Twin blasts in Hyd have rocked the city. This is the time when all of us have to rise above our petty differences and show the cowards who attacked us that we are made of sterner stuff. Lumbini Park and Gokul Chaat are both favorite destinations and Im sure the Hyderabadis will bring them back to the old status very soon.
May the innocent people who lost their lives rest in peace. God Bless...
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Images from Chennai!
It just cannot get any better than this! A fantabulous Sivaji poster featuring the Mottai Boss in all his glory. Wonder how many accidents this caused!
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Dekh le!
There is an element of predictability about sports flicks...you know that the underdog will win in the end, you know that the team will come together in the most crucial moments and a lot of other things about these movies, but they nevertheless set the adrenaline pumping and occasionally, a movie like Chak De! actually manages to raise some patriotic fervour.
Chak De! India, directed by Shimit Amin and produced by YashRaj productions in what turns out to be a classic departure from the tradition of Yashraj movies, was a smart movie. It has every element that a sports movie generally has and shows SRK in a role that the superstar carries off with aplomb. The movie has clapworthy moments aplenty, almost all of Shahrukh's lines are punchlines and the women players acquit themselves well. The second half of the movie, has more hockey than anything else, but I found myself hooked. The girls play their part to perfection. The good part about the movie is that it is not dialogue heavy and the emotions it arouses are a result of carefully built situations rather than long drawn out scenes. The songs are not really put in there without no purpose, you really do not register them as they flow along with the story.
Performance wise, SRK puts in a fine turn as the disgraced player turned coach seeking redemption. It is refreshing to see him in this avatar with no hammy lines or romantic scenes. The ladies all put in great performances, almost everyone has atleast one or two scenes to themselves and lines that stay with you long after you have left the theater. Shimit Amin scores in the direction department, managing to incorporate all the cliches required of such movies and yet managing to make a taut engaging movie. The scene at McDonald's, the men vs women game and its conclusion, the end of the first game at the world cup, the conclusion and a lot of other scenes leave an impact. In the World Cup final, you see ShahRukh preparing for imminent glory, he is pulling up his coat as the first penalty is scored and is pulling up his collar as the second one is scored, once the win is completed though, he can barely manage to stand straight, his knees give way and he only manages to grab the sideboards and look at the tricolor.
I would recommend this to everyonewho wants to see a good sports flick...SRK fans will of course enjoy this, but those who hate SRK in his stereotypical roles, you have to see this one so you can feel that all your cribbing has forced him to take up something different.
PS: Unrelated, but had to put this up here! I was sitting in a McDonald's with my friends before the movie and the India - England test was in progress. The moment Kumble reached his century, the entire crowd there burst out in spontaneous applause...It was great to be there and be one of the crowd celebrating unabashedly what definitely was a great moment for Kumble in his 17 yr long career...
Chak De! India, directed by Shimit Amin and produced by YashRaj productions in what turns out to be a classic departure from the tradition of Yashraj movies, was a smart movie. It has every element that a sports movie generally has and shows SRK in a role that the superstar carries off with aplomb. The movie has clapworthy moments aplenty, almost all of Shahrukh's lines are punchlines and the women players acquit themselves well. The second half of the movie, has more hockey than anything else, but I found myself hooked. The girls play their part to perfection. The good part about the movie is that it is not dialogue heavy and the emotions it arouses are a result of carefully built situations rather than long drawn out scenes. The songs are not really put in there without no purpose, you really do not register them as they flow along with the story.
Performance wise, SRK puts in a fine turn as the disgraced player turned coach seeking redemption. It is refreshing to see him in this avatar with no hammy lines or romantic scenes. The ladies all put in great performances, almost everyone has atleast one or two scenes to themselves and lines that stay with you long after you have left the theater. Shimit Amin scores in the direction department, managing to incorporate all the cliches required of such movies and yet managing to make a taut engaging movie. The scene at McDonald's, the men vs women game and its conclusion, the end of the first game at the world cup, the conclusion and a lot of other scenes leave an impact. In the World Cup final, you see ShahRukh preparing for imminent glory, he is pulling up his coat as the first penalty is scored and is pulling up his collar as the second one is scored, once the win is completed though, he can barely manage to stand straight, his knees give way and he only manages to grab the sideboards and look at the tricolor.
I would recommend this to everyonewho wants to see a good sports flick...SRK fans will of course enjoy this, but those who hate SRK in his stereotypical roles, you have to see this one so you can feel that all your cribbing has forced him to take up something different.
PS: Unrelated, but had to put this up here! I was sitting in a McDonald's with my friends before the movie and the India - England test was in progress. The moment Kumble reached his century, the entire crowd there burst out in spontaneous applause...It was great to be there and be one of the crowd celebrating unabashedly what definitely was a great moment for Kumble in his 17 yr long career...
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Shame!
Two main rant points in this post: One - the attack by 'Fundamentalists' on Taslima Nasreen yesterday in Hyderabad, Two - the deteriorating quality of the news shown on all the exclusive news channels...
The attack on Taslima Nasreen by the so called Islamist fundamentalists yesterday in Hyderabad was a shame...I very proudly tell all my friends that Hyderabadis are very tolerant and friendly. After yesterday's incident though, I will have to think twice. The fact that three MLA's were involved in this incident makes it all the more distressing. How can these so called representatives of the people involve themselves in such heinous acts? The language they used was not worthy of a street ruffian. One of these MLA's even went to the extent of saying that he did not care about police cases nor about his MLA position...firstly he was a Muslim and he would kill the author the next time she came to Hyderabad. One political party said that if the other party had not resorted to the unplanned attack, they would have killed the author in a planned manner. What kind of people are these? Are these our elected representatives, is this the kind of example they are setting for us? The kind of cowardice these people display by resorting to such acts is laughable. Since they do not do anything worthwhile using their powers as an elected member of the state legislature, they resort to such cheap tricks to grab eyeballs and gain their fifteen minutes of fame. Without getting into deeper issues, lemme just be content by saying that people like you give Islam a bad name. You are not upholding any honor doing such things...you are only further scarring an already scarred group of people.
That apart, one rant that has been long due is about the news channels. They just keep getting worse by the day. Star News is one particular channel that is particularly sad. They keep going on and on about the most insignificant and trivial of things. Mandira Bedi's saree on a TV show, a woman walking semi naked to a police station to complain against her in-laws, a kid who has a tendency to drink petrol...everything, in their eyes, deserves a half hour special with so called experts debating on the same. Recently, it was reported that a news channel actually forced a couple of people who were threatening suicide to do it...as it would make a good visual. They actually died during the incident. During the recent police firing in AP, none of these guys had any social resposibility to help the injured or do anything useful, all they could focus on was getting exclusive pics. One of the reporters proudly proclaimed that the first pics of the woman who fell and fractured her skull while running away from the police were shown only by their channel. For god's sake, stop this kind of yellow journalism. Last evening there was a half hour show on Star News about a fight for survival by a buffalo and a fight between a group of buffaloes and a herd of tigers. This was an email forward that I received a couple months ago about a video on YouTube. It was funny to see this 6 minute clip shown for 30 mins on a TV show with some stupid hindi commentary.
The media is an extremely powerful tool, one that can make or break a nation's destiny. As of now though, it is becoming a mockery in the hands of money minded bosses who have nothing but financial gains on their minds. This is my request to all the reporters out there, ask your conscience if this is what it wanted when you took up this profession. If the answer is a resounding no, as it will be, then everyday before you go to sleep, look back at whether you are satisfied with the reporting you did during the day and ask yourself if it has done an iota of good to the society. It will be a long time before you mangage to catch your forty winks!
The attack on Taslima Nasreen by the so called Islamist fundamentalists yesterday in Hyderabad was a shame...I very proudly tell all my friends that Hyderabadis are very tolerant and friendly. After yesterday's incident though, I will have to think twice. The fact that three MLA's were involved in this incident makes it all the more distressing. How can these so called representatives of the people involve themselves in such heinous acts? The language they used was not worthy of a street ruffian. One of these MLA's even went to the extent of saying that he did not care about police cases nor about his MLA position...firstly he was a Muslim and he would kill the author the next time she came to Hyderabad. One political party said that if the other party had not resorted to the unplanned attack, they would have killed the author in a planned manner. What kind of people are these? Are these our elected representatives, is this the kind of example they are setting for us? The kind of cowardice these people display by resorting to such acts is laughable. Since they do not do anything worthwhile using their powers as an elected member of the state legislature, they resort to such cheap tricks to grab eyeballs and gain their fifteen minutes of fame. Without getting into deeper issues, lemme just be content by saying that people like you give Islam a bad name. You are not upholding any honor doing such things...you are only further scarring an already scarred group of people.
That apart, one rant that has been long due is about the news channels. They just keep getting worse by the day. Star News is one particular channel that is particularly sad. They keep going on and on about the most insignificant and trivial of things. Mandira Bedi's saree on a TV show, a woman walking semi naked to a police station to complain against her in-laws, a kid who has a tendency to drink petrol...everything, in their eyes, deserves a half hour special with so called experts debating on the same. Recently, it was reported that a news channel actually forced a couple of people who were threatening suicide to do it...as it would make a good visual. They actually died during the incident. During the recent police firing in AP, none of these guys had any social resposibility to help the injured or do anything useful, all they could focus on was getting exclusive pics. One of the reporters proudly proclaimed that the first pics of the woman who fell and fractured her skull while running away from the police were shown only by their channel. For god's sake, stop this kind of yellow journalism. Last evening there was a half hour show on Star News about a fight for survival by a buffalo and a fight between a group of buffaloes and a herd of tigers. This was an email forward that I received a couple months ago about a video on YouTube. It was funny to see this 6 minute clip shown for 30 mins on a TV show with some stupid hindi commentary.
The media is an extremely powerful tool, one that can make or break a nation's destiny. As of now though, it is becoming a mockery in the hands of money minded bosses who have nothing but financial gains on their minds. This is my request to all the reporters out there, ask your conscience if this is what it wanted when you took up this profession. If the answer is a resounding no, as it will be, then everyday before you go to sleep, look back at whether you are satisfied with the reporting you did during the day and ask yourself if it has done an iota of good to the society. It will be a long time before you mangage to catch your forty winks!
Monday, August 06, 2007
Link - to something I liked!
Check this link out when you have time - amazing what people can convey using just 55 words!
55 word short stories
55 word short stories
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