Sunday, November 9, 2008

Remembering...




B. R. Chopra and Michael Crichton, one wonderful Indian film maker and another equally enchanting American writer and film maker passed away recently.

B. R. Chopra was a legendary film maker, but his TV remake of the epic Mahabharata is what I remember him for most. That epic, when it was being aired on Doordarshan, made the whole India stop and watch it for an hour, every Sunday. Probably, nothing as enthralling and astounding epic remake was ever made or would ever be made.

Michael Crichton, a medical doctor by training, but more famous for his sci-fi novel, Jurassic Park (which also got translated into a highly successful Hollywood movie) was more known to me from his equally profound, though provoking and fast phased sci-fi : Prey. Before I read, Prey, I hardly ever liked sci-fi, leave alone novels. But Crichton's writing style, packed with heavy references and recent research work, made me truly love sci-fi. And when it came from Crichton, it had an authenticity and scientific soundness which is very difficult to find otherwise.

People, like these, create nations without borders and put Humanity before any thing.