Movie review - Rock On! SEL - take a bow.....Farhan Akhtar - welcome!!

so there was farhan akhtar....who i think is the symbol of the new man.....the intelligent, talented, in touch with his feminine side type of man we women are suckers for...refreshingly intelligent as opposed to the filmi …….i was all ready to fall in love with him.... The buzz about the movie has been with us enough to intrigue and interest…..wondering what farhan akhtar had up his sleeve this time….i have a hard time believing gattu Kapoor had anything to do with the directing of this movie that has farhan akhtar written all over it….

the music released... I was blown away.....listening to the songs, made me want, this time for real to put himesh reshammiyya to death..... i had a feeling Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy had just given their best.....the guys are undoubtedly the most talented set of music makers, with a fabulouys good range of music that they've made for the movies over the last few years.... 

we finally made it to the movie a few days ago........first up, we had terrible seats.....right next to the entry point of the screen(adlabs) which meant all those who came in late (and there were loads of them) plus the usher flashing his torch to show them their seats and all other people who annoyingly wanted to answer their calls were all a bloody nuisance...... 

the story is about the four friends who dreamt of making music together.....their camaraderie....hopes and dreams for the future..... the movie goes back and forth in a brilliantly edited montage of flashbacks....it tells you where they wanted to take their band "magik" and where they landed up.....

aditya shroff (farhan) is now an investment banker living the dream life with a lovely but bored wife Sakshi (Prachi Desai) who feels she's living with a zombie she can never know completely.... kedar zaveri (purab kohli) gets into the family business of jewellery..... Rob Nancy( luke Kenny) who still makes music ..... Albeit for Anu malik (in a cameo) because in his words he "does'nt know anything else"..... and Joe Mascarenhas (arjun rampal - fabulous job) the lead guitarist who walks with the weight of a dream gone bust and a life gone awry on his shoulders......his wife Debbie (shahana goswami) becomes the one who has to hold their dismal life together by giving up her dream of being a fashion stylist for the more practical one of handling a failing fish business.....

how they get to be where they are, you know that they enter and wins a music contest where they win the chance to make a video and album.....but the pressures of the real world (read remix additions onto their album) and differences of opinion, ego and insecurity and the sheer magnitude of hurt that comes with young dreams shattering tear them apart and they part…only to carry the burden of that parting through the next part of their lives, which seem empty without their music, but they seem to scared to pick up where they left off….......

they finally get back together to battle the demons of the past and finally put them behind them….. they have to face all the things they ran away from and shed all the bitterness they harbor for one another and a dream gone sour…..

the soul of the movie is the music which makes it possible to believe that this motley crew could be a rock band.......and takes you through some funky yet meaningful lyrics set to great songs.....my favourite is Sindbad the sailor..... and the ballad "ye, tumhari meri baatein" sung beautifully by dominique cerejo (whoever she is) has a lilting voice..... 

the movie sees some superlative acting from an ensemble cast..... the camera clearly loves farhan akhtar(and he loves it back as passionately)..... despite everyone saying he needs to work on his voice, i think it lends credibility to his character.... he emotes effortlessly and with such sincerity that its difficult to think this is his first outing as an actor...... the angst that makes him want to build a tower around himself to protect himself from the past he is running away from is played to perfection.....

Arjun rampal as joe in this movie is a revelation....... in the best performance of the film and his modest outing as an actor…he endears himself to the audience and his body language is perfect….the hunched shoulders....the brooding, disinterest in life, the passiveness to the nagging of an equally frustrated wife.... a man so defeated in life he cannot lift a finger..... he is also the most credible guitar playing actors in indian movies!! to his credit i read somewhere that he learnt chord positions for this role....and kudos to the director to film it in such angles that you aren’t desperate to see his fingers pluck the strings to be convinced that he is the lead guitarist..... 

purab kohli as kedar, the boy who still has a twinkle in his eyes at the sound of something exciting after all these years is endearing. Luke Kenny in the role of rob nancy ….. the keyboardist who still makes music, but leads a lonely sad life…..does an adequate job  with his role…..

Prachi desai as the demure bored wife of a man who seems to exist but not quite…..brings a quiet dignity to the way she really wants her husband’s happiness even though she may not find a place for herself there…..

Shahana goswami as joe’s wife (Debbie – take a bow girl) does such a job of losing her sheen as the frustrated wife trying to hold on to straws to make her miserable life better is so believeable, you want to sit her down and offer her a cup of tea…..

Tho the movie in the second half seems like it wants to quick fix all the problems so that we can have a picture perfect ending, seems to rush through and suddenly everything falls into place…..isnt as good as the first half….Rock on will be remembered as a movie that is slick, yet all heart, and possibly the best we have had till date on music.

Camerawork is topnotch and so is the styling of the movie and the attention to detail makes you want to shout and dance with joy…..

While this movie wont exactly make you want to dust your dreams and charge after them….it does make you look at them fondly…..this movie also is just what it is….a very well made, hindi film that will stand testimony to the talent of the people who made it possible……...its a must watch….so Rock On!!

 

 

Carpenter rant…………

What is it with men taking instructions from a woman?? It makes me mad enough to spin on my head……the carpenters who're working to make our library/study are doing a good job…I am hopeful of posting pictures of it when its done……but I find myself getting increasingly pissed off when I give them instructions…..firstly, they'll always tell me whatever I ask them to do isn't a good idea…..when questioned, they'll always lamely say that "hum toh hamesha aisa hi banaatey hai" (we always make it like this) which is no explanation at all….finally when they do agree to make the changes I want, they will do it so grudgingly that I wonder if I would have been better off just agreeing to get it done they way they wanted……

Take for instance the height of the work table ….. I stand tall and proud at 5ft 2 inches….i need the worktable to be 30 inches high so that I don't kill myself with spondylosis as I sit for the remainder of the time that I will use this as a home office…..they've been told a hundred times, measured and marked also as many times…..yet they make it 3-4 inches higher……. Now I want to really take that electric saw to their necks……we go in….take the measurements again….make the markings….only to be told by them that it is too low!! For whom?? You?? You butthead…just make it for me to be able to sit there without wincing in pain!! Why cant you get it….. I have had them redo it three times already….smiling and explaining patiently even though I want to slice their heads off……then they say, it will be too low when the chair comes and hits my knees……I want to scream that I have exactly the kind of chair I want in mind….and no I will make sure it doesn't hit my knees….

Take another instance of putting on the veneer…..this is a thin sheet of wood, with natural grains (that I have chosen) which will give out a feeling that we've used decent wood (instead of the ply its actually made of) ….. to line the insides of the book cases, instead of all the wood being laid so that the grains remain in one direction, they lay them vertically and horizontally on the insides of the bookshelves….when I asked them what twisted logic made them do that, they looked at me like I was some deranged woman obsessed with the direction of the sheets of wood being laid……aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh chain saw somebody one day soon……so I explained…that it would look very bad, to not have everything in one direction….to which one cheeky mr carpenter replies…. "par yahan toh kitaben aayengi….cover ho jaayega" (there will be books here to cover this)….i throw him a murderous look that makes him put his tail between his legs and ask him to rip it off and do it again….adding "oh I won't be paying for the stuff you just wasted"

Every evening, when k manages to come while they are still working, or the following morning before he leaves for work and they've already arrived to pound my brains for the day…he inspects their work and tells them the same thing I have said….. The response he gets "theek hai, kar dengey sahib" (ok we will do it sir)…. I cant believe it.….. and all this after I have turned over a new leaf, not once screamed or sworn at them….and generally been of extreme sunny disposition in all my interactions with them….

Bah!! I just want them out of my house….I want them to do my bidding ….. and I want to throw that party to inaugurate k's favourite place on earth. Amen.

Come September

i cant believe it is september already.....9th month of the year....enough to make a baby(ok this isnt on my mind as much as some others i know)....beginning of the last quarter of the year....and what have i to show for it??

before i get crappy and cribby (seems to be my new name)..... i am happy today is the first of sept....which means i get to make a fresh start.....channel my energies into something more positive, manage time (and money) better...and i have all these groovy ideas for what i want to accomplish by the end of the year..... better late than never...and hey, tho i do know you need to make one small change at a time rather than a clean sweep...i am more of a clean sweep type of person....so am going to go the whole hog....

the month that just exited wasn't my best...the best laid plans remained just that - laid......most of the things i set out to do didnt get done....and i increasingly became something i dont want to acknowledge.....its funny how you can "pretend" to everyone but cant fool yourself.....abysmal stuff.....

three things of significance happened this month

i catered food for a birthday party ..... italian (ok with an indi touch) for 25...... while i oscillated between agony and extacy....a few major lessons were learnt.....

• i need to have more faith in myself....and not feel shy (this is so annoying) to take credit where it is due
• i have the temperament to do this....i thought i would turn into this insane person, but am proud of the way i handled the whole operation and had my blood pressure under control
• i need to delegate more work
• i can make this work for me!! Totally!!
• i loved doing this......at the end of the day...i was happy beyond words, at what i had accomplished....

we have begun the work on our dream library. we've waited four long years to do this....it has meant sacrificing one bedroom and a lot of storage....but i would do it in the whole house if just to see the look on k's face!! he cant wait to put his precious books into their new home.....and i must confess i cant wait for the carpentry to be over and get my life back to normal...

i was down with a lousy flu which took almost 10 days to leave me...... mostly because i tried not to take medication and willed myself to get better with herbal teas and tiger balm, warm water and salt gargles and the likes..... but i did pop some paracetamol....and got high for two days on cough syrup.....god!! i was so miserable....i dont know how k put up with me..... possibly guilt because he gave it to me in the first place.....the thing with flu is, it isnt a serious ailment....but it makes you feel worse than something the cat dragged in on a rainy night......i still cannot smell a thing and everything tastes like wet saw dust (not that i know what it tastes like)....but am glad i can put it behind me now.....am glad i dont have to sit corpse like on the bean bag in front of the tv for hours and hours just to keep awake (we have carpenters working in the house people....)

in other notes..... i finally met my namesake....we had a wonderful time....we talked non stop....and got along like a house on fire...not just us...but our spouses as well...which is such a relief....this days after she sent me food.....which was such a bright spot in my day!!

there were many random points of "i wish i had"....especially when things went very awry.....and my bank accounts went into limbo....i even had the embarrassment of a bounced cheque....does it become better if it happens with a friend??

so that's the cap on august...... i hope sept is going to be good....i have this feeling it will be a lovely month....

happenings

its been a full house...mom, brother, SIL and niece were here for 5 days.....i didnt realise my house needed a fragile warning till i readied it for a 19 month old hyperactive child....cloaks over k's precious book collection.....breakable stuff put away (which meant most of the stuff i own) and being alert 24/7!! she of course had a ball....i think kids know exactly when they have you by the b@!!$ .....i see a glint in the eyes...the glint of success....she's adorable...and quite a handful...and i am glad i need to play doting aunt only once in a while!!

in an affirmation of my want to be more earth friendly, i have myself a new home composting apparatus....i am very excited about it....and i just hope to keep the maggots out!! it will be really bad for my marriage!!

i've also been loving and hating the rains.....it poured here for 5 days non stop....the place next to ours which was getting readied for construction, now looks like a monstrous...but very filthy swimming pool.....and much as i love the romance of the garam chai and spiced cookies on the balcony bit, i have to deal with water logged plants, damp clothes and mustiness in the house.....am not complaining.....but i hate damp clothes...i am just grateful i am not in them!!

but the biggest happening has been that i have chopped off my tresses.....it has given me much grief.....falling at such an alarming rate that i envisioned myself with a bald pate....much as i loved my long hair....the longest i have had it ever.....till my waist....i chopped it off till my shoulders....which is about 8 inches....i haven't yet gotten over the shock of seeing a different looking me when i brush my teeth in the morning......i tell myself...its hair...it will grow back....but i cant seem to not miss it!! ridiculous?? i dont know....

i am currently terrified of agreeing to do the food for a child's b'day party.....half of me wants to give it a shot...the other half wants to run and hide.... the next week will tell me whether it was worth it....as for now...there's no turning back!!

randy pausch

I don’t get turned on by people very often……no…not in the way you think (dirty mind)….rarely comes a person who moves me in a positive way…..this one did….i read about Randy Pausch (RIP) here and intrigued, watched the videos….what followed was deep respect – for a man who knew he was dying and was able to face it with courage and dignity…..love – for a man and his family that had so much to do….and so much to steal away from a life that was clearly ticking on the clock……salutation – for a man who dreamt his dreams and then made them come true……for a brilliant professor and achiever…….but more so….tears – for a life snatched away….i shed tears for a man I barely knew….yet it was like I was looking into his soul…..and the family and the kids he left behind…..
It actually made lazy me…..compulsive complainer me…..for a few moments…..for a few heartbeats…..think differently…..
Randy Pausch – I barely knew you….yet I feel your loss….Rest in Peace……