A quick update

- especially since I'm planning a cycling trip down Konkan coast for this long weekend.

Movies

So I've gone tech savvy over the last few months and am using P2P and torrents to download movies. Apart from stuff that cannot be really named (hehe), I managed to download 'Borat' - the irreverent comedy that has been earning gazellions of $$ and an equal number of protests and lawsuits. I think I've seen Borat about 4 times now and have loved it everytime I saw it. Agreed that there are parts in the movie that are really gross and obscene, but the humour really blows you away. Had I been a Kazakh, I'd probably have slung my AK-47 on my shoulders and made that trip to London to blast Sacha Baron Cohen off the face of this earth!

For readers who'll not get to see Borat on Indian movie screens, it is the story of this Kazakh journalist who is sent to bring back cultural learnings from the 'US and A' for the country. It is a mindblowingly hilarious comedy, has the potential and material to madly upset just about anybody (jews, kazakhs, students from Carolina, feminists and the conservative christians amongst many others) and was played by Sacha Baron Cohen (the Ali G fellow) who apparently shot most of the movie as real clips, without telling the participants what its going to be used for:-D So yeah, its 5 star recommended viewing for those who dont mind some gross action involving hairy butts or extreme racist mentalities portrayed in the movie.

I also saw Guru a while back. I quite liked it. I thought that the acting by everyone was really good. This is the first GOOD movie where I've seen Abhishek Bachchan carry the entire weight of a movie on his own without sharing space with someone else.

The storyline is racy so there are very few boring moments. I quite liked all the songs - esp the 'megha re' in how it was picturised and for the lyrics. I especially liked the 'Gurubhai, Gurubhai' peppy lines throughout the movie (am sure there is a technical name for that but I dont know). The cinematography is pretty good - especially in the songs. A lot of Gujarat portrayed there was actually set in the town of Pattadakkal in Karnataka but it'll look like Gujarat allright to the average viewer. The one song after Guru becomes a father is rather silly and doesnt really make any sense in terms of taking the movie ahead.

I wish there was a little more of Turkey portrayed - it covers like only the first 5 minutes in the movie...and for buffs who dont want to miss the Mallika Sherawat number, make sure you're there on time! As for my comments on the item number...while the song was good and Mallika IS really hot, it should have had atleast elements of a belly dance rather than an all out 'babuji, dheere chalo' kind of mood. I mean Champa WAS supposed to be a belly dancer and there was nothing eye catching about the choreography in the dance.

I did'nt find a lot of sexual chemistry b/w Abhishek and Aishwarya - while there was a lot of 'great-friend' chemistry to them for sure. Aish could have done a better job of portraying the strong woman supporting Gurubhai in his weaker moments.

I saw Amitabh Bachchan weeping away on Star News (yeah I still dont have CAS, tarnations!*) and saying that Abhishek has done better than him. I think he was just heaping too much praise a little too soon. While Abhishek was decidedly good, he definitely does'nt match the intensity that Amitabh brought to the screen in his heydays. And yeah, Abhishek really was good in the movie - by his own previous standards. We do see some shades of Amitabh's style - esp in the number of rasping 'hain' that Gurubhai utters. And thankfully this is one movie that he does'nt seem to be carrying just on the basis of his stubble but on his acting.

Mithunda was amazing in his role and Vidya Balan had her moments. For me the best shot and enacted scene in the movie remains her last one where she reaches out to touch Gurubhai.

While the first half of the movie was great, the second half, especially the ending was just a little too lame - I'd have looked forward to some more logical refuting of the charges against Gurubhai than just playing to the gallery-and winning. While the last part in the courtroom reminded me of the movie 'Aviator', I was not very happy with it. Some stronger points should have emerged in Guru's defence. While I surmised that the license raj WAS bad for capitalism, the point was'nt made too clearly.

I also wished they showed more of HOW Guru achieved his success than just showing fast-moving montages of his growing factories and employees. All they showed in small anecdotal clips was how he was willing to go to any length to get his way.

I quite enjoyed the closing shot of Gurubhai in the stadium. It was good to see Abhishek Bachchan not trying hard to look good or hip for once - just realistic.

A much better movie review of Guru can be found here

Random

I have been missing photography for some time now. This cycling trip through Konkan coast should put me back in form now. Its been a while since I went trekking/tripping and am really looking forward to it.

Oh yeah, I ran the marathon too - got a few pics of me taken, trying to run in a mostly moribund crowd which I'll try and post whenever FBP mails them to me - yeah ...she was there with other WSD volunteers cheering us all - which was when everyone was ready to fall with exhaustion.

Shikha's back in the grind after an amazing trip to Pakistan..too bad she doesnt blog else we'd all be treated to some lovely pictures. They got featured on most of the news channels in India and Pak when they met Laloo, APJ Kalam, Musharraf and Shaukat Aziz.

I'm at an amazing threshold right now with two developments that may happen over the next 2 months - one is great for professional growth and the other for personal life. Lets see and I'll keep my fingers crossed. I'll obviously choose the good-for-personal life vaala development if that happens and that may just change many many things for me, forever. Till then, Carpe Diem, people, since no amount of planning ever seems to work for the longer term.

*Update as of today: I do have CAS now, thank ye lords...this review was written and saved as draft about 2 weeks back.