OMG..Its PK

Box office records shattered...Cinema halls vandalized...Questions have been raised..Is the right wing getting too zealous?...Is the PM not being assertive? ...OMG....Its PK...

I think PK is a beautiful movie...It entertains...It deserves all the box office collections and records it has garnered...But does it deserve to be the movie that seem to be path breaking in terms of content and its take on religion..? Maybe it does..With all its profits, hopefully the cinema owners would be compensated..

And then Netflix said... OMG. . .A demented plot to showcase PK in bad light.. Evil foreign powers...The story's getting international...And I clicked

OMG and PK. Brothers lost in bollywood timeline. One based on a play and the other potentially based on someone's creative imagination. And yet the jarringly similar story line was jarring (no you should not use the word jarring twice in a sentence)

There were similarities. A search for God.Evil Middle men.A superstar.

An then there were differences. Kishan Kanhaiiyaa was the heart of OMG, the soul was Kanji...  In PK , the soul was PK and so was the heart.And OMG did not promise a Ranbir sequel (God!!!). 

OMG targets middle men but strongly holds on to the essential fabric of belief - even if it is in the form of a motorcycle riding AK. PK lets go of everything , tries to reconcile to belief and yet never comes clear on its premise. - all the while another AK holds fort. PK does not have a clear idea or conveys a singular message. It stops short of being an atheist movie- it does not argue against a higher power but stops short of calling it God. In the end it comes down to terminology. And the repeated justification of a father not wanting his/her child to undergo hardships is somewhat childish - it takes the audience for granted - considering the rituals being referred to in the screen. 

1 scene stood out for me -PK has multiple scenes of milk flowing down Bahubali (Amar Chitra Katha - thank you) and multiple shivalangas and 1 Ak dialogue (almost apologetic)  on the same milk being given to the poor. OMG has no visuals. Only Kanji bhai elaborating on the foolishness of the same in a courtroom. 

We cannot let PK have more than it deserves. OMG has done it before (and it is based on a play) . PK has Aamir Khan - and thats about it. Potentially a reason for all the vandalism and protests. And my piece. Enough. Even Netflix has jumped in.

Amen!!!

 

Why I hate Dhoni

I have not watched a cricket match in quite some time now. Highlights- yes - but not the full "entertaining" show; not even the T20s and the IPL. Part of the disassociation with my national pass-time is time zone, part is indifference. You grow in and you grow out. Not surprising. I have yet to complete the last Modern Warfare campaign and Ghosts is looming in the horizon. The 15 minute highlight package of IPL and Champions Trophy matches, strewn on torrent servers, has done just fine. Just as forays into 3rd party single campaign games on the PS3 have replaced my online midnight MW capers.

 But there are some things you cannot get away from. Like awaiting PS4 and Ghosts. Like knowing all packs that have been released on MW, even though never downloading any of them. And like following the IPL and the Champions trophy and all cricket online.

And doing so - remaining in touch and yet so very distant - there is one singular thought that has surfaced way above the others. Hate IPLs. Give me a break from match fixing. Don't kid me commentators. They all count. But there is one that surfaces above all. I hate Dhoni.

So Dhoni is the "cool" captain. The one you can count on in crisis situations. The one who will not show any emotions no matter rain or shine. And while mortal players like Virat Kohli will celebrate victory a tad bit early, Dhoni does not betray any dread of losing early or late.

Steve Waugh patented the "emotionless" captain leading the boat. Graeme Smith, for every apparent "choke" that SA has done, seem to give nothing away. And yet I am different to those and others. The subtle difference being Dhoni is India's captain.

Steve Waugh, Graeme Smith, Chris Gayle and all other non Indian players - I do not care. With Dhoni I do. Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan and Suresh Raina - whether I like them or not – I can smile or wince when they do their stuff. But Dhoni is a curve ball.

Match fixing trails in the IPL with direct leads on to Chennai Super Kings. Conflicts of Interest in business dealings. Wide chasm with the media. And yet there is no false step. Not a denial. Not a clever comment. No hint of owning up or coming clean. And a supposedly lucky streak that kicked in since he took over as captain and continues to this day.

I would like to see Dhoni fall. Follow the script. Like everyone before him in modern Indian cricket. And fall does not mean he is the bad guy or does something crazy. It just means he does the thing that is core to him that I can, as a viewer, savor to tear apart - like Kapil Dev continuing to bowl long after he should have been a coach. It means giving me an opportunity to criticize, as an arm chair expert, the capabilities that a Harsha Bhogle would; but in an equal capacity. I can do that now with his strategies, team combinations and game play choices - but that is not satisfying. I want to criticize him for what his reflection is - the "ice cool" captain of the Indian team. That which cricinfo statistics cannot lay bare for me.

And that is why I hate Dhoni. He does not seem to care what the media and viewers think of him. No explanations. No shenanigans. No playing to the gallery. He seems to do things his own way - like choosing to bowl seam on english summers. And much as I would like to call his "cool" charisma a facade, I cannot. He might be gagged by the BCCI. He might have utter disdain for the media and even for his supporters. But fault that, I cannot. I cannot fault his way - it gives me no satisfaction. the fall has to be when he slips in the way he treads. Like Ganguly did - to some extent. And I am a huge fan of Ganguly.

Dhoni presents me no such opportunities - at least he has none till date. I am sure the facade will break. I am sure he will fall. The slip between the cup and the lip will occur. That is but a matter of time. History, I would like to believe, is on my side. But till that day - and because I have not had that opportunity - I have to hate Dhoni.

Or at least till I play Ghosts. And attain nirvana.

The Special One

So I missed the Champions League finals between Inter and Bayen....which was sad..because I have been watching so less football nowadays...But I did catch the match afterwards..thanks to the "torrent tribe" out there....and no..we do pay for our viewership...keeping alive all those servers takes some contribution...

but this is not about P2P and torrents..this is about the "special one"....Jose Mourinho does not dazzle on the football field....And yet for soccer fans across the globe, this man challenges the boundaries of being a "messiah" or a "pariah"...depending on which side you are on...

In all those friday and saturday nights that I watched live and re-runs of EPL matches, somewhere I had grown tired of Sir Ferguson...And then suddenly there was Chelsea on the horizon....I loved that team from the beginning...the hard scrappy football of the Italians and yet somehow more passionate than any English club ....and 50 years after they did it last, Chelsea were champions once again...Man U and Arsenal were down the table..Mourinho, take a bow...

But Mourinho would have been just another coach for me if it was not for him being Mourinho....The media did not christen him the "special one"..He did....The media just picked it up.....And watching him on the sidelines and watching his side play football, you know the connection between the man and his team...

Mourinho brings passion back to football...And remains one of the characters whom you can only "love" or "hate"...there's no middle ground with the man...and for once, the man himself does not seek a middle ground....

Where do we draw the line between "arrogance" and "self-belief"...Jose Mourinho keeps on stretching that boundary further and further....And keeps hammering the point that he is the "special one" because he believes he is the "special one"...What can we say to that??

Real Madrid is next....My favorite team...If Mourinho nails that one, he wont ever have to repeat himself that he is the "special one"...Everyone would know, for sure.

Cheers!!

;))

the new AVATAR or is it?

So I watched Avatar..Finally..A week late after it hit the theaters....Following months of anticipation of what James Cameron's new offering would unleash...After viewing countless promos on tv and youtube.....After reading previews of why the movie was likely to succeed and why the movie was always destined to never recover its costs....And finally after listening to Cameron himself declare that he was going to change movie making forever...

Avatar is my favorite genre of movie..Fantasy...And though we have seen Star Trek before, this one is different...The name itself and the way the movie works is something every video gamer would love....And something every gamer would know...Its about making the connection....And somehow, somewhere blurring the lines of reality and make believe...Its when we become the sniper and our controllers the gun....Cameron has bravely gone where no man has before....except maybe the 300, though with a very limited budget..

But what really fascinates me is whether this one heralds the new era of movie making...As i listened to the actress, who plays the scientist, explain how the movie was shot, in an interview with John Stewart, I was thinking it was quite remarkable ....While watching the film however, I lost it...Pandora is a beautiful world...As all reviews I have read admits almost unequivocally....The effects are truly spectacular...But my untrained eye could not fathom the definitive results of the experience that Dr Grace was talking about in the interview...In a technical sense, maybe Avatar is the next gen in movies...But from a movie goer's perspective, is this one really the next Avatar?

I think where this movie fails me is the complete absence of characters that I could come back home with.....The princess does a good job but thats about it....Apart from Neyteri, the only one I can think of is the chic who flew the futuristic heli-bomer plane..But where are the rest?

The snarling general would have been a side kick in most movies...the guy who appeared in the series Friend's is just another guy....Neyteri's would be husband is disappointing...Why was he selected to lead the tribe in the first place?...Her shaman mother makes her presence feel to some extent....And the hero himself is not Worthy(ington) of registering in my mind during the train ride home...

So i love fantasies..and the locales and the battles and the effects have got so much to do it..But at the end of the day, to me its the characters..Why do I love Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean....What have I walked away with after watching those movies.?? Yes, I have loved the New Zealand locales, the Kraken and the quidditch games....But I still remember the Elv general who honors the treaty between men and elves, Professor Snape who seems to just jump right out of the novel and the dead monkey who survives everything...

After 3 hours, Avatar does not disappoint....Its wholesome entertainment and great viewing...But since I come from a land where popular cinema is compared to the benchmark set by 3 characters - Jai, Veeru and Gabbar (and maybe even Thakur and Sambha) - I cannot agree that this is the new Avatar of cinema...

We will have to wait some time more before characters are dead and only technical wizadry prevails...Or maybe we wont...Maybe this is the new Avatar..I doubt it though...Heres looking forward to the "Clash of the Titans" in May next year...Till then, let the cut scenes in video games prevail....

Cheers!!!

Frisking the Khan!!

5 months flying in and out of Chicago..and you lose your time to write..and what grand way to get back into the game than to scribble about King Khan....I watched Kaminey this weekend...and it seems there is no king in Bollywood these days.....the Shahid Kapur kid did almost too well....introduced as he was in the Zee lil champ show as the "youngest superstar in India" ...I think it is fair to call him a "kid"....but thats another story...

so the Khan was detained in Newark....and 30% in India , including some elected representatives, go up in arms.....what about the thousands of other Indians who land up in the US and have to go through the same mess...the Khan is not here on a diplomatic mission ..he is here for "fans"...and I would guess its not for free..this is business for him as it is for 80% of us who visit these shores..and so we go through immigration.....we read the "welcome" signs and we smile...and we turn off our internal clock and wait till it is over.....and majority of the people who get through that, send more dollars back to India than the Khan....and yet ..we have this hullaballoooooooo (did i get the spelling right??)about the Khan being detained....and yes...racial profiling and stuff....it is real....all of us know it...and we all know how complicated it is..just look at the kid who rained bullets on Mumbai..is he a Muslim or is he a terrorist..where do these lines blur..but thts go to do nothing with this post.......


Shahrukh, in my opinion, cannot be blamed for this...I mean the dude was modest enough to decide not to ask for an apology....I guess he must be used to be treated like royalty...and in a country where we have redefined being a "celebrity", he cannot be faulted...I guess....

Tempting as it is, I will refrain from commenting on US immigration/security measures.....I can comment...but in my opinion, I should not......The point I go through immigration is, I guess, because I have decided to come to this country.... and they have to ensure I am safe..not a deranged terrorist.which I may look like or my surname might suggest....That right cannot be denied....Should we do the same to them???..May be we should ....Or maybe we should let the generous Indian spirit prevail...

Couple of weeks back, I had read about President Kalam being frisked on a Continental Airlines flight ..I will never fly Continental again....unless its really the cheapest of the cheapest ( probability of which happening is rare, so I am safe..)) ) But i didnot write about it...But this time it is Shahrukh..As I had said earlier...We redefine "celebrity"...Heres for the King Khan...Hope next time, he gets out in less than 60 mins...

cheers!!!
:))

Bloody fantastic

So it took a 47 nearing 48 year old woman to get me to shrug off my lethargy and post once again.....when in my mind I had all but decided that it would be Coelho's "Winner stands alone" that would probably drive me back to writing silly once more...bloody fantastic..ain't it???

susan boyle flashed past me on one of my random tv channel switching spree...and a voice byte that she had garnered a million hits on you tube was enough to take me there....what I was expecting was an entertainment quotient similar to that provided by the seemingly dumb chinese american guy on american idol....

it was not to be...but it was definitely more entertaining..in a different kind of way..so much, that i actually muted a new episode of South park to hear her sing a second time....

I have no clue about voice quality, baritones or any other terminology related to singing...And for the most part, I could not comprehend in its entirety the lines she sung...But there she was...from a place she called a 'collection of villages" and oblivious to the cynicism of the audience...It was like Braveheart just before Gibson made that stirring speech...But in a real life situation (with may be a few clipped edits..its still as close to reality as you can get..;))

But bloody fantastic???....I guess we all like to favor the underdog...And we are surprised and share in the joy when David takes down Goliath..Or maybe its just me drunk..But discounting the David factor, what I thought fantastic was the total belying of expectations, the turnaround and the short span of time it took for the perception to change...That's very interesting to me...When David fought Goliath, my assumption is that, somewhere in his mind Goliath must have been careful that the little guy could turn things around..With Susan, there was no warning.....And what had seemed silly posturing before the moment , seemed like sublime, unadulterated belief after the moment had passed.....

I will probably remember Susan Boyle as the "old english village lady" who turned Joharis window on its head..And for 7 minutes provided entertainment that touched my heart...And then came up with the two words that described it all..."Bloody fantastic"....

Cheers!!!

:))

The Last Over & The Decisive Tackle

So I am watching the the second 20-20 international between India and New Zealand..And suddenly out of the blue, its down to the last 2 overs and finally down to the last over.....Since Dhoni and Praveen Kumar made us world champions,we have all gone with the captain's instinct in these tight situations....And as Irfan Pathan bowled those first three balls,I could not help but think that Dhoni was talismanic (yeah I know he could have brought on Sehwag or the other Pathan, but then he is Dhoni..;))...

But more importantly, I was also left thinking about all the other last over games that I had been a part of ....All of us, as amateur sportsmen, must have gone through those moments...Whether its gully cricket (that i have never played- does gully cricket exist outside Mumbai?) or something in college or university circuits...How did we do in that last over...Whether batting or bowling or maybe even captaining a side..?? Do we still look back at those memories with an all knowing smile of things well done or with a hesitant smirk of having missed out on the glory? Or has those memories become too inconsequential to even merit remembrance?


Years ago when I was part of my college team in football/soccer (playing in defense), I came across that "decisive tackle" in a football/soccer match....Man-marking a guy twice my size and skill, I did pretty well for about 15 minutes..til I heard a dear friend(and a team-mate) shout at me to bring the guy down..but before i reacted, the goal had been scored..that was my "last over"....Beaten clean and fair in skills, I could have still brought that other guy down before he had a chance to take a shot...with maybe a penalty as a result..but that at least would have stopped the flow and given us a greater chance...I failed to do it...and like Mel Gibson believed in his Braveheart speech, I can give anything in my life to get out of bed now and go back for another chance to stop that marauding striker from taking a look at goal.....That chance, in reality, will never come.....But I cannot but try and look at opportunities to find redemption....Maybe it will come at a friendly game in the park or maybe even bowling to my fridge at home (which right now looks the more plausible situation)....

Bottom line, i think, we will never be done with our "last over" or that "decisive tackle"...There will be too many memories that will keep us hooked as another final over drama unfolds on television...Or another EPL match take the turn for the unexpected....Unless we were never on the wrong side of the final over or never failed to make that perfect tackle...

We will be there....And some self of us will be there right on the pitch....Somehow wanting to get out and do that final over right..Or get that tackle in place before its too late...Maybe its not true for for all of us...But for all the rest of us, who have played amateur sports with more than what our hearts and body could offer, I would be surprised if there was no last over that we would not want to re-bowl or make that tackle that we did not....

Here's bowling to my fridge...

Cheers!!!

;))