Dexter – season 1

Completed watching DEXTER – season one, today. American TV has many stories to offer. And a perfect formula to present it to the audience. I am always open to thrillers, suspense, murder mysteries and always felt it lacked in Indian cinema. Sort of I always craved for suspense since past several years. Last time I remember watching a very good suspense thriller was a movie called ‘Dhund’ and ‘Teesri Manzil’. ‘Tehkikaat’ was one of the best suspense shows back in 90s. ‘Dexter’ wasn’t an advice from anyone. Seems like I might have read a tweet of someone watching it. Ordered it from NetFlix and landed up getting addicted. Michael C Hall is a fresh discovery as far as acting goes. The guy has played ‘Dexter Morgan’ as if he’s living the character everyday. I have rarely seen such detail in every expression and dialogue delivery. I wonder how an actor comes out of his character, especially when you play a friendly next door serial killer. Kudos to the ‘Dexter’ team. Looking forward for season two starting next week.

May 15, 2010.

I gTalked with a very good friend of mine – Umesh Divate. Same day, I found out that he met with an accident & is no more in this world. Umesh was one of my best friends. The more I think about it, the more it saddens me. With all heart breaking sadness, I realise the value of a Life. Tears are not enough to express a loss. Life can turn upside down within a second. The fact that I won’t be able to see him is unimaginable. Wish all of my strength to his family. May his soul rest in peace.

Dear Umesh, you will be missed.

Sunday post

The only good thing the Metropolitan cities in India bring to the country is money. Along comes the corruption & pollution. Start with the basic problem of trees. Unfortunately the cities who sell ‘go green & save earth’ slogans themselves lack implementation. Didn’t we have the most educated & working class population in cities like Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Delhi? I can only speak for Mumbai due to my lack of knowledge or experience about others. Are we just going to promote it and leave it as a noble cause? You refer to Mumbai as the city of dreams & yes they are getting fulfilled if your dreams were wiping your sweat off your face every 1 min. The least we could do is to bring some strict rules of structured development and implement some practical laws for growing more trees. We are way out of time now. Constructing huge skyscrapers with a small garden around it is just not going to work. Do we really lack space to grow more trees? At least utilize the land which is wasted. Government needs to give it a serious thought. It’s an issue of carelessness.

Yesterday, I had a long debate with friends of mine on Chetan Bhagat & 3 Idiots issue. It was damn funny as if we were the lawyers of the respective parties. Finally, both parties had to end the debate without a conclusion, leaving the judge confused. I supported Chetan Bhagat & then got bashed for taking a picture with his rival Abhijat Joshi. Haha!!

Watched ‘Housefull’ and the movie is one time watch. All brain less comedy. Good for me. At this stage of my life, I certainly don’t want my life filled with all serious dramas & jagjit singh ghazals. Senseless comedies and songs are always welcome. Birthdays just pass by leaving huge responsibility on your shoulder. Practical attitude & humor is the only ingredient needed as we move on. Still learning Will write more soon.

Tendlya and his 200.

Some news suddenly pops up on your iPhone and you’re thrilled. “Sachin on 199, ODI against SA”. God! That’s something real crazy. It takes too much of your energy & patience to reach a 200 mark in a ODI. There’s nothing better than that. I’ve not been a religious follower of the game, but such feats fascinate me so much that I may want to start following my fav stars at least. What a perfect and happy start for my day, Sachin! the world loves you so badly and madly. There’s so much happiness around when you play this damn good. There’s so much peace for a change. And your humility makes us weep in joy. That one record, I always dreamt you’d make some day. There’s one more, I dream for you, with you. To win the world cup – 2011. All the best!

Untitled

Despite of the fact that it has been a little over stretched in the second half, MNIK succeeds to impress you. And Shah Rukh Khan broke all the barriers and gave a commendable performance of a guy having Aspergers syndrome. What can I say more, I’ll leave you all to watch it and decide for yourself. The moment I decided to stay away from the stupid Indian politics with all the negativity our Newspapers are spreading these days, I bumped onto a breaking news in Pune. A popular tourist joint ‘German Bakery’ in Koregaon Park was badly hit by a bomb blast, killing 8 people and injuring 33. Of course, when you have your police forces to guard the multiplexes of the city, you’re bound to expect vulnerability in other areas. You’re solely responsible for making the job easier for those terrorists. It’s most likely to be a terror attack and I’m saying this as police has not yet being able to figure out the cause. Very unfortunate to live every other day in such fear which adds to more embarrassment and disturbance. I am certainly not a proud Indian to read all such news daily for God sake. We are succumbing to every other terror attack with complete blame on the security forces. I quickly called up few friends in Pune to get the latest update and thankfully they all are fine. We’re just not learning from mistakes. And bringing every other news on a debate platform is not going to help. Last time it was ‘Leopolds cafe’ (26/11) and now today ‘German Bakery’. The point is that it could be me or my friends someday.

Last year on 13th feb, I was having dinner with my friend Jeetu in Pune and as the local hotels in Pune close at around 11.30 or so. Our extended dinner normally cross the 11.30 pm mark. Hotel guy switched off all the lights so that the hotel gets unnoticed from the cops. We asked him to arrange candles for us. And then there were candles on our table, it was 12 am (14th feb) and what a valentines dinner with Jeetya. It was hilarious. Miss all my Pune friends and Pune and my bike and everything special about the place. Happy Valentines day all. Spread love.

Thoughts

Its mid-night and I’m just done with some office work. Some thoughts cross my mind so randomly. I might not have even consciously thinking about them. Like I missed my mother for a minute or so, that it compelled me to write about it. Yes, those days when I use to ask her to play some video games on my PC while she was alone at home. And she was good at all mario, dave, bow and arrow type games. Cute. Moms, especially those who are house wives are so much bored at home. Unimaginable and so sad at times. While her son is globe trotter, she stills engages herself in the house work the old fashioned way. So surprising to see her deny my offer to buy a new washing machine or whatever new gadget it may be. Always content, so full satisfied at everything. May be not ? But still mum with no demands at all. I realise that I always fall short of appreciating such a tiny thing. I really feel ‘all is well’ when I talk to her and that I fail to understand how! Magical. That was a thought I couldn’t have allowed to just pass by without registering.

MNIK

For the rest of the coming weeks, we’re going to feel fresh fresh sa. Yeah! we took a lot of efforts to clean the entire house today. Including the bathroom. Woah! the homely ‘swarg’ feeling it is. And suddenly every thing’s so new as if we’re starting all over again. This aids to ward off all the negativity.

I’ve been waiting for this week since a long time. Yes, I’m eager to watch ‘My name is Khan’. I’m dying to see SRK and Kajol share the screen. I’m happy that this week has come. I’m really not in for KJo style cinema, but the truth is that his movies develop certain emotional connect with the audience. I’m not talking about the intellectual modern audience who die to see real cinema by RGV, Anurag Basu, Vishal Bharadwaj etc. I’m pointing to that portion of the audience who would want simple love/family movies and can actually relate to it by some sense or the other. KJo is accused of making movies based on upper class families settled in the west. Well, how does that matter?. How many lower class people who watched K3G found it very difficult to comprehend what happened in the movie? It’s simple family value movie which everyone understood and certainly a good entertainer for all. Why not blame Suraj Barjatya then? for making ‘Hum apke hai kaun’? The bungalow in that movie was very costly, wasn’t it?. And DDLJ is very much in the list too. Its not the class that matters, its the theme of the movie which the Indian audience likes. Of course, KANK and many other movies of KJo were blunders. But, thanks to people like Suraj Barjatya and KJo, Indian lower middle class families could really walk in the theaters to enjoy the same old family value movies, instead of getting into the trap of highly real intellectual movies. I have nothing against the real cinema. But I think, ‘super star’ in India works a little differently. A ‘super star’ is someone who can reach to any level of audience with a strong sense of emotional attachment.  I’m keeping my Mother in mind while I write. I mean just take away all the movies SRK and Big B has done. What have we left with? Whatever movie names she remembers has SRK or Big B in it. I know most will disagree, but Bollywood dhinchak dhamaka movies cannot be replaced by anything else ever. May be that’s the reason despite of his over acting, SRK manages to crush every other star and the media with an ease. Trying for first day first show.

And the award goes to…

Here we go. Arjun Rampal wins National award for his excellent role in ‘Rock On’. Instead of getting into a coma, this made me burst into laughter. There’s no point retaliating some nonsense with a heavy feeling like anger or shock. My problem is not with Rampal’s role or acting, but was he the last person on planet to win this? Rock On by far was so much entertaining to watch and of course the entire crew was perfect. Then why do I even not remember Rampal’s scenes from the movie? Was the impact high enough to reach the level of National award. And then we call it the most respected awards of all times where the judges run out of entries and finally make a desperate choice. I am making these comments on some strong basis. I have always considered National awards as the most prominent awards so far we’ve had in the country. The jury should have highly potential to judge movies from all backgrounds and make a call. If I were to judge, I would surely not be a part of National film awards coz, I don’t think I can’t take up this tough job at all. This has always been something beyond my comprehension and dare not to comment against it. Why did I do so now? Selection process has gone for a toss that even ignorant person like me can easily pin point the discrepancies.

Padma award to Chatwal (haven’t heard of him before) is considered as major blunder of this year. Of course, anyone would agree to the fact that if you felicitated a person having criminal cases(dropped now) against him, it is bound to degrade the honor which the award stands for. I don’t have a meaty take on this Padma matter, but can’t we have lesser controversies here? Movie awards have the high chance of getting into controversies and that’s purely due to favoritism. Padma awards on the other hand, demands some accountability. If we’re striving so hard to deliver that, are we really thinking of resolving bigger issues?

P.S: Arjun Rampal rocks! and he’s done a good job in ‘Rock On’.

I love biryani

My last post has no relevance to my life at this moment. Due to unexpected battery fault, the cell phone goes back to Nokia and I’m back with the old Motorola Razr. That’s acceptable(with a little disappointment) as the money is back in my pocket. I may think of buying something else, sometime later. The huge marketing of this cell phone by me isn’t a waste as some of my friends have bought it and are happy. I’m too. So, that chapter is closed.

The whole day we spent some quality time discussing about our very own celebrity – “Mr. Kasab”. Every other statement made by him fetches ample amount of attention from people trying to follow this trial like a ‘Saas bahu’ daily soap. Taking the case of ‘Biryani’ that he demands every other day, I’m sure we’re getting few new restaurants with the name ‘Kasab’s Biryani’. Of course, that name is quite challenging to put on if you are in state of Maharashtra, where parties like MNS and Shiv Sena are so possessive about the Marathi language. “Kasab chi Biryani” – That’s appropriate na?, Raj bhau! Now, we have a problem here, I certainly do. Keeping Shiv Sena(the wounded Tiger) aside, Where is Raj Thackeray? when we actually need the guy like him to raise certain Maharashtra-Pakistan issue as opposed to Maharashtra-North India? Then arises the question of how genuine or how willing you are to actually protect the land you love. The government is impotent and then the helplessness. Shiv sena keeps mum, MNS is in hibernation and the funniest of all – where our Govt. is on “Global Warming” world tour raising heavy-duty arguments against with the globe’s most powerful nations. But when it comes to Terrorism, we pee in our pants. The country is surrounded by terror from all sides – Pakistan, China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the middle finger of Afghanistan mildly touches the head. With God’s grace, even though we were spared of Somalia, it manages to pass on the terror through Bluetooth. We are expecting a lot of terror in coming days, Boss! Pull up your socks and stop the world tours. This is serious business, Mr. Manmohan Singh!!!

Nimish, my friend, rightly pointed out that India is by far the most unfortunate country to have located in the middle of terror. With all those Fkd up nations around, who in the hell would not expect Biryani loving terrorists? Put any country in this location man! – its damn difficult to deal with this ordeal. Google maps are being unfair or may be ignorant. Notice the head portion of Indian map in Google and you’d see the topmost border of J n K as dotted. “Dotted” in US road sign terminology means – yeah! you can cross the dotted line!!! Does that mean, it’s a part of India? or may be not? or may be the Pakis are almost done with occupying it? or may be China is in the queue too??? This is heart breaking. May be its just the map and it hardly makes any difference, but why do you take us for granted ? Why is it not with other countries? and of course the area belongs to us yaar! Why do we always have the ‘dotted’? Why do we always have the “may be”.

Kasab – the only terrorist who was captured live with apprx 600 eye witnesses is flatly denying the charges on him. We already lost a year. The 1st Judge who was defending his case wanted to examine some 400 witnesses to verify the charges. He was kicked off hard on his butt. 2nd Judge is appointed now. We have the list of Judges who are dying to get on this post. More than 30 crores Rs. are spent! I asked for what? The investigation? – No, just for his security !!! So that bhai saheb is safe. He’s the safest guy in India now. Even our PM isn’t that safe and even he needs an appointment for Kasab’s darshan. Judicial system is setting a great example for everyone. Victims are the only sufferers. Common man is paying tax so that Kasab gets his choice of Biryani, Milk & Malpua. Politicians fight each other, terrorists bomb states, Bollywood make movies. The cycle goes on. Judges are collecting “evidences” against Kasab! What evidences? LOL. Isn’t it enough that he Fkd you up on your face? I think Kasab is doing the right thing by denying everything he said. He’s smart enough to judge the system and must have studied enough to get a seat in parliament. Considering the speed at which the trial is going, another 50 years should be sufficient to get something finalized. Yeah, well done!!

Peace

I haven’t had a chance to go through the news since past few weeks. After a steady decline on articles about Tendlya’s 20 years in Cricket, we welcome articles of Christmas and 26/11 attacks. I’ve noticed myself cribbing about how each week passes by with a snap of a finger, and here we find ourselves a year ahead with a question “What have we learnt new in a year?”. 23/11 was when we friends had spent a considerable amount of time at Leopold’s cafe, Mumbai and just 3 days later, the place was a victim of one of the most deadliest terrorist attacks ever on Mumbai. Honestly, if I’m speaking for myself, the hangover of the killings didn’t persist longer and the city was back on a fast track as usual. May be it didn’t affect me much as I am so called settled in Pune with my job, but what if any one of my family members got affected without a reason?. Now, somehow after a deep thought, I realize it was a indeed a narrow escape. “Escape” in terms of not having found myself in a situation of losing someone special and burdened by the trauma caused by it. And we have to deal with more such escapes in coming future. Sometimes, I feel lucky. Lucky to have a certain amount of intellect to comment on the entire incident. Lucky to be born in a middle class family with enough financial support. Lucky enough not to care much about the world as long as things goes fine for me. Lucky enough to sit back, relax at home and just blog. We all are lucky, aren’t we? Unlucky ones are those who taste all this. So, considering everything, I don’t feel I have much of a right to comment on the attacks. I think, I don’t have an idea what actually happened, what were the mistakes by the government, what were not! I don’t want to get overly influenced by the media neither do I want to say a word against it. This isn’t my anger, rather I’m trying to be at par with those voices which aren’t still heard by many. There are a bunch of those, who come of the houses – go through hell every single second and still manage not to speak. They’ve got voice but no choice. My condolences to the 26/11 victims. I’ll start looking at the positive aspects of actions being taken. After a year, we’ll just expect things move a small step ahead towards what’s right. A year later, Leopold stands still with all those bullet/blood marks and being a witness to love stories/major gang dealings in the early 90s, it has had it all. You just can’t break the country with terrorism, it’s impossible.

Watched ‘Kurbaan’ – was an average movie. An overdose of terrorism, Islam, America. Very well shot on NY streets, it was a treat though. I’m dying to watch another flick on the same lines of Kurbaan, and that is ‘My Name is Khan’ and wish I could watch it in US.

Looks like, I can start writing from now on. Lets see.