7KM

Huge PC fan that I am and an admirer of the genius called Vishal Bharadwaj it isn't surprising I caught the first day first show of 7 Khoon Maaf. So take what I saw with a pinch of salt, because its hard for anyone to be objective when you are a fan follower.

For one, I loved the unique storyline. A female protagonist with a strong female oriented storyline doesn't usually get a lot of takers in Bollywood. Combine that with Vishal Bharadwaj's unique take on Indian cinema; much like Kaminey or Omkara, this one's different. For the second time in less than 3 months, I find another Bollywood director who goes for the unusual(the earlier one was Dhobi Ghat) and how! I think the one failing is due to the amount of time spent developing the many husbands and their character flaws and eventually their deaths, Vishal is left with very little time and opportunity to really explain and establish Priyanka's character. Or perhaps he left it to his intelligent audience to figure it out themselves. Either which way, I think the critics are going to complain about that point while I choose to give Vishal the benefit of doubt. Perhaps it is not so hard to really understand why she chooses to rid herself of this interminable pain called marriage to the weirdos she seems to get stuck with. There are those that bear the pain and live it out, there are some that choose to end it, albeit in a shocking manner.

That said, 7KM's music is not upto the usual Vishal fare. 'Darling' and 'Bekaraan' are probably better than the rest, but usually Vishal Bharadwaj's music is his trademark style and each song is usually a winner. Not so in this case.

All in all, I loved the movie. It was a unique experience and the surprise quotient was Vivaan Shah's role and his portrayal of it. There's another gem in the making, not surprisingly so for being Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah's son. I loved the ending, which has been kept under the covers and I will keep it that way too. Perhaps that makes for a good reason to watch the movie. Of all her husbands(Neil Nitin Mukesh, John Abraham, Irrfan Khan, Aleksandr Dyachenko, Annu Kapoor, Naseeruddin Shah) I think the Irrfan Khan one was the most well developed and executed story.

PC has gained weight and aged throughout the movie and so has Vivaan(for being in his early twenties) and I would be surprised if she doesn't get some recognition for this role from critics and perhaps even from the masses. Either way, this might just be the push she needed for her career to soar.

Oh and no review of this movie can be complete without mention of the subtle background of India's political scene that exists in every frame in the movie. Be it Babri Masjid riots or India's nuclear tests- its all woven so simplistically that one could almost miss it. But that's SO Vishal...to not put his political views in your face, but show that he has an opinion and he cares, albeit through brilliantly subtle references.

A stone a day- Stone #10

Dhobi Ghat(movie): defn:
Artsy; real, hence raw;
Juxtaposition of Mumbai vignettes against four characters spread across different class barriers
You'll either love the movie or hate it; either way you'll definitely have an opinion of it.
Don't go expecting a cliched and definitive storyline.
Prateik Babbar is brilliant and is the shining star in the movie, he's done his mother proud!

A stone a day- Stone #6

The King's Speech : Brilliantly made with crisp dialogues, a very British sensibility played by master craftsmen
Based on speech therapy and certainly a must-watch!

Movie marathon

So between last weekend and this, its been quite the marathon

- Eat, Pray Love
How could I not watch this movie? I mean, seriously. Ever since I read this book, thanks to her reco- I was bowled over and this was exactly a year ago. The book still lingers in my memory...word to word...like a silent echo. Wonderfully, hauntingly sublime! So when we heard this was being made into a movie...we decided we'd watch it together and what could be better than having Julia Roberts playing the lead role? Nothing really.

So a whole year went by and it just so happened that we couldn't be together to watch the movie when it released. But watch it I did. I loved it. This must be one of the best book-to-movie renditions I've ever witnessed. I won't say more...read the book, watch the movie and of course- eat, pray, love!

- Inception
Ok, before I proceed I'll have you know- I haven't watched Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight or the other Batman movie. The ones I really enjoyed earlier have been Memento and Prestige. Usually I tend to do some homework before I go watch his movies...cos...well cos I can be quite dense at times.

So all the legwork helped, I enjoyed the movie and was suitably entertained.

- Peepli (Live)
So, where shall I start? Small budget movie, a rural setting, a very real and raw depiction of India's underbelly. But what a movie! The characters are saddeningly(yea, urbandictionary says this is a valid word) funny, the story and the portrayal of the squalor and destitution is haunting. Anusha Rizvi, who claims has no formal training in movie direction has come out with a product that compares with the best of Shyam Benegal and Ketan Mehta and who better to produce than the very best- Aamir Khan?

If you haven't already, watch it! You won't regret it.

- Lafangey Parindey
Well if you're as big a fan of Neil Nitin Mukesh as I am(don't ask me why, cos I can't explain it), you'd watch this movie. Otherwise, you're better off missing this, cos I don't want you throwing rotten tomatoes at my pretty blog page.

Excuse me, while I get rid of this popcorn overdose.

Hope y'all are having a good weekend. Shabba Khair and advance Onam wishes to all...oh and Ramadaan and all other wishes in between.

Hey Ya

Heard this yet? If you haven't, you should! :)




My movie for this weekend happened to be 'Karthik calling Karthik'. So this is Farhaan Akhtar's third movie and three time's always a charm. I'm officially hooked and I now know exactly what I like about FA's movies. His stories are mostly urban contemporary, the themes are very relevant to the times and his lines are crisp, cool and witty. So there you go- its a typical FA movie and I thought him and Deepika Padukone had great chemistry. I liked the storyline, though as always in a movie- some parts dragged, mature and normal. The characters FA plays are not exaggerated, no distinct black or white persona- that makes the people and the stories very relatable. I won't say much else, give it a shot. It's worth spending a weekend evening.

3 idiots

After reading some preliminary reviews on this movie, we went suitably charged due to high marks given by most of the reviewers. We were expecting an Aamir's brilliance in a strong script, having earlier been impressed with Taare Zameen Pe and Lagaan.

I came out of the theater, not impressed. It was 3 hrs too long of a story and the message was quite clear very early on. It was that the rote system of learning in the Indian education system that wasn't right and we got it(quite early too). Once that was out of the way, the rest was just plain ole Hindi movie masala- some college romance, some college pranks and a very predictable climax. The scene where Mona Singh delivers here baby could so have been avoided and the ending was Oh-SO-predictable. For a engineering college setting filled with students that overflowed with this much lateral thinking, the mush was rather oblique.

There was some humorous scenes no doubt- those could easily fit in 2 hands worth of fingers(or under), these were easy to relate to and could occur in any engineering college. Aamir plays the college student role very convincingly(not surprisingly of course). The other two could've been given stronger story lines, IMO. They barely passed off as very effective sidekicks. The 'All is Well' catch phrase is definitely...uhm what shall I say...catchy? Boman Irani and Kareena are passable. What do we have left?- A very long and barely impressive movie.

Up

Not having watched an English movie in a long time, Up was the perfect come-back-to movie. It came with high recommendations from my coworkers and when it finally landed in my hands hot off the redbox vending machine at the grocery store, I couldn't get to it for about 4 days, by which time it almost became a to-do chore to be ticked off my long list.

The auspicious hour for watching the movie arrived serendipitously. On the Wednesday before the Thanksgiving weekend, I came home drained from work. It had been an exceptionally rough week, considering it was a short 3-day one, it seemed like it was inordinately long and hard. With a plate of grilled veggie sandwich in hand, I popped the DVD in and hit play.

Since I hadn't bothered to read up reviews of the movie, I had no clue about the movie or the story. Boy, was I pleasantly surprised. This Disney Pixar animation movie was a delight to watch. I'd find it hard to claim it is a kids only movie. I wont say much about the story itself, cos one's got to watch it without any spoilers to thoroughly be immersed in this delicious comedy. Hence I will say less, but I'd insist nonetheless- if you haven't watched it already, put it on your must-list. You won't regret it. For once, I definitely don't foresee rotten tomatoes thrown my way for suggesting so.

Fuperb

Ever since the music of 'Kaminey' (lyrics by Gulzar, stalwart singers such as Mohit Chauhan, Rekha/Vishal Bharadwaj, Sikhwinder Singh and Sunidhi) I have been waiting to watch the movie but with some trepidation. Having read this review on rediff(and I haven't seen such a good review from Rediff in a long while), I was suitably convinced. We booked our tickets for a Saturday morning showing.

And what a ride it was.

I loved the pace of the movie, I loved the twists and turns, the innuendo, the characterization, the dialogues- just every piece of it that kept me on the hook listening, watching, waiting for the next scene and what develops. For that, I absolutely loved the movie. The storyline by itself might have been a very old and over-beaten one, but the delivery of it far outclasses anything else in the genre. Shahid has proved worth his mettle, Vishal Bharadwaj(as has been mentioned in many a review) proves to be India's Tarantino with just the right desi twist and PC is so in tune with her character that its hard to imagine its the same model that was cast in Fashion.

For a peek into the artsy directorial mind of Vishal Bharadwaj, go here.

Story of India

Close on the heels of reading this, I got a chance to watch the Story of India DVD by Michael Wood. Back in January of this year, when this series was being aired on PBS, I didn't get a chance to check it out then. More so, because I am not good at remembering days and times for TV programs. So when I heard this series was being released on DVD, I made it a point to buy them. I almost wanted to suggest this as a good birthday gift for myself :). So then, 2 weeks ago, I won a raffle prize at one of our office parties and got a best buy gift card. What a stroke of luck that BestBuy had this DVD and within days this now adorns my DVD collection.

This documentary series by historian Michael Wood traces the history of India in 6 parts right from the Mohenjodaro/Harappan times 2000 BC all the way to the British Raj and now the 21st century India. In the first part of the series, he traces some pre-historic African tribes moving to Kerala. Some of the practices and chants that are still being followed have now been identified to African roots. He then travels to current-day Harappa. Its amazing to visualize the historical significance of this place in lieu of the Indus valley civilization.

So on he follows the ages- to the growth of Buddhism and Jainism, to the Mauryan dynasty- Chandragupta Maurya and Ashoka. To the Chola empire in the south- the Tanjavur temple, Raja Raja Chola and his regime. To the Kushan empire- to Kanishka's invasions.

He then moves to the Golden Age in 300-400AD of the Gupta dynasty. Further on, the local fiefdoms are full of strife and petty quarreling till Mohammed of Ghazni who came towards Somnath and further amassed a significant part of the country. That is when and how Islam came to be in the story of India. Furthermore in the 16th century came the invasion of the Mughals- with Babur. This went on till the British Raj in the 17th century.

While this might sound like a history book, what makes this series different is the fact that Michael travels to present day cities of India- like Delhi and Calcutta, to Mathura, Ayodhya, Patna, Tanjavur, Madurai and to Allahabad as he follows the history trail. He visits the historical monuments and talks to eminent historians of India who hold within themselves a mine of information on the story of India. Like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, he pieces it all together to make up a wonderful tale.

The reason I was reminded of Nandan Nilekani's book is because both the book and this series end with a note that India is now waking up to an optimistic future. India, that has established itself as the world's largest democracy, that is all set to have the highest GDP by 2020 is a country filled with hope for a brilliant and prosperous future. Perhaps the time for a modern day Golden Age is truly upon us.

For a sneak peek into the series, here's a clip.

Notes for 2009-2

* I watched 'Luck by chance' this weekend. Directed by Zoya Akhtar, starring Farhan Akhtar, Konkona Sen Sharma, Rishi Kapoor, Juhi Chawla, Dimple Kapadia and many many others in guest appearances. Its about the struggle to make it big in Bollywood. To me, it seemed somewhat parallel to 'Fashion', but much better. Javed Akhtar's dialogues are crisp and relevant. Farhan and Konkona are brilliant in being true to their characterizations though I felt the end didn't tie up all the loose ends. Nonetheless I loved Sona's(Konkona's character) words in the last scene. Dimple Kapadia is superb as ever in her role as the insecurity-laden older actress. Worth a watch.

* In other news, the weather this weekend out here was a welcome break. It was warm and sunny, the kind of days one doesn't need a heavy jacket or gloves. And hence the entire population was out- at the malls or at parks or generally hanging out.

* There's a long weekend right around the corner and that makes this work week so much more tolerable :).

* Non-stop repeat mode on for this one :



Enjoy!

Notes for 2009-1

* Watched 'Slumdog Millionaire' recently. See, I have this problem- when books are made into movies, I take it in the literal sense. I expect every detail covered in the book to make its way to the movie. Especially if its a book I enjoyed. I have had this experience with many such...like 'Kite Runner' or something as simple as 'Devil wears Prada'...I expect one-to-one matches. Also, the advantage with books and words is the freedom it gives the reader to conjure up images and settings and backgrounds and characters that's hard to match with movies. In that sense, movies take away the fun of imagination by spelling everything out. There's no work for the mind.

Anyway, as always I was expecting Slumdog to be just like Vikas Swarup's book Q&A which I read back in December of 2007. I had loved the book and the plot and the theme. Slumdog, while the framework is somewhat like the book, the actual storyline differs. And honestly, I prefer the book.

The movie is great, don't get me wrong. It was typical Bollywood masala, woven into a Mumbai slum setting with liberal doses of intrigue and romance with a backdrop of the squalor and depravity we have come to know exists in the 'heart' of 21st century India. Anil Kapoor has definitely done a great job, considering I came away despising his character. My favorite song is 'Jai Ho'. The two young adult actors Dev Patel and Freida Pinto are impressive.

That's all I've got to say. Go watch for yourself, for sure. Its worth it!

* Read John Grisham's Appeal. A typical case of class-action on chemical poisoning in small-town US. Reminded me somewhat of King of Torts.

* And so in other news, being that I am a big fan of the 'Shopaholic series', I am actually looking forward to the movie. Oh, remind me to tell y'all about this book I am currently reading, once I am done.

Deewana bana de

The first movie in recent times struck me as wonderfully romantic would have to be DDLJ. It was what 'Jab we met' is for me now.

DDLJ was dreamy as ever and Kajol/SRK made great chemistry. The pardesi theme that was debuted in DDLJ has stuck on for years, helping many a director and producer belt out as many hits as possible. DDLJ also set the stage for long movie names- thus came Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Pyar kiya to Darna kya etc etc. DDLJ was also the starters for big family dramas. Grand sets, grandiose attires- extensive wedding rituals and so much more. For all that and more DDLJ was a trendsetter. A record breaker. And to me, the best romantic movie in modern times.

I watch DDLJ as often as I can. I love many many scenes from it- and have ever since then had a special liking to own a cow-bell! My favorite song by far is always 'Mehndi laga ke rakhna, doli saja ke rakhna'. The next is 'Tujhe dekha toh yeh jaana sanam' and then 'Ghar aaja pardesi tera desh bulaaye re'. I relish each one of the courtship scenes from the Eurorail trip and the stealth meetings on the terrace as the wedding preparations are going on. Anupam Kher's comic timing is perfect. What was probably slightly overdone was the climax. But oh well, it is a Hindi movie and can we expect anything less?

So, what's your favorite romantic movie?

Sajjanpur ki kahani

On a whim, I decided to check out 'Welcome to Sajjanpur'. Shyam Benegal's latest, featuring Shreyas Talpade, Amrita Rao, Divya Dutta and some others. I think I am becoming an avid fan of Shreyas Talpade much like people who go nuts over Hrithik or SRK or AB. And largely because he is such an actor to the core. Granted he doesnt have rock star looks or any starry hangups, but if you wanted to watch an actor in action, so to speak- he's the man.

I wouldnt go as far as to label the movie with any superlatives. Not by any length. But what worked for me are the wonderful characterizations. The setting is a typical village in any part of India. Mahadev is a 'letter writer'- a very well educated one, at that. In this role, he gets to get involved in the lives of the many villagers who share their tales in the process of having to write letters. The instances when Mahadev takes his profession a bit too liberally and starts poking his nose into people's personal lives is entertaining and quite amusing.

So, no romantic scenes, no fancy song/dance sequences and jargon- just simple life in a small village where everyone knows everyone else, there are mothers worrying about getting their manglik girls married off, there are rival politicians trying to amass votes, there's a new bride writing letters to her husband who works in Mumbai..and so on.

The funniest scene that I will always remember from this movie would be the one where the manglik girl is married off to a dog. Ila Arun shines as always, and Shreyas- what can I say? He almost seems made for the role of the letter writer. His expressive face and histrionics keeps one entertained throughout.

The only thing about this movie that probably was the reason it didnt make it into the super hit category would have to be its oversimplified storyline thus making it bland fare. But if you have an evening to spare, do check it out. If nothing at all, there'll be a smile on your face at the end of it.

Chaat, movie and everything in between

Another weekend has come and gone. As we move closer and closer to the end of summer, I feel this urge to hang on to it more tightly, to fit in a lot more things to do, to be outdoors, to walk longer...cos these warm days will soon be gone.

* Watched 'Rock On'. If its one thing Farhan Akhtar excels at, it is superior dialogues coupled with contemporary storylines. As like Dil Chahta Hai, the characters in this movie are modern, contemporary, young and hep. FA can act reasonably well. This story, as have most reviews mentioned, has shades of DCH in it. If you're in your 20s or 30s, you will definitely relate to the emotions and sentiments. And thats probably why this movie is such a hit. Apart from of course, girls raving over FA's looks(I choose to not dwell on it, good looks are relative and debatable). It doesnt have to be about being in a rock band when you're in college, it could be any group activity that you have participated in while growing up- such interactions, such misunderstandings, such relationship angst is bound to happen. Friends part, a group breaks up- a band gets disbanded. You move on, grow up, life's focus changes, responsibilities grow. Before long, you realize there's a void in your life, that can only be filled by those very people...the ones you grew up with, the ones that were your co-passengers along a very important journey in a slice of life. Some get the opportunity to reunite and relive those memories, some part forever learning to live the lives they have made for themselves, while dipping into the vast reserve of memories for some sepia toned preserves of growing-up.

Watch Rock On, for a feel good trip into the land of nostalgia, if nothing else. I wont call it the greatest movie of the year, I wont say its out-of-the-world awesome, I wont say its the greatest of the greatest... all I'd say is watch it for some interesting characterizations, the start contrast of personalities and the depcitions which are real and mostly relatable.

* Had a chaat party this weekend. The menu included pani puri, sev puri, masala puri(a Bangalore speciality), bhel puri, pav bhaaji, mango lassi, rasmalai and curd rice for those finicky southie types. Pics, you ask? Well it went by so fast that the thought didnt even occur to me till after the fact. Take my word, it was good. Finger licking good! Just the type of spread Rads would've loved- I mentioned bhel and rasmalai right? Errrr...of course I did invite her. But she(not surprisingly) was oober booked. And then ended up copping out and eating dibba roti, she claims!

* Tried and tested Google chrome. Did you see the webcomic for Chrome? Hm, its got some memory issues that need to be taken care, its not fully there yet- me thinks. The one good thing I did notice was it fully blocked all of rediff's popups very effectively, without needing an external pop-up blocker that even Mozilla seems to need to overcome rediff's annoying pop-ups.

* I finished reading 'The other Boleyn girl' by Philippa Gregory. That's what my next post is gonna be about.

* Yesterday(Sept 15th) I hear is now officially called 'Black Monday'. World markets plunged, real estate market here in the US has been on a decline, food shortage crisis happened earlier this year, commodity prices have skyrocketed, gas prices neednt be mentioned- so whats that word that defines any period of time in world financial markets where there's sustained high rates of unemployment, interest rates, inflation and other such declines?

On a wednesday night

Week days for the next few weeks are long and laborious. After a quick fix for dinner last night, I sat down to get my daily dose of Jon Stewart and the Colbert report. That done, my mind was yet to unwind from the day's hectic pace. It started reeling a long list of could-do's- 'you could be sending out the meeting minutes', 'you could be preparing for your presentation for Friday', 'you could be sending meeting invites for tomorrow'..so on and so forth. Relentless, never-ending, constant.

And then I involuntarily started playing 'A Wednesday'. It was around 10pm on a Wednesday night. Accompanied by a guilt laden delicious creme brulee for a late evening dessert fix, I started to watch. It was midnight when I was done. September 11th 2008 said my desk calendar on my night stand.

As the earth moved from a Wednesday night to the 7th anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy, I had just watched a brilliantly crafted movie with stalwarts like Anupam Kher and Naseeruddin Shah. The cast was minimal, but delightfully entertaining. The story was fast paced, never a dull moment but nonetheless subtly gripping. I dont wish to divulge much of the storyline(nope, I didnt want post a flyer of the movie either), go watch it and enjoy the 2 hours of captive enthralment that is such a rarity from Bollywood these days. Oh, the lack of any romantic angles, song and dance will never even be noticed, leave alone being missed. There's small and cute bursts of tongue-in-cheek humor, irony and impactful, unadulterated entertainment are like an extra special dose of spice from the pepper mill over a special exotic pasta dish(leave it to me to find a food mention in the middle of a movie review). Now if you belong to that special category called cynics that gaped in disbelief at the oober-exalting ending of 'Chak De India', if you went 'Ya right, India winning the World Cup', then sure- you'd gape in disbelief at the plausibility of such a story. But feel-good movies do just that, no? They make you go all warm and fuzzy, reinstate your faith in humanity and the infinite goodness that exists all around. Its a good feeling to go to bed with at the stroke of midnight on the 7th anniversary of 9/11- we need more such warm fuzzies, no doubt!

Everything's gonna be okay

Kabhi kabhi Aditi zindagi mein yoon hi koi apna lagta hai
Kabhi kabhi Aditi woh bichad jaaye toh ek sapna lagta hai

Aise mein koi kaise apne aansuon ko behne se roke
Aur kaise koi sochle ki everything's gonna be okay

Kabhi kabhi toh lage zindagi me rahi na khushi aur na maza
Kabhi kabhi toh lage har din mushkil aur har pal ek saza

Aise mein koi kaise muskuraaye, kaise hans de khush hoke
Aur kaise koi sochle ki everything's gonna be okay

Soch zara jaan-e-jaan tujh ko hum kitna chahte hain
Rote hain hum bhi agar tere aankhon mein aansun aate hain

Gaana toh aata nahi hai magar phir bhi hum gaate hain
Hey Aditi maan kabhi--kabhi saare jahan mein andhera hota hai
Lekin raat ke baad hi toh savera hota hai

Kabhi kabhi Aditi zindagi mein yoon hi koi apna lagta hai
Kabhi kabhi Aditi woh bichad jaaye toh ek sapna lagta hai

Hey Aditi hans de hans de hans de hans de hans de tu zara
Nahi toh bas thoda thoda thoda thoda thoda thoda muskura

Tu khush hai toh lage ki jahan mein chhaiyi hai khushi
Sooraj nikle baadalon se aur baante zindagi

Sun toh zara madhosh hawa--tujhse kehne lagi
Ki Aditi woh jo bichadte hain ek na ek din phir mil jaate

Yeh Aditi jaane tu ya jaane na phool phir khil jaate hain
Kabhi kabhi Aditi zindagi mein yoon hi koi apna lagta hai

============================================================

Jaane Tu ya Jaane Na

The only things going for this movie were this song and some wonderful camera time with Ratna Pathak Shah, Naseeruddin Shah's cameo role as the "portrait", Anuradha Patel and Jayant Kripalani. Pratik Babbar shows promise for character roles. The rest was barely ok.

All in one

I'd had no intentions of checking out SATC the week it was released, but for a chance call from a friend who rounded up a bunch of others and before I knew it I was in the theater with popcorn and a drink.

I've watched the TV serial off and on, its hard for me to pick favorites, I like shades of all characters. Which is probably why the quiz tells me I am a mish-mash of all of them. Thats inconclusive, if you ask me, cos everyone has shades of varying qualities. Anyway, about the movie. Age-wise the characters grew from between the 40s and 50s. But the characters themselves haven't wizened with their age. I don't know, maybe that was the intention. But me thinks the transformation of a woman in that age group is quite dramatic and that was sorely lacking, perhaps to not disappoint the fans?

Now, on to the quiz. I volunteered to do the SATC quiz tag from rads. As you can see, it tells me I am a mix of all the characters. So thats that!

Sex and the City: The Four Women, the Four Elements

Your results are based on the four Elements of Astrology: Fire, Earth, Air and Water. Each Element has its own set of characteristics, and each of us displays some combination thereof, usually with a focus on one or two. Samantha, Miranda, Carrie and Charlotte each personify one of the Elements and its basic traits. Which Elements most strongly influence you?

Note: Scores are rounded to one decimal place and therefore may not total 100%

You scored 40% Miranda
You chose many of the same answers that Earth Sign-like Miranda, the cynical but pragmatic lawyer, might have chosen. Just like Miranda's had a tough time deciding whether to give in to the affections of Steve the Bartender, you don't give your heart up to just anyone. Miranda shies away from a relationship with Steve because he's 'just' a bartender, not something more conventionally ambitious or stable. Those with powerful Earth Sign qualities -- characteristics associated with Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn -- are cautious in love and seek stability and status over nearly anything else. Earth Signs provide a steady, realistic attitude and they can bring order out of chaos. A little-known Earth Sign fact: Incredibly sensual, you seethe beneath that smart, expensive business suit of yours, yearning for intimacy but hesitant to give up your material needs, your career ambitions or your responsibilities for a passionate moment that might not turn out the way you'd hope.


You scored 30% Charlotte
A romantic at heart, you chose the answers that demure Charlotte may have chosen. Strongly influenced by the intuitive, profound and sometimes naïve Water Signs -- Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces -- you're like a mother, a mystery and a poet all in one. Though on the surface you may seem innocent and all about seeking the good in people, beneath the surface, you hide secret yearnings for intimacy, for attachment and ideal love. You're seeking a knight in shining armor, a soul mate, someone who will complete you and tether you to the earth when you get carried away with your fantasies. You're super-sensitive, soaking up the moods of others; you emote freely, crying at commercials and sappy movies. You also provide a shoulder to cry on and open arms for hugs. Be careful that you're not so wide-eyed and trusting that you get taken in by some cunning wolf in sheep's clothing.


You scored 20% Samantha
You identify with Samantha's bold and liberated Fire Sign qualities, characteristics associated with the Signs of Aries, Leo and Sagittarius. You're strong, audacious and larger than life -- and you take what you want! Sometimes you can even be thoughtless and selfish, as you get so caught up in craving immediate gratification and excitement that you overlook someone's feelings. Your personal style likely reflects your desires: sleek, low-cut, revealing just a bit more than might be considered acceptable. Watch that you're not coming on too strong, though. You could scare potential suitors off with all your drama. If you seek so much attention, the more basic qualities of the Fire Signs could be burned right out of the picture. Show less skin or cleavage and more of your creativity, your vibrant leadership skills and courageous generosity!


You scored 10% Carrie
Your answers peg you as a Carrie-type, much influenced by the Air Sign qualities associated with Gemini, Libra and Aquarius. Like confident Carrie, a sex columnist, you're curious and perceptive, always seeking answers and never satisfied with the superficial. An Air Sign influence can lead to indecision and an avoidance of tough issues, like with Carrie and her on-again, off-again attachment to Mr. Big. Forward-thinking, incredibly intelligent and witty, you just exude quirky charm. You'd be utterly bored by someone who's just a pretty face or hot body -- though you don't mind looking and flirting! You're more turned on by an equally smart and funny mate, someone who challenges your mind and makes you laugh. You love to talk, so you need a good listener who's open to playful and eccentric ideas about love and lovemaking.

Two's company

This past week/end has been an unusually hectic one. Work has been busy, some paperwork to be taken care of, and then a surprise visit from an old friend over the weekend.

Its too early to claim, but it must be a season of getting together with long-lost friends. After the dinner out in downtown DC last month with a long-lost ex-coworker, that which I blogged about earlier, here's one more.

Had one of these days? Back in Pre-Univ ....staying past the normal hours of a particularly interesting trigonometry or calculus class, working out some of the exercises, like piecing a jigsaw puzzle together? The thrill of a challenge, the excitement over a succesful solve...sitting under the trees of a college campus lawn. Or walking over to a buddy's house, on the porch and working out the last kinks of a particularly difficult problem? Those late nights, with hindi film music providing for a background score, long discussions ranging from the wonders of algebra, the boring notes of physics, the debates on whether differential calculus was better or integral, whether microprocessors were a boon or a bane.....coffee, respective ammas dishing out piping hot food, served right where you were sitting...room service at its best.

My dear friend S was one such. We both knew what we wanted to graduate in. We had the same goals, we studied together but landed in different colleges for undergrad....and once we graduated, it appears, we each parted ways. Each on a different track, parallel but never in touch.

After all these years(10, to be exact), I miraculously got back in touch with her. Surprisingly not through orkut or facebook, gtalk or blogs....it was by sheer coincidence and by unconventional means. Over the past year, we've corresponded. And she surprisingly was able to come to the US on a year long project to NC, she works in Bangalore. On a busy thursday afternoon, I get a call from her.

She : "What plans for the weekend?"

Me : "Oh, nothing- as usual!"

She : "Hm, well a colleague of mine is visiting his cousin in DC, he wants to know if I want to carpool, should I?"

Me : (amidst balancing a celebratory jig and whoops of joy) "OF COURSE, YOU SHOULD!!!!!"

She :(calmly) " Alright, send me your address and I'll print directions. I'll call you when I start driving from here".

As I hung up, an email from our corporate informs us that if the weather gets too inclement on Friday, we could stay home and not drive under bad road conditions. Schools were declared closed prematurely, it was supposed to ice and rain all day on Friday. I pretended to ignore the severity of weather related warnings.

Thursday evening, after finishing my last gym workout for the week, I decided to finish all my weekly grocery shopping chores. The pantry was stocked up, milk and dairy rations refilled....a good part of the evening was spent in cleaning the house, new sheets for the guest bed and a fresh vase of flowers.

Come Friday morning, thank the Lord, the weather was not as bad as was predicted. It was dull, cloudy, and wet. But not torrential rains or ice storms. As she drove her rental car at 11:30 that evening into my driveway, it all dawned on me. The last I had seen her was at her wedding 10 yrs ago. Then I'd left for Singapore and onwards to the US, she (I assumed) settled into a career and family life. Now, here she was....on her first visit to the US, having driven 5 hrs on her own, in not so perfect weather...just to visit me!

Its been an amazing weeekend, as I took her around to the tourist spots best visited during these cold months...Luray caverns, Ikea (I know! But she wanted to go, and I had to hold her back from plundering the place!) and a museum. While we watched Sa Re Ga Ma and Boogie Woogie on Saturday night, it was like old times. Music, TV, a simple special meal of pulav/raitha and rasmalai- gossip, laughter, catching up. I swear, we had no time to reminisce cos there was so much to catch up on. We probably need another weekend to go down the memory lane.


“Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes.”
~Henry David Thoreau



Footnote 1 : Last weekend, I managed to catch Jodhaa Akbar in the theaters, a girls outing. I'd recommend it for those a. Who can enjoy screen after screen of HR, in royal glory or b. Enjoy historical period love stories or c. Both a and b.
For attention deficients like me, C would be the right answer.

Footnote 2 : Sadly, I finished the entire series of 8 books in the Mma Ramotswe series by Alexander McCall Smith. I say sadly, because this experience and excitement of having so much to read is very rare. Usually its an uphill struggle to find ONE good book to read, leave alone this many. But I'm already in the waiting list for the next in the series thats due in April. All in all, its been an enjoyable series, I love all the characters, and have fallen more so in love with the Botswana thats described in the book. It really says a lot about the writer.

“Don't be dismayed at goodbyes, a farewell is necessary before you can meet again and meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends.”
~Richard Bach

Two movies and a book

What do I have to show for a week. Exactly that- two movies and one book(incomplete)

• On a slow Monday evening, after a late day at work, I decided to check out Kite Runner, the movie(limited release that it was, what could be better than having it at a theater en route between office and home, a few yards away from home sweet home?). Its been a couple of years since I read the book. Thankfully. Since the details were hazy enough for me to not obsess over minor omissions or nitpicky comparisons, I went and watched with a nearly clear mind. And felt good. While the book delved into a lot of minute details about life in Afghanistan and the social structure, I'm sure a lot of it was infeasible to capture in a movie...or it would have to be turned into a 4 hour one. The book itself was enjoyable because the writing was fluid, gave a lot of room for using one's imagination to understand the background and situation. In a movie, unfortunately all that is visual. Takes away a good part of pages from the book. A phrase I felt for the movie was "less is more". A lot of restrained acting, subtle picturisation and minimalistic. So, if you are expecting a popcorn popping, thrill ride, this isnt the one for you.

• Evano Oruvan : Maddy's movie based on the Marathi original, Dombivli Fast. A very realistic movie on the life of any middle class family in India. One feels instantly bonding with the characters and their situations. With a middle class upbringing and the values that get imbibed, its a tough struggle to balance one's ethics and yet survive in the system. Quoting a line from the movie "Page 3", one needs to be in the system to change it. Again, not your everyday fantastic movie, no star studded stunts, no dreamy locales and finally none of the fancy star cast. I, however, did not relate to the ending. For the wonderful build up, this was not a matching end. But then, realistically speaking...perhaps, there is no other way out!

• Upon SK's suggestion, I got "Shantaram" by Gregory David Roberts. I believe its about 1000 pages long, so its going to be a while before I am done with it. But I definitely have enjoyed it thus far, which is about a couple of chapters. Thanks SK, for the reco.

And thus ends yet another weekend in 2008.

Couch bound

Phew!

This holiday season has been filled with watching Hindi movies. In the past 45 days the roll-call goes thus :

Jab we met :
After a very long time, a delightfully cute film has kept me engrossed. Pure, simple entertainment- these are the only words I can find to describe this movie. If one could rehash a love story, this has to get an Oscar for doing it in such a way to not come across as cliched, boring or repetitive. Shahid and Kareena just had to have been the pair for this.

Manorama 6 feet under:
Despite critics claiming it to be a rehash of Jack Nicholson's Chinatown, this movie definitely is a decent watch. If one has not watched Chinatown, then watch and just follow the suspense...like sitting through an Agatha Christie novel. The movie definitely delivers what it set out to do...entertain...with a murder mystery. Abhay Deol is an actor, sans the star hangups. Gul Panag, what can you say. She's an actress who also happens to be Miss India. With Saarika in her comeback role, the movie definitely had to be noteworthy.

Jhankaar Beats :
Stupid me! How could I have not watched this movie till now? Rahul Bose, Sanjay Suri, Juhi Chawla....again pure and simple masti. With a little bit of optimism thrown in. I mean, who doesnt like a happy ending? Enjoyable is the right word.

Pyaar ke side effects :
When I realised I had two vcd's of this movie...one that someone brought from their desh trip, another that I brought, cos I didnt realise the former existed...well of course, I had to watch the movie. Decent fare...Mallika Sherawat and Rahul Bose...not a spectacular movie. Passable, watchable...hey you have a couple of hours to spare, sure why not!

Taare Zameen Par :
What can a commoner like me say that can match all the good things thats already been said about this movie? Nothing much. Except chant...definitely watch. The casting, cinematography, dialogues, songs...every aspect...in this package..make it an award winning offering. For such an unusual topic as dyslexia for Hindi movies, coupled with such an unusual setting for a children's movie..its moving, its touching, its emotional...yet powerful. Aamir Khan is amazing as always...consistent and superb. Darsheel Safary is outstanding. None of the chocolate faced kid action that we are so used to from Bollywood movies. And my favorite song? In keeping with my trend, I gravitate towards soulful songs...this one moved me to tears. Shankar Mahadevan has outdone himself, yet again, in this song...with a bare minimum instruments, his voice shines through..bright and clear.
Excerpt from the song...
Meri Maa

Jab Bhi Kabhi Papa Mujhe
Jo Zor Se Jhoola Jhulate Hain Maa
Meri Nazar Dhoondhe Tujhe
Sochu Yahi Tu Aa Ke Thaamegi Maa

Johnny Gaddaar :
There are some so called "suspense thrillers" where you know exactly what is going to happen next...how it happens is why you stay glued to the seat and watch. When I watched "Ek Haseena Thi" I could never predict where the movie was headed at any stage. Such is the case with Johnny Gaddaar as well. Not surprising...cos both movies have been made by the same man..Sriram Raghavan. I will surely be watching out for more of his movies. Cos he sure knows how to weave a tale. Again, critics might cry aloud...about references to Johnny Mera Naam(the Dev Anand starrer, which I havent watched, so no comments) and many other Bollywood movies. Take it for what it is, and you find yourself with a decent thriller. Certainly kept me hooked to the screen...which is saying a lot, considering how distracted I can get. And Neil Nitin Mukesh? What can I say? Just a very promising young lad, with plenty to show in the looks department.

The End

Footnote :
Did someone say what about books? ONE, just ONE! To account for these past few weeks. And that was "Q&A" by Vikas Swarup. Tale of a waiter boy in Mumbai who lands in a KBC type of show and goes on to win the grand prize. A very good read, with interesting experiences in the life of an orphan who is tossed around between Mumbai and Delhi, with a brief stint in Agra. The people he meets, the folks he has worked for, his friends, some acquaintances...a circle of social interactions. And a grand prize.

Dismal as it sounds, yes just one book made it all they way to the end. The rest were disappointing. Within a few lines, pages, I'd stop and before long I had a pile of returns. The clerk at the book store definitely didnt approve. But what to do, it appears I have turned into a very picky reader. I refuse to read, for the sake of reading. Its got to grab my attention and keep me chained, else it just aint worth it!