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.

Tu Jaane Na…

Currently addicted to this song from Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahani. There are some 3 versions of the song…but I liked the unplugged version sung by Kailash Kher and the Atif version. The first because it is sung by Kher and the second because it has great tabla. The other songs in the album are also decent. Tera Hone Laga is a hummable romantic number. Oh By God brings a smile on your face when you hear the shehnai. Main Tera Dhadkan Teri is an average dance number. The others songs are just about ok.

Also trying the a Media Player. (must play Tu Jaane Na, Kailash Kher version)

The player doesn’t seem to be working

Harry Potter and Half Blood Prince

I was eagerly waiting for the release of this movie. I booked tickets 2 days in advance. I went to the movie hall with so many expectations – And the movie lived up to most of my expectations.

A majority of story hasn’t deviated from the book. It has Harry and Dumbledore digging into Voldermort’s past, Harry getting the Half Blood Prince’s portions book, the Unbreakable Vow, felix felicis, Slug Club parties, Horcruxes, Harry and Dumbledore getting the Horcrux, and on the romance side - Harry falling for Ginny, Ron and Lavender together making Hermione jealous. And all this is done pretty well…especially the romance part. The Quiddtich is also fun. The sequence where Harry and Dumbledore get the Horcrux is amazing.

There are some deviations too. The biggest of them is the ending. There is no battle between Dumbledore’s Army and the Death Eaters. Harry (in the movie) just watches Dumbledore die, Dumbledore doesn’t freeze him. There is no burial of Dumbledore’s body. Bellatrix and Greyback attacking The Burrow is another major deviation, an unnecessary deviation. They should have rather had the battle or the burial of Dumbledore. Also it would have been interesting if they had shown the tiara in the Room of Requirement when Harry goes to hide the portions book. (Arvindh immediately pointed this out to me in the movie.)

Out of the cast I would mention Allan Rickman as Snape is perfect. Pretty much what I had imagined Snape to be like when I read the book. The trio – Daniel Radcliff, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson have all done very well. Grint and Watson chemistry was there for quite sometime now, but its more enhanced here. Tom Felton too has done well.

On the whole its a great watch. For Pottermaniacs, the end is disappointing, but this is the closest you can get to the book.

ScribeFire vs Live Writer

A couple of days ago, after reading an article, I took a fancy for blog writers. I have been googling for sometime and finally settled 2 writers - Windows Live Writer and ScribeFire.
The post 'Airtel Gimmick' was published using the Live Writer and the post 'Family Pattern' was posted using ScribeFire.

At first look I liked the Live Writer. (One of the few Microsoft products I liked.) It is truly a WYSIWYG editor. It displays your blog theme which makes writing a little more exciting (for me). But Writer creates a nested folder structure on the system and creates a copy of the posts. For a simple blogger like me, I find this unnecessary. (Rather I basically trust Blogger to maintain the posts.)

I didn't like the first look of ScribeFire. It changed the font of the post after a few sentences and I had to go into the html code to edit it. Also the line spacing is not changeable. Or rather, I couldn't find a way to change it. The biggest advantage of ScribeFire is that it is an addon for Firefox. Unlike Writer there is no need to download and install. Also it doesn't store any data on the system.

There are many more editors which are reviewed and described here. Finally, I would vouch for ScribeFire mainly because its an addon.

And yes, this post was written using the good ol' blogger editor.

Star Trek

Yesterday I went to watch Star Trek with Arvindh. I'm not a Star Trek fan. I hadn't even watched any Star Trek till yesterday, but Arvindh was so kicked up about watching this movie that I tagged along for his boyish enthusiasm. I did do some basic ground work - read some preludes of the movie, watched the trailer and accustomed myself with the main characters - Kirk, Spock, McCoy etc. The movie though is a prequel.

The movie starts with vengeful Romulans destroying the USS Kelvin killing Robert Kirk while his son James Kirk' is born. James Kirk grows up to be a reckless youngster who joins the Starfleets cadets after he is challenged by Captain Pike to live upto his father's standards. Parallelly we also see Spock who is taunted by his schoolmates because his father is a Vulcan and mother a human. He too joins the Starfleets after declining an offer to join the Vulcun accademy (forgot the name). During the third year, Kirk is accused of cheating in a simulation test by Spock. During the trail there is an emergency call by the Vulcans - their planet is attacked by Nero the Romulan. The cadets are asked to join the USS Enterprise (a new and advanced ship). McCoy (Kirk's friend and doctor) sneaks Kirk (he isn't supposed to be there as he is on trial) in and then begins their journey of adventure and saving planet Earth and destroying Nero's ship.

The movie is high on the sci-fi factor. Its is fast paced and has a right blend of humanity, humor and drama. The visuals are fantastic. The actors Zachary Quinto as Spock and Chris Pine as James Kirk are superb. The supporting cast too have done a great job.

The best thing about the movie is - you don't have to be a Trekker or Trekkie (found this bit of jargon on the net) to enjoy the movie.

Roadside Romeo...

It was 6 in the evening and Priya and me were in Domino's, enjoying a 'Jain-time' dinner. Suddenly an idea hit us...lets go for a movie. I wanted to watch Roadside Romeo and she was ok with anything. We called a few people and most of them refused. So we headed to Inox and got tickets easily.

Well...the movie is nothing great. Priya enjoyed it a lot. Its about a dog Romeo, who is abandoned as the family he belongs to shifts to London. He shifts to the streets, meets a gang of dogs and opens a saloon. He also falls in love with a bitch, who is the local doggie-goon's muse. Doogie-goon gets to know, Romeo lies, says he'll get the bitch to him...well the same old stuff. Except that it is cartoon dogs and not humans.
The story is a bit too boring. The direction is strictly ok. The animation is good, which is expected as its co-produced by Walt Disney Pictures. Music is a bit repitative and nothing to write about.
Well, all in all, go for it if you have nothing to do.

Aaja Nachle

With great expectations I walked into a movie hall on Saturday evening to catch Madhuri Dixit's comeback movie, Aaja Nachle. Aaja Nachle is written by Jaideep Sahani, of the Chak de India fame and hence the expectation bars were raised a little further. Does it live up to the expectations? Yes, Madhuri does and No, Jaideep doesn't.

The movie is about the home coming of Dia (Madhuri Dixit) who returns to her town Shamali when she gets a call from her dying Guruji. He has left her the daunting task of reviving the Ajantha Theatre, where she learnt dance, which is now in shambles. The MP of Shamali Raja Saheb (Akshaye Khanna) has decided to build a mall by destroying the theatre. He challenges Dia to either generate interest for dance in the people of the town in 2 months or allow the mall to be built. The rest of the movie is all about how she gathers the people of the town and choreographs an extravagant Laila-Majnu dance drama.

The ups of the movie - Madhuri Dixit, Madhuri Dixit and more Madhuri Dixit. She is the life soul and everything of the movie. You keep searching for her in every shot. Remove her and her dances and the movie falls flat. Not only does she look drop dead gorgeous, she dances like as always - with ease and grace. She is, without doubt the best dancer in Bollywood. She looks a old, but then she plays her age in the movie so thats ok.
The last Laila Majnu sequence is visually amazing. Well shot and choreographed. Kudos to Vaibhavi for her choreography.

The downs - The script is a little boring. There is no mention of how exactly do the characters of the play or even the people of the town start liking and respecting dance. The story is too predictable and some songs are little out of place.

The support cast is good. Ranvir Shoery deserves a mention. Irfan Khan is wasted. Kunal Kapoor and Konkana don't have much to do. The transformation of Konkana is shot well. Music, except for the title track isn't nothing to write about.

All in all, if you are a hard core Madhuri fan like me, you'll like the movie. Else you can skip it.

Om Shanti Om

Its the 1970's. Subhash Ghai is shooting the now hit and classic song Om Shanti Om. Rishi Kapoor flings his jacket and it land in the audience right on Shah Rukh Khan. This is the opening sequence of the latest Shah Rukh Khan movie - Om Shanti Om.Shah Rukh plays Om Prakash Makhija, a junior artist. He, like all junior artists dreams of making it in the big league some day. His dreams are asserted by his filmi mother Bela (Kirron Kher) and his side kick Pappu (Sheryas Talpade). He also is deeply, madly in love with super star/dream girl Shanti Priya (Deepika Padukone). One day in typical Bollywood style he saves her from fire and gains her friendship. He also learns that Shanti is already married to the producer Mukesh Mehra (Arjun Rampal). Mehra once gets Shanti to the set of their new movie and sets it on fire with Shanti trapped inside. Our hero attempts to help but is killed in the process.Now he is reborn as Om Kapoor to a super star Rajesh Kapoor. All the dreams of his past life have come true. Thanks to some cancelled shooting, he remmebers his past too. Now he wants to avenge his and Shanti's death. Deepika is also back as a fan of Om Kapoor.

There are some enjoyable sequences in the movie. Watch out for the Tamil super star sequence, the first sence between Kirron Kher and Shah Rukh, the references to Sooraj Bharjatya and Govinda, most of the comic sequences and many more.

Shah Rukh is a super star and plays one. He is great in the movie, but looks old in some of the 70's sequence. Deepika is good in her debut. Half of Bollywood make special appearences in the movie.SRK and FK have half of Bollywood in the movie. Missing noteable are the 70's heroines.

The story is cliched and you know whats happening next. No suprises come your way. The comedy is good but nothing compared to the one in Main Hoon Na. The music is enjoyable.

The movie is total masala and paisa vasool only if you leave your brains and logic at home when you watch it.

Jab We Met...

There were many reasons why I picked up a ticket for Jab We Met - I loved the promos and songs, I loved the previous movie from its director, Imtiaz Ali, it had been quite a while since I watched a movie in a theater, etc etc...I did enter the movie hall with some expectations and the movie lived up to all of those and more.

The story is simple. Dumped by his previous girl friend and lost in business guy, Aditya (Shahid Kapur) meets an overtly talkative and bindas gal Geet (Kareena Kapoor) on a train. She irritates him to the core and he makes her miss the train. She insists he drop her home - 'Sikhni hoon main Bhatinda ki'. Their road trip to reach Bhatinda is filled with many enjoyable sequences - like the 'Decent Hotel' one. Family is overwhelmed and arrange wedding bells for Geet with her childhood love Manjeet. Geet loves another guy and plans to run away. Aditya helps her and returns to his life, with new found enthusiasm. Months later, family comes to Aditya asking for Geet. Now our hero has to find her and get her back home.

What makes the movie wonderful is the script and the direction and the actors and the characterization and the chemistry and just everything. Even the ending has no rona dhona, its just simple and lovely. Some memorable scenes include - the Decent Hotel one, the badbad of Geet in the train (Mujhe bachpan se he na shadi karne ka bada shauk hai by God), the way Anshuman is treated when he reaches Geet's place, Geet acting that Aditya is her boy friend and many more.The music also is great and all songs are lovely. My favorite is Tumse hi and Yeh Ishq hai.

Kareena for once is lovable. Shahid is great. The only chink in the armor is Tarun Arora. He is a pathetic actor, but I laughed at his stupid looks on screen.

I put this movie among the sweetest love stories made by Bollywood. The list now is - DDLJ, Maine Pyar Kiya, Jab We Met, Love Story and QSQT.

Heyy Babyy...huh

I know men too have emotions. You don't have to make an excuse for a movie to prove it. But director Sajid Khan felt otherwise. His only intention, according to me, was to prove just that.

Three men, Aroush (Akshay), Tanmay (Ritesh) and Al (Fardeen) live like there is no tomorrow. But there life takes a u turn when a baby lands at there doorstep. They don't know who the father is and make a list of all women they slept with in the past year. They don't care for the baby and drop the baby at a church. But their conscience pricks and they go back to see that the baby is seriously ill. They rescue the baby from there, a miracle saves the baby and turns the 3 men into dotting fathers. Out goes daaru and in comes doodh. Then when they are really attached to the baby, bang comes baby's mom Esha(Vidya Balan) and takes her away. The 3 men try different antics to get the baby back. And oh ya...Aroush is the actual father of the baby.

The story line seems ok, but the direction isn't. Sajid Khan makes his actors do the same antics that he does on the small screen. The songs are fine and enjoyable.

The best thing about the movie is Ritesh's Marathi. I loved the way he sprinkles Marathi inbetween dialogues.

Not recommended for a second watch.

Angoor - Confusion Unlimited

Willam Shakesphere's work has been a favorite with many film makers, in all the 'woods' - Hollywood, Bollywood, etc. One of the best adaptations of his work in Bollywood is Gulzar's Angoor, based on 'Comedy of Errors'. The plot is so convincingly modified to suit the Indian social setup, that it feels original. The plot, if you haven't read Comedy of Errors, is a little complicated. Let me try to explain.

Raj Tilak (Utpal Dutt) and his wife are on their way to a holiday with their twin sons, both of them are called Ashok (bada & chota Ashok to differentiate). On their way they adopt an abandoned set of twins whom they call Bahadur. Raj Tilak thinks once both sets of twins grew up, the Bahadurs will serve the Ashoks. During their sea travel, they meet with an unfortunate accident in which they are all separated. One pair of Ashok-Bahadur are with the mother and the other with the father, but in a different town. Soon the father dies and the pair are raised by one of the town's businessman.

Now to understand the plot, lets name the father's pair as Ashok1(SanjeevKumar) & Bahadur1 (Deven Verma), and the mother's pair as Ashok2 & Bahadur2. Fast forward a couple of decades, Ashok1 is married to the ever-nagging Sudha (Moushumi Chatterjee),the elder daughter of the businessman who raised him. Sudha, Sudha’s sister Tanu (Deepti Naval) and Bahadur1 and his wife Prema (Aruna Irani) complete Ashok1's family. Ashok2, single and a detective novel buff, decides to buy a grape yard. So, he and Bahadur2, single and a bhang lover, come to Ashok1 & Bahadur1's town.

The day Ashok2 and Bahadur2 land in the town, Askok1, tired of Sudha's nagging for a necklace, wows not to return home until he gets the necklace. Elsewhere, Ashok2 goes to the grape yard after instucting Bahadur2 to take care of the money he has got for the deal and not to leave the hotel till he returns. Sudha sends Bahadur1 to the market where Ashok2 sees Bahadur1 and asks him about the money and why he left the hotel. Bahadur1 thinks his master is mad and tells his mistress. Tanu, thinks its all because of her sister's nagging and sends Bahadur1 to find Ashok1. But she meets Ashok2 and Bahadur2 at her concert and gets them home. Elsewhere Ashok1 is worried about the necklace and spends the night waiting for it to be made. But, after the necklace is ready, it lands in Ashok2's hands, and the jeweller is asking Ashok1 to pay up. Finally the pair of twins meet and the confusion is cleared.

The plot is made more confusing by the clothes of the characters. Both the Ashoks wear a long white kurta and white dhoti and both the Bahadurs wear a grey shirt and white dhoti.

Gulzar saab as the writer and director is simply superb. The dialogues are rib tickling and witty. The screenplay never looses its grip and Gulzar saab extracts flawless performances from his artists. He has also used small characters aptly. Like there the goldsmith and his assistant, the diamond cutter, the taxi driver and the inspector - all of them take the movie to a classic level.

Angoor is SanjeevKumar’s masterpiece. His expressions and voice modulation make the movie a must watch. Deven Verma as both the confused servant and bhang lover is excellent. Sanjeev Kumar and Deven Verma share brilliant on-screen chemistry as twin duos. Deepti Naval and Moushumi Chatterjee though having small roles leave you impressed.

But the chink in the armour is the music of Angoor. Though it is composed by the genius R.D. Burman, its disappointing. Except for the song Roz Roz, the others are mediocre and halt the proceedings.

This is the 'baap' of all one of Bollywood most trusted formula in the 70s and 80s - 'bichde hua bhai'. Enjoy the fun ride.

Rang Birangi – Hrishida's Pati Patni aur Woh

Last year Bollywood lost one of its acclaimed directors – Hrishikesh Mukherji. Hrishida, as he is popularly known as has made many well known movies like Abhiman, Golmaal, Chupke Chupke - to name a few. I have choosen a lesser known Rang Birangi for the review.

The film is a take on BR Chopra's Pati Patni aur Woh. The story begins with showing us the life of two couples, first Ajay Sharma (Amol Palekar) and Nirmala (Parveen Babi), married for seven years and second Jeet Saxena( Farooq Shaikh) and Anita Sood (Deepti Naval), who are seeing each other for a long time. Anita is Ajay's secretary. Nirmala is unhappy because Ajay spends most of his time at work and doesn't give much attention to her. Jeet and Anita are waiting for Jeet to get a good job to get married.

In this comes Ajay's friend, Ravi Kapoor (Deven Verma). He wants to spice up the life of Nirmala and Ajay. He asks Ajay start flirting with Anita by telling her that his wife has been paralyzed for 6 years and there is no one to take care of him. Anita becomes sympathetic and starts taking care of him. The guilt in Ajay makes him give more attention to his wife.

One day Anita, comes to meet Nirmala and gets to know the truth. Nirmala requests her to carry on with the drama. Nirmala gets to know that Ravi is behind all this drama and joins him in plotting against her husband. On Ravi's instruction, Nirmala tells Ajay that she wants to work. Nirmala then plays the same trick on Ajay – she says that her boss's wife is paralyzed and her boss needs some sympathy. Jeet poses as Nirmala's boss.

Jeet poses as Dhurender Bhatavdekar, a private detective and blackmails Ajay with photographs of Ajay and Anita. The plot further complicates when the actual Dhurender Bhatavdekar (Utpal Dutt), a police inspector, turns out to be Nirmala's uncle and promises Ajay to capture the blackmailer. And this shatters plans of Ravi – perfect recipe for chaos.

Other characters in the movie include Mr. & Mrs. Bannerjee (Om Prakash and Chaya Devi) with whom Anita stays.

The comedy created by all confusion and chaos makes it a laugh-riot. The movie has great performances by all the actors – Amol Palekar, Deepti Naval, Parveen Babi and Farooq Shaikh. The dialogues are witty and the script has a plethora of aptly placed film references.

Music for the movie is by RD Burman. It has a classical number which is shot on the Bannerjees. The other song 'Kahin kuch pal jeevan ke' is a nice soft number.

Some scenes to watch-out are:

1. The hotel scene where Jeet poses as Nirmala's boss.

2. The actual Dhurender Bhatavdekar chases Jeet.

The movie can be watched over and over and you will always have a good laugh.

Sehar

I'm not a big fan of gangster-cop movies, but I loved Sehar, mainly for its simplicity and honesty. There is no over-the-top dialogues, no unwanted bloodshed(or should I say tomato sauce!) and there are no songs to stop the pace of the movie. Its like a like watching a compelling gritty documentary on a gang of cops who decide to eliminate organised crime from Uttar Pradesh.

The movie, set in the 90s, begins with the murder of a gangster by another rival gangster Gajraj (Sushant Sharma). SSP Ajay Kumar(Arshad Warsi) is asked to investigate the murder. As he goes about investigating, he figures out that the crime world now headed by Gajraj is very well organized. A deep nexus runs between the gangsters, local politicians, the builders, the railway contractors, student union leaders and of course policemen. He also gets to know that Gajraj has a lot of well wishers in the political circles.

To counter this, he proposes a Special Task Force(STF), which has special powers and is answerable only to the SP. Initially there is resistance for such a force. But when the CM’s friend's kin is kidnapped STF is given a go ahead with state wide power. The STF now goes about systematically eradicating crime. When they realise that the goons are using mobiles for their communication, they get a telecom professor Prof. Tiwari (Pankaj Kapur) to help them understand mobile communication technology. Tiwari soon becomes an important part of STF's working and success. The rest of the movie tells us how STF is able to eradicate Gajraj and ruin his nexus.

There are also a couple of deviations in the movie - the short and sweet love between Anamika(Mahima Chaudhary) and Ajay and a story about Ajay's father. These give us an insight of Ajay's character and don't affect the pace of the movie.

Writer and director Kabeer Kaushik has done a fine job in all departments. The editing is crisp and you never feel like taking a break. The background score is excellent and maintains the tempo of the movie.

In the acting department, the movie belongs to Arshad Warsi. He gives memorable performance and proves that he is truly an underrated actor. Sushant Sharma's character is a little sketchy, but he does a good job of that. Pankaj Kapur and other are fine.

A movie definitely worth a watch, even if it has a documentary feel to it.

Masoom

Most of us have grown up listening to Lakadi ki kathi – the best children's song that Bollywood has produced. Shekar Kapur's directorial debut Masoom (inspired by Eric Segal's Man, Woman and Child) is a sensitive masterpiece. A movie which touches your heart without any melodramatic gimmicks.

DK Malhotra (Naseeruddin Shah) is a successful Delhi architect with a happy family comprising of his lovely wife Indu (Shabana Azmi) and two sweet daughters Pinky (Urmila) and Minni (Ardhana). His picture perfect life is torn apart when he gets a letter from his old school master in Nainital, informing him about his illegitimate son Rahul (Jugal Hansraj) born out of his one night stand with Bhavana (Supriya Pathak). Bhavana, on her death bed had entrusted Rahul to the retired school master. DK confesses to his wife and their lives are shattered.

In the meantime, the schoolmaster sends Rahul to DK as he is unable to look after the boy. All hell breaks loose in DK's family. Rahul bonds well with Pinky and Minni. Indu is understandably hostile towards Rahul. Rahul tries his best to impress Indu. But she is unable to forget her husband's infidelity.

DK decides to send Rahul to the boarding school in Nainital, much against Rahul's wishes. The day before Rahul has to leave for Nainital, he gets to know that DK is his father. He runs away from the house and this brings about a change in Indu. Indu realizes Rahul's trauma and the movie ends in a happy note with Indu accepting Rahul.

The other people in the film include Chanda (Tanuja) as Indu's friend and Suri (Saeed Jaffery) and DK's friend and confidant.

Now with a story like this, the movie could have easily turned into a melodramatic tearjerker if it didn't have Gulzar as the writer and Shekar Kapur as the director. The screenplay is flawless, the emotions handled very delicately. The movie depicts the emotions of a child and an adult with wonderful sensibility and sensitivity. The internal turmoil in every character is handled in a sensitive and subtle manner.

Watch out for these amazing scenes -

• When DK tells Indu about the adultery
• Indu's birthday scenes
• Rahul, after knowing the truth says sorry to Indu
• Mini showing Indu Rahul's sketch book.

With impeccable actors like Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi, justice to the script is ensured. They are both mind blowing. The confusion and complex trauma that both their characters undergo are portrayed with perfection. Jugal Hansraj as the insecure, hapless kid is outstanding. He is so cute and innocent that your heart goes for him. Urmila and Ardhana enliven the screen with their chirpy presence.

Another winner in the movie is the music. RD Burman and Gulzar team up for a memorable musical score. Apart from Lakadi Ki kathi, there are three more songs. Tujh Se Naraz Nahin Zindagi has two versions sung Lata and Anup Ghosal – both versions are wonderful and apt. Do Naina is soft and soothing lullaby. Huzoor Is Kadar is a teasing ghazal.

Last word - a superlative movie which excels in all departments.

Trishul - Amitabh all the way!

I wrote this for my company magazine.

The 70s beyond any doubt belonged to Amitabh Bachchan. He gave some really memorable movies and performances, to name a few would do injustice to the others. For this month, let’s revisit one of Amitabh’s greatest performances as Vijay in Trishul. Trishul had the memorable Deewaar team of Amitabh-Yash Chopra-Salim-Javed delivering yet another powerful movie.

Raj (Sanjeev Kapoor), an honest and hardworking engineer is in love with a simple, poor clerk Shanti (Waheda Rahman). Raj’s mother wants him to marry Kamini, his boss’s only daughter and become a partner in the construction company he works. Raj’s mother successfully brainwashes him and he marries Kamini. Meanwhile, Shanti bears his illegitimate son and brings him up the hard way. After her death, her son Vijay (Amitabh Bachchan) decides to avenge the wrong done to his mother. Raj is now RK Gupta, a rich businessman with a son Shekar (Shashi Kapoor) and daughter Babli (Poonam Dhillon).

Now begins the clash between RK Gupta and Vijay. In the first showdown, Vijay gets rid of the goons from a land owned by RK Gupta and buys it. He sets up a construction company Shanti Constructions and with the help of a dishonest employee of Gupta, Vijay out bids Gupta in many projects. When Gupta accuses his secretary Gita (Rakhee) of dissent, Vijay clears her name. She joins Vijay’s company and soon becomes his confidante.

Vijay also tries to separate Shekar and his lover Sheetal (Hema Malini). But when Shekar gets to know the truth about Vijay, he deserts his father and joins Vijay. Vijay also helps Babli elope with Ravi (Sachin). Vijay turns the whole family of Gupta’s family against him. He buys all the property owned by Gupta and totally destroys himHe buys and finally reveals the truth to Gupta.

There is also another character, Balwant Rai (Prem Chopra) who hates Gupta and initially helps Vijay. But later turns against Vijay and joins hands with Gupta.

The music by Khayyam is just apt, no comparisons to his previous movie Kabhie Kabhie. All the songs are well placed except for Kabhie Kasame Na which seems to slow the pace of the movie. Yash Chopra as the director has extracted great performances from all and has done full justice to the powerful script.

The script and screenplay by Salim-Javed is one of the high point of the movie. There are some really amazing and memorable dialogues in the movie. Who can forget Mere paas na apane baap-dada ki daulat ki nahi ek pai hai aur nahi mujhe chahiye, mere paas agar kuch hain to apane maa ka diya hua aashirwaad, or Main panch lakh ka sauda karne aaya hoon aur mere jeb mein panch photi kaudi bhi nahi hai or Aaj aapke paas aapki sari daulat sahi, lekin aap se bada gareeb maine zindagi mein nahin dekha and many more.

The characters aren’t stereotypes, no just black or just white, but they are grey and very real life. The only disappointing character is that of RK Gupta’s wife. We can guess that she knows the truth about Vijay and accepts it easily!!

The movie completely belongs to Amitabh Bachchan. He is the angry young man again but with a difference. He is super cool yet has that burning anger underneath. Hats off to the Badshah of Bollywood. Also take nothing away from Sanjeev Kumar. The initial helplessness and later the arrogance and ruthlessness have been portrayed perfectly. Shashi Kapoor and Rahkee are fine. Hema Malini and others don’t have much to do.

Personally, this is the best ‘angry young man’ movie of Amitabh.

Guru - Music Review

I just downloaded the music of Guru. This was one music album which I was early waiting. The combination of AR Rahman, Mani Rathnam and Gulzar - must be great!! But the album, atleast on the first hearing, sounds just ok.

The best song is Ay Hairathe - both lyrics and beats. Close to it comes Tere Bina, which has similar beats but is still different. Both are pretty unique. The next best is Jaage Hain which has great orchestra. Mayya Mayya is pretty ok...might grow on you. It has a sort of international feel to the music. Barso re is also pretty ok...again another song that you might start liking after repeated hearings. Baazi Laga doesn't sound like a Rahaman song. Its a song that any other composer could have done. Sort of a let down. Another big let down is Ek Lo Ek Muft. This the one which Bappi da has sung. It sounds like a Tamil song translated to Hindi. Pretty sad.

Overall - pretty decent. Like many of Rahman's albums, this too might sound better after repeated hearings

Vivah

On Saturday I watched Vivah with my mother and granny. I was sort of looking forward to watching it - mainly because of the mixed reviews I read for the movie, but my expectations weren't high. Out of the previous Barjatiya movies - I loved Maine Pyar Kiya and Hum Aapke Hain Koun, managed to sit thru Hum Saath Saath Hai and walked out of Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon.

The story is simple - rich city boy Prem (Shahid Kapur) meets middle class, simple, town girl Poonam (Amrita Rao) for marriage. And in the first meeting they say yes!!! Then there are a couple of songs showing their courtship. The second half is more interesting. The bonding and understanding between the couples is shown. The twist in tale comes in the last 40 min.

Honestly, I liked the movie. Mainly because it reminded me of the many wonderful moments in my life. And also there is a honesty in the story telling. Let me just list out the plus and minus points in the movies.

First minus points:
- Some songs could have been removed and the movie could have been shorter- this comment is always there in most Barjatiya movies;-)
- Poonam is too good to be true. She could have been a little bit more modern. It would have then made a very interesting courtship.
- One thing that irritated me was 'jal'. They use the word jal for pani!!
- The 'town' Madhupur is almost a village - no mobiles!!!
- The small black phone is too old for 2006.

Plus
- The moments. Shall write more abt this later.
- Sweet simple love story.
- No extended family - no mamas, doctor chacha, etc.
- The end 40 min when Prem supports Poonam thru her troubles. Pretty well shot and enacted by the actors.
- Liked the sets.
- Small kid - Rahul

The moments were the wonderful part of the movie. I guess I liked it more because I could relate to some of it. The part when the guy's family comes to see the girl. It was almost like how it happened in my life. The girl and the guy stealing glances at each other. Loved that. The song Milan abhi Adha Adhura has many more such cute scenes. A bit old-fashioned but still cute. Then the way Poonam awaits for Prem or his calls. Really cute. And of course the end when Prem says 'I'll do the dressing'.

In the acting department I liked most of them but Amrita Rao is sometimes too obvious. Music is a big let down. I only liked Do Anjane Ajanabe for its relavent to the story. Direction good but the script could have been tighter and the movie shorter by atleast 1/2 hr.

When I was getting out of the theatre I was thinking would Arvindh have married me if I had a similar mishap. The answer came immediately, YES! Was wondering why I ever got this thought.

Khosla ka Ghosla - Very Real

I wanted to watch this movie mainly because of its interesting title and promos. But couldn't catch it in the theatres. Last weekend, finally rented it. Arvindh wasn't too keen but finally enjoyed the movie. Yes the movie is very enjoyable. It kind of reminds me of the simple-theme movies, portraying the Indian middle-class, made during the 70's and early 80's. Something like the Hrisikesh Mukherji-Basu Chatterji type movies. Chalo, lets meet the Khoslas...

First there is the father Kamal Kishore Khosla/KK Khosla (Anupam Kher), a retired govt employee who has bought a plot in the outskirts of Delhi and wants to build a big house there - with a floor for each of his sons. Next there is the elder son, Chironjilal Khosla/Cherry (Parvin Dabbas), a workaholic software engineer, who wants to change his name and chases the American dream. The second son, Bunty(Ranvir Shorey) is idle-minded and lives to eat. Then there is mother (Kiran Juneja) who always is the sandwich between the son and father and finally a tom-boyish daughter to complete the Khurana.

The plot that Khosla senior has brought is unfairly encroached by the manipulative KishenKhurana (Boman Irani). All their efforts - complaining to police and getting goondas to help them, to get the plot back goes for a toss. The visa agent of Cherry, Asif Iqbal(Vinay Pathak) offers to help. He was an old aide of Khurana and knows how to handle him. Cherry and Asif along with Cherry's theatre artist girlfriend, Megha (Tara Sharma) and her theatre troupe lead by Bapu (NavinNischol), fool Khurana and get the plot back. The second half revolves around how they plot and win against Khurana.

What makes KKG charming and lovable is the screenplay and the actors. The script is almost flawless. Kudos to Jaideep Sahani for he has got the problems, emotions and also the helplessness of the middle-class family perfect in the script. Debutant director Dibakar Banerjee has done well too.

Coming to the actors all of them deserve a mention. Anupam Kher as the father portrays the helplessness and emotions very well. Boman Irani plays the bully encroacher in his own characteristic style. Its nice to see Navin Nischol back. Pravin Dabbas and Tara Sharma too do well. But a special mention has to be Ranvir Shorey. His earthy accent and comic timing is amazing.

All in all a must watch mainly because of its unusual plot and realism.

Jane Bhi Do Yaaron – Classic black comedy.

An awesome cast, enviable crew, an amazing script with unforgettable one-liners generously sprinkled around, an inspiring song – well, I'm talking about Kundan Shah's laughathon Jane Bhi Do Yaroon (JBDY). Produced by National Film Development Corporation (NFDC), this 1983 movie is now a classic in Indian cinema.

The movie begins with two wanna be photographer Vinod Chopra (Naseeruddin Shah) and Sudhir Mishra (Ravi Vaswani) waiting for guests and customers at the opening of their photo studio Beauty Studio. The opening is a flop. But they get an assignment from the manipulative editor of Khabardar magazine, Shobha (Bhakthi Barve). The assignment involves getting proof of links between the power-hungry builder Tarneja (Pankaj Kapur) and the greedy Municipal Commissioner De'Mello( Sathish Shah)

Tarneja with his two side-kicks Ashok (Sathish Kaushik) and Priya (Neena Gupta) bribe De'Mello with Swiss chocolate cake, flat and cash to get their passed tenders revised and to get the contract for another bridge.

Then there is the ever drunk black-listed builder Ahuja(Om Puri). He too bribes De'Mello for the same bridge. Tarneja tries to strike a deal with Ahuja which is spoiled by Vinod and Sudhir. De'Mello double crosses both Tarneja and Ahuja and awards the contract to a third party.

In the meantime, Vinod and Sudhir decide to enter a photography contest. They start taking pictures in random and while developing one such picture, they accidentally discover that they have clicked a picture of Tarneja murdering someone. They go back to investigate and find a dead body. But before they can identify the who was murdered the body disappears. After a few more clues, they guess that it is De'Mello's body. They find the body buried under a bridge built by Tarneja. They take pictures of the body and again the body disappears.

They show the pictures to Shobha and lie to her that they have the body. Shobha tries to blackmail Tarneja but is unsuccessful. Shobha realizes our heroes don't have the body and the heros realize Shobha's shrewdness. They also get to know that Ahuja has the body at his guest house.

Now starts the hilarious ride of the corpse, wheeled by Vinod and Sudhir and followed by Ahuja, Shobha and Kamdar (Shobha's assistant) as one party and Tarneja, Ashok, Priya and the new Municipal Commissioner Srivatav as the other party. They ride through Muslim parties and a Mahabharata drama. The Mahabharata drama is perhaps the most comic sequences in Indian cinema. The corpse being Draupadi and the scene being Draupadi Vastraharan. Vinod poses as Duryodhan, Sudhir as Dushasan, Ahuja as Bhim, Tarneja as Drupad. Later Kamdar becomes Shenshah Akbar and Ashok becomes Shezada Salim. Watch it, I have no words to describe the scene.

The movie was a path breaking movie and is the first black comedy of Indian cinema. JBDY has some big names both on and behind the screen. On screen we had Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Sathish Shah, and Pankaj Kapur. Behind screen we have Sudhir Mishra ( Asst Director and co-writer) who later directed Dharavi, Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, Chameli, etc and Vidhu Vinod Chopra( as Dushasan and also Production Controller) is now a well known face in bollywood. Also note that the heroes in the movie were named after them.

Performance wise there are hardly any flaws. All the actors fit the characters to the T. Same with the direction. For a movie made in a stringent budget of Rs.8 lakhs, they've done a wonderful job behind the camera.

Here are some scenes you must watch out for:

1. Vinod and Shobha at De'Mello's house.
2. Conversation between Vinod and Ashok at Tarneja's house.
3. A drunk Ahuja finds De' Mello's body in a coffin and takes him home.
4. Vinod used by Shobha and when Vinod realizes this.
5. The skate in Ahuja's guest house on which almost everyone slips.
6. And ofcourse the Mahabharata disaster.

JBDY is not just a laugh riot. It a satire which mocks the existing corruption. And also, remember its a black comedy with “Hum honge kameyab ek din” played in the last scene.