Thursday, August 30, 2007

On the way down

Gobinda (Kabir Bedi) drops to his death from an airplane in Octopussy, which is the most stereotyped movie about India I have ever seen. Bond's helicopter crosses Taj Mahal, lands in Benares and the auto driver takes him to Udaipur. The royal prince, mounted on elephants, hunts tigers in his backyard jungle. And of course, there are snake-charmers & fakirs on nailbeds.
Coming back to Gobinda, who drops to his death from an airplane. What could have been his thoughts like on his way down? Initially, for the first four-five hundred feet, he might have tried to think of a way out. A lake, a river. Any desperate mode to save himself. But what later? When death was inevitable. Would he have prayed for the rest of the journey? He didn't look like that kind of a guy. He might have abused Kamal Khan (his boss) for such a stupid idea like fighting Bond on the top of a plane. But most probably, he would have tried to remember all the pleasurable moments in his life. I think that is what most of us would do. But I don't want to try. Guessing is good enough.

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