Have you stopped beating your wife?

1. Yes.
2. No.

Sometimes the question does not allow much choice. You can get an answer to suit your cause if you twist the question. Administrator of NASA, Michael Griffin, in Meet the Press was questioning the way the Mars mission question is posed and I completely agree.

The question can be posed in many ways --

1. Do you support a manned mission to mars which would cost the tax payer TWO HUNDERED BILLION dollars ?
2. Do you support a manned mission to mars which would cost the tax payer about 5% of the American defence budget ?
3. Do you support a manned mission to mars which would cost the tax payer less money than what has been already spent on the war on Iraq ?

We should question the questions that are asked before we answer them.

The good and the ugly

I cannot resist a comparison between the two movies that I watched in the last couple of days -- "Hazaron Khwahishen Aisi" and "Sarkar". Both movies are about situations in which the political system fails and individuals rise against it. While HKA is a very well made movie about the disillusioned youth in the 1970s , Sarkar is a loud and pathetic ripoff of "The Godfather".

In both movies, you cannot miss the background score. The music by Shantanu Moitra in HKA works like magic. The songs are absolutely fantastic. Interestingly, most of the movie has a silent background but whenever used the background music blended in with the emotions with stunning brilliance. For example, there is a scene in which a member of the naxalite movement rushes in a bicycle to inform his comrades about a possible police raid. The beating of drums in the background , the body language of the rushing cyclist beautifully convey the sense of urgency. Similarly, in the last scene, one of the three main characters in the movie, Vikram ( Shiny Ahuja ), is brutally beaten up by two policemen. You can just hear the cries of Vikram and the shouting policemen. Yet, the scene sends shivers down your spine.

On the other hand,in Sarkar the loud background music grates on your senses. Should all emotions be conveyed using senseless music ? Give silence a chance for God's sake. The incessant chants of "Govinda Govinda Govinda" knocks your sanity out.

Then there is the acting part. The little Bachchan has one and only one facial expression -- one that of an angry young man; the lesser he talks, the better it is for his career. Kay Kay did act well in both movies. But I think Chitrangada Singh steals the show in HKA.

Something must be said about the choice of characters in the two movies. In HKA all the characters are some shade of gray. The handling of the characters and situations is extremely mature. There is Siddharthh (Kay Kay), a rich kid who joins the naxal movement to fight the system. In the end, he gives up and like other rich kids goes to England to study medicine. Geeta ( Chitrangada Singh ) is initially a confused individual but gradually finds out what she wants to do in her life. But her character too is gray. In the time of need she asks for favor from Vikram who is caught in a one sided love for her. She cheats on her husband (yet another man); but the director does not give her the a moral high ground by portraying her husband as a cruel individual. The third character is Vikram, a middle class boy who wants to earn money; a lot of money. He is the one who wants to get into the system not out of it. He is a smooth talker who plays many tricks to make money. But he is not a bad guy; just a shade of gray like most people.

On the Other hand in Sarkar is a Bushist movie : you are either a bad guy or a good guy. Sarkar is a bad movie in the absolute; but if you insist on a comparison with "The Godfather", Sarkar is plain UGLY.

I also had a personal problem with Sarkar; it is slighly difficult for me to differentiate between three fat south indians who were all BAD guys.