as john abraham and abhishek bacchan kissed each other with a petite pretty piggy chops looking over indulgently in dostana on screen, a very poignant realisation hit home.

 no , i aint talking of the homophobic gay bashing theme of the film . the three odd hours of the running time of dostanaconclusively divided the indian movie going populace. a new partition of the indian viewer reached its finale witht his latest offering form the brash brave bold new bollywood.

 hindia cinema , or bollywood as we ever so lovingly christened it , has gone elitist in every sense of the word. a new wave has swept thru the film industry back home. technological advancements, new legitimate money, some good talent behind th escenes, and a sharp astute pr machinery have made the standard friday release a sleek svelte affair .( never mind the fact that much of the story telling is still appalingly immateurish and unoriginal, some habits die hard).

the advent of multiplexes add to this making a movie outing a very very ultra-glamorous event. you, me and the likes have neer had it so good. yet are we the only ones who watch the hindi film? ot by the fartherest leap of imagination. for there still exists outside the glitz and glam of the mall-multiplex, a huge chunk of an audience that still sees a hindi film at a single -screen dingy nondescript theatre .that expects a paisa-vassol entertainer of 3 hrs. that searches for a voice to speak out for its plight int he real world. that looks upto a hero who speaks their tongue ( and not hinglish ) and vanquishes the villians of their real lives , if only on reel.why do i feel that the mumbai dream machine has disowned them ?

with increasing upward mobility in a small percentage of indians and a real threat from hollywood ( in even in regional dubbed versions ) hindi films today cater exclusively to these handfull, who anyways look else where for entertainment and look down upon desi films.int he process bollywood has ceased to reflect the aspirations of those who actually made the heros and heroines demi gods on the roads. so while live-ins, gay couples, hi-flying fashion glamour worlds , futuristic sci-fi and superheor-wannabes form the crux of our stories on celluloid these past few years, hindi cinema no longer has the pan indian allure it once boasted of. the hero is a selfish rich guy, cozy in his state of the art perfect bubble ( just like much of the 200rs and up paying captive audience watching the hero) who has no idea watsoever of what life is like for the rickshaw puller whom he used to represent not so long ago. his interests concerns his everything are a world apart from the masses .

the only missing link of sorts between old and new bollywood perhaps is the heroine who still nothing mroe than an object of lust. yet even she no longer is coy about shedding clothes at the drop of a hat, alienating a considerable men with her in-ure-face sensuality.in such a case why is ti a surprise then to find the ravi kissens and manoj tiwari's take centre stage in the big league? the vacucm created by bollywood is being filled by its poor cousins from patna raipur ludhiana and the likes.as a cash rich bollywood confidently dispense off the mass viewer as an irritant , regional cinema of the commercial kind , led by the bhojpuri industry, has stpped in to provide the complete masala package in the lingo understood by and loved by the masses, depicting a life that bollywood hitherto celebrated.and with a ready audience fresh from the betrayal at the hands of hindi films, merrily has joined in th eparty at your nearest theatre hall.

but then , what happens to our good old hindi film? almost extinct i guess save a stray delightfully oldworld welcome to sajjanpur. indians , the majority that crowds outside a mall not inside it, have a new cousin in town to thealien english flick, thedesi hindi film! no matter how priyanka ties the saree , she can never be the desi girl of the common man on the road anymore.

obama has made history by winning the polls in the big apple! his win has kind of brought the dark-skinned minorities in america into the mainstream , though how different would his presidency be from bush is what only time can answer, given the fact that bush has mangled american policies beyond recognition! while the whole world is rejoicing at this groundbreaking turn of events in the land of immense opportunities, india, the superpower in themaking, is busy analysing whom can it count upon to be her own obama. well , we ape everything from americans, so we ought to have our own version of obama for sure!
now to find our own obama, we need to first understand what he represents. as an afro-american, he represents those millions of immigrants who reached american sopil in search of a better livelyhood and life, in the hope of freedom liberty and equality that amercia promised but seldom deliverd. in this respect , india is not very different. for she too has a large populace who stayed on or came hoping for equality and yet have been marginalised in teh society. by this yeardstick, looking for an indian obama would possibly yield results if we looked at our immigrant communities. first that hits my mind is sonia gandhi. an italino-indian, marginalised in herown family while ehr hubby and mom in law were alive, sidelined in her own party while kesari and co ruled the roost, and now the power behind a turbaned buffon , running the reigns of the nation by proxy thru knee jerk reactions to huge problems . in her i guess not only do we have a minority leader, we also score on the women's lib bit! but sadly i guess while obama latched on to the opportunity that life gave him, sonia missed the bus the day she sacrificed at the behest of that now famous voice of ehr inner soul.
that leaves us with the other fav immigrants down south. the tigers! tamil beacons of hope finding empathy with alomst everyone living in the indian territory of the language.savef romt he glitch that they assasinated one of our pm's, the tamil tigers stand a huge chance of giving us our own obama.(they also gave srilanka her own osama u c, they are dependable).

moving on in our search , its highly recommended that in view of indian vastness and diversity, we include many others in the probable lists of obamas. this needs us to look at the other side that obama himself embodies. a minority enslaved and the recieving end if deep seated racial hatred , he has to overcome many odds to reach the white house. so should an indian sc/st/obc not be equated with him? we dont kill for race, we kill in the name of caste. and so we have the likes of kanshiram (had he known obama wud dothis he wudve postponed his demise am sure) , and now mayawati fit the bill this way. rich now, poor yesterday, illitrate then the same now, powerless then , powerfull to the point of arrogance today, and a woman. what more does india want in her answer to the black american prez?!
a muslim pm did anyone say ? now tat i think wud be a very interesting scenario. for undoubtedly muslims are a minority that has been much neglected in the nation. but who woudl have the couraget o accept this? whih political outfit would actually publicly accept that muslims were taken for a ride by them and a\do ammends by iomplying the sacchar committee report? none! and so its next to immpossible for us to dream of a muslim obama. not only this , obama himself once in teh hot seat would develop the hatered that white hosue has for islam sooner than later. and we being strategic "partners" we cant have a muslim head of state!
that leaves just one name in my mind who can eb india's answer to obama!! and tat is rakhi sawant! she was poor, marginalised( all indian women are per se ), illiterate(she still is), oppressed( on account of her well-endowed assets) , jeered, ridiculed (out of sheer jelousy ) and ofcourse a controversial past ( tats our indian pre requisite to make to the natons top office). and whats more , we win femeinst brownie points for having both a lady prez and a lady pm ( now wudnt tat be awesome, both together watching balaji serials while the nation goes to dogs? am sure the jobless prez of ours must be looking forward to this). yeah i am sure rakhi is the IT girl( in other terms too) . india need not look too far for her own obama! albiet we should now call her obami!

i write this with a heavy heart. as i type these sad words, an eracomes to an end. a vrey integral part of my life, for the past 8 yrs,has come to an end. and as is with most partings, its a heavy hurtthats left in my mind as i bid good bye to this very cherished thing,for ever.

yes dear frends, the daily soap kahani ghar ghar ki , has ended. thelast episode was aired tonight at ten pm. the time that was synonymousfor me with teh serial for the past 8 years , will no longer be thesame for me.

it all began 8 years back in 1999, wen i was in tenth , and star pluswas still a new hindi channel , with some basic nonsense in the nameof programming gluing ever faithfulls like me to the idiot box. and incame the adds, a diya burning, and two hands rshing to hold it as awind blows past the burning diya in front of a ram idol. 

and stunnedwas my mum , like millions other houswives were, with the sheerbrillinace of the idea and concept of wathcing the daily bickering ofsaas - bahu on national television. so started a relation , rishta intele-speak, tat lasted for 8 long years.parvati , om , trishna, and the rest became like family to us. theybecame names that were taken in the smae breath as those of closerelatives, as if we lived with them each and every moment of ourlives. talk shows , news , gossip, parvati and her saas were all over.

an epitome of sita, of durga and the real indian stree, she ruled trpsfor like forever. in the process, taking the form of goddess laxmi forstar plus and ekta kapoor , that master mind behind the serials withk's all over them.

it was magical , characters died, got reborn , died again and resurfaced like a pheonix from ahses. men , for once were reduced tomere caricatures silently watching their ladies wage wars in thekitchen. scheming , smart, witty villanous ladies all, who knew how toavenge their sindoor and do paisa vasool justice to the dowries theygave before marrying their respective useless hubbies! women-power wasat its peak , if only on television.

and now , its all come to an end. many were seen rejoicing here, forsome ti was like diwali came a lil earlier this year ( last heard theall indian dukhiyaari-pati-andolan has called of fits fasting andannounced a national celebration in all its city branches in thecountry)but for many it is a serious loss that i guess will never becompensated for. 

ten pm each nite from monay thru friday will never bethe same again.may parvati find peace in her after life.

(p.s: for the severly addicted, star utsav is still running the reruns of the series, and  om  still has to get his third rebirth in the serial there, )

its time. the days are numbered. the clocks ticking faster since a week now, rushing to complete the cycles so that day turns to night and the day again, in a maddening haste. soon it will be the fatefull morning. full of anticipation and anxiety, i shall turn 25. silver jubilee of my existance on planet earth. 25 years of irritating troubling enjoying celebrating crying nagging survival , in the quest for greatness and unadultrated bliss. so ? bdays come and go ud say ha?!well , the first doctrine on the path to immortal glory , is to take ureself and things attatched to therein dead seriously. so considering the potential greatness waiting to embrace moi, its justified to take the event of my birth to the next ultimate level of recognition.( sadly not many share my views on this, yet all great men were opposed severely in their times. the world will know ! but i shal not be around no??!!).
so getting back to some seriou business, the main differentiating factor ( geek-phrase number 223)between this day and ht eothers that have gone past, is that i turn old . yes the law of nature makes it imperitive for all to age with the years (except madhuri dixit . stop sniggering and concentrate on the more pressing issue on hand .)turning 25 suddnely gives me the jeepie-creepies. i shall form now on be expected to be mature, smart, intelligent, and grown up. in short, lifes all f****d up from now on dude!!!
so out goes all the fun in life. the signs are showing already. last month on a pre-bday shopping spree , i was adviced not to get too funky wid styles, tone down the colour palate to 'dignify my 25' (whatever that meant!) . a new set of regulations and rules wud now on be governing my existance in the grab of protocols for a matured life. i hate rules and i hate this new phase of life!! i am not ready to grow up. period .
is being 25 really so bad? taking stock of life so far, as i have always maintianed, i am content! if the next moment is my last , i wudnt turn into a ghost from a RGV film out to quench some unfulfilled thirst or desire. save the longing to meet lady M, i have had a fulfiling life. mor eimportantly if lifes gonna be as dumb and unexciting as it is being made out to be form now on, i sincerely pray i dont live to see it !! naah, i dont think so! i guess some instincts never die out. you cant take out silliness and downright obnoxious behaviour from me. thats what defines me. the whackiness, the quriky , moronic streak and the flamboyance of a 5 yr old showing off his new toy, is the core essence of being me! and no amount of age , advice or bdays can ever take that away from me. so all those who are ready to mutate me into a grown up serious educated posh human fool, stay away. this cookie aint gonna crumble that way !!
ooops! another days gone contemplating what lies in store for post-bday life! the clocks ticking even faster , the days becoming night in a hurry, and its time! hope i have a happy birthday !!

indian civilization , has for long prided in itself for being the torchbearer of philosophy and knowledge in human race.since time immemorial ( a very very indian addition to the british lingua franca, this phrase too is loaded with philosophy!) we have been the leading intellectual think tank , spouting immense divine knowledge in the most mundane of our daily existances. as the rest of the ignorant world goes from one developmental milestone to another, we indians rest assured in the fact that one fine day , they will all turn to us for nirvana, till then we bid our time , and reinvent ways and means to keep alive this sprit of reaching out to the unknown , the eternal , the meaning of life !

as time has passed , though philosophy has remained much the same, the people preaching it , and in rare cases practicing it has changed .and who else to take on this onerous task of preserving our heritage than our very own bollywood??!! the symbol of everything tats remotely indian! so here we are , in the 21st century , wer our ages old streak of introspection and intellectual munching , is well preserved and honed by our very own hindi films! how did u ask?? ( u sure u live in india??? i hear even the moronic americans see the inner meaning in our films these days! get an appointment with the doc ;like now!! ) well read on to find out! 

sample this ,,,,,,,,,  one two three, one two three,duniya main aana hai freeduniya se jaana hai free, dekh tamasha duniya ka free!! three simple lines , in modern hinglish ( come on we all speak it , yet dont know wat it is actually called !! ) and what great thought lie burried deep in it! can nayhting else espouse the notion of boundry-less world , free of material desire and clashes therein, more simply than this? innane as it may sound ( we tend to cater to the lowest common denominator in our films u c), it puts across such a heavy idea in such an effortless manner! can the speilbergs , mel gibsons match this ?? 

no highbrow jargons for us please! we like our sermons served spicy hot and simple! the heroine cries out choli ke peeche kya hai ( let the perverted minds think wat they want , they shall repay for it in hell!!!), the whole nation burns the night oil discussing the underlying meaning in the loaded question.love and its myraid forms get compared to natures many facets in dilli ki sardi ( pyaar tera dilli ki sardi ,). 

edutainment runs in our blood, and so we teach our kids to be careful of environmental phenomena like lightnings in style ,in verse! ( baabuji zara dheere chalo , bijli khadi yahan bijli khadi ).virtues of ciggerette smoking get promulgated thru gyrations nonstop( beedi jaliale . padosi ke chuhle se aag laile!) geography is fun when remixed ( mian aayi hun u.p bihar lootne),u name it and we have it. whats more , we have created a special genre to immortalise this special artform, enshrining ancient wisdom in aheady cocktail of modern entertainment and economics , calling it The Item Number ( seriously , we need a guiness entry for the largest new words coined in english ).

so while the ignorant mind would jus be able to see a scantily clad gilr wet in rain ( or wine , depending on the budget of the film) , gyrating to a racy tune, the actual enlightened indian mind wud be able to reach out to the hidden meaning , grasp the message , and imbibe in the sermon all in a span of a 3 min item song.and bowing down to the dictum of eqaulity of women in all walks of life, item songs serve as an employment source for many an aspiring ladies, enabling them to serve the cause of the betterment of the MANkind ( bless their souls).

 so here we are , searching the answers to lifes toughest questions , expressing the mental ruminations creatively for arts sake! thank god for bollywood , indians can rest assured of a long long future , as they say , till time immemorial yet again!

hey there
me backs with a review after long. y u asks? coz moi didnt find anything worth reviewing in bollywood of late! with madhuri back to her domicile , me sadbhootnas! lolz
well finally i seem to have broken the vow of movie-celibacy and i was right in the theatre to watch bhoothnath.
starring big b and a new kid on the block , this is a summer kiddos stuff on offer from bollywood.
to be frank , i expected it to be a stupid sentimental stash of nonsense where the mom over acts the kid over acts and as always big b over acts.! sur[prisingly , i was surprised!! and how!! bhoothnath is fun , and fun while it is on.
the story line is simple, a ghost , played with elan by amitabh, doesnt like anyone living in his erstwhile mortal home, and in come shahrukh juhi and their son into the house. th eghost tries scaring th ekid out of hte house , instead the kid befriends the ghost and starts a lovely friendship that transcends age and lo behold ! even death and after life!! trouble is not far behind , in the form of amitabh's son who wants to break the house and make a resort. is the house broken ? i leave that fro you to discover.
amitabh and the child artist share an amazing onscreen chemistry, that forms the backbone of the film. the child is adorable, naughty and real treat , while amitabh as the ghost is equally amusing. the music of hte film is a plus, making for some nice tunes and enhancing the fun quotient. the sorry song in amitabhs baritone specially stays with you long after u leave the multiplex.( an apt follow up to maa from tzp). vishal shekhar ar efast prooving to be a dependable duo. special mention should be made for the special effects that add to the fun. juhi is great as the comic mum, while srk doesnt do much ( whats with that ponytail one wonders though ??)
all in all , bhoothnath is a treat for the kids as well as the adults( the melodramatic last half is interesting if not for the cringing climax , but hey all films have flaws!). go see it on a lazy hot sunday afternoon , and pep up ure spirits ! literally!!

Madhuri Dixit in Koffee With Karan

One of the strangest things if rind hard pressed to explain in life, is Pain. Physical, mental, emotional, whatever form it may be in, I don’t quite find words to put it down in. Pain, is weird, comes in many forms, and comes when u least want and expect it. But so do most other things in life. So then, what makes pain stand out?

For one, pain is not bittersweet, like happiness or love is. You feel pain, you cry out , period. You are not any day happy with the sensation, and never do you welcome it. Pain is always, well, ,,, painful. Now that’s another one of life’s big mysteries for me!! Does, then, nothing among the gamut of emotions that we feel, have anything in common with pain?

Well life does, and if ypou come to it , so does love. All three are inevitable, a par of the course of being alive. All define the experience of being human, the idea of humaneness. All are essential for growing up into a sound living being. And like love and life, pain too is universal. But while love and life are so vividly defined explained and understood, what makes us grapple so unsuccessfully with pain?

May be the reason is that we shirk off pain. Like love, happiness, is welcome, pain isn’t. While we rejoice and revel in the throes of the former two, the latter evokes sadness, tears and more of, pain!! Does that help in understanding pain better? Does avoiding pain, take us any closer to eradicating it from our lives? It certainly doesn’t, and therein lays our answer to actually lightening pain.

Acceptance is the key word,. Pain is the other side of happiness. It is as commonplace, as cyclic and as rhythmic as the rising and setting of the sun. So then why fear it? Revile it? Everything in life is beautiful, so is pain. All we need to do is look at it through the right pair of shades.

Having said this, am in now in a position to define pain? But then, I also do not possess the capacity to define mothers love, a friends trust, a partners knowing comforting smile, a teachers assuring nod, neither can i define the feeling of seeing your new born smile at you, nor can i define th satisfaction of quenching the thirst of a parched throat with that eternal elixir called water. Guess then, some things in life are best left undefined, yet are to be experienced, savoured and cherished nonetheless. And yes , Pain is sure one among them !!

Life and death are two sides of the same coin. both share a common inevitability , an uneasy certainity that one will follow the other. but the similarities end there, or rather in todays world , we make them end there.
while life throws up both good and bad on our platter , detah seems to obsolve one of all ills and crimes he / she might have committed in a lifetime. death has this strange quality of painting , in one single stroke , an entire dismally lead, ineffective, and tainted life , with hues of white sacred purity. this is especially true when the deceased embraces th eother world at the hands of an assasin. take benazir for instance!
a daughter of a slain leader, benazir was one of the firat women to lead an islamic country. she was heroic in he rdefiance of the fundamentalist forces in her home country, in th emanner in which she handled her family and politics (much of which was murky ) deftly.being educated, forward thinking, out of a burqa , and standing shoulder to shoulder with men in an islamic country is no mean feat , and benazir deserves to be a role model for women acroos the subjugated and backword muslim world.
yet, was benazir really all that she is being made out to be posthomously? the western media has called her hte matyr of democracy, the daughter of the east ( in her own words), was benazir really a pathbreaking leader statesman that pakistan produced?
at the cost of speaking ill of the deceased, benazir, for most part of her public life,was an unextraordinary and ineffective premier.
her prime ministership ( for breif spells each time) smacked of inefficinecy on her part. terror outfits aided by the establishment in pakistan flourished right under her nose, while she did nothing to counter the growing clout of th emillitary on the pakistani state.
corruption was at an all time high , lawlessness ruled ht eroost, relations with india were at the lowest ebb . and pakistan was still in an economic mess ( not that it ever was in an upward mode).
even out of power benazir did not show the gut or the intent to fight a dictator in her country. instead she chose asafe life of exile , in dubai , waiting to rrturn only after she had a pact ready with the very person who was responsible for the mess pakistan is in today. her return , is now being hailed as the last hope for pakistans democratic future. but till her detah she had shied away from addressing the actuall issues that leaders like nawaaz sharif have been raising all along. neither was a free judiciary on he radar , nor was a unbiased beurocracy her need. she showed an uncanny desperation to get back to power , even at the cost of mending ways with the dictator.
given this , its unsettling to see the the world is heaping praise on her after her tragic death , forgetting , and in effect forgiving her for all that she contributed to the downfall of pakistan. her death has no doubt deepend the crisis in our neighbouring state, but benazir was not the solution to the chaos that pakistan is todya. she certainly was a part of the cancer that has seeped into the pakistani democratic system.
but , i guess , as they say , a death died well is far important than a life less lived.!may allah rest hersoul in peace!!

indian cinema is on a new plane, a stage of metamorphosis. sweeping long ranging changes seem to be seeping into the fabric of the worlds largest movie guzzling industry. everything form technicalitites of making selling promoting and exhibiting films, to re emergance of studios and 3-4 film deals for lead actors are becoming hte order of the day. mind u , here , as is the wont, by the term indian cinema , i presumably am talking of hindi filmhood or the quintessential bollywood!(pardon me rest of india , but then non - hindi films in india have always been better than the hindi ones!).
multiplexes are changing th eway we see films , and forcing or rather allowing filmmakers to experiment , usually wid disastrous consequences , with the stories they roll out from mumbai. newer stars are on the horizon, those who dont mind doing part bit roles in an ensemble production , yet stand out on the sheer power of their simmering performances in those blink and miss parts. and then there is the grand old man of indian ( hindi ) cinema , the big b , who has redifened the parameters within which conventional hero has always been defined since time immorial. but has everything changed in reality ?
many things still remain the same . hackneyed scripts. style glitz but no content . sleaze in the name of modern films! and most importantly , younger and younger heroines! the roles of the typical hindi film heorine hasnt kept pace with the changing societal roles of women in india.
films today dont potray women as free indipendent married career women. career or family is still the all-consuming dillema on screen for the leading lady. waiting for her knight in shining armour, and always dependent on a male support . few exceptions are there , as in corporate , satta, but then these are more flashes in the pan . a heroine who is married and abpove thirty is anathema to the BO. add kids to her profile and she bounces off the producers radar before u can say bounce! will indian audiences mature ever to accept a married family woman in the role of the leaidng lady ? will we have na indian meryl streep?
history has shown that with the exception of sharmila tagore and waheeda rehman , married actresses had saddening post-nuptial cinematic forays. mumtaz made a comeback that sank and took her down along with it . hema malini lost the place she occupied in the dremas of indian cinefans. sridevi chose to quit the day she tied the knot. many a talent has been sacrificed at the alter. meenakshi sheshadri, madhu , and down south simran , khushboo,and more recently jyothika, all were forced into oblivion post marriage.
fact is an actor ripens with age. the age of 30 - 40 is internationall the golden age, wen an actress and an actor get to rid themselves of college romances and experiment with mature adult topics and delve deep into their reportoire of histrionics. sadly in india , a heroine dies a silent death as soon as she is nearing the 30 mark. old , haggard , unsexy , she is deemed to get married and settle down. but why ? look at the talent that goes wasted! what magic couldve been created with ladies who now don have to run around trees, but do more meatier meaningfull roles .
things have started to change on this count ! kajol renetered films with fanaa to show that she still is a force to reckon with. and 2007 saw the last superstar on hindi movies , madhuri make a dazzling ocme back with aaja nachle. both the stars have a thing in common, both are married, both are star moms, and both chose to opt out of the rat race only to resurface as divas today .
this signals exciting times ofr bollywood. will it rise to the occassion ? kajol and madhuri have proven that the oomph., the talent, the star power and screen presence hasnt diminished a bit, and the response to their films have yet again shown that they rule the hearts of the audiences , and that none has been able to fill the vaccum they left back at tinsel town. they have indicated that they are here for the asking. now its bollywoods turn. to write roles for them , suiting their age. give them scripts that demand more than just dance and frolic, make films tat use these fabulous powerhouses of talents to the fullest. !
its time to change bollywood . its time india had a judi dench or a merryl streep!

and finally the movie is out ! aaja nachle hit theatres all over and in style! complete with controversy and hype!! is the film worth your moolah ?? the most anticipated comeback of the decade , does madhuri live up to the expectations ??
well she sure does. but not the movie!
tat doesnt mean to say tat the films bad. but yes it shud ve been much much better.
dia , a choreagrapher returns to the village she ran away from breaking all bonds , to see her dying dance guru. he dies but leaves her with thetask of saving her old theatre from being raised down into a glittering new age mall. and thus dia take son th etask of making her town folk dance to her tunes to save ajanta thetre.
the film no doubt has its heart in the right place. a sweet and endearing feel , where nothing goes awry for too long, where no problem exists widout a quickfix solution is where the story unfolds.and added to this is the premise of dance.
and dance is wat madhuri does like no one else!!! her form her grace her agility has to be seen to be believed. all these years of mumhood havent diminished an ounce of that now legendary smile and charm. half an hour into the movie and u realise that she is the last female superstar india will have!!
the movie also has an ensemble cast ! each character is brought alive by the actors who plunge deep into the roles. konkana specially shines in the role a village rustic. so do the others.
but what fails aaja nachle is the inept direction . anil mehta seems to have thot that having madhuri alone is enuf to make a film.
the screenplay is failed by the lack of directorial support. madhuri , the actors, and music make aaja nachle engaging!
and the film conclusively prooves that she is the only indian heroine who can carry a full film on her own shoulders without a hero to supprot. the film is completely centred on her , and she breezes thru her role!
watch aaja nachle to see magic unspool on celluloid. they don make like her anyomre up there!!

so how long has it been since u fell in love at first sight? wen was the last time love hit u gently like a breeze, assuring u tat alls good in life if loves beside u ? wen was it last tat u saw a love story and came out thinking of that first itme u met ure partner??? if it was ages back , its time to relive those moments , yeah its time to catch the latest kareena shahid starrer jab we met!
its seldom tat love stories are made sans cliches , villians and explicit intimacy and in ure face sex? jab we met comes as a whiff of fresh air , and steals ure hearts away from the word go.
the premise is old, a talkative bubbly lively girl , and a silent introverted guy, meet on a journey , a comedy of errors ensues , and cupid strikes! wat makes jab we met different ,is the treatmetn , and ofcourse the fresh new kareena and shahid pair!
now now the lead couple have done films together earlier and ended up looking like brother sisters lost in the kumbh, but this is thier first outing in a out and out romantic film, and both make u go weak in the knees wid thier cute pairing. add to that director imtiaz ali ( socha na tha fame ) and jab we met is a winner.
performances wise kareena is in top form, the roles tailor made for her , and she uses the chance to make it into the career defining role tat eluded her all these years. slimemr , mature and more confident of her craft, she is the soul of the film. shahid too shines, and delivers the goods effortlessly. cute funny lines, witty dialogues , and innovative situations make the film delightfully entertaining.
a must watch for all this season , jab we met is recommended like hot coffee in winters!!!

the music is out ! fianlly!! after wiaitng for two long years isnce the announcement of the film , all us madhuri dixit fans heave a huge sigh of relief as aaja nachle songs hit the stores from oct 18th !
and wat a score it is !!
yash raj films , though known for good foot tapping albums for their films , seemed to have floundered in 2007 with less than average scores of tararumpum and jbj , as was wi9d the case of srk starrer chak de india! . so i personally expected less wen salim sulaiman were hired to give music for madhuri's come back vehicle. to add to tat , vaibhavi merchant replaced saroj khan , and singers like kavita and alka , traditionally madhuris voice, were given the cold shoulder for fresher voices of sunidhi and shreya. the results , though , surprise u !
sunidhi is in excellent form , at par with ehr dhoom rendition in the tittle ditty now doing th erounds of the promo circuits. aaja nachle rocks. and adi chopra is pardoned for choosing vaibhavi if the tralier is anything to go by.
6 of the total 8 tracks are dance numbers. show me ure jalwa koi pathar na maare and dance with me are easy on the ears and readily hummable. at the same time the romantic duo between shreya and sonu is feel good and fun.
over all the album is full of folksy yet contemporary urban sounds, much like madhuri;s image of being the darling of the masses and the classes at the same time.
the movie rests entirely on madhuri's name. so does the sound track. and in the process, salim sulaiman have shown that given the chance , they too can make music!

this weeks big release is chak de india!! and seems its the best release till date this year !!

sports movies are always dangerous wen it comes to bollywood. over melodrama unecessary side tracks and imbessile-like depiction of sports make it a very very unsound proposition to make a movie on sports.

but then there are those fluffy sport- films , and then there are films on sports and sportsmanship. chak de falls in the latter category.

the story of a disgraced former indian hockey team captain who tutors an underdog indian women's hockey team for the unthinkable worldcup win , makes for great cinema on paper.
thankfully, director shamit amin transales the concept seamlessly onto celluloid, giving us a warm freindly and believable hindi film on sports!

no cliche ridden film this is. srk as the coach , excells himself. in his best understated performance till date, he exudes a zen like calm and stals the show, inspite of not being the main character in the film.

having said this , the 16 girls who form the underdogs , the indian women's hockey team , are equally impressive. stark newcomers. these are a bunch of non actors.but its their rawness that makes them belevable. be it the northeastern girls who dislike being refered to as guests in their own country, or the telugu player who correctly dispises northindians who do not find tamil different from telugu, the characters and their potrayal touch a chord in the audiene.

but inspite of all this the real hero of the film is the script. amply describing the lackasidal attitude wid which sports are handled in this cricket crazy nation, the movie subtly shows the discrimination other sports face both from the authorities as well as the trp- hungry media.

combining this with the issue of gender equality, writer jaideep sahni has hit the bulls eye. a dash of patriotic fervour thrown in , sans the chest thumping - suny deol- brand of jingoism , gives us the right film for the independence day weekend!

and at last the clincher! the movie is preceeded by a teaser of the yars most anticipted movie, aaja nachle. jus a glimpse of the lady makes the trip to the theatre worth the ques outside it for the tickets!
watch chakde for srk
watch chak de for hockey and sportsmanship
or simply watch chak de to catch madhuri dixit waltz by in style

long since i saw a movie! how did i manage without it ?? don even ask me!!
well i broke my period of filmy celebacy with feroze abbas's my father gandhi, here goes how it was!
anil kapoor productions my father gandhi is a art film to the core. it never boasted to be a comemrcial art house cross-breed , yet one did not expect it to be an out and out doucmentary on the lives of a lesser known gandhi. and that takes away much from an otherwise brilliant film.

the movie is about hiralaal gandhi , the son of the father of the nation, and how he never saw a father in mahatma. the burden of being gandhi's son , ate into the soul of hiralal leading him onto a self destructive path to doom.
the movie is intended to tell hiralal's hitherto unheard story about his troubled relations with his illustrous father. but in effect it ends up espousing gandhi's larger than life figure and staure in the indian history. moreso because hiralals character seems ill-conceived. akshaye khanna as the doomed son of gandhi, manages to scrap thru with a good performance , but then he is seriously impaired by the lack of flesh in the role to dig his teeth into.
the only character apart from gandhi that leaves a mark is shefali chaaya as kasturbha gandhi. a naunced performance , with the electic mix of charm and will, shefali stealsthe show , chewing s up the scenes wid ease.
that brings us to the unintended main character of the film, gandhi. i guess it is difficult , near to impossible for indians to objectively analyse gandhi's character even after 60 yrs of independence. no i am not asking fopr a surgical character assasination , but what i mean to say is in the process of deifying the mahatma we have lost the chance of making him human, real and prevented the masses from making him a role model. this film does throw questions about him and his ideals, but most of the time , it is a tamed and muted protest .
more punch was needed , considering the manner in which gandhi wanted his own dreams to be fulfilled thru his son, int he process killing the ambitions and hopes of a young innocent man. and the eternally slow pace of the film doesnt help either. a subject like this demanded an edge of the seat race emotinal drama, and the director miserable fails at telling the story evenly.

finally , a period film about gandhi and his son , that leaves you with memories of just the good sets and the impressive cinematic styling of running through time without explanations, is a sad attempt at looking at one of the greates icons india has ever had. yet , it is a fresh attempt nevertheless.

http://www.rediff.com/getahead/2007/may/17rashmi.htm


well having been teaching my juniors in the labs as well as theory for the past few months , i am faced with a constant query ," why are there no placements for us sir??!!" and i am sure many among us too have this question in mind . infact most of those doing msc biotech or bmg or micro feel tat they are being unfairly discriminated by not having nt after msc like the IT graduates.

the link pasted above too speaks of a similar situation, and goes one step ahead in saying that biotech ( it uses the term as an epinomous all pervading name for entire gamut of life bio) is dead , the boom is over , there is no future in it anymore.
is it really so ?
first of all read th link above to get a clearer idea of wats written below!!!

well its true , and i am sure all of us who are now into phd as well as those who are not yet into it , have to agree, tat wen we got into this whole biotech life sciences thingy , at the bsc level, we did dream of the BTboom , like the IT. we didint get thru medicine( i am speaking for a generalised majority , pardon me if its not ure specific case!!) and chose instead for a bsc in biotech , the best topic then.

we dreamed of getting into a company later with a job earning us 25 to 30 k/month like the comp geeks around us . there was a talk of india being the next big BT hub. is it what has happend??

there was the IT boom. people earned , in some cases are still earning , 5 figure salaries perks and holidays abroad. but thats cause IT is a sector where u have instant results , where u reap benefits immediately. wats new NOW is old the next moment. the IT boom hit india, made a stir , and left us with a service sector incapable of innovation and Rand D. ( i do not wish to demean IT here , but then i guess the facts speak for themselves.) . what happened with BT then?

the article in the link mentions that the biotech boom promised jobs similar to IT. it makes it seem tat biotech promised us the moon and all we havegot is star-dust!

and yes from wat i always hearmy students complaining is , there are no jobs for an msc.
but guys , think for a moment! wen did one ever say that an msc will get u a job ?biotech and life science is no instant food, boil heat and serve! investment in the form of time , energy and years of life gives us a harvest of satisfying career. and cutting edge technical research in life scinces is only possible with patience and perseverance.

so the bottom line is if IT is fast food , biotech is good old mughlai restuarant! u need time patience to make a career out of research in this field. and with patience u need sacrifice. the willingness to earn 8000 rs for a major part of ure earning life! the determination to start from the lowest level in a govt institute after a phd and carve ure status right at the top.to be able to gothru the grinds of setting up a biotech start up and bringing it to teh league of biocon!

as for those who seek instant gratification , in the form of money and luxury , pure scince is not the field!

infact contrary to what many are saying , and as the article in the link qoutes, science and biotech in india has blossomed , into a field where the thrust is now on r and d instead of services. where companies and institutes are working towards basic fundamentally strong BT tat would not burst like the IT bubble did.
where we have seen thru the initial hype and hoopla and managed not to miss the bigger picture. we are right there , globally , on the path to making india a biotech and life sciences leader.( yes this is despite the red tapism and almost impossible means of entering good institutes , plagairism and nepotism,lathargy , irresponsible scientific bigotry and an education policy tat stiifles innovation and creativity out of our lives, we are growing guys!!)

so where does all this leave the thousands who vcry "sir no jobs after msc??" ! well we need to change our attitude ! get into science and bsc -msc rigmarole if u are dedicated enugh to spend ure life slogging it out for 6000 -8000 per month in a dingy yet hi fi lab. or else , the IT shop's still open at the corner dude!!

a catastrophe hit me in the eye a few days back. i was taken unawares one fine monday morning by the severest form of disaster that man can face in the 21st century.i was all alone in the darkest lonliest hour of my life , wen morning six thirty , still trying to get up from a good nights sleep , i realise that my cell phone validity was over !

for the uninitiated ( where do u guys live ?? on mars ??) a cell phone works on a validity period beyond which i can neither sms nor make calls . forget the call making part - i never , and i repeat NEVER make calls - as a matter of policy. personal integrity and commitment to my resolutions have prevented me from bowing into the temptation of taking up those offers of free talk time or lesser call tarrif. i don make calls . period.

so then what was the prob with a dead cell phone ? i said i don make calls . i didint say i don sms. and that was the crux of my predicament ! i could no longer sms.

so while the feeling of misery sunk in and my spirits went down , i thot what the hell , lets try living a msg- less- day ! sadly , as i later found out , its not possible in this day and age.

the first salvo was by my friend, tat lil tormentor whom i beg daily to have breakfast wid me thru sms. i panicked , i was suddenly loosing control of my bearings, would i loose the battle at the very first hurdle? the ever -faithfull govt one rupee call booth came to my rescue , and i made a rare , and precious phone call.
the simple act of uttering a few words to solicit company for breakfast made me go thru a plethora of emotins . similar to what a child feels while uttering his first words! ? the rush of adrenaline , the tension at having to speak to someone than key in words, the shift from using my mouth rather than the thumb, all was an exercise my mind and soul fought till the last ATP was left in me! but finally i did the deed. call made , i was drained and exhausted , more emotionally than physical exertion.

as the day proceeded, i constantly avoided any means of communication with collegues. daily promises of "lunch three pm? will msg u wen me ready" were replaced by a terse, verbal," me having lunch alone" couldnt have risked being a social outcast by admitting that my cell is on grace peroid.

lonely , outcast, incommunicado, i was like left alone on an island. things and people seemed so far away. unreachable , unapproachable ! the only means of speaking to , reaching out to mankind was snatched away from me by the heartless service provider . did he ever not face a similar situation ? had he been thru what i bore that fateful day , validity wouldnt have been an issue anymore.

coming back to my resolve of a msg-less day , each passing our made me go weeker on the resolve , rethinking every other moment on wheher to backtrack or not, i finally decided on a compromise . borrow money to re charge the modern man's mothpiece. having decided thus , i hunted down for probable knights in shining armour 's who would help me out of this earthshattering disaster. and instantly i typed " cn u lend sum mone?" on my cell phone , only to reminded by the company that all msgs are barred on ure mobile! aaarrrghhhh life's so cruel.

recharge done (the story of how i got the money can make an epic , trust me !) i was back into the world of mortals. "back in circulation" as my freind put it . indeed i could feel my self esteem rise. i was able to face people boldly while speaking to them. there was an air of command and authority in my dealings with fellow mortals . i was "in" with the rest .i could proudly say "msg me wen u free". i had a mobile that worked! and what a world of difference it made to my life. did the makers of the first handset ever think that this annoying lil piece of electronic shit change man's life to this exent! i sure never did before that fateful monday morning.

Friday the 13th is unauspicious they say , and it indeed turned out nightmarish for me , cause i chose to watch naqaab, the disguised intentions.
abbas -mustaan, the dua in white are back with a pot boiler thriller, the most shocking thrilelr of the year says the promo! bobby and akshay out to repeat th humraaz charm , along with new comer urvashi, and the king of quikie thrillers abbas mustan, togehter have floundered on this one!
the movie is about a rich guy, bobby, in love with a poor gal urvashi , both ar engaged , wen in walks a struggling actor , akshaye, who makes her fall in love with him. The bride duly runs away on her wedding day from bobby to akshaye and alls well u think. was this not supposed to be a thriller???
yes of course , and the directors seem to have realised this fact as an afterthot , and thus while ripping off hollywood flop DOT THE I, decide to give it a thriller touch. wish they could hav copied the suspense too from the original. what follows is a bizzare twist of events that in true bollywood style , defy all logic and sense.
the characters in the film have no background , are irritating , nd shabbily sketched. particularly irritating is the camera fetish that every guy in the film seems to be addicted to. the biggest let down for the film is the non existant storyline. the proceedings of the first half of the film , we are told post interval, was actually a reality cinema that even goes on to win the cannes! innanity at its worse i would say!

as for the actors , the less said the better . booby looks like in need for a massive liposuction and tummy tuck surgery, ditto akshaye khanna! and the newcomer urvashi, its imposible to miss her striking resemblance both in terms of acting non-skills and looks , to amisha patel! sad but while amisha is still languishing for a foothold people have already started replacements with her lok alikes! doomsday nearing for bollywood!!

if 36 china town was a dissapointment , naqaab disguised intentions is a total no-show!
the most shocking thriller of the year it said, i am still recovering from the rudest shock of my life!

they are at it again. sullying the highest democratic office in the country that is . as if the opposition had nt slung enough goabr and mud on patil , the congress too has joined in the free for all! gosh these people. they will never learn decency.
one fact though , that hits me right in the head is that neither patil now shekhawat look prez-material. u know, like mallika does look item bopmbish , but not neha dhupia ? got my point?

kalam , though not my ideal prez ( sorry rest of the smsing indians, i beg to disagree with my brtheren on this one at least) , was kinda cute! that impish walk, that loony hair do, that toothy smile , and that hell of a brain on the shoulders of a frailing old frame made for some bombastic electic presidentential imagery. never did my generation ( pardon me if i forget to include a few in to this ) get such a role model . his ways were emulated by all. his sermons from the ramparts of our democratic institutions were people frendly , mass-centric and spoke a lingo that many understood. indeed kalam's legacy would be his charm, his accessibility and his receptiveness.

what will his successor have in store for us? judging by the way things are turning up in the race to the first address of the nation,, all my hopes are down .

lets get to it case wise. what do we learn from patil? that mughals spoilt indian wmone by putting a cloth on their heads??? mughals are long gone ms. patil, so why then is ure pallu still on ure head?!! yes, she cam teach us how to open a bank, go bankrupt and yet not fall down on to the streets. and ofcourse , considering she belongs to the party of the faithfull's , she will teach us undying loyalty to madame M.

as for the other candidate, the ageing old willy shekhawat ji, his affiliations to the party of insane crazy fanatics are enough to keep him at eons away from the top job. sadly that aint gonna be the case. in a classic choice between the devil and the dark sea, our colliegiate ( themselves no less crooked) is gonna choose the next prez of our country.
the choice is between a lady , poker faced , crooked toothed , and with a mindset of the fifties, and a guy equally evil faced tainted with communal blood of his country men .
but what the hell, its just a ceremonial post , i am told. unlike the US indian prez has no major role than being a rubber stamp. does that mean any one will do for the top job ?
why not the beggar outside my house here? he doesnt steal, doesn ask his wife to do purdah cause the mughals taught us so, nor does he bother that his fellow begging mates are muslim or hindu . for that matter , why not me? at least they wil have a smarter english educated guy out there. !!

past week my mobs been raided , and this is a catastrophe in addition to my friends mail id 's being hacked. either this , or all my frends have turned full time marketing executives ( wat a solution to global unemployment! ) for nothing else can explain the uninhibited surge of msgs and mails to vote .
VOTE for the TAJ, vote for who is the next prez vote whether india can rub off tis dark days from its cricketing slates. vote vote and again vote.
frankly i have nt yet excersised my adult franchise in this democracy of ours. and already i feel fatigues , after voting for everything possible under the sun! and jus as voting for the electuions yeilds resultstat i don want, voting on my mob gives me outcomes tat i abhor. whats more they cost me too!
television news channels and the omnipresent media is to be blamed for this atack on my grey cells and thumbs , is wat i learn from experience. on an overdrive these days about anything that is worth mentioning on national tv ( trust me that list includes everything , even what u do behind closed doors in a loo , if u own a mobile with a camera) . good , seems like people are actually trying to think , ponder over weighty issues and cast a vote , or rather voice an opinion. but are htese issues worth the mass mobilisation being enacted?
shilpa shettys disgrace and eventual repositioning as an idol didnt find india a permanent seat at the un. taj being left out of a bogus l;ist of new seven wonders doesnt diminish its value as a marvel of mankind's creativity. and any number of msgs to get kalam back at raisina hills will not stop patil from sullying it with her past baggage of constitutional undoings. so whats the point?
why cant we channelise all this public support in form of mails and sms towards causes like helping fight injustice to victims of dam projects and SEZ'z? why cant the smae mobile and email be used to fight corruptionj ? why cant the national media think of better issues to tackle and play the role of a communicator between the masses and their deaf govt.?
may be the media can . may be we can force them to resume their role of a public watchdog keeping an eye on the govt. and not on the people. may be we can. lets vote and see . wat say u ??