Song(s) of my heart….

Its funny how some songs remind you of a specific time of your life. Have you listened to a song and been transported to a bygone era. A time when life didn’t seem so simple or a time when there were no clear answers. And you wonder if your brain didn’t store those memories where would you be?

And this is not about nostalgia alone. Its about the small moments that make up life. If I couldn’t recall Christmas of 1993 when I hear Roja’s songs or think of great times spent with friends when I hear Dil Chahta Hai’s songs. If Jodhaa Akbar hadn’t been my solace during my research and if DDLJ didn’t remind me of my friend’s wedding.

I often hear listen to English songs and speak fondly of times gone. And my only connect to my past are Hindi film songs. Call me filmi! But every song has a memory of its own and its almost as if my life is spun around the songs.

Gadar shall forever be etched in my mind and everytime I hear “Udd Ja Kale Kawa” I remember my dissertation and all the joys that went with it.

Atif Aslam forever remains the favourite singer whose every song holds a special memory.

What is it about songs that make us connect to them? I hum … a lot. Its almost as if a song is playing on my jukebox and it just needs a trigger. I also sing sometimes and it just helps me see life more clearly.

Some songs are opportune for the moment. Like when my best friend left town, I remembered “Dil Ke Tukde Tukde Muskurake Chal Diye!”

And my college farewell where we sang “Pal” 60 of us together and put KK the singer to shame!

Or the time spent at the University singing “Hum Kis Gali Ja Rahe Hai”

And sometimes I wonder what if one day, the words escape me. I forget who I am.

Will I then be able to reassemble my life through the songs?

T S Eliot says "You are the music while the music lasts" Hmm good thought :)

Dost, teri dosti…

With every shop in town urging me to buy a friendship day card, I realised that no matter what, the idea of friendship always appeals to us. We enjoy films like Dil Chahta Hai – connect with them, experience those feelings almost knowing its what we felt at some point of our lives.

All of us enjoy the company of friends – people whom we hold close to our hearts. But the important thing is all of us also lose friends. Over misunderstandings. Over fights. Over arguments. Over lack of contact. And also because we move on.

With every stage of life, one finds certain people with whom we share a common bond and every moment spent together is a good memory. But sometimes we move on from that stage, leaving behind those friends – some of whom are hurt by our disassociation.

And no, I don’t mean to stay out of touch. I am also told a lot of times that I chose to keep away and didn’t want the friendship anymore. And I am at a loss of words. Because sometimes one doesn’t have any explanation for this. Some friendships are circumstantial and try as much as we may, we sometimes cannot find common links with them anymore. Not to say that they don’t matter to us anymore or that we didn’t value them before, but just that the relation drifts along and finally apart.

And as they say, any relation needs work. So the important thing even for friendships, I have found is one needs to make it work. All the stuff one hears of being friends in spirit is fine but one needs to work on being with each other. This doesn’t mean in person but to keep the relation going. To more than them being there for you, you being there for them always. To let them know that no matter what they do, you are going to (or try to) understand.

One of my best buddies in the world is someone who is diametrically opposite to me and often the only thing demanded of me is to understand. And believe you me, its tough! I am tempted to change my friend into being my mirror reflection. But then I think – does the world need another me? Nope. So we agree to disagree and move on :)

Even I have lost friends and friendships and felt the pain. But then I also understand that most of the times, its only me who carries the pain because I never let my friend know that I am grieving the loss of this friendship. And sometimes I also realise that my friend doesn’t see this as loss just because we aren’t doing things together doesn’t mean we aren’t friends!

I myself out of anger and deep hurt stopped all communication with a dear friend for two years! Never spoke a word. Each time I felt I wasn’t ready and it was no point in pretending that we are friends again. This may also be because I value my relations a lot. When I call someone a friend, it means a lot to me. And while I am not one to demand time from friends, if someone breaks a promise it breaks my heart.

Today when I look back I realise I was younger and had rigid ideas about things. I wouldn’t say much has changed now but I do realise its never worth losing time over a relation you want to save. No point in waiting for the other to make the first move. If in any case, you want to be their friend, just call. It may seem awkward in the beginning but soon you would be talking like those two years never went by! And this is rare because often even two days are long enough for relations to break.

Today we are friends again, in touch with each other and knowing that no matter what this is a bond we created for a lifetime.

And they say if you have 5 best friends, you have a good life. And I guess I am blessed because I have more than 5 close friends – all of whom have seen me through life’s worst times, picked me up and then helped me to laugh at my miserable state! And of them, 5 are in a different city, two in different countries as well and yet the bond remains – making the statement real for me that “The most beautiful discovery true friends can make is that they can grow separately without growing apart”

To those who are hurt, I can only say - take heart, your friends continue to be yours and when they go down memory lane, they think of you warmly and you know it was worth it all :)

Figuring out Life?

There are no straight answers
No clues that pop out
But there are loyal friends who stand by
Strangers who touch your heart

There are never easy choices
But then what is a choice, that is so easy to make?
Within you are those voices
That show you the real from the fake

The magic lies within you
Or maybe it does not
But that is because you do not define magic
Or else we all are magicians

There is pain, immense pain
It seems all in vain
But deep within you know this is worth it
Anyways you are not the one to simply sit

Even as the winners in the game celebrate
You know it is short-lived
You have learnt the bigger lesson
All that matters is that you keep learning

And in the end, you will realise
This is not a game after all
It is just a painting,
Colours of which are myriad

Driving Force!

Its funny how much one could learn if one is observant. I have always wondered how life could be explained by the process of driving.

Some of us are always in the learning mode. We seem to get better at some parts but most of the times we stumble, use the wrong gear or hit the brakes too late.

Some of us are always the experts. We drive effortlessly through tricky lanes, humming a song and coming face to face with death yet never giving up.

Some of us are the wild ones. We hit the accelerator as soon as the car is ready and never sit to ponder over what is left behind. We love the feel of gush of wind across our faces as we zoom past life. Most of the times the traffic police is chasing us.

Some of us are the cautious ones. We enjoy long drives, drive fast on the highways and have one eye on the speedbreakers and ditches. We manoeuvre ourselves well and enjoy the ride. We hit some lows and land in troubles but we manage just fine.

And then there are some over-cautious ones. We never let loose. We never lose focus of the road. We don’t allow music in the car and high toned chatter is a big no-no. We never like halting in the middle for any small shopping and all we think of is how do we get home.

As I drive my way now, I also see how some of us are ever impatient. We never can stand the sight of a learner, who is making mistakes and honk away to glory. We curse, abuse and yell. We seem to believe everyone has to learn and learn at the first go. Slow learners have no place in this mad traffic, making them believe that they are misfits.

But everytime I watch a 48-year-old lady struggling to watch her balance on the bike, I wish her luck. I know what goes behind that attempt – the courage, the fear and the grit. Every time I see a 30 year old man struggle behind the wheel, fumbling his gears, I smile. He’ll learn, till then he can fumble.

I wish more of us could get that support. To be allowed to fumble till we get it right. And not having that support should actually make us more sensitive to others. We have been there at some point – be it academics, be it work or be it personal relations. We have felt that miserable feeling that we would never learn or worse still we’ll always fail. Then how come we don’t show that empathy to our fellow humans?

All of us pretend to be perfect. Not because we want to be perfect but because no one allows us to be imperfect. No one says 9/10 is good. No one says health is more important than work. No one says its ok to fail.

So the next time you see a learner on the road, let him/her take his/her time. They’ll come around. They’ll figure it out. Because at the next crossroads, they may just do the same for you :)

6 pack eh?

French philosopher Michel Foucault said body and sexuality are cultural constructs and he couldnt have been more right! By the way there is a craze for well-toned, muscular (for men) and "size zero" (for women) which by the way is dangerous to life, one could understand the obessession with the body.
Personally though I feel its best to be as natural as possible. Yes some of us tend to be more blessed with fat than others and the attempt should be to stay at optimum weight according to age and all. But the chase to be the 'thinnest of them all' doesnt help. I know several friends who in dire need to lose weight push themselves too hard causing grave danger to their life. But over-blessed friends have time and again narrated the heartwrenching experiences of being stared at, mocked for their weight and always being the butt of all jokes! One of them told me, "these days I crack jokes on my weight before someone else does. That way I still seem to have control over what is said about me. Not that it hurts any less!"

Interestingly, this is a serious concern among men, all of whom are intimidated by the Hrithiks and Salmans. Being muscular isnt being masculine, now is it? This is why I think I truly enjoyed seeing Ranbir Kapoor in Saawariya as a simple boy falling in love rather than some muscular dude (which is good I must admit, but not a prerequisite) who danced awesome and wooed the girl. People around us arent really those bronzed men, roaming shirtless on the streets, are they? Which is why I feel Imran Khan also may make a mark for himself because its just overdose of muscular men on screen. Yes, I believe in heroes and superheroes but when AB fought 10 goons alone in the 70s, I believed that too. I think a sincere attempt will do.

So while its always great to work on one's bodies, never is to be forgotten that well-toned bodies make a good first impression. Thats it! After that, it has to be who you truly are that will take the story forward. So take heart friends and if people keep telling you "oh my you are sooo skinny/ you have put on weight!" reply them as I do "Isnt that amazing. Dont I look smashing" Most people (out of diplomacy) will smile and wonder why you didnt feel bad.

And you will have the last laugh :)

In the Name of God ....

Its only once in a while you come across a well meaning and well executed film and Khuda Ke Liye stands true on both accounts.

An exceptional film because its a simple story well told. And what better backdrop than music. The journey of the two brothers Mansoor and Sarmad is so unpredictable because at one level when you watch the film you think you know whats going to happen but then it takes a total turn and leaves you fatigued in your heart. Because anything that comes to the real leaves you wondering. And the film does come close to the real. Be the elder brother's experience of racial profiling or the younger brother's path to religious rigidism. The director's depiction of the younger brother's wife's struggle struck a chord. Even in her helplessness he manages to show how her spirit doesnt die ever!

The first film from a filmmaker in Pakistan to release in India in 43 years, this one sure is a honest and sincere attempt to look at the issues that seem to riddle the youth and that actually be across faiths. But the definite questions of Islamic identity, being a Muslim in the post 9/11 world, bearing markers of Islam - beard, doing the namaz or even having a Muslim name (which even the film Aamir shows well) are at least brought to question.

It has been my desire to know the Pakistan version to any issue and this film at least gave me an opportunity to see one man's vision. And I surely am glad that Khuda Ke Liye they let the film run in the theatres without interruption :)

Beauty on Duty

Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. And I argue that this eye is constructed by varied economic, social, political, national and global discourses on what defines beauty, how is it to be enhanced and appreciated and enables you to participate in the global economy of beauty.

Locating beauty work in the concept of body work, it needs to be noted that body work is performed to care, cure, give sexual pleasure and decorate the body via the body of the worker through touch and close proximity. Hence masseurs, bar girls, escorts, undertakers, prostitutes, beauticians, dentists, nannies, midwives, tattooists, mortuary workers, yoga instructors, shoe salesmen, nurses and doctors are all body workers.

Many kinds of body work are seen as humiliating. Historically these works were done within specific personal relations like marriage, even caring for the patient occurred within the family. In India, historically much of body work was done within caste occupations like barbers. Now body work has entered the market and hence apparently anyone can do it. Moreover we also see a change in the definition of the body. Earlier intimate relations allowed for touch between bodies and since this occurred within the family, it was not seen as work. Now it is believed that these bodily contacts can take place between two strangers, in the market relations as well.

I did a small survey about beauty parlours and bigger beauty clinics and conclude that firstly, using the Gramscian point of view, the women in the beauty industry are not dopes of beauty who are there only because of some structural forces at play, without realizing that they are being duped. Rather they exercise their agency and choose to be in it. They understand the structure, enter it and negotiate their way through it. Hence we recognize women in the beauty industry as agential subjects who may be participating in the hegemony.
Moreover, as the beauty care providers move from the private to the public, new types of hierarchies may be reconstituted. Even as the association of certain castes to body work comes to be altered and new groups enter the profession, it doesn’t mean an end to the hierarchies. Even for the new entrants in the field, the point of entry is often determined by their social location and privileged classes and castes enter the industry at higher levels only.

Further, it needs to be recognized that women in beauty work actually require skill and it isn’t just about engaging in vanity. The work these women do is extremely skilled and requires soft but deft hands. To deny them this skill would be to fall prey to the popular notions that “Vanity thy name is woman!”

It also needs to be recognized that women bring innovation to their working spaces. They show their skill and industriousness in terms of decorating the limited spaces within which they work to make it look customer-friendly, in terms of decorating their own bodies to look neat and in terms of developing excellent public relations skills to attract and retain to customers.

Hence I argue that though hegemonization occurs, we don’t see a complete victimization as there are constant negotiations within that hegemonization and also that some of the actors do remain outside the victim framework. Hence, I beg to differ from many of the popular discourses that either seek to dismiss beauty work as being vain and duping the non-critical masses or else celebrate it as empowering women. Such binaries make us lose out on the agential roles women play in marking out their spaces even as they understand their work differentially from popular discourses.

Therefore I choose to look at women in beauty work as a choice the women make inspite of knowing that the choices themselves may be constructed. These choices do open up possibilities for the women engaging in them in terms of offering them livelihood options or actually leading to their empowerment even if in a restricted sense. Moreover they also recognize that this has been a result of the global economy of beauty thus indicating that they are aware of the larger socio-political scenario that they are part of and participate in the beauty industry knowingly.
And it gives us ample chance to smile at a sign at a barber’s saloon in Mumbai that reads:

“We need your heads to run our business!”

Being young, being old

Everytime you interact with someone younger to you, I guess you realise how old you are or at least how young you are made out to be. Because the former depends on your age - numerically where you stand since the day the doctor's hands ushered you into the world. but the latter is what really matters because thats what people percieve you to be.

I shall illustrate with an example. I happened to spend some quality time (4 days) with a teenager this week and have learnt some very important lessons.

First, that I could ride on a bus for 2 hours without speaking a word and yet not feel uncomfortable.

Second, listening is an integral part of being a teenager's companion.

Third, you need to watch out for unsaid gestures and caring words to understand what the teenager thinks of you.

Fourth, you are old enough to stand by and see someone else go through the same turbulence of teenage and know that they'll come out just fine :)

Finally, I came to know I was deemed as a fun person to be! I, who wont speak a word unless spoken to, who struggles with small talk, who isnt whacky, funny or quirky and yet I am fun!

Thats when I realised, it isnt in your age or how stereotypically young or old you behave. Its about who you truly are. Because once the novelty wears off, its the person within that matters.

And thats when genuine friendship begins. Not being judgemental helps a lot too.

I am glad I spent sometime with her because she taught me so much about myself. Thanks Miss Cool Teenager :)

Have you been a child lately?

May 22 2008

Have you ever danced in the first rains? Did you ever want to? I did. Yesterday. As I do every year. This is a childhood ritual. I remember school days when I would run down from my grandmom’s flat to get drenched in the rains. It is the most blissful feeling ever. You actually welcome nature.

There are communities across the world that celebrate nature and have rain festivals. Somehow many of us lose touch with that part of us. Yesterday as I stood drenched in the rains, I saw many adults standing in their balconies watching me and several children in the building behave like, yes you are right, hooligans! But it was fun. To shout with glee and dance to the raindrops. The children shivered yet didn’t give up. Everyone says we don’t have enough free time and hence go for holidays. But whatever happened to the small pleasures of getting drenched in the rains?

The smell of freshly drenched mud is the most memorable point of every rains. It brings back several memories many of which involve me actually eating mud :) I know many of the adults who stood in their balconies wanted to come down and join us but thought it was too childish. But as Geet says in Jab We Met “Its fun to be childish.”

I have friends who play like children. They want to win, don’t know how to play but nonetheless play. And they enjoy it. I know of people who never fear losing or looking like a fool. It is they whom I admire. Somewhere growing up involves instilling fear, embarrassment and guilt within us. We are “not good enough.” The film Bhootnath is really nice in the fact that it shows how often as children we never fear much – like ghosts. It is mostly adults who instil that fear of the unknown within children. We pass the “Crown of Fear” to others.

And to think, I am not even fond of children. In fact I repel them and vice versa. But that doesn’t mean I wont fight for their right to be irritating, stupid, brave and extremely childish :)

Paes-Hesh!

May 21 2008

What is best for the country, what is best for the team!

These terms really make me ponder. What is so wrong in what Mahesh Bhupathi is saying? He is being extremely wise in saying that there is no communication between him and Paes and how do two people win when they aren’t in sync with each other? And even if they do win, will that really count? Didn’t Shahrukh Khan make it clear in Chak De India, that we need to play as a team?

Instead of asking Mahesh to think of the country’s interests, I would say, make Paes and Bhupathi meet and talk out things for Olympics. Airtel ad is simple “Faasle mit jaate hai jab do baatein ho jaati hai!” I am sure the differences wont be ironed out, but at least they could mutually decide to play with each other for the Olympics. Keeping aside differences in the game doesn’t mean you overlook basic compatibility issues. Because even if they do pull it off, it wont last for long.

I have always found Bhupathi to be an extremely astute and calm individual who would think of the sport first. Even in his email, he is saying that incommunicado will make things difficult. For once, individuals need to be given attention because after all it is these individuals who make teams and differences do not fly out of the window!

Recounting my Tamilian side

May 15 2008

With my grandparents gone, my interaction with the Tamilian ways are almost extinct. The other day we went to buy coffee at one of those shops that make coffee and the smell of freshly ground coffee brought it all back to me. The extremely superb coffee my grandpa would make and then insist that it be drunk hot. It would be served in a tumbler and davra. Whenever anyone to this day says, “Wake up and smell the coffee” I remember the innumerable mornings that I would keep smelling the coffee made by my grandpa. And he would do it every morning of his 88 years without fail.

I would let you onto a small secret. Whenever I go to restaurants and eat South Indian food, I never touch the sambar. Somehow sambar to me has always meant my grandmom’s speciality and so I still never taste the sambar served in the hotel. I would eat it with curd rice and it tasted the best.

As a kid, I recall picking up cowdung from the roads for my grandmom’s plants at home. And there was no feeling of shame or yuckiness. It was a perfectly normal act which I would do with great sense of achievement because it made me feel useful for my grandma. We would put the dung in her rose plants and whenever the roses bloomed, she would proudly tell everyone that I had helped her and never have I felt more proud :)

Their home would smell of vivudhi and agarbatti and childhood smells stay with you forever. I also remember stealing some Yardley talcum powder and dress up as an actress with my face so white that it could scare any ghost. In my grandmom’s balcony, I reigned supreme. I blew kisses to imagined fans standing below and displayed my histrionics elegantly. Of course during one of such displays, I fell off the chair and almost killed myself but that’s another story.

I remember drying many items for her in our terrace. And whenever I was given the duty to ward off crows and pigeons from eating the drying items, I would sit in scorching sun and do my duty without complaining. Because I knew what those items meant to my grandmom (plus I would always get something sweet to eat in return ). I owe my sweet teeth (I have lost too many teeth to sweets) to my grandmom. Like her, I love sweets and everything from chocolates to mysore pak is relished.

With them gone, all of these smells and tastes remain with me and I relish reliving them time and again.

Dappu debate

The Dappu foregrounds the hegemonic structure within which the Veena as a musical instrument operates.

Definition of culture and hence the acts of domination and hegemony are a part of the everyday. This is reflected in the debate around the Dappu and the Veena as shown by Samata Biswas.

The Dappu is a drumming instrument primarily used by the Madigas while the Veena is a string instrument associated with the Hindu Goddess Saraswati. Biswas notes three reactions to the mess notice board about the Dappu player. One was of cultural relativism where it was treated as a piece of new information about another culture. The second was of disgust that ‘real/material’ issues weren’t being addressed. And the third was of anger of “bringing in” caste in something like music. These three reactions are crucial to understand how the Veena has always stood for secular and hence cultural while the Dappu represents caste. It is the relational mode of analysis that brings to light how the Veena is universal and the Dappu particular. And that the discussion about the focuses on the religious and castist connotations of the Veena.

In essential, this debate points out how the Dappu and the Veena aren’t just musical instruments (standing in for many other cultural practices) but reflect the politics of terming something “national-cultural” and others as “regional.” It also highlights how the process of the Veena being celebrated as classical tradition while the Dappu remains the identity of a few. Different cultural practices are related in a coercive manner and the relationship between the Veena and Dappu is reflective of the violent marginalisations of certain popular practices in society. Evocation of the Dappu then points out the identity of the Veena as systematically and historically marginalizing the Dappu and millions of other such instruments, literature, religion, and ways of life. Hence the Dappu foregrounds the hegemonic structures of class, caste, religion and identity within which the Veena operates.

Critical Reading of Guru

The debate on masculinity and aspirational notions of masochism are often conducted in the frame of films like Krrissh who is seen as the Indian Superhero. But I think it is films like Guru that need to be examined seriously because it presents not just a model of reckless pursuit of money and success propelled by male aggression and disregard for rules, but the very definition of masculinity is altered.
Guru’s release in 2007 comes at a point when the Indian stock market has witnessed revolutionary peaks, lots of foreign capital has come in, Indian rupee has appreciated, tremendous growth in many sectors and India became a trillion dollar economy. Moreover India intensified its international integration and not only had foreign direct investment but also bought companies abroad. Just as Guru represents, India has witnessed a fast and furious (economic) growth in this decade. Politically, coalition politics (especially emergence of lower caste leaders) and renewed participation of the masses in voting are seen as the marked shifts in India’s polity. Moreover this economic growth has meant more migration to the cities and thus more pressure on the state to provide infrastructure. Seen in this context, Guru throws up interesting insights.

The entire film needs to be understood with the emergence of an “urban, media-exposed, modernizing middle class in India” whose aspirations and sensibilities were expressed on the site of cinema thus highlighting how the middle class notions of power, nationhood and political transformation mattered. (Lal and Nandy, 2006) Hence the film notes the paradigm shift in the middle class mentality that sees money making and profit as goals to be achieved and salutes the capitalist who generates revenue. Moreover through the film, Gurukant refers to himself and his shareholders as “middle class and calls themselves as ‘family’ pointing at the middle class eminence to family. The aspirations of being rich, owning factories, palatial homes form a part of this emerging middle class who stand to gain a lot from globalizing India and this forms the crux of Guru. The film is also a comment on the role media plays in making and breaking individuals. The investigative role of the media sees it emergence with the Emergency as media was identified as an alternative entry into Indian public consciousness. (Lal and Nandy, 2006) Thus media became the source of information for the masses and a critique of the misdeeds. But the 1990s also saw the manufacturing of news wherein the industry could be manipulated and bought. This dual role of the media comes out strongly in Guru wherein Gurukant’s rise to success is celebrated by the media while the corruption and competition is attacked only by one newspaper – the Independent run by Manik Dasgupta. The role of the media is outlined as the watchdog which doesn’t compromise on its ideals and principles even as Gurukant bribes and buys its employees, creates structural troubles of cutting power supply and attacks the owner. He uses the media to settle personal scores. He also banks on the principle of how newspapers depend on advertising revenue and how that can be used to manipulate its stand. Most Hindi films, especially of 1970s, always portrayed the “evil capitalist” as the villain and represented him as a cold, ruthless individual who cares only for profit. In absolute contrast is Guru which lauds the forces of liberalization and projects the capitalist as a messiah who will drive out India’s poverty. Moreover the significant point is that Gurukant has no remorse or compulsion to hoard wealth. As one reviewer pointed out that he isn’t an industrialist with any external compulsion or revenge to take, promise to keep or injustices to fight against. In fact he is an entrepreneur by choice and in fact heralded as a ‘true nationalist’ who is taking India towards progress. This celebration of individual capitalists and their pursuit of wealth are complemented by a bashing of the socialist state which was never seen as pro-poor but as pro-poverty. Hence Gurukant becomes the saviour of the masses whom the state claims to protect but doesn’t help economically. That this saviour resorts to fraud, manipulation, coercion are overlooked and this is evident even from the claps and whistles from the audience when Gurukant gives his oratorical speech in the climax of the film. He makes a profit of 30 seconds even in the speech and reiterates his status of being a baniya (only explicit reference to caste in the film) and carrying the underlying message of how baniyas are the mercantile castes, known to be penny-pinchers and are extremely adept at business. The emphasis on the individual is also seen in the reconstitution of the conjugal relation in the film. Sujata isn’t the typical village belle but an educated, opinionated woman who almost defies the patriarchal system by attempting to elope. Incidentally the person she is supposed to elope with a communist. This agency then is lost when she marries Gurukant not because he asks of it but because she becomes a dedicated wife who stands by her husband no matter what and when she disagrees, doesn’t show it. Moreover one really wonders of her reaction to the reality of the marriage being a ‘deal’ because she is standing right there when Gurukant speaks of their marriage to her father.
Hindi films have always played up the good versus evil dialectic with the good always triumphing the evil. Guru is a marked detour because the very definitions of good and evil are altered and the evil disguised as the good seems to triumph. Seen in the background of these many narratives, Guru seems to be a warning to the rest of the world and to critics of globalization that India is emerging and how. It is unrepentant, fast, and aggressive and is at par with other nations. At the same time, it attaches great value to the family. It reflects the middle class values and undermines the utility and significance of the state. The individual completely dwarfs the state. This biopic in fact heralds Ambani without ever critically engaging with the means he deployed to reach success. It becomes the new manual for defining masculinity and prescribes roles for the educated wife, state, media and the middle class. Guru effectively shows that anyone who is capable and willing can make it big in the globalizing world and completely overrides the exclusions, the barriers and the burden of globalization.