One of the finest renditions of our National Anthem
March 19, 2007 Leave a comment
Couple of weeks of missed reviews!
March 7, 2007 2 Comments
Few snippets that’ve been lost in the sands of the last few (phew!) weeks –
1. Double deal – I decided to catch up with this fairly well known play. Experience – 4-5 out of 10.
Sandhya Mridul looks very beautiful. But Mahesh Manjrekar acted better. Even if I am the only person to think so – I always got a feeling that both the people are acting at 2 levels – 1. when they are trying to have this continuous conversation in English (I find it normal for Indians to intuitively think in their native tongue and then translate before conversing), and 2. The play itself.
It must be difficult to pull these multi-stor(e)y acts!
Also, its a one-act play split into 2 halves. 2 characters. Talking continuously.
Sense of humor – ok. Sense of drama – average. plot – good. Use of stage – minimal. Use of props – minimal. Characterization – could be better. Background music used- average.
Final comment – Its that one thing you dont want to do for fun when you want to do something for fun.
2. Ghostrider – Again.. Pathetic! Of all the comics turned movies, I have ended up liking X-men and Spiderman. Superman- the older ones. The recent one was not quite there.
Ghostrider is that Ajay Devgan action movie where even if he jumped from the 50th floor to land on 2 bicycles, there would be some B-grade movie watchers hooting for him. And the director would still say – my movie is different. It appeals to a different class of people.
Nicholas Cage, and Eva Mendes disappoint. Cage looks like a doped patient of running-stomach-syndrome. I want to go somewhere but I am too doped to understand where I want to go kinda looks! The devil is useless – does not evoke a laughter, definitely does not scare. Villains are more funny with their frozen white makeup!
Action sequences are basic, stuff that can be seen in every third movie.
High point of the movie – Emraan Hashmi, the serial kisser of Bollywood, was standing next to me in the washroom. And I realized that he is shorter than me (for those who havent seen me, someone has to be extremely extremely short to be shorter than me). God bless Indian Cinema!
3. Chennai – the city deserves a mention. I was in Chennai for 3-4 months in 2003. While talking to Bonnie and Tushar, we all agreed on two things –
a. Anyone who stays here for more than x months, should be a given a certificate of appreciation. X is a function of how far north of chennai the person is from.
b. If you see a beautiful girl in Chennai, then most probably she is a tourist. And its not about them not being good looking. They just dont have the attitude to look good.
In 2006, with probably 60% of educated families having one family member who is/has been abroad, the city is down in the pits with its conservative nature. The autowallahs havent changed in the last 40 years it seems. The roads continue to be messy (though definitely better than Mumbai roads). People on the street still cannot come out of the north-south divide and their biases. Extremely unfriendly. And any johnnie can become a hero down south!
4. Saving the best for the last – Prithvi Theater– Celebrating Poetry. I was there on a saturday when they were showcasing the emergence of progressive poetry. However, the story went back to as far as Bulle Shah, Kabirdas and covered Ghalib, Nirala, and contemporary Nida Fazli sahab as well. Beautiful collection of poetry. Couple of the actors could have done better by memorizing their lines completely.
Final suggestion – The Babbar family kids (Raj Babbar’s son and daughter) – they should stay away from theatre. Those who cannot act in movies, will never be able to act on a stage. and especially, if the stage is like Prithvi!
Movie Review: Black Friday (2007)
February 20, 2007 Leave a comment
An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind – Mahatma Gandhi
I watched the censored version of Black Friday a couple of days back. I have been thinking of why it was banned. It was said that it will bias public opinion in favor of the charge-sheeted offenders. Will it?
Since eternity, all wars/battles have been master minded by some and executed by several others. These several others are made to believe that they are fighting for a cause. That the cause is greatest cause one can fight for. At times, its revenge for the brotherhood, at other occasions, it might be a struggle for existence and survival. But the cause is always fair. Wars shall cease to exist if people believed in Gandhigiri – someone slaps you on one cheek, offer him the other cheek for slapping. Keep doing it till he is tired, confused, and shocked out of his wits and that’s precisely when his thinking becomes clear. That’s when he would apologize and seek mercy.
Does that mean once my sanity is restored, I should justify the reasons for the fight and the motives of the offender? Hmmm… I don’t quite think so.
Black Friday is a very well researched and well made movie(?). I would rather classify it as a documentary. Or, the serialization of history as shown on History Channel. The bottomline remains – it’s a great movie.
But that does not take anything away from the star-cast full of enraged, confused, frustrated, cheated, lost common people.
Pawan comes up with a truly superlative performance. And Kay Kay comes up with another good restrained and underplayed performance. All the other supporting actors have done justice to their role.
The movie has its comic real life moments as well. Imtiyaaz Ghavate chase which goes on for a long time, and the policeman eventually saying “Ae Imtiyaaz! Yaar ruk ja yaar!” and the shot where a hungry Kay Kay peels off a banana to eat and a hungry constable walks in.
The screenplay is realistic and gripping. The editing is slick and fast paced. Cinematography is just what it should be – scratchy, real, and not with a lot of jazz. The real footage shown from the then Newstrack videos adds the element of nostalgia.
Music – Indian Ocean don’t need a mention. Bandeh is the probably the pick of the lot. But its an album you can keep for the keeps.
Vote- Watch it. Unless you are a pig headed religious captain who cannot absorb reality the way it is. It’s a must watch.
Dekh tere sansaar ki haalat….
December 7, 2006 3 Comments
Just got this forward from a friend. Was reminded of my incomplete discussion with Shivani (I don’t introduce Shivani as Gullu’s wife anymore!) J
The conversation was around how much information there actually is with the intelligence agencies in India. About terrorists, terrorism, blasts, and what nots. And if there is so much information, as we think there is, why do such incidents happen?
While reading the forward below, the only thought that came to my mind was – Maybe a lot of these people who do not act on the information they have, are reminded of their kids, and of their bread-earner status! Maybe, media would not give their kids the status of “Prince” and cover her for the next 3 days. Maybe, no channel would agree to finance their studies for a lifetime.
Life, sure, has a saracastically funny side to it!
******
The body of Major Manish Pitambare, who was shot dead at Anantnag, was cremated with full military honours at Thane on Wednesday
On Tuesday a news swept across all the news channels ‘Sanjay Datt relieved by the court’. ‘Sirf Munna Not a bhai’ ’13 saal ka vanvaas khatam’ ‘alhough found guilty for possession of armory, Sanjay can breath sigh of relief as all the TADA charges against him are withdrawn’
And then many experts like Salman khan saying ‘He is a good person. We knew he will come out clean’ Mr. Big B ‘Datt family and our family have relations for years he’s a good kid. He is like elder brother to abhishek’. His sister priya Datt ‘we can sleep well tonight…it’s a great relief’
In other news, Parliament was mad at Indian team for performing bad; Greg chapel said something …..; Bomb scare in gorakhpoor express; and Shah Rukh Khan replaces Big B in KBC and Sonia asked PM to consider reducing petroleum prices (I wonder who’s the PM …anyways that is not the topic so leave it…) But most of the emphasis was given on Sanjay Datt’s “phoenix like” comeback from the ashes of terrorist charges.
Surfing through the channels, one news on BBC startled me, it read, Hisbul Mujahidin’s Most wanted terrorist ‘Sohel Faisal’ killed in anantnag, India. Indian Major leading the operation lost his life in the process. Four others are injured.
It was past midnight, I started visiting the Indian channels, the ones who are ‘Sabse TEZ’, but Sanjubaba was still ruling. They were telling How Sanjubaba pleaded to the court saying ‘I am the sole bread earner for my family’ ‘I have a daughter who is studying in US who will look after her’. And then they showed how sanjubaba was not wearing his lucky blue shirt while he was hearing the verdict. Also how he went to every temple and prayed for last some months. A suspect in Mumbai bomb blasts, convicted under armory act…..was being made into a hero.
Sure Sanjubaba has a daughter; sure sanjubaba did not do any terrorist thing as in bombing some place or hijacking an airplane etc. Possessing an AK47 is considered too elementary in terrorist community and also one who possesses an AK47 has a right to possess a pistol so that again is not such a big crime; Sure sanjubaba went to all the temples; Sure he did a lot of gandhigiri but then, people please read on.
Major Manish H Pitambare got the information from his sources about the terrorists’ whereabouts. Wasting no time he attacked the camp killed the Hisbul mujahidin’s suprimo and in the process lost his life. To the bullets fired from an AK47
He has a wife and a daughter (just like sanjubaba), age..18 months.
Major Manish never said ‘I have a daughter’ before he took the decision to attack the terrorist hide out in the darkest of nights?
He never thought about having a family and he being the bread earner
No news channel covered this since they were too busy hyping a former drug addict, an actor in real and reel life, a suspect who’s linked to bomb blasts which killed hundreds. Their aim was to show how he defied the TADA charges and they were so successful that his conviction in possession of armory had no meaning. They also concluded that his parents in heaven must be happy and proud of him
Parents of Major Pitambare are still on this earth and they have to live rest of their lives without their beloved son. His daughter won’t ever see her papa again.
Definition of a Star has changed Major it really has. So sanjubaba always has a gun in every one of his movies then in real life if he has an AK47 then what’s the big deal;
Even if one of the bullets from one of such AK47’s took a Real Star’s life…..
rang de basanti aayi thi tab bhi log aisehich kuch toh bolein they…
Finally Sir, to my generation there is no greater hero than one who laid his life in the name of this great nation. Hence Sir, I salute you. You are the real Star, Vande mataram.
(Forwarded by Nitin Sood)
CSD – Goes Public
October 27, 2006 2 Comments
Noticed Today!! Cars from CSD (for the uninitiated, its Canteen Stores Department (CSD) of the Indian Armed Forces – meant to provide the warriors of the nation some subsidized items). Only those who have served in the India Armed forces are allowed to buy from CSDs
I was just wondering if the uptight – stiff collared- we-can’t-do-nothin’-wrong because we-are-so-righteous army-men take offense to this poster? Hmmm… still wondering….
Ooh Aah India.. Aa Yaa India…
October 26, 2006 3 Comments
Was watching the pre-match coverage on Max.
There was this (second) good looking babe (Mandira Bedi is the first) Shonali trying to give some updates from the stadium – and here is the what I heard
“There is an old lady standing outside the stadium and she has a lot of tickets in her waistpack or something.. She is selling Rs.150 tickets for 300, 300 tickets for 650 and so on.. The lady took a loan to buy these tickets. Moreover, now, there are money lenders and blah coming into the equation.”
Talk about entrepreneurial spirit!
Happy Deepawali & The S(hort) M(essages) S(wiftly) Generation
October 21, 2006 1 Comment
I dont remember having wished so many people Happy Diwali ever in my life. I mean, I always had a lot of friends.. but wishing Happy Diwali was never such a big deal. You just met friends, family, relatives, acquaintances, new people. You ate a lot of good food/sweets, burst a lot of crackers, and had a good deal of fun. This explicit expression of Diwali bringing great joy, happiness, prosperity and a whole lot of other things was never soooo important. It “used to” go without saying that you mean well!
All this- before I got a mobile phone, and my friend living across the street got a mobile phone, and the friend living in the other city, and my aunty, and my servant, and my grocery store guy, and the tailor, and the barber and everyone else that I knew decided to get a mobile phone. Before 70% of my office folks got my cell number. and before all of them decided to send a Diwali message to all the people in their extended phonebook (thats a selling proposition – 500 numbers on phone memory and another 300 on the SIM! With the latest N series and x series and extendible memory blah, you dont need to worry!)
Simple maths – I wished more than 120 people today, some of them living overseas. I spent, thus, more than 60-70 bucks on wishing people. And i used orkut friend list to wish some 300 people or so! I have received more than a 100 message during the day. Thats 7-8k telecom revenue in the vicinity of my near and dear ones! And I am not even the most popular person around! I would always wonder how many messages the babe living down the street got!! With every company claiming to have a few million subscribers, I wonder what the daily revenue looks like for these companies. Several millions/billions? On such “simply” important days as new year, diwali, holi and “extremely” important days like Friendship Day/Women’s Day/ Mother’s day!!
On a separate note, before the age of media glorifying the ritual of simple love, I always thought that everyday was Mother’s day and Friendship day! And being a little unbiased when it comes to gender, every day is Men’s day and Women’s day as well!!
I wont be surprised if a couple of years from now, people start sending “Gandhigiri” messages on 2nd October, and “Republican/Long Live Democracy” kinda messages on 26th Jan/15th August.
This is my explicitly spoken apology to all those who feel happy/get bugged with the continuously ringing/beeping cellphones carrying the same “May the goddess of light…” messages from n different people. Some call back to say – Thanks for remembering. Some message back with another deepawali forward that they got from someone else. Some choose to ignore. Some feel important.
But here is my last word – check the cell phone model of the person who’s making you feel important. Can he send a message to more than 5-10 people at one go? Does he/she need to write/forward that message to important people, one at a time? Is he/she taking the pain to write just one extra phrase – “Hey Dingi!” or something like that? Well.. with an N-series, you dont need to worry!
And those of you who did walk the extra small message yard swiftly, Thanks for making me feel special! 🙂
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