"Mile Sur Mera Tumhara" was one of the gems that Doordarshan had given us. I remember that each time it went on air I would have my eyes glued on the TV. It best described the myriad hues and the rainbow of culture that India stood for. It symbolized the essence of India in each pixel.
Zoom Channel, to celebrate the 61st Republic Day, launched a modern version, titled "Phir Mile Sur". There theme was India in the 21st century. They incorporated messages like child education and women empowerment. There intentions may not be bad but the end product turns out to be a disaster. Agreed gone are the days on inter-state disputes. So they didn't want to project regional and linguistic diversity. But you should atleast do justice to your theme.
Modern India is defined by four driving factors - Entertainment(Bollywood), Sports, Politics and the Techno-economic boom. The video pays scant regards to all but the entertainment industry.
Ohh Yaa... they do have a hurried a 1 min slice for sports at the end !
How can you not have Sachin Tendulkar and APJ Kalam if you want to project the face of India in the 21st century ? Where are the Ambanis and the Narayanmurthys? Is there a bigger icon for the Bengalis than Sourav Ganguly ? Is India just about the entertainment industry ? Are the social activists, the Booker prize winners and the Nobel laureates mere puppets in front of the bollywood biggies ? What were Ash-Abhi, Ranbir, Shahid Kapoor and SRK doing in the video ? Marketing their next apparel line ?
Aamir's jig involving a rehashed version of 'kya bolti tu ?' falls flat. A Taare Zameen Par jig would have been more in tune with the theme of the video. And what the hell is Deepika Padukone doing - flaunting her legs attired in something that seems to have come straight out of a Kingfisher calender shoot.
The makers do lack creativity. They could have done so much more.
Amitabh is the sole connecting link between 'Mile Sur' and 'Phir Mile Sur'. They could have shown him to display the transition that has taken place since the late 1980s.
You could have had the three Khans together on screen for the first than as always letting them be on a lone pedestal because of their inflated egos.
At a time when the biggest issues that affect India are Hindu-Muslim unity and terrorism, they could have done so much ! I believe, Narendra Modi walking hand in hand with the Pathan brothers would have touched a raw nerve in everybody.
Worst of all the editing is as bad as it gets. A careful look will convince you that in the portion containing Sonu Nigam, people are being warded off by the security to avoid a stampede. And the playback is worse. The first precaution that one takes is to make sure that the lip movements are in sync with the actual audio. Deepika's and Priyanka's lip movements seem like they are dire need of acting classes. Bhupen Hazarika's shoot seems to have been done by a 12 year old on Photoshop !
The makers dont seem to have a sense of either History or Geography. To cite an example, they have clubbed Oriya architecture with Sivamani.
As one of my friend rightly commented it looked more of family reunion video for the Bachchans, the Amjad Ali's and the Krishnamurthys
Zoom Sucks ! "Phir Mile Sur" Sucks !
Even the amateur version created by Indians at MIT was way better. Atleast it portrayed what India was. This particular video seems like a hotch potch assembly of bollywood personalities. It seems more like a marketing gimmick from Zoom to ensure that it holds onto its fast diminishing viewer base, by fooling around with patriotic feelings. Even though they have tried to incorporate various messages but the messages seem to be lost in Salman's abs and Deepika's legs.
Click here to view the entire 16 min video.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Hangover - Re-enacted
Dec 31, 2009 - A night to remember : That is if I could remember what happened ....
8:00 am Jan 1, '10 - Hrishi tries waking me up. I give him a blank stare and ask him to try again after 10 mins. As I float back into my slumber, I wonder as to what Hrishi is doing in my room. But the lethargy takes over my reasoning capabilities.
8:20 am Jan 1, '10 - Phone rings.
Even in my torpor, I can discern that Hrishi seems to be talking to someone about the number of bags we have !
What bags ? What the hell is Hrishi doing in my room ? Why does the mattress not feel familiar ? Why isn't the AC on ?
8:30 am Jan 1, '10 - Phone rings again.
Enough of the mystery. I wake up to a shock as I realize that me and Hrishi are in some place that looked vaguely like a dingy and smoky hotel room. I just stare blankly at Hrishi, as he gets back to discussing about the number of 'bags' to someone on the phone.
8:35 am Jan 1, '10 - Eureka !
I remember. At least till 11:30 p.m.
****
4:30 pm Dec 31, '09 - A sudden plan is made to celebrate New Year's eve in Pondicherry.
8:30 pm Dec 31, '09 - We (Me, Manish, Hrishi and Rahul) land up in Pondicherry.
9:30 pm Dec 31, '09 - We enter "Le B.. (Something with B)"; a sea facing hotel that offered us 'unlimited booze'
Around 11:00 pm Dec 31, '09 & After 3 bottles of Foster's, a shot of Red Vodka and a portion of wine -
... I dont remember much. Well, I have hazy memories of dancing with some Talwar Singh and clicking pics while I went shouting "Go Punjab !"........ I remember that the four of us made the entire crowd shout "IIT Madras Rocks" .. (Guess not a single one in the crowd knew what they were cheering for ! Half of them wouldn't even know what IIT stood for !)..
That's about it.... I guess. The next thing I remember was waking up in the hotel.
****
8:45 am Jan 1, '10 - As I wash my face, I wonder where the fuck are the other two guys - Rahul and Manish !
Hrishi reveals that those two left for Chennai the previous night itself after the police ordered them to leave the beach. It seems that putting up the night at the beach, which was our plan, wasn't legally allowed in Pondicherry. It seems Manish and Rahul left Pondy at around 3 in the night, after having failed to locate the two of us, bloody drunk and driving at 130 km/hr....
Hrishi also added that I passed out before midnight and they had got me to the beach. I left unconsciousness on the rock beach as the new year dawned. They went about wishing foreigners !(In hope that some firang chick might give them a new year kiss :D)..
Hrishi by this time was too drunk to accompany them, so he came back and sat beside me as Rahul and Manish continued their endeavour.
And this is where we lost them. And they lost us.
8:55 am Jan 1, '10 - Both me and Hrishi set about finding what had happened post midnight.
As we check our bags(the same bags that Hrishi was talking about on the phone. Rahul's bag was with Hrishi), we find a broken red toothbrush (that doesn't belong to any of us)and a piece of paper with "CALL ME , PRABHU 9*********". My wallet was missing. Hrishi had scratches on his knees and his brand new trousers were dirty as hell.
I go and make a quick inquiry at the reception, which is when we realize that it was an autowallah who dropped us at the hotel at around 2:30 in the night. A few more events dawned upon us. We were lathi charged by the police from the beach. As Hrishi tried to stand up and walk he fell over himself on the rock beach hurting his knees. I was so high that I could not even prevent someone from running away with my wallet. And then when we took shelter on the pavement on a road perpendicular to the beach, the police lathi charged us again, asking us to not be in the vicinity of the beach.
Something .. Something ... which we don't remember.
I remember paying the autowallah 40 bucks.
Something .. Something .. which we don't remember.
We also remembered having received innumerable calls from Manish asking where we were, to which Hrishi used to reply - "Dude, how would I know where I am ?"
9:35 am Jan 1, '10 - Enough of Poncdicherry. We buy a new helmet, have four cups of coffee and set back on our way to Chennai.
****
We still haven't been able to fill in all the blanks, especially the broken red toothbrush. By the way, Prabhu turns out to be a pimp, who slips in his number to random guys ! Fortunately and thankfully, all of us are still clean !(atleast we would like to believe so).
8:00 am Jan 1, '10 - Hrishi tries waking me up. I give him a blank stare and ask him to try again after 10 mins. As I float back into my slumber, I wonder as to what Hrishi is doing in my room. But the lethargy takes over my reasoning capabilities.
8:20 am Jan 1, '10 - Phone rings.
Even in my torpor, I can discern that Hrishi seems to be talking to someone about the number of bags we have !
What bags ? What the hell is Hrishi doing in my room ? Why does the mattress not feel familiar ? Why isn't the AC on ?
8:30 am Jan 1, '10 - Phone rings again.
Enough of the mystery. I wake up to a shock as I realize that me and Hrishi are in some place that looked vaguely like a dingy and smoky hotel room. I just stare blankly at Hrishi, as he gets back to discussing about the number of 'bags' to someone on the phone.
8:35 am Jan 1, '10 - Eureka !
I remember. At least till 11:30 p.m.
****
4:30 pm Dec 31, '09 - A sudden plan is made to celebrate New Year's eve in Pondicherry.
8:30 pm Dec 31, '09 - We (Me, Manish, Hrishi and Rahul) land up in Pondicherry.
9:30 pm Dec 31, '09 - We enter "Le B.. (Something with B)"; a sea facing hotel that offered us 'unlimited booze'
Around 11:00 pm Dec 31, '09 & After 3 bottles of Foster's, a shot of Red Vodka and a portion of wine -
... I dont remember much. Well, I have hazy memories of dancing with some Talwar Singh and clicking pics while I went shouting "Go Punjab !"........ I remember that the four of us made the entire crowd shout "IIT Madras Rocks" .. (Guess not a single one in the crowd knew what they were cheering for ! Half of them wouldn't even know what IIT stood for !)..
That's about it.... I guess. The next thing I remember was waking up in the hotel.
****
8:45 am Jan 1, '10 - As I wash my face, I wonder where the fuck are the other two guys - Rahul and Manish !
Hrishi reveals that those two left for Chennai the previous night itself after the police ordered them to leave the beach. It seems that putting up the night at the beach, which was our plan, wasn't legally allowed in Pondicherry. It seems Manish and Rahul left Pondy at around 3 in the night, after having failed to locate the two of us, bloody drunk and driving at 130 km/hr....
Hrishi also added that I passed out before midnight and they had got me to the beach. I left unconsciousness on the rock beach as the new year dawned. They went about wishing foreigners !(In hope that some firang chick might give them a new year kiss :D)..
Hrishi by this time was too drunk to accompany them, so he came back and sat beside me as Rahul and Manish continued their endeavour.
And this is where we lost them. And they lost us.
8:55 am Jan 1, '10 - Both me and Hrishi set about finding what had happened post midnight.
As we check our bags(the same bags that Hrishi was talking about on the phone. Rahul's bag was with Hrishi), we find a broken red toothbrush (that doesn't belong to any of us)and a piece of paper with "CALL ME , PRABHU 9*********". My wallet was missing. Hrishi had scratches on his knees and his brand new trousers were dirty as hell.
I go and make a quick inquiry at the reception, which is when we realize that it was an autowallah who dropped us at the hotel at around 2:30 in the night. A few more events dawned upon us. We were lathi charged by the police from the beach. As Hrishi tried to stand up and walk he fell over himself on the rock beach hurting his knees. I was so high that I could not even prevent someone from running away with my wallet. And then when we took shelter on the pavement on a road perpendicular to the beach, the police lathi charged us again, asking us to not be in the vicinity of the beach.
Something .. Something ... which we don't remember.
I remember paying the autowallah 40 bucks.
Something .. Something .. which we don't remember.
We also remembered having received innumerable calls from Manish asking where we were, to which Hrishi used to reply - "Dude, how would I know where I am ?"
9:35 am Jan 1, '10 - Enough of Poncdicherry. We buy a new helmet, have four cups of coffee and set back on our way to Chennai.
****
We still haven't been able to fill in all the blanks, especially the broken red toothbrush. By the way, Prabhu turns out to be a pimp, who slips in his number to random guys ! Fortunately and thankfully, all of us are still clean !(atleast we would like to believe so).
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
3 Idiots - The Return ' 80s
The more I discuss the movie, the more I have started to despise it.
The movie is a disaster. The script has enough loop holes to recreate lunar craters on the earth. The movie is more in the tune of the potboilers of '80s whose claim to fame were the illogical twists and turns.
The movie is a disaster. The script has enough loop holes to recreate lunar craters on the earth. The movie is more in the tune of the potboilers of '80s whose claim to fame were the illogical twists and turns.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
3 IDIOTS - Random Observations
PROLOGUE - This is not a movie review
I was lucky enough to grab hold of a couple of tickets for the special screening of 3 Idiots, last Thursday. Initially I was a bit wary, as I am of most movies released amidst such fanfare and hype, and secondly 'coz I was going for it at the cost of watching India chase down Srilanka's 300+ total. To tell the truth, it was worth it. Although, I would not rank it amongst my all time favourites but it still would rank pretty high.
First things first. This is not a copy of 'Five Point Someone'. At best, it can be assumed to be "loosely based" on the book. Even the basic themes are different. While Five Point was more about college life and friendships, 3 Idiots seems to belong to the Munna Bhai mould trying to garnish entertainment with social messages. But it still is pretty evident that it was the book that must have got Hirani thinking of 3 Idiots.
Elements of the book that find a mention in the film's plot
1. Student falling for his sadistic Prof's daughter
2. Alok's life being driven by loads of expectations and the constant emotional blackmailing of his mother.
3. Alok's ailing father
4. Alok moving out of the group to study along with the insti nerd. And then realizing his fallacy, when Ryan carries his father to the hospital on a scooter.
5. Stealing question papers - though this particular plot has been turned on its head.
6. and loads other..
Hirani has also not fallen short of taking jabs at the Indian Education System. Even though the college in question is ICE, Hirani's dialogues interspersed with clandestine remarks convince you that if Hirani had his way he would have gone ahead with actually depicting the IITs had it not been the fear of backlash from the academic community. There are references to '4 lac' candidates having applied for ICE and then the fact that inspite of ICE being the best college in India it has failed when it came to innovation , inventions and patents.
If I was to grade it, I would give it a 'high 3 Point Something'. (On a scale of 5)
I was lucky enough to grab hold of a couple of tickets for the special screening of 3 Idiots, last Thursday. Initially I was a bit wary, as I am of most movies released amidst such fanfare and hype, and secondly 'coz I was going for it at the cost of watching India chase down Srilanka's 300+ total. To tell the truth, it was worth it. Although, I would not rank it amongst my all time favourites but it still would rank pretty high.
First things first. This is not a copy of 'Five Point Someone'. At best, it can be assumed to be "loosely based" on the book. Even the basic themes are different. While Five Point was more about college life and friendships, 3 Idiots seems to belong to the Munna Bhai mould trying to garnish entertainment with social messages. But it still is pretty evident that it was the book that must have got Hirani thinking of 3 Idiots.
Elements of the book that find a mention in the film's plot
1. Student falling for his sadistic Prof's daughter
2. Alok's life being driven by loads of expectations and the constant emotional blackmailing of his mother.
3. Alok's ailing father
4. Alok moving out of the group to study along with the insti nerd. And then realizing his fallacy, when Ryan carries his father to the hospital on a scooter.
5. Stealing question papers - though this particular plot has been turned on its head.
6. and loads other..
Hirani has also not fallen short of taking jabs at the Indian Education System. Even though the college in question is ICE, Hirani's dialogues interspersed with clandestine remarks convince you that if Hirani had his way he would have gone ahead with actually depicting the IITs had it not been the fear of backlash from the academic community. There are references to '4 lac' candidates having applied for ICE and then the fact that inspite of ICE being the best college in India it has failed when it came to innovation , inventions and patents.
If I was to grade it, I would give it a 'high 3 Point Something'. (On a scale of 5)
Friday, November 27, 2009
Friday, November 6, 2009
Of Solos, Orgasms and Fatwas
What they said :
On Tendulkar
"Nobody does solos better than Sachin Tendulkar, nor, perhaps, has anyone endured as much heartbreak during those solos. It was India of the 90s all over again: Tendulkar almost chased 351 on his own but, with the target in sight, he got out and the rest choked, falling short by three runs with two balls still to go. In Chennai in 1998-99, Tendulkar, having played an innings as incredible as this, left the last three wickets 17 to get; tonight he left them 19 off 17.... "
- Cricinfo
"I will see God, only when I die ... Till then i'll see Sachin" - Dilli
"Tendulkar of the 90s, India of the 90s" - Shaggy
"I am atheist but I believe in Sachin" - Bot
"Dude.. I orgasmed twice during Sachin's innings" - Punchar
"Sachin chose the right sport but the wrong country" - Malena
"The greatest ODI innings ever. PERIOD" - Function
"Tendulkar gave yet another debutant a moment of his lifetime. "
- www.cricketnirvana.com
"Every run scored by Sachin belongs as much to the 1.2 billion Indians as much as it does to himself" -Gavaskar
On Ravindra Jadeja
Excerpts from a chat between me and Sandeep
In Dhonis words - "He is still young, don’t take that away from him"
How many mistakes is a youngster allowed?
Even IIT-JEE gives you just 2 chances :D
He is still 5 years elder to Sachin when he made his debut
Ya man even otherwise, even if he clicks, we don’t understand his role in the team. Is he a bowler who can manage a few edges?
Exactly, he is a part time bowler who can bat a bit.
"c****** sala
baddimag
senseless
lag hi raha tha run out hoga kab se c*****ape pel raha tha" - Shaggy
As Punchar rightly put it,
"In our society we used to play cricket like everyone. We used to keep a brick as the bowling end stumps and the probability of hitting it was like 1/Avogadro number. Consequently, we used run to the middle of the pitch each time the ball connected the bat and still managed to return safely. Especially if the other team consists of players like Lala, Munna, Raju and Kallu. May be its time for Jadeja to realize that international cricket has nothing similar to galli cricket. There are 3 stumps (covering a total area of 0.1 sqaure metres) at the bowling end to aim at while the opposition has players like Ponting whose probability of missing the stumps is as much as the probability of seeing Halley's comet. Stop running around you fucking idiot. " - Punchar (be blogs here)
"If you can release Fatwa against Salman Rushdie for writing a book against the Prophet, why not a Fatwa against Jadeja for robbing GOD(read Tendulkar)of his fundamental right(read hard earned victory)."
On Tendulkar
"Nobody does solos better than Sachin Tendulkar, nor, perhaps, has anyone endured as much heartbreak during those solos. It was India of the 90s all over again: Tendulkar almost chased 351 on his own but, with the target in sight, he got out and the rest choked, falling short by three runs with two balls still to go. In Chennai in 1998-99, Tendulkar, having played an innings as incredible as this, left the last three wickets 17 to get; tonight he left them 19 off 17.... "
- Cricinfo
"I will see God, only when I die ... Till then i'll see Sachin" - Dilli
"Tendulkar of the 90s, India of the 90s" - Shaggy
"I am atheist but I believe in Sachin" - Bot
"Dude.. I orgasmed twice during Sachin's innings" - Punchar
"Sachin chose the right sport but the wrong country" - Malena
"The greatest ODI innings ever. PERIOD" - Function
"Tendulkar gave yet another debutant a moment of his lifetime. "
- www.cricketnirvana.com
"Every run scored by Sachin belongs as much to the 1.2 billion Indians as much as it does to himself" -Gavaskar
On Ravindra Jadeja
Excerpts from a chat between me and Sandeep
In Dhonis words - "He is still young, don’t take that away from him"
How many mistakes is a youngster allowed?
Even IIT-JEE gives you just 2 chances :D
He is still 5 years elder to Sachin when he made his debut
Ya man even otherwise, even if he clicks, we don’t understand his role in the team. Is he a bowler who can manage a few edges?
Exactly, he is a part time bowler who can bat a bit.
"c****** sala
baddimag
senseless
lag hi raha tha run out hoga kab se c*****ape pel raha tha" - Shaggy
As Punchar rightly put it,
"In our society we used to play cricket like everyone. We used to keep a brick as the bowling end stumps and the probability of hitting it was like 1/Avogadro number. Consequently, we used run to the middle of the pitch each time the ball connected the bat and still managed to return safely. Especially if the other team consists of players like Lala, Munna, Raju and Kallu. May be its time for Jadeja to realize that international cricket has nothing similar to galli cricket. There are 3 stumps (covering a total area of 0.1 sqaure metres) at the bowling end to aim at while the opposition has players like Ponting whose probability of missing the stumps is as much as the probability of seeing Halley's comet. Stop running around you fucking idiot. " - Punchar (be blogs here)
"If you can release Fatwa against Salman Rushdie for writing a book against the Prophet, why not a Fatwa against Jadeja for robbing GOD(read Tendulkar)of his fundamental right(read hard earned victory)."
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Indelible Moments
While scanning through the blogs of my friend, I found a lot tag posts relating to favourite movies, personal likings and other similar stuff. Unfortunately, there were no posts related to cricket.
So I decided to create one.
The first 6 cricketing moments that come to your mind !
As for me..
1. Vinod Kambli crying at the end of the '96 World Cup Semi-Final.
2. Shoaib Akhtar dismissing Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid of consecutive deliveries with toe crushing yorkers in the Asian Test championship.
3. Sachin Tendulkar cutting Shoaib over third man for 6 in the 2003 World Cup followed two balls later by a picture perfect straight drive.
4. Mark Waugh's century in the '96 World Cup quarter-final against New Zealand. It was as flawless and as elegant as it gets. Someone rightly pointed out after the innings - "If he had walked out in formals to bat, he would be the perfect ambassador for anti-crease apparels".
5. Sachin Tendulkar's rampaging assault on Glenn McGrath (he danced down the track and hit McGrath right over his head. In response McGrath tried to bounce him out. The ball was dispatched over the square leg boundary with absolute disdain) in his brief innings of 38 in the 2000 ICC Knockout Cup. (The match is better known for Yuvraj Singh's debut innings)
6. Sachin Tendulkar given out 'Shoulder Before the Wicket' by umpire Daryl Harper at Adelaide in 2000.
Because of the lack of enthusiasm for cricket in most of my friends, I tag only Punchar and Bidu for the time being.
So I decided to create one.
The first 6 cricketing moments that come to your mind !
As for me..
1. Vinod Kambli crying at the end of the '96 World Cup Semi-Final.
2. Shoaib Akhtar dismissing Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid of consecutive deliveries with toe crushing yorkers in the Asian Test championship.
3. Sachin Tendulkar cutting Shoaib over third man for 6 in the 2003 World Cup followed two balls later by a picture perfect straight drive.
4. Mark Waugh's century in the '96 World Cup quarter-final against New Zealand. It was as flawless and as elegant as it gets. Someone rightly pointed out after the innings - "If he had walked out in formals to bat, he would be the perfect ambassador for anti-crease apparels".
5. Sachin Tendulkar's rampaging assault on Glenn McGrath (he danced down the track and hit McGrath right over his head. In response McGrath tried to bounce him out. The ball was dispatched over the square leg boundary with absolute disdain) in his brief innings of 38 in the 2000 ICC Knockout Cup. (The match is better known for Yuvraj Singh's debut innings)
6. Sachin Tendulkar given out 'Shoulder Before the Wicket' by umpire Daryl Harper at Adelaide in 2000.
Because of the lack of enthusiasm for cricket in most of my friends, I tag only Punchar and Bidu for the time being.
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