Santa Singh Banta Singh Balle Balle!!!!

Before I embark upon my blogathon, I wanna reveal the title of my next blog. It's gonna be "Walk the Talk" that hopefully shall be a befitting reply to "BlueKing". And why dis I choose to post this blog first?????? Is it giving SRK movies some more privilege to dwell in glory before I wield my butcher pen again. No its actually a conscious effort from my side to take a detour from the movie path that I've been treading along for quite some time now.
I tried to push myself (read my pen) to translate my thoughts into words on paper. But guess my pen had again decided to get into a celibacy mode restraining itself from every interaction with paper (Guess my pen has some commitment issues...I should prolly rechristen it to Chandler...).Ironically the pen that I choose to write my blog with is "Papermate" but guess I should now hunt for a pen thats called "Monicamate". But the comprehensive victory over the Aussies at Mohali seems to have shaken off the "Sanyas avtaar" of my pen and here I am writing again.
The victory at Mohali is certainly special. Firstly, Sachin surpassing Brian Lara's world record. Although here I must admit that Brian Lara's grace and elegance will remain unrivaled and the countless matches he has won for WI singlehandedly will always remain firmly and fondly etched in the minds of every cricket lover. I know that was quite an outlandish statement to make almost taking away from Sachin's incredible feat. So I apologize. But in my defence, the admiration for Brian Lara that I have surfaced at the wrong time. So coming back to our own cricketing legend-Tendulkar has made every single of the 1 billion Indians proud. Now for the bigger picture, I guess its raining glory for Sikhs!!!! Every Singh is proving to be a King!!!! Akshay Kumar started it, Dr. Manmohan Singh demonstrated it (the Confidence Vote) and our TURBANATOR (Harbhajan Singh) has now completely testified and justified this statement by proving to be a TERMINATOR for the Aussies!!!
Guess its now the turn of Santa Singh and Banta Singh to take a few pot shots at others!!!!

Minisha Lamba vs. Dow Jones!!!!

I shall definitely explain the title (explicitly needless to add) as I proceed with my blog.
Since I've been inundated with work over the last few weeks, I thought that watching a movie would be a great stress-buster and the movie that I chose to beat my stress was Kidnap. (was it a good choice???) Yes coz it gave me the momentum to get into some light hearted writing after some serious blogging. Well as the title suggests, kids ought to nap during this one coz the leading ladies have been too generous in shedding clothes. But unfortunately for the director, adults too will nap during this one.
Imran Khan graduates from being a chocolate boy guy next door (JTYJN) to an angry young man- a la Amitabh Bachchan from his hey days. But I guess Minisha Lamba's ample cleavage show towers over his anger and the scene where he gawkily stares at her...... amidst a serious sequence with sanjay dutt is absolutely hilarious. I could kinda read his mind. What was Sanjay Gadhvi (the director-if I may add further of the super successful Dhoom series) thinking when he made me stare at Minisha Lamba who can do anything but even remotely turn on a guy!!!!!!!! Well I would like to tell him Sweetheart.. Sanjay gadhvi was not thinking at all and this movie is the biggest testimony to that. Coming back to the plot (for the director who thought that a plot existed) Minisha Lamba is the daughter of the richest Indian alive (Sanjay Dutt) and Imran Khan kidnaps her as he has some old scores to settle with her father. The director in this own words termed this movie to be an edge of the seat thriller. he is right up to the point of edge of th seat. But where he gets it wrong is the thriller part. Its actually a laugh riot coz the dialogues are so insanely mouthed by the charcters that they will definitely throw you from the edge of your seat as you are rolling with laughter.
Some of the dialogues from the movie,
Imran Khan to Minisha: This is a kidnap. Maine tumhe kidnap kiya hai. Do you know what a kidnap is??? (I guess all that was left in the scene is presenting her with a Thesaurus to look up the meaning of kidnap...)
Sanjay Dutt to the cop: Maine mere assistants ko mere dushmanon ki list banane ke liye kaha hai... (as though he is trying to make a grocery list)
Imran Khan to Sanjay Dutt: Mujhe revenge chahiye..(something like when you walk into agrocery store/vegetable vendor and say Mujhe do kilo aata chahiye ya sabzi chahiye...as though revenge is something thats sold off the shelf...and Sanjay Dutt is the guy selling it...Phew....)
Finally, the performaces by the two leading ladies is so intense and superlative that perhaps Naseeruddin Shah could take a lesson or two from them.
I am being too harsh I guess. the director has made some remarkable progress too from his previous Dhoom attempts.
For starters, Minisha Lamba's necklines have plunged several notches deeper than the greatest plummet witnessed by Dow Jones in the last four years and this nose dive in the necklines and amount of clothing worn is way ahead than those sported by the ladies in the Dhoom series...Only point being- there is a hope that the bank bailout plan will help resurrect the US economy and Dow Jones but I wonder what will bailout the producers from this debacle called "KIDNAP".
Second Progress:
Vidya Malvade plays Minisha's mother and looks perhaps just a few minutes older to her daughter and very ably competes with her daughter in the neckline department. ( A case of child (read infant) marriage I guess.. oops is this regressive then??????
Third Progress:
Reema Lagoo the quintessential mother of Hindi movies (second only to Nirupa Roy who played an ailing/blind/widowed/poverty-stricken -why slashes- most of the movies it was all of the above together) to Vijay aka Amitabh Bachchan in all the movies) now plays a grandmother in this movie- A sure progress for her.
Finally, the director thinks that he has extracted such a great and intense performance from Imran Khan that in one of his interviews compared Imran's performace to Marlan Brando.
I end my blog by saying "May Marlan's soul that is twisting and tossing in his grave post this statement rest in peace"

Wish every FRIDAY was A WEDNESDAY!!!!

I posted my last blog on a Tuesday with an open ended question. Least did I expect to find an answer to my question "IN" "A Wednesday" )that ain't a grammatical error)that I unravelled on a Thursday (Yesterday) and putting forth that answer to everyone on a Friday (today). Yes I am talking about the movie "A Wednesday". Along with finding an answer to my question, this is also a film that reaffirmed my belief that Naseeruddin Shah is an actor par excellence, the only actor to have understood the finer nuances of this medium of expression and making his character come out real and alive from the silver screen. This is also a film that will allay the doubts of several people who still think we have no actor to match up to the standards of Marlon Brando and Al Pacino (I am not trying to set up a benchmark to rate Indian actors- but simply making a statement reflecting the common sensibility and perception of Bollywood vs. Hollywood hoopla.) Coming back to Naseeruddin Shah- I call him a true genius (A genius is a person of great intelligence who shows an exceptional natural capacity of intellect, especially as shown in creative and original work, something that has never been seen ) I made an effort to reiterate the Oxford definition of genius coz the term is now being so oft used (read abused) that it has become almost analogous to mediocrity.
Having said that it is only fair that I enlist the names of a few people who I truly consider genius. Albert Einstein undoubtedly (am too small a mortal to even write anything more), Jimmy Hendrix (the greatest guitarist of all times and here I do have someone to corroborate my opinion- the old man from "The pursuit of Happyness"),William Shakespeare (the greatest literary genius), Sir Garfield Sobers (I know the expected name would have been Sir Donald Bradman)- but this name is purely going by my dad's instincts, expertise and knowledge of the game and the fact that he has seen this cricketing legend's live display of his skill on numerous occasions) and finally Pt.Jawaharlal Nehru (I know this name would incite the greatest deal of deliberation). But in my defence- being the first leader of a nascent nation requires the leader to be a great visionary if you want to put the nation at par with all the developed nations and this man was the greatest visionary of all times. IIT, IIM, public sector development, industrialization were all his brainchild. So yes, I have manifold reasons to enlist this leader with a gift of extraordinary vision and astounding leadership to accomplish that vision.
I guess that was quite a detour from the intent of the blog. Coming back to the answer to my question, the film provided is a dialogue from the movie. To quote Naseeruddin Shah "The common man is resilient by force and not my choice". I truly believe that a bubble is waiting to burst and the day of action is fast approaching.
Another novelty demonstrated by the filmmaker was to keep the protagonist-"The awakened common man" unnamed. The basic needs, thoughts, feelings and sensibilities of all of us-we "AAM Junta" is the same and it transcends every possible social/communal divide and hence gauging a common man's motives by his religion is a futile exercise. I guess this essence has been brilliantly captured in the movie when this man addresses himself as a stupid common man and refrains from revealing his name-lest he be judged.
I conclude by saying: Three Cheers to such filmmakers who truly inspire every cine goer and use this medium with a stupendous reach so effectively!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mumbai- Indeed Meri Jaan

Yesterday was a long, frustrating day with the day epitomizing Murphy's law of things going wrong. I ain't usually the kind of person seeking solitude under even the most depressing times, but yesterday was different. But in that process, I ended up watching a truly brilliant movie "Mumbai meri Jaan" a maiden attempt at making Hindi movies by a lesser known director called Nishikant Kamat-bravo to such a courageous attempt..A movie that portrayed the true spirit of Mumbaites (oops Mumbaikars- lest I evoke the wrath of....) But a true Mumbaikar I am. The movie depicts the lives of four different people with strikingly uncanny personalities and from different strata of society, but their lives changed by one common incident- the 11th of July Mumbai train blasts (I hated sensationalizing the blasts by referring to this very unfortunate and tragic incident as 7/11) This is not an attempt to write a review here but an attempt to seek an answer to a question that has been plaguing my mind for long now... and that is "How long are we gonna remain mute spectators to all the misdeeds happening around us and let corruption and money overpower our conscience and the virtue of righteousness. Bordering largely on cynicism my answer to the above question makes me say forever. This question crept into my mind and left a deep impact after watching a brilliantly executed scene in the movie that shows the pathos of a police constable when he is not able to do anything to fight the wrong and is forced to abide by his utmost corrupt superiors' orders. To this his senior constable colleague Paresh Rawal (in yet another powerhouse performance) says- "Yehi hai duniya.. yehi hai asli picture. is picture ko bus apni mann ki kursi par baithkar prekshak (audience) ki tarah dekho, par actor ban ne ki koshish mat karo.maine 35 saalon se yahi kiya hai, tum bhi ab yahi karna seekh lo. Loosely translated-Be oblivious to everything around you. Do not get carried away by emotions. Becoming a stoic you have nothing to loose, but trying to become a hero, you have everything to loose. It makes me wonder..Can we still awaken and wage a war against every ill inflicting our society or is the damage really irreparable????????? Lack of time this day is forcing me to leave this question open-ended, but I do hope to pen down my thoughts on the same soon.
Coming back to the movie, the resilient spirit of Mumbaikars depicted in the film and not just the film-having lived in Mumbai for over 20 years, I have witnessed the humane spirit of Mumbai on numerous occasions and have been overwhelmed by it time and again and this is what makes me say "Mumbai-Indeed meri Jaan"

May my Pen's soul rest in Peace!!!!!

I am back!!!Almost seems like a reincarnation to me. This powerful weapon named "lethargy" had bumped me off from the blogosphere. I feel like one of the characters from Ekta Kapoor's (I have this intense desire to spell soap with a K)When logic can go for a toss in these serials, Grammer can might as well go for a toss..Ok so coming back a character from Ekta Kapoor's Koaps. My character was bumped off by this villain called lethargy (and for those of you who missed my blog and want to call this villain a few names- its a female villain) Its perfectly logical- all negative characters in the koaps of this czarina of television are females. Ok coming back to my Koap-this villain thot I was gone..but only to be saved by some obscure people (read poverty stricken people from a nomadic clan).With them I lay brain dead for a few days and then miraculously one fine day I wake up alive and kicking.
Why such a huge preface before my blog each time??????Passion for words finds itself to be the scapegoat each time. But this time I shall be honest...this time its prolly to cover up for the lack of content following the preface. I sat down to write something utterly relevant and important but decided to reserve that for my next blog. Since I am writing after a long time, my pen does not seem to be in the highest spirits to make love to paper (Hope that aint a very scandalous stmt). So without subjecting my pen to a lot of misery I intend to keep this blog short (for those rejoicing short in my dictionary has a strikingly different synonym that that found in the Oxford which in due course will be self explanatory. Two distinct changes occured in my life.
For one from being the most profitable member to Netflix, I became not so profitable to them. Ekta Kapoor's scheming villain named lethargy prevented me from posting back DVDs on time resulting in me watching only two movies in two months for 30$. I had opted for the plan which had the feature to watch unlimited movies each month- but the most important pre requisite- post the movies u already have at home! But this time the person who helped me combat this villain was truly a hero- TOM HANKS!!!! One of the two movies I'd rented and that I saw two months after its receipt and a day before posting was Philadelphia for the second time. His sensitive portrayal of the AIDS stricken soul made me fall head over heels for this man and reeling under the Tom Hanks fever, I promptly posted the DVDs and watched a series of Tom Hanks movies and managed to my Netflix plan more economical. Two two other guys who ably assisted Tom Hanks were Dustin Hoffman (Kramer vs Kramer) and Will Smith (The pursuit of Happyness...)
But again you win some, you lose some and some would be an understatement here. If Netflix lost a profitable client Cingular gained one and how!!!!!!! I was initially enrolled in a family plan that had the owner of the plan being extremely parsimonious with minutes and words and thus garnering a huge chunk of roll over minutes all used to the advantage of yours truly whose love for words and talk is unparalleled. My bills used to be perfectly restricted to exactly half the basic plan rate plus the add on taxes. But breaking free from the family plan had some unforeseen and tremendous repercussions. Starting a new account meant starting on a clean slate with zero roll over and monthly minutes restricted to 450. And the timing was perfect with my aunt visiting the US and constantly calling me from her landline. Me being extremely prodigal with words have overshot minutes every single month since then. The 17th day of every month has a humongous shock (prolly even unmeasurable on the Richter Scale) in store for me in my inbox- my Cingular Bill!!!) But the impact it leaves on me zilch....But this time I have seriously decided to give some peace to the ears of several people and be more stingy and curtail my bill and stop being a profitable venture to Cingular. Will I succeed??????? my next blog will tell (You gotta agree ts extremely difficult to fight your natural instincts!!!)
I can hear my pen cringe now and even my dictionary growl that agreed short is long in my world but no one wants to dwell in my world and certainly my dictionary does not want to be confined here either. So understanding the pathos of my pen I end my blog here and.....my pen gives up here!!!

Do they really sit on Ivory Tower and pass judgement???

I am appalled by the judgement given by the Mumbai High Court in the Mehta abortion case. My fury may partially generate from the judgement, but more so from the report of the 3 doctors on the basis of which her abortion plea was dismissed. The three doctors who a few days ago certified a fair chance of the foetus developing a congenital heart disease at the time of birth miraculously opined today that such chances were extremely remote. Did medical science progress to this extent in a couple of days or was it an overpowering unnamed intervention???????
Well the purpose of my blog is to not analyze the rampant beaurocratic corruption but rather to gather a few responses on if the judgement was correct. Has it been taken based on a moral stance or from a practical standpoint? Or is it a sheer conservative approach preventing the judges from making a landmark judgement calling for the amendment of the 37 year old abortion clause which states that a foetus over 20 weeks old can be aborted only in case of proven fatality to the mother's life. The Mehtas argue that nothing can be more cruel than to see your child suffer from a traumatic medical condition. If the disease indeed manifests itself upon birth, the child's condition will indeed be pitiable with the infant being subject to multiple surgeries and the infiltration of a pacemaker into the infant's beautiful and innocent heart. With competition turning fierce and if I may say so ugly, this child with impaired physical abilities will indeed be at a disadvantage where "marks" and "grade" have become the only yardsticks to measure one's credibility leave alone intelligence. I can recall my mom's anxiety and prayers at the slightest of cold or fever that I developed not only as a child but even today. Imagine the parents woes to see their child battle not only physical constraints, but emotional as well as social. Despite their trauma they will have to put up a brave front to ably assist their child to brace all the challenges with courage. But the big question remains "At the end of the battle will anybody emerge victorious?????? or to put it more correctly "Is it wise to even wage such a precarious battle in the first place?????- I have no answer....
But I am also overwhelmed with the support people all over have rendered to this couple. Various NGO's, child-care organizations, the Church, hospitals that have offered to bear the consequences from monetary help upto taking custody of the child and giving him good upbringing. Now I think, this unborn child has so many well-wishers with the entire country praying for his life. Given the birth rate in India, when no one even knows about the genesis of life happening in multiple numbers all over the country, this child has the entire country eagerly awaiting to embrace him upon his arrival to the world. We do speak of advances in science and that technology has grown like never before, but I think all of this is second only to HIS Divine Power. Man cannot be clairvoyant and forsee this infant's sufferings as HIS divine power coupled with the miracle of science has the capability of surpassing every misery. But the big question is "Is all this arguement and moral principle of not killing a life (put very crudely) all rational????????
But this arguement can be defended purely by pining hopes on the hope that people do not forget their promises and do continue to extend their support to this couple even after all the euphoria surrounding this case dies out.
Now for the HC judges- It is indeed time to climb down your ivory towers and make some landmark judgement..Make a clause to provide educational and admission and monetary concessions to such children who do not fall under the conventional and almost extinct"physically challenged students Quota" who fight an acrimonious battle with life and face bigger challenges than scoring 99% in exams. These are truly the most successful candidates in this game called life. I think our educational (more so the admission) system needs some serious rethinking!!!!!

Would love to get some comments on this issue that I think is pertinent.

Donning a Butcher's hat!!!!!

I guess the "Tanhai" post made a big impact afterall-I had quite a few people calling in their concerns about my well-being and to know if that post was a subtle innuendo reflecting my state of mind. But hey am I complaining about the calls or am I secretly grinning that well wasnt such a post meant to garner attention and I cant be that juvenile and oblivious to the fact that "If I post something to this effect- it would go unnoticed........Somewhere subconsciously I needed that attention. But well I have now made a conscious decision to not reflect any overtly personal emotions on the blog directly or metaphorically.
For long I've been wanting to play a critic and review (read rip apart) a movie (I am a hugeeeeee movie buff). But never did I think that my maiden attempt at this would be reviewing the music of a movie and even more not being able to do what I set out to- rip apart. The music in question is of the movie "Bachnaa ae Haseenon" composed by Vishal and Shekhar. Since "tanhai" left a pall of gloom I tried to get off my conservative approach and made an attempt to give an ear to the latest offing of Bollywood- and at the end of this miniature musical trip- am I ready to don my critic's (read butcher's) hat???????No infact I am rather pleasantly pleased..
Coming straight to the review (Lady, you waste 20 lines before you could even type the word review and you call this coming straight to the point?????) Well guess that's my love for words (verbose nahhhhh...passion yesssssssss). The track starts off with the song "Ahista Ahista" sung by lucky Ali and shreya ghosal. Her mellifluous voice is ably and perhaps to an extent overshadowed by the uniqueness of his voice. For people looking for some "hatke stuff" this is your answer. The lyrics are fresh too. The overlapping of the male and female voices has been done beautifully- although this is not the first of its kind..has been done two decades ago by the musical maestero Illayaraja (A true tamilian I am.......)
Now the big one- the title track, the name of which has been borrowed from the movie "Hum kissise Kum nahin" and not just the title of the movie, the song itself is a remix of the original. The very mention of the song etches the memory of the faces of three people very vividly- Rishi kapoor, Kishore Kumar and R.D. Burman. With millions of remixies being churned out (despite being vehemantly opposed and criticized by self proclaimed musical legends, I would certainly agree with them at times, but opposing the entire idea of remixes is not justified I think (Debatable yes.. I think I just found the topic for my next blog...) O.K this one has been sung by Sumit Kumar- the son who has been shouldered with the responsibility of carrying forward the legacy of his father. does he do justice???????? Yes and No. Yes- coz the remix version has some interesting pieces of original club style music that takes away attention from his not so amazing voice. in addition to this again a novelty here-some original parts of the song in kishore Kumar's voice have been interspersed well that are a true delight to the ears even after 30 years from the date of composition (Well but wasnt R.D. Burman known to be ahead of his time anyways). And No- coz descendant of kishore Kumar dynasty is quite a tricky place to be in due to inevitable comparisons. Overall the song is a winner and can definitely pep up your sombre mood any time and set your feet (left feet too) grooving.
Now the bets one and the big one- Khuda Jaane- almost on the lines of Suraj Hua Madham... Has a very haunting feel to it. the credit of this song should in entirety go to K.K (my favorite and perhaps the most underrated singer). He oozes life, emotions, depth and a whole new dimension and meaning to the song. the song starts off a with a lovely humming(almost extinct these days) that sets the perfect tone to a five minute journey and at the end of it transports you to the land of mountains, rivers and beautiful landscapes (power of imagination or am I a diehard romantic? perhaps the latter). Lovely composition.... But everything cant go right in a world where Murphy's law holds good (If something can go wrong it will go wrong) and remixies have the greatest potential to go wrong and this one surely does. Remix version of this song with the fast signature remix beats is completely devoid of the original soul and gives a feeling that the singers are in a tearing hurry to hop on to the next studio for another recording. Truly a massacre.
Well the first three songs left me wanting for more (of them) and I ended up listening to them repeatedly impeding my effort to go on to the next blog (So yes now if reading this was a bigger massacre then you have Vishal Shekhar to blame, and if reading up to this point was fun but you can take no more You have Vishal Shekhar to thank to having restricted me to the first three songs....)
A final word- If I came across an interesting composition I have always recommended it to a friend and have forced the person to literally listen to the song at gun point) Unfortunately I couldnt do the recommendation bit this time. Hope my blog does the needful on my behalf...