A very gripping Kahaani

I went to watch Kahaani with great expectations and I must say it more than lived up to my expectations.

A very pregnant Vidya Bagchi (Vidya Balan), lands in Kolkatta in search of her missing husband. She is aided by a police officer, Rana (Parambrata Chattopadhyay). The more they dig for clues of the missing husband, the more deeper and murkier it gets. People who are interrogated are murdered by the contract killer Bob (Saswata Chatterjee). Talking more about the plot will be giving away too much.

Another important character in the movie is the City of Joy, the city of Kolkatta. The color of the city especially during the Durga Puja enhances the movie experience. Watch out for the movie finale with the Durga Puja in the backdrop. Kudus to the cinematographer.

There is hardly any fault in the movie. The editing and writing is very crisp. Watch out for the scene just before the interval. You won't feel like leaving your seat even for a loo break!!!

The supporting cast is brilliant, each person cast perfectly. Special mention for Saswata Chatterjee. But the movie is Vidya all the way. She has once again proved that she is the 'hero' among the heroines of Bolloywood.

Vidya Balan, Sujay Ghosh and the entire cast and crew of Kahaani, take a bow!!! Don't miss this movie.

PS: I had written this review long ago and forgot to publish it...publishing it now.

Power of Advertisements

Vaishnavi disliked gripe water. She just refused to drink it. To make her drink it, we would disguise it in her water glass, in between her meals, give it to her while she is busy playing with her favorite toy, etc. The innovation flowed, and Vaishnavi was quick to adapt to our new innovations.
Then, one day my mother-in-law showed her the gripe water advertisement, where the baby drinks and likes it. Since then, Vaishnavi has started liking gripe water. Now she points to the gripe water bottle and says 'Adda' - in our language it means 'I want' or 'Give me that'.
The power of ads!!!!

Mausam - Oh what an orderal!!!

Even after reading horrible reviews of the movie, I ventured into watching Mausam only because I liked Shahid Kapur's look in the movie!! He the closest we can get to Tom Cruise in Top Gun. Serves me right for I was subjected to a never ending tale of milna-bechadna. 


The movie has its moments though which is most of the first half. The old styled 'chitti' romance is nice to watch. The reference to the major political events is nice but somehow their connection to the movie's story becomes predicable after sometime. Basically the movie is nice as long as it is a romcom. The second half is laborious and very predictable.

In the acting department, Shahid is good in the romcom part. Why the long face in second half after he becomes a pilot. Sonam looks drop dead gorgeous but her acting skills have dropped dead. She is fine as long as she doesn't open her mouth.

The movie could have turned out to be a nice one, had the editing been crisper and had it been only a romcom instead of romcom + melodrama + action + what all!!!

Back Again…

The title ‘After a long time’ got a bit boring and so here is a new one ‘Back Again’

Mobiles again!!!

Time again to chose a mobile...I bought one last year and it turned out to be a very bad choice.

I basically didn't have the money for a good, brand new phone, so thought of buying a Chinese mobile at National Market. Couple of people at office have bought them and the mobiles have turned out pretty good. (They claim it to be fine!!). Then one day, my dad gave a check with a 5 digit amount in it and said that I should buy myself a nice mobile.

Now with the with the first hurdle crossed, I started my research on mobiles. From basic models to smart phones - researched everything!! Finally thought of picking up an android mobile. But again a great Android phone costs >25K, and my budget is <20K. I was almost on the verge of buying a HTC Tattoo but backed out at the last minute. Thank God for it...Its supposed to be a bad phone.

Finally after doing some more Googling, I decided on the HTC Wildfire. Most of the reviews have given the phone a 4/5 rating. The only downside I read about the Wildfire is its display. Its a LCD screen instead of the latest craze AMOLED screen. But it does have all the other smart phone features and falls in my budget. Its supposed to be launched in India sometime in July. Waiting for it.

I did it again

Yes...I hurt my leg again. Last Sunday I had a projector screen stand dropped on my leg and it was a bad soft tissue damage. Its better now...no pain while walking but the region of impact still hurts.

I have this very 'special' gift of hurting my leg (over and over) x 'n' times again. Once during my college days I hurt my leg 4 times in 2 months. The fourth time when I went to the doctor, he raised his hands and told my mom to take me to an astrologer or get some puja done for me to heal my leg.

During the TTC, (I had a ligament tear then) Vidya was advising me to undergo the past life process (Its a process that you can undergo after doing the Art of Living Part 1 program). We discussed some very hilarious scenes about my past lives and the leg, like - in one of my past life, my last word might have been 'Oh my leg' and hence its still haunting me, or I might have tickled someone's leg and hence am carrying a curse, and many more.

I'm actually going to take Vidya's advice and am planning to go for the past life process. Lets hope that the leg problem is solved soon.

Dosas in Bangalore

A lot has been written about the food in Bangalore. Ab mera number hai!!!
One of my favorite food is dosa. Below is a list of my favorite dosa places in Bangalore. I have, of course, removed Home from the list :)
1. Sai Sagar - 7th cross Mallershwarm. I grew up in Malleshwaram and this was one of my frequently visited places. The dosas are dripping with butter and the chutney is the yummiest I have had in a hotel. High on taste and calories.
2. Vidyarthi Bhavan - Gandhi Bazar. You can easily miss this place if you aren't looking for it. Yummy dosas and chutney. The quality has come down a little from what I cherish. The best part are the waiters who carry around 20 -25 dosas at a time. The interiors are renovated and is much bigger place than it used to be during my childhood.
3. Jantha Hotel - 8th cross Mallershwarm. Its hardly few minutes walk from Sai Sagar. The quality has reduced a little over time, but still one of the best. The aloo paliya is best of the accompaniments, sambar and chuteny being the others.
4. Ganesh Darshini (or Dosa Camp) - Jayanagar 3rd Block. Its a fast food sort of a place, but serves wonderful dosas. They have a wide variety of dosas, with specials for each day. It used to be my daily break fast point when my office was in Jayanagar. They also make good akki rotti and holige.

Next post on idlis.

YES! @ Bansawadi

Just finished a YES! course in Banaswadi last week. The course was amazing and so were the experiences of all the participants, including me. A big thanks to Vivek for giving me this opportunity.



A collection of a few poems written by the YES! participants.

The first two are from Anarghya.

God:

God is everywhere, don't look for him!
God is in your heart, ever look for him!
God is in your soul, never cheat yourself!
God is in your mind, don't be blind!
God is with you, never seek for him elsewhere!

Nature

Nature is God's gift
It has all things bright and beautiful
Somethings great and some small
All things wise and wonderful
God made them all

God gave us a beautiful pair of eyers
A charming face and tounges that we might tell
Got made them all

He made the bird that sings
He made their colorful wings
He made tiny little creatures who crawl slowly
The great God made them all

This one is from Apoorva...

When a cool breeze strikes me
I feel the life so pleasant
But a question arises, 'Is this alone what is life?'

When heavy rays of sun falls on me
I feel the life is so tiring
But a question arises,'Is this alone what is life?'

When I see a fast flowing river
I feel the life is also so fast
But a question arises,'Is this alone what is life?'

But then I feel that this is not alone what is life?
Yes, the life's also beautiful

There are two more...will update them soon

My favorite snap

My favorite snap from the Dhamaka and Utsah. Thanks Pradeep.

Dhamaka and Utsah Snaps

Dhamaka and Utsah as seen through the camera. Finally uploaded them.