Week 1505 - Ageing Rockers, Dhurandhar, Irritants

A round-up of the week that was

Bhavin Jankharia

25 Mar 2026

The Concept Explained

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I have been struggling with long form writing for some time, because of a variety of issues that are not really worth enumerating. And yet, I constantly have ideas and I thought perhaps I can gather those through the week and post them on a Sunday night or Monday morning. Let’s see how this goes.

General

The Ageing Rockers Syndrome

This Friday, Def Leppard is playing in Mumbai. I will be attending, but I am not particularly excited for two reasons...one, I was never a great fan, but more importantly...the sad state of ageing rockers.

In India, we have been deprived of live rock and pop concerts for decades and it is only over the last 2-3 years that a large number of bands have started making their way to our country. And the difference between young blood and age shows. Backstreet Boys played some years ago and they were just so bad...no energy, faltering on vocals...I went back and watched their younger videos and those were much more fun than seeing them live. GnR was just about OK, Sting was smart enough to have backup vocalists who helped him on the high notes and the only one who really shone despite his age was Bryan Adams last year. Lolla helps you understand this. The energy that the young performers bring in...Yungblud this year was phenomenal as a complete contrast to the ageing rockers we listen to mainly because of the nostalgia factor.

I was on YouTube last night watching old Def Leppard videos from when they were in their 20s and then watched a couple of their live videos from recent years and they just look old and sad...people beyond their prime trying to monetize their past. One band that I have always loved is Foreigner and while watching the Def Leppard videos, a series of recent live videos of theirs showed up and it was quite tragic to watch them trying to recreate the magic of their younger years.

Arijit Singh has it right. Quit when the going is good.

More importantly, now that more and more bands are making their way to India, I don’t think I will automatically attend all shows, just because I like their music from when they were young...maybe it is best to preserve those memories than watch sagging faces and faltering vocals and bad knees trying to make their moves on stage.

About Irritants

Sometimes, tech can make you smile. The first time I saw a self check-out was at a Uniqlo abroad a few years ago. This Friday, when I quickly stepped into the Uniqlo opposite the PVR Icon, where we had gone to watch Dhurandhar, I just dumped the socks I had bought into the self check-out machine. It counted and tallied the purchases in about a minute and I paid by credit card in another 30 seconds and I was in and out in 5 minutes.

On the other hand, PVR doesn’t seem to have figured out how to not make you wait in line to order food and drinks before and during the show. It just takes so long and they still sometimes mess up your order. F & B is what they make money on...you would think they would focus on better customer service.

Movie

Last weekend, I watched Dhurandhar. At 4 hours, it is too long and as my daughter said, you could have just made a 7-8 hours show with one hour episodes. The problem with this kind of violence is that after the first one or two gasps, your brain starts getting used to it and just accepts it as matter of fact...the same with the swear words...their ability to shock disappears once they are being used in every other sentence.

Links

My friend Ramnath sent me this. I remember seeing this so many times as a kid and when I watched it again, I was just laughing.

Tree of Unity