Mausam -- Movie Review

Over the weekend, we decided to take the Arien aunt out for a movie and lunch. The Arien aunt is back in Bangalore from Mumbai for a month. It was my idea to take her to Mausam because I felt it would be slow with no major dishum dishum. You may recall, she enjoyed Deivathirumagal. Both the Arien and self found it quite boring in some places and very slow. Anyway, come saturday, both the Arien and self book tickets for Mausam, and treat the Arien aunt to an interesting lunch at Gokul Kuteera, a veg eatout. Both self and the Arien aunt chatted nineteen to a dozen while the Arien watched us both, amused. My aunt was enjoying her timeout and was keen on having some fun. The mistake was taking her out to watch Mausam! *Spoiler Alert*

The first one hour of the movie moves at a languid pace and you enjoy the antics of the gaon ka handome chora (Shahid) as he tries one dare-devil stunt, runs across rooftops to catch sight of the love of his life (Sonam) using a pair of binoculars from a different era, teases his sister, makes fun of his would-be brother-in-law, and generally behaves like a naughty younger brother you may have. If you recall your first crush and your behavior at tht time - you may feel a lil indulgent. But, as the movie moves on, we now have Shahid as a smart ofser with a moustache and a vardi, both of which look very good on him btw, and Sonam in Scotland as a ballerina, that you wonder -- whaaattt??? You wish 7 or 9 years had such an effect on you :P

Image Courtesy: www.ibnlive.com

Anyway, they are apparently as crazily in lowe as they were then. Sonam seems to have developed her fashionista sense at Scotland and family members of Sonam are quite impressed with his vardi that they claim it is an honor that someone known to them is in a vardi! He is the absolute pukka sahib. But, somehow he comes across very serious for no reason. If he had come to announce someone's death - I can understand tht expression but seriously holding on to that expression throughtout the second half - killed the movie. On the day Shahid is supposed to meet Sonam's dad to ask for her hand, kargil war beckons and Shahid goes away before getting married. At this juncture, the movie becomes absolutely boring and you really want to go home - the Arien asks aloud "Where is the villain?" I had to shush him. The movie is far from over.

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After the war, Shahid has paralysis on his left arm and believes Sonam may not lowe him anymore. (Reminds you a lot of that Aamir Khan and Manisha movie). Are you dead yet? Well, believe me it goes on and on and on. Rather than boring you further, I will take you to the last but one scene :D This scene was largely mistaken for a dose of humor or slapstick comedy in an otherwise very boring part of the movie. In ahmedabad, there are riots going on and people are setting fire to houses, cars, people. Sonam has been living here for several years and Shahid has jes landed here to attend the wedding of one of his punju friends from the dare-deviliry days. Amidst all the confusion, Sonam runs out and meets Shahid who saves her. Shahid then goes on to save a horse, and a child from a giant wheel whose mother lies dead - all by himself with one paralysed arm. They decide then to set up home with the horse and the child. That was when ppl started walking out. My aunt said "Aiyooo - this movie will never work". And then the song "Malla Malli" is thrown at us - no one is keen on watching it at all and is quickly walking towards the exit sign.

I like Shahid. This movie did not work for me at all. While the initial part was nice, interesting, indulgent, and slow but still likeable - the rest of the movie went over the top with slow scenes, no impact scenarios, and the final saving scene involving a child, a horse, and the heroine was absolutely a throw-back from the 70s era. We now watch those scenes and laugh - It jes served to confuse the already confused audience. The arien summed it up in one word "BLADE". I have to agree. I hate to do this but watch this movie with very low expectations and you may not feel so bad.   

Wordless Wednesdays - Balmuri Falls & Ranganathittu

Wordless Wednesdays -- Smoothie made by the Arien

180 Not Out

Happiness need not be a beeg nice happening in the day - it can be one small happening - a word, a smile, a handshake, a chocolate, a cookie, a small accomplishment, a word of praise, a second look, a nice cuppa chai, anything.

Well, I jes submitted my 180th post!! Its a small accomplishment but it means a lot to me. Woohoo!! Woohoo!! Ya - you are allowed to shout from rooftops when you are happy. 

Ooops!! The Arien has the shocked look of someone who is on an important call and has to now explain why someone in his house is going Woooohoooo!!! His eyes are giving me the naughty smile: "I was dying there - thanks to ur scream - ppl woke up" while his mouth was saying "Sorry - tht was the TV in the other room - hahahaha - sorry again - haahaha".

Thats my second accomplishment for today. Its very tough to faze the Arien. I jes did it!! woooohooo -- jes lowering the volume! Have to keep the peace in the house.

And if you are wondering what this shoe has got to do with it - Well, thats 180 Not Out. Go figure!

Image Courtesy: www.cricket-hockey.com

Callista -- Nice

Have gone past this restuarant every single day since we moved to the new office premises but the Arien did not budge. This month, the ofc junta chose that place to go for a lunch treat. The food was ok - they had a fixed menu. We had mushroom soup, one veg starter (veg coin), one non-veg starter (not sure wht it was). We had a bread basket and the veg dishes were jeera aloo, a panner dish, and another dish, which I cannot recall now. I think there was a non-veg side dish as well. This was followed by the biriyani (veg and non-veg) and finally dessert. Dessert consisted of fruit salad with ice-cream and gulab jamoon. Quite a mouthful. Not bad at all - in fact, quite good.The ambience would be much better later in the evening, was my thot. They had a huge projector and a few wall-mounted TVs. They also had a decent bar. From outside, it looks quite small but it is actually not that small. I actually enjoyed the place as well as the food though the music played was a bit loud and one waiter was a lil dim. I wanted to visit the place for dinner once before I gave my final verdict.

The same week, we were treating the Arien's bro and sil to dinner and I chose Calista. We reached the place around 10 pm for dinner. (Yupp! Thts a first - we are usually back home by tht time) We opted for the fixed menu again as they did not have a buffet in the evening. The Arien ordered for two non-veg starters (chicken) and was quite impressed. His bro was also happy with the food. I had ordered the Paneer Chilly which was quite spicy and tasty. We moved to the main course - bread basket with yellow dhaal (absolutely yummy), some paneer dish which had no specific taste, and a non-spicy vegetable biriyani which was tasty. The Arien had asked for mutton biriyani which was not available but the chicken biriyani was quite good, he said. The same dim waiter brought our orders. He  blinked when asked any question and then smiled. Next thing you know, he has left everything on the table so that he can call another waiter to answer our question. By then, it was 11 and everything was going to close. He quickly brought the dessert - fruit salad with ice-cream (no change since last visit). The bill arrived around 11:30 by which time most ppl were waiting at their table for their bill. We reached home ~11:45. The Arien and his bro watched a bit of the match on the wall-mounted TV because we were on the other side of the projector. It was a nice, lazy end to a gen day.  

Image Courtesy: www.bangalore.burrp.com

   

Mankatha -- Movie Review

A new movie from Venkat Prabhu, the director who gave us Chennai 28, Saroja, and Goa. It was also supposed to be Ajith's 50th movie. I am not a beeg Thalai fan but the Arien's bro was quite keen. So, 6 of us went for the movie.

The movie is fast-paced. It has shades of "The Italian Job". It is also an all-out guys movie with loads of action. Lot of shooting, guns, bad language, and reference to names given to the stars by their fans. A lil tiring but manageable.

The story is about Arumuga Chettiar, a rich man, who owns a theatre and is involved in a few shady deals in Mumbai. Trisha is his daughter. Ajith, a suspended policeman, is in love with Trisha. Arumuga Chettiar, decides to route 500 crore of betting money (IPL) through his theatre. So, the story is about this heist. 4 guys plan the heist - one is a henchmen of Arumuga Chettiar, other is a policeman who is regularly bribed by Arumugam. Another guy, who runs a bar and his IIT friend. Ajith comes to know of the plan and decides to join them. In another side of Mumbai, Arjun who is the Assistant Commissioner is working to unearth the masterminds involved in the betting scandal. What happens next forms the rest of the movie. 

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Ajith had absolutely no make-up on - no hair dye and appeared quite natural. Though he did not resemble George Clooney in the least - the salt and pepper hair, and unshaven look actually made him look quite good and required a lot of courage - which impressed me a lot. Trisha had a small, itsy-bitsy role which she handled in her usual style. Lakshmi Rai, was the manipulating bimbette. Arjun, looked his age, but did a good job.

The movie was not at all a typical Tamizh movie that I have to say "Go and watch it!"

Ganesh Chaturthi

I had missed celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi last year thanks to the golden triangle trip we went on. So, I was quite keen on not missing it this year. For the first time, the Arien insisted that I take an off on Wednesday (ytdy) so I do not feel hyper stressed on Ganesh Chaturthi. I think that idea was good. After cleaning up the house, we went out for a drive and purchased Ganesha idol, the go-green one as usual, and all the other misc stuff. We were actually back home before 6 pm on wednesday. Thats a first!

We made Kothhu Kadala shundal, sweet Kozhakattai, and Vadai. The Arien forgot to get Vermicilli. So I could not make Semiya Payasam. The arien suggested Gulab Jamun as an alternative and I agreed. If I mentioned that to any of my aunts especially my periamma - she will burst into laughter and I will never hear the end of that for the rest of my life. So, I did not call her or anybody else to discuss the dishes I made :D

It was a nice celebration - no tension, no stress - jes the way I wanted. Yeah!!! Thanks a lot to the Arien, of course, without whose help I may not have been able to celebrate it - the way I wanted to :D