidably there were weak performances as well.

2. CC's brand of humour is cheap and is tailored to appeal to the lowest common denominator. Not all of it is like that but there was a touch of class in TGILC humour which is missing here.

In the material itself there is an abundance of scatological humour, innuendoes, slapstick and other off-colour material.  I believe that the TGILC material was censored better.

Many times, the CC writers and artists try to get away with just making jokes on other artists, Surinder and the judges. Personal jokes while they are funny are also dangerous because if you are not careful they can become cheap, offensive and not funny. This has happened many times in CC.

In CC the performances tend to favour more slipstick humour and a colour of "nautanki" than a refined TV show. Those who have seen a real "nautanki" in Indian villages will understand this, there is no other way for me to explain it. Well, they call themselves Comedy "Circus" I think that's justified.

3. There is also more evident commercialism. Nobody ever came to TGILC to promote their film as far as  I know. Some of these guests who come to promote their film in CC, sometimes add a star value to the show, most times they are just parasitic waste, taking time for no good reason.

4. The nautanki flavour is also enhanced by other factors like adding song and dances to the acts and sometimes between the acts as well (in grand finales mostly).

5. Scoring of course is subjective in such shows but I am more dissatisfied by the scoring in CC mostly.

But there are good things in the show which I do like. For example the talent. And here my first point is vindicated by examples. The man, or girl, who can stand in front of a mic alone and give a good performance (like in TGILC) is a good comedian. Some of these have come to Comedy Circus from TGILC. Examples include Kapil Sharma, Sudesh Lehri, Bharti Singh, Sugandha, Rajeev Thakur, Kuldeep Dubey etc. There are some new talents also that have come and gone only in CC like Mantra, Shweta Tiwari, etc.

Most people will notice one name I didn't mention here. Krishna. That's because I don't like him. I don't consider him a good comedian. I think he survives only because he has a good screen presence and he has Sudesh with him. I find his brand of comedy very cheap and third class appealing to the lower classes.

Another good thing in CC is that they make fun of everything including especially their own surroundings. These jokes when written and performed properly are very good.

They use all kinds of formulas like themed shows, introducing celebrities, singers and soap actors in their shows to create humour. Some of it is very good.

I like the judges as well mostly. Archana Puran Singh laughs like a mad woman, but that's what comedy is for. Since she has done many successful comic roles (remember Miss Brigenza?) in Hindi films, I think she's justified in judging a comedy show even though I don't always agree with her scores. And I salute her sporting spirit that she can take so many jokes on herself, even when some of them are in poor taste. And she looks good. Yes, I said that.

Oh that reminds me. The beautiful girls on stage, as part of the teams or the anchors, I like them as well, when they are good.

In conclusion, I would say the format itself is good but it needs better control over content and class. It's been slipping lately, even more than before.

Hey, this is fun! Maybe I'll write more posts on Comedy Circus later. After all, this is the only Indian TV show that I watch.