Like's like that!

AGKSPEAK

The old, and the olden ways, are changing - and we're the better for it.

What I've Liked
A delicate film for a delicate subject

At the outset may I congratulate the thinkers and makers of the TVCs for Ipill emergency contraceptive pills for their deftness in handling such a sensitive subject. Both films, The Breakfast table and The Honeymoon are superlative on all fronts "" their casting, their production values, their well-written scripts, even the little animation of the pill usage have been tastefully executed. Clearly all this attention to detail speaks of a commendable directorial eye.

Refined, sophisticated, subtle yet strong are all the qualities that come to mind every time these films come on air. I guess what makes the message easy to swallow are the aesthetics of the films. Both are extremely good-looking films, with casts and sets that are truly credible and relatable, while being easy on the eye! I also like that little facet of the film where even though there is a voiceover right through the film, the main players communicate their apprehensions to each other, almost reading the other's thoughts, a gesture that mirrors real-life situations so well.

This separation of the sales pitch from the slice-of-life episode unveiling before the viewer invests the narration with a non-theatrical feel, so suitable and creditable for a product such as this. Yes, this brand has been very well-handled indeed. Both in terms of execution and strategy.

What I've Learned
It's all in the mind

"It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old, they grow old because they stop pursuing dreams."
"" Gabriel García Márquez

I received a call a while ago from a total stranger, seeking my advice on how he could become a model. I must have a received a million calls such as this all through my career but nothing prepared me for the answer that I received when I asked the caller his age. "Sixty," he replied quite confidently. And he added that it was the first time he was venturing into this field.

Now "vanasprastha", or the first step towards moving away from worldly pursuits, clearly seems to be a tradition well and truly of the past. In today's world, where 60 is the new 40, as they say, most achievers find themselves at their professional best as they approach their sixties and seventies. It's the stage when everything you have learned so far finally comes together "" experience, maturity, wisdom, an honest awareness of one's strengths and weaknesses "" so that it seems such a waste to cast all this learning aside and settle for a rocking chair, when you could be beginning a brand new innings!

And that's exactly what an entire generation seems to be doing right now. A friend of mine is starting a media school in Delhi. Ex-president APJ Abdul Kalam became a prolific writer at 70. There is an army of people out there launching into careers at 60 and doing pretty well for themselves too. I, too, began my career as a writer four years ago and I must admit it has been the most enjoyable phase of my life.

There was a research done a while ago on the physical impact of positive and negative thoughts on people and they discovered that if you keep telling a person that he/she is ill, they do become ill! Ageing too falls in the same category. If looked at as a license for a new life, it becomes one indeed. On the other hand, if you consider it as a speeding ticket and get off the road, you will do so eventually. It really is all in the mind.