Paa

Last Saturday, inspite of the hectic travel and visits, I managed to see "paa" at chennai.

A laughter riot from the first reel to the last. The introduction of the cast and others itself was a novel idea and was a soothing change.

The title clearly says "introducing amitabh bachchan". While you watch the movie, you forget that "Auro" is the great legendary actor.

Every actor has contributed their best and Illiaraja's melodious background is a feather on the cap.

The backbone of the film is the hilarious dialog. Kudos to Mr. R Balki for having thought of a serious concept and put it across without tear jerking drama.

The concept "progeria" itself is new and I wish the introductory text in the beginning last a few minutes longer for the audience to read. A pictorial description could also have been added.

The promos did not give any indication what the film has in store. Many thought it would be similar to "taare Zameen par" a movie about a dyslectic child. This could be one major reason why the theatres were not occupied to their capacity.

I am sure, as word spreads, more would see and enjoy "paa". After all word of mouth is the best form of advertisement.

Better late than never!!!

A number of personal commitments and frequent travel for pleasure and peace kept me occupied for long. So long that it is almost a year since I last blogged.

As days go by, I plan to put my travel experiences one by one.

And the Oscar goes to .......

Great expectations followed by an equal amount of euphoria. A movie with a few Indian actors, music director winning the Oscar.

I have seen the movie "slumdog millionaire" as well as other movies that were nominated for oscars like Lagaan, taare zameen par etc. But I could not find any reason why this movie earned the Oscars. I may sound cynical but the only reason I can think of is that it entered the general category as against foreign film category.

Any fan of A R Rehnan would agree that his music was far better in movies like Lagaan. As far the story line sarfarosh, taare zameen par had a better storyline and a different concept.

At the end of all, a few days of fame to the slum children who otherwise could never even dreamt of it, makes an emphathetic individual happy.

Other than that, the producers have become millionaires and the children from the slums continue to be slumdogs

Mumbai & 26/11

Mumbai woke up to a terror struck on Thursday. Every single news channel and media personnel had pitched in their tent and vowed to provide their viewer 'exclusive' gory pictures of terrorism. Professional ethics and that they may indirectly help the terrorists by showisng operations was all lost.

Now, after the terrorists have been gunned down and our prestige restored, lot of post mortem as how and why it happened.

As a common man you and I too can judge as to how it happened. As Arun Shourie, MP put it in one of the programs, we failed to have a realistic view of the neighbouring country. First and foremost no one is made accountable for these attacks on civilians. All the information provided by the intelligence agencies gathers dust. Politicians are busy securing their chair and follow vote bank appeasement. After a few words of praise of unsung heroes, everything is forgotten till we face another one.

As a citizen, am I not entitled to security? Should I be a VIP for that? It is my right and I dont have to beg for it.

Stringent laws needs to brought in and autonomy has to be given to military and para military forces. Why should they seek permission from those sitting in air conditioned rooms to send NSG commandos to tackle the terrorists? Why do we have to act only when there is a crisis?

I hope some good sense prevails over the government and they take measures to prevent such occurances in future.

Chandrayaan - a glorious moment

Kudos to the entire team of ISRO on the launch of chandrayan - first unmanned mission to moon from India.

It is a proud moment for every Indian. Great effort and team work.
Just goes to show that we can do anything, if we stay united.