total timepass...

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...