Rooting for Mohit

Hardly there's anyone who does not know who Mohit Saggar is.

Or, that's what I'd like to believe.

Yet, some keep asking me why I've been rooting for him all this while.

Hence, I attempt to present in this post, Mohit - a guy whom I adore.

Please excuse my unabashed idol-worship of the guy.


Mohit Saggar is one of the reasons that had me watching Roadies 8 - Shortcut to Hell on MTV India.

For me Mohit is a true Roadie. He simply rocks!

Be it his attitude, courage or spirit, and him ever daring to break all moulds, he has been a constant source of inspiration, all through the show.

In fact, I see a bit of me in him. And, I am not talking about looks here.

Mohit is blessed with natural good looks, especially his smile is what draws him most to his fans, and he surely has a huge fan-following.

But he has his enemies and critics too, the former from amongst his fellow aspirants on the show, and the latter from the shallow-minded morons among the viewers.

When Mohit did the nude stunt, posing for the portrait artist in Brazil, baring himself fully on stage on front of an auditorium full of people, he really won my heart.

It was obviously difficult for him (as well as Suchit) to shed inhibitions (along with the clothes), yet he carried himself with elan, the petty comments made about his not being so well-endowed notwithstanding.

I admit, Mohit wasn't always the best in terms of performing the gruesome tasks on the show, and he bungled many a time, yet no one can deny that he tried to give his best to each task.

He was lucky so many times during the vote-outs that the fact alienated his co-competitors from him, but Mohit remained unfazed.

People on the show called him all sorts of names, some even stooped unbelievably low just being unable to bear the competition posed by Mohit.

Few had expected him to make it to the final. It was unbelievable for his naysayers that Mohit could make it to the top 4, then to the top 3, and finally emerge as the first runner-up.

For me, and all those viewers, who stood by him, Mohit is the true winner, regardless of the actual finale ranking.

I salute the spirit of this dude. Here's wishing Mohit Saggar the very best in life, life, after all, is the ultimate and 'real' reality show for us all.

'Shaitan': Dance of the Devil

'Shaitan' could have been a cult film. Sadly, it isn't.
Directed by Bijoy Nambiar, and presented by Anurag Kashyap,

'Shaitan' had plenty of promise to become the hard-hitting,

gritty thriller that it seemed to be from the quirky promos and

the music videos that had been airing on telly,

but the film does not live up to the expectations.
The devil-may-care attitude of the young and the restless

needed to be showcased with far greater impact.
Dance of the Devil is what I had expected,

the madness was palpable in the teasers, the film

was supposed to be trippy and irreverent......

however, in reality, the devil dances only for a brief while.......

the trip was tapered and tame.
Shiv Pandit, Kalki Koechlin, Neil Bhoopalam, Rajiv Khandelwal were quite impressive, and more than the other members of the prime cast.
But the one who shines fantastically, in a small role, is Raj Kumar Yadav. I also loved the delightful cameo by Rajat Barmecha. His segment in itself is superior compared to the entire film.

Directed by Bijoy Nambiar, and presented by Anurag Kashyap, 'Shaitan' had plenty of promise to become the hard-hitting, gritty thriller that it seemed to be from the quirky promos and the music videos that had been airing on telly, but the film does not live up to the expectations.

One expects quality work whenever the name of Anurag Kashyap features in the credit rolls, and the director though a first-timer had generated enough buzz when he had won a film-making reality show on telly, plus the rave reviews that were being publicized on social networking sites much before the commercial release made me a bit too hopeful about this new film.
I do not deny that there is some amount of newness, the fresh cast mostly delivers a top-notch performance, the visuals are absolutely brilliant, the musical score is pulsating, and the energetic & raw appeal often reaches a crescendo.
Yet, the film falters badly, far too often. Maybe it had tried to hard to walk along a tightrope, trying to impress and trying to go overboard in terms of technique and stylized narration with an otherwise simple morality tale.
Maybe the makers have tried to hard to walk along a tightrope, trying to impress and going overboard in terms of technique and stylized narration with an otherwise simple morality tale.
The over-indulgence in the script weighs it down to the detriment of the final product.
I sincerely hope, the talented director gets noticed - in fact, he already has garnered much interest in the film fraternity - and may he come up with excellent films in the near future.