FDLS - Sarkar (Na)Raj

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 - *

Monsoon morning

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.

Classmates to officemates

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".

Time over for overtime

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.

Photu phreak Pattu

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".

FDLS - Jodha Akbar - Love story-e-hindustan!!!!

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 - * * * * *

First Day Last Show - TZP

This is the second FDLS, the first being BB (sorry for the shortforms, but they make life easier :D). I watched the trailer of Taare Zameen Par (TZP) during BB for the first time, and was quite excited to watch the movie. So me and M went on friday to see Aamir's maiden creation. The first day is the best one to watch a movie since u have no personal reviews from anyone, so u r the first ones to make an opinion about the movie. We discovered this during BB, since Chak De turned out to be an average flick for me and M after all the hype about it.

It starts off with a beautiful animation for the titles, similar to the cartoon animation titles in older comedy movies. The technologically advanced version is amazing to watch. It sets off a theme of being a movie which children would love for the next 3 hours. The hero, Darsheel, is introduced in the first scene itself, and the movie begins with his daily routine and his total ignorance towards studies. The kid has done an extra-ordinary work in creating the sympathetic environment for himself in a very short time. I had a chance to see the reactions a kid who was sitting besides me and Darsheel was already his hero, in the first 20 mins of the movie, though he's shown to be a loser. The setup is in an ordinary Indian family in Mumbai with 2 sons and parents. The elder son is an ace in whatever he does and the younger is the exact opposite. The parents think that the child is not interested in studying and is a useless fellow. They beat him and scold him for his misbehavior (and here Darsheel has successfully received the ohhhhhs and aahhhhhs of the female audience), threatening him to put him in boarding school if he continued with his rebellious nature. And finally the same thing happens.

But since the kid has been highly misjudged, he continues to be the same at boarding school too. All the more, now he prefers solitude and has no mood to do even his favorite, painting. He feels left out of the family and doesn't correspond with the parents or brother as before. Here, I would like to say that Darsheel has hardly any line s to speak, but he has acted so well that u can feel the pain he is in. And then suddenly one day, comes a magician, a new drawing teacher (Aamir) who sees the kid about to be devastated. And he strives and succeeds in bringing the kid back on track. No spoilers here, u will have to watch the movie to see how he does it.

All in all, an excellent work by Aamir as a debutant director, who is very well aware of the expectations of the Indian audience, especially from him, and has fully delivered. The movie, is no doubt, a serious one which makes every parent cry, but its surely an eye-opener for very many parents, who fail to understand child psychology. Performances from all the actors are very good, including Tisca, and the best actor of the year is definitely Darsheel. Aamir also looks good, though with wrinkles on his face. But not at all as bad as SRK. Watch it people.

Rating - * * * * */2

Reunion

The word reunion itself comes with a hidden meaning of reunion of friends, who had left each other, after a considerable amount of time. And I also met my best friends on this weekend after being away for almost 6 months. It was one of our friend’s wedding in Ahmadabad where we were to meet. So it was a weekend of double happiness for all of us, wedding plus reunion. P’s wedding was planned for almost a year now and as days progressed, it was sure that I could attend it. J also finalized her future plans and according to that, she could also attend it. This simultaneously turned into a blueprint of my reunion with J and P. And the countdown started. And after almost 3 months of eager wait, the day of P’s wedding finally arrived. I met P in the morning and was very happy to see her again, in the same perfect health as she was when she had left after their graduation day. Then me and M went to pick J up at the airport and as we waited for her to come out of the Arrivals gate, a tiny shiver ran through my body in that 1 minute. I had missed all my friends in my wedding and was very eager to meet all of them with M and introduce her to them. And she came out as hussly-bussly as ever and the final reunion occurred.

It was very similar to meeting my family after 2 years; truly enough, since they were my family back in the US. And from that point on, ‘fun unlimited’ started. We chatted and laughed and gossiped and teased all through the time we were together. Sadly, P was not with us, since it was her wedding :D. But, me M and J had a धम्माल time together. Though keeping in touch in today’s world is a very easy thing with chats and skypes all over the place, the pleasure of meeting a friend in person has its own charm. And the same thing happened. I meet J online almost everyday. But still, now I am eagerly waiting for her wedding for the second quick reunion ;).

Review time

1. Wings of fire -
This is the biography of ex-president of India, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam written for him by one of his colleagues. The book has been divided into sections of his life. The first section is very nicely described glorifying his birthplace of रामेश्वरम and his near and dear people. I am really very excited to see रामेस्वरम now. He talks about the simple ways of life of people in that period who had great minds, thoughts, instinct togrow and make progress and help India develop into a great nation.

The book then steps into his life as an engineering student. He tells us how he wanted to pursue a career as a pilot, but couldn't make it there. However, with the help of his mentors and teachers, he gained extensive knowledge in aerospace engineering. He tells us how his teachers and two of his closest friends inspired him to attain new heights.

As a bachelor of engineering, he had excellent opportunities at hand. His association with Prof. Vikram Sarabhai has been put down very nicely and you immediately start admiring Prof. Sarabhai, if not till then. The book then gets you involved into the Indian space research program with details of development of the concept, resources, skills, people and finally, the satellites, SLVs and world class missiles. The passion in the minds of those great scientists is undoubtedly commendable and respectable which has made us possible to see India as world's 2nd best military power.

Finally, he describes his role as the head of the defense research organization of India. The book can be considered as an excellent guide or handbook for want-to-be managers. It is a very good read for young engineers and scientists of India, and also for people who love this nation from the bottom of their hearts. The book stands on this one big foundation of patriotism. Dr. Kalam has sown a very powerful seed, it is upto us now to water the seed and fertilize it and make our country the most powerful nation in all respects.
Rating: * * * *

2. Bhool Bhulaiyya -
I would call this as a very nice come back by Priyadarshan. The talented director had largely lost his way after Hera Pheri and it seemed that he would never return. The major success of Hera Pheri lured him into making similar movies with Paresh Rawal as one of the lead actors in each of them. But none turned up to be even close. All movies were full of बक्वास.

But the promos of Bhool Bhulaiyya itself were very catchy and me and my wife at once decided to take a big risk and watch another of Priyadarshan's creations. And the movie starts off, like all of his earlier ones, in a village somewhere near U.P./Bihar. However, the storyline also starts right there. The suspense about a lady haunting a very old हवेली in the village catches you immediately. The supporting starcast is almost the same which Priyadarshan has used in his earlier movies but they have been properly confined to their respective roles throughout the movie, including Paresh Rawal. Shiney Ahuja and Vidya Balan, who are supposed to stay in the haveli have acted nicely as a wouldbe couple who has come back from US to get married in India. Shiney is the prince of the village and the heir to the हवेली. He is a non-believer in ghosts and laughs the haunting story out. Amisha is shown as the adopted daughter of Shiney's uncle, Manoj Joshi, and is supposed to be in love with Shiney. The family also knows about this and thinks Shiney would agree. But, with Vidya marrying him, Amisha gets upset. The haunting starts to increase by the day and strange and weird things start happening in the हवेली. Shiney and Vidya, being educated people, decide to take up the matter and dig it out.

It then that they come to know about a story of a king of the हवेली who is the fore-father of Shiney. He used to like a female bengali dancer in his दरबार who in turn used to like the poet of the दरबार. When the king came to know about it, he slayed the poet which led to the suicide of the dancer. But the dancer wows to revenge her love's death and supposedly haunts the हवेली. Being unable to believe in this story and looking at the happening incidents, they find out that Amisha is mentally upset.

And then enters the Hero, Akshay. His entry was hugely applauded in the theatre and I was amazed by the magic Akshay has on people. He's a psychiatrist and starts his investigations which give him a very different viewpoint. The story has been very beautifully taken from a comedy note to a serious and suspense story. Priyadarshan is successful in keeping the public glued to their seats till the end. The performances are very good, especially Vidya Balan. In all, the movie is a must watch - good job Priyadarshan.
Rating: * * * *

3. Om Shanti Om -
This is Farah Khan's second movie as a director and also her second movie with KK. It is about a junior artists love for a herione which makes him take birth again - yes, its about rebirth. It starts in the 70s era with KK as a junior artist who likes Deepika. One movie shot finds her surrounded by burning huts (similar to Mother India) and KK jumps in like a real hero and saves her life. She also likes the person in him but is secretly married to a bigtime producer, Arjun Rampal, and is unhappy. Their marriage is a secret to the public. But now she is fed up with it and is also expecting. Arjun is freaked out with this news as it is not what he wants now. He is looking forward to a big project "Om Shanti Om", which now wont be completed since its star, Deepika is pregnant. So he kills her and flees, but our real hero, KK, sees this and tries to save her, but in vain. He also dies in the fire. But he takes birth again to revenge Deepika's death.

And from this point, the story kind of loses track. Farah could have shown it in a much better way. But she has given undue importance to minor details to maintain the comedy in the movie, but it ends up making the movie just a normal flick. The lack of experience can be seen here, though I think Subhash Ghai had equal experience when he made Karz. But that one is one of the major milestones of Indian cinema. KK is shown to be the son of a leading actor in his second birth with an unnecessary foreign accent and style. Instead, she should have shown him to be what he really is at this point of time, or at least as Abhishek, a starlet who has juust started acting. The reappearance of Deepika is random and the climax is all the more random. As for the performances, Deepika looks verry cute and lovely with her innocent looks and should continue to do so. KK seems to have acted in this one just for the sake of it. His Chak de was better. Rest all are average. In all, Farah Khan should not remain as a director of Main hoon na type movies, but should make progress.
Rating: * *

Star Blog

The Mumbai Mirror on this Sunday had an article which was basically, an interview with Aamir Khan. There, I found mention of the star's website and blog. As is known, Aamir is not a very outgoing person when it comes to media, so we get to read very little of him. So I checked out the website which hosts the blog now, and was very happy to read his blogs. He also has a chat on the website, which I haven't checked yet, but the blogs are good tp. He is very informal and friendly in his blogs, and I personally felt nice to read it. He has definitely used it for publicity of his upcoming films (TZP at present), but its very obvious. I just felt like sharing it with u guys.