Filmy Family

Some random musings on a lazy working Saturday –


- Ive realized random is perhaps the most often used word in blog titles and I vow to never use it in any of mine

- I remember one meeting during MICANVAS (hope the all-caps pleases The Shrew) when I used the word ‘wacky’ in every new sentence to describe the core differentiator of my events. I was ashamed at the state of my vocab – but really, wacky WAS the best way to describe them and a better word for them still remains elusive to me.

- Working Saturday lunches at the Triveni Terrace have become somewhat of a lovely tradition here. The wintry afternoons are perfect for piping hot parathas, home-made sabjis, tangy shikanji and delicious Indian desserts

- I just coined a legendary line which trivia buffs will attribute to me when I become famous (or more likely.. notorious!) – “Writing is like peeing – I don’t do it till I absolutely can’t hold it in!”

I am a true blue gujju with a totally gujju family. We all have no taste in higher forms of art, we spend hours discussing relatives, Harshad Mehta and some set food choices we passionately love. So unlike Bongs and Tams I don’t have a huge community taking to blogging with a vengeance. I can’t joke about the financial markets and Narendra Modi as they both directly and indirectly run my household. The other day dad even told me that I get nothing as inheritance (dangerous pause).. in my pursuit of a media career as we traditionally don’t understand this media business (phew.. thank god.. for a moment there I thought ill die!)

So we are money minded people detested by some (especially Bongs I have met) for our constant hoarding activities and no hunger for knowledge (unless it’s a stock tip!) and mocked at by some (especially Hyderabadis I have met) for our inability to enjoy our obvious wealth with flamboyance, style and panache (look at the Punjabis!)

But we love our low-brow cricket and our low-brow Bollywood. We love hating Javed Miandad with burning passion - Dad/Mom/Dadi at various stages of my infant life have uttered the following line in grudging admiration of the batsman : “Aavi Gayo Miyo” – The Mian has come.

We love comedies – Be it Govinda(All the Nos.1), Sanjay Dutt (Munnabhai, mwah!) or Salman (No Entry, etc.) – they all are watched with a lot of relish.



Not being exactly the master of narration, I shall now take a halt and take you back to a time in the 1990s when me and my brother were deprived kids without cable TV at home so that we could develop other interests and not end up like other Gujju kids with no other interests apart from Cricket and Bollywood – sadly, we did end up like them – even worse – the deprivation made us even crazier about these 2 things. Our heroes were Sachin and Shah Rukh and inspite of a million new experiences and interactions, Im sure we both are going to die as fans of these 2 Men of the Hoi Polloi.



This, kind of, sets up the context for me to talk about what the title of this post is (well.. kind of!). So unlike or like any family I have ever seen, I come from a completely filmy family. Every character in my little family has had his or her really filmy moment and practices the greatest traditions of Nirupa Roy, Vijay, Raj, Rohit, Rahul and all of those as a part of their daily lives – without ever being able to distinguish whats filmy and whats not.

So when I dint score well enough in my tenth and was whining about bad checking by the moderator, my brother vowed to avenge my loss by revising his own target by another 5% in his tenth boards to compensate for mine (Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikandar anyone?)

And when my brother won the best student in school my family broke down coz he was the first kid in the family’s history to do so (Nirupa Roy ins so many movies)

And my dad sings Dev Anand’s songs during antaksharis on family trips with his signature mannerisms, addressing the lines to mom – and mom responds with a shy nod :p

I can track major events of my infant life with the release dates of the biggest SRK movies –

Fell for a girl for the first time – DDLJ

Came to know guys can wear silver necklaces – Kuch Kuch Hota Hai

Got my first pair of glasses – Mohabbatein

Fell for a girl who was lively, restless and more than a little random - K3G

And the list can go on!

Dad started telling his employees to monitor the markets “Din Raat 24 Ghante” after he had seen Sarfarosh for the 21st time

My mom becomes senti when she watches random mother – son songs and gives me a call late in the night while Im lying intoxicated (ahem!) at MICA

Every person in my family is a dancer of varied potential.

Top of the pack is mom who was a fine dancer in her heydays and continues to love dancing

My brother is a naturally graceful dancer who has lost his SRK-imitated swagger only in the last few years

I am a junglee dancer who goes so berserk while dancing that many people stay away from me when Im dancing

Dad is the weakest dancer but copies Rajesh Khanna – so its more about the dreamy expressions and less about the steps!

And the way things are going, the Sanghvi family is soon going to have its first Mega production – a rehash of K3G – Dad gets to play Amitabh and I get to play SRK (in my head I have played SRK all my life!)...

And then the “inheritance” dialogue is going to be much scary!