...shoOOonya...

The Amol Palekar – Utpal Dutt Starrer and Hrishikesh Mukherjee directed 1979 movie 'Golmaal' is one of my all time favorites. A couple of years ago in 2006, Rohit Shetty decides to name his comedy movie 'Golmaal' and I was apprehensive of the kind of comedy Rohit Shetty will come up with. Unexpectedly, the new Golmaal actually turned out to be a pretty decent comedy. It even had a surprise package in the form of a mute Tushaar Kapoor and a nicely paced comedy throughout the movie.   Watching Ajay Devgun in an out and out comedy role was interesting too. Then comes Golmaal Returns (2008) and I was wondering if it will be like so many other sequels which fail to match up the expectations raised by the original and end up repeating stuff. Unexpectedly again, Rohit Shetty did not disappoint. Golmaal Returns was an equally good comedy doing what it was supposed to do; Entertain the crowds. Now, I am seeing the promos of Golmaal 3 on TV and it promises to be bigger ...

I saw the Salman starrer Dabangg recently and had this inkling of familiarity every time Sonakshi was on screen. I knew it was not owing to the fact that she was Shatru's daughter but something else. Nor was it bcos i had seen her in all the promos on TV. It was something far back in history (my history of course) There is a particular scene in which she appears in a black something which is studded with something glittering. Something similar worn by Deepika Padukone in Om Shanti Om (OSO). That visual made that familiarity feeling even stronger as if I had seen this before (almost in a Karz & OSO kind of way – raaz pichle janam ka J ) And then ... a few days ago while watching TV (more than watching, it was channel flipping); I came across a scene from an old movie and it hit me. YES. Sonakshi looks like this actress. And immediately another scene from memory flashed in front of my (internal) eyes. (Mind you, this is an extremely rare occurance since I do not have a photog...

I will take a break from the movies and books post ... take a break from the past (few months content) and write something from the present timeline :) When I first saw the Terminator movie more than 16-17 years ago; (Terminator 2: Judgment Day); It was an awesome mind blowing experience. It had absolutely amazing computer graphics and it was unlike any movie I had ever watched. It was a game changer of its time ... doing things ahead of its time. Then came T3 (Terminator: Rise of the Machines, 2003) and it was a bit of a disappointment. There was a gap of almost 10 years between the two movies and I still had T2 imprinted in my memory. The expectations with the Terminator genre were very high and it disappointed. The technological advancements from T2 to T3 hardly significant. The trilogy seemed to be over. But then T4 arrives as Terminator Salvation last year. A Terminator movie without Arnold was already unthinkable; add to that the movie not having the usual one-to-one betw...

Tum Milo To Sahi   A very nice feel-good movie with several characters and their inter-linked lives. Watching Nana Patekar and Dimple Kapadia was a delight as was the subtle acting by opther characters in the movie. This was one of those feel good movie one might easily forget and not even think about again, but one which we surely enjoy while watching. Mind you, some people may actually find it boring too.   Paathshaala   Why O Why did I even go to see the movie. The promos seemed promising. Yet another movie with kids and the backdrop of school meant that it might be raising some pertinent questions about the education system. The movie started off fine and was proceeding fine until a song in which we see a lot of sub-plots and potential in the movie. The gal who has a crush on the handsome teacher, the guy who has a crush on this girl but afraid to talk to her, some kid who is shunned by others and some cute little kids including the Balika Vadhu girl and the Chini Kum girl...

1. RHYTHM by Shraddha Majalkar   Well. This was, for a change, not a fiction novel. Rhythm is the name of the first module or level of an English Speaking Program developed by my best friend. This program is specifically aimed at vernacular medium students who know English but are not comfortable speaking. She has prepared extensive material for the program and as an experiment; we got the reference book for the first module printed using the Pothi.com service.   The joy of watching your name in print is stupendous. Holding a book that you have authored in your own hand is a joy one got to experience. I saw it in my friend's eyes and on her face as she unwrapped the book when she got the delivery.   Well, the story doesn't end there (of course). After going through the entire book herself; she handed the book to me … to Review it. So the first one-third of the month was dedicated to reviewing the book. Looking for typos, grammatical errors, sentence improvements etc...

Yes ... You read it right. Its 'movie' and not 'movies'   Kartik Calling Kartik   This one was another surprise movie. One of those movies where you can't decide what to expect from the movie before you have seen it and you can't decide whether you liked it or not after you have seen it. The movie was slow. Excruciatingly slow at times. And that made it very boring at (those) times. But it had a very interesting and mind blowing climax. This unexpectedly good suspense climax made up for the bored times and you left the theatre almost in a state that was neither bored nor exhilarated.   The suspense when revealed comes as a shocker and you are momentarily exhilarated but you still can't shake off that utterly bored feeling you got before the climax arrived. You are left confused about your feeling for the movie and so when you leave the theatre, you are thinking about your feeling about the film rather than the film per se.   After a good start of 4...

Better late than never. 9 months late, but then ... it happens. Heres the run down of movies I saw at the beginning of this year.   Avatar   Second Time J Yes, I began the year by watching this amazing movie for the second time. This was the last movie of 2009 for me, and also the first of 2010. It was a surreal wonderful experience. It was a treat for the eyes. Watching an entirely new and different world which glows and is closer to nature than our world which is now more or less a concrete jungle, was indeed a very eye-pleasing experience.   I was looking forward to its re-release with new scenes added but the reviews of the same discouraged me. They said it was just 10-12 minutes of new scenes and you could very well miss it. Well, I actually love that movie and might just try and catch it if it still around in some theatres in easy reach.   Raat Gayee Baat Gayee   This one was a disappointment. I have come to rather expect much from the Rajat Kapoor - Saurab...

Yep, I have already blogged about the 4 movie I saw in March … Its Complicated, Atithi - Tum Kab Jaaoge ?, Road Movie & Alice in Wonderland. But that was not all. I completely forgot one movie that I saw. Well, it's not my fault actually. It was a completely forgettable movie after all. I am placing on record that in that fateful month, beside the 4 mentioned above, I also, made the mistake of watching ROKKK … It was supposed to be some kind of a horror flick but it failed to do anything. I was neither scared, nor amused. I even missed the occasional laughs I would have when i had seen an episode of Zee Horror Show when i was a child. No .. I am not writing anything more about this movie. Purely bcos there is nothing to write about it. I am just placing on record that I saw it … taking the tally to 5 Movies in March.   OH and By the way … I just realized that I have written only about the movies I saw in March and not about Jan and Feb. So before I tell you about my 5 4...

Well ... this becomes a 'Come back' post of sorts ... It's been a long time since I blogged. The last I blogged was in April … 5 months ago. The past 5 months have brought about changes in life. Life changing changes I would say. I got engaged in April and married in May. A Rajasthan trip in June and a Honeymoon trip to in July. And then a Job change in August with my office in Pune resulting in a city change And finally … looking forward; September/October might just bring about a change in country too J ... Onsite project ... Changes ! So many life changing changes I now spend my weekdays in Pune in office & hotel and weekends in Mumbai at home. 4 nights in Pune and 3 nights in Mumbai is my weekly package . My laptop refuses to connect to the hotel wifi in Pune and so I am completely off-line except for the 30-45 minutes window at noon when I am able to access gmail from office. (I am sooo thankful to my company for being considerate enough to make a poli...