SPEAKing PICtures

Arthur Christmas - festival, family and fantasy

noreply@blogger.com (Ankit Gupta) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 06:27:20 PST

Family, festival & fantasy are the three things to see in Arthur Christmas. Henceforth, the review will assess the movie on these pillars of its build.

Story –
The technology has reached Santa, the countdown is set and Christmas’s dawn is the deadline. Steve (Santa’s elder son) leads his troupe of elves to the surface of earth for gift distribution to all homes. Operations have become fast, smooth and professional. The Christmas-gift distribution functions like high-end airports luggage handling at back end and a paratrooper exercise at front end. The whole sequence is performed with military precision, with the central command base located above in the sky (a spaceship). A delight to watch this part.
After all the distribution exercise is done, the spaceship comes back to North Pole. Among celebrations, the family discovers a gift is missed. Arthur, Santa’s younger son voices his concern about the missing gift. However, Steve thinks missing one gift out of millions as an acceptable error rate. Santa meanwhile does not seem interested.
Arthur with family’s eldest member GrandSanta decides to courier it personally. GrandSanta, Arthur and Bryony (packing hero; fun to watch) board the sleigh powered by ancient reindeers. The journey to earth is tough, on earth its even tougher (amidst African lions), on ocean its awkward and final run to the actual destination is chased by a missile. Back home, ashamed of keeping up the Christmas spirit, Santa with Steve too leave for the missed destination.
Finally they manage to place the gift before the sunrise, but who placed it? Watch and answer.

Analysis –
The structuring of family into multiple generations (GrandSanta, Santa, his two sons – Steve, Arthur) is definitely a clever plot. It one way facilitates differences in though based on generation gap. The fantasy pillar is the best in the movie especially spaceship sequence, reindeer runs, etc. Hollywood seldom disappoints you in animation (fantasy).
However, this movie never really grows on emotions like other superb animations have done in past (Ratatouille, Wall-e, KungFu Panda). It had the potential being associated with both family and festival, however it does not really strikes on senti-emotional front. A bit of disappointment considering it had all the ingredients.

Rating – 1 for each F (family, festival, fantasy) = 3/5

What works – classy animation
What not – thrill quotient is ok, lacks the senti feel

SPEAKing PICtures’s verdict – enjoy whenever you see it. And share it with Cheers

Don_Dutiya

noreply@blogger.com (Ankit Gupta) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 12:47:58 PST

Really cold winters! Lots of fog in Delhi! Loads of sleep in eyes. Gosh! Missed MI4. To socha Don2 dekhenge. Bollywood zindabad (trailer dono ke same feel wale dikh rahe hai). Here it comes, the review –

Don2, the sequel to the remake of Don is rated 3/5.

Story -
DON surrenders to get Vardhan (Boman Irani) to get him out of jail. He is successful with some smart moves and then narrates him the plan to steal the note-plates from which Euros are printed (wow). In the way, there are some local goons, blackmailing, etc and Don gets the better of its competitors. Don eventually starts off the mission and ends his voyage by riding a bike with the number plate showcasing DON 3. He obviously triumphed and survived DON 2’s plot.

Star Cast –
Shahrukh Khan – Firstly some good words on looks. SRK untidy looks did worked on scene and his long hairlocks, did give him quite a DONly look (khatarnaak). However! Acting is again ok. If G.One was ok! This serves no better. SRK should now rework his strategy. His action movies are not working for him (same can be said for his acting).
Priyanka Chopra (PC) – plays is good. But she should hurry up else Vidya Balan will soon be at top.
OM Puri – good (as always)
Kunal K – oK, looks too much sophisticated
Boman Irani – good (as always)
Lara Bhupati – gold glare is only thing I can recall of her

The music by Shankar Ehsaan Loy disappoints. Not even one song is rememberable. Was expecting something on Paan & Banaras especially in the light to improve the previous attempt (recall the previous version of Farhan Akhtar’s Don), but is not there.

Timing?
Don2 is unfortunately coming right after MI4. The comparison hence terms it even weaker. Even though Don2 by all means is well shot (almost all abroad), it is far away from standards set up by last week’s MI 4. But it brings us to the same debate – Do Indian movies want to bring technology as its USP or sheer creativity will do, as in past? Later.

What works: SRK look, nice locations for shooting
What not: story, non-thriller feel

SPEAKing PICtures’s verdict – Wait for the reborn of Don in next version (number of bike said DON 3). Till then, try to avoid meeting DON_DUTIYA in cinema halls.

ps: SRK has realized where his real potential is. He will be starting a romantic flick from Jan first week. Good SRK. Remember!

“Haar ke jeetne wale ko baazigar kehte hai”

Ladies! Happy now?

Pappu Can’t Dance Saala...then why watch him

noreply@blogger.com (Ankit Gupta) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 12:22:46 PST

Because Pappu here is Vinay Pathak.

He is back with same kind of role, same genre with same performance (again). This movie offers him the same ‘innocent-man-in-shit’ role (remember Chalo Dilli! read here). Moreover, this movie will be cited as an illustration when it comes to desperate naming of movies. Needless to say, the movie-owners named the movie on a famous Hindi song “Pappu Can’t Dance Saala” from “Jaaaaaane Tu....Ya Jaane Na”. Why? Desperate initial attraction (the side by release is Ranbir’s Rockstar).
Desperation unfortunately didn’t work. Pappu Can’t Dominate Saala – 2.25/5

Story –
UP sends bhola bhala Vidya (Vinay Pathak) to the fast forward Mumbai. He works as the marketing representative of a Pharmaceutical company (I can smell that). Apart from him, you are also introduced to Mehek (Neha Dupia). She too comes from a small town but has an opposite style of living life. Mehek and Vidya are neighbours and bingo! The chemistry of cations and anions begins. The first half is enjoyable and thought-provoking in some scenes. Watch out for Vinay Pathak’s acting skills, his acting totally transfers the frustration of this survival in some scenes (you will surely remember Rajat from Pyaar Ka Punchnama! A bit more mature Rajat that is).
The second half is boring and very monotonous. In it, Vidya and Mehek now start living peacefully. Mehek is offered a ‘bold’ music video and Vidya starts to help her and then eventually fall for her is the rest. Nothing new and very very standard.

Star Cast –
Vinay Pathak – loved his performance, but before the words of appreciation can I caution him for again doing the stereotype ‘goody-innocent’ roles. Consequently, I only liked him when he was acting his frustration part.
Neha Dhupia – not impressive in most of the movie. Good in some senti scenes. You can find better than her in Bollywood for sure.
Rajat Kapoor – looks like a Rockstar in the movie. Quite similar to Milind Soman in Bheja Fry. Awesome actor, awesome performance as usual.
Brijendra Kala – an effortless performance. Bollywood is anyday incomplete without these small performances.

The music is also standard. With the likes of Kailash Kher and Mohit Chauhan, the music ought to be better. But it isn’t. Lastly, to say the least the team of artists like Saurabh Shukla, Rajat Kapoor, Vinay Pathak, Sanjay Mishra are expected to produce better films. Peace.

What works : Vinay Pathak’s acting (especially in parts where he shows his frustration)
What not: concept is repeated many times before, nothing new

SPEAKing PICtures’s verdict: why pay again to see the same.

"Jo banta hai! Wahi chalta hai"*

*Not applicable for this movie

Rockstar feat. Rocky Ranbir

noreply@blogger.com (Ankit Gupta) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:08:18 PST

Few years back in 2008, a movie by the name of ‘Rock On’ bought immense popularity of band music. What Chetan Bhagat did to English writing, Rock On leveraged the same feel in youth with its music (and especially lyrics). No matter whether you are good or bad, you are expressive for your emotions, the antidote to the monotonous work life which you do for money!

Some definitions. What do you understand by a ROCKSTAR?
A rockstar is anybody who overcomes his conscience to get his passion fulfilled and if his passion is true, we say it’s ROCKing.
Meanwhile this Rockstar deserves 4/5 rocking stars.

Story –
Janardhan Jakhad sings in Delhi University and at Delhi’s bus stops so that people don’t feel bored. Quite kiddish but yes! he is. So, when the canteen manager tells him to undergo pain to become like Jim Morisson, he takes it quite literally. He innocently flirts with a Kashmeri ballet beauty, Nargis Fakri (Heer). Post some attempts, the story goes into Jab We Met mode (travelling bindaas and then one of them falling in love with other). This is the forte of Imitiaz (director) and he is successful this time too. The story in second half reaches abroad in Prague, with Heer falling ill and JJ aka Jordan growing in music and violent clashes with media. Both meet & share some past moments but the love angle falls weak. When the movie ends, you feel the climax is not convincing (Imitiaz’s Love Aajkal!).

Star Cast –
Rockstar Ranbir – This is his best performance. With this movie, he has officially entered the league of extraordinary superstars who ride millions on their performance. Rockstar belongs to Ranbir in every true sense.
Nargis Fakri – satisfies the beauty quotient but fails in passing on her pain to the audience.
Piyush Mishra – can’t miss him to appreciate. Just look his facial expressions in the massage scene.
Kumud Mishra – plays the role of canteen manager. Impressive and believable.
Late Shree Shammi Kapoor – gracefully played the role of a famous Shenai-vaadak. Full of charm.

The music is awesome. AR Rehman along with the versatile voice of Mohit Chauhan has created the music journey quite successfully. The movie builds on music. From acoustic, to sufi, to romantic, to cross-cultural, to instrumental, to live college fest aggression, to a foreign concert performance.
Another point to appreciate is the dressing of Ranbir when he performs as Jordan. The modified redesigned Jawahar Topi rocks and reflects attitude.

Can we, the Indians can be a bit bolder?
Why do we see an unnecessary love angle in every movie? Why do you need heartbreak as a cause of pain? Why can’t Imitiaz Ali relate suffering to today’s youth frustration? Pain from multiple job rejections, failure to get admission, etc could have given a lot of pain for Ranbir to turn Jordan. Its high time quality Indian directors like Vishal Bharadwaj and upcoming ones like Imitiaz Ali take the route of quality over commercial. @Anurag Kashyup – take a lead.

What works: Ranbir, the music journey
What not: the pain punch in the script

SPEAKing PICtures verdict: 1.1.1 = 3 +1 = 4

ps: Tibet flags @ Sadda Haq song…touching

that night from Ghaziabad

noreply@blogger.com (Ankit Gupta) — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 11:24:29 PST

Travelling in chilly cold night from Ghaziabad in an old jerking bus (route is named ALT; alternate in many ways), I am still thinking on why ‘WHY’ is bothering me again! Somewhat a strange gush is slowly coming in. “Mujhe aaj daar nazar aa raha hai” as I slowly silently fought the thought but such was the emotional push that it prevailed me to seep (yet again) into career planning.

Back in the afternoon, I along with few friends was discussing what is important to succeed. A night before, it got a different perception, that of a girl of my class which confirm my belief that ‘everybody is different’. Yep. God made everybody unique BUT circumstances make everybody different. Nice creative one liner but will I get an opportunity to use it? Is the liner that beneficial? Not that I am cribbing but the fear of controlling yourself amidst so many uncontrollable factors is indeed a fiery idea. What a waste of time it was! that to think.

Continuing the journey, while passing I saw an empty warehouse. Then the board read it was a mall (somebody tagged it WIP – work in progress; must be a MBA). Stalled work or may be intentionally delayed. It speaks for growth without conviction of total confidence. It seems to me that because builder needs to do construction, he is doing so. So many flats on sale, builder billboards – what’s the mood? Keeping guessing would be an obvious answer. Now I am pursing management. I will say good words in a confident tone. Hence I shall observe, analyse, estimate and then forecast. My heart had the answer ready already. What a waste of managing wealth for a degree! Anyways…

Sorry for playing ‘Inception’, but I need to go back to afternoon. Discussing with a friend pursing management in Finance, the concepts of ROI are a cause of concern. “Maths is a bastard, you see” – famous saying of a practical teacher. It teaches you objectivity. The whole ROI concept is 99% relevant but 1% fraudant. Learning is never featured into it. ROI takes care only of tangible parameters, not of non-tangibles. May be I am talking to0O much OB here! I obviously hate it – I am subjective, but I like objectiveness. Bank balances are objective. World sees objectivity! Subjectivity invites filtration…another one

Coming back, travelling in metro is always fascinating. Why? Randomness. Delhi Metro always surprises you with train sizes, timings, midway stops, women reserved coaches, escalator functioning. But still it seems planned, or is it jugaad. Jugaad, the faith bearer to remove fear (daar; previously mentioned). May be that will drive optimism; wait for the budget next year. The UPA govt. shall jugaadify something (next election bribe)!

Why am I going into politics, is it because I am coming from Ghaziabad? I am in Delhi now (@home); civilized thinking shall prevail. The conclusion - the mall shall be back, so will the jobs, so will the money, so will the peace of mind, so will the greed, so will the justified learning…so will the sleep?? Anytime any-posture any-lecture :P

“Razai garam ke saath hai safar
Shayad aaj sona vapaas aa jaaye”

ps: temperature outside 4 degrees only

Headlines - Pa.One Mauke pe Aaya 'RA.ONE'

noreply@blogger.com (Ankit Gupta) — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 16:28:08 PDT

So what it was finally released on a Pa.one day (Diwali), the destiny is stated sometimes. Destiny was stated for this movie also. It will work (even the real Raavan can guess that). But will it be appreciated and genuinely generate ‘Likes’ on facebook? Let’s assess this through a video game –

The Game –
SRK, our game developer develops a game in which villain is more powerful than the good hero. Why? To impress his kid who thinks his dad (SRK, curly baalo wala) is a dodo. The game characters are named quite smartly as Ra.one and G.one. Recall your childhood days where games used to have stages. Here, the virtual stage looks interesting but the next stage is played in reality, where Ra.One comes out of the game to kill our game developer. Now, G.One has to kill Ra.one.
SRK has the controls, he shall win.

Characters –
Ra.One (played by Ra.Jun RA.mpal! Arjun Rampal pronounced normally). He looks villainous and is a suitable cast for Ra.One.
G.One (played by Sa.Ra.ukh Khan). Firstly, why has he taken over my idiot box. It seems the code of the game has been miraculously shared among all the broadcasters in India. Man! Every second ad ends with a man depressing dressed in glittering blue-black suit and looking over the city (Batman stolen concept). It’s a norm that 80% of the ad space before any SRK movie will feature him. “Excess of co-marketing”, incase anybody is researching on this topic, you have a fabulous opportunity (courtesy: SRK). Phew! Don 2 is coming; I should start playing video games and not even look at my idiot box.
Coming back to movie, SRK puts in genuine effort and tries his best BUT cannot produce the quality of acting which could have justified his effort and hard-work. He is ok as G.One (much much better than his irritating South Indian avatar as the game developer). Even as G.One he does not look like a SuperHero (look at SRK's physique for answers). All major superhero have a face accessory/mask (guess! It was a missing here)
Sonia (played by Ka.Reena Ka.poor) looks gorgeous here (watch her in red colour sari).
Prateek (played by Armaan Verma) – he should acted after a hair-cut else acting was satisfactory.
Other non-routine side-kicks were Sanjay Dutt, Priyanka Chopra, Rajini.

Music of the movie is awesome and is something different to hear. Chamak Chalo is addictive (Hindi song sung by an international pop singer). Akon, bhai you rock (dil se re).

Lines about the story -
Why do need presence of stars of likes of Sanjay Dutt, Priyanka Chopra, Rajini. This tells us about the confidence in script. The biggest flaw of Ra.One is its script. It LACKS creativity, given the fact budget was huge, some sequences are played out so safe. With Rs. 150 Cr to dispose, script could have incorporated some never heard of action-sequences. Even the styling of G.One suit looks heavily inspired from Ironman.
Ra.One has technology but not class, which a movie like Swades had.

What works – hype (yes! SRK you are successful in it), technology in Bollywood movies, Music
What not – Script, Expectations

SPEAKing PICtures verdict – (quote borrowed from a friend) “Kuch bhi ho, dekh to aaye kya movie hai”.

Rating?
Ya! I usually give rating quite early in my reviews. Here, factors to analyse are many. SRK has put a lot of hard work, if not quality. The quantity will work for him again. He has released 5000 prints of Ra.One (70-80 in Russia), thus opening new avenues for Hindi movies. Only a few in Bollywood can do it, SRK has leveraged it to quite a level with immense hype.
Ra.One Ra.ting – 3/5 (generously rated)

ps: “log Raavan ko is liye baar baar maarte hain kyunki vo kabhi marta nahin hai” (you curse SRK as an irritating fellow because you know he will redo it – this is emotional translation)

pps: I still cannot believe the amount of co-marketing SRK has done for this movie. When I went to Google’s office in Gurgaon, I first saw SRK standee emerging out of YouTube and then Google’s logo. His modus operandi is superbly working (this will be covered sometime later)

Salman Khan: Bollywood ka "Bodyguard"

noreply@blogger.com (Ankit Gupta) — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 12:30:17 PDT

“mujhe par ek ehsaan karna ki mujh par koi ehsaan na karna” (favour me one thing that do not do any favour to me).

Cheesy masala chichoori one-liners. That is what we want and Salman Khan movies are providing that in (dangerously) higher frequencies. The first time I heard about Bodyguard, I was expecting something really macho and for-a-change a serious action movie (Salman Khan’s Garv). But the trailer while watching an even more item movie ‘Singham’ proved me wrong. Movie makers of Bollywood, after the grand successes of Wanted, Dabang, Ready, presents another ‘Salman Khan’ starrer – ‘Bodyguard’ with same style and show.
My past ratings for Dabang, Ready were around 3 but this has tested my patience and my precious dearest money. Rating hence given – 2/5

Story –
Let’s talk Salman as much as we can. So in Karan Arjun, he did a ‘i-am-all-yours’ act as a return favour. Here too is a similar set up.
Salman is named as Lovely Singh (sounded for Sunny Deol) in the movie. He becomes a bodyguard for Sartaj Rana (Raj Babbar) in return of previous gestures. As a bodyguard, his role is to protect Divya (Kareena), daughter of Rana sahib. As a bodyguard, he is professional and can go to any limits to protect her (even in ladies loo). Divya is naturally irritated with his over-protective working style and decides to fool him with the help of her friend Chaya (Rose Dawn). Element of confusion is created. Typical Hindi cinema takes over…She hates him, She loves him, He marries somebody…kuch kuch hota hai (but still Shahrukh, you are not missed).

Cast –
Salman Khan – as THE actor in demand you post him anywhere people will glance. Looks, acceptable acting and great body. All is there, everything is clicking. Can’t say much. If you have money or Salman owes you something, just cash in. Now is the time! He can’t be reviewed, he can’t be rated and as a MBA (finance) will say, he can’t be estimated also.
Kareena – ok, satisfactory…neutral stand (na main dost, na main dushman)
Rose Dawn – awesome looks. She is not meant for acting.
There is one character called Tsunami Singh. Do you really find the name funny? I can’t believe the story writer Siddique was one of writers for Hera Pheri, cult comedy by all standards.
Anyways, moving on to Music by Himesh and Pritam. Two songs stand out – title track and ‘I LOVE YOU’. The latter is a nice sweet addictive one, the one to expect from these huge blockbusters.

As a student of MBA (marketing) from one of the best institutes of management in India whose forte is marketing, I can forecast these trends through numerous bookish models. But somehow my movie watching experience says we will see either of the two ways – either Salman Khan will be stereotyped as Hindi movies ka Rajini or will fall like Akshay Kumar.

What works – Salman and front row whistling fans
What not – concept/script repeated, overdone comedy, a sense of fatigue

SPEAKing PICtures verdict – festival time release (Eid/Ganesh Puja), can go iff Salman Khan fan else no

ps: fantastic marketing techniques like co-marketing adopted by Bodyguard. Superb

Chala Mussaddi – Office Office (a nostalgia)

noreply@blogger.com (Ankit Gupta) — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 11:53:51 PDT

Chala Mussaddi – Office Office is quite literally adapted from idiot box counterpart - Office Office (popular TV show based on satires on corruption in different govt. offices). The TV show was a huge hit as viewers were able to relate their experiences in govt. offices. In addition, the show highlighted corrupt practises in a comic fashion, which lightened their sufferings.

The movie was no different but it came after the TV series. Henceforth, being rated at 2.5/5

Story –
Mussaddi, the common man from Office Office loses his wife (played by Fareeda Jala) due to doctors negligence and goes for chaar-dhaam pilgrimage along with his son – Bunty (played by Gaurav Kapoor). On return he finds that the pension department has declared him dead in his absence. Mussaddi contests through many proofs but TC (team corrupt comprising of Ushaji, Shuklaji, Pandeyji, Bhatiaji, Mishraji and other sarkari babujis) have a deaf ear. Mussaddi now takes the baton against the team TC and fights to ALIVE his identity.
The story is a simple case of declaring a living person dead. It lacks originality as this has been highlighted earlier. The story of the movie shouts its adaption from TV serial Office-Office.

Cast –
The movie has some great actors (not stars) and casting is without doubt, a forte here. So we have a Pankaj Kapoor (playing Mussaddi, the common man). No matter how many times he plays Mussaddi, he put in the same effort and is lovable to him. In some instances, you see yourself in him (the calls which he take – whether to question a particular officer or not, etc).
Asawari Joshi plays the character of Ushaji, the kaamchor ‘my-office-is-also-my-home’ lady officer who epitomises ‘feminist corruption (‘ek kaam kardo’). Sanjay Mishra, an ace in comic industry plays the character of Shukla, the dirt-spreader (quite literally). Deven Bhojani plays the ‘do-baatein’ Patel. Manoj Pahwa plays the role of Bhatia, the foodie who prefers eating over working. Hemant Pandey plays the Pandey (oops! Call him Pandeyji).

All of the above mentioned actors are proved performers and are safe bets for comedy anyday. However, the stereotyping works only to a point. A movie script needs more to capture the attention of audience throughout its run. Sadly, Chalo Mussaddi fails in that. Therefore, you only enjoy in parts.

What works: Cast & Current affairs
What not: lacks originality

SPEAKing PICtures verdict : watchable

ps: say No to corruption

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

noreply@blogger.com (Ankit Gupta) — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 15:23:32 PDT

Long title but simple facts. What will prompt you to watch this movie especially when Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar, Abhay Deol, Katrina Kaif, Kalki (recent addition) are all casted in a single movie. I guess casting itself is sufficient. With this kind of casting, the first impression is set. Rest of the week will depend on its quality and on what it delivers.
ZNMD speaks about life and makes you realize the fun if you really enjoy it. Rating – 3.75/5

Story –
When a person in construction business meets an interior designer, what happens? They make a pair. Similar is the setting between Kabir (Abhay Deol) and Natasha (Kalki). Once the engagement is forecasted, Kabir wants to cherish his last days of his bachelorhood and sets on a road trip (location: Spain) along with his friends – Arjun (HR) and Imran (Farhan). So we have three middle aged men go on a three week vacation to indulge in ‘self-selected’ adventures. Each of them has the liberty to select his dream adventure and the other two will have to do it (irrespective of their likings). In due adventurous course, they realize what is life’s another perspective.

Cast – With whom should I start?
Farhan Akhtar – and not Hrithik (atleast not in ZNMD). He has the best role in the movie that of a sponty copywriter. Effortless with great versatility. He enjoys his role (gets the best lines) and you enjoy that on screen.
Hrithik Roshan – is looking clean and cool especially after his last movie. HR plays a character in the movie which lives the hectic financial world. He touches the emotional cord more than any other character in the movie. Just a wish - he should danced more. Remember! he was in Spain.
Abhay Deol – free-flowing and bindaas.
Katrina Kaif – plays the role of Laila, scuba instructor. She is attractive (we all know) and charming (wonderfully done here). Her screen space is limited here but she does full justice.
Kalki – plays the role of Natasha. I would have preferred a fresh face for this role. That might have saved some money. Nothing related to Kalki’s performance though!
Zoya Akhtar - (director and screenplay) is again very impressive. Just recalled how her first movie “Luck By Chance” (read here) presented gratitude to the film fraternity in opening credits. Awesome.

This is an era of DK Bose where families might not feel comfortable to hear it (forget about seeing the movie). Don’t miss this especially with this is kind of K Jo’s casting. Also DO NOT compare with DCH (Dil Chahta Hai). To put it into a phrase – “DCH was more boyz, ZNMD is more mature”. DCH was cult, don’t think ZNMD will reach there. Why? B’coz ZNMD connects you with its idea but somehow you don’t feel that attachment. Subjective!
Movie has superbly advertised Spain as a clean fantasy dreamland. Expect more people to learn Spanish. Expect a rise in prices of air-tickets to Spain. And let’s wait till somebody does a ZNMD the Indian way!

What works: topic, theme, thrill of bachelors-trips
What not: songs (somehow they are chartbusters level), dance (Hrithik! Expectations were higher)

SPEAKing PICtures verdict: Dekh le. Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara.

The theme of this movie has been a self-enlightening one. It has been repetitive and released in cinemas multiple times. I would like to end here with a cult dialogue from the cult movie (Anand) with which I started my Chalo Dilli review (another movie asking you to enjoy life) –

“Babumoshai, Zindagi Badi Honi Chahiye, Lambi Nahin”

ps: I expect viewers to enjoy the saawan-season whole heartedly after watching ZNMD.

21st June 2011 – Longest day of the year 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Ankit Gupta) — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 15:45:11 PDT

21st June is generally the longest day of the year (am sure you know this). Now, incidentally, this day was also marked the starting of the orientation week for PGDM batch (2011-2013) @ IMT-G. Nice to see that from the day one, we are witnessing full utilization of natural resources (days are bigger, so more interaction, hence more presentations can be covered).Fantastic time management and scheduling.

And it did turned out to be the longest. Not at all a surprise.

The day started with formal dressing and polishing the shoes. It is mandatory in B-school to be in formals on occasions like these. 9 am sharp, we entered the IMT library.The students of PGDM batch (2011-2013) were all dazzling and ready to listen and so were the speeches.

The director’s messageon ‘IMT Vision and Future Directions’ was superbly encouraging and the Nataraja‘s ‘creation by destruction’ analogy was philosophically refreshing. Before lunch sessions included addresses by Prof. Rajat Gera, Chairperson – PGDM (F/T), whose talk had enough subtle humour to tickle the audience. There were other talks also on various topics like Code of Conduct, etc.

Post lunch, we had sessions intro from all academic departments. Marketing was interactive, Finance had humour, HR had promising questions, IT looked familiar, ESS was new, while Operations was an engineer’s delight (caution: perception can go wrong).

The best was saved for last – Address by Chief Guest (Mr. Atul Karwal). He was the first IPS officer to climb Mt. Everest. His intro seemed to one of a of an adventure genius – sky-diving, scuba-diving, mountaineering, horse-riding, black-belt @ Martial Arts, etc. His presentation was simple, powerful, inspirational, moving in parts and literally had thatkhatra (fear) factor. His presentation included lots of self-taken pics and motivating videos of persons who successfully touched the summit @ Mt. Everest. Plus the insights he gave of the climb was very imaginative. Not to leave behind the learnings, which were most important.
Apart from his experience of Everest, he also mentioned some unique adventures of his daughters (snake catching and then lizard catching to feed those snakes).He deserved a standing ovation; he got twice.

Post dinner, various committees presented themselves. PLACECOM was most popular, ALCOM gave a comfy feel, MESSCOM generated humour, IRC was unique while SIFE was something very new.

Clock has touched 12. Next day, will be covered in next article.

best quote heard over the campus on 21st June 2011 -
“Let us not play a dot ball” ~ Dr. S.K.Batra [awesome reception to this]

Cheers
Ag

ps: 21st June being the longest day of the year, also means less hours allotted to night, which means less sleep.

Journey from home to hostel…first time travelling on this route

noreply@blogger.com (Ankit Gupta) — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 14:58:16 PDT

“We will become graduate one day, said a buddy engineer who surprising did what he said, he passed his graduation with flying rainbows”. After three long years of work-ex, he is again heading to college and this time as a hosteller to0O (May God Bless!)

One day before the travel –
Bags were being searched, things were being sorted and home food was being stuffed in regularly without considering the fact that it might alter the body-mass ratio (which is vital stat when you are heading to a college). “What to take” question was searched on Google and it gave all sorts of rubbish answers. For example, a link mentioned to take books and registers (how very silly).

An IMT senior posted a long list of physical entities which sounded like abbey ab ye kaha se laaoo (from where will I get this?). Silly silly things made you pensive - where do I get Nirmasuper!! Parents are always there to help and bingo! The graduate was equipped with all essential commodities which are needed to become the MBA.

Realizing the fact that body of MBA has to be sleep proof, I deliberately continued my late night online chat with a friend discussing and debating what would have been better for me – ‘Business Leader Vs Solutions Architect”. We started with domestic and went GLOBAL and then UNIVERSAL…the speed could have easily taken us to MILKYWAY but we were finally stopped by MTNL around 4 am.

6 am I was up and 7:30 I was leavinghome. On the way, I saw my MNC office and so very glad to miss it. After having a work life, one Do0O realize the importance of going back to college. Fun @ dreams, Fun @ college, Fun @ IMT.

I entered the campus, the guard spoke fluent English and it was my official sunrise. IMT @ third time, it was (previously during physical interview @ Indo-Pak match day and fee submission). A lot of curiosity was related to hostel room. Being a day scholar throughout my life, it was something obvious. Even a three-month onsite trip was no match in front of this. I did realize that I was one of first persons to enter IMT for enrolment today.
The Audiwas full empty and chilled. It was something meant for respected people – rightfully for parents (awesome thing done). Meanwhile, the freshers were to go to second floor. The person designated there greeted me with smile and said – “to aa hi gaye”(you have finally come, bliss). Roger that sir. Coming back to college life is like restarting life. Play it.

Around 9:30 am, the auspicious ritual of form-giving started. I was the first to collect those. 4 forms (one of them printed on two sides) – total of 5 A4 sheets. My graduation has prepared me very well for this activity of form filling. But engineers are lazy and I am no exception. I forgot my CAT scorecard and payslips, etc. But thankfully the Ground Floor’s Xerox cum Printout shop was there. After achieving the submission of all forms with essential docs, SAAC and PLACECOM were next. While PLACECOM didn’t saw much footfall, SAAC was parents’ favourite. Everyone wanted to know in which room their wards will go! Managing chaos was the learning here. Also it involved major streams of management – Operations, Organizational Behaviour and IT management (courtesy – Google Docs and MS Excel).

After a pause, I was finally allotted J Lobby (should I be happy?).The feel, as one fresher said “three idiots ki aa rahi hai” (feel is like it was in 3 idiots). Hope no one tries to light the bulb this time.

Bucket, Baggage, Bed and Bhoja (load) all were then moved successfully to my room. While on my way, I saw Beds, Buckets, Simcards, etc becoming fast moving consumer goods (FMCG right!). The whole supply chain management was worth appreciating. Expecting to interact with such high quality managers soon.

My room door is opened. Articles end here.

Cheers
AG

Dialogue of the day –
“padhai ek ko karni hai, aaya poora parvaar hai” ~ someone (reacting on seeing whole family coming to see-off a prospect MBA)

Ps: first article from my first hostel room

Movie Review: Bheja Cry 2

noreply@blogger.com (Ankit Gupta) — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 14:29:23 PDT

Bheja Fry when it came had the advantage of being new. People and intelligent people (critics) started the dialogue of having low-budget-high-quality movies. Bheja Fry grossed marvellously at box office. Since then, there have been many successful products Phaas Gaye Re Obama, Tere Bin Laden, etc.

However, this one (sequel to Bheja Fry) is not like its predecessor.
Rating - 2.25/5

Story -
The original idiot (Bharat Bhushan, played by Vinay Pathak) is back as a tax officer, who wins a TV show and is awarded a cruise ticket. How can just winning the show please him? He wants pleasure (love) too he likes Minissha Lamba (TV exec). Also on the cruise liner, along with them; we have a Ajit Talwar (played by KK). He is a big business bro but fears from tax people for obvious reasons. He wants everything girl to be near him and tax officer to be away from him. He plans to topple the taxman off the ship into the ocean. But eventually ends up with him on an island to meet another two characters Amole Gupte (R Burman! No not R.D. Burman) and Suresh Menon (strict taxman). Rest continues

Cast
Vinay Pathak as the fatso goody irritating tax officer is a pleasure to watch. Not much to speak, just that he is too adorable. But he has to do diverse roles now else he will surely be stereotyped. A word of caution for him has already been mentioned in Chalo Dilli review (here).
KK Menon seeing him after a long time. The class in him is of a certain quality but the lines given to him does not match with his calibre. Better dialogues could have brought him more accolades.
Minissha Lamba not worth a Bheja Fry brand.
Amol Gupte is ok. But watch out for Suresh Menon. Like we saw Sudesh Lehri in Salman Khan starrer READY, here we have Suresh Menon in Bheja Fry 2. He is witty enough and scenes having his presence are hilarious. Professional artists have a different tough!

Bheja Fry 2 should have been written better. Also there is lack of good effective punches in this edition. The Movie says in its trailers the original idiot is back. Its a lie. The camaraderie which we saw in Bheja Fry 1 involving Vinay Pathak, Rajat Kapoor, Ranbir Shorey, etc is missing in the sequel. Infact, sequel of a movie like Bheja Fry should not have a new cast at its core.

What works: Comic scenes in parts, Glimpses of quality of the star cast
What no: weak story and dialogues

SPEAKing PICtures verdict : It's Bheja Cry instead of Bheja Fry. Miss it

My bags are packed, I am ready to go...

noreply@blogger.com (Ankit Gupta) — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 14:32:50 PDT

Away from the shor (noise) in the city, I will restart the race. God has created a highly competitive path for me, and I will walk it. There is a difference between knowing the path and walking it. Time has arrived to walk it and ace the race on the route.

Main udaan bhar hi lunga, Aasmaan chu hi lunga,
Mere ang khil gaye hai, Ho mujhe pankh mil gaye hai
Mujhe pankh mil gaye hai (x3)

Pawan sa udna hai, Baadal se judna hai,
Ho mujhe pankh mil gaye hai
Mujhe pankh mil gaye hai (x3)

(I will surely fly, I will surely touch the sky
My limbs have come out, I have got my wings…)

(Flow like wind, Get attach to clouds
I have got my wings…)

The TV commercial of Future group has motivated to the extent that I have started re-dreaming about restarting. It has given me that dope of optimism which burns my oxygen to the most optimal level.

My work life only gave me money (that too the least I presume), all along I was afraid to take risks. I was STAGNANT – not going anywhere. Stuck in the concrete; not in mud, not in quicksand. Now I have left work (temporarily), attempting to enjoy the life with loads of fun and studies (I doubt I will study!!).

In my past three years, I have seen many people – selfish, extraordinary, good, awesome, better than best, bastards, hilarious, boring, good genuine people and humans without heart. Analysis of this past says no growth in whatever manner you can think of, but some parts of my soul do like my past. I have figured out to let people go (when you can’t make them turn towards you). The knowledge gained of my failure has created that wisdom quotient for me. I have become wiser instead of successful. I have learnt more than what I have earned. By that definition in some stream of philosophy, I am somewhat successful. I should be happy! But I was not. Sitting in office was a pain, I have escaped now.

Failures were one thing in common. To escape from my first job, I tried running all the way. Gave 10 interviews, all rejected. Sometimes luck was against me, sometimes it was I myself. After a point, I took a stand not to switch from my first job (loyal anyone?). I decided to go ahead and study again.

A break from work. A break from monotonous life. A break from AC. A break from boss. A break from coding. A break from office tea. A break from stagnancy.

Work is not paid anymore; it is rather appreciated and respected. Life is not monotonous anymore, it is rocking now (and changing @ 25 hours per day). There is no AC in life, but I have managed to create some human fans of mine. I am my boss now (managing my own decisions). I don’t code lifeless programs, I create inspiring masterpieces. I don’t drink that fcuking stupid powdered tea of office, my thirst is satisfied by normal cold water. I am not feeling stagnant anymore. Today as I write from my hostel room, life’s quality has manifolded multiple times. It is rocking and depreived of sleep. I have entered into a B-school.

AG @ IMT-G (Mobile: 9717739518)
* - feel free to contact for all sorts of collaboration (research, consultancy, creativity, guidance, etc)

ps: SPEAKing PICtures takes you to college again :) Expect enjoyment here. CHEERS

EVERREADY - Charge yourself with Salman's Ready

noreply@blogger.com (Ankit Gupta) — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 20:49:17 PDT

Dhinka Chika Dhinka Chika Dhinka Chika Dhinka Chika Aey Aey Aey Aey! And here I am looking into my good English thesaurus to get the meaning of these so very filmy words. Obviously I cannot find them. They are meaningless, just like the movie BUT works for the Indian public. I do realize that a critical review will be of seldom use, therefore my wisdom says to judge by the fact whether it worked as an entertainer for me or not?

So did READY worked like an ‘EverREADY’ for me? Rating – 3.25/5 (Yes! Partially)

Story –
Story is simply senseless and mingling mindless. Sanjana (Asin) has to find a suitable shelter for a couple weeks and enters as a prospect bride in the Kapoor family. This Kapoor family like Bollywood Kapoor family is full of characters - a trio of Ram-Laxman-Bharat Kapoor (played by Mahesh Manjrekar, Manoj Pahwa and Manoj Joshi respectively) along with their jewellery infested wives. We also have Prem in it (Prem who? Hum Aapke Hain Kaun obviously!). The Salman Khan, son of Ram Kapoor in the movie. After the Kapoor family intro, the first half is about how Prem comes to know about Sanjana’s reality. The first half contains some mindless comic dialogues (thanks to Sudesh Lehri) and they superbly work for audience.
The second half is the time for Chaudhary family. Any bollywood actor would not like to marry a girl without her parivaar ki marzi (family consent). How can Salman be an exception? So now he will only marry Sanjana once her Don-Uncles are satisfied with the couple. The Don-Uncles are hairy, plotting and look rather comedians than villains. But again, it works (mentioning this phrase thrice now). Rest of the story is about how Prem (Salman) manages to get all things in place and also the Parivaar ki marzi from Sanjana’s Don-Family.

Star cast –
Salman Khan. Like I mentioned in my review for Dabang (read here), Salman has found that USP in him which will help him to retain the cult status – Body looks (takes off clothes in every movie) and being casually funny (a must for paisa-vasool entertainers). Nice and pleasing to see that works. He sells this movie to you. You go to this movie for him.
Asin is watchable to watch and has a chulbul (naughty) presence. Going by the fact that the makers of Ready was looking for an actresses which could bring resemblance to Ready (Tamil version) actresses Genelia D'Souza, Asin was an apt choice. She works. But her make-up disappoints.
Sudesh Lehri – he rocks. You can laugh at his professionalism everytime you see him on screen.
Paresh Rawal can be seen trying but his dialogues are a bit weak.
An initial shock was received by me when I saw Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgan, Kangna Ranaut in the movie within first 5-10 minutes. Needless to say they were extras (special appearances).

Music of Ready is THE thing which makes you EVERREADY - Peppy, Tipsy, Chichoora (did I said Chichoora) and Lip-exercising. Songs like Dhinka Chika has pure shades of southern touch. Another song like Character Dheela is written for Salman. And what to say about lyrics –

“Ishak ke namm pe karte, sabhi ab raas leela hai
Main karoon toh saala, Character dheela hai”

Chichoora is the best adjective. Go to any disco in New Delhi and the posh people will be dancing on it.

Apart from the music, the situational comedy also works in places. And that is due to high quality of comical artists in Ready. However, the script sometimes tests your tolerance for absurdity and lets you disappoint. Writing scenes where climax has rose fighting, heroine hallucinating and thinking hero taking off his shirt, etc are just not needed.

What works – Salman, Sudesh Lehri, Songs
What not – absurd scenes forcibly put in the movie

Speaking Pictures's verdict – EverReady. Charge yourself now. Paisa Vasool Entertainer

ps: I watched this movie in Amritsar. The crowd loved the show. However, the trailer of Ghayal Returns (starring Sunny Deol) gathered maximum cheekhs (roars) and ceetties (whistles). They still love Sunny Paaji (dil se re). Waiting…

YaaBaa DaaBaa do0O for Kung-Fu King Po0O

noreply@blogger.com (Ankit Gupta) — Mon, 30 May 2011 05:08:32 PDT

Heeeeee-Hawwww...YaaaHoo

Po0O is back. Kung Fu Panda is that brand of cartoon movies which typifies the art of associating absurd characters with their allotted roles. Imagine a fatso Panda doing Kung-Pu (and not simple pawing)? Imagine a goose as father of a giant Panda? Kung-Fu Panda made us believe that and illustrated the power of animation movies by becoming a big hit. The first edition was also an Oscar nominee.

Dear Movie viewers,
I am glad to inform you that Kung-Fu Panda 2 sets the same standards and enjoyment level like its predecessor. Therefore, it has been rated at 4.5/5

Story –
The giant Panda Po0O is now The Dragon Warrior in the Valley of Peace and along with the Fantastic Furious Five, he has to now deal a new enemy. The Peacock that is (super surprise) – Lord Shen. The evil Peacock (yes I used the adjective evil for a Peacock) wants to end Kung-Fu with the help of a canon-gun and our Super Strong Six (Po0O + the Furious Five) now have to stop him. Along with this, Po0O also has to find solace with his inner mystery about his origin.

Voice-Cast -
The life in the cartoon characters in an animated movie is given by its voice. The Incredibles, The Toy Story series are prime example. No wonder why characters like Woody in Toy Story cannot be identified without Tom Hanks’s voice.
Po0O, the Giant Great Panda cannot have an effective presence without the voice support of Jack Black. The voice is as tangy as the Panda’s Kung-Fu movements. Expressive, funny and effective (most importantly). Be ready to hear Jack Black as voice artist for Po0O in the next edition (as you tend to identify characters by their voices, example – Tom Hanks as voice artist for Woody, the cowboy and Tim Allen for Buzz LightYear for all Toy Story parts).
Tigress is voiced by Angelina Jolie and this time around, both the dialogues and the voice seem more effective. Lord Shen voiced by Gary Oldman makes him hear villainous. Rest of lot is all good.

Kung-Fu Panda 2 has great visuals (not a surprise as coming from DreamWorks Animation). The movie has some great scenes (even fight scenes) with great comic timing. The dialogues and one-lines are top class supported amazing well by all voice artists. The story by Glenn Berger and Jonathan Aibel serves all. Apart from Kung-Fu fight scenes, there are great set pieces where we see introspection and self-questioning. Kung-Fu Panda 2 is fulfilling both to eyes and soul.

What works – cartoons & characters & everything about them
What not – nothing negative just that movie should have been longer (greed of a viewer)

Speaking Pictures's verdict – YaaBaa DaaBaa do0O for Kung-Fu King Po0O. Kung-Fu the summer heat with this. Must watch.
ps: I seriously pray that Kung Fu Panda 2 will not inspire a movie like Chandni Chowk To China to be remade.

BMW Vision (BMW Batmobile)

noreply@blogger.com (Ankit Gupta) — Sun, 22 May 2011 14:03:03 PDT

In one of my earlier post where I blogged about Delhi Auto Expo 2010 (here) I was quite critical about BMW pavilion and their show of strength. May be BMW read that post and asked their headquarters in Munich (Germany) to send some stuff which has hooking power. Obviously not grass!
So on a Saturday, while I was strolling and rolling in CP (New Delhi), I saw BMW Vision (I call it BMW Batmobile)…
a car with muscular cuts, plenty of neon lights, transparent built, powerful engine, patented technologies, future perspective and I can go on but I have a office to go tomorrow morning…
BMW Vision (BMW Batmobile) here…(click on pic for full view)

Incase you need a higher quality pic of any the posted above, please drop in a comment with your email
ps: I am still a bigger fan of Merc than BMW.

a light meal in 'Stanley Ka Dabba'

noreply@blogger.com (Ankit Gupta) — Wed, 18 May 2011 05:17:34 PDT

I used to study in a school which had canteen among its permanent absentees. I always used to get angry about this cruel fact whenever I use to hear my after-school tuition peers discussing the day’s happenings at canteen. I relived some moments back today. Stanley is a beautiful movie and very well suited incase you like light-hearted ones.

Rating – 3.75/5

Story –
Stanley is a bright kid who studies in fourth class and doesn’t bring his dabba (tiffin). However his classmates are there for him and Stanley erases his hunger from his peers’ dabbas. The children of class are natural actors and it’s a pleasure to watch them.
Like every school, here too we have a strict strange teacher (fantastically stereotyped) – BabuBhai Verma (played by Amol Gupte). He loves plunging into his students’ dabbas and is the ‘bad-teacher’ of the movie. The race for dabbas is now like a cartoon series – Uncle Scrooge vs Beagle Boys (Stanley vs BbB). The first half of the movie is better paced than second half. The climax has a message which also reveals the answer to Stanley inability to get his piece of tinbox.

Since you are in school, how can you miss out on regular characters (without which a school-movie does not complete)? So, there is a Rosy Miss and a Mrs. Iyer (again fantastically stereotyped). Rosy Miss is the cute English teacher and Mrs. Iyer belongs to science. These characters brings movie close to real life and helps the movie to create that school ambiance. You can easily identify them with teachers in your life (abbey mere school mere bhi bilkul aisi hi ek Miss thi!).

Star Cast –
Partho (son of Amole Gupte) as Stanley is brilliant. He is natural throughout. Not to leave out his gang. Amole Gupte (writer-producer-director-actor) is a researcher of children behavior and his effort shows. His observations of children’s activities have helped him to write child-sequences and a judgment on his creative abilities won’t be wise especially after witnessing Taare Zameen Par. Divya Dutta as Rosy Miss is sweet. Divya Jagdale teaching science looks real and rational.

However, music needed to be a bit more emotional and touching. Nevertheless, nostalgic feelings do arise after watching Stanley and as they say! Everybody loves to peek in his future once in a while. Stanley Ka Dabba opens a chance of going back to fourth standard.

Speaking Pictures verdict – Innocent unadulterated pleasure with cute smiles. Who will like to miss it! GO for it.

What works – great acting, school nostalgia, special moments of fourth grade
And what not – music, lack of quality emotional content (like we experienced in Taare Zameen Par)

ps: I remember as we didn’t had a canteen, our class teacher use to ask the class to contribute food incase somebody missed his lunchbox. But the catch was she too tasted the best meals from that collected lot. Movie dekh ke confirm ho gaya ki chaalaak thi (That she was clever is confirmed after watching this movie).

Enagaging 'Shor in the City'

noreply@blogger.com (Ankit Gupta) — Sun, 15 May 2011 22:24:32 PDT

Horns! Bombs! Noise! Loudness! Violence! Blood! Knife! Wives! SxXx! Ashanti ! Shor are words not new to us. Infact they reside in our society quite abundantly. No wonder the material for this movie seems apna sa (familiar to us).

Rating – 3.75/5

Story –
Shor In The City (siTc) comprises of three nested stories all based in Mumbai –
1) an NRI from land of opportunities coming back to India to create opportunities HERE. However! he still likes the girl with think accent. His life changes once he encounters goons demanding protection money.
2) a lover who is being force to see polished bridegrooms BUT she loves somebody else - A batsman who aspire to be in the local Ranji team and can go to any limits to fix his place in the team.
3) a newly-wed couple who are shy of each other and are still not known to each other. The couple is an interesting one where the wife is educated and the husband runs a book piracy business (in an ethical manner that is). His supporters are small time robbers and they all manage to pull off quite a unique robbery that of a book manuscript before its official release.

Star Cast –
In a movie like this, stars don’t work. We need actors and there were quite a few in siTc…
Never heard talent Pitobash Tripathy – plays the character of Mandok and who survives by committing small crimes. His make-up is in your face and has a fantastic resemblance to Natha of Peepli Live.
Tusshar Kapoor – one of the finest star’s son acts in this movie surprising everybody. Surprising here he gets something to speak (courtesy - channel Ekta) and gives a good performance. He maintains the same subtleness as he did in Gayab (unwatchable) but maintains dignity throughout.
Sendhil Ramamurthy is good in the role of NRI with his accent complementing the character very well. All other actors except Nikhil Dwivedi (main lead of My Name Is Anthony Gonsalves! remember) and Preeti Desais (plays the character of accented girlfriend of NRI) are fine.

The best part of movie is its story and compliments must be given to the trio of Raj Nidimoru (also the director), Krishna D.K. (also the director) and Sita Menon for writing an engaging script. Music is a standout in Shorr. Saibo and Karma (Suraj is back) are numbers of opposite taste and have that typical new song addiction. Screenplay is ok, could be better along with cinematography.

Speaking Pictures verdict - You know you are watching something worth enough if you don’t have any clue about the ending till the last 15 minutes. Shor In The City as a thriller works on this and does not disappoint. Definitely watchable.

A bit of philosophy – “Karma is a bitch”. Do you agree? I do!

“Mere ghar mein shor hai, Mere dil mein shor hai,
Ab kahan jao, Jab mere chain mein bhi shor hai”
(Noise is there in my house, noise is there in my heart, where to go! When noise is there in my comfort)

"Luv Ka The End"...boring from start

noreply@blogger.com (Ankit Gupta) — Mon, 09 May 2011 05:13:11 PDT

College flicks are always lovely to watch. They are free-flowing and are most fun-filled with the most important ingredients like youth-energy, rebellion against system and never-say-die attitude. But not this one. Luv ka The End can easily be ‘substring’ed to ‘The End’.

Rating – 1.5/5

Story –
Story is about a girl, Rhea who first feels needy to get through her virginity tag as she becomes an adult. Then she finds the whole ‘yes! I lost my v tag’ pleasure-episode was with a cheater (Luv Nanda) who merely participated in the episode to score some ‘elite’ points. Now! maturity comes to girl and she transitions herself to an avatar to seek revenge from the cheater and say ‘Luv ka The End’.

Star Cast –
Shraddha Kapoor as Rhea is good. Her sweet face is pleasurable to watch and she successfully manages to put a face of that ‘teenage-virgin-victim’ quite effectively. Taaha Shah as Luv Nanda is just ok. Rhea’s accomplices have given satisfactory but somehow I was never able to transition myself in the college ambience, which speaks of the set-up of the movie and basically everything else in the movie, which is standard. Sadly nothing stands out.

Some half a decade ago, when I was in college I too played a similar character (male casanovish-type character) in a college play. It was thoroughly entertaining and I had become a stereotyped ‘bad guy - MCP’ for quite some time post that play. The whole point I made through his self-confession was the severity and the leverage this kind of topics can have for collegiate.
However, ‘Luv ka the End’ does not capitalize on these issues and there is no effective engaging story in it.

Speaking Pictures Verdict – it is not a decent watch especially when we have two better movies (Chalo Dilli and Shor In The City) still playing out.

Movie also gets credit for having the worst and wannabe B-grade lyrics to fill the desires of the current youth. Read yourself -
“Mera jism, jism, Mera badan, badan, Main hun taza mutton mutton, Khol dilo ke button button.” (My body body, my figure figure, I am the fresh meat, open the buttons of your hearts)

Chalo Dilli (with message of chalo jindagi)

noreply@blogger.com (Ankit Gupta) — Tue, 03 May 2011 03:27:27 PDT

“Babu Moshai, Zindagi Badi honi chahiye, Lambi nahin” – Anand
A cult movie dialogue which says a lot about philosophy. The plot of this movie is simply out of this dialogue. And like the plot is its whole set up (quite simple). May be because this is the first work of Bheegi Basanti Productions (fantastic name for producing Hindi movies).

Rating – 3/5

Story –
The whole movie revolves around two characters - Mihika Mukherji (Lara Dutta), who is big-time into investment banking has more than 600 people directly working UNDER her (why a capital-wala UNDER here? Wait). She is clean, drinks purest form of water and likes to walk on high sleek heels. Other character is Manu Gupta (Vinay Pathak); gutka-freak large-hearted person who wears loud clothes out of Govinda’s wardrobe and carries more luggage than Govinda did in Coolie No. 1 (Govinda – man of inspiration here). By the way, is Manu going the soon-to-be name of Hindi movies (on the lines of Prem and Raj of 90s)? It sounds appealing to the opposite gender, is short, cool, funny and recently proved rhyming (Tanu Weds Manu).
Going forward, this story here is not new and has been spotted many a times in Bollywood – a road trip with two absolutely different personalities. They meet, they clash, they learn and we enjoy. Something same happened here. M&M (Mihika and Manu), both set their journey to Delhi from Mumbai and end up being in Jaipur. The road trip is now between Jaipur and Delhi where these two characters travel together meeting regular interesting people - dhaba owners, village goons, corrupt ticket collector, helpless inspectors, B-grade hotelier, system cribbing Bengalis and many more. The two characters of opposite nature learn to adjust with each other with social messages being shared in sporadic manner. So! In the end do they fall in love?

Star Cast –
Vinay Pathak – who will be the first choice to play character of a large hearted fatso? He has done these types of character many a times (previously in Dasvidaniya, Bheja Fry) and his performance momentum continue here too. Fantastic enjoyable performance with high-end quality but he needs to beware of such stereotyping.
Lara Dutta – she was never made to act but he has given a satisfactory performance in Chalo Dilli (remember she is also the co-producer, so I think the pressure worked). Her performance as a snobbish posh high society executive is not up to mark but she covers it later during her road journey. Vinay Pathak’s influence clearly visible.

Rest of the stuff is average (songs, cinematography, etc) except some of the come-on-laugh-now dialogues which are quite unnecessary. As an example, imagine the above mentioned UNDER me dialogue with Lara’s bums in focus! Also the movie starts with a lot of PJ settings (majority given to Lara) but thankfully it doesn’t reaches irritation levels.
Another drawback of the movie is its pace. It starts slow and just when it starts to bore, it gets to reasonable levels accept the emotional climax. The transition from a light hearted situational comedy to emotional ‘be-happy’ message giving ending is just too sudden and does not attract attention.
Anyways, the movie is a much respite as the comedy in parts is good and brings casual smiles. The best thing about light-hearted movies is that you needn’t bring your brain to use, it’s all so cosy!

Speaking Pictures Verdict - watchable ‘paisa-vasool' stuff.

But why did they name it Chalo Dilli (why not my write-up’s title - Chalo Jindagi)? Chalo Dilli seems to be a freedom movement slogan and after seeing the movie, the title seems disconnected.

“to ye kaunsi badi baat ho gayi” – Manu
“bhaiya gobbar khana tha to haathi ka khaata” – village goon

Open letter to MDI professors on their admission policy

noreply@blogger.com (Ankit Gupta) — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 05:13:59 PDT

To: apanjwani@mdi.ac.in, skumar@mdi.ac.in

Respected,

Firstly, I am honoured to write to you as you have quite uprightly mentioned your contact information. Not many do in our country. Small things like these prompted me to apply to the institute with which you are currently associated – MDI, Gurgaon.

I must recall you about myself. Infact this was the first question you asked me during the interview.
MBA aspirant’s name – ANKIT GUPTA
Just to give you a brief idea of my profile – X (80.6), XII (81.4), B.Tech (CS, Jamia) (8.05/10), 1 International research paper (LA, USA), 2 international tech journal articles, 3 yr work ex (CSC) – work on legacy transformation + consultant to 10 Indian life insurance companies, Blogger (feat in HT), Cartoonist (publication @ IIT Kanpur), Movie Jockey (Desimartini.com), winners at many nationwide contests organized by the likes of United Nation Volunteers India, NDTV 24*7, Mouthshut.com, winner at multiple events in college fests, scholarship holder at university…

And most importantly, highlighting my real credentials – 95.6 in CAT 2011

I must also recall you the day I was fortunate to meet you. I appeared before the MDI panel (you as one of the members) on 7 April 2011 (2 PM slot, panel 1) and even though I had a major doubt on my chances, I wanted to give a full best try because this was my last GDPI (may be of my life). Hope you can recollect the day. Nevertheless! Since there were a lot of candidates, it’s my duty to remind my episode with you.

GD topic – Greatest threat to India. I won’t comment on my performance as it involves many variables of perception and evaluation. Let us assume to be default and move on to PI which was of 30-35 mins. How am I so sure about the time period? My real brother accompanied me to get some MDI specific motivation and was waiting outside.
PI [Prof. Ashok Panjwani sitting on left (w.r.t me) & Prof. Sunil Kumar on his left]. Some of the sample questions asked by the panel of which you were a part –
* About me (answered to satisfaction)
* Asked to draw a cartoon (I made a cartoon sketching both of you! I believe you can recall me now)
* How come an international research paper
* How do you manage your time
* How will you stop corruption in India in 3 steps
* Why e-governance not much successful
* Passport service has not change even after IT coming into it
* Is ITC successful with its e-chauppal thing
* What calls do you have (IMT, IMI, TAPMI)
* Any iims (no sir)
* Will you join them (yes sir)
* Is it a wise to join them after 3 years of work-ex
* Why not MBA last yr itself
* Interested in which specialization
* What kind of profile are you targeting after MBA…
…etcetera…All answered in above-avg/excellent replies (strictly my view)
Sir, I would also remind you of the fact that I too asked a question. Ques was “what was the CAT score weightage in final selections for MDI”. I also explained you the logic and the difference it would make incase of 70% weightage is given to CAT score (absolute marks); consequently I would need 11 more than an aspirant who secured 99 out of rest 30%. Response was –
Prof. Sunil Kumar - wait till the results are out and so will be the criteria
Prof. Ashok Panjwani – we don’t take absolute scores and take only percentiles. There are only marginal differences…you too have a chance

…obviously I didn’t. I ended up being at 2015/2177…this sums up for me…I doubt anybody in 95 range got through

So, as a part of consequence management I would like you to address these-
1. Why did MDI even called us (unfortunate ones with 95 percentiles)? To laugh upon us!
2. Why a 30 min interview? False hopes! why can’t just discard in first 5 minutes!
3. Why a false show-off that ‘you too can get in at 95?
4. Why doesn’t MDI puts a separate page on its site elaborating expectations from its future students?

One obvious learning – everything is worthless except scores. This is how it works in India. You have made me realize my rock bottom moment of my academic career. You have made me realize that even learned people like you (being passouts of premier colleges like IIT Kanpur, IIM Ahmedabad), value only and I repeat, only scores.
Why will somebody study to research & innovate and not for scores! Why will (sorry! Why should) somebody do something new in his last year projects and not aim for 100%tile. After all we all want that in India (don’t we)?
Quoting Infosys chief mentor N R Narayan Murty from his book -
“India filed 363 patents compared to 84271 filed by USA, 35350 by Japan and 5938 by Taiwan”

Hoping in the subsequent years, MDI creates a more practical approach to accept its students otherwise going by the admission policy of our premier institutes (including MDI), we shall never go ahead in the above quote of Narayan Murty…firm believe I have (unfortunate but true just like my rejection).

I sincerely hope this request is not unheard and brings some ignition.

With warm regards,
Ankit Gupta

ps: I should not mention this sadist post here but don’t know why I am doing this. Incase anybody finds the content of this post objectionable; accept my unconditional apologies in advance. No intend to defame anybody (person/institute). Free to discuss anything in comments/anywhere

Was I prepared or was I not?

noreply@blogger.com (Ankit Gupta) — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 13:57:19 PDT

May be yes…hmm…may be not. Yet another failure and yet another post for the unread category here. OK. Why? I don’t know. May be you know but then why will you know, it’s my ‘self-branded’ issue. Customized for me! See. I am exclusive…ye God made me like that but that exclusivity is the issue here…puzzling you guys must be feeling…

Miserable naa! Grass is what you need my reader anonymous friend? Ok no…wait let’s have a small talk here…the complicated issue is that I have been rejected this time around (too), which is not the first time…but this isn’t the problem. Problem (the concerning one) is I am worrying less for my rejections. Strong immunity I have [smiles] but I fear…I want to worry more, scratch my head, my hair, my skin and my fcuking dear aha aha (take your age’s help). I should not or may be should…be happy…I am moving towards wisdom…infact I am running towards wisdom…I am way ahead of this world…they are pathetic losers and I am the winner…the rejected one…yo baby (call me at my cell…before it gets busy…)

But all wisdom gained is insane….sane is practicality - the scores, the fame, the repo, the auro (shouldn’t it be aura), the fcuking count and not that insane one-liners [just me self-happy-happy closets]. Even though I am insane…I cherish it now…I learn more but earn less…learn/earn [love that mathematical divide between the two…wish it could get me more marks]…creative naa! Ya but are we missing technology here…oh! No…my country (mera desh) is so very advanced…basically it decides its intelligent human capital on two numbers (10 and 12)…oh! But why! 10 - because we love tendulkar (person in whose respect 10th class board was constituted so that young bright innovate non-mugging brains can get opportunities to score centuries on virtual 3 hour battles…me failed though) and 12 – because we admire time…watches…rolex ones… sry chu SRK I hate everything you endorse…I hate everything then…

But the point is I am not dejected, I am not elated…I am confused between the two…oho! Rejection has brought me sanity (in good English! Sense of perspective)…rejection, a word to rejoice, enjoy and celebrate and more than that it gives you something to live on…experience of life…memories of fighter…bravo writer…macho…even without 6 packs…babes not wonted here…I will taste them only when I taste success…cost efficiency you see…am good at management
RIP writer…time to doze off…

I will admire if you understand the zest of my above piece…and for all who are didn’t…and are thinking has he being fcuked (in literal sense) or is he living on grass (in true sense) or is he a non-me…

I just admire the feeling of being rejected…so much pure it is (unmatched purity)…fantastic is life this one…

Rejected once more…Amen…

Biutiful, its Biutiful

noreply@blogger.com (Ankit Gupta) — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 13:48:28 PST

An obvious thought - Why a person who knows only two languages – Hindi + English would like to go to a movie in Spanish in a multiplex based on principles of loot? It’s clear that this one is not meant for everybody (incase it was directed for masses, it would have been dubbed and then released in India). However, that is not the case. The movie is released with English subtitles.

Rating? This would be first movie where I don’t intend to give rating since it is not for masses; it has a select taste making it valid only for select people.

Story –
It is a tragedy thrown in with international flavour (Spanish) devoid of any masala. So you have the protagonist dying from cancer. His earnings come from kickbacks from illegal African immigrants and Chinese warehouse owners. In return for a commission, he makes sure that these groups get a living (manage to survive in ‘not-ours’ land). His means of getting money may be unethical but his character is not bad. Consequently, you see him helping these illegal immigrants. Apart from the terminal illness, he has two school-going children and a psychic wife, who is a ‘whore’ as commented by her son. Yes! The story gets even more tragic from here on…but story doesn’t have any loose threads and the credit should go to its writer (Alejandro Gonzalez).

Cast –
Javier Bardem is the only person I effectively saw in the movie. This Spanish actor got the limelight at the world scale after ‘No Country For Old Men’ (winner of Best Picture Oscar in the year 2007) where he got the Best Supporting Actor Oscar. In that he gave a mind-blowing performance as a psychic killer; here he is a tragic hero. In Biutiful, every second scene has his presence (something comparable to SRK in My Name Is Khan). Movie is nothing without him. He meets tragedy with grace and acceptability.
His scene presence is filling and the pull he attracts is astonishing (very interesting observation – just see the posters of ‘No Country For Old Men’ and ‘Biutiful’, he is featured SOLO!). But I doubt him getting the best actor Oscar (2011)…Jesse Eisenberg in The Social Network was much better.

The movie might not have many famous names in its actor list but it sure contains some remarkable works. Scenes of dead children in coffins, dead Owl with eyes wide open, etc add to the tragic feel of the movie. There is a chilling scene where many Chinese immigrants’ bodies are floating in the ocean (recall if you can pictures of scores of dead whales being washed up on European coast! Discovery channel might help you in this). An additional thing to point out is that atleast 60% of the movie (guess it must be more) doesn’t have a background score. Especially the first fifteen minutes, with no background score it sets up the tone for whole 2.5 hour long movie.

Verdict -
Oscar have fetched ‘Biutiful’ enough fame. Infact it has already been rewarded at other movie festivals. But with so very sadistic feel and depressing tone to it, you somehow don’t like it as against its hype. I can recall tragic movies than this one…

Caution – this is a 2.5 hour non-English movie (shown with subtitles), a non-entertainer or something very close to ‘opposite of entertainers’ (bollywood context). Take a wise call for your money!
People who can identify tragedies (not failures) with them can go for it…

Biutiful is beautiful movie in its own right…would like to use a line from Life Is Beautiful

“This is a simple story... but not an easy one to tell”

ps: attendance in the multiplex on the first weekend was good, comprising of more than 50% of foreign nationals.
pps: an interesting observation – Biutiful share the same starting and ending lines…and guess where can you find this same concept. Many! But one noticeable is Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting (he too is in Oscar race this year with 127 hours).

The Social Network - do get connected to it

noreply@blogger.com (Ankit Gupta) — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 12:57:35 PST

“Bosnia. They don't have roads, but they have Facebook.”

Nobody can be more explicit than this. It tells the spread of the growing social networking phenomena over our globe and this is what appeals you to go for this movie, the title of the movie Alone. Ok! The title helps attraction to the movie but what next! Remember expectations are high here!

Story –
The story is adapted from a novel (The Accidental Billionaires) and is about the making of world’s fastest growing site FACEBOOK and its makers - Mark Zuckerberg (the youngest billionaire of world), Eduardo Saverin (his best friend), Sean Parker (Napster Co-founder) and also the makers of ConnectU (then Harvard Connection). So you get to know about everything; right from what prompted Mark Zuckerberg to open his terminal and start coding a social broadcasting concept (and if somebody is guessing the girl reason, YES, after getting ditch that is). The insane geek nerd (Mark Zuckerberg, played by Jesse Eisenberg) does this impossible coding work and makes FaceMash, whose functionality gives you the liberty to select better of the two girls (judged only by their faces). Everybody in the campus LIKE facemash and Zuckerberg reaches fame. The makers of ConnectU motivate Zuckerberg to work on their project. From there the movie is all about the story of Facebook amidst betrayal, superb non-emotional geekyness and intense storyline of the ‘The Social Network’.

Cast –
Jesse Eisenberg is just awesome. He looks, behaves like a perfect nerd. He is the ideal GEEKY NERD I have ever seen in my life (and you can trust me on this as I work in the great Indian IT sector with many flop geeks and nutty nerds all day). Eisenberg’s attitude and focus towards what he thinks makes him perfect. He makes you believe the real Mark Zuckerberg would be like this only…and when you are able to do that, you are in running for the best actor Oscar. Mark my words.

Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker seems apt. His flamboyance does the trick here. Andrew Garfield as Eduardo Saverin is again superb but the point about ‘The Social network’ is that the movie is all about Mark Zuckerberg and revolves around him, all your admiration is therefore towards Jesse Eisenberg and nobody can deny that.
Every other aspect of the movie remains sidelined thanks to Jesse’s fabulous performance. He overshadows named like Justin Timberlake (pop singer) and David Fincher (acclaimed director) in the movie. The social network is a stand out work of one person… Jesse Eisenberg

Verdict – Like (super duper Like), Poked Jesse Eisenberg for Best Oscar and sent him a friend request…

ps: Social network is not a social movie, it’s best to watch alone. I know the suggestion sounds quite ironic…but irony is a part of reality in today’s socially connected world.

ये पल, मेरे पल, आने वाले पल

noreply@blogger.com (Ankit Gupta) — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 12:13:07 PST

written sometime in early Nov 2010...I don't know what to call it; a poem, a chandh, etc; but its genuine

aana wala hai ek pal
usko aane do
kyu darr rahe to hum
phele beet to jana do
pal mein jo likha hai vo honi hai
pal se bhaaga to haar to honi hi hai
bas ja us pal mein
aur dekh le vo pal
pal do pal ki baat hai pyaare
dekh le inko nahi to
agli baar tak intezaar kar

us pal ke liye kitne pal hai tune kiye barbaad
raat raat neend uda ke pal ka kiya intezaar
ab jab paas hai to phir wahi ehsaas
ye pal hi to jo banaenge gagan chumti saas
ab chal pal na barbaad kar isko soch ke
pal se jo kehna hai bas palo mein hi soch le
likh le yahin vo pal ko syahi se
ab jab lamha aa gaya hai sunhera kar de unko

ye pal, mere pal, aane wale pal
(ये पल, मेरे पल, आने वाले पल)