Sunday, October 28, 2012

Of Armaan, Strengths Finder, and Halloween...



Yesterday, I watched Armaan. Remember, it was the first film of Honey Irani. She is a very famous screenplay writer. She wrote screenplay for movies, such as Lamhe, Aaina, Darr, Krissh, and Koi Mil Gaya among others. She is also the mother of Zoya Akhtar and Farhan Akhtar and the maternal aunt (or massi) of Farah Khan and Sajid Khan. I had always wanted to see Armaan but never got the time to specially download it, so this week while I was browsing some films at the library, I found Armaan. I immediately took it with me. Armaan is the story of Dr. Siddharth Sinha (Amitabh Bachchan), owner of a hospital in Chandipur who requires funds for running it. His adopted son, Dr. Aakash Sinha (Anil Kapoor), is a top neurosurgeon. He meets with Dr. Neha Mathur (Gracy Singh) and falls in love with her. Due to some turn of events, Dr. Siddharth dies and Aakash marries Sonia Kapoor (Preity Zinta), a short tempered, stubborn and spoilt daughter of a rich industrialist, who promises to give him funds for the hospital. Honestly, I was very disappointed by the film. Some unintentionally funny sequences in the operating room, terrible acting by Gracy Singh, even more terrible acting by side characters - Armaan was a big let down. The film had the potential to go to some new boundaries. In one scene, Sonia meets with an accident and is lying on the operating table having just 5% chance of survival. Siddharth's ghost comes and asks this question to Aakash. What is she died during the operation? What will the world say to him? That he killed his wife because she was troubling him? And if he doesn't do the operation, he will fail as a doctor because he didn't do his duty. If she survives, she is going to make his life hell again. I thought this scene could actually have been such a fantastic theme to explore..the moral dilemma of a doctor. But the film chose a very simple path rather than exploring some ethical issues - a successful operation with a change of heart in Sonia - no dilemma. There were so many scenes which I thought could have provided a very meaty film but it didn't. There was this film that had come - My Wife's Murder starring Anil Kapoor and Suchitra Krishnamurty. I think that too explored some of these issues. I haven't seen it though. So many movies to be seen and so less time. But I was disappointed with Armaan. However, Preity Zinta was fabulous. She was the best performer in the film even overshadowing Amitabh Bachchan. She was effortless as the impulsive Sonia, a very natural performance, perhaps one of her best till date. The last scene where she walks away from Aakash's life with tears rolling down her eyes is stunning. She saved the film from utter boredom. The music is soothing, one of my all time favorite songs, Mere Zindagi Me Aye Ho, is in this movie. Some dialogues were really good, after all Javed Akhtar wrote them.



अपनी मोहब्बत को अपने हाथों से दफनाना आसान नहीं होता

ज़िन्दगी अगर एक धुन है, तो हम दोनों उसे अलग अलग सुरों में गाते है, और इसलिए साथ नहीं गा सकते...

As part of the course, I had to take the Gallup's Strength Finder Assessment. Yeah, I know what my strengths are  - to constantly get worried, under confidence, and a loser in life :{ But I had to do it and this is what it threw. My top 5 strengths are:



Intellection
Learner
Empathy
Responsibility
Context

This is what the personalized assessment said in detail about the top five strengths. The more I read in detail, the more I think it that it is somewhat true. 


Intellection
You like to think. On the other hand, this mental activity may very well lack focus. The theme of Intellection does not dictate what you are thinking about; it simply describes that you like to think. You are the kind of person who enjoys your time alone because it is your time for musing and reflection. You are introspective. In a sense you are your own best companion, as you pose yourself questions and try out answers on yourself to see how they sound. This introspection may lead you to a slight sense of discontent as you compare what you are actually doing with all the thoughts and ideas that your mind conceives. Or this introspection may tend toward more pragmatic matters such as the events of the day or a conversation that you plan to have later. Wherever it leads you, this mental hum is one of the constants of your life.

Learner
You love to learn. The subject matter that interests you most will be determined by your other themes and experiences, but whatever the subject, you will always be drawn to the process of learning. This Learner theme does not necessarily mean that you seek to become the subject matter expert, or that you are striving for the respect that accompanies a professional or academic credential. The outcome of the learning is less significant than the “getting there.”

Empathy
You can sense the emotions of those around you. You can feel what they are feeling as though their feelings are your own. Intuitively, you are able to see the world through their eyes and share their perspective. You do not necessarily agree with each person’s perspective. You do not necessarily feel pity for each person’s predicament - this would be sympathy, not Empathy. You do not necessarily condone the choices each person makes, but you do understand. This instinctive ability to understand is powerful. You hear the unvoiced questions. You anticipate the need. Where others grapple for words, you seem to find the right words and the right tone. You help people find the right phrases to express their feelings - to themselves as well as to others. You help them give voice to their emotional life. For all these reasons other people are drawn to you.

Responsibility
Your Responsibility theme forces you to take psychological ownership for anything you commit to, and whether large or small, you feel emotionally bound to follow it through to completion. Your good name depends on it. If for some reason you cannot deliver, you automatically start to look for ways to make it up to the other person. Apologies are not enough. Excuses and rationalizations are totally unacceptable. You will not quite be able to live with yourself until you have made restitution. This conscientiousness, this near obsession for doing things right, and your impeccable ethics, combine to create your reputation: utterly dependable. Your willingness to volunteer may sometimes lead you to take on more than you should.

Context
You look back. You look back because that is where the answers lie. You look back to understand the  present. From your vantage point the present is unstable, a confusing clamor of competing voices. It is only by casting your mind back to an earlier time, a time when the plans were being drawn up, that the present regains its stability. The earlier time was a simpler time. It was a time of blueprints. As you look back, you begin to see these blueprints emerge.You realize what the initial intentions were. These blueprints or intentions have since become so embellished that they are almost unrecognizable, but now this Context theme reveals them again.

We also had a session for this and they said Context is one of the rarest strengths in people. 

Anyways, yesterday was Halloween Party. To tell you the truth, I hated it. I don't know why but it felt so weird. Ewww.. it was at some body's place..if it was at a pub/bar, I might have enjoyed it slightly though. But don't know why I just hated it. Fake people with fake feelings, fake dresses, photos only for Facebook.. I am such a socially outcast person no? Perhaps that is why...

I totally missed Saif Kareena celebrations. I was checking updates every day. Ya, call me cheap but I was going through all their wedding pictures on the news sites :) Saif and Kareena make one of the most beautiful couples ever in the world. Just look at their picture below. Fifty years later, this picture would become a classic. 




Anyways, more later..

Dialogue of the Day:
"अपनी तनहाइयों का मुझे कोई ग़म नहीं, तुमने किसी के साथ मोहब्बत निभा तो दी, चलो कोई वादा तो पूरा कर रहे हो" - नेहा, अरमान

"मैं कौन सी मोहब्बत निभा रहा हूँ, और कौन से वादे पूरा कर रहा हूँ, लगता है तुम कुछ समझ ही नहीं पाई हो" - आकाश, अरमा

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