Taare Zameen Par: Must Watch!

December 27, 2007 1 Comment

There are several movies that I have seen in the recent
times, but haven’t felt the urge to write about. Movies that were good –
Ratatouille, average – Michael Clayton, bad – I Am Legend, Strangers, etc.

But I saw Taare Zameen Par on X-mas. And believe you me, it’s
a great movie! I am full of words, emotions, reactions about the movie. But I
wont speak that much.

I think Darsheel Safari as Ishaan is the pick of this year’s
movies. As good as or better than Vinay Pathak in Bheja Fry. TZP is better than
the other few movies I would have picked (Chak De India, Bheja Fry and Gandhi-
My Father). Aamir Khan, the director outshines Aamir Khan the actor (who should
be given a special prize for having these movies – Dil Chahta Hai, Lagaan, Rang
De Basanti and now, TZP).

Tisca Chopra as Ishaan’s mother has pulled off a performance
that she could not in her primer (remember, a forgotten movie called “Platform”
starring Ajay Devgan?). And despite its fair share of flaws, melodrama and
stereotypes (Ishaan’s father, some of his teachers, for instance), the movie is
nothing short of a perfect 3 hour movie for me!

 

But kudos to Aamir Khan for having thought about a movie
like this, getting a kid to act something that kids naturally are(no cute scenes,
no big gyaan coming from them, no extreme circumstances expecting them to turn
into heroes, no turnarounds around the intermissions), and being so sensitive
while handling a topic which could have so easily become preachy.

And last thing – I think some of the songs of the movie are
exceptional – especially “tujhe sab hai pata, hai na maa”!

Watch it if you  were
to watch just one movie for the next 6 months! It is! That good!

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Yipee Yay Yay.. I am GOOD!

December 18, 2007 1 Comment

The Celebrity Endorsement Quiz

Score: 100% (10 out of 10)

with celebrity endorsements at mentalfloss

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Hot news from Shockadilly!

December 12, 2007 Leave a comment

India’s Test squad for Australia

Wasim Jaffer, Virender Sehwag, Dinesh
Karthik, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj
Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Anil Kumble (capt), Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer
Khan, RP Singh, Irfan Pathan, Ishant Sharma, Pankaj Singh.

Need I say more?

Oh.. and btw.. here is what Chappell thinks

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Brooding over this…

December 12, 2007 7 Comments

2 burdening thoughts around business on my mind right now –

A. Will a home delivery model work for a coffee-shop like Cafe Coffee Day/ Barista? Well, lets not forget that before coming to India, McD had never thought of home delivery. And lets not forget that there are companies that have figured out ways of sending ice-cream as home delivery! 🙂

B. Consulting as a profession takes you away from Entrepreneurship. Because you are always thinking about three scenarios – Conservative, Base and Optimistic. Now, show me one person who started a business to make the returns expected on a base scenario!! Unless you really are optimistic about the idea, you won’t get into it! A consultant on the other hand, will train you to cover for the conservative scenario and aim for the base! 

On a different note, Tamal and I were discussing the other day how the idea of a service apartment (an idea we had discussed in 2003, when Service Apartments were not that common) had become a rage (he is staying in a service apartment right now, on his recent assignment) in terms of ease of operations and assured returns! Damn it! We were discussing the worst case scenario even then! 🙂

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Officially D!

December 11, 2007 1 Comment

Finally, I put to official use the name that was given to me by the people I loved working with (read, Inductis colleagues) – D

The
Diamond Consulting Case Competition on campuses is called DConstruct. I
think they think its D for Diamond. (wink wink). Its D for D!! 🙂 D for the Devil inside me that sneaked in the name 😉

Couple of links I could find about DConstruct – Here and here

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Pics from Amod’s Marriage

December 10, 2007 Leave a comment

Amod got married to Aparna on 5th. Here are some pics from there marriage. 1, 2, 3 and 4

img0179a.jpgWhat I love about knowing Choudhary as a friend, is that you get to see first-hand his constipated expressions whenever he is expected to smile! 🙂

 

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Movie Review: Khoya Khoya Chand

December 9, 2007 6 Comments

I watched Khoya Khoya Chand on Friday. Its a different matter that I am writing the review now.

 To me, its a brilliant movie that would fail to make its mark. Reasons – to be honest, I dont want to dissect the this and that of the movie and kill a dream in the process. I see KKC as Sudhir Mishra’s tribute to his time in the Hindi Film Industry (pardon me for not referring to it as Bollywood yet). And I can tell you what I liked about the movie. Its brilliant in its canvas, cinematography, characterization. The music is quite awesome.the thought behind the movie is quite profound. The imagination vivid. The use of cinema within cinema is a novel way of showing the reality that cinema is supposed to present. And for that, I would like to give full marks to Mishra.

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The place where the movie fails is its editing. Its too slow and too disjoint at times. Everything makes sense, everything fits, and yet, you are fidgety in your seat at times. At times you wonder, for how long has this thing being going on? And then, the twist happens. The twist in the personality, emotions bring you back to whats happening on the screen. Its a wait and bait game that the movie plays with you. If you fish for fun, waiting can be too boring. If its your bread and butter, you know that for a bigger catch, you may have to wait longer. The movie will not appeal to people who prefer spending 150 bucks on an Om Shanti Om, where every minute of the movie is supposed to be explicit, entertaining, and exciting. The movie will appeal to theatre enthusiasts who like the use of sets, dialogues, imagery, limited words, multiple interpretations, the play between characters, the way the story buildds for 10 minutes to give you an ephemeral kick. None of the characters is a “hero”. None of them is a villain either. They are all playing their part in the gray zone. The shot where Zafar (Shiney) is mad at Nikhat (Soha) for not having tried her best in getting his way with a producer is an exquisite display of the real side of people. We all lose it at times, say things that we dont mean in general, but we do mean them in the spur of the moment. The shot where Prem Kumar (Rajat Kapoor) asks Zafar and Shyamul (Vinay Pathak) “sirf main hi itna haraamzaada hoon? ya sab aise hote hain?” is again a reality check. In another shot, zafar asks Nikhat – “hum to yahin hain. aap kahan hain? aap kahan they?’  and in another zafar tells shyamul – ise chod ke jeena bhi to mumkin nahi hai! The movie is a gem. Its a gem that some people will appreaciate on DVDs. But its bound to bomb at the box office. It may get an award somewhere, but most likely, it wont get any financial rewards. I live with a hope to be proven wrong on this.

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Shiney, Soha, Rajat, Sonya,  Vinay, et al shine. And you can see the effort. At times, shiney does go slightly overboard, but only slightly. Soha is a find. There are shots where she looks exquisitely beautiful, and there are shots where she looks like an ordinary girl. Isnt that what cinema is? A make believe world.

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And thats why you should see it. Its abotu all the things that make Cinema what it is. Glamorous, yet painful! Inviting, yet indifferent!!

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Movie Review: Aaja Nachle…. Madhuri is back!

December 5, 2007 2 Comments

I have to write this post. Came back home a little while back after having watched Aaja Nachle. And have a flight to catch in an hour or so. So, best use of this one hour would have been to sleep. But then, I claim to be different!

Aaja Nachle re-establishes one of my firmest beliefs about Bollywood – Madhuri Dixit can beat the shit out of all current actresses with both her hands tied behind her back. She just rules the screen from the first shot. Its a Madhuri movie all along with good support from the other well cast actors. I think its a true entertainer of a movie.

A few of the high points of the movie –
1. Choreography – Boo to all those who tried to blast the choreography/music/dances of the movie. This is the best choreography I’ve seen after Devdas. Examples in context – 1. the choregraphy of O Re Pia sung by Rahat. First, its a beautiful song sung amazingly well by Rahat (thats hardly a surprise). Second, the song has beautifully used Ghunghroos in the background. The dancers seem to match the ghungroo ki jhanak perfectly. Madhuri has flawless movements and expressions in the song. The choreography has a classical base, which makes it a delight. Need more reasons? 2. Choreo of the title song – again, a phenomenal use of a talent like Madhuri. 3. Choreo of the long “nritya natika” towards the climax. I think that particular sequence just revives everything that a nritya natika (or, as the refined people would like to think about it – a broadway musical) should be. perfect use of props, individual positions, stage movements, and dance forms. I think the nritya natika on Laila Majnu is the high point of a movie which is all about dance.
2. Performances – Madhuri, undoubtedly, is the queen! But then, there are some refreshing performances by Vinay Pathak, Akshaye Khanna, Ranvir Shorey, Raghuvir Yadav, Yashpal Sharma, Konkona Sen, Kunal Kapoor, Irfan Khan et al. I think the beauty of this movie with a fairly average storyline lies in the characterization as well. The weakest characters in the fold are those of Konkona and Kunal, even though I think they have sleepwalked through their roles with consummate ease.
3. Music – Whatever people say, I think O Re Pia, Ishq Hua, Aaja Nachle, Show me your Jalwa.. all these songs will catch on very soon. Some have already, and some will now!

The enlightened will tell you that the story is weak, and there is an overdose of fantasy. Where does this dilapidated set get all the money and resources to set up such extravagant dances. I dont know. I dont care. The movie entertains. And the elite can go take a skywalk for all I care!

And yeah, just in case I havent given you enough reasons to watch the movie … My final.. nail in the coffin.. last straw to break the camel’s back… aakhiri hichki.. etc etc. argument is ….
GO WATCH IT FOR MADHURI!

Bollywood Gossip – Peeping Tom saw a certain Sonam Kapoor and a certain Ranbir Kapoor at Taj Lands End last night (Dec 3rd) having a noodly and dimsumy hot dinner at Ming Yang. Both were smoking. Since it was Tom Peeping, Sonam was looking extremely ravishing in a black tank top with her mid-riff well exposed with navel piercings and all. Tom wonders – is something brewing? er.. coffee?

Comment of the night – “Having seen her like this, I don’t think Bhansali was able to exploit Sonam completely during Saawariya!”

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