total timepass...

Just posting some funny cricket pics I found online..

(Seems like I am only writing movie reviews nowadays, but guess something is better than nothing!) Anyways, in spite of multiple negative reviews, I still went to see the movie, and frankly I am not regretting it one bit! For sure, its a nonsense movie, with anything and everything happening all the time, with no head or tail and all that. But I still enjoyed it! It had some good jokes and over the top situations. Worth it, isnt it? Akshay was his usual self, nothing great there. Akshay Khanna was the atrocious superstar and he played that role perfectly, was quite hilarious actually. Katrina was stupid throughout, but still made you laugh with her stupidity. Salman had a rockstar appearance as expected. All in all, good masala! Would give it just 2 stars for a terribly made movie, but you can still enjoy it if you a fan of mindless masala Bollywood!

Its a nice movie, but did not find anything great in it frankly! Its well crafted, well acted and takes us inside the mind of the man who made Facebook. I don't know if its a real story or not, but it does seem so feasible, isn't it? I guess thats about all I found worthwhile in the movie, the truth of how many toes might have been stepped on while creating something so big.. Would give it 3.5 stars.

Such movies are very heartening for the undying hindi movies fans, who venture into cinema theatres inspite of completely-over-the-top-unwatcheable-nonsense-big-budget-movies offering neither entertainment nor meaning are dished out continuously by Bollywood. Seriously! Such small budget movies like Well done Abba, Atithi, 99, Khosla ka Ghosla, Tere Bin Laden and all are such a welcome relief...! Movies where the script is paid attention to rather than just the big name stars and foreign locales, which actually deliver what they intended to (and in this case pure laughter and jokes) are few and far between but a real treat to watch! ..Obama is a funny story (even though it feels unreal). But its been etched very well. An NRI comes back home to India in search of some money to take care of his financial woes in the recession stricken US. However, he finds the situation the same here too, and then gets caught in the kidnapping scam, where the local gangsters struck by recession think he...

What a nonsense movie! What was the point of the movie:))? I guess its a feel good movie, lot of beautiful locales, lot of young people, today's issues and lingos.. But the story was just not strong enough. Why is Deepika so rebel-without-a-cause? Why does Imraan behave like a loser? How does Deepika suddenly realise she wants to be with Imraan when she had broken up with him for long and was happy without him too! Such a boring movies, its painful. Would give it just 2 stars.

Guzarish is a bad movie. Period. But still, lets discuss it.. Positive is just one, its a visual treat to watch. A Catholic Goan background, very grand in its scale, a beautiful green landscape, an old Victorian house, Aishwarya and her Sabyasachi costumes, they are all very pretty. I think its just that which helped me sit through the whole movie! But negatives are many. The issue of euthanasia has been handled in an amateur manner, with an end result not justified anywhere in the movie. The pace of the movie is slow and boring at many places. The acting is also very unreal and fails to connect. Aishwarya as always looks fabulous but she still can't act. Hritik also tries, but somehow misses it. His two dance sequences look like its a female dancing.. !! As an aside, given what Hritik is, shouldn't he concentrate more on masala movies for now? Where he uses his drop dead good looks and dancing skills to a better use? He can do these serious movies later on in his care...

I had been hearing for ages about the awesome food that you can eat at some place called BTC (Bhagat Tara Chand).. A friend used to go there every weekend apparently and raved about it all the time.. So I decided to check it out for myself if it was worth all the praise and what a worthy revelation it was!! BTC is located in Kalbadevi area in Mumbai and serves Sindhi food. However, there are five-six shops in that area all of which use the same name!! Its tough to find the original one now:). My guess is it used to be one famous eating place earlier and now after family feuds and splits, all the brothers use the same name for their own shops. Apparently all of them serve similar food, so you can try any of them. On the outside they don't seem impressive, but you just need to go in once to know what they offer!! Anyways, first of all, reaching this place is a nightmare! Its near the Mumba devi temple in Kalbadevi and is one of the most crowded areas in Mumbai. The cab driver may jus...

What a welcome change and what a pleasant and enjoyable movie! Thats the feeling you will leave the theatre with, when you watch 'Do Duni Char'! A simple story about a middle class 'Duggal' family's roller coaster ride to get a new car for the house. Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh's pleasant husband-wife chemistry is cute. Neetu Singh gives such a fine performance, her acting is such a pleasure to watch. The typical kids, fighting with each other, making mistakes and growing up along the way are fun too. The Delhi setting, the relatives, the neighbours, the show-offs, the roads, the punjabi accented 'svere svere', the family fights, the relatives senti, the neighbourly issues! A nice depiction of the daily life of the family, nothing out of the ordinary but still a well delivered fare. Would give the movie 3 stars for good entertainment value.

Frankly, Anjaana Anjaani is a bad movie. It did have potential though, if the makers had just spent a little more time and effort on ironing out the problems in the script, as well as editing the movie well. But as of now, there are things too unbelievable or stupid happening in the movie, too many 80s Bollywood type of dialogues and corny stuffplus sequences which are stretched way way too much. Priyanka's acting is badddd, trying to do a Kareena from Jab we met and sounding very very artificial throughout. Ranbir is better just in comparison. However, the movie is still enjoyable if you can go to the theatre with zero expectations. There are a few good laughs in between and some insane sequences which if you can laugh about them, can still be enjoyed. Would give the movie 2 stars.

I Proud to be Salman Khan fan:)! Chulbul Pandey! Whatay character..!! It roxx and so does Salman Khan! Am sure there will be a sequel to this movie: a character like Chulbul needs more than one appearance to do it justice. Well, lets talk about the story first.. Hmm, not much to talk about really. There is the mandatory romantic track, some fight scenes between our 'Robinhood' Pandey and the local politician, some family fights thrown here and there and lo, thats the summary of the story:). It doesn't really matter, as long as you can enjoy what is being shown on the screen and forget what happened before and what will happen after. There may not be any connection between them all! The plus point of the movie is just its style, the mood in which it was made. Pure in-the-moment entertainment. There are regular cracking lines to make you laugh throughout the movie. The music of the movie, especially the background score is commendable. Other actors play their parts well, bu...

What a movie!! Hail to the amazing movie maker, Aamir Khan, the actor director and producer... (and that too coming from a Shah Rukh fan!). You have to give it to the guy, where does he manage to find these ' hindi movies' from! Rang De Basanti, Taare Zameen Par and then this! With a subject matter like farmer suicides in India, it is so easy to go horribly wrong and look at what a masterpiece he came out with! So beautifully crafted, funny, well edited, with brilliant acting, a tight story and the hitting end.. It is difficult to imagine how a movie which throughout is just funny ends up making such a strong statement on such a strong topic! Peepli live is the story of a farmer in Peepli village, Natha, his bid to commit suicide to get money for his family and the ensuing drama by the Indian media and politicians. The whole rural setting is very realistically portrayed, the characters so perfectly crafted that they are etched in your mind even after the movie finishes and ...

A play which had all the ingredients of being a top-notch enjoyable and entertaining play... However it turned out to be none of it in the end!! A really forgettable play to put it mildly... The background setting is of a motley group of people who stay in a slum near the Mahim Junction Station. Their lives, interactions, ups and downs, goods and bads.. The play takes you through it all. For the cast, you have the drunkard, the eunuch, the chai-wala, the phoolwali, the hero and the heroine, and the one who loves the heroine, the villain, the NRI MLA, the police inspector and his side-kick and so on... The whole cast of the overboard 70s is there on the stage, interacting with each other, mouthing loud dialogues, singing and dancing to the old songs at the right (and the wrong) moments, the villain creating a problem in the hero-heroine's life, the corruption, the power hunger, the non-secular events.. All you could expect in a pot boiler of the 70s and more... Doesn't it s...

Given the drought of good movies in the earlier part of the year, this sudden spate of decently good movies has been tough to handle:)))). Also as a positive for these movies, the standards have been so lowered, that they do seem to be getting a better response than they deserve.. But I am not complaining... At least there are some reasons to go to movie halls again!! Anyways Tere Bin Laden is one of the same category, not a bad movie but surely does not deserve the ratings its getting! Am sure its notched up by one star just because there have been so many terrible movies recently.. Not to say though that its not a fun movie, it surely is. The premise of the movie is of Ali, a Pakistani reporter who desperately wants to go to Amreeka running into an Osama look-alike, and the whole movie is about how he makes use of this oppurtunity to get what he wanted. The rest is just a laugh riot, of the unexpected and over-the-top happenings. Of how Ali ends up changing not just his own li...

Udaan got tons of positive reviews from critics and multiple awards to boot. That was the reason I went to see the movie. I should have realized though, to expect just that, a movie which wins lots of awards for being a serious take on some aspect of life. But I should not really have expected any entertainment from it! Anyways to be fair, its a well made movie for some with some seriously good acting. Its the journey of Rohan, from his hostel to his father's house, to a new life with his till now unknown (but sweet) step-brother Arjun, to a father who likes to live by strict if not draconian and many times unfair rules, to a career in engineering forced onto him, to making new friends as being the only outlet for his frustration.. And towards finally being able to gather the courage to rid himself of all this! The pace of the movie is slow, building up on the events to show how the frustration in Rohan grows. Wasn't that to be expected of an artsy movie? Another thing yo...

Its a brilliant movie (more so because I had to put sooo much effort to understand it:)) but seriously hats off to the writer and director for thinking of something so out of this world and then being able to put it into a movie so beautifully well. Inception has got rave reviews everywhere anyways, so am not sure what more I can add other than to support the view. Its a movie which needs you to be absolutely and completely involved to be able to 'get it' but more so, is able to achieve that by itself! The pace is so quick, that try as you can, you cannot escape it. You are bound to the movie, trying to get a grasp of all that is happening and trying to figure out the gaps by yourself too. Inception gives the mind a new concept, of being able to enter other people's dreams and then slowly builds up this idea on what all can be done by entering other people's dreams, trying to make it a believable and complete theory. And frankly I think thats the biggest USP of this...

I have obviously not eaten gol-gappe everywhere in the world to make a statement like the above, but have been enough of a connoisseur all through my life to spot the ones which beat the rest.. And I recently tasted them! Its at Rajouri Garden market in Delhi, in a shop called simply, 'Guptas'. Its a sweet shop but the chat it serves outside beats anything else you may have tasted ever. If you get a chance, you HAVE to go there..! Yummm.. They taste just the right bit of spicy and salty and yummy and light and heavy... You have to eat them to know them! I am getting a high just thinking about those!!

The list of how we just ignore our soldiers except during war times goes on and on.. its a never-ending list... Here is another to that list ... Does it not hurt to read this?

Yawnnnnnnn..... That's my reaction to this movie, don't even feel like writing a review. Its so uninteresting, so lacking in punch; wonder how such a movie could be made by such a team!! For starters, the movie should have been called 'The making of Robinhood' as it traces the events leading to a certain Robin Longstride becoming Robinhood, rather than 'Robinhood'. Also, the movie seems more like a history documentary than a Hollywood movie. The movie tracks the death of King Richard (the Lionheart), his brother Prince John taking to the throne thereafter but not being able to rule ably; the ensuing betrayal by his friend and the corresponding French attack; and throughout these events, Robin Longstride, an archer from King Richard's army taking the identity of a knight from Nottingham, Robert Loxley and leading the charge against the French (and of course throwing them out of the country). Adding to that of course is the love angle, with Robin taking R...

Its a first that am writing a review for an eating place, but this place surely deserves it!! Good tasty delicious North Indian food is a rarity in Mumbai, and this has really been a fortunate find for us. Located in Andheri (West), Urban Tadka is heaven for people who are looking for goooood food! I would surely recommend this restaurant to someone who wants to have a tasty meal; its even worth going halfway across town till Andheri to have this yummy fare:). The ambience of the place is rustic and rural, trying to portray something similar to villages in Punjab. And the food totally totally rocks, I don't really have too many words to say it. It was yummy, tasty, with lots and lots of butter and totally mindblowing food. I tried the Dal Makhani, Butter Naan, Aloo and Biryani there. They are surely pure heaven, other dishes can't really comment on, but given what I ate, the rest should also be comparable. A must frequent place.

A lot of us who were in Mumbai during the 26 November events will never forget what all happened. And the people who actually went through the events of course will be haunted by it all for years to come!! But I did not expect someone to be affected by those events in this way ! This is just ridiculous, for someone to be discriminated against for having been a witness to the Mumbai attacks??!! And that too from a prestigious institution like a school!

There is enough being said and written about all that happened 25 years ago... There is nothing I can write that can express even a percent of the kind of frustration and exasperation we all feel reading about this tragedy! The list of questions are endless.. This was a nice site I read about which was able to put into words what I could only feel... Some excerpts from the article above.. " Why was Warren Anderson, the chief of Union Carbide, given the chief minister's own aircraft to leave India, just four days after the leak and with a charge of 304A against him when he was simply out on bail? On the same day flew out of the country, never to be brought to trial. Also, why did the government accept the Supreme Court settlement with Union Carbide for just 470 million dollars - money not enough to compensate even a fraction of its victims? Why did the Digvijay Singh government allow Carbide to return the land with tonnes of toxic waste sill on it, when the...

Saw a hindi comedy play called 'Jhooth Bole Kauwa Kaante' a couple of weeks back and quite a different (if not great) experience it was. Thankfully it was not another case of dysfunctional Indian families which most plays in Mumbai love to portray! This play actually looked like some of the 'natak' that used to come on Doordarshan in the late eighties, at least thats what it reminded me of:). The story is of a couple who are going through a financial crisis when they find an aunt's will, according to which the wife will get a large sum of money if the couple divorces. And then the comedy ensues:). There are multiple characters in the play, the couple, an uncle, the servant, 3 tenants, a friend plus boss and a couple of other smaller characters. The acting was enjoyable, though some characters overacted. The servant was a laugh riot with his weird accent, as well as the husband who acted well as the hen pecked spouse being forced to act out a divorce by his wife. ...

With the football World Cup dominating most conversations nowadays, a not so regular football watcher like me also ends up being aware of what's happening and interested in the titbits of what is happening in South Africa... A name which people like me also can recognise is Maradona, what may be the only player whose name people like us knew. Its nice to see him in action now, even if on the sidelines of the field rather than on it!! Here is a nice article on what he is upto in South Africa:)

This is a new mode of advertising that Virgin Mobile has used, possibly for the first time? Introducing ads on the net rather than showing them on TV. Found these quite funny to watch actually, fans of different IPL teams talking to each other on the phone trying to crack jokes on the other team. The jokes are mostly PJs, a lot of them have a tinge of truth too though! The swearing at the end of each phone call could have been avoided, but still good fun.. Watch them (Given below are the ads in three parts)... Indian Panga League Part 1 Indian Panga League Part 2 Indian Panga League Part 3

Psych is a comedy TV show that is still running in the US (it just finished its fifth series recently). The protagonist of the show is Sean Spencer, who claims to be a 'psychic' but who actually is just a great observer and manages to figure out things about people and events just based on his observational skills. This is the basis of the TV show, where Sean uses his 'psychic' (observational) skills to solve cases for the Santa Barbara Police Department where he is temporarily hired for some tough cases. The other cast of the show includes Gus, Sean's best friend and partner. He is really really funny! The chemistry between him and Sean is really fun to watch, him as the hesitating reasonable guy, with Sean being the completely irrational and impulsive other half. They both are a great team, with Sean's antics being completely unacceptable and over the top (but very very funny) and Gus trying to control him. Sean's dad was a cop and is the reason Sean is su...

2010 has not been a great year for movies, there is just a dearth of good movies.. and all the big starrers have come out to be a disappointment. Kites before this and Rajneeti, not at all upto the mark given the huge star cast. The movie has everyone, Ranbir, Katrina, Nana, Bajpai, Ajay, Arjun Rampal, Naseer and so on. Of these, Ranbir is the central character with Nana, Arjun and Ajay also with major roles. The storyline of the movie encompasses an election campaign, dotted with murders, blackmail, betrayals, underhanded dealings, caste politics and everything else we already associate with politics. Anything and everything is acceptable as long as it is done for power. Innocent people turn into scheming politicians if required. And I guess that's what this movie is all about. Surprisingly, the characters have been given their due, each given a decently meaty role. Acting was mostly good. Nana is still on the top with his effortless acting and surprisingly, Arjun Rampal has r...

Prince of Persia is a Disney film portraying events in mythical Persia centuries ago and is based on the videogame of the same name. It is a fantasy genre film and the high point of the movie are its absolutely mindblowing graphics. The story is a typical royal tale of kings and brothers and murders and intrigue and myths and action and romance. Dastan, the prince of Persia is wrongly accused of murdering his father just after he and his brother attack and win the holy city of Alamut. Tamina, the princess of Alamut and Dastan are on their own trying to clear Dastan's name, as well as restore back to Alamut what was rightly its. On the way, they have many adventures, meet bandits and make friends, get attacked but saved and of course discover and get betrayed on the way too. Its a roller coaster ride and a fun one on that. Acting is good, story is average. The whole focus of the movie is on the visuals, which appeal to me, so I don't mind:). The fort and palace set...

According to the rules (as I would understand them), a movie before being released in India needs to be cleared by the Censor Board, and thereafter it can be released in India with the relevant certificate. However, in the last couple of years, parallel rules have surfaced, these movies need to be cleared by Shiv Sena, MNS and now the Congress? All I want to know is who are these people to censor what the people get to see? Who gave them the rights to control this? Biographies are written and biographical movies are made sometimes with and sometimes without the approval of the person depicted. Is that wrong? And frankly, if the person does not support such a writing/movie, it will not be treated as an biography, what is the problem with this? Update: Saw the movie Rajneeti, other than the similar way of dressing and walking between Katrina and Sonia, there was not much common in their stories. Wonder why such a huge noise was made by Congress about her character.

Its not a new quote am sure, but still worth mulling I would say..... Kabir’s quote on life and death... 'Jab hum is jag ko aaye, hum roye aur sab hasen.... ... aisa kyon na ho ki is jag se jab jaaye, toh hum hasen aur sab roye...' Inspiration to live a full and happy life?:)

First of all, youtube is aweeeeeesomeee! Hats off to this invention or whatever you may want to call it! Once the tribute is over, let me start off with the topic of this post:). Some days back I saw some deleted scenes from Hindi movies, which never made it to the silver screen. The ones from my favorite movies were fun, as sometimes it even gives a new angle or an added look to the story. Like 'Rang de Basanti', 'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai', 'Lagaan', 'Jodha Akbar', 'Chak De', 'Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi' and so on.. But my favorite I guess would always remain the scenes from Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge. They so add some more to the story; why Amrish Puri was as angry and bitter always; how once Raj tries to make Simran jealous:) ; how he almost gives up on Amrish Puri:) and so on... Watch it , if you are a DDLJ fan:)

Broken Images is a short one-hour (and one-act) play with only one actor, Shabana Azmi. She has a double role though; one is the novelist, Manjula who is in a TV studio talking about her book written in English, while the other 'role' is her again (her alter-ego?) on the TV screen talking to Manjula and questioning her. The events of her life slowly open, as the alter-ego questions, discusses, argues and talks to Manjula, slowly and slowly bringing out facts about her own life, her sister on who's life the book is based, the events leading to her sister's death, the relationship between her sister and her husband, the breaking of her marriage and the eventual publishing of the book. Frankly, I found it another of those 'dysfunctional Indian families with multiple skeletons in their cupboards' kind of story which Indian play writers love to portray. An event gets all these skeletons out of the closet and everything thereafter changes. ... The actin...

There has been a big gap in good Hindi movie releases this year: earlier in the year due to the IPL season and thereafter just due to a lack of any good movies around! Kites is the first big release after a long long time... and there is such a huge hype regarding this movie, its really overwhelming. There are many reasons for that: the hot new Mexican actress, Barbara Mori making her debut; the rumours of the affair between Hritik and Barbara (which have been circulating for over a year now!); the shooting of the movie in foreign locales; the new international film-making methods that have apparently been used etc etc. The list is long and Kites has been all over the news and tv channels for the last month or two. It's just everywhere, haven't seen so much hype for sometime...... And the movie, though better than most of the stuff we see usually fails to live up to all the hype created around it! Pros of the movie are many. Beautiful locales and even more beautiful cinemat...

After the recent attack by the Naxals on civilians, I was eagerly waiting for the comments of the Naxal supporters of our country on the incident. Would they condemn it? Or would they in some warbled way, still support it?? And the answer is here . Arundhati Roy blames the security forces for exposing the civilians to the Naxal threat by using the same public transport as the civilians use!! Well said Ms. Roy, the security forces should not do that at all. They should travel in transport filled 100% with security people, to give the Naxalites the most efficient targets to blow up. Yes, that is what they should do...!!

Here are some beautiful photos of the Kabul of today on the BBC site. Is heartening to see that there is positiveness around... Beautiful photos, especially the first one.. Isn't it, or at least wasn't it a beautiful city once? If you've been following the events in the country, am sure the photos will touch your heart somewhere... and hats off to the human spirit.. taking birth again after what all they have gone through in the past decades....

Here is an interesting take by Rajdeep Sardesai on the new educated politicians we have on their block and how their careers have been/will be!

A superb line by Chetan Bhagat: " The amount of money that is in your bank at the time of your death,is the extra work u did,that u should not have done " I am not sure if I agree with this or not, but surely an interesting way of looking at life:). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- An interesting quote from a book I read recently: " More often than not, truth loses out to reality" Its very very interesting and something we fail to see many times in life.. truth is not everything, truth does not win everytime.. reality does.. and that truth and reality are not the same, though we may mistake them for each other sometimes.. one is more stronger than the other... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A quote on travel, which I can sometimes relate to (unfortunately!)..." No matter how much you try, you will never be truly home as a part of you will remain...

India is a land of festivals, we've all known that since ages. But the realization that these festivals are celebrated differently in different regions of the country is a completely separate discovery, as I did in my recent stay at Mumbai. Some interesting aspects of this, would like to share with you all.. Janamashtami During Janamashtami, the matkis setup everywhere in the city make for interesting viewing. Somehow I had never ever seen Janamashtami being celebrated before, so it was a new discovery for me anyways...Groups of matki-phods traverse the city in trucks, breaking matkis and pocketing the prize money. The earlier you start, the more matkis you can break and the more you earn:). Also during the day, the unconquered matkis are lowered as the day progresses so that breaking it becomes more achievable. The speed with which the matkis are broken is surprising too, you blink and the matki would be gone. Just as a warning, during the day, be careful of th...

IPL is over.. phew.. !! Though obviously the aftermath isn't yet:). Once the Shoaib-Sania daily updates finished, started the Modi saga, giving enough work to the Indian media.. This latest saga will continue to give us many more 'manu-ranjan ka baap' moments for sometime.. but we still need to wait and watch for the end to this.. Anyways, this article is more about the IPL stadium experience again. Most of the earlier IPL league matches that I saw were in Braborne stadium (of which I have already written before in detail ). They were fun to watch and so I kept going again and again to see those matches. Saw the IPL final in the DY Patil Stadium however and it was a different experience. Not sure if I would want to go there often though! The stadium is beautiful! Very well constructed: its huge and there are no columns blocking your view at any location. Any seat you sit on, you get a complete view of the ground (and this was quite different from Braborne). The sound a...

Maya never fails to make it to the news on a regular basis.. and all the reasons are mostly the same; more money to her; more statues of her; or just her telling other politicians and the judiciary (and of course the general public) to go to hell!! Anyways here are some more stats on Maya, on how she has worked so hard over the last few years to uplift the weaker sections of society as she had always promised to do...

Read this article on the Samba spy case sometime back and was shocked! Did not know what to say or think.. Justice is delayed and denied often in our country, but for something as serious as spying? And of course, one person falsely implicating 50 other army officers and for 35 years!! It just does not sound right.. feels very sad... Of course, we don't know the genuineness of this claim and there may be more to the story than what meets the eye. Still, its quite a big shocker.... And if its true, is terrible.. Falsely implicating possibly innocent army officers of being spies; of them having served rigorous sentences; of the ignominy they and their families would have suffered for years; and of the damage to the image of the army... Can we ever set it right?

Our soldiers are nowadays busy fighting not just the external aggressors but also internal enemies; the Naxalites. Its a tougher fight for them, as the enemy is not clearly distinguishable from our co-patriots; and the use of power can get the human rights activists up in arms; 'how can we be so barbaric to use force against our own citizens??!!'. The laughability of the situation is ironic. It does not matter how many innocent policemen and their families die due to Naxalite action; it does not matter how much loss to public propert they cause. But it is barbaric to harm them or their supporters!! I find it tough to even try to argue against such statements , it just seems so stupid... Anyways what prompted this article, was this newspaper piece . Don't really think can say much about it, it just hits you so hard, makes you numb and unable to even think of how our defence personnel are doing what they do!!

Saw an animation movie after ages I think, but should say, it wasn't too bad an experience [I seem to find them too childish and compare them to cartoons to the chagrin of my friends]. Anyways, the storyline of 'how to train your dragon' was quite routine, nothing new there. A viking village which kills dragons for their own survival; the village leader's son who appears to be good for nothing; father-son relationship issues; the son realizes that you do not need to kill the dragons to win them, you just need to befriend them and of course how he solves the village's problems and makes his father proud! On this journey, the son "Hiccup" is helped by his friend dragon, "Toothless", the cute but mighty dangerous "night fury" dragon. Hiccup's interactions with Toothless help him learn about these creatures, how to control them and of what controls them too. Of course, there are mistakes and confusions, but in the end, Hiccu...

For the last month of so, IPL 3 has been the best entertainment source for a lot of us, if not the only source! Its sad that even good hindi movies have dried up for this period. It helps though that any restaurant or club you go to would have the match playing, so at least we are all still going out!! Anyways, this year have managed to see multiple matches at the stadium too and they are real entertainers, a good evening out... The 'Grand Indian Tamasha' is what IPL should be renamed as:). Increasingly I have come to realise that the IPL is less and less about cricket and more about entertainment. In the stadium, the atmosphere is electric. Loud music playing continuously. Cheerleaders, mascots, dhol wale. The entire gamut of entertainers only to please the crowd. And the cricket being played in between:). Thats what the IPL is all about and it works well too. The crowds absolutely love it and have a ball at the matches. Watching IPL has become a good ev...

Given the recent drought of good movies in the last month or at least lack of big starrers recently (thanks to IPL I guess), I landed up to see a movie which otherwise I may have given a miss, 'Well done Abba'. And what a good decision it turned out to be!! Its a long time since a (good) movie based on rural India has been released and this movie really does justice to this setting: the story of a person trying to fight the system while trying to get a well (baudi) for himself in his village in Andhra Pradesh. It is essentially a 'social message' movie, but it has been so simply and so skillfully done, it actually surprises as well as entertains you completely. Well done Abba doesn't really boast big stars (though it does an acclaimed director), I guess that adds to the charm of movie by itself. The movie has a host of smaller actors playing multiple characters, mostly the tableau of the village. The movie is very slow, and for a long time ...

Recently saw this play at Prithvi which was a collection of six short plays written by famous playwrights. The range of themes was good, varying from the highly funny and over-the top to a nerve-raising one and from emotional drama to a social statement. The acting was top of the class and the entire experience was as one of the better plays I have watched. On the Harmful Effects of Tobacco Its a one person act of a husband giving a public lecture on 'the harmful effects of tobacco' at the insistence of his wife. He however veers onto himself, talking about his own failures and his unhappy life with his wife and children. It was well acted and you feel for the husband, but personally I found it too sad to like it. Seduction Peter the expert "married-women-seducer" is lecturing the audience about the methods he uses for his conquests. Quite an innovative method he uses! Plus he shows a live demonstration also of how successfully it wor...

"How I met your mother" is an American TV Series, very similar to "Friends" and has a similar format as thsi famous series. Its the story of five friends and their life, with the backdrop being that the protagonist, Ted Mosby is telling his kids about how he met their mother. The episodes present all the stories in between from the time Ted starts looking to get married to the time he meets his wife, of the other women and happenings in his and his friends' life over this time period. The other four friends include Lily and Marshall, a couple who are the over-the-top-in-love, 200% mushy kind of couple; Barney, a playboy and a complete narcissist with very interesting takes on the world (and relationships!) ; and Robin, a Canadian journalist whom Ted had dated once but they broke off because she didn't believe in marriage. Barney surprisingly turns out to be the most lovable of the characters, even though he is everything your mother will ...

The reviews for this play were not great to start with, from "mediocre" to "very bad". And that's what it turned out to be too! The story is too 'ghisipiti' with two people who meet over the years but never get together. The dialogues too high and mighty types, the characters too loud and unreal. The flow in the story was missing, the chemistry and connection with the crowd wasn't there, so essentially nothing to remember it by. The acting was good though, guess that was the only saving grace, the only thing which made the play watchable. A definite miss!

As the article says, "..... the web is becoming more sociable than searchable..." a huge paradign shift, wont you say so? The net is no more just a big storehouse of information (as it started out initially) but has become our alter ego, where we make, meet and enjoy with friends.. Am not sure whether its a positive or negative development, but it is something huge for sure...

Ya yeh kehna chahiye, jidhar dekho UP main, Maya hi Maya hai! Either the news she makes regularly or the even bigger statues she has got made! Given how much she loves herself and her publicity, I would also dedicate posts just to her and her claim-to-fame actions!! Lets start here, with two huge garlands made of only Rs. 1000 notes.. Wow it is.. Shows her transformation from 'Dalit ki beti' to 'Daulat ki beti'.. to quote one of her adversaries... News article Video

This was a talk show which had one season of about 13 episodes telecast during 2009. The talk show host is Farha Khan, and she invites celebrities for heart to heart talks. The format is such that the invitees in each episode are invited based on a common theme (Of course, for SRK, there was no second guest:) ). Farha brings out unknown facts into the open about the celebrities, talking to relatives and friends for messages etc etc . And at the end there is an interaction with the aam junta, with the celebrities talking to the people called on the show. The celebrities then gift some of their personal stuff to Farha for auctions and ending with Farha teaching a dance step to the celebrities. Some of the interviews have been really candid and fun, and worth watching. Farha gets irritating though, especially saying tere mere beach main before every break. Some of the fun episodes to watch are: - Priyanka Chopra and Vijender Singh. This was a laugh riot, especially wit...

Some days back, I re-lived some of my teenage moments of the 90s again while watching DDLJ in a theatre at the Maratha Mandir in Mumbai (btw DLLJ has been continuously screened everyday at Maratha Mandir for almost 14 years now!!). The movie was almost like a dream sequence, again, as expected:). Saw the matinee show (runs at 11:30 am everyday and costs 22 bucks in the balcony!!) and it was those dreamy eyed visions of a teenager all over again. Even though i was watching the movie for the nth time, I fell in love with it all over again!! Shah Rukh rocks as the eternal romantic hero, though Kajol seems to be overacting and irritating at times. The first half of the movie is beautiful, and still the way I envision Europe to be like. There are many other aspects of the movie that you notice now that you see it after so many years and in a maturer way. For one, the love story between Shah Rukh and Kajol is not well developed. There doesn't seem to be any reason...

I recently watched the complete set of episodes of the Chanakya TV series which used to come on Doordarshan in those heydays and which I could not understand as much then as I can now. Loved the series, mostly for the effort gone into the making of the series considering it was made in the early 90s, as well as the amount of research that would have gone into the making of the series. Also was good to know more about Indian history, which most of us are mostly unaware of. Its a colossal effort, and blows your mind away . After watching the series, and given that a lot of the events seem so unreal, I researched on the net and realised how less of our own history we know? Of how great the kingdoms of those times were, how developed the city systems were, how great a university Taxila was and how much effort one man had made to unite the country and drive the Greeks out! Chanakya's intelligence and cunning is an interesting study, of how he plans each and every ...

Boston Legal is an American TV show based on an American law firm located in Boston. The lawyers of the firm are involved in multiple lawsuits, more civil than criminal and many of them are crazy and random sue-ings. The lawyers themselves are loud, eccentric, completely over the top and crazzzy!! Each of the character has his own oddities and that is what makes it so fun to watch. The main protagonists in the show are Alan Shore and Denny Crane. Alan Shore is a completely unorthodox and crazy lawyer, who has his own rules and listens to no one. He does what he wants, how he wants, without any control over him and though he sounds immoral, has a heart of gold which comes to the forefront sometimes. He is an absolutely lovable character, and you always wonder why :) ! Denny Crane is the senior partner and has never lost a case. He is mad now though and just spends his time trying to create trouble with the others trying to keep him out of trouble!! He and Al...

I went into this movie with very low expectations. Somehow pre-movie release, the vibes of this movie were not that positive, looks like the promos weren't impressive enough! But the word of mouth was quite positive and that is what caused me to finally go and watch it.. Anyways, I liked the movie. Quite a lot actually. Its a nice, clean entertainer. Not a super-duper comedy, doesn't have a superstar cast but has a very earthly and old-world charm about it which makes it enjoyable and likeable. The performances are not over the top or loud, there are not too many jokes either. It just moves along gradually, and you walk out of the hall with a smile on your face which you don't know the reason for! The movie stresses a lot on the values of old, of being positive and doing good. The "atithi" inculcates some of these values to the son of the house, as well as the parents, the biggest value of all being adjusting, patient and good to all. Some of the sequences in the...

Very interesting view on how to win an Oscar :) !!!!

Got this as a forward, after Tendulkar made his "unbeaten 200". Am not sure if this is genuine or not, but still a good one... "When Sachin Tendulkar travelled to Pakistan to face one of the finest bowling attacks ever assembled in cricket, Michael Schumacher was yet to race a F1 car, Lance Armstrong had never been to the Tour de France, Diego Maradona was still the captain of a world champion Argentina team, Pete Sampras had never won a Grand Slam. When Tendulkar embarked on a glorious career taming Imran and company, Roger Federer was a name unheard of; Lionel Messi was in his nappies, Usain Bolt was an unknown kid in the Jamaican backwaters. The Berlin Wall was still intact, USSR was one big, big country, Dr Manmohan Singh was yet to "open" the Nehruvian economy. It seems while Time was having his toll on every individual on the face of this planet, he excused one man. Time stands frozen in front of Sachin Tendulkar. We have had champions, we have had le...

My Name Is Khan has been in the news quite a lot recently, and not always for the right reasons (though am sure it all worked out fine for the movie in the end!!). The controversies created by SRK helped the movie pull the initial crowds to the theatres leading to a bumper opening, but thereafter the interest in the movie fell as the movie could not match the high expectations created by critics. However, once the expectations were matched with reality, the movie has managed to pick up a little. The first half of the movie is beautiful, with SRK doing a good job, and Kajol looking extremely beautiful. SRK's asperger syndrome has been shown in a very sensitive manner, without evoking pity, which I definitely think is a high point of a movie of this genre showing a handicapped person. The shots of Rizvan's childhood as well as his initial days in the States are beautiful, the chemistry between SRK and Kajol awesome and its mostly a feel good movie, at least in the first half. It...

Shopping for jewellery, am sure all women love it... Its such a huge market out there, sometimes its really surprising... The variety, the designs, the beautiful and unique pieces you see out there are just so tempting!! The different variety of jewellery available in India is out of this world! As and when I see new stuff, would like to write about it. Hyderabad is famous for some of its 'Nizam-isque' jewellery. And those designs are really royal. If you are the adventurous sorts, try shopping at the Charminar market. Its busy, crowded and full of stuff too!!! Check out the 'chand-bali' there, they are sooo light and delicate and colourful and beautiful. And so reasonably priced, the imitation ones come for something like Rs. 100. Also try the jhumars there, they are beautiful, though limited in their usage. Another beautiful piece is the the galabandh, beautifully encrusted stones and pearls in a heavy necklace, which is worn very close to the neck. Am sure you wou...