An unusual predicament...

Ive always liked touching the feet of elders. Before an exam, after an exam, on festive occasions, family get togethers, it always feels nice to be blessed by someone you respect.

Just a few days ago, the SSC results were declared in Pune. My department at work, has a few daily wage laborers and one of them has a son who had appeared this time around. They met me during the day and from the huge smile on his face I figured that he had passed. He had a smile wide enough to extend away from his face, and his eyes were glowing brightly. I took the pedha he offered and then he swiftly bent down, and touched my feet.

I froze.

For that split second in which you are supposed to lightly touch the persons head and mutter your blessings, I couldnt get a peep out of my mouth.

" Aaah... There is no need for all of this.... " Im not that old, you know. " I gasped.

And then, I suddenly wondered. Was I ? Im 26 now, and the chap touching my feet was 16. Thats a gap of ten years. Whats supposed to be the normal yes-now-you-can-touch-his-feet-since-he-is-___-older -than-you age difference? Im sure ten years would at least get the consolation prize.

To him, I was a succesful doctor. Something he probably dreamt of being one day. He must have studied in a small "kholi" or "jhopdi (hut). With all the hardships you can imagine. No fancy classes for him. No guides. No branded stationary. No incentives for getting good marks. No pampering during exams.

And yet, he had thought it wise, to touch the feet of someone who had held his parents to ransom during his 10th std, making unreasonable demands that were to be met if they expected him to study. Someone whose admssion into Fergusson College was already secure , because of three reasons: his mother was a long serving staff member, his father was Ex-army, and he was eligible for the sports quota. Leaving him no real incentive to get good marks.

Did I deserve to bless him then ?
And say I did, would my blessings count ?
How long would it be, before I can safely , and with some pride, bless someone?

That day, as I rode back home from work in the pouring rain, I tried hard to find the answers to these questions.

My best guess for the third one at least, was a very long long time.

P.S. : I got into Fergusson College on the basis of the Sports Quota, a fact which I still use to my advantage in debates with my parents.

Short Movie Review # 13: Get Smart

I went to see Get Smart with zero expectations and I wasn't disappointed ! It is a light hearted funny movie, much like Johnny English.

Instead of the bumbling Rowan Atkinson, we have the new funny guy, Steve Carrel as a secret agent with the mission of saving the President of the USA. He is aided in this task by fellow CONTROL agent Anne Hathaway who looks , walks and talks the part.

Partly a spoof on the James Bond series, we have our own The Great Khali as the new Jaws. Secret gadgets, daredevil stunts and some really funny scenes make this an enjoyable movie.

The stand out scene is the dance sequence, where Steve Carrel has a ball dance with a woman more than twice his size ! Hilarious !

Rather than the trash being dished out by Bollywood these days, you can easily go for Get Smart. It is money well spent.

Rating : 3.5 stars

All about money?

At the Deccan Gymkhana end of Karve road, next to the Airtel showroom, there is a small Xerox shop. It opened about a year ago, with a single xerox machine. Now it has 3 xerox machines, a lamination machines, 3 computers with LCD monitors for DTP work and a lot of stationary as well.

Ive been going to this shop for my xeroxing regularly, and Ive seen the fast progress that it has made. The owner is just 25 years old, a Std. 10 drop out. But thats not the interesting part. A few shops down the line, there sits a quaint little flour mill, owned by a couple, Mr. Bhave and Mrs. Bhave. The mill is the size of the xerox shop, and next to it as another shop of the same size, also owned by the Bhaves.

This adjacent shop, is devoid of any furnishings. There is no paint, no carpet, no tables and no cupboards. All it has is two plastic chairs, and a stool on which a old fashioned telephone is kept. While the flour mill is doing business, Mr. Bhave sits on one of these chairs, and watches the traffic go by.

The last I heard, he has been offered 2 crores for the shop. It is prime Karve road property, ground floor, right on the road. All you would have to do is park and within 10 steps you would be right onside the shop. But he has been declining similiar offers for the past 3 months. Why?

" What will I do with so much money ? I dont have any children, " he says. "With more money, come more problems."

*************************************************************************************
Just a couple of months ago, I was having a discussion with a friend. A common friend had just gotten a wedding gift of 2 crores ruppes cash. Wow, I said. You could simply invest those 2 crores and turn them into 10 crores within no time !!!

" Not possible, " my friend corrected me. " There is no way you can turn 2 crores into 10 crores. ".
"Why?" I cried. " Ok, the shares are at an all time low, but you could buy gold, you could buy lots of prime properties... "

" There is massive property correction going on in the US right now", my friend said. " It wont be long, before the ridiculous property prices here coming crashing down as well. "Gold? How much gold will you buy ? Where will you keep all of it ?"

" The only benefit I see of getting 2 crores in hand, is security. You could buy a nice big house for yourself. Buy a better office. And just stash the rest as security", he concluded.

I fell quiet.

*************************************************************************************

These two incidences made me re-think the whole "money" concept. I quote from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,
"This planet [earth] has - or rather had - a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movement of small green pieces of paper, which was odd because on the whole it wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy".

Would you rather be Mr. Bhave, being offered 2 crore rupees, more than enough for him to pack uo his dusty flour mill and live the rest of his years in prime luxury, or would you rather be my friend, having got 2 crore rupees with which to do as he pleases, but seeing no profitable venture in sight ?

Short Movie Review # 12: 21

Go for this one if you have ever played blackjack in your life. And if cards intrigue you. I qualify for both of these.

21 is based on a book, which is based on a real life story, of how a group of mentaly gifted MIT students are coached to count cards, and using these skills, rob casinos of millions of dollars.Playing just blackjack. Nothing else. No gadgets, no gizmos, no technology. No Oceans 13 like planning. Just pure mental calculating skills.

The cast jells together wonderfuly, with the veteran Kevin Spacey lending the required maturity to the teacher by weekdays, card team coach by weekends character. His hand picked college team jets off to Las Vegas on weekends, to "legally" rob casinos of a lot of money. The hero, Jim Sturgess ( who i feel is going to be stiff competition to Shia LeBouf over the coming years), takes some time to join but when he does, the movie really gets going.

Moving at a nice fast clip, 21 hardly has any boring moments. And the card scenes are shown beautifully with a realstic feel. Lawrence Fishburne returns to the screen after a long time, in a role tailormade for him. But somehow, I still think of him as Morpehus.

A chilled out soundtrack and some great lines make this a very watchable movie. Go for it.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Short Movie Review # 11: Aamir

Critics generally have a tendency to praise a serious off beat movie, one with a social message, and without any overacting, bad sexual jokes and item numbers.Aamir fits all these criteria. And many a times, this praise is misplaced. So is the case with Aamir.

So whats the big deal then about Aamir?  The truth is, there isnt any, really.

Aamir tries to be different, and succeeds to  a very small extent. The grime and sleaze of the muslim dominated areas of Mumbai have been shown effectively, but it gets really  repetitive as the movie progresses. You almost  expect a  morose looking muslim oddball character around the next turn, with a cryptic message for our hero.

Rajiv Khandelwal makes a fine debut though. Playing  Aamir, he lands in Mumbai only to recieve a phone call telling him that his family has been kidnapped, and that he has to obey orders if he wants to see them alive again.

Diplaying the right emotions at the right time, he looks like a man genuinely in trouble. But thats the problem. The script requires him to be in trouble throughout the movie. So although effective, his range of expresions is limited. How we would have loved to see  a hint of comic timing, some witty dialogues, an air of confidence...

But all he is forced to to by the tight script is to keep pleading with the abductor.

Aamir's cinematographer should take the part of the blame. Why have so many close ups of stools, vomit, lambs and chicken being sliced etc? Being realistic does not necessarily mean revolting the audience. (Satya showed us Mumbai without nauseating us even once.)

The climax wont really take your breath away. If you have seen enough movies, you might not even be surprised. I wasnt. 

Aamir would have done well if it were more understated and with a more interesting storyline. Maybe a big twist towards the end.

If you really want to see a movie on terrorism and the  muslim fraternity, go see Khuda Ke Liye. Now, thats a real cracker.

Rating : 2 stars

Short Movie Review # 10: Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

When did I last enjoy an English movie so much ? Stardust ? Die Hard 4.0? That was almost a year ago.

But surely not as much as I enjoyed this one. Indiana Jones is the most paisa vasool movie Ive seen in recent times. It has almost non-stop action, with dollops of witty dialogues, delivered by a dead pan Harrison Ford in top form.

Set in the 1950s, the sets are breathtakingly realistic. The adventure of Indiana Jones, as he tries to return the magical " cyrstal skull " to its rightful place in the "City of Gold", shifts from America to Peru to the Amazon before you can blink. Old fashioned KGB villians, with corny lines like " We will make you talk the old fashioned way

!" make for delightful viewing.

This movie does not waste any time in egetting to the point , and there is no pseudophilosophical small talk like in National Treasure. This is a real treasure hunt movie, with the action where its supposed to be. Not in books or museums, but in jungles and caves.

Ford is the heart and soul of this caper, defying his age and carrying out the physicality that this role demands , with smooth finesse. The ending leaves us wide open for a sequel.

Not remembering the first 3 parts clearly, I feel compelled now to do some catching up.

A must see for the special effects, continous thrills, dialogues and a nice comfy old time action sequence feel.

Rating : 4 stars

Short Movie Review # 9 : Sarkar Raj

There is one crucial diktat, that directors  must follow when making a sequel. It HAS to, and I mean HAS to be better than the first part. ( take for example, Lage Raho, Dhoom 2 and Krrish). There are no ifs and buts to this. 

Very simply, Sarkar Raj isnt.

RGV has tried almost the same story line as Sarkar, with the additon of an utterly confusing issue of a power plant. The movie starts of in Godfather-1 style, with Sarkar's 60th birthday celebrations at the Nagre household. Within the first 5 min itself, the villians this time around, Sayaji Shinde and Govind Namdeo are shown to be plotting the Nagre downfall. Another bad-un joins them later.

Then, almost as if in a hurry, the powerplant proprosal comes to the Nagres's , brought by Aishwarya Rai (who by the way looks stunning throughout the movie.) Amitabh dissaproves it while Abhishek is convinced it will serve the greater good of the people of Maharashtra in the long run. Amitabh agrees to support his son.

The plot moves to Thakarwadi, where they meet with Rao Saheb (Dilip Prabhavalkar), Amitabh's political mentor, to garner his support. He agrees but  his nephew, Sanjay Somji ( bearing a striking resemblnace to Raj Thackeray) opposes the power plant project and begins instigating the villagers against the Nagre's. Then begins the fight for Abishek to complete the project, which has now become his dream. But at what cost?

To reveal more of the plot would be letting out quite a few spoilers. The drawbacks of the movie are:

- the same basic plot as Sarkar: a few bad guys plotting throughout the movie to finish off the Nagre's, and the revenge formula  in the end.

- The govinda-govinda track is over used

- The second half is way too slow

-  The extreme close up technique that was so effective in Sarkar gets a little tiring towards the end

-You really dont feel as if you are seeing something different ( the same asasination attempts, the visits to the hospital, the revival, the revenge)

Where Sarkar Raj redeems itself is :

- an almost natural chemistry between the father-son duo. One of the highlights of the movie is when they hug each other just before the interval, trying their best to forget Vishnu Nagre. The father, a stiff, but broken man. The camera pans to both their eyes , which speak volumes without saying a word.

- Amitabh in top form. Consider this as a hint, but if you thought this movie was about Abhishek, think again. Its Amitabh all the way. He carries on from where he left off the last time. His expression after seeing the wrecked, bombed car has to be seen to be believed.

- Aishwarya- always a sincere perfomer, she really gets to show her acting histronics towards the end.

In the end, you somehow wish RGV shoudnt have been so brave. Far too many experiments, and one really big one, which goes against the very concept of the Sarkar legacy. 

Traitors where u least expect them, the predictable villanous looks with dirty teeth, more punch lines than normal sentences, it gets all a bit too heavy in the end. 

The last 20 min of the movie is a complete drag, a big contrast to the last part of Sarkar, which was the high point of the movie.

And yes, like you cheered during the final frame of Sarkar, dont be surprised if a loud chuckle escapes from your mouth during the final frame here.

After this one, we can all truly say: "Sarkar Khatam".

Rating : 2.5 stars

Dangerous Weather...

At 4:20 pm yesterday, the weather was hot and oppressive. I was longing for the clock to strike 4:30, then a short 15 min ride home, and into the comforts of my AC room and bed.

But that was not to be.  

On my way home, abruptly as if almost as a prank, it started drizzling, then raining then pouring, and then it was mayhem. Lightening every 2-3 minutes, none of the signals working, periliously deep potholes, traffic snarls and bikes skidding. 

Pune is known for its abrupt weather, and I wasnt really surprised. there had been times when I had left my house ( abotu 11 kms from college) wearing my glares, had had to remove them halfway as it had turned cloudy, and then by the time I reached college, I would be drenched.

Yesterday I was completely unprepared. After spending the first 2 min packing away my earphones to safety, I set off towards home, wondering, why this city crashes everytime it rains for the first time. The route to my house is relatively simple. But that day  ended up taking almost 6-7 detorus. Reason ? Fallen tree branches!

I saw all shapes, sizes and varieties. After almost every 5-6 min, there was a branch leading to either a traffic jam or a totally closed road section. It had become almost funny, with fellow riders passing comments and almost enjoying the situation. There was a lane in which a group of people , were lifting a big branch out of the way. They were doing it entirely for the good of the commuters.

Completely soaked to the bone, shivering and tired, I finally reached home an hour after setting off from college. And as expected, there was a power failure. The day Pune does not have a power failure after the first rains in June, ill eat my hat.

The good part was, the amazing smell of the mud made you forget  all these problems. 

And bring back other memories... "Dangerous Weather !!!"

The Indian Premier League. And why we will miss it...

The IPL is finally over.  What will we watch now from 8 pm everyday ? 

I have fought off the temptation to blog on the IPL till now, but isnt a review of a movie supposed to be writen only after the movie is over?

And a what an entertaining blockbuster movie this has been. I remember discussing the team compositions just after the player auctions. Questions arose. Which player was in which team ? Was every team suppossed to play each team once? Or twice? Would the IPL really work ? Would the regional patriotism catch on ? 

A mind boggling media blitz almost answered these questions even before the IPL began. Shahrukh Khan led the way with the Knight Riders, making them an instant neutral man's favourite. And then as the tournament unfolded, I realized it was not just working. It was becoming a runaway success. A BIG one. Jam packed stadiums, heavy sale of team merchandise, superb media coverage and a tele audience glued to their seats.

Why even the BIG DADDY of Indian entertainment, Bollywood, showed its fear and respect to the IPL by having just a single big release over 45 days, Bhootnath, which probably would have flopped even if the IPL wasnt on.

The IPL had everything a cricket fan would love. Close finishes, big sixes, important wickets, superb fielding, controversies and even celebrity appearances. Somewhere in these 45 days , I read an article somewhere which said, that cricket skills are important, no matter what the type of cricket played. Although I am a true blue Test Cricket fan, I sort of tended to agree. I mean, yes, playing out the first session on a green Brisbane pitch, with your team at 6-2, with 5 slips and a gully, facing Mcgrath and Lee is the real stuff but then getting 32 of the last 3 overs with 3 wickets in hand, under lights at the Wankhede is no child's play either. 

Twenty20 has no mercy. If you are a weak fielder, you'll be caught out immediately. If you are a slow scorer, excuse me , this isnt the place for you. If you havent enough control on your line and length, there is no place to hide. And lastly , if you are not a good captain, not a good leader of men, this is the worst place you should be at.

For me, there are a few lasting memories/impressions/observations of the IPL:

- The comeback of the Mumbai Indians under the leadership of Shaun Pollock

-  Jayasuriya's brutal sixes on the leg side

- Shoaib Akhtar's 3 over spell agaisnt Delhi

- Warne couting and then recounting the number of overs his bowlers had each           

   bowled, on his fingers, during a league game

- Harsha Bhogle, sitting in almost the same position during each match, with his elbows either on the table or on the back of a chair

- Shahrukh egging the capacity crowd on at the Eden Gardens

- Preity Zinta's huge smile and high fives

- Shane Warne hitting Symonds in the last over for six to win the match

- Sachin's shocking captaincy for 3 matches in a row

- Dhoni talking to his teammates in a huddle after the final loss

-  Warne raising the winners trophy ( the worst designed trophy I've seen till date)

A points though :

1. All the veterans , had their teams get knocked out. Sachin, Dravid, Ganguly and 

    Laxman. Pure coincidence? Or more proof?

2. No Indian won either the Orange Cap or the Purple Cap.

3. The only non-Indian captain in the IPL,  lifted the trophy.

4. The team that won the trophy, had the least number of locals contributing to the 

     win.

5. From a pool of 25 x 8 that is 200 players, only two hitherto unknown Indian names really shone brightly . Manpreet Gony and Swapnil Asnodkar. Yusuf Pathan was a well recognised player even before the IPL stated. In fact, he was brought for more money than Shane Warne himself.

So what do we do till April 10th next year ? The memory of the public is short. But it seems hard to suggest that the impact of this IPL can ever fade from memory. Mr. Lalit Modi deserves a special mention in the annals of cricketing history.

IPL. Truly, a   Manoranjan ka Baap.