The Top 5 have been revealed. And am I happy with it? There has been one major setback/upset which I shall be talking about at length in a while. But first, the Top 5. It comprises of the frontrunners- The Davids -Cook and Archuleta, and the rest- Syesha Mercado, Jason Castro and Brooke White. For one, I do believe that Jason and Brooke just don’t have it in them to be winners and even eventually go ahead and sell records.Firstly Jason, who is just banking on his “blue eyes” and the cute guy smile to woo all those American teen chicks to vote for him. He is just a very repetitive singer, and throughout the competition his performances have all been acoustic.Nothing wrong about that. He even gave some good ones - Hallelujah and Somewhere Over the Rainbow. But the rest of them are just as repetitive. Brooke on the other hand looks like a very weak performer.She messed up onstage twice, has a very vulnerable quality to her vocals, which means her vocals break down too often and they have gone off-pitch at many instances. Add to that I can’t remember a single performance of hers which was remarkable. So I just do not bother if she leaves the competition next week, or even if Jason left. I’d also not be yupset if it was Syesha to leave next week, unless she belts out a killer Neil Diamond song. Read the rest of this post »

God Bless Sean Penn!
God Bless Hal Holbrook!

Into the Wild it is. Sean Penn brings John Krakauer’s best-seller to the screen based on the life of Chris McCandless, a 22 year old who donates all of his savings of $24,000 to Oxfam, abandons all his possessions as well as identity and thumbs his way to Alaska.Why does he do so? Because he wants to detach himself from the shackles of money, career, the rat-race and rather get lost in the unpredictable, dangerous American outbacks and experience FREEDOM, all in the style of his literary heroes -Jack London and Henry David Thoreau. And as Chris(portrayed by Emile Hirsch) says ,”I don’t want money,give me truth”, and that is what we get it.Amazingly, we are not made to gulp it down forcibly. But in the reels of Sean Penn, we witness what made Chris to take such a decision- to abandon a secure lifestyle to choose to hit the road by himself. Was he a spoilt child or an introspective and thoughtful person?It is a tragedy no doubt,for Chris himself who dies of starvation and poisoning , his parents who do not get a trace of him until they discover his dead body years after he left, and also for the old man who wanted to adopt him as his grandson. But at the end of it all, the Light did shine. The questions that were raised have been left unanswered, but in the narration of Chris’ sister Carine (Jena Malone), we begin to understand the anguish of the upbringing of a dysfunctional family and its harsh consequences. But Penn prefers to keep it miles away from being preachy in any way and rather tell the beautiful tale of Chris in the breathtaking outbacks of Alaska and his endearing quest for Idealism - that’s the word. (Check out the screenshots after the jump) Read the rest of this post »

The ‘Aag’ of the Year is Here.
The Tashan…. The Pharmoola….. The Craps

Yeah, the days spent in anticipation are over. All this while , we were wondering what Tashan was all about. The theatrical trailers revealed only the four characters walking out of a burning house, in picture perfect glares, leather boots, and loaded with guns. Saif in his brown cargos, Akhshay in a red shirt with a gamcha tied around his waist and scratching his head, Kareena in a blazing hot white top and leather boots , and Anil Kapoor, well his presence is just enough. And then the trailer ends with Anil jee saying ” Phust impression ij dee laast impression” (A twisted UP wala tone added to First Impression is the Last impression). The good thing about the trailer was the distorted electric guitar background score that accompanied the extra stylish, extra crisp trailer which revealed nothing about the story. It was indeed intriguing. But now that I have watched the whole movie, it all makes sense now. They didn’t reveal anything about the movie because they didn’t have anything in the movie that could possibly termed as “PLOT”. Oh please, my lord, I accuse YashRaj films of spending the megabucks on such a bunch-a-loada-crap. Yes, it is so crap that it makes Bhagam Bhag (or any damn Priyadarshan’s crap remake movie) look like Ben Hur (No, I am not comparing them in any bloody way. Tashan is just so crap!).In fact, now I am unable to decide which is more crap-Tashan or the preivous Yashraj offering-Jhoom Barabar Jhoom. And yes,personally, I do not have anything against the Yashraj people.I even managed to like a pregnant Priety Zinta moonwlking in ‘Salaam Namaste’, even the crooks Bunty n Bubli while they tried to sell the Taj Mahal to a firang. But for Tashan,I have only a very few things that can be mentioned as I didn’t dislike. Read the rest of this post »

Every morning I wake up to see what was Yesterday.
Is this what life is meant to be?
To make my cup of coffee,sip it while I learn what I say,
Is my reward only my fee?

To walk through that door and see the faces of the bots,
As we were brought here in bunches and lots,
The mistakes I make , counted in colons and dots
Is this all in my life that I got?

Where is the me in I?
Is it alive or left to die?
Where is the me in I?
The wings are cut and I try to fly.
Where is the me in I?
Is it alive or left to die?
Where is the me in I?
Oh I better kiss my past Goodbye!!!

Amen!

Pic Courtesy: Cyril BRETON

This might come across as an offensive piece of writing directly aimed at toilet humor. But well, literally speaking it is more aimed at the toilet bit of it. Let’s call it the toilet etiquette or perhaps “Loo-tiquette”. This is directly aimed at that loo-natic guy peeing next to me even when the entire row is empty. I really do not get it. Why next to me? Yes, I am claustrophobic. And add to that, I have stage fright!! Now, you might ask how does that relate to my problem.Yes, I am a weird guy. I cannot pee in the presence of a crowd. I need proper silence, concentration and direction in that order. And no, I cannot multi-task while I am doing it. And so, I’d rather not see you too doing the same. Which leads to rule no.1 of “Loo-tiquette”

Rule 1: No Phone Calls

If you have come to take a leak, just do it. Do NOT attend a call, or try to negotiate your crucial deals while your have your phone held between your ears and your left shoulder, whereas your body is releasing . Think of the person on the other end who hears a flush when the deal is done. And also think of what value you hold of the deal. Was it that important that you needed to “Flush IT”? Stop trying to remember things on the call while you are peeing and please oh please, make sure your ringtones do not belong to the Disco era!!

Corollary to Rule no.1: No involving in the call Read the rest of this post »

When a movie can prove that you need not know the language to understand the grief embedded within the person in front of you, that’s when I say it has transcended the limits of being an entertainment medium and escalated to a whole new level. To me, watching Marc Foster’s onscreen adaptation of Khaled Hosseini’s best-selling novel “The Kite Runner” has been such a proof. Who would have thought that a movie with completely unknown faces, languages switching from Russian to Dari to Pashtu to English, and two kids with the most innocent eyes could steal the show? And please, let us not even attempt to compare it with the written work. The barometer which tries to measure a film’s ability to completely adapt each page of a book would always say that the movie fell short on many aspects. The Kite Runner is no exception to that. But the story comes through with as flying colors as the Kite of Amir Jan and the sincere spirit of Hassan, his Kite Runner.

The Story: I am one of those who haven’t read the book. And for me, what was shown was what I got, and not something for which I expected. Without giving much away (although, I believe millions must have already either read the book or seen the film), the story revolves around Amir , born to a rich family in pre-Soviet Kabul and how he comes in terms to get rid of his guilt of not having helped his best friend-Hassan. The story begins in the Late 70’s Kabul where Hassan and Amir spend their childhood as best pals, competing in Kite Flying festivals and Hassan serves as Amir’s Kite Runner. Hassan gets bullied by a group who sexually assault him as he is a Hazara and should not be in the company of someone like Amir. Amir witnesses the event but cannot defend Hassan. He even distances himself from Hassan by accusing him of theft. The Hazara family leaves the Khan family, and even the Khan family have to leave their grand haveli due to the Soviet invasion. They flee to Pakistan, and then eventually to California, America. Years later, Amir still strives to pursue a career in writing and marries the daughter of General Taheri, Soraya. Amir’s father passes away due to ill-health, while Amir manages to get his first book published. He receives a call from Rahim Khan at Peshawar who wants him to come back for a reason. Read the rest of this post »

MySpace India launch party brought together 4 musical acts. Great or not, I’ll decide that a bit later in this post. The acts for the evening:- Them Clones from Delhi, Swarathma from Bangalore and The Raghu Dixit Project- also from Bangalore. The gig was organised as a launch party of MySpace India- yet another Social Networking website. And as I reached the venue (Soul, Koregaon Park, Pune), I realised that we were very late for the show. Them Clones had already started their set, and were almost nearing the end of their playlist. I had plans of slurping my favorite Chicken Classic Soup, but I couldn’t find any waiters. All I could see around me were people with their heads directed towards the stage. The crowd had some familiar faces- Bobby, bassist of Zero, P-Man, bassist of PDV and well, the other performing artistes. I came in late hoping Swarathma would open and well, Them Clones would be the second act, if not the closing act. But then it didn’t happen so.

Them Clones:- They were in the middle of their song (which I hadn’t heard before, and so couldn’t recognise). Surprisingly, they were doing an Unplugged-ish acoustic set, with the candles lit in the mini-glass chimneys et al. I had seen them before in the very first LaunchPad concert of Channel V, and for that matter I only one song of theirs- Bomb Song. Don’t know if they performed it or not. And so, I had this notion that these guys would be hard hitting rock. But it was a welcome change from the usual stuff we get to listen. Prithwish on the vocals and the Keyboards belted out one song after the other , which would remind you of a British romantic soundtrack. And I could definitely picture Julia Roberts running in her white bridal wear. :). That means it wasn’t bad. It was good. The song arrangements was perfect and the song felt complete. The two tracks on the Keyboard gave me a Coldplay-Goo Goo Dolls vibe bordering on the lines of (previously mentioned) Brit pop-rock arrangement which I love. It certainly made me feel happy. The next two tracks were very upbeat, catchy and Prithwish had left the Keyboards and had joined the Jumping League. I can only remember their final track- Syndrome -coz he made the audience remember the chorus lines. Joseph on the lead guitars gave an acoustic guitar solo. All I could want more on their tracks was prominent harmonies. Apart from that, the show-stealer was Nitin on the sound console. Perfect sound! Them Clones definitely nailed the four originals and had set the perfect tone for the night.

Up Next: Swarathma

Read the rest of this post »

This is with reference to all that is irrelevant and all that can be totally disassociated from a wall of speakers of a thousand watt each. A wall, as in “Humpty Dumpty sat on a WALL”. Oh I forgot to mention it, it’s not just any speakers. These are loud speakers with proper mixers and amplifiers, and yes, there’s a sound engineer cum DJ at the console. One thing though: either they have bass notes hitting so hard as bullets leaving the barrel of a Kalashnikov, or tones so deep that you really wonder if that made the Opera’s Phantom. And what’s the occasion? The list is pretty long. Be it Ugadi,Eid or Saraswati Pooja, Navratri or even Ambedkar Diwas. And if you were to ask me the essential playlist here, I’d like to reveal them one by one. Firstly, I will promise that I will not repeat the songs in my previous playlist post. Secondly, we shall not do any form of publicity (be it positive or negative) for Mr.Himess. He already has his fair share (But the man has been mum for quite some time. Guess he’s busy shooting for Karzzz -the remake). Third rule of the list- This is gonna be fun. So no Bhajans (For those who expected that I would include Bhajans of Anup Jalota, Narendra Chanchal and the like, I should say, you guys have come to the wrong page). So here we go(not put in any particular order, but that)!!

1. Hard Kaur & Glassy Family : Ek Glassy Do Glassy

Innovative lyrics, inventive rhythm and the Bhangra rap just couldn’t have been better. Especially when the dhol beats on the hip-hop rhythmcan literally scratch the back of your head from the inside. For best results, try standing within a metre’s range from the wall (of the speakers). Conditions apply.

2. Sean Paul- Temperature.

Okay, this might not hold true for any pandal in the US or Canada. But it does for any damn pandal in Pune, remote parts of Telengana, Vidharbha, Chota Nagpur Plateau and also some parts of the Deccan. You see, Sean Paul actually starts rhyming in Marathi proving yet again that he is in fact, a Marathi Manoos, not the Jamaican reggae guy that he poses to be. Sean Paul also received an honorary doctorate from the Pune Mahanagar Palika for the maximum looped playtime of Temperature. The award ceremony was also graced by aunties of Kondhwa Griha Mahila Udyog shaking their booty to the track.

3. Sukhbir - Ishq

There has always been an increasing demand of encore requests for this track. I am sure Sukhbir’s “aatma” cries from Nairobi to see the heartfelt appreciation that this song still receives. For best results, watch Neighbour Dhobi Kushal go frenzy after getting diluted (By that I mean, once he drinks his first drop of water after his stock of 2 khamba). Sukhbir’s Ishq remains an eternal favorite of the 2 year old who lives downstairs. She can hardly recognise between her dad and her mom, but can definitely sing “Ho Ho Ho Ho!!”. An insider news source reports that parts of Toronto and Southall,UK have experienced Santa Claus singing his trademark sound to the tunes of Sukhbir “Ho Ho Ho Hoooo”.

4. Vengaboys - Boom Boom

Not even any other Vengaboys track can come close to this. And mind you, this is actually a Saraswati Puja favorite, irrespective of latitude, longitude or solitude. Maa Saraswati has always remained quite pleased and has always blessed me with the best of marks at the final exams. Why shouldn’t she? Read the rest of this post »

Guest Author: Prakash Rajgopal ( the guy in the Gulshan Grover beard).

BENGALURU, Bangalore or just same ol’ BANGY. Oh how fortunate art thee to have been the soil which played host to Rock in India. How golden is thy spirit to have seen history in the making!The biggest International Rock Festival India has ever seen! Nine bands! Two headlining acts! The chance to get 8 hours of thrash/hard rock drilled into metal heads! What a mouth-watering prospect! Which genuine rock enthusiast would miss such a historic event? One of the top four metal acts in the world, Megadeth was playing in India. Yes, MEGADETH!! It was the last leg of their United Abominations Tour Of Duty. March 14, 2008. Palace Grounds, Bangalore. After a month of eager anticipation since booking the tickets, the day had finally arrived! We all HAD to be there to witness it. And we did!

We (my friend Harshal and I) reached the venue well ahead of time, at 1 pm. As we arrived at the venue and were waiting for the gates to open, we could hear some sound checks going on inside. There were already some people loitering around, most of them wearing black tees. I could see lots of Maiden’s, some Slipknot’s, Children Of Bodom’s, Nirvana’s around along with the usual Megadeth ones. We also saw a girl and a guy walking in, with the girl wearing a Megadeth tee, and the guy wearing a… hold your breath… 50 Cents!! Yo mama, he was right in da club!!! I also saw a guy wearing a Master Of Puppets tee. I wonder what became of him. Soon, Sujoy arrived with his gang just in time for the gates to open, and we headed inside. There were two stages on the venue. A smaller stage that was meant for the Indian bands, and a bigger one up front, obviously for Megadeth and Machine Head .

Here’s a run-up of all the bands in the order of their appearances:

1. Casino Blues: The band from Guwahati formed by Joshua, the lead singer of the Independence Rock winner band-Faith. They might’ve rued the fact that their’s was the first act of the day. With the scorching sun was beating down everybody’s necks, most of the people preferred taking shelter in the shady corners of the ground to avoid being burnt. The band had some catchy numbers. But they didn’t catch enough attention. Enough said.
Verdict: Mediocre.
Sujoy’s Verdict: Joshua has got strong vocals, but it got sunburnt.

2. Prestorika:

Read the rest of this post »

Shoaib Mansoor’s Khuda Ke Liye (KKL) has finally hit the Indian screens after raking in crores of Rupees at the Pakistani box-office and winning rave reviews simultaneously at film festival circuits worldwide. It is indeed a historic event that after almost four decades, a Pakistani movie is being released in India. However, I’d not like to call it a movie concerning only Pakistanis. At heart, KKL is very much a global story. The story of the never ending battle between beliefs of the fundamentalists and the liberals. Khuda Ke Liye questions each and every aspect of the Muslim ideology and clears all clouds of myth related to Muslims in a post 9-11 world where Pakis and Sardars are assumed to be associates of a terrorist organisation conspiring on a terror attack on America.

This entire debate of Islamic fundamentalism has been portrayed beautifully in a story of three characters. Mansoor and Sarmad are brothers who have a budding musical career and reside in Lahore. Sarmad is faced by Mullah Tahiri, who instigates him to join the Jehadi league and presents in front of him, an orthodox interpretation of Islam as a religion which considers music and arts as haraam and denies basic human rights to the woman kind. Sarmad falls prey to Mullah’s sermons and starts sticking on to the salwar attire, starts growing a beard and even insists on his Ammi to wear a Hijab. On the other hand, we have the liberal Mansoor, Sarmad’s brother, who leaves for the US to pursue his higher studies in music at GoodEnough College in Chicago. At the wake of 9-11, Mansoor falls prey to the highly suspicious American feds who treat him as one of the Talibans and pick on each and every detail of Mansoor’s stuff left in his apartment. The third protagonist is Mary, born to a Pakistani father in London, and who wants to get married to a Brit. Her father conspires to get her married secretly to a Paki, without her consent. He takes her to Pakistan and with help from Mullah Tahiri, marries her to Sarmad in a remote village on the borders of Afghanistan, so that she can’t escape. This entire episode of Mary being captivated in an open prison, being deprived of her right of choosing a life, and all of this brought upon her by her own father shocked me to the core. Not only that, when she tries to escape, she is “punished” by being loaded by the burden of parenthood. All in the name of God as prescribed by Mullah for Sarmad. And Sarmad- he is forcibly taken to war and has to prove his “mardaangee” by killing someone. And yet again, all in the name of God. As the chapters of the story unfold, we even get to experience the serene music of Mansoor at his California Music School. The plot travels through three nations - Pakistan, England and the USA to convey the message of how twisted minds and their even more twisted interpretations can unleash chaos on a world that is already filled with chaos . Read the rest of this post »