http://www.thecouchforum.com Come speak your mind about whatever. en-us Have you heard songs in the voice of male playback singer, done for a female character? No, I am not talking about those versatile singers who can sing like female playback singers without any trouble. I am not. I am talking about something different. How do I know that these songs express feelings of women? Well, there are two very easy ways to know that: 1. If the song is from a Bollywood movie or from an album which has videos for it-the video would show an actress with various expressions for many emotions as song proceeds. 2. If you pay some attention to the lyrics, there would be some gender specific expressions which would help you easily ascertain that song is indeed an expression of a woman's feelings. Let me take an example: One of my all-time favourite songs 'Dil Hoom Hoom Kare...' in movie Rudali(1993) has two different videos but same lyrics. Now would you consider them as two different songs or one? The songs are filmed on actress Dimple Kapadia both of the times, the lyrics which were written by Gulzar remain same for the two songs; but the singers are different. The playback singer for the first one is Lata Mangeshkar, whereas the second song has voice of late Bhupen Hazarika.You may consider them two different versions of the same song for this discussion or as you please. The question is: Why there is a male voice (Bhupen Hazarika's) for the second part? is that just because he was the music director for the album of the Rudali and wanted to create a different effect in the second version by using male voice, instead of using a female voice? This question asks another question: This is not the only case of male voice being used for songs which have been filmed on female characters. Look at a very recent song from movie Rajneeti. The lyrics 'Mora Piya Mose Bolat Nahi...' are by Sameer and playback singer for this song is Aadesh Shrivastava. The video, context and lyrics clearly tell you that this song expresses sentiments of a woman(played by Katrina Kaif) who is feeling alienated. Why a male voice over female? If you just search for it, I am hopeful that you would find many examples fitting to this pattern/trend. Why this peculiar trend is there in Music industry of India/Bollywood? Is this yet another example of Patriarchy which is unreasonable or it has some profound unfathomable reasons? On the other hand, you will almost never find an example of a song where female playback singer would sing for a male character. You would find some examples where playback singing for young actors (kids) is done by famous singers who are way too old than those kids, but that does not seem too absurd. There is a strange tradition in Bollywood. I have not been very painstakingly meticulous in collecting examples for my observation. My note does not qualify as an exhaustive study on this matter, but I have noticed it often enough. I solicit your feedback in this regard. http://www.thecouchforum.com/comments.php?id=1906 Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:28:52 GMT http://www.thecouchforum.com/link.php?action=detailid=1906 The reason why best solutions come when we are solving problems for others is: We can focus more without getting as emotionally involved as we do while solving our own problems (I do understand that some of the problems need ‘emotional involvement’ in order to be solved correctly. Even if we get emotionally involved when solving the problems of others; it does not make us as desperate as when we are doing it for ourselves. That said: If you have ever paid some attention to the lives of charismatic individuals (I recommend reading ‘The Theory of Prophetic charisma’ if you have not already read it or some other similar profound book!), you might have remarked on the fact that all of them have been extraordinarily detached from others. In spite of that detachment, seemingly very rude and cold, they have come up with some of the best solutions for the problems of mankind. The Drashta Effect: Whether you read your own thoughts and feelings or you look back at your thought stream or describe it; it makes you look back at yourself as if you are looking back at someone else; this in turn makes you ‘detached’ from yourself and hence you get best insights and most creative solutions because the ‘emotional patterns’ which pop up as soon as you get attached to yourself, your feelings are not there to hinder your creative thought process. So: The empirical findings that you work brilliantly when you are solving the problems of others are indeed in alignment with the efficacy of ‘Detached Drashta’ theory. I do not know how long this discovery has been there but I have known it since very long! Preachers: The reason why preachers and Gurus (especially here in India) have such a great following is: They are, very often, very brilliant and have solutions to almost all problems of their followers. Without giving much to their being ‘miraculous’; a simple explanation is that they are consistently giving lectures on problems, describing it to others. They listen to the problems with which their followers come to them and then try to give them solutions (this they do with complete detachment). No matter with which level they start: They are bound to become geniuses (or at least experts in certain fields) after a few years of practice of Guruhood! So, in a way, like writing a book or teaching a subject; becoming a Guru is also a simple way to become a genius or at least an expert! Gurus do spend some critical part of their lives in seclusion, which is, quite early in their lives and this in turn makes them use Introversion. Introversion is the meditation on your own thoughts and feelings, which reinforces more and more awareness and hence capability to solve problems. Socratic Method: Gurus often involve in a Socratic dialogue with their followers. This reinforces the true education. The best insights come out of Guru-Shishya pair when some original questions are posed and contemplation is done based on free-association. http://www.thecouchforum.com/comments.php?id=1905 Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:38:45 GMT http://www.thecouchforum.com/link.php?action=detailid=1905 DISCLAIMER: "I cannot confirm or deny that anything the following prose says, has any connection to any matter true or false or any event that has, is, or will occur in the history of the universe. Any similarity to an event or with an actual existing person(s) is purely coincidental." It is half past 10:00 in night. A few voices come from the basement. Ibn Batuta is bored of noises, but this one seems to be a curious case. Is someone quarrelling out there? Is it an altercation? Ibn Batuta locks the door of his flat and walks down the stairs. There he finds, standing in a circle, a bunch of people. The man who is speaking most loudly is drunk. The pungent alcohol smell coming with every utterance of this man tells Ibn Batuta that this man is drunk. He has lost most of his hair on front side of his head owing to male pattern baldness. He is bespectacled and dark complexioned and occasionally utters a few words in a regional language to the lady with curly hair. This lady is standing beside this gentleman, with a red-colour cell phone in her hand and she has design of flowers of blue and white colours on her dress. The Young Man: Let police verification complete, then only we would appoint this new man on job. The Old Man: That's what I have been saying since so long. My left foot is swollen and I am not able to bear this severe pain and I have been standing here since last one hour but it all seems so futile to me. The old man has grey hairs. Only patches of hair are left on his head. He has a graceful appearance and he is rather short in stature. The Drunkard: [Very loudly]: Let all the owners assemble and decide what they want to do and only then we are going to appoint a new guard. I don't think that we need another guard. The man who is already doing the job is a good man. The Young Man: But who is the man doing the job? Is he the man ( Points finger to a man who is carelessly sitting next to a TV, in which an action movie is shortly going to be played and TV channel is showing plethora of pre-start advertisements.)? The Drunkard: Indeed. The Young Man: Are you joking? I come at around 1:00 AM every day and I have to jump over the main gate as a rule because no matter how much you call his name, he is never there to open it for you. How do you suppose that he even cares about watching your vehicles in night, here in the parking lot? I mean, come on, he is not a watchman! The Old Man: Indeed, that is what I am talking about. Let us get that police verification done and then we would appoint that new guy. The Drunkard: But this guy here is the 24 hours security guard. The Young Man: How can you ever expect a man to do a job of a security guard for 24*7? That's plain ridiculous. The Drunkard: But I have been here since last many decades and I know that policies over here are decided by owners only. The Young Man: What are we talking about? I do not see a discussion. The Old Man: That is what; we would appoint this new man for only the night shift. The Drunkard: But owners! My grandparents have lived in this house. This house. [Incoherent mumbling.] The Young Man: You ought to care about your tenants as well. All you ever care about is "The Rights of the Owners" The Drunkard: [Loudly and incoherently pointing to a direction]: You see, from that main road, uphill there I manage everything! You don't teach me Mathematics kiddo, John is my uncle and so is Bob! The Young Man: Well, I feel that I am wasting my time over here. The Old Man: Ok, you are talking about owners. How many owners do you represent? The Drunkard: I have four flats in this building! The Old Man: Ok, I have three. It makes seven. How many flats do you represent gentleman? The Young Man: Only one! The Old Man: That makes it eight. We would get some other owners, as well as tenants and we have already scheduled a bi-monthly meeting, therefore there is no need to worry about the consensus. The Old lady who was silently standing there, but called many witnesses for the discussion by knocking their doors, one by one, whispers in the ear of Ibn Batuta: “You know, he is drunk!" Ibn Batuta nods. The Old Man wants to dismiss the meeting but then again The Drunk Man starts mumbling: “My forefathers used to be your owners. She used to stay here and then she became a tenant of mine and later she became owner and hence ownership. Owners lead to ownership because ownership comes with owners. Yes, owners." The Lady interrupts: But since tenants live here and pay, they are entitled to raise their voices against what they find out of order. The Drunkard: I am the owner and let us do one thing: Let us go for an agency which would be here 24*7. The Old Man: That would be too costly to bear. The Lady: Earlier you were against a two-guard policy, saying that it would be too costly, now, it seems you're changing your opinion! The Young Man leaves the assembly and walks away saying that he saw very little of discussion and a lot of shouting. Ibn Batuta laughs to himself. The Old Man: Good bye then, we shall see it tomorrow. The Old Man moves towards elevator and his wife says loudly to other witnesses: “This man watches TV until twelve o' clock in the night. The TV was provided by the association. His family comes over here and they waste a lot of water. This man does not even have courtesy to say a good bye to me. The last month, his wife came over here and said to me “Please send my husband to the village, it seems that he has totally abandoned us!" This man sleeps so sound in night that even if you knock the hell out of the main gate, he would not care." The Old Man: Hush! Don't drag it to personal affairs now. They all move towards elevator. Ibn Batuta moves surreptitiously towards stairs. The chapter closes. http://www.thecouchforum.com/comments.php?id=1904 Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:30:49 GMT http://www.thecouchforum.com/link.php?action=detailid=1904 Lost Highway is one of the best Lynch movies. Music is exceptionally good. The visual representation of a human emotion ( or a state of mind), with a character who is so dramatically scaring and humourous at the same time, is an achievement in this film. This guy with a stout figure, short stature, white eerie face and piercingly-haunting eyes, is one of the most horrid characters of all times. He reminds you of 'The Death' from the movie 'The Seventh Seal' and it seems natural that Lynch might have gotten inspiration from that movie. The dialogue involving this character is most stunning in this story. Like his other major works, Lynch has directed and written this story on his own. Like many other Lynch movies, it deals with prostitution along with other things.It also has a scene showing Hollywood and it seems to be one of the hallmarks of Lynch movies. You cannot interpret this story to the full but themes are definitely those of extra-marital affairs, betrayal in love and suspicion in relations.In first few scenes, the protagonist says " I like to remember things in my own way and not the way they happened." This tells you about absurd climax. A very enjoyable movie with a few very disturbing sequence. Disturbing you is one of the tasks performed by Lynch movies. The other being: Entertaining you and making you flummoxed. http://www.thecouchforum.com/comments.php?id=1903 Sun, 05 Feb 2012 18:46:14 GMT http://www.thecouchforum.com/link.php?action=detailid=1903 One of the things my dad (who was an atheist) told me before he died was that he believed that when we die, our next life is created out of the projection and expectations we had in the previous life. Although I was somewhat surprised to hear that he believe this, it's not really an uncommon belief. It's one that I've been noticing lately in some of my favorite films, for example (SPOILER ALERT) Inception, What Dreams May Come, Pan's Labyrinth, and Source Code. of course, some may argue that dom didn't really die at the end of inception, but in any case it is one possible interpretation. How plausible is the idea, in your view? It doesn't really require a belief in any kind of god, it doesn't even suggest an eternal soul, necessarily. Of course, it's a matter a pure speculation, but some ideas do make sense to us more so than others. Would love to hear your thoughts. :)lib http://www.thecouchforum.com/comments.php?id=1902 Sat, 04 Feb 2012 23:00:19 GMT http://www.thecouchforum.com/link.php?action=detailid=1902