Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Dhoom 2 : disappoint kiya re!!

Hindi movies suffer from this problem. They try so hard to be, what's the word, yes cool. Pretty ironical, but that's the fact. Dhoom 2 is one of them too! Everyone tries to be Oh! Look at me, I am so cool !!!.


Ok, so there is a thief, popularly known as Mr. A (Hrithik Roshan), Notorious for stealing precious antiques. While his predecessor (John Abraham), had knack for creating a pattern on Bombay Express Highway, Mr. A has mathematical ambition of stamping his name on the world (literally). After demonstrating his sandsurfing, disguising and but ofcourse dancing skills, it seems all is going well for Mr. A. On the other hand, Jai Dixit (Abhishek Bachchan) is still accomplishing missions with all Suzukis, Ducatis, Waterscooters and his punter-cum-sub-inspector Ali (Uday Chopra) for Mumbai police. Enter his ex-classmate, who had (has) crush on him, sharp-shooter, ACP Shonali Bose. Ah! Shonali does make a wonderful dancing partner than Rimi Sen. Anyway, so now that Mr. A has completed his mission of imprinting his name on the world, is looking for more trouble and enters like desi Angelina Jolie, Sunehari (Aishwarya Rai), who is vying to become accomplice of her long time idol Mr. A. With that begins the tale of betrayal, revenge and theft in new destination of bollywood, Brazil. And in the end lo! Hrithik Roshan is not actually Hrithik Roshan, but John Abraham wearing a mask. Now that is one thing that, thankfully, doesn't happen.


As far back as I can remember, Greatbong always claimed that Sanjay Gupta had biggest collection of hollywood DVDS, but as it turns out, his namesis [sic] , Sanjay Gadhavi isn't far behind either. With bikes and babes, he manages to pay tribute to many hollywood bike-chick flicks. As for the cast, Hrithik Roshan is definitely cooler of the lot, but every now-and-then you have feeling that he still has big time hangover from Krrish, except designer clothes have replaced village attire now. However hard he might try, doesn't pull-off coolness of Rusty Ryan. Abhishek Bachchan manages to stay not to go overboard and is still no-nonsense cop at best. It's becoming harder these days for me to defend my choices. After SRK, it's time for Aishwarya Rai. All-is-well when she removes her disguise and gives Lara Croft-esque pose, but my question is this. WHY DOES SHE UTTER A WORD AT ALL ? I am feeling so hot in here, aren't you? ... Are you like checking me out??. Ms. Rai, as for look and feel, you look charming despite of your age, but you are not Angelina Jolie. Take that. No offence Ms-Rai-soon-to-be-Mrs-Bachchan, but you have definitely given enough reasons for AB fans to crib about you. Bipasha Basu is adequate until Shonali Bose turns to Monali Bose. As for Uday Chopra, lesser said the better. Now that his screen presence is reduced as compared to Dhoom, you don't mind him too much. Biggest villian of the movie is soundtrack. You don't remember a single song (may be except Krazy kiya re...) when you walk out of a theatre and it annoyingly keeps reminding you that you are watching sequel with constant Dhoom again... in background.


It has enough moments for fans and masses to cheer about no doubt. You can't help but to smile when, AB says, Let's do the way my dad used to, just before tossing the coin. You have seen Manhattan buildings and European locales, but you never saw Brazilian beaches, did you? Here is your chance then.


Not that I had many expectations with Dhoom 2 in first place, but people and reviewers going ga-ga about it had raised the bar atleast a little. My Verdict : Go watch it if you liked Dhoom. You might be disappointed, but you won't be bored for sure. Now that movie has released, what I will be eagerly waiting for is Ghoom 2.

Sunday, November 26, 2006

If only...

...Terry, Lampard, Rooney had performed half of what they are for doing English Premier League, England would have ended way up then they have in World Cup '06. General wondering at half time of scintillating ManU vs Chelsea match.

Why SRK, why?

He did Polio campaign. Good. Always good when superstars come to spread social awareness. Then he did Navratna tel. Then he did ICICI Bank. Then he did DON. No problems till now, but just a question. And now to top it all he does this, replacing Amitabh Bachchan for STAR Plus' biggest show ever, Kaun Banega Crorepati. Why does he always have to follow Big B all the time?


I am not arguing on the point that Big B is irreplacable and no one can match him blah blah talk (which albeit is the fact). The point is Big B is altogether a different persona. With Big B comes grandiose, towering personality and respect. Shahrukh Khan, on the other hand, brings a charming personality and energy, who with his smile can be and is a big crowd puller. He might not be the greatest of the actor, but he surely rules boxoffice and above all he knows that. He knows his strengths and weaknesses. He is a clever man, who doesn't believe in hiding weaknesses and showing the world exactly what's needed to be shown to make sure he doesn't get all pretentious and hypocrite. (Don't believe me? Read this and you'll know exactly what I am talking about. Karan Thapar, who otherwise manages to frustrate the guest on Devil's Advocate, sees himself on the other side.)


Anyway, so why this? Why is he trying to prove that he can succeed, if not replace, Big B? He simply can't and doesn't need to either. People like and love him for what he is. He has fan base of his own. He has proved himself. He doesn't need this. He can make big by doing his own than trying to fit in someone else's shoes. God bless you!

Monday, November 20, 2006

Sanedo (સનેડો)

Sanedo is taking Gujarat by storm. Everywhere from every Navaratri to marriage function, Sanedo rules. It's time to visit some history, Geography of Sanedo.


Original pronunciation and word is Snehdo(Gujarati: સ્નેહડો), derived from the word Sneh(Gujarati: સ્નેહ), meaning love or affection. Sanedo contains couplets of four lines and has striking resemblance to Bhavai, a folk drama from Gujarat. Topic of lines can be anything under the sun satire, love, youth, anything that you want.


Sanedo originated from the villages of Patan district in Gujarat and it has become a very popular dance all over Gujarat and also among the Gujarati speaking population in North America and Britain. It is frequenty played during the festival of Navratri, during wedding celebrations and during parties. Sanedo originally said to have been made famous by Arvind Barot, around 20 years ago, but it wasn't until recently that Maniraj Barot made it rage in all over Gujarat. I was skeptical about it, but ever since my dear bro has "illustrated" Sanedo to me, I am a big fan of Sanedo. I still think Sanedo deserves much more recognition than it has. Jay Vasavada has wonderful article on Gujarat Samachar about Sanedo (here) . If you are a Gujarati reader, it's a must read.


I have also created a wikipedia page about Sanedo. If you have more information about it, please contribute to page.


PS:- If you want to listen to Sanedo, you can listen it here(free registeration required), here and here.


PS/2:- Few more customized Sanedo, listen to NRI no sanedo and CM (Narendra Modi) no sanedo.

Roger Federer as a religious experience

Roger Federer rules? dominates? crashes? thrashes? Damn! I have ran out of adjectives, so have commentators. Yesterday when Roger made Blake eat that Bagel, IMHO, he played one of the best games we have ever seen from the king. Roger Federer lifted his third masters cup in straight sets 6-0 6-3 6-4. I pity Blake, seriously. He didn't set a foot wrong, it was just that he didn't have answer to master's Impeccable, landing just online, powerful baseliner shots nor he could believe that how could anyone hit powerful cross-court forehands and unfathomable passing backhands. poor soul himself later on said, If Federer is an artist, his performance in Sunday's final would have to count as one of his masterpieces. I guess that came from defeating his nemesis, Rafael 'Rafa' Nadal, especially beating him in straight sets for the first time in 9 encounters. Fedex has proved himself a cut above others. He has been setting record of maximum INDESIT ranking points since three years. He is the first man to breach barrier of 8000 entry points. He has been sitting on #1 ranking since 150 weeks (i.e. almost 3 years), just shy of world record of 160, which he theoretically has already broken. If he takes break at this point of time and takes a long 4 months break, he will still return as #1. More than 10 titles per year since last three years. Consecutive 10 grandslam semifinal appearances. Consecutive 5 grandslam final appearances (4 out of which he won), and the list is endless. I would rather recommend his Wikipedia page.


On this occassion, I would like you to read an excellent article by David Wallace on NYTimes : Roger Federer as a religious experience.


There are three kinds of valid explanation for Federer’s ascendancy. One kind involves mystery and metaphysics and is, I think, closest to the real truth. The others are more technical and make for better journalism.


Don't miss this and I really say this literally. DON'T MISS IT.