Me, myself n My Opinions :)

What if girls and guys changed roles at a bar

2014-03-26T06:21:00.001+05:30

Transformers age of extinction trailer

2014-03-13T09:47:00.001+05:30

Guardians of the galaxy

2014-02-26T05:47:00.002+05:30

Farewell to my idol

2012-03-10T04:05:00.002+05:30

Once upon a time, there was a cricket crazy girl. She loved all the indian cricketers due to reasons that some called patriotic and some jingoistic . Although she liked all Indian crickets, her favorite was Rahul Dravid. People made fun of her, because he was considered slow, boring, lacking in the flamboyance that was Sachin or Ganguly and sometime Laxman., but she was never swayed and defended him hotly, every time.

The reasons the girl liked him were many, he was a brilliant batsman(He was a natural, whether people believe it or not ), a good fielder, a team player. In addition, he was hard working, when he was dropped from the ODI team, unlike many other players who would have just concentrated on ODI, he evolved, learnt from past mistakes and came back as the mainstay for India in tests and ODIs.

The girl watched cricket in an era when the entire Indian batting would crumble like a card tower in the wind, only one player would stand like a "wall" between India and embarrassing defeats. Was it any wonder the girl idolized the player, a reticent guy named Rahul Sharad Dravid? Wait there is more, an incident that made sure, the girl would grow up and become busy with life, she would never forget and or stop idolizing him.

The girl after a lot of "jugad" managed to get into a practice session for a match during the Pepsi cup in 1999. She was lucky enough to get to stand right outside the dressing room, again with a lot of "jugad". All players from the Indian team, spoke a couple of sentences to the girl, signed her autograph book, clicked photos, etc. So did Dravid.

The practice got over and the team started back towards the bus in a file, police formed a human barrier, clearing a path to the team bus. The girl was lucky enough to be standing inside this path. Dravid came out carrying all his cricket equipment, so much of stuff that he was cradling pads and a bat in his hands. The girl didn't say a thing, she just wanted to shake hands with her idol, so out came her hand and she squeaked "Bye Rahul". Then she cringed, even if he wanted to shake hands with her, he didn't have a hand free to do so! But Rahul Dravid is not described as the nicest guy in cricket for nothing, He walked up to the closest policeman, requested him to hold on to his stuff for a min came back to the girl, shook her hand, wished her goodbye, thanked the policeman, collected his stuff and went on.

The girl has never forgotten him. Never stopped fighting with numerous nay say-ers about his greatness. Today that girl shed a tear(or many), she will never be fortunate enough to watch him play again. Every time India is 5/1, 8/2 or in trouble, she will turn around and thumb her nose at everyone who ever said a negative thing about him and say "Name the cricketer you would wish was walking in now?"

Farewell my real life hero, I was fortunate to follow cricket when you were a part of it. Thank you for the memories and the lessons. You will be missed every time Team India is in trouble.

Agneepath - almost a new movie

2012-01-31T12:47:00.005+05:30

The new Agneepath is a remake, it sticks to the old plot but the characterizations are what make it a new film that can stand in its own right. Add in a cast with 3 superstars, all of whom are actually very good actors and you have a blockbuster. In addition the cinematography takes your breath away and the dialogues are written with true to the style of each character. Rauf lala is crude, Kancha speaks a very pure hindi and hrithik speaks very little but says a lot through expressions.

I loved Rishi Kapoor. Saying he was brilliant is an understatement. He brings Rauf Lala to life, you hate him when he mercilessly sells young girls, asking lecherous men to increase the bid by using crude words. You feel at the age of 50+ he has a chance of winning a fight against a lean and angry Hrithik Roshan, you believe he is Rauf Lala and forget he was the chocolate boy of yesteryears, who looked oh! so sweet in Bobby.

Sanjay Dutt looked meancing enough to give nightmares to kid. As my hubby pointed out, Sanjay Dutt looked the way I imagined Voldermort would look like when I read Harry Potter. He looks, behaves and talks like a demented person. I would never have tried to fight him without a Mac 10 with automatic on (Hat tip to Burn Notice for making me notice there exists more than one type of gun!) The one thing I noticed was that he never ever used a single word of English! Some of his dialogues has me reading subtitles.

Hrithik Roshan is a superb actor and he proves it again in this movie, by being vulnerable Viju instead of the invincible (with help from krishnan iyer "yam" "ya") Vijay Dinanath Chauhan. His expressions convey his pain, desire for revenge, single mindedness to kill Kancha, his vulnerability and his love for his family. However, with his greek god looks and six pack abs, accepting him as someone who spent 15 years living in a slum, he just doesn't fit into the surroundings. Surprisingly, for a wanted guy, police have no photo/sketch of him after the age of 12. If I had seen him, I wouldn't have forgotten him!

Om puri has gotten lost somewhere, in Don - The chase begins he was as good as he ever was, Suddenly in Don 2 and now Agneepath, I just feel like he is saying dialogues by rote not bothering to act. Priyanka is superfluous and like Hrithik doesn't look like she has ever been in a chawl for a minute, let alone lived there all her life as her character has.

Comparisons are inevitable for a fan of the old Agneepath. I still like the old one better. The editing, if it had been tighter, would have made it impossible for me to pick a favorite.I would say go watch it once, it is a different movie from the old one. Fair warning though, this is an out and out revenge flick, where Viju will not stop at choosing wrong over right to reach his goal. Watch out for the blood and gore!

Harry Potter and deathly Hallows

2011-07-19T05:22:00.002+05:30

(Warning : Long Post, also contains a lot spoilers. )

By now the entire world and its aunt knows that I am disappointed by the Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows movies (Part 1 & 2). Well disappointed is a mild word.. I HATED the movies. some part of this is due to the fact, that movies are too short to capture the details that are essential to the books. However, my unwillingness to even say tolerate praises for the movie stems from the fact the movie didn't stay true to the characters, it didn't include the important scenes that include the essence of the characters, instead it included dumb romance scenes. Here are a few things that sprang immediately to my mind

Part 1

Saw this quite sometime back, so can't remember all of it.

When Ron comes back, he tells Harry that Dumbledore gave him the deluminator as he knew he would want to come back. Actually Ron says "He knew I would go away" This highlights that Ron considers himself not as loyal as Harry or Hermoine and is unsure of himself, which why the horcrux affects him more. To this Harry says "He knew you would want to come back" displaying Harry's belief in his friend.
Right at the start, when Remus believes they were compromised, Harry steps in to say, we have to trust each other (this is covered hastily in a few seconds in the movie) but it is actually an important scene, showing that Harry is growing up and maturing.
This part was meant to establish the storyline, and faltered in many places, which i felt would be made up for in part 2 but never was.

Part 2

The biggest whooper, the end fight between Voldemort & Harry happens in front of everyone, which is completely missed
Fred's death, Neville challenging Voldemort and killing Nagini.
Hagrid's valiant fight, Grawp's intervention, which helps the fight with the giants (impervious to spells)
Harry stepping out of invisibility cloak to defend McGonagall, shows his bravery.
Harry can't here the horcruxes, that's just BS. He sees the hufflepuff emblem on the cup and remembers the diadem from when he hid his(and Snape's) potions book from Snape.
Dumbledore's explanation about Horcruxes. The movie never mentions that the ring was the resurrection stone.

Both Parts Combined

The name of the movie is "Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows" , for heaven sake, talk about the hallows and Harry's obsession with them. Same as Dumbledore & Grindelwald. How he wants the resurrection stone more than the others as he has lost so many loved ones.
Harry realizing that he has to give up the obsession and concentrate on Horcruxes. How he lets Voldemort get the Elder wand. It tells us that Harry is now at peace with his destiny and will not be diverted.
Ginny's character is well etched out, making the reader understand why Harry loves her. The movie skips this
Dumbledore gets shades of grey, through his friendship with Grindelwald (for the greater good), and his manipulation of Snape, Harry and others.
Finally, Voldemort's power is shown when he curses everyone into a silence, and how that power has been weakened by Harry's sacrifice, when Ron's voice is heard over the curse.

So many things missed, that the movie leaves me feeling sad. I had hoped to relive one of my favourite books through it, but was left mutely horrified by what was being shown. All the non-book, movie Harry Potter fans, will disagree. But for me, I won't be watching the movie again!

Ready Movie Review

2011-06-29T23:47:00.003+05:30

Back after a long time.. and the motivation to tell everyone that the movie sucks!!! though I guess most people already know this.

Frankly speaking I wasn't expecting a story, I was not expecting suspense or emotion or brilliant emotion all I was expecting was some mindless comedy with lots of Salman Khan being himself.

Dabangg and Wanted didn't really have a thought provoking story.. they just Salman as a macho hero with oodles of attitude and both did that so well that i have watched them multiple times. they had dialogues that delivered with a perfectly serious face but were a spoof of yesteryear formula films. Case in point : "Tum jis school mein padhte ho, us school ka principal mujhse tution leta hai" These movies also sold the image Salman has built up for himself, that of a bad boy who has a heart of gold (views I don't endorse)

This is where Ready fails.. the funny scenes don't elicit laughter.. I tried to get myself into a mindless mode by forcefully laughing in expected places, but even that fell flat. The only really funny bits are Salman spoofing Dabangg and the Asin dreaming and drooling about Salman taking of his shirt sorry sherwani. Ready also tries to sell Salman, even naming his character Prem (remember MPK, HAHK, Andaz Apna Apna, and many more). but all this is just in twitter slang #fail. A really good supporting cast of Mahesh Manjrekar and Paresh Rawal is wasted due to the bad script.

I have to mention Zarine Khan.. if she really wants to do item numbers then she really must lose some weight and also her hands gestures are just plain awkward.

Overall I think Salman is the only reason the movie made any money.

My rating : 1 out 5

The moment that I will tell my grandkids about

2011-04-03T01:16:00.004+05:30

Very rarely moments happen that define your generation, Even rarer is close 2 billion hearts uniting over single hope and then celebrating the when their wish is granted. For me it has happened for the first time, I wasn't born in 1983 but I was of an age to appreciate, love, enjoy and weep over 2011!

This one is for the Men in blue, who disproved all the naysayers...including me!!!!

Photo courtesy http://yfrog.com/gyfssehj

A tribute to Uncle Pai

2011-03-04T16:20:00.011+05:30

Everyone who knows me, must have seen me at least once with my nose in book, lost in the world built by the author. I have been a voracious reader since I was kid and surprisingly never tried to think back to the time I started loving books. Now that I think back, I believe my mom is to blame for it as it all started when she bought me all the classics like 20,000 leagues under the sea, Moby dick, Heidi, Black Beauty, etc and at the same got me subscriptions to Chandamama, Champak and my favorite of them all Tinkle!

I remember checking the letter box everyday immediately after returning from school to check if the latest issue had been delivered. After a couple of years, I turned my attention to Enid Blyton and the Chandamama and Champak subscriptions were discarded but Tinkle continued on. The reason for this had less to do with the magazine itself and more to do with its editorAnant Pai, who was known to all children as Uncle Pai.

I had the pleasure of meeting him once, when he had come to Pune and I look back on it with a smile on my face. He was very kind to a little girl who had been in a tiny accident on route to the meeting and had a few scratches. He also ensured that her grandfather who had a cut on his arm received first aid and was offered refreshment. He did all this while handling some 30-40 kids who had come to attend the mythology quiz he was conducting. Last week I read that he had passed away and I felt sad. Sad that I didn't keep in touch with him as I went from a young reader to an adult, Sad that I didn't let him know, that when I travel in a train, I invariably buy a Tinkle Digest to read even now. I should have also told him, that my fascination of Hindu mythology began with tales heard from my great grandmother and watching Ramayana & Mahabharata on DoorDarshan but a lot of incidents that I can be heard quoting these days are sourced from Amar Chitra Katha. Most of all I felt sad for all Tinkle readers who will never again receive a letter signed "Uncle Pai".

And so based on a suggestion from my friend Suman, I am going to share letters from him, that I have kept for all these years. Rest In Peace Uncle Pai. You will be missed by readers all over!

My first rejection letter.

The second one!

My very first and only acceptance letter

The quiz invite where I met him

He remembered the greeting I gave him at the Quiz

One of the last letters we exchanged

The stickers that were always sent with his letters

Dhobi Ghat - Mumbai Dairies Movie Review

2011-02-21T21:34:00.005+05:30

To begin with Dhobi Ghat is an art movie through and through and 50% dialogues are in english. Does the movie really explore Mumbai? Not in my opinion, does it explore defining moments in the lives of its 4 leading characters? Definitely!

She explores the lives of 4 individuals with extremely different economic & social backgrounds, lifestyles and personalities and then shows very nicely how they get involved with each other. She does this using Mumbai as a painter's and a photographer's muse and at times through a tourist & migrant's eyes.

Performance wise everyone does a good job, however, contrary to popular opinion Prateik Babbar is a misfit for the role of a Bihar born Dhobi with a polished accent ( pronouncing Hotel correctly instead of the usual "Ho-Tal") and Aamir Khan over acts in the climax scene of his part.

Overall an interesting watch with very nice cinematography.

My rating : 3/5

7 Khoon Maaf Review

2011-02-21T21:11:00.003+05:30

My last post was about the trailer of 7 Khoon Maaf and how I was looking forward to it and it promised a review of TMK.. well the review says don't watch it, and now I will jump to the review of 7KM!

The trailer promises the story of a crazy/insane/psychotic woman who has killed seven husbands. The movie doesn't deliver this. Instead it tries to justify her reasons for killing each of them and that is the reason why I was disappointed by the movie.

I went in expecting to see flashes of madness with zero remorse or guilt or a split personality at the very least. If the reasons were there, at least they should have been petty, albeit some were but then some were enough to contemplate divorce rather than murder. Maybe my expectations were high based on the trailer and the dialogue : "Next time... I'll drink his blood" but for the first time I came out of a Vishal Bharadwaj mmovie feeling let down.

The music is brilliant. All the husbands and the narrator are brilliant in their roles. Priyanka is her usual self. One would expect her to raise her performance in such a meaty role but that is not be.

In general this movie fails more because of the weight of expectations than a flaw in the movie itself.

My rating : 3/5

7 Khoon Maaf - Official Trailer

2011-01-04T20:46:00.001+05:30

I went to watch Tees Maar Khan, inspite of all the reviews and warnings (review up next) and saw the trailer of Vishal Bharadwaj's Saat Khoon Maaf! And I am hooked. In addition, Piggy Chops did the bad girl act very well in Aitraaz. So now this is one movie I won't miss. For now I am eagerly waiting for the music release!

Movie(s) Review in 2 lines

2010-12-29T11:40:00.007+05:30

*****Long Post*****

I missed out writing reviews of quite a few movies this year, especially in december. So I am going to do a quick review for multiple movies in a single post. Some might just end with single liners.

Ishqiya

Very very good. Cast does a brilliant job. Music is awesome! The twists a little bizarre. Music is very good and the lyrics even better. 'Dil to baccha...' pick of the lot! Should Watch

Love Sex Aur Dhoka

Very surprising for an Ekta Kapoor production. Manages to keep you engrossed throughout! very real and kudos for bringing the "Home Video" style film to Bollywood. Also this Home Video style is what makes the 3 stories believable. Music is very interesting. Should Watch

Tere bin Laden

Another awesome movie, very witty, catches the flavor and political connotations brilliantly. I loved it! If you haven't watched it, you have missed out on some really clever cinema. Must Watch

Do Dooni Char

Very very good at having a flawless script. It captures the struggle a lower middle class family goes through to improve their standard of living. The cast is really good and have the body language of characters down to a fine art. Must Watch

Band Baja Barat

A movie that makes no bones about being intelligent, it is just for fun kind of movie, a feel good romance, the kind that YRF does best. What makes the movie work are the dialogues (very Delhi/Haryana "isstyle") Ranveer Singh is the find of the year, he carries off the annoying but lovable tapoori so well that I was reminded of Aamir's performance in Rangeela. Anushka Sharma also has done a good job in the movie. If the name had been more "cool", would probably have had a better response. Ainvayi Ainvayi is a fun number. Should Watch

Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows I

Better than HP & HBP but still sucks in comparison with the book. Can Watch HP fans only

Me ShivajiRaje Bhosale Boltoy

A marathi movie that I only manage to see recently. Although it often goes of into unrealistic situations and events, the movie manages to pass its message to target audience perfectly. With the brilliant star cast it boast, the performances are as good as it gets. Can Watch

Pirates of Silicon Valley

This is an old movie that I saw recently. Very informative. I found out some things I didn't know about Apple & Microsoft. Should Watch for IT people

Social Network

Good movie, with everyone raving about this one, need I say anything more? Should Watch if you are on FB.

Me Nathuram Godse Boltoy (play)

This is quite an old marathi play that was banned by Maharashtra Government in 2000. I saw it this year and remembered why I loved theatre. The performance by the actor playing Godse was flawless. The power and conviction that Nathruam Godse must have held is conveyed clearly by the actor without any histrionics or any over acting. Must Watch

Chance pe dance

Awful! Don't Watch

Pyaar Impossible

Beyond Awful! Please oh please spare us any more uday chopra comebacks! Music is tolerable. Don't Watch

Karthik calling Karthik

Interesting script but some undefinable element was missing. Farhan did a good job but it lacked the charm of Rock On. Nice Music. Can Watch

Well done abba

Typical Shyam Benegal offering was a nice movie but no where near the beauty of "welcome to Sajjanpur". Can Watch

Na Jaane kahan se aayi hai

Oh God! Why did I even attempt to watch this! Don't Watch

Housefull

Dumb Comedy, leave your brains at home and go on watch for cheesy jokes. Typical Sajid Khan. Party type of music. I loved Dhano! Can Watch if you can tolerate Sajid Khan!

Kites

Only Hrithik fans should watch this movie to admire his greek god looks and the fabulous salsa at the start of the movie. I din't like the music either. Can Watch for Hrithik fans, other Don't Watch

Khatta Meetha

I would rather watch Pyaar impossible, Na Jaane kahan se aayi hai and Chance pe dance back to back than watch this one. 2011 resolution - Never watch Priyadarshan and Akshay Kumar Movies ever again! Don't Watch even if some one pays you to!

Once Upon a Time in Mumbai

Surprisingly not a spin off the Company/any other underworld movies as I was expecting. Ajay Devgn proves once again why he has won 2 national awards. Music is also a plus point for the movie. Can Watch

We are a Family

The worst adaptation of a hollywood movie ever made in Bollywood! Don't Watch if you saw stepmom.

Break ke baad

A light hearted romantic comedy, one of the better ones of the year, definitely above I hate love stories & Aisha! The music is very nice and fresh. Can Watch if you like romcoms/chick flicks

Phas Gaya re Obama

The concept is superb. The actors fantastic! Yes, it does get slightly unreal at times, but the heart of the movie stays pure. A pleasure to watch. Must Watch

My Name is Khan
A hodge-podge story of too many issues together. A person suffering from autism in addition to prejudice over his cast and his trials and tribulations just made me yawn.Music is passable. Don't Watch

Action Replay Movie Review

2010-11-17T15:32:00.004+05:30

*******Spoiler alert!*******

Bunty is against the institution of marriage as his parents are always fighting and have never had a peaceful day. Enter his girlfriend and her uncle (Randhir Kapoor) aka the time machine inventor, who oh so generously explains the secret that time travel is possible by travelling faster than the speed of sound (I almost fainted at this epiphany).

Bunty then goes home to see his parents talk divorce and decides to steal/borrow the time machine to fix his parents marriage! Going back, he sees his mother is a tom boy-Kajal dada, hum paanch style (what perfect casting with Ash I say!) and his father a cowardly douche, aptly nick named Najuk Kali and Kitchen Kumar.He then sets about improving or rather giving his father a personality (basically saying "Awaaz Niche" every 2 mins) and convincing mommy dear to display her feminine inner self! His mission is endangered by maternal granny's enmity against paternal grandfather and the former grandparent's stringent opposition to love marriage. After a typical scene of getting grandparents to accept his parents love, he returns to a present where parents are happily in love and proposes to girlfriend to live happily ever after!

For the duration of this monstrosity you rail against yourself for even attempting to watch this movie and vow never to step into a movie theatre again. The only bits I liked were:

Aditya Roy Kapoor, the guy playing Ash & Akshay's son
The joke "Malika Sherawat ne murder mein kapde pehne the?"
The song "Zor ka Jhatka"

My advice is do not watch the movie, you will regret it. Rating is 1/5

Golmaal 3 Movie Review

2010-11-11T20:04:00.004+05:30

Golmaal.. Golmaal... Golmaal is back again!

Rohit Shetty returns with the third installment of this mindless comedy.. and mindless it is! with puns thrown in left, right and center. Lots of references to Mithun movies, characters, songs and dialogues.

Story is stolen a bit from Khatta Mettha (the old one), Golmaal (The original one of this series) and thankfully has a climax which does not involve everyone running behind a single object. Only difference is the sad emotional scene included, to throw in a bit of drama. Also Arshad Warsi doesn't "play Black-Black" in this sequel.

Cast is a mixture people from Golmaal, Golmaal Returns & All The Best. Ditto for the characters they play. Ajay Devgn/Devgan/WhicheverWayHeSpellItToday does this whole movie with a single expression that seems to say I am wasted for such a role! Warsi, Talpade & Khemu are bearable. Tushaar Kapoor has realised that "Mayo" was last season and so adds to the dumb routine with some funny movements. Kareena is very good in small bits but has over acted in 90% of the movie. Mithunda is brilliant, even doing his trademark dance step during a song. All others are competent.

If you can manage to not apply logic or sense to what you see and hear (which I did very easily :D ), you will find the movie to be a light hearted comedy that can be watched with the family. he movie definitely is much better than Golmaal Returns (Yawn!).

Soundtrack is hummable and included 2 iconic songs, a.k.a I am a Disco Dancer & Yaad aa raha hai.. Tera Pyaar.

Overall my rating is 3/5.

Anjaana Anjaani Review

2010-10-05T11:13:00.004+05:30

CHICK FLICK!!!

Ok now that I have put the do not enter sign for the males of our species, let me start with the review. Akash (Ranbir) & Kaira (Priyanka) meet on a bridge while trying to & failing to commit suicide. Then they make a pact to wait 20 days before killing themselves and what happens in between is the crux of the movie.

The good parts:

The humor in the scripts is just right not over the top, a little corny but funny
The chemistry is there not the fire up your screen kind but a more of comfortable with each other kind
The story line has definite possibilities. What could happen in 20 days that inspires 2 people who have given up all hope to try and face their demons and come out stronger?
The music. The entire soundtrack is very hummable.
Best for the last: RANBIR KAPOOR - Since I saw him doing the towel dance I thought of him as too girlish for my taste. Although is acting improved with subsequent movies, I never gave him any thought as eye candy. In AA, as RK flexes his muscles, rips his shirt in a gay strip club and I had to change my opinion and how! His performance is top notch, he shakes a leg with the best of them and then makes you feel sorry when he hurts!

The bad parts:

Akash's reason for wanting to die are made clear at the start but Kiara's are left as big mystery, which when finally revealed are a letdown. My take is that they could have let both reason's build up more. Kind of like Shahid's depressed state in Jab We Met is explained as movie progresses.
Also their reasons' for committing suicide are flimsy to say the least.
Story is slow at the start and the end drags into the next century. So we know they are going to end up together. Please don't force it down our throats with the typical rush to the airport scene for half an hour!
Beyond corny scenes to show increasing attraction between the lead pair! I almost gagged!
How can Priyanka look like a fashion model even after being saved from the brink of death in a hospital? a little more realism people!

So my opinion, all you girls watch it for Ranbir and a mushy kinda love story.

My rating: 3.5/5 (I am a sucker for love stories!)

Spot Betting NOT fixing

2010-09-22T12:29:00.005+05:30

The spot fixing sting has caused a minor storm in the world of cricket and loads is being written about it. What I am going to write about is not "fixing" but "betting". Recently a channel was running a contest, during the Champions League, "Guess the commentator for the 11th over and win a XYZ"

This was about an off field entity but then I remembered some other contests that I had seen while watching matches, "Guess the score at the end of the 50th over" , "Guess the number of 4s/6s being hit in an inning" , "Guess the number of dropped catches in an inning" , "How many players will wear shades during an inning"

I know that these contests offer a prize(fixed value) and do not ask for any money to enter them (other than the money earned by telephone companies!) but still what is to stop the contest organizers who are known to the cricketers, probably friends with them , asking them to score one run less or more? Will it affect the outcome maybe maybe not.

If these contests are acceptable why not betting? As long as all people involved in the bet are aware of the risks, why is it illegal? In fact the risks involved seem quite similar trading in the stock market. Like the evil of fixing there is always the risk of insider trading but that does not mean trading stocks should be made illegal, does it? Wouldn't making betting legal reduce black money in the market and generate higher revenue for the government?

Maybe I am not aware of some other problems in legalizing betting, but then why are such TV contest considered legal? either ban both or allow both.

A random Poem

2010-09-20T14:43:00.002+05:30

Just penned this random poem while traveling, but haven't yet thought of a name for it yet. suggestion welcome :)

On the empty road we travel

Together yet alone

Lost in thought,

we contemplate the shadows

Knowing our destination

but unsure of the way.

Dabangg Movie Review

2010-09-14T12:03:00.003+05:30

Dabangg which means someone who is well known over an area and has control over the said area due to his fearlessness and power.

As already seen in the trailers, Salman Khan as Chulbul Pandey is Dabangg in a small town in Uttar Pradesh, where he lives with his mom, step father and half brother. The emphasis of the story is on the "half" brother & "step" father!

Enough about the movie, there is no point writing about it as the haven't made a movie but a 2 hour video of how best to use Salman Khan as a marketable "HERO" in a Hindi movie. to support him, Sonu Sood is the bad guy & Bhabhi dear aka Malaika Arora-Khan shakes her unbelievably slim hips and looks too sexy to be a mother! All others

Vinod Khanna
Dimple Kapadia
Arbaaz Khan
Sonakshi Sinha
Mahesh Manjrekar
Mahie Gill
Tinu Annad
Anupam Kher

are present just to fill up space. What a waste of a 90% brilliant cast! 90% of the punch lines have already been shown in the trailers and the movie has no element of surprise whatsoever.

However thanks to the spoilt brat of bollywood the movie will rake in all the moolah! Salman Khan emotes with a bored look that says I am too good for all this, struts his stuff with an exaggerated swagger and manages to bulge enough muscles to show off a shirt getting torn of his body Hulk style. In his action sequences , he tries to imitate Rajnikanth and dances the way (I assume) he would dance in his bathroom with no one watching and honestly speaking his dance is the most entertaining bit of the movie.

All other have been thrown its of dialogues and pieces of screen space and so their performance cannot be commented on. The music works same as the movie. Play it to get in touch with your tapori college day roots!

My advice is, leave your brains outside the cinema hall, watch the movie (preferably in a single screen) and then forget it! For me the movie was entertaining BUT nowhere near the fun that was WANTED!

My rating : 3/5

Natha marega kintu jeevit rahega!

2010-08-24T10:51:00.005+05:30

The movie tries to shock the user about the media circus that exists in India, using a proposed farmer suicide as base to showcase the TRP wars.

This movie has a moral, the way most Aamir Khan movies do. It basically shows how the actual issue is trivialized and focus is shifted from issues that affect millions to single individual. Here, rather than focusing on why farmers are even considering suicide, they focus on finding how random people "feel" about Natha committing suicide. They forget that suicide is illegal in India and there has to be an overwhelming feeling of hopelessness for someone to even contemplate such a drastic and final step.

This entire sentiment is conveyed through the disillusion that sets into a small time local newspaper reporter trying for a break into big time.

My only grouse is that the first half drags a little, being almost and art film, the duration seems a little long and so the film editing could have be tighter.

Everyone's performance in the movie is very good. Natha has very few dialogues but manages to convey his feelings through expressions beautifully, I especially loved the longing look when he sees the boiled eggs and is coveting them.

Raghuveer Yadav's Mehengai is a heartfelt song that strikes a chord in everyone. and Des Mera has a catchy tune!

My verdict, Its a good movie, but Jaane Bhi do Yaaron (the best Bollywood satirical movie IMO) is in a complete different class.

Rating : 4/5

Aisha Movie Review

2010-08-09T20:09:00.002+05:30

I had heard that Aisha is an adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma. Not having read the book I can't verify this but I can definitely tell that Aisha is a straight lift off from Resse Witherspoon's Clueless.

In spite of being a copy, the movie starts well. Audiences connect with the characters and the situations. The comic moments succeed in electing some laughter from the crowd. In fact my guy, who hates chick flicks and had come along under duress, admitted to enjoying the first half. All izz well till the intermission.

The second half makes you feel that the cast and crew decided to throw away the script and enact every cliche ever written about romantic stories! The story drags worse than a Vajpayee's each word enunciated speech! Characters lose their verve and dialogues keeps repeating. This kills all the feel good factor built by the previous half and you just want to shout at someone to forward the sobby sobby emotional claptrap. What caps the whole sorry state is having to hear Aisha(Sonam Kapoor) spout ten minutes of barely tolerable dialogues followed a minute later by Arjun(Abhay Deol) repeat it word-to-word! I loved the music of the movie. Perfect mix of peppy and soft numbers.

Performance wise Abhay Deol is wooden. He should stick to the offbeat roles that he does brilliantly. Sonam Kapoor was OK. Her smile is a lot more genuine and engaging than the plastic models of perfections she is compared to but her voice is irritating and expressions not quite there yet! Cyrus plays the loser in his usual MTV style. I loved Ira Dubey (Shades of Lillete Dubey), the girl who played Pinky, carried off her character perfectly! Overall, I will give the movie 2 stars out of 5

Inception : My Take

2010-07-21T09:24:00.003+05:30

I won't bother with a review as everyone is totally taken with the movie and its director! I will only mention the things I liked about the movie and the questions it raised in my mind.

Things I liked:

1) The performance by all the actors. A special mention to Leonardo.

2) The concept - it must have taken a really long time for Nolan to create a story that makes you concentrate throughout the movie, you really can't afford to miss even a minute.

3)The special effects are just right. Good enough but not so many or so awesome that you lose focus of the plot.

4) Overall, I loved the movie itself

Questions I have

1) Totem: You keep yourself connected to reality using your totem as it will behave differently in the dream world aka the top that never stops spinning. But in a dream world your subconscious believes that the top defies the law of Physics, So what stops your totem from behaving as in reality is that tiny part of your brain, which is aware that you are dreaming. Now If your brain doesn't want to keep track of reality versus fantasy, what stops it from ensuring that the totem behaves exactly as in the real world?

2)Limbo: I understand that Mol in limbo is actually Dom's projection of her. Assuming that Fischer is taken into the same limbo, by Mol to trap Dom and Ariadne is there as she is sharing the dream with Dom but how does Saito come into the same limbo as Dom? or vice-versa? They aren't even connected by the dream sharing machine.

3)The end is left open by Nolan himself leaving 3 questions based on whether the top toppled or not

If the top did topple, then how did Dom and Saito escape limbo? (presumably by Saito killing them. But then what about dying in a sedated dream and going into limbo?). Also, why have Dom children not grown at all? (Can be questioned as the time frame of Dom being away from them is not specified)
If the top didn't topple and Saito used the gun to kill Dom, then has Dom gone into a further limbo? (Is a limbo within a limbo even possible?)
If the top didn't topple and Saito didn't use the gun then where is Saito and how did Dom get away from him?

4) Th time acceleration told by Arthur and the time frame they operate in doesn't add up!

5 mins = 1 hour (Arthur tells)

flight duration is 10 hrs = 3000 mins = 50hrs = ~2.1 days

which means they have just a little above 2 days in the first level

Each level compounds the acceleration so

1st level = ~2 days

2nd level = ~4.5 days

3rd level = ~9 days

4th level(aka limbo) = 18 days

But the say, they have 1 week on the first, 6 months on the second and 10 years on the third!

My Biggest Disappointment

No trouble was taken to explain, how the machine lets you share dreams. A BIG GAP in my opinion and the biggest disappointment of the movie.

Why Housefull worked better then Raavan in the box office

2010-07-09T16:29:00.002+05:30

On PFC, a blog post makes an anguished cry that housefull is considered more successful than Raavan (box office collections wise) and how this is all wrong.

I attempted to disagree with the post, but my comment became really long, so posting it as blog post :)

The comment is verbatim.

I disagree with your analysis. Would you compare Home Alone, Titanic and Avatar? Similarly housefull and Raavan can not be compared. Housefull, during its publicity campaign made it totally clear that it was nonsensical film that was made with the sole aim of providing a few laughs, show exotic locations and good looking people on the screen. IMHO it did that perfectly well. Meanwhile Raavan, during its publicity campaign alluded that it will bring forth 1) Ramayana 2) At the very least a villain called Beera and the story of him kidnapping the wife of a police officer 3) It made people believe that this movie will make them think, about interpretations of characters, plots, etc But it did not do any of the above, this movie is a failure because its publicity implied a different genre/ story! Had it been publicized as a story of unrequited love by Beera for Ash's character, it just might have done better. In the end, You should know your target audience and sell your product accordingly. Housefull did it right and Raavan didn't and that is well reflected in box office collections!

I hate luv storys movie review

2010-07-05T13:37:00.003+05:30

"I hate Luv Storys" delivers exactly what it promises.. A cliched romance straight out of mills and boon, modified for the Indian palate!

Girl believes in love, Boy doesn't believe in love. boy meets girl, annoys her, then befriends her, makes her laugh, she falls for him. he doesn't realize that he has also fallen for her.. so begin misunderstanding, apologies, going crying to mom's etc, finally both come to their senses and live happily ever after.

But there is a very tiny humorous self deprecation to it which is lost due to all the cliches of Bollywood.

The film on which the pair is working seems borrow a leaf from LSD and mocks 3 bigwigs, Aditya Chopra, KJo and Bhansali. The set designs are straight out of Sawariya and Devdas. The director in the movie is a caricature of Bhansali (whose reaction I am highly anticipating!). The story has no twist what so ever, with the only difference being that in the end hero runs away from airport instead of towards it!

Acting wise, everyone is mediocre. Imran Khan is cocky, imitating Mamujaan frequently but having none of the brilliance of Aamir. Sonam looks pretty but is annoying especially because of her voice. I keep wondering how talented actors don't tell their offspring that they just can't act! The hero in the film inside film is really an ass (words quoted form the movie). Sameer Soni loses it completely trying to present an over the top Bhansali.

The saving grace of the movie... is its music. All the songs are really nice with a light hearted romantic feel to them. Vishal-Shekhar of the old seem to have returned after the recent debacles. My personal favourite is "Bin Tere", Sunidhi does an awesome rendition!

Final verdict... After having panned the film, this may seem contradictory, but I am a girl who loves mills and boon romances, so for all girls who like romances, this movie is definitely worth a one time watch! All guys, like my GUY, if you do take your girl to watch it, take a flashlight and book along else avoid as far as possible!

Rating : 2.5/5

Music Rating : 4/5

Raavan Movie Review

2010-06-21T08:56:00.003+05:30

I have a theory, you go in to watch a movie with a set of expectations, due to cast or director or because of trailers or due to the reviews you read.

I did not read reviews of Raavan as I did not want to have a bias while watching the movie. But I did expect the movie to be Guru like due to Mani Ratnam and the star cast.

Also I had been listening to the music of Raavan for quite a few weeks and had high expectation from the "picturization" of these songs. I expected Beera to be Omkara-esque, wherein the song establishes the lead character as a force to be reckoned with, someone whom you wouldn't care to cross swords with.

**Warning Spoilers Ahead**

Lets start by saying none of my expectations were met. The song Beera shows random people killing cops and Beera riding a bike, playing a drum, and doing all things good heroes do!

For me the character of dev(Vikram) was much more sinister than Beera and Ragini(Aishwarya) was like no Sita I ever read about while reading Ramayan.

Beera only strips off clothes and turns a cop bald, a cop who raped his sister alonh with many other cops but Dev kills off a person who has come to establish peace with police after lulling him into a false sense of security. Also, it seems illogical to me that a SP has not known what happened to the sister of a wanted criminal when she is bought to a police station, especially when he was part of the raid during which she was arrested. So he condones the gang rape of an innocent girl, this does not seem "dev" like to me.

And then there is Aishwarya, who doesn't know the raod to escape back to her husband but has not trouble going back to beera when she needs to talk to him.

Now the acting, Oh God the acting!!! Abhishek proves once again that he can only act in cool dude roles like Dostana, the intensity, the psychotic killer instinct is completely missing, In fat the comic relief in the movie is provided when he attempts to show a sinister side by talking to himself about killing someone or the other.

Aishwarya seems to have a sore throat throughout the movie and looks out of shape in suits. I personally don't like her and so found her annoying during the entire movie.

Vikram makes a perfect "BAD" cop and I am sure he will pull of the role of Beera in the tamil version brilliantly.

Ravi Kishen is the redeeming point of the entire cast as he effortlessly pulls off the role of the younger brother of Beera

Govinda does a good job for the tiny role he has been given, but the character is badly written.

**Spoilers End**

Over all the movie is extremely disappointing. Dil Se was suppose to be a Mani Ratnam flop but I liked Dil Se. I think Raavan (especially the casting) is Mnai Ratnam's biggest FLOP to date.

The major reason to watch the movie is the brilliant cinematography. Santosh Sivan excels in showing breathtaking visuals of Kerela, Karnataka, Maharashtra and other parts of India.

My rating is 1.5(cinematography) + 0.5(overall)/5 = 2/5