Of Delhi, Ganesh Utsav, and Mere Brother ki Dulhan

I sat wondering what producers at 'Yash Raj Films' think before allocating budgets to movies like "Pyaar Impossible". And then "Mere brother ki Dulhan" happened. Huh! yet another typically formula-based bollywood movie taking a piss at its audience? Or so i thought, until last Sunday. On our way to the theater, with my family, i saw people leaning on the guard rails along the Okhla barrage over the river Yamuna in Delhi. It was momentary though, as we whooshed past in a hurry to get to the theater on time.

On our way back I got off the car with my newly acquired Nikon snapper, in an attempt to find out what the hullabaloo was all about. Being a person not in sync with the myriad religious customs  that the society follows, i had no clue what those people were up to. It seemed pretty amusing to look at, from a distance.

Then it all came to me in a flash. This was the last day of the yearly ten day Ganesh Utsav, and the people had gathered along the banks of Yamuna to immerse their very own Ganesh idols into the holy river. Much the same as mumbaikars must've done at Chowpatty in Mumbai and tamils at Besant Nagar beach in Chennai. Ofcourse, one didn't see the sea of humanity as in Mumbai, but then the fervor was equally inspiring.

Seeing the celebrations and the colors, i asked my folks to leave me there and drive home. Walking to the banks where the immersion was being done was an experience in itself, with people throwing colors all over the place. All the action almost made me forget about the camera. It's funny how people pose for you if you happen to have a camera 'bigger' than a normal point and shoot, even as you hesitantly yank out your camera thinking people might take offense to being clicked. There was heavy security ,courtesy  'Dilli' Police, all over the place. What bothered me more was the slippery surface near the banks and my worn out flip-flops. After nearly an hour, i decided to walk back home. It was an odd decision that i made considering home was a good 3km walk. And then i got back to thinking about the movie i had watched in the afternoon. It was in-fact, a typically formula-based bollywood comedy with a story line as old as time itself. But if you have absolutely nothing to do this weekend and couldn't get tickets to watch- what's that film starring 'Sallu Bhai'...ahh never mind, you might want to check out this refreshingly directed Ali Zafar film,  if only for Ali Zafar himself - Mere Brother Ki Dulhan.