Slices of south - South of Nowhere

Monday, July 25, 2005

Newsmuse - Rather Newsjuice, Lakalakalaka 100 times...


This happens only in India!!! To be more specific, it happens only in SouthIndia where hero worship of movie stars stretch limits.. You need a seventh sense to appreciate these acts. I have it in abundance J

News: The Times of India, Bangalore edition, dated 25th July 2005, states that in Coimbatore, TamilNadu, a fan of SuperStar – Badshah – Karuppu Minnal (these three pre-fixes alone may still not appease the hunger of die-hard Rajini Fans; Note: the third superlative translates to “Black Lightening”) Rajinikanth has done something that may enter the record books. He has been seeing the latest sensational masala caper, “Chandramukhi”, featuring Thalaivar (means “Leader”, as affectionately called by fans) on all the first 100 days of the movie, since its ‘world-wide’ release on April 14th, atleast for one show on each day. The special part is that the theatre management after knowing that this person is doing something great for movie patrons on the 50th day of the movie run, sponsored his ticket for free on the remaining 50 days.

Comment: Watz there in looks? Dark skinned - you may be, Mother Nature and Father Time ganging upon you – doesn’t matter, insanity plethora in your movies – so what, contrasting persona in real life against reel life – we adore… Thaleeva, just flash your zillion voltage smile and run through your ruffled hair – we can never get tired of watching you again and again ... As you say, it is nothing but, “rRepeatu”

Official Quote of the day...

Sometimes in official communications, you find certain parts of the communication very interesting, with the writer trying to get his point across hard and right. One such incidence here…

When you go to buy "Jalebee" at the sweet shop, does the shop keeper give you the same in your hands or packages it properly and give it to you?”

This was a written quote in an effort to get the team do the make-up and facial work done properly for their deliverables (codes, documents etc.) before delivery to the customer J

I love jalebees, but let me get back to packing them!

 

P.S.: “Jalebee” is a delicious (if made with proper hands) sweet dish available in India

Friday, July 22, 2005

Potter pots yet again...


So the potter mania is ON again.. I was out on a domestic travel across the length of the nation (from bangalore to mumbai to delhi and back) and found all across in the bookstands, Rowling reigns supreme… (It might disturb you to know that the pdf version of the book is also hot among e-readers. The picture attached is the front page of the pdf!!! Piracy acrobats!)

With very imaginative folk-lores and epics being embibed in our culture, why are people hooked on to Harry Potter and his friends’ adventures? Is it Rowling's “out of the box” imaginative skills that led to creation of one whole potter world full of witches, pure-bloods and muggles? Is it the game of snitches and other magic abracadabra that hooks in? I suppose it is a mix of all above which is given an extra-special topping through a human touch to the non-human world described in the series…

I love the series just for the magical transportation it does to me. It transports me to my childhood - school-days;switches on the flashback button in me. The boy in me is brought out smiling and enjoying the mischiefs, thrilled at the adventures and sharing the spirit of lead characters throughout. That is exactly where I think Rowling strikes a chord with the adult readers. In this neo-age wherein geeky stuff and something that is scandalizing is sure to fire up the book-stands, this book stands out by sheer difference – take you for a trip across. No surprise that it is widely popular among adults as it is among children. Afterall, who doesn’t like to live ever as a child?

Thursday, July 14, 2005

Sarkar(Hindi), Dus(Hindi), Pandippada(Mal) - Short takes - Movie reviews...

·         Sarkar (Hindi):

Starting straight with a disclaimer that “this isn’t original. Itz inspired from “GodFather”, the movie moves on well.. The mood is right, all the men characters well established and etched (except for the woman characters which could be copy pasted from any TV serial or any Hindi movie before this!!!), the presentation is slick and the movie moves on with a grip. Until the second half where Al pacino aka Abbi Bachan has to take over from the senior. The screenplay is very loose, the junior kills all the baddies before you realise the movie is over! The BGM (Background music) was just amajing… The music director has tried something innovative but somehow wrong notes fall on wrong places most of the times (especially the “Govinda” part is plain irritating).

Verdict: Overall, a beautiful, well crafted Wax statue, which doesn’t stirr a soul or leave any imprint on you… Will just melt away in notime… Better inspired, preferrably, self-inspired work next time please, Ramu…

·         Dus (Hindi):

A sleek, jazzy movie with zero depth or content. Makes the earlier movie look a classic…(A fine performance from Pankaj Kapoor nevertheless).. Verdict: Dus, a tech fizz, but misses the bus straight away.. Give it a miss.

·         Pandippada (Malayalam):

What could have been a wonderful rollicking comedy, peters down in the second half. Fine comic moments fill the first half thanks to Dileep, Harisri Asokan, Cochin Haneefa and Salim combo.. Second half tending towards high voltage melodrama doesn’t impress. Prakash Raj makes a decent first impression as a lovable villain in Malludom. Verdict: See the first half and walk back home!

 

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Rediff Goofs! - National Awards, A Live coverage on Rediff caught red...

The Indian Oscars is out… The internet sites have started fighting with time to give the verdicts first-hand to load us in joy with inconsistent news! Here is Rediff’s blooper in detail…

Reported by the (web)site correspondent Bart J….

Home > Movies > Report

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Saif, Ash win National awards

July 13, 2005 11:49 IST
Last Updated: July 13, 2005 14:45 IST



Saif Ali Khan won the Best Actor award and Aishwarya Rai was judged Best Actress in the annual National Film Awards announced on Wednesday.

Saif won the award for last year's hit, Hum Tum, directed by Kunal Kohli. Ash bagged the award for Rituparno Ghosh's Raincoat.

Buddhadeb Dasgupta won the Best Director award for his Bengali film, Swapner Din, starring Prasenjit Chatterjee and Rimii Sen.

Madhur Bhandarkar's critically acclaimed film Page 3, starring Konkona Sen-Sharma, bagged the Best Film award.

Also Read:
Did Ash deserve a National Award?

With reference to the link at the end of previous article the next article in us.rediff.com says,


Home > Movies > Message Board

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July 13, 2005

Aishwarya Rai is perhaps the most beautiful actress in Bollywood today.

But is she the best actress in India?

Ash won the Best Actress National Award for her performance in Rituparno Ghosh's Raincoat.

Dressed in a faded sari, Ash played a poor and worn-out Bengali housewife in a somewhat critically acclaimed film, costarring Ajay Devgan.

But was she so outstanding that she beat the likes of Rani Mukerji, Meera Jasmine, Rituparna Sengupta and other actresses?

Did she deserve a National Award for her performance in Raincoat? Tell us!

Finally Rediff Prints the correct FINAL VERDICT as this!!!

Somebody said that the role of media is to reach the right news at the right time to the common people. In the internet age, it is all about the attention of eye-balls,search engines and mouse-clicks and hence, your brain has become a server. Keep refreshing your memory pages as it gets uploaded on the web-server… As hot as it gets.. Traversing an optimising path towards the right news.. Letz keep traversing along the net…

End Note: I am not sure these pages that I’ve printed in the blog would be available now.. Rediff, within its rights, might have deleted these pages. I can’t still stop laughing at those who voted for Ash in that poll which would last/lasted a brief period!!!

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Newsmuse - Face of Indian Administration...


News in picture:
Scene: A flood affected area of Vadodara, Gujrat
Cast: Joint Commissioner of Police, K. Kumaraswamy, riding on the shoulders of a Constable to save his feet and trousers from Flood Water!!!
Source: The Indian Express, July 2

Thought:
Is the Constable gonna become an Inspector on reaching the shore successfully or gonna get graded down on stepping into an open manhole underwater??

Monday, July 11, 2005

The Joy of Galli cricket...

Precautionary note: This post might contain liberal sprinkling of cricketing terminologies, intentionally and not so …

The joy is unravelled…

First the definition… ‘Galli cricket’ (street cricket, in literal translation) is the cricket game (or its closely resembling variants), played in a confined place (much smaller than a cricket ground) with rules applicable to the place and surroundings, the skill level of players, the kind of instruments used (it could be something resembling the bat, ball, stumps, bails, pads or the actual ones themselves!) and finally the collective knowledge of people involved! Let me detail the game further..

Place is the first parameter that is gonna set rules of the game. It could be played anywhere – in front of your house, street, busy road amidst traffic (come to india, I’ll show you how), in your school/college lobby, hostel room etc etc. If you are gonna play in a street corner, the rule could be something like “if the ball directly goes into the compound-wall of any of the surrounding houses, the batsman is out”. If you are gonna play in a narrow confined place (say 10 ft by 5 ft), the rule could be one-tip-out. “one-tip-out” is basically the batsman is out even if the fielder fields/catches the ball after one-bounce (it could be on floor or wall or surroundings like tree or a passing victim, by-stander, pedestrian, dog, cat and the likes). In one-tip-rule, there could be add-on (aka plug-in) rules like, one-tip-one-hand, which means the one-tip catch has to be taken in one-hand while a direct catch could be with both hands. There might be innovative rules, again based on the place.. If straight across the pitch, there is a house, the rule could be “If the ball directly lands in the house and returns back to the playing area without making any material or human damages (the former being more important than the latter), it would be declared a ‘sixer’”. On the other hand, if it damages material, say window pane, bulbs, tube-lights etc, then the incumbant batsman, who played that master shot would bear the consequences and declared out! (In some places, he could be let off with just the ‘out’ and a warning against further damages).. The place and hence the space available also many-a-times determine whether it is going to be a full-arm action, full-arm throw or even under-arm game…

Next thing is the skill level of players… This would mostly be the question of, “can a decent set of players rotate their arms and do a full bowling action?”. If yes, then the players would be equally divided and the game is all set. Else, chucking would be allowed in its various forms. In some places, the speed of chucking (throw) would be a bottleneck. Fast throws may not be allowed. The batsman can make a protest (most of the times on being out to a good ball) against speed-chucking. The art of ‘human-speedometering’ is something to be perfected over number of times of playing. Depending on the support received for such protests, the batsman can be given a reprieve… The collective skill level of players involved could also determine things like lbw (leg-before-wicket) rules, no-ball rules, wide, run-outs etc.

The instruments used…Many a places, the stumps would be drawn on wall (which means the wicket-keeping, slipping and third-manning is done by the wall itself!) using charcoal or it could be a pile of big blocks of stones or it could be three sticks grounded (the diameter of sticks could vary drastically with the base-criterion being that it should be visible to naked human eyes). The bat could be something bat-shaped (not the animal as per the wide understanding of the game).. It could be the exam-writing-pad to the coconut-leaf back-bone to a proper willow… The ball could be again something ball shaped ;) The material could be rubber, cork or even stone ( and yes, they use leather-cricket balls in posh gallis)…

Other than the aspects of the game which themselves makes it interesting, the best part of ‘Galli cricket’ is the fights involved. Galli cricket cannot be complete without a good dosage of fights… Opposite teams normally behave like india-pakistan at war. The fights could be between a player and the umpire (normally of the batting team), player and an opponent, player and set of opponents, player and the opposite team, team vs team and sometimes within the team! The fight could be on the half-baked knowledge of rules, on chucking when it is not allowed, on chucking against the set-chucking-norms, ball bouncing off the arms and going to the fielder and not the bat and sometimes on things like “did the stump fall off due to the ball or the bat hitting the stumps or due to the wind?”. The fighting would obviously mean taking the stumps in hand as weapon, using the bat to hit-out and yes, throwing the ball at one’s balls… You can see lots of inner—nested-looping of games within cricket when the fight starts.. Games like running and catching, throw-ball, WWF wresting, high-jump (to cross the compound-walls to run towards shelters of safetly), kabbadi (another popular indian game) etc could be exercised to make the fight wholesome. The resolution of such fights would defy any six-sensed human-beings common sense… The fights would end in some time (ranging between 2 mins to 30 mins normally), with very weird settlements. Sometimes, the fight would’ve originated contesting a caught-behind decision of mr.x by mr.y, the settlement might be barring mr.z from future games played in that community. It is all in the galli cricket.

Overall, to formalise the joys, Galli cricket brings back the ancestoral qualities of every human being and since it is good to preserve the values and a must to remember one’s roots, it is very essential that every eligible (no-bar) homo sapien should start playing the galli cricket. Like a cherry-topping, the reward of playing the game could be flattering the galli gals (who would be observing the game invariably from the windows of their respective homes) with the gentlemanly demeanors exhibited in the sport…

Friday, July 08, 2005

Anniyan - "Indian" ridiculed - Movie Review

Dynamic Question and Answers – Objective Type (Dynamic, bcoz a question could be based on the preceding answers). Please answer the following questions in not more than a line:-

a) What is “Anniyan” about?
It is about a man’s reaction to routine small mistakes that people commit in their everyday life.

b) Theme seems good. How was the storyline?
Storyline is “Indian”, “Gentleman” and few english movies put in a mixer grinder and churned out.

c) Hmm.. How was the Screenplay?
Screenplay – Illogical (as ever in Shankar’s movies) with spices like Garuda Puranam, Time-Slice Matrix stunt, Multiple Personality Disorder (the same MPD as in ‘Chandramukhi’) put in.

d) Plusses of the movie?
Vikram’s acting in the 3 characters, inspite of badly characterised ‘Remo’, Vivek’s comedy, Music in songs to some extent and the basic positive message of the theme

e) Minuses?
Heroine, Loopholes, Loudness of characters (all in general), misuse of talented artistes, Shoddy graphics, Wastage of money

f) Highlight of the movie?
Vikram’s acting in the interrogation scene with PrakashRaj

g) Is Shankar stuffed out?
Yes it seems with this movie but hope not – expect better effort from next time with lesser money spent ;)

h) Final Verdict?
Time-pass - Not worth the hype but worth the ticket money (Rs.50)!

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

NewsMuse - AHB...

This would be a irregularly regular post on some news item / fact that I come across in a magazine, newspaper etc…

Muse: To start off, read a news snippet in “The Week” magazine dated july 3rd, 2005… It says, “Beggars in Calcutta, West Bengal have formed an association called ‘Association of Honest Beggars’. By terming ‘Honest’, this association weeds off those beggars with criminal records.”

Thought: If honesty can be looked at in a profession (?!) like begging, why not in politics too? For sure, majority of state assemblies and a good section of national assembly would get left out of the association – Not that it is gonna mean anything to them…. All in the game!

Monday, July 04, 2005

Fedex rolls on to higher planes...


Yes, itz about Wimbledon 2005. Mahesh Mixed Bhupathi ensured that Indian name is there amongst winners, which is wonderful and it was nice to see Williams come and go back with the trophy… But eclipsing all, is to me, Fedex steam rolling his opponents and cruising along to his third Wimbledon victory. In sports, normally I tend to support the underdogs. But incase of Federer, who rogered the fellow competitors, my heart was always beating for him. Before the finals, I predicted a three setter with Federer on tops and he did it, in style, playing like a king which only a very few can afford to. Going by the post-match press conferences - admissions from Roddick, Hewitt and the yester year greats, it seems we are watching some legend in action live! Am extremely happy to hear that he is right up there with some greats going to the extent of titling him the all-time great!

Though it is good to see challenges against everything established, sometimes it feels nice to know that sun always rises in the east… Comeon Fedex, go on and on like this, we can never get tired of seeing an (ch)ar(m)tiste in flow…

Sunday, July 03, 2005

Just like that...

  • Statement: Well, bangalore is becoming "Capital"istic with a capital C, to the core…
  • Proof: Been to Forum PVR on Friday evening to meet a friend and to catch up on some movie. Out of the 9 odd movies running, tickets to just one crap movie was available which we ignored. To addup to the agony tickets for the movie wasn’t available over the weekend too. Roamed around the Forum mall (this is one mall which is comparable to ones in the US of A) window-shopped the various luxury and extra luxury items displayed (this place is certainly not for middle class and lower) and returned home. (FYI, the tickets at PVR is at the minimum, atleast twice what it would cost in other Non-Multiplex Theatres (NMTs); maximum ranges to 10 times in other NMTs). Gone are those good old days when you could go to a movie theatre 15 minutes before the show (unless it is first weekend show on evenings), get a ticket walk with fried peanuts, drink coffee and eat popcorn in the interval and come back home peacefully without making a huge dent in the purse. Nowadays, Money is there, You throw it everywhere, still you do not get what you want – peace… Maybe, with changing times, peace is attaining a new meaning by itself… RIP…

Friday, July 01, 2005

Wanted: Munnabhai MBA!

This post is all about the MBA grads fresh out of their colleges.. These people join some organisation and immediately start counting the days till the CEO seat is goanna be offered to them.. However the reality teaches them that it isn’t a fancy ramp walk and puts them in place. However till they get back to reality they are afflicted by a disease called “I-am-neo”! During this phase you can observe many characteristics among which there is one I want to write in detail about…

Grade x,y,tom,dick and harry syndrome: During this phase they would find fellow MBAs from other institutes and based in order of insti ranking, CGPA, technical knowledge (which is normally rare to find among this breed) and other knowledge exhibited due to another disease acquired during MBA called “keep-moving-your-mouth” (lips, tongue and deep inside unto base!). This is an on-going process until groups are established and lines are drawn clearly. Recently I receive a mail from a fella MBA saying, “you can subscribe to a yahoogroups called MBAS-OrgnName@yahoogroups.com. This would help you to keep in touch with the fella Biz mangers, oops, managers and find opportunities in other groups and divisions earlier (read that as before the organisation knows about it) informally. Also you can pass on this group id to other mbas you know of. Make sure the B-grade insti students aren’t invited. This is not because we want to discriminate but you know…”. What the hell does this mail do other than the ample loads of one thing – discrimination! Gawd.. First forming a group among MBAs to establish them bigger than the non-MBAs, next discriminating among MBAs and more importantly filtering and manipulating with organizational information (openings in a division etc). I also see that among the so-called premier MBA-ites, there is a cold (read HOT) war between batches (based on year of passing) based on the salary offered. Some juniors getting higher money than seniors etc. Many a confusion arising bcoz of this - quitting, re-joining etc etc.

Another popular syndrome being “I-am-present” or “Class Participation” syndrome, which gets inculcated during one’s insti and carries over to workplace. Ppl afflicted with this keep doing things just to catch others’ attention and in the process gathering many a ppl’s irritation too… e.g.: forwarding some weblinks (useful and not so) to entire organisation or biz group, replying to all on some meaningless mail exhbiting one’s english knowledge (you shouldn’t expect substance in these mails) and so on.. There are many other syndromes which I would rather not write about.

Why do not these fresh biz managers realise that there is something to look forward to in life beyond power, money and credits! Why do not MBAs treat other ppl as just normal beings and behave normally. The cut throat competition in getting into premier instis and inside the instis has actually made MBA-ites as walking robots programmed on money, career and accreditations.. Hope and wish a Munnabhai MBA comes out spreading the essence of life to MBAs as well just like he did to doctors! (Come on, sanjay dutt, kamalhassan, chiranjeevigaru and uppidada - you all can pull it off in respective languages!)