Different people have different ways of bringing home the deity. Unlike others I don’t book my Ganpati in advance because I want it to be a surprise. It is said that the deity chooses his host and the way to recognize him is to make eye contact and one out of the many idols will give you a signal that it is Him you have to bring home. The idol talks to you and in the ten days he resides in your home you get familiar with his changing expressions.

I address my Ganpati as Gannu and I’m sure he loves the name. My friends love it and make sure never to miss their date with him. Many of them brought him modaks though I feel he preferred fruits and flowers. Unlike other hosts I monitored his diet and made sure he did not gain weight. Unlike other homes there was no naach gaana at my home, I met Gannu at regular intervals for meals and tea break and rest of the time while I banged on the keyboard and completed my assignments, Gannu wrote destinies of people.

While Ganpati was at home I preserved a wish box beside the idol where everyone could write him a letter and drop it inside the box. On the last day all the wishes wrapped in a potli are immersed with the idol.  In the initial years I would write him a letter every day, gradually the letters decreased because now I had faith that he will fulfill all my wishes anyway.

@bhawanasomaaya

Date: 01. 09. 2017

Director: RS Prasanna 

Producer: Aanand L Rai, Krishika Lulla

Writer: Prasanna/ story, Hitesh Kewalya/ screenplay

Cast: Ayushman Khurana, Bhumi Pednekar, Seema Pahwa

Ratings: 2.5 stars

Who would have imagined that a day will come when Indian cinema will make a film about erectile dysfunction? A remake of 2013 Tamil film Kalyana Samayal Sadham, Shubh Mangal Savdhan is a big leap in entertainment history.

The film opens to our hero Mudit Sharma/ Ayushman Khurana standing on the road staring at Sugandha/ Bhumi Pednekar. He has been doing it for many days but not mustered courage as yet to talk to her. She is eagerly waiting for romance to blossom but he squashes her dream by sending an official online proposal to her parents.

He is qualified, so is she and the parents agree to an engagement after brief introductions by both families over Skype.

The families decide on a destination wedding in Haridwar and as the parents get busy with preparations, the bride and the groom decide to check each other out more intimately but unfortunately nothing happens! The hero is since then forever sulking and when confronted by his fiancé exclaims, ‘It is a Gents problem, you will not understand’.

In the next few days, everyone assembled for the wedding is discussing the hero’s very personal Gents Problem and waiting for a solution!

The positives of the film are the bold subject and the wise message that patience can cure all perils. The negatives are the storytelling where despite lovable characters and some hilarious moments, the film fails to engage you.

Credit ought to be given to the film for defying stereotypes. Shubh Mangal Savdhan reflects a changing mindset of society not just in technology but also family and man woman equations.

After playing the ill adjusted couple in Dum Laga Ke Haisha the lead pair is more than compatible this time picnicking in Delhi gardens or discussing Gents problem on the house terrace.

As Sugandha, Pednekar is vivacious and Khurrana proves he is ready for any kind of role.

Watch Shubh Mangal Savdhan for the ever dependable Seema Pahwa and the super spirited Bhoomi Pednekar.

I rate Shubh Mangal Savdhan with 2.5 stars.

Date: 01 September 2017

Director: Milan Lutharia

Cast: Ajay Devgn, Ileana D’Cruz, Emraan Hashmi, Esha Gupta, Sanjai Mishra and Vidyut Jammwal

Ratings: 1.5 stars 

Set in the emergency era of 1975 Baadshaho follows a group of Rajasthani thugs who loot the gold confiscated from Rani Geetanjali during the Emergency and transport it to Delhi.

A two year leap, bombing of a palace in Jaipur and the arrest of Rani Geetanjali now confined to a dark cell, we are introduced to super hero  Bhawani/ Ajay Devgn who is unaffected by any calamity in the world including gas bombs and is, therefore, the perfect candidate to safeguard the queen..

If army officer Viddyut Jammwal is entrusted with stealing the gold recovered from Geetanjali’s palace and safely transports it to Delhi, Ajay Devgan is appointed to make sure that gold never reaches Delhi.

The positives of the film are the compelling action sequences from Ajay Devgan and Vidyut Jamwal and the intrigue surrounding the assembled wealth. The negatives, unfortunately, outweigh the positives. Baadshaho has poor writing/ editing, blaring music resulting in an insipid viewing.

It’s difficult to believe that a filmmaker who gave us Kachche Dhaage in 1999 and Once Upon A Time in Mumbai in 2010 can serve us Badshao in 2017.  A filmmaker of Milan Lutharia caliber must know that firing guns, bare chest bodies, raunchy numbers don’t make movies.

Movies call for a story and the sincerest performances in this case Sanjay Mishra and Emran Hashmi cannot replace content in a film.

I rate Baadshaho with 1.5 stars.

I still remember the winter of 1993 when I was shopping medicines for my ailing mother. The street was buzzing with Ganpati bappa morya and on an impulse, I said if my mother survives the dark night, if I don’t take her to the hospital again, I will celebrate this festival as long as I can.

My mother was not confident of my undertaking this massive responsibility and advised I experiment with the existing idols at home for a few years before making commitments to the elephant God. So for the next few years, I allotted a specific to a specific space and worshiped him with regular puja morning and night for 10 days after which my driver, Pramod, a veteran with Ganesh God would immerse the idol into the sea.

By 1999 I had exhausted all the idols at home and immersed them into the sea and in 2000 my mother passed away in her sleep. In the same year, I was returning home from work late evening when I found a man selling Ganesha idols on the road. Without thinking I stopped the car and picked a small idol.  My mother had gone but God had arrived home to bless me and has been coming ever since.

The years 2002 to 2007 are a blur. Every year on the eve of the festival I brought him home the previous night and like all growing children, he was always an inch taller than the previous year. He ate what I served him and went to bed when I was tired. Before leaving to work I offered him his pen and paper and I assume he loved his privacy and silence as much as I loved mine. In the evening we shared our day and load of work. I discovered he valued his privacy as much as I did. The neighbors got wind of my association with him only when I bid him farewell. Some of them came ahead for a closer look, asked questions, while others stepped aside and just stared at him. He has that aura. People always stand and stare when he passes by!

It is a special day for the family and they begin preparations for her arrival days in advance. They cook her favorite food and buy her favorite clothes. The home is dressed like a bride because the daughter is special and will stay with her parents only for a day.

Gauri has visitors all day because everyone is curious to know how she is and whether she is happy at her in-laws home.

Today, Gauri will leave for her home and everyone will be very sad.

Her parents will be desolate because they will have to wait another year for their daughter to pay them a visit and son Ganpati will be heartbroken to part with his mother.

It is said that if you watch a Gauri idol closely you will find her weeping on her way home. In the villages, all the women gather and cry together when they bid farewell to Gauri mata.

There is another story why Gauri has to depart before Ganesha. She will be waiting in the sea her arms outstretched for her son.

We think we immerse Ganesha into the sea, but that is far from true. Ganesha’s mother collects her baby in her arms before he can drown and carries him to their abode in the heaven.

What a delightful story and quite believable that too.

There are many in the film fraternity who are loyal fans of the elephant God. Nana Patekar and Jeetendra have brought the deity home for decades, so does Anil Kapoor, Rani Mukherjee, and many others.  Manish Paul does the Ganesh puja at his home with a lot of fanfare, so does Sonu Nigam and many more.

Lata Mangeshkar has housed the deity for as long as one can remember. The Bachchcans don’t bring the deity home but believe in Ganpati which is why when of AB Corp CFO Rajesh Yadav requested Jaya Bachchan to visit his pandal at Shree Mankeshwar Mandir, Byculla Jaya Bachchan could not refuse. There was much excitement in the atmosphere to welcome Bachchan and a moment of joy for the family when Rajesh Yadav and she performed the aarti together and offered prayers to the Mankeshwar Mandir Deity.

More on the Lord and his family in the coming days….

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In Mukul Anand’s Agneepath/1990, the underworld don hails from a small village Mandva and it has been a family tradition to bring the idol home. When the hero grows up and becomes successful he continues with the practice of bringing the deity home. The film featured Amitabh Bachchan in a dramatic climax where he is stabbed by his enemies amidst excited crowds bidding farewell to the deity at the seashore. In Satya 1998, the hero is exposed amidst the festival, dragged on a noisy street.

While the ten-day celebration exudes boundless energy in our lives, on screen it has portrayed myriad moods – pathos, triumph, drama and in some instances, courage. In Dil toh Pagal Hai /1997 Aroona Irani gifts identical silver idols to both Shah Rukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit who are attracted to each other but unable to express their feelings. In My Friend Ganesha a little child discovers the deity and keeps him a secret from his parents. It was a film about innocence and faith.

In the following decade in the remake of Don Shah Rukh Khan jives to a robust number on the street. In the remake of Agneepath Hrithik Roshan and Priyanka Chopra dabble in colour to celebrate the elephant lord.

For all the attention we shower on the Elephant God, Lord Ganesha has limited presence in our films. It is difficult to list even ten memorable scenes projecting the God of wisdom.

Humse Badhkar Kaun/ 1980 told the story of families living in a colony and collectively celebrating the festival. The haunting number ‘Devaa ho devaa…’ singing paeans to the Lord proved a chartbuster and is even today chanted at all theGanpati  pandals. In Takkar, the villains hide the temple treasures inside the idol and hope to escape with the loot, but heroes Jeetendra, Sanjeev Kumar and Vinod Mehra follow them till the end sing ‘Murti Ganesh ki, andar daulat desh ki…’ and mange to expose the villains.

In 1981, Filmwala’s Kalyug was the first film to portray the immersion procession in all its glory. The film’s hero Shashi Kapoor is driving home and gets caught in the festival traffic. The chaos on the street reflects his inner turbulence.  A desolate Shashi Kapoor helplessly watching the traffic was an effective shot in the narrative.

Ajanta Arts’ Dard Ka Rishta 1983, supposedly inspired from Sunil Dutt’s personal life, delved on a young girl’s obsession with the elephant God. Baby Khushboo is in coma but hears echoes of the Lord coming home and begins chanting his name. To fulfil his daughter’s last wish, father Sunil Dutt seeks permission from the hospital to bring the idol to her hospital bed. The hospital allows him and baby Khushboo dies in peace.