Pyaar Ka Punchnaama

Sometimes, when you watch a trailer, you just know what to expect in a movie. I was sold on the movie, from the trailer that plays on youtube. I was expecting it to be a laugh riot, and it turned to be a awesome flick, simply because of the ease with which you can relate to the movie. I loved the script and the dialogue, which struck a perfect chord, as none of the humor was manufactured, it just came out so naturally. 


Every guy goes through a phase in life, where his life changes, once a woman enters his life, and that is what PKP comically presents. The women were rightly chosen, right amount of clothing to keep the audience plugged in :-), and I must say the same of the guys too. Recreating a guy's room is no mean task, with so much attention to details. Underwear's strewn about, books lying all over, beer bottles all over, clothes lying on the floor....looking at that, it felt so much in connection with the halcyon days of college life, where a guy is yet to wake up to the realities of life.

Simple Life!

I have watched "Baaton Baaton Mein" twice over the week, and I really wish, my life was simple and enjoyable like it was in the movie. The places where the movie was shot seems to be around Bandra,Khar and Santacruz. Sometimes the best places to stay in Mumbai seem to remain the western suburbs near the sea. It shows Tina Munim and Amol Palekar frequenting a lesser crowded bandstand in those days, and the beauty of bandstand(Bandra West) still remains the same. Loved the walks I had in the rains across bandstand, beautiful place to saunter around an evening!

Enjoy the songs, that I keep humming, as I step on the 0816T fast local to Byculla.

Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na- My Review

Sometimes you feel good seeing a movie promo on television, and instant impulse makes you to quickly lock the house and run to the nearest theatre screening the movie, to catch a glimpse of what you tend to expect after the promo has lured you to the movie. I did that with ' De Taali' and enjoyed the movie, and yesterday with "Jaane Tu...." and I never could have come back more happier.

Aamir Khan's production house after a near flawless 'Taare Zameen Par', pulls out another instantly lovable movie,with a great script,cast and good direction. There is a certain innocence the movie exudes, and here is where the winner is. The movie is likable because of the way the characters are well etched out and by the time you've come out of the theatre, you dont care if the movie is a Hit/Flop, but you loved it as the movie makes you feel a part of the "gang" in the way they tell the story. There is no one character that dominates the movie, but each person's bit adds to the lovely story!. I loved the garnishing provided by the 'dead' Naseeruddin shah in the small cameo that he does, and another character that acually provides the "topping" for the movie would be Nirav Mehta, the guy who plays the Gujju.

The Movie has a feeling of realness and a -boy-girl-next door feeling, as its extensively shot in areas in Mumbai,very similar to the Tamil movie" Boys", (that was all aboout Chennai) and one could also say that due to the common thread being that Genelia D'souza who stars in both. She has got a better role in JTYJN. and her bubbly,effervescent character against the backdrop of the Bandra fort, makes a few of her scenes really memorable. A.R.Rehman, strikes a chord with the lovely music with each track being hummable. Its running in an infinite loop on my mobile music device and the last time such a feeling happened was during Swades, where the "Yuhin Chala Chal" track was going on and on and on............

Other Updates

'Via Darjeeling' was a nice concept in terms of making a movie, but the ending leaves you seethng at the director, thanks to the innumerable cliched bollywood endings that we love to expect!

Went for a office party at Dio's in Tardeo's and saw what Mumbai was at a night dance party. What did i do? Just sipping Cranberry flavour , and feeling that the lyrics of the song Pappu cant dance was aimed at me :-). Mumbai is upfront about its horny culture, and that's so much a relief from the hypocrite-filled-Chennai culture(but I still love Chennai! )

Had another reunion with GL mates last night at Infinity mall with Vipul,Arunachalam and Navneet. Call it Arunachalam's birthday treat. He was bent on taking us to a place that accepts Sodex Ho food passes, and we ended up having Rajasthani Thalis, and then gossipping in the mall.

Have some weekend office work, so will grudgingly open the office laptop, even as "Pappu cant dance saala, screams in my ears"

My Thoughts on Chak de! India

When I saw the movie, Chak De! India, what struck me was the excellent direction and screenplay of the movie.No additional floss and running around trees. From a Management perspective, it was all about the spirit and attitude required to succeed and act professionally in larger team interests. Suprisingly this was the 5th sports based movie to come out in the last 20 years and the 3rd in the last 6 years. The ones I am referring are Avval Number starring Aamir Khan, Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar and Lagaan starring Aamir again, Iqbal with Shreyas Talpade and now Chak de!India The common thread in the last 3 sports movies has been on great direction, where not too much light is shown on the main character in the movie.

Generaly movies revolving around such themes depend a lot on good music complementing important moments in the movie, and thats where Iqbal and Chak de India! have been ruling the roost apart from brilliantly etched out characters.

The scene involving the Hockey federation speaking to the coaches was a true reflection of what ails Indian sport, in terms of the lackadaisical approach of federations towards the development of sports. Chak De India, I recently heard, was the point of discussion of a case study at SPJIMR and offers a great insight into what a leveller sport can be in India. You are on top of the world when you are doing well, with everybody wanting to be assosiated with you, but when you fail, the whole world seems to be up against you in arms. I guess any Indian cricketer would vouch for that post the World cup debacle earlier this year, and they almost earned the ire of the nation when they allowed Pakistan to chase 39 runs of 13 balls in the 20 20 league phase :-).

Do the Indian's need to change their gung-ho extremism attitude towards cricket? I guess that needs a seperate blog post with a lot more of thinking. My gut feel is that the attitude of the fans cannot be changed, but India as a team, needs to get more professional and need to stop the frequency of vacillating between being magnificent and insipid between matches.

I happened to come across this article, written by Apurva Purohit, CEO of Radiocity on Chak de! India relating to her real life experience. It was a good read, and even good to know that she was from Chennai, having her alma mater as Stella Maris.(BTW Apurva was formerly the CEO of Zee )

Media: Sex Sleaze and Entertainment: CSR For the Media! What About that?

One of My friend's -Kishore, sent me a forward last night and it was chilling feeling feeling to have read that mail. I am reproducing the contents of the mail below. This brings to the table a few questions. The media often questions the corporate world about what the corporate does for the society at large, but I guess its time the media did some self introspection. Should CSR for Online/Print/Television media also exist, in terms of covering socially relevant issues at the cost of TRP's?

Read the forwarded mail Further on. This mail was circulated quite some time back, given that Greg Chappel's name was quoted in the mail.

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A MUST READ.......
Dear Editors of HT, TOI, IndianExpress and TheHindu,NDTV, CNN-IBN, I got the mail below from a friend of mine and following the unwritten code of conduct, I am forwarding it to my friends but all efforts of people who have been forwarding this mail would go waste if this mail doesn't reach YOU......
Something to think about..!!
Shame on Indian Media??? Really what a shame...


By the time u guys read this news, the body of Major Manish Pitambare, who was shot dead at Anantnag, would have been cremated with full military honors.

On Tuesday, this news swept across all the news channels 'Sanjay Dutt relieved by court'. 'Sirf Munna not a bhai' '13 saal ka vanvaas khatam' 'although found guilty for possession of armory, Sanjay can breath sigh of relief as all the TADA charges against him are withdrawn' .

Then many personalities like Salman Khan said 'He is a good person. We knew he will come out clean'. Mr Big B said "Dutt's family and our family have relations for years he's a good kid. He is like elder brother to Abhishek". His sister Priya Dutt said "we can sleep well tonight. It's a great relief".

In other news, Parliament was mad at Indian team for performing bad; Greg Chappell said something; Shah Rukh Khan replaces Amitabh in KBC and other such stuff. But most of the emphasis was given on Sanjay Dutt's "phoenix like" comeback from the ashes of terrorist charges. Surfing through the channels, one news on BBC startled me. It read "Hisbul Mujahidin's most wanted terrorist 'Sohel Faisal' killed in Anantnag , India . Indian Major leading the operation lost his life in the process. Four others are injured

It was past midnight , I started visiting the stupid Indian channels, but Sanjay Dutt was still ruling. They were telling how Sanjay pleaded to the court saying 'I'm the sole bread earner for my family', 'I have a daughter who is studying in US' and so on. Then they showed how Sanjay was not wearing his lucky blue shirt while he was hearing the verdict and also how he went to every temple and prayed for the last few months. A suspect in Mumbai bomb blasts, convicted under armory act...was being transformed into a hero.

Sure Sanjay Dutt has a daughter; Sure he did not do any terrorist activity. Possessing an AK47 is considered too elementary in terrorist community and also one who possesses an AK47 has a right to possess a pistol so that again is not such a big crime; Sure Sanjay Dutt went to all the temples; Sure he did a lot of Gandhigiri but then........ ..
Major Manish H Pitambare got the information from his sources about the terrorists' whereabouts. Wasting no time he attacked the camp, killed Hisbul Mujahidin's supremo and in the process lost his life to the bullets fired from an AK47. He is survived by a wife and daughter (just like Sanjay Dutt) who's only 18 months old.


Major Manish never said 'I have a daughter' before he took the decision to attack the terrorists in the darkest of nights. He never thought about having a family and he being the bread earner. No news channel covered this since they were too busy hyping a former drug addict, a suspect who's linked to bomb blasts which killed hundreds. Their aim was to show how he defied the TADA charges and they were so successful that his conviction in possession of armory had no meaning. They also concluded that his parents in heaven must be happy and proud of him.

Parents of Major Manish are still living and they have to live rest of their lives without their beloved son. His daughter won't ever see her daddy again.

So guys, please forward this message around so that the media knows which news to give importance, as it is a shame for us since this Army Major's death news was given by a foreign TV channel!!!