Solar Eclipse and DDLJ

The second last solar eclipse was in October 24th, 1995. No, i am not a penchant follower of astronomy but the solar eclipse helped me book tickets for DDLJ which released on October 20th. Yes, DDLJ released in the same week as the last exclipse. Contrary to the eclipse, movie contributed in removing the eclipse that the western world had on our "BOLLYWOOD". For the first time, the NRI market was tapped and hindi movie was showcased to the outerworld. Earlier to DDLJ, there were only handfuls of "santranj ke khilari",'Reshma Shera" etc which jostled some western attention.With DLLJ , India loudly proclaimed its liberalised status and "arrived" in the world film and economy scenario.

Still vividly remember the week, i took money from my parents to buy photo chromatic lens to see Eclipse. No Wonder, i did not see the eclipse.

Missing the october week of 1995, and hopeful to catch the eclipse tomorrow morning.

Take a Shorter Kut from ShortKut

Review - ShortKut ..The Con is On...Conning the audience

The myopic attitude of people narrows their creativity. ShortKut is a fine example of that. The film has one masterstroke built on the not so brilliant story. But the time you reach that "different" Eureka moment of the film, you have lost your patience and are testing your patience. There the movie looses its steam.

Arshad Warsi's acting has gone for a toss. After his Munna Bhai heroics, he s somehow gone into a shell. He's become repetetive..Compare this act to Golmaal Returns and you ll observe no difference. He needs to do something different in his characterizations. Fear we loose another great talent doing histrionics.

Amrita Rao charater is half baked and the film script would have been crisper without her presence. May be the songs needed her can be a strong justification. But do we needed the songs.

Its a pity that this movie could have been much crisper, witty and short sans the songs, arshad histrionics and crazy "Bon Homi" scenes of chawlwalas.

Akshaye is the only good thing in this movie. The maturity with which he handles his character is only the saving grace in the movie.

Overall a avoidable film unless you want to be conned. Its better to be conned in it rather than be "kambakht" enough.

Neeraj Vora, you are not Priyan. I still long to see good work from you. The expectation comes from the great stories you have adapted/ written.

Ode to MJ - RIP

I grew up watching hindi movies and listening to hindi songs. My taste for music was shaped in a era where the effervescent Laxmi Pyarelalmusic was waning and we were introduced to the techo jazz of Viju shah & Co. The dance education forte was handled by Evergreen Govinda - yes he is an Dinosaur. Our only window to outside world except my oriya newspaper Sambad and English Telegraph was hourly long programme called "World this week" hosted by Black bearded Pranoy Roy. It was in the later part of 1990 when there was a segment on the launching of MJ's new album - Black Or white. For the first time, i saw a frail looking guy whom the world considered the best dancer of the world. I watched the entire song. In that song, he danced with a Odissi dancer- which again filled a sense of pride within me - He chose Odissi over other - Bharat natyam, Kuchipudi and the log laundry list...Yes....

And it was in mid 1990's where i had to sleep hungry one full night to pester my Dad to get our cable connection ,, which consisted of only 2 channels - strange isnt it .......One was Zee and the other MTV. With the limited time i had watching TV......no points guessing on the choice i had to make to watch the TV. I did an statistic research - 60% of the time , it was MJ only. He had just released remised version to his new Album- "History" - " Blood on the Dance Floor". Man the song was a craze. Simulataneously, i was exposed for the first time to all his all time hits. I just realised that person who was in late thirties had an music career spanning 3 decades- he was already a celebrity at the age of 5!!. He was the first black artist to feature in MTV. MTV changed their logo to "MJ TV". He had unprecendented world following - Raj Thakerey was the person who escorted him when we came to India!!!! I was truly amazed by the caliber of the person. Even the beatles couldnt survive 2 decades of glory and here was a person who was danced and sang his way to glory till date.

he had to undergo a lot of tribulations on personal and proffessional front, but his greatness is still pristine. MJ , you still dance in our hearts.