Tantalizingly Close: An Idiot

I now feel like an idiot. When I succumbed to slumber last night, I felt irritated, anxious and praying. Before I continue further to my state of mind, I need to recommend Times of India’s Crest Edition and Mint’s Lounge Edition. They are now on my Saturday definite reads list.

So why am I feeling the way I am? Well, I read Raju Hirani’s interview in one of those newspapers and tell you what …it did not read nice.

Hirani showcased his style of film making and how important the message and plot are for his ventures. As I read on, I really liked the idea he worked on during Munnabhai MBBS and Lage Raho Munnabhai. In the first venture, he wanted to present as to how doctors can be more compassionate while in the second he wanted to peel the make-up off citizens who abuse Gandhi about his brand of nation (un)building but do not stand a chance when prodded further on their thinking. I appreciate Hirani’s work and went on reading further. I felt good from within.

Then I read about his new film – 3 Idiots. Loosely based on Chetan Bhagat’s ‘Five Point Someone’, Hirani explained how he has developed the screenplay. He explained how five point was just a slice of life and how he developed the ‘plot’ which is inherently the heart in the art of movie making. I felt nicer as Hirani went further to drop in a few hints on the storyline. But my heart tanked as I further read Hirani’s words – ‘So the story is about three guys in Delhi IIT who are not so interested in studies. The film has two time spans – what happened to the three protagonists after they left. Two go in search of the third. At the centre of it is the love story…’ I confess that my book also has two time spans separated by a decade, is about close friends, is about search, has a decade old love story…and what not. I felt cheated as I read Hirani’s words time and again. The motivation to continue writing further ( I am three chapters old out of possible eight) died down and ebbed away as I had small blasts of interrupted sleeps.

Self-motivation is one of most important aspects in any work one pursues. I am learning this fine art these days and it took me good ten hours to re-motivate myself. I still have keyboard with me and I have planned to tweak the storyline if Hirani wants to follow me. My plot - Still a Love story, still some search, still about college but still not that way…

I am still motivated to complete the book…no matter how long it takes and so what if the manuscript keeps residing on the hard disk for time unknown. This will just be for my friends who will read a chapter or two on some lazy Saturday evening.

P.S. While I am eager to watch this movie next weekend, I just hope Boman Irani’s character doesn’t resemble the character ‘TARANA’ of my book (Mr. T.A. Rana who is not a professor...but a lawyer L)