THE INTOXICATION SERIES II

Short and sweet. 300. Music and Lyrics. “Not my work schedule”. Sachin Tendulkar’s confidence. Sachin’s height. The most aerodynamic car. What do these all have in common? Well… they are all short. And a couple of them are admired for being short. I will let you choose your picks. My picks would be 300 and Music and Lyrics.

I watched 300 a couple of days ago. And I am glad I had to pay half as many bucks to watch it. Because, the effect, the sheer effect in an IMAX theater is overwhelming. The movie is very good not just because of its effects, but because of the lack of “complication”. Most people can’t distinguish between sophistication and complication. They merely assume both to mean stuff, which can cause make our mind go crazy, for good or bad reasons. 300 was sophisticated, not complicated. I was joking about this to my friend. I said “if the king returned back to find his wife had slept with another man, there may have been a further complication”. More often than not the complication destroys the movie. I loved watching 300. The ideas were original, the setup was excellent, and the actors was brilliant as usual.

In sharp contrast to the earth-shattering IMAX sounds, I watched Music and Lyrics y’day night on a laptop with headphones. The movie was an hour and a half, and it wasn’t complicated either. It had sophistication. Two people had to understand each other and realize that they knew more about each other than they knew about themselves. That, for me, was the essence of love. The movie wasn’t based on extravagant plots, and special effects with out-of-the-world sets. It probably didn’t have more than a dozen sets to begin with, and all of them were in the heart of New York.

To me, the second movie showcases love like no other. There is only one movie which comes close… You’ve got mail. The songs are beautiful, and so are the characters. They show how wonderfully simple love can be. How beautiful you can make it. And how we don’t need helicopters and sphinx shots to showcase it (Karan, wake up and smell the Koffee!). What I look forward to in a movie is an intoxicating blend of creativity and beauty. The former was in 300. The latter is in Music and Lyrics.

For many, the story may not be large enough. But, I like it short and sweet.