Final Assault - Salute to the Heroes!!!

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!!!

First success

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!!!!!

Salute to the Martyrs

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.

Brain investment, not brain drain

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 Review - Rab ne ..

Music Director - Salim-Sulaiman

This 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.

Giant little champs

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.`

New look

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.

FDLS - Fashion

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