Wow, its been really really long time since I wrote anything on blog. Have been to Rajasthan during this period and had a lot of stuff to write about. But, never got the mood. Hopefully, oneday I will update it with pics et al.
What brings me to my blog today. A hindi movie called 'LuckByChance'. Farhan Akhtar has become a cult nowadays. More so for the multiplex going IT kind of folks. The dude is talented and multifaceted. After 'Rock On' brand akhtar value seems to have gone up. But alas, he is no good actor. I could nt connect to his character either in RockOn or in LuckByChance.
Surprisingly, the movie got glorious reviews and pulled me to the theater. What happens when I go there. Well, the Akthars are no different from YashRaj banner. Yashraj inspires from the chickflix of hollywood. Akthars are doing the same from drama movies of hollywood. Luckbychance is the story of upcoming actor who is talented and clever. Movies shows the underbelly of bollywood and story is pretty realistic. But if you are a veteran of hollywood dramas, you have seen it all.
One street smart guy with hunger in his belly comes to town, makes it big, loses his friends with success and then realization and redumption. Wheter its a mafia dealer, investment banker, of Priyanks Chopra in Fashio, story is same. Just that this movie exposes bollywood and typical stereotypes of bollywood.
Movie is watchable on DVD. otherwise its too slow and long for what it wants to portray. Likeable are the characters of konkona sen-sharma and isha sharvani(this lady is new shabana azmi, although not there yet completely).
Director Zoya did a great job though. Technically, this is a well made movie. 'Raahi Re' song is toooo good. one of the best I heard off late.
My reco: Buy the audio CD and DVD. No need to rush to theaters.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Friday, September 5, 2008
My trip to Shirdi
Howdy folks? Have nt updated my blog in a long time. Though I've read so many books during this time and watched a ton of movies, nothing was worth writing a review here. ( I take that back, I was a bit lazy :) ). So, how have you been doing? Remember my post in March. I went to Shirdi to visit Baba and could neither find an accomodation nor the darshan. Well, I really felt snubbed by the Lord and badly wanted to go again. Last weekend, I went there along with my friend R. R apparently was a frequent visitor to Shirdi as a child and knows the place in and out. He adviced me to read Baba's biography before the trip to enjoy the trip better. (Believe me, it was an advice worth following). He also pulled some connections to get acco and premium darshan.
So, there we were on Ajanta express on Friday evening. We had packed some delicious meal and journey was fun. We got off the train at Nagarsol and took a cab to Shirdi. Nagarsol is a small village. I mean really really small like say Gunjapadugu. Technically, trains do not stop there. But Railway authorities realized that, it is the nearest train stop to Shirdi for folks coming from Hyderabad and created a stop. So, you can imagine the commotion in such a small place the moment a train arrives. In any civilized place, you would imagine, the bus authorities would tie this train arrival time to send some buses to Shirdi. But this is India. No such luck. So, private taxies like qwalis, maruti vans rightfully cash the opportunity. we squeezed into a Maruti van paying 50/- for 40km journey. 2 of us along with the driver squeezed in the front. God knows how many were there in the back. (something like 6 adults and 3 children..whoa). We arrived in Shirdi had breakfast at a place which was 1 on a scale of 10. Then set out to meet the temple PRO and R got us some clean but nothing fancy kind of accomodation for dirt cheap price. Saturday happened to be "Gudi Padwa" in Maharashtra which was a big day for them. You can imagine the crowd. I was wondering if Baba was again getting ready to show his ire on me. PRO told it was one of the busiest days for them and he was not sure if he could provide a previlege darshan we were hoping for. Anyways, general darshan Q was taking 3-4 hrs. So, we decided to visit 'Dwarakamayi' and 'Chawadi'. The two places where Baba used to sleep for his sixty years of stay in Shirdi. R said, that should nt be a popular place and we can spend some quality time in the masjid(dwarakamayi) where Baba used to stay. We were in for a rude shock. R's knowledge was 10 years out of date. There was a 1.5hrs Q to enter the masjid and we had no choice but stand in the line. While standing in the Q, I finished most of the Baba's bio that I got along. In the masjid you can find places like the 'dhuni' where baba started a fire a 100+ years ago and it is burning non-stop since then. (Ashes from the dhuni is what you see on devotees forehead). There is also a pillar to which baba used to lean and stone on which he used to sit while talking to devotees. It was a great feeling to see those places after reading about them in the book. From there we went to Chawadi. Baba used to alternately sleep in these places. After that were a bit exhausted and had a lunch in some AP tourism place, punnami. I did nt like it at all. R gave an OK rating. Then, we tried to see if we could manage a general darshan but realized its gonna be a long wait in the queue and ditched the idea.
In the afternoon, we visited places in the samsthan like the book stall, gurusthan (the neem tree where baba was first spotted)., lendy baag (a garden which was planted by baba) and were idling the in the temple complex). At around 4, we again contacted the PRO to get a pass for the evening aarati darshan. we were asked to meet at the main entrance at around 5:30 for the evening aarati. We were just biding that time near temple. Finally at around 6 we were let in. and at 6:30 the aarati started. It was GREAT. I was standing just 3 feet away from Baba's Idol and samadhi for good 30-40 minutes. thouroughly enjoyed the whole experience. After that, we went back to our room, after evening ablutions, set out for dinner. Since we were standing for most part of the day (roughly 7-8 hours), we were dead tired and really wanted to sleep. (dinner at woodlands was good. I ordered bisibelebath since it was a kannada place, it was good). After a long day, we slept like deadlogs. The plan was to wake up by 5 and stand in the Q for a general darshan by 6pm. That way we can avoid the crowd that gets accumulated for morning aarati. It was a perfect plan. we had darshan within 40 minutes. It was also peaceful. No pushing and shoving. After spending good 10 minutes infront of baba, we spent some time in mukhdarshan hall. R was meditating, I tried but dozed off :). After breakfast, R wanted to do 108 parikramas around guru samsthan. I was nt sure if I was upto the task, but could nt imagine sitting alone waiting for him. So, joined him. Because of the crowd, it took us 90 minutes for such a small distance. Imagine doing that after spending an entire day standing. But, surprisingly it was nt that bad. we had fun. Then we collected some 'oodi' (ashes from dhuni) which are distributed freely. Bought some posters and books, donated some money to samsthan for poor feeding. It was around 10 by then. We again came back to room and tried to eat at the prasadalaya. But the Q was serpentine and I discouraged the whole idea. Then we went to Khandoba temple. sat there for the aarati. After lunch, we happily came to room for a nap. Boy, we desperately needed that :)) lol.
At around 4pm, we went out to shopping. I bought some toy for Vibhu and some printed kurta for myself with lots of Om symbols on it. The kinds you see on sanyasi's.. lol.
Typical tradition in the Shirdi was to see Baba as soon as you arrive and take leave from him before you leave. R wanted to do the same and we stood once more in the Q for dwarakamai. It was raining and pretty chaotic. The trip was so much fun till that point. I somehow lost my patience got into fight with people were cutting lines. urghh.. how could I not .. lol. In the whole process, we realized, we were getting delayed and had to take a call whether to stand in the line and risk missing the train. Baba finally let us in time. When we came back, we realized R lost his 3000/- worth nike sandals right infront of Baba's humble abode. It was a bit shocking. Urgh..first the fight..then this.. I was like hmm...looks like some one is trying to teach us a lesson. We did nt have much time anyway to contemplate. We rushed to the room, checked out, got dinner packed and were againing bargaining with Maruti Van walahs to transport us back to Nagarsol. Return trip was nt eventless journey. Over all, it was except for the tailpiece. Thanks to R for the company and his aunt whose knowledge abt the place, contacts with samsthan made our trip so memorable.
Oh yea forgot to mention, we also visited Baba's famous devotee houses some of which are still preserved. R's aunt translated many books about baba from marathi to telugu and gave the returns on the books to samsthan. So, all her knowledge about the place added much more meaning to our trip. My advice to future travellers, read Sai's bio before you go. That way you can explore and feel the place better.
My laments, I wish the previleged aarati passes were available for a price like in Tirupati for a price. That would have been fair to everyone. I wanted to give feedback to samsthan but totally forgot abt it.
ufff... what a long post. I will take leave.
So, there we were on Ajanta express on Friday evening. We had packed some delicious meal and journey was fun. We got off the train at Nagarsol and took a cab to Shirdi. Nagarsol is a small village. I mean really really small like say Gunjapadugu. Technically, trains do not stop there. But Railway authorities realized that, it is the nearest train stop to Shirdi for folks coming from Hyderabad and created a stop. So, you can imagine the commotion in such a small place the moment a train arrives. In any civilized place, you would imagine, the bus authorities would tie this train arrival time to send some buses to Shirdi. But this is India. No such luck. So, private taxies like qwalis, maruti vans rightfully cash the opportunity. we squeezed into a Maruti van paying 50/- for 40km journey. 2 of us along with the driver squeezed in the front. God knows how many were there in the back. (something like 6 adults and 3 children..whoa). We arrived in Shirdi had breakfast at a place which was 1 on a scale of 10. Then set out to meet the temple PRO and R got us some clean but nothing fancy kind of accomodation for dirt cheap price. Saturday happened to be "Gudi Padwa" in Maharashtra which was a big day for them. You can imagine the crowd. I was wondering if Baba was again getting ready to show his ire on me. PRO told it was one of the busiest days for them and he was not sure if he could provide a previlege darshan we were hoping for. Anyways, general darshan Q was taking 3-4 hrs. So, we decided to visit 'Dwarakamayi' and 'Chawadi'. The two places where Baba used to sleep for his sixty years of stay in Shirdi. R said, that should nt be a popular place and we can spend some quality time in the masjid(dwarakamayi) where Baba used to stay. We were in for a rude shock. R's knowledge was 10 years out of date. There was a 1.5hrs Q to enter the masjid and we had no choice but stand in the line. While standing in the Q, I finished most of the Baba's bio that I got along. In the masjid you can find places like the 'dhuni' where baba started a fire a 100+ years ago and it is burning non-stop since then. (Ashes from the dhuni is what you see on devotees forehead). There is also a pillar to which baba used to lean and stone on which he used to sit while talking to devotees. It was a great feeling to see those places after reading about them in the book. From there we went to Chawadi. Baba used to alternately sleep in these places. After that were a bit exhausted and had a lunch in some AP tourism place, punnami. I did nt like it at all. R gave an OK rating. Then, we tried to see if we could manage a general darshan but realized its gonna be a long wait in the queue and ditched the idea.
In the afternoon, we visited places in the samsthan like the book stall, gurusthan (the neem tree where baba was first spotted)., lendy baag (a garden which was planted by baba) and were idling the in the temple complex). At around 4, we again contacted the PRO to get a pass for the evening aarati darshan. we were asked to meet at the main entrance at around 5:30 for the evening aarati. We were just biding that time near temple. Finally at around 6 we were let in. and at 6:30 the aarati started. It was GREAT. I was standing just 3 feet away from Baba's Idol and samadhi for good 30-40 minutes. thouroughly enjoyed the whole experience. After that, we went back to our room, after evening ablutions, set out for dinner. Since we were standing for most part of the day (roughly 7-8 hours), we were dead tired and really wanted to sleep. (dinner at woodlands was good. I ordered bisibelebath since it was a kannada place, it was good). After a long day, we slept like deadlogs. The plan was to wake up by 5 and stand in the Q for a general darshan by 6pm. That way we can avoid the crowd that gets accumulated for morning aarati. It was a perfect plan. we had darshan within 40 minutes. It was also peaceful. No pushing and shoving. After spending good 10 minutes infront of baba, we spent some time in mukhdarshan hall. R was meditating, I tried but dozed off :). After breakfast, R wanted to do 108 parikramas around guru samsthan. I was nt sure if I was upto the task, but could nt imagine sitting alone waiting for him. So, joined him. Because of the crowd, it took us 90 minutes for such a small distance. Imagine doing that after spending an entire day standing. But, surprisingly it was nt that bad. we had fun. Then we collected some 'oodi' (ashes from dhuni) which are distributed freely. Bought some posters and books, donated some money to samsthan for poor feeding. It was around 10 by then. We again came back to room and tried to eat at the prasadalaya. But the Q was serpentine and I discouraged the whole idea. Then we went to Khandoba temple. sat there for the aarati. After lunch, we happily came to room for a nap. Boy, we desperately needed that :)) lol.
At around 4pm, we went out to shopping. I bought some toy for Vibhu and some printed kurta for myself with lots of Om symbols on it. The kinds you see on sanyasi's.. lol.
Typical tradition in the Shirdi was to see Baba as soon as you arrive and take leave from him before you leave. R wanted to do the same and we stood once more in the Q for dwarakamai. It was raining and pretty chaotic. The trip was so much fun till that point. I somehow lost my patience got into fight with people were cutting lines. urghh.. how could I not .. lol. In the whole process, we realized, we were getting delayed and had to take a call whether to stand in the line and risk missing the train. Baba finally let us in time. When we came back, we realized R lost his 3000/- worth nike sandals right infront of Baba's humble abode. It was a bit shocking. Urgh..first the fight..then this.. I was like hmm...looks like some one is trying to teach us a lesson. We did nt have much time anyway to contemplate. We rushed to the room, checked out, got dinner packed and were againing bargaining with Maruti Van walahs to transport us back to Nagarsol. Return trip was nt eventless journey. Over all, it was except for the tailpiece. Thanks to R for the company and his aunt whose knowledge abt the place, contacts with samsthan made our trip so memorable.
Oh yea forgot to mention, we also visited Baba's famous devotee houses some of which are still preserved. R's aunt translated many books about baba from marathi to telugu and gave the returns on the books to samsthan. So, all her knowledge about the place added much more meaning to our trip. My advice to future travellers, read Sai's bio before you go. That way you can explore and feel the place better.
My laments, I wish the previleged aarati passes were available for a price like in Tirupati for a price. That would have been fair to everyone. I wanted to give feedback to samsthan but totally forgot abt it.
ufff... what a long post. I will take leave.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
some more movies and books..
Babel : Finally I got to watch the acclaimed movie. And it deserves all the praise in the world. I am a fan of Latino poetry and literature. Now I am slowly loving their movies too. If you have n't seen this yet, put it in your list. As a practice, I wont go in to the details of story and be a kill joy. But this is a great watch. Definitely not one of those feel good movies. So watch if you dont mind going to bed in a sombre mood. Background music, Screenplay and some amazing action are one great thing in the movie. Watch out for that.
Sarkar Raj: After RGV's 'aag' debacle, anyone should have guts to go to theaters. But I for one believe form is temporary and class is permanent. So, I dared watching it. It was nt that bad after all. Few things you like about this movie are it has a good story to tell, not one of those bollywoord flix which make you wonder whats the point after three long hours. It is crisp. There are no stupid songs and you hardly get bored. Casting, technicalities are all signature RGV. Couple of things I don't like is the way Aishwarya's character is underdeveloped and suddenly thurst in to the audience at the end. There is also a joker Industrialists role, which was so filmy.
My recommendation is to watch it on dvd if you have time to kill or if you are an RGV fan (which by the way is a vice now).
Almost Single : Thats the new chic-lit book in the Indian market. After reading some good reviews and also the fact that Harper Collins offered huge chunk of money to debutant author for american edition, I got tempted to read this. While the idea of reading Indian chic-lit (chic literature) sounds novel, this book is a big disappointment. To cut short, replace carrie in Sex and the city with Bridget Jones and you have Almost Single. Nevertheless, you can read in flights where you have absolutely nothing to do. (first one to ask me, will get this book from me.)
Joker in the Pack : Student Lit. is the in thing now. There are books by IITians and IIM grads. This was also received with much applause since an year. Frankly, this reads like a blog of an IIM student. There is hardly any drama or good writing. There are too many cliche characters. If you want to take a peek into life of an IIM student, this probably works for you, otherwise its just another flight book. Offer valid for this book too :) first one to ask me will get it.
Above Average: This is another IITian's book. But this one is good. It is good writing and it has a good story to tell with all the humane drama. I would recommend this to folks, who want to take a peek into new age Indian literature. No offers on this book. you have to get your own copy :-) This is definitely a better book than the pot boilers dished out by Chetan Bhagat.
ciao more later..
Sarkar Raj: After RGV's 'aag' debacle, anyone should have guts to go to theaters. But I for one believe form is temporary and class is permanent. So, I dared watching it. It was nt that bad after all. Few things you like about this movie are it has a good story to tell, not one of those bollywoord flix which make you wonder whats the point after three long hours. It is crisp. There are no stupid songs and you hardly get bored. Casting, technicalities are all signature RGV. Couple of things I don't like is the way Aishwarya's character is underdeveloped and suddenly thurst in to the audience at the end. There is also a joker Industrialists role, which was so filmy.
My recommendation is to watch it on dvd if you have time to kill or if you are an RGV fan (which by the way is a vice now).
Almost Single : Thats the new chic-lit book in the Indian market. After reading some good reviews and also the fact that Harper Collins offered huge chunk of money to debutant author for american edition, I got tempted to read this. While the idea of reading Indian chic-lit (chic literature) sounds novel, this book is a big disappointment. To cut short, replace carrie in Sex and the city with Bridget Jones and you have Almost Single. Nevertheless, you can read in flights where you have absolutely nothing to do. (first one to ask me, will get this book from me.)
Joker in the Pack : Student Lit. is the in thing now. There are books by IITians and IIM grads. This was also received with much applause since an year. Frankly, this reads like a blog of an IIM student. There is hardly any drama or good writing. There are too many cliche characters. If you want to take a peek into life of an IIM student, this probably works for you, otherwise its just another flight book. Offer valid for this book too :) first one to ask me will get it.
Above Average: This is another IITian's book. But this one is good. It is good writing and it has a good story to tell with all the humane drama. I would recommend this to folks, who want to take a peek into new age Indian literature. No offers on this book. you have to get your own copy :-) This is definitely a better book than the pot boilers dished out by Chetan Bhagat.
ciao more later..
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Another book - Three mistakes of my life
Ha ha, I am not talking abt my life. Thats the title of new book by Chetan Bhagat. Chetan Bhagat is a phenomenon in India. In the history of Indian writers, he is highest sold Indian writers. His first two books "Five point some one", "One night at call center" together sold a million yes MILLION copies. His third book was titled as a pun. If you don't knot him, Chetan is alumni of IIT Delhi, IIM Ahmedabad. So, what is it which makes him tick?
First among them is, his writing is very contemporary. His writing includes the many experiences which you can relate to. Growing up in any metro, any small town is more common than you can imagine. Second thing is, he strategically priced the books at 95/- cost of which is less than a movie ticket in IMAX.
And most important is his lucid and readable prose. For those, scoffing at his success he is no Rushdie. I have no comments. Atleast he makes people buy books and make them read.
His first book, Five point some one is a very interesting and funny read. His second book is worth giving a miss. But this one is definitely worthy read. worth each paise of those ninty five rupees :). I wont go much into details but next time u want to read something on the flight or a quick read to take a break from something of Rushdie's this is the book to pick.
I will sign off with a vibhu pic. Have a good day everyone.
First among them is, his writing is very contemporary. His writing includes the many experiences which you can relate to. Growing up in any metro, any small town is more common than you can imagine. Second thing is, he strategically priced the books at 95/- cost of which is less than a movie ticket in IMAX.
And most important is his lucid and readable prose. For those, scoffing at his success he is no Rushdie. I have no comments. Atleast he makes people buy books and make them read.
His first book, Five point some one is a very interesting and funny read. His second book is worth giving a miss. But this one is definitely worthy read. worth each paise of those ninty five rupees :). I wont go much into details but next time u want to read something on the flight or a quick read to take a break from something of Rushdie's this is the book to pick.
I will sign off with a vibhu pic. Have a good day everyone.
Monday, May 26, 2008
howdy
hi all,
its been a long time i came to this forum. There were couple of things worth blogging but I could hardly find time. Vibhu, my 1.5yrs nephew is here. He has a magic wand which makes time run in fast foward mode :) Every available minute spent in his company, it is natural not to log. Ok. ok..let me write the bunch of things that I wanted to write.
Vibhu :) He is such a cutie pie. He is in the mocking bird phase right now. repeats after everything you say. for a 16months old his vocabulary is roughly around 200-250 words. you can imagine how much fun it is to spend time with him. He is a hyper-active busy bee and does n't like eating and sleeping much :) Here is a pic from my collection.
Books : I read two interesting books in the past one month. "Unaccustomed Earth" by Jhumpa Lahiri. She is the queen of melancholy and ofcourse queen of ABCD lifes. If you are looking for some happy read this is not for you. If you dont mind realistic and often depressive narrations, go get your copy. btw, in India, I bought a hard-cover edition for 300/- :-p
Another one I read is "Above Average" by Amitabha Bagchi. This is a debut novel from an IIT prof. At the outset, I thought this is just another IIT book like "five point some one" but this has a story and characters are real. Good time pass book and this is a very easy read.
Movie : Finally, I got to watch "There will be blood". Daniel Day-Louis. Boy, what an actor he is. I was hoping he would get an oscar for "gangs of new york". "der aayi durust aayi" :). This movie is an art flick. So, I wont recommend it to typical Indian movie lover. But, I loved the movie. Notably, the back ground music and cast of the movie. Amaaaaaaaaazing.
There is so much to write, I will wait for another post.
You have fun and take care of near and dears.
its been a long time i came to this forum. There were couple of things worth blogging but I could hardly find time. Vibhu, my 1.5yrs nephew is here. He has a magic wand which makes time run in fast foward mode :) Every available minute spent in his company, it is natural not to log. Ok. ok..let me write the bunch of things that I wanted to write.
Vibhu :) He is such a cutie pie. He is in the mocking bird phase right now. repeats after everything you say. for a 16months old his vocabulary is roughly around 200-250 words. you can imagine how much fun it is to spend time with him. He is a hyper-active busy bee and does n't like eating and sleeping much :) Here is a pic from my collection.
Books : I read two interesting books in the past one month. "Unaccustomed Earth" by Jhumpa Lahiri. She is the queen of melancholy and ofcourse queen of ABCD lifes. If you are looking for some happy read this is not for you. If you dont mind realistic and often depressive narrations, go get your copy. btw, in India, I bought a hard-cover edition for 300/- :-p
Another one I read is "Above Average" by Amitabha Bagchi. This is a debut novel from an IIT prof. At the outset, I thought this is just another IIT book like "five point some one" but this has a story and characters are real. Good time pass book and this is a very easy read.
Movie : Finally, I got to watch "There will be blood". Daniel Day-Louis. Boy, what an actor he is. I was hoping he would get an oscar for "gangs of new york". "der aayi durust aayi" :). This movie is an art flick. So, I wont recommend it to typical Indian movie lover. But, I loved the movie. Notably, the back ground music and cast of the movie. Amaaaaaaaaazing.
There is so much to write, I will wait for another post.
You have fun and take care of near and dears.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Movies movies..
Howdy folks. Past two weeks have been pretty uneventful. So, let me review some books/movies that I was (un)fortunate to view.
1) U, me aur Hum: Whatever.
Thats it. Yup. you have seen world's shortest movie review :) With that review I have not only saved 3 hrs of movie time for you but also 10 mins of junk reading the crap about why that movie is bad. I rarely watch Hindi movies. Somehow they neither have original plots like some hollywood movies nor good comedy like telugu movies. I can literally count the number of Hindi movies I watched in last two years on myt finter tips. However, occasionally I fall prey to a third rate movie reviewer and end up going to movies like that. It was supposed to Ajay Devgans debut directorial venture. Ajay, sorry dude. Your direction is on par with your acting. God bless you.
2) Jalsa : Now a days, every telugu movie gets released with unbelievable hype. This was no exception. Trivikram, known for his good writing skills, donned the directorial cap and tried to do his best. I have n't watched a pavan kalyans movie in theater since Khushi. So, I thought why not give it a shot. Yaar Trivikram, please stop creating these super-human, all encompassing Hero characters. Seriously, audience are really really sick of watching these kind of characters.
There were times when Hero and Heroine used to carry the movie on their shoulders. Rest of the characters did not matter much to the movie. These could have been done by any one. But, because of these super-human hero characters, now a days, main characters are replacable. Whether its chiru, bk, mahesh, ntr, pk all hero characters are same. They are super human. All side-actors are irreplacable. For ex: Characters done by Ali and Brahmanandam in this movie, can be done only by them. My suggestion : 'watch the movie on cassette if you are a telugu movie buff otherwise thank me for saving your three hours.'
3) Gamyam: When I was told by my dear friend S that this movie was good, I had to watch it. About 2-3 years ago, I took couple of my friends to 'Motorcycle diaries' in US where we were the only three audience. It was an awesome movie. Both my friends were happy to watch inspite of it being labelled as art movie. Gamyam is inspired by Motorcycle diaries. But, the debut director cum script writer was adept at adapting it to Telugu commercial movie. This is definitely one of the good movies that I watched in the recent past. I would nt rate it among all time best. But, this is worth the 1:30 hrs you spend watching the movie. I wont talk much about story here as there are lot of sites which do that. My recommendation: "Watch it even if you are not a telugu movie buff".
If I were a reviewer I would give it a 4/5. If I were a critique, I would give it a 2.5/5 (To give you an idea of my scale, many desi movies do not cross 1/5 on my critique scale :-) )
1) U, me aur Hum: Whatever.
Thats it. Yup. you have seen world's shortest movie review :) With that review I have not only saved 3 hrs of movie time for you but also 10 mins of junk reading the crap about why that movie is bad. I rarely watch Hindi movies. Somehow they neither have original plots like some hollywood movies nor good comedy like telugu movies. I can literally count the number of Hindi movies I watched in last two years on myt finter tips. However, occasionally I fall prey to a third rate movie reviewer and end up going to movies like that. It was supposed to Ajay Devgans debut directorial venture. Ajay, sorry dude. Your direction is on par with your acting. God bless you.
2) Jalsa : Now a days, every telugu movie gets released with unbelievable hype. This was no exception. Trivikram, known for his good writing skills, donned the directorial cap and tried to do his best. I have n't watched a pavan kalyans movie in theater since Khushi. So, I thought why not give it a shot. Yaar Trivikram, please stop creating these super-human, all encompassing Hero characters. Seriously, audience are really really sick of watching these kind of characters.
There were times when Hero and Heroine used to carry the movie on their shoulders. Rest of the characters did not matter much to the movie. These could have been done by any one. But, because of these super-human hero characters, now a days, main characters are replacable. Whether its chiru, bk, mahesh, ntr, pk all hero characters are same. They are super human. All side-actors are irreplacable. For ex: Characters done by Ali and Brahmanandam in this movie, can be done only by them. My suggestion : 'watch the movie on cassette if you are a telugu movie buff otherwise thank me for saving your three hours.'
3) Gamyam: When I was told by my dear friend S that this movie was good, I had to watch it. About 2-3 years ago, I took couple of my friends to 'Motorcycle diaries' in US where we were the only three audience. It was an awesome movie. Both my friends were happy to watch inspite of it being labelled as art movie. Gamyam is inspired by Motorcycle diaries. But, the debut director cum script writer was adept at adapting it to Telugu commercial movie. This is definitely one of the good movies that I watched in the recent past. I would nt rate it among all time best. But, this is worth the 1:30 hrs you spend watching the movie. I wont talk much about story here as there are lot of sites which do that. My recommendation: "Watch it even if you are not a telugu movie buff".
If I were a reviewer I would give it a 4/5. If I were a critique, I would give it a 2.5/5 (To give you an idea of my scale, many desi movies do not cross 1/5 on my critique scale :-) )
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
The week that was...
This blog is going to be different from the rest. I am going to share a few snippets instead of writing one big bore essay/rant.
1) Race: When I was a kid, I grew up in a village on the banks of Godavari for few years. After a long play cum bath in the river, we used to hold the hand woven cotton towels on both ends and twist in opposite directions till the last drop of water was squeezed out. Like many silly things boys do, we used to be hyper competitive in making sure we have the driest towel. That, extreme twisting used to spoil the towel is anybody's guess. I could n't help but remember this incident as I was watching hindi movie, Race. The movie is slickly made. Production values in high-budget bollywood flicks have definitely improved. Unlike many Hindi movies, editing is also very crisp. Twenty minutes into the movie, twists in the story start. They never seem to end. They keep introducing a new twist every fifteen minutes. So many that, even after the movie was really over, I was wondering "is this really over? or are they going to come back with a twist?". To give you an example, there are two brothers A and B. C and D are introduced as prospective girlfriends of A. A somehow leases his girlfriend C to B. D is in love with A. then B and C kill A. D says she married A. Then we realize B and D are wife and husband who hatch a plan to kill C and then A comes alive to save C though he is married to B. If you are still clear abt the story, E and F are introduced who in cop and bimbo asst. E exposes B and then colludes with B. In the end, A and E are showns as friends anyways, you get the gist. Overall slickly made time pass. Get a dvd and watch in ff mode if you are hindi movie buff.
2) Ad wars: Remember the time when world cup was held in India and Coke introduced themselves as official drink. Pepsi came out with this new campaign "nothing official about it" and stole the fizz out of Coke. Well, ever since, the fight is on it seems. Deepika Padukone (daughter of erstwhile badminton player, Prakash padukone) and Ranbir Kapoor (son Rishi Kapoor) are hottest stars in India right now. So, pepsi comes with this funny theme.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SI8LzqIdvU
Sprite soon warms upto the idea and spoofs it up. Its quite funny. Check out the videos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_N-FVryV1I
3) Pulitzers: Alright, Pulitzers for 2008 are announced. A friend of mine forwarded the winning piece by pulitzer winner Gene Weingarten. Beaufiul article. Take a print out and read in your leisure.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html
1) Race: When I was a kid, I grew up in a village on the banks of Godavari for few years. After a long play cum bath in the river, we used to hold the hand woven cotton towels on both ends and twist in opposite directions till the last drop of water was squeezed out. Like many silly things boys do, we used to be hyper competitive in making sure we have the driest towel. That, extreme twisting used to spoil the towel is anybody's guess. I could n't help but remember this incident as I was watching hindi movie, Race. The movie is slickly made. Production values in high-budget bollywood flicks have definitely improved. Unlike many Hindi movies, editing is also very crisp. Twenty minutes into the movie, twists in the story start. They never seem to end. They keep introducing a new twist every fifteen minutes. So many that, even after the movie was really over, I was wondering "is this really over? or are they going to come back with a twist?". To give you an example, there are two brothers A and B. C and D are introduced as prospective girlfriends of A. A somehow leases his girlfriend C to B. D is in love with A. then B and C kill A. D says she married A. Then we realize B and D are wife and husband who hatch a plan to kill C and then A comes alive to save C though he is married to B. If you are still clear abt the story, E and F are introduced who in cop and bimbo asst. E exposes B and then colludes with B. In the end, A and E are showns as friends anyways, you get the gist. Overall slickly made time pass. Get a dvd and watch in ff mode if you are hindi movie buff.
2) Ad wars: Remember the time when world cup was held in India and Coke introduced themselves as official drink. Pepsi came out with this new campaign "nothing official about it" and stole the fizz out of Coke. Well, ever since, the fight is on it seems. Deepika Padukone (daughter of erstwhile badminton player, Prakash padukone) and Ranbir Kapoor (son Rishi Kapoor) are hottest stars in India right now. So, pepsi comes with this funny theme.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SI8LzqIdvU
Sprite soon warms upto the idea and spoofs it up. Its quite funny. Check out the videos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_N-FVryV1I
3) Pulitzers: Alright, Pulitzers for 2008 are announced. A friend of mine forwarded the winning piece by pulitzer winner Gene Weingarten. Beaufiul article. Take a print out and read in your leisure.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
