The plan: visit Sanchi (50 Km from Bhopal), Bhimbetka (45 Km from Bhopal) (both UNESCO World Heritage site) and maybe 1-2 places in Bhopal if I’ve time.

Started at 6:50 AM. The Bilaspur Passenger departs at 8 AM from Bhopal. I caught a local mini bus just for the experience. A bad idea. The Bhopal people are laid back and the driver/conductor were no different. The guy had breakfast, went to attend nature’s call, washed himself and had a darshan at a temple—all this with the passengers still in the bus! The amazing thing was the passengers weren’t restless!

When I reached the ticket counter, the train was already departing! 5-6 people were ahead of me in the queue. Ran like crazy after buying the ticket all the way to overhead bridge and onto the platform. Got into the S1 coach (with an open ticket, you can’t board reserved coaches). After 30 minutes, the ticket checker came! Luckily by the time he came to middle of the coach, the train stopped and I rushed to the general coach.

Close shave. Almost missed the train and got penalized for boarding S1.

Sanchi

Sanchi stupas, temple was an educational institute for monks/priests built by emperor Asoka around 3rd century BC.

Love at first sight

The stupas, temple ruins, etc. are situated atop a hillock with splendid views of the town. The monuments and the whole place is beautiful. Like the Taj Mahal, it’s more beautiful than it looks on photos.

Stupa 2 gateway. Note the minute details. You can see scenes from Jataka tales in some sculptures.

Stupa 2.

This boy along with his friend (too shy to pose) was selling some small fruit plucked right from the tree near the stupas.

Ruins of Temple 18. Doesn’t it remind you of The Parthenon of Greece?

Excavated site where a Stupa (or a Temple?) was once present.

There are some 4-5 stupas but not all there. You can see temple ruins too. This suggests that it was a place of both Buddhist and Hindu worship.

I went early and almost had the whole place for myself. Would be very enjoyable to spend around 2-3 hours at this site with awesome views of the Madhya Pradesh country side.

Don’t miss the archeological museum. Was interesting with artifact and photos. It houses two lion capital of Asoka. It’s huge and majestic. It’s now the national emblem of India. The chakra is placed onto the center of our National Flag.

Sanchi is a nice small town. The railway line of Bhopal-Delhi, one of the busiest in India, spoils the otherwise calmness in the air.

Udaygiri Caves and Heliodorus Pillar

Struck a deal with a rick walla to take me to Udaygiri and Heliodorus pillar and drop me off at Vidisha (emperor Ashoka met his wife here). Realized later than I overpaid but totally worth for the experience. Sanchi to Udaygiri was awesome and we passed the laid back, serene Madhya Pradesh villages. Wished if the distance would be even longer!

The Varaha Vishnu carving, one of the major Gupta period masterpieces at Udaygiri.

A barren tree atop the hill. You can trek up the hill and visit a monolithic pillar, temple and for views.

Parvathi temple

The Heliodorus Pillar

IMO, it’s not worth going to Udaygiri or Heliodorus pillar as there’s nothing interesting to see. You’ll probably finish off them in 30 minutes. The auto rickshaw ride was more interesting than these places.

The rick ride through small villages. Awesome experience.

The rick guy didn’t have change so missed the departing bus to Bhopal. The guy said he’ll take me to Sanchi for free as the buses from Vidisha passes through Sanchi. To my surprise, the same bus was at Sanchi! It took 135 minutes for the 50 km (train took 45 minutes). A goods train choose to stop at the level crossing delaying me further. Even trains are laid back in MP?

After lunch (there was no decent restaurant near the bus stand), went to scout for a bus to Bhimbetka. Even a small time town in Tamil Nadu would’ve a cleaner bus stand. Many people had different things to say for Bhimbetka. The reality is there are no buses to Bhimbetka. You need to walk 3 Kms uphill to reach the heritage site. The conductor never told me this while boarding.

The bus ride was eventful. The dirtiest bus I’ve ever boarded. We can negotiate the fare too and be successful in getting a discount too! The bus apparently didn’t have horn, so there’s this guy standing on the footboard who blows whistle whenever the bus tries to overtake another vehicle.

Had a never before experience in this bus.

I sat at the last row. The seat at the front was leaning backwards so none can sit in the corner of last row. But this is MP, so a guy (after being “scolded” by the counductor, lol) sat crawled there.

Luckily a car passed by and I asked for a lift till to the rock caves painting site.

Bhimbetka

When you enter the rock caves, you’ll feel as if you’re brought back in time 10,000 years!

The entrance.

You can see many art and paintings of interesting things which depict the lives and times of the people who lived during the Paleolithic ages. They include hunting with bow and arrow, a huge boar with big horn fighting with humans, humans fighting each other (even during those times?), dancing and art of various animals.

A rock cave painting.

The huge boar attacking. 2 men watching helplessly.

An emperor hunting.

You can see the painting in red, yellow, white colours. The colours have remained intact for many centuries due to the chemical reaction resulting from the oxide present on the surface of the rocks.

Silhouette.

The rock caves are naturally formed things on this small hill. Maybe it might’ve been home to the early civilization people. Some caves are accessible and you can touch the paintings too. They should be cordoned off to preserve them.

There are supposedly around 50 caves but I saw 16 caves only. Maybe I should’ve gone up even further or maybe they aren’t that much open for public.

Although the cave paintings are on a top of a hillock and secluded, this isn’t a place for “hangout” or for picnic unlike Sanchi. I thought this place is overrated. Or maybe because I visited in afternoon and didn’t have “fresh eyes”.

After catching up with the rock cave paintings, I choose to walk the 3 Km though I could’ve asked asked for lift again. Since it was downhill, I ran for most of the time.

After 30 minutes, I was back in the highway waiting for a bus. It’s here I met a guy who was talking on a phone in Tamil. Then he spoke Malayalam in another call. Intrigued, I spoke to him.

The guy was surprised to see another soul speaking Tamil in a Hindi heartland. He was escorting another Tamil guy to railway station. It’s here I came to know that buses are “rare” and trucks act as public transport. I was excited as I’ve never travelled in a truck. A truck stopped but it wasn’t going to Bhopal. But a Mahindra cab came and was going to Bhopal. We hopped in. What a ride! The drivers are called “pilot” (there’s also “pilot” sticker outside the driver seat door) and rightly so. He drives at 130+ Km/h and as if to mockery of his speed, the speedometer always pointed “0″! He overtook whatever came in front of his car.

Me and this guy became friends. We caught up with various things. Till Bhopal we were chatting non stop. Awesome meeting him. Hope I’ll bump on him again sometime in future.

I wanted to visit Bharat Kala Bhavan, Museum of Man (both in Bhopal) and maybe Bhojpur but the public transport of Madhya Pradesh spoiled my plans. It’s better to take a cab. If you start early, it’s possible to visit Sanchi, Bhimbetka, Bhojpur and 1-2 places in Bhopal in a day.

The awesome day came to a close with a visit to the new market (visited the day before this trip too), had ice cream and sweet lime drink (they don’t add sugar) before retiring for the day. Had to catch the morning train back to Chennai.

Epilogue

I made a deal with a rick guy to come to the place to pick me up as the place I was staying was atop a hillock, in middle of a forest and surrounded by 3 lakes and we don’t get any transport unless we make arrangements for it. He was the same guy who dropped me from the railway station 4 days ago.

He came late announcing that the train is at least 30 minutes late (he’s coming from the station). The rick got mechanical problem en route to railway station and we were stranded. He said any of his friends will pass the way who will drop me.

The train scheduled arrival is 7:50 AM and we were waiting till 7:40 AM.

I said I can’t wait any longer and I need to catch another rick/bus and proceed. Then one of his friend came. The guy assured me the train is late and went to fill petrol. Then he went to to pick up another friend and rode to the station crisscrossing the smaller parts and gullies of Bhopal. Awesome experience.

I reached the station at 8:15 AM (train scheduled arrival is 7:50 AM). Dunno how I managed to stay calm and enjoyed the whole experience!

It’s 8 AM and still not a soul in sight?

The train journey was awesome. Personally I thought this was my second best train journey (the best was again in this the same train when we returned from Delhi after our Kashmir vacation). This is what I like traveling in a sleeper class—more “character”, experience, meeting a lot of people from various walks of life, awesome views (Vindhya ranges from Bhopal-Itarsi-Nagpur is splendid, we pass through forests and tunnels), standing by the door while the train dusts the platform at 120+ Km/h, and not to forget hawkers. At least 2-3 people were worried that the train was late - a college student didn’t want to late to class and a malayali who didn’t want to miss his connection train 40 mins later, another station away (he had missed Kerala Exp. by 2 mins at Delhi and boarded this train).

The Tamil Nadu Express departed 90 minutes late. We were in Chennai Central 25 minutes earlier than the scheduled arrival! Wow!

When I wore one, felt like I’m in heaven.

Imagine how it would feel for a blind person to get back vision!

Decided to donate my eyes after my death.

Let me “see” even after I die.

There’s nothing more joyful in the world than vision, sound, speech, mobility, etc. Real pleasures in life are the simple things that everyone possess. Material things are redundant.

Mom was going back to Marthandam (between Kanyakumari - Thiruvananthapuram, in TN) in a week and wanted to visit some temples. We planned Thiruverkadu and Mangadu. Bought the MTC’s Rs 30 ticket - travel as you please ticket, entitling us to take unlimited trips (except AC, night services) for a day. We started early and was back by noon. I wanted maximum return on investment and this is how thought of hitting the ECR and Mamallapuram.

MTC now operates buses from various parts of Chennai and even AC Volvo buses or take buses from CMBT which go via ECR (will be marked in the windscreen) to other towns in Tamil Nadu.

The scenic East Coast road

With the Bay of Bengal on one side, cool sea breeze hitting you, fir forests (super ideal for picnics), backwaters and unspoiled beaches, this road is one of the best I’ve travelled in India.

The east coast road, state highway - 46 connecting Chennai and Cuddalore via Puducherry (Pondicherry), for the uninitiated, is one of the “smoothest” road right along the Bay of Bengal.

You can drive 120+ kmph and has a lot of places of interest from posh beachfront resorts, pubs for party yuppies, Crocodile Bank, amusement parks, something for art lovers (DakshinaChitra and Cholamandalam Artists Village), Prarthana drive-in cinema and not to forget serene, unspoiled beaches. There’s an old joke that Chennai is better than Bangalore (”entertainmently”) because it has the ECR.

UNESCO World Heritage Sites

The three main places to check out are Arjuna’s penance, pandava rathas (five rathas) and shore temple. And these are UNESCO world heritage sites. The good thing is you go to most of the places by foot.

One of the carvings at Arjuna’s Penance. There’s one other piece where a mom monkey looks for lice in her kid.

First up was Arjuna’s penance. Beautiful carving done in a huge block of stone. After exploring the place, made this a small trek cum rock climbing ritual. I could see a lighthouse some distance away. I was struck by its beauty and started trekking towards but there was no way I can cross the bushes and a huge crevice so had to take the proper route. The lighthouse was beautiful like those English ones being lashed by waves but when I actually went there, it wasn’t as beautiful.

A gopuram (entrance usually of a temple but there is no temple) atop Arjuna’s Penance

The most beautiful lighthouse I’ve seen in India. And this isn’t a dummy, does its job.

On the way to the lighthouse

On the way to 5 rathas, you can check out the Govt. sculptors museum. There are a lot of shop which do sculptures and even export them.

It takes a 5-10 min walk to reach 5 rathas. Though named Pandava rathas, it has no connection to Mahabharata nor rathas (chariots). Though there are 5 main sculptures (looks like a ratha) and small sculptures, it was all carved out of a big block of stone! Both Arjuna’s penance and Pandava rathas are monolithic.

The pancha Pandava rathas. All these were made from a single piece of stone

For the sculptors, painters, cobblers of Mamallapuram, the road pavement is their studio.

One of the item readied for export. You can order a custom made one for your home as well.

Do they make so many sculptures that display some on the road median too?

Shore temple was beautiful. Especially with the sun set backdrop. Wonder how magnificent it’ll be at sunrise and sea as the backdrop or even better when it’s full moon lit! ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) say there are 17 such temples, I could see only 2 (the other one is out of bounds plus not as big as this one). If you want to spend time at the beach, you need take an other approach road and can’t reached from the temple.

Would be even more beautiful on a full moon night.

LOL! Cooking, shooting, hockey?! They should’ve also mentioned: “No having sex” too.

The entrance fee is Rs 20 (10 each for Pandava rathas and shore temple) but I didn’t buy tickets. At 5 rathas, a huge gang came and the guards were busy counting their tickets while I sneaked in. At shore temple, they weren’t letting any one in as it was getting late and a family of 4 were the last visitors. The guard asked I was part of them and without a second thought, I said yes. Not that I didn’t want to but it was getting late and I didn’t want to “waste” time buying ticket.

I think Mamallapuram is the only place on the east coast where you find rocks in the sea. You take a ride in the sea, and see rocks (or submerged temples?) and swim in sea with lifejackets on. You can hire mopeds/Bullets (from Rs 200/day) and get around. Other places of interest: Krishana’s butterball (huge rock precariously balanced on a hillock), The Government Sculpture Museum, and a plethora of caves.

I remember standing and “holding” this stone when we visited here some 15 years back! [Photo credit]

Rue de Ottavadi

Decided to take a walk since it was just 6:30 PM and stumbled upon Othavadi street.

Sommes-nous en France?

Locals here are speaking French! You might not get a reply in English or Hindi, but in French? Ohhh… hell, yes! Some signboards are in French. Puducherry is less than 100 km but I didn’t expect this. Visit Puducherry, Mamallapuram and Thiruvannamalai (to some extent) if you want to believe that you aren’t in India i.e., European holidays for dirt cheap and without visas.

Seagulls soup?! Note that they’ve drawn a lobster and crab!

If you’re looking for some gastric adventures, you’re in the right place. You’ll get anything from organic bread (whatever it means), fresh seafood of all kind (sometime caught live and cooked in front of you), gâteaux, crêpe, pizza, spaghetti and other exotic dishes around the world.

The famed Moonrakers Restaurant. [Photo credit]

Coconut trees and cloudless skies. Are we in the Caribbean? [Photo credit]

The ambience of the restaurants are European. They have fancy names like ‘New Papillion’, ‘Le Ritz’, ‘Le Yogi’, ‘Seista’, ‘Geoko cafe’, ‘Moonrakers’, etc. Most restaurant serve beer. Some are near the beach so you can drool the moon right reflecting on the waters while you have your dinner.

Some places have ayurvedic massage studios, cobblers selling fancy leather shoes, artists and sculptors showing off their skills, Tibet stuff (one place has a board: “This place has unusual Indian and Tibet items”) and the famous JK Bookstore (books in English, French, German) which donates its proceeding for a good cause.

Bright coloured houses, careless and jobless people. [Photo credit]

This road leads to the beach (a lot cleaner perhaps as the general tourist don’t visit). Reminds me of the Bahamas, Caribbean setting with muti national people roaming in hippy, bright coloured shirt, be careless and laid-back, women skimpily clad to show off their sun tan and bearded men on a flip-flop smoking a cigar, etc. A Bob Marley type setting? What should I say. The place got a joint—”Bob Marley cafe”!

An evening well spent. Or rather, Rs 30 well spent.

I so loved Delhi 6!

Pulp Fiction is one the greatest Hollywood movie ever made. I’m not saying Delhi 6 is as good as it but there are many similarities.

This is a fell good flick. Like Pulp Fiction. Has multiple sub plots. Again like Pulp Fiction. Drives home a message. So like Pulp Fiction. Has good dialogues (would you believe that people were clapping!). Can you hear Pulp Fiction? All things get all right in the end after getting so screwed up in the run-up. Aren’t you convinced yet?

I can compare with Swades too. The protagonists from USA come to India, be reserved at first, then fall in love with India and never return back. New actors, Gayatri Joshi and Sonam Kapoor do a good job (not to forget both are pretty with that next-door-girl-look face), AR Rahman music, Ramayan is narrated.

Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, like in Rang De Basanti, has told many message. But in a totally different way from RDB rebellious way.

Makes you think. Makes you laugh. Entertains you. Feels good. Awesome cinematography. Brilliant songs. I’m sold.

Such rich colours of Delhi!

Hands down the best cinematography I’ve ever seen in an Indian movie.

I’ve been to Delhi multiple times and like the place. But never liked it to heart. You’ll fall in love with the vibrance, warmth and rich colours of Delhi. Old Delhi/Chandni Chowk in particular. Foreigners might consider traveling to Delhi compelled with the awesomeness portrayed.

There’s this one song (forgot which one) which has a nice artistry feel. How would it look when you place Chandi Chowk (Delhi) stuff in Times Square (New York)?

Slumdog Millionaire looks so cheap in comparison. Down with poverty porn! Not that very nice things are shown about Delhi but it makes me want to travel there and liking the place. You learn so much about India, our culture, our festivals, people, etc. What positive thing did you learn from Slumdog?

Bittu!

I’m talking back whatever I’ve said here about Deepika Padukone. Sonam Kapoor totally rocks!

Deepika was fresh in Om Shanti Om but she’s so-so in my book. Why did I miss watching Saawariya? Sonam is of course better find than Deepika.

She looks effortlessly cool and is charismatic. She doesn’t has much of screen time but makes a big impact.

I liked the way the Sonam photo stills. Particularly at the Taj Mahal. Words can’t express the awesomeness.

“Mora piya ghar aaya”

My beloved has arrived home. That is, A R Rahman.

What songs?! Awesomeness. 2-3 songs are now in my iTunes “Top 25 Most Played” and the average play count is over 40 times!

The songs in the movie was a big, big disappointment to me. But for 2 songs, none of the others were shown fully. Only one of the 3 flagship songs (Arziyaan/Maula, Mastakali, Rehna Tu) was shown in full. We are teased with the superb songs played now and then, in the background. I wouldn’t have mind sitting for 3 hours with all 10 songs shown in full.

I’m going to watch it again tomorrow or the day after only for the songs.

Delhi 6, in essence, is a good if not a great movie.

7.5/10

Vals Im Bashir (Waltz with Bashir)

So memorable!

I’m sure you wouldn’t have seen any animation movie like this. Ohh.. forget animation, you wouldn’t have seen anything like this before. A soldier takes a Kalashnikov and does a waltz while on a shooting spree. I’ll never forget this scene!

The war recollections will haunt you. This movie is supposed to be depressing and sad. But I wasn’t depressed only sad that some people had to go through such bad phase in their lives.

A mention about the animation. Again nothing like this seen before. Didn’t look like a cartoon or an animation movie. Had a nice comic book feeling.

7/10

Kung Fu Panda

The height of awesomeness!

Get blowed by the awesomeness from start to finish. I’m a sucker for rags-to-riches, dream-big and underdog-triumphs-in-life stories.

The best effort from Dreamworks SKG (better than any Shrek movie). Watch the awesomeness in High Definition video with DTS audio for you might not have seen a martial arts movie in animation before.

8.5/10

Bolt

A good movie in its own right but it’s putting up against two super fantastic movies—WALL·E and Kung Fu Panda for the animation movie Oscar.

Very funny and awesome in the first half but I was reminded of Toy Story in the second and got predictable. Mittens and Rhino totally rocked and even more than Bolt. Mittens’ voice was good. It stood out.

7.5/10

Burn After Reading

What started off well lost the fizz & became so-so toward the end. I liked No Country for Old Men (Coen Brothers written & directed like this flick) but disappointed with this one.

George Clooney & Brad Pitt are super awesome together. Many feel Oceans 12 wasn’t good. Yes. Not as good as Oceans 11 but Pitt and Clooney were awesome. They pass funny comments. Check out Leatherheads to see how funny Clooney can be.

6/10

Iron Man

Good, entertaining movie. I liked it better than The Incredible Hulk.

Nice CGI effects, good story line and awesome action scenes, Gwyneth Paltrow (enough said) and a kick-ass superhero movie. What more do you want?

8/10

And the Oscar goes to…

If I was the Oscar judge, to whom would I present the award? Not getting into the technical categories.

Best Motion Picture of the Year - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role - Sean Penn (Milk)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role - Kate Winslet (The Reader)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role - Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role - Penélope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona)
Best Achievement in Directing - David Fincher (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button). Ron Howard (Frost/Nixon) too deserves credit for an entertaining movie out of an US political story.
Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen - WALL·E
Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published - Slumdog Millionaire
Best Animated Feature Film of the Year - WALL·E (Nice try Bolt, Kung Fu Panda)

The Newspaper Blog’s Oscar ‘09 Nominee Movie Roundup Series:
Oscar ‘09 Nominee Movie Roundup-1
Oscar ‘09 Nominee Roundup - Best Actor (Leading and Supporting)
Oscar ‘09 Nominee Roundup - Best Actress (Leading and Supporting)
Oscar ‘09 Nominee Movie Roundup-4

This whole exercise been a little tedious than I had expected but had loads of fun watching movies and writing reviews. Didn’t like highly rated movies like Slumdog Millionaire, The Wrestler, Milk, Rachel Getting Married but liked movies which I thought I might not like: The Visitor, Changeling, Vicky Christy Barcelona and The Reader.

So all is set for the Oscar night at Kodak theater this Sunday.

Jai ho!

It is only when you see a great performance, you’ll notice how bad the other actors are. Point in case is Kate Winslet. She’s sure to win an Oscar. Angelina Jolie - nice try, better luck next time.

The Reader

A romance movie with a difference.

Sad movie. Your heart will melt by the time the movie ends.

I think Kate Winslet has given a good performance than any actor nominated this time. It’s a no surprise that she’s holding the monopoly over the best actress award this year.

Too many nude scenes. Kate looked “nice” in Titanic but her breast is sagging now and I feel bad that she has done nude stuff.

7.5/10

Nominations: 5. Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role, best direction, picture, screenplay and cinematography.

Changeling

A very, very good drama.

Angelina Jolie: you acted well. You moved me to tears towards the end. Hope you win the Oscar but I don’t think you will. Too bad that mommy (Kate Winslet) floored us all.

Clint Eastwood is a living legend. I like his direction. Letters from Iwo Jima and Million Dollar Baby was a masterpiece.

8.5/10

Nominations: 3. Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role, best cinematography and art direction.

Doubt

Started off well but lost seam towards the end. A wasted opportunity.

I loved the movie for the first 30-45 minutes or so. They could’ve done a better job. Not everyone can relate to the movie. Let me know what you think about the movie.

Good theme to ponder on: how people deal and act while in doubt and uncertainty. I think they’ve made the movie deliberately ambiguous to reinforce what they try to convey.

This movie got 5 Oscar nominations and 4 of them is for acting performances! Watch out for Hoffman and Meryl Streep intense face-off.

6/10

Nominations: 5. Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role, Actor in supporting role, Actress in supporting role (2) and best screenplay.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Nice light hearted romance for the lazy-sunday-afternoon.

Scarlett Johansson. Penélope Cruz. Enough said. When they first shared the frame space together, I was thinking who was pretty than watching the movie. Both the women are gorgeous but I like Penélope more. She along with Kate Winslet (The reader) have been sweeping all the awards for supporting role and deservingly so.

This is the first Woody Allen movie I liked (not that I’ve watched many of his movies). Totally unrealistic and seemed as it’s some Telugu film plot but enjoyable nonetheless.

7/10

Nominations: 1. Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role.

Rachel Getting Married / Frozen River

I couldn’t watch more than 40 minutes in each of the movie. Was bored to death.

Both of them was seemed to be filmed but amateur cinematographers (deliberately maybe) and I hate to watch like that. Over rated.

All I can say more is Anne Hathaway is a cute chick. But then, why watch a boring Anne Hathaway movie?

The Newspaper Blog’s Oscar ‘09 Nominee Movie Roundup Series:
Oscar ‘09 Nominee Movie Roundup-1
Oscar ‘09 Nominee Roundup - Best Actor (Leading and Supporting)
Oscar ‘09 Nominee Roundup - Best Actress (Leading and Supporting)
Oscar ‘09 Nominee Movie Roundup-4

How many Oscar nominee movies have you watched? Which ones did you like?

Upcoming post: the review of the rest of the movies. Subscribe to this blog if you wish not to miss out.

I saw a grand total of 6 movies from friday to monday. And I’m not a kind of person who watches movies back to back. I don’t even watch a full movie at a stretch. That’s why it took time for the next post in my Oscar ‘09 Nominee Movie Roundup series.

Instead of doing a random movie roundup, I thought of doing Best Actor, Actress and the rest roundup. Will try to publish the rest of the posts by this Friday.

Meanwhile the BAFTA Awards has been announced and as expected Slumdog Millionaire has swept across the board.

Milk

So boring…

Is this a documentary? Unless you are a gay/homosexual you might not like the movie.

I almost cried in the end. Sean Penn is a wonderful actor. Watch I Am Sam and Fast Times at Ridgemont High along with this movie and you’ll know the kind of actor he is. He should won Oscar for I am Sam. Hope he wins this time.

Casting was good. Josh Brolin (nominated for actor in supporting role), Emile Hirsch, Alison Pill gave good performances.

4/10

Nominations: 8. Actor in a Leading Role, supporting role, direction, best movie among others.

Frost/Nixon

All though this was an US politics based movie, I enjoyed it thoroughly. Maybe because it was entertaining and they’ve snipped out the unwanted and got things straight. For example, the interview. We didn’t hear the full of political issue.

This isn’t your usual Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind, The Da Vinci Code, Willow, etc.) movie with Russell Crowe or Tom Hanks. It was very exiting and entertaining movie.

Frank Langella and Michael Sheen (and I was thinking it was him who got the nomination!) gave a good performance.

Learnt a lot of things about television interviews. Do you know interviewees are paid huge sums (in millions of dollars) and there are 3-4 people doing research?

8/10

Nominations: 5. Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, direction, movie, screenplay and editing.

The Wrestler

What’s the fuss about?

Ordinary movie. What is unique about this? I didn’t find it engrossing or “moved” by the performance. What is there in it to cry?

We all know that these wrestling stuff is all staged but wait till you watch this movie. You might never watch WWE ever again.

Too violent. I had to cover my eyes or the screen many times. Has everything that would warrant a R rating: nudity (2-3 naked pole dancing, sex scene), profanity, drug use, disturbing content and violent/gore action sequences. Yuck.

I don’t want to spoil it for you guys, but without revealing anything I want to say that the ending was cool. The similar kind happens in No Country for Old Men (good movie, btw).

What’s up with Mickey Rourke’s acting? I would say this is the worst performance of the Oscar nominees.

4.5/10

Nominations: 2. Best Performance by an Actor in leading role and an Actress in a Supporting Role.

The Visitor

I was about to skip watching this flick. I’m glad I didn’t.

I had absolutely no expectations, I didn’t know who were acting (just knew it was nominated for best actor), the genre, the plot, etc. but the movie movie is very good and exceeded my expectations.

A warm, gentle and light hearted drama. And yet powerful.

Thank god that it was nominated for an Oscar. Otherwise I would’ve missed this gem.

8/10

Nominations: 1. Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

Tropic Thunder

Fake trailers. Great cast. Intelligent humour. Awesome LOLsome.

I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. I don’t like the usual comedies from Adam Sandler or Ben Stiller. But this movie is good. What made it click is that it’s humourous and as well witty and had numerous references to Hollywood. The (in)famous remark on how not to win an Oscar by going “full retard” is so true.

Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Cruise totally rocked. We all know about Jack Black (Check out Be Kind Rewind for literally roll over the floor laugh stuff).

And Kirk Lazarus’s (Robert Downey) advice for you if you want to win an Oscar :

Dustin Hoffman, ‘Rain Man,’ look retarded, act retarded, not retarded. Counted toothpicks, cheated cards. Autistic, sho’. Not retarded. You know Tom Hanks, ‘Forrest Gump.’ Slow, yes. Retarded, maybe. Braces on his legs. But he charmed the pants off Nixon and won a ping-pong competition. That ain’t retarded. Peter Sellers, “Being There.” Infantile, yes. Retarded, no. You went full retard, man. Never go full retard. You don’t buy that? Ask Sean Penn, 2001, “I Am Sam.” Remember? Went full retard, went home empty handed…

7/10

Nominations: 1. Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

Revolutionary Road

Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet return for a romance movie after Titanic.

Good drama. Sharp and thought-provoking stuff about life. But a little heavy. Though it’s a romance movie, it’s not exactly mushy. Nice dialogues and “ideologies” that I follow. Note that the director Sam Mendes also made American Beauty (enough said).

Is this supposed to Kate Winslet year? She won a double at the Golden Globe. She gave a “wow” performance here and DiCaprio was just running and crying around. More about The Reader in my next roundup.

Michael Shannon who’s nominated for a supporting role Oscar is a “half retard” (watch Tropic Thunder to understand). Too bad that even Heath Ledger is also a “half retard”.

7.5/10

Nominations: 1. Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role.

Want to be an Oscar judge? Cast your ballot for the Oscar nominated movies and see poll results of other users.

The Newspaper Blog’s Oscar ‘09 Nominee Movie Roundup Series:
Oscar ‘09 Nominee Movie Roundup-1
Oscar ‘09 Nominee Roundup - Best Actor (Leading and Supporting)
Oscar ‘09 Nominee Roundup - Best Actress (Leading and Supporting)
Oscar ‘09 Nominee Movie Roundup-4

Forthcoming post: Best Actress (Leading and Supporting) roundup and the rest. Subscribe to this blog if you wish not to miss out.

Some 25 Chennai Trekkers Club members meet at the Madras Crocodile Bank, ECR for some educational/awareness program on turtle conservation, wildlife spotting, beach cleaning, GPS mapping and full moon drooling activities.

You can easily visit MCBT (Madras Crocodile Bank Trust) from Chennai as MTC are plying buses till Mahabalipuram (AC buses too ply on these routes).

“Save the Olive Ridley Turtle”

We were welcomed by Soham Mukherji, Asst. Curator - Madras Crocodile Bank, and given a short introduction about the MCBT, their role and the research activities they’re into.

A video session followed where Shekar Dattatri’s 45 minutes film on Olive Ridley was screened: The Ridley’s Last Stand. It was sad to watch and was a real eye opener.

The Olive Ridley population and nesting activity is dwindling by the day mainly because of the “cruel man”:
1. Fishing Nets: Trawler activities are banned 5 km from the shore and yet they continue to kill wildlife (turtles) and humans (remember 26/11 ?). There’s a special net wherein the turtles can escape leaving only the other marine animals to be trapped. This is provided free of cost but still fishermen don’t use it.
2. Lighting around the beach: The young hatchlings are extremely sensitive to light. They’re guided to sea by the light from the sea (moon light). Any stray light from beachfront residences, highways, etc. mislead the young ones which may get eaten by dogs, birds or die as they should get into the sea within 24 hours.
3. Casuarina Plantations: Any other vegetation other than the natural grown ones is fetal. This casuarina plantations right on the shores robs the turtles of nesting grounds. Also the young turtles get caught in the plantations and die.
4. Garbages: This is a no brainer. The young ones might eat the plastic or the female can’t find suitable nesting place. Please keep our beaches clean and don’t litter.

Out of the hundreds of egg laid, less than 10-15% of them actually survive the first week of their life. Turtle nesting is an amazing phenomenon. The female travel hundreds of miles to come to the shore and lay eggs. The turtle, if survived, will probably come to the same place where it was born to lay eggs!

Now is the time to correct our mistakes and save the turtles.

After the movie, Nikhil Whitaker, Curator - Madras Crocodile Bank, give us a presentation on how to use GPS handheld and map sites.

Around the Madras Crocodile Bank

After the video session, we took a tour around the park with the MCBT volunteers. The MCBT people were in good humour and were giving commentary about various things and we got to know a lot of stuff about reptiles.

We were given 5 minutes (but we extended to 10 minutes) to visit the IRULA center. A crash course about snakes followed. We saw 4 poisonous snakes found in Tamil Nadu (Krait, Cobra, Russell’s Viper and Saw-scaled Viper) and saw the irulas extracting venom. There was this one snake which looks like it’s a baby but it was 10 years old and it gives us only 2-3 hours incase of a bite! Myths was dispelled such as snakes doesn’t eat egg or milk but small animals. They bite as the last resort to protect itself. They try to escape if threatened. Don’t panic in a case of snake bite. Some snake bite just give you 4 hours to receive medical care. Panicking will give you half the time.

I’ve always wanted to pose with a croc in my hand and this wish was fulfilled. Crocs are totally cool creatures and their scales are soft and it will seem as if you’re holding a plastic toy. A small crocodile was our specimen to see it up close and hold it. Some 8-10 “brave” people achieved this feat. All is fine until the baby fella wriggles which means we have to switch hands!

Some people posed with turtles but I missed it. Anyway the next time around, it’s time to move on to bigger and better things. I’m looking to pose with a snake! Anything for a photo. Given an opportunity, I’ll pose with a Tiger or Giraffe too! Not only for photo, but I’m an ardent wildlife enthusiast.

Crocodile Bank is a must visit place. They have hundreds of crocodiles, snakes and other reptiles which just seem to lie idle all day until it’s food or mating time!

Beach cleaning and Casuarina mapping activities

After a brief talk from Soham about the DOs and DONTs we set off south of the crocodile bank for the beach clean up.

Soham and a MCBT volunteer were mapping Casurina plantations with a GPS handheld. We mapped the clusters using ‘polygon’ feature and smaller plantations with ‘waypoints’. The waypoints were marked and later would be transferred to PC to facilitate further research.

We were totally surprised to find the crap that we wouldn’t have imagined to find on a beach. Some samples: Ariel washing power cover, kitchen spatula, a women’s footwear, tooth brush, Jet Airways’ security tag besides the usual suspects of plastics, water bottles, alcohol bottles, chocolate wrappers and cigarette packet.

We filled up nearly 25-30 bags of garbage. Note that this is a lonely beach with not a soul in sight, we walked just for 3/4th of a kilometer and we didn’t scout to interior places. I’m sure we would need 2-3 trucks to pick up the garbages of the popular Marina and Elliots beach!

After a 775m walk, we decided to shut stop the walk as it was getting dark. We then had refreshments, fooled around in the beach water and took group photos.

The entire 1.5 Km walk was total fun though the “rag picker” work would seem boring and monotonous. We took loads of photos with “sovereigns” (skeletons of animals, shells, and other interesting objects), fighting for space (”This is our area. Only we’ll pick rags here. Keep off!”), exchanged reviews about the recently released movies: ‘Naan Kadavul‘ and ‘Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu‘, Jobin, resident photographer, gave a crash course on photography, and made new friends.

The walk was punctuated by beautiful sights on both sides. On our right hand side, the sun was setting. When it got dark, the full moon’s light was reflected on the sea. Perhaps the most beautiful, romantic sight! A sight to behold.

On the way out, some got to see the croc’s eyes shine in the dark. Imagine hundreds of shiny objects in pitch darkness! They conduct Night Safari on weekends so you too can check this cool thing.

Photos

Thanks to Jobin, resident photographer, for the awesome snaps.

What a life! Sun, sand, water and food.

This fella isn’t a baby. He’s 10 years old and he’s the most venomous snake in India. You’ve less than 3 hrs to seek medical attention after he bites.

This is just the trailer. I want to sit and hold on to the mouth of a big croc like the crocodile hunter.

Take your kids and they’ll be busy collecting shells and building castles. Sadly people act irresponsibly and litter the place after having fun.

Beautiful beach. Lol, why my photo to tell this is a beautiful beach?

Is it Miami? Sun setting on palm trees backdrop. Even more beautiful is the moon’s reflection on the sea. No photo can capture this beautiful thing (hehe, we didn’t have proper cam to shoot it)

We collected 25-30 such bags.

Starry night? No. It’s the croc’s eyes glowing in dark.

And thus ended the day with an satisfaction of doing something back to earth. Snake Walk and Turtle walk are in the planning stage and I’m looking forward for such awesome outing.

It was a totally rocking afternoon-evening-night and did thing that I haven’t done before! A big thanks to Pramod (organizer and MCBT volunteer), MCBT and CTC for this wonderful opportunity.

Here’s the list of player brought.

Chennai Super Kings were a strong side last year and the side just got stronger.

The Side

I’m listing only important players.

Openers
Matthew Hayden
Murali Vijay
Abhinav Mukund (u-19 WC winning squad member)

The last two open for Tamil Nadu. M Vijay has opened for India too.

Batsmen
Michael Hussey
Suresh Raina
S Badrinath
George Bailey (strike rate :156.25; vice-captain of Tasmania)

Wicket Keepers
MS Dhoni
Parthiv Patel

All-rounders
Andrew Flintoff
Albie Morkel
Jacob Oram
Thilan Thushara
Joginder Sharma

Bowlers
M Muralitharan
Makhaya Ntini
L Balaji
Manpreet Gony

The only issue is that other than M Ntini or L Balaji, they don’t have a good pacer. I was hoping they would buy Tait, J Taylor, Kyle Mills, A Nel or Kulesekara whom they should got at their reserve price.

The Probable 11

Wow. But for 4-5 players who pick themselves, it’s difficult to pick 11 players. The good news is but for Flintoff and Hussey, who’ll miss a substantial portion of the tournament, the rest of the players will be available for selection throughout.

M Hayden
M Vijay
M Hussey/Parthiv Patel
S Badrinath
S Raina
Andrew Flintoff/Jacob Oram
Albie Morkel/Thilan Thushara/M Ntini
MS Dhoni
M Gony (we still haven’t forgot your out of the park sixes last year!)
L Balaji
M Muralitharan

“/” means if the player preceding the “/” is unavailable, then the next player can take his place.

Footnotes

Things I noticed during the auction and other interesting things.

- All the 8 teams were smart. More than $5m weren’t spent.

- Rajastan Royals and Kings XI Punjab were shrewd. RR bid the 2nd highest amount for Duminy, Flintoff and KP forcing the other teams to splurge more. Kings XI got Jerome Taylor after the auction at his reserve price and let Mortaza to be picked for an inflated $600k.

- Mashrafe Mortaza’s bidding was fierce and went on for almost 40 minutes.

- Ness Wadia (co-owner of Kings XI, BF of Preity Zinta) sported an black MacBook.

- Nita Ambani and Vijay Mallya provided more glamour than Preity, Shilpa or Juhi.

- Was Juhi bored? She was ever smiling and looked stupid. When a honcho of KKR wanted Juhi to lift the auction baton after getting Mortaza, she didn’t oblige.

- I think all the 8 teams are more or less evenly balanced. No more strong or weak teams.

- Super Kings have 2 Sri Lankans and Knight Riders got Mortaza. This could mean the owners are eying international presence. KKR are looking to play an exhibition match in Dhaka.

- Flintoff has played only 7 T20 internationals till date.

- Did you know “Super Kings” is a brand name of a cigarette. More info.

- Read Super Kings’ official blog written by VB Chandrasekar, Director of cricketing operations and Anand Phillar, sports journalist.

Academy Awards nominations provide you with an opportunity to catch up with lesser know, foreign language and limited release flicks.

Check out this year’s Oscar nominated movies: 81st Annual Academy Awards Nominees.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

A movie like never seen before.

Right from the beginning was hooked by the freshness of the script. A man is born old (complete with arthritis, wrinkles, etc.) and gets younger as time goes by. Isn’t this interesting?

Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett totally rock. There’s this one scene which blew me off where Benjamin narrates an accident scene. Another memorable scenes were the romance between Daisy and Benjamin. Meetings of Benjamin and Elizabeth (Tilda Swinton), and that sub plot was good.

I was fighting to hold back tears for the last 30 minutes. There are some awesome dialogues. And they’re subtle. Makes you think.

People compare this flick with Forrest Gump but honestly I didn’t observe any similarities (though there are many). We should all bow to David Fincher - Brad Pitt combo (who previously made one of the greatest movie ever—Fight Club and Se7en).

So memorable. Need to watch again in HD.

8.5/10

Nominations: 13. Best picture, Actor, Direction, adapted screenplay among others.

Slumdog Millionaire

Protect your young ones from watching poverty porn.

One of the most hyped and overrated movie I’ve watched. And this is NOT the India they’ve portrayed. Exaggerated and clichéd.

A so-so movie with a plot which you would’ve watched so much times in Hindi/Indian flicks. So there’s nothing new for us. The movie scores well in technical aspect. The cinematography is sharp, screenplay is tight, nice editing, good background score and is visually stunning.

Where you inspired? I couldn’t draw any. But you can milk stupidity. Other than words “paper planes”, “dreams on fire” (song names), “Born to lose. Destined to win” (tagline) and the movie title itself, where’s the inspiration?

‘Jai Ho’ song is awesome. Hope AR Rahman wins an Oscar. Other than this, the songs are so-so.

Full review: Slumdog Millionaire Review - Where’s the Inspiration?

5.5/10

Nominations: 10. Best picture, direction, adapted screenplay, cinematography, original song and score among others.

The Dark Knight

The awesomeness of The Joker, The BatPod, crisp screenplay and direction will blow you away to Gotham city.

Liked even better in HD than my first viewing in the cinema. I’ll watch this movie multiple times and still learn a new thing. Wonder why it wasn’t nominated for the best picture category.

Heath Ledger as The Joker was just awesome. Need I talk more about his unforgettable role? My three favourite Joker scenes: 1. bank heist, 2. bomb in the 2 boats, 3. clapping at prison. Heath took badass to a whole new level.

The movie has everything. Stunning cinematography, mind blowing action sequences, “intelligent” scenes, brilliant performances… OK, it is I’ve-ran-out-of adjectives friggin’ awesome.

“The only sensible way to live in this world is without rules!” - The Joker.

Full review: The Dark Knight - Jesus Batman Christ

9/10

Nominations: 8. Best Actor in a Supporting Role and the rest in other technical aspects like Cinematography, Visual Effects, Makeup, Sound editing among others.

WALL·E

Do these Pixar people always make movies that I can’t rate less than 8/10?

I went to the cinema early not to miss the Short movie (which are as awesome as their movies)—Presto. The DVD/BD short—BURN-E was equally captivating. That set the tone and expectation for the movie to follow.

This movie must’ve the best animation ever to grace the silver screen. If anyone told it was a feature film with CGI effects, you would’ve believed.

The movie has got romance, humour, and good screenplay. You get a feel of the brilliance during the sequence where WALL·E & EVE have their little space adventure and we hear the definition of dance. EVE can express emotions with just her eyes (and she’s a robot).

Awesom·e, and for everyon·e!

Read an article I wrote earlier: WALL·E and the APPL·E Connection

9/10

Nominations: 6. Best animation movie, Writing & Screenplay, Sound Editing, Sound, Original song and Original score. And one more nomination, best short animation for Presto.

Wanted

“In fact, the only thing I do care about is the fact that I can’t care about anything.”

Matrix + Fight Club + Angelina Jolie = Wanted - (the “greatness” of the left hand side flicks)

Stylish, sexy & spectacularly cool. A out and out action movie.

Wesley rules. Nice dialogues. So badass complete with sarcasm.

Check out how cool this is. We see bending bullets, car flipping over and a guy shooting from the roof opening, mafia leader listening to opera music, bathing in some warm liquid makes you heal.

Agreed that we have to watch with brains in “switch off” mode but it got effects, awesome dialogues & Jolie (hot even she’s killing)!

7.5/10

Nominations: 2. Technical categories only - Best Achievement in Sound and Sound Editing.

The Newspaper Blog’s Oscar ‘09 Nominee Movie Roundup Series:
Oscar ‘09 Nominee Movie Roundup-1
Oscar ‘09 Nominee Roundup - Best Actor (Leading and Supporting)
Oscar ‘09 Nominee Roundup - Best Actress (Leading and Supporting)
Oscar ‘09 Nominee Movie Roundup-4

Coming soon! Milk, Man on Wire, Vals Im Bashir (Waltz with Bashir), Kung Fu Panda, Iron Man, etc.. in the next round of Oscar nominated movie review and roundup. Subscribe to this blog if you wish not to miss out.