Tanu Weds Manu - And we have to endure it!!!!!

Only if every man was Manu, and no girl on this planet had even a hint of Tanu!’ Director Anand L Rai’s romantic comedy Tanu weds Manu celebrates ‘Arranged Marriages’ and so undoubtedly it will be liked. Because Indians love weddings and everything associated with weddings; the pomp, the show, the confusion, the emotions, jewellery, shopping, gaana bajana, basically the entire paraphernalia.
So, the story is not exclusive. In fact it’s a story written and told ever since movies were being made.

We will break it down in easy steps for you –
1. Boy – Shy, reserved, educated, docile, loner meets girl for arranged marriage falls in love
2. Girl – Brash, loud, extrovert, rebellious carefree loves another man asks the boy to buzz off
3. Boy – Continues to love her and bumps into her at a friends wedding
4. Girl – Starts liking the boy too but still loves the other man
5. Boy- Dejected, waits, waits and waits
6. Girl – Finally realizes she loves the boy, dumps the other man
7. Other man – Villain who in the end displays his humane side
8. Boy weds Girl and both live happily ever after

The End

Cliché? Well no one promised it would be any different. But there is something that sets Tanu weds Manu apart from the others of the same genre and that is the treatment of the film, the dialogues and some good performances. Despite some extremely melodramatic scenes the movie does manage to capture your interest till the end.
Madhavan as Manu, the shy introvert doctor from London is endearing tad over weight, yet that slight chubbiness makes his character seem more real. A normal middle class Indian male is seldom your quintessential ‘Greek God’, and therefore it is easier to relate Madhavan, to Manu your archetypal Indian good boy. Deepak Dobriyal who plays the role of Pappi, Manu’s best friend is outstanding. He is every bit the typical lad from western U.P, loud, brash, loyal and comical. Manu and Pappi together have given some extremely funny scenes. Tanu aka Kangan Ranaut is a fine actress but in urgent need of speech therapy, diction classes or simply tongue transplant! Despite her vivacity, her performance as the young, wild, rebellious Tanu fails to leave a mark. On the contrary, Swara Bhaskar who plays the role of her best friend, delivers a far better performance. She plays the role of a level headed Bihari girl with conviction, even getting the accent right. Jimmy Shergill as the pseudo villain Raja is passé, the hit and miss role did not demand the performance of a life time as it is. Though it is sad to see a talent like him gone waste.

In a nut shell Tanu weds Manu is a light film, with no social message or impact what so ever. There is nothing different about the film, in fact some scenes are so over the top that they end up being a little difficult to digest, if these little hitches are ignored, it still makes for an enjoyable experience. Watch it if you have a weekend to kill and are in mood for some mindless light entertainment.

 

Letter To A TITAN.............

Dear Mr Dhoni,

I am not  a cricket fanatic and never considered cricket to be a religion. The last world cup I followed was in the year 1996 when Ajay Jadeja had thrashed Waqar Yunis of Pakistan for four sixes in an over, but the defeat at Eden Gardens(Kolkatta) shattered a 13 year old's dreams of India winning the world cup. I was 13 then and I am 28 now, times changed, teams changed, matches were played but I was indifferent. Then came  a phase where there were a series of allegations  against the players  for fixing matches and that was the last nail in the coffin for me. According to me Indian Cricket did not deserve all the attention it got and the Indian cricketers were definitely not the Demi Gods they were made out to be. I could never understand why was cricket  equivalent to  religion in India, and could never fathom what was the 'Indian Cricket Mania' all about , until the night of 2nd April 2011! That fateful night answered all my questions and made me wish if it was possible to make cricket THE only religion in India.  That night I experienced euphoria,pride,patriotism,and  felt united with my country and its people like never before. Everywhere I looked I could sense similar emotions, it was as if a set of emotions were being passed through a xerox machine over and over again.. People from all walks of life belonging to diff religions,caste, creed and regions were celebrating being an INDIAN! For that moment no one was different, everyone was one, everything was one, the emotions,the tears of joy,the rapture,  was all one and it was all for one reason...INDIA! 2nd April made me realize what it means to win as a NATION!
I want to thank you and your army of eleven men for making a 28 year old woman feel as hopeful and innocently passionate as a 13 year old  girl again, for instilling a belief that not every man can be bribed, for making her realize why cricket is CRICKET in India, for giving 1.24 billion people a reason to forget their individual identities and unite as a country to celebrate, and for making the world get up and see that leaders indeed are made of a different metal altogether.
  I was not born when India won its Independence, but for me 2nd April 2011 was as close as I could get to feeling what those alive on 15th August 1947 would have felt. I want to  thank you for making me feel nothing else but just an INDIAN again!

Immense Respect
Mayuri Sinha

The World Through My Lens

SOLITUDE

FROM A BOY TO A MAN

CONQUESTS OF A YOUNG MIND

WHO SAYS WE CANT TOUCH THE SUN:)

ATYPICAL INDIAN STREET

MUMBAI AND FREEDOM

BRIDGE YOUR HEARTS SIMILARLY

LIFE IN A METRO

VANITY

BOOKS AND SPECS =INTELLIGENCE? PSEUDO:)

ITS BEHIND BARS FOR THEM PERPETUALLY

I LINK LAND VIA SEA

WATER WATER EVERYWHERE NOT A DROP TO DRINK

MARINE DRIVE AND THE SETTING SUN

WHAT ARE THEY LOOKING AT?

TOWN

IS THERE REALLY ANYTHING KNOWN AS HAUNTED OR IS IT JUST AS WE SEE IT

NATIONAL INTEGRATION

A RAY OF HOPE CAN BE FOUND ANYWHERE

Shah Rukh Bola Khubsoorat Hai Tu.....and she believed it......I Guess Only She And The Director Believed It!

 Somebody please tell me Makrand Deshpande was suffering from chronic alcoholism while making this movie, because that would be the sole reason I would cut him some slack.

The only reason my heart,head and feet agreed to watch SRKBTKH (the abbreviation would give Karan Johar a complex) was because it was directed by Makrand Deshpande . A renowned theater actor/director, some of his plays have been quite exemplary and therefore I got lured into believing that his film would follow suit. But alas, i was in for huge disappointment. Because the movie was not just bad it was VERY BAD!

So, picture this : I reach the ticket counter and when I start saying the name of the movie, it takes me two minutes to finally say the full name followed by a smirk from the guy selling the ticket. That was my first cue, that i should just turn and run but then the movie buff in me said ” What would this fool sitting behind the counter know about cinema anyway, he s dismissing it just because the movie has a funny name! ” So, I took the ticket and went inside the theater where I got my second cue : The theater had just three people including me! But again the eternal optimist in me said “Most of the people would not watch it because it is a small budget film, and not as hyped” and so I sat on my seat awaiting a treat in the name of cinema. Instead what I got was a cinema aficionado’s nightmare. After the first fifteen minutes the only reason I sat through the entire movie was because as a’ responsible movie buff’, I had to write this review to prevent my compatriots from making the same mistake.

The movie is the story of Laali ( Preetika) who lives in a shanty in Mumbai and sells flowers at the traffic signals for a living. One day Laali bumps into Shah Rukh Khan at one of the signals and he tells her that she is beautiful. This one compliment brings about an entire paradigm shift in her life. She starts ignoring he ex flame John, who in turn is being ardently pursued by Champa, the local prostitute. But John loves Laali and Laali post the compliment becomes as staunch a devotee of Shah Rukh Khan as Meera was of Lord Krishna. She starts treating SRK as god, and has this belief that he would save her from any adversity in life. In between all of this there is a small time ‘bhai’ (Makrand Deshpandey) who tries to force John to marry Champa ( the prostitute) and a journalist who wants to make a story on Laali’s life. If I were to draw parallels between SBKHT and another movie I’d say it is the most skewed version of Devdas, with Paro becoming the ‘Devdasi’ of SRK and chandramukhi (champa) trying to kill Paro to win Devdas’s (John) affection

In a nut shell, the  movie is about the effect of cinema and  film stars on the lives of small timers. It tries to explore the psyche of  your archetypal bollywood fan who keeps his favourite movie star next to and at times even at par with god. Interesting perspective I agree, but the treatment is completely flawed. Considering the fact that it is a small budget film, I was not expecting brilliant cinematography or out of the world camera work but  i was expecting  a gripping narration, crisp editing, display of some brilliant performances and a lot of depth and substance. Unfortunately, I got none. The acting was below average, Laali at times seems too polished to be a flower seller living in the slums of Mumbai, John her lover has a constant dead pan expression on his face and Champa the prostitute is far too over the top. Makrand Deshpande paints a dismal picture as the local ‘BHAI’. Rather than looking macho he looks funny, especially the fight sequences. Never in the history of Indian or World cinema has a quintessential ‘bhai’ been so scrawny,and it is funny and highly unrealistic to watch him beat up four men at a time. The narration is weak and does not follow a thread, by the end of it you wonder what was the director trying to do? and one of the reasons the narration seemed poor was bad editing. The editing made the movie  jerky and rough most of times and at times too slow. That explains why I slept off in the middle for ten minutes or so. In my opinion Makrand Deshpanday faltered because he tried to incorporate everything into one film, he tried to make it meaningful and realistic with all the commercial flavours induced. The result quite obviously was a complete hotchpotch. What could have been made into an outstanding film, turned out to be a director’s feeble and disastrous attempt at trying to make meaningful cinema.

Despite the movie being a disaster, the entire experience did teach me a few things.

a) If the guy at the ticket counter of a movie theaters smirks when you take the movies name: Without batting an eyelid go for another movie, this one is surely disastrous.

b) If there are few people in the theater to watch a film, it is not because the ones who decided to skip it are foolish, on the contrary the ones who have decided to see it are!

c) Every small budget film is not good and therefore need not be promoted only because it is small and needs to be encouraged.

d) Reviewing movies is not such a cool job after all, enduring a bad film just because you have to review it can be as bad as getting tortured by the Japanese.

Despite my warnings and sharing of my learnings if you still decide to give this movie a shot, then please do review it as well. I’d love to read it!

Those Kind Wrinkled Eyes

As a child,
when drawn deep into my thoughts,

post a gloomy day,

introspecting on life ,

and its anomalous ways,

head cast down,

feeling an abstruse load bear upon my spine

I would slowly look up,

and a gaze accosted mine,

tender yet wise,

affectionate sans any vice,

suddenly my face,

would break into a smile,

as I looked into, those kind wrinkled eyes.

They seemed to,

tell a story,

of the times gone by,

the saga of a lifetime,

concealed from you and I,

narrating countless memoirs,

of life's short spells,

small spurts of happiness,

followed by afflictions from hell.

That gaze spelled naivete,

of an innocent child,

the passion, hunger and zest,

of youth gone wild.

exuding strength acquired

 through years of toil,

maturity inducing calmness,

under circumstances that make,

young blood boil.

Those eyes were pools of sapience,

wisdom,

no book can teach,

attained through life's experiences ,

and not from what saints preach.

an expression,

begging forgiveness

for all acts of vice,

in turn sending a message:

nothing is forever nice.

They were the gateway to a journey,

an odyssey called life,

to be lived and revered

in moments,

of both harmony or strife.

those gates

closed one day,

never to open again,

leaving me with an ironical feeling,

of immense loss,

and unparalleled gain.

Today,

when drawn deep into my thoughts

post a gloomy day,

introspecting on life ,

and its anomalous ways,

head cast down,

feeling an abstruse load bear upon my spine,

I still look up,

with the hope of finding that gaze accosting mine,

its absence forms tears,

at the corner of my eyes,

but a feeling in my heart,

breaks my face into ,

a smile.

A feeling that seems to say,

that someday in someway,

my gaze would also break a face into a smile,

help it shed its worries,

atleast for a while,

impart eternal wisdom,

sans verbal advice,

and to that someone,

I would be,

Those kind wrinkled eyes.

I SUPPORT THIS CAUSE.......AND I HOPE YOU ALL DO AS WELL!

When My Camera Went CLICK!:)

A TYPICAL DAY

AND MILES TO GO BEFORE I SLEEP

RED GIANT

DROPS AND DREAMS

THE CLOCK TOWER

IMPERIAL

HAIL  DEMOCRACY

HAJI ALI -MUMBAI

REMENANTS OF THE RAJ

MY CITY AT NIGHT: LOOKS LIKE A BRIDE

PSYCHEDYLLIC

CHAWL WITH A STATEMENT AND SATTELITE:)

POST CARDS FROM MUMBAI

AH! HELLO!!

LIFELINE

PICTURE OF A COLOURLESS LIFE

VERSION OF THE TAJ

FREEDOM AND LAND....I CHOOSE FREEDOM:)

I WAS IMPORTANT TOO ONCE UPON A TIME

Rakht Charita : Gave Me A Headache

What happens when a film maker believes himself to be Goliath and treats the art of film making as David? He becomes Ram Gopal Verma. Forgetting that in the end the Goliath falls. This Goliath of bollywood shall soon meet the same end if he does not realise in time. Ram Gopal Verma's regression from an intelligent craftsman to a pompous,self absorbed fool is a classic example of how, the day a creative genius starts thinking of himself as 'CREATIVITY' he ceases to be creative. It is sad to see the the man who gave us brilliant movies like Satya, Rangeela, Kaun, Bhoot, Raat and Company loose his sanity due to his egocentricity and conceitedness.Despite hearing bad reviews from every quarter, I decided to watch Rakht Charitra because it was directed by Ram Gopal Verma, and somewhere I had not given up on the man's craft yet. But to say that this one time' Ramu' fan was thoroughly disappointed would be an understatement.If I were to describe his latest much hyped release in one word it would be 'Painful'. Painful because not only does it pain to see RGV deliver such crap, but also because you would literally suffer from pain as well : I actually had developed a migraine by the time the movie ended.

The story in a nut shell is about Revenge. In the entire movie every character is seeking some revenge or the other and their vengeance is bloody and filled with gore. If we were to tag line it a la Karan Johar style then my tag line for Rakht Charitra would be "It's All About Killing Your Enemy". I think post Sarkar RGV has stopped thinking. Ironically his latest seemed like a rip off from his previous (Sarkar) but a deplorable version. The background score was pseudo and totally unnecessary at times, it was almost as if the 'govinda govinda' chant from Sarkar was replaced by chamunda jap and the word Rakht Charitra repeated in different tones. Who says that a background score is needed in every scene to make it impactful? I have seen a lot of moves with minimal background score leaving a greater impact. The movie also has a voice narrative, and the voice that is narrating the story makes you want to go inside the screen and gag him to shut him up.It is raucous ,acrid and highly annoying. Guess Amitabh Bachchan refused to lend his voice ( I'm sure being the smart man that he is,he knew what he was getting into) and they just about picked up anyone and that anyone has done a terrible job.

Now, we progress to analysing the acting, I would  have one word for it "Over The Top". Every one is extremely animated and there are so many characters that it tends to confuse the audience. For your and my benefit, I would not even make the mistake of describing every character's performance. Though Shatrughan Sinha deserves a special mention : He plays the character of Shivaji, an onscreen portrayal of N.T.R, and despite all his efforts to bring out an outstanding performance, fails miserably. His accent is part bihari,part telegu and at times even Goan and the famous' hand gesticulation' remains albeit in a different form. To sum it up 'Shatru Ji' had me laughing for all the wrong reasons. Vivek Oberoi seems to be trying too hard and bears a constant frown throughout the movie. I guess that is his way of showing anger,worry,disgust,contempt and a myriad of other emotions. If he expects to match up to talents like Ranbir Kapoor , Hritik Roshan et all then he better pull up his socks before he falls into an abyss of oblivion. The only actor to have delivered a performance worth reckoning with is Abhimanyu Singh, controlled and restrained he has played the character of a mildly psychotic Bukha Singh with honesty and conviction. Cinematography is cliche with the camera angles being a typical RGV post Sarkar and the direction reeks of ingenuity.If you want to watch a bad version of Sarkar with bad acting... go watch Rakht Charitra.

It is sad that I have had nothing good to write about a Ram Gopal Verma film,but that unfortunately is the truth. A movie to avoid like plague and if you still would not believe what you have read and would like to give it a shot (being a once upon a time ramu fan like me) please carry a strip of disprin along with you. Mark my words, you will need it.

P.S : The audacity of the man appalled me when the movie ends with the announcement of a Part 2 to be released in November. Ram Gopal Verma has begun his journey on the highway to hell for' film makers'...... may his soul rest in peace!

The Essence Of Travelling.

Robert Louis Stevenson very famously said " I travel not to go anywhere, but to go.I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move".

As a child I despised geography , and I give full credit of that hatred to the Indian education system. Right from the inception of our academic charade the only thing taught in the name of education is 'How to mug up and spew it out'. Imagine, a subject like geography which is all about travel and experiences forced down a child's throat like a nauseating glass of milk. Distaste for any act performed under coercion is natural, and this explained my aversion to geography. The reason why I choose to highlight my abhorrence for this subject as a child in particular, is to give my present irony laced love for it  more meaning. As an adult I have come to love geography, because as an adult I got aquainted with the essence of geography : Travelling.
Travelling as I have grown to realise, is all about exploration, adventure,knowledge,curiosity and spirituality. If I were to make my own quote on travel i'd say "Travelling is all about life". My metamorphosis from a geography phobic 8 yr old to a 28 yr old travel freak is a story in itself.

 The entire credit for this transmogrification goes to my father,a gypsy at heart tied down by social norms.If he had his way, he would constantly be on the move and I guess the genes just got passed onto me. Being on the move makes me feel alive, it defines life for me and gives it a new found meaning.I was a nomad since childhood, prolonged consistency bored me. I would start feeling stagnated and would almost pray for change. Unlike other children, I loved changing schools because it gave me an opportunity to meet new people and make new friends. I would be elated whenever my father got transferred to a new city,new city meant everything new, new city meant change,new city meant movement. So, while everyone else would groan and grunt anticipating the inconvenience attached to moving from one place to another, my eyes would secretly gleam and I would see its faint reflection in my father's eyes as well. Hence, the gypsy in me was born very early on in life.

Ask an itinerant and he would tell you that travelling  is a form of education in itself. Thus, my short geography story in the beginning. The sole purpose of education is to impart  knowledge and wisdom, both of which you gain in abundance as a traveler. While travelling to a new place if you make an attempt to soak in their culture,traditions and lifestyle, if you make an attempt to soak in the essence of that land, you absorb a lot more than what 12 years of class room studies will teach you. I am not propagating banishing of the class room system, I am only highlighting the perks of travelling. Travelling broadens an individuals perspective and helps him evolve as a human being. Most of us live our entire lives in a cocoon made up of our social set up, family,friends and immediate surroundings, we only believe what we have been taught to believe and die within the same confined walls of the cocoon. Travelling makes a butterfly out of us.

A lot of people tend to confuse Travel with vacation. In Goa, at a beach shack drinking beer is an idea of travel for many. If i were to recreate that ambiance in Bombay, most of them would not even make an attempt to go to Goa. This is vacation not travelling. To sit,drink and spend a leisurely weekend, an airconditioned room would also suffice.But, if you call yourself a traveler you need to venture out,explore,absorb,assimilate and feel the pulse of the place. You need to connect with the place so that when you leave, you feel you are leaving home.  See the world through a traveler's eyes every land is his home, every culture belongs to him and every tradition has a familiar fragrance. If we all unleashed that wanderer within us the world would have no boundaries, there would be no cocoons, only butterflies: choosing destinations at will.
 So, release the gypsy within you spread your wings and  make the world your oyster. We get to live just once and before we die we owe it to ourselves to completely explore this place called earth which god decided to make our home.  Bon Voyage!!:)

Anjaana Anjaani - The Latest Bollywood Musical:)

"Too many songs" thats one common line that reverberated off my eardrums,while I was on my way out of the theater post the Anjaan Anjaani experience. I would not dispute the fact either, but then my face bore another expression as well and that was a smile..Anjaan Anjaani does not boast of a great script, infact on a retrospect if Bollywood were an ice cream parlour  and you took a  dollop of Serendipity, half a dollop of Jab We Met and mixed it with a new suicide angle, you ll have the latest flavour called Anjaani Anjaani. But a flavour nonetheless. If you were to ask me is it a great movie I'd say 'no', if you were to ask me is it the best of bollywood this season I'd again say a 'no',but if you were to ask me should I go watch it once I'd say 'yes'.
A romantic comedy, Anjaani Anjaani is about two strangers Akash(Ranbir Kapoor) and Kiara (Priyanka Chopra) who bump into each other at the Washington bridge one night while trying to commit suicide. After their repeated failed attempts to kill themselves, they decide to live for another 20 days and live each day as if its their last. Thus begins the story of two strangers and their 20 day journey. A journey which has fewer dialogues as compared to the songs, thus I rechristened the movie a musical.
So 'Why' should you not watch Anjaana Anjaani or let me rephrase this sentence' Who' should not watch  Anjaana Anjaani ? Well if you are an ardent meaningful cinema fan, dont go for this one, if you are bored of the usual bollywood candy floss flicks, then thank me for warning you in advance, if you hate hindi songs, then you ll be pulling your hair by the end of the movie and last but not the least if you cant stand Ranbir Kapoor (highly doubtful) or Priyanka Chopra( no comments) then avoid this movie like plague. Because the movie has no one else but them, and this is what gets me to answer the Why you 'Should' watch Anjaana Anjaani query. Watch it to witness an exceptionally honest display of theatrical skills by the two stallions from the bollywood stable. Priyanka Chopra never ceases to surprise me, so honed and sharp are her acting skills that the girl can even bring variations while enacting a drunk scene.She is endearing as the young, vivacious, brash yet vulnerable and innocent Kiara. Ranbir Kapoor fits the role of the brutally ambitious, but given up on life invest ment banker Akash to the 'T' ( I can foresee the Khan throne wobbling)'.They manage to make the entire movie look like an enviable journey, a tad illogical but the sheer magnificence of their performance makes you believe in this too good to be true story. Ranbir and Priyanka's chemistry weaves magic,their acting displays honesty and together they have managed to deliver an enthralling performance.
Siddharth Anand s latest is clearly not a National Award worthy attempt, but definitely not worth dismissing either. I m not going ga ga over the movie and I  m sure most of you would not as well. But if you do decide to give this latest bollywood popcorn flick two hours of your time I assure you, you would not be cursing me for making you waste your money.

P.S : Just to be on the safer side, go for the morning show. They burn a smaller hole in your pocket.:)