Mehndi Pictures

When I was in India I got Mehndi put. I had a blast. It was amazing. I am sad I didn't take pictures of how nice the color had turned out. It took two women (professionals) about 35-40 minutes to do each hand (Front and back).

Shocked to find Chaiya Chaiya in "The Inside Man"

I rented the DVD for the Inside Man a couple of days ago. It had all the trappings of a movie I generally like. The plot line is about bank heist starring Clive Owens and Denzel Washington. A good thriller is always welcome with the recent of dearth of good movies Hollywood is churning out. More on that subject later. Clive Owens is one of most under-rated actors around. He really gets into the skin of the character he is playing. His British accent adds to his charm ofcourse. As soon as the movie started playing starting with the globe of the Universal Studios thing, I hear in Sapna Awasti's voice "Jin ki sar ho ishq ki chawan, pav ke neeche janat hogi", the evergreen Chaiya Chaiya song, an A.R.Rahman blockbuster from the movie Dil-se. The original soundtrack keeps playing as the credits roll. A remixed version of the song plays during the end credits of the movie too. Somehow to me (I am a prejudiced audience because I hear and see the song in a different context) did not gel with the setting of the movie. I almost expected Shah rukh Khan and Maliaka Arora to jump out from somewhere and starting dancing. Instead I was subjected to some scenes from Manhanttan. Inside Man is a good movie if you have nothing to do or you are a graduate student.

Globalization in a flat world

Before I come to my interesting tibit here is a little background on the subject: "Vegetarian Food on International Flights". On International flights we have to order special meals when we book our ticket because a vegetarian meal is not an accepted standard option on International flights. So we can order stuff like Asian Vegetarian or Western Vegetarian. Plus we have to specify we are ok with dairy products otherwise we get no desert and some excuse for butter with the bread. On some airlines if you request a vegetarian meal they will give you the lowest common denominator that is dairy-free, low-calorie, sugar-free in addition to being vegetarian. No prizes for guessing how bad such a meal tastes.

The last two trips I have gone to India I have flow Northwest-KLM. Last year on KLM instead of bringing us our "special meal" during mealtime the stewardess came and asked, "Would you like chicken or vegetarian curry?". Note this is on a flight going from Detriot to Amsterdam and not some direct flight in and out of India. A guy sitting a couple rows behind us was quite appalled at his given choices. He asked the stewardess whatever happened to the traditional choices of beef or chicken. A similar thing happened this year too. Again the standard choices were chicken or vegetarian curry. The option for the sides were a crossiant or aloo parantha (its a kind of stuffed Indian bread). The guy sitting behind was curious why there was a standard vegetarian option. The stewardess explained since they were getting so many requests for special meals, a.k.a vegetarian meals, it was getting hard for the airlines to keep track of them and manage them. It was more cost effective for them to have the vegetarian meal as a standard option.

This makes you think that globalization in a flat world is very multi-directional. If there are American food chains in India there is Indian food on an flight operated by an American airline flying from the US to a city in Europe.

Excited about Omkara

The next movie I am really excited about watching is Vishal Bhardwaj's adaptation of the Shakespeare's Othello called Omkara. After watching Maqbool, I was convinced Bhardwaj does a great job with the adaptations. Irfan Khan and Tabu with Pankaj Kapur made a stellar star cast to bring the deception and treachary of Macbeth right to hindi cinema. Next comes Omakara which is set under the polictical backdrop of UP which seems so appropriate for Othello. Ajay Devgan is Othello, Kareena Kapoor is Desdemona, Saif Ali Khan is Iago, Konkona Sen Sharma is Emilia, Vivek Oberoi is Cassio and Bipasha Basu is the courtesan. It will be interesting to see how Saif does as a schemeing manipulator. This sounds totally different than what he has done so far. This character allows more shades of gray. The only part of the star cast that bothers me is Vivek Oberoi as Cassio. After Company he has not proven himself in a really good role, so there is a question mark on his casting. Though he might bring a certain level of guilability and naiveness to the character of Cassio. The trailer looks really good. I am waiting for its soundtrack to come out. Ajay Devgan has a great intensity in him as an actor which translates well to roles that command authority.

Mumbai the rudest city?

Reader's Digest did a survey of 35 cities worldwide to measure the level of civility in each of the city. Mumbai had the distinction of being at the rock bottom of the table. Now coming back to survey, the article on Mumbai is the rudest city states the three basic criteria used for judging the rudeness/civility of the cites. Here is the actual article

• holding the door open for someone right behind you;
  
• helping a passer-by pick up a dropped newspaper or pile of documents;
  
• thanking shoppers after their retail experience.
  
  

After reading the list I wasn't surprized at all Mumbai was at the rock bottom. Another interesting observation to make most of the Asian countries surveyed are towards the lower end of the spectrum. Here is why the survey is a totally unfair comparison. They are judging cities across the world based on the definition of the etiquite in the western culture. Holding open a door for someone right behind you is a very western defintion of etiquite. None of the major Asian cultures subscribe to this idea as a notion of civility. Some people who have been exposed to a western education will prescribe to the notion others won't.

Thanking shoppers after their retail experience is a different kind of problem. There is a totally different dimension to this problem. Here is the key difference in the retail markets of the US vs India. In the US retail items are marked anywhere between 100-500 percentage profit range depending on the item. Selling one item is considered a succesful sale. However, in India the retail markup is not very high. The profit margins can range from 10-30 percent. To make the same money has the US counterparts, the salespeople have to sell 10 times more. In the process the sweet smile on the face, the sing-a-song "may I help you", "thank you for shopping with us", "are you finding everything all right" goes away. The focus on schmoozzing each client is not possible when you are trying to maximize the sale and not the experience of shopping

For this to have been a more credible survey, it would have been nice if they had distingushed between the western and eastern idea of etiquitte.

Music Review for Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna (KANK)

Love them or hate them but you certainly can't ignore Karan Johar movies. So the music of KANK is finally out and whats the verdict? It is very Shankar-Ehsan-Loy-esque. Their trademark signature is all over the album. I don't mean that in a bad way. Even in A.R. Rahman compositions his signature is printed boldly on each of the songs. Since they last composed Kal Ho Na Ho for Karan Johar who produced the movie, there are definitely some parallels. But given that Kal Ho Na Ho was a fun album I was glad of the certain parallels. The soundtrack other than the title song is not something that grips you instantly; however, it definitely grows on you as listen to it again and again. Sonu Nigam renders the two romantic numbers in the movie with Alka Yagnik. They are the melanchony, romantic numbers which are easy on the ears. Both Sonu Nigam and Alka Yagnik bring a lot of emotion, passion and depth to these songs. It might have been interesting to have Shreya Ghosal croon atleast one these numbers. Here is a bigger thing that baffles me. Why is suddenly Sonu the king of "only" slow romantic numbers? He is as good at the fun happening songs as he is at the slow numbers. Case in point Fanaa and now KANK. Sonu is doing the slow numbers while Shaan is having the fun. Mix it up a little bit. Both Sonu and Shaan are extremely talented singers. The music directors need to bring out each of the different facets in these two melodious singers.

Among the fast numbers in KANK, "where's the party tonight" by Shaan and Vasundhara Das is a lot of fun. I can already see this playing at all the clubs in B'bay for days similar to Kajra re and Its the time to disco. It has a great beat to it. You can't help but swing to it. The "Farewell Trance" is very techno based and enjoyable. I personally haven't come to care for the two versions of "Mitwa". In my opnion they seem to bring the album down a little bit. I might change my mind in a few days or after seeing the picturization. The last number "Rock n Roll Soniye" is very cliched. Nothing really new to it, a very predominatly wedding themed. It would be no surprize if it is picturized on a wedding. I have a sneaky suspision thatit will be picturized on Amitabh given the way Shanker Mahadevan has gone all out singing this song.

Overall I would its a good album. Give a litte time before you decide to like it or hate.

Anybody else tired of Himmesh Reshmiya?

I was listening to a new movie score, "Ahista Ahista" which is composed by Himmesh Reshmiya. If I hear one more song in the nasal voice of his, I will be read to scream, or not listen to any of his crap ever again. So he got a great break with Aashiq Bana Banaya Apne. The novelty paid off, and it was a chartbuster. But he can't keep repeating himself again and again. I know there are a lot of Himmesh bashers out there. So I don't want this post to turn into lets hate Himmesh. He definitely has talent ; but he seriously needs to stop singing. I am sure the producers won't mind shelling out some extra bucks to get a proper playback singer. So I started listening to the track 5 minutes before I started writing this post. Now another 5 minutes later I am ready to turn it off.

Now music directors singing in their movies is nothing new. Everybody from A.R. Rahman to Anu Malik does it. Shankar Mahadeven is even good at it. But they do it rather to mix it up a litte bit. Anu Malik just does it for fun in totally whacked out numbers like "Ek Garam Chai ke pyali ho". A.R Rahman is a more serious singer. He has done varied numbers like the title song of Dil Se, Chale Chalo in Lagaan, and Yeh jo desh hai mera in Swades. He does not sound a clone of himself in every other song he croons.

Himmesh Reshmiya's current stratergy might pay off in the short run but if he wants to be taken seriously by his peers and the public he needs to diversify and not sing himself.

Excerpt from a Jagit Singh Ghazal

"Dhafna Kar do hume ke saas mile, navaz kuch der se thami si hai" ---> loosely translated in computer science terms means "Terminate my process of life so that I can breath because my life seems to have reached a halting state" ---> translated normally would result in "bury my body so that I am able to take a breathe, life in general is fleeting these days". Now that I have butchered the beautiful poetry totally and irrevocably I will get to the contradiction in the first sentence "Bury me so that I can live". It is quite captivating. We sleep walk most of our life. How many occassions have really fully lived life? Well thats my existential thought of the day.

Dan Brown as a writer

An article about scholars attacking the Da Vinci Code got me thinking about Dan Brown. At best, Dan Brown is a very average mystrey thriller writer even with the huge success of the The Da Vinci code. There are articles and blog posts all over that find errors in Brown's research so google around and you will find enough posts. I am no expert on his books; however, I have read them all on airplanes and airports during the long trip to India. I just think Dan Brown is a very average writer. THe first 150 pages of Angels and Demons reads like a good book but detoriates very fast into a third-grade mystery thriller. Everything (the mole, the near death experiences, the bad guy) is very predictable. If you have read even two books by Dan Brown its is very easy to pick the pattern. Parts of the book are generally promising with taut writing and griping sequences. But he can neither sustain the momentum or keep up the quality of writing.

Now the bulk of the critisicm comes mostly for what Dan Brown claims are "facts" in the book. The article linked above mentions "If you were writing it as a nonfiction book," Gibson asked, "how would it have been different?"
"I don't think it would have," replied Brown. . I was completely shocked by this statement. The statement opened only two possibilites; one, he is starting to believe his own ficitious stories or two, he wants other people to believe them.

Due to the quality of the writing, the book in my opinion is average. A good way to pass your time on an airport or airplane. I do think that the movie will be much better. From the clips I have seen Tom Hanks and Ron Howard will add a lot more credibility to Robert Langdon's character than Dan Brown could get do. Why? Because Ron Howard and Tom Hanks are the masters of their craft unlike Dan Brown.

Stephen Colbert at the White House Correspondents Dinner

For viewers of the Colbert Report, this will come as a special treat. Now I will give due where it is due. Stephen Colbert's humor is vitrolic. It takes a lot of gumption to invite him to speak at the White house correspondents Dinner. Now the question remained could he deliver the same sharp punches with the President sitting a few feet away? The answer is "oh yes!" he did. It was a no holds barred talk. He made fun of everything from the energy crisis, low approval ratings, crisis mismanagement, the war in Iraq, and President. The video can be viewed: Stephen Colbert at the White House Correspondents dinner . Most of the jokes are pretty direct and mean too. Just keep that in mind, if you have never seen The Colbert Report. To the President's credit he was very sporting to the whole thing.

Title song from Fanaa : Lyrics

Mere Haath Mein Tera Haath Ho, Sari Jannattien Mere Saath Ho
Tu jo paas ho, phir kya ye jahan Tere pyar mein ho jao Fanaa

dialogue:
Tere dil mein meri saason ko panah mil jaye , tere ishq mein meri jaan fanna ho jaye

Jitne paas hai khushboo saans ke, jitne paas hooton ke sargam
Jaise saath hai karvat yaad ke, jaise saath baahon ke sangam
Jitne paas paas khawabon ke nazar utne paas tu rahena humsafar

Tu jo pass ho phir kya ye jahan Tere pyar mein ho jao Fanaa
Mere haath mein tera haath ho, sari jannattein mere saath ho

Dialogue
Roone de aaj humko tu aakhen sujane de baahon me lele aur khud ko bhi jaane de
Hai jo seene mein kaid dariya woh chot jayega, hai itna dard ke tera daman bheeg jayega

Jinte paas paas dhadkan ke hai raaz, jitne paas boodon ke badal
Jaise Saath saath chanda ke hai raat , utne paas nainon ke kajal
Jitne paas paas sagar ke leher, utne paas tu rahena humsafar

Tu jo pass ho phir kya ye jahan Tere pyar mein ho jao Fanaa
Mere haath mein tera haath ho, sari jannattein mere saath ho

Dialogue:
Adhuri Saans thi dhadkan adhuri thi ahudre hum,
Magar ab chand pura hai fhalak pe aur ab pure hai hum

Mistress of Spices Trailer

If you love Gurinder Chadha brand of cinema (east meets west), I am sure you will want to know about this. The book, Mistress of Spices written by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is quite different from your average novel with expartiate Indians trying to find a foothold in the US. It bring a certain mysticism and spirituality of eastern philosphy to the west. People have compared it to Joanne Harris' Chocolat . The thing similar in the books is the healing powers of spices vs. chocolates, a person adept at adminstering them. However, personally the character development is very different both books. Mistress of Spices brings a lot of eastern values in a nice way. The movie has Aishwariya Rai as Tilo the protoganist, and Dylan McDermot plays the American. Here is the Trailer for Mistress of Spices

I am sucker for the east meets west movies. Well made movies that is. The screenplay is co-written by Gurinder Chadha and her husband Paul Berges. Paul Berges directs this one. It will be interesting to see if he can bring the same level of sensitivity and humor like his wife's movies

Water: A painfully beautiful movie

Deepa Mehta's trilogy ends with Water. It is by far the most moving movie out of the trilogy. The characters and the situations are very real. You almost seem transported to the set itself. The moisture and water in the movie seems to surround the viewer in addition to the characters. The music futher haunts the viewer, and sucks them in. The plight of women, the hypocrisy of society, the poverty, the helpness remain etched in your mind long after the movie. The last movie that affected me so strongly was Mr & Mrs Iyer, or Pinjar. I very highly recommend the movie.

Closing Ceremony of the Commonwealth Games

The closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games just concluded in Australia. The last bit of the closing ceremony had Aishwariya Rai, Saif Ali Khan, Rani Mukherji et al. Now I saw the video online somewhere, where the quality was not too good so there is a possibility that the audio was not synced up the video. But I doubt that. The Channel 9 commetator called Aishawariya Rai - Isha Sherwani, and called Priyanka Chopra - Aishwariya Rai. A case of mistaken identity? The announcer at the stadium had gotten it right, just the commentator was all confused. So people who are wondering what bollywood stars were doing at the closing ceremony of the commonwealth games, the next games are in Delhi. They also unveiled the mascot, "Sher Khan". The commentator was saying Sher Khan, and it almost sounded like Shah Rukh Khan. You need to say it fast with an "strine" accent to see what I mean. The mascot costume was very tacky. The design is cute but it looked like some guy in a baggy halloween costume. Come on people we can do better than. The adverstiment for Delhi 2010 was also aired, the best part of the ad is end where they have jalebi with the words Delhi, yumm!!

India scrape past Eng

India win was its 14th consecutive win while chasing a target. The win equalled the previous record of West Indies did in 1984 and '86. At one point about 7-8 years ago, India were known as the best chokers in the game. They had mastered the art of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. The infusion of some young blood has given way to a new attitude of never say die. This change is palable in a lot of other things too. People scream and shout obout outsourcing, R&D jobs moving to India. The thing people need to take notice of is the new attitude. For a long time Indians were quite laid back, content in their lives. Now there seems to be fire within to excel. Gone is the old-school notions of get a government job and lead an easy going life.