Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

A movie that revolves around 3 best friends who plan to go on a fantasy holiday after college - A road-trip where each one gets to choose an ultimate sport and the other 2 friends have to comply with. In these 3 weeks of togetherness, they face their fears, alter their perceptions, strengthen their bonds of friendship, break out of their shells, and most importantly learn to "seize the day".

Kabir (Abhay Deol), a bright, smart, businessman, engaged to Natasha (Kalki Koechlin), his 6-month old girlfriend. Arjun (Hrithik Roshan), a financial broker, essentially a corporate slave, thinks that money is the most important thing in life. Upon meeting Laila (Katrina Kaif), a deep-sea diving instructor, changes his views and opinions about how to love and live life. Imraan (Farhaan Akhtar), a copy-writer, an editor who secretly wishes to meet his biological father someday. Imraan is essentially the lifeline of the movie.

There are many life-altering moments in the movie. Throughtout the movie, Kabir is unsure of whether Natasha is the right girl for him. Confrontation of Kabir and Arjun about "whether he took a hasty decision to get married", is a turning point in Kabir's life. This reinforces the importance of friendship in one's life and how only a friend can muster enough courage and tell you the truth. Another moment of realization comes when Laila asks Arjun, "what is that gives him happiness?" Is it money? But the soul-stirring moment was a 2 minute conversation between Imraan and his biological father.

A few glimpses of Spain and you know it's a marvellous country! Kudos to the amazing camera work, for Spain looks absolutely stunning on screen!

The adventures - Deep sea diving in Costa Brava, Tomatina festival in Bunol, Sky diving in Seville and Bull fight in Pamplona, bring out the best in the characters and are beautifully twined into the storyline.

All in all, a wonderful blend of art and commercial cinema .... Zindagi Na Milegei Dobara is very refreshing! A must watch movie of the year!

Happy Earth Day!

Melodious bird songs and summer sun,

Blades of crisp grass, fresh flowers on the ground.

Ocean breeze and beautiful flowing rivers,

Today, nature is spreading its liveliness all around.

But have you ever thought about the last river on earth,

Ever dreaded about the last tree.

Ever worried about our planet going "endangered",

Ever wondered what our children will be.

It's time to think about some ways of going green,
Starting with basics - reducing, reusing, recycling trash.
Be it changing light bulbs, planting trees or eliminating use of pesticide,
or adding fresh vegetables and fruits to our family's diet.

Using non-toxic cleaning products,
or buying organically grown local foods,
carpooling or biking to work is an idea,
candle-light dinner one night a week ... sounds really good!

How will you show your commitment to mother earth,
How will you share your act of going green,
How will you inspire appreciation for our environment,
How will you pledge an act of keeping our earth clean?

Kochi Tuskers Kerala crush the Mumbai Indians by 8 wickets

IPL - 13th match: Mumbai Indians vs. Kochi Tuskers Kerala at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai .... yes, the same place where the Indians won the World Cup 2011 some 13 days ago in a stunning victory against Sri Lanka. With much hopes of watching the same power-packed, adrenalin rushed performance once again on the Wankhede grounds, my inquisitive eyes fixed on the screen.

Mahela Jayawardene won the toss ... decided to field. Sachin would have elected to bowl as well.

Jacobs and Tendulkar enter the field. Tendulkar starts the first over with a boundary ... good start for the Mumbai Indians. After the 3rd over, there was no looking back, Tendulkar was in a smashing mood, and boundaries were raining left and right. Infact, Sachin played "Dhoni's helicopter shot" probably for the first time ... and as always it is a real treat to see him in action. Sachin's first IPL century in Twenty20 cricket will be remembered by cricket fans for generations to come! Momentarily, I wondered if there is anything that Sachin can't do on the field .... then my curiosity rested with the thought that god can do anything he sets his mind onto ... and Sachin - the cricket god is no less!

Another  player who stole the show was Ambati Rayudu. His quick-fire 53 off 33 balls was just what the Mumbai Indians needed to get to an impressive total of 182. I definitely pondered over the thought that why is Ambati not a part of Team India yet. His performance has been pretty consistent and batting is absolutely magical ... Is it just me who can see glimpses of an outstanding batsman (and is good behind the wickets too) in him or what?

182 runs - Highest score in IPL 2011 so far. Now, my mind started racing and heart pounding heavily, will the Kochi Tuskers be able to fight it out and go for their very first IPL victory of the season.

To chase 183-run target, skipper Jayawardene and Brendon McCullum enter the batting arena. If one can hit boundaries off of Malinga's balls, then that team definitely is off to a good start. Malinga was infact hammered in the very 2nd over of the match and then there was no turning back for the Tuskers. McCullum's well-paced 81 and Jayawardene's impressive 56 definitely put pressure on the Mumbai Indians. Jadeja's powerful 25 off 11 balls - especially the manificient 20 runs in the winning over was just what the Tuskers needed to win - an impressive comeback by the KTKs after losing the initial IPL matches. The bright purple and orange color of the Tuskers definitely blinded the Mumbai Indians today.

My heart will always secretly support Mumbai Indians and can't see them lose especially after such a manificient game, but the Tuskers' victory today ... is absolutely justified!!

Anna Hazare - Face of India against Corruption

April 5th 2011, a new day began with a very strong mission, Anna Hazare's mission to get government's approval to re-draft the Lokpal bill which currently gives complete freedom to the politicians to decide who should be investigated, by whom and what should be the consequences.

Lokpal bill has failed to impress the members of the Rajya Sabha for the past 42 years now. This bill with its weak contents has been drafted and proposed by the government until now. Jan Lokpal bill is a slightly different anti-corruption bill than Lokpal bill. This bill, drafted by the prestigious civil society members, and not by the government, grants a speedy action against corruption cases at all levels and against everyone including ministers and senior bureaucrats. "Until the civil society steps in to draft the bill, nothing will change" says Anna.

One of the salient features of this bill is that the Jan Lokpal committee will be completely independent of government interventions and free from all the politicians' influence at all times during the investigations. This committee will be transparent in its workings and complete any kind of criminal investigation within one year of the incident. Every criminal will get a punishment with a minimum of 5 years upto life-long imprisonment.

Every crime will get justice and every criminal will get punished ... what more can a common man ask for!

When the PM, Manmohan Singh announced that the government has no time to take measures till next month, 72-year old, Anna decided to take matters in his hand. Like all previous times, this time his tool of protest was none other than "hunger strike". Not much has changed since the last time he was on a mission except for the scale of his battle - this time involving every citizen of the country. This is just a beginning ... hopefully people's staunch support and enthusiasm will stay with Anna till this bill is finally passed.

After the five day fasting struggle of the strong-willed Anna, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on April 9th, 2011, has agreed for the re-drafting of the bill and also promised to introduce the Jan Lokpal Bill in the 2011 monsoon session of parliament.

Just like the entire country single-mindedly got together to support Team India bring home the World Cup  2011, it's time again for us Indians to join hands this time with Anna Hazare and stand by him in his mission against bhrashtachar (corruption).

Let's all continue to support Anna's fight for a corruption-free India!
 

Support Anna Hazare against corruption! Corruption in India must stop NOW!!

www.causes.com

Dhobi Ghat - Review

If you are a Mumbaite, you will very clearly remember "Dhobi Ghat" near Mahalakshmi where this movie is filmed.

Dhobi Ghat - A story that revolves around 4 main characters - each one very different from the other, belonging to different strata within Mumbai city's socio-economic classes yet very closely twined together.

Yasmin (Kirti Malhotra) a newly married bride, like many new-comers has arrived to Mumbai to call it her home, tries to capture every moment of her new life on her video-cam for her brother. Some precious memories reveal a ton about her everyday life and shows us many beautiful glimpses of the city as well.

Socially-aloof, emotional and self-absorbed, Arun (Aamir Khan) is a painter who ultimately creates an artistic, masterpiece based on what he sees and learns from Yasmin's video-cam.

Munna (Prateik Babbar) is a dhobi, aspiring to become an actor meets Shai (Monica Dogra), an American investment banker, when delivering laundry to her house. This chance meeting is just a beginning of a socially unacceptable, an unlikely friendship.

The first 20mins of the movie is kind of slow and much spent in introducing characters, but there is never a dull moment in the entire 90mins of the story. There are many wow moments throughout the movie.

An amazing chemistry between the dhobi boy Munna and the investment banker Shai can be seen throughout the movie.

Munna's social class comes in way many a times throughout the movie but the wow factor kicks in especially when he tries to get closer to Shai one night on the terrace and then backs off. The quiet, restrained lover never forgets his boundaries.

Another soul-stirring moment in the movie was when Arun discovers the truth about Yasmin, whom he has never personally met but has known her through her video-recordings.

But the show-stealer moment was when Munna runs like wild fire on the busy streets of Mumbai to hand a note to Shai, thereby putting an end to his many unfulfilled dreams and desires. It just seemed like a perfect moment!!!

Most of the story is carried forward by the stunning emotions expressed by all the characters involved. Each character performed their best but the heartbeat of the movie was Mumbai city itself ... how this city closely intertwines all social classes of people into itself is just unbelieveable and the director (Kiran Rao) has done a commendable task of protraying Mumbai as never seen before through the eyes of Munna, through the lens of Shai, through the paintings of Arun and through the recordings of Yasmin. Music by Gustavo is an interesting feature to the Mumbai backdrop and the lives revolving around it.

One scene that just stands out of the rest is when Arun walks down the busy, bustling streets of Mohammad Ali road on a twinkling night and the camera zooms out to give us a magical, absolutely nostalgic moment ..... that's Mumbai!!

This movie is definitely not an universal appeal ... some people will simply love it and others will walk out the theatres feeling a huge disappointment. Hopefully you all will enjoy the movie as much as I did and say hats off to Aamir for yet another brilliant performance and for not over-shadowing the new-comers in the movie.

Happy Viewing!!