As this blog inches towards the 3000 hit mark, I can finally breathe easy and sit back for awhile. What started off as a blog that would carry only reviews of films and music has now become so much more than that. I spend nearly all day thinking about how to make Mehta Kya Kehta? a more impactful medium of conveying my many opinions on whatever I think is important then or will have some relevance in the future. Some of my well-wishers have called me things like ‘bollywood writer’, as if really being that would somehow disqualify me. Speaking of Bollywood, I cannot thank it enough for giving me a steady upsurge in the number of visitors because of films like Wanted and WYR?. I give full credit to these commercial movies I write about for giving the blog so much exposure. Wanted gave me 100+ hits in one day and WYR? got me close to 300, but more importantly, they made visitors browse through the other stuff I’ve written and now Mehta Kya Kehta? gets an average of 60-80 visitors per day even if I don’t update it with anything too fancy.
The question of money – I don’t make income off this blog, and those who think critics get paid for unnecessarily praising average stuff – you couldn’t be more wrong. During my tenure with Buzz18, someone I used to hold in high regard left a comment that directly stated I was doing it for the money. I was taken aback not at the nature of that comment, but at how bitter this seemingly intelligent person must be. The salary comes in at the end of the month irrespective of whether you praise or trash movies/music, in case you thought it works some other way.
Another thing I have been accused of is not changing my style at all growing up as a person/writer, which is by far the most impotent brickbat that has come my way. As much as I love reading hardcore journalism Tehelka-style, I never wanted to write exclusively on stuff like that. I was a satirist ever since I can remember, even before I became a writer, and I am a satirist now. The purpose of my writing is to display some wit and skill, and the intention is to raise a chuckle or two from the reader, even if they might not be nodding in agreement. That’s the way it was, that’s the way it is and that’s the way it will be. Honey, you’re as clueless as they come.
Hey, ek toh I’m not making any cash from this, and upar se I’m writing badass stuff like beer reviews – so allow me the occasional rant, okay? Ab Mehta kuch nahi kehta, philhaal Mehta break leta.
Sooner or later,
Varathora, The Count Of Old Bombay
mehtallica@gmail.com
Mehta Kya Kehta? 