Can he pull it off?

Unlike the rest of the Khans who depend on six pack abs or shirtless disco khisko songs, Bachchans who tend to border on few hits and many misses and Roshans who make stupid, outdated and copied movies, AMIR KHAN is the only actor in Bollywood who has managed to strike a balance between commercially sellable cinema and Critically taking Indian Cinema to the next step. Perhaps the only other actor in the same league is Mr. Kamal Hassan.

In the recent past Amir has been having an amazing run since Lagaan, Dil Chatha Hai, Fanna (the only mediocre film in this list) and Rang De Basanti. He is a Box Office bet and a purists delight. This friday sees a new test of sorts for him donning the Director's hat with TAARE ZAMEEN PAR. Very few actors make the succesfull transition from an amazingly skilled actor to a very matureed Director.

Will Taare Zameen Par prove that Amir is the Numero Uno of Indian Cinema?

We will know it soon.

Back to 90s :-)

I dont know how many of you remember this song. It was a rage in India in the early 90s. Every Romeo on street used to sing this song and it had an amazingly maddening effect.

Thank you You-Tube :-)

I am Hollywood

Hollywood doesn't seem to get tired of exploring themes of Armageddon.They love the thought of getting attacked by the unseen, the last day on earth and how Americans can only solve it for earth, Zombies who pop up from everywhere and anywhere...and so on.

Every year there is at least one major release on this theme from one big studio and surprise....they are damn money churners. They are the cash cows of Hollywood and possibly they never seem to fail. This week its the big release of Will Smith's " I am Legend" based on Richard Matheson's novel on the same premise.

I wonder how they managed to shoot the empty streets of New York which is goddamn impossible. I read that the producers spent around 5 million dollars for the Brooklyn bridge sequence. Hollywood guys do know to stump the audience :-)

Lets see how this one fares at the Box office. As of now....enjoy the trailer.

The real poet

I wish I had good diction in tamil to fully grasp what Mahakavi Bharathi said about everything ranging from Patriotism, politics, love, women liberation etc. Nevertheless....here is one amazing song by the one and only Maestro which is a fitting tribute to this great poet.

Really good 'Idea'

I loved this ad. Maybe they did do it for promoting the brand, but truly it does make practical sense. Wish it was this way than all the useless shit happening now :-)

Yeh Chaand sa roshan chehra...

Wonder how Rafi saab used to sing so particularly special for Shammiji.
This is one amazing classic number.

Mile Sur - Part 2

It happened when Amitabh Bachchan was the Angry Young man, Mithunda was acting in decent movies with Disco and Khisko. Mile Tur Mera Tumhaara which featured possibly all the company's best and predominant artists was a musical and visual delight.

I was in my 3rd standard when suddenly my teacher declared that our class would have to perform the song on stage. Being the lone tamilian in my class, I was entrusted with the responsibility to teach the tamil part "isaindaal" by Dr. BalaMurali Krishna to one group of students. Since my mom was famous with the teachers for her multilingual ability (and partly for being mother of a brat :-)), she was asked to help the kids with their tamil diction.

Now there was a part which was "Mazhayaay pozhivadu pol isai". Even Local tamilians belonging to southern part of Tamilnadu have to twist and turn their tongue and still cant get "zh" pronounciation correct. You can imagine what an amazing metamorphosis it must have gone when mouthed by hapless Gujjus and Sindhis. They had no bloody clue of the meaning of the words and sung it just as blindly as we study our lessons. Additional problems arose when they would miss the sur and taal and the tune would go haywire.

After lot of practice and torture we did manage to make them mug up the whole tamil part. On the DDay, I was dressed in a veshti with a kurta on top and vibudi on my forehead. From that day till today I have never been comfortable wearing a Veshti. Even in my sacred thread ceremony, I had worn my veshti so clumsily that I almost looked like some Juvenile convict who had been imprisoned for theft and robbery.

My knees trembled as I was on the stage for the second time since my morning prayer woes in 2nd standard. We managed to sing it as soon as possible and rush back to the stage. I was happy for a different reason though. I could now get back to my pants and forget the veshti. :-)

Yeah yeah...I know you guessed the occasion. It was Independence Day. It is possibly the only day when people remember that we are independent to sing, eat chocolates, do march parade, hoist flags, return home early and then watch Gandhi or Roja for the umpteenth time on DD. I think this Independence day featured some amazingly patriotic movies of Vijay or Ajith. Worse some channels play interviews of Namitha who can possibly relate it to only her independence with clothes.

The only one that came somewhat close to the magnificence of this video in recent times was the Jana Gana Mana by ARR and an ensemble group of singers. But truly....this video remains one of its kind :-)

Mile Sur Mera Tumhaara

We all wish and yearn for a time machine. It could be to either erase the mistakes of past or to have a peek at the future. Well...we donno if one exists apart from in the Back to Future series movies.

But have’nt you realized at times that simple things take us a trip down memory lane and almost serve as time machines? Simple things like old photo albums, videos, childhood dresses, alumni functions, get together with friends and so on.

Recently I happened to accidentally stumble on the famous Mile Sur Mera tumhara on You-Tube. Haven’t you realized that music is one amazing vehicle for time travel? All of us have at some point of time in life loved some song and later move on with another new song. Then when we happen to listen to it again...old memories come rushing in.



As of now...you all watch this video and tell me what you remember about this video. I will tell you about my memories about the same in my next post :-)