birthday blues....

A few weeks ago, I turned a year older….nothing earth shattering either way…but around the time of completing another year, I kind of retrospect ….. the usual questions, the usual and sometimes painfully not so usual answers…..where am I, where do I want to be, what am I doing etc etc…..i do this every year….sometimes again before any big decision….and I noticed that the heart didn’t race as much as it used to…..i didn’t agonize, I didn’t fret….importantly I wasn’t looking for someone to blame……i wondered if it was lethargy / age (god you must think I am a dinosaur the way I go on and on)/or a plain lack of interest…..it was none….i realized there was no hyperventilating because I somehow, seem to be (touchwood for Chrissake) just in the place I want to be…I am in a happy place….and I am thankful and grateful for that…….there are no agendas and no nothing to drive me crazy, make me want something that I don’t have…..i am at peace with where I am and what I am doing and importantly I love my life just the way it is (now I think I can give up the ghost!!)…..really….finally I am able to say this and appreciate what I have.

Its going to be four years in our current home now and when I look at pictures that we’ve taken over the years of the house, I am shocked at all the stuff I have accumulated, linen, crockery, books and magazines, bric brac….clothes…..shoes!! (I am so guilty of this) most of which just sits on shelves without being used…..most of it, I don’t even know that I have……the more I see, the more I want to buy….greed….lust….i don’t know what……I was brought up in a regular middle class home, while we were always given the best my parents could afford, we were always told “waste not, want not”….i hated it …..i felt for most part, I was the camouflage my folks used to cover the fact that they couldn’t afford many fancier things that richer kids had…..infact, my brother and I nicknamed my mother “Recycle Rani”…..she’d try her best to use up leftovers innovatively…..not just food, packing paper, clothes, shoes….you name it and she’d have a use for it…..clothes and books were constantly passed on to willing friends and cousins…..plastic bags and boxes (they were’nt all over the place the way they are now) were reused till they went to shreds….i cant remember buying packing paper ever ….. my mother would always produce a sheet, from under the mattresses……where it was kept to remove creases……and she planted flowers in our old kitchen sink much before Better homes and gardens said it was trendy to do so…..i have digressed totally I know……

What I mean by ranting here, is that as time goes by, I am beginning to see the wisdom in all of this….while I was busy accusing her of being a kanjoos and a horder of rubbish, my mother was trying to use effectively all that was available, without blindly buying more…and putting more load on the environment….if only we took a page out of her book!! Or any of our elders…..i am not saying I am going to be frugal….far from it…..i want to consume sensibly……

So no more new clothes, till I get rid of what I currently have…..definitely no more new shoes (infact I haven’t bought a pair for over 18 mths now)…..no more ceramics / crockery …no not even in the name of my blog!! And definitely no more stuff “just in case”……… I have enough bed and home and table linen to last the next 15 yrs atleast….i have different cleaning agents one each for the bathrooms, mirror, TV, kitchen appliances, counter tops, stove….i don’t even know why I bought them anymore…..i am trying my best to eat seasonal and local….i have been carrying my own bag when I shop for groceries and vegetables….now I intend to always carry a cloth bag……

This year though importantly, I have decided that I need to be a little more useful to this earth…increasingly I find myself thinking about the environment and try to make the right choices…..its a small step, but in no way insignificant….because I do believe that every drop makes up the ocean…..for this year then, much to my mother’s disgust, I did not buy myself a new dress or ask for a present…from anyone that I usually guilt trip into getting me one….my mantra is going to be “Refuse, Reduce, Recycle, Reuse”…..it’s just been a couple of weeks…but it seems to be a step in the right direction…..i have gone from being an obsessively compulsive I want to buy everything I see….to the one who is asking myself, if I really need the product / service, what the price is, not just in terms of rupees, but where it was produced and how it is packaged and if I can get by without it……..

So then that summarises what has been on my mind…..and I am leaving you with some pictures of what has become of the beautiful plot next to our apartment……the land sharks grabbed it about 4 months ago…and ever since there has been nothing but felling of trees, digging and all kinds of drilling and blasting going on….this is how the once veritable garden of Eden looks……and I guess this is the price you pay for “development” last heard theres a shopping mall coming up here with office spaces in a 14 floor monstrosity …… I miss my green lung…..thank you for the beauty and the wonderful view while it lasted…..

(Bad)Kismat (Dis)Konnection..........woes abound

I will try and forget that I crashed into and fell over my coffee table, cut my finger and knocked my knee cap so hard I was convinced I had a fracture…..lay motionless till K picked me up….put me to bed with an icepack over my knee…..and that I limped around like a one legged person for more than 48 hrs…..I will try and remember that all of this had nothing to do with Kismat Konnection……….

Reams have been written about this movie…….the return of Aziz Mirza…..the supposed romance between Shahid Kapoor and Vidya Balan……and ……well ok…all the reams written seemed to be only of the so called romance between the lead pair…..and for their own sake I hope it isn’t true…..fresh from the success of Jab We Met, and deserving more than the praise that he got (his famous Ex walked away with all the taalis remember) I really wanted Shahid to have a good movie……and this looked like it had all the trappings…..except for one vital thing….Aziz Mirza…..I mean look at the man’s track record…… nukkad worked because it was made in the 80’s everything on television (which was a sum total of Doordarshan) was tacky and trite……bad / loud acting was the result of theatre actors storming television studios and people like him got more credit than they deserved…..I mean look at his track record –

Raju ban Gaya gentleman was the only passable fare……with an already tried and tested script (Shree 420)….

then he made the terrible Phir bhi dil hai Hindustani whose only claim to fame was a kickass title song (which wasn’t in the movie btw) that became a national anthem and gave us a chance to smile about our (silly) quirks with a winning “phir bhi dil hai Hindustani” refrain……though this bit the dust when it released (even though SRK launched one of the most aggressive promotional campaigns for it) it seems to have made a pile of cash with satellite TV rights…..

Chalte chalte (I actually couldn’t sit through the premiere, walked out and watched it later)…..the only thing good about this movie was that it had some fabulously picturised songs shot on exotic locales……it also had an emaciated looking shah rukh khan (after his titanium disc surgery) doing the loud act and much as I like him, I couldn’t stand this one, Rani Mukherjee styled well with lovely clothes, but buried under a tonne of makeup…..and some other disgustingly loud characters played by otherwise talented actors…… (Have you seen satish shah in yeh Jo hai zindagi or sarabhai Vs Sarabhai??)

So I still gave him the benefit of doubt for shahid’s sake…..I really like this boy and wish he stopped giving people reason to go on and on about how he apes SRK……you are talented on your own ….. Just pick the people who won’t call you Raj Malhotra in their movies anymore

Ok since this has given you a fair idea of where this is going to take you, let us dispense with the thin shard of the storyline …… its very little….believe me…..

Raj Malhotra(Shahid Kapoor) is a down on luck and out of work architect…..here I think the scriptwriter wanted a Howard Roark kind of “brilliantly talented but no one wants to give him a chance” kind of sketch…..and the similarity ends there…..defeated and on the verge of a tear flood (this still makes you want to go and hug Shahid Kapoor the actor), comes across an advertisement on TV (in Canada, in Hindi….but what the hell…..looks like Canada morphed into Chandigarh with all the Batra’s, Gill's and other Hindi spewing people that infest this movie) of a tarot reader/ crystal ball gazer/ horoscope/ palm reader/ mother of all solution givers called Haseena Bano Jaan……the guy must have been really desperate to actually think there will be hope to be gotten from someone with a downright tacky Advt.....and lands up to listen to her mumbo-jumbo about a lucky charm…..which could be in any form……turns out to be Priya (Vidya Balan) who Raj gets into a few scraps with initially and as expected they can’t stand the sight of each other….they bump into each other another couple of times…..and Raj does all he can to keep her close to him as his talisman, so that he can present his architectural plans to Gill (Om – what was he thinking - Puri!!) and bag a contract to build a shopping complex for him, over what is now a Community Centre, run / protected / crusaded for by (surprise!!) Priya…..so after some lack luster songs, trite acting, and many unbelievably badly edited scenes later Raj gets Priya (thanks to a scheming two timing boyfriend - why do they all have to be losers??)and she gets her community centre, thanks to a vagabond “waving friend” who actually turns out to be the owner (Batra – Boman Irani) of the building company, who uses his ‘veto’ power (what are they running?? The parliament!!) .......... Approves the building plan which includes the community centre...........of course after a lecture on global warming (what!!) and imperialism…….and some other inconsequential stuff……

So that for you there is the storyline of (bad) Kismat Con-ection………

The acting is ok….as in Shahid and Vidya really try to bring some honesty to the crappy lines they are given ….but it ends there…..Om Puri and Juhi Chawla…. I was speechless (in a not so nice way), himani shivpuri in the three scenes as Om Puri’s dog toteing loud Punjabi wife act actually elicited a few laughs….Vishal Malhotra’s leech(y) type of friend was so dated, that you can actually throw in a few moth balls….the guy is talented….. now if he can just stop doing these roles….. because we could really do without the clichéd friend

The story is ok…..Sanjay Chel (writer), you should have really spent maximum time on the script….everyone recycles old stuff…..its trendy to do so……and really we would have appreciated a new take on this Munna Bhai meets confused Howard roarke meets bad take on whoppi Goldberg in ghost crystal ball gazer rubbish you came up with ….. everything you introduce has no bearing to the actual story……the competitor/rival to Raj malhotra, after trying several ambushes, disappears without a trace…… Russian mafia / money lender who speaks in a weird italian accent and has one scene…. Haseena bano jaan is jiggling her hips in what she calls “carnival ka rehearsal” with some 10 others in what looks like a street fountain…….what is the occupation of Priya?? She is a crusader for the community centre and is protesting the shopping mall in Canada with placards in hindi!!.........for a woman who calls Raj an MCP, she is passive and cow like with her boyfriend / fiancé………

The cinematography is adequate…..and its really unfathomable to expect Aziz Mirza to expect fabulousness from his technicians….that having been said, there’s nothing you can really fault in this department…..

Pritams music is lackluster……he seems to have lost interest in the movie halfway after Bakhuda (sung by Asif Aslam and Alka Yagnik) and one can’t really blame him for that

The choreography is very Ahmed Khanesque …..it ranges from what is really good in the Aai Pappi (which is there for the heck of it) number and Shahid is on home ground and a treat to watch, his foot work being very deft….. to a downright terrible engagement song (costumes included – sleeveless waistcoat under jacket for Shahid- which he removed half way down the song and a terrible fish cut ghagra for vidya)

Which brings us to poor poor Vidya…..darling….please insist that you wont wear anything that this stylist ever gives you…..he/she needs to be sacked…..there’s nothing wrong with your natural grace and style, and don’t you dare listen to people who try to tell you otherwise and put you in clothes that just don’t do anything for you…..

And as for the so called Chemistry between Vidya balan and Shahid Kapoor….it just isn’t there…..infact there is no energy / synergy / chemistry between anyone who were a part of this movie….the actors, technicians…..zilch!!

It has been said that Aziz Mirza made this movie after the death of his wife……my condolences…..but please stay at home and recover…..you don’t have to spend crores to make movies to get over your grief…..

What I can’t fathom….is whether people are idiots or so narcissistic that they can’t make out their front from their rear…end that is…..i have always wondered if film makers are surrounded by bootlickers who are always singing praises of them…..or they are those unfortunate people who have no one honest in the vicinity of a few miles…..if they are surrounded by people who are deaf, blind and dumb enough to not recognize a shoddily made product, then that is one huge colony of deaf, blind and dumb people…..

A friend of mine said that this was a sweet one time watch, compared to the other crap that is coming out….but I don’t want to compare this that way……despite the rubbish around….anything…standalone should be good or bad…..i won’t deny that there are worse off movies than this one…. But that isn’t how I judge a movie…..this one didn’t work for me……I won’t recommend it…..unless you are really drunk……really bored……or want to eat a load of popcorn….. my rating is one star….yeah that bad…..

movie review - jaane tu....ya jaane na...........God is really in the Supporting Cast

well OK, lets face it.....he looks good.....in a non chocolate boy kind of way....but for the better part of this past month, and you can blame it on my being slow...i had no idea who this "imran khan" was....i finally figured, after watching a scathing news story titled "this pappu cant speak" on one of the news channels (where else do you get 'breaking filmi news'?) that this was aamir khan's nephew.....so as with anything that i need to find out more about, i headed to my most immediate and mostly credible source of information - the Internet and read up like a star struck (wont be an entirely wrong description) movie junkie all there was to know about this debutant actor...

OK so we know all about him, how he didn't know hindi and attended a film acting school and found it bizarre, and (alas!!) is very much in love with avantika, who he speaks fairly openly about....and all that.....

soon after the scathing report of his "cant speak" news item in the media, i was zapped and (here in lies the power of the media and a fabulous lesson of how to use it well) left stunned, by the immediate turn around.....everywhere you saw, aamir (maamu) and his bhateeja imran were there....at promotions, at events, giving interviews to anyone who held anything remotely looking like a mike in their hands and were waxing eloquent about each other and their movies and everything else they had or hadn't spoken about.....it was amazing to see this publicity blitzkrieg.... therein lies the absolute intelligence of aamir khan..the man...who sets his mind on something and goes after it with all barrels blazing!!

OK...this began as a movie review....and i have completely lost the plot!!

what made me want to see Jaane Tu, is the fact that imran is very articulate, not only does he have a deeply sexy voice (for his age) but he speaks clearly....like a normal intelligent clear minded man (OK....err not so normal....i guess). i was smitten by the way he articulated his thoughts, and there appeared to be no prepared answers....although that's an oxymoron considering the magnitudes of interviews he's been giving!! that apart, i like abbas tyrewala's work....on all the previous occasions....for a man to be scripting something as varied as Maqbool and the Munna bhai series, had to be taken seriously.....

so we braved the crowds of mad and excited teeny bopper's to make my way into the theatre....the story is pretty simple....girl and boy are best of friends and everyone including you and me (their families, friends included) think they are in love and cant understand why the hell they haven't made declarations of it yet!! they believe they are just "best friends" try to find matches for each other, realise they love each other and then go all out to confess!!

OK now that the story is out of the way....lets come to the other parts of the film.......

first things first, Imran Khan, is perfectly cast as the leading man...he is completely confident in front of the camera, walks, talks and dances like a normal person and very quickly endures the character he plays "jai singh Rathore" to you.....for a first time, he is so much at ease that you want to cringe at all the other bad actors after 25 films that you have endured.....

genelia is a sight for sore eyes.....i am a big fan of her telugu movies and she clearly is a face the camera loves....she however needs to work on her dialogue delivery a little......cos sometimes you wonder why she needs to screech so much......

the rest of the star cast.....supporting roles (read other than the lead pair) are spectacular.....the gang of friends is refreshingly normal....with a motley of people obviously scoured from the length and breadth of this country....thank god they are young...yet such confident actors and not at all conscious of the camera....its fabulous to see people performing well in these parts...and i think this is what makes a movie singularly better....the performances of the ensemble cast.....the role of the mother (Rathna Pathak Shah) is (but) brilliantly played ....and i think hindi movies could do with a liberal dose of this fabulous actress....she is all substance, wit and timing ....and it is difficult not to want more of her.....anooradha patel and jayant kriplani( where have you been??) are good and overall the casting director has gotten it just bang on!! how often do you see real talent in the side roles.....not often....and for that, jaane tu is a real treat to watch......real actors make it so effortless.....naseeruddin shah is so loveable.....and those famous siblings.....they show such maturity in their comic act...........that you wonder why they've never done anything but crass comedy before....!! and paresh rawal, shows you what you can do with supreme acting in just a couple of scenes.....the only weak links are the two people who play suitors to imran and genelia...they look much too old to be even considered matches for them....

there are parts where the script really kicks and drags it feet and perhaps the editor went on a loo break once too often......the establishment of three things....the "friendship" between the lead pair, the courting of someone else, and the realisation of true love for each other, gives you enough time to go grab a three course refreshment......and not miss a thing.......and this is what surprises me....that abbas was so excited to tell his tale, that he made it a tad tedious.....

the music of course is topnotch....breezy and catchy, yet the lyrics elevate it to another level.......kabhi kabhi aditi, is by far my favourite of all......thought they haven't made full length song a dance sequences for all of them....a few songs however, don't know why they are there....and for someone who claims not to know how to dance.....the leading lady does rather well (as has happened in scores of movies where perfectly choreographed song and dance routines happen....but somehow i expected a lot more tautness here from the director)

what works for the film is that the cast is bang on....the camera clearly loves both imran khan and genelia....the supporting cast, really does it for the movie.....it elevates it to a level higher......the set design is so real that you want the lamps and beds that are there in the movie in your own home.....and will keep an eye out for them.....it does so much for a film when the set doesn't look "fake"

my absolute favourite cameo in the movie (difficult choice to make) was that of prateik babbar, who plays genelia's brother.....genes sometimes make such a difference...he is all Smitha patils son....and yet his own man....its shocking to see such a performance in a role that has little over 4 scenes charm you the way he did.....dialogues, expression and acting...he is way above this league.....he brings to the role of an angst ridden, loner, painter, brother yearning for the attention of his sister, such a credibility that you cant help fall in love with him......

overall jaane tu is a good time pass watch.....aamir khan the producer businessman will ensure it gets better ratings that it deserves.....its a nice clean fresh faced flick.....and will surely make a star of imran khan....the boy has promise and i hope will have a decent and sensible career.....i would like to see what he does next....now that he has teeny bopper out of the way.....genelia will be a good addition to the leading lady brigade...she has a freshness last seen in preity zinta....and gosh she is so pretty!! abbas has done well with his maiden directorial venture, in that he picked a winning team and a story and great music.....he also chose wisely in finding a producer for his film......after Rang de, this is a film where the ensemble cast excels in their roles.....and that i think is the mark of a very intelligent man!!

go watch this one...for the sheer freshness in the acting and to burst the bubble that supporting actors dont contribute to the end result of a movie....they are the ones that actually make this one graduate from yet another teen romance, to a pretty good movie.....my rating is three stars on five...

Welcome Imran!! cheers to you and here's to seeing more of you.....Abbas...well done....but man you have so much more to give.....Pakhi - the casting director - you are the real hero of this movie!!