Big films, big ideas

A few months ago I had the pleasure of meeting a Director. A big director with a big film company,who wanted big ideas for the big films he was going to make.
So happily we went for coffee and discussed the state of the industry, the state of his company, the state of everything. Then as I was warming up to the state of the stories and scripts, the coffee got over and so did our meeting. No sweat...cool this was just the preliminary meeting. Just to to check out and all that.

The next day we had another meeting in which the brief was discussed. The brief was, that there is no brief. My God! what does that mean? I can write whatever? I don't have to dictated by the director, freedom!

The next day we had another coffee meeting. The director being the generous and fair man that he was, asked me what were my interests.
Politics, History and crime.
I thought I saw his expression change. Just a little. Maybe I am imagining it.
Very gently he pointed out that he is not interested in Politics, History but yes Crime could be looked into. But he cautioned , women are better at writing Romance and comedy.
Okay. Theek hai. I will become good at writing romance and comedy.
So I eagerly sent off a romantic synopsis. No no that wasn't that great. You see the director felt that he knew the moment he read the synopsis that the Hero and the Heroine are going to fall in love. Was that suppose to be hidden? And I mean if there is a Rani Mukerjee and Saif/ Shahrukh in a film, do you really need a very high IQ to figure out they will fall in love. One is a Hero the other the leading lady, as they are popularly called now.

Never mind. The thriller. Wow! he loved it.
The next day he didn't love it that much. He slept over it and felt that it was stolen. Oh my god! what next. A 100% original smacks of plagiarism.

Another coffee meeting. The director told me that he loves the work I do, the way I write but he needs big ideas. Big Ideas, I ask? Silence. Big ideas like you know, Little Miss Sunshine.

I see.
Small ideas too can make big films my friend.
But you won't understand that.

So to all those who want Big ideas for Big films

Parwal Aloo.

1. Parval - 1 kg (scrapped and cut into halves length wise, please be intelligent enough to remove the seeds)

2. Aloo - 300 gm or 400 gm (depends on how Aloo stuck you are, cut them into 2 1/2 inch pieces)

3. Zeera (Cumin) Powder - 1 1/2 tablespoon

4. Dhaniya (Coriander) Powder - 2 tablespoons

5. Tej Patta (Bay leaves) - 2

6. Garam Masala powder - 1 teaspoon

7. Ginger paste- 1 teaspoon

8. Mustard Oil - 4 tablespoons

9. Turmeric powder - 1 teaspoon

10. Red Chilly powder - 2 1/2 teaspoons

11. Sugar - 1/2 table spoon

12. Ghee - One table spoon, make it less if you wish

13.Water - 1 cup

Method:

Add 1/4 cup of the water to the cumin and coriander powder and blend it into a paste.

Heat the oil in a pressure cooker. Group parwal into two batches. Lightly fry each batch and remove. Lightly fry the Potatoes and remove them too.

Add the bay leaves in the remaining oil left in the cooker. Fry them for a few seconds and then add the Cumin, coriander paste, ginger paste, turmeric, chilli powder and garam masala powder to the oil. Stir fry for about a minute of so (don't stick to the minute if you can see that the masala is burning)

Now add the Parwal, Aloo, salt, sugar and the remaining water.

Close the cooker and bring it to full pressure on high heat. Remove the cooker immediately from the heat and release pressure by lifting the vent. Open the cooker and pour the ghee on the vegetable.

Eat it.