Soumya Agarwal- Chase me Catch Nobody!
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Soumya Agarwal
As far as I am talking about movies and the work I have done,yeah. I love it . I could talk about it for hours and hours and hours. But when it comes to me talking about me and my life and the stuff in the media, I would very much love to be someone else.
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VERSATILE said
Useless Stuff. Doesn’t make any sense. What’s the point?
Shreya said
people who think such things are useless can never understand other people’s problem………just that God has given u everything, that doesnt mean that the others who dont have are worthless………we have chosen this medium to express ourselves……….the montage is a beautiful explaination of wat these ‘special children’ face……how is there life……..well its easy to say “wats the use?”……..but if by making such efforts we can bring in notice such cases that need attention to a few people who think that “its useless”, then i think we have suceeded………its probably easy to express ur views but its equally difficult and important to be the VOICE FOR THE VOICELESS………….SO THOSE PEOPLE WHO THINK ITS USELESS,JUST ONE THING FOR THEM……….”JUST WATCH THE VIDEO AGAIN”……
Aishwarya V. Nair said
I think the person who commented that it is useless is himself a useless person. It definitely won’t make sense to him as maybe he doesn’t understand what it means to not being able to express one self. He can’t empathize with them. I feel really sorry for him. My heart full of sympathies.
Soumya Agarwal said
@ shreya and aishwarya
yes… i do agree with you
@ versatile
try watching it second time…
VERSATILE said
Still doesn’t make any sense. You all are driven by emotions. One who talks about sympathy, let me tell you , they don’t give a damn to your sympathy. Well, my point is simple, what makes your video different from any other such fooling or stupid videos. Let me give you an example, check out a movie called “Ghajini”, the hindi version where ‘Kalpana’ helped crippled to get through, see, that’s how you make difference. Don’t show me your stupid emotional attitude and stop boasting yourselves. My question is still unanswered …. so what’s the point? And who the hell are you to call them ‘special’? Why are you categorizing? Voice for the Voiceless…. what kind of voice? I hear nothing, spending a day with them and capturing it on camera won’t make you great.
Call me anything I don’t mind cuz you all have lot to learn. Check out the website towardslife.org. I don’t own that, I’m just a part of it and I headed the developing team of that website also. I would have never told this to anybody because I did it as my duty. I need not to show-off but I’m telling you guys because you’ve commented something about me you shouldn’t have. Know the person before you comment on them. If you go through the website, you’d know that it is not about who they are but what we made them.
If you guys are really ambitious, then make a difference and don’t be emotional fools.
crazymindseye said
Adaab
First of all let me congratulate my students for the neat, decent and good work they have done. Let this congratulations be followed my congratulations to Mr. Versatile for what he thinks he and his comrades have made out of the children whom he is referring to.
Now joining my voice with my student friends- Shreya, Aishwarya and Soumya- let me ask Mr. Versatile as to what more did he do other than heading the team which developed the website? If developing the website is all that he has done then he has no moral ground to speak against my dear students. Webisite, like ceinma, is also a medium which tries to communicate something and touch and move the heart and soul of the viewers.
But cinema or website in itself is not enough, which we all need to understand. But that doesn’t mean that using these mediums is totally “useless” and “senseless” as Mr. Versatile says. If he thinks making a cinema is useless then it also means that making a website is also useless, because a website in itself and by itself doesn’t bring any change. Mediums are just a vehicle which take us to the desired end. So no medium, if used properly, is “useless” or “senseless.”
For having been a student and teacher of cinema and television, now, let me draw your attention to an essay by one of the finest minds of this country Ritwick Ghatak. In this particular essay Ghatak says that in his earlier days he write short stories and plays to reach to the people with a message. But soon he was to realize that the medium of literature could not reach all because there were lot of illiterate people. So then he took shelter in theater. He joined the IPTA [Indian Peoples Theater Association] and started doing plays. But soon he not just faced problem with the IPTA (because of his wonderful thesis ON THE CULTURAL FRONT) but also because he realized the potential of cinema, which could reach many at the same time and could be more effective at the same time, Ghatak started making films. He through his films sensitized his audiences to many issue which he thought were important messages that he has to carry to his audiences. Today if Ghatak were to be there would he have resorted to making websites? But he would have made more cinema than websites because cinema can reach more than what websites can.
With this i would like to pose a question to myself- note MYSELF- as to which is, comparatively, more useless or senseless cinema or websites? And the question also emerges on the general target audience of the website. It is always the elite and well to do people and not the street people who have an access to websites. What is achieved by attempting to speak to this audience who are not the real makers of history and real tools of change in the world!!! All they would do is feel “sympathetic” towards these children and finally feel good about their lives (like it was for many while watching Slumdog Millionaire) and thank the so called god for keeping a silver spoon in their mouth while they were born.
I quote from the great revolutionary Jayaprakash Narayan’s introduction to the book “Third Power” by another great revolutionary saint Vinbha. J.P. writes: OUR REAL TASK IS TO EXPLAIN OUR IDEAS TO THE PEOPLE,, TO CHANGE THEIR OLD HABITS OF MIND AND TO AROUSE BOTH IN INDIVIDUALS AND IN COMMUNITIES A FAITH OF THEIR OWN POWER TO ACT.
Reflecting on this quote of J.P, where he stresses on arousing individual and communities, i would like to pose the question as to which medium creates a public space where communities can be formed? Cinema or websites? Then, comparatively, which is more “useless” and “senseless.”
I personally am of the belief (Which stems from my personal experience in mass movements and public life) that to bring any change we need to use several tools at the same time. Cinema, theater, music, websites, public meetings, seminars, books etc- all are important. Finally what matters is whether we bring about a change or not and not the question WHO brought the change, you or i.
Karl Marx said beautifully: HITHERTO PHILOSOPHERS HAVE INTERPRETED THE WORLD IN DIFFERENT WAYS, HOWEVER THE POINT IS TO CHANGE IT.
Peace,
Samvartha ‘Sahil’
Shiv Sunny said
Dear Versatile,
You say you don’t want to show off!! But then, that’s exactly what you did in your last post by revealing that you have headed the developing team of that website. The only difference is that you were clever enough to wait for the right time to reveal that. You appreciate what someone did in a film and show low of the very small gestures by these people. I haven’t seen the movie Ghazini, but it really shows how desperate you are prove yourself right when you appreciate something that has been done just in a film and discourage bluntly the small steps these girls have taken in bringing happiness to someone’s life.
We all understand that calling these kids as “special children” amounts to categorizing them and that the word is a big cliche. But then, when you say that calling them by such terms amounts to categorizing them, you should as well suggest a solution for that. Would calling them as “mental” or “mad” children do? We might attach a lot of politics and discussions to what we call them by, but when those small kids hear being called as “special”, they do not think in the way you do. They instead feel happy. It is for that happiness that they are called by such names. When you criticize someone for something, you need to even present an alternative for that, or else, you will never be taken seriously.
And let me be honest. The montage was made as a part of an assignment given to these girls. Other people picked up issues such as drugs, gay rights, global warming, etc.. It were these girls who felt that doing a project on this issue would strike a chord in our hearts. And it sure did. Atleast for a moment we sat and thought about them. Now please don’t ask what did they get by just thinking. Even just thinking brings about a lot of change coz very few people actually sit and think about them. Probably you have never been to any such place, but, having been there myself, I can say that it does really bring about a change in you. You begin to realize that how lucky you are and how unfortunate these kids are. You actually feel that it is your moral responsibility to do something for them. You might even say that who am I to call these kids ‘unfortunate’!! But then, how much ever we might discuss it here or elsewhere, you have to agree that those kids are unfortunate and “voiceless”!!
Those kids eat the same food everyday and stay with the same people everyday. Even their caretakers have to normally be strict with them to keep them in control. Just imagine how happy they would be when some friendly people came to visit them with some chocolates, pampered them (which they have always been lacking), burst some crackers with them! Just think about it and you will realize “what is the point of all this”!! You might advice these girls not to follow their emotions. Dear Versatile Victor, if people did not follow their emotions, this world would be more or less robotic. And you know that very well deep into your heart, how much ever you might argue here.
And about this video being different from any other video, I seriously don’t think it needs to be any different from other videos. According to you, Ghazini was a different video! How much difference to the society did that make? A difference can be made even in the smallest ways. You really don’t need to do something very great or big to show the difference. Ask yourself these questions and deep in your heart you will have the answers.
crazymindseye said
Shiv Sunny, you have made some valid points here. Yes, change is invisible and the change begins from a thought, a touch but finally change is a process and in this process an individual goes through various phases of understanding the situation and trying hands in possible solutions, realizing mistakes about the opted path, realization of other alternative methods to achieve the goal and so many other things- these are all a part of the change which begins with just one spark which could be a thought or a touch.
Now coming to the matter of referring the children as “special.” Mr. Versatile, you claim to have worked with/ for such children, so i assume you are aware why such children are referred to as “Special,” for all professional and legal purposes. As you would know – i presume- earlier such children were being referred to as “disabled,” and “challenged” which were harsh terms in comparison to the word “Special.” And the word “special,” has acceptance in it.
Go back to the children with whom you claim to have worked and ask them what was that they loved the most when people like you started working with them. I am sure that the answer would not be that “when you uplifted us,” or “when you strengthened us,” but it would be “when you accepted us.” And this acceptance is ensured through small gestures like spending a day with them and making them feel happy about a video that is made on them. You must have read many film reviews and criticisms about the film Slumdog Millionaire. To me the best review came from my teacher and friend Harsh Mander. Kindly do read that review and concentrate on the last part of the review where he quotes some real slumdogs saying what they liked the most about the film. That will prove to you that acceptance and love is the basis for any change. That is what Gandhi was stressing on.
Peace,
Samvartha ‘Sahil’
VERSATILE said
It’s really funny. Well, let me clarify the confusion first, when I said I’m a part of “It” I meant I’m a part of “Towards Life Foundation”. Website came long after the success of the program, the URL was provided for educating the readers. Boasting or Show-off is not my hobby and and I stand for what I say, so I won’t open my fact file over here and I don’t need to do it either. If you don’t comment on someone you don’t know, I’d appreciate that. I can see that this post has become Versatile oriented and the specific examples given my me. So, I’ll try to stick to the post.
I saw that many kept on categorizing over and over, ironically, you can play with emotions for sometime but if you can’t change your thought then you’re two faced. It is clear to me that people are using special as an alternative word and it is very hard for them to call those children just children. Before changing peoples’ mind, change yourselves and get rid of superiority complex. One day of fun and food won’t make any difference and shooting the same won’t make any difference either.
@Shiv Sunny: Well, since you’ve accepted that this video is no different that other similar videos, so I won’t reply to you anything accept telling you that I won’t reply to you.
@Crazy: I appreciate your optimism but I’m pretty much realistic. Nothing personal but consider this, if you get a nice watch as a gift with a bent minute hand and you kept calling it special, I’ll call you an idiot.
Samvartha said
@ Versatile: First of all… this discussion hasn’t become Versatile centric. Wonder why you think that you are the center of it. We are debating over an issue and you happen to be on the other side in this discussion, for us and we are on the other side for you. Sorry if it sounds harsh but yes, i don’t consider you more important than the issue to make you the center of the discussion.
But let us clarify certain things first…
Who said that giving them a day’s meal and making a film in itself will make this hell of a world into a heaven? We all need to do something and my dear friends have done what was possible within their limits. But who is having the so called “superiority complex” about having done more good to the society? You or these girls?
I appreciate the thought you have expressed about not commenting without knowing the other. But you go on to to say that we (i don’t know who you include in this) are having superiority complex and are just reacting emotionally. Now please tell me who is “two faced” ?
Now coming to the “watch” example that you have come up with. There is a difference between humans and machines, which you would know. Now let me tell you that the children should be treated like humans. But for the general understanding we use the term “special.” And no one goes to them and would refer to them as “such a cute SPECIAL kid.” Recognizing them as “different”/ “special” is necessary. But no one refers to them always as “special” which seems to be your perception. I wouldn’t call the watch a “special” watch. But if really want to get it repaired then i must recognize the fact that it is “bent.” A Dalit must be TREATED like a human being. But if you really want to uplift him/her then you have to recognize the fact that he/she is a Dalit. If you do not understand this i would call you an idiot. And if you are not willing to accept that the problem needs to be reconginsed and keep arguing about the term being used, then i guess its not these girls and us (Sunny and Me) who are reacting emotionally, but you.
Peace.
VERSATILE said
This is not Versatile centric still Crazy Samvartha is throwing direct questions to Versatile and calls him two-faced, emotional and talks about spiritual things like hell and heaven and finally adds Peace at the bottom like General Parvez Mussharraf who could awarded with better adjectives.
Anyway, someone comments on his friend’s blog and Crazy Samvartha jumps in with his Daddy Samvartha, Momma Samvartha, Uncle Samvartha with a Glass Eye, Great Grandpa Samvartha also Grandma Samvartha with [content suppressed]and makes it an issue and brings in Dalit Samvartha who needs extra nourishment so he takes him with the whole Samvartha family to a Candy Bar or maybe Milk Bar or a Liquor Bar or a Topless Bar …….. I don’t care what type of bar it is; keep nourishing and keep out.
Samvartha said
@ Versatile: Grow Up…
Raj said
@Versatile : I won’t be surprised if anyone before has called you but I am now. You are a jerk and a complete idiot living in your own little world. You need to grow up dude.