Jhoom Barabar Jhoom - after the intermission!

A delightful first half ruined by a overtly emotional and long second half is the general complaint we hear about movies. Jhoom Barabar Jhoom (JBJ) turns out to be otherwise. Generally, the first half of a movie raises expectations and when we are let down in the second half, we come back feeling cheated. Here, I thought the first half was so dull and drab that I was yawning in anticipation of the second half. And when the second half turned out to be as delightful as it was, I was raring to kick Shaad Ali for having given so little thought to the first half.

The first half turned out to be excruciatingly slow, sync sound (was it?) ruining half the conversations. Most of the dialogues were totally inaudible adding to my woes. The songs were almost completely unnecessary, though the locales and the choreography made them eminently watchable. So much so, that I ended up not minding them. But after the interval, after the Bol na Halke Halke number, the movie took off in a way that I never imagined. The moment the leads realize that they like each other, the story moves along entirely different lines. And the 20 minute dance competetion is a riot. I can just see the fun that the cast and crew must have had during the making of the song. Each and everyone of them let go completely and the end with Big B revealing how it all started was a complete cracker.

Coming to the actors, they were funtastic. Abhishek and Preity were pretty good as usual, I was pleasantly surprised by Bobby's act in the second half and Lara was the life of the entire second half. Glad to see that the blink and miss act in Fanaa led her to this. Hanif bhai or Hafi bhai was super. Ive never been to Southall but the depiction was funtastic, making me want to go there as soon as possible. Shankar - Ehsaan - Loy's foot tapping numbers were ably supported by Vaibhavi Merchant's outstanding choreography and Ayananka Bose's superior camera work. Big B continues to defy his age and surprise us effortlessly.

Shaad Ali should have taken care in the first half, it is a pity that a lot of people will miss the well made second half of the movie as it seems poised to go down as one of the biggest flops this year. As someone said, patience pays and if you can bear the first half, the second half will more than make up for it!

Rajni-astic!

Shankar is called a socially conscious director. After witnessing one more time his penchant for spending insane amounts of money on his spectacles (they no longer remain movies), I doubt it seriously. Sivaji, for instance, is a movie about black money in India and how it is widening the gap between rich and poor in India. Seeing the amount of money that was spent to make the movie and the amount of business it did, I wonder how much of the much maligned black money went into the whole business of shooting and selling the movie. If Shankar is such a socially conscious person as he wants us to believe through his movies, let him cut down the budget of his movies by a tiny fraction and put it to some better purpose, like the affordable education that all his protagonists go on endlessly about.

Coming to Sivaji, Shankar makes sure that the 65 Crore Rupees spent on the movie is seen on screen. Every scene is staged with a lot of grandeur and the songs are obscenely lavish. In this all consuming desire to be grand, Shankar misses the most important thing, richness of emotion in the movie. Result: this is a movie that leaves you cold. You love The Superstar's eccentricities, his mannerisms (tossing the coin, the chewing gum rebounding off various surfaces and the superb drumming on his bald pate), laugh at his efforts to become fair etc etc etc, but you dont feel bad when he loses everything. Post interval, 40 odd minutes are devoted to Rajni getting back to a Prado from the local bus, but this is told in such a documentary fashion, that you are waiting for it to finish and the movie to get back to its masala mode.

Screenplay was a strong point in some of Shankar's early movies and so was emotion. There was a strong reason for his earlier protagonists to do what they did, let that be murder or robbery and you end up sympathising with them instead of treating them as murderers or robbers. Here, the strong motivation is lost, Sivaji is shown as a man who has it all and gains everything back within minutes of losing it - show me some hardships and then show me the ride back to luxury - and I will love it. The screenplay moved between one grand scene to one grand song to one grand fight and then back to a grander scene to a grander song to a grander fight and then onto.....

All that apart, Sivaji is a funtastic treat for Rajni fans, he plays out his role with elan, wears all the weird getups that Shankar planned for him and does wonderfully well in the songs where he pays tribute to other stalwarts. Shreya looks like a dream, someone who suits Shankar's grandiose dreams. Vivek is good and gels well with Rajni. Suman was good, though his role limited him to mostly being someone who flashes his yellowed teeth. The songs were brilliantly shot, Manish Malhotra's costumes and Thota Tharani's sets and KV Anand's cinematography were fantastic and elevated the songs to an different high altogether. Rahman's music was great, but did not fit in completely with the movie. The superstar is not my ideal candidate to do hip-hop or latina songs probably.

Shankar seems to be losing it...his stories getting thinner and thinner, his protaognists geting weirder and more superhuman with every outing and worse, his penchant for richness and grandeur overshadowing everything. I will however be ready for Shankar's next, no expectations of a strong script or a satisfying movie, just three hours of grandiose sets, fantastically staged action sequences and 5-6 music videos each with a different setting...

The temptress called life

I have always been a person who believed that we are nothing but puppets whose invisible strings god yields and makes us run about to his whims and fancies. There are people who believe so much in fate that they actually dont do anything, they think that since fate will run its course anyway, it is completely useless for them to attempt to do something. It is indeed grim that we are but mere puppets, but sometimes it strikes me that ours is a very fragile existence. Sometimes, like today, Im rudely awakened to the possibility that any moment in our lives might be our last on the earth.

As I was getting ready for my usual evening wanderings today, I received news that one of my batchmates during engineering had passed away a couple of days ago. The news was put on the group email and just mentioned her death. Frantic phone calls to a couple of other friends confirmed that the person in question was killed in an accident. The girl who died was my age, had just embarked on a new job and was returning from a pleasure trip to a waterfall near Bangalore. I took the news on face value first and then realized how deeply it had affected me. I could not take part in any conversation around me for the rest of the evening and was completely distracted.

As is illustrated by this incident, life is fragile. This moment you might be alive and vibrant and happy and the next moment, life might be snuffed out of you. Live life while you still have the chance to live it. Do not let all the beautiful moments pass by, live every moment. Do not leave all the simple pleasures in life waiting for a bigger joy in life to come your way. That might never come along and you will end up not having had any happiness in life at all. Take a minute and smell the roses, as I love saying. Life is too precious a gift to be wasted upon trivial matters.

Never for a moment, think that you are unfortunate and rue your existence. As Dr. Christian Barnard would say, every living moment is for celebration. As he writes in his wonderful piece called 'In Celebration of Being Alive', live and experience every moment and do not be a bystander in your own life.

PS: The girl apparently died cause no hospital would take her in as it was a medico legal case. Two doctors I know said that they could not blame the hospitals as if any of these cases leads to a death, the hospital might lose its license. If so, then the law that does this is inhumane. If the law lets a person who has a shot at life die a dog's death, it is no law at all and it needs to be changed immediately...
PPS: RIP Sowjanya...

The Eternal Question - Chicken or Egg!

This is one tricky question that a lot of people quote when in a tricky situation. I was asked a similar question in an entirely different context today. India is a democracy, while we are at it, let me emphasize that we are the world's largest democracy. It is the people who elect their leaders, whoever they decide to crown king becomes a pain in the neck for the next 5 years, or as long as people are willing to have them in power. Why then, does India have so much corruption? Why then, do we have leaders who can stoop to any levels? Why then, do we have leaders who help in human trafficking? Is it a case of the people electing bad leaders? Or is it a case of good people turning bad once they are elected?

The question was very similar to the chicken and egg conundrum. Who is to blame can never be decided. When one candidate has served 4 years in prison and another has served 6 years, it is natural for people to vote for the guy who has served 4 years. For them, it is afterall a case of choosing the lesser evil. In states like Bihar, no one apparently steps out of their houses on election day. Government employees treat election day like another holiday. This is because, no matter who comes to power, their lives will go on in pretty much the same fashion, whereas if they decide to elect a person to power, there will be no life in future to discuss. In such a scenario, how can we expect that a person will elect who he thinks is just, fair and honest (blah, blah and mmore blah).

To our leaders there is only one thing I think that is applicable for them. We do not begrudge you your positions. You need to make money while the sun shines and by all means go ahead and do it. All I ask is that even if you pocket 25% of the funds received by any project, ensure that the remaining goes to public work. Akin to our cricketers who are in form. They get ads, sponsors and the works immediately after a couple ok knocks. And we do not begrudge the money they earn and do not raise our voice until they get knocked out of the world cup. Similarly, we know that you have spent a lot to become an MLA or an MP. Earn it back but do some worthwhile work meanwhile.

Which again brings us back to the first thing! Why is the MLA having to spend so much to win the elections? This is happening because votes are being sold. Corrupt people are electing corrupt governments. Which again brings us back to the questions? Are the people corrupt or is it the politicians???


PS: Take a break from the heavy stuff and check out some cool pics from Goa on my frnds blog.
http://www.lifeismemorable.blogspot.com/

Another weekend, another flick!

The title of this post should serve as an indicator to what I thought of the movie. Nothing special, nothing extraordinary, nothing too bad tooo. Just regular bollywood masala fare served in a slick manner.

Shootout at Lokhandwala - Apoorva Lakhia's third directorial venture turned out to be a complete male movie. One that will set the adrenaline pumping, one that will be embraced by the masses for all its violence, bhaigiri and item songs and one that will be forgotten the moment it is out of theatres. Dont expect to see the DVD's make their way into filmbuff's collection! This guy is one lucky director who has friends in all the right places and in all the right circles! He ropes in Abhishek Bacchan with a ridiculous plot and makes Mumbai se Aaya Mera Dost - disaster. He sees a DVD of Man on Fire and ropes in the Big B to make Ek Ajnabee. Then he reads about the Lokhandwala shootout, offers ACP AA Khan a bit role in the movie in exchange for loads of info and makes a movie with a mammoth star cast.

There was no one in the movie who had any kinda depth to his character, no one whose character went beyond a few lines, or a few bullets to be precise. The director sure had no idea how to juggle his cast and so ends up making a very superficial movie. It will appeal to a lot of people though. I was reminded of how I enjoyed seeing 300 earlier this year. A raw action movie appealing to the male psyche purely on the basis of its awesome battle scenes. Shootout is very similar in this respect, it is a raw action movie, the action very gory, very bloody, very very basic. Even the corpses being dragged away had to be shown in full, blood trails and all. Two or three item songs, none too long, none that was necessary, though none that the masses would mind (thanks to Aarti Chabria, whose stint down south seems to have helped her). Some rousing scenes with Sanjay and his troupe and Viviek (or however else it is spelt) and his troupe walking across the screen to a thumping background beat are pretty cool.

Coming to the cast, Sanjay Dutt looks more like his usual gangster, what with the open shirt and gun sticking out, but is pretty neat. Suniel Shetty and Arbaaz Khan do not have much to do. Coming to the gangsta's Viviek does a bad job of going back to his Company days. Tusshar Kapoor must be feeling bad when he does not get a good role even in a movie co-produced by his sister. None of his sidekicks have much of a role to be talked about. Abhishek Bacchan, all I can say is he is a very loyal friend to have agreed to have done a blink and miss role for him. Big B must have done the role while he was sleepwalking or something.

Go see this movie if you enjoyed seeing 300. Pretty much the same a**- kicking, shoot to kill action. Good as long as it lasts...nothing that you will take home!

Metro - nomic!!!

A regular review of this movie, I some how found myself incapabale of writing. Everytime during the movie when I thought I could trash it, it rose from mediocrity to exalted levels, everytime I thought I could praise it to the heavens, it was pulled down to mediocrity by some cliche. So, I decided to just list out some of the vignettes that stood out in the movie, some moments that stuck with me long after the lights were switched on. Spoilers ahead, so be aware and do not blame me! Here goes a listing -

The entire Dharmendra - Nafisa Ali track, right from when Dharmendra takes the shortcut to reach the other platform, to the scene wherein Nafisa takes her spectacles off, puts them in Dharmendra's pocket and runs into the rain to the end that takes you by surprise, this was a track that needed some guts to pull off.

Sharman Joshi's flat situation - how the seemingly mundane Guptaji's and Sharmaji's have dual lives straight out of a young man's dream (my frnds are seriously contemplating getting a flat together!!!) to his discovery of who his boss is bringing to his flat and his final acceptance of his ladylove, it does not matter to him if she has been sleeping around earlier - the future is what matters is probably his chain of thought. Very well conceived.

The KayKay, Shilpa and Shiney track had a couple of stand out moments. Shilpa was at her best in the scene where Shiney takes her to his frnd's flat and the frnd walks in at an inoppurtune moment. The broken KayKay in the climactic scene was a superlative example of a person getting into the skin of the character.

The best of the tracks was the one with Irrfan Khan and Konkona Sen...Sharma...whatever. Both of them were ur average everyday characters, bumbling, unsure and funny. It had many laugh out loud moments and they managed to elevate the movie to different heights altogether. Stand out moments include the shopping scene, the pre-interview scene in the office, the climax of course...

Sharman Joshi stood out on his own, Kangna Ranaut pretty much the same as in her other movies. Anurag Basu, after Gangster, proves that he is a good storyteller, one who has a definite idea of what he wants to say and who he wants to say it to. His target is the multiplexes in the Metros and he knows what the discerning audience wants to see. His ploy of getting in the Metro band for every song does get irksome after a while, but on the whole a rocking soundtrack and a different movie. Might not appeal to everyone, but if u r looking for a strong story backed by outstanding performances...this might just be your cup of tea!

On a whim...

A beautiful song from Rahman's Vandemataram sung by Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

Join on Sunshine, Join on Blue Skies,
Sunshine breaking up, blue skies breaking up...(2)

Chanda sooraj lakhon taare, hain jab tere hi yeh saare,
kis baat pe hoti hai phir takraare.
Kheechi hain lakeere is zameen pe, par naa kheecho dekho,
Beech mein do dilon ke yeh deewaarein.

Duniya mein kahi bhi dard se koi bhi, tadpe tho hum ko yahaan pe,
Ahsaas uske zakhmon kaa hoke, apnaa bhi dil bhar bhar aaye roye naakiiii...

What are u waiting for another day another dawn,
someday we have to find a new way to peace.
What are u waiting for another sign another call,
someday we have to find a new way to peace.

Doorie kyon dilon mein rahe phaasle kyon badhte rahe,
Pyaari yeh jindagi hain pyaara jahaan.
Rishtein badi mushkilon se bante hain yahaan pe lekin,
Toot ne keliye bas ek hi lamhaaa.

Ishq dawaa hain har ek dard ki,
Zanzerein ishq hain har ek rishte ki,
Ishq saari hadon ko tod daale,
Ishq tho duniya ko pal mein mitaa bhi de,
Ishq hain jo jahaan ko aman bhi de....
Rounaq ishq se hain saare aalam ki........

Soulful lyrics (italicized part especially), rending rendition, brilliant orchestration, the song takes my breath away...

Thank you Rahman, for enriching our lives with such songs and sorry that Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan did not live longer so we could have heard many more wonderful renditions as these...

Aata - impressions....

Decide what you want to make first. I think this is what all directors need to be told. Once you have decided what genre of film you want to make stick to your guns. Work on your script until you have a bound one in your hand and then go to the floors. Then make sure that the story you wanted to tell is not lost in translation. Once you have finished shooting your movie, make sure the publicity stills and trailers convey exactly what the audience is going to get to see in the movie.

These were thoughts that went through my mind as I suffered yet another insufferable summer flop. Aata - starring current heartthrobs, Sidharth and Ileana, came with all the usual hype about being different, being intelligent and entertaining and the other usual cliched statements. What surprised me was that the story was the rehash of a none-too-old movie that did not do that well itself (Gudumba Shankar). What propelled the director and the producer to use the same script is something that escapes my thought process. Added to that, Sidharth was majorly miscast in his role. Here is an actor who is known to underplay his characters and bring an intensity hitherto not seen to his roles. Now picture him in a role of a movie fanatic, who talks exclusively using dialogues or titles from all the movies he has seen since birth. Someone loud, overtly active and generally over the top. The movie lost half its charm right there. The villian is reduced to a buffoon for a major part of the second half and then suddenly the last part of the movie changes into something entirely different bringing in a social angle and all that.

This is where I say, decide what you want to make, if you are reducing a villian to a buffoon make a comedy of errors kinda movie and keep the tone light throughout. If you are trying to make a love story against an action back drop, keep the action intense throughout. Else your intended serious twists in the story line will become a cause for mirth for the audience and that is a never a good sign. The movie also suffers from continuity problems. No one was taking enuf care during the making of movie. There is one character that appears post interval - exactly four scenes this guy has - and his moustache turns from white to black to white to black again during those four scenes. Did the director not even see the rushes?

All said and done, Ileana looked hot, had no inhibitions and made up for some part of the movie. The first two songs were very good, but that is all there is to it. If you absolutely must see it, wait for a couple months and the DVD should be out in the market...

Hopefully there will be no Spiderman - 4!

I was one of those guys who got tremendously excited and was making arrangements to see Spidey - 3 on the first day. Took pics of the posters and it was the wall paper on both my mobile and my laptop. All this, inspite of being disappointed by the large amounts of mush in Spidey - 2.

3 belied my expectations completely. Three villians promised a veritable action feast and that was exactly what 3 was not. What I got to see was a mushy, sentimental story where no one wore masks...For god's sake, I wanna see Goblin with his mask, I wanna see Spidey with his mask. A partly torn mask is ok, the tearing of the mask signifies action to me, but Spidey tearing off his mask at the slightest pretext and Goblin just bothering with the mask for a fraction of a second that he appears was somehow disappointing. The masks are very very essential for the persona.

I understand that Sam Raimi wants to focus on the human side of the super hero - but my understanding is limited to half the movie's length. I would rather go to a mushy romantic 'chick flick' if I wanted to see what I got to see in Spidey - 3 for the longest time. And in the end, when the Goblin Jr. turns good, it was him all the way. He gets to deliver the most crippling blows to the villians of the piece, Spidey just about cleans 'em up later. And killing him at the end was saaaad, a regular movie goer would know that the moment he says 'friends I could give my life for' at the beginning of the movie. If spending more than $200 million on the movie justifies the inclusion of all these cliches, then make a cheaper movie, one where in you can remove the cliches and follow a slightly adventurous route.

If there is a Spidey -4, I would like it to be sharper - in terms of wit and action and have a lot less mush!

Civilization???

The massacre at Virginia Tech had me in tears as I read the gruesome details of the incident. What can prompt someone to such a dastardly and ghastly act? I ask myself this question over and over again. I shudder repeatedly at the thought that someone can take so many lives. Walk from classroom to classroom shooting scores of your fellow students - what kind of a demented, twisted mind did the shooter have that he could do all this and not flinch one bit?

I do not even know if this is even vaguely connected with this post, but recently I saw an audition for a talent hunt for children on TV. Kids, aged between 5-10 yrs came out dressed in their best, sang their songs and on not being selected, I could see them crying their hearts out. What has been put in their minds at such a tender age, I wondered! That is the age when they should be taught to enjoy participating in a competition and come out happy that they had a good Sunday. Instead, here they were crying their hearts out. What are parents putting in their minds? What was in the mind of this loner that made him do this?

It is easy to blame the oldest of culprits, one that drives a man to abandon all rhyme and reason and behave in an inhuman manner - love. I would beg of everyone involved in the investigation, however, not to trivialize this in the name of love and recognize the deeper malaise within. There is a growing tendency towards violence in this generation and the easy access to guns and the ilk is just making the situation all the more volatile. Teach the younger generation that it is OK to lose sometimes. Teach them to take a loss with a smile and not upon their hearts. It hurts when you lose, but remember that a loss can spur you on to victories later in life, provided you decide to have a later!

My heart goes out to all the 32 casualties and the gunmen himself. He probably needed help, help that he will never get now. The other 32 casualties, I'm stuck here looking at the word casualty and I somehow am ashamed at using that word. The 32 victims of this mindless massacre, all of you are brave people who, I'm sure, must have tried to stand up for each other until the last moment. My heart is with your families, who must have been waiting for you to come back for lunch or dinner...I cannot imagine the extent of their grief at this moment. All I can do is say a silent prayer to god and wish your souls rest in peace.

I read on CNN on that all the students are going to wear their VT hokies as a sign of unity. This is something that I observed in an American campus. Nothing binds people more than a tragedy and the unity that all the students show in the face of such incidents is awe inspiring. Such shows of solidarity after this "tragedy of monumental proportions" - as President George W. Bush put it, make us believe that all is not lost yet. We might still have time to set things right.

RIP: The 33 people killed in the Virginia Tech shootout.

Get a Life, Losers!!!

Richard Gere kisses Shilpa Shetty, Shilpa has fun, Gere has fun and all of India has fun watching endless replays of the same on NEWS channels. Some people, who have nothing better to do go on a rampage, hold protests and disrupt public life. Last week someone filed a public interest litigation against Sachin Tendulkar cause he cut a cake that was fashioned after a tricolor and someone else decided that Mr. Narayana Murthy had disrespected the national anthem by playing out the tune of the same instead of singing it.

For me, this seriously shows the level of joblessness in India. All you so called social activists, please go on and get yourself a life. If you really want to help the society, go do something about a real cause. The whole focus of the Shilpa - Gere meeting was AIDS awareness. Instead of protesting about something insignificant and taking the focus away from the prime issue at hand, go do something useful. You may not gain your fifteen minutes of notoriety, but you will gain the good will of the ones that you help. And as far as we being Indians and hating PDA, please walk around any major city in India today and you will find far more blatant displays of the same. And for gods sake stop destroying public property for every possible excuse. All that is wealth created by the taxes paid by hard working citizens. Vent your anger by beating up your co-activists - that would also be an extremely useful thing to do. Do not stop buses full of people going back home after a hard days work and make them get down and smash windows.

All the money and the energy spent on protests can be better utilized. Go help spread awareness about STD's. Go to an old age home and listen to an old mother's tale. Go to an orphanage and help cook a day's meal. Go to a village and help in cleaning a drain. Instead of holding up traffic, go help in clearing a jam. I would infact encourage all these activists to take up fasts unto death until their demands are met - would help in cleaning up a lot of them and all the food they dont eat can feed many needy stomachs.

One reason for this outburst is the traffic jam that I was stuck in this evening due to a protest. It was about the Richard Gere and Shilpa Shetty incident. This was something long overdue and today's experience just brought things to a head. Please, stop devaluing the value of a protest. A rightful protest for an important cause is stronger than anything anyone could think of. That was what brought us our independence. Finally, GO GET A LIFE, LOSERS!

U dont get second chances to make first impressions!

I always strongly beleive that this is wrong. Whatever might be your first impression of a person, there is always a chance that you have chanced upon them at the wrong moment and caught just the facet that is completely opposite to what a person actually is. No examples better than our star kids to illustrate this.

The first impression we form of these hugely burdened beings is dependent on the impression we have on their family. Son/daughter of a big star simply implies that he/ she is a super performer by themselves. This is often not the case as acting, even though it has to come naturally, is definitely not hereditary. One bad movie is all it takes for us to write these guys off, especially since they are star kids, the patience levels that we show towards non- star kids being infinitely more.

All this because I saw a movie yesterday. It was called 'Dhee'has and it starred Vishnu, whose dad Dr. Mohan Babu is one of the finest actors that the Telugu film industry has produced. Now this guy had a disastrous launch, a couple of forgettable movies and then made the mistake of remaking Sarfarosh and Taxi No. 9211, two movies that were memorable sheerly for the strength of the performances by their lead actors. People wrote obituaries about this guy and all but confirmed that this guys' future was over. This particular movie does not find buyers and waits in the cans for an eternity before finally releasing during a lull period. And surprisingly enough, here it turns out that this is the movie that might give this guy success.

Considering the number of movies made in India every year, it is really difficult to write a new story for a movie. What determines the success of a movie is how an old story is told in a new and refreshing manner. At the end of a tiring day's work, what people want to really see is a movie that entertains them and that was this movie's forte. A simple storyline with a taut screenplay, the right amount of guffaws in every other scene and the right number of dishum-dishums without excessive gore ensured that this movie was a good watch. If only for the lack of something better, I would recommend this movie to anyone who is looking for some good timepass.

Another beautiful moment from an Indian Wedding.
The groom putting the Toe rings onto the beautifully painted feet of the bride...

Saaad Day for cricket

March 18th will go down in the history of cricket as a sad day indeed. Till last evening, I was thinking about jotting down my thoughts about how Bangladesh outplayed India man to man. I was one amongst countless Indians whose sadness at India being beaten by Bangladesh and facing a very probable first round elimination, was in some small measure compensated by the fact that arch rivals Pakistan had lost to Ireland and were going to go home to jeers and brickbats. But the news of Bob Woolmer's death late last night overwhelmed all other emotions.

I desperately wanted to find out what was going on in the minds of the contemporary Pakistan fan, all of those who were screaming for Bob Woolmer's head a day earlier. If I had been one of them, I would have been wracked with guilt and been very angry at God who chose to grant this wish amongst innumerable others that I had asked of him. An article by Dileep Premchandran in Cricinfo went thus

"

We were sitting down to lunch after the depressing trip to the University Hospital when a man came by and asked: "Da coach who die? He Pakistan coach now?" When we said yes, he shook his head sadly, dreads blowing in the breeze. 'Maybe he take it to heart?" he said. "Even da biggest team can lose to little team, man. It a game, and da ball round."

As you listened to him, you could only wish that fans back home in India and Pakistan were possessed of such common sense or perspective on life. On waking up in the morning and checking mail, the first thing I had seen was an AFP report from India that spoke of angry mobs attacking a house that Mahendra Singh Dhoni was constructing in Ranchi. The story also went on to speak of armed guards protecting the houses of Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Virender Sehwag and others.

It was as depressing as it was predictable. Even before Bangladesh had scored the 192 runs required to defeat India at Queen's Park Oval, Cricinfo had received feedback from so-called fans who wished to burn Dravid's house. A few hours later, Pakistani "fans" were out in the streets of Multan demanding that Inzamam-ul-Haq and Bob Woolmer be arrested."

Was it really cricket fans who attacked Dhoni's house. No, it was a group from a political outfit called Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, people who probably had no knowledge about cricket at all. For an average cricket fan like me and millions of others like me, the reaction was limited to a heated discussion over a glass of beer. All of us, of course made the usual vows to ourselves that we would stop seeing cricket from now on. This vow will be broken by today evening when we encounter "Heavy Weight" Bermuda. Cricket, for us, is a passion, but it is not something that will provoke us to extremes. This is the message that we should be conveying to our cricketers who live out of hotels continuously, travelling for months together at a time and braving injuries and complete devastation of their bodies for us.

Mr. Woolmer, as a cricket fan, I have lost interest in this world cup. I realize that my happiness that Pakistan was ousted from the world cup has taken this cruel a turn and Im ashamed of myself for it. Inzy bhai, I always enjoyed your batting, be it the late cuts or those nonchalant pulls that you played or the comic run outs that you were involved in. It is sad that you had to announce your retirement at the time when you did it, or in the manner in which you had to do it.

All in all, a sad day for cricket, one that has profoundly affected me and hopefully has put some sense into millions of effigy burners in the sub-continent.

RIP: Bob Woolmer

Gho(a)st(ly) Rider


It was pretty fitting that a movie about a hero who sells his soul to the devil lacked that very thing - soul. Absolutely soul less, this Nicolas Cage flick turned out to be one more variation of good vs. evil theme that has been made innumerable times. It lacked everything that a big budget hollywood flick has and yet turned out to be one in the end. Typically, giving a movie an open ending is one way all hollywood directors tell us that they will make a sequel, God save us if the first movie makes some money. This leads to another mindless sequel being made, which hopefully, I will avoid.

Being a bike enthusiast, I was inevitably drawn towards this movie that promised to be a treat for Harley lovers. That is was and pretty much that was what else it was. The movie was another variation of the good vs. evil theme - nothing wrong in that, but the evil here was like 4 strange, gothic looking people, three of whom are destroyed pretty effortlessly by our flaming skull. Flaming skull, is incidentally our hero, Nicolas Cage, who for most of the second half disappears to make way for a guy with a flaming skull for a head. The lack of plot is pretty much evident by the way the director crams in stunts or sfx or scenes of Eva Mendes being gobbled up by Cage.

The casting is also not at its most imaginative. The couple next to me kept cooing about how cool the younger versions of the hero and heroine looked. They were way better than Cage and Eva Mendes. Eva Mendes is beautiful and all that, but she should probably stick to modelling. I would rather see her sculpted body rather than her acting prowess. Nicolas Cage looked jaded, he probably needed to look the part, but I thought he looked a bit too careworn for a cool stuntman. The comedy was forced, the punchlines of characters were cheesy and corny to say the least. I flinched a number of times and I think so would've Cage, hadnt he required some quick shopping money. Mainly because, I dont think any major hero (if he still thinks of himself that way) would agree to disappear for half of the movie and be replaced by a flaming skull.

All in all, a pretty disappointing movie. I think Im equally to be blamed for having major expectations from a movie that was made from a not so good comic series and one that was released a full six months later than when it was actually supposed to hit the screen. If the parents dont think much of their child, what business did I have to think tht world of the same!

Sea Meets Sky...where the boundaries get blurred...

A trip always means more photographs...A view of the sunrise over the Western Ghats and a Pic of the Ghats...while we were driving into Goa.

KBC

Im one amongst those innumerable people who cannot be prised out from in front of their television sets every evening at 9.00PM. Shahrukh Khan and Kaun Banega Crorepati are a stable part of my meal every evening.

Another one in the series of Amitabh Vs. Shahrukh writeups this is not. For me, both of them are superstars in their own right and both lend their own charisma to the show. I have a different rant. What makes millions tune into the show every evening and watch others win money. Im no psychiatrist or psychologist, so I couldnt probably dwell on deeper things, but I think it is the virtual thrill of answering all the questions posed to the contestant and telling oneself that I cud've won all that money too.

The celebrity host cannot be the only reason that we tune in day after day. The novelty, afterall wears off after a while (as was evident when not enuf people tuned into KBC 2 or KBC Dwitiya as the Big B called it). The thrill of answering all those questions hit me hard last nite when I was watching the show. One of the contestants who was stuck on a relatively easy question used a lifeline and then used some logic to get to the right answer. I was on my couch shouting out at that guy to think right and when he finally did, I was slapping my thigh and telling him, though he could never hear me, Yeah, way to go, think like that.

Who this guy was who was winning a few thousands of rupees thanks to all my encouragement, I will never know. Its just that for those few moments, I was transported to his world and wanted him to think right. I was imagining myself sitting in front of Shahrukh on the hot seat and winning all that money without wasting my lifeline and wanted this guy to do the same.

Whoever designed this show must've thoroughly studied some human psychology (or must've had a lotta money). Whatever the reason, KBC has one of its most loyal viewers in me and the fact that I have never won a paisa from the show will not deter my loyalty!

Loooongggg Time

Its been a long time since Ive been on the blogger. Been busy with stuff, setting up anything on ur own is not easy afterall. Neywayz, amidst all the things I've been doing these days, Ive found time for a trip to Goa (Found time...made time...same difference, u see). I had an interview at the Goa Institute of Management and very frankly...that is the only reason I went to Goa, yeah yeah Boo all u want, but that is the only reason I went to Goa.

The sole purpose of my going to Goa, namely the interview took up a full four hours of my 3 day trip. What did I do the other two and half days, u ask? Well, all the time before the interview was spent preparing for it and the remaining time was spent recovering from it. So, all the activities centered around the interview. I can almost feel all the pats on my back...thank you thank you.

I willl not waste time describing how beautiful a place Goa is, I could as well give u the URL of Goa Tourism or a DVD of Dil Chahta Hai (the latter better than the former of course), so I will instead plunge into some of the things that struck me on this trip. First thing was watching the sunrise over the Western Ghats while on our way to Goa. Nuthin can match that feeling and after a sleepless night as a navigator, nuthin better to rejuvenate you. The other thing that struck me once I entered Anjuna Beach (this is where I stayed) was the number of liquor stores in the area. 60% of the houses there had liquor stores in them. I mean, does a license almost cost nothing? The other amazing part in Goa was the seaside shacks. U cud feel the spray hitting you even as u sit on an idyllic evening sipping some excellent wine. Wine was plentiful, from the best variety to the home made one, all types of wine make their way into the menu. Also, the way people start treating u like frnds in almost no time was amazing. We went to the same shack a couple times for drinks and the next morning when we went there for breakfast, the guy there instantly recognises us and gives us a friendly hi instead of the standard 'kyaa chaahiye' lines.

Overall, a tiring though funtastic trip that will stay in memory until....the next trip!

PS: One heartwarming incident along the way. So, we get lost in this place called Kolhapur in the middle of the night with no clue as to how to proceed. We see some one parking his bike, presumably in front of his house and we call out and ask him. This guy tells us that it is slightly difficult to find the route and instead takes his bike and shows us until the outskirts of the city, this at 2 in the night. He mustve travelled an extra 6+6 km atleast to show us the way. At the outskirts, we asked him his name and he happily replied Eijaz Khan and just when we were about to leave asked us for matches to light his cigarette. Meraaa Bharat Mahaan - we said to ourselves and went our way!

Nostalgia

India produces the best ads in the whole world! Any doubts about that one? Check out the number of awards Indian Ads have won at major international award festivals in the recent years and u will know Im not being parochial or partial..(though it is very much in me to be both when it comes to cricket!).

I did some reminescing to think of the ads that have stuck in my head ever since I started watching TV. Earliest being the Vicco Vajradanti ad that has been showing in cinemas ever since I remember. The trademark jingle is still the same and the same grandfather figure bites into the sugarcane till date. All fans of Indian Tradition (read 'jobless protesters') can take pride that their agitation that some things should not change has succeeded atleast in this aspect. I remember Aamir Khan jumping over veihcles, sliding under shop doors and getting a Pepsi only to find Aishwarya Rai asking him for another one. Strange game that advertising is, one of my other favs is the Aamir series for Coke. A Nepali tourist, a bihari babu kinda guy - did he pull em off or what! The Aish - Hrithik campaign for Coke sucked though.

Pepsi always came up with fun ads, be it with cricketers or filmstars. Particularly good ones were with Shane Warne, Tendlia and Carl Hooper, another one with Tendlia and Azhar. Some with Shahrukh were good too. Fevicol - or should that be Pidilite - had some of the best ads of all time. Stuff like a man's shadow getting stuck to a shutter with Fevicol written over it, a hen laying an unbreakable egg after eating its feed from a Fevicol can and one where different TV sets in a carpenter store show different pics based on whether or not the Fevicol can is removed from the set top were howlarious to put it mildly. There is another one where they show us an overloaded bus with people on top, on the side and every other possible place on the bus and still not falling off - Fevicol is painted behind the bus in huge letters u see!

Amrutanjan had one amazing catch line - It's gone - and it made people say it in all different languages. I would wait until they said it in my mother tongue and feel suffused with pride that they felt it important enough to use my mother tongue in a national ad.

After spending two years in the US and baulking at their quality of advertising, which was mostly someone reading out product benefits, the belief that we make the world's best ads has been reinforced ten fold. I've loved Motorola's ads for its new phn, Pepsi seems to have lost some touch though. I will surely write upon this some other time as Im fascinated by the world of ads...enuf for now though.

PS: After all the questions, Sehwag is going to be on the plane to the Carribean...Please, oh please, vindicate our faith in you, Sehwag saab...