Life's like that

Early dinner - check
Hitting the bed at 10 pm - check
Alarm rings at 1 am - check
Hit snooze - check
Alarm rings again at 115 am - check
Swears at the world and wakes up to switch on ESPN - check
130 am:  Opening ceremony starts - check
2 am: This issssssssssssss sooooooooooo boring. Danny Boyle is an idiot - check
The Queen and James Bond, Rowan Atkinson...WTF - check
230 am: Industrial revolution, Music through the decades, uffffffff - check
245 am: Can't take this anymore - slightly ahead of schedule but...  - check
3am: This blows man !!!!!!!!!!!!! Switch off TV and get back to bed - check

It was EXACTLY what I thought it would be - boring, BORING, BORING :-(

So who lit the flame - Sir Roger Bannister?
So how was AR Rahman's jingle?

Yet another boring Madhur Bhandarkar movie

Knowing the director's past track record, this is what I expect from the story-line of HEROINE - full of cliches and boring to the hilt.

Small town girl - dreams big - comes to bad mean city - meets agents and random people in the hope of getting a break - struggles to make a mark - makes friends with other struggling actresses - catches the eye of an egoistic superstar - they use each other - girl makes it big - takes revenge on people who ignored her during her struggling days - takes a liking to an upcoming IPL cricketer - superstar gets insecure and jealous of her success - heroine's success gets to her head - hurts people who helped her succeed in life - cricketer starts focusing on career as he gets his big break to play for India - neglects the heroine - heroine starts hitting the bottle - goes back to aging superstar who uses her to make a comeback - heroine becomes druggie - makes one last super hit success and then commits suicide out of depression.

ROFL :)

Gangs - of - Wasseypur

What can I say about the film that hasn't already been covered in the various reviews done by mainstream critics? Nothing actually. However there are still thoughts that I need to spit out so here they are

• Took me 3 sittings to finish the movie.. and this is just Part 1. The movie is way too long.
• I absolutely loved the first 90 mts. The second part of 40 mts was relatively less engaging and the last 30 mts were a real drag. By then, I had taken more than a few snack & bio breaks only to return back & find not much has happened. Very frustrating. 
• Manoj Bajpayee is brilliant, almost as good as he was in Satya but he is overshadowed by each and every one of the side characters. Tigmanshu Dhulia is a revelation, Jaideep Ahlawat has scorching screen presence (reminded me of Hritik in Jodha Akbar though the comparison might make no sense to a lot of people),  Piyush Mishra (remember him from Maqbool) is a scene stealer and Richa Chadda, if this were Hollywood, would have been a shoo-in for a Best Supporting actress Oscar.
•  While AK has to be lauded for trying to create an epic spanning 5 decades, what must have seemed a very grand idea on paper has not been translated into reel. The movie, while still a cut above the rest of the routine fare that Bollywood churns out, is not an epic.
• The loudest taalis have to go to the sound track / background music and the dialogues.
• Sneha Khanwalkar's too-good-to-be-true sound track is probably Bollywood's finest OST - used just as it should have been. Kehke Loonga and O Womaniya are just toooooooooooooooooo good. BGM by GV Prakash is note perfect. 
• Considering the milleu & the characters that AK has etched out, it is difficult to imagine these people talking in any other language than the coarse, crude way they do in the movie. Also refreshing to not be beeped out of this colorful, expletive-laden lingo.  This is one movie I'd loved to watch 10 yrs back at RECT with my Bihari buddies. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHSUM !!!

 In summary, 3.5 stars out of 5. Bring on Part 2 !!!!!!!!!

Note to Anurag Kashyap - coming out with individual DVDs for both parts is plain stupidity and reeks of desperation to milk the few fans who'd be willing to invest hard earned money on the DVD.

Random ramblings on sequels...and TDKR

You know what they say about never stretching a good thing... that's my exact take on sequels. You can almost always never win when you do a sequel of a successful movie. The reasons are aplenty: often the initial hit was mostly by fluke...Many a times the follow-up is so hyped up that its almost impossible to live up to the sky-high expectations. Even if its otherwise, why spoil a good thing, why not go out on a high?
I can list out so many films I liked that went steadily downhill - Pirates, Shrek, Spider-man, Speed, Fast and the Furious, Mission Impossible (before Part 4)  - that I still can't comprehend how the studios commissioned the mind numbing/manipulative sequels that followed and how the gullible public continued to set the cash registers tinkling for these tired franchises.

In the midst of this mayhem, it's such a relief to see the odd Part 2/3 movie which is an improvement on the original...Like The Bourne flicks, Toy Story and now Nolan's Batman series. Batman Begins was brilliant but The Dark Knight raised the bar way beyond anyone's wildest achievements. My first reaction when I heard about a Part 3 was ARE THEY FREAKIN' MAD? There was no way TDKR could hope to top TDK but if early reviews are any indication, looks like Part 3 isn't the disaster I feared it would become, as James here indicates.

The only catch: the 165 mts running time (with no songs too)

Down nostalgia lane: The Dark Knight was my 1st movie in IMAX (London...sigh...) and the 1st movie both me and the OH gave a 5/5 rating.

Nothing is better than nonsense

Aamir Khan is one of the most grating public personalities I have seen. He goes missing for 9 months of the year but when he needs the media, he comes out of his sojourn and turns on the charm offensive. He's made a career out of being manipulative. My views on SATYAMEVA JAYATE are well documented but the way he promotes his movies also gets my goat....Does he really think people (not the crazy, mad fans but the average Joe) can't see through this nonsense?

Watching THE FRONT ROW where Anupama Chopra is talking to Aamir Khan and everything I've heard so far sounds F-A-K-E.  STOP THIS NONSENSE NOW PLEASE....

PS: Did anyone catch him casually slip in that "Anu"?
PPS: Why is Anupama Chopra fawning over Aamir Khan? Coz she's married to Vidhu Vinod Chopra who owed Aamir a lot for bailing him out with 3 Idiots after that debacle called Eklavya

Early reports

Cocktail - Mokkai except for Diana Penty *drooool*
Billa 2 - double Mokkai :-( :-(

What to do? Naan E or Amazing Spider-man wonly this weekend !!!!

What's happening in life - 1

I saw, I said "Hello" and smiled at him but he didn't respond back :(

Anyway, its good enough that he and I (and his spouse actually) were the only people in the shop save the salespeople.

No - I respect an individual's right to privacy so i did not click photographs and I definitely did not seek out an autograph.

There, my most recent brush with fame - all of 8 secs of it.

PS: For all the female following of this blog (I'm guessing its 3), yes, he's very handsome, unassuming, simple and has a mysterious aura about him.
PPS: Sorry, we're talking about The Wall

All's well that ends well(?)

So, the real Spain finally did turn up at Euro 2012. 'Twas a real pity they have to deny us this flair till the finals but better late than never.

Yes, Spain were clearly the better team and Italy started slowly but the 4-0 scoreline does no justice to the hard-work, graft and occasional craft that the Italians showed. Motta's injury was an absolute disaster and denied us the grand-stand finish but still the Italians can return home proud and they have the base for a good, solid team in Brazil 2014.

My team of the tournament (4-1-3-2)

Buffon
Lahm, Pepe, Ramos, Alba
Xabi Alonso (captain)
Ozil, Pirlo, Iniesta
Ronaldo, Ibrahimovic

Coach: Cesare Prandelli

Subs:Casillas, Hummels, Coentrao, Fabregas, Sneijder, Balotelli

PS:  After watching the Champions League in Ten Sports where the pundits are more clowns with no insightful punditry, it was a relief to hear Frank Lebouef. Also Neo's coverage of the Euros was excellent. Keep it up !!