Wither Bollywood!

I have grown up on regional and Hindi movies. I can't do without watching them however cliched the themes might be. I also need to put some kind of an effort to watch an English movie . Most of my friends were like me around 10 years ago.  Most of them start watching English movies during the engineering phase of 4 years ( even those who hardly watched Hindi movies ).  I was somehow different and Hollywood movies never excited me.  So much so that I did not even watch 5 Hollywood movies in those 4 years.

Over the years however ( especially during the last 2 years), I have started seeing English movies and I find them superior to the Bollywood and regional ones in terms of the stories and ideas. This also might be due to the fact that  I watch an English movie when someone suggests that I should see it as opposed to watching any random regional or Bollywood that hits the screens.

I saw many Bollywood movies in the last 4 months. Just in the last 1 week, I saw 3 of them. I didn't  find anything new or interesting  in 'Ajab Prem Ki Gajab Kahani'. The only highlight of the movie was perhaps Ranbir kapoor who also did a good job in 'Wake Up Sid'.

The less I talk about 'London Dreams' the better. Salman and Ajay are no longer in the 20s or even 30s to do such roles. It is sad that our story tellers don't find stories beyond the routine 'boy meets girl' kinds. If there are 2 male-leads, then it cannot be anything other than jealousy for the lady. Both of these movies, APKGK and LD  should have come 10 years ago. I am not too sure if they would have made an impact even then.

The third movie that I saw last week 'Tum Mile' where the director had at least tried out something different.  The hero meets his ex-girl friend in the face of a calamity where the audiece are taken back to the Mumbai 2005 floods. The theme was contemporary but I thought the story wasn't  too  gripping.

There are too many flashbacks during the 'flood' incident which should have been the most engrossing part of the story.  Ideally, the effect of the flood should have had the audience  thanking God for the clear weather once they stepped out of the cinema hall. Instead, it turns out to be a pretty ordinary movie with a few flood scenes and the 'boy finally meets girl' happy ending.

For me, the last good movie of the season was 'Kaminey'. and I loved watching it. I am a fan of the movie's director -Vishal Bharadwaj and I thought the two characters of Shahid Kapoor were etched superbly. It was good to see a Bollywood heroine look like an ordinary girl without any make-up. Thankfully, there were no dream sequences where the she turns into an angel. I thought it was  Shahid Kapoor's best performance to date and I think he deserves an award for his performance in the movie.

It was interesting to note that the audience had extreme opinions about it. One category of those like me who loved the movie and the other category who detested the movie so much that they felt like leaving the movie half way.  I am planning to buy a DVD tomorrow to make my Dad watch the movie and find out to which category he belongs to.

I have realized that I have been stuck on this post for too long. More bouquets and brickbats later. For now.. I just want to see more 'Kamineys'!

(pic courtesy:http://rakeshzone.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/kaminey12.jpg)

Unexpect the Expected ?

After almost a month, I went for a walk today. Going on a walk gives me the time and space to talk to myself, inspire myself and decide what I am going to do next. As I was walking along, I was telling myself that I won't go after any pretty lass from now on. Especially once I start working at a new place.

My attention was diverted when a girl walked past me in the park. I could not see much of her face but she seemed interesting enough. On further observation, I realized that she was the reason why I decided to work inside the park rather than on the road outside. ( My heart detected a faint shadow of the fairer sex and instructed my legs to take the right path).

Oops! I have resolved that I should take the right resolutions at the right places. A park is hardly the place to make resolutions concerning girls.

Now coming to the blog post title .... I couldn't help using the word 'Unexpect' although there is no such word. ( The spellchecker is already red at me) .I thought using that would convey my idea better. It is said that the best things in life happen when you least expect them to. I don't quite understand this.

If there is something good that is going to happen to me, how can I not think about that 'good' thing. I would be anxiously waiting for it happen. If that is the case with something good, then I need not say anything about the best things in life. I also wonder if the best thing will remain special to me when it happens at a time when I don't think about it or expect it to happen. These days when I tell myself not to think too much about something it is only with the hope that the unexpected ( or is it the expected?) might happen.

Media effect of the day

The cable went kaput for sometime today and I happened to watch the National channel for sometime. It was some programme for the farmers. I was somehow able to relate with the farms and cotton crops being grown.  Aha.. that's the farmville effect I realize :)  I couldn't however judge what % the crop is grown like Farmville does.

The mirror and my mood

There is something about what I write on this mirror every morning just after I finish my bath and just before I come out of the bathroom. More often that not whatever I write on the mirror reflects my mood. If I am  in the best of the moods, my name appears there. More than an year ago, while I was working and may be even till very recently it would be the name of a girl. ( The name would keep changing of course). 

Over the last 1 month the names of some companies who were forturnate to interview me ( haha ) were on this mirror. Now I am past all that. The 3 lettered word 'job'  followed by an exclamaton reflects my mood!

YSR is missing

The news that I heard on the TV channels jolted me . Jolted me enough to get going with my blog which I have been postponing for over a month now. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. Rajashekar Reddy has been missing since today morning. His helicopter has been missing amid the bad weather this morning. The whole of A.P has been praying for rains till now and now when they came, they have come so hard that they seem to taken the CM of Andhra along.

I guess the whole of A.P is tuned into their television sets. Our cable connection ( yeah.. the good old cable and not DTH) went kaput and we had switch on DD-1, the national channel. Hearing the TV sound, the aunty from the opposite house wanted to know if the cable was working. Her next question was about the C.M and his well-being. I also saw quite of few messages on TV, most of them praying for him and some cursing him. It was the same story on my aunt's phone call with her friend cursing him and my aunt wishing him the best.

Now on to Social Media from the traditional media. Nope. I am not talking about my blog. I am talking of the twitters and Google searches of the world. Just typed YSR on twitter and found quite a few tweets on the subject. I tried typing YSR on Google and was prompted by 'YSR misisng' and 'YSR dead' options.

I couldn't help but laugh when I found one Gtalk message which blamed telugu actress Roja for the entire episode saying that she has proved to be the bad omen for the Congress. This was my school friend who used to say the same when her movies flopped during our school days.

Now that I have started this blog, I wonder what category falls into. Umm.. ?Wow! ? or Huh? ? Perhaps it's mix of all these with the security forces wondering what went wrong with the helicopter and people across the state reacting in different ways. Or may be it is a shocking news that needs to be put under a different category. Well, the first post has been a bouncer on that front.

A universal Donor :)

Right now, I am wearing a red and white shirt. Well, nothing too romantic about it, but then this is a shirt which I bought during the 'Friends to support' run. 'Friends to support' is a social group that helps the society by providing information about blood donors and organizing blood donation camps.

Coming back to my shirt, the message on it reads ' I am proud donor' which is ironical because of the fact that I being a diabetic, can never donate blood to anyone :(. But I still think that I am a proud donor. And what makes me think so? Well, listen to me now. I happen to fall in love ( that's what I think it is ) every other day and end up giving so much that makes me feel that I am the universal donor. Just as Aarya points out, I guess I have so much love embedded in me that a single gal would never to able to take it all. And hence I need to spread the love around to all the gals around me :)

So in order to sync the message with my 'Dil se' and 'Dil de' thoughts I turned the friends2support logo upside down and tweaked the turned version a little bit. And lo! you can see my heart there, right on my shirt proclaiming that it is the proud donor. The logo on Kumar's shirt ( to the right) is the original one. Cool!!! Isn't it? :)

Uncle!

I went to Care Banjara Hospital yesterday to submit some of my reports and met a doctor whom I hadn't met for the almost 1 year. Here is how the conversation went

Doctor: Hello

Me: Hello Sir

Doctor: Kya bhai! French beard. You have put on weight. No walking. No Diet-control.

Dad nahi hain....! Total change!

Me: (pissed off at the weight comment) Arey weight kuch hain.. I appear hefty just because of this jerkin!

Doctor: Acha.. par yeh to baahar nikal raha hain . ( he said that patting my tummy)

Huh! Not again! This is happening a bit too frequently now. It reminds me of the hair dye ad where a guy hears the word "Uncle" echoeing his ears. Just a couple of days ago, I happened to pose for my style photos in a marriage. I put one of the photos as my profile-pic in Orkut, ultra-pleased with it. ( Glam-boy dikh raha Main.. was my feeling). As expected there were a couple of scraps about the changed pic in orkut.

Hello, Abu Salem!

Hi...yeah Uncle photo kya hain! Since when did you start wearing those glasses?

I was shocked when I read those. I immediately changed the pic. Alas! I, in my best pic now look like an uncle. Uncle ! Uncle ! Uncle! The words still echo in my ears. Reflecting further on these lines, I now understand why Mom n Dad ask me if they should start searching for my better-half every other day. I do look to be in need of one. The french-beard is my only armour. It makes my chubby cheeks less obvious. Rishi Kapoor, the bollywood actor started sporting a French beard after he was 40. And I just turned 26.( By mistake, I happened to typed it as 46 a moment ago :( ). I believe that people put on French-beard when their face has nothing else to offer . There are some who put it on just to sport a "new" look. The later was my reason earlier but now the former seems to be a more appropriate reason.

Realization Aftermath: Abu Salem seems much better! He seems to occupy lesser space and didn't have the puffy face :(

Jog! Run! Yoga! Gym! What next? Ask me this question at 7:00 am in the morning and my answer would be "Arey, i'll get going from tomorrow!!"and Tomorrow has never happened till now :)

Abu Salem pic - Courtesy - www.tribuneindia.com/.../spectrum/main1.htm

Bday eve Blues !

Pepe Jeans, Spykar and Brand factory. I spent a good 2 hours roaming around all these places. Par saaala Ek shirt nahi mila ! I just wanted a 'simple sa' collared short T-shirt for my birthday. But I couldn't find any to my liking. Of course I wanted to buy a trouser as well. But I had made up my mind that I would buy one only I found a good shirt and that never happened. Me wearing formals made things worse. For once, I agree with Kiran who hates freaking around on Wednesdays in those Tie-Full sleeves - leather shoes formal wear. Well, today I happened to wear a checks shirt , which when not tucked into my trousers is too big for for me.

Start-Flashback! Aah.. it all started around 15 years ago when Dad realizing that I was a Complan boy growing fast and rapid bought a T-shirt of a bigger size than mine. I looked good in it ( parents always think so and i didn't know that then ) and it lasted long. I was never comfortable wearing anything tight because that would not sync with my flexible body which at any given point of time was either in a bowling or a batting pose. Thus started the "Thoda bada size lele" funda. When I was in high school, wearing Dad's shirts for me was a cool option. It continued even while I was in college. Hmm.. in fact it never mattered in college although the short-shirt fashion had just begun. Then came the job. I now had my own money and shopping with friends was more than a one-off event. The usual comment from my friends as well as the salesman would be "Wait!! Isn't that too big for you?". A few shoppings later my heart started feeling the same and thus started the "Wear what seems to fits you " revolution. The word "seems " assumes significance because some of the shirts don't quite fit you, but you go ahead with them for that is the latest fashion. Just a few days, I found a shirt in my cup-board that I used to wear during my final year and I was like "God! It's sooooo big. How did I ever wear it?" ( And that was supposedly one of favorite party wears !). End-Flashback!

Since I have been working only for the last 3 years, I have quite a few extra large shirts and most of them happen to be formals. Today happened to be one such formal day. With the formal shirt on, none of the trousers looked good! The moment I wore the jeans my the loose shirt would divert my attention. And when I did finally remove the shirt, my paunch would grab my attention. Huh! So I needed a good shirt for the trouser to look good but that never happened.

Frustrated,I started home. On my way back, I came across a Kwality ice cream hawker. "Yummy! I need some ice cream", I thought and stopped. I wanted to have Chocobar but as luck would have it, that was missing. The hawker urged me to take a "Choco-feast" but I refused since I wanted to have something less sugary." Hmm.. Ok... Give me a Mango bar"I said . He had it and it was Rs 15 but neither of us had the change. I searched all my pockets and found Rs 4. I wanted a rupee more and continued searching, hoping that I would find one. Finally seeing disappointment written all over my face, the hawker let me have the Mango bar for Rs 14.

I came home and opened orkut. And this is what I saw:

Today's fortune: Your luck has been completely changed today

"Oh...how true", I thought shaking my head in disbelief!