my spot

2011-01-15T10:44:00.001-08:00

No one killed Jessica - Could have been better

Was really excited to see this movie, as it was one of the stories that I had been following when I was back in India. The story that gave the people's voice victory over the powerful and mighty!

Maybe my expectations were very high from the movie (I had wrongly thought it was a Vishal Bharadwaj movie, due to which I expected it to be really good) or maybe it was something else, but it just didnt do the job for me. What was worse was that while watching the movie I could think of a number of things that could have been done to make it better (at least better in my opinion). Also when I went to see the movie, a lot of folks were raving about it already and the shows were houseful. This just set the stage for it to be an awesome movie, but it failed for me. Heres why I think.

First: A movie's impact is only as much as the characters are convincing. If you choose to tell the movie from the angle of a reporter who wants to see justice, that actor should be convincing. Rani just was not. What was worse was they wanted to depict a 'real' work atmosphere as probably goes on in reporting industry (my guess). So it was filled with 'bitch', 'fcuk', 'asshole', middle fingers being shown by her, etc. Which is fine, but if you do it tastefully. A lot of other movies use expletives and other such things, but only where needed and they make the impact at that time. These just seemed to be used here because the Censor board gave a free pass?? The over-use actually lost the credibility of using them.
The lawyer (who was defending the accused)..... what was with the accent???? He was probably the worst actor in the whole movie.
The mom (while I understand was greiving), was again not convincing. She just seemed to be crying fake. Whenever I see anyone crying on the screen, unfortunately I compare the performance to that of Soha Ali Khan in Rang De Basanti when she hears the news of her fiancee's MIG crashing and he dying or Aamir Khan in Rang De Basanti when he comes back from the hospital after there has been an attack during the peace protest and Sue asks him to eat, and he tries to , but just cannot and breaks down! Those are heartfelt performances which bring a tear to your eye too. If you want to strike an emotional chord with the audience, this potrayal is extrememly important.

On the other hand, the performances by the culprit, the inspector and Vidya Balan were very good and kept me engaged. The accused the best amongst them! However I did not understand why he had a different hindi accent (probably haryana accent) and his mom and dad did not!

Second: If you are going to make a film about a real life story and even if u put a disclaimer at the beginning that not everthing is exact and there is some dramatization, if you are taking the victim's and all her family members names, why the hell would you change the name of the accused. And especially when the verdict has been given by the court and case has been closed. This was one of my biggest issues with the movie. Why did you not use Manu Sharma? Are you afraid or were u threatened? Apparently you are not showing anything that has not happened or not recorded within the judicial system. So why not??? It just didnt seem fair to me.

Third: If you are going to have the movie as a narrative, please choose someone who is a good narrator. Rani is not. Many times it was difficult to understand what she was saying and frankly she was narrating as if reading the news. Look at the narrations by Morgan Freman or even our own Amitabh Bacchan in numerous movies or Makarand Deshpande in 'Company'. You have to captivate the audience with the narration if that is going to be a crucial part of the movie

Fourth: Songs. Please start understanding that it is ok if movies with a serious tone do not have songs ... or have just 1 or 2 in the background. Infact its better if they dont have songs at all. Otherwise u lose focus. Except for the title song of 'D..D...D..DELHI' none of the other songs were right in their place.

Fifth: If you are making a movie about a real life character, show her somewhere at least. In the end or the beginning or subtly in some of the tabloid scenes or some other crafty places. What was the point in showing clips of the actress playing her at the end of the movie rather than showing the real person??? It would have been good if you could have showed the real Jessica at that time rather than the actress

Sixth: 'Kuch bhi ho, mere bete ko kuch nahi hona chahiye' ...what was with that dialogue by the accused's mother everytime, even in tense situations. Was that a comic relief??? seemed more like a stupid relief!

I think my problem is that when you make a movie on a topic like this, I expect it to be really good. If u start to make a movie like Dabangg (which I loved btw), I dont expect it to be good or have a serious tone and so enjoy all the stupid things much more. But in a serious movie, dont try to be funny once u have the audiences attention, dont try to make them laugh for comic relief and spoil it. Again I give a reference to RDB, which I think was one of the finest movies along with some other ones... in RDB the first half is complete timepass and u laugh a lot, but once the movie takes a serious turn, it never tries to make u laugh by using some stupidity or even funny dialogues. The only one that comes later is when they have done everything....declared on the radio ...and they now feel relaxed (and the audience can feel that too) and the Roobaroo song is playing in the background...thats when Aamir cracks a joke of 'jail ka khana chod yaar ... daru-varu sab band'. But nowhere before that scene and after Ajay Rathod dies does the movie attempt any comic relief.

Of course this is just my opinion and I am sure a lot of ppl think most of this is wrong, or they might have such points in favor or the movie. Sure no problem. Everyone is entitied to their 10 bucks (price for the ticket) worth of opinion :-)

2006-04-08T01:34:00.000-07:00

A Pleasant Surprise !

Went to watch 'Inside Man' today .... quite a good movie, but it had a surprise element (at least for Indians), the movie starts with the background score of ........ "Chaiyya Chaiyya" :)))))))))))))))

It felt so awesome to hear it after such a long time ... and at a totally unexpected place ! The best part was that it was the original sound track with Sukhwinder singing away to glory.

No idea why the director chose this song to start the movie, when the names are coming up ... but whos complaining !!! :)

2006-03-24T01:28:00.000-08:00

Tears in Heaven

Would you know my name
If I saw you in heaven?
Would you feel the same
If I saw you in heaven?
I must be strong and carry on
’cause I know I don’t belong here in heaven...

Would you hold my hand
If I saw you in heaven?
Would you help me stand
If I saw you in heaven?
I’ll find my way through night and day
’cause I know I just can’t stay here in heaven...

Time can bring you down, time can bend your knees
Time can break your heart, have you begging please...begging please

Beyond the door there’s peace I’m sure
And I know there’ll be no more tears in heaven...

Would you know my name
If I saw you in heaven?
Would you feel the same
If I saw you in heaven?
I must be strong and carry on
’cause I know I don’t belong here in heaven...

-Eric Clapton

2006-03-23T10:54:00.000-08:00

Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaray dil meiN hai ,

dekhna hai zor kitna baazuay qaatil meiN hai

karta nahiN kyuN doosra kuch baat cheet ,

dekhta hun maiN jise voh chup teri mehfil meiN hai

ay shaheed-e-mulk-o-millat main teray oopar nisaar ,

ab teri himmat ka charcha ghair ki mehfil meiN hai

waqt aanay dey bata deNge tujhe ay aasmaN ,

ham abhi se kya batayeN kya hamare dil mein hai

khainch kar layee hai sab ko qatl honay ki ummeed ,

aashiqoN ka aaj jumghat koocha-e-qaatil meiN hai

2006-03-03T20:13:00.000-08:00

Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes it is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying,"I will try again tomorrow"

Found this quote on a friend's blog. Loved it !!!

2006-02-25T23:26:00.000-08:00

5 Point Someone

I always wanted to have the experience of staying in a college hostel for some years. Never got the chance. Life at Buffalo came quite close ....but not really though. It was obvious that I would like this book from the description. But it did live up to its expectations for me. Comparable to Anurag Mathur's The Inscrutable Americans, but I liked this one better

The author says that its a story about the life at IIT and what not to do at IIT. I think more than IIT, it was a story of a thick friendship between 3 friends, Hari, Ryan and Alok, totally different from each other, all the masti that they do and all the stuff they go through.

Its a pretty light book. Do read it if you haven't

2006-01-28T02:57:00.000-08:00

Random Thoughts:

1. Ever noticed that the weekends are the most busiest days of the week?

2. U never get up to the alarm to study/ go to work but u don't need an alarm if u want to go to play a game early in the morning?

3. u will get ur cell network in the crappiest places where u don't need it, but u wont get it in your home?

4. Ur manager is always in his office however early you try to come or late you try to leave

2005-12-10T02:28:00.000-08:00

Swades

Watched it on AZN for the nth time I guess. The way this movie is made, it definitely touches your heart. The acting is good, direction excellent and the story very powerful and realistic within the realm of cinema. I am not at all a SRK fan, but I must say that SRK did an awesome job in Swades. I think Ashutosh Gowarikar did an even more awesome job of controlling SRK ;)

It sure struck a chord somewhere .... that you need to give something back to your country. No doubt that it was always on the back of our minds, but watching the movie brought it to the front. There are a lot of movies being made these days in Bollywood that try to touch different subjects. Many times, they fail to give a proper message or reach out because they lack something ... acting, direction, ....

But Swades has definitely been a very well done movie. It has been successful in sending the message. Hats off to Ashutosh Gowarikar for doing justice to the story !

Yeh jo desh hai mera , Swades hai mera .........

2005-12-10T02:22:00.000-08:00

Movies

Just came back from 'The Chronicles of Narnia'. For once everyone who watched the movie with me thought that it was really bad! I have an aversion towards fictional movies for some reason. Never been a big fan of trilogies governing some rings or even Harry.

The whole world just loves these movies. I really cannot appreciate the story in these movies because after some time I realise that anything is possible in the movie ... everyone can do magic in the movie and so there are no limits!

Why do only I think of these movies in this way? Why does everyone else love them ?
Am I really missing something here?

2005-11-25T01:40:00.000-08:00

I miss those days .............

.....when life was not so routine, when weekends were not so eagerly waited upon, when we used to be up all night for assignments or sometimes for back-to-back 3 crazy desi movies ..... yes, I miss those days when I was a student!

Life, currently is not doubt good, infact better and more affordable, but nevertheless, changed. It has become so routine that everyday getting up and going to my job has become an increasing pain .... go to the office and code, have lunch then code, coffee break then again more code. Sometimes fix bugs and if u r lucky, then design and then code. In the evening come back home (after this hour everyday, life gets better for atleast a few hours which I get to spend with Swaps and some friends). But then again the next morning, its back to the same boring stuff, look at the same boring code and fix the same problems.

Standard of living now is 5 times what it was in buffalo. Its a god damn luxury to drive a brand new car, work in a multinational company, stay in a complex that boasts of tennis courts, gym, heated pool, jacuzzie and what not. Every weekend eat in a new restaurant! But is that really the luxury that I want??

When we were students and did not have enough money, we used to have 'Top Ramen' noodles/hash brownes for lunch, stay in a house with the heater conked off and the temp -20, walk to school in that freaking snow and ice. I remember, there used to be a period like a month or so, when night-outs were the routine things, but never got bored. Even those seemed fun in the grad-lab (in Buffalo) and at Barave's house (in Mumbai). The best part was that there actually was a point after which for the next couple of months (or more during Engg), you actually did what u felt like !!!! I think waiting for that day was a driving factor ... only 4 days left, only 3 days left !!! Once that last day of exam was done with, then the next day (and the next days until the next exam) you could sleep till 2:00 pm !!! You could just relax take it easy for a month or two !!!!

Now that is what I call luxury !!!!

2005-08-28T19:28:00.000-07:00

Around the corner ..................

You are walking in the corridor in your office or your school and you are approaching a blind corner and you try to cut the corner and ..."Oh! I am sorry"! Yes, you almost slammed into the other person coming from the other side!

Ever noticed that whenever you are going around a blind corner (you cannot see the other side until you at actually at the corner) that you always bump into the person coming from the other side?? Next time observe this ... whenever u r nearing the corner, unconsciously, you try to go for the smallest distance by cutting the corner rather than passing a little away from it .... the other person is also doing the same thing and hence the collision.

After observing this, I decided to try going around the corner using the longer route... one and a half feet away ... but as I approached the corner, this resolve somehow drifted away from my mind and ..."Oh! I am sorry" happened again !:)
Now was this time because I caught a little glimpse of girl coming from the other side, that I let my resolve drift ... is a different subject.

But try and observe this ... you must be doing it too!

2005-08-11T17:53:00.000-07:00

THE ULTIMATE THREE-SEATER ......

...... Autorickshaws!!!!

I would give anything to have them here. The most convenient mode of transport I have even travelled in. We Bombayites take the rickshaws for granted so much, we never had to think twice about someone picking us up if we didn't have a car like here. There always used to be 3 (if not more) parked right outside the complex

Looking at all the security systems that the cars flaunt here, sometimes I wonder if security issue ever occurs to the rickshaw wallas. Their 'gaadi' is always open! And they flaunt their stereo systems in those open cars! Mannnnnnnn ! Its been ages since I heard the Jhankar beats for 'Tu cheez badi hai mast mast!'

In this case it always used to be Beats speak louder than words ! Then there were some distinguished ones that made an attempt of creating a cramped up disc within itself complete with flouroscent blinking lights! :)

I miss all such dhin-chak rickshaws which we used to ridicule about back in Mumbai

And finally the inevitable fight with the rickshawalla over the meter reading and the charge, which finally ended with "Kya bhai sahab riska-walle ko fasata hai?"

2005-08-10T17:22:00.000-07:00

SOO-BEER!
Thats my nick as I like it to show up on MSN, blog, signatures on emails, etc.
Why do I like that? Do I not like my actual name 'Subir'? No, I like it
Do I like 'beer'? Haven't developed a taste for it yet :(
Do I like 'Soo'? Ofcourse not! ('Soo' means 'piss' in marathi)

Then y do I like to write 'SOO-BEER' instead of my name?
Wait ... y do I like to write 'y' for 'why'!
hmm... its kinda cool??
Yes!!! Its cool. Thats y I like 'SOO-BEER'. We like to potray that we are 'coooooooool'.
And we like girls who are 'hot'. No cool there!!!You cannot have cool over there

So we like to be cool but we do not like others to be cool ! If they are not 'hot', then we do not like them, but if we are not 'cool' then they might not like us !!!
Now looking from the girls point of view, they wud have the same argument! So finally if we want to be with each other, we wud have to be 'hot' and 'cool'

I wonder how u do that !