On a trip called Shyam Benegal

4 days back i had the biggest dilemma of my life- To buy or not to buy. And the object of desire was the 5 in 1 DVD set of films by Shyam Benegal. But that was not the problem. The problem was that it was last day of the month and i had to choose over the DVDs or full meals till the 5th of next month(that is when i get my salary).
So the Devil Priyank and the angel Priyank had an epic war lasting an even more epic half an hour before i simply clicked on 'Modes of payment".
What happened for next 5 days is another thing. But now as i hold the just delivered DVD set i think i can closely feel what my father would have felt holding me the first time- Elation, happiness, anxiety of things to come and every other good feeling you can come up with right now.

A little background about Shyam benegal - he is the maker of Manthan, Welcome to sajjapur, Ankur and several others. He has been contributing to indian cinema in a lot of roles- as an Academician, Chairmen of Film associations and a prominent Director. He has worked extensively with actors like Naseeruddin Shah, Om puri, Smita patil and other exponents of parallel cinema movement.

All these Single-word-title Films promised me one thing, it is not going to be easy. To finish them back to back this week- 5 days 5 films. I already have a backlog of Mahabharat(that is for another time). Compared to the commercial masala films we are more accustomed to, these films barely use melodrama and to watch through these films requires a lot of deliberation and gumption for a newbie like me- i am trying hard to keep my mind open and lets get ready for the trip called Shyam Benegal.

Wait, what about my daily duty calls to girlfriend!!