Slumdog Millionaire and “Jai ho”

I had read so many reviews and mostly contrasting that I thought i`ll give SM a miss. I hate bad movies and after Chandni Chowk to China my appetite has taken a huge blow. Dev D restored it but only a little. But then as an emotional Indian when I saw it sweeping all Academy people and bagging awards in bagful I finally decided to watch it.

I have seen couple of Novel Adaptations…namesakes (no connection between movie and the book), Horse whisperer, Lord of the rings, Da Vinci code...etc...And not all movies have done justice to the book. So I had my apprehensions.

So my point of view on the 8 Oscars winner is:

Is it the Best Film: No I have Seen better, May be TZP was better but then TZP was not nominated SM was

Is it the worst Film: Definitely not. We have had Dilli6, CC2C, Billu Barber, Singh Is King, Hey Baby, Kismat Konnection , Tashan...

Does it Sell Poverty Porn: May be but I am again unsure. If I accept that it sells India in Bad light then I should be calling it a realistic depiction. And if it’s not India then it’s purely creative depiction then there no issue of selling my country short.

 What I don’t understand the sudden hysteria and pseudo intellectualism. I mean we essentially are a country of dumb cinema. our highest grosser are Ghajni & OSO (definitely not intelligent…unless you also ve short term memory loss) and sorry to say Mr. Amitabh you have also done movies like Lal Badshah and we have seen them so the whole point of view of selling my country short is invalid cause our films have been categorized as circus and that’s been the reputation whatever you may feel.

Does it worth an Oscar: who knows…when SRK can win filmfare for Ramjane, or Kareena for Jab we met… I wonder do we even have a case.

Another Debatable issue: Rehman`s best work? Not really …I also believe the best work was in Bombay(funnily it too was a love story  based on the same city) but we never bothered about Oscar then. So why bother now. Rehman`s been phenomenal from a decade.

Child Artists have been excellent, Cinematography is beyond words and couple of dialogues is defining. (like when Jamal tells Lathika “ I love you” and she says So!! ) What I didn’t like , the Movie was trying to stretch the scope. Story making amends to include slums, communal riots, prostitution, auctioning virginity, organized begging all via 1 common chord makes the life of the protagonist extremely interesting and less believable. But then as I said if you don’t think it’s realistic, arty Oscar type cinema it makes the whole thing worth watching.

So is it an Indian Film or is it still westerner`s view? Considering Maharashtra Congress seeking credit for its Oscars then who can question otherwise. I think film has intelligent use of wit and what it has managed to do is to put countries intellectuals and politicians made to use unintelligent ridicule. But yes I think movie is Indian. Not just the technicians and cast but also in treatment, use of laud background score, lauder characters, song and dance ritual, the over dramatic love story.

I am not overboard or anything with its Indian-ness. Like when every second NRI kid wins the spelling bee contest you just feels nice about his/her Indian roots despite being nothing Indian about it. It will not increase any remittance to India or FDI in Indian Schools or colleges. So just feel nice about Movie`s Indian roots and be happy.

Considering It at least did changed the slum-dog/life of the child artists involved in it :-  “ Jai- Ho”

Life , Love, etc…

You find and you let go

Sometime you don’t and get sticky

Mostly you need it

But it can still choke you

You breathe for fresh air

But after a while it feels strange too

You think love will take you through

But there`s post coital emptiness too

Its personal space and personal time

And at the end of each

Somebody should hold your hand

I wish to be free

But I get bored of just me too

And its Valentines Again

In the cyberspace or say in the blogging world Valentine day is an event like New year or mumbai blasts or economic meltdown…which means its imperative to write about it. Because every blogger does .And if you do not then you kinda ve missed the bus. So what are you doing thins valentine???

I am slightly confused here. Had I belong to Shri Rame sena then I could have stormed into the pub and prove my machismo on some drunk women. Had I been a part of MNS then I could have vandalized the city and been proud of it. But unfortunately I belong to the adulterated Indian culture and don’t have genes of pure hindutva.

Recap: Last Valentine: I dint had a date

Re-Recap: prior to that : I didn’t had a date either (Actually I did bt couldn’t make it and she hadn’t seen me since…well dts understandable I guess)

Re-Re-Recap: Oh I have never been on a date especially on the valentine except once in college. Both me and her calls each other valentines and have changed some half a dozen partner since then respectively.

Since it’s a mush time and louve is in the air lets do a performance appraisal of the relationships I have managed to fallout within a year:

(Names changed so that they do not identify each other)

The Random Girl: The whole thing was truly random. The random talks, the laps of shame, arbit nonsense and gradual realization that drunk phone calls is all its worth. So since drunk phone calls are expensive and inflict lot of guilt next day I guess we are better off away. Take care You.

The You Me and the Sea Girl: The walks by the sea side were good. The serene lake n deserted lost sea shore was electric. So how it ended? Well I don’t really know how it started…so…But you always knew I was a wrong choice. Hope yours this year`s resolutions covers the point of not repeating mistakes..And there’s absolutely no need to say things you regret later. I always think highly of you. Happy Valentines anyways

The CKaneda Girl: I adored you. And I always thought your world has a place for me. But alas I guess I was wrong. I don’t and can’t live in a dream world. And for you my world is too practical and ugly. Fair enough. This time I atlest know that all fault is not mine. Hope your world keeps you happy and away from dirty realities of life.

The Cheesy Girlfriend: After years of complaining that I haven’t written anything about you. Here it is honey. I am sure you don’t want to be part of the list but trust me its no list. I was blind to you. For all those years of waiting. For all those years of trusting that it will never workout and now aftr validating that it hasn’t. So is love enough to live through the life …may be not. Is money the answer…I don’t really know. But the complications are hilarious to say the least. But then we weren’t ever the couple. There was always a crowd and you were no where to be seen. Just timely reminders each time that you would be waiting. Sure thats enough to live the life but the hope is fainting now. We ve reached the heights of mistiming. Time taken to be sure and time taken to be unsure. Wishing that the few seconds shared together will bind us for the year and year after that and year after that. I never believed that but then I am usually incorrect as you saw in the post earlier.

So now you know more than you should have. And after so much insistence I am sure you are reading this. Don’t pamper me so much that leaving becomes difficult. I am getting used to you and that isn’t a good thing either.

(Sorry for such a personal post the oder followers of the blog ..of course that’s if you are still there…but then it’s a mush day isn’t it…promise it was last in the series of senti posts. I feel lighter now)

Oxymoronic

People have favourite words. Its said they reflect personality type and state of mind..(well vocabulary also don’t u think)… so for some personality type and more of state of mind..find my list of Oxymorons :

ABSOLUTELY UNSURE

ACADEMIC SORORITY

ACCURATE ESTIMATE

ACUTE DULLNESS

ACT NATURALLY

ACTIVE RETIREMENT

AGED CARE INDUSTRY

ALMOST CERTAIN

ANOREXIC PIG

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

ASSISTANT SUPERVISOR

AUTO PILOT

BAD LUCK

BAD SEX

BIGGER HALF

BITTERSWEET

BLIND EYE

BUSINESS ETHICS

CALCULATED RISK

CIVIL WAR

COMMON SENSE

DECAFFEINATED COFFEE

DEFENSIVE TACKLE

DETAILED SUMMARY

DIET COKE

DISPOSABLE INCOME

DRY MARTINI

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

FEELING NUMB

FOUND MISSING

FRONT END

FULL STOP

FUZZY LOGIC

GREAT DEPRESSION

NON-ALCOHOLIC BEER

NOTHING HAPPENS

OBSCENE ART

PRESS RELEASE

RANDOM LOGIC

RECENT HISTORY

SAME DIFFERENCE

SCIENCE FICTION

SELF SERVICE

SMART ASS

SPEED LIMIT

SPENDTHRIFT

TRADE SECRET

UNDERGRADUATE

99% FAT FREE

Please feel free to add new words :

The working weekend

After months of cribbing about no work or less work or some useless work …Indiana jones was on a different adventure this time.Yes I still have the job though I sometime dream of quitting and go to Shivaliks and be a renowned writer. Mark my work renowned but yeah ohk Lets discount the whole talent`s issue here it’s my blog and I am the boss.)

So back to the weekend story. It was matter of few firsts

• No Friday late nights
• Getting up at 7 am on Saturday and reaching Office by 9
• No alcohol, not even any Bio-similar. No diet coke either
• Sundays: ditto as Saturday
• No socializing. No coffee joint, not even Gtalk
• No lazy brunch , lengthy ablution or baddy in daylight
• Same restaurant 2 days straight. (Different food which tasted pretty much  same)

For more innovative ways to spend the weekend watch the space (I also mite get some adsense $`s in this recession you see)

Corporatization

If there a committee for everything. The organizing Committee, Planning committee, placement committee, drama committee, debating committee etc etc...1 committee I never managed to get in is Food and Beverages committee. Maybe I never did qualify to the minimum weight limit but then what the heck.

Well considering it’s a forced post it’s really not about me.

I am amazed, somewhat motivated and extremely delighted to be a part of the Great committee and extremely grateful to be a part of esteemed company. On the historic day of Friday the 7^{th Feb}. The committee we formulated a party worthy of revolution. The small step by Individual will turn out to be a big leap for mankind in the future.  

Ok enough of Small talk

So I witness the Launch of: PPSD (Pizza Planning and Sourcing Department)

Organogram

Vice President: Abhishek Sharma  

GM (Non Veg) : Gaurav Sinha

GM (Veg) : Sukhad Juneja (upgraded from Retainer position due to exponential growth and future potential)

EA (Veg) to VP : Rajat Sharma

Corporate Communications: yours truly

Motto:

To show motivation in sourcing and eating ONLY Pizza Hut Pizza`s every Friday in lunch. (If also had in dinner will be facilitated by the group and will be honored as star performer for the week)

Under discussion with management: Performance appraisal system

Short Term Agenda: find and proselytize the followers to the sinful chicken Pizza or extremely unhealthy Punjabi Amritsar Paneer and reach to a critical mass (the no. not the weight) at the earliest. Critical mass numbers agenda will be taken care by critical issues division which will be decided on critical basis of course considering it’s indeed a critical matter.   

PS: Certain issues discussed in the founding charter have not been published due to Abu#ive language.

 For all the readers (If  there are any left) kindly drop in the suggestions to make the organization higher stronger: AMEN