skip to main |
skip to sidebar
The last few hours are left for this year to end and I can't wait for it. Not because I am so much excited that the new year is at the doorstep, but because 2008 has been such a bad year for a general human being and for a Hindustani in particular. The first couple of weeks of 2008 pushed the stock markets down the longest snake of a Snakes & Ladders board which is yet to end. People lost lot of money, fuel prices rose to 2-3 times the present value and the global economy went for a huge huge toss. Banking Giants in the United States which had sustained major recessions could not do it this year and had to file for bankruptcy. This marked the beginning of a recession this year and banks and companies followed the lead. This has brought us to a challenging 2009 which is already expected to be an even worse year. The recession might grow and more jobs could be lost.
Hindustan, however, is still looking fundamentally strong as far as its economy is concerned, but has failed big time to give security to its own people who are the lone contributors to this strong economic condition of the country. Their tax money has been hugely wasted and this can mean lesser people wishing to pay taxes in 2009, if at all they still have that much income during this financial year. Maximum cowardly attacks have happened in Hindustan in 2008, though all of them have been huuugely unsuccessful. They have only helped us to unite as a democracy and fight back every reason which has caused this condition. I hope 2009 brings in a new, fresh and young political leadership in the parliament which can better represent the Humble Intelligent New-found Dynamic United Strong Talented Armed Nuclear HINDUSTAN.
So, as my effort for this to happen, as I said in my previous post, First Step, I am gonna vote for sure and select a non-typical political party which is more concentrated to develop the country rather than on their personal interests. For me, otherwise this year was a good one, since I got to work on bridge design, something which I had always wanted to pursue as my career. And also was made PM on 3 projects. My new house will be ready early next year so I am quite excited about that too.
So I hope the new year will be better than this one, for me and for all of you. Lets not forget those who lost their lives this year and pledge to revenge their loss in whatever way we can. Lets all unite to make the world a better place to live.
The whole of Hindustan is totally disgusted with the gross mishandling of the Mumbai attacks before and after it happened and no one wants to take any note of the political drama going on in the country. And all of us are looking at options to change the scenario, for the better ofcourse as it can't be worse than this. First I thought not exercising my vote would be the best option. But then, if educated Hindustanis like me will start thinking this, then election results would depend on purely bought out votes.
One solution to this problem is to form a new party on our own, with organizations like "I love Mumbai" participating actively and leading us all like-minded Hindustanis. But that will take some while and it won't be possible before the upcoming elections. The other solution is to explore some new parties which are already functional and nationally registered, formed by professionals, no not professional politicians, but real professional people. Professionals Party of India is a party based in Pune and is formed by professionals like lawyers, engineers, MBAs and doctors. The website of the party is www.ppi.net.in.
Now is the time to act and take revenge and this is the first step towards it. Lets unite and fight for a better Hindustan.
The 26th is proving to be a deadly date India, especially for Maharashtra. From since I can recollect, the first disaster came in the form of the Bhuj earthquake in Gujarat on 26th January, 2001. The disaster killed more then 20k people (wiki) and injured around 167k of Hindustanis. Then came the Tsunami, another natural calamity, on 26th December, 2004. It was a phenomenon I heard for the first time and is described as an earthquake inside the ocean. It washed away thousands of people killing 16k in Hindustan alone. Shortly after this calamity, another followed on 26th July, 2005 in the form of fatal floods, which washed off almost the entire state, and Mumbai and its suburbs, in particular. It killed almost a 1000 unfortunate people and an equal amount of animals, mostly cattle.
Then it started again this year with cowardly bomb blasts in the city of Ahmedabad on 26th July, 2008. These had come after several blasts in various other cities like Jaipur, Lucknow, Hyderabad on different dates earlier. The Ahmedabad blasts killed 56 innocent people and injured over 200. And finally Mumbai was attacked last week on the 26th November, 2008 by chuhas who showed such a lack of guts by firing randomly at unarmed innocent Hindustanis. All my countrymen who got killed can be compared only to the great warrior Abhimanyu, who is a legendary hero from Mahabharat.
And now, the 26th of January stands infront of us with a lot of questions. Its the Republic day of Hindustan and its time to take over this deadly date in our own hands. On this day today, a week after the attacks, let us all decide unitedly to take some form of stern action towards revenging each nano-second of these 60 hours. Let us achieve a definite goal by this Republic day and prove Hindustan to be a true republic.
And its finally over. The terrorists got what they had come here for. The brave, gallant, outstanding, efficient NSG commandos fought like real heroes for the motherland, for my Hindustan. The cowards have met their fate, and so will their masters, soon. The war has been declared. And no enemy should be spared. Hindustan again wants its Kshatriya sons to go on a vijaya yatra and regain whatever is lost.
The first success actually came at the Trident and Oberoi hotels in the afternoon on 28th Nov, when the commandos killed the terrorists there and took charge of both the hotels. The second success came at the Nariman house in the evening at around 6.30 pm on 28th Nov. when the brave commandos put up a fierce battle with the cowards. The commandos were air-dropped on the terrace of the building in the morning of that day in extremely difficult situations because of a crowded locality. Since then they exchanged fire and at around 4 pm, made a big hole in the wall of the building which led to the last assault. But the battle at the lovely Taj was still on. Three bh*(%&^_ds were troubling the heroes from a very long time (I wonder what kept the ma*^$#*ds going so long, it must not be dry fruits as they give good mental health as well. I think they eat cow-dung). But finally Dharm was able to win over adharm, as has always been the case, and the Taj operation made the final assault.
The NSG commandos, army, navy, police force and the fire fighters have all fought bravely and intensely and I shall salute to all them, for all my life. I pray to the God of Hindustan to give them all the best things in the world, as He has given them this best motherland. They are the real heroes of today, and I appeal to the powerful Bollywood to remunerate these real heroes, the way they do for the reel heroes. The martyrs like Gajendra Singh and Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan have become my new Gods. They fought and sacrificed their life in Mumbai for Hindustan, without thinking which state they belong to or which language they speak. The first thing, therefore, to do for us Hindustanis, is to unite under one name and keeping each and every micro-second of this attack in mind and remembering all the martyrs and heroes who have fought for us and not let history repeat and let some third person take advantage of our differences.
I once again salute my heroes, my Gods for all their sacrifice.
जय हिंद!!!
Well, actually that was the news which came out back then that night when I wrote this blog and slept happily. But, apparently, the battle of Taj (wow that is a phrase, no one would have thought would be framed) actually ended last. It only ended 59 hours, 3 terrorists and 2 commandos later. This happened only on the morning of the 29th of Nov. The long lasting battle ended finally.
Yessssssss, the operation at the Taj has ended. All the terrorists have been killed, so the reports say at this moment, 11:10 pm, Mumbai time. I am watching NDTV live and Barkha Dutt interviewing the freed people. This is the first success the force has got after more than 24 hrs. after the War on Mumbai started. I congratulate the soldiers of Hindustan for their success and wish them faster success in the remaining 2 spots at Hotel Trident and Nariman House.
Way to go my dear soldiers!!!!!
Its a word which actually belongs to history, maybe, but today the brave officers of Mumbai ATS (Anti-Terrorism Squad) including the ATS chief, Officer Hemant Karkare, have been shot dead in Mumbai by terrorists. Other officers are Ashok Kamte and encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar. This is a huge blow to the Mumbai police, Mumbai city, the state and the country as a whole. Officer Karkare was leading the investigations in the Malegaon blasts and had received phone calls threatening him for life only a couple of days back. And he wouldn't have even known this would happen so soon.
As I am seeing it live on TV news channels, the terrorist attack done on Mumbai since yesterday night has reached a new level. Safety is a word irrelevant to Mumbaikars now, infact to every Hindustani and everyday is just a bonus. Officers are being killed in encounters and the nation is bearing huge losses. The bravery of these officers is beyond words and thoughts of an average person. I hereby salute all the officers, heroes of this war against terrorism, and thank them sincerely with all my heart for all the efforts they have taken to secure the life of us Mumbaikars. May God bestow the best things to their families and peace to these angel souls.
I found an interesting article about people who are now returning back to India. This is written by an ABCD and I feel is a must read for all NRIs.
Link - http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/23/weekinreview/23anand.html?pagewanted=1&em
But, I still keep wondering whether this return thing is really true and satisfying, or it is just a compromise. I would like to know your valuable views on this in the comments section below.
Music Director - Salim-SulaimanThis is the first music review I am writing and so I request all who read to leave a comment in the comments section if the review meets your views or not. This will give me a wider perspective of public liking, which will in turn help me write better reviews. So here it goes.
I totally liked Fashion's music score, also by the same director duo, especially the theme of the movie, as I have already said in my review blog of the movie. I have been listening to the clippings of Rab ne... on TV, and it being a King Khan movie with Adi directing, there's always a special place for the combo (though Jatin-Lalit would have been the best bet). So I listened to the songs today after Rahul's recco. I found the songs quite good, though not as good as Fashion.
Tujh mein rab is a slow paced song with a slight sad melody. The song is sung by Roopkumar Rathod and the music is quite simple with dafli as the percussion. It somewhat reminds of Dil de diya hai.
Haule haule, which is making clippings on TV channels, is a good catchy number with the harmonium playing to give it an orthodox feel. But Sukhwinder's voice keeps the song fresh. The pace of the song is a little more than slow. Lyrics also not too great or sort.
The third number is the upbeat techno Dance pe chance. This is a fast paced dance song, as the title suggests and has all the modern instruments with a bhangra feel. What I liked more are the lyrics which explain various dance steps to a learner - simple but nice. This will surely keep doing the rounds on dance floors and weddings for some time. Sunidhi does a good job, as always.
The fourth song, Phir milenge, is a medley of old song titles and musics put into a mix. Sonu has sung this one and the lyrics have been woven into each other very nicely - a song very similar to Mere Jeevan Saathi. I am sure this song will be more exciting to watch than listen and will be sort of similar to Dhoom tana from Om Shanti Om.
The fifth track is a Shreya Ghoshal version of Tujh mein and is no different.
The final sixth song is Dancing Jodi which is also a techno mix making it a dance score. It has instrumentals from other songs of the album like Dance pe chance, Haule haule etc. It gives a feel of remixes from Fashion.
Summing up, the music is good and may sound even better in the movie. The dance numbers will be on the charts for some time and the director duo has a good year to look back.
Yes, I am on a blogging spree today, and it may be due to the reason Jaya has given in her blog No Spice. But I could not not write a blog on the little champs reigning over marathi minds these days. Yes, I am talking about the little champs of Zee Marathi's Sa Re Ga Ma Pa.
They have come a long way learning music, but what they perform now is truly ammazing. Actually, at this point, or rather before Shalmali was voted out, there was no one who could be voted out. Each of them are equally good and the best.
I, like most of the junta, was surprised to see that Shalmali was voted out. And her performance was surely missing on tuesday when topmost singer-music director Shankar Mahadevan was the guest. He had some positive energy with him, as rightly said by Pallavi, which boosted each performance, start to finish. None of the previous performances had this kind of grace and it could be seen in hindi as well as marathi songs. The pronunciations, pitch, tempo everything was up to the mark and Shankar was equally rewarding each one with a standing ovation. He was simply enjoying the show and was not at all making any comments, which lifted the morale of the champs to a whole new level. And they all delivered one after the other and took away full points. Even Shamika was later on given Ni, from an earlier Dha. Arya's दिल चीज़ क्या है was totally mesmerizing.
I am sure these champs can take many of the running orchestras head-on and also thought I should have recorded the show. But if any of you have done so already, please let me know if I can get a copy of it. I sincerely wish all the best to all of these little champs and that may all of them be top class singers in the years to come and glorify the my Maharashtra.`
Being bored of the older template and layout, I was tempted to change the look of my blog and find a suitable image to my title description. So I first tried changing the image of the header. But that was not fitting the earlier template properly. Then after some useless searches on the net for any help, I thot of changing the template itself and see if that helps. And yes, it did. So here is the new look to my blog. This is not the finalized version, so comments, suggestions and betterment ideas are most welcome in the comments section.
I know its too late, but better late than never. I did watch the movie FDLS (first day last show) but didn't find time to write the review. Its not coz I am that busy, but still I can't see any reason for not finding time. As it is said in marathi, didn't find time due to idleness. But, back to the topic, being a Madhur Bhandarkar film, it was a must watch movie. Also, the topic was quite interesting, since Fashion means sexy models everywhere. What other reason do I need? (Well, unfortunately, the movie had equal no. of gays, but thats another part of the story)
I was aware that the movie was about the rise, fall and re-rise of a super-model and so the story starts off in Meerut, a second tier city in India, with a city model, Meghna Mathur (Priyanka), dreaming to make it big in the fashion world. So she reaches the Fashion capital of India, Mumbai and starts her struggle towards her dreams. She meets Rohit (Ashwin Mushran), a gay aspiring designer, who introduces her to some contacts in the industry. She gets small assignments like a lingerie ad and ramp walks through these contacts. But because of the supermodel spark and attitude in her she develops key contacts in the fashion industry. Idolising Shonali (Kangna Ranawat), the show-stopper, she starts climbing the steps to success. And at one point she displaces Kangna and takes over the position of the face for Panache, a top brand in the city, owned by Abhijeet Sareen (Arbaaz Khan). And then she has no turning back, or so she thinks. Her late night parties and outings become a concern for her roomie turned boyfriend Maanav (Arjan). He tries to question her but spoils the relation and Priyanka quits him. From here the fall starts.
I felt the initial rise has eaten up a large part of the movie because of which, it has become longer. In the end, the re-rise is slower than the initial movie which makes the audience feel, come-on, finish it now. Priyanka has done well in her role showing different stages of stardom. Her awkwardness in the lingerie ad and distress after realizing that she slept with an african under the influence of drugs, is very good (though I feel Aish would have also brought shine to the role). I could here various "Oh shit" from female audience in the theatre at this scene. Madhur Bhandarkar has used all aspects of the industry like gay designers, drug intake of models, accidental strip-off on the ramp etc. without showing any unnecessary female exposure.
Kangna has also acted well to depict the Delhi based model, Geeta, who was on streets some days back, but is making a come-back. Model Mugdha Godse has also performed well in her debut movie. Other supporting cast like Arbaaz, Kitu Gidwani, Sameer Soni have also done good justice to their resp. roles.
The music feels fresh and techno with the remix numbers being used for the ramp shows. My personal favorite is the theme of the movie. All in all, another good movie from the Madhur Bhandarkar banner and a must watch in theatres.
Rating - ****1/2
Source: ISRO
Well, in this case, this saying holds true even literally. Because, India is only the fifth country to launch its own spacecraft to the moon, the Chandrayaan-1. It is indeed a grand achievement on part of all the scientists of India and the entire country thereby. They have definitely made us all proud, once again. This will be an inspiration to a lot of young aspiring scientists to enter the field. This will also bring a lot of research activities to the limelight in India and in turn bring prosperity. More details can be found in this press release.
I salute all the people associated with the launch of Chandrayaan-1. Watching an Indian rocket getting launched in space on TV was indeed a very exciting moment this morning. And it was perfectly cruising the expected trajectory. This mission will now lead a lot of other missions to come, including the one to Mars.
And I am sure, the moon will soon be the hottest tourist destination even in India, and songs like "चलो दिलदार चलो, चाँद के पार चलो, हम है तैयार, चलो..." will turn into reality. More so, it will attract international tourists too, owing to the obvious cheaper rates in India.
And then, literally, Sky is the limit for India Inc. (I already see Kingfisher Spacelines in the making). Way to go, Vaidnyaniks.
First and foremost, I wish all of you a Happy Non-Violence Day and a very Happy Ramzan Eid. So, its actually a dual festive occasion for my country, Bapuji's Jayanti and Ramzan Eid. But the most significant occasion is today being World Non-Violence Day. In the event of the recent multi-serial blasts in the country, this day holds a very special place.
Non-violence has been preached in India from its very existence. Lord Krishna, the hero of Mahabharat, Himself has preached non-violence throughout. He never advocated the war, as it only ends in the destruction of innocent mankind. Islam also preaches peace and non-violence through the Holy Qur'an. "Islam is a religion which teaches non-violence. According to the Qur’an, God does not love fasad, violence. What is meant here by fasad is clearly expressed in verse 205 of the second Surah. Basically, fasad is that action which results in disruption of the social system, causing huge losses in terms of lives and property." (http://www.alrisala.org/Articles/papers/nonviolence.htm)
The same thing was preached by Bapuji and that has led us to an independant India. I would like to say about what has happened and not about what would have happened otherwise. But, for sure, more people would have been killed. And loss of life is the biggest loss. It can't be measured in any way.
And the same preachings are required today. In our day-to-day life, how does our religion matter to us. We all get up, get fresh, pray our God for a good and successful day ahead and leave for our work. We come home after a hectic day, pray to our God again, have dinner and sleep. On festive occasions, we celebrate our festivals with each other. In Mumbai, Ganpati and Diwali is celebrated by every one, and so is Ramzan Eid and Christmas.
Today's occasion should inspire us all to collectively pledge to end the violence going on in and out of our minds.
I don't remember the last time I read the sports page of my daily, TOI. Firstly, in India, sports has generally been equal to cricket. And I follow only Indian cricket. But that I watch personally, so I don't feel like reading it again in the news. I was totally against the concept of IPL, so I didn't bother to watch or read about it. But today's frontpage headline in TOI said "India's goldfinger" and I didn't bother to read any other news.
The news deserved it. Abhinav Bindra has given India the first ever individual gold medal in Olympics in the 10m rifle shooting. It is definitely a golden moment in Indian sport history and a huge inspiration, motivation and booster to sports other than cricket, which has become more of a business than sport. And when I went through the sports page (which I read from start to finish, btw) I came across a golden history of Abhinav's achievements. But since, I never read the sports page, I ought to miss out on all those news. But, even the media didn't glorify the events enough. I never saw him in any TV ad or elsewhere. But I know Sania Mirza and even spent a few dollars to watch her live at the Cincinnati open, even though she has a lousy sport history. Thats coz she was upheld quite nicely by media.
The final was quite cut-throat. After qualifying, Finland's Hakkinen was leading with 608.1 and Bindra at 606.7. After the ninth round, both were tied at 689.7. But the "Monk", as he's called, kept his cool and finished the final round with a 10.8er shot, a near-bullseye and finished at 700.5, whereas Hakkinen buckled under pressure to hit 9.7. The feat was remarkable beyond doubt as such a performance under pressure is like hitting a six off Brett lee's last ball of the match with 6 runs to win. Yes, I compared it with a cricket example, because thats how impossible it is. The 20-20 win was also not as great as this achievement coz it was also due to Pakistan's *&%$^#giri at the last minute that we made it. But the precision and accuracy which Bindra achieved in his last shot must have come out of a combination of tremendous will-power, skill, confidence, killer instinct, aggression among other things. We lack a lot of these qualities when we are in any type of a final, esp. killer instinct.
So I salute this champion and wish all the Indians to excel and start a gold rush. It surely must have been a proud moment to listen our national anthem play when the awards were given. Way to go guys...
Well, the Sarkar I am talking about here is actually the Junta who has watched this movie, and yes it is नाराज for sure. Ram Gopal Verma has once again proved that he has lost it after a disgusting remake of the all-time masterpiece, the evergreen "Sholay". And with him even Big B is getting dragged into losing his own. The chain reaction has started with the younger B and now the newer B getting involved in it too. The Queen B has smartly kept herself away with all this, as always.
The movie continues where its prequel ended showing Sarkar handing over the strings to छोटे sarkar on the former's b'day blast. Abhi is successful in handling of the party and so he is declared the heir to sarkar Big B. His enemies then rope in a power plant co. from UK for a project to be built in Maharashtra, in the childhood village of Big B. Sarkar curses his CM for even thinking of such a project which would dislocate 40k villagers, but Abhi convinces the father about how the project would be a success in the long run, even if it seems a problem at present. So the permissions are given, and the co. rep. Aish comes to visit the site. Both Abhi and Aish convince the villagers about the project and no sooner do they start dreaming about it, a local favorite (Raj Thackeray lookalike) plays spoil sport and turns the villagers against the project. Things go from bad to worst and a major tragedy is brought about in the house of the Nagle's by their enemies at intermission. The first half of the movie is fast and fascinating, but....
After the intermission, the movie starts to derail and goes haywire. There is no definite direction and just shows one murder after the other, like an ordinary bollywood action movie. At one point, it is so ridiculous that I almost burst into a giggle, when Aish puts her hand on Abhi's and withdraws but Abhi reciprocates. I mean, come on guys, u don't expect a Karan Johar stunt in a Ram Gopal Verma movie, do you? The movie gets more and more boring eventually. One man in the theatre yawned a bit loudly, and the entire theatre burst out laughing. It was pathetic.
I don't even feel like commenting anything else about the movie. Its a total flop and I am sure I am not watching any more Verma henceforth. Actually, Abhi and Aish both look good, but it all is lost with the director's. I suggest a strict no-no.
Rating - *
There's a saying in hindi which says इंतेजार का फल मीठा होता है . And yess, after a long, hot, humid, sweating wait comes the sweetest fruit in the form of monsoon. And it did come nicely and heavily here in Mumbai yesterday. The dark clouds had been showing up here and there over a couple of days and did also shed a few drops but yesterday was showering.
The day was quite hot and humid, but at around 6 in the evening a dark cloud gathering started to show up on the west horizon. And within 30 mins, it covered up the entire sky. There was a frenzied feeling of excitement in me, as it was after 5 years that I was to experience the sweet fruit again. And within another 30 mins the monsoon rains made a grand arrival in Mumbai. The mets have said it to be pre-monsoon, but....who cares!!! It started pouring heavily and people coming home from work were caught quite unawares, but I m sure each one must have welcomed the sweet surprise. Me and M were already out, and we had a nice hot plate of pav-bhaji to enjoy the rain.
I thought it would disappear for a day or two after yesterday, but I was wrong. It rained a few in the night and even in the morning today. And what more to ask for than a half-fry sandwich made by my dear wife, mango juice and that too on a friday morning. I am in no mood of working today, for obvious reasons, but.....just 8 more hrs to go b4 a nice weekend. Happy monsoon season to ya all.
In college days, working together is an everyday activity, be it doing experiments, solving assignments, preparing for annual festival or planning a monsoon trip. And at the end of college, we wish the same group of friends should continue, wherever we go for work. However, this doesn't happen most of the times. I don't want to say that it's bad, coz we find more friends that way. But still we feel that our college friends should also be at our workplace.My case was no different. I didn't have any of my college friends at my earlier workplace. Even after my MS, the same thing happened. Then shortly after I started working in Mumbai, one of my bachelor's degree friend, R moved back to India for good from the US and joined my office. R was in a different department than mine, but atleast we were in the same office, so we could meet everyday and had lunch together. College memories became fresh once again, since R was from my college friends group. Slowly, things developed and I got to shift departments for my area of interest, bridge design which is done by the Infrastructure group in my office. And R was also working with the same group, heading the geotechnical dept. Shortly, I was assisting R to prepare a presentation he was to make for our group of engineers. And I remembered my college days again when we used to do assignments together, all papers lying around, study together for semesters, we had even stayed at his place once since it was raining very heavily that day, and I couldn't go home after the exam. All this became green again and I wondered how things develop and unexpected things suddenly become true. I hope this stays and more of our friends join us here, to create the friends group once again and have a blast. Think about it "pearls".
All of us are aware of what overtime is - working beyond regular work hours. But its not always that you get paid for that extra work. I didn't get paid for at my earlier workplace, but currently I am. Ya I know, you might be thinking 'lucky chap' and I wont deny. And why should I. I believe that every minute of work is accountable. I donno how you take it, but would love to know.
But, the other side of this coin is that I work 10 hrs everyday. So, once in a while, its alright to work overtime. But I was doing it for the past three weeks and was quite tired of it. There were deadlines to be met, so I had no other option. But Monday was the deadline day and (hopefully) I am out of it now. So, I can blog again and pen down my thoughts which are queuing up for some time now.
In my cinti blog, I had referred to Pattu, our dear friend, who is as great from inside as thin he looks from outside. He's doing his PhD at UC and am sure he will achive marvels in the time to come. Recently, I happened to visit his blog (www.idridden.com), and was almost instantly fascinated by it. At first I thought the snaps in his blog have been taken from the net or something, but while simult. chatting to J, I found out that he himself was the snapper. His experiments with his new Canon rebel EOS have been fantastic and will make me visit his blog frequently henceforth. I have added his blog to my frequent list too. My favorite work of his is the multiple self one (above). As he says in his blog, I m surely trying that very soon. Keep up the good work "doctor".
History is a suject which I didn't like during school days. But with each year added to my age, I think I am getting more and more interested in history. India has a vast and rich culture, being one of the oldest civilizations in the world. And hence, Indian history is marked with constant events of attacks, since the land always flourished with all sorts of wealth the earth has given to mankind. And this is what Big B tells us in the introduction to "Jodha Akbar", Ashutosh Gowariker's latest release.
The movie is about relationship of Princess Jodhabai of Amer and the mogul emperor Akbar. Emperor Akbar was put to rule at a very early age in his life. The mogul way of rule was very cruel and ambitious, but Akbar (whose actual name was Jalaluddin Mohammed or Jalal) was not very comfortable with it. He was a king with emotion and consideration for mankind, unlike his predecessors. However, he becomes more successful and powerful with this strategy and acquires new kingdoms. In this forward stride, he comes across kingdom of Amer, which proposes to accept his rule on the condition that he marries princess Jodha. Both Jodha and Akbar get married as a compromise and have terms of agreement. However, marriage is not just about living together, and what happens later is very nicely and softly put down in the movie.
The movie is long but you don't really feel the length, since it is intermittently lined with strategies and plots such that you never lose interest. And if there's nothing, there are the grand sets designed beautifully by Nitin Desai, the same person behind the grand sets of Hum dil de chuke... and Devdas. And the credit for the sets goes to Ashutosh, who has made them look just apt for the scenes and no more gaudy or showy, unlike S. L. Bhansali. The sets involve you right at the start where you get a slight recall of LOTR. And thats not the only place where the shot
is brilliant, Hrithik's shot of taming the wild elephant is also majestic. And Hrithik has performed well too. He has fully delivered to the needs of his character and shown all facets of the emperor perfectly, be it calmness or vengeance, love or hatred. Aish also looks very good in tradiitonal wear and I liked her for the first time in ethnic outfit. Rahman's music is good as always.
All in all, the beginning of '08 has been grand for bollywood, and I sincerely feel that the movie should be nominated in the best film category for the Oscars. It has got everything it needs to reach that stage. Ashutosh has done well and maitained his level of direction and I wish him all the best for his future projects (e.g. I heard he's making a movie on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj next...;)).
Rating - * * * * *
The last few hours are left for this year to end and I can't wait for it. Not because I am so much excited that the new year is at the doorstep, but because 2008 has been such a bad year for a general human being and for a Hindustani in particular. The first couple of weeks of 2008 pushed the stock markets down the longest snake of a Snakes & Ladders board which is yet to end. People lost lot of money, fuel prices rose to 2-3 times the present value and the global economy went for a huge huge toss. Banking Giants in the United States which had sustained major recessions could not do it this year and had to file for bankruptcy. This marked the beginning of a recession this year and banks and companies followed the lead. This has brought us to a challenging 2009 which is already expected to be an even worse year. The recession might grow and more jobs could be lost.
