For anyone who is born with a silver ladle stuffed down his gullet and breathes a rarefied air that shimmers and shimmies like dancing gold dust, the soul-searching exercise of how one can be the best there is, without the ladle as weapon or the gold dust as cocoon is a daunting trek uphill. But today, seven years, a few bruises and many bittersweet lessons later, I feel I have truly arrived. I am now ready, more than I was before, more than I ever will be. I have been cleansed and buffed, toned and licked, ironed and packaged into a brand new person. I have changed.( Famous last words, those.) Or have I?   

Lagaan released seven years ago. Anyone who is a cinema buff or even remotely proud of Indian cinema cannot erase the stunning trajectory of this film from his or her consciousness. The image of its star-producer and its director gallantly walking down the red carpet at the Kodak Theatre will be etched in Indian cinema’s memory forever. The fact that the film didn’t go on to win an Academy Award is a moot point, because that loss will perennially be eclipsed by the tsunami-like success of this film.

This year, 2008, will prove to be another big year for Aamir Khan. His perfectly calibrated directorial debut film, Taare Zameen Par, is touching and pithy and the winner of much applause and many awards. It’s also going to be LA-bound at the end of the year. And though winning and losing are two sides of the same coin, I hope this time the coin is one-sided, so that this winner takes all. 

Turning 50 this year has not diminished Madonna’s mojo a wee bit. On the cover of her to-be-released 14th studio album, Hard Candy, dressed in pugilist-chic shorts and gloves, she looks not a day older than 35, her eyes bright and hungry with the tenacity of a 21-year-old. Seven years ago, Madonna released GHV2, a “greatest hits” package that served its purpose by being nothing more than a glittering comma in the career of an artist whose best is yet to come. In these seven years, Madonna has traveled several sound-scapes. From dreamy electro-house to booty-shaking disco, she has now landed on the shifting tarmac of hip-hop, from where she is bound to launch herself into a whole new dimension. The greatest artist is one that keeps his audience guessing. 

Since I can remember, I have found solace in film and music. I have turned to them for inspiration and peace—the only two ingredients that lead to an act of creation, at least for me. So when I study the glorious careers of artists as diverse as Aamir Khan is from Madonna, I am repeatedly led to one realisation. Hope, Naiveté and Bravado. Hope that the audience will accept a story about land tax told in Awadhi. Naiveté that a 50-year-old doyenne of music will create the perfect summer anthems that every 20-year-old will dream of making out to. Bravado that a no-frills story about an adorable dyslexic kid will rake in the moolah, and make this country’s hard-nosed politicians reach for their handkerchiefs.