The Pink Panther 2 Review

Guest Review written by my good friend Mayank :-)

I mean the movie is funny but the jokes which I cracked between the scenes were even better and that’s what my friend told me including the people in the rows below and above me, heh. Getting serious, I thought the movie was good just in parts.

Nothing too spectacular but ya if you are one of those who go to a movie just to have fun leaving your brain behind (the same clichéd stuff), you are not too keen on the logic and if you really like our desi movie Golmaal , this is the movie to watch out for. Honestly, I really don’t know , do I ridicule it that its full of those old school jokes and totally illogical, or appreciate the feel good factor and the good acting + enactment???

But whatever it is, I would say you will be the best one to decide that you like it or not as I did………. Or did I ??? So check it out yourself and let me know. About the story its that same one like the first one. The same silly case and the dream team trying to crack it as it does the best .

CLOUSEAU – the smartass tries to make the most serious situation funny. But you know what he gets the PINK PANTHER – the diamond (Wanted to ask why "pink panther" ….. I also don’t know…. I am sure there is no logic behind it … can bet on it.) Music is just ok … May be I feel this as I was watching it at cinemax…. (The audio sucks there ya)

PS - For all the jokers who are about to waste money for the married Aishwarya…. Its really not worth it. Only reason you should do it is to get the film industry to rise up from recession.

Dev D Review

A botched up attempt to remake the classic, Anurag Kashyap went overboard with this one. In wanting to project Devdas with a contemporary twist, all he's succeeded in projecting are cartons of booze, instructions as to how to do drugs, where exactly to pick up whores, et al. I went to the movie with great expectations; Pop! went the bubble, and even before it was intermission, I was raring to go back home.

Due kudos to the actors though; Mahi Gill deserves applause, I just loved her in the film. With unconventional looks, and an immensely expressive face, she just about steals the show from Abhay Deol and Kalki Koechlin. They are not far behind; Kalki was amazing as the girl-woman Chanda, and as for Abhay Deol, he was so convincing as the egotistic spoilt brat that I actually wanted to slap him hard, heh.

Anurag Kashyap was projecting new age Devdas; here, he forgot one vital point; today's youth is highly outspoken; sulking and pining away in private just dont happen anymore, atleast not for a guy who's just come in from London! Added to the fact that he and Paro were in constant touch through messenger and whatnot, it's highly impossible that he would be content to booze his heart out in the sanctity of his room while his childhood sweetheart tied the knot with someone just below his balcony. Tell me, what are the odds of that happening?

A couple of scenes had me in knots, though; like the scene where Dev rejects Paro, and she, devastated, stares mutely into her mirror to see if what he said was true. That was a truly poignant moment, and Mahi Gill does it so well, you can actually see the hurt and grief etched in her face. Sigh! Ah well, a couple of scenes do not redeem the entire movie, though; every movie would be a hit if it were the case.

Not at all a movie you can watch with your family, but if you are that adamant, go alone. No point in wasting someone else's time along with yours, is there?

Her Royal Highness, Princess Tampa

Now, everyone knows how drowsy warm afternoons can get to be. I was just on the verge of falling asleep today when I heard the soft ping of a Gtalk IM on the computer screen. I made an effort, postponed my nap, and replied. This was followed by quite an interesting conversation, which, since I am not selfish, have copy pasted for you guys.

I wish to apologize to all my friends for keeping my identity a secret till now; I hope you understand, fellas... I just dont like the publicity!

OK, here goes:

shiv.madurai: hi
how are you?
Asha: hi, who is this
shiv.madurai: i'm shiv
i hope u dont know me
Asha: where did u get my id
shiv.madurai: i read your blogs and got it thr
is that a problem?
Asha: oh, alrite
not really
shiv.madurai: i think u r frm hyd rite?
Asha: yeah
Sent at 2:49 PM on Wednesday
shiv.madurai: what does your name mean?
Asha: im sorry? what did you say?
shiv.madurai: what does tampa mean is it just a id or means something
Asha: dude, tampa = queen of the universe, i belong to The Tampa Dynasty
my great grandfather was a maharajah
and he was bestowed this title by the british empire
shiv.madurai: OMG
maharaja really?
Asha: yeah, really. i'm a princess, please dont tell anyone...
shiv.madurai: is there any link that says so
Asha: no, i dont think so
i dont need publicity and all that jazz
shiv.madurai: but tampa here takes me to some city in US
Asha: yeah
it is also the capital city of Florida
shiv.madurai: cool your name means many things... wow...
i see your status busy are you between somethiing
???
Asha: yes, i have to supervise the palace
shiv.madurai: ohh ok
let me know when u r free
caryy on
Asha: oh thanks
ofcourse, i'll let you know definitely, definitely, when i'm free
shiv.madurai: cool
ta-ta

And that, my dear friends, was my brief stint as a princess. :o)

Dreaming all the way

I've decided to jot down all my dreams into a scrapbook. Yeah, you heard me right. I've been getting really weird dreams lately, and today, accidentally, I came across the perfect book for it! Its a quaint little book, with beautiful paintings on either side, titled, Day Dreams on one side, and Night Dreams on the other. I just grabbed the book from the shelf, paid the cashier in a hurry and scuttled back home to begin my stories. You see, my dreams mean a lot to me; I store all of them in a cache in the back of my mind, and whenever I'm low, I go to my dreams library, pick out a happy one, pore over it lovingly, replay it, and bam! I feel better!

Thats fine, but what is the Day Dreams section for, you might ask; c'mon, what do you think I do at the workplace?! Yeahh, you guessed right!

Come over to the office, and ask the receptionist for the most dreamy eyed kid around. You are gonna make it right over to my desk, no kidding, heh. I somehow feel happiest when I'm skiing around in fantasy world. Yeah, reality crashes all too soon, but then, ahh, those few moments of bliss! The happiness of having life exactly like you want it! Yeah, thats what day dreams are all about!

So, well, when I saw this book, I felt, why not, let me fill it up with thoughts, some crazy ones, some sombre, and a few which will elicit laughs from whoever is going to read em; thoughts which I want to cherish, just for the simple reason that they were important to me, at some point in my life. Dreams which are going to bring a smile to my face some time in the future, when I dont have the time to dream anymore...

Dostana Review

A very poor imitation of "I now pronounce you Chuck and Larry", Dostana did not deliver the goods the trailer promised. Added to the fact that I saw the English version a few days ago, Dostana came across as a damp squib. Yeah, John Abraham is an amazing piece of work, but girls, got to face the truth; he can't act. His face is expressionless, and his dialogue delivery was pathetic. The only scenes where he looked bearable was when he was not present. Abhishek was average, and the scenes where he acts like a transvestite brought an unpleasant feeling in my gut, rather than laughter. Priyanka, a pretty lass, she should have stuck to modeling. Kirron Kher, all I can say about you is, puhleease!!! Spare us the agony of seeing you act on screen! I felt like screaming, "Can someone take this bozo off the set, please! I feel like I'm in the middle of a nightmare with a harridan!" Ohh yes, Boman Irani was nice, looked convincing in the role of the gay boss. Who knows, maybe he was just being himself, heh.

Coming to the story, it starts off with John showing oodles of skin, and for a moment I was afraid he would bare it all. The storyline was not convincing in the least, for, cmon, think practically, who would agree to be gay, just for the sake of a nice apartment?! Even more sillier was the fact that Priyanka never doubted them for a moment, even though she was practically living with them. What was she, blind??? The director had no idea how to prolong the story to fit the Indian cinema mould, so he resorted to some useless gaana bajaana, with the two duds (read John and Abhi) trying to woo our too-dusky-for-her-own-good beauty (read Priyanka). Amidst all this confusion, and torture, the director had to introduce my all time favorite horror hero - Bobby Deol. God knows what the heck he did in the movie, apart from following all that the two duds told him to, like a mental retard. Cmon, didn't he have his identity? Which sane woman likes to see her man dressed as a clown, for chrissakes?! Yuck!

Boring music, boring acting, boring faces. To top it all, this film isn't even an original. They had something to measure up to, couldn't they come up with something better than this pathetic tub of lard? I feel sad, the way Bollywood lets us down every time.

1920 - A Review

A 100 times better than Phoonk, 1920 evokes fear in you, and much more than that, keeps its element of suspense throughout. As the name suggests, the film is set in the year 1920, and starts off to a mysterious death in a spooky castle, which makes you sit on edge from the start. It then takes a detour, and we get to see the love angle in the story for quite some time. Ofcourse, the hero and heroine get married, and end up at the same castle as above, to finish what no one has been able to so far - raze the castle to the ground and build a grand hotel in its place.

Strange things begin to happen, and the girl, Lisa, starts experiencing out of the ordinary incidents, which she confides to a priest of the church. Seizing an opportune moment, the ghost in the castle possesses Lisa, and issues an ultimatum that she's going to die within four days, and he wants her soul to be his for eternity. Arjun, her husband, goes exploring all he can about what happened to the castle, and how it got to be a haunted one. He learns all he can, the ghost is a traitor soldier, who betrays his country and fellow men, and takes refuge in the castle under false pretences. The then owner of the castle, Rani Gayatri, does what she can while she secretly sends for troops, and the soldier is killed by her troops. A ghost seeking revenge. Arjun decides the only way to save his girl is to trust God; he holds Lisa tight and recites the Hanuman Chalisa; the mantra is all powerful, and the ghost is destroyed forever, and all is well. Turns out that Lisa is Rani Gayatri re-born(yea, we expected something like this, after all, its a Bollywood movie) and the film comes to an end.

The filming, screenplay, and dialogues are nice; though the castle doesnt look like Indian in the least. It has a distinct Victorian style about it, and the locales, the hills, the meadows, show that it is not India. The protagonists acted well, much, much better than the lead actors in Phoonk. Adah Sharma as Lisa did a good job, her acting looked convincing. Did you know that the castle where the shooting for the film took place is one of the 10 most haunted castles in England? It seems the actors were as afraid when shooting the film as we were while watching the film. Must have been a first for any horror movie. hehe.

A typical weekend in Hyderabad

Weekends in Hyderabad begin long before they actually do. Confused? Let me put it in a better way. We sit fantasizing and drooling over thoughts of the impending weekend from mid week itself. Work rarely gets done, everyone is in a frenzy checking out the hot spots, booking tickets, making appointments with friends, or, for the ones who stay away from family, planning a trip home. Loud cursing and the use of the F word is not uncommon when a new movie is in town; all tickets get miraculously sold out just before you say, "Two tickets, please!" Yeah, this is life at Hyderabad.

To the less fortunate, like us, who act on spur of the moment impulses, weekends are a series of disappointments. Like the time we went to PVR Cinemas and stood in the queue for one and a half hours, only to be greeted by the red blaring sign which we absolutely hate - Sold Out. Or the time when we got to know that there was an Aviation Exhibition going on at the Begumpet Airport, and a friend got hold of three passes; we ran without thinking twice. As a result, we were caught up in a traffic jam so huge, it might easily be mistaken for Caesar's army. Needless to say, we spent hours traversing the roads, sweating profusely, and a ride which normally takes five minutes took us more than two hours. Pathetic. Tragic. And any other adjective you can think of, along the same lines.

Oh yes, and how can I forget to mention beauty sleep here? In our personal dictionary, Weekends = Sleep. No questions asked. All my friends make it a habit not to wake up before 12 noon on weekends. No, its not because we party till dawn; it is because, my dear friends, like they say, we are the Gods and Goddesses of laziness. We just can't be bothered to get up and go visiting a mall just for the heck of it. We might be tempted, ofcourse, with the right inducement. Pre-booked tickets to a movie, for one; and a more than 50% sale at Hyderabad Central runs a close second. Some days, book lovers like me love taking a stroll inside the second hand book stalls that are scattered in the city. You might find quite a few masterpieces here, at unbelievable prices.

I usually go off alone, all by myself, and do whatever fancy takes me; go for a long drive on my Scooty Pep, or visit Hyderabad Central and loiter around; I also love going over to the Cafe Coffee Day in Somajiguda and spend a few minutes of bliss with one of the loves of my life - Coffee. This is not just about Hyderabad, it is the same, anywhere; the place doesn't matter, as long as you spend quality time you can cherish later; weekends are the time when you rejuvenate yourself, let go of all the steam accumulated from five continuous days of slogging. Do what you want, no holds barred. Stay within the limits, though. We want to be up and running for the next weekend, which is just five days away now, right!

The Recession - Has it finally arrived?

People have been talking about it for months; the US has seen the collapse of a few financial giants, with the threat of more activity along the same lines. Mails have been coming on and off, about the best way to save our skins from the looming disaster. From what I've seen, read, and experienced, I can say a few things about it myself.

A few tips from Asha the Expert:
1. Think before you leap. Companies have been laying off employees not in tens and twenties, but in thousands. So, grab the job you already have real hard, and stop thinking about changing. You'll lose your only source of income, and might have to go back to the miserable old life of having to ask for money from Dad.

2. Stop splurging, start saving. You never know, you might be the next person in line to get the dreaded pink slip, and be out on the road with just a month's paycheck in your hands. If that happens, my friend, you'll need more than a month's salary to keep you afloat. Stop visiting those malls for a few days; believe me, you've already got enough clothes and accessories to last you a lifetime.

3. Invest wisely. Check out the scene before plunging into any investments. The market is in a really tricky state right now; just one push might turn the tables either way, and you know which way. Hold on to your cash, transfer it to a nationalized bank, if possible; stop those new investments, and, well, for those which you are already committed, double check once.

4. Quit worrying. All of us have bad times, once in a while. If you happen to be caught in the middle of all this melee, dont panic. Remember, this is not going to last forever. Times change, markets change, and stock exchanges change. It is all about how well you handle yourself in times of a crisis that will determine your future. Also, we never thought twice before asking Dad a few bucks; he'll not think twice before doing the same, now. After all, what are Dads for?

All the very best to us then, and here's hoping that we emerge unscathed from the entire episode. God forbid, if something wrong does happen, don't forget to turn to your loved ones for support. That is something you'll never lose, come what may.