Why one festival is more sexy than other?

I was seeing a movie named "Jhankar Beats". The movie was pretty decent and "young". However I saw they showed one girl (hindu) going to Church every Sunday. Now I am not against going Church or Mosque but it appears Church is a more glamorous place to speak about and show in a movie than say a Temple for a young lady. At the same time when the movie makers have to show a "traditional" heroine they would show her going to the Temple.

Is their a glamorization of certain religious principles? I could see students in colleges going out to buy cakes during Xmas, though none of them would be a Christian. I am not saying that celebrating XMas by Hindu is wrong, the point is why only Xmas and not Eid, which falls few days before Xmas. Again I believe the answer is Xmas is a more glamorous festival than Eid.

So what are we celebrating the festival for? To really celebrate it or just to be the part of this bottom less pit of enjoyment. How come certain festivals or days (like Valentine etc) became more "sexy" than some other days. I think the inherent inclination towards "having fun" and getting out of the usual drag of life is one factor and the marketers have also done a commendable work making money out of these festivals.

Every now and then we would have some days to boost sales of mall stores be it cards, apparels, food items etc. As human beings always are fun seeking its very easy to delude them and induce them into something which they may not at all want. This is one critical job of marketing. It may be termed as unethical however there is nothing really unethical about this practice. Thats the job of a marketer, to induce people, create demand and then fulfill it.

One more angle to these festivities is that how come Christian festival became bigger than a Muslim festival in terms of celebration by common people. Even I bought a cake last time to be cut in my room with few of my friends. What makes one festival more sexy and appealing over the others to a majority Hindu public despite the fact that both festivals belong to minority community. If at all we can celebrate all festivals in right spirit (a utopian argument) we would have lots of brotherhood in the country than the fickle consumerism.

Life in a Metro: The Movie

Writing after a long time. I generally do not comment on movies and books but then I could not resist myself after seeing "Life in a Metro". It’s such a safe bet to make movies like "Life in a Metro". No research, no story just figment of imagination. Show whatever you want under the camouflage of "oh yaa this is a true metro story, these days you can see this happening in society etc etc".

Did someone come to tell the story writer or the director about his or her story that he made into a movie. They just want to cash in the predisposition of people about metro city's life being bitchy, cut throat, sleazy, girls willing to get laid for promotion, boys performing all stratagems to get a better career, no one having good married life. Just want to ask these guys is life so bad !!!

What are they trying to show? What is the motive behind making the film? Well I must admit the movie is well made but the premise on which it is based is flawed. Its simply an unnecessary castle made by the filmmakers about something which he might not have ever seen or felt in metro cities. The viewer acceptance is a matter of research here. The simple explanation is that when you see a movie you say "Oh man this might be happening to someone" and take it as true. And then there would be these news articles by our "respected" jholachaap journalist writing columns for money about "When you see these kind of movies you would certainly say Oh I know someone like that, Oh this is so much close to my life, blah blah blah blah" .. Bullshit.

Anyway the movie was decent but the point the director was trying to convey was flawed and unrealistic as far as I am concern.

Ghazal and Sufi Music

I was reading some post on net and got the shock of my life. Where while describing the God of Ghazals Janaab Mehdi Hasan Saheb the person wrote that "Mehdi Hasan is as great an artist as Nusrat and Madam Noor Jahan" .. How the heck can someone compare the legends of legends mehdi saheb with these two artists. I agree the other two are also great in their own regards but no where and I repeat absolutely no where near to Fankaar-e-Aazam Mehdi Saheb. When I thought about it a bit more and talked to few of my friends in London I could realize that Nusrat is much more a popular artist outside Pakistan than Mehdi Saheb. I think the reason is pretty simple to decipher. Sufi music even if you do not understand the lyrics( high dose of high class urdu and Panjabi) can be appreciated by people just based on its music. Moreover it is more tappy and catchy than Ghazals. To appreciate Ghazals you need to be a music lover from the core of your heart. Especially you need to be like a data miner who finds hidden data trends. Similarly to appreciate high quality Ghazals that of people like Mehdi Saheb or Beghum Akhtar a strong liking of poetry and lyrics is of utmost importance. To understand and appreciate Ghazals you need patience as it not a rock music to give you high. At the same time need the knowledge of urdu to some extent. Remember poetry is lost in translation hence even if you try to decipher the Ghazal in Hindi or English it looses meaning. Like saying Jo Koo-e-yaar se nikale toh Soo-e-daar chale ... you need to appreciate inherently without translating that "Come out of house of my beloved and then go to the gallows" this simply does not make any impact. Any how this is not my diatribe against Nusrat saheb but I really do not appreciate people comparing Mehdi saheb to any one else. He is just one of his kind no one in past no in future can surpass him.