Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year to all who visit here. And also to those who don't...:)

Keep visiting next year too, and hope me will keep writing next year too.

The year That was...

I dunno what churns out posts in retrospect but as it is surely lot of things happen which need to be remembered.
Last sem in college, lots of timepass, getting fat, fatter, fattest...(i exagarate at times), BTech Project, presentations(ufff...), between that blogging, loads of movies- infact I could write a beautiful journal on movies of 2006, the trip to Farakka, the journey from a dull okish college student to a bourgeois profession, the journey to Bangalore(or Bengaluru), the good days in company, the bad days in company(very few...), the CAT kaand(surely whatever I say it still haunts me with sleepless, coughfull nights), lots of book read, the year when I got drunk a lot especially after moving to Bangalore, the year when I went to Coorg, the year of failed ideas, the year of failed dreams, the year I am still confused what really are my dreams, the year that the fevistick dominated my life more than food, food -good year for that always, the year to meet back school pals again after 2-3 years, ok getting thin, thinner...(its ok sort as of now), writing infact lots of it at times, thinking about quitting it, I am so confused a soul at times butI surely see a way forward.

To Do's for 2007

• Get a girlfriend, no sign of desperation but of existence.
• Start playing football again in company, atleast start dong anything else than the regular office bore-tuff. In short get fitter and think better.
  
• Decide on What to do in life, MBA and all seem a pass-away but really identify the niche.
• Try to look for options in non-technology related areas, seriously work towards them rather than just talking and keeping things in muddle.
• Try to get a laptop and net connection by mid-year or by March, borrow money from Dad obviously.
• Try to calm down and be focused better than being fussy dipping into every thing and then chucking out half of it, infact all of it.
• Meet a few people who I am longing to meet...
• Chuck alcohol completely, it should be over as anything, its allergic and harming desh so better leave it completely.

List is somewhat empty would try to complete it before 2007 starts, any IDEAS???

Babumoshay...

Off late it has been too late in office, rather not too late but more than often lots of things jamming up my mind. I feel tired than anything else. Though had a Lunch Outing with my team which was awesome. Maybe some nice sleep this coming holiday weekend is the only thing I am looking forward too.
In between mostly I have found nothing to blog, strange but nothing much. So I thought I will put something that excites me most, something about movies. Nowadays I have been posting the following status on my messanger.

babumoshay zindagi lambi nahi badi honi chahiye, hum sab to rang manch ki kathputliyan hai, kyon murarilal, arre oh murarilal, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, anand mara nahi, anand marte nahi...

Crap not at all, I just love the movie. Anyway speaking of dialouges these are few I recived as a mail forward today, courtesy Sandy. Some dialouges which spawned the word cliched.

1. nahi tum jhoot bol rahey ho aisa nahi ho saaktaa keh do ki yeh jhoot hai
2. Tum paison se sabkuchh khareed saktay ho ....lakin mera pyar nahin
3. Kuttey kameenay main tera khoon peejaoonga
4. Main tumharey bachhay ki maan bananey waali hoon
5. Hum eenth ka jawab paththar se dengey
6. Bacchhhhaaaooooooooooo.......
7. Kutte! Kamine ! .....
8. Agar Maa ka doodh piya hai to saamne aa.
9. Doctor: Chawbees ganthe tak hosh nahin aaya to .....
10. Jyaada hoshiayari karne ki koshish maat karna.
11. Doctor: I'm sorry, hum kuch nahin kar sakey.
12. Munni bai, Thakur saheb aaye hai.
13. Nahin chhodunga tujhe. Jaan sey maar daaloonga.
14. Maa!!, Sab kehte hai ke tum yek vaishya ho !
15. Bhagwaan pe bharosa rakho. Sab thik ho jaiye ga.
16. Woh ek gandi naali ka keeda hai.
17. Mera dil dhak-dhak karta hai.
18. Ek phooti kaudi nahin doonga.
19. Zamaane ne thokar laga-laga ke is dil ko paththar bana diya.
20. Chudeil! Kide pade tere .....
21. Boss!, maal versova beach pe theek bara baje aayega.
22. Tumne yeh kiya, to mujhse bura koi nahin hoga.
23. Woh kutte ki maut marega.
24. Tune yeh kiya to tu mere mara muh dekhegi.
25. Apne aap ko police ke hawaale kar do.
26. Apne hathiyaar phenk do.
27. Keshto: Hi-HEEYAAHH!
28. Har kutte ka din aata hai.
29. Mai tumahara aihsaan zindagi bhar nahin bhoolonga.
30. Itnay paise tum kahan sey laiye ?
31. Police mere peeche lagi hui hai ...

Now some awesome stuff from heroes and villains...

Top Hero Dialogues

1. Kabhi kabhi kuch jeetne ke liye kuch harna bhi padta hai. Aur har kar jeetne walon ko Baazigar kehte hain, kya kehte hain? Baazigar. — Baazigar
2. Rishte mein hum tumhare baap lagte hain, naam hai Shahenshah. — Shahenshah
3. Mere paas ma hai. — Deewar
4. Tareekh pe tareekh milti rahi hai lekin insaaf nahin milta. Milti hai to sirf tareekh. Kanoon ke dalalon ne tareekh ko ek hathiyar ki tarah istemaal kiya hai.— Damini
5. Main aur meri tanhai aksar yeh baate karte hain, tum hoti to aisa hota, tum hoti to waisa hota, tum is baat par hansti, us baat par hairan hoti. — Silsila
6. Mera naam Raju hai, main us desh ka vasi hoon jis desh mein Ganga behti hai. — Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai
7. Jab ye dhai kilo ka haath kisi par padta hai, to admi uthta nahin, uth jata hai. — Damini
8. Anarkali, Salim ki mohabbat tumhe marne nahin degi aur hum tumhe jeene nahin denge. — Mughal-e-Azam
9. Jao pahle us admi ka sign lekar aao, jisne mere haath pe yeh likha - Mera baap chor hai.— Deewar

Top Villain Dialogues

1. Mogambo khush hua! — Mr India
2. Pachas-pachas kos dur tak jab bachcha rota hai toh maa bolti hai beta so ja, nahin to Gabbar aa jayega. — Sholay
3. Tera kya hoga re Kaaliya? — Sholay
4. Sara shahar mujhe Lion ke naam se jaanta hai. — Kalicharan
5. Idhar bhau ko election jitaye kaun? Bhikhu Mhatre. Mumbai ka king kaun? Bhikhu Mhatre.— Satya
6. Ye haath mujhe de de Thakur.— Sholay
7. Arrey o Sambha, kitne aadmi the? — Sholay

Now for the bestest ones, some Mithunda dialouges ...

Mithun's amazing dialouges

1. Mera naam hai Suraj, truck driver Suraj

2. Bheegi hui cigrette , jal nahi sakti
Aur yeh kahtay hai ki teri maut ki tarikh tal nahi sakti

3. Naam hai Sankar .. aur hoon mein Gunda No. 1

4. Apuun ka naam hai Heera,
Apuun ne sab ko Cheera..."

5. kala shetty: Kaun hai be tu?

Mithun da: Mai hun tum jaise logon se nafarat karne wala,

Garibon ke liye jyoti,

Gundon ke liye jwala,
Tuze banake maut ka niwala,

Tere sineme gaad dunga mai maut ka bhala.

6. Kyunki ab mein Indrajeet nahi......chandaal hoon
tum chaho toh mera program note karlo
tum sab meri diary mein mar chuke ho!
mein chahoo toh tum sabko abhi mar sakta hoon
magar abhi maarne se tumhe maarne ka credit meri bullet ko mil jayega!!!!

7. Main hoon Do Numbri, ek se jyaada, teen se kam

Dikhne mein bevda, bhaagne mein ghoda, aur maarne mein hathoda

8. Mantriji:- "Ye kanch bullretproof hai. Tum mujhe chu bhi nahi sakte"
Mithun Da:-"Ye kanch bulletproof hai magar patthhar proof nahi"

And he breaks the glass by throwing small stones onto it. TALIYYYANN !!!!

9. Dushmano ki Lashon par Bhangra karne wala kabhi Langada nahin hota.

10. Koi Shak?

BTW I still consider Anand and Sholay to have the bestest dialouges ever...


Technorati tags: Bollywood

Going crazy about Ganguly's comeback

Dada is back to international stage too with a 50, with all others batsmen failing its Dada , the only one to show some good batting(leave Tendulkar the god out) ...
It seems all my predictions coming true, with Dada back in team Dada's boy zaheer in great touch too and South Africa 37/5 it seems too surreal.
Anyway lately finding less time too blog and this seemed to have turned into a ilovedada blog...

Oh...it's 38/6 as I write...

Stupid people who created this stupid website, they should change it's name to what I suggested, ok I am talking about this

ilovedada.com

May they get something good to think about Dada now.

Yesterday it was like each ball bowled to Dada me n my pals were messaging each other. It is crazy but good.

Let's hope India can win this test match, thats what every Dada supporter and every not so supporter of his wants.

Technorati tags: Sourav Ganguly, Cricket, Sports

And he is back...

And no one was much happier than me. Dada's 83 against Rest of South Africa marks the comeback of the great player. Pathan also scored a hundred, maybe it's Dada who lifted his confidence. Whatever, nothing again to be said about the rest of the party.

Hope the Test Series continues in a similar fashion and Ganguly scores nicely. I hope we at least draw one test to be highly optimistic.

Technorati tags: Sourav Ganguly, Cricket, Sports

Back to DADAGiri!!!

Sourav Ganguly is back. But how can a person who was dropped on charges of underperforming, come back to Indian team. His recall is strange but still an expected event. Presence of Vengsarkar in the selection panel means there are now more power centers in the Indian cricket team other than the captain and coach.

It must be a strange feeling for Mr. Chappell as of now, with Ganguly back in the side and the so called experiments going to back to where it all started. The return of Laxman, Zaheer and Kumble was a precursor to the main event.

Although I am still skeptical about how things will work out between Chappell and Ganguly, only assuring factor being the presence of Dravid. He as a captain faces one of his biggest task now, a rollback of everything he tried to do in one year and prepare the team for World cup next year. As of now he should better concentrate though on playing full 50 overs in a game.

But all this can’t take away anything from the Man of the Moment Sourav Ganguly. If he makes it possible it would be promoted as the biggest comeback in Indian sporting history. The Kyon Hua Kaise Hua ad campaign generated a lot of sympathy for Dada in the days the other Cricketers were also not clicking.

Sourav has a big challenge on his hand, if he fails people can pardon him as person who fought for a year to get back into the team and made it, but the bigger challenge lies ahead for the Dravid and the Indian team. What if they fail again? It is sure that if Indians don’t play well in Test Series everyone won’t play well, and Ganguly will be the one giving all his effort (atleast it is presumed that way). Even if there is 10 times more pressure on him than the others to perform, I think finally Ganguly emerges as a winner of this unwanted battle.

A battle never fought on Cricket ground, but went across all the way from streets of Kolkata to the Indian Parliament, to a Cola commercial. And what more is on cards, a one day berth for Ganguly or even more a return to Captaincy (I may be dreaming…). But Indian cricket seems to learning from its neighbours Pakistan in making things complicated.

As of now everyone is praying whatever happens India atleast draw one match in the test match series. Winning what’s that!!!

Related Posts: Hu Ha India...Gaya India

Technorati tags: Sourav Ganguly, Cricket, Sports, Rahul Dravid, Greg Chappell

Dhoom 2oo Good

Half way into the movie my friend suggests best GUI ever, I agree. Movie ends, a sneezing coughing already choked for air me, comes out of the theatre into the crappy Bangalore street traffic, I thought I will suffer an Asthma attack. This movie should carry a warning that it can leave you breathless. My obvious expression after every scene, “yaar saans hi nahi lene de rahe”, referring to the alternate switching scenes between icantseehercontinouslyotherwisemewillgoblind(a new adjective soon to be compiled by Webstar) Bipasha and a dunnawhattosaygaspingmouthbreathlesslungs( a new adjective soon to be compiled by Oksford) Aishwarya.

Dhoom-2 marks the return of the Great Masala Movie to Bollywood, though this time round it’s packed in Silver-foil rather than green shabby polythene covers. Infact Masala entertainers are what everyone wants after years of crappy NRI pleasing glycerine overdosed K-JO genre movies.

Hide Uday Chopra’s face and you get the most beautiful starcast assembled in modern times. Though Uday Chopra was one the biggest surprises for me in the movie as he walked away with the best lines and was the perfect thing a sidekick could ever dream of becoming. Doesn’t matter.

Abhishek Bachchan known to add the cool factor in movies like Bluffmaster etc is perfectly in compliance with the norms. He was the perfect thanda in the movie which had not much for him anyway. Doesn’t matter.

Bipasha hmm, throughout my life I have stuck to the fact that Bengali gals are the most beautiful in the country, the moment when Bipasha appears in the orange colored costume for the Touch Me number , that made orange my favourite fruit, orange my favourite colour and Holland my favourite football team for life. Second half's much talked about bikni sequence is a gracefully executed sequence which would otherwise have been turned crappy by other filmmakers. She looks athletically sexy, oozing and oomphing all kind of gasps possible. But she was close to crap in the second half. Doesn’t matter.

People say that she isn’t that great as she is talked about, agree. People say she can be dumb as an actress agree. But what you want to see you get it. Agree? Aish as Sunahari is a tribute to the beautiful Aishwarya as we have never seen before. Awesomely toned body, great dances, nicely executed graceful ishtyle. Acting, role. Doesn’t matter.

In my highly biased opinion Hrithik is the next best thingy after Amitabh and Shahrukh. I think though many flow along
this bias positively. After years we have got a Hero who does all with a soothing halo of sincerity around him, and with such panache which will put the best thinking and puzzled. Even I am puzzled how to create sentences as of now but Hrithik is sometimes too graceful to be a Bollywood hero, maybe that’s what puts him apart from the rest. Maybe he can’t act, he overacts or whatever crap people come up with, but there is hardly anyone at the moment who can challenge his screen presence. And that’s what matters maybe.

And the Hrithik-Ash pair is something to look out for, they click like anything together, leave the kissh out but the scenes together even Hrithik and Ash coming together gives you that feeling that someone has put smoldering embers under you on the seat. Looking forward to much more from the pair, it's definitely better than she gets along with the Baccha Bachchan.

Anyway nice watch, it’s time we realize that those critics cribbing about good stories are mostly wrong, one can create great entertainers even without a story.

Technorati tags: Dhoom 2,Movie Review,Bollywood, Hrithik Roshan,Aishwarya Rai,Abhishek Bachchan

Hu Ha India...gaya India!!!

I don't know why we always pin hopes on our boys. Maybe its blind optimism. Maybe it's the hope that show us( or the ads). Anyway South Africa tours have been generally this way only. 157 run loss is just the first in series. I don't see the tide turning anyway further in the competition.
So what has been wrong, a recent interview with Wasim Akram on some news channel said it all. According to him we chop-n-change too much, add to that our inexperienced bowling attack. But someone told me Kumble has went for the tour, for what playing kho-kho with the team.
It will be better if Indian team does some batting practice, rather than playing kho-kho and kabbadi which may have left Yuvraj out for the World cup.
With due respects Dravid is a great batsman, but when it comes to captaincy, everyone agrees he could be a bit vocal. Rather than showing his presence on the field he remains a bit laid-back. agree that's his style but even with bowlers bowling all places on field he doesn't seem to wither a bit. He should start doing that otherwise its tough days ahead for him. Ganguly and even Azhar in the past have shown their dominance by having a great field presence which maybe important for a captain to have.
The only special thing yesterday was the knock by Sachin. He is GOD!!! Nothing more I can say about the GOD.
Also another good thing was the television presentation on ESPN, bringing back the great memories of days when commentary used to be on cricket not on spaghetti straps. Also the great atmosphere on the ground and the good pitch added to the presentation, quite a refreshing change from the recently concluded boring Champions trophy.
It seems like Kaif and Raina have to do something, Raina especially isn't a hitter and no great innings to his name. Kaif should stop basking in the glory of past achievements which are long lost in the past.
Dinesh Mongia seems to be a good thing for team. His bowling is quite good but its still puzzling why he was under bowled.
As far as Greg Chappel is considered I completely agree with Durga Puja pendal guys in Kolkata who created a deity of Durga with Mahishasura where the ASURA was Greg Chappel. With him in picture first time it seems Indian cricket operates not from field but from outside it.
Please say bye-bye to experiments, Cricket is a lazy man's game, let it be that way.
Anyway check out this amazing post on the same issue,
Kaho Na Massacre Hai

Disclaimer: I am a hardcore DADA (Sourav Ganguly) fan, so this article may not be considered neutral by few, still this is my personal opinion.
Also the title is not against India, it's against the Indian Cricket team. Still if the title offends any I apologise and will change it.

*This one was originally blogged at Sportolysis

Technorati tags: Cricket, Sachin Tendulkar,India,South Africa,Sourav Ganguly

Another Sachin and Kambli !!!

Just came across this article from Mohandas Menon,

Sachin-Kambli record eclipsed

When about 19 years back two Acherakar boys from Mumbai's Shardashram had a 664 run partnership noone would have thought that one of them would be then would go on to become Sachin Tendulkar. The thing is that one of them was Sachin Tendulkar was such an historic event that it overshadows most of the events of that decade and maybe even that century. Noone can deny the god like status Sachin has achieved today but even God shows their best as kids. About Kambli people remember more for his stupid hairstyles (or no-hairstyles) and his crying after the SriLanka semi-final loss at Eden Garden's 1996 rather than his double double centuries against England. He was a good enough batsman always there but never so much there.

Now its the turn of two kids from Hyderabad, India's new sporting hot-pot( Sania and Saina emerging from there) to give us Mohammad Shahbaz Tumbi and B Manoj Kumar. These two non-teenagers have broken one of the longest standing records in Under-18 cricket( Infact highest partnership in CLASS of Cricket) in India scoring 721 runs in a partnership for their school and hope they continue the good efforts till they grow up and play for India one day.

Hoping that both of them goes the Sachin way, not his friends way.

*This one was originally blogged at Sportolysis

Technorati tags: Cricket, Sachin Tendulkar, Kambli, Sports

Youtube Band for today

This is what I was just thinking about yesterday. What if Youtube shuts down for a while or forever what will happen to all me dependent blogposts. They are also shutdown.

And this is what happened today...
It's high time I stop depending on external content for my posts. It's much better to just scribble anything of my own.

Technorati tags: Youtube

I wanted to be here...

Last to last week I had a reunion at my place with all my college ke friends (40 of them) having a great time. But somehow I miss my school ki junta too much. Last week three of them niddu(Swapnil), rippu(Ripunjai) and Abhishek(Sona, quite ironically me listening to oh mere sona re...) had a reunion at IIM indore(IIM-I hate that word now...huh) followed by Abhishek's home. It must have been great. All throughout my college lives I have missed these guys too much. Anyway me planning to go to Hyderabad with Pratik and there I hope to catch a few but I really hope next time I am a part of these pictures,

Rippu, Abhishek and Niddu

At niddu's room I presume

At Rock show



Next time I will be there pakka.

Going crazy with Youtube...

This is too much. What a day. A bug fix, a community meet, my team's anniversary celebrations and some 30 odd videos on Youtube. I can say I am a Youtube addict now. What else I made 5-6 members in my team addict with the help of Sandy. Whether is the stupid Chiranjeevi video, or Shammi Kapoor's twisting 60's, or Boot Polish songs, or Mughal-e-azam and Sholay sequences I can see everything here.
I am into it. Kya mast cheez hai. No wonder Google paid 1.6 Billion $ for the thing.

Technorati tags: Youtube, Bollywood, Technology

It's Children's Day ...!!!

It's 14th November. It's Chacha Nehru's Birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

14 years back in history me as a standard 2 student would have been receiving chocolates packed along with Poppins, a Lollipop and Kismi all wrapped with a Parle-G at school. And there would have been a function celebrating the same.
Nowadays don't know what is happening with kids. I mean media covers everyday as some big thing but me completely out of sync with what happens in school on Children's Day now. Radio stations cribbing on it all day along with all the news channels.

Being a kid is not so easy anymore maybe. Right from peer-pressure (don't know when that thing originated in India), padhai likhai ka pressure, affairs in school(things like stupid MMS DPS RKP scandal put us down) and the much talked about super-kid syndrome.

But this is the story of kids who can afford to be super, for so many kids across the country it's still a struggle for livelihood, making a living, saving themselves from crime, selling chai, working at homes or in factories. The recent bill on banning the use of Child Labour at Domestic and commercial establishments is a step in the right direction but it is more or less a Vicious Circle which I discussed here,
Vicious Circle of Social Reforms

Whatever be it there is nothing better in life than being in your childhood. I had a stupid discussion couple of days back with my friend on this and almost all seem to agree. Anyway its Children's Day so all the baccha log enjoy.

I am putting one of my favourite song's up here for the occasion, from the 50's Nehuvian style Raj Kapoor classic. Even Nehru loved the movie very much.

HAPPY CHILDREN's DAY!!!

Technorati tags: Children, Nehru, Bollywood, Society

Michael Jackson khub royega ...:-)

When I first saw the Thriller video as a kid I swear I was scared. I still remember seeing it first time at my Dad's friend house eating Salted Pistacho's when I was a kid. Strangely it's the only thing I remember about his home. But it is one of the bestest video ever. But wait till you see this. Oh God Chiranjeevi on the Rocks. Enjoy this,

I hope Michael Jackson doesn't see this. I don't know whether he will be able to take the shock. But this one is definitely their in my favourites list now...:-)

Shiv Visvanathan goes on and on and on...

My four years in college were nothing without the presence of my favourite profs, one of the most influential members of that list being Prof. Shiv Visvanthan. Seeing him on Headlines Today 2-3 days back, when Shiv had his Way on Sex and Single Men brought back memories of the amazingly stupendous discussions and lectures we went through in college along with the countless afternoons we spent with him in his room sipping coffee and glaring at his amazing collection of Chocolate and Cookie boxes.

I suppose we were the only Engineering College let alone a college in India discussing Playboy Posters and pornography in classroom. Add to that the amazing series of lecture we went through in the Cinema and Modernity course ripping apart Picasso and Duchamp and then going through lengthy discussions on Apocalypse Now, Citizen Kane, German movies of Leni Riefenstahl, the Indian Anti-Hero from Amitabh to Shahrukh and lots of it. No one would ever forget the lecture given by him on Urban Planning in one of the sessions on Environment Science.

Recently with his articles on Gandhi as a Management Guru neither has he once again echoed his thoughts on me but connected me back to my college that I miss so much. He is one person of whom I will tell my Grandchildren about, don't know whether they will be able to connect to a person of such a different epoch, but then Shiv is much much ahead of our times.

Check this by enginerd If you have missed it,

Sex and Single Men

Last few Days...Tough Ones

Coming Back from Home, SpiceJet, Good Air Hostess, No Food, Good biscuits, Landing, Bangalore Traffic, Coming to Office, Back to Work, JHATKA in the EVENING sitting with Prashant, Talk to Pabari, Talk to Dad, Go to IIMB, Get all disappointed and comeback, Back to Office, Back to Work, Go again to IIMB, Meet the Officer with Pabari, Get all disappointed and comeback, Call Daily to IIMB, Drink Beer with Sandy and Vaibhav and Nihar, Call at IIMB, All Disappointed, Go to Siva’s Party, Drink Beer and White Rum AGAIN!!!, Go to IIMB, Get all disappointed and comeback, Final talk at IIMB…Its Over, Lots of Work, Lots of it again, But It’s over, It is Over, Another Party Yesterday, Lots of Phone Calls during these two weeks, Lots of Explanation again and again making me feel done with, Its Over, I can’t help it can’t get over it, Lots of discussion on adhesive technology and how by making the back side of a photograph rough it sticks better, How the Probability figure of 10 in 2 lakh 25 thousand was reached, How the Bands effected this and made this happen, 2^nd Oct-5^th Oct was almost holiday they say, but its over, no use going over it again and again and again and again and maybe again, I am tired of listening to people, maybe I am tired of Bangalore, but then I can’t do anything, its over, everything gone, just another year to look forward to, maybe I am unlucky, what maybe I am unlucky, but can’t help it can’t take it, it’s over, leave it behind they say, but I took nothing so what to leave behind, this whole thing is so different, 1000’s of thoughts lingering on your mind, 3-4 parties in a week, alcohol tasting good as never before, its changing, its confusing as ever but its another year, is it worth that much I think or is it just the weak Y-Chromosome, let me try to leave everything, let me, allow me, its not about faith they say, its about lack of it, its about mistakes its about forgetting and looking forward, its over.

In short me not giving CAT anymore.

ULULACIÓN! Real Madrid ganada

Wow Real Won.

3rd Minute Raul scored.

Sometime in the early minutes of Second half NistelRooy scored.

And that was it. 2-0. Which could have been 4-2 or something. It was a fantabolous game as both sides got n number of chances but failed to get many more goals. Ronaldinho was as expected quite thanda but his Brazilian counterparts Emerson, Roberto Carlos and Robinho had a great game. Complete team effort which closes the gap now to two point. Even if they don't win the league this time Real fans would be OK with another victory when they go back to Catalan later in the season. That victory would really do a bit in toning down the humiliation faced by Real last time they were beaten 3-0 at home by Barca and Ronaldinho given a standing ovation.

Check out few of the classic encounters here.

Do you think Madrid will win the League this Season. Comments???

Real Madrid vs Barcelona

Just today I saw a vintage Arsenal performance after so so many days. It was the same one touch football that Wegner had promoted all these years which was back in action. Fabre, Persie, Hleb, Rosicky, Gallas and obviously HENRY producing some great entertainment. Though whenever I see Arsenal matches I fell nostalgic about college and stuff. It was great fun watching between all Arsenal fans there. Also there was Liverpool ManUtd match which Liverpool lost. My favourite player Gerrad just keeps on playing for that stupid club and I know he would never leave it.

Anyway after this in half an hour its Real vs Barca. Hope it goes well and without much trouble. But if there is bashing and trouble I will sure enjoy that.

Though Barcelona may have been the better team over a time in Spanish football the Power shifts between the two sides once in 3-4 years. I don’t know whether it will happen this year but Madrid sure have an upper hand to win today at the Santiago Bernebau arena named after there prolific President in 50’s and 60’s who set the first era of Galacticos including Alberto de Stefano from Argentina and Puskas from Hungary.

There rivalry has been nothing short of Army interventions, World War II, Spanish Civil War (incidentally Cataln Barca’s home ground was base for one army and Bernebau for another during Civil War). I saw a nice enough documentary on their rivalry courtesy History Channel. Wish I could see it again. Though nothing has brought it up to notice of World anything like Football.

I support Real today much more because I don’t quite like Barca. Especially Ronaldinhio and their stupid kit. But I like Rjjkard, quite simply because when I was watching my first ever football tournament. (I became crazy around 99 ManUtd season but Euro 2000 was it) he was coaching the then good Dutch side. So I quite liked the fellow and his team that time. They lost in semis though.

Anyway today it’s going to be fun. Home for Diwali and relaxing and seeing the matches. Why one should work. Work is Crap.

Lets hope Real wins tonight.

Don Mast Hai...!!!

Not the Nayi one but the Purani one...

Just saw it, was coming on some Hindi Movie channel. Was just wondering can Priyanka be as good as Zeenat. I hope she can be. Helen's role quite small but Kareena getting loads of attention as Kamini.

Pran was great as JJ, Arjun Rampal quite a thanda choice for the role. I mean the Voice just too much for him to do over. Though I fully agree with role of Anita. Isha Koppikar is as Thandi as the girl who came in the first Don.

Boman will be cool as DSP though, Iftikar though earned his bread-butter doing that role adding even Jam to it after toasting it. Malik is Om Puri. First it was Om Shiv Puri.

“ab to bhagwaan ne bhi apna naam khich liya”

Hehe...Arre is sab main whereas Shahrukh. No point in talking about Amitabh vs him. He can't do the "Khaike Pan" number even 1% like him. It's impossible. They can't find the bhangwaala’s as they were in the original. Priyanaka cant be as sexy as Zeenat. Songs don’t have that Orchestra stuff classic 70’s format me pointing too.

OMG Why have they made the movie?

Good that I can't see it this week.

Next week after back to Bangalore in my fav 35 Rs waala hall maybe.

Anyone reading this plz tell me the name of the actress who played Anita though, real pathetic actress she.

P.S.-Post edited after Naresh reminding me of something. Thnq Naresh.

Bollywood Celebrates With Don And Jaan-e-Mann

Like every year holiday season is back. Other than the country celebrating Diwali and Eid nowadays it’s about the big movies releasing on this weekend, and this year its Don and Jaan-e-Mann.

The Diwali/Eid release syndrome can be traced back to “Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (1994)” A movie that brought back the Family audiences back to theatres after more than a decade long of overdoses of Action or silly college style romances. From then the last few years have created a long list of movies releasing and getting successful on Diwali/Eid weekend.

It’s more than being auspicious for the release. Like some good lessons learnt by Bollywood in marketing movies, this is another thing that they have executed to some perfection. Last year saw average enough movies like Garam Masala and Shaadi no.1 doing well. Obviously with the sheer numbers involved it’s always a safe bet.

Anyway coming back to releases this time. It’s a Khan tussle at the box office but surely both have their territories and fan groups earmarked out. And with everyone running off to see the movies surely both can be declared hits before hand. On one hand NRI audience, City going Multiplex audience and Families tend to bend towards Sharukh movies, Salman rocks at small cities and obviously with the big city audiences too.

Don is one of the movies in a long list of wanna-be remakes of classics from 70’s. This is will be a acid test and some good lesson for other movies following suit. The trailers point towards quite slick and stylish version of the original Amitabh starrer. Though I must say the “Khaike Pan Banaras” number seems to be a let down. Though Shahrukh traditionally not made for such kind of roles and he looking somewhat similar to the bad guy in Duplicate (remember it was a Mahesh Bhatt directed disaster) but I personally am a big fan of Farhan Akhtar and obviously Sharukh. Add to that Kareena and Priyanka and the movie wont be a let down for sure. Kareena in “Yeh Mera Dil” is something to watch out for.

Jaan-e-Mann on the look of it looks to be a love triangle. For figuring that out you definitely don’t need to be a Pythagoras. Whatever is the hatke thing in movie the look of Preity and New York is sadly quite repetitive. But good enough music, presence of Anupam Kher as a dwarf (something which hasn’t happened after Kamal Hasan’s classic Appu-Raja) and Salman-Akshay makes the movie promising. Akshay Kumar the most successful non-Khan actor in Bollywood definitely adds value to the movie in an effort to continue on his string of successes.

But it’s festive season so most of times it doesn’t even matter what you see, but still this Diwali and Eid should be lots of fun for movie-buffs like me.

Vicious Circle of Social Reforms

I came across this strange Geometrical figure in secondary school through an Ogden Nash poem on Visit to Dentist. These are the lines from the poem “It’s going to hurt just a little bit.”

And this, O Fate, is I think the most vicious circle that thou ever sentest,
That Man has to go continually to the dentist to keep his teeth in good
condition when the chief reason he wants his teeth in good condition
is so that he won't have to go to the dentist.

-OGDEN NASH.

The then figure became a reality for me when I visited one. Now my social ecosystem teaches me more about this bizarre figure.

Mostly Geometrical objects vary as a function of Space. This figure evolves around both space and time certainly being n-dimensional in nature. And it maps itself to everything it could this time for instance mapping itself to social reforms.

Child Labour ban couldn’t have come at a more appropriate place. The ban in hospitality and domestic work means 12 million kids between the age group of 5-14 get affected. No one can argue that the decision is wrong but India is prone to make decisions hastily and without thinking.

Ok so the boy at nearby Chai Gulla or the girl working at your home will get released from the perils of child labour, but where do they go? Boy gets into drug peddling or goes join some small pick pocketing gang. Girl gets sold to join world’s oldest profession. And what happens to their families many of whom depend on the kids directly or indirectly for support. For some sections of the society still producing kids is a means of survival for the family. So another small circle lies there. What we get is Ring whose sphere of evil is not less than anything which was being practiced. This is a circle which pushes them from one profession into another defeating the cause of removing them from a profession in the first place.

What happened last year when the so called immoral Bar Girl dancers in Mumbai (75,000) of them lost jobs? Most of them got into World’s Oldest Profession. Does that mean that the city became more MORAL? Everything good to remove the bad has loads of ugly to go with it. So what’s needed sometimes is to go along with the bad also as to suppress the ugly.

So what do we do, let’s keep the kids working is what I am saying? Definitely not. As we all know rehabilitation package for a small bomb blast take years to get distributed so what are we expecting in case of 1.2 million kids involved. This is a circle of solving one problem and then not following up with the problem and taking it to the end. Something similar to distributing BT cotton and then keep the farmers dieing in Vidarbha due to production cost increase due to supplements involved and in turns losses- Of money and most of times LIFE.

We as a society can’t expect to change so quickly everything. We should realize that in India still we are producing kids at a rate which is much handsome than BRIC countries growth prospects. Human Resources (uff that word reminds me of a person who syncs with nonsense, someone heading it) is something which can be nurtured for something better in future. So rather than imposing a country wide ban chucking states from child labour one by one and then carrying the model on a larger level would have helped.

Anyway no Child Labour is near to impossible, just imagine someone saying you to go off your job one day and say that you are not allowed to work. It’s a job for them and if they don’t work who works? Social reforms leading to cutting down of working population…hmm. Then price of everything goes up and our circle takes a new path of inflation there. Already I and everyone sane enough are quite sick of growing prices.

Finally I think I am just moving in a circle, usually I say a statement X and then follow it with negation of X. So let’s wiggle our heads to cut the circle and find the path out of this maze.

As of now though we will keep orbiting…

Sholay - ab naye pack main !!!

Sholay is back. I will write about it later. Lots to write. I have been thinking about it. For now me a bit busy. So just the posters as of now.

first the original one,

And now the new one.



Bollywood publicity is is becoming much more stylish. But hand drawn posters were great. I have studied posters in quite some detail. More on that later...

Hrishikesh Mukherjee - Simple movies, Simple life

This one appeared in my company's mag sometime last month...Ok one, I mean atleast it was much shorter than my previous one on football. I have to try keeping things shorter.I go on blabbering for much longer than required. So here it is,
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Hrishikesh Mukherjee - Simple movies, Simple life.

**** pays a tribute to the doyen of Indian cinema, Hrishikesh Mukherjee whose ‘simple’ film-making style made a lasting impact on generations of movie-goers.

“It is very simple to be difficult, but it is very difficult to be simple.”- Bawarchi (1975)

Once, back in college, one of my professors introduced me to Occam’s Razor, which states that all the externalities being shaved off the simplest theory is always true. No one made this much more evident than our own Cinematic Occam Hrishikesh Mukherjee.

With a career spanning across five decades simple stories about simple people became his trademark. Hrishikesh Mukherjee had his mentors in Bimal Roy and Raj Kapoor. Truly, he found a golden mean between both the film makers and created a style which was refreshingly his own and yet amazingly simple.

In the times when the genre of Lost and Found, ‘Social’ movies, Amitabh’s regular ‘masala stuff’ and a world of parallel cinema dominated, Hrishida’s cinema, somehow, was a misfit. Presenting general characters in their ‘Equated to Life’ roles was a challenge- cinematically and financially. Overcoming it was achieved though, by putting audiences through an experience that was a close reflection of their life, which was, nevertheless entertaining.

The movies which Hrishida will always be remembered for, will be Anand, Golmaal, Chupke Chupke, Abhimaan, Satyakam, Anupama, Guddi, Mili and many more. What I mean is - Hrishida will be remembered for every one of his movies, but these are what strike your mind at once. My personal favourite is Anand, though it’s difficult to tell why, with so many good movies around. It is the fighting spirit of Anand and the realistic portrayal of a man who knows his death is near, a movie which could otherwise have been overtoned with doses of dramatization, that really wins your heart.

The continuous improvisation of switching from comedy (in Golmaal) to a genre like suspense (in Buddha Mil Gaya), to a take on truth and its importance (in Satyakaam) reflects the skills of a great storyteller. Apart from being a ‘thinking director’ he was an editor too and edited most of his movies by himself. Incidentally, Hrishida began his career as an editor under Bimal Roy and went on to become his assistant director.

Hrishida’s movies rank among my personal favourites and the factor that has influenced me the most remains– Simplicity.

It’s really fascinating sometimes, how simple things lead us to eventualities which we try to achieve by complex measures. A question which puzzles me is why we resort to unconventional methods of solving problems, when just thinking simply can be much better than thinking laterally. Obviously de bono would disagree but rather than looking for things out of the box, first we should try to scan the box. The scope is much limited and thus there are better chances of success.

Again this whole article could have been put in a simpler way by just discussing Hrishida’s cinema. But now it’s a habit for me and people like me to fall prey to this habit of deviating from the simple. It’s easy to blame someone to be bourgeois by being too simple but again try applying it on yourselves and you will see.

In the name of Language…

Language and the diversity of it is what we Indians cherish and are proud of. In my childhood sometime I heard that dialects in India change in every 30KM and this variety is certainly rare. It’s good that we have held on to our languages with the moving times. I mean with English gaining importance it’s necessary to remember our roots and hold on to them. But certainly a level of sanity is expected while you claim to maintain sanctity for the language.

My experiences about Bangalore have rather have been not good. Traffic and City congestion are definitely big time problems. But Language politics has been something which has bugged my head the most. Infact now I get the feel that definitely would get the award for the most bugged city in the world sometime soon (if someone does give that award, add Bangalore to the list). The city is sure to change is nature from a happily laid back city to a High Tempered one soon. That’s inevitable. Similar to a change from the Laid back movies of the 60’s and early 70’s to Angry Young man movies of the late 70’s and Amitabh era.

Three issues have hogged up and bogged down my spirits. Let me mention them not chronologically but in an order of increasing priority.

First one was the Tipu Sultan controversy. A pathetic attempt at creating a divide based on religious lines which led to some tension in the city as I read it in the papers. It’s not good to dig out a person from his grave and tell him that he was against Kannada culture. As I know it he was the only King with a Head which could think in India in those days. Quite an uncommon phenomenon for Indian Royalty especially under British Raj. Why did they blame him?

Second one is Bangalore changing to Bengaluru. Firstly Bengaluru is not recognized by the spell-checker as I came to know it now. A funny incident happened that the news papers in Kannada reported “Bengaluru changing to Bengaluru”. Again the cost involved will be heavy but you can spare the politicians atleast for this one. Their brothers have done this in other parts of country so why not they do it. Some things can be spared but I personally don’t believe in these things of changing the name attaches a sense of pride and stuff. But the last issue looks to me like a crime.

Some how Mr. Basvaraj Horetti, Minister for Primary and Secondary Education, Karnataka seems to have done something which is completely out of the box. May be nowadays these de bono terms are catching up with the politicians too, but in a completely different sense. Closing of Karnataka schools is a move which brings us all to shame. Maybe Mr. Horetti and his colleagues are habituated to moving around schools in their childhood but for 250,000 students here it’s damn difficult, that too in the middle of the session. Reason, quite simply they were being taught in English.

Now the schools didn’t follow the rules, I mean they were running a Kannada medium school but imparting education in Kannada. Not as per the rules. But if you twist the rules in so many cases then why this case do you act in such an efficient manner which is close to insanity. Ok you talk about moving the children and staff to some government schools but they are already crowded. Most of the kids going to the closed schools come from sections of society not so sound economically. If you fight for caste based reservations on the higher education front why neglect good education given to students at primary level. I don’t know what will happen if Politicians start doing what they want so regularly like this. They should have atleast waited for the year.

All this fills me up with just shame and disappointment. Two weeks back when I was roaming around at Garuda Mall a reporter from a news channel came to me (that news Group driving a effort to Restore the lost so many things in Bangalore, quite a commendable effort) and asked-“What should be done to resurrect Bangalore?”. I said nothing can be done. But then I went back and greed of a T-Shirt (which she never gave me) burbled a lot about what can be done and what not. I wish Bangalore could transform into a city like Mumbai or Delhi which can just absorb everything. If we look at it from the viewpoint of Thermodynamics, the entropy of these cities keep on increasing forever never touching a limit whereas that of Bangalore has touched a maximum already. I am sure everyone in Bangalore can feel the Heat which has completely made us forget the wonderful breeze once flowing here.