Randomthoughts

Rehman's first full on hollywood venture

2009-09-25T07:01:00.001-05:00

http://www.couplesretreatsoundtrack.com/

For fans of Micheal Bay / Transformers

2009-07-08T14:08:00.000-05:00

Could i ask for more???

2009-06-01T14:55:00.001-05:00

My fave actor playing my fave character and its a Guy Ritchie film.. could it be any better????

From my fav reviewer....

2009-05-28T13:31:00.002-05:00

Below is an article from my favorite reviewer , the main reason i still check out rediff.. Rajasen's blog. Loved the piece so wanted to share it

"
‘Paanch rupya.’

The dent in the kevlar was roughly the size and shape of a five rupee coin. It was also nearly a crack, and placed where it was, two inches inches below the heart, would be fatal if not for the added fortifications to the chest and rib areas. Even if the shell didn’t find its way past the midnight-shaded armor, the risk of trauma injury was too high. Through the frayed latex, he rubbed the almost-hole thoughtfully with a gloved finger while considering the plan of attack.

He was on the nineteenth floor, by the window. He couldn’t help looking outside, at the sea and the monument beside it. It would have been a lovely night, but for the stench of gunpowder and corpses, and a fog of despair cloaking the Gateway. He took a step inside, his eyes adjusting to the darkness. His boot immediately stepped into something wet, a macabre puddle splashing viscous fluid onto steel-toe.

He fished out a candle-sized stick and snapped it roughly with his teeth, even as his left hand undid a length of cord. The bright neon-yellow glow from the stick instantly illuminated the scene: first his teeth, and then the room. The first body lay two feet away from him, next to the writing desk, whole except for the head. He closed his eyes for a second. Not in silent prayer, but, his fingers flicking a button near his temple, to turn up the infra-red. There’s only that much neon can do, he thought wryly, tucking the yellow stick into his belt, alongside the oval buckle.

He stepped forward towards the bed and looked at the other body. Female, in her fifties. In the red tint of the eyewear, the neon of the stick and the pool of crimson she was lying in, her cotton nightgown was the colour of death: noone could tell what it originally used to be. Powder blue, he sighed, rebuking himself for watching all that sensationalist news coverage. ‘War,’ the bastards on TV called it, giving these nutjobs such a spotlight. An empty Kalashnikov shell clattered near his feet. And there were footsteps outside the door.

He stopped cold, as did the steps. The corridor was dark as tar, and in one swift jerk of the wrist, the yellow tube flew out of the window like a boomerang, right into the jaws of the ravenous city. There hadn’t been any firing for several minutes, making the prevailing silence a dominatingly still one. Convinced he heard a safety-catch being taken off, he crouched to the ground. His breathing slowed, as, he imagined, did his potential assailant’s. He let the cord slip out of his hand as he inched towards the door, slow as the blood seeping through the carpet. He reached near the door and calculated possible scenarios, all featuring the element of surprise. His hand crawled up to the doorknob, gloved fingers wrapping around the brass, when suddenly the door was thrown open, and his left hand pinned to the wall.

His right hand moved quickly towards a switchblade in the belt, but a boot caught him in the jaw. He looked up into the shaking nozzle of a machine gun held by a sweating young Sikh in black-cat outfit. He let out a sigh of relief even as the commando swallowed hard, looking in all the world like he’d seen a phantasm. ‘Who.. Who…?’ The lad stammered as he smiled and reassured him. ‘Yes. And I’m on your side,’ he said in broken Hindi. Usually it took more convincing, but here the soldier withdrew the gun and yanked him to his feet, giving him an awed once-over. He stopped the youngster from apologising, and shook his hand as the still-shaken boy briefed him on the current situation.

They stood in the corridor and waited. There had been sounds in the room five doors down from them, he was told. He handed the soldier his blades, explaining how much more effective than a gun they prove to be, in a compromised-space situation. Young Hartej listened intently, before suddenly glaring and hushing him. There was a crack behind him and he whirled around, barely in time to see a silhouette appear in the corridor unleashing white sparks of machinegun fire in their direction.

His jaw dislocated as soon as he hit the ground. The crack would have been loud in the silence instants ago, but was muted by the current crossfire. He’d been shoved roughly to the ground by Hartej, who was now literally on top of him, covering him on all fours as the firing got louder. He could feel the young man’s shoulder recoil shudderingly even as his arm stayed unwaveringly steady. The infra-red let him see another silhouette pop out behind the first one which was now falling, and he tried to warn the soldier. It was unnecessary, the youngster having already tossed a grenade with flawless accuracy.

It was over. He had never felt more helpless in combat. Or more relieved. Save for the crackle of walkie-talkies confirming the final target, silence resumed. Only this time, it didn’t feel like the air was holding its breath, but like it had finally exhaled.

He rubbed his paining chin as he stood alongside Hartej at the same nineteenth floor window. The soldier tried to stop him, but, ignoring many protestations, he stripped off his belt, gloves and the rest of his blades and handed them to the boy. Then he insisted young Hartej sign a slip of paper. ‘A reciept?’ the confused Sikh asked. ‘An autograph,’ he smiled. He told him that there would surely be more blood, and more sickening, cowardly attacks on the innocent, but that he wouldn’t be needed around. ‘You guys have it covered.’

He jumped even as Hartej gasped. He leaped from the nineteenth floor, eagerly ogling the magnificent, impossible city as he plummeted past the windows. He waited a good ten floors before unfolding his titanium-dipped fiber wings and gliding to a shadowy landing. Gotham needed him, India didn’t. And he really must come back in civvies sometime.

~
"
http://rajasen.wordpress.com/

Loha

2009-04-06T13:04:00.002-05:00

.... and we worry about captain and Bala Krishna

Rehman with Akon.

2009-03-16T07:57:00.002-05:00

Check this video of 'beautiful' by Akon , c what happens at 2:15 of track:

PS: This video is a bit out of sync, but I couldn't find a better video which has embedding enabled. Just search in youtube for a HD video.

Yeh Dilli hai mere yaar!!

2009-03-03T15:35:00.003-06:00

what a waste.. a nice idea butchered with horrible screenplay.. this is documentary/musical/fictional piece rolled into one and ended but being nothing, the movie as some wonderful scenes (like the ram leela scenes, the cow scene , climax etc etc) if looked seperately but they just don't gel right from scene one. The whole movie has bits of songs with couple of dialogues sprinkled in between. The best part of the movie is the picturization of 'dil gira dafatan'. One the the best song picturizations i have seen till date. Everybody acted well except abhishek who looked lost all through the movie .. (actually he is supposed to look a bit lost as he is an NRI but he looks too lost not sure when to use an american accent and when not to and what to do in every scene he is in ) Sonam has nothing to do except to look gorgeous and dance with the pigeon and their love story is the most ridiculous part of the movie , remaining characters are all well acted but unfortunately they are too many with none getting enough screen time to make an impact. Its a good idea gone waste, i think Aks was a better movie than this. Only good thing about the movie (ofcourse other than Rehman's music) is its short .. less than 2 and 1/2 hrs but then again try to show the warmth of chandichowk as microcosm of india and to use the wonderful soundtrack may be this movie needed to be a bit long and may be thats what missing here!!!

Bollywood gets the taste of Parkour

2009-02-16T15:20:00.002-06:00

That's definetely not abhishek jumping :)

Gulaal - Get Blown Away

2009-02-12T07:54:00.000-06:00

'Mere paas Maa Hai'

Luck By Chance

2009-02-04T21:33:00.002-06:00

Luck by Chance is fun.. everything spot on.. direction , screenplay,actors and cameos everything about the movie is good, ppl are divided about the climax but i just loved the way it ended.. the end shot is inspired from Natalie Portman shot from 'Closer' which was good too... a fun movie .. watch it for Rishi kapoor, Dimple,anurag kashyap and Hrithik they leave their mark in the small roles they have , farhan is perfect int he imperfect struggler role and for konkana this is walk on cake.. Zoya rocked in her debut...a must watch!!!

Seven Pounds

2009-02-04T21:30:00.002-06:00

Imagine... a hollywood movie inspired from a dialogue from a telugu movie... that too a pucca masala movie... that too a chiranjeevi movie.. but not a chiranjeevi dialogue ... 'oka pranam tesa - oka pranam posa level ayyipoyindi' .. remember this line??? 'MutaMestri' villian dialogue... thats the story line of seven pounds.. Take 'Tere Bin'/'Ela Cheppanu' (telugu version) movie and change it a bit to summarize the dialogue above and boom u get 'Seven Pounds' the worst movie in the career of Will Smith...

10 nominations for slumdog!!!

2009-01-22T09:45:00.003-06:00

You heard it right!!!! 10 nominations for slumdog millionaire out of which 3 for rehman (best score, 2 best songs .. saya and jai ho). Looks like rehman is going to walk away with atleast one oscar on feb 22. Best thing is there are only 3 noms in best song category out of which 2 are for rehman so guys what are the chances :).... fingers crossed till feb 22nd

Yeh Delhi hai meri yaar.... Bas Ishq Mohabbat pyaar

2009-01-15T11:24:00.001-06:00

outsourcing..... other way round... welcome to bollywood!!!!

2009-01-09T08:08:00.001-06:00

Mazakali mazakali...

2009-01-07T14:50:00.002-06:00

Masakali mazakali ....... damn.. forget abhishek, forget rakesh omprakash mehra, what the hell forget ar rehman.. sonam kapoor is enuf to drag u to the theaters...... thoda thoda matak-kali matakali

Delhi -6 promo rocks......

2008-12-24T08:14:00.001-06:00

Mithunda with 8.4 rating IMBD!!!!!

2008-12-24T08:11:00.002-06:00

Yes you have read it right!!!!! a Mithunda's movie has an 8.4 rating on IMDB
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0497915/

Before getting flabbergasted read the comments and other info on the page :) . Looks like we have competition to palanati bramhanaidu....

Rab ne Banadi Jodi

2008-12-15T08:59:00.002-06:00

Sharukh rocked as Surinder Sahni and sucked bigtime as Raj ( naam tho suna hoga).. he hammed his way through this character and as the plot itselt is insane and wafer thin, aditya did not know what to do in second half, especially how to end so he ended up leaving the second half to 'Rab' to end the movie.. To sum it up, First half was enjoyable but second half sucked

For GodFather fans

2008-12-08T10:02:00.000-06:00

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/moslive/article-1091227/How-shot-The-Godfather.html?ITO=1490

Slumdog Millionaire Complete OST

2008-12-01T08:14:00.000-06:00

http://www.musicindiaonline.com/music/hindi_bollywood/s/movie_name.10198

Rehman - Slumdog OST

2008-11-26T10:41:00.001-06:00

listen with max sound in good speakers

Hye Guzzarish!!!!

2008-11-26T08:49:00.000-06:00

Guys check out the music of Ghazini (not the tamil/telugu one.. hindi one.. aamir khan starrer)... it rocks big time!!!!!!

Oye Lucky show listings

2008-11-26T08:45:00.002-06:00

Galaxy Riverdale
6135 Peachtree Parkway
Norcross
GA
30092
Atlanta

Laurel 6
371 Armstrong Avenue
Laurel
MD
20724
Baltimore

Naz 8 Fremont
39160 Paseo Padre Parkway
Fremont
CA
94538
Bay Area

AMC Mercado 20
3111 Mission College Blvd.
Santa Clara
CA
95054
Bay Area

Columbia Park 12
3125 Kennedy Blvd
North Bergen
NJ
O7047
Bergen

Capitol 6
204 Massachusetts Ave
Arlington
MA
O2474
Boston

Showcase Bridgeport
286 Canfield Avenue
Bridgeport
CT
O6605
Bridgeport

AMC Concord Mills 24
8421 Concord Mills Blvd
Concord
NC
28027
Charlotte

AMC Barrington - Chicago
175 Studio Drive
South Barrington
IL
60010
Chicago

AMC Cantera
28250 Diehl Rd
Warrenvile
IL
60555
Chicago

Funasia
1210 E.Beltline Rd
Richardson
TX
75081
Dallas

Macarthur Marketplace
8505 Walton Blvd
Dallas
TX
75063
Dallas

Loehmann Twin
7291 Arlington Blvd
Falls Church
VA
22042
DC Metro

Novi Town Centre
26085 Town Center Drive
Novi
MI
48375
Detroit

Funasia
2703 Hwy 6 South
Houston
TX
77082
Houston

AMC First Colony 24
2949 Dunvale Rd
Houston
TX
77063
Houston

Culver Plaza Theatre
9919 W Washington Blvd
Culver City
CA
90232
Los Angeles

Naz 8 Lakewood
6440 E. South Street
Lakewood
CA
90713
Los Angeles

Laemmle Fallbrook
6731 Fallbrook Ave
West Hills
CA
91307
Los Angeles

AMC Mayfair 18
2500 N Mayfair Rd
Milwaukee
WI
53201
Milwaukee

Brookdale 8
5810 Shingle Creek Pkwy
Brooklyn Center
MN
55430
Minneapolis

MovieCity
1655 Oak Tree Road
Edison
NJ
O8820
New Jersey

Regal Commerce Centre 18<
2399 Route 1 South
North Brunswick
NJ
O8902
New Jersey

AMC Secaucus 8
495 Harmon Meadow Blvd
Secaucus
NJ
O7094
New Jersey

Regal Hadley
1000 Corporate Ct
South Plainfield
NJ
O7080
New Jersey

Regal Burlington
250 Bromley Boulevard
Burlington
NJ
O8016
New Jersey

East Windsor Towne Centre
319 Route 130 North
Highstown
NJ
O8520
New Jersey

Farmingdale Multiplex Cinemas
1001 Broad Hollow Road
Farmingdale
NY
11735
New York

AMC Village 7
66 3rd Ave.
NYC
NY
10003
New York

Imaginasian
239 East 59th Street
New York
NY
1OO22
New York

Bombay Theatre
6825 Fresh Meadow Ln
New York
NY
11365
New York

Barn Plaza
1745 Easton Road
Doyleston
PA
18901
Philadelphia

Galaxy Cinema Cary
770 Cary Towne Blvd
Cary
NC
27511
Raleigh

Century Elk Grove Laguna
9349 Big Horn Boulevard
Elk Grove
CA
95758
Sacramento

Totem Lake Cinema
12232 Totem Lake Way
Kirkland
WA
98034
Seattle

CANADA Theatres
MovieDome
Unit. 1039, 999-36 Street N.E
Calgary
AB
T2A 7X6
Calgary

AMC Montreal Forum 22
2313 St. Catherine St. West Suite 101
Montreal
QU
H3H 1N2
Montreal

AMC Winston Churchill 24
2081 Winston Park Dr
Oakville
ON
L6H 6P5
Toronto

AMC Kennedy Commons
33 William Kitchen Rd
Scarborough
ON
M1P 5B7
Toronto

Empire Square One
100 City Centre Drive
Mississauga
ON
L5T 2Y3
Toronto

Cineplex Silvercity Brampton
Hwy 410 at Bovaird Drive
Brampton
ON
L6R 2K7
Toronto

Albion
1530 Albion Road
Etobicoke
ON
M9V 1B4
Toronto

Woodside
1571 Sandhurst Circle
Scarborough
ON
M1V 1V2
Toronto

Cineplex Strawberry Hills
12161 72nd Ave
Surrey
BC
V3W 2M1
Vancouver

Cineplex Silvercity Riverport
14211 Entertainment Way
Richmond
BC
V6W 1K4
Vancouver

On Mike's Request

2008-11-19T10:24:00.003-06:00

This is taken from PFC. For original link Click Here

"I just read something priceless. An interview of Kishore Kumar by Pritish Nandy.Don’t you just wish we had ONE guy like him today?Not just his talent, but just the sheer personality he was……mad as a hatter playing the part to the hilt watching the effect it had on people around him…..his life seems like a private in joke!
Presenting a blast from the past - A MOTHER OF A TOTALLY SCREWED UP INTERVIEW(couldn’t think of a better compliment than this except maybe Booom Boom Chik Chik eeeeeeeee yadadadadadadadada thum thum thum Heee hee hee hee ……read the interview u will understand)PN: I understand you are quitting Bombay and going away to Khandwa…
KK: Who can live in this stupid, friendless city where everyone seeks toexploit you every moment of the day? Can you trust anyone out here?Is anyone trustworthy? Is anyone a friend you can count on?I am determined to get out of this futile rat race and live as I’vealways wanted to. In my native Khandwa, the land of my forefathers.Who wants to die in this ugly city?
PN: Why did you come here in the first place?
KK: I would come to visit my brother Ashok Kumar. He was such a bigstar in those days. I thought he could introduce me to KL Saigalwho was my greatest idol. People say he used to sing through hisnose. But so what? He was a great singer. Greater than anyone else.
PN: I believe you are planning to record an album of famous Saigalsongs….
KK: They asked me to. I refused. Why should I try to outsing him?Let him remain enshrined in our memory. Let his songs remainjust HIS songs. Let not even one person say that Kishore Kumarsang them better.
PN: If you didn’t like Bombay, why did you stay back? For fame?For money?
KK: I was conned into it. I only wanted to sing. Never to act. Butsomehow, thanks to peculiar circumstances, I was persuaded toact in the movies. I hated every moment of it and tried virtuallyevery trick to get out of it. I muffed my lines, pretended to becrazy, shaved my head off, played difficult, began yodelling inthe midst of tragic scenes, told Meena Kumari what I was supposedto tell Bina Rai in some other film - but they still wouldn’t letme go. I screamed, ranted, went cuckoo. But who cared? They werejust determined to make me a star.
PN: Why?
KK: Because I was Dadamoni’s brother. And he was a great hero.
PN: But you succeeded, after your fashion….
KK: Of course I did. I was the biggest draw after Dilip Kumar. Therewere so many films I was doing in those days that I had to runfrom one set to the other, changing on the way. Imagine me. Myshirts flying off, my trousers falling off, my wig coming offwhile I’m running from one set to the other. Very often I wouldmix up my lines and look angry in a romantic scene or romanticin the midst of a fierce battle. It was terrible and I hated it.It evoked nightmares of school. Directors were like schoolteachers.Do this. Do that. Don’t do this. Don’t do that. I dreaded it. That’swhy I would often escape.
PN: Well, you are notorious for the trouble you give your directorsand producers. Why is that?
KK: Nonsense. They give me trouble. You think they give a damn forme? I matter to them only because I sell. Who cared for me duringmy bad days? Who cares for anyone in this profession?
PN: Is that why you prefer to be a loner?
KK: Look, I don’t smoke, drink or socialise. I never go to parties.If that makes me a loner, fine. I am happy this way. I go to workand I come back straight home. To watch my horror movies, playwith my spooks, talk to my trees, sing. In this avariciousworld, every creative person is bound to be lonely. How can youdeny me that right?
PN: You don’t have many friends?
KK: None.
PN: That’s rather sweeping.
KK: People bore me. Film people particularly bore me. I prefer talkingto my trees.
PN: So you like nature?
KK: That’s why I want to get away to Khandwa. I have lost all touchwith nature out here. I tried to did a canal all around mybungalow out here, so that we could sail gondolas there. Themunicipality chap would sit and watch and nod his headdisapprovingly, while my men would dig and dig. But it didn’t work.One day someone found a hand - a skeletal hand- and some toes.After that no one wanted to dig anymore. Anoop, my second brother,came charging with Ganga water and started chanting mantras. Hethought this house was built on a graveyard. Perhaps it is. ButI lost the chance of making my home like Venice.
PN: People would have thought you crazy. In fact they already do.
KK: Who said I’m crazy. The world is crazy; not me.
PN: Why do you have this reputation for doing strange things?
KK: It all began with this girl who came to interview me. In thosedays I used to live alone. So she said: You must be very lonely.I said: No, let me introduce you to some of my friends. So Itook her to the garden and introduced her to some of the friendliertrees. Janardhan; Raghunandan; Gangadhar; Jagannath; Buddhuram;Jhatpatajhatpatpat. I said they were my closest friends in thiscruel world. She went and wrote this bizarre piece, saying thatI spent long evenings with my arms entwined around them. What’swrong with that, you tell me? What’s wrong making friends withtrees?
PN: Nothing.
KK: Then, there was this interior decorator-a suited, booted fellowwho came to see me in a three-piece woollen, Saville Row suitin the thick of summer- and began to lecture me about aesthetics,design, visual sense and all that. After listening to him for abouthalf an hour and trying to figure out what he was saying throughhis peculiar American accent, I told him that I wanted somethingvery simple for my living room. Just water-several feet deep- andlittle boats floating around, instead of large sofas. I told himthat the centre-piece should be anchored down so that the teaservice could be placed on it and all of us could row up to itin our boats and take sips from our cups. But the boats shouldbe properly balanced, I said, otherwise we might whizz past eachother and conversation would be difficult.He looked a bit alarmed but that alarm gave way to sheer horrorwhen I began to describe the wall decor. I told him that I wantedlive crows hanging from the walls instead of paintings-since Iliked nature so much. And, instead of fans, we could have monkeysfarting from the ceiling. That’s when he slowly backed out fromthe room with a strange look in his eyes. The last I saw of himwas him running out of the front gate, at a pace that would haveput an electric train to shame. What’s crazy about having a livingroom like that, you tell me? If he can wear a woollen, three-piecesuit in the height of summer, why can’t I hang live crows on mywalls?
PN: Your ideas are quite original, but why do your films fare so badly?
KK: Because I tell my distributors to avoid them. I warn them at thevery outset that the film might run for a week at the most.Naturally, they go away and never come back. Where will you finda producer-director who warns you not to touch his film becauseeven he can’t understand what he has made?
PN: Then why do you make films?
KK: Because the spirit moves me. I feel I have something to say andthe films eventually do well at times.I remember this film of mine - Door Gagan ki Chhaon mein - whichstarted to an audience of 10 people in Alankar. I know because Iwas in the hall myself. There were only ten people who had come towatch the first show!Even its release was peculiar. Subhodh Mukherjee, the brother ofmy brother-in-law, had booked Alankar(the hall) for 8 weeks forhis film April Fool- which everyone knew was going to be a block-buster. My film, everyone was sure, was going to be a thunderingflop. So he offered to give me a week of his booking. Take thefirst week, he said flamboyantly, and I’ll manage within seven. Afterall, the movie can’t run beyond a week. It can’t run beyond twodays, I reassured him.When 10 people came for the first show, he tried to console me.Don’t worry, he said, it happens at times. But who was worried?Then, the word spread. Like wildfire. And within a few days thehall began to fill. It ran for all 8 weeks at Alankar, house full!Subodh Mukherjee kept screaming at me but how could I let go thehall? After 8 weeks when the booking ran out, the movie shiftedto Super, where it ran for another 21 weeks! That’s the anatomyof a hit of mine. How does one explain it? Can anyone explainit? Can Subodh Mukherjee, whose April Fool went on to become athundering flop?
PN: But you, as the director should have known?
KK: Directors know nothing. I never had the privilege of working withany good director. Except Satyen Bose and Bimal Roy, no one evenknew the ABC of film making. How can you expect me to give goodperformances under such directors?Directors like S.D. Narang didn’t even know where to place thecamera. He would take long, pensive drags from his cigarette,mumble ‘Quiet, quiet, quiet’ to everyone, walk a couple of furlongsabsentmindedly, mutter to himself and then tell the camera man toplace the camera wherever he wanted. His standard line to me was:Do something. What something? Come on, some thing! So I would gooff on my antics. Is this the way to act? Is this the way to directa movie? And yet Narangsaab made so many hits!
PN: Why didn’t you ever offer to work with a good director?
KK: Offer! I was far too scared. Satyajit Ray came to me and wanted meto act in Parash Pathar - his famous comedy - and I was so scaredthat I ran away. Later, Tulsi Chakravarti did the role. It was agreat role and I ran away from it, so scared I was of these greatdirectors.
PN: But you knew Ray.
KK: Of course I did. I loaned him five thousand rupees at the time ofPather Panchali-when he was in great financial difficulty- and eventhough he paid back the entire loan, I never gave him an opportunityto forget the fact that I had contributed to the making of theclassic. I still rib him about it. I never forget the money Iloan out!
PN: Well, some people think you are crazy about money. Others describeyou as a clown, pretending to be kinky but sane as hell. Stillothers find you cunning and manipulative. Which is the real you?
KK: I play different roles at different times. For different people.In this crazy world, only the truly sane man appears to be mad.Look at me. Do you think I’m mad? Do you think I can be manipulative?
PN: How would I know?KK: Of course you would know. It’s so easy to judge a man by justlooking at him. You look at these film people and you instantlyknow they’re rogues.
PN: I believe so.
KK: I don’t believe so. I know so. You can’t trust them an inch.I have been in this rat race for so long that I can smell troublefrom miles afar. I smelt trouble the day I came to Bombay in thehope of becoming a playback singer and got conned into acting. Ishould have just turned my back and run.
PN: Why didn’t you?
KK: Well, I’ve regretted it ever since. Boom Boom. Boompitty boom boom.Chikachikachik chik chik. Yadlehe eeee yadlehe ooooo (Goes onyodelling till the tea comes. Someone emerges from behind theupturned sofa in the living room, looking rather mournful witha bunch of rat-eaten files and holds them up for KK to see)
PN: What are those files?
KK: My income tax records.
PN: Rat-eaten?
KK: We use them as pesticides. They are very effective. The rats diequite easily after biting into them.
PN: What do you show the tax people when they ask for the papers?
KK: The dead rats.
PN: I see.
KK: You like dead rats?
PN: Not particularly.
KK: Lots of people eat them in other parts of the world.
PN: I guess so.
KK: Haute cuisine. Expensive too. Costs a lot of money.
PN: Yes?
KK: Good business, rats. One can make money from them if one isenterprising.
PN: I believe you are very fussy about money. Once, I’m told. aproducer paid you only half your dues and you came to the setswith half your head and half your moustache shaved off. And youtold him that when he paid the rest, you would shoot with your faceintact…
KK: Why should they take me for granted? These people never pay unlessyou teach them a lesson. I was shooting in the South once. I thinkthe film was Miss Mary and these chaps kept me waiting in the hotelroom for five days without shooting. So I got fed up and startedcutting my hair. First I chopped off some hair from the right sideof my head and then, to balance it, I chopped off some from theleft. By mistake I overdid it. So I cut off some more from theright. Again I overdid it. So I had to cut from the left again.This went on till I had virtually no hair left- and that’s whenthe call came from the sets. When I turned up the way I was, theyall collapsed. That’s how rumours reached Bombay. They said I hadgone cuckoo. I didn’t know. I returned and found everyone wishingme from long distance and keeping a safe distance of 10 feet whiletalking. Even those chaps who would come and embrace me waved outfrom a distance and said Hi. Then, someone asked me a littlehesitantly how I was feeling. I said: Fine. I spoke a littleabruptly perhaps. Suddenly I found him turning around and running.Far, far away from me.
PN: But are you actually so stingy about money?
KK: I have to pay my taxes.
PN: You have income tax problems I am told….
KK: Who doesn’t? My actual dues are not much but the interest haspiled up. I’m planning to sell off a lot of things before I goto Khandwa and settle this entire business once and for all.
PN: You refused to sing for Sanjay Gandhi during the emergency and,it is said, that’s why the tax hounds were set on you. Is this true?
KK: Who knows why they come. But no one can make me do what I don’twant to do. I don’t sing at anyone’s will or command. But I singfor charities, causes all the time.
[Note: Sanjay Gandhi wanted KK to sing at some Congress rally in Bombay.KK refused. Sanjay Gandhi ordered All India Radio to stop playingKishore songs. This went on for quite a while. KK refused toapologize. Finally, it took scores of prominant producers anddirectors to convince those in power to rescind the ban]
PN: What about your home life? Why has that been so turbulent?
KK: Because I like being left alone.
PN: What went wrong with Ruma Devi, your first wife?
KK: She was a very talented person but we could not get along becausewe looked at life differently. She wanted to build a choir and acareer. I wanted someone to build me a home. How can the tworeconcile? You see, I’m a simple minded villager type. I don’tunderstand this business about women making careers. Wives shouldfirst learn how to make a home. And how can you fit the twotogether? A career and a home are quite seperate things. That’s whywe went our seperate ways.
PN: Madhubala, your second wife?
KK: She was quite another matter. I knew she was very sick even beforeI married her. But a promise is a promise. So I kept my word andbrought her home as my wife, even though I knew she was dying froma congenital heart problem. For 9 long years I nursed her. I watchedher die before my own eyes. You can never understand what this meansuntil you live through this yourself. She was such a beautiful womanand she died so painfully.She would rave and rant and scream in frustration. How can such anactive person spend 9 long years bed-ridden? And I had to humour herall the time. That’s what the doctor asked me to. That’s what I didtill her very last breath. I would laugh with her. I would cry withher.
PN: What about your third marriage? To Yogeeta Bali?
KK: That was a joke. I don’t think she was serious about marriage. Shewas only obsessed with her mother. She never wanted to live here.
PN: But that’s because she says you would stay up all night andcount money..
KK: Do you think I can do that? Do you think I’m mad? Well, it’sgood we separated quickly.
PN: What about your present marriage?
KK: Leena is a very different kind of person. She too is an actress likeall of them but she’s very different. She’s seen tragedy. She’sfaced grief. When your husband is shot dead, you change. Youunderstand life. You realise the ephemeral quality of all things..I am happy now.
PN: What about your new film? Are you going to play hero in this one too?
KK: No no no. I’m just the producer-director. I’m going to be behindthe camera. Remember I told you how much I hate acting? All I mightdo is make a split second appearance on screen as an old man orsomething.
PN: Like Hitchcock?
KK: Yes, my favourite director.I’m mad, true. But only about one thing. Horror movies. I lovespooks. They are a friendly fearsome lot. Very nice people,actually, if you get to know them. Not like these industry chapsout here. Do you know any spooks?
PN: Not very friendly ones.
KK: But nice, frightening ones?
PN: Not really.
KK: But that’s precisely what we’re all going to become one day. Likethis chap out here (points to a skull, which he uses as part of hisdecor, with red light emerging from its eyes)- you don’t even knowwhether it’s a man or a woman. Eh? But it’s a nice sort. Friendlytoo. Look, doesn’t it look nice with my specs on its non-existentnose?
PN: Very nice indeed.
KK: You are a good man. You understand the real things of life. You aregoing to look like this one day."
-Suparn Varma

Saw Slumdog!!!!!!

2008-11-19T10:18:00.002-06:00

I went to the screening of SlumDog Millioniare yesterday along with Mike. All i had to do was to change the date in the email confirmation i got after RSVP ing it from Dec 10th to Nov 18th. As simple as that :)

Exclusive for ppl in NY and NJ !!!!

2008-11-18T10:04:00.003-06:00

Free premier screening of Oye Lucky Lucky Oye in NY on Monday, November 24th at 7:00pm at New York University Cantor Film Centre. RSVP it if you plan to attend it at the following link:Oye Lucky Lucky Oye!!

screwed up!!!!!

2008-11-17T15:37:00.004-06:00

I have been raving about it and waiting for it from around a month but i din't bother to RSVP to the screening and today i checked and the tickets are not available for 2moro :( , i got tickets for dec 10th so i guess, that' when i am goin to catch the screening for the movie. People who cannot attend the free screening , Below is the list when its releasing at different areas:

Week #1: Wednesday, Nov. 12
1 Los Angeles2 New York3 Chicago4 San Francisco5 Washington D.C.6 Toronto
Week #2: Friday, Nov. 21st
7 Boston8 Dallas/Ft. Worth9 Philadelphia10 San Diego11 Seattle12 Denver13 Baltimore14 Minneapolis15 Phoenix16 Vancouver
More after the jump.
Week #3: Wednesday, Nov. 26th
No new markets
Week #4: Friday, Dec. 5th
17 Atlanta18 Detroit19 Indianapolis
Week #5: Friday, Dec. 12th
20 Sacramento21 St. Louis22 Austin23 Milwaukee24 Hartford/New Haven25 Madison26 Ann Arbor
Week #6: Friday, Dec. 19th
27 Houston28 Miami/Ft. Lauderdale29 Kansas City30 Cleveland31 Columbus32 Orlando33 Charlotte34 New Orleans35 Louisville36 Portland37 Rochester38 Salt Lake/Boise39 Honolulu40 Albany41 Albuquerque42 Boca Raton/W. Palm Beach43 Cincinnati44 Dayton45 Nashville46 Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill47 Asheville48 Charlottesville49 Lansing50 Northampton/Springfield51 Montreal
Week #7: Friday, Dec. 26th
52 Buffalo53 Fresno54 Las Vegas55 Tampa/St. Pete56 Champaign/Decatur/Springfield57 El Paso58 Harrisburg, PA59 Memphis60 Norfolk/Newport News61 Oklahoma City62 Omaha63 Providence64 Richmond65 San Antonio66 Spokane67 Tulsa68 Baton Rouge69 Birmingham70 Colorado Springs71 Corpus Christi72 Grand Rapids73 Knoxville74 Lexington75 Pittsburgh76 Reno77 Sarasota78 Syracuse79 Tucson80 Anchorage81 Des Moines82 Ft. Myers83 Gainesville84 Ithaca85 Jacksonville86 Portland, ME87 Santa Fe88 Tallahassee89 Calgary90 Edmonton91 Halifax92 Kitchener93 Ottawa94 St. John95 Victoria96 Winnipeg

slumdog-III

2008-11-17T07:35:00.001-06:00

Shak....what the ****

2008-11-16T17:10:00.002-06:00

Golmaal returns is funny. It may not be as good as the first part but its good, especially the last 30 min. Lets say around 30% of the gags are funny , it may feel like a small percentage but considering the no. of gags in the movie its a pretty good no. It starts slow , the first 30 min are tiring but once tushar and Shreyas get their act together its all fun. Tushar jokes did tend to irritate to start with but after a while it was all fun, the beauty of uttering the worst profanities possible and the censors not able to do much about it is priceless... heroines were a let down, actually nobody has nothing to do, the only funny per say dialogue for celina is 'Shak...what the ****', shreyas was more south indian than her singing 'aa ante amalapuram' whenever he meets her (celina is supposed to be a madarasi in the movie).. Kareena has some good gags but it required a bit of over the top acting like the kiron kher and sharukh's episode in om shanti om but kareena tried to 'underplay' her character may be he is thinking she was doing omkara sequel instead of golmaal sequel. Ajay devagan was his usual nothing to write about, Arshad warsi has nothing much to do either and the other heroines well we can just count the no. of lines they have i am sure its not above 5 and thats both of their lines combined. They ripped off a song from sivaji but thats rajni with rehman.. who do we have here oh we have 4 heroes and 4 heroines but thats RAJNI for godsakes!!!! Watch the movie for the last 30 min

Bond.. James Bond!!!

2008-11-16T17:07:00.002-06:00

Now where is that... i want Bond to say that.... Quantum of Solace is not your typical Bond movie.. its more into the genre of Transporter/Bourne Series with bigger budget but bad output on par with transporter 2. Actually its like Vijayendra Varma of UK films. The climax is as mind blowing as Vijayendra Varma's climax.

Let The Right One In..Contd.....

2008-11-13T12:51:00.001-06:00

One of the best movies i've seen this year. I am slightly disappointed with the way it ended but again i am not sure how else it could end too so i guess i have no right to complain. Coming to the story , its about a 12 year old shy, loner boy who befriends a 12 year old girl who moves with her father to next door, only problem is that the girl is actually a vampire and no its not your typical vampire movie, it has its share of murders, blood sucking and gore but after watching the movie nothing registers except the sweet relationship between the kids. Its like a John Huges sugar candy movie with a dark background.So, yaa its a sweet Vampire story and there is nothing sweet about the things that happen around these kids the sweetness is just between the kids. The kids are awesome, especially the girl.
The movie is based on a book but not all the contents of the book are taken. The book is more dark and gore. FOr example, the old guy who stays with the girl is shown as a caring person for the girl but he is patroyed as a pedophile in the book and the movie has a backstory about the vampire actually being a boy who has been castrated 100 years back. Though there are subtle references to the second part, the pedophile part is completely eliminated and rightly so giving the movie the right feel. If added all these parts will take the movie into a completely different genre which is a blasphemy to what it is right now.
In my last blog, i suggested people can wait for the american remake but guys i don't think thats a good idea now for one its being directed by Matt Reeves whose last film was 'Cloverfield' which was a good movie in its style but basing on that movie i am not sure he has the sensibilities to make this movie, moreover, it is said that the movie will be based on the book rather than on the swedish movie and that makes me even more skeptical. The swedish movie right now is too perfect to be tamperered and even a slight change to it can make the movie a completely different one , the one without a soul. So guys, try to catch the film now itself and if you could'nt then pray that Reeves should pull out a miracle.

slumdog-II

2008-11-13T09:31:00.001-06:00

I will be posting videos about slumdog millioniare as i keep find them and i guess i will keep finding them till i stop looking for them ,i.e, till i watch the movie :)

Let the right one in

2008-11-12T21:32:00.002-06:00

Just watched this beautiful film, its a swedish film so had to rely on subtitles. Its a vampire story but totally different than any other vampire movie seen till now. Instead of the typical patroyal of vampires are scary beasts which feed on blood, the films makes us empathize with the vampires reminded me of one other movie 'Interview with the vampire' though both have nothing in common they both show vampires in a different light. A must watch!!! If at all you couldn't get hold of it due to the limited release you can always wait for the remake hit the screens sometime around end of next year but i am not sure if it would be as good as this one.

slumdog millionare

2008-11-12T18:17:00.005-06:00

Everybody has been raving about this movie, i have been following the updates from a month now eagerly waiting for its release at last its releasing this weekend but all that enthu went into drain when i didnot find any screenings of the movie in houston , but again after some more research i found that there are some free shows all over the country and in houston its this tuesday nov 18th at 7:30 .. amar and mike get ready its only for the first 200 ppl so we better go there early. People interested to watch this movie check out when its releasing at your place at: "OC ga slumdog chuseyyandi"

and for ppl who don't have idea what this movie is about hit the youtube and check out its trailors. Its from Danny Boyle the man who directed Transpoitting and if that doesn't ring a bell well check youtube.

One small clip for the enthusiasts: (reminded me of the opening scene from city of god only this time we have rehman in the background :) )

My Encounters with the Coens

2008-11-12T14:26:00.003-06:00

Well i am talking about the Coen Brothers, actually i saw Burn After Reading yesterday , loved it, i guess i can easily give it a second viewing right now without feeling bored and that made me think are my movie tastes changing??? This movie never interested me before , it has so many A list actors but still i was not interested till now fact being i am not a big fan of Coen cinema til now. My first 'Coen' movie was 'Fargo' which i watched like i don't know around 8-10 years back i guess, that was the time when all i know about Hollywood was Bond, Rambo, Terminator and Aliens , that was the time i thought Arnold Schwarzenegger was a great actor ( no offense) , Terminator 2 and Rambo first blood are the best movies ever made, Independence Day is a masterpiece... i guess now you have a clear idea about my approach towards cinema those days and obviously i hated Fargo, i mean the hero is a pregnant women , no good action sequences nothing i could never figure out how on earth this movie is such a rage and by know you should have realized i din't have the 'maturity' to look who is the director , who are the actors and details about any movie i watch so i don't know who are these Coens (actually i never heard about them till 'No Country for Old Men' :) i know i know i am just hopeless ) , so now where are we yaa 'Fargo' i hated it, my next encounter was 'Hudsucker Proxy' .. hmm didnot hate it .. enjoied it in parts i guess.. i still remember the scene when the fatso suddenly gets on the conference table and starts running and jumps out of the window and of course Jeniffer Jason Leigh.. well i like her... to be more specific her assets .. never looked beyond those to every think about her acting and this movie for the first time i did watch her beyond that and she was not that bad .. This was the time i saw 'shawshank redemption' so i picked up this movie just seeing 'tim robbins on the cover of the dvd no idea of the director still ... then it was 'ladykillers'.. picked it up for TomHanks and just hated it period and then was 'intolerable cruelty' which i watched for .. u know Catherine zeta jones , didnot like the movie but enjoyed watched her so paisa vasool and then came 'No Country for old men' .. i was completely bowled over , love every moment/frame of it and this is when Coens arrived for me but still i was not aware of their other movies and came 'superbad'... ok ok i know superbad is not from Coen brothers i am just talking about a scene/dialogue in this movie when jonah hill is talking about his porn website subscriptions and says to Micheal Cera who looks for good story in a porn movie that he is sorry that Coen brothers donot direct these movies and that day i opened imdb to look for other movies that they directed and was pleasantly surprised when none of them are the ones i liked and was bit more surprised when all those movies are considered to be very good (esp. Fargo) and i decided Coens are not for me , except for the occasional No Country for old men i should stay away from them and when Burn after reading opened in theatres i decided to stay away from it and after reading the reviews that this was not 'as good as' fargo i was sure i will hate it but i was pleasanty surprised when i saw it yesterday everybody were awesome , story was simple , comedy was subtle and i was never bored John Malkovich , tilda swanson being their usual self , Clooney's secret project and ofcourse the icing of the cake Brad pitt, he was just awesome
"Pitt, who plays a particularly unintelligent character in Burn After Reading, said of his role, "After reading the part, which they said was hand-written for myself, I was not sure if I should be flattered or insulted.""
"Pitt also said when he was shown the script, he told the Coens he did not know how to play the part because the character was such an idiot: "There was a pause and then Joel goes...'You'll be fine.'" (lifted from wikipedia)

Looks like my movie tastes are changing.. may be i will like Fargo if i watch it now...i guess.....

Back in Action!!!!

2008-11-12T14:20:00.002-06:00

I am seriously thinking of reviving my blog and this time mostly i will strictly write on movies , not that i have written on anything else before :) , but this time its going to be completely on movies that reminds me that long long back i guess few years when somebody has commented on my one of the posts that i should change my blog name to Movie thoughts or something as its anyway always about movies.. well i might as well do that but again who knows may be once in a while i feel like writing about something else too so i will keep the name as RandomThoughts. So guys & gals, help me in this endeavor.. keep reading , commenting , cursing and encouraging

Shraddhanjali…

2007-12-15T14:53:00.000-06:00

It is with immense grief and sadness that we announce the untimely deaths of two of our friends and colleagues; Kiran Kumar Allam and Chandrasekhar Reddy Komma.

We are outraged by the blatant violence that has brought an end to such precious lives and condemn it. As expatriates, we know how friends become family in this land away from home. And it is this family that we turn to in our hour of need.

We would take this opportunity to thank the community, faculty and students who attended the memorial service and acted as a show of strength for the families of Chandrashekhar and Kiran. Many offers of help were made and we hope we will be able to assist the families both financially and emotionally.

As part of our small but significant Indian community here in the USA, we ask you to extend your heartfelt support to the bereaved families of these two young men in these trying times. As a first step, LSU has established a support fund for the families of the victims. We urge you to donate generously. Those wishing to donate to the "Komma & Allam Support Fund" can do so online by visiting https://www.lsufoundation.org and scrolling down For the Benefit of:" select "Komma and Allam Support Fund." or send checks, made payable to LSU Foundation, to 3838 West Lakeshore Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70808.

We would appreciate it if this information could be communicated across the country and that the Indian community in the US would stand as a united front with the families.

If you wish to support the families by way of donating services, please let us know. Our contact information is listed on the website. Or you can email us at isa@lsu.edu.

No Smoking!!!!!

2007-11-04T00:58:00.000-05:00

Ppl plz watch it... i am dying to discuss abt this movie with some one... I have just one word for it... 'mind blowing'.... i mean literally... there will be very few movies like this.. which makes absolutely no sense as long as u watch it but strangely makes you sit through the entire movie without feeling an iota of boredom and keeps haunting you for hrs after watching it making you think about it and may be you will end up having your own version of the movie which will be changing every time you watch it... This movie is strictly for ppl who enjoy movies. This is not for entertainment. I mean , if having a good time means just being able to leave all your tensions behind and enjoy a feel good experience for some time then this is not for you. If it includes taking you on a ride for varied emotions and leaving you with a strange calm satisfying feeling then this is for you. Ppl who have seen it and think its interesting do let me know what you understood from the movie i am eager to to know that.. and ppl who think this is the crappiest movie of all times don't bother you are not wrong too this is just not your kind of movie. BTW , after saying so much if you ask me if I understood teh movie completely .. well my answer is both yes and no . I just understand 'my version' of the movie and i am dying to add things to 'my version' after listening to 'your version' and watching it again.

jhooooooooooooooooooooooooooooom!!!!!

2007-06-24T10:56:00.000-05:00

new post after 7 months ahhh.. quite a long time... and ppl who know me will obviously know what this post is goin to be about.. as expected movies... Happenend to watch Jhoom Barabar Jhoom yesterday after watching it.. i felt review no critic has given the movie its due... i mean i have read teh reviews.. i expected the film to be bad... but i was surprised this is the first time a move fell below expections when i dint even have any expectations in the first place. I mean even quoting this movie to be 'worst' or 'crap' is also not enuf... i mean those words are too good for the movie Everybody was talking about the non-existence of any kind of story in the movie but why dint anybody talk abt the crappiest screenplay and direction of all times... But one thing is for sure , this movie has made history.... i'll tell u how..... Big B is more than a actor now.. hez more than a star.. hez an icon.. he has the charisma to take a crapiest movie and make it watchable . One thing is for sure he never lets u down... just his sheer presence in the movie is enuf.... but Shaad Ali has achieved the impossible.. He tried it in Bunty Aur Babli and he was partly successful but in this movie he has done it.. for teh first time of history of indian cinema you can't help but to hate Amitabh... everytime he comes on the screen he feel like tearing the screen , find a way to into the movie and slap him and kick him out u will just plainly hate him.... in bunty aur babli too he was bit boring but this movie he has achieved it to the fullest extent and the full credit goes to Shaad Ali. Only person who got something to do in this movie i thought was Lara Dutta , though a pretty small role atleast it has shades .. both of them interesting.. the french accent was good felt authentic.. and the tapori language was good enuf somehting i never expected she could carry off but she did.. if u say BigB became a jack ass acting in this movie.. i donno what i can say abt Bobby Deol well he needed a hit badly and yash raj film offer is irresestible but i dint know he was this desperate .. First half he was overacting.. well that is understandable but second half .. i donno what made him accept this spineless side kick role... First of all the hero character itself is boring and to be a side kick to a boring character he just made a caricature of himself and his hairstyle...ufff mindblowing .. as if threads of some brown hair definetly not human hair has been stuck to his scalp haphazardly..... I hope Yash Raj gives one more movie to him for the sacrifice he has done for this movie and the main hero and heroine.. well there is nothing to talk abt. This movie is perfectly fit to be done with the background of mumbai subway and suburbs.. they forcefully introduced London into it.. i mean everyone around , place they live everything is again indian suburbs of London so whats the point of doin it in London.. even at the train station all the shopkeepers are indian and the dance competition in the end which is the most horrible part of the movie is like some recording dance show rather than a competition. Add they have done this movie with background of mumbai , this could have been the least budgetted venture for yashraj. Only saving grace for this movie is the big poster of CHIRANJEEVI from Stalin in the background in the final scenes of the movie. That is the only scene when i could sense a change of expresssion on my face from a awestruck blank expression to a smile luckily i am a fanatic fan of Chiru and for ppl who r not and watched this movie... i hope they r alrite... god save their souls!!!!

Taggedddddddd!!!!!!!!

2006-12-07T15:36:00.000-06:00

I've been tagged.. well took me a while to understand what it means.. Prathyusha this post is for you..for making the effort to 'tag' me.. looks like my non-filmi post after sooooooo many filmi posts ..... now here we go...

9 Favorites:

Favorite Season: Nothing .. like everything.. every season is good and bad for some or other reason..
Favorite Sport: Cricket or Raquet ball.. hmmm cannot make up my mind on one.....
Favorite Time: 6:00-7:00 ( will be playing raquet ball or eatin something at this time ).
Favorite Month: End of Nov and Dec (Holidays time.. thanksgiving , christmas and new yr).
Favorite Singers: Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan , KK , Shankar Mahadevan , Shreya Ghosal , AR Rehman.
Favorite Ice Cream: Anything n Everything.
Favorite Food: Indian, Thai, Chinese, Italian….the list goes on.
Favorite Drink: Water.
Favorite Place: Visakhapatnam.

9 Currents:

Current Feeling: 1 more hr to go before i pack up and go home.
Current O/S: Windows XP.
Current Windows Open: Gmail, Orkut , Meebo , Google,
Current Drink: Water.
Current Time: 16:45 PM.
Current Mobile(s) Used:Nokia 6620.
Current Show on TV: God knows no TV around .
Current Thought: Too lazy to work for the day...
Current Cloths: The Usual.

9 Firsts:

First Nickname: Street Hawk (not the obvious reason)
First Kiss: ************************************.
First Crush: I think in school but dont remember who.
First Computer: Samsung Hardisk and KeyBoard , LG monitor , Mercury MotherBoard , Intel Processor .. the best of all brands...
First Vehicle I drove: BSA-SLR.
First Job: Data Entry Job in LSU .
First Movie I watched: Ten Commandments or Veta (dont remember exactly)
First Pet: sorry no pets.
First Shave: dont remember year must be 1999

7 Lasts:

Last Chai (Tea) : A week back with pakodis ( Tea by Maama , Pakodis by Sharbari).
Last Movie: 4 weddings and a funeral.(worth a watch 10 yrs back not now.. definetly not now..)
Last Time I Drove: 3 hrs back for Lunch..
Last Time Shaved: Today Morning.
Last Web Site Visited: Gmail
Last Software Installed: ITunes ( for updating my Ipod)
Last Pill I Had: Long Long Back.. should be crocin

6 Have You Evers:

Have You Ever Broken the Law: All the time..make it a point to skip a red once a week atleast.
Have You Ever Been Drunk: hmmm…drunk.. Yes.. wasted .. No.
Have You Ever Climbed a Tree: zillion times.
Have You Ever Kissed Someone You Didn't Know: Nope
Have You Ever Been in the Middle/Close to Gunfire or Bomb Blast: Gun fire.. yes fired a beretta and M16 myself at a Shooting Range
Have You Ever Broken Anyone’s Heart: hehehe, good question..

5 Things:

Things You Can Hear Right Now: Tu hi Mera Shab Hai (Gangster) from my ipod... too loud to hear anything else...
Things on Your Computer Table: An extra monitor, a phone , loads of papers and computer glasses which i seldom use and a bottle of water.
Things on Your Bed: A pillow and a blanket
Things You Ate Today: Cornflakes , chinese buffet so lots of unknown stuff..
Things in Mind: 45 min more to go........

4 Places You Have Been Today:

Home
Office
Chinese Inn

2 Choices

Black or White: Black.
Hot or Cold: Hot.

1 Thing You Want To Do Before You Die:

What ever i do or not do ..but should be content and with no regrets when i die..

Now my turn to tag…..

well i donno.. ppl who read this post.. u r totally jobless like me so u r tagged start blogging best passtime for u...

Deja' Vuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

2006-10-09T11:43:00.000-05:00

Last friday , i was catching up with 'The Departed' and before the film there was a trailor of Denzyl's 'Deja Vu'... at the end of trailor i was left with a 'Deja Vu' feeling.. thats becoz of the background score in the trailor .. i felt i heard that somewhere before... and i was right.. we can hear the same score in the climax sequence of 'SAW' .. The pefect climax to a gory movie with a perfect , haunting music score which sends chills to ur spine.. now if the ppl of Deja Vu wanted the audience to have this 'deja vu' feeling by having the same score well... they did it.. but if that was not the intension.. well then what can i say, they have really good taste .... i donno if that score was original for SAW or not but i remember it only from that movie!!!!

The Departed.....

2006-10-09T09:09:00.000-05:00

Jack Nicholson , Martin Sheen , Leonardo Di Caprio , Matt Damon , Mark Wahlberg , Alec Baldwin in the hands of the gr8 Martin Scorsese and the story line is taken from one wonderful hong kong movie..well this is destined to be a blockbuster and it is. Everybody was gr8 in the movie especially Jack Nicholson.. its his movie , he was awesome in every frame he was in. The only problem here was Martin Scorsese. This story could have been wonderfully told in 2 hrs but then Martin doesnt make short movies.. thats not his mark so he has to strech it and this is the major drawback.. i still cannot understand what Mark Wahlberg was doing in this movie , his character is not there in the original hong kong version and his character just adds loopholes to the script and ofcourse some masala dialogues. The original movie 'Infernal Affairs' was pretty slow but u wont get bored .. not even for a sec.. it holds your interest from the first frame to last frame..and 'the departed' well it keep on tries to hold the audience attention from first to last and even at the last frame its still trying..ppl who hasn't watched the original may find the movie interesting in the last 15 min but those scenes were just carbon copy of the original (except for the climax). It was heart breaking to see even Martin Scorsese was trying to play safe by adding crude dialogues which try to be witty and does achieve that once or twice and the climax the worst part of the movie.. Actually, Martin didnot get the main theme of the movie.. The original version was always about the phychological battle of the characters played by Matt Damon and Leonardo but here its more about Jack Nicholson character .... he should have taken a look at the original atleast once more before starting this movie...The basic plot may be the same but the story is entirely different and this version is just ridiculous

For me this movie is a big let down..it will be for everyone who saw the original ..so guys if u could find the original 'infernal affairs' watch it.. if not well u can go ahead for this movie... But again this is my opinion.. i found goodfellas just okay and am still trying to figure out why is 'taxi driver' such a big hit (Robert Di nero was gr8 in the movie but not the movie as a whole)..

Never say Bye!!!

2006-08-16T17:01:00.000-05:00

I am impressed. I did not like the movie but I am impressed. KANK is good. I have read mixed reviews on the movie. To all ppl who felt this movie sucks I just want to ask to one question. What did u expect?

Karan Johar movies are long 3 and ½ hrs is what we should expect.

His movies have long sugar coated dialogues which are not used in real life. Come on, No one will use the dialogues like "never say goodbye, it kills the hope of meeting again" to someone whom you just met.

Karan Johar is a businessman… he sells dreams, his movies are about grandeur, wealth, love etc , every character in his movie is 'sweet' , some of them may be a bit dumb but they are always sweet. This movie is no different. It has amazing star cast , everybody is rich , it has some good sweet dialogues and everything which a Karan Johar movie has and of course, it will be a hit. Karan made sure of this in every possible way.

As for me I have never been a fan of his movies and obviously I did not like it but the main thing that I am impressed about is the characterization of his lead character. For the first time, one of his characters is not 'sweet'. The main protagonist, Sharukh Khan is not sweet. He is not his typical hero and I think that is a great risk taken but he is successful in covering that up. He roped in a huge supported cast to cover it up. Abhishek the current heartthrob to be his chocolate hero and as usual he delivers what is expected no wonder everyone is talking about him and well that's what he wanted people to talk about and he has Amitabh to add few lighter moments and of course the chemistry between the father and son and then the final cover up , the climax of the movie a happy ending, I still did not understand if a the character of Rani could not be happy with a character like Abhishek how could she 'live happily ever after' with a character played by Sharukh. But hey the movie does not discuss about this. I never expected a person like Karan to create such a character to Sharukh and be able to pull it off but he did it and I am impressed about that.

One thing I did not like in this movie is the narrating style , half the time it runs like a story narrated by Sharukh and half the time it is like happening in front of our eyes and I find it very confusing but I don't think anybody is talking about that either so all I can say is this movie will be a hit.

My first bullet....

2006-08-16T12:18:00.000-05:00

I don't know who first got this idea but some 3 weeks back we started looking for rifle shooting alleys in my place and we found a place.... well i was pretty sure this will be more like a baloon shooting alley.. with air guns and iron pellets , it took us 2 weeks to make time to check out this place , the first question i asked my frnds (who have reached there a bit early) when i reached there was "Enit Bomma gunlee kada" but to my astonishment they are posing with real guns.. there are around 10-15 varieties of guns ranging form berettas to AK 47 , M 16s to choose from ... i rented a beretta and a pack of 50 slugs and went into the alley with ear plugs and gogs on....as we entered ... everybody was excited and afraid at the same time... we were the only ppl there... and we have a real gun with real ammo... and as soon we entered we selected our lane , fixed our target and placed it at the farthest possible end and on the other side others started loading the gun... they loaded 10 slugs and i had the loaded gun , no one asked to go first not even me and some how the gun was in my hand... i went to the lane removed the safety lock , loaded the bullet and now i need to pull the trigger and there was pin drop silence ...... How will the recoil be? Can i handle the recoil ? what about the back fire..... am i going to pull a muscle or two becoz of the recoil? how is the shot goin to sound? will I be able to hear the bullet whistle thru? ... these are say few of the millions of questions popping up in my hand...and somehow i managed to pull the trigger...there was a huge boom... a flash of fire in front of the barrel and the empty shell flew back and fell on the ground.. again a pin drop silence for few secs there and i slowly turned back to my frnds and i still cannot figure what i was feelin then firing my first shot..... and after that it was only excitement around... i completed my 10 shots , then all by frnds had their turns and i was the only person who didnot get even a single shot on the target but that is a different story!!!!!!

This is what IT does to ppl....

2006-05-09T11:05:00.000-05:00

This is sent by a frnd .... enjoied it... felt its worth a place in my blog....
"Two IT guys were chatting in a pub after work. "Guess what, mate," says
the first IT guy, "yesterday, I met this gorgeous blonde girl in a bar."
"What did you do?" says the other IT guy.
"Well, I invited her over to my place, we had a couple of drinks, we got
into the mood and then she suddenly asked me to make her feel special"
"You're kidding me!" says the second IT guy.
"I then I lifted her and put her on my desk next to my new laptop."
"Really? You got a new laptop? What configuration?"
"It's a 1 GB RAM and mobile internet connectivity card and............"

The story behind MI3

2006-05-08T14:30:00.000-05:00

One fine day , Tom Cruise got up and suddenly he felt something was wrong.... so he started thinking what he did for the last few years .... he didnot have a hit for the past 2 years , people were talking about him more because of his punching in air and ground and fighting with oprah in the oprah winfrey show... people were slowly forgettin that he can act too... and so he decided to do something what every actor did in ages whenever his career went down. Do a sequel!! this is what
schwarzenegger did just before jumping into politics ( he came up with Terminator 3!).... The idea here is simple , you should start shooting as soon as possible , story can be written as we shoot , its ok if we don't have a story all we need it publicity and the name gives what we wnat "Mission Impossible 3" .... its just that name made millions of people like me to wait for its release and tom got all he wanted .. people started talking about his work ...his movie again... and hez back... now he didnot have a story so he was not lucky to get a good director and he had to adjust with Jeffrey Abrams. Even in MI2 , the story was just like a typical balayya's movie (infact balayya was pretty much inspired by this movie and made 'Vijayendra Varma' )... the only thing that saved this movie was John Woo and his stunts...... and now even John Woo was also missing.... so now no story , no stunts... so he had to play safe...so just like a typical Bollywood/Tollywood masala movie.. he tried to incorporate everything into it.. love , sentiment , comedy and some action here and there... the only problem is HOllywood guys are not as capable as our directors to incorporate everything into a single movie and the result was a disaster to the core ... MI3 . The whole story was based on something called 'Rabit's foot' and even after seeing that movie iam referring to it as something becoz even the writer/director also didnot know what it is ... so they won't tell us. Action .. well there is one good but very small episode on the Chesapeake Bay Brige was good... well that's the only one worth watching.... love... oh we have loads of it for the first 1/2 hr.... and sentiment ... well i cannot go ahead before describing a scene.... the epitome of senti.... Tom goes into a building to get the so called 'Rabbit's foot' ... now that building has pretty good security so I was expecting some heart poundin action sequences instead ... we see Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Maggie Q waitin for Tom... Maggie closes her eyes and started chanting some prayers and Meyers asks her what she was doin... the answer was simple 'praying' but hey we need to add some senti here so Maggie says somehting like this: ' When i was a kid i had a cat and it used to run away and i used to pray for her to come back and now i am praying for ethan' ....thats it i was in a sense of shock...by the time i could recover Meyers replies ' Teach me that prayer' and thats it i don't remember what happened in the next 15 min after that.... there are lot more senti dialogues and episodes.... so if you like mindless sentiments and want to see the most wierd love story... this is the movie for you.... and afterwards don't blame for for not warning you!!!!

I Hate................

2006-04-12T14:53:00.000-05:00

Things i Hate in my day to day life:

Waking up early in the morning...i have been getting up every weekday at 8 since 2 months and i am still not used to it....
Eating the same breakfast every day....CORNFLAKES...god this is one time of day I really miss India
FM crooning my fave song just when i am about to get out of my car
Listening to Kidd Kraddick 's banter (Radio show host) every day on my way to work
Folding my clothes after washing them....as i wash clothes once in a month i will have a biiiiiiiig lot .....amma!!!! i miss u
Cleaning the kitchen after cooking
Lunch time!!! god knows how much time I spend deciding where to eat each and every day....
And ofcourse , Friday afternoons at work.....

Be a student for life!!!!

2006-04-05T15:22:00.000-05:00

.....I am at the verge of jumping into the next phase of life......the ever menacing job life....After my BE , most of my frnds decided to start working....everybody was 'fedup' with studying (as if they studied their ass out till then) but i was sane enough to not to take that stupid decision....job gives freedom thats what everyone feel but in reality except a small amount of monetary freedom all you get is a big burden with a great name 'responsibility'....u have to be responsible of yourself....your family....suddenly parents start treating you like a big boy...come on you will be asked opinions on lots of issues....suddenly your opinion starts to count..this seems to be fun first and by the time you get to know what you are getting into you are completed sucked into this web of responsibility..... i was 'mature' enough to understand this so i decided that i will study.....so off i came to US to do MS...but one thing i couldnot understand then was that i cannot hide the fact that iam old enough and so responsibilities started creeping in....had to work ,take care of my finances , had to take care of myself....then i started regretting...... why the hell did i take this decision to study more...any way i had to take up all these responsibilities so the main purpose of me comin to US is not fulfilled........but now at this point when i am entering his new phase of my life....i came to know one thing....I under estimated the wrath of responsibility...i am just an intern now.....not even working full time and i already started hating my day to day life.......guys!!! no matter how worse things are in your student life they are always a hell lot better than any other phase of your life....so just try to stay as a student as long as poss.....one gr8 reason to study a lot.......

Rang Barse...........

2006-03-17T13:08:00.000-06:00

Its Holi time...i suddenly remembered it holi when i saw wishes pouring through emails and offlines....but i am not sure (even today) on which day it really is...well i got emails on 14th and 15th so i dont know exactly which day it is......neways...we i saw these all i could do is to think about my old memories....my Holi during B.Tech....roaming all over the city with colors and ending up in beach...and ofcourse the last yr holi...my first in US...the most muddiest holi of my life....uff!! it started with colors then it went to eggs and ketchup and then it went to mud....i never played such 'mass' holi back in india.....thats what i remembered ... good old days!!....on the 15th.... Ram's (a good frnd of mine) defense is done....hez just crossed the final hurdle between him and his MS degree.....and god everyone was elated....and at that moment we decided to celebrate the occasion....and what could the best way .....its holi....i donno if its the wrong day according to the calender but for us..that was the best occasion.....so started our search for the colors....had to go to all the indian stores for that and at last we got a few packets.....by the time everyone was free it was around 6:30 pm...and then we started playing...my first after dark holi...we had a gr8 time....we had colors , water and of course mud...

I'm back!!!

2006-03-10T10:26:00.000-06:00

Phew!!! has been a while since my last post...well things were a bit hectic 2 weeks...these days its like running the whole day , waking up in the morning...running to office hammering my brain till evening..goin home a quick bite and off to lab....coming back if i have even a peck of energy left...iam off to Rec..play for an hour at the most wierd times...around 10-11 ...haing a bath , havin dinner , watchin a movie and then sleepin around 2....this has been my schedule for the last week and still there is hell lot to be done ... its friday today so a bit relaxing...and weekend hah!!! i can relax a bit more....and guess what if everything goes as planned i may go on a boat ride on monday....actually its more than a boat ride...it falls between a cruize and a boat... a 6 hrs ride on the gulf of mexico well people are goin to do some research and stuff and iam goin with them to have a good time...

goin campin.....

2006-02-24T09:24:00.000-06:00

Its Friday!!!! the day before the long weekend , the day before Mardigras.......and guess what we are plannin to go for camping this weekend....now that doesn't mean we will not be there in new orleans for Mardigras....now comin back to campin....well if everything goes as planned we will be leaving today evening....and be back by sunday afternoon...its a 4 hr drive from my place.......its our first time....so these are the few things we are ready with ......tents ,sleeping bags , barbeque grill, wood for campfire , food stuff , mosquito repellants , reserved a cabin , a cd player with loads of cds .......wat else did i forget something?

Addicted to google...

2006-02-23T09:53:00.000-06:00

This is the age of google.....google is everywhere now......yesterday i had an interview....so after coming back from work day before yesterday , after playing raquetball , after cooking, after having my dinner , after playing cricket2005 , after spending some time chitchatting with frnds...well i decided i must start my preperation and that was around 10.....well what is there to read ..i know everything...that was my initial thought.....then i opened some books and as i started going through the basics of .net , i realized i knew nothing....all i know is to type in 'www.google.com' in my browser and search for what i need , i couldnot remember anything....infact , i am writing the 'create table' command from looooong time and guess what still i cannot write the command (atleast with constraints) without any error and without googling it up.....there was a time when we used to remember everything.....but now all we are learnin is to how to google up things......and our brains are moulded in such a way that (atleast mine) its damn difficult to remember anything...i can do any kind of programming ....anything means anything....all i need is time and google. Infact figure out something if i donot have much time tooo but without google i wont be moving a inch....i am just a log of wood , helpless....now don't tell me its only me.....

The new Batman..........

2006-02-15T13:25:00.000-06:00

Have u guys seen 'Batman Begins'....we its an okie dokie movie can watch it once for Katie Holmes......thats what i felt after seein that movie...but few weeks back i saw another movie of the same guy 'Christian Bale'....'The Machinist'....good movie....a movie made out of a nice theme with some assistance from different other movies like FightClub etc......but the thing i was both amused and horrified to see is the lead actor..Christian Bale...hez soooooo thin in this movie well is this bones and skin with zero flesh......good how did he do that.......in his interview (in the special features in DVD) all he said is 'i didnot eat'....as simple as that...phew!!! so much pains for a movie!!!! again yesterday i saw another movie....'Copland'.....and i was horrified to see Stallone....he was totally out of shape....obese.....infact he even developed a small belly pouch....and if you see him these days hez back in shape.....now this was easy all he had to do is eat and sleep....but is it worth to do something like what Bale did for a movie?

girls and dates.....

2006-02-07T10:55:00.000-06:00

Tomorrow is my sis's B'day.....yesterday i was chatting with my mom and she kept on reminding me this.....i got irritated....come on why will i forget my sister's birthday (i dont mean that there is no way i will forget that but atleast for this year i didnot forget)...my mom was concerned that if i didnt wish her...she will be hurt and may be she will cry for a day...stop talking with me for few more days etc etc...could be the consequences....and now as a good mom for both of us she just wanted to make sure that all these donot happen...

Why do girls give so much importance to dates?????...i have a serious problem of remembering dates...and i could see this could be a biiiiig problem for me....come on ...relationships could end because of this...no kidding!!!....

Rang De Basanti and Sholay.....

2006-01-27T13:17:00.000-06:00

...What is this?.....u must be wondering.....what the hell is there to compare between these two films...they are not even remotely same ......sholay is kind of a fairy tale.....Rang De....a masterstroke from Rakesh Omprakash Mehra (atleast by me)....After saying this i want to write about Rang De Basanti.....but if i start on this topic i will be writing volumes ...now i don't want to do that....people who didnot see this movie still ...please watch it....

Now coming to my topic...well , its just a thought but , i feel the director and the script writor had sholay in their mind while characterizing these 5 characters....well atleast 4 of them..if u watch closely....
DJ (aamir khan) + Sukhi (Sharman Joshi) = Veeru (Dharmendra)
Karan(Siddarth) + Aslam(Kunal Kapoor) = Jai (Amitabh)

DJ and Sukhi are the fun loving ....DJ flirting with Sue....
Karan and Aslam , more quiet and serious.....

the entrance of DJ and sukhi....drinking standing over a high monument
Veeru's best scene in sholay....standing on a water tank ... drinking and threatening to jump

Karan's first dialogue 'Nautanki saala'
Jai's dialogue 'ghadi ghadi drama karta hai saala'

now if we start looking in this point of view u will find few more similarities..but the things told above are obvious (i think)...

A tribute to 'Venky'

2006-01-26T10:34:00.000-06:00

People who know me and my room dont need an intro on this topic for others well iam talking about the telugu movie starring Raviteja , Sneha which did an above average business a good comedy movie ....i think this is what you will hear from anyone who has seen or known this movie but ask anyone of apt 370 (my house no.) , VENKY is a MASTERPIECE. How many times have we seen this movie? dont ask , seriously we lost the count but one thing is for sure , the no. will be way beyond your imagination . There was a time when we never had our dinner without watchin this movie , every dialogue is an 'aanimutyam'......and a day never passes for us without using a single dialogue of this movie , Venky has become a part and parcel of our life...now what is this? Is this movie that gr8...is it like some Godfather or something......well for us its more than that....and i can proudly say one can understand its worth only if they watch it with us. 'Adi daani power anukondi effect anukondi.....' . Let me end this with few dialogues from this movie:

1)'Neenu general ga chinese prefer chestanu....fat content takkuva kada'
2)'Nuvvu chetitho tinu baabu'
3)'Udyogaalu ivvaga appulu evvaka taagedelagaaa brathikedelaaga'
4)'Mass tho pettukunte Madata...Madatadipoddi'
5)'meeku istam ledu naaku allergy'
6)'yedutivallu cheppindi puurthiga vinaveee...anduke degree annellu chadivav....thu.....nee brathuku cheda'
7)'ninnu yela pogadaloo ardam kavatledura'
8)'Ninnu kottalante peddaga alochinchalentra.....chusava enta easyno'
9)'paadu gajaala'
10)'We enjoyed a lot sir , the credit goes to you only'

rustic trekkin

2006-01-26T09:43:00.000-06:00

A brand new day at work.......so i opened hinduonnet.... trying to know a bit abt whats happening in india....suddenly i remembered Metroplus...one of the few things i used to read in the daily news paper back home. This week there is an article about adventure sports in India with a photo of a boy trekking...reminded me of my childhood days....All my school life i always had someone who loves to go around then stay at a place and play...when i first moved to Ukkunagaram, Vizag ...my first frnd was Chaitanya , he loved to go around....all we used to do every evening is to go as far as possible , i think i was 8 or 9 years old then...going to a new place, exploring a new site, tresspassing are the few things which used to give us the high.....but after we moved to a new house....i stopped all these stuff but again we got interested in new things....trekking....something which i would love to do even now...we used to explore all the small hills surrounding our place and being in Vizag , we never fell short of hills ... this brings back lots of memories..... climbing on the muddy paths , slipping (afterall all we used to wear were slippers which try to repel any sort of friction they come across) and the feeling after reaching the top of the mountain and ofcourse running down the hill loosing total control and ending up falling somewhere and getting hurt.....hah!!!! the good old days......

Underdog

2006-01-25T02:25:00.000-06:00

This has been the safe bet for making movies for ages now. People have been complaining that indian movies lack the freshness . There are a handfull of themes and movies have been , are being and will be made only these themes. Revenge , love and the main most famous themes we come across. If we watch closely , even hollywood too have a set of themes and movies on these have been coming out from ages now. 'Underdog' is one thing which i feel has not lost its freshness yet. The latest example is 'Glory Road' and its box office collections. Movies on this topic are coming from ages now. Infact some movies are even being remade , the latest example is 'The Longest Yard'. There have been serious movies like Coach Carter, Remember the Titans, Friday Night Lights, Rudy etc and there were comedies like Happy Gilmore , Tin Cup , Mean Machine, Longest Yard etc and there have also been some insane movies which will leave your mind blank for atleast few hours after you see them like Kicking and screaming , Rebound , Dodgeball etc. The great thing about this is all the movies have the same theme some person or a team which is supposed to be good for nothing and have no scope of making to the top ends up victorious and the wierd thing is 90% of these movies are hits...even the so called insane movies have also done a decent business.
Out of the bunch if i had to pick one , my pick will be 'RUDY' . A great movie , and i felt really bad that i didnot even know this movie till last week . If you have not seen this movie yet do see it!!!

Blah!!!!Blah!!!!!

2006-01-24T14:30:00.000-06:00

I need to post something....about what....well let me think!!!!! my first blog so must be good....but on what....After pondering on what to do for a week now i atlast decided to start a blog....'enough of looking at others' blogs and writing comments to them....let me start my own now'......my job is making me do things which i never thought i would be interested in.....it started with orkutting.....i know about orkut from say 3-4 years now but never bothered to even register in it....trying to meet old and new frnds online and making new frnds just by seeing their profiles .... sounded so funny.....i believe in simple things.....just live your life ....any kind of relationship should happen unintensionally....i never believed in trying to make new frnds...but with the free time i got in my office....i couldn't think of a better thing to do than orkutting....now iam done with that.....afterall, we cannot do something we donot believe in for long....so now its time for bloggin.....