Friday, November 28, 2008

Shattered Mumbai

Feeling very emotional and helpless as I type this out. The terrorist attacks that have been gripping Mumbai seem to be endless as the ordeal drags onto third day. More than the media journalism, it's the public journalism that has been quite active, genuine and extending possible help. I'm posting few of the links below that are carrying up-to-date information while the crisis continues.

http://mumbaihelp.blogspot.com/

http://mumbai.metblogs.com/

http://helpmumbai.pinstorm.com/

http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23mumbai

Twitter link is believed to be followed by terrorists as well!

http://flickr.com/photos/vinu/

http://arunshanbhag.com/

http://www.gauravonomics.com/blog/real-time-citizen-journalism-in-mumbai-terrorist-attacks/

Hats off to Mumbai Police, Fire Fighters, Army, Navy and the NSG Commandos who have been working non-stop since over 48 hours.

We have already lost many high ranked officials and more than 155 reported civilians. The weak infrastructure of Indian Government is to be blamed for the on-goings. A crisis-management team is lacking and we are totally unprepared when such attacks happen.

My deepest condolensces to the families who have lost their loved ones.

Salute to the Officers for their valor and sacrifice. May their soul rest in peace..




Peace ever !!!
Thursday, November 20, 2008

Dasvidaniya


Dasvidaniya is a sweet and simple movie that touches your heart. Brilliant work by first time director, Shashant Shah. Also, Vinay Pathak's first movie as a producer. We have seen Vinay Pathak in Bheja Fry, Khosla ka Ghosla, Aaja Nachle etc. With his strong theatrics background, this guy has only the best to offer. Vinay Pathak has done complete justice to his role as 'Amar Kaul' in Dasvidaniya.

The story is about a common man, who leads a very normal life. Due to unexpected turn of events, he takes a jolly ride with life. As the movie proceeds, you'll fall in love with this common man.

The comedy in Dasvidaniya is light hearted. Ranvir Shorey did his bit marvelously, in a cameo role. Saritha Joshi in the mother's role, slightly over did her acting in certain scenes but she managed to portray delicate emotions in the scene when Amar sings for her. Neha Dhupia comes as a pleasant surprise. Never knew that she could act. I am not sure who played the role as the salesgirl. But she was so very natural. Rajat Kapoor and Suchitra are just adequate. The entire casting has taken the movie to a different level.

Music by Kailash, Paresh and Naresh is good. Alvida song is melodious. The mamma song is simply cute.

The movie does have some loop holes here and there. There have been mixed reviews too. But overall, it's a winner.

I'm sure you will walk out of the theatre with your eyes moist.

HBO Rating: BSI

BSI : I Bet you can't Skip this Item!
Monday, November 17, 2008

Dostana..jaldi se bhagonaa...varna tumhe hain pachthaana

I am deeply inconsolable for having to inaugurate my HBO with such a pathetic movie..tut tut!

My profound insight tells me that Karan Johar wants to familiarize our society with the so called gay concept. Things were fine up till Kanta ben. We didn't need a whole movie concentrating only on this!

I think Karan had to spend money only for Kirron Kher and Sushmita Mukherjee's wardrobe. Others really haven't worn much. Effect of global recession, I suppose. Thanks to our Bollywood Babes for the bikini marathon, we are now comfortable watching them in the tiniest of dresses. With dostana, the trend slowly moves on to the guys. We have seen Salman, Shahrukh etc flaunt their six-pack, but this movie has more to offer. Sadly, it leaves us all the more embarassed.

As the movie progresses, you just realise that every other person in the movie is gay. Your roommate is gay. Your boss is gay. The guy you bump into is gay. Your visa officer is also gay!!???!! ,it just gets into a wild slapstick comedy.

With such hot and happening bunch of actors, it's really disappointing to see the ultimate outcome.

AB junior is just wasting away his talent. There are better things that he can opt for. Not movies like Drona, Dostana! Wait a minute, I see a connection here, D and D. AB, I think you need a numerologist. Make hay while the sun shines, Honey.

Priyanka is good. For girls who love John, you might enjoy watching him in Dostana. He's much much much better than what he did in Paap. Bobby Deol...do I need to say anything at all! Oh, you didn't know that he was there in Dostana? Don't worry, you'll not know it even after watching the movie.

If Karan Johar wanted to portray a message of social responsibility towards the gay community, Dostana certainly does not make it any better. Madhur Bhandarkar, is the right person who can elegantly deal with such subjects.

HBO RATING: RAQ

RAQ: Run Away Quickly
Wednesday, November 12, 2008

The child in you

I totally believe the saying that there is a child within all of us, irrespective of the age. While I ponder over to re-discover the child in me, I just realized that I have never grown – up! Really, I feel haplessly childish when:

• I am Eveready to watch re-runs of Tom and Jerry/ Popeye / PoGo, basically anything that appears colorful

• I run to the swing in a park, just at the sight of it

• Quite often, I oblige for gifts such as chocolates, cakes, muffins, brownies, donuts, Danishes and what not

• I am habitually seen in the Children’s section of the Library, trying to grab a sneak peek of fairy tale books

• I pride about the collection of DVDs on the likes of Cinderella, Snow White, Alice in Wonderland and many more.

• I can never share my 3D Fairy tale book containing beautiful castles, horses, chariot, parties, princess in her huge dress etc. I am completely possessive of it. Remember, it’s 3D!

• Water colors, crayons, color pencils, sketch pens….these have been my fantasies and are always on my wish list.

• I effortlessly walk into any Toy stores and treat myself with the sights of Barbie or Dora or the soft toys.

• I feed my nose while I eat an ice cream and it feels utterly incomplete if I don’t drop it on my dress.

• I believe that every toy deserves a name. I call my dog Snoopy.

• You have to agree that Angel is my Best Friend and it can listen to all the crap that I say (btw, Angel is my huge white adorable teddy!)

• I don’t know what table manners are!

• I make my way in a crowd shoving, without even saying ‘excuse me’! Honestly, who cares?

• I drop and break things with ease. I master in making a puppy dog face and getting away with it.

• It takes forever for S to feed me everyday with all the pampering and bullying.

• I assume that I deserve a treat everyday, just for nothing

By the way, I should treat myself today because it’s children’s day! What say?

I am sure you are all sailing in the same boat as me. Go get yourself, a heavily layered double chocolate cherry sundae with nuts and get blessed…A veRy HaPpY ChiLDrEn'S DaY!


Image Courtesy: Flickr
Friday, November 07, 2008

Yeh hain Big Boss ka Ghar!

Somebody's watching you..it's the BIG BOSS!

If you haven't been watching this, good for you! You remind me of myself, when I was very new to this reality show concept.

14 celebrities...24/7 on camera...no contact with outside world...nominations and evictions...plotting...the GAME! All this sounded too tempting for me and I gave in. Little did I know, that it would turn out to be this ugly and disgusting! Of course, I did enjoy watching the dirty game in the beginning, I confess :P

But now it is getting on my nerves. You might say, stop watching it! haha....I am addicted. Now, I pity myself!

The show seems to be highly biased. Big Boss has favorable rules for his favorite players. When Raja was supposed to be evicted, he was sent to the secret room. Again when Rahul, Raja, Monica were nominated, they were saved from eviction as a Diwali gift. Sambhavana and Payal are back inside the house to create more havoc. Gimme a break!

The characters in the show are really larger than life and they prove to be so. What kind of person is this Rahul Mahajan? He flirted openly with Payal and now he is repeating the same with Monica! Dude....is this the kind of image you want to project, especially when you have opted for a political career?

And what's wrong with Monica? She has been outside and witnessed the drama between Rahul and Payal. And now she is back to herself.."raaahuullll, tum kab sudhroge?" is that enough to keep him away? Strange!

Fayal...oops, Payal! The most camera-conscious, image-conscious girl. She was cornered big time in Pooja Bedi's Aakhri Salaam. She is unable to defend herself sadly. She has become quite popular with the masses for her "special" acts. Farah Khan was right when she said that Payal's name should be Khaitan. She always goes "mere producers, mere directors, mere fans"..Girl, we didn't even know you before Big Boss. Come out of your dream land.

Sambhavana...should I even mention? She is the only one who is having fun at the cost of others' weaknesses. Miss big mouth is always bent on irking either Raja or Payal or Rahul! Whenever she speaks, we get to hear only beep...beep...beep! She is solely responsible for the show TRPs.

Raja...with his massive anger is driving everybody crazy. He ain't better than Sambhavana in his language. We get to hear quite a lot of beeps from him too. The other day, to my horror, he kicked a flower vase. Isn't that cranky? We don't do that at our homes! Being a celebrity comes with it's own package to deal with, I guess.

Zulfi...this guy makes me laugh. He is always seen lazing around in the house, on a bean bag. Zero Energy. I haven't seen him doing anything extravagant to add to the spice of the show except when he sang 'ye mere pyaare watan'. But still he is managing to hang around. This guy over analyses the game strategy. Who knows, he might walk away with the 75 L prize money!

If you see any shirtless man walking around with goggles ON in the BB house, it's none other than Ashutosh. He really entertains with his language and Akshay Kumarish mannerisms. It was quite hilarious to see him act as the school principal and as a servant in the drama. I was literally rolling on the floor when he brought water for the guest in 'asthik kalash'. S didn't find it that funny though :| Hema's astrological predictions say that this guy might end up in our own Bollywood, as yet another Rajpal Yadav.

Diana Hayden, I wish she weren't in this show. She is too good to be in Big Boss. I really love it, when she shows her attitude to Rahul. oh btw, she got evicted today! She was the most sane person among the insane bunch. But that made her very boring to watch on the show.

ehsaanji ehsaanjiiiii....jab aap gaye baaahar,
tho BB house mein aa gayi bahaaar!
My silly poetic tribute to the comedian who used to come up with such funny rhyming lines every now and then. Mind you, nobody enjoyed it except him.

Ketki ji sabse pehle chai banathi hain..I can't remember anything significant from her other than that. She did ruffle a few feathers when she criticised Raja and eviction was the price she had to pay.

'Pehli nazar mein aisa jaadu kar diya...' Debojit used to always sing this song. Poor thing, he sang through his way out of the house. He remained aloof without involving in any planning nor did he serve any masala. No wonder, he's gone.

Rakhi Vijan was way better in Hum Paanch. and what's with her blush? She had simply overdone it.

Alina...the cry baby of the show! Her twin sister seems to have got the most footage from Big Boss.

Sanjay Nirupam, What was he doing in Big Boss?

It would be wrong if I don't mention Shilpa, the heart of the show. But her laugh is wild, strangely. I heard someone say, that it takes a while to get her lips back together. Isn't that funny!

Pooja Bedi, grills the contestants once they are out. But she seems to be biased too. She is planning to compete with Oprah Winfrey. Is that true? how is that possible?

I think, by now you must have already figured out as to how much I am addicted to Big Boss. I have even picked up few words from the show like, 'footage', 'TRP' , 'tilli lagaana' etc etc...

I will be really happy to enlighten you, if you are interested to watch Big Boss :D Any takers?
Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Popcorn and Coke

Well, what else could popcorn and coke mean? Yeah...am talking about movies, movies and movies! On any day, I just love to munch on butter popcorn (I know, butter!!!), slurp a strawful of coke and get lost in the magic spinning onscreen. A magic that can cast spell at times, but most of the times it doesn't! Sadly, our hollywood, bollywood, tollywood, kollywood...whateverwood have been churning out thousands of movies that are "leave-your-brain-at-home-while-you-watch" types.

Cutting out the crap, now what I want to say is that I might be of some help to you. How?.. In here,I'll rate the movies in my Blogsville section "HBO" nah...it's not the Hollywood BO, you got it wrong! It's "Hema's Box Office" silly!

No..I'm not Raja Sen's sister or Jeevi's cousin but just for the heck of it! Oh come'on now, when Himesh can become Monty, I can become pretty...I mean, pretty critical!

So, here I define my scale.

STAR : Sizzler Treat to All, for Real

BSI : I Bet you can't Skip this Item!

TGW : Thank God, it's Watchable!

YEM : You'll Enjoy it, Moron!

SNH : Strictly Not recommended for Humans

RAQ : Run Away Quickly, or you shall repent, GUINEA PIG!

Now that the groundwork is done, HBO is soon to get into showbiz..watch out!

Note: Let me make it clear to all Producers/ Directors/ Actors, HBO doesn't accept gifts/bribes. Strictly no biasing, not even to Aamir khan or Farhan Akhtar or Siddharth, for that matter even Madhavan(sigh)!
 
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