Oscars.. le entree' de Inde..

Ohk ok.. my french sucks.. pardonne moi..

So the FFI or whatever the film body is called.. who cares, decided that the Official Indian entry to 2006 Oscars would be PAHELI.

Well, most of the time people roll off their opinion about such matters without having seen all of the other movies also in the fray.. me too, but for once I have actually watched ALL of the movies that were in the top bracket and were in contention. So thereby I derive my right to opinionate on the said matter.

First all the movies that were in contention.. Ok the hindi ones only:

Paheli, Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, Page 3, Black and Iqbal.

Black

Lets start with the what was the favorite to reach LA. Sanjay Bhansali walked away with all the critical acclaim and public hysteria over this hard hitting, gritty tale of a blind-deaf girl and her teacher.
The pros:
- A different movie. Good to see people like SLB moving away from mush and back to the what appeals his own heart.
- Amazing cinematography. Real amazing camera work. The blacks, the grays.. the shadows.. the works..
- The little girl who plays the young Michelle. She rocks..
Cons:
SLB went truly overboard here. He is a very talented director and very intricate in his homework. That shows here, but his script which demands people to be shocked at the young child's plight is manipulative. Close camera shots, violent shrills and loud scenes marr the otherwise amazing screenplay. AB, the most versatile indian actor, overacts more than what would have sufficed. On the whole, the film wants to manipulate you to be shocked.. to be sucked up into a wave of sympathy .. towards the movie.. more than what you feel for the girl and her teacher.

It wouldnt have made the cut at the Oscars.. Too loud for their taste. And they can see through the manipulations. Simplicity is the key. Also the added issue of being called a copy of The Miracle Worker didnt help its cause.


Iqbal

Nagesh Kukunoor at helm. Expect a story well told. This one is..
Simplicity is the key here.. A touching tale of a deaf/ dumb boy who dreams to play for the Indian cricket team (unless Saurav has a problem with him). A nice lilting story, without too many sub plots and really well told. The peripheral characters are all well chosen. Girish Karnad, Naseer, Iqbal's younger sister.. everyone. Quality product.
But its just not the right choice for the Oscars. Its centred around cricket a wee too much. The story is quite predictable.. I mean everyone knows the kid is gonna make it. A terrific watch.. but I would pack it for the Oscars. BTW, if you havnt watched Nagesh Kukunoor's Teen Deewarien.


Hawaaron Khwaishien Aisi

HKA, made by Sudhir Mishra, the one of the art house realm, is a very complex movie. The kinds you need to watch multiple times to uncover its many layers and nuances. Its something to dissect over many a screenings.. pref watching alone. A portral of 3 friends coming and going apart during the Emergency. Its more about relationships than is evident. Again well directed, gritty and morose. Its highly unpredictable the way it moves swifting around the 3 major characters. My personal opinion is that I didnt connect with either of the three characters to really feel for them. All of them are very complex beings and although very real, they dont really bond too well with the viewer. I know its meant to be that way. But just that donest make it love this movie. It must have been a strong contender for the jury and I dont know their reasons why they could not select it. I too wouldnt have..

Paheli

Well so this one won. Ok let me start with the vibes it generated before its release. Amol Palekar, core art house guy directing a film with SRK-Rani and co. on a Rajasthani folk tale. Sounded too good to be true. A mix of both the worlds. Perfect. Thats the reason I still watched it after hearing its horrible reviews. Maybe I wanted to find out by myself, what went wrong if it did. Well, SRK won. It isnt best of both the worlds. He just swung the scales on his side. Amol doesnt infuse any life into this one. There are no layers to uncover here. A straight forward tale of a ghost falling in love with a village girl. The folk tale was supposed to be about how this girl gets to choose about her life for the very first time. But, we dont see Rani like a helpless poor woman. She looks soo lavish, so independent, soo much in command throughout that this tag line flops. Maybe this one told 30 years ago would have connected better with people. The cinematography is very slick.. too slick to my liking for a folk take. The screen play is just too cooked up and altered to what could have been really worthwhile. I know Amol realises that himlself and he is probably as surprised about the jury decision as all of us.
The Jury chose this as it is a folk take, something the Amreeks relate to us Indians. And with a masala camel race thrown in the middle the jury dreamt maybe they could pull it off. Sorry, but this one is gonna miss the cut there in round 1.

Page 3

You must have guessed by now. I kept it away for last, because its my choice for the Oscars. Its one compelling movie well told. Madhur Bhandarkar of Preetii Jaiin fame, directed this take on the the glamour world. This is a satire on the cosmetic lives of the 100 famous people who live to show off in the next big bash. Perfectly timed with what is happening all over the world today, what with wannabes like Mallika Sherwat and Co willing to go all the way to become celibrities. Moreover its a global phenomenon, with US right at the top. Being a celibrity is like an ambition quite a few people nurture. This is a hard hitting take on the concept, and there is never a dull moment. Bhandarkar is not the one with cinematographic visions. His strength is compelling stories about Human weaknesses... He captures it perfectly. Good strong acting from everyone. No major starring roles in this one. Its a commentary on the sordid state with a pinch of salt. Dark humour for us indians alien to the concept. I would liked to see this off to the Academy awards. They like a compelling story well told. Its both.. and to top it all, it connects with people across national boundaries.

So until next time, lets hope the Academy goofs up and we see the Stuttering Khan waving the Golden statuette.

Adios,

~krishna~

Mom-Dad here... = nice weekend !

Mom came in here last monday nite. And Dad came in friday nite and its been a rocking time since. Truly marvellous to have them here.. Just incredible.. or like the Yankees roll out all the time "AWESOME.." ,-)

So I had a nice weekend. Showed (off) dad and mom around the new MS Campus.. and both of them were mightly impressed.. well, the campus is for sure an eye opener :D

It is nice of MS to let you get your parents to work. You can show them around the place peacefully.. and no one minds..

Sunday, we also went to the Birla Mandir and Charminar.
Now Birla Mandir is one nice place here in HYD. Atop a small hillock overlooking the entire city, its a peaceful and nice temple devoted to Lord Vinayak. The wite marble all over the place remains soo cool even if its a little on the sunnier side. I love to sit on the white marble after the visit to the main temple and just rest around there.

Charminar was like it always is.. crowded... brimming with people. But its a different place and you have to have that kind of sensibilities to enjoy its environment. In short, not the kind of palce everyone would enjoy. For a change I didnt... Just too congested that day for me.

We also went to the HussainSagar Lake in the evening. Now thats something to wonder about. For a big time change, a placid nice lake has been developed by the government to something much more than its potential.. and it feels good to think that an Indian state government dint screw it as most of you expect them to..
They have a nice well done roads all round the lake, which lights up in the evennigs and is apty called the Necklace road.. maybe a picture of it here someday. And on one side of the lake they have developed an elongated Promenade.. entwined between lawns and foilage. Beyond it, there is a food court, which overlooks the lake. Truly faaantaaastic...
.. if only the people around can resist from getting rid of their waste right there on the walkways...

So, in all a nice loong weekend.. the kinds that stretches into the Monday and just refuses to let go.. :(


Cheers,

~Krishna~

Bz WeeKs

Have been having some bz weeks...
Quite a lot of things to do or fix.. and not entirely fun things..
Anyway thats how starts are.. so be it..

Meanwhile, weekends have been mostly fine lately.. mostly relaxing.
Caught up on a few movies past weeks..
A quick round-up :

IQBAL
Really nice and touching movie. Makes you realise how awfully good Nagesh Kukunoor is. Simple straight forward story told really really well. Top class acting.. and the young kid (who plays Iqbal) rocks.. Naseer is solid as ever.. and So is Girish Karnad. Old timers at their best. The best part is the uplifting spirit is enduces. And specially in these times of Ganguly-Chappel feuds, makes you realise cricket was meant to be about passion not politics..

Zaher
Good story.. Average screenplay... Bad direction.
Ok I dont like this chap.. Emraan Hashmi.. but heard this one had a nice story. The dir ruined the movie with patchy editing and really awful ending. Features two girls : Udita Goswami, Shamita Shetty. Neither can act. PERIOD.
Demonstrates how a catchy storyline can engage you inspite bad acting.
PS: A couple of really nice soulful songs..

Salaam|Namaste
Overhyped.. Cmon, this is was just a masala flick which dint even pretend to scratch the surface of live-in relationships. Just a fun-frolic-masala flick. Amazing locations and sights captured on film. That was the best part. But plzzzzz dont go to watch it for its storyline.



Anyway moving away from movies, Mom is coming over on Monday. so am all kicked up about it. Dying to see her.. been a looooong time.

So watch out for my next post. Hopefully should have lotsa travel news.. lotsa pics and stuff.

Cheers,
~Krishna~

Settled in HYD.. finally....

Hi to all my fans and friends...
,-)
.
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Ohk Hi all my friends...

So finally am quite a bit settled and comfortable in HYD.. My home is all setup.. and so is things at office..
So you all can now start pouring in at HYD.. ohk.. one at a time plz... :-)

My home is in a place called YELL-a-Reddy-Guda... no its not a Dial-Reddy kinda service... just plain Telugu typa name...

Ohk.. well the place is quite a decent and green.. Green as in greenery and foilage..
So its quite a nice and peaceful sight to look from the balcony..
Its a 3 BHK place but I managed to convert it a 2 BHK + Sitout...
well, actually its a proper bedroom but since it is attached with the balcony and that too only with some huge windows and all, it looks more a part of the balcony.. and thats how we treat it as..

Maybe some pics of the place might clear things a bit.. dont expect em tomorrow... am supposed to be BZ..

Well, life in Hyd has been so far so good.. nice smallish city.. with too many people ...
Really, on weekends its hard to think of a place we can visit to generally hang-out or so.. We end up mostly in a mall called Hyderabad Central, which is just 10 mins away.. Its a typical mall where I mostly come out with my wallet a lot lighter... and my hands heavier...

One more interesting thing... which is absolutely non-interesting is the traffic...
It seems absolutely chaotic and is really inspirational to someone actually interested in Comp Sc to study Random functions..
Seriosuly, I am scared to drive around the place and the 2 scratches and 1 dent on my ZEN can vouch for that... and remember how much I prided myself on my smooth driving back in Delhi...

On the office front things are quite better... We had the MS IDC 7th Year anniversary celebrations on Saturday.. and it was actually fun.. The beer helped the matter IMO.... But the rock band was nice and so were a few presentations by IDC folks....

Hey, its been ages since I clicked anything.. with a camera offcourse...
My last outing was to the Charminar.. and trust me its truly elegant...
So to end this looong post, here are some pics of the place...

CHARMINAR PICS
















#1 : A Diagonal view of Cminar..
















#2: BLACK
the most dominant color in that area is black… black of burqas the women put on there… in the BG you see amazing clouds.. almost make it look unreal..



#3: Jyothi.



#4: Prototype view...
Must have seen this view in so many magazines and journals...



#5: Cminar, and the roadside ‘thelas’ …. Quite a colorful view…




#6: Minars
Magnificient.. all of em..



#7 : the mosque..



#8 : Charminar in chains..


So its been a long time since I have been out with my camera..
Looking forward to chance to give my camera a workout..

anyway, feel free to write back ur comments.. fan mail... and watever else you might want... :D

Ciao,

~Krishna

Am a Microsoftie now..

Yeah.. joined MS on 11th July, Monday..
Am one of those in the Evil Dark empire... ,-)

Is a great campus btw..
Actually a campus.. not to mention a spanking new building.. Yankee style..

and no restrictions on timings/ security/ ......
do what you want is the mantra...

still exploring the place really.. so dont really have a final opinion about the place.. will keep writing as and when i discover this new place..

HYD is actually a nice place.. contrary to my believe that people must have been wrong when they claimed it to be one...
Not big enough.. not small ..
nice simple people you can actually talk to..

Again, still discovering the place..

So sigining off for now,
~krishna~

My last days here..

I end my period with ST tomorrow i.e. 5th July, Tuesday. After 2 year 7 months...
Somehow I aint all that nostalgic or emotional.. i knew it was around the corner for a while..
So I was kind of mentally prepared..

The only thing I will miss for sure is my group.. had some real nice people in my group and will miss them.. Hope to keep contact with them.. and considering I belong here in Delhi, I hope to see them sometimes too..

For now, am busy taking the necessary clearances from various departments.. before they can relieve me.. A big time boring activity.. specially on your last few working hours...

Signing off,

~krishna~

skyline..

Skyline of metropolitan Delhi..

One of those rare evenings in Delhi where the moon and the colors of the sky actually shows..
Took this one from the terrace of my apartment.. not the best possible shot.. but still liked it..
Some touch-up on the comp as well..

aaaaarghhh... there is alooooong way to go for me to really get some eye-catching stuff...
till then will have to do with mediocre stuff like this ...


Signin' off,

Krishna