Saturday, January 8, 2011

Prince to Pauper

I was never a Saurav Ganguly fan. I thought him to be an arrogant and dominating person. Infact, I liked Rahul Dravid. I felt, he was deprived of the recognitions and accolades that he deserved. But, won't deny, being a bengali, always had a soft corner for Saurav. Rejoiced when he hit double tons in England world cup. My heart was filled with pride when he celebrated after the Natwest trophy win. I also triumphed when he lead India to win against the high-nosed Aussies, performed brilliantly in his comeback match in South Africa.

Over the years, people around me, tagged me as a born Ganguly fan. Ganguly's failure turned sarcastic smiling faces towards me. Ganguly's accomplishments gave me a chance to give it back to them. I started associating with this person.

Today, when Ganguly was left unsold in the IPL 4 auction, I really felt bad. I won't lie that I tried to console myself saying "After all, he was not playing that well", "May be KKR can win some matches this time". But then a second voice argues from within.. "He played well last time, made runs, took great catches". Then again a consoling voice prompts, "But KKR has Gautum Gambhir, Yusuf Pathan and Jacques Kallis. Pretty good team. After all you wanted the team to win".  The second voice speaks again, "He deserved a better farewell than this. He was an excellent player and captain at some point of time"..."Remember his huge sixes that flew over the long off against spinners"..."Remember, his attitude, which made the slang spouting Aussies to lower their heads after their loss at Eden Gardens".The first voice says again , "Why am I bothered? I don't care."

The consoling voice over powers the already bleed-ed and blow stricken compassionate voice. And now, my mind gives its final judgment...

Price to pauper... personified

Friday, December 31, 2010

Tees Maar Khan - Movie Review

One of my disgusting mistakes of year 2010 was to watch "Tees Maar Khan". Probably not only mine. May be this is what Akshay Kumar thinks too, for he has said that he won't do a sequel of TMK. Perhaps the much talked about item song "Sheila ki jawani" was just not enough to pull the movie off.

The Akshay Kumar - Katrina Kaif pair couldn't do the trick due to poor story, poorer comedy and poorest acting/direction. The story is about a thief who can open any lock in this world, one who can't be caught.

The movie starts with typical hindi melodramatic "Ma" type pregnant woman enjoying old hindi movie where thieves and robbers are being chased by  the half pant clad policemen. The baby in her womb inculcates all the trickery before its born. The baby emerges to be a boy named Tabrez  aka Tees Maar Khan (Akshay Kumar) and as expected becomes the biggest thief ever. He manages to fool two idiotic intelligence agents (Mukherjee and Chatterjee who later turn to be gay. Why was this required?) and escape. The movie proceed and so does the introduction of dumb, irritating and stupid characters. From Akshaye Khanna, the maniac Oscar craving actor, to the three assistants of Tees Maar Khan. Every now and then the assistants declare in chorus "Khano mein khan , tees maar khan". Katrina Kaif has been nothing more than a prop. Like a fly on a stinking dung cake. Except for two dialogues "Main aur makeup lagake aati hoon" and "Dirty dog" she's hardly audible. Askshaye Khanna plays the role of Oscar hungry actor. He vows for anything and everything that promises him an Oscar. Raghu and his twin brother from MTV Roadies (yes the bald guys who take sadist pleasure in  psyching out poor contestants) play a two in one combo pack funniest villain.

Tees Maar Khan is called in to steal 10, 000 kilograms of antiques for the twins, confiscated by the police. He pretends to be a director from Hollywood and convinces superstar Aatish Kapoor, played by Akshaye Khanna, to work with him promising him an Oscar. The crew starts shooting for a fictitious film in a village. Tees Maar Khan tricks the innocent villagers to steal the antiques from the police.

The movie lacks every aspect that is required to pull crowd apart from the item song. It neither has a story, nor sensible comedy. Mindless comedy exemplified. Budding and existing directors should see this movie to understand how not to make a movie. Farah Khan should do what she can do best, choreography. Pathetic direction and presentation made the movie difficult to bear. Every character seemed to be fed with a potion which makes them deliver nonsensical performance.

If you are excited about "Sheila ki jawani", I would suggest better watch the song on Youtube than watching the movie. And by the way, those who follow Facebook and have come to know that the name of Katrina in the movie is Sheila Kejwani, you are mistaken. Her name is Anya Khan.

TMK is not worth watching even with a free ticket. This movie is really torturous and no one with sane senses would find this movie worth watching.

I would rate it as 1/5 merely because of the entertaining "Sheila ki jawani" item song.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Death of a smiling face

A news channel last night was forecasting a piece of news. Among the pile of news that they served one  caught my attention and made me think.

A state government has published a big banner vocalizing its laurels and greatness. The banner talked about the efforts the government has taken in the agricultural sector of the state. The banner showed a smiling farmer indicating the development in the rural and agricultural household. The government claimed that the work that they have done for the people have brought happiness among the families.

But the irony was hidden. The smiling farmer,the man who served as a model for the big banner campaign is dead. He had committed suicide a year before this banner was published. The smiling face no longer exists.

This has given rise to a new row in the state politics. The political parties were too prompt in cross accusations and blame game. To stir the already muddy political environment, the oppositions accused the state government of negligence and false acclaims. The state government tried defending their positions saying that it was just a depiction of the effort that the state government has put in. The state government made no delays in declaring a compensation for the family of the "celebrated" farmer.

What did the farmer think before he died? Would he have ever imagined that his smiling face would earn his family  some compensation after his death? That his smiling face would bring down political fights among the parties in the state? That his smiling face would be flashed on a national media?

The answer is probably , "No". The death of a farmer is hardly ever noticed unless baked in the media flash lights. Sad but true !!!