Religion in Modern times...Can it fit?

I wanted to blog on one of the interesting and compelling discussion on CNN's "Larry King Live " in October about "Religion In Modern Times" with panel that included Deepak Chopra, a Catholic priest, a advisor to Muslim Public affairs,a president of a Baptist Seminary and a author of bestsellers on Judaism who is also a Jew. They discussed about war, terrorism, politics, the gay marriage . The one topic that I remember well is about gay marriages.
When asked why gay marriages are a sin, one of the panel has this to say.

"I believe God has made it an order in the universe where male and female this is ideal. That doesn't mean the non-ideal cannot exist beautifully. The ideal is for a child to have mother and father. The ideal is for a man and woman to bond. In some cases it can't happen. To me that's sad. These people are beautiful people, but I have to offer an ideal.
What if three people love each other? Do you offer two people ideal?
What if three love each other, what if a brother and sister love each another?"

Interesting!!. Yes what if 3 people love each other and want to get legally married and aspire for all the benefits the government provides. How far we can go on and accept. If those relationships are not natural , then being gay natural?

Here are some of the other questions thrown around in the discussion.

"Let's say you're a citizen of Iraq, nice guy, hard worker, you lived under Saddam Hussein, you had no choice. One day, a bomb comes from the United States, good people, nice people, wiped out your home and family. How are you supposed to feel? "

"How about those who say everybody who fights a war, God's on their side. God was on Hitler's side. God was on the side of the people on 9/11 they all said. They were for God. "

"the hijackers on 9/11 believed in their religion as strongly as you believe in yours. How do you respond to that? They gave their life for their beliefs. "

"And it is suggested that capitalism, the way we practice, is often, or more godless than some of other systems"

"Have humans always been this way? (angry, fighting) "

"do you support capital punishment?"

And some thoughts were as good as the questions.

"If you classify everybody as good and right, as we have a tendency to do in this country, then you immediately polarize the situation.
And before I cast a stone at somebody else, I really need to look at my own self and say, do I have the seed of evil inside me? Can I be the change that I wish to see in the world? Mahatma Ghandi used to say, there is no way to peace, peace is the way. And peace is powerful. Peace has its own organizing principles. You don't have to work with violence, you don't have to work through violence, you have to be a peaceful person yourself.
Can I be that peaceful person? Can I be peaceful, can I think peacefully, can I feel peacefully, can I act peacefully, can I create peace in my environment. If there are enough people like that in the world the world will transform. "

"Am I optimistic?(about the world) I will never give up hope. On the other hand, if we were wiped out, it wouldn't make a bit of difference to the universe. We're just a speck of dust in the mindless junk yard of infinity. "


If you want to read the whole transcript of the show,this speck of dust(me:)) has provided the link here.

Veer-Zaara ....Never say Never again to Love stories.

If Yash Chopra is famous for all the the mountains and sarson ke khet, cute n sexy damsels(besharam chori from Megha's blog), well he has also tried his hand in story telling which I believe has come out totally unscathed and in flying colors with his passionate love story ,Veer-Zaara. None of his movies ever grabbed so much of my attention than this one.
I would rate this one one of his best along with Lamhe just for its sheer screenplay and brillaint conception. No, he hasn't missed any of of his usual trademark stuff that I mentioned earlier, more over I feel for once he has matched all his visual brilliance with his story telling skills. The dialogues are slick ( much lesser than his previous films) less dramatic, more meaningful and very situational,sublime and so are the scenes.

While his screenplay is the brain of this movie, music is the heart. The songs,music allevates the movie into ethereal heights. Some of the songs has some Illayaraja(instrument arrangement) and Pancham touch.

I loved all the songs but specially liked Do Pal,Tere Liye,Kyon Hawa,Aaya Tere Dar Par,Tum Paas Aa Rahe Ho (Well, you can say I loved all the songs equally).

Frankly I was so involved with story , I didnot had much of a chance to see how each of the roles were played by the actors/actresses. But Hema Malini(Veer's Aunt) stands out as the worst. As she has proved over the years, she hasn't dissapointed me again with her scowling performance. Apart from her everyone else had a cake walk with a special mention of Rani Mukherjee who I believe is one of the best actress around.

This movie is worth every penny spent.No one can relate this movie more than those who had experienced true love before.