Reviews

Here are my ratings for some recent movies and some books I read

• iCon : Steve Jobs - 4/5 - A dramatic story of fall and rise of Steve Jobs. The story sometimes get lost in the plot
• Transformers: 3.5/5 - Cool Action/CGI sequences especially when cars transform into autobots. However the storyline has some loose connections.
• Apne: 3/5 - A nice touching family story. Good performance by Dharmendra. Sunny Deol was disappointing
• Chak De India - 4.5/5 - Finally a well made sports movie. Never in the movie you feel that Shahrukh Khan is overshadowing the story or the theme of the movie.
• The Negotiator - 3.5/5 - When I read any Frederick Forsyth novel, naturally I do a comparison with The Devil's Alternative. That's why this one loses out to TDA. Otherwise a good story but surely not the best work of FF.
• Heyy Baby - 1.5/5 - Cheap Vulgar jokes. underused Vidya Balan. and lacking any emotional connect.

Travelogue: Mumbai

So, this was supposed to be my first ever official trip. And I was the chosen one along with my colleague Saurabh Diwan who was sent to attend Microsoft Techmela from HCL Comnet. Right from my day one at HCL, I have been the face of technical community at HCL. So rightfully, I was commissioned to attend this great congregation of tech gurus and tech displays.

So I reached there one day before. HCL has booked a hotel for me in Santa Cruz which was very close to the airport. However the conference venue was Hotel Renaissance in Powai.

Day One, Yours truly managed to wake up on time and reach the venue. It was a picturesque hotel with a backdrop of Powai Lake. I, being shutter friendly and having recently bought my digicam, clicked a lot. The first day started with a Keynote, followed by technology specific tracks. I won't get into those details as they may bore you to Shut Down.

Time to head home and wander in the lively city of Mumbai. This was the first time I was in Mumbai so I haven't seen much of it. Tripat and Nidhi Jalan arranged to meet me at Bandra. After losing my way twice I managed to reach there. Also went to Bandra beach. And then a trip to roadside flee market, some nice spicy chaats and time to hit the hay.

Day Two: I was delivered to the venue on time by the auto. Able to finish the day being still alive with sore thumbs and fingers while playing Forza on kiosk Xbox.

After the day was over, the real challenge was to get to some tourist like place and see something. Saurabh came to rescue and suggested about Juhu Chaupati. Hired an auto and reached there just in time that it started raining heavily. Eight O' Clock in the evening, drizzling sky and a perfect ambiance for a nice walk at the beach.

Day Three: Time to bunk the second half of the sessions. ;) Rush to Church Gate, also invite some childhood buddies and walk down Nariman Point. What a perfect setting. Then go to Gateway of India, take some photos of Hotel Taj and have a walk at Colaba flee market. Another enjoyable day


Day Four and luckily a Sunday: reached Santa Cruz station, made way to Andheri. and finally to a multiplex to watch Jhoom Barabar Jhoom! yups, such a tragic end to such a beautiful story. The story of guy who went to Mumbai first time and enjoyed first three days and ended the journey by watching such a pathetic movie!!!

Hey, as Shahrukh Khan says in Om Shanti Om - "Picture Abhi Baaki Hai Mere Dost" . So that was not the ending. Had lunch at a food court. And then, time to meet Suhas at Joggers Park. I confess, I haven't seen the movie so I wasn't expecting much. But then, it started raining and our plans to have a jog at the park were short lived. However, we had a nice tea at Irani Restaurant near Mehboob Studio. Also did some impulse shopping at Fascination (The place to buy cheap smuggled stuff. Rating: 4/5.. I got compliments from everyone in the office)

Evening time and time to get back to Delhi. A one hour date with Tripat at Balaji Cafe at the airport. and I bid adieu to Mumbai.

Help!! I am tagged

Shekhar , the citizen of joy, tagged me in his recent post, which was quite surprising. I have never been tagged before and this tag certainly got me thinking.

Read Shekhar's post for Step 1. I am starting with Step 2. And I am warning you, there will not be any step 3.

8 Random facts about me.

1. I was born on April 01, which means I share my birthday with Abraham Maslow
   
2. I was only 13 years old when I completed my secondary education
3. I got introduce to computers and technology during my XI th standard. It has become an integral part of my life after that.
4. I was aqua phobic until I jumped and rafted by the river Ganges
5. My dream job would be a test driver for F1. Kimi Raikkonen is my favorite driver.
   
6. My favorite computer game, you guessed it right, is Need for Speed. I also love to play other racing games like Midtown Madness, F1 2002 etc.
   
7. Kal Ho Naaa Ho is my favourite bollywood masala movie. Back To The Future trilogy is my favorite Hollywood trilogy.
   
8. I have a huge list of crushes ~blushing!

And.. I am breaking the law by not tagging anyone!

Spider racing in a Metro

Ok... the title of the post is bit confusing but it is intended so..

Lets start with Spider-man 3 . It is a long movie, dragging at a slow pace and with all those typical Bollywood style. It has many goofs... like when Marko Flint gets into that Physics Reactor, why everything converts to sillicon except the pendant which contains his daughter's photo? there are many other similar goofs all throughout the movie, which doesn't seem to end.
Rating: 2.5/5

Now quickly we move on to Ta Ra Rum Pum which was another disappointment despite being from Yash Raj banner. The movie has a very old time story feeling with new packaging where the protagonist is a racing driver. Otherwise, it has nothing much to offer.
Rating: 2/5

However, I was third time lucky. It was Life in a Metro, directed by Anurag Basu. Having a big list of characters and multiple intertwined stories running in parallel, it had a fresh feel. Neatly packaged, fast paced, away from fake drama and emotion, the movie registers itself with you especially with young urban crowd of india. The end was a bit of hastily scripted. The songs accelerates the story but the videos are irritating as you see the Metro Band performing in each of the song.
Rating:3.5/5

The Pursuit of HappyNess

Thomas Jefferson , the principal author of Declaration of Independence, was a great president of America. We know that. But why I am discussing it here at my blog. There is a reason. And the reason is HappyNess.

According to the declaration, we only have right to pursue happiness but not direct right to happiness. So the declaration gives us right to seek ways to find happiness around but it doesn't guarantee any happiness.

But why we don't have any rights to happiness? Because it is a subjective thing. What construes as happiness may be a torture for you. And if someone is as greedy (ambitious) as me, happiness becomes a mirage which we keep chasing but never achieve.

Idea Courtesy: The Pursuit of Happyness

And the Protagonist : Chris Gardner

P.S. I wonder, why am I using so many Wikipedia hyperlinks?

Trying to change myself

So after writing the post today afternoon.. I thought and I did my best to resist myself..
and in between watch two movies of totally different genre...

first one was Chasme Baddur .. and I must say.. such a beautiful made movie.. simple, down to earth, scenes closer to day to day life and a twist in the tale.. such a simple yet humoruous movie you can't resist yourself from laughing at the pity of Siddharth Parashar

Second was grandeur Gladiator ... breathtaking visual, splendid starcast, superb acting and packed script.. shooted with excellence..

these two movies.. of two extremely different kind.. really made my day.. it is the time to play Counter Strike.. but I am not playing.. planning to watch another movie..

And i forgot to mention.. just finished watching Eurotrip .. what a funny movie.. watched it with Prakhar and my dear Maadu.. and we were rolling on the floor all the time.. not that much humour but we made it ourselves ;)

time to start a new movie, in most probability it will be pirates of carribean .. cya folks..

Apaharan

Yesterday I saw the movie titled Apaharan..
I should clarify in the beginning that I am not a movie critic..but some points to be noted:

: The same old story
: But the screenplay was good
: Ajay and Nana Patekar were really good
: Bipasha was wasted on that role.

But watchable movie.