Love आज कल - A review

Now, this is a movie that was begging to be skewered. There was much hype about the film what with it being directed by Imtiaz Ali of Jab We Met fame. Jab I saw this film though, I felt it was quite a let-down. That's not to say it didn't have some good bits...they were few and far in between, is all.

Let me start at the beginning...rather what I assume to be the beginning. The first five minutes whizzed past so fast you could be forgiven for thinking you were watching a trailer. Then ofcourse, it could just be that I was too thick to appreciate the plot. Saif (Jai) and Deepika (Meera) are on course to a break-up, I figured out...even before I knew they were together. However, instead breaking up the lame old way, they decide to celebrate it. A break up party is organized, ostensibly to show that they split up was mutual and so they can part on good terms. In true Bollywood style, that's when they realize how much they love each other though neither of them admits it. Enter, Rishi Kapoor, who catches Jai at this restaurant just after the break up. He recounts his tale of love to Jai, to express his views on the shallowness of love as professed by today's youth.

This sets the stage for a parallel storyline that progresses in a different timeline. It is Saif again who plays the role of a young Rishi Kapoor (Veer) complete with a turban and all. I felt it was a curious choice to cast Saif who nevertheless plays the part pretty well though he can't pull off an authentic Punjabi munda. His romantic interest is Harleen Kaur, a shy, demure punjabi kudi who is everything Veer is not. The story follows Veer's attempts to woo his love and the subtle, endearing romance that ensues. All the while though, there are only ishaaras and almost no talk. It was only after the movie that I discovered, why this part of the story was surprisingly devoid of dialogue...the lady was a Brazilian actress! You could easily be fooled into believing she is a typical Punjabi girl if no one told you otherwise.

To cut a long story short, Jai eventually realizes that his own love for Meera is not too different from what Veer describes. And hence the title...

The music for this film has been (ahem) composed by Pritam. I say composed as I don't yet know which part of the world these tunes were 'inspired' by. Don't get me wrong...he makes great music. Only, its not always entirely his own. There is a mix of both old and new in this movie with songs like Chor Bazaari (Neeraj Sridhar & Sunidhi Chauhan), Twist (Mostly Neeraj Sridhar and a motley group of singers) and Yeh Dooriyan (Mohit Chauhan). Neeraj Sridhar's voice is well suited to the kind of new age songs that he's given and the result is not too bad. Mohit Chauhan is always a pleasure to hear and he didn't disappoint this time either. As is the trend these days, to coerce spectators in to sitting down a little longer, you have the customary context-free song after the end. Ahun Ahun is a Punjabi folk like song with enough to keep everyone happy.

Coming to the actors, Saif was a bit disappointing in his main role as Jai. He sort of makes up for it with his portrayal of a young Veer. Deepika Padukone on the other hand manages to look pretty and does only that. There seemed to be absolutely no chemistry on-screen between Saif and Deepika somehow. In scenes when she's supposed to be talking to Saif, I couldn't help but think she was talking to the screen instead. Her dialogue delivery leaves a lot to be desired. Come to think of it, the dialogues themselves were quite absurd in some places. A case in point is when Meera's newly wedded husband discovers that she loves Jai the morning after their wedding. Meera insists she has to meet Jai and talk to him...her consolation to the poor soul is thus 'मैं तुमसे बाद में माफ़ी मांग लूंगी'!! Try as I might, I failed to understand the sentiment behind such a lame and insensitive statement. Rishi Kapoor as usual delivers a smooth performance as the present day Veer. This combination of him and Saif works quite well as it did in Hum Tum.

Love Aaj Kal is a movie you'll possibly like if you are a fan of either Saif or Deepika. If you like me, who's neither, you're likely to end up wishing you'd spent the money on a more worthwhile pursuit.

जोधा-अकबर (Jodha-Akbar)

जोधा-अकबर is Ashutosh Gowariker's latest chart buster that hit the screens this February. I had been to see it a couple of weeks ago with three of my colleagues, at a theatre here that traditionally screens a lot of Indian movies. Given my usual reluctance, I wasn't thrilled at the prospect of spending three precious hours of my weekend sitting in a dark room being assaulted by flashing pictures! To top it, the movie was set at some period long, long ago in Indian history when people weren't exactly known to burst out in spontaneous song and dance...I was sure it would be painfully dull and also historically inaccurate. Well, that was my initial scepticism anyway. One thing to look forward to was lunch, which was to be at an Indian restaurant called 'Bombay Grill' chosen for its proximity to the theatre complex. We set off in time to make it to the four O' clock show (there was a show every one hour!) and after tucking in some good punjabi food at the afore-mentioned place, arrived to find the parking lot crammed with desis' cars. That gave some hope...The movie couldn't be so bad after all! Or it could just be the initial craze to catch the movie first and being able to brag / crib all about it to everyone else who'd care to listen. As we were entering the main building, we spotted a colleague who was just driving off after seeing the noon show. 'Great movie. You should watch it', was what he said. Greatly heartened by this critical review, we proceeded to march in and buy our tickets. Fortunately, there wasn't much crowd at the counter as most of them were already waiting in line to get in. In typical Indian fashion (no disrespect intended :)), none of the queues were very distinct...it was just a big mass of humanity eager to barge in the moment the doors opened. All we could do was fall in behind some people whom we guessed would be headed towards the same screen as us. When we did make it inside, most of the seats at the back had already been occupied so that left us with seats in the second row - not the best place to be at a theatre. We'd have to crane our necks a bit to be able to see the whole length and breadth of the screen but all that was forgotten as the lights dimmed and it was showtime.

The movie starts off with a disclaimer that there have been many versions of the story surrounding princess Jodha (if that was indeed her name) and this movie was just one other version. Quite necessary, I thought, considering how this could draw a lot of flak from various religious quarters back in India. Then we hear the familiar voice of Amitabh Bachchan tracing the history of mughal rule in India from Babur to Humayun and thereafter Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar. Without delving too much into the story itself, much of which is common knowledge, I shall attempt instead to pick up parts of the movie and pen my thoughts on them.

This is a movie that definitely has to be seen on a large screen to appreciate it. The battle scenes are nicely picturized with all the ingredients to evoke Ooohs and Aaahs from the audience. There are huge armies on both sides peppered with their share of foot soldiers, horses and even elephants. The elephants though did seem a mite artificial though. Watching the armies from both sides converge on each other and the bloodshed that follows, I couldn't but help be reminded of the Brad Pitt starrer, Troy!

It is always refreshing to hear Urdu in a Hindi movie and Jodha Akbar was no exception. However, not everyone can manage to pull off dialogues in Urdu with equal elan. Hrithik Roshan, I felt, was found lacking in this department. Listening to him on screen, it seemed as though he was trying too hard to sound correct...it felt strained. To be fair to him, he does not have the kind of baritone, that for example Amitabh is gifted with. As a result, he almost ends up shouting (you can see the veins in his face standing out) in scenes when a forceful or serious message is to be conveyed. Aishwarya, on the other hand, speaks Hindi for the most part, what with her being a Rajput princess. Kulbhushan Kharbanda and the other old-timers don't leave much to complain about. Ila Arun as Maham anga, the prince's chief nurse, was, to me, one of the best performances in the film. In contrast to this is the character of Jalal's birth mother who could just not utter a simple sentence without giving the impression that she was reading out from a memorized script. Among the others is Sonu Sood, as Raja Sujamal, Jodha's rakhi brother, who has done a decent job of his role. Overall what was evident is that there are few good Urdu speakers left in Bollywood. Either that or the good ones did not get cast in this movie.

Given the magnitude and grandeur of the project, it was only fitting that the music be composed by the maestro A.R Rehman. Of late A.R's songs have seen a subtle shift in style and his score in this film only serves to re-inforce that feeling. 'Khwaja mere Khwaja' is a song that is set in the Sufi style and I can't think of any other music director among the current breed who could have composed such a number. It is wonderfully soothing with what could be called, a touch of the mystic to it. A.R himself has sung the main part of this song and it suits him incredibly well. I almost felt sorry for Hrithik who does a small twirl at the end of this song...that was the only chance he got to display his prowess at dancing! The other song that I liked immensely was "Kehne ko jashn-e-bahara hai" sung by Javed Ali. He was pretty much an unknown name till people heard this piece. I read someplace that he sang in the chorus for 'Kajra re' from Bunty aur Bubli before this. A.R has this incredible knack of being able to mine talented singers/musicians from the depths of Bollywood where they lie in wait for him to present to the world! Javed Ali's rendering of the Urdu lyrics is very good indeed and that adds a lot to the appeal of this number. Next is "Azeem-O-Shaan Shehenshah" which is sort of the peppy song in a movie that does not provide much scope for fast paced music. This song is packed with all kinds of sounds from swords slashing through the air to giant drums beating out an enticing rythym. Its probably not the kind of song you would hum to yourself but you would definitely want to hear it again and again. A.R uses the best vocalists in each genre and it is hardly surprising that he chose Sonu Nigam for 'In lamhon ke daman mein'. The mood of the song lends itself perfectly to the situation on-screen and Sonu's voice only makes it sound better. The only remaining song is 'Man mohana', a deeply devotional bhajan sung by Bela Shinde. At first I thought it was Alka Yagnik but as the song progressed, I could make out it wasn't her. Here's another unheard of voice who shines bright under the skillful direction of A.R. This particular song is a fine example of the great diversity in India...in which other country can you have a movie where a Sufi song is followed by a bhajan?! It happens only in India :).

Jodha-Akbar has its good points and not-so-good ones. Inspite of the latter, of which thankfully there are not too many, I liked the movie. It is definitely worth a watch and that too on a big screen. The rich colour and wide angle shots are just not pleasurable on a TV screen. All in all, a nice attempt at a movie what combines history with the romance of Bollywood! Go see it...

Phantom Parody

If you're wondering what in the world this post is about, let me explain. It all started sometime last week when I got a mail from my friend in Chennai, about an English play by a group of guys who were college mates of a colleague of his (confusing :)?). They called themselves 'The Rebelz' and this was to be their first production according to the mail. Like a lot of other mails I keep getting during the day I glanced through it and relegated it to my Outlook PST to be perused at a later time. Well, as usually happens, I forgot all about it till a frantic mail from my aforementioned friend appeared one evening in my mailbox. He asked if I was willing to come with him to the play. Being my usual procastinating self and not wanting to commit to anything, I replied 'I'm coming as of now'! Pat came the reply, 'Better tell me yes or no, I've got to book tickets!'. Hmmm...Now that he put it that way, I had to make a decision, hadn't I? With some reluctance, I gave in and said that he could count me in. I hardly venture out during my weekend trips back home and so I guessed this would be a nice way to spend some time with friends. Plus, I didn't remember being to an English drama in a long time...that is, since that one time in Calcutta when my english teacher at school packed us off to see a performance of 'A comedy of errors'! I sincerely hoped then that I wouldn't regret my decision...and I am glad to say now that I didn't:)

I must say the day of reckoning came too soon for my liking! It was 11:00 in the morning and I was lazing around, in that particular mood where one feels content with the world, waiting to tuck in my lunch. Thence came a call from a friend I knew in my school days, disturbing my reverie. With not much of an introduction this guy, Shiva, asked me if I would be coming...Pretty open ended question you'd think! Well, those were my exact thoughts then and I wasted no time in voicing them. He said, 'Don't you know...There's a get-together of our class mates from school today at 12:30!'. It seems there was a mail on that in our groups which I had, not surprisingly, not seen. Not wanting to miss out on this occassion to catch up with my buddies, I said I'd be there. He agreed to pick me up from some place that we decided on and ended the call with a stern reminder to be on time! To keep up that promise though I'd have to gobble my lunch, get ready and get to that place in pretty quick time. Doesn't sound like much does it? That's probably 'cause you don't know that finishing a meal in anything less than a half hour, for me, is a challenge akin to learning to play the Violin (which incidentally I partly managed to do!). How I made the rendezvous is another story that I shall tell you another time but suffice it to say that thirty minutes after than the scheduled time, I was standing sheepishly in front of my friend trying to ignore his looks that said 'I knew you'd be late'. Wasting not a minute more, we sped off on his scooty to an eating place (can't think of a better word) called 'Dhaba Express' where we mates from school generally hold our 'get-togethers'. The details of the meet would not interest you readers (assuming there are more than one, of course!) though I'd be more than happy to full you in on them in a separate post. I saw a couple of faces there which seemed totally unfamiliar to me though the feeling wasn't mutual as it later turned out! When it was time to leave, the two faces I alluded to, each in turn said 'Bye Akshay'...Well, I found myself in quite a peculiar situation there! What do you say to someone who supposedly knows who you are whereas you on the other hand didn't know about their existence till that moment!! I had to think quickly and it struck me that honesty would be the best policy (sounds clichéd I admit...but effective nonetheless) to adopt. Summoning all my courage, I politely told them I was sorry but I didn' know their names. Thereupon followed the introductions and I was finally able to place one of the names! I recalled that this person was my competitor at school in the only subject I felt I was ever any good at...English! I said as much to her (Oh! Did I mention that both those 'faces' were of the opposite gender?!) and that led her to exclaim, 'I'm glad atleast you had something good to remember about me'. There you had it...a fair ending to a rather awkward moment if I might say so myself! On that note, we all said our ta-tas and bye-byes and sped off on our own separate ways. Me and another friend of mine, Karthik, decided to hole up at shiva's house. The play (almost forgot about that, didn't we?!) was at 6:00 and I still had some time to kill. We spent some time at this guy's house, talking about our school days, lamenting our present plight and fantasized about future glories! The time soon passed in these idle pastimes and it was almost time to head for the play. I was to show up at my friend Aravind's house where the chief instigator of this whole plot, one Mr. Nagarajan would also be present. Karthik dropped me off at my destination and without any more fuss the three of us took off.

Much to our collective relief we arrived at the scene well before time. My stomach was already grumbling by that time and fortunately the other two also concurred. We decided to skip across the road to an Adyar Bakery outlet that caught our eyes. It was in the basement of an apartment building and something about the place touched a chord of familiarity. It was then that I realized I'd been to this same apartment complex some time back to see off a friend travelling to the U.S! Fancy me, stumbling into the same place again! That thought however was quickly pushed to the back of my head as more immediate requirements took priority. There wasn't much by the way of food available and so we settled on a veg. puff each...after all, beggars can't be choosers! I don't know what it was but I suspect it might've been all that bike riding I did during the day that made me decimate the stuff in record time. Thus, having satiated our hunger we trudged back to the venue of the play

When we reached back there were quite a few people milling about. We stood there along with all those people for some more time till the doors to the auditorium finally opened and we could settle in. Looking around I could see a decent crowd had turned up on the occassion. After a few minutes, the lights dimmed and it was time atlast for the real thing. The story was about an indian software professional, Sam (a business analyst actually) who's been in the US of A for the last few years. As one can expect his lifestyle involves the usual vices of life in america. He juggles more than one girl friend at a time and there is a scene in which he is confronted by one such girl who's just found out he's been pulling the wool over her eyes. He keeps getting calls from his father back in India which he never attends...Such is his life. One fine day he hears from a college friend of his, Sri, informing him that he's in town and would like to meet up. When Sri does arrive there is a comic moment not unlike the ones in Charlie chaplin movies, where they go around in circles, unaware of each other till they bump together with a start! Sri also unwittingly happens to be a witness to the showdown between Sam and his ex-girlfriend that was alluded to earlier. There's a nice touch of comedy in the form of a rapper friend of Sam's,Murgi, who's real name turns out to be a rather tame 'Murugesan'. His sense of alarm when he gets a call from his patti (grandmother) is nicely portrayed and his conversation about 'getting the murungakai from the terrace',etc. though clearly exaggerated (and a jibe at the Iyer community:)), did have everyone in splits!

Sri and Sam spend their time reminiscing and talking of college days and their conversation eventually drifts to more serious topics. Sri talks of a girl he loved while at college, his 'true love', and recounts the last time they met and how they parted. Sam, being the guy he is, rubbishes his friend's sense of romance and his concept of love. Sri, though a little offended, tries to explain to Sam and also conveys his disapproval of the lifestyle he leads. During their chat, they are interrupted many a time by calls from Sam's father, which he cuts off without a second thought. When Sri asks him why, we (the audience, that is!) are presented with a flashback, where a younger Sam returns home late one night and tried to sneak in, only to find his father up and waiting. There follows a battle of words between the two where the father scolds him for being so irresponsible and the works. The scene ends with Sam rudely telling his father that when he gets a job, he'd pay back all the money spent on him! The stage cuts back to the present, where Sri then asks about his mother, Sri almost breaks down and remembers how he was having a good time at a pub while his father desperately tries to contact him to say that his mother was seriously ill. In the morning, he reads a message from this father that informing him that his mother had passed away. Sri then proceeds to leave and the two promise to get together soon. A few days later Sri again drops in and with him is his 'true love' (whose name I forget!). Sam is quite surprised and also a bit delighted at this turn of events. There is a very cute scene here, when Sam walks out to get some refreshments and happens to intrude on the couple gazing into each others' eyes, as he walks back in. Sam eager to know what happened, gets to know how the two bumped into each other after all these years, in the same place, almost as if by divine intervention. After the two take his leave, Sam sits down quietly and looks back at his life, his girl friends, his attitude towards his father, Sri and his lost love. Englightenment dawns of him and he picks up his phone to talk to his father. Thereupon, the curtains come down to signal the end of what was a very beautiful play...a very slickly directed one too!

So, that was it about the 'Phantom Parody'. If you ask me why they named it so,I must admit I still can't figure it out! The best thing would be to ask them yourself...Visit them at http://www.rebelz.in. As enchanted as I was with the play itself, what really delighted me was the fact that here was a bunch of people, who despite holding down full-time IT jobs, had the conviction and the attitude to go ahead and pursue their dreams. Hope it inspires our lot!

Review - Nokia 6235

The Nokia 6235 is one of the latest offerings from the Reliance stable and is a welcome change from the usual dull and boring handsets they had on offer till now! It looks sleek and professional is a vast improvement over my old LG mobile that I've had for about 10 months now! Here's a blow by blow review of the main features:

Screen and User Interface
The screen is a 65k colour TFT LCD. Very colourful indeed but somehow seems a little dull compared to a few other phones I've seen. The 5-way joystick is pretty useful but takes a little time getting used to. The other thing is that it seems way too tight and can be painful sometimes!


Keypad
The keypad buttons are separated horizontally by what I can best describe as vertical dividing strips. The keys are at the same level as the front panels on the phone and not raised like in most other phones. This makes it slightly difficult while typing messages but shouldn't be too much of a problem as the keys are soft. On the whole the tactile feel is good but could have been better.


Power
The battery was a major consideration when changing my handset. My old RD 2130 used to last just over a day during the last few weeks. So far, the battery backup on the 6235 has been decent. It usually lasts two whole days and some. The maximum I've got is two-and-a-half days with medium usage. Charging usually takes about an hour and a half (I could be wrong about this as I haven't measured it accurately!)


Audio
The sound quality is good both with and without the hands-free kit. I've had no problems even when travelling on the road with the usual traffic noises all around. Haven't used the FM radio too much but from what I have I can tell you that it sounds very good indeed! Speaker output too is loud enough I guess.


Camera
The camera captures pics. at 640x480 pixels. So far, pictures I've taken have turned out pretty decent. Quality is good when light is adequate but is very pixelated in low light conditions. The only way I managed to transfer pictures to my PC before I got the DKU-2 cable is thus: Sent images via IR to a Nokia 6600 and from there to my PC using Bluetooth!


Connectivity
The phone can be connected to a PC using a DKU-2 USB cable that costs around Rs 1600/-. Installed Nokia PC Suite first and then connected the phone my comp. The phone was immediately detected and the device registered. Transferring images from the phone was a breeze and the pics. once transferred seemed in good shape too. Setting an image on the comp. as the phone wallpaper is also a pretty simple task. The image cane be scaled and lot of other effects can be applied before you set it as the background. Other things you can do include manage your contacts, set ringtones, organize multimedia content like video and recordings, manage schedules, install applications etc.


Miscellaneous features
On my old LG phone, whenever I added a new contact from either a received message or a call, the recent call list and the message recipient would get updated to show the contact name instead of the number. However, on the 6235, the call register and the message recipient don't change immediately. Its only the next time a message or a call is received that the contact name is shown. Guess its the same with all Nokia phones...

Another nice feature on my RD 2130 was the facility to set multiple alarms. I could set upto 3 alarms at a time which was quite useful particularly whenever I travel. Here, the only option is to change the alarm time which could be dangerous if I forget to change it back to the original value !


My experience with this phone so far has been reasonably good. It looks sleek and also has a professional touch to it. Its two shade grey colour is quite well suited for the workplace as it isn't too flashy.

Gajini - Review!

You might all be surprised when I tell you guys this - I went to see Gajini on saturday! I kinda liked the movie, considering the fact that I hardly see any Tamil movies (that too in theatres!). It was sloppy in quite a few places, but on the whole the movie seems to have been very professionally done. Surya in his role as Sanjay Ramaswamy, has done a really good job and fits into his part quite well. The high point of the movie were the action scenes that were neatly choreographed. There are a few gory scenes, specially the one where the heroine (Asin) is clubbed on the head with a metal rod, but thankfully they are not too protracted.

As I said, there a few glitches that the movie it could have done without. There is one particularly silly dialogue where a police officer, upon seeing phone numbers tatooed on Sanjay Ramaswamy's body, remarks "All these numbers are in 10 digits . Must be cell-phone numbers!". Almost everyone in the theatre burst out in laughter on hearing that! There are a few more scenes in the film that don't make too much sense, but I guess I'll leave you guys to see them for yourselves!

Nayantara's character is totally senseless. She is initially shown as a shy medical student. Then comes this show where she's performing a dance routine and you wonder whether its the same person! The costumes border on vulgarity but fortunately they get more decent (relatively!) as the song moves on! The song is a total misfit in the movie and I wonder why they had it in the place. She does some pretty stupid things in the movie which I won't even comment on.

The other songs are pretty good with Kannviddithu Sopnam Kanden being the best. Bombay Jayshree is simply great in this song! The other song Oru Maalai is also quite nice. The background score throughout the movie is very good and suitably rendered according to the situation on-screen.

The story about Sanjay Ramaswamy and Kalpana (Asin) is very light-hearted and romantic. It seems pretty believable and genuine unlike some other stories. Surya looks really handsome and seems to have added some bulk for his role. All in all, I quite liked the movie. Most people here seem to share my sentiments 'cause tickets were and still are hard to come by. Shows are sold out for days together!

Back after quite some time!

When I started off with this blog I was really excited about having a blog of my own and expected to write some stuff daily. Sadly, I never managed to put up another post after my first (which wasn't all that great either!) till now. This was mostly due to the fact that I became caught up with work and had little time to even think of anything else! However, the more probably cause, I guess (though I hate to admit it!) is that I put off writing anything as I believed I had nothing worthwhile to post.

On the insistence of my friends and my own urge to do something to escape my monotonous existence, I have resolved to become more regular with my posts! I will hopefully be able to keep up this resolve. So, watch this space for more in the coming days!

In the meanwhile, here's something for today. I got mails from quite a few people informing me that today was "World Stealing Day"! You have to reply back telling the person what you would like most to steal from him/her. What a cheezy way to get people to mail you! Just goes to show what imaginative gimmicks people come up with when they have no useful work to do!

Let me know if there're any topics I could write about...

My First Post!

Hi! This is my first venture into the world of blogging!

On my blog you can find random thoughts on a plethora of topics (mostly techy stuff but also anything under the sun!) as and when they flow through my head! Please visit often to find out "Aks Ke Vichar" (Thoughts/opinions of Aks). Also, do not hesitate to comment on my posts - Tell me what you think!