Recently watched fanaa and felt a sense of deja vu and then realized that the experience of wathcing it was for me wathcing Dil Se yet again.
Dil Se was one movie i loved and I still remember coming out of the theatre after watching dil se with my friends and i was the only person in the group whi had liked the movie. While my friends were commenting about how it was very much a non-Maniratnam-style movie, i felt that it had all the elements that made it a vintage Mani Ratnam movie.
Fanaa brought back all those and even if we cannot compare Kunal Kohli to Mani Ratnam, you have to give credit to the director for making the movie watchable.Pitting fanaa against Dile Se is pitting 2 of the finest actors of our generation against yet another 2 exemplary actors.
The intensity of Manisha in Dil Se is matched by that of Aamir's performance and the playfulness and angst of Shahrukh is more than easily challenged by the superb performance of Kajol.
The youthful rendering of "Jiya Jale" fould a reflection in the equally captivating voice of Shaan in "Chaand sifarish" and The pathos of the song "Sat rangeere" and the yearnings of "Ae Ajnabi" have been tried to be matched by "Mere haath mein".
The background score for both the movies are haunting, yet another similarity between the two movies.You feel that the story kind of lost itself somewhere in the between in both the movies and they seem to have an abrupt ending.
All said and done, fanaa has become another of my favorite along with Dil Se....
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
5 Years...a long time!
wow!!
Suddenly it has sunk in that I completed 5 years of my career!!!!
Feels.......special.
Suddenly it has sunk in that I completed 5 years of my career!!!!
Feels.......special.
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Subtle Beauty
"Mun paniyaa"
The beauty of the song from the tamil movie Nandhaa is matched by the excellent picturization and makes us wonder how a song can be so romantically picturized when the hero and heroine does not even hold hands in them.
When you watch the visuals and immerse in the splendid vocals of SPB, you sense a feeling of nostalgia and find yourself falling in love all over again!!That is the power of subtlety and it describes how emotions can be shown in just a plain look.
This song needs to be seen by all those sleaze kings who fills the movies with vulgarity in the name of romance.
The beauty of the song from the tamil movie Nandhaa is matched by the excellent picturization and makes us wonder how a song can be so romantically picturized when the hero and heroine does not even hold hands in them.
When you watch the visuals and immerse in the splendid vocals of SPB, you sense a feeling of nostalgia and find yourself falling in love all over again!!That is the power of subtlety and it describes how emotions can be shown in just a plain look.
This song needs to be seen by all those sleaze kings who fills the movies with vulgarity in the name of romance.
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Thrissur Pooram Exhibition
Oru kappu Kaaja Chhaya Kudikkoo
Kuthiraye pole kuthikkoo!!!
The above 2 lines in mallu would roughly translate into "Drink one cup of Kaaja Tea and trot like a horse!!"This is a sample of the innumerous advertisements which are belted over the loud speaker at the pooram exhibition. In the sweltering heat of Thrissur, who would want to have a glass of Tea?
I strongly suspect that the lead male and female announcers for these advertisements are always the same year after the year!But then exhibition would not be exhibitions without these back ground announcements.I went for the exhibition after a gap of 3 years and nothing much has changed.The same old Textile merchants with their collection of "bedsheets from Rajasthan" (Pooram exhibition used to be the annual bedsheet-upgrade time for my mom, till some time back! It also used to be the time to buy "Good Quality" knives etc for the kitchen, though i wonder how much of a quality instrumnet that had proved to be!!). Then there are the bangles/toys/fancy items shops which repeat themselves at almost surprisingly regular intervals.(The pooram exhibition would contain approximately 60 stalls in a big snake-like line).
At strategic positions, there will be the refreshment stalls and i can recollect that we used to put on our act of being tired/fatigued when we were about 2 stalls near to the refreshment stalls!!!. In those days, an outing like this was the only time when we got to drink aerated bottled drinks(Read "Limca"/"Thums UP").
I would be eagerly looking forward to visit the only book-store in the exhibition (excluding the other categories of bookstalls viz religious ones) and would have had already elicited a promise from my dad to get me a "Hardy Boys" or a "Three investigators"!!Often, re-freshments would be had from the stall nearby where they would be selling sugar-cane juice(simply mouth-watering!!). This time, however i was left wondering whether they would be using good water to prepare those drinks!!!
Then we have those "Bubble men"..these are the people who sell the soap bubbles for 5 bucks. They used to be a must-buy in any visit, although they never managed to reach home!!The last stop would be for the second round of refreshment at the last stall in the exhibition - the one run by the Indian coffee House. But i was saddened to find that space converted into an office, with the coffee-house shifted.
Pooram exhibitions is pretty much the same as i remember it to be 15 years ago...just hope that it remains the same...
Some things you would never have seen 10 years back in a pooram exhibition
TATA AIG insurance stall
Tread-mill stall
Another note: Aluva people might brag about their Aluva shivarathri mela and Cochin people about the ubiquitous carnivals, but there is nothing like the Thrissur Pooram Exhibition!!
Kuthiraye pole kuthikkoo!!!
The above 2 lines in mallu would roughly translate into "Drink one cup of Kaaja Tea and trot like a horse!!"This is a sample of the innumerous advertisements which are belted over the loud speaker at the pooram exhibition. In the sweltering heat of Thrissur, who would want to have a glass of Tea?
I strongly suspect that the lead male and female announcers for these advertisements are always the same year after the year!But then exhibition would not be exhibitions without these back ground announcements.I went for the exhibition after a gap of 3 years and nothing much has changed.The same old Textile merchants with their collection of "bedsheets from Rajasthan" (Pooram exhibition used to be the annual bedsheet-upgrade time for my mom, till some time back! It also used to be the time to buy "Good Quality" knives etc for the kitchen, though i wonder how much of a quality instrumnet that had proved to be!!). Then there are the bangles/toys/fancy items shops which repeat themselves at almost surprisingly regular intervals.(The pooram exhibition would contain approximately 60 stalls in a big snake-like line).
At strategic positions, there will be the refreshment stalls and i can recollect that we used to put on our act of being tired/fatigued when we were about 2 stalls near to the refreshment stalls!!!. In those days, an outing like this was the only time when we got to drink aerated bottled drinks(Read "Limca"/"Thums UP").
I would be eagerly looking forward to visit the only book-store in the exhibition (excluding the other categories of bookstalls viz religious ones) and would have had already elicited a promise from my dad to get me a "Hardy Boys" or a "Three investigators"!!Often, re-freshments would be had from the stall nearby where they would be selling sugar-cane juice(simply mouth-watering!!). This time, however i was left wondering whether they would be using good water to prepare those drinks!!!
Then we have those "Bubble men"..these are the people who sell the soap bubbles for 5 bucks. They used to be a must-buy in any visit, although they never managed to reach home!!The last stop would be for the second round of refreshment at the last stall in the exhibition - the one run by the Indian coffee House. But i was saddened to find that space converted into an office, with the coffee-house shifted.
Pooram exhibitions is pretty much the same as i remember it to be 15 years ago...just hope that it remains the same...
Some things you would never have seen 10 years back in a pooram exhibition
TATA AIG insurance stall
Tread-mill stall
Another note: Aluva people might brag about their Aluva shivarathri mela and Cochin people about the ubiquitous carnivals, but there is nothing like the Thrissur Pooram Exhibition!!
Thursday, March 23, 2006
The GOAL
After a long time....finished a book on the same day as i bought it.
5 and a half hours nonstop from 11 30 in the night to 5 o clock in the morning.
The Book: The GOAL by Eliyahu Goldratt
5 and a half hours nonstop from 11 30 in the night to 5 o clock in the morning.
The Book: The GOAL by Eliyahu Goldratt
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Chandramukhi versus Nagavalli
Was watching "Chandramukhi" the other day..and was stuck by the changes that were made to the movie from the original mallu version, just so as to appeal to the type of audience the tamil audience are..no offence meant of course!For instance, there is the famous "Vidamatte" scene done by Shobana where, at the end of the dialogue, she lifts a double-cot bed in fury (posesses by Nagavalli) with her single hand and the scene is conveyed so powerful, albeit in a subtle way.
The same scene in Tamil version, in order to convey the power of the character, they had to have a scnene in the beginning of the movie where 4 people are shown carrying the cot and the heroine asking the hero why 4 people are required to carry a cot and the hero saying that it was a very heavy one and 2 people cannot carry it!! That way, people would be able to understand the power of Chandramukhi when she lifts the cot up with her hand!!
Another instance is when Thilakan (the famous astrologer in the movie whom the elderly folks trust more than the psychiatrist-protagonist) makes his entry and the way in which he recognizes Mohanlal. It was done in an almost natural way!Here, the parallel character had to be shown as having hatred of Rajni and then he had to be convinced of Rajani's power (seeing a "Jyothi" on his face) before he could do some research and be aware of Rajni's powers!!
And what has Jyothika done? maybe she should watch the original..but then she is going to get so depressed when she comapres her performance to Shobana's that she might just decide to quit acting!
We had started watching the movie with the mindset that its going to be a combination of the mallu movies "Manichitrathazhu" and 'Aaram thamburan".But then it turned out to be a mix of the one's above plus ..........The Anaconda, Crouching Tiger...etc!!!
The same scene in Tamil version, in order to convey the power of the character, they had to have a scnene in the beginning of the movie where 4 people are shown carrying the cot and the heroine asking the hero why 4 people are required to carry a cot and the hero saying that it was a very heavy one and 2 people cannot carry it!! That way, people would be able to understand the power of Chandramukhi when she lifts the cot up with her hand!!
Another instance is when Thilakan (the famous astrologer in the movie whom the elderly folks trust more than the psychiatrist-protagonist) makes his entry and the way in which he recognizes Mohanlal. It was done in an almost natural way!Here, the parallel character had to be shown as having hatred of Rajni and then he had to be convinced of Rajani's power (seeing a "Jyothi" on his face) before he could do some research and be aware of Rajni's powers!!
And what has Jyothika done? maybe she should watch the original..but then she is going to get so depressed when she comapres her performance to Shobana's that she might just decide to quit acting!
We had started watching the movie with the mindset that its going to be a combination of the mallu movies "Manichitrathazhu" and 'Aaram thamburan".But then it turned out to be a mix of the one's above plus ..........The Anaconda, Crouching Tiger...etc!!!
Thursday, January 05, 2006
Mirajkar Selected!!
I just loved the new ad of "Times of India".It is yet again a theme which we have seen in one flavour or the other before, but what stands out here is the characters chosen for the ad. All of them have done a terric job, the best part being that the characters are sooooo natural.The old man's action, after looking at the news of his grand son getting selected into the team and the old clipping about him being dropped from the team, was so endearing.It kind of symbolizes the fact that newspapers are with us during our times of misery and happiness and it does not differentiate between the emotions when reporting the truth..be it sweet ....or bitter!!Amazing ad..
Saturday, December 24, 2005
Hectic!!!! and loving it!!!
They say that working in one of the best IB in the world prepares you to handle anything in your career!!
Thought that held true only for traders...!!
But....working for 16 hours every day has made me believe that its true for techies too!!
but, the best part of it is that...........
I am loving it!!!!
AK,
Was Tagged by GWBE and my list is the last post...its not complete, so i might oblige you by putting down what i was able to squeeze in my reading schedule after the last post!!!
:-)
Thought that held true only for traders...!!
But....working for 16 hours every day has made me believe that its true for techies too!!
but, the best part of it is that...........
I am loving it!!!!
AK,
Was Tagged by GWBE and my list is the last post...its not complete, so i might oblige you by putting down what i was able to squeeze in my reading schedule after the last post!!!
:-)
Saturday, November 12, 2005
hmm.....
First of all.....our bundle of joy came into this world on Oct 4th!!! :-)
Was Tagged (a loooong while ago!!) by GWBE.
wokey!!
Last 5 books read
English August upamanyu chaterjee
Brave new world aldous huxley
Catcher in the Rye j d salinger
To kill a mockingbird harper lee
We, the living ayn rand
Currently reading..
Sidhartha
Geeta and the art of successful management
Planning to read..
1984
Catch 22
and a whole lot of 'em!!!
All time Favs
Diary of Anne Frank
Fountainhead
Atlas Shrugged
To kill a mockingbird
English August
No Comebacks (A collection of short stories by Frederick Forsyth)
luv these too...
Erich Segal books
John Grisham books
Kane and Abel
The Day of the Jackal
hmm..well...my list of "bloggers i visit" have been subjected to this ritual of tagging.....so me kind of not excercising my option (call or put?!!! lol)
Was Tagged (a loooong while ago!!) by GWBE.
wokey!!
Last 5 books read
English August upamanyu chaterjee
Brave new world aldous huxley
Catcher in the Rye j d salinger
To kill a mockingbird harper lee
We, the living ayn rand
Currently reading..
Sidhartha
Geeta and the art of successful management
Planning to read..
1984
Catch 22
and a whole lot of 'em!!!
All time Favs
Diary of Anne Frank
Fountainhead
Atlas Shrugged
To kill a mockingbird
English August
No Comebacks (A collection of short stories by Frederick Forsyth)
luv these too...
Erich Segal books
John Grisham books
Kane and Abel
The Day of the Jackal
hmm..well...my list of "bloggers i visit" have been subjected to this ritual of tagging.....so me kind of not excercising my option (call or put?!!! lol)
Sunday, July 17, 2005
Do you play International Cricket...
Location: Duane Reade Pharmacy Store
I am standing at the pay-counter waiting to get my bill so that i can pay for it and hurry to catch a metro to finish off my shopping. The guy behind the counter is looking at me in a strange manner.
"Say, can i ask you a question" he questions.
"Sure ..yeah" i said.
"Hmm..dya play cricket?"
I was caught by surprise by this question of his because cricket does not happen to be one of the most popular games out here.
"Yeah..i do"..i said.
"Are you from Pakistan?"
"India" i said a little miffed..
"Dya play international Cricket" the next question.
Suddenly i was confused. Was he asking me whether India has an international cricket team? well if he knew about cricket, then he wouldnt be that stupid not to know about Sachin, would he?
"Err...Do i play international cricket" I asked for confirmation, stressing on the "I"
"Yes, yes" came the eager reply.
"No" i said.
"Oh man, O man..you look so much like one guy i say playing in the West Indies. Cant remember his name, but i swear you look like him. When you walked in, i was like..Hey this is that cricket star..."
I was shocked. People have told me that i look like X or Y, but this was the first time that a comparison was made to a cricket player.
Needless to say, on the metro, i was thinking about which cricket player he would have meant, but sadly have not been able to figure that one out!!!!
Well..they say that there are 7 people in this world who looks like you...and one of my look alikes happens to be a cricket star!!!!
I am standing at the pay-counter waiting to get my bill so that i can pay for it and hurry to catch a metro to finish off my shopping. The guy behind the counter is looking at me in a strange manner.
"Say, can i ask you a question" he questions.
"Sure ..yeah" i said.
"Hmm..dya play cricket?"
I was caught by surprise by this question of his because cricket does not happen to be one of the most popular games out here.
"Yeah..i do"..i said.
"Are you from Pakistan?"
"India" i said a little miffed..
"Dya play international Cricket" the next question.
Suddenly i was confused. Was he asking me whether India has an international cricket team? well if he knew about cricket, then he wouldnt be that stupid not to know about Sachin, would he?
"Err...Do i play international cricket" I asked for confirmation, stressing on the "I"
"Yes, yes" came the eager reply.
"No" i said.
"Oh man, O man..you look so much like one guy i say playing in the West Indies. Cant remember his name, but i swear you look like him. When you walked in, i was like..Hey this is that cricket star..."
I was shocked. People have told me that i look like X or Y, but this was the first time that a comparison was made to a cricket player.
Needless to say, on the metro, i was thinking about which cricket player he would have meant, but sadly have not been able to figure that one out!!!!
Well..they say that there are 7 people in this world who looks like you...and one of my look alikes happens to be a cricket star!!!!
Friday, July 15, 2005
Monday, July 04, 2005
Disturbing..
Got this from the postsecret blogspot and it was disturbing...
whoever it was, please realize that the very fact that u have posted it shows your remorse for what u have done...so u can start feeling less guilty..
http://photos1.blogger.com/img/296/2612/1024/sooner.jpg
whoever it was, please realize that the very fact that u have posted it shows your remorse for what u have done...so u can start feeling less guilty..
http://photos1.blogger.com/img/296/2612/1024/sooner.jpg
Sunday, July 03, 2005
With Honors..
A beautiful movie which tells the tale of how a "bum" can make a difference to the lives of four Harvard students...
Old one, just came across it and watched it twice already.
http://www.mooviees.com/1190-with-honors/movie
Fire God Angry...
One of the most luxurious hotels in the world..the Ritz Carlton...as seen from my apartment!!
Friday, July 01, 2005
november rain
'Cause nothin' lasts forever
And we both know hearts can change
And it's hard to hold a candle
In the cold November rain
Don't ya think that you need somebody
Don't ya think that you need someone
Everybody needs somebody
You're not the only one
You're not the only one
Why dont we have these kind of good music not created these days???
And we both know hearts can change
And it's hard to hold a candle
In the cold November rain
Don't ya think that you need somebody
Don't ya think that you need someone
Everybody needs somebody
You're not the only one
You're not the only one
Why dont we have these kind of good music not created these days???
Saturday, June 25, 2005
My first attempt at cooking
"I will teach you cooking". This came from my senior colleague who had travelled with me to the US for a training stint. I looked at him with amusement and told him "My wife has been trying to teach me cooking for the last 2 years and has not succeeded. Now you think that you can do it in 1 month(duration for which we are here in US)!!!!He laughs and takes it up as a challenge.I think about it and work out the economical gains of cooking for myself. A proper dinner in US costs you around 8 Dollars (Big Mac or a tandoor restaurant run by a sardarji - choose for yourself) and if i were to cook, then not only it will save me some real dough, but i could also make the food according to the likings of my palate. Got excited about it and wanted to start cooking immediately (I am like that. If i get excited about something, i immediately want to start it off. Guess its like that with most of the Aquarians!!).So the next day, i go and get chicken, oil, tomatoes, chillies, chilli powder and sauce. And then i start my experiments with cooking. End result - amazingly tasty chicken fry which i very magnanimously shared with my colleague who was shocked to find out that i could cook really nice. "This is really good" were his words and i was left thinking how i could achieve this feat when i hadnt even made an omlette before in my life.Guess the reason has to be that of being tired with the angrezi food and wanting to eat something really spicy.Well whatever the reason is, i have decided that i love cooking and am gonna make fish fry tomorrow!!
Called up my wife and told her that i cooked a real cool chicken dish and that my friend liked it and she responds "Well. Good. Once you come back, you can take over that job!!":-)
Called up my wife and told her that i cooked a real cool chicken dish and that my friend liked it and she responds "Well. Good. Once you come back, you can take over that job!!":-)
Friday, June 24, 2005
Wow!!!
I am in awe. Found out that the project that i am working onright now used to have a member who went by the name of Anna Hahn who incidentally is the US womens chess champion (http://www.uschess.org/news/bio/hahn.php) and another parallel system used to be headed by none other than Fischer Black(http://www.mayin.org/ajayshah/MEDIA/1995/black.html
Wow.
And there is a sybase guru in my same department who has written books on sybase and who is one of the people who were actually involved in writing sybase!!!!
Saturday, June 11, 2005
True Friendship - Myth or Reality?
Is there something called as true friendship? If it exists, then what is the criteria for a person to be your true friend?
If he helps you with money when you are in desperate need, then is he your true friend? If he helps you to finish off your deliverables when you need to rush off to meet your spouse for an emergency, then is he your true friend? If he offers to cover up for you when u need to take a vacation, then is he your true friend? If he offers you free advice when you are down, is he your true friend?
Doesnt true friendship mean that we accept the other person as he is? If i expect him to act in a certain way and if he doesnt and if i say that i no longer want to be a friend of his, then arent i being a bad friend? Shouldnt i go back to him and ask him why he acted in the manner he did?
I can say that, he didnt do this, so he is not my true friend. He can say that, i didnt bother to find out why he acted in the way he did, so i am not his true friend.
Friendship is complicated. Or is it?
If he helps you with money when you are in desperate need, then is he your true friend? If he helps you to finish off your deliverables when you need to rush off to meet your spouse for an emergency, then is he your true friend? If he offers to cover up for you when u need to take a vacation, then is he your true friend? If he offers you free advice when you are down, is he your true friend?
Doesnt true friendship mean that we accept the other person as he is? If i expect him to act in a certain way and if he doesnt and if i say that i no longer want to be a friend of his, then arent i being a bad friend? Shouldnt i go back to him and ask him why he acted in the manner he did?
I can say that, he didnt do this, so he is not my true friend. He can say that, i didnt bother to find out why he acted in the way he did, so i am not his true friend.
Friendship is complicated. Or is it?
Saturday, May 21, 2005
From New York.....
My first trip outside my india and i should say that the experience has been rather nice till now, except for the fact that i really miss my better half (particularly during this phase) and my near and dear ones.
I had always maintaned that americans were those egoistic ones, but then, i am slowly in the process of changing that opinion. Hey come one, aren't we indians also a little too much proud of our country? Same applies to all people.
but what stuck me so different over here is the general friendliness of the people. Stangers in lifts greet you with a bright good morning or how-are-u-doing. At least a nod of the head is granted for sure. If you are crossing the road and if there is a taxi speeding down on you, the guy actually stops for you and then puts out his hand and waves to you to cross the road and waits till we do that. I was just thinking if the same sitatuion had happened back in india, the taxi driver would have speeded up and made sure that he went first and then probably would have put out his head and spit out some abuses for trying to get him into trouble.
Well, its only been one week, so its not enought time for me to pass a judgement that americans are more courteous than indians......surely time will tell....
I had always maintaned that americans were those egoistic ones, but then, i am slowly in the process of changing that opinion. Hey come one, aren't we indians also a little too much proud of our country? Same applies to all people.
but what stuck me so different over here is the general friendliness of the people. Stangers in lifts greet you with a bright good morning or how-are-u-doing. At least a nod of the head is granted for sure. If you are crossing the road and if there is a taxi speeding down on you, the guy actually stops for you and then puts out his hand and waves to you to cross the road and waits till we do that. I was just thinking if the same sitatuion had happened back in india, the taxi driver would have speeded up and made sure that he went first and then probably would have put out his head and spit out some abuses for trying to get him into trouble.
Well, its only been one week, so its not enought time for me to pass a judgement that americans are more courteous than indians......surely time will tell....
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