The Return Of Dhinchak

A few weeks ago, I watched 'Band Baaja Baraat' at a local mutiplex and I was so entertained that I couldn't stop writing about it for days. The best thing about it was its un-pretentiousness. No fake accents, no short and unrealistic designer dresses, no jobless characters. In fact, the movie has two very well-rounded characters who are practical and believable.

But what also caught my notice was how much the word 'dhinchak' was used in the movie. The word is actually slang for flashy and 'local'. Let me explain with an example. If there were a party, a blue and white decor with candle lighting would probably be sophisticated, but a red and gold color scheme with electrical lighting all over the hall and sunflowers for decoration would be 'dhinchak'.

Why am I writing this. you may ask. It's because of a little incident that took place in my life some time ago. Today I will let you in on a secret- I am actually a very sincere and hardworking person. No matter how much I write like a rebel, criticizing social standards, I never really break rules unnecessarily. I try to be witty in my writing (I hope I succeed) but I am not very clever in real life and try to make up for it by working 24/7.

In school, my talents sometimes go unnoticed. There are people who aren't half as talented or hardworking as I am who always have things their way. They make a big fuss about whatever they do, but their work isn't always all that impressive. Some differences cropped up between me and these people. Since the twelfth standard students will soon be graduating, it's farewell season and we are all busy for the big day. The idea I had for the decor was very basic- red/gold color scheme, yellow lights to illuminate the stage, red and orange flowers and so on. We already have red curtains and chairs and so, it would be practical. But no, this is too 'dhinchak' for everyone. They want color schemes which are off beat (aka boring) and modern (aka Western). Huge investments are being made to hire curtains (everyone seems to have forgotten that we don't really have too many places to hang curtain) and money is also being spent in other places. But the problem is that nothing spectacular is actually materializing. What we have is somehow uninspired (and expensive).

Its not just the decorations that are suffering from this problem. Even the entertainment for the night mainly comprises of English songs. It is an unacknowledged truth that kids think it is better to perform English numbers. That's the safe thing to do because nobody will call you low-class or backward. But not always are these performances good. In fact, they are pretty bad most of the times.

So what exactly is wrong with 'dhinchak'? Is it better to do something uninspired in the name of sophistication than to actually put together something we are better acquainted with? Well, my idea are constantly getting rejected, so I can only wonder.