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Lakshya
In the midst of all the flak life in uniform has been receiving on social media recently, Farhan Akhtar’s 2004 film Lakshya celebrates the life and times of Lt. Karan Shergill, played by an incredibly handsome Hrithik Roshan. The script follows the story of an aimless, rich Delhi brat, who finally finds himself and his purpose at 18,000 feet during the Kargil war. Shot at the Indian Military Academy and Ladakh, the film with its rousing music wasn’t a big commercial success. Nevertheless, the film has one of Roshan’s best performances till date.
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The Far Pavilions
M.M. Kaye’s masterpiece has often been billed as “a Gone With the Wind of the North-West Frontier”. Set between the intervening decades of the Revolt of 1857 and the Second Anglo-Afghan War, it is the story of an Englishman, Capt. Ashton Pelham-Martyn, who is raised a Hindu in a maharaja’s palace. Years later, when he is claimed by his own people and returns to India, an officer in the Corps of Guides, he falls in love with his childhood sweetheart, princess Anjuli, a woman well beyond his reach. Kaye, whose family has been part of the Raj for generations, brings alive this great, humming continent with her eye for detail. First published in 1978, it remains an anthem for an India that was.
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‘Both Sides, Now’ by Joni Mitchell
I heard it first in the 2003 Christmas classic Love Actually , although Mitchell wrote the song in 1967, inspired by Saul Bellow’s Henderson the Rain King. Ranked by Rolling Stones among the 500 greatest songs of all time, and written when her first marriage fell apart, the song, with its beautiful lyrics, captures the angst and anger in a series of textured harmonies. It has been sung by many great names but it is in Mitchell’s raspy alto which celebrates human frailty do you realise that you “really don’t know love at all”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCnf46boC3I
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Celebrate the Republic
On January 26, India will celebrate its 68th Republic Day with the crown prince of Abu Dhabi as the chief guest at the parade in New Delhi. The event showcases India’s military might and cultural diversity, and will, for the first time, have National Security Guard commandos participating. The parade that begins with homage at the Amar Jawan Jyoti will be telecast live by Doordarshan. The celebrations end with the Beating Retreat,a martial music display, at Vijay Chowk on January 29.
