It must have been 1990 or so. My father was visiting Bangalore and had returned on a Sunday morning. He drew out sweets, Indrajal Comics and a cassette. The cassette had a white cover with "Bad" written on it and had a weird looking man with long curly hair making a really strange face. Dad said it is a cassette of "English Songs".
My brother used to dance like crazy on Tezaab's Ek-do-teen. I think my Dad must have bought the cassette for that reason. We had no clue what the fellow was singing except.."....M BAD M BAD ....". My brother went mad and kept dancing like for days and eventually for years. For me, that was my introduction to English music. I loved "Man in the mirror" and "The Way You make me feel".
My brother still practices moonwalk every day and says he needs to improve to reach Michal Jackson's level. Now that is what legacy is all about. May MJ's soul rest in peace.
Jun 27, 2009
New York Movie Review
Living alone in a city is boring and so 2 sad and lonely souls went to see New York in its Saturday matinee show.
In a nutshell, New York is brilliant with its weaknesses.
The movie begins with Hollywood movie style FBI raids where Omar (Neil Nitin Mukesh) is detained for possessing weapons. An Asian FBI officer (Irfan Khan) plays a good-cop and bad cop to extract the truth from Omar. Omar is made to tell the history about his friends Sam (John Abraham) and Maya (Katrina Kaif). We find, very interestingly, how Omar, Sam and Maya become friends. The story moves ahead to reveal deeper relations.
Then starts the real story. Sam is a suspect and FBI wants Omar to help them. Omar, pressurised and threatened, agrees and tries to re-enter Sam and Maya's life.
I am going to stop telling the story here. The movie is a mix of drama and thriller.
The movie is a poignant story of what Asians of certain faith went through after the horrific 9/11 attacks. The way it is told is what is new about this movie. Our Bollywood cinema is learning new things and new directors are willing to cross the traditional boundaries of thoughts.
Neil Nitin Mukesh is great, but John Abraham is excellent. I have seen him in other movies where I always thought he was superficial. He was fantastic in this movie. Irfan Khan is as usual with his blend of seriousness and humour. But the crown of acting in this movie goes to Katrina Kaif. She is brilliant. It is amazing to see an actress shed her glamour quotient and enter the territory of deep and sensitive acting. I am impressed with the way she has improved over the years after everyone had called her another glamour girl.
The first person narrative, the editing, direction and acting are all amazing. Keeping songs in background is an achievement considering how our directors fall to peer pressure and insert songs in places that break a movie's continuity.
Finally, I felt the climax was slightly slack. It could have been more tightly handled. I am not suggesting anything is wrong, it was good, just that it should have been handled in a better way.
All in all, brilliant work! Go see it in the nearest movie theater.
In a nutshell, New York is brilliant with its weaknesses.
The movie begins with Hollywood movie style FBI raids where Omar (Neil Nitin Mukesh) is detained for possessing weapons. An Asian FBI officer (Irfan Khan) plays a good-cop and bad cop to extract the truth from Omar. Omar is made to tell the history about his friends Sam (John Abraham) and Maya (Katrina Kaif). We find, very interestingly, how Omar, Sam and Maya become friends. The story moves ahead to reveal deeper relations.
Then starts the real story. Sam is a suspect and FBI wants Omar to help them. Omar, pressurised and threatened, agrees and tries to re-enter Sam and Maya's life.
I am going to stop telling the story here. The movie is a mix of drama and thriller.
The movie is a poignant story of what Asians of certain faith went through after the horrific 9/11 attacks. The way it is told is what is new about this movie. Our Bollywood cinema is learning new things and new directors are willing to cross the traditional boundaries of thoughts.
Neil Nitin Mukesh is great, but John Abraham is excellent. I have seen him in other movies where I always thought he was superficial. He was fantastic in this movie. Irfan Khan is as usual with his blend of seriousness and humour. But the crown of acting in this movie goes to Katrina Kaif. She is brilliant. It is amazing to see an actress shed her glamour quotient and enter the territory of deep and sensitive acting. I am impressed with the way she has improved over the years after everyone had called her another glamour girl.
The first person narrative, the editing, direction and acting are all amazing. Keeping songs in background is an achievement considering how our directors fall to peer pressure and insert songs in places that break a movie's continuity.
Finally, I felt the climax was slightly slack. It could have been more tightly handled. I am not suggesting anything is wrong, it was good, just that it should have been handled in a better way.
All in all, brilliant work! Go see it in the nearest movie theater.
Jun 16, 2009
Cricket and Spirit
India is out of T20. Our all knowing media is analysing how things went wrong.
I am also sad that our team has lost. But what has surprised me most was the spirited crowd that has turned up at Trent Bridge for our game with South Africa.
It is so good to know that people are with you when you are down. I am sure our team must be feeling wonderful because of that.
The people who protest on matters as trivial as cricket and cinema should take a leaf out of this crowd.
Some may say that they are there because of the money they had already spent on the tickets. Sure, that may be true. But what explains the fun they have on the stadium? The flag waving, cheer on every ball?
We as a nation needs to be like that tolerant on matters of trivia and strict on matters like discipline and hard work.
- Siddharth
I am also sad that our team has lost. But what has surprised me most was the spirited crowd that has turned up at Trent Bridge for our game with South Africa.
It is so good to know that people are with you when you are down. I am sure our team must be feeling wonderful because of that.
The people who protest on matters as trivial as cricket and cinema should take a leaf out of this crowd.
Some may say that they are there because of the money they had already spent on the tickets. Sure, that may be true. But what explains the fun they have on the stadium? The flag waving, cheer on every ball?
We as a nation needs to be like that tolerant on matters of trivia and strict on matters like discipline and hard work.
- Siddharth
Jun 10, 2009
Thank You DoorDarshan!
Now somewhat settled in Delhi, I have the time to see TV in the evening.
Well, the new and wonderful Indian Media is at it again...eminently led by TimesNow this time.
On 10th June 2009, TimesNow spends a good 30 minutes of prime TV time on the Dhoni Sehwag affair and how they did not manage the media properly. Really! Now I was thinking these guys are to play cricket for India.
Wait...there TimesNow almost succeeded in making my write on it more than what it deserves.
There were following items which, as a fact, deserved more attention than this trivia -
1. We lost our IAF officers in an accident.
2. Indian student issues in Oz.
3. The 26/11 hearing (although there too we have become perfect hosts to the unwanted guests)
4. So many others
I switched the channel to move to these and more serious issues...
And then there was Rajdeep Sardesai of CNN IBN....
He has a Union Minister on panel. His question lasts for 2 mins...
"Will you do this if that had not happened on that day...so if you say this is what you would do on that since that had happened that day...but then now that that has happened on that day and this is what you plan to do...."
God know's how anyone can make any sense out of that ...yet the brave minister is making an attempt..."Rajdeep Rajdeep...see try to understand!"
Rajdeep interjects in between..." We have run out of time. Thank you for your time"
What! What is wrong with you? Why call the minister who is busy working for a billion lives when all you are going to do is blabber something in the microphone till you run out of time?
That brings me to the title...Completely overwhelmed by the mighty journalists on the above 2 top news channels....I stumbled upon our good old DD.
I was seeing DD National coverage(Fourth Umpire) before today's match. The host(sorry I don't know his name), in a nice pink shirt and a coat that looked like the one I wore on my wedding reception, was TALKING SENSE. Following were his thoughts...
1. Why the fuss by media?
2. Why does the Indian media not support the team even if the team is a bit cold? Don't we expect our family to support and understand us when we are in stress?
3. Viru was injured in the last 20-20 world cup's final and we had won it!
4. Why does the media not respect team strategy and believe in what Dhoni says (even if it is not true, he may want to confuse others...what's wrong in that!)
Dead right on all counts. I actually felt he was someone who spoke like Richie Benaud or Harsha Bhogle on TV. Sensible things and less of opinion more of prodding questions.
Thank you DD for keeping sense in these times of sensationalism. You just won a TV viewer back.
Well, the new and wonderful Indian Media is at it again...eminently led by TimesNow this time.
On 10th June 2009, TimesNow spends a good 30 minutes of prime TV time on the Dhoni Sehwag affair and how they did not manage the media properly. Really! Now I was thinking these guys are to play cricket for India.
Wait...there TimesNow almost succeeded in making my write on it more than what it deserves.
There were following items which, as a fact, deserved more attention than this trivia -
1. We lost our IAF officers in an accident.
2. Indian student issues in Oz.
3. The 26/11 hearing (although there too we have become perfect hosts to the unwanted guests)
4. So many others
I switched the channel to move to these and more serious issues...
And then there was Rajdeep Sardesai of CNN IBN....
He has a Union Minister on panel. His question lasts for 2 mins...
"Will you do this if that had not happened on that day...so if you say this is what you would do on that since that had happened that day...but then now that that has happened on that day and this is what you plan to do...."
God know's how anyone can make any sense out of that ...yet the brave minister is making an attempt..."Rajdeep Rajdeep...see try to understand!"
Rajdeep interjects in between..." We have run out of time. Thank you for your time"
What! What is wrong with you? Why call the minister who is busy working for a billion lives when all you are going to do is blabber something in the microphone till you run out of time?
That brings me to the title...Completely overwhelmed by the mighty journalists on the above 2 top news channels....I stumbled upon our good old DD.
I was seeing DD National coverage(Fourth Umpire) before today's match. The host(sorry I don't know his name), in a nice pink shirt and a coat that looked like the one I wore on my wedding reception, was TALKING SENSE. Following were his thoughts...
1. Why the fuss by media?
2. Why does the Indian media not support the team even if the team is a bit cold? Don't we expect our family to support and understand us when we are in stress?
3. Viru was injured in the last 20-20 world cup's final and we had won it!
4. Why does the media not respect team strategy and believe in what Dhoni says (even if it is not true, he may want to confuse others...what's wrong in that!)
Dead right on all counts. I actually felt he was someone who spoke like Richie Benaud or Harsha Bhogle on TV. Sensible things and less of opinion more of prodding questions.
Thank you DD for keeping sense in these times of sensationalism. You just won a TV viewer back.
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