tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16674793100392980832024-02-06T18:21:59.901-08:00Kuch Bhithe unbearable lightness of beinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137227837058828307noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1667479310039298083.post-61729469445724882072009-01-11T22:42:00.000-08:002009-01-11T22:48:58.830-08:00Slumdog tales<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFTqLUC8b4EBcNB27U16OgXDOwHIodM6ALA4VfhocR2Pyjri9nM9MfHOG2YqFYIH77lGErVABYVGr4AMvcUCoSi_9W4aMbEyJ19plPBca9DWhYPa1G0KKoi8GxLeBEm_LBmW2E0OahqpDm/s1600-h/Slumdog-Millionaire-001.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFTqLUC8b4EBcNB27U16OgXDOwHIodM6ALA4VfhocR2Pyjri9nM9MfHOG2YqFYIH77lGErVABYVGr4AMvcUCoSi_9W4aMbEyJ19plPBca9DWhYPa1G0KKoi8GxLeBEm_LBmW2E0OahqpDm/s320/Slumdog-Millionaire-001.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290295514172898898" border="0" /></a><br /> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; line-height: 150%;" align="center"><b style=""><span style="font-family:Arial;">SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE<o:p><br /></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">It’s kind of weird. Indian media and the Indian middle class have started resembling the typical American middle class. We start raving and appreciating anything just to be hip and cool. Case in point is Ghajini and more recently, Slumdog Millionaire.<o:p><br /></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">Slumdog Millionaire (SM) is a decent film, well crafted but definitely not in the league of Academy awards or Golden Globe, period. Danny Boyle is a brilliant director and has portrayed Mumbai wonderfully for his main clientèle, the Western audience. I might have strong reservations against the movie mainly because I watched it with an Indian eye. This might not be the case for the Western media since this movie is a two hour sojourn into the images that defines <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region> for them: Mumbai slums, prostitutes, beggars, underworld, Ram, Taj Mahal and yes, call centres too! So it is natural when NYT or Washington Post gives this picture a splendid rating, but why is the Indian media so frenzied about it? For any typical Indian movie buff like me, this movie would just fetch 2.5/ 5 stars<o:p><br /></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span style=""></span>You may argue that I am overcritical because the plot is Indian. Well, a good comparison will be Fernando Meirelles ‘City of <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">God</st1:place></st1:city>’. The movie is based on the life of children turned gangsters in the slums of Rio de Janero. It has a tacit plot and keeps the audience spellbound. This grip is missing in Slumdog. The second half of the movie is too filmy and is very typical of a Bollywood flick where there are baddies who ham to the core, goons who chase the lover duo in Mumbai locals but importantly love wins over all evil in the end…that too in typical Indra Kumar/ Subhash Ghai style.<o:p><br /></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">These flaws appear mainly because the novel ‘Q &A’ on which the movie is based is definitely not the best piece of literary work and doesn’t qualify for a good screenplay. However, the movie is not a cent percent adaptation of the book and most changes have been incorporated to suit the Western palate.<o:p><br /></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">The protagonist in the book is Ram Mohammed Thomas, an orphan who is strangely named so to appease all religions. In the movie, he is <b style="">just</b> Jamaal Malik. This rechristening does not bring any kind of value addition in the movie, the only advantage being that a Muslim protagonist suits a post 9/11 world, especially when <st1:country-region st="on">US</st1:country-region> moviemakers have become more interested in Middle East and <st1:place st="on">Asia</st1:place> (Syriana, Kingdom, Body of Lies, etc)<o:p><br /></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">In the movie, Jamal works as a ‘chottu’ in a call centre as opposed to a ‘teawallah’ in the book. We are treated to <span style=""> </span>a jam-packed call centre (similar to the call centre video in the Russell Peters show) where aspiring employees learn English diction and try to be pseudo cool.<o:p><br /></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">Some of the good pieces in the book which involves a film actress, a gay actor is left out in the movie mainly because it is tough to weave these snippets into the main storyline. My personal favorite is the story of the blind singers which has been brilliantly directed by Boyle. Anil Kapoor has acted brilliantly as the egoist superstar but the characterization is shaky. In the book, Anil Kapoor’s character has a larger role in the hero’s life and I would prefer it that way.<o:p><br /></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">The effort by Danny Boyle is noteworthy especially for a foreign director especially when Western filmmakers have done a poor job with Indian themes, the best example being the veteran David Lean making a mockery of ‘Passage to <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region>’.<o:p><br /></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">Rahman’s background score and songs are brilliant…especially when the kids escape in the train. The most disappointing song is ‘Jai Ho’ which appears in the climax when the couple along with a bunch of junior artists dance like in a ‘mandatory mass drill’ <span style=""> </span>in typical Saroj Khan style of the late 80s. The song sounds more like Anand Raaj Anand or Viju Shah than A R Rahman. But surprisingly, this song has won the Golden Globe. No comments </span><span style="font-family:Wingdings;"><span style="">J</span></span><span style="font-family:Arial;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">The film has won the Golden Globe mainly because the movie delves into a theme hitherto alien in mainstream <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Hollywood</st1:place></st1:city>. ‘Salaam <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Bombay</st1:city></st1:place>’ was never mainstream and it was always meant for the wine sipping intelligentsia.<o:p><br /></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">The Golden Globe will do wonders for Indian films and is recognition for the world’s biggest movie industry. <span style=""> </span>It is definitely a good signal for Indian films, esp. when we have big names like Warner Bros producing ‘Chandni Chowk 2 China’ and Sony Columbia producing ‘Saawariya”.<o:p><br /></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">All said and done, as I stated initially, I still can’t understand why we Indians are raving about it! Assume that this movie was directed by Priyadarshan and produced by Sajid Naidawalah instead of <span style=""> </span>Danny Boyle and Twentieth Century Fox <b style="">; <i style="">end product being the same</i>,</b> I am sure that the Raja Sen’s, Khalid Mohammeds and <span style=""> </span>Shobha Dee’s would have ripped apart the movie!<o:p><br /></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">This reminds me of an old Malayalam saying ‘<i style="">Sayippine kandal kavathu marakkum’</i> which can be loosely translated as ‘Indians are so awed/ floored by foreigners that they forget their surroundings when they see a foreign babu’.<o:p><br /></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">Sabari<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">12 January 2009<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>the unbearable lightness of beinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137227837058828307noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1667479310039298083.post-91182403419539491532008-10-15T06:31:00.000-07:002008-10-15T06:36:11.093-07:00White Tiger<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQTVQBfmXw1f6oDSKrBVqgAGAiH8roQTAcQnHJK7YHkImjHz3bkEKKbi-uYqNLzIzJDzcs_k_TiywV6Uy1OSHMsnt3prrBsVbwV8rxxEv9QQ_p_xU1zkw5wCVxZbQdy7JsH8-wg24ts4BI/s1600-h/white-tiger-4.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQTVQBfmXw1f6oDSKrBVqgAGAiH8roQTAcQnHJK7YHkImjHz3bkEKKbi-uYqNLzIzJDzcs_k_TiywV6Uy1OSHMsnt3prrBsVbwV8rxxEv9QQ_p_xU1zkw5wCVxZbQdy7JsH8-wg24ts4BI/s320/white-tiger-4.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257373866262944194" border="0" /></a><br /> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; line-height: 150%;" align="center"><b style=""><u><span style="font-family:Arial;">WHITE TIGER<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">‘White Tiger’ wins the Booker prize and Aravind Adiga jumps into the elite list of Indian Booker prize winners like Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy and Kiran Desai. The book has received mixed reactions, most people believe that the book inflates the social disparity in <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region> and hinges on violence, terror and y Naxalistic sentiments. The Booker prize, according to them, is a testimony to the fact that westerners give literary prizes to Indians who highlight the darker side of <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<o:p><br /></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">My personal opinion is that the book is brilliant. First of all, it is crisp, not voluminous and moves at a breakneck pace. Secondly, it redefines Indian writing in English. Arundhati Roy wrote a brilliant book but somewhere down the line, <span style=""> </span>Rahel & Esther’s observation of Central Kerala in <span style=""> </span>‘God of small things’ is parallel to Saleem Sinai’s musings on Bombay in Rushdie’s ‘Midnight’s children’. Salman Rushdie made the greatest sin of his life by designing this ‘Indian writing in English’ template way back in 1981 which has been aped (efficiently & effectively thou) by hordes of Indian writers for over twenty five years.<o:p><br /></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">Aravind Adiga, is a distinct voice. His narration style and language is refreshingly different. The story in a nutshell is about an illiterate (only technically) Bihari who comes to Gurgaon to be a chauffeur to his village landlord’s son and how he kills his master eventually. There a lot of underlying themes but I don’t want to give out any spoilers. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span style=""> </span>His observations are needle sharp when he talks about the scum that exists in the periphery of our big futuristic cities like Gurgaon which all of us conveniently ignore. The protagonist talks about two <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region>: the bright and the dark, referring to India Shining and the Bimaru states. The most interesting aspect is that the author doesn’t waste words in detailing the poverty and the wretchedness, but delves into the psyche of the people surviving in that environment. The book is rich in plenty of ‘in your face’ kind of observations like ‘</span><i style=""><span lang="EN" style="font-family:Arial;">These days there are two castes: Men with Big Bellies, and Men with Small Bellies." & “Do we loathe our masters behind a façade of love or love our masters behind a façade of loathing”?</span></i><span style="font-family:Arial;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">As we turn the pages, we can feel the chill and terror, akin to what we experience while watching Naseruddin Shah’s Wednesday. When I read the part on how Baburam the protagonist slits his master’s throat, I was so disturbed that I had to take a half an hour break to reconcile with it. Trust me, I have felt like this in very few occasions, the strongest being while watching Darren Aronofsky’s ‘Requiem for a dream’.<o:p><br /></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">If you have ever thought about the squatting rickshaw puller and the chauffeurs who wait for their masters outside malls for infinite hours, do read this book. And, for most of us, the experience will be very sour.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><o:p> </o:p><br />I am extremely happy that Adiga got this year’s Booker and sincerely hope that it teaches aspiring Indian writers to be different and to follow one’s own style.<o:p><br /></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">Sabari<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">15 October 2008<o:p></o:p></span></p>the unbearable lightness of beinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137227837058828307noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1667479310039298083.post-82485781930524005732008-10-03T06:28:00.000-07:002008-10-03T06:32:37.626-07:00Drona...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnJlDTiJ4WsiSg2GLG1JVj2UjC-r-Nh2UjxfjtKDdVwTO1DHUqDgBRojRHPNaMIhUTpzx-OHwfxXhlM231CA9fokgfKHCNjNgsTVUsywiSGM-1qXaPPErF6L0mvWRXsjyS1vqHQf4GR-gM/s1600-h/drona1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnJlDTiJ4WsiSg2GLG1JVj2UjC-r-Nh2UjxfjtKDdVwTO1DHUqDgBRojRHPNaMIhUTpzx-OHwfxXhlM231CA9fokgfKHCNjNgsTVUsywiSGM-1qXaPPErF6L0mvWRXsjyS1vqHQf4GR-gM/s320/drona1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5252919852255985090" border="0" /></a><br /> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; line-height: 150%;" align="center"><b style="">Drona<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;">Before I start off with my review, I need to thank UFO movies for bringing in the digital movie revolution. Sitting in this sleepy town of <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Rudrapur</st1:city></st1:place>, I am able to watch ‘Drona’ (which I repent) on the first day itself. The ambience was electrifying, tons of rural UP youth (India Shining) in their embroidered jeans and Himesh Resamiyya shirts & dozens of people like me who live in Rudrapur working for the Tatas/ Nestle/ M&M or Dabur sitting in this decrepit hall with eyes glued to the screen.<o:p><br /></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;">Now coming to the movie, my first question to Mr Goldie Behl, the director <span style=""> </span>is “Why do you copy numerous English movies in parts and add dollops of Indian values & maa sentiments, isn’t it better to copy paste a single Lord of the Rings or Harry Porter…does it actually save you from perdition?”<o:p><br /></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;">I don’t want to divulge the story, because I read innumerable fan mails in Rediff cursing the reviewers for divulging the story. The gist of it would be something like this. Abhishek Bachan is an orphan who lives with his adopted family in <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">Czechoslovakia</st1:country-region></st1:place> and has a nagging step mom like in Cindrella who curses him in hard core Punjabi and a kind step dad who cares for him. Like in all good Hindi movies, his step dad soon becomes a Kodak moment (dead & converted to a garlanded photo in the drawing room) and his step mom continues to behave like those weird aunties in Ekta Kapoor’s K- serials.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><o:p> </o:p><br />AB junior is the descendant of a family which has been protecting ‘amrut’ from the hands of the demons right from prehistoric times. Enter Rizwaana, the menacing villain (Kay Kay Menon) who reminded me of Bobby Darling. He mouths extremely dangerous words like ‘Gustakhi maaf” and hams to the core. Kay Kay is the modern day demon who is tech savvy, gay oops homosexual oops oops Metrosexual… The story clings around how AB baby realizes that he is a Drona and has to protect the world from “hippie” (thanks to<span style=""> </span>Eric Cartman of Southpark) demons like Kay Kay Menon. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;">The first half is extremely sad and the second half with its sleek graphics and action sequences seemed better. The graphics by Tata Elxsi is good. Even though it is not as real and life like as the wrecking ship in Titanic, it brings in lot of mysticism and Harry Potterish kind of magic. Coming to the flaws in the film, I can keep on writing for ages. I am just jotting down the major let downs</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <ol style="margin-top: 0in;" start="1" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;">AB baby: Poor guy doesn’t have the aura and personality to be a Drona. He is very shaky which suits his character in the first half but he doesn’t metamorphosis into the warrior prince </li><li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span style=""> </span>Kay Kay Menon: He is one of my favourite actors who has displayed the subtle intensity of a Robert De Niro in movies like Hazaaron Khwashis Aisi, Life in a Metro and recently, Mumbai Meri Jaan. Sadly, he is wasted in Drona. He tries to be like the Joker in Dark Knight, cracking jokes and waging his tongue. His spiky hair reminded me of the bathroom scene in ‘There is something about Mary’. I hope that you recollect the scene, else watch the DVD <span style="font-family:Wingdings;"><span style="">J</span></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;">Side kicks: The histrionics of the villain’s sidekicks is at par with the Peters, Roberts and Julies in good old Ajit & Pran movies. Only difference is that they wear a black hood indicating that they all are part of some dreaded cult.</li></ol> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;">Here is one example of the director’s talent: AB baby & Piggy Chops (well I read Bombay Times every day and am fully updated on what Harman Baweja calls his girlfriend!) go to this bizarre village called Raazpur in their quest for the amrut and they meet this weird looking midgets. They sport clothes which are directly lifted from a Tarun Tahlani/ Satya Paul show…cool indigo colour robes with green, red streaks. It seemed quite funny & anachronistic and no where near being intriguing.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><o:p> </o:p><br />The movie is a khichdi of innumerable English classics. I am sure that Goldie Behl holds a platinum membership in BigFlix and Seventymm.com .The ‘amrut’ reference is from Indiana Jones, the lonely kid is from Harry Porter, the quest is similar to ‘Lord of the Rings’, the sand dunes from ‘Mummy’, the villain is from ‘Dark Knight, a Gandalph look-alike from Lord of the Rings and the old banyan tree & dazzling white light from Darren Aronofsky’s ‘metaphysical I couldn’t understand what’ movie Fountain.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;">On the positive side, camera work is good, the actions scenes in <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">Egypt</st1:country-region></st1:place> reminded me of David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia. and Ms Priyanka Chopra is good. She sports that attitude, even though the clothing & make up reminded me of some English movie or video which I can’t recollect. She would have been a better Drona than Abhishek Bachan</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><o:p> </o:p><br />On the whole, Goldie Behl who has directed some classics like ‘Bas Itna Sa Khwab hai’ should understand that having a family friend like AB baby wont salvage his career. I am very keen to find out how the movie fares at the box office. <span style=""> </span>I have a strong hunch that it might work decently because whatever we say, Indians have a strong affinity towards fantasy stories and in these hard times, people wont mind watching a ‘dev v/s asur’ flick. Watch this space for more updates.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><o:p><br /></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><b style="">Sabari</b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><b style="">3/ 10/ 2008<br /></b></p>the unbearable lightness of beinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137227837058828307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1667479310039298083.post-26159492531011371242008-09-28T07:15:00.001-07:002008-09-28T07:18:10.561-07:00Pant Nagar forces me to write again!!![Under construction]<br /><br />Just like our Flyover in Bakery Jn, Trivandrum<br /><br />:-)<br /><br />Will be resurrected soon<br /><br />Sabarithe unbearable lightness of beinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137227837058828307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1667479310039298083.post-25518121454105225762008-05-22T10:59:00.000-07:002008-05-22T11:08:17.085-07:0010 Mallu things<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinbNqvDT-oki5VoFIWWxr7fJvNuDSSnXyboluaxlIxpYMkNmf-pqax_bIqqLnjQlsoERU9lJtcfZNd6yrS8fabpu0OnoaPWUpgykOIa1kKZKQ5EaBmkLMY6bS9n93MG58uJQjG3NY6jcK5/s1600-h/Malayali+on+the+moon.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinbNqvDT-oki5VoFIWWxr7fJvNuDSSnXyboluaxlIxpYMkNmf-pqax_bIqqLnjQlsoERU9lJtcfZNd6yrS8fabpu0OnoaPWUpgykOIa1kKZKQ5EaBmkLMY6bS9n93MG58uJQjG3NY6jcK5/s320/Malayali+on+the+moon.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5203265500843390914" border="0" /></a><br /> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style=";font-family:";color:red;" >10 MALLU THINGS<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">{This post is a tribute to 25 years of my existence in this universe as a proud Mallu.} </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><br />We might speak English differently, we might belch after lunch, and we might be different wrt to the world when it comes to our definitions of sexuality but ultimately the bottom line is that you can hate us, you can love us but you just can’t ignore us. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><br />This is a list of ten things that any Mallu can easily identify with. The writer claims that it bears no resemblance to anything dead or living and any similarity is coincidental.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><br />So start reading, please………</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><o:p> </o:p><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><i><span style="color:red;"><span style="">1.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span></i></b><!--[endif]--><span dir="ltr"><b><i><span style="color:red;">Gold jewellery<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>Any non mallu coming to Kerala would be amazed to see the number of gold shops existing in each and every small village from Parassala in the southern tip to Manjeswaram in he north. Mallus have been investing in Gold since the Stone Age as he is sure that the price will shoot up (thanks to an inflated demand caused by Mallus themselves especially those who reside in the <st1:place st="on">Middle East</st1:place>.<o:p><br /></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Gold rules Kerala and companies like Alukkas, Atlas, Josco, Alapatt, Malabar Gold, etc are family names here. Some of these family groups like the Alukkas have split the business amongst brothers territorially and the family tree<span style=""> </span>is more confusing than the family tree of the Buendia family in <span style=""> </span>Gabriel Marquez’ 100 years of solitude.<o:p><br /></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><i><span style="color:red;"><span style="">2.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span></i></b><!--[endif]--><span dir="ltr"><b><i><span style="color:red;">Liqour</span></i></b></span><o:p><br /></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Vijay Mallya should have invested in some Kerala team with Sreesanth as captain. He could have won IPL with ease because Mallus are true to their liquor and hence will be true to the one who makes liquor for them. Statistics say that Mallus drink more liquor than the rest of the nation on Onam day.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p><br />All liquor shops, bars are closed on the first day of every month to prevent people splurge on liquor but it results in queues that run for kilometers in the wee hours of the 30<sup>th</sup> and the 31<sup>st</sup>. When the intellectual crowd of the North and the metros guzzle beer and vodka, Mallus only believe in hard liquor like rum, brandy, whisky.<o:p><br /></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><i><span style="color:red;"><span style="">3.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span></i></b><!--[endif]--><span dir="ltr"><b><i><span style="color:red;">Strikes, Hartals</span></i></b></span><o:p><br /></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">We love to strike, be it in college for no reason whatsoever or in the office demanding our rights. Hartal is the new mallu euphemism for bandhs as bandhs are banned by the Kerala High Court. Yes, all these legendary rules (ban of smoking in public places; ban on bandhs, Private education bill) are made by the Kerala High court but that doesn’t mean that we have to follow them!<o:p><br /></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><i><span style="color:red;"><span style="">4.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span></i></b><!--[endif]--><span dir="ltr"><b><i><span style="color:red;"><span style=""> </span>‘M’ Magazines<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span style="color:red;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></b></p><p class="MsoNormal">We have almost cent percent literacy thanks to the novels that have been appearing in Mangalam & Malayala Manaorama & Manorajyam weeklies for decades. These stories, which can be called the precursor to the mega serials still is a craze for the average Malayalee. Novelists like Batton Bose and Kottayam Pushpanadh opened the world of incest, bigamy, righteousness and all those sins to the hapless god fearing Mallu population.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><i><span style="color:red;"><span style="">5.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span></i></b><!--[endif]--><span dir="ltr"><b><i><span style="color:red;">Rubber chappals</span></i></b></span><o:p><br /></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Bata chappals especially the one with the white sole and blue grip is ubiquitous in the state. It defines protection and comfort for the modest Mallu. To view this phenomenon, go to any temple on a morning and observe the long line of footwear, trust me, nine on ten would be Bata.<o:p><br /></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span style="color:red;"><span style="">6.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><span dir="ltr"><b><span style="color:red;">Parotta egg curry</span></b></span><o:p><br /></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">This is one dish that is only seen in Kerala and in some parts of Tamil Nadu. It is one of the tastiest dishes made my man and is light on the stringent Mallu’s purse.<o:p> This same dish has been exported to the North and is famously called the 'Kerala parotta'!<br /></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><i><span style="color:red;"><span style="">7.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span></i></b><!--[endif]--><span dir="ltr"><b><i><span style="color:red;">Die hard Communists</span></i></b></span><o:p><br /></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><st1:place st="on">West Bengal</st1:place> may be ruled by the left for over thirty years but the true Communists of Kerala are a rarity. Go to any small village in the state, you find the quintessential old man tucked in a dhoti, smoking a beedi, a Deshabhimani(party newspaper) rolled in his hand. He is the quixotic Comrade who still believes that all other newspapers are funded by the CIA (this has been a Communist propaganda right from the 1950s) and he would go to any length to prove his party ideology……Lal Salaam sakhave (red salute, comrade)<o:p><br /></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><i><span style="color:red;"><span style="">8.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span></i></b><!--[endif]--><span dir="ltr"><b><i><span style="color:red;">STD Booth cum photostat cum real estate agencies</span></i></b></span><o:p><br /></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">We move with the times. When STD became popular after the trunk dialing era, we set up STD Booths in every taluk. After that, when Photostats became the order of the day, we renamed it ‘STD and Photostat’. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">When we realized that the penetration of mobiles killed the STD booth, we quickly converted it into mobile stores, mobile repair centers and of course, how can I forget…real estate agencies. Who said that Mallus are not modern?<o:p><br /></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><i><span style="color:red;"><span style="">9.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span></i></b><!--[endif]--><span dir="ltr"><b><i><span style="color:red;">Soft porn</span></i></b></span><o:p><br /></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">All my non Mallu friends complain that Mallus have skewed sexual tastes. But the fact is that we are the first ones to adapt and absorb a new trend. We discovered Silk Smitha who later became a rage in the early 1990s and we discovered Shakeela in the early 2000s and thanks to globalization (sorry I have to use this word, I get paid for it) she became famous all over <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region>. Her videos have been dubbed in Hindi, Kannada, Telugu, Bhojpuri, etc, etc. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><br />Mallu porn is in high demand across the globe. Key words like “fat mallu”, “mallu aunty” tops the lists on Google Search and we are proud to shape the fantasies of youngsters from Bhatinda to Siliguri<o:p><br /></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><i><span style="color:red;"><span style="">10.<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span></i></b><!--[endif]--><span dir="ltr"><b><i><span style="color:red;">InternationalAirports</span></i></b></span><o:p><br /></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Imagine this. A state with just 140 MLAs as compared to 500 in UP; just 14 districts as compared to 32 in Rajastha has three, no FOUR International airports. <st1:city st="on">Trivandrum</st1:city>, <st1:city st="on">Kochi</st1:city> and the Kozhikode airports are as busy as Chowpatty beach on a Sunday and we are going to have a new International airport at Kannur, barely 100 km from <st1:place st="on">Kozhikode</st1:place>.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Mallus may have the highest rate of literate unemployment, but that doesn’t prevent us from flying to the Gulf.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Well these are just some random thoughts and I request fellow Mallus to keep on appending the list.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Algerian;">Jai Kerala<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style=";font-family:";" >(I am not a Raj Thackeray, but just a random Mallu preparing to go to Thackeray’s Mumbai for earning my bread and butter)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in;"><o:p> </o:p></p>the unbearable lightness of beinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137227837058828307noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1667479310039298083.post-33613195319409771972008-05-01T10:31:00.000-07:002008-05-01T10:35:59.520-07:00Tashan : the Torture with a capital T<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIm6xR0jeC8-2rBXz-8JpSxptki3jDAOy1zzrThOTy7tTCJCKc1GHB1d2FY13N_sWk8S6ki6m547a4S0HsW4qsWjIrM2wwQ5azxprR4dGeRfCqBsnC2Joe8OTJXeM4QSct6uxs7bVVLKSF/s1600-h/tashan_1280.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIm6xR0jeC8-2rBXz-8JpSxptki3jDAOy1zzrThOTy7tTCJCKc1GHB1d2FY13N_sWk8S6ki6m547a4S0HsW4qsWjIrM2wwQ5azxprR4dGeRfCqBsnC2Joe8OTJXeM4QSct6uxs7bVVLKSF/s320/tashan_1280.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5195464414703452818" border="0" /></a><br /> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; line-height: 150%;" align="center"><b><span style=";font-family:";" >TASHAN<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style=";font-family:";" >Tashan is a tribute to the 1970s, the time when tinsel town was ruled by Ajit, Pran, MN Nambiar, Jos Prakash and other cult villains who had alligators for company and flaunted the quintessential circuit board with techni- color wires which were used to torture the hero, his girl friend and (how can I forget) the hero’s all suffering Maaa.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style=";font-family:";" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style=";font-family:";" >Tashan would have been a blockbuster if released in the 1970s but in this globalized era <i>(sorry, my company pays me for using globalization in every sentence)</i> where there is a free flow of culture and ideas, it’s anachronistic.<span style=""> </span>How can one tolerate a movie in which the villain actually killed the heroine’s dad (dad is lovingly called Tiger by everyone!!!) and she also happens to be the childhood sweetheart of her abductor who apparently acts gay (meaning uninterested in girls) since he is lost in those childhood memories. WTF?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style=";font-family:";" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style=";font-family:";" >The film revolves around the style of the four characters: a sleek suave Saif Ali Khan, a “gavaar” Akshay Kumar, Anil Kapoor <span style=""> </span>a don whose costumes are inspired by the Bappi Lahiri Evergreen Collection<span style=""> </span>and Kareena - a Bharatiya Naari turned super sexy damsel. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style=";font-family:";" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style=";font-family:";" >The story is non existent and the screenplay is insane. The director Vijay Acharya suffers from Tarrentinomania which in medical terms means “creative constipation caused due to excessive watching of Queinten Tarrantino movies”. Kareene Kapoor uses a sword like Uma Thurman in KILL BILL and Akshay Kumar kills hundreds of Kung fu masters in a single blow in what can be called the worst tribute to Queintin Tarrantino<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style=";font-family:";" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><b><span style=";font-family:";" >The top three scenes in the movie</span></b><span style=";font-family:";" > (in no particular order). Trust me; I had a tough time making the decision. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style=";font-family:";" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <ol style="margin-top: 0in;" start="1" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style=";font-family:";" >The grand finale is in some arbit den in rugged Uttar Pradesh . Akshay Kumar is wired to the circuit board, Saif comes and starts killing the villains almost starting a mutiny of sorts. But, Anil Kappor being the dangerous villain he is, captures Akhay and Kareena<span style=""> </span>again and is all set to blow their as*es off and bingo comes Saif Ali Khan in a Yamaha speed boat. Vroooooooom….. Speed boat, in a barren land??[Pardonable, since the director had written the script (if there was any) for Dhoom1 and Dhoom2]<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style=";font-family:";" ><span style=""> </span>Kareena Kapoor comes to Haridwar to deposit sweet papa Tiger’s ashes in the holy <st1:place st="on">Ganges</st1:place> wearing a Balaji Television inspired white salwar kameez. She sees the villains searching for her and instantly runs for shelter after covering her face with her shawl just like a typical Bharatiya Naari in distress. In the next scene, we see her in the river wearing a skin tight anorexic pair of jeans. I’m speechless!!!<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style=";font-family:";" >The trio of Akhay, Saif and Kareena are in quest of the 25 crores which has been carefully kept in Rajasthan, Kerala by maam Kareena itself. They travel through the length and breadth of the country, driving a TATA lorry thought the dusty highways of Rajasthan, a MAHINDRA voyager and finally in a Kerala houseboat…..and the last briefcase containing the money is delivered by a couple of Kathakali dancers….This is what we call Incredible India!<o:p></o:p></span></li></ol> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style=";font-family:";" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style=";font-family:";" >Anil Kapoor is one actor whom I respect from the bottom of my heart but this dreadful don character almost made me puke. Anil Kapoor’s dress sense is more pathetic that Vidya Balan’s costumes in Hey Baby…U can imagine!!!! Giving him serious competition are his sidekicks who wear identical lungis, goggles, silver chains and stupid shirts and <span style=""> </span>mouth illogical sentences like “He is like Geoorge Bhuush”….Even stupid George Bush would sue them.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style=";font-family:";" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style=";font-family:";" >And yes…..about the oomph factor; I almost forgot. Kareena does a Bo Derek, comes out of the water in a bikini for a total time period of 5 seconds desperately trying to be hot but I definitely feel that the Serena Williams look-alikes in the “Chaliya Chaliya” song were far sexier than Bebo. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style=";font-family:";" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style=";font-family:";" >I would suggest that everyone download this movie from any Torrents site, fast forward to about 50 minutes, see Bebo flaunting her figure in her bikini and immediately Delete, no Shift Delete this piece of trash.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style=";font-family:";" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style=";font-family:";" >Hindi movies always puzzle me: I thought that <span style="font-weight: bold;">Dhoom </span>would be the height of insanity, but then came <span style="font-weight: bold;">Race </span>and now I have been served Tashan. Poor me<o:p></o:p></span></p><span style="font-family:Wingdings;"><span style=""><br /></span></span> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">A disillusioned critic</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">Sabari</p>the unbearable lightness of beinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137227837058828307noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1667479310039298083.post-73591334958422607062008-04-14T10:03:00.000-07:002008-04-14T10:13:13.483-07:00Top 10 malayalam film dialogues<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVA8r2dRpYVVyVaPDyLsCoso70OwJP_BT4oVf2XhyphenhyphenG5LL9WVqOKqc5zmePAkKUC2rpbjhyphenhyphenFU64-J96HXYHgTqM146LG-6YkJoGS9XVTulaSb_YCxqI1Mc_EYyK7EKfURXwYFyNj89Bz6mU/s1600-h/tt.bmp"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVA8r2dRpYVVyVaPDyLsCoso70OwJP_BT4oVf2XhyphenhyphenG5LL9WVqOKqc5zmePAkKUC2rpbjhyphenhyphenFU64-J96HXYHgTqM146LG-6YkJoGS9XVTulaSb_YCxqI1Mc_EYyK7EKfURXwYFyNj89Bz6mU/s320/tt.bmp" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5189150129263554578" border="0" /></a><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b><u><span lang="PT-BR" style="color:red;">Sabari’s top 10 Malayalam film dialogues</span></u></b><b><span lang="PT-BR" style="color:red;"><br /><!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br /><!--[endif]--><u1:p></u1:p></span></b><span style="" lang="PT-BR"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="">The American Film Institute has a list of 100 most famous film quotes. It ranges from complex dialogues like “I love the smell of napalm…” from Apocalypse Now to simple words like “Rosebud” from Citizen Kane. I aint no Superman when it comes to movies but this is a list of famous dialogues which struck me when I thought of the above topic.<u1:p><br /><!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br /><!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></u1:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="">The following list is my choice. <span style="" lang="IT">No one dare question me.<br /><!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br /><!--[endif]--><u1:p><o:p></o:p></u1:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><i>1. “Davidetta….Kingfisher unda, chilled?”</i></b> <b>(Thuvanathumpikal, 1987)</b><br />This tops my list as these words effectively convey the intricacies of Mannarthodiyil Jayakrishnan. Shot at the Sharabi bar in Casino hotel, Trichur this scene is also famous for Mohanlal gulping down a bottle of beer in a single shot.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Kingfisher could have quadrupled its sales by using this dialogue but alas, those weren’t the days of surrogate ads and brand placements.<u1:p><br /><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shapetype id="_x0000_t75" coordsize="21600,21600" spt="75" preferrelative="t" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" filled="f" stroked="f"> <v:stroke joinstyle="miter"> <v:formulas> <v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"> <v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"> <v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"> <v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"> <v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"> <v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2"> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"> <v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0"> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"> <v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0"> </v:formulas> <v:path extrusionok="f" gradientshapeok="t" connecttype="rect"> <o:lock ext="edit" aspectratio="t"> </v:shapetype><v:shape id="_x0000_i1025" type="#_x0000_t75" style="'width:240pt;"> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:\DOCUME~1\SABARI~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\msohtml1\01\clip_image001.jpg" title="tt"> </v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><br /><!--[endif]--></u1:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">2. <b><i>“Bha…Pulle”</i> (Commisoner, 1993)</b><br />These words gave birth to a new superstar in Malayalam who subsequently mouthed obscenities on the screen for a long time to come. A generation was swayed by these two words.<u1:p><br /><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="_x0000_i1026" type="#_x0000_t75" style="'width:150pt;"> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:\DOCUME~1\SABARI~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\msohtml1\01\clip_image002.jpg" title="Bharath120905_1"> </v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><br /><!--[endif]--></u1:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">3. <b><i>“Nee po, mone Dinesha”</i> (Narasimham, 2000)</b><br />Kerala witnessed clones of Induchoodan wearing blue/ black lungis, white kurtas and sporting the twirled moustache. Dineshan became synomous with mediocrity and inferiority.<u1:p></u1:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">4. <b><i>“Thomaskutty, vittoda”</i> (In harihar Nagar)</b><br />The perfect escape.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="_x0000_i1028" type="#_x0000_t75" style="'width:152.25pt;height:150pt'"> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:\DOCUME~1\SABARI~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\msohtml1\01\clip_image004.jpg" title="in har"> </v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><br /><!--[endif]--></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">I’m a lazy fucker, so can’t write anymore as of now. Blog will be updated when the author feels motivated to do so. So I am just jotting down the quotes here</span></b><o:p></o:p></p> <u1:p></u1:p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><u1:p></u1:p>5. “<b><i>Vidamatte..Nee enne vidamatte?”</i> (Manichitrathazhu)<u1:p></u1:p></b><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b>6. <i>“Ramji Rao speaking”</i> (Ramji Rao speaking)<u1:p></u1:p></b><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b>7. <i>“ Kochumuthalali….”</i> (Chemmen)<u1:p></u1:p></b><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b>8. <i>“ Poyi taaski viliyada”</i> (Thenmavin Kombathu)<u1:p></u1:p></b><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b>9. “<i>Pavanayi Shavamayi”</i> (Naadodikattu)<u1:p></u1:p></b><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b>10. “Thalle, Kalippukalu theeranillallo” (Rajamanickam)</b><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><br /><b><u><span style="color:red;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></b><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><o:p></o:p></b></p>the unbearable lightness of beinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137227837058828307noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1667479310039298083.post-25896527987212782792008-04-10T21:47:00.000-07:002008-04-10T21:49:38.242-07:00Trivandrum...7 years backto be written soon. Im just motivating myself to write :-)<br /><br />Sabarithe unbearable lightness of beinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137227837058828307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1667479310039298083.post-71150587079367301452008-01-25T11:42:00.000-08:002008-01-25T11:46:52.912-08:00Night life at MDI<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmuWYcnGuYBXGkJOMMoWDic5IridVhZnYAtUwCvNb9Mldo4x-cb_S-RjjelaIgWl9vzofq0nP2S39bc6p67i-U-RuKD3y53nMqDE-Qfj8lcY1ysLIYPuApa8dRVXtrcqKqFQZXrZflb2T9/s1600-h/Diwali+%40+MDI+067.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmuWYcnGuYBXGkJOMMoWDic5IridVhZnYAtUwCvNb9Mldo4x-cb_S-RjjelaIgWl9vzofq0nP2S39bc6p67i-U-RuKD3y53nMqDE-Qfj8lcY1ysLIYPuApa8dRVXtrcqKqFQZXrZflb2T9/s320/Diwali+%40+MDI+067.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5159502961819036162" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglcmQg4gEVpKZN5uZpT4iA6uYJj4xvovUXAsmhWwnjxvJKNL7bkGWE4MnrmUIoWjcIZcl9kHVEOS2d8Yjri6GOjwIWBSnWfBysQ4xE66TdY-lGteY7om3jidlCrtRuS26DD72ngEyYlOkU/s1600-h/library.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglcmQg4gEVpKZN5uZpT4iA6uYJj4xvovUXAsmhWwnjxvJKNL7bkGWE4MnrmUIoWjcIZcl9kHVEOS2d8Yjri6GOjwIWBSnWfBysQ4xE66TdY-lGteY7om3jidlCrtRuS26DD72ngEyYlOkU/s320/library.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5159502609631717874" border="0" /></a><br /> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;">“At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region> will awake to life and freedom.” <span style=""> </span>Pandit Nehru declared to the world when Indian became a free nation on the 15<sup>th</sup> of August of 1947. He would have never realized that the holy fraternity of B School students would take his words too seriously.<o:p><br /></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;">If you are finding my thought process too arbit, I can reframe the famous words for you. “At the stroke of the midnight hour when the world sleeps, B skoolers awake to life and freedom and start their daily chores.” Any one who has been in a residential B school will have indelible memories of friends who wake up in the wee hours of the night, brush their teeth and log on to the internet to catch up with the day’s(oops.. the previous day’s) news.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;">My life is a perfect testimony to the above statement. Before coming to MDI, I was one of those disciplined (?) students who couldn’t stay awake after midnight even if Scarlet Johansson invited me to her place for the night. MDI, in a short span of around two years has had a disruptive effect on my biological clock to the extend that I sleep at around 5 am only after ensuring that I read the online edition of the local Mallu paper as soon as it gets uploaded!!! <span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;">This would be the case with most people who come into a B school. B School life is surely hectic but the very motivation for people to stay up in the night and sleep throughout the early hours should be taken up by research by our fellow FPM students. The interesting fact is that it is not just the academic rigor that makes us stay up all night. Just take a walk through the hostel corridor at around 2 am: you will find 20% of the students working on PPT/ Excel, around 50% glued on to their laptops watching a movie/ sitcoms, 20% doing “bakar” and the rest 10% sleeping peacefully. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;">This midnight life has its on economic and commercial effects. Prayas, our very own kirana store is jam-packed with customers lined up to buy eatables. Our own lazy “Jhaji” after fifteen plus years of experience in MDI recently came out of his claustrophobic den in the academic block to setup an eating joint that caters to the ‘midnight oil burners’. Arcus makes shitloads of money that would put our average salary packages to shame. Sharmaji has improved his night operations after seeking help from an internal consultant. This comes with its own “subprimal” effect on our pockets too. A student on an average spends around 40 rupees a day on night food (this is under the assumption that an average Mandevian is a non smoker). Simple calculation tells that we spend around 1200 rupees on night food only per month and if you calculate the annual rates, we will get a shock of our life.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;">Whatever maybe the financial impacts, these night jaunts definitely give you the experience of a lifetime. It gives us innumerable memories and sheds all barriers of time that is in our body system. For the more fortunate ones, night life in MDI has given experiences of a life time which is best explained by Frank Sinatra’s famous song<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><i><span style="font-family:Arial;">“Strangers in the night exchanging glances<br />Wandering in the night<br />What were the chances we’d be sharing love<br />Before the night was through.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><i><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>the unbearable lightness of beinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137227837058828307noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1667479310039298083.post-57586395006638995352008-01-01T00:54:00.000-08:002008-01-01T01:01:50.881-08:00AKALE<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLo424-m7r8r8JyOpJFD1u22ZxR8SMLofPl4UvJxSCQUREwRNN85gbpG8FnGTToPKBj5AKOzcWvNOXNOxwTSJO1Dju3ULPlQLbwb9wljOK9WR-qOOWXpLBg63_CYeo39usd3f-W7m3zr4n/s1600-h/akale_c.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLo424-m7r8r8JyOpJFD1u22ZxR8SMLofPl4UvJxSCQUREwRNN85gbpG8FnGTToPKBj5AKOzcWvNOXNOxwTSJO1Dju3ULPlQLbwb9wljOK9WR-qOOWXpLBg63_CYeo39usd3f-W7m3zr4n/s320/akale_c.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5150430126965634866" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">AKALE was released in 2004. I still remember watching this movie along with just four other people in Trivandrum's Sree theatre </span> <span style="font-style: italic;">I am in the process of digging my old movie reviews and publishing it here</span>.<br /><br />Cheers<br /><br />Sabari<br /><br />AKALE- REVIEW<br /><br />I am not any kind of conventional film analyst,but after watchin syamaprasads "akale"i can swear tht i would hav made a better film ....<br />The film is based on tenesse williams"the glass menagerie"(which i havnt read) but from the mood of the movie its sure that syamprasad hasnt tampered with the original.the gr8tst flaw of the movie is tht sprasad harps on the original without introducin any other element in the movie.<br />The movie starts off in calcutta(any art film directors delite),camera runs thru the hoogly river and the tram way(best place for an aged pritviraj to retrospect) and soon v land @ someplace in kannur/thaleserry where anglo indians and portugese reside in plenty.rose(geethu mohandas) is neil(pritvi) sister- a cripple who has lost interest in life and who confines herself to the four walls of her room and plays with her glass animals.pritvi is a typical 1975 angry young man- a frustrated youth who is ambitious ,reads dh lawrence and more than anythn else wants to xtricate himself from the problems in his house.sheela is their mom who somehow wants 2 get geethu 2 get married off to any " good lookin,non alcoholic" anglo indian youth.<br />then enters freddy ewans(the producer himself) who brings in a ray of hope into geethus life but finally deserts her.she is grief stricken and never returns from tht dilemma and finally dies.in between this pritvi walks out from his house in serch of greener pastures and finally becomes a bearded buji story writer....how pritvi feels for his sister geethu after her death is the crux of the story.<br /><br />the main prob with akale is the approach to the story.the life of geethu makes us sad but never haunts us after v leave the theatre.the relation and break up of freddy and geethu is also half baked....W<br />hat makes me really angry is tht the film gets over in barely 1 and quarter hr.he could atlest worked on the relation bw pritvi and geethu instead of shrinkin it to a scene or two.i herd syamaprasad say somewhere tht only films based on novels can help malayalam cinema revive, but i think thers no point in makin films like this.his erlier work "agnisakshi "was commendable only becos of rajat kapurs acting and the dialogues(taken ditto from the novel "agnisakshi")...i think syamaprasad has 2 realize tht film making is somethin much more complex than serial n documentary making....<br /><br />about the acting,geethu mohandas does a really good job.she emotes really well and never looks strained....sheela is just ok.the young pritvi looks good,acts well but the aged pritvi fails to impress just because of his makeup.his dialogues also seems strained...he really has 2 go a far way to reach the league of mohanlal n mammoty...the producer as freddy ewans deserves some words because he scores well as a sober,romantic person.<br /><br />on the whole "akale" has its good bits but on the whole syamaprasad and co could hav made a far far better movie....the promos on tv are really good but i think thtz not enough to woo mallu audiences.they still remain "akale" from sree theatre, because on a saturday noon i could find only about 25 people in the theatre,most of them hapless people like me who desperately want to see good malayalam cinema.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:10;" ><span style="font-size:100%;"></span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>the unbearable lightness of beinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137227837058828307noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1667479310039298083.post-88016590354160085692008-01-01T00:50:00.000-08:002008-01-01T00:52:38.595-08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWJBbV4Ng7U9w9Cif97Jd8EHmEr-6cte7QRDoKS72jWzKcuD3exdi-se75e_9ePFoIgugZNv2mfcuQn0H7GK5k4q6OQEdKRen407kjCued_RXVtrYCNwzrCshpbOGUL1kgcP0ypN0NcET8/s1600-h/swades10.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWJBbV4Ng7U9w9Cif97Jd8EHmEr-6cte7QRDoKS72jWzKcuD3exdi-se75e_9ePFoIgugZNv2mfcuQn0H7GK5k4q6OQEdKRen407kjCued_RXVtrYCNwzrCshpbOGUL1kgcP0ypN0NcET8/s320/swades10.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5150428357439108898" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">This is something I had written around 3 years back when SWADES released. Recently digged it out from my Yahoo account. Enjoi maadi</span> <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">:-)</span><br /><br /><br /><br />The story is quite obvious from the promos shown on tv.Shah rukh(Mohan bargava) is a Project manager at NASA( thankfully shot really at NASA hq,not at mumbai filmcity or ramoji filmworld).He returns to India to see his nanny Kaveriamma and then many incidents take place which cause a drastic transition in him.The subsequent developments form the plot of the movie..... <div> The best thing about Swades is the Indian element in the movie.You can sense and smell India rite from when Mohan lands at IGI airport,New Delhi.We have the ubiquitous dhoti clad villager, the sarpanch,etc - reminiscences of a bygone era of Indian cinema.The film is mostly shot in brown giving us a deep sense of the rugged Indian village...</div> <div> Ashutosh Gowariker has delved seriously into the problems of any common Indian.His strong obsession with the Indian village life is present in each and every frame of the movie-the landless villager and the child who sells water for a pittance at the railway station being some examples.These images bring a sense of nationalism to any Indian watchin the movie...</div> <div> Ashutosh filmmaking reminds me of the early 80's school of malayalam cinema spearheaded by Bharatan and Padmarajan.He has a story which he deals starightforwardly without any unnecessary subplots...</div> <div> The biggest problem with the film is its length.The song "pal pal he bhaari" could have been easily dumped into the editors bin...The obsession of the director with the theme becomes a little bit tiresome during the post interval portions....</div> <div> The best thing to happen to Swades is Shah rukh khan.He gildes through the role and acts with utmost perfection never going overboard.The scene in which he runs from the turbine to the reservoir(executed in one shot i think) completely defines the dedication of the man..</div> <div> Songs are good but the background music doesnt reach the league of previous rahman classics like Lagaan or Dilse...The ladylead,Gayathri joshi is good and looks quite composed..The supporting cast is also realy good .</div> <div> This review wont b complete without a mention about the title card.The names of heavyweights like Ashutosh,A R Rahman,Javed akhtar are written in the same font size and design as that of any other technician and this in a nutshell shows us the meaning of the first three words of the preamble to our constitution-"We,the people"</div> <div> I would rate Swades an 8 on 10 because it has something to tell us all-esp to ppl like us who wait to catch the next flight to the US</div>the unbearable lightness of beinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137227837058828307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1667479310039298083.post-47934180239420691182007-12-10T02:58:00.000-08:002007-12-10T03:10:54.112-08:00Khoya Khoya Chand<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0W39yVBvXFA8kDP32Tpglp5B47ZVSvUeUqBWTcLkr1fzTUQewa6WPqEE_kSD3Z2C7qXDyFbwYZHa9JU03PQLzYjR2yuXEc46Io7seINIFu_ZgQmxy2dWOa0nmZF4qiPbW_E-XeO5-SEYA/s1600-h/200px-Khoya_khoya_chand_5.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0W39yVBvXFA8kDP32Tpglp5B47ZVSvUeUqBWTcLkr1fzTUQewa6WPqEE_kSD3Z2C7qXDyFbwYZHa9JU03PQLzYjR2yuXEc46Io7seINIFu_ZgQmxy2dWOa0nmZF4qiPbW_E-XeO5-SEYA/s320/200px-Khoya_khoya_chand_5.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5142299908045040818" border="0" /></a><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">I started worshipping Sudhir Misra after watching Hazaaron Khwashishein Aise (HKA).<span style=""> </span>The movie earned him the respect and adulations of a lot of serious movie buffs and if not for HKA, people like me wouldn’t have desperately waited for over a year to watch Khoya Khoya Chand. Sadly, the end product has turned out to dismal. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">Hazaaron Khwashishein Aise (HKA) had the perfect storyline- A love story set against the naxal uprising and political turmoil of the 1970s. <span style=""> </span>Kay Kay Menon, Chitrangada Singh and Shiney Ahuja lived their roles and the impeccable screenplay made it a modern classic for people of my generation.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">Khoya Khoya Chand (KKC) had all the ingredients of a modern classic: the resplendent backdrop of the 1960 Hindi film industry, characters etched from the life of Guru Dutt, Waheeda Rehman and Madhubala and wonderful music by Shantanu Moitra .The grave mistake that Sudhir Misra made was casting Soha Ali Khan as the heroine. The incapability of the lead actress is so conspicuous in the movie and Sudhir Misra tries to hide her histrionics through innumerable long shots and clever editing.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">Imagine this scene: Soha Ali Khan tells Shiney Ahuja how she was molested at a tender age of fourteen and throughout the scene; she remains as wooden as the old Sherwood tree. Vidya Balan or Chitrangada Singh would have fit the role to a tee and I think that even Rakhi Sawant would have fared better than Soha Ali Khan. The reason for casting Soha Ali would have been her 1960s look (thanks to her mom Sharmila Tagore) and her lineage but she is sadly unable to realize the depth of her role and ends up destroying the movie.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">Speaking about Rajat Kapoor, he did a splendid job in Monsoon Wedding and Bheja Fry but he couldn’t do justice to his role of an arrogant superstar in KKC. His body language is out of tune and he doesn’t have the demeanor associated with the stars of the 1960s. Shiney Ahuja does justice to his role and delivers his lines with conviction. In the emotional scenes, he is exemplary but then again Soha Ali Khan fails to perform. Vinay Pathak is brilliant. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">The story is a little dragging in the first half but anyone who has followed retro Indian cinema can easily identify with the characters that are trapped in a life of sleaze and deceit. After the interval, Sudhir Misra is totally lost and has no clue how to end the movie. The last half an hour is void of the emotional intensity of the first half and almost like a Karan Johar movie; characters shed their elements of grey and eventually sing and dance with the lead couple.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">If HKA was a classic tribute to the student movement of the seventies, KKC is a half baked tribute to the sixties. There is a particular scene in the movie when Shiney Ahuja sits in an almost empty movie hall screening his directorial debut when a film reviewer walks to him and asks how it feels when one’s own movie bombs so miserably in the first week.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">Same question to you, Mr. Sudhir Misra.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> Sabari<br />10 Dec 2007the unbearable lightness of beinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137227837058828307noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1667479310039298083.post-11168379324534744352007-05-26T03:40:00.002-07:002007-05-26T05:32:30.385-07:00Shootout at Lokhandwala....<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv37Uj0UDG20sF-0pVxXAVO_T3hJ0bxjuN05aOczEfNHmRBQ6A_DOVIHPig03CfUFUHQP94Grbl9Cj4Jhsar_Q7TXt7k-h05YpvllEiZra2TgFb150dHQSSzEyw-Ki1uA-rQ2fLBBJNfxe/s1600-h/shootout-at-lokhandwala1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv37Uj0UDG20sF-0pVxXAVO_T3hJ0bxjuN05aOczEfNHmRBQ6A_DOVIHPig03CfUFUHQP94Grbl9Cj4Jhsar_Q7TXt7k-h05YpvllEiZra2TgFb150dHQSSzEyw-Ki1uA-rQ2fLBBJNfxe/s320/shootout-at-lokhandwala1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5068846275117881570" border="0" /></a><br />10 REASONS Y ONE SHOULDNT WATCH "Shootout @ Lokhandwala"<br />-------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />#1: Dont get carried away b the big star cast like AB, AB Junior, Sanjay Dutt, Vivek Oberoi, Suniel Shetty...I should have checked the name of the producers, Ekta Kapoor and Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay Gupta is notorious for making B Grade copies of classics like Resorvoir Dogs and Oldboy & Ekta Kapoor needs no intro...<br /><br />#2: Just imagine Abhishek Bachan coming in an Enfield bike, chasing some Khalisani terrorists and gettin shot within 5 mins. Yup, hezzz dead...Reminded me of the "K" serials in which the hero is killed all on a sudden and his portrait hung on the wall either bcos he asked for a pay hike or Maam Ekta Kapoor was pissed of with him...Ditto for Abhishek Bachan<br /><br />#3: Another producer of the movie is Suniel Shetty who has not learned the art of acting even after a decade of movies. He has the same "constipated" emotion thruout the movie and has a Hindi accent which would put Katrina Kaif/ Tom Alter to shame...<br /><br />#4: We also have an Arbaaz Khan(with a mustache that keeps on fluttering in the Bombay breeze) who handles English ,hindi N uRDU one liners with elan...Tuff!!! Beta, its better for you spending time with your wife Maliaka Arora.<br /><br />#5: Tushar Kapoor(who happens to be Ekta Kapoors bhai) who desperatley tries to be a tough guy but has a voice that sounds like a kitten which meows frantically.....He better concentrate on movies like "Good Boy, Bad boy" which suits him to a Tee<br /><br />#6: Aarti Chabria(whoz that???) trying to look sensuous as a bar dancer in 3 horrible item numbers ...<br /><br />#7: Apporva Lakhia who directed mega blockbusters like "Mumbai se aaya mera Dost" and "Ek Ajnabee". His personal relation with the Bachans would get him a good star cast, but direction is another game dude...And learn the art of copying from English movies from "Sanjay Gupta"..You made a mess out of the scene "inspired" from Ed Norton's American History X<br /><br />#8: Mr. Amitabh Bachan (the lawyer who pleads for the cops in the court) makes an appearance every ten mins in the movie. I just wanted to ask him one thin "Kyun g--d mein guss .......???" Sadly for Bachan, ppl in the multiplex were so irritated with his role that they started walkin out wenever he came on screen<br /><br />#9: The story( Police attack goondas in a residential building - kill 5 of them - activists come against them n move the court- Bachan Senior pleads their case - Victory- And they lived happily ever after) is so wafer thin that the director has to get fillers in the form of Abhisek Bachan, Amrita Singh and Rakhi Sawant!!!!!<br /><br />#10" Diya Mirza (as a reporter with a weird name like "Tuttu Kuttu") and Neha Dupia(the quintessential officer's wife who complains that he has no time for family blah blah) who are the female leads...I wonder that Hindi movies cast heroines bcos there is a mandatory clause in the Bollywood Film act to have at least one wife/girlfriend/item number per movie)<br /><br /><br />TAKE AWAYS FROM THE MOVIE<br />-------------------------------------<br /><br />1. Dawood Ibrahim always wears a dark cooling glass and sits by the pool side with a host of "firang" beauties in swim suits<br /><br />2. Mumbai police do not need bullet proofs even if they are attacked by 1000s of bullets and rocket launchers....<br /><br />3. During an encounter, police block all the roads and checkposts but do not cut the telephone lines so that the goons in the building can call up their family/ girl firends and say "tata, buy buy"... I luv Mumbai police.<br /><br />4. Ray Ban is the official choice of all policemen and goons...everyone in the movie wears it except Arbaaz Khan<br /><br />INTERESTING STATISTICS<br />-----------------------------<br />1. Number of cigarettes used: Sanjay Dutt(3 packs Marlboro) + Vivek Oberoi( uncountable)<br />2. Number of bullets wasted: 2000 +<br />3. Liters of blood: easily more than 10 gallons<br />4: Time taken to write the screenplay: 2 mins<br /><br /><br />On the whole, Lokhandwala is an "anmol ratan" which has to be send to the "cans" this year..<br /><br />My rating = 1/10<br /><br />Sabarithe unbearable lightness of beinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137227837058828307noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1667479310039298083.post-48538872700248431742007-02-25T03:54:00.000-08:002007-02-25T04:08:49.672-08:00Traits of a master Orkutter<br />- Orkuts every 3 mins<br />-Starts intellectually stimulating Orkut communities like "Petrol Bunk in NH8 next to Radisson Hotel", "Butter chicken in MDI mess is awesome", "Parking @ Metro mall is better than parking @ DT Mall", "Salman should get Oscar for Salam E Ishq", etc<br />- Describes himself as "kool, handsome and romantic"<br />-Daily scrap is "Do u want to make friend ship with me"<br />-Joins 3000 communites<br />-Creates bogus profiles to increase number of fansthe unbearable lightness of beinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137227837058828307noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1667479310039298083.post-21987706176972194262007-02-25T03:23:00.000-08:002007-02-25T03:53:37.795-08:00Why I started blogging?<em>Top 3 reasons for me to start blogging</em><br />- No more ubiquitous ringing of the mobile phone<br /><br />- 3 terms in MDI had made me realize that there r better things in life than "Performance Management Systems"<br /><br />-David Davidar of Penguin wants me to start writing and preserve my tenets of wisdom in e-land!!! :-)<br /><br /><em>3 qualities I developed in MDI</em><br />-<strong>Art of patience:</strong> Ability to listen to words like "Strategy", "Strategic Business Partner", "Innovation", "Vision", "Mission","Motivation", "Change Management", "Core Competency" 10000 times a day and still remain normal<br />-<strong>Art of making PPTs:</strong><br />Step 1: Ping in IP Messengers for existing PPTs<br />Step 2: Change the background and font to "Tahoma"<br />Step 3: Edit the Group Name from Group x to Group 3<br />Step 4: Email it to group mates<br />Step 5: Continue watching the movie<br />-<strong>Dont ask the question "But,... she had a boyfriend outside college and u were going steady with ur Gf..."</strong><br />I guess Ekta Kapoor/ Karan Johar should talk to Kush Pandey(our Hostel& Mess Secy.) or Choudhary(Mess Contractor) and stay in the boys hostel for a day. They are sure to get really good story lines.the unbearable lightness of beinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09137227837058828307noreply@blogger.com2