Monday, January 30, 2006

Rang De Basanti

If you think this is a patriotic film then you are wrong and if you think this is not a patriotic film then again you are wrong. And I think this is the beauty of the Rang de Basanti. By the you start thinking about this, film starts showing the credits and you have to get out from the hall.


I am not going to tell you the story of the film but it's a thoughtful film about the 'masti', about today's youth and their thoughts for patriotism. This film infact also tell you can not preach anyone to be a patriotic, it comes from inside. Also show the gray shades of friendship between politician and businessmen. In the first half you will go back to your college days and then in second half back to reality, which is harsh and some youths are just so scared to face it. They don't want to lost themself in the crowd of out-side world and thay why main character of film DJ (Aamir) always wants to be in college.


Film also has very good and point to point dialogue, as 'There is no nation which is perfect, it's us who make her perfect' or 'Make documentary in Gandhi, because hi is more sellable not Chandra shekhar Ali ( corrected by sue, it's Ajad not Ali)' or 'Our one feet is in past and one in future and in today we just do pee' or 'In the age of SMS, 4 line of conversation looks you a lecture'. There is some more but I have a very poor memory just like the 'Aam janta' (General public).


Songs are good, 'masti ki Pathshala', 'rubru', 'rang de basanti' are few. Songs and dialogues are penned by ad man Prasonn Joshi. And after watching film you realize the man who gave coke the tagline 'Thanda matlab cola' is going to be hot in this market very soon.


Music is pleasent and takes time for feel good factor just like any other Rehman classics. Couple of songs are really too good. I never saw Delhi so beautiful, Cinematography is superb. This man vinod pradhan is really good with camera. I liked the concept of telling the story, Story and direction is wonderful. Even though first half seems little slow sometime but still you can enjoy the slowness. Acting is awesome by everyone and I think somewhat credit goes to director Rakyesh too for this. But people who likes watching hero heroine singing songs around tree or rain will be disappointed.


So it's better to go to 'Masti ki Pathshala' and get 'Rubaru' with 'Rang De Basanti'. Verdict: Must Watch

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Re-Writing (or Trying to re-write) Indian History in California

NEW DELHI - In the halls of Sacramento, a special commission is rewriting Indian history: debating whether Aryan invaders conquered the subcontinent, whether Brahman priests had more rights than untouchables, and even whether ancient Indians ate beef.


That this seemingly arcane Indian debate has spilled over into California's board of education is a sign of the growing political muscle of Indian immigrants and the rising American interest in Asia.


At the end of this read, it's not sound right to me. Read in Detail here

Monday, January 23, 2006

Boys in Trouble

Thirty years ago it was girls, not boys, who were lagging but now time has been changed, a study shows boys are lagging behind girls when it comes to achieving in the classroom.


The U.S. Department of Education did the study and says that while the achievement gap between the sexes is decreasing, boys are still falling behind. They're kinetic, maddening and failing at school. Now educators are trying new ways to help them succeed. And this I see everywhere even in India and UK you can see same kind of result.


More trouble I can see for Indian parents, most of them always prefer boys over girls. So what do you think? How long and how far boys have to go to lead in classroom once again? Or should it be like that to have a better society or do you believe in equallity? I mean 'Saathi haath barana saathi re' (lead together).


You can read more on this here and here

Thursday, January 19, 2006

New in Hindi

Mean while didn't get time to write new post. But those of you who can read Hindi, can check 'Andher Nagari, Sabhi hain Raja' in my hindi blog. Word to word translation of this topic would be 'Dark city, everybody king'.

Friday, January 13, 2006

Animal Welfare and Film

Animal rights activists and Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) member Maneka Gandhi on Thursday alleged the film's producer ('Rang de Basanti') had used animals without getting the mandatory permission of the board.


"According to law, no filmmaker can use animals in their films without the permission of the AWBI. But neither the filmmakers nor the censor board bothered to get this clearance," said Gandhi, a member of Lok Sabha.


"Two months back they were sent a notice regarding the issue but they didn't take our permission and got a go-ahead from the censor board," Gandhi told. "It's only on Dec 25 that they applied for permission, which is really too late to seek permission."


There is hundreds of animals (dogs, cows etc.) just roam around in the Indian roads no one care about them. They become traffic hurdel everyday, risk their life as well the human being's life driving on the road but who cares. Is this kind of welfare board just to check the use of animals in Indian film. So many poor animals used to transport goods from one place to other far more weight than their capacity at that time none of the welfare board member see anything. What you guys think about such animal welfare board?

Monday, January 09, 2006

Fe(w)male: Less Fe-male means Few-Male

Indian cultural tradition favours boys, Should we still proud on our culture? More than 10m female births in India may have been lost to abortion and sex selection in the past 20 years, according to medical research. Researchers in India and Canada for the Lancet journal said prenatal selection and selective abortion was causing the loss of 500,000 girls a year.


Their research was based on a national survey of 1.1m households in 1998. The researchers said the "girl deficit" was more common among educated women but did not vary according to religion. The unusual gender balance in India has been known about for some time.


Most of the Indians want to have latest cellphone, car, fashion or any modern technology but still don't want to have girl as their baby. Isn't it shameful for us. Read More...

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Beauty and the Geek

Yesterday I was watching one of the old episode of 'Beauty and the Geek' on WB. This show matches physically attractive, but intellectually challenged women with geeky-looking, socially inept, "genius" men, and have them try to learn from each other. The show starts out with seven beauties and seven geeks and then eliminated one by one until last pair left. The men and women take turns choosing partners by introducing themselves in gender-divided rooms. The women try to learn about academia from the men while the men try to learn social skills from the women. The pairs must room together (i.e. sleep in the same bed) in a large mansion that also provides the setting of the show.


I was surprized to see that some of the beauties were even not able to spell the word 'Tattoo' and 'Calendar'. When asked from one of the beauty, tell 3 states of USA which starts with word 'New'. She looked speechless. Inspite of this host Brian asked the question "Name the prime minister of england" from one of the beauty at elimination round and little surprize to me he didn't get the right answer. Quite interesting na, part 2 is going to start I think from this jan. 12th.

Sunday, January 01, 2006

New Year New Layout

Wish everyone a happy new year. I started this year with new layout, back from vacation but still not in a mood to roam around in blog world. I hope this feeling would be just for time being. Thanks to those who visited and left a note to wish new year. Best wishes to everyone.