So I finally remembered that I do have a blog. Editorializing in my head was getting to be so much fun again that it kinda had me there.
So, Birthday recap:
On the whole had fun. For the first time in years I actually got presents from people who aren’t my family (and, in both cases, thank god for that). The presents I couldn’t choose (which were probably — I shudder to think — hand-picked) were three shirts.
Unfortunately these were trendy shirts. Indian Fashion Movie Star Trendy shirts. I swear, that black one, I’ve never displayed more cleavage than in that. The tan one is nearly a short sleeve kurta but the proportions are all wrong; I look like some kind of peasant from 12th century England, and hell, even back then I wouldn’t look good in it. The white one is the same as the black, only, you know, white. And it itches less.
Needless to say I haven’t worn any of them out of the house. I may be a freak, but I’m a freak with taste.
The second present-giver let me choose, and so we ended up at the Book Corner in City Centre. You wouldn’t expect the best bookstore in Dubai to be dab-smack-center in the most crowded mall in the city. It’s a shame that in five years it’s still the best book store, shelf-space wise. Our raddi-waala opposite Ranade Road has a larger selection of books (and frankly, a more interesting selection), but it was just nice to be around books in this town. And in one corner at the bottom of the children’s section, I found my birthday present: a Watchmen TPB. I was chided for buying ‘comic books’ but I didn’t care, because, well, WATCHMEN!!!!
Now when I actually get some money to burn you can expect me to buy up as much Warren Ellis stuff as I can manage. DC comics, please restock now.
Dinner was nice that day, at the Chinese place down the road; highlight was the Honey Chili Prawn (which present-giver, who was footing the bill, didn’t particularly like). Not as good as its chicken variant (prawns just don’t absorb sauces the same way). All in all a fun Birthday, and a nice way to ring in a new decade of me.
And I did not get a single kiss!!! Yahoo!!!!
Professional:
Let’s see… since then I finished Dolly’s flash portfolio. Not completely satisfied with it, but certainly more than any of my student work.
Personal:
Wrote an outline for Sansaarika that didn’t sound completely stupid. God, I would so like that movie to be made. I will probably have to settle for a graphic novel — movies are not the easiest of things to make properly — but I can imagine it so well it hurts to know that I’m not waking up tomorrow to head to the set and inform people on a megaphone to, “Ignore Kareena Kapoor, she’s supposed to be invisible in this shot.”
Maybe I’m just deluding myself. Outline was decent, though.
Ooh, and I finally got an opening!! Sansaarika had been floundering for a while because of its lack of a solid opening. The one that’s there now is a little surreal and not very exciting, but I love it anyway, and I unconsciously re-worked it in such a way that it fits in perfectly with the second-to-final scene. I’m still unsure that the final scene is necessary; audiences may not be too big on villain redemption, but hey, it doesn’t hurt to keep it in there. That’s what editing is for.
Sansaarika as it stands now would be a 3-4 hour film, which is alright for a Hindi film, but on the long side if it was made in English. I don’t ever want to make it in English. I would be able to stand a graphic novel version in English, but not a movie.
Meanwhile I’ve reworked Jaadoo into a very appealing, if Hollywood-ish plot. Gone is the thinly-veiled Video Girl Ai in a Salwaar romantic comedy, replaced by a pretty straightforward but nonetheless fun Urban Fantasy detective/action/comedy thing. And I can use the same opening without changing a bit!! It’s a very character-centric tale, like all my work, but still a bit of an American Movie. Scratch that; it’s still an Indian film plot, it’s just more like a western graphic novel than anything I’ve seen succeed in India.
But then, I’ve never made my films, so you never know, people may actually like them.
Yeah, right.
I’ve been coming up with a few good saleable plots. By saleable I mean that they’re English 90-120 minute stuff that doesn’t require songs, and are very America-centric. I come up with these because if I do write them one day I will try to sell them to US studios; they pay the most, I assume.
The plots themselves are pretty tame: Legal Dramas, Romantic Comedies, Disaster type things which are character-centric. Only one of them is remotely Indian, and that one is more Merchant Ivory than Yash Raj.
I have also been coming up with more mad and crazy Indian film ideas that have no chance of attaining commercial success, but I love them like my kids anyway. The latest? Something called Beat-em-Up Babumoshai.
Yes. I know.
I was looking through my Grand Plan file and sometimes it makes me feel a bit useless. All those plans and things to do, and here I am still fighting to sit down at the keyboard or the desk or the pad and do something towards achieving at least some of it.
Samir was looking at it the other day and we both agreed that if I stop thinking up new ideas right now and only flesh out the titles that are in my plans folder I’ll have a remarkably prolific lifetime career. I mean, 40 novels, 30 films in at least two languages, ten comic series and a few dozen miscellaneous bits is a good career, right?
I’m penis-waving. Ignore.
Currently writing a Savant story. I’m saying ‘Damnit all to hell’ and just writing from the heart; this one deals with his first visit to Xaus Vassa during the Nepaari days. It’s thick with dialogue that doesn’t go anywhere, and its plot is iffy, but I just like writing Savant so much that it doesn’t matter. It’s a backstory piece, throwing Savant and company into a light that they have never been publicly seen in before. I know about the sordid history, but what few readers I have don’t; they still think these people just got along from day one and all was hunky-dory. I’m interested in seeing the responses, if any, to this gargantuan story (I predict, at this rate, to finish around 10K words). One day I may be able to just transplant the story directly into First Days, the book in which it would logically take place. That would be good.
V
Achievements:
Finished Dolly’s Portfolio. My first professional assignment ever. Whee.
Also-Rans:
Sansaarika outline.
Jaadoo reworking.
3000 words of rambling Savant.
Lots of miscellaneous good ideas.
Entertainment
Star Trek, TOS, Various Eps
Perfect Blue – if you haven’t seen this anime, you must do so at the earliest
X2: X-Men United – not perfect, but still a damn fine movie, unlike some other second parts *cough*TwoTowers*cough*