It had to be a big bang which would jolt me out of my pregnant lethargy which was threatning to stretch till the stork arrived at my door step.
So I was watching CNN-IBN tonight and saw an interview of Amitabh Bachchan and much talk on it about his blog and how he was above all the nonsense (or "freedom of expression" as he called it) being hurled at him. I had to check it out which I did as soon as his interview or should I call it verbal war got over. So, on the blog, the cliched angry old man is responding to every barb with the characteristic smooth language honed to perfection by Boo and Bahu. He is making the world know that he is just another ordinary human with no extra ordinary patience or is it the world which is obsessed with unravelling the peels of his onion-istic personality.
It cannot get bigger than this for the Big B - correction, it cannot get bigger than this for the Ambanis whose lack lustre (my personal opinion) social networking site bigadda has an icon for a user and they are fast cashing in on this popularity with a huge poster on the home page itself.
One for all and all for one - Thats the motto of the Three Musketeers!
Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts
5.12.2008
7.18.2007
All I want to say is that, they don't really care about us!
Have you heard anything which sounds like a cross between a train whistle and a crying dog? No? Listen to Himesh Reshammiya's Mehbooba song from his movie Aap Ka Surroor (Not even surrre how many Rs are in there). One guarantees that it will jolt you out of constipation. What he has decided to do with this song is abysmmal. There is a recital (yes!) of the lyrics by a rather sad and tired sounding Asha Bhonsle interlaced with this crying sound (when did HR practice with the canine populace I wonder) and yet there was enough scope to add in a sub plot into the song with a gruffy voice putting in his two cents rapper style. Punk! Sheesh! What amazes me is the frequency at which this song is aired on the radio channels here. I hear it in the mornings while going to work and on the way back. Plus there is this other song which eats my brains out. This is the title track of the movie Jhoom Barabar Jhoom. The title looks like it was plagiarised from Bobby Deol's barber. This song (like the other songs) in this movie are full of words from a language a regular person wouldnt know in Bangalore. Know your audience radio people! You are airing it in Bangalore, South India. Here the max people can manage to learn and understand is Hindi. How on earth would we know what a "guthiyan" or what a "lad gaye penche" refers to. I had to go to a lyrics site and then copy paste the words here else I was thinking the first line was something like "aaja rabba ishq di golguthiyan"! You getting the drift? I dont even know where I am heading to with this post. Sorry, I just needed a rant. I do enjoy other songs which are half punjabi but which makes for an enjoyable listening experience like the ones from RDB. I cant take it with all. I think radio channels need a reality check on what we want to listen to. Maybe a poll would be a good idea. I cannot go through another bout of hysteria listening to all crappy songs . Set a limit as to how many times a bad (deemed bad by poll) track needs to be aired irrespective of the listener requests. Puhleese there are so many of us who can do without these to spoil our moods.
5.25.2007
Namastey LOL London
I had the great fortune of watching "Namastey London" yesterday night. Its a hillarious movie I must say! I watched it on a "local maal" DVD so I had the privilege of subtitles too. I must congratulate the guys who have done the translations for this. They have not only added value of making this movie reach all language audiences but also added to the quality of the movie itself. Did you ask how? See, the subtitles added the sense of comic timing which was otherwise missing from the movie. The translated english texts at the bottom of the screen were generating more laughter than the actual hindi dialogues itself. And the whole thing made greater sense because one couldnt understand much of Akshay Kumar's english or Katrina Kaif's hindi to begin with. There were large parts of dialogues where one felt like a "Duffer" because one couldnt follow the conversation at all! Akshay Kumar has acted like a proud peacock strutting around throughout the movie. You can almost see the feathers behind him in excited "Khiladi" display. Rishi Kapoor to his credit has a role which does not mock his bloated look. The director has taken care to keep him drunk through many scenes. Well chosen! Same to same with Upen Patil who plays a confused playboy. Na ghar ka na ghaat ka kind of role which also reflects to a certain extent his presence in Bollywood. There are lot of extras in the guise of character artistes which adds shine and polish to their careers as well. All the best! Katrina is the real find of the movie. The babe can show a few expressions on her face. She has also managed to not look like she doesnt belong to the movie. She also has appropriate amounts of emotions for the correct situations! The director I must say has done a great job.
With a round of applause and whistles I leave you with a jem of a scene from the movie :
Akshay is telling a story to Katrina about how they will talk to each other when they meet after many many years, and they are no longer each others partners
Akshay [on the phone in dream sequence] : you have to come and see me
Katrina [on the phone in dream sequence] : I should not come, its not correct, i am too old
blah blah and blah later Katrina comes to meet Akshay
Akshay [in dream sequence] :why did you come
Katrina [in dream sequence] : some undecipherable sentence in hindi
Me [turn to my hubby] : what did she say?
My hubby [shrugs] : i dont knw
Katrina to Akshay [out of dream, real]: What did I just say?
Akshay : What do I know? You should know, you said it!
With a round of applause and whistles I leave you with a jem of a scene from the movie :
Akshay is telling a story to Katrina about how they will talk to each other when they meet after many many years, and they are no longer each others partners
Akshay [on the phone in dream sequence] : you have to come and see me
Katrina [on the phone in dream sequence] : I should not come, its not correct, i am too old
blah blah and blah later Katrina comes to meet Akshay
Akshay [in dream sequence] :why did you come
Katrina [in dream sequence] : some undecipherable sentence in hindi
Me [turn to my hubby] : what did she say?
My hubby [shrugs] : i dont knw
Katrina to Akshay [out of dream, real]: What did I just say?
Akshay : What do I know? You should know, you said it!
2.23.2007
Departing from routine
Yesterday night I watched "The Departed" inspite of my body telling me to shutdown. I dint regret it even a single moment. Amazing movieyisay! A must watch.
Its a slick movie with fantastic actors. Even though the archiness of Jack Nicholson's eyebrows did irritate me a little, I could push it aside and enjoy him acting as Frank Costello. Leonardo, oh Leonardo where hath you been? Watching this guy act as Billy Costigan is like watching magic unfold. Its unpredictable and always leaves you in awe. Matt Damon could do with a little more histrionics on his face. But he has done enough justice to his role of Collin Sullivan. There is a Vera Farmiga also who plays the role of female lead and sanity (in the psychiatric sense) in this movie aka Madolyn. Whats most captivating about her is her eyes. They display an earnestness in them. Huge blue eyes. Extremely expressive. Martin Sheen as the police chief seems a little wasted in the movie but he carries the "President" regality about him. Mark Wuhlberg as the acid mouth spewing slews Dignam is a treat in a sometimes still movie.
The movie is about the Irish mafia in Boston. Before watching this movie I was not even aware of the huge Irish presence in Boston. Expect to be witness to a lot of blood and gore and brutality. A scene where Frank Costello hits with a hard shoe on Billy Costigan's broken hand left me feeling my stomach contents defying gravity! Its an intense movie with a few funny dialogues. I was sometimes thankful to the subtitles in the DVD. The editing is extremely neat and the sudddenness of the movie shocks you. The soundtrack is amazing and I might starting looking for it to use as my ringtone. Watch out for the slick Samsung flip phones featured throughout the movie.
Neat presentation Mr. Scorsese! When's your next?
Its a slick movie with fantastic actors. Even though the archiness of Jack Nicholson's eyebrows did irritate me a little, I could push it aside and enjoy him acting as Frank Costello. Leonardo, oh Leonardo where hath you been? Watching this guy act as Billy Costigan is like watching magic unfold. Its unpredictable and always leaves you in awe. Matt Damon could do with a little more histrionics on his face. But he has done enough justice to his role of Collin Sullivan. There is a Vera Farmiga also who plays the role of female lead and sanity (in the psychiatric sense) in this movie aka Madolyn. Whats most captivating about her is her eyes. They display an earnestness in them. Huge blue eyes. Extremely expressive. Martin Sheen as the police chief seems a little wasted in the movie but he carries the "President" regality about him. Mark Wuhlberg as the acid mouth spewing slews Dignam is a treat in a sometimes still movie.
The movie is about the Irish mafia in Boston. Before watching this movie I was not even aware of the huge Irish presence in Boston. Expect to be witness to a lot of blood and gore and brutality. A scene where Frank Costello hits with a hard shoe on Billy Costigan's broken hand left me feeling my stomach contents defying gravity! Its an intense movie with a few funny dialogues. I was sometimes thankful to the subtitles in the DVD. The editing is extremely neat and the sudddenness of the movie shocks you. The soundtrack is amazing and I might starting looking for it to use as my ringtone. Watch out for the slick Samsung flip phones featured throughout the movie.
Neat presentation Mr. Scorsese! When's your next?
12.24.2006
Expressly expressing
You know why I am writing this blog? Because I am amazed. Its 8:15 PM. Precisely 3 hours before, I left home to go see the 5:30 PM show of "Kabul Express". I came back home half an hour before! The home-movie-home thingy was so speedy that we had a tough time convincing my mother-in-law that we really went to see a movie and did not sneak away to eat out on that pretext! She thought we did not get the tickets :)
Kabul Express is a very well expressed movie. It looks awesome, it feels fine, it makes one feel emotional by telling us the story of the "enemy". No points for guessing that its Taliban. Afghanistan looks breath taking. Honestly I don't know how I would react in person to the muddy brown mountainous terrain in contrast with the bright blue skies kilometer after kilometer interspersed with shelled houses, buildings and tanks. But it looked beautiful through the camera of xxx. Acting is good but not great if you ask me. The meaning behind the movie is the biggest hero. All the characters get equal footage and they all do equal justice to their roles. Its funny in many parts and when you have Arshad Warsi you get perfect comic timing. John Abraham as the more mature of the two does not have really much to do except look serious. Most of the dialogues are delivered by Arshad! What I also liked about the movie was absence of songs and slick editing. The movie lasts 2 hours and I feel thats perfect to hold the audience attention.
The angrezi mem angle does not ring a bell for me. I don't know why she is there. But no complaints ‘coz like Jai (Arshad) says to Suhail (John) in the movie "Registhan mein phool kila hai aur tu poochta hai colour kya hai?" LOL. One of a kind movie. After Dhoom 2 a major relief for me and put back some hope in Bollywood fare.
Kabul Express is a very well expressed movie. It looks awesome, it feels fine, it makes one feel emotional by telling us the story of the "enemy". No points for guessing that its Taliban. Afghanistan looks breath taking. Honestly I don't know how I would react in person to the muddy brown mountainous terrain in contrast with the bright blue skies kilometer after kilometer interspersed with shelled houses, buildings and tanks. But it looked beautiful through the camera of xxx. Acting is good but not great if you ask me. The meaning behind the movie is the biggest hero. All the characters get equal footage and they all do equal justice to their roles. Its funny in many parts and when you have Arshad Warsi you get perfect comic timing. John Abraham as the more mature of the two does not have really much to do except look serious. Most of the dialogues are delivered by Arshad! What I also liked about the movie was absence of songs and slick editing. The movie lasts 2 hours and I feel thats perfect to hold the audience attention.
The angrezi mem angle does not ring a bell for me. I don't know why she is there. But no complaints ‘coz like Jai (Arshad) says to Suhail (John) in the movie "Registhan mein phool kila hai aur tu poochta hai colour kya hai?" LOL. One of a kind movie. After Dhoom 2 a major relief for me and put back some hope in Bollywood fare.
5.02.2006
In which I saw a devotional movie
It was a holiday with no prior plans. It started off quite harmlessly with me getting up only by 9 and then making myself so busy that the family couldn’t catch up with me to complain. The power of visual aggressiveness is huge…really *smiles*
By 10 T finally cornered me while I was pretending to be busy folding clothes and gave out a terrific idea. He wanted to make it a Parents’ day out. With us chaperoning them ofcourse *winks*. And so he went out on an errand to secure six movie tickets for the grand plan. He searched high (PVR Cinemas) and he searched low (Pallavi theater) and finally managed to find a guy in the latter who was willing to earn a few rupees more for doing a neat job of procuring tickets for us in absentia. Pallavi theater is one of the old world movie theaters where only one ticket is issued against one person.
We promptly reached the theater before the show began, collected our tickets and readied ourselves to watch the movie “Sri Ramadasu”. I readied myself to get bored. I have this thing about seeing movies which are about mythology or historical stories (kings and princes in skirts kinda movies) etc. My mind block tells me they are “uncool”. As I sat squirming in my seat for the first ten minutes refusing to accept that the movie was anything but boring T leaned over and whispered “Relax, just try and get to that mind set and watch, you will have fun”.
One thing that both of us observed was that mythological and devotional movies are best made in Telugu. It must partly be because of the lyrical quality of the language. Even a scolding sounds funny , for examples “gadadi” (donkey) or “donga na koduka” (thief) in Telugu sounds much better than say “nimmajji” (your grandmother) or “loafer nanna magane” (quite self explanatory) in Kannada. This is purely my opinion.
It’s basically the legend of Bhadrachalam -Lord Rama’s Temple in Andhra Pradesh. How it got built and who built it and why.
As the story evolved I got so involved in it that I did not notice the passage of time. At the end of the movie, I had the craving to go the Temple and experience the whole story again. Such is the power of a story well told or a movie well made.
This movie has become a box office golden goose across Andhra and Karnataka. I would recommend it to everyone. It not only brings forth a legendary tale but also unleashes in front of you the devotion and the madness of a people who no longer exist among us. When I can become a devotional movie watcher so can you!
By 10 T finally cornered me while I was pretending to be busy folding clothes and gave out a terrific idea. He wanted to make it a Parents’ day out. With us chaperoning them ofcourse *winks*. And so he went out on an errand to secure six movie tickets for the grand plan. He searched high (PVR Cinemas) and he searched low (Pallavi theater) and finally managed to find a guy in the latter who was willing to earn a few rupees more for doing a neat job of procuring tickets for us in absentia. Pallavi theater is one of the old world movie theaters where only one ticket is issued against one person.
We promptly reached the theater before the show began, collected our tickets and readied ourselves to watch the movie “Sri Ramadasu”. I readied myself to get bored. I have this thing about seeing movies which are about mythology or historical stories (kings and princes in skirts kinda movies) etc. My mind block tells me they are “uncool”. As I sat squirming in my seat for the first ten minutes refusing to accept that the movie was anything but boring T leaned over and whispered “Relax, just try and get to that mind set and watch, you will have fun”.
One thing that both of us observed was that mythological and devotional movies are best made in Telugu. It must partly be because of the lyrical quality of the language. Even a scolding sounds funny , for examples “gadadi” (donkey) or “donga na koduka” (thief) in Telugu sounds much better than say “nimmajji” (your grandmother) or “loafer nanna magane” (quite self explanatory) in Kannada. This is purely my opinion.
It’s basically the legend of Bhadrachalam -Lord Rama’s Temple in Andhra Pradesh. How it got built and who built it and why.
As the story evolved I got so involved in it that I did not notice the passage of time. At the end of the movie, I had the craving to go the Temple and experience the whole story again. Such is the power of a story well told or a movie well made.
This movie has become a box office golden goose across Andhra and Karnataka. I would recommend it to everyone. It not only brings forth a legendary tale but also unleashes in front of you the devotion and the madness of a people who no longer exist among us. When I can become a devotional movie watcher so can you!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)