Names Dropped

Let me see how these lists mature. Will they age well?

Best Songs Shot in Slo-Mo

1. "O Saathi Re" (Tassaduq Hussain, Kumar Mangat, Vishal Bhardwaj, Omkara 2006)
2. "Sundari Kannaal Oru Saedhi" (Santosh Sivan, G.Venkateswaran, Mani Ratnam Thalapathy 1991)
3. "Pehla Nasha" (Najeeb Khan, Nasir Hussain, Mansoor Khan Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar 1992)

Best Scenes on Steadicam

1. "Nagarjuna Akkineni and niece chase" (S. Gopal Reddy, Venkat Akkineni, Ram Gopal Varma Shiva 1989)
2. "Bombay cops' clean up" (Gerard Hooper-Mazhar Kamran, Bharat Shah, Ram Gopal Varma Satya 1998)
3. "Imtiaz Ghavate chase" (Natarajan "Nutty" Subramaniam, Arindam Mitra, Anurag Kashyap Black Friday 2007)
4. "O Saaya-cops chase slum kids" (Anthony Dod Mantle, Christian Colson, Danny Boyle Slumdog Millionaire 2008)

Best Depiction of Hospitals, Railway Stations, Places of Worship, People in Uniform/Power

1. Vishal Bhardwaj (assorted)
2. Mani Ratnam (assorted)
3. Farhan Akhtar (assorted)

Best Depiction of Women

1. Ashutosh Gowariker (assorted)
2. Mani Ratnam (assorted)
3. Farhan Akhtar (assorted)

Best Costume Design

1. Loveleen Bains and Arjun Bhasin (Declan Quinn, Caroline Baron, Mira Nair Monsoon Wedding 2001)
2. Anaita Shroff Adajania (Jehangir Chowdhury, assorted, Homi Adajania Being Cyrus 2005)
3. Arjun Bhasin (Ravi K Chandran, Pravin Talreja-Javed Akhtar-Ritesh Sidhwani Dil Chahta Hai 2001)
4. Chaitanya Rao (Ravi K Chandran, G. Srinivasan-Mani Ratnam, Mani Ratnam Kannathil Muthamittal 2002)
5. Dolly Ahluwalia (Tassaduq Hussain, Kumar Mangat, Vishal Bhardwaj, Omkara 2006) Bhanu Athaiyya (Mahesh Aney, Ronnie Screwvala-Ashutosh Gowariker, A.R.Rahman, Ashutosh Gowariker Swades 2004)

Best Production Design

1. Sameer Chanda (Santosh Sivan, G. Srinivasan-Mani Ratnam, Mani Ratnam Iruvar 1997)
2. Sabu Cyril (Ravi K Chandran, G. Srinivasan-Mani Ratnam, Mani Ratnam Kannathil Muthamittal 2002)
3. Nitin Desai (Tassaduq Hussain, Kumar Mangat, Vishal Bhardwaj, Omkara 2006)
4. Suzanne Caplan Merwanji (Ravi K Chandran, Pravin Talreja-Javed Akhtar-Ritesh Sidhwani Dil Chahta Hai 2001)
5. Sabu Cyril (Ravi K Chandran, G.Srinivasan-Mani Ratnam, A.R.Rahman, Mani Ratnam Ayutha Ezhuthu/Yuva 2004)

Best Hair Design

1. Osh Bhabani and Adhuna Bhabani (Jehangir Chowdhury, assorted, Homi Adajania Being Cyrus 2005)
2. Avan Contractor and Adhuna Bhabani Akhtar (Ravi K Chandran, Pravin Talreja-Javed Akhtar-Ritesh Sidhwani Farhan Akhtar Dil Chahta Hai 2001)
3. Madras Talkies (Ravi K Chandran, G. Srinivasan-Mani Ratnam, Mani Ratnam Kannathil Muthamittal 2002)

Best Title Design/Music

1. Dil Se (Santosh Sivan, Shekhar Kapur-Ram Gopal Varma-Mani Ratnam, A.R.Rahman, Mani Ratnam 1998)
2. Guru (Rajeev Menon, G. Srinivasan-Mani Ratnam, A.R.Rahman, Mani Ratnam 2007)
3. Rang De Basanti (Binod Pradhan, Ronnie Screwvala-Rakeysh Mehra, A.R.Rahman, Rakeysh Mehra 2006)
4. Dil Chahta Hai (Ravi K Chandran, Pravin Talreja-Javed Akhtar-Ritesh Sidhwani, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Farhan Akhtar 2001)
5. Swades (Mahesh Aney, Ronnie Screwvala-Ashutosh Gowariker, A.R.Rahman, Ashutosh Gowariker 2004)

Best Original Movie Theme

1. Soul of Jungle/Racing the Jungle (Sandeep Chowta, Jungle 2000)
2. Aayo Re (A.R.Rahman, Swades 2004)
3. Latika's Theme (A.R.Rahman, Slumdog Millionaire 2008)
4. Dil Chahta Hai (Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Dil Chahta Hai 2001)
5. Bombay Theme (A.R.Rahman, Bombay 1995)

Best Action Choreography

1. Vikram Dharma (Ravi K Chandran, G. Srinivasan-Mani Ratnam, Mani Ratnam Kannathil Muthamittal 2002)
2. Amin Ghani (Vijay Arora, Bharat Shah, Ram Gopal Varma Jungle 2000)
3. Shyam Kaushal (Anthony Dod Mantle, Christian Colson, Danny Boyle Slumdog Millionaire 2008)

Best Lyrics

1. "Radha Kaise Na Jale" (Javed Akhtar, Anil Mehta, Aamir Khan-Jhamu Sughand, A.R. Rahman, Ashutosh Gowariker Lagaan 2001)
2. "Kaminey" (Gulzar, Tassaduq Hussain, Ronnie Screwvala, Vishal Bhardwaj, Vishal Bhardwaj Kaminey 2009)
3. "Do Kadam Aur Sahi" ( Javed Akhtar, Santosh Sivan, Reima Husain, A.R.Rahman, M.F. Hussain Meenaxi 2004)
4. "Beedi Jalailey" (Gulzar, Tassaduq Hussain, Kumar Mangat, Vishal Bhardwaj, Vishal Bhardwaj, Omkara 2006)
5. "Lukka Chuppi, Ru-Ba-Ru" (Prasoon Joshi, Binod Pradhan, Ronnie Screwvala-Rakeysh Mehra, A.R.Rahman, Rakeysh Mehra Rang De Basanti 2006)

Best Train Scenes

1. "Killing of Indore Singh" (Tassaduq Hussain, Kumar Mangat, Vishal Bhardwaj, Vishal Bhardwaj, Omkara 2006)
2. "Duniya Ki Sabse Chhoti Prem Kahaani" (Santosh Sivan, Shekhar Kapur-Ram Gopal Varma-Mani Ratnam, Mani Ratnam Dil Se 1998)
3. "Chaiyya Chaiyya" (Santosh Sivan, Shekhar Kapur-Ram Gopal Varma-Mani Ratnam, Mani Ratnam Dil Se 1998)
4. "Train Robbery" (P.C. Sreeram, G.Srinivasan-Mani Ratnam, Mani Ratnam Thiruda Thiruda 1993)
5. "Pre-climax and Climax" (S. Gopal Reddy, K.L.Narayana-S. Gopal Reddy, Ram Gopal Varma Kshana Kshanam 1991)

Best Screenplay

1. Sarfarosh (Vikas Sivaraman, John Mathew Matthan, Jatin Lalit, John Mathew Matthan 1999)
2. Satya (Gerard Hooper-Mazhar Kamran, Bharat Shah, Ram Gopal Varma 1998)
3. Alaipayuthey (P.C.Sreeram, G.Srinivasan-Mani Ratnam, A.R.Rahman, Mani Ratnam 2000)
4. Rang De Basanti (Binod Pradhan, Ronnie Screwvala-Rakeysh Mehra, A.R.Rahman, Rakeysh Mehra 2006)
5. Ayutha Ezhuthu/Yuva (Ravi K Chandran, G.Srinivasan-Mani Ratnam, A.R.Rahman, Mani Ratnam 2004)

Best Production Houses

1. Yash Chopra-Aditya Chopra (Yash Raj Films)
2. Ronnie Screwvala-Deven Khote-Zarine Mehta (UTV)
3. Ritesh Sidhwani-Farhan Akhtar (Excel Entertainment)
4. G. Srinivasan-Mani Ratnam (Madras Talkies)
5. Ashutosh Gowariker (AGPPL) Aamir Khan (Aamir Khan Productions)

Best Background Music Score

1. Ilaiyaraja (S. Gopal Reddy, Venkat Akkineni, Ram Gopal Varma Shiva 1989)
2. A.R.Rahman (Santosh Sivan, Shekhar Kapur-Ram Gopal Varma-Mani Ratnam, Mani Ratnam Dil Se 1998)
3. Shantanu Moitra (Natarajan "Nutty" Subramaniam, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Vidhu Vinod Chopra Ekalavya 2007)
4. Sandeep Chowta (Gerard Hooper-Mazhar Kamran, Bharat Shah, Ram Gopal Varma Satya 1998)
5. A.R.Rahman (Mahesh Aney, Ronnie Screwvala-Ashutosh Gowariker, A.R.Rahman, Ashutosh Gowariker Swades 2004)

Best Short Films

1. Blood Brothers (Vishal Bhardwaj, Mira Nair 2007)
2. Positive (Farhan Akhtar, Mira Nair 2007)
3. Prarambha (Santosh Sivan, Mira Nair 2007)

Best Directorial Debuts

1. Nikhil Advani (Anil Mehta, Yash Johar-Karan Johar, Nikhil Advani Kal Ho Naa Ho 2003)
2. Farhan Akhtar (Ravi K Chandran, Pravin Talreja-Javed Akhtar-Ritesh Sidhwani Dil Chahta Hai 2001)
3. Farah Khan (Manikandan, Shahrukh Khan-Gauri Khan, Farah Khan Main Hoon Na 2004)

Best Music Director-Singers

1. Himeish Reshammiya (assorted)
2. Shankar Mahadevan (assorted)
3. A.R.Rahman (assorted)

Best Movies - Coolness Factor

1. Ab Tak Chhappan (Vishal Sinha, Ram Gopal Varma, Shimit Amin 2004)
2. Company (Hemant Chaturvedi, Ashwini Dutt-Boney Kapoor, Ram Gopal Varma 2002)
3. Hyderabad Blues (Madhu Ambat/Vijay Kumar, Nagesh Kukunoor, Nagesh Kukunoor 1998)
4. Maqbool (Hemant Chaturvedi, Bobby Bedi, Vishal Bhardwaj 2003)
5. Swades (Mahesh Aney, Ronnie Screwvala-Ashutosh Gowariker, Ashutosh Gowariker 2004)

Best Punch-in-the-Solar-Plexus Movies

1. Shiva (S. Gopal Reddy, Venkat Akkineni, Ram Gopal Varma Shiva 1989)
2. A Wednesday (Fuwad Khan, Ronnie Screwvala, Neeraj Pandey 2008)
3. Ab Tak Chhappan (Vishal Sinha, Ram Gopal Varma, Shimit Amin 2004)

Best Original Tracks - Coolness Factor

1. "Bol Na Halke Halke" (Ayananka Bose, Yash Chopra-Aditya Chopra, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Shaad Ali Jhoom Barabar Jhoom 2007)
2. "Ya Rabba" (Piyush Shah, Mukesh Talreja, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Nikhil Advani Salaam-E-Ishq 2007)
3. "Ek Lau" (Alphonse Roy, Ronnie Screwvala, Amit Trivedi Aamir 2008)
4. "Tanhayee" (Ravi K Chandran, Pravin Talreja-Javed Akhtar-Ritesh Sidhwani, Farhan Akhtar Dil Chahta Hai 2001)

Landmark Movies

1. Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa (Virendra Saini, Vikram Mehrotra, Jatin-Lalit, Kundan Shah 1993)
2. Lagaan (Anil Mehta, Aamir Khan-Jhamu Sughand, A.R. Rahman, Ashutosh Gowariker 2001)
3. Satya (Gerard Hooper-Mazhar Kamran, Bharat Shah, Vishal Bhardwaj, Ram Gopal Varma 1998)
4. Kuruthhipunal/Drohi (P.C.Sreeram, Charu Haasan-Kamal Haasan, Mahesh, P.C.Sreeram 1995)
5. Thevar Magan (P.C.Sreeram, Kamal Haasan, Ilaiyaraja, Bharathan 1992)
6. Kal Ho Naa Ho (Anil Mehta, Yash Johar-Karan Johar, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Nikhil Advani 2003)
7. Dil Chahta Hai (Ravi K Chandran, Pravin Talreja-Javed Akhtar-Ritesh Sidhwani, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Farhan Akhtar 2001)
8. Lage Raho Munnabhai (C.K.Muraleedharan, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Shantanu Moitra, Rajkumar Hirani 2006)
9. Rang De Basanti (Binod Pradhan, Ronnie Screwvala-Rakeysh Mehra, A.R.Rahman, Rakeysh Mehra 2006)
10. Sarfarosh (Vikas Sivaraman, John Mathew Matthan, Jatin Lalit, John Mathew Matthan 1999)

moon moon seen

Alright, if I could get past that initial glob of cheese, I could safely declare that I fulfilled a childhood dream of mine last week courtesy a conference away from home. Apart from the wonderful opportunities it threw, and what I gained, it also let me meet up with Lakshman, one of my close buddies here in the US.

He had a 1996 Celestron on him gifted by his professor! We enthusiastically brought it out in the front yard and voila, he was up there in all his complete, full glory. After some initial hiccups in the form of poor focus, and excess light, what we saw was truly mesmerising.

He was literally trapped and reduced to a heavenly sphere of bright white. Ah, his craters were meant to be seen, something I had only heard of while in school. It felt almost as if we were mocking and making fun of his celestial status. Thank god, I didn't behave behave like one gawk in a topless bar. We wanted to capture this glimpse for posterity but the set up we had couldn't support camera connectivity, too bad. But what is heartwarming is that the current Meades and Celestrons can be rigged to a camera, or better, a dSLR :)

My fascination dates back to those days in the 90s when I would walk/cycle past the India Hobby Centre, Hyderabad. Those guys stocked apart from everything else, some cool telescopes for amateurs. It was tempting but it was expensive too. But S.P.Road never seemed more relevant to me, with I.H.C at one end and Sangeet at the other. The amount of reading I did on astronomy, and the follow up I practised made my one of my uncles wonder if I would earn my bread from this. But that is a story for another day.

I don't know how many times I have dragged total acquaintances to B.M. Birla Science Centre, Adarsh Nagar, and I swear I haven't kept a count. That was truly some place.

I know I am one big lazy goose but if I can combine two of the biggest fascinations of my life, photography and sky gazing, into a single entity and derive immense pleasure from it what more could I ask for! Pleasure that simply cannot be put in words. Suits lazy bums like me.

maaki kirkiri

dreams galore

All of us dream, and for that we needn't be dreamers which is used in a sort of pejorative sense. I have noticed most of us do remember and recall our year old dreams that are of no significance actually. But we still do, and that says something. Upon racking my brains, may be these would be my dream leitmotifs.


1) I am flying high in the air and almost when I am about to hit the roof I go plummeting in an instant glide, then out of fear of hitting the electric wires, I go up again.

2) I am on this huge huge elevator(lift) that is of the size of an entire floor. I step onto it in the last moment and then it goes down, a scary scary free falling lift. Remember, it is of the size of an entire floor.

3) I am on a platform and running hard to catch a fast moving train never to hop onto it.


The sheer regularity of these amazes me.

Golden Lotus

For sometime now I have been harboring a character sketch in my mind, of course for now painted only in superficial strokes. The finality, and consequently with it, the actual beauty, would ironically surface, only when I go deep. But for now here are the broad strokes.

He is a synonym for Genius in all lexicons. He is an iconoclast. He is a giver. He is selfless. He is enigmatic. He is everyday. He is sublime. He is beyond compare. He is charismatic. He is solo. He is among the crowd. He is a geek. He speaks Greek. He is a luddite. He is a techno guru. He is a charmer. He is royal. He is loyal. He is a rebel. He is an erudite. He speaks simple. He speaks hard. He is a free bird. He is an Archer. When he rises, people around him rise.

He is a vegetarian.

He is at ease with Carnatic Classical, as much as he is with Jazz or Hindustani Classical. He can quote The Vedas and P G Wodehouse with the same elan with he can shake a leg to a Hyderabadi teenmar. He can hold forth on M.S.Subbulakshmi, French porn, Clive Lloyd, Mohammed Azharuddin, and Sicilian defense in chess and you will be craving more. His cartoon features are to die for, and you don't mind skipping your morning coffee to his creations. He is a Marriott man and yet his heart truly longs for the early morning street cart food. The letters that he writes could put the SMS kids to shame. His handwriting can make Nizam pearls squirm.

He is an erstwhile I.A.S officer, highly adorned diplomat who has tried and truly tried and given up on the system. He has moved on to better, bigger, larger, deeper aspects of his existence he is so proud of. He is a family man, very devoted at that and yet he is aloof. He is a visiting professor, and yet a student, to put it clichedly, of life. He is a nomad. He is mad.

Upon being broached the women in his life maintain a dignified, respectful silence about him smacking of pure love. Their pupils dilate.

At times he has his hair pulled back to a pony. He wears plain kurtas with The North Face jackets. Yes. The soles would take Quovadis sandals and Timberland boots. It is only Levi's 501 for him. His backpack and his glares are respectively Jansport (black) and Ray-Ban only. He rides either an Enfield Bullet or a Yamaha RD-350. He has a Parker/MontBlanc for a weapon. He is a Nehruvian Bandhgala man. His radio is a Bose. When he sports a white half sleeved shirt angels almost drool. He is a Raymonds man. Yet he does all this with such elegance and class of a different order that it all seems so inadvertent, and not thought of. He doesn't care.

His thoughts and commensurate actions and not him put wannabes and pseudos in their place. He shows why men are men and where kids belong.

He looks somewhat like this. God sure lies in detail. He is detail.

Meet my Ali

From 4 to 54, for all you have done in these 50 glorious years, many thanks Kamal Haasan.