Tuesday, August 18, 2009

The new and improved F-words

After a long time, there is a hindi film which is 100 % pure cinema. Those who have seen it will instantly know that I am talking about 'Kaminey'. Rest should watch it as soon as possible, before getting saturated by the 'Kamney fever' which is already spreading like wildfire.
To start with, and stating the very obvious : Vishal Bhardwaaj is a genius. An extremely brilliant filmmaker. Makdi, Maqbool, Omkara, The Blue Umbrella and now Kaminey, he has an extremely impressive resume. And the thing I love most about him is that he makes a film for the love of cinema. He doesn't get distracted by the bollywood formulae. He doesn't think about what will work, what not. He doesn't estimate the kind of money his film will make. He makes a film because he wants to tell a story, his way. I very firmly believe that honest work never goes unrewarded. Imtiaz Ali was honest till Love Aaj Kal happened. I hope Vishal Bhardwaaj remains honest all throughout.
Coming to 'Kaminey'. I am not going into a detailed review of the film because there are already very good reviews of the film all around. I would talk just a little about how I feel about it. As I mentioned in the beginning, 'Kaminey' is 100 % cinema. It is an extremely fast-paced story, set in the crime world. 99 % of the characters are evil, and yet very likeable. It is very difficult to single out anyone so I won't. So strong and absorbing were the characters that when one my friends praised the background score of the film, I couldn't recall a single tune apart from "Dhan te naa" which, by now, is on its way to become the new college anthem. All the characters are very well written and performed brilliantly by the actors, most of them with more than 10 years of theater experience. I didn't know about any of them, apart from Shahid Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Amol Gupte (the man behind Taare Zameen Par). And from now, I'll know them by the characters they played.
Another high point of the film are the dialogues, written by Bhardwaaj himself. So witty are the dialogues that they make you laugh in the most serious of situations. Dark humour at its best.
And to round it off, Shahid Kapoor has made lisping cool !! 'Kaminey' deserves to be a cult film and I won't be surprised if 50 years from now, somewhere in a village, a conversation goes like this :

Teacher : Paife kamaane ke kitne tareeke hote hain?
Student : Fir, 2. ek fortcut, doofra chhota fortcut.
Teacher : How fweet.

jai ho.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Dew Drops

Some macro-shots that i took when we went on a hike in the Santa Monica Mountains. The heavily cloudy weather didn't help the pictures but on the plus side, we got to walk into the clouds !!!
Here's the slideshow :



jai ho

Sunday, April 26, 2009

missin'

I laugh, I run, I play
living life with arms open wide
but i know, i sense, i feel
that something's missing inside

I smile, I joke, I tease
for sure, i've learnt to hide.
i don't know what, but
something's surely missing inside

Sunday, April 05, 2009

ग़म नहीं

इस अंतहीन अन्तरिक्ष के अथाह अनंत में
खो जाऊँ, तो ग़म नहीं
तपती मरुभूमि की सुनहरी तपिश में
पिघल जाऊँ, तो ग़म नहीं
उन अक्षम्य त्रुटियों के प्रायश्चित-स्वरूप
अश्रु की इक बूँद में
समा जाऊँ, तो ग़म नहीं

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

शेर-ज्ञान # 2

दिल पे बुलडोज़र चला कर
यूँ मुस्कुरा कर चले गए
इस उजड़े चमन को, ऐ ज़ालिम,
कमसकम अलविदा तो कहा होता

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

अर्ज़ किया है

कुछ मुस्कुरा दो , आज वजह खामखाँ है
धडकनों को सुन लो , आज ज़ुबां खामखाँ है

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Prakriti ki Pukaar.. when nature calls

As you might know, I am a part [one of the directors, to be precise :)] of Vidushak -- the only Indian Improv Group at University of Southern California. Every year, Vidushak performs a skit in the Diwali Show organized by the Association of Indian Students. This years skit is called : "Prakriti ki Pukaar.. when nature calls.."

Here are the videos:
Part 1 :


Part 2:


Part 3:


Comments and criticism are most welcome.

jai ho

Sunday, November 02, 2008

Adios ... The Silent Assasin !!!

7 Feb, 1999
Ferozshah Kotla
Delhi

Javagal Srinath bowled the 1st wide ball of the test match. He bowled the 2nd and the last wide ball of the match in the same over. The reason: Anil Kumble had taken 9 Pakistani wickets and the last pair was batting. Kumble had told him to forget about the record and go for the last wicket. but how could Srinath do that. He knew Kumble would get it. Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis knew Kumble would get the last one too. And he sure did.
There are a lot of apt adjectives one can associate with Anil Kumble but the one that I like the most is : Silent Assasin. Letting your work speak for yourself is the greatest reply to your detractors. And Kumble followed this principle to the T.
I salute Anil Kumble for all he has done for Indian Cricket. May he have a wonderful life post retirement.

The moment which will inspire and make every Indian, every sportsperson and every individual proud --
Anil Kumble bowling with a broken jaw and getting the wicket of Brian Lara (Antigua, 1999)
[pic courtsey : http://nebulaofthought.blogspot.com/2008/08/it-happens-only-in-india.html]

jai ho

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Outsourced !!

First of all, things have been very tight and I am just not able to find time to write.

Now, a few defintions:

Improv theater : A theater style were the actors perform a short scene based on the suggestions given by the audience. You can see it as 'Instant theater'. No prior script.

Second Nature : A USC student Improv group. The best one at USC, I would say.

Vidushak : The only Indian Improv group at USC. Yours truly has recently been promoted from actor to actor-director.

Tremendosaur :A brother group of Second Nature which makes short films/sketches/spoofs.

Q- What happens when Second Nature guys see Vidushaks perform and then decide to cast them for the next Tremendosaur production?
A- Beericorn !!!

See more funny videos at Funny or Die


My debut in the 'American Amateur Short Films' world. Hope you like it.

jai ho

Saturday, September 20, 2008

one more year

Last time I had made people work a bit to come to the point but this time let's make life easier.
Another year has been added to this life of mine and I am happy.

AMEN !!!

PS: I am suffering from a very bad phase of writer's block. Hopefully this post will get me out of it.
Thanks for staying with me.