Speechless & Numb

It just got over. Mumbai bled while the nation watched agape in horror.

There have been myriad emotions within me over the past three days….anxiousness for the lives of hundreds of people who were taken hostage, immense grief for the brave policemen, NSG & MARCOS who lost their lives saving that of people they did not even know, and rage at the government for not acting on the intelligence they had about the Indian seas being infiltrated & the terrorists arriving to India by boat.

There’s a lot I want to write but I’m so exhausted from following the events over the course of the past three days, and from the rise & ebb of emotions that I’ve gone through along with the rest of the people in Mumbai, that I’ll make do with this bit for now:

I salute the commitment, the bravery & the courage of the police officers who lost their lives saving the people of Mumbai - ATS Chief Mr Hemant Karkare, Additional CP Ashok Kamte, Senior Inspector Vijay Salaskar & the 11 other policemen whose names we will never know. I cannot even beging to say how proud I am of the people of my country & of being a citizen of India. I get goosebumps and tears in my eyes thinking about their courage & the sacrifice these brave people made for their country, without worrying for their own lives even once. I’m proud of my uncle, a very very close friend’s dad who went in to the Oberoi after the terrorist attack started, to answer the call of duty. I am sure he did not hesitate once before going in, and knowing him, I never had a doubt that he would be one of the last people to leave the premises, only after ensuring safe passage of the guests at the hotel. So while I was in touch with my friend constantly about his return, I never once asked her why he wasn’t coming out when hostages were being rescued in groups.

I am appalled at the complete lack of political leadership throughout this entire event. The Chief Minister of Maharashtra is uncannily never in Mumbai whenever such attacks take place. He always “rushes” to Mumbai after the attack has taken place & hundreds of people have been killed. Even when he’s back in town, there’s no sound or sight of him. The leadership at the Center has also let all of us Indians down. The truth is clear & simple, and it’s out there for all to see: the Government of India is not serious about cracking down on terrorism. Indian lives are just not that important for them. The most they can do is make lame speeches about how “this has been the worst attack on India in many years”. Thank you very much Mr Pranab Mukherjee, we knew that without you having to tell us. Or narcissictic speeches such as that made by Home Minister Shivraj Patil, who cannot complete one sentence without saying “I did this…& I did that…” Or a completely insipid one made by the Prime Minister of India. Really, men, are you even aware of what is happening in our country?? I agree with Shobha De all the way when she called the politicians a bunch of incompetent nincompoops, asked them to stay out of Bombay & suggested that their security covers should be withdrawn completely. After all, it is the people of India who pay for their Z-Category security, and if our own security within our own country isn’t guaranteed – which, by the way, is the f****** JOB of the Government – what the hell are we paying for??

I do not want to hear any politician or the Government of Maharashtra/India talking about the “spirit of Mumbai”. That is a convenient phrase they have found to absolve themselves of all responsibility.

Look at the efficiency with which the United States has handled terror since 9/11. There hasn’t been a single terror attack on American soil since then. US Intelligence has foiled a number of plans to attack the US & other sites across the world. What does our government do? They wait for the terrorists to strike, then they condemn the blasts, praise the “spirit of the people”, make some rubbish noise about how they will not bow down to terror & teach the terrorists a lesson & how the blasts make us even stronger (bleh!!), make hollow promises about cracking down on terrorism & go back to screwing each other & the country. Really, I’ve had it with their nonsense & so has the country!!!

I do not want the leadership of the incompetent, imbecile politicians who cannot guarantee our safety within our own country. Rather, give me the leadership of brave men like Hemant Karkare, Ashok Kamte & Vijay Salaskar. That way, atleast I can go to bed knowing I am in safe hands, and that when I wake up tomorrow morning, the people I know and love and care for, will still be there.

Farhan Rocks!!

Watched ‘Rock On!!’

On the recommendation of a friend who thought the movie was “deeply moving & emotionally satisfying”, and was accompanied by another who had seen it just the night before & couldn’t wait to watch it again!!

After having watched the movie I was completely clueless as to why either of them loved it so much. ‘Deeply moving & emotionally satisfying” it definitely wasn’t, and unlike ‘Jaane Tu…’ it didn’t make me want to go back to the theater to watch it again. So I have concluded that both those friends of mine are W-E-I-R-D.

So, on to the movie….

The story flowed easily. It was simple & something that HAS been told before but the strength lied in the execution.

I thought the casting was perfect. Farhan, Luke, Purab, Arjun, Shabana Goswami (Debbie) – all fitted their roles to the T. They sunk their teeth into their roles. Must have taken someone capable of out-of-the-box thinking to conjure up images of Farhan Akhtar, Purab Kohli & Luke Kenny in their respective roles!! Hats off to the casting director (IS there something called a ‘Casting Director’ in Bollywood?)

Farhan Akhtar did a great job. His acting was restrained yet impactful; his body language never betrayed his voice or his character. He sang amazingly well for a non-professional singer, his raspy voice adding to the appeal of the songs. Farhan Akhtar, in short, was a revelation for me. One more tiny observation that might be of small interest to women & inspiration to men….he has an amazing body!! Lean is so much more in for men than body-builder type bodies.

Arjun Rampal did well as a loser. The character was required to be thick, and his acting didn’t betray his intelligence even once.

Luke Kenny was a surprise and quite likeable. Must say he looks much better with long hair than short.

My favorite character in the entire movie was that of Purab Kohli, a.k.a. Killer Drummer (KD). Not because he played a Gujju & Gujju character are of late being used as a comic relief in many movies, ‘Jaane Tu…’ being a brilliant case in point. But because his character was the most happy-go-lucky of them all, took life as it came, hardly ever cribbed, didn’t make a big issue of things, and always had a smile on his face. The only time he lost his cool was towards the end of the movie when Joe fails to show up for their performance.

Shabana Goswami did a good job too. There were quite a few times in the movie when I went “What is this woman’s problem in life?”, “Why is she so bitter?”, “She’s got issues!” I guess that is a compliment for Shabana, the actor.

I did not like Prachi Desai’s character OR her in the movie. Her much hyped-make over didn’t suit her at all. The lipstick was too loud. You can’t have stylish, straightened hair like that, dress like a Page 3 woman, live in a house with such tasteful, classy interiors & say “Who aaj nahin aa payenge, unko kuch kaam hai” (while referring to your husband) or say “Mujhe English gaane nahin aate, main sirf Hindi gaane gaati hoon”. I mean, nothing wrong with not knowing English songs, just that your actions should be compatible with your personality. What I also didn’t understand was why she wasn’t happy or excited at even one point in the movie. Surely, the fact that she had finally started to get her husband back (after the band re-unites) must have been enough to bring some joy to her life!!

The other crib I had with the movie was the use of language. The bull-headedness with which the director stuck to Hindi was jarring at places. Sometimes it just didn’t suit the characters. Luke Kenny & Arjun Rampal were both playing Catholic characters, and having lived in Bombay for years I know for a fact that Catholics don’t communicate in Hindi at home. In fact, most of them can hardly speak a sentence in Hindi without grammatical errors! Farhan Akhtar too said some things that, in the context of his character, would’ve sounded much better & more believable had they been said in English. I understand the “you-can-reach-more-people-through-Hindi” theory, but there lies the dissonance – Rock On!! wasn’t meant to be a mass movie. Rock music isn’t everyone’s cup o’ tea yet in India.

Finally, the music. If it’s a movie based on rock music, you’ve got to talk about the music. I find Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy to be immensely talented, apart from Vishal-Shekhar. Connoisseurs of rock music would be better qualified to rate the music on the scale of “rock” but I personally found the music to be OK. Not something that would want to make me buy the CD, though I did like ‘Meri laundry ka ek bill’, the title song & ‘Sindbad the Sailor’ (out-of-box thinking again!!).

Overall, the movie was good for a one-time watch, but if you find it to be “deeply moving or emotionally satisfying”, you’re W-E-I-R-D. ‘Coz it’s got none of that shit.

Movie mania

I haven't posted anything major in a while. That's because work has been absolutely killing! I've been trying to meet insane deadlines - something I'm not used to thanks to the luxuries my previous company offered us in terms of timelines.

Until this afternoon I was facing the prospect of working over the weekend...something I completely loathe...but thanks to my diligence & hard work (read 'working like a dog') I've managed to salvage my weekend!! YAYYY!!!

Though I must mention here that my boss does make my life a little easy...he's not the constantly-breathing-down-your-neck-control-freak kinds & lets me pace things out as I want to - as long as we're not digressing too much from the client's eccentric requirements. Still it's a struggle!

So...back to blogging about better things.

I HAVE NOT WATCHED A MOVIE IN A THEATER IN GOD-KNOWS-HOW-LONG!!!

Since I left Bombay in April, I have watched exactly two movies in a theater - Sarkar Raj and Sex & the City. That's not only sad, it's DEVASTATING. I love watching movies and the reason I haven't watched many since moving to Calcutta are:

a. I don't have many friends in Calcutta. The few I have are "work" friends who too, like me, work like dogs. It's a great big dog party at work, trust me! And you are cordially invited :)

b. The work friends mentioned above aren't movie buffs. They would rather eat, eat & eat some more and get into stupid accidents (where one falls off the back of a bike & lies splayed on his back on the middle of the road...like a drama king...refuses to get up...has to be hauled (literally) to the side of the road by two people & the first thing he says is "Michael Schumacher also used to lie like this whenever he got into an accident!!"

c. My sister would rather watch movies on DVD - which I feel is such a waste unless you're watching a late-night movie

SO...Scarlett gets to watch no movies. Hmpfff.

I used to watch AT LEAST one movie a weekend in Bombay. Sure, it had it's pitfalls - I've seen a lot of bad, rather pathetic movies, but then I've also watched many good ones. It didn't matter because I love watching movies!

My ex-roommate & I used to go for movies at 9.30 in the night on weekdays. Once we were walking to Gaiety-Galaxy from our house in Bandra for a 9.30 movie. It started pouring midway & by the time we got there we were soaked. Yet, we valiantly bought tickets & went inside the theater. It was one of the cozy 40-seat theaters Gaiety-Galazy has, that I miss so much now! We were the only two girls in the theater, surrounded by guys on all sides. And guess what movie we were watching??

BOOGEYMAN!!!

Bet you're scared!! LOL :)

God, it was a terrible movie! Yet we watched it till the end. It was insane!

When Mumbai got flooded on July 26th, we didn't go to work for about 2-3 days. Yet we made it to Suburbia & Gaiety-Galaxy for movies!

I think the movie bug is a very Bombay thing. Movies are such an essential part of the city & the lives of people in the city...it's amazing & I love it!!

Okay, I think by now you definitely know how much I love movies so I should stop rambling. My creative juices have gone into nourishing proposals & questionnaires. Just glad I've had time to write something again. Hope my blog hasn't fallen off your respective radars :)

See y'all soon again. It's the weekend! YAYYY!!!

Time for Scarlett to PLAYYYYY!!!

Show me the money!

I've been writing a lot of 'filmy' posts these days, but I'm a movie buff & I live in Bombay (that too in Bandra, the celebrity central of Bombay) so I can't escape the clutch of Bollywood :)

Read in Bombay Times today that Hindi movie actresses are charging never heard of amounts these days! While Ms Rai charges 3-4 crores per movie, Kareena Kapoor & Katrina Kaif charge in the range of 2.75-3 crores. Excuse me...did I read Katrina Kaif?? The lady cannot act to save her life! Race being the latest case in point. She's pathetic in the movie. She's really there just to look good. She's expressionless, can't emote, can't speak Hindi without an accent. I'm sorry lady, you are not going to get sympathy from me for not having been born & brought up in India. You should atleast have learned to speak in Hindi before you thought you were entitled to "act" in Hindi films. Just because you are tall, thin & fair-skinned with half firang parentage does not qualify you to become a "Hindi film heroine". Incidentally, she's charging even more than Rani Mukherjee who commands Rs 1.5-2 crores per movie. Even Deepika Padukone, who is only one film old, charges 1 crore. Preity Zinta doesn't even figure in the list of the highest paid actresses mentioned in Bombay Times.

As for Kareena Kapoor...well, I don't usually like her but she did a good job in 'Jab We Met'. Even the movie was quite breezy & entertaining, and she shared crackling chemistry with Shahid Kapoor. Too bad they broke up.

Have to give it to her for losing all that weight, but seriously, don't you think 49 kgs is underweight for a person who must be atleast 5'3" tall? Btw, she has amazing arms. I always notice women's arms because it's been my dream for quite a while to have perfectly toned arms. Even when I was a regular at the gym, I used to work most on my arms and got them quite a bit in shape. Bipasha Basu has great arms too.