10 things I love about HUGO

1. The kid actors(Asa and Chloe) in the movie don't try to act cute like in other movies
2. Art Direction by Martin Foley(waited after the movie got over for reading this name) was dreamy and simply splendid
3. The period in which the movie was set was perfect. Stark winter snow shows the dull and mundane life of the protagonist. Just as the weather his life lacks warmth of love and family.
4. Flawless portrayal of Georges Melies by Ben Kingsley. If you pay attention to the finer nuances, it always depicts that his life is like a setting sun. He always shown shutting the shutters of his shop symbolic to his life. He is walking slowly through the grey backdrop of empty Paris streets depicting his loneliness and lost glory. Even the automaton made by him is with a sad face depicting the morose in his life.
The way he portrays an evil old man in the first half and then a weak out of work film maker later is completely believable.
5. Brilliantly weaved story and a taut script making it adventurous than the usual biopic type.
6. Sacha Baron Cohen is the surprise package. His portrayal of the station inspector who is COLD as the snow of Paris and the subtle justification why he is like that is too good. Could not believe he is the same guy from Borat, Bruno and forgettable Ali G.
7. On of the main characters of the movie is Paris. The beautiful story bookish visualization of the city with Eiffel Tower as the beacon is marvelously captured.
8. Insignificant sub plots like the one with old couple and Station inspector with the florist which r interwoven nicely into the story just to show Hugo's longing for his lost father and family
9. Its a film made out of undisputed love for cinema and the entire process of film making. The have even shown that a film maker is like a wizard doing all he can to make his film look like magic.
10. Martin Scorsese is a master story teller.. PERIOD!!

The film has also been shown in an era when the motion picture phenomenon was introduced and people were awestruck by its grandeur and innovation.
Some portions of the movie are completely dialogue less and that is when you have to sit back and enjoy the meticulous set design and production.

ZNMD: Hindi cinema.. Coming of age!!

I was very excited from the beginning about Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara since it was announced but was not absolutely taken aback by the promos. It came across as a flick with major "hangover” of Dil Chahta Hai; co-incidentally from the same production house.

Ppl around me were saying that it will be well made but will lack soul. How can the Akhtars better their own success like the iconic DCH but after seeing the movie I wanna say that its better, yes u read it right, BETTER than DCH. The advantage DCH had was that it was "coming of age" movie with a lot of controlled performances and stylish presentation which Hindi cinema had never seen. ZNMD had a disadvantage of getting immediately associated with DCH due to the similar looking premise of 3 friends. But this film does not only get over it but soars much higher.

The soul of the film is in the right place. A bachelor road trip which turns out to be a journey to self-realisation for each of its lead characters. All things which happen to them just adds spice to the actual focal point of the movie ie. You live only once and you need to make the most of it.

The co-writer cum director, Zoya, showed a lot of promise in her last offering, LUCK BY CHANCE. Though it was not what everyone could relate to but was an honest representation on Hindi film industry.
Here she has been very brave and creative in capturing the most emotional moments with just SILENCE of the characters. The expressions and light background score do the rest. The feeling of being alive which Hritik’s character goes through after his dive underwater or the pathos which Farhan’s character goes through after being not accepted by his biological father are true masterpieces. They have never been captured on celluloid by our film makers. Everything is so subtle with lack of drama that the Indian audience might detest it due to lack of “DABANGisation”.

The true hero of the movie for me are the dialogues by Farhan Akhtar(Is there anything that this man can’t do!!) and shaayari by his father, Javed Akhtar.
Dialogues are down to earth and fresh and comprise of our daily lingo with absolutely humorous “tongue-in-cheek” one liners. The best part is that Farhan does not give in to the commercial pressures and infuse dramatic lines but sticks to what he is good at, simple writing.
Javed Akhtar’s poems in midst of the journey of life bring out the melancholy which is deep down and hidden behind Farhan’s smile. Very philosophical indeed!!
Critics have panned it saying its a video brochure for Spain tourism but I disagree as the movie could have been set in any other city or country but would have been equally soulful. Spain adds to the colour, free-spirit, adventure, bravado and passion which is an integral part of the movie.

An absolutely FABULOUS film which has kept itself away from the shindig of BOLLYWOOD (I hate this term!!) and has not succumb to the pressure of mad marketing gimmicks along with “smart” infusions of expletives which we have recently seen.

Hats off to Zoya and Farhan, the true blue talented blood runs in the family. It is an absolute privilege that our cinema will be remembered for films like these and not the stereotypical pot boilers full of frothy romance and utter nonsensical crass humour from Farha Khan types.
To summarize it, if DCH spelt out style then ZNMD is pure CLASS

DHOBI GHAT - Motion picture or ART ??

While writing this im totally blown away at the way Dhobi Ghat has been made and presented to its viewers. Dont know where to start and where to end. Im completely awestruck by the underplayed and absolutely realistic way the director has potrayed her characters on celluloid.

To begin with the character called Shaay(Monica Dogra), to me she was the main character in the film. She was completely unpretentious with bad hindi diction and went about her acting with the same elan like her character's behaviour in the movie. The way she was shown to be a hidden seductress to both the male characters in the film without realising it. In the beginning she came across like any other NRI character shown in Hindi films who ultimately find their roots in India but the way the film wraps up is very different. Her journey in the film is shown naturally without she causing any turn of events which happen in the story.
Munna(Pratiek Babbar) is shown as the typical migrant from Bihar who lands up here chasing his dream and gets involved in the daily rigmarole of Mumbai to make both ends meet. I perceive his character to be the one who washes everyones "dirty linen" as he is shown to be the dhobi. His photoshoot is quite hilarious in the movie and the way he slowly & steadily builds up his hope of romancing Shaay is believable.
Aamir Khan's Arun is the melancholic man healing his wounds from divorce and living his life in isolation. His profession used by him as a decoy for his reason to stay lonely. He proves once again that he can be moulded into any character he wants to. The pathos, the sorrow cuts through his eyes. The way he reacts to the death of Yasmeen is simply BRILLIANT !!
The 4th important character is Yasmeen(Kriti Malhotra). The way her transformation is shown from a joi de vivre newly wed housewife to a lost soul in the metropolis is superb. The way they show Mumbai through her eyes(a handycam), is a unique way to weave the story. It also shows how she is so close to her brother Imraan and how she misses her family in this city which sometimes is very selfish.
This brings us to our most imporatant character of the film, MUMBAI city. Our city has been captured on celluloid by various film makers in different genres of films. Right from Shree 420 to the very recent Slumdog Millionaire. In this film too Mumbai has been used as a strong pivot around which the lives of its characters move. The beauty of Mumbai is that it has myriad shades to be shown off and one can never get bored of it. Right from the upmarket house of Edulji where the monsoons are heavenly to the underbelly of Mumbai slums where Munna struggles to stop dripping rain water symbolises the different strata of the society this city has within. Thums up to my city.
Coming to the captain of the ship, Kiran Rao. The way she has put her thoughts together, scripted it and shot it is commendable. After being the "better half" of one the biggest superstar of the country, it would have taken a lot of strong will to keep all tempatations at bay to make her film pretentious. Personally I feel she should have put her foot down and not casted Aamir Khan. Though he was very good as Arun but it built a lot of expectations for the general movie goers and they came in expectaing a Ghajini or Taare Zameen Par. Their disappointment could be seen on their faces and bored expressions. Many will term this movie as slow, documentary kinda movie but im not complaining at all.
A big thanks to the director to not include songs and keep the movie free of interval.
Kudos to the efforts of Kiran Rao. What is NEXT??

Sleepless in CITY

One phrase I have heard about Mumbai is that it never SLEEPS. I think the problem is that it never sleeps coz it CANNOT sleep.
The people living here are all running a mad race to reach somewhere. Somewhere, even they dont know. Everyone is running around the whole day and as if that was not enough people are running around the night too. Technology has played a very major role in spoiling everybody's sleep. Mobile phones keep beeping through the night and invariably ppl are habituated to keep it near their pillows on their beds. Excuses for this are many, wake up alarms, emergency calls, emergency sms, emergency emails etc. But all this leads to ruining our much important SLEEP.

On a regular basis, our dailies keep on pushing down upon us the importance of full night's sleep, its pros and cons, Health issues due to lack of sleep etc. but it all falls flat. Few reasons which I can think of immediately are as follows:
1. Plethora of call centres, BPOs, KPOs etc. which have their working hours in the graveyard (apt name!)shift. This has led to a whole generation who have their body clocks turn upside down
2. Late working hours which means later party and unwinding hours. This explains the beeline at eateries which are open till wee hours in the morning
3. TV viewing as a family ritual in few houses thanks to Ekta Kapoor and her cronies who churn out the Krap dramas
4. Internet, social networking, chatrooms etc. etc. The willingness to stay intouch with ppl who u have never met in last 20 yrs but not paying heed to ur family time who is with u each day

The reasons are many but result is solous NO SLEEP.
This blog is written primarily as an emotional vomit which i had to go thru as in yday's papers i read the ill effects of sleep deprivation which can be as serious as diabetes for life but I had to go the same night for the latest HOLLYWOOD release(which was over rated!!) and since it was a working day we had to go for the 11.15 pm show(our answer to GRAVEYARD shift, he he).

How much ever you try you end up sleeping late and getting up early with disturbed, imcomplete sleep which makes you wary and pushing yourself thru the day.

So ppl try to get your full quota of sleep lead a healthy life(too much from an insomniac himself !!) even Im trying to do that.

Wooooooomen's DAY!! Is it "worth it"???

Today is celebrated as a day dedicated to women across the globe. A celebration of liberation, freedom, independence, achievement, non-chalance etc. etc. The newspapers and dailies are full of it; tom-toming it since more than a week now. Corporates are supporting it by organising rallies, walk-a-thons, parties, fashion shows et all. Glossies have monthly issues after it. Social networking sites have pop ups, pages, sub sites dedicated to it. My question is - Is this hoopla WORTH IT?

The above paragraph would make me sound like a male chauvinist or someone who cares a hoot to the women's cause but the fact is otherwise.

Lets go a lil(actually a lot) back in time. Our mythology gives us innumerable examples of how women have been a pillar of strength through thick and thin. May it be Godess Sita or Mother Mary or as per the new findings(debatable but interesting); Mary Magdelene. Women in olden times have been brutally abused, tortured and tormented. Immediately after Jesus' crucification millions of women were killed as a combing operation to find and end the SANGREAL(holy grail).
Since thousands of years, women in orthodox surroundings are labelled as withches if they exhibit even a lil bit of liberation or free will.

In our country, women in mythology are refered to as SHAKTI, ultimate symbol and source of strenghth and power but ironically rather than taking care of this we put it to ultimate test. Since times immemorrial female foeticide has been rampant in areas like Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, UP and Bihar. The figures are scary and disheartening. Its surprising to know that these some of these states are also the most productive and developed states of India and are key contributors to the GDP of our country.


The best example is in the print ad of Girnar Tea in today's Mumbai Mirror. It clearly shows how subtlely but surely in our culture women are NOT equal to men. In our education and social behaviour too they have been always refered as lesser than men. Our country has many social demons like practice of SATI, ban on widow remarriage, Devdasis, purdah which have been created for women folk to prove time and again that they are inferior and always dependant on the men who they belong(they are treated like commodities!!) to.
Though in the Vedic age women were equal and educated too but somewhere we lost our way in the medieval age.

With British rule our country got introduced to Christianity which again to a certain extent was orthodox and non liberal towards women but it also gave us convent education which till date has educated millions of girls across the country. The seed of liberalisation and free thinking were sown from this time. Great names like Rani Laxmi bai, Chand Bibi etc. are floated around but forgotten names like Pandita Ramabai and Kittur Chinamma are seldom mentioned.
During the freedom struggle, lot of influential(and ofcourse rich) families sent their daughters abroad for higher studies which helped and boosted this drive of women liberalisation in the country.
Today we hear various names in the modern age of Indian women like Indra Nooyi, Kalpana Chawla, Kiran Bedi, Naina Lal Kidwai who are making us proud not only nationally but also on a global platform but do we as individuals ever think how greatful we are to them.
Women as mothers are the greatest living examples of our planet. She nutures us, feeds us, takes care of us, never stops GIVING, sacrifices her own sheer existence for our well being.
Women as wives support us mentally and physically. They are always there when we need them without us asking for it. They sacrifice their families, friends etc. to accompany us in the journey called LIFE. How many men would be ready to leave their parents and live in their in-laws' house without feeling a pinch. I dont see a lot of hands going up there. But women does this non-chalantly. Women accept men's families as their own but not seen a lot of guys doing the same with their in-laws. Its from my personal experience that im talking that men will never discuss their wives' families ever for some strange reason. Its discussed only if there some disputes or some turbulence in the "system". I call it hypocricy and to a certain extent superiority complex or the lack of it.

But women are a bit weird too. My mother still waits for my dad to come back from work(how much ever late it is !!) to have dinner which sometimes gets very unnerving. After a lot of explanations and arguments, I have been unable to change this practice. And to continue the tradition even Kiran does it though we live seperate but dunno where has she got it from. I guess, its their DNA which cannot be changed by us, lesser mortals.

But to wrap it up, WOMEN ARE MUCH WORTHIER THAN WE THINK and I would humbly request all my friends to recognize all their deeds and actions and try and thank them for what we are. Without them we dont stand a chance hence RESPECT them and give them the recognition(however small it mite be) as they are "WORTH IT"(from the Maybelline commercial).

In pursuit of HAPPINESS...

Many a times this question bothers a lot of us that what REALLY makes us HAPPY.

Is the city that we live in or the food that we like or the friends that we make or the job that we do or the loved ones that we have or many other things. But when we actually start getting happiness from a particular activity and we repeat it the quotient of joy keeps decreasing.

Yes my friends, its true, the boring economic law of DIMINISHING MARGINAL UTILITY(this sounds so boring!!) strikes back again and again and again. Repetition and monotonous activity plays a killjoy in everything you start deriving happiness from.

Hence we come back to the same question again "What makes me happy??"

I have been trying to understand myself and have discussed it with many people who I look upto like seniors at work place, shrinks, professional motivators, religious and spiritual gurus, parents etc. and what follows is a brief synopsis of that.

Happiness like life is a journey and not a destination. The day you achieve a complete state of happiness will be your END. Lemme not give a lot of GYAN(like some ppl have given me on this topic ;-D). But I can share a few things which makes me happy on a day to day basis. Small things which some of you might identify with and some which you wud find completely silly but at the end of it; it makes me SMILE.

• To see my wife's smiling face early in the morning or wen i come back home after a long day at work


• To read a nice inspiring sms from someone who does not interact with me daily


• Meeting friends over coffee and discussing stupid things and while discussing these things to divert to more STUPID topics


• To get short appreciation mails from clients


• To see my niece(she is just 14 yrs!!) discussing on mature topics like dowry, widow re-marraige etc. and wondering how kids grow up so soon


• To be actively involved in discussion related to gadgets and technology


• To help co-workers(who are not in my team) in designing and delivering campaigns on time


• Have late night outs with the BOYS


• To enjoy street food anytime all the time


• To surprise wife with small gifts or flowers(much cheaper option)


• To play with small kids in my building


• To go for walks in the evening after work


• A nice session of transcendental meditation


• To enjoy slapstick standup comics while channel surfing on the weekends

The list can go on and on but it teaches jus one lesson. Happiness is in smaller things rather than waiting and toiling for the ever ELUSIVE bigger(??) happiness. The success of recent blockbusters also prove this theory right. Characters like Rancho from 3 Idiots and Rezvan Khan from MNIK teach us to be happy and content in wat we have rather than running a blind rat race to achieve SUCCESS(this word has a different meaning for all of us) which unfortunely today is measured by us in terms of what brand of clothes/ watches/ shoes we wear, the cars we drive, the places where we eat, the place we live and the holidays we go for.

I too get swayed by all of the above and probably am a part of the race myself but these questions keep popping up in my mind and makes me look around for more things which can make me HAPPY.

1st step to BLOGGING..

I am, wat I am.
A lil serious, a lil funny.
A lil friendly, a lil reserved.
A lil confident, a lil shy.
A lil formal, a lil casual.
A lil hard working, a lil hardly working.
A lil practical, a lil orthodox.
A lil content, a lil restless.
A lil clear, a lil confused.
A lil straight forward, a lil complicated.
A lil this, a lil that.
A lil of everything, a lil of nothing at all.
A melange of ideas. A pot pourie of cultures. A person proud of being born as wat he is rather than wanting to be something else.
Ambition drives me. Inspiration pushes me. Family supports me. Friends complete me.

I AM, WAT I AM...