3 IDIOTS

Long time since I have seen a movie in theater (I know, so unlikely of me), blame it on the disappointing 2009 for Bollywood. Watching 3 Idiots makes me believe that the future is definitely bright. 3 Idiots is a movie questioning the very way kids are being raised in our country, where your father decides what you would become as a grown up the moment you are born. 3 Idiots is a movie questioning the entire education system in our country where students are taught how to get good grades rather than being taught how to learn. In Rancho's words, we are trained, not educated. Sounds heavy stuff. Before you take any decision, just remember the director, Raju Hirani, the man who gave us Gandhigiri.

The movie starts with Madhavan's Farhan, getting a call inside an Air India aircraft, which is about to take off and he brilliantly makes the plane halt, takes a cab meant for someone else, and reaches Sharman's Raju's house and picks him up without pants. Such hurry to meet Rancho. Who is Rancho? The story goes in flashback to show us Aamir's Rancho, who enters Imperial College of Engineering (ICE), while the ragging is going on and you hear the buzz word "aal izz well". This scene shows Rancho, putting some basic laws of Physics to practice, that to in 10 seconds. You now know Rancho is brilliant and unlike Chatur, he believes in learning than memorizing.

The story proceeds and Rancho at every step questions the education system, sharing his views like, subjects should be taught in simple language that everyone understands instead of sticking to the book, grading system creates divide and discrimination, teaching should be used to educate people not train them etc. and all this he does without being melodramatic (remember the way Hirani taught gandhigiri). Rancho takes his two roommates Raju and Farhan along and teaches them a different way of looking at life, where you don't need money to study, you need a uniform. In this process Rancho meet's Pia, ICE's director VIRUS Buddhe's daughter and sings Jubie Dubie in a dream sequence.

I could write so much about the movie, about each and every scene in the movie, because every scene was so relevant to the story that none of the scenes made you feel disinterested. The scene I found most touching is the one where Lobo, commits suicide after singing "give me some sunshine, give me some rain, give me another chance I wanna grow up once again" and his body hanging to the ceiling of his room is discovered by his own invention.

Overall what makes the movie so awesome is that I could relate and feel for each and every character, at times it looked like some scenes are picked up from my life. We are talking about our IIT days and our IIT professors after the movie, that was the brilliance of the 3 Idiots, Aamir, Raju and Vidhu.

To all who don't know it already, the story of 3 Idiots is not "Five Point Someone", the premise is taken from the book, but the script is very different from the book and that is what you expect from Raju Hirani and Abhijat Joshi, who have give us the finest of the stories of recent times. This is what happens when creative people take inspiration from something, they make it their own. The dialogs are brilliant and very college student like, to give you an idea, some samples, "jab apna koi dost fail hota hai to dukh hota hai, but jab dost top karta hai tab dukh jyada hota hai.", "life is a race, if you don't run fast, you will be like a broken anda.", "meri wife ko nahi, uske peeche bangle to dekho idiots, 3.5 million dollars". Acting department is full of competent actors like Aamir, Boman, Madhavan, Sharman all of them have done justice to their roles and touch your heart with their performances. Kareena Kapoor makes her presence felt in a role smaller than other four leading characters. Chatur is also brilliant, don't know the name of the actor. Shantanu Moitra's music and Swanand Kirkire's lyrics are well suited for the movie. Drive to Laddakh from Delhi via Shimla and Manali is brilliantly shot and captures the beauty of these location very well.

There is so much to write, I think it would be better if you go and watch the movie yourself and do yourself a favour. I would go with 9.5 out of 10 for 3 Idiots.

What BIG BOSS 3 has that 1 and 2 didn't?

So, after two successful seasons BIG BOSS is back with TRITIYA. While seasons one and two had more or less similar dynamics the only differences were anchors and the contestants. This time again these two factors are obviously different, but there is something more to tritiya that 1 and 2 did not have to offer.

Since BIG BOSS is all about group dynamics, what better than put a married couple in the house. Yes, this time it's Tanaz and Bakhtiyar together in the BIG BOSS's house. (I personally think they have lost their identity as individuals and are identified only as couple. They are together always. Talk about inseparable.)

You got Rakhi is season 1 and season 3 brings you Rakhi ki ma (yes, that is how she is identified). Now you know from where Rakhi got her undoubted faith in Jesus and her dancing skills.

You also got KRK. Yes, KRK is unique and cannot go unnoticed. In his own words, "KRK itna chhota star nahi hai ki itni jaldi eliminate ho jaye." I only have one doubt, they spend so many crores for the show and 2 paise ki akal lagana bhul gaye. You have to SMS KAM to save KRK and not KRK. wtf, ye KRK ke khilaf bahut badi sajish hai.

Last but not the least, you have got Rohit. There are 6 boys, 6 girls and 1 Rohit in the house. You would not have imagined people getting cinfused between which bedroom to choose in the previous two seasons.

So guys.. ENJOY...

Giving attention where it is not required.

It's been 4 years I have started my professional life. I have learned a lot many things in these years and am still learning and hope to keep on doing the same in coming years. Whenever I am at loggerheads with any of my colleagues for some reason or the other, I get really agitated and I overreact at times, and every time my boss tells me, "you are giving him/her more attention than he/she deserves."

I think Indian media is also suffering from this syndrome. They are concentrating most of the their attention where it is least required. Recently word Bombay was used instead of Mumbai in a movie and some good for nothing people have protested against the same and lead the director to apologize to their so called leader, and this news took 1/4 of the front page of Times of India, the most read English daily in our country.

If you had to name the most covered people by Indian media, they would probably be Rakhi Sawant, Raj Thackeray, Shahrukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, M S Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Gandhi and recently joining the band wagon is Shashi Tharoor, for all the wrong reasons. In case of Shashi Tharoor, the reason he is covered so much is because he keeps on giving free news through twitter.

I wish our media also learns what I am trying to learn i.e. not waste your attention where it is not required.

Falon Fach Fach Bolo Kaminey Kkkkaisi Lagi

One of the most anticipated movie of the year, at least for me. The reason is only one man associated with the movie, Vishal Bhardwaj. He has never disappointed me in the past. Every time he made a movie, no matter what the cast is, he did wonders. Did you ever expect Saif to do a Langda Tyagi? This time again, the expectations were huge and I was hoping not to be disappointed. Something was not right with Kaminey, the reason could be it was not inspired by Shakespeare but by Guy Ritchie. The difference can be seen clearly when you watch the movie. This does not mean, it's bad movie. It's much better than many movies you would have seen recently, yet it's not as good as you expected it to be. It's not brilliant. May be I would not have written so much above, if it was not made by Vishal Bhardwaj.

Kaminey is story of one night and how it affects the lives of twins, Charlie and Guddu. The only thing identical about these twins is their looks and that is precisely the reason they are not talking to each other (then why the hell they had each other's cell nos). While Guddu is in love with Sweety, who cons him to get married to her, against her brother Bhope Bhau's wish. Bhope Bhau happens to be a politician promoting son of the soil in Mumbai and our Guddu happens to be from Barabanki. On the other hand Charlie, who fixes horse races, land up with a Guitar case full of Cocaine, which belongs to Tashi the great (that's how he addresses him once and nobody seems to recongnise him) and is being delivered to him by Mumbai Police Anti-narcotics Cell's Inspectors Lobo and Lele. By the time you hit the intermission, both the brothers and fallen into hands of the wrong party. What happens next is nothing but a long list of coincidences, which result into both brothers realising the bond of blood.

Here again Vishal takes the best out of his actors. Every actor has done good job, specially Priyanka and Shahid as Charlie (there is something about bad guys in Vishal's movies). Surprise package is Amol Gupte as Bhope Bhau, hope to see more of him in front of the camera. The trouble about short length stories, (here it covers barely 24 hours) is that they mostly are a sequence of events and the flow of the script depends on many God-only-could-create coincidences. This is what happens here too, although Vishal tries to put some sense to the proceedings by the use of narration (thank God it was Charlie narrating the story not Guddu), and some flash back. Another problem is, I could clearly see Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels while watching the movie. Some scenes are shot brilliantly like Guddu-Sweety encounters, while some I found over dramatic and lengthy like where Mikhael is shot. I realise, I have talked so much about the film and have not talked about the background score, Dhan te nan. Well as soon as the movie starts, you get to hear the soul of the film, Dhan te nan and every time you hear that sound you get alert expecting Charlie to surprise you. Overall the movie is good and should be watched at least once, but don't expect it to be an Omkara or a Maqbool. Just go there with your brain else by the time you realise what's going on you would be seeing end credits.

I would give this film 7 out of 10, it's a nice film but I expected more.

I feel weak

I have been taking all my decisions since I was 9. There have been many decisions I have taken in the past, big or small, which were not liked by many people. Some people even suspected those to be wrong decisions, but time and again I have made things work and proved the sceptics wrong. That made me feel so strong. I started believing that I can do no wrong.

Some of the decisions taken in the past, I thought were the biggest decisions of my life, but I was wrong. I have many more big decisions to take and the one I have to take right now seems to be the biggest so far. This time, for the first time, I am not able to decide. Which is making me feel weak. Weakest ever. Never before in my memory, I have felt so weak.

There have never ever been so many variables to consider while taking a decision and never before there have been variables which are controlled by someone else, but they affect me so directly. I am loosing control and that is what is making me feel weak. The worst part is, even when I decide, the decision needs someone else's approval, which is something I have never experienced before.

The problem is, I don't want to feel weak. Nobody does. I have two options, take a decision and wait for the consequences, but consequences in this case can be so strong that they might haunt me all my life, if my decision proved to be a wrong one, or don't take a decision and let things go as it is and forget that this kind of situation ever arose in my life, which certainly is not going to be an easy task either.

It happens only in MayaPuri: 8 year old booked under Goonda Act.

My friends from MP don't be mad, but I have a thought of changing the name of UP to MP (MayaPuri). Where things are happening that nobody else can think of. Talk about out of box thinking and here it is. Who could have thought that an 8 year old boy would be booked under stringent anti gangster law aptly named Goonda Act.

There can be only two possibilities. UP kids are now becoming very enterprising and taking on the profession they would be taking at a later stage very early. After all it helps to start early. Or UP police have become really talented in recognising the promising talent very early. Whatever it is, kudos to Behenji for bringing law and order in the state. Book all the future goondas at and early age and you have a goonda free UP for the future.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/UP-8-yr-old-booked-under-goonda-Act/articleshow/4681953.cms

Indians in Australia

One of the news doing rounds of various news channels is recent attacks on Indians in Australia. We are cursing Australians for doing so. Everyone is appealing to Indian government to do something about it.

First talk about cursing the Australians part. Well I have heard from the same news channels that Australian government is makings laws against such attacks and trying to make the existing laws more stringent in order to discourage such attacks. At least they are doing something about it. They are not keeping a mum like our government did when few MNS workers were beating students and taxi drivers from UP and Bihar in Mumbai, for trying to earn a living in their own country.

Now talk about appealing to Indian government. Well isn't it expecting too much from a government to stop attacks on Indian in a foreign land, who is not even capable of stopping such hate attacks against Indians in India. I would have appreciated it more if PMO would have clearly told the appealing students and their families that they are not capable of doing anything in this regard, because they are not even capable of stopping such attacks in their own country where they hold the power, forget about any foreign land.

Now talk about the biggest irony of them all, a very prominent political figure has made an statement today appealing BCCI to not allow Australians in IPL in order to penalise them for the attacks on Indian students in Australian soil. This sounds ridiculous coming from the mouth of the same person who has build his political career by coming up with the idea of son of the soil and beaten up so called outsiders in order to force them away from their so called land. Well, if son of the soil is applicable for people of Mumbai, how come it is not valid in the same way and even more in case of Australians.

Gulaal

What they claim!

Just noticed two commercials being aired on TV. The claim is SBI happens to be the best life insurer in India but ICICI Prudential is the best life insurer in Asia.

How the hell same is possible? Which one of the two is making a false claim? Who has rated them?

Well if you ask them, they will definitely come up with two different rating agencies or criteria to prove their claim. Shouldn't there be some standard?

Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire a movie made popular by the Golden Globe Wins, Oscar Nominations and a lot of discussion in Media for good as well as bad reasons. There have been movies made earlier about the life in Mumbai slums, but this one is special because this one is directed by a foreigner Danny Boyle. The movie is based on a novel Q & A by Vikas Swarup and talks about the journey of two kids Jamal and Salim from childhood to boyhood to adulthood. It's the story of their survival and how Jamal ends up having all the right answers on one of India's biggest quiz show Who Wants to Become a Millionaire. How does he know all the answers? He has not read them anywhere, he has neither heard about them from someone nor he is cheating. Life has taught him all the answers and how is the screenplay of Slumdog Millionaire.

Jamal is interrogated by the Police on charges of cheating in the game show and the entire is movie is about Jamal narrating the Police how he knew those answers. Each question asked by Prem (Anil Kapoor) in the show is related to some significant incident in his life and that is how he knows the answers. The story starts from Jamal and Salim two kid brothers trying to survive in the slums of Mumbai in the middle of poverty and crime. In their bid to survival they meet Latika and Jamal finds himself attached to her. The movie like all other bollywood movies is about love and hate, good and evil, separation and reunion and in the end there is hope. Hope that a boy from slum can be a millionaire overnight.

We have seen two boys running after a train and then growing old in many Hindi movies. Danny Boyle shows how difficult it is grow old for two orphan kids in this bad bad world. Many scenes in the movie look like a tribute to 70s Hindi cinema. The kids have acted well and are true stars of the film. The screenplay is brilliant and has been supported well by able direction and top notch cinematography. A R Rehman's soundtrack takes the narrative to entirely different level. Danny has used Rehman's talent very well for his film.

I have heard many opinions about the film before and after watching the movie and would suggest don't by the opinions you hear in this case because at many occasions the opinions might be biased because of the fact that the film is made by a foreigner. I would suggest everyone to watch the movie and form there own opinion or better just enjoy the journey of Jamal and Salim. For the first time in my life I was watching a movie alone in a theater and it didn't bother me, I found the movie so gripping. Would go with 9 out of 10 for Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire and wish A R Rehman all the best for Oscars.

Find Him. Kill Him.

A man wakes up in a room and is not able to recognize where he is. He enters the bathroom, with a perplexed look on his face. He looks confused from his body language. He reads the sticker pasted on the mirror in the bathroom, "TAKE OFF T-SHIRT". He follows the instruction and takes off his t-shirt, looking even more surprised. While taking of his t-shirt first thing he sees "REVENGE" written on his stomach. Even more surprised, he takes his t-shirt off and now he knows what is it all about. Now he knows, "KALPANA WAS MURDERED" "FIND HIM" KILL HIM" "GHAJINI". The man is full of pain and anger and he screams, may be to ease his pain and anger. Now the man knows, he is Sanjay Singhania, love of his life Kalpana was murdered and the only thing he knows is the name of the murderer, GHAJINI. To make things worse, Sanjay is suffering from short term memory loss and can't remember anything for more than 15 Mins.

If you have a bad memory and want to remember something important you write it down. Your brain is not able to remember things so you build your memory in the form of notes. That's exactly our hero does in Ghajini and that's what Guy Pearce did in Memento. So what, Ghajini is not Memento and it's good that nobody in the movie is trying to match it with Memento. I don't think we have guys like Christopher Nolan in bollywood. Back to Ghajini. I personally found the movie well made and everyone has acted their parts very well. The chemistry between Amir and Asin is a treat to watch.

Amir Khan has already proved his acting skills many times and a good performance was expected out of him and he did brilliantly both as a sophisticated business man smitten by an upcoming model and as a disabled man in pursuit of revenge. He is believable when he smile at Asin's innocence as well as when he breaks the neck of people with a single punch. Asin fills the otherwise violent movie with light moments and you love her when she is on the screen. Pradeep Rawat, who played Deva in Lagan and Sultan in Sarfarosh, has done a brilliant job as Ghajini. You can see the fear inside him when he is shouting. Jiah Khan didn't have much to do in the film but wherever she was, she looked convincing. I wish there was more of the Lattoo song. By the way, there weren't any songs needed in the story except may be Kaise Mujhe. The songs seem to be disturbing with the pace of the film. On the other hand it's a good sound track and the magician A R Rehman never fails to deliver the best. I like all the songs, specially Bacchu.

Overall I think Ghajini is a well made film with great acting. The only point against the movie is that it's not one of those feel good films you can watch again and again. It's a disturbing film with so much violence in it. Violence or no violence, this movie deserves a watch. I would rate this one as 8 out of 10.

PS: Don't blame me for not mentioning the Tamil version, I haven't seen it hence can't comment on it.