Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Guzaa-rash

Sanjay Leela Bhansali should give more emotions into the scripts and the actors than the frames. This director is focussed mainly on the art of the frames and their colors. Always inspired from several films (Black was inspired from The miracle worker, HDDCS from Woh Saat Din, Sawariyan from White nights ), This movie lifts several scenes and the major part of plot of the nurse and a lawyer friend from 'The Sea Inside' , the tragic accident due to magical rivalry from 'The Prestige' to Hritik Roshan's look from 'My Left foot'.

The movie opened very poorly showing Aishwarya removing curtains with a overdone fake makeup of such a deep red lip-sticks that made her a misfit and a poor judgement. Bhansali once a good storyteller, needs a real script justifying the characters and the end of the story. Aishwarya's performance was pity and you may wonder that it's from the same director who gave her a fantastic look and lift in HDDCS. She failed to show the emotions and still has an influx of portraying a beauty. Her moans were as fake as it could be, will surely give Junior AB some nightmare.

There were so many tears and emotional scenes (on screen) but none of them will give single goose bump or a wet eyelid. The movie missed the connection with audiences. The reason for quadriplegic to die looks so kiddish the very next second he cracks a witty line and smiles. The whole plot is like a half baked cake done with some great icing. The courtroom and courtroom was indigestible and added more weakness.
Shernaz patel and Suheil Seth were quite ok in their little roles. However, much hyped junior actors Aditya Roy Kapoor and Monikangana Dutta failed to deliver any expression. The blunt look on their face and an unnecessary casting took most of the film's precious moments. 

While the lyricist Vibhu Puri has a shade of Gulzar, with the lines of Sau Gram Zindagi and A.M. Turaz's Udi is worth listening. Another song "roses are red" at the funeral was well sung and composed. Although Bhansali didnot do a great music compostion like the way he did in the previous films. The song 'Sau gram Zindagi' has a shade of yesteryears.

Coming to Hritik- the actor was good enough for intense emotions and failed miserably on the subtle performances.All the magic were unreal and full of dances. The Director was out of bounds while showing the magic in dance/art form and it was too straight from the dream world. The patchy flashback took the content from the scripts. Kudos to Hritik for choosing the challenging role, but who wouldn't?

For Art direction and 2 songs.

Monday, November 22, 2010

One weekend at Calcutta

I arrived late, just after the clock changed the date at Netaji Subhas chandra Bose Airport; an old but structured airport. My Friend Sourav was waiting outside it just near the 24hrs coffee shop. The Chaos and Corruption which is very in sight in Bangalore took a back seat here, atleast you get yourself a piece of your own mind. Calcutta Chromosomes are tad slow and goes back in time. We stayed in CCD till the last drop of our coffee, which was regulated twice by an extra dose of coffee each time. Calcutta definitely love their coffee light and sweet.

Soon we were on our way to City (शहर), as per a sign board just outside Airport. The Roads were deserted around 1 AM. I could see sleeping lives and halted taxi all the way to home. There were policemen minding their own business at usual check posts. I was wondering nobody stopped us, Yet!.

Back in Bangalore you will be stopped atleast 3-4 times to check for your breath. Bangalore police keeps their vigil not to save you or some pedestrian but to earn some extra bucks. At least a Common man can identify the differences in the attitude of the Govt officials (I am not saying that West bengal is less or more corrupt, this is with respect to day to day life observation).
The night was made longer with more discussions and a late night Dinner. Needless to say that the spicy egg curry with Plain paratha was awesome. It reminded me of a funny word "DIM", which means egg in Bangla. and its more funny when a true son of the soul says it. The flight was tiring and I retired late.

A call from a Dentist at early hours to treat you from the Stomach upset can really be soothing. My another Dentist friend Goldie, eager to meet me, had cancelled all his sheduled appontments and was really anxious about my whereabouts. Soon after the prescription, I felt better and the system was cleansed. I had Chola-Bhatura in my breakfast and left to Alipur-Behala. The Dental clinic was made into a small eatery with a provision of drinks.

We went downstairs to a grill-locked wine shop and got some beer. I took He-Man 9000 beer and Palone - Carlsberg. Palone is a strong beer from the Carlsberg stable with 7.5% alc v/v. Goldie chose Tuborg beer (Again a brand from Carlsberg stable). Okocim Palone is dark in color with intense taste due to a unique process of malt fire-burning. A process that requires craftsmanship and precision from the brewer. As a result a beer has been created with a slightly sweet taste at first sip and a nice bitter follow through. While He-Man9000 is really a strong beer with taste like that of Iron (blood).It is brewed by Yuksom Breweries with Malt Liquor style in Sikkim, India.This beer is from the same brewery which brew Dansberg Premium Lager Beer, a brand owned by Bollywood lovable villain  Danny Denzongpa.

After the short stint with new beers, we had the awaited Calcutta style Mutton biryani and Rezala Chicken along with Reshmi Kebabs and Chaps. The food was mouth watering and I must confess, after Delhi, Calcutta and Hyderabad are the two Metropolitan cities which can boast a non-vegetarian platter. 
Calcutta or Kolkata biryani evolved from the Lucknow style (Awadh) in 1856. The Meat also include a large peeled Potato as a distinct feature of the Calcutta biryani along with an boiled egg. Also Calcutta biriyani is much lighter on masala and more subtle , unlike it's Hyderabadi counterpart and the rice is boiled with a lot of Saffron and added fragrance. 
Chap (ribs slow cooked on a tawa) and Rezala (meat in a thin yogurt and cardamom gravy) is a perfect combination with Biryani. Rezala has not so thick white gravy with little bengali style sweetness which comes by adding a dash of sugar and a nice blend of poppy seeds(Posto dana) and cashew. 


Soon after the food was licked-finished, we headed out for a strong head massage. Funny it was that we carried Carlsbergs from the shop next door Saloon. we discussed some nonsense stuffs and soon was hungry. The Famous Calcutta chat house was calling us.We had our Kesar-Kulfi.


I reached Sourav's place in the evening and was soon heading towards Underground Disc (HHI). It was already 9PM. so instead, we headed to Sanjha Chulha for the Tandoori Pepper Chicken and a pint of classic Kinglisher. The Chicken was juicy and spicy, licked beyond the bone.

The island bar with a wide bar platform of Underground was dark gloomy and Expensive. The crowd was niche but the DJ was sick. The dance floor was only for couples so Sourav and me took our turn with Bhabhi one by one. Heineken was the cheapest beer at the price tag of Rs470/- pint exclusive of taxes.
I must admit that Kolkatan Girls are far bolder than their counterparts :). The DJ played many songs umpteen times but we were in the groove enjoying our own Dharmendra style dances. 
And the best part:
2AM: we came out of the Disc and headed towards the Azad-Hind Dhaba on Ballygunge Circular Road. South Kolkata’s posh Ballygunge neighbourhood wakes up in the night after the pubs and discs are closed. All the night crowd with their minis and Mazda come here and stand in a very long queue to get their seats. We were lucky enough to get the seat on the upper floor AC-restaurant.



Azad Hind has been one of the hot spots for late-night diners for a while now. It opened in the late 70s and has many well-loved items, including the Crispy baby corn fried. Sanjay Dutt, Hema Malini, etc are regulars here along with famous painter M.F. Husain who would drop by for tea and had even gifted the eatery a small work of his "An Original M.F Hussain Gaj Gamini" painting that the master himself had done on the wall. After the heartily Midnight Meal-The Night was over and a day in Calcutta.


The Date was changed before I could register.




more pics : http://www.flickr.com/photos/saish746/sets/72157625161850177/

Monday, November 15, 2010

A huge burden of a Huge Opportunity Cost


Prashant Batar, An unknown face and a name till 9th November 2010. Suddenly after 9th Nov he is termed as the biggest loser in the history of Indian Reality television. I certainly Don't agree to it, neither i agree to accept that he was being greedy and an idiot.

We all saw Kaun Banega Crorepati and witnessed Prashant losing Rs 97 Lakhs while attempting for the last question for Rs 5 Crore ($ 1 Million ). He reached 1 crore with an ease and was first contestant in this season to reach 3L20T with the help of any lifeline. All the 12 questions were answered with confident and ease prior to a sensible thought. 


When he won Rs 1 Crore, the same people were cheering and clapping for him. There was even a small celebration amidst which Mr. Amitabh Bachchan himself told that you are brilliant and "Bahut achhi parwarish ki hai aapne"(You have raised him in a very well and intelligent manner) to his parents.So if the same set of people are branding him as a fool and idiot are actually fooling themselves. He took the risk and it was not paid.




He did not lose but won Rs 3,20000. It was not greed but to excel like everyone who come to participate in KBC.

If he is a failure because he could reach the final answer, then Bhagat Singh, Rani Laxmi Bai, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose all were losers.As they were either caught/murdered or died before they reached their goal of making India Independent.
It's not the end who justifies a winner, its the process. Nobody in season 4 (KBC) has ever attempted the question for Rs 5 Crore. It is the greed, which has forced many to withdraw well before reaching there. Certainly it was not the greed for mere green papers.

The very impossible question was not a loss but the opportunity cost for Prashant.



Thursday, November 4, 2010

बम और दिवाली और हम

It was the day before Diwali and we had our list ready. The list was full of our explosive dreams and tomorrow would be the night for making them come true. We sat behind the Rajdoot and went to the market. Toady the streets were narrow, as fireworks vendors are occupying most of the space.
We were very specific and we were brand loyal "Cock Brand Sri Kaliswari Fire Works, Sivakasi". This loyalty is proving costly today as they are the leading fireworks and they don't come cheap.
For 300 Rs we used to get a Sack full of Cracker Load and we never bother about the prices . Sparkles (फुलझरी) were like matchsticks.
Our next task was to put all the clay oil lamp in water to absorb more water and give more light. and the second task was to put all the crackers in Sunlight to make them go real bang.

Plans were made on how to tie the Naagin Bomb to the tail of a stray dog (नागिन बम, सुतली बम), if not atleast we used to blast them as near as possible so that the Dog should really be scared. Another plan was to impress the colony girls that we were real men and can blast crackers in our bare hands, be it a Atom Bomb itself (आलू बम, हाइड्रोजन बम, एटम बम). Saanp and Chakri (सांप and चकरी) were for girls.

Now it was to find a bottle launcher, suitable for our Rocket targets (राकेट बम). The special angle was planned to send the Rocket to a foe's house or to the Girl's house who would dare us. Our plans were secret. We were also expert of setting the time bombs, by using incense sticks and tying bomb to it with the perfect timings. We were never wrong. Our battlefield with empty buckets, Drums, Hollow Well, tanks were ready. The zone was marked with our targets. No warnings were made, we were for kill--Silent kill.


Sweets were Damned, The feast was for victory. Laced with Matchsticks and Candles we went all the way.

List:
  • सुतली बम ,
  • मिरचाई बम,
  • साईरान बम,
  • राकेट बम,
  • राकेट ,
  • आलू बम,
  • हाइड्रोजन बम,
  • एटम बम,
  • पैराशूट बम,
  • दीवाल बम,
  • हवा बम,
  • बुल्लेट बम,
  • मिर्ची बम,
  • अनार,
  • अनार बम,
  • चकरी,
  • फुस्फुसिया बम,
  • रंगीन फुलझरी,
  • फुलझरी,
  • चुटपुटिया बम,
  • टार्च बम,
  • पेन्सिल बम,
  • लड़ी बम,
  • सतरंगा बम,
  • नागिन बम,
  • सांप
  • बिजली  बम
  • मेर्री गो राउंड 
  • फूँक  बम 
  • साईरन चकरी