Rx

Very often people rush to the nearest drug store in anticipation of some quick fix solution or some sure cure, before they knock on at the doctors' doors. As often I find myself in a similar situation this act is not without any merit! Now since I am a pharmacist myself, and have had loyal customers come by my store what potions and pills would I serve, offer to pull them away or may be jolt them from their blues?

In the past I have sold Piya Haji Ali (Fiza 2000), Do Kadam Aur Sahi (Meenaxi 2004), Lukka Chuppi (Rang De Basanti 2006), Jaage Hain (Guru 2007), Aye Hairathe'n Aashiqui (Guru 2007), Khwaaja Mere Khwaaja (Jodhaa Akbar 2008).

Now don't take this for a paucity in my store. My store abounds in loads of such drugs in different concentrations and dosages. Every customer who has had come by has gone back happy and has more coming my way with his recommendation. I am happy seeing a smile on their faces. It makes my day. Do Kadam Aur Sahi, I am told, takes most of them to a different world, and they have trouble beating a retreat. I am not surprised! I am bombarded with requests to stock up more like them. Added to this is the frequent request to give them that something which will have them asking for more. The current ones, they feel, have outlived their best by dates.


What do I do? I cannot run the risk of having my stores closed. I have waited, and here it comes. An absolute cracker of a drug carrying no dosage restrictions, suitable for all ages, but best enjoyed by those with years behind them.


What do I call this over-the-counter panacea?


Dil Gira Dafatan (Delhi 6, 2009)



Thrice a day with no meal restrictions.

Pop Quiz Hot Shot

What would a stereotypical Telugu movie director's team be called?

Caste & Screw

ab dilli door nahin

sach mein, AB bilkul nahi!

Dil Se

I am extremely happy for A.R.Rahman on his Golden Globe; irrespective of the veracity of awards in general this is no mean feat.

But I hope he doesn't become inaccessible to the mainstream makers back home who bring out the best in him. A Golden Globe today, and possibly an Academy tomorrow shouldn't take away the child in Rahman.

I hope he doesn't feel burdened or obliged to come up with heavenly, heavy weight music each time only to justify these prestigious awards in retrospect. India is not short on cynics who will pounce on him every time his score fails to attain instant popularity.

I hope he remains true to himself irrespective of any accolades that come his way or otherwise.

I hope he continues to dish out fare with the same child like enthusiasm as ever. As such he is away from the regional film music for a while, these awards shouldn't distance him further from the local breed at least the Tamil directors who supposedly milk him the best. Make no mistake all his regional scores with their immense local flavor have helped him push the envelope gently but surely before acting as the precursors for more dramatic Bollywood fare painted with larger brushes and painted with larger strokes.

I reckon he makes more sense in terms of commerce than some of the so called stars and actors in the fray. The awards and all the hype that follow shouldn't make him more inaccessible, and ergo expensive. Small, intimate cinema needs him as much as the monsters with gargantuan casts.

I hope the cynics who had utter contempt for him earlier do not start quoting these awards to quantify Rahman's genius now, saying we said so, this was expected. He has always been a pleasure, and he himself would be cognizant of the fact that he has churned out better fare before.

I hope people do not grudge this just a jingle maker, machine whiz kid, his well deserved success and fame.

I hope he remains true to himself on course to achieving all his goals, music and otherwise.



That is the true hallmark of a genius.



Insha Allah

a n ikon in the making?

The wait is over.


It is definitely a step forward.


I hope I find a newer me.


She arrives soon.

as good as it gets

Lakshmi and I had been meaning to catch up on a good flick for a while now. Though we had had a few decent outings in the form of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and not so decent in a Valkyrie, we had been longing to check out one in the cozy confines of home on a large screen. It never materialized owing to our hectic schedules and my erratic sleeping patterns.

Until today.

The day started fine; bright, cold yet warm, sunny. After running a few errands, I headed straight to the Mitchell Memorial. Now visits to the Mitchell Memorial have been more for their DVD collection than the academic resources at least for a while. Formalities taken care of, it was home beckoning me. What an organic, fluid, warm start to the day just like the movie that was to follow.

Jack Nicholson at his very charming, charismatic best, shows what good acting of high caliber could do to a seemingly simple script. Everything about him; the mannerisms, the behavior, the act, the costume design was absolutely water tight. It felt as if the director had them measured to the last ounce, and with the needles pointing to the right balance served them on a platter.

The goddess a.k.a Helen Hunt's Carol Connelly just had asking me for more. Women like Helen Hunt make movie watching an absolute pleasure which at times cannot be described to the fullest. Supple, graceful, witty, and vulnerable Helen Hunt is one of those rare movie personalities that make you want to know the person more in real life beyond the characters they get to enact. If I said Jack Nicholson takes the seemingly straight, simple narrative to an altogether different level it is not without the support from Helen Hunt. It happened to me earlier in Balki's Cheeni Kum where going by the chemistry between the lead pair I had naughtily wished for them to be a real life item too. The same happened here as well. The fact that this was repeat viewing never mattered.

Simple, classy, unpretentious, sexy, warm, organic the film and its title, I didn't know, would actually symbolize a perfect Sunday afternoon spent in absolute joy, and calmness after a long time together.


Just like "good times, and noodle salad" of Melvin Udall.

underdog millionaire

Take a bow, A.R.Rahman!

Dus

With the world around me indulging in some kind of retrospective lists it is only incidental that I chanced upon this page.

So this is also looking back; I had heard about it long ago but never got to see it in its entirety. I let the legendary BBC fonts (my favorites for long) on the page distract me, I let the colors take over me but nah! this was a definitive list, so it claimed. A list of songs supposedly culled from the umpteen out there, questioning its actual requirement. I wish I had known the rest of them, I was willing to read, know, and admire.

But then 2, 4 and 9 were just too overwhelming for me to do that.

chinks in the wall?

Rahul's scorecard

	Inns	Runs	Hs	Avg	100	50
Since relinquishing captaincy	34	881	111	28.41	1	5
In the year 2008	26	669	111	27.87	1	4
In last 10 innings	10	195	68	19.50	0	2
In last 5 innings	5	21	11	4.20	0	0

courtesy: Rajneesh Gupta/Rediff




Dravidian fall 2008?

harsha bhoggles

"in my quizzes I only ask the questions and am aware that the participants know more than I do. in fact I think that is true of all quizzes! all I see my job being is that of a pleasant conduit between the person who sets the questions and the person who tries to answer it"

says my man in an interview on some nondescript page, somewhere on the messy web.


Isn't that what all quizzes and quiz masters should be looking to achieve? In an ideal world, I am speaking.

and here is some more

"if people haven’t enjoyed themselves at the end, whether they have won or lost, I think I have lost"

Aaah! precisely that is what I have been trying to drive home ever since my Picket days. I have had harrowing moments convincing my partners right up to my college days as to how important, at least for me, it was to have a ball at quizzes. To have fun, to go up and down the emotional ladder in quizzes. Not to take anything seriously. Not to take yourself seriously. Not to let your ego come in way of immense amount of joy that you could get. Of course it was always fun ending up on the winning side, but when it came to having real fun, winning never ever mattered.


Never.

Engine Failure

I searched for happiness.


Google couldn't help me.

Lifetime Achievement

WOW!

go get a life

redifferent!

Now no matter how gimmicky that sounds, the fact that Rediff.com has exercised some caution, shown immense maturity, and sense of timing, discretion is praiseworthy. This tabloidish portal is known for its inflammatory message boards irrespective of what topic it is. Nothing and just about nothing escapes the sharp tongues of the Indians in these "discussion" forums showing what sort of cynicism has crept into us.

Right now, owing to the terror times in Mumbai, the site has closed all the discussion boards.

Even as I write this, I go back and check. Yes, I am right. It is not a problem with my internet connection and the page has loaded to its full potential.

There are no discussion boards.

Landmark.



P.S: If what I am talking about is to be seen, let the terror go into background, let the Mumbaikars show the famed "resilience", and then let the site be visited.

Dus ka Daud

Making a bucket list of things to do and going about fulfilling, realizing each one of them makes for such a compelling drama. It gets compelling if this list were to be made with sad yet definite knowledge that you are going to breathe your last very soon. You win some, you lose some, you get some, you forget some. After all life is such a bitch.

Yet again Vinay Pathak ratifies my belief and immense trust in actors who excel at comedy, humor. In what could be the finest display of ensemble acting in recent times, Vinay Pathak and his team of actors best known for their television gags take honest, simple acting to a different level. In a show that walks a fine line between wallowing and again honesty, Pathak proves what he could do to a film given a meaty, beefy part. Ranvir Shorey, Saurabh Shukla, Suresh Menon, Rajat Kapoor, Suchitra Pillai, Purvi Joshi, Sarita Joshi, Gaurav Gera in their minuscule yet important parts prove that a lead actor can shine only if the accessorial roles are neatly etched out. Nowhere do you feel the need to sympathize with the Pathak's Amar and you only root for him to get what he aspires for. You wish him a dignified death somewhere content he has lived the few moments he has on him. Few real moments. This movie is good for the relaxed pace in which it lets its protagonist go about settling things running against time.

Any movie that can make Neha Dhupia look normal, act, respond and react naturally has to be good.

Dasvidaniya is a reminder of a movie. Reminder of the unpredictability of life, the shortness of life.

The bitchiness of life.

not so hillaryous

If the babus and the coteries were to have their way, Hillary Clinton might as well be made the Secretary of State. This could throw to the bins the apparent disparity between her and my man when it came to Iraq, and more importantly Iran.

Our lady had warned Iran of an assault if Iran were to bombard Israel with nuclear weapons.
My man wants to sit down for talks with Iran.

Quantum Mechanics

When Fleming, Forster, and Craig decide to take you on a ride as a practical for their class on Physics, Kinetics, Chemistry, Systems you are at the receiving end. For a change, among many those instances, being at the receiving end is a pleasure. You enjoy the ride. You not surprisingly dismiss logic, throw caution and sense to air. You just submit, you just listen, you just see, you just watch. You stop questioning.

When in this silly ride across places, ethnicities, people, colors, races you get is what is termed as paisa vasool, where is the question of solace?!

chaand ka tukda

While it might not mean big to the pioneers, nor it might turn any heads but for the people who are involved in this, it definitely is a moment of inexplicable pride. I perfectly relate to the teams instrumental in this little landmark. The fact that groups (or millions) before you might have done it doesn't or ideally shouldn't take anything away from your success.


Your success is your success.

Whether it is earth shattering, or gives you a reason to be over the moon.

Short Circuited!

Circuit City adds to the list of the behemoths in the US filing for bankruptcy.

Something like this happening to an electronic store chain is shocking. The fact that it might be delisted off the NYSE is no pleasing news either.

There are reports that Circuit City started showing signs of an imminent fall early on, and it is only in retrospect now. Funnily for a company to go through this bad a phase, there were no obvious signs of it when I made a visit last fall for my first Canon. Nothing about the display, nor the environment showed there was something bad. Electronics is something that flies off the shelf with good reviews particularly in the US.

This had to happen in the holiday season? Sad!

Won't be a good Thanksgiving this time.

Fall 2008

In sanity, be damned!!!

"Do aur do ka jod hamesha, chaar kahaan hota hai
soch samajh waalon ko thodi naadani de maula

Chidiyon ko daane bachhon ko gud dhaani de maula
garaj baras pyasi dharti par phir paani de maula"



Nida Fazli / Jagjit Singh

The Secret's Out

I have always liked those supersmart, eagle-eyed, sharp suited Secret Service Agents who ought to protect the President of the United States, among others things to do. They, like their counterparts in New Delhi, the Special Protection Group, mean pure business. Now imagine one of those agents, tall, dark, again sharp suited, with cropped hair, elegant sunglasses on, decides enough is enough and comes to the foreground, and takes centrestage. What do you get?

Barack Hussein Obama