Dabaang -- A Review

I wanted to see Dabaang when it released. First Day First Show. But, we were at Jaipur at that time. It took us this long to finally catch it. The Arien woke me up saying - "Looks like we may not get the tickets if we jes land up at the theatre so I am booking online." I think I agreed. (Hard to tell at 7:00 am on a Saturday). 10:05 am saw us zipping past traffic in the Phatphatiya and we managed to get parking space and walked in during the National Anthem. Thank God!

And now for the movie: Dabaang is a Sallu movie all the way. Its a total masala movie with a teeny-tiny story-line. Sonakshi looks pretty and holds her own in her debut movie - which is pretty awesome for a newbie. Sonu Sood, as Cheddi Singh is good. The movie survives only on Salman - his aviator glasses - and his charisma. With almost a zero story-line, Salman makes you fall in lowe with his bad-boy image of Chulbul Pandey urf Robinhood Pandey. A case of reel life imitating real life. If you think 'bout it - tht was a very clever idea. Sallu is at his hilarious best in the "Munni badnaam hui" song. Well, I am a fan of Sallu and I was really tired of the terrible movies that he chose to act in. Not that this is a fantastic movie. This movie was completely over the top but I enjoyed very bit of it. The more bizarre the action sequence - the funnier it was. The songs were catchy and I was humming the "Dabang Dabang Dabang" as we left the theatre. Dabaang - it was. Catch it if you wanna have a good laugh.

Khatron Ke Khiladi - Thiguna

Fear Factor has been one of my favorite shows, F.R.I.E.N.D.S and Caroline in the City, being some of the others. I was usually found glued to the TV screen whenever these shows came on during school and college vacations. When I heard that we would soon have our very own Fear Factor - Khatron Ke Khiladi, I was impressed. Akshay as the host, was the perfect choice given that he is known for his action-oriented roles and his love for death-defying stunts. Having said that - I must add that Akshay was not the best of hosts. However, there was an innate simplicity in him that has stood him in good stead. Also, he grew on you.

After seeing the latest show, Khatron Ke Khiladi - Thiguna, with Priyanka Chopra, I feel that Akshay was simply great. Not only is Priyanka absolutely boring and completely unwatchable, she has with her "anchoring skills" made Akshay seem like a Demi-God. (Don't believe me? Catch the show). Don't even get me started on her outfits or her "filmy" expressions. She totally lacks spontaneity and that is surprising because she is known to have a bubbly, cheerful personality. At times, she is so blunt - the celebrities are taken by surprise. And, then there are times wen she forgets that she is the host and goes "eeee-yuck" or "Ohhh". If thats the bubbly, girlie behavior - well, the less said the better.

So, if I am so fed up - why am I still glued to the show?The celebrities, of course. Rahul Bose, Rahul Dev, Milind Soman, Karan Singh Grover, Cyrus Broacha, Terence Lewis, Shabbir Ahluwalia, Dino Morea, Manjot Singh ... to name a few. If you are a regular viewer, you may notice that the third level is indeed tougher but then the celebrities are also known for their fitness. The show shd have been great but thanks to PC, it is just about OK. This is only my opinion. If you disagree, drop me a comment.

The Lost Symbol

Robert Langdon, arrives at Washington DC, at Peter Solomon's request to be the key note speaker, at a private gala. When he reaches the Hall, where he is supposed to give his speech, he is shocked to see that no one is there. The hall is empty, save for a few casual observers. The security guards are completely unaware of the event and this leaves Robert puzzled. Then, he recieves a call from Peter Solomon's executive assistant, who had actually initiated the discussion and confirmed the plan. Robert explains that there is no one at the Hall, and it does not look like anyone is aware of the gala. The executive assistant replies, "Peter Solomon has no idea that you are here. You are here, Mr. Langdon, because I want you here."

So starts the book.. Actually, all of this happens in the first 10 chapters that also contain detailed descriptions of Washington DC, the landmarks, etc., typical of Dan Brown. This is the latest offering from Dan Brown, and it totally falls short of my expectations. I feel that the book started off interestingly enough but failed to capitalize on any of the interesting bits.

I thot Da Vinci Code was a good book because it combined a murder, cryptic clues, a thrilling chase, an intelligent professor, with some information that some ppl considered anti-christ. I think the fact that we were not aware of that information and the subsequent controversy, helped increase the sale of the book. But, I doubt if the controversy was the reason the book was popular.

Now, in this book, while he has most of the same concepts, the moment you figure out the truth and this is way before the author reveals the truth to you, you get bored. Then, your patience gets stretched as he tries to show you something more which you either already know or when you get to know it, you are not too impressed. I was wondering where he was going after the murder and kept reading, only to be truly disappointed. I had a lot of expectations riding on both these books, and I am now :( Any suggestions for a book that does not disappoint?

Nine Dragons

Michael Connelly is one of my favorite authors. I never seem to have enough of the main character, Bosch. I usually re-read most of the books over and over again. Sadly, this is one of those books, I did not like as much. *Spoilers Ahead*

In this book, Nine Dragons, Harry has had enough of his partner, Iggy, and is contemplating if he shd ask for another partner when they are pulled into a case. The case involves a robbery which also resulted in the murder of the man behind the counter, accidentally or so it seems. The clues they notice point them away from the accidental "murder" theory. First, the missing tape that recorded the robbery/murder. This pointed to the murderer having prior knowledge of the shop, the camera, and the tapes. Second, just behind the counter, slightly above it, sat a shelf containing very expensive alcohol which was untouched. Third, there was a gun taped to the under-side of the counter which the victim would have reached for if he was suspicious. He had not. Because the victim was someone who had offered Sanctuary to Harry at a time when it was very dangerous to be a cop and to be outside, Harry feels he has a debt to be repay and takes on the case with full enthu. After some very quick jumps, Harry with the help of another detective from the Asian Crimes Unit, catches the person who they think has committed the crime (murder of the shop-owner). Everybody including Harry, have doubts regarding the criminal. I, too had some doubts if he was indeed the person who killed the shop-owner. In fact, I felt that Harry was botching up the case big-time because he seemed to have taken major leaps from very basic clues. Amidst this, he receives a phone threat. When he checks his phone, he notices that the message sent by his daughter is actually a video clip. She has been kidnapped.

While it is racy and gripping until the kidnapping, somehow after the kidnapping of his daughter, the book does not do justice to either the kidnapping or the rescue. I was left feeling very blaaah. I am not sure if it is because of the movie, Taken, that handles a similar scenario, of a detective father going in search of his kidnapped teenage daughter. The movie was very very good and somehow I feel that the comparison did not work in the book's favor. Also, I think we all had harboured a hope that Eleanor and Harry would get back together at a later date, and so by killing her, the book evokes "You cannot do that. You did?? Oh come on!" reaction. Somehow that the daughter could actually play such a prank on Harry was a major shocker. All in all - I would rate the book 2.8 out of 5. Do you think I am over-reacting? Read the book and let me know :)

The Veg Zinger

For the folks who are blinking at the name -- Zinger burger is the name of the crunchy chicken burger that most non-vegetarians love to eat at the Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) outlets. I know because the Arien is total Fida over a Zinger burger. Whenever we visit KFC, I usually have the veggie burger to give the Arien company.

Yesterday, we went to the KFC outlet on Commercial Street and the new veg option was the Veg Zinger. When I stated that I did not want a zinger and I would prefer the veggie burger, I was told that the other option was a veg snacker. Now, a veg snacker is a teeny, tiny, burger that def cannot be my lunch. I decided to try the Veg Zinger. The picture on the right is for representation purpose only. After I finished it, with great difficulty, I had the following questions for the folks at KFC:

• Why would anyone create a Veg Zinger at KFC?? (Considering that KFC caters primarily to the non-vegetarians.)
• Was it maybe a marketing strategy gone wrong? (Lets fight competition (read McD) with the all-new Veg Zinger.)
• A survey whose results could not be verified? (Vegetarians want to have this crunchy taste and look for their burgers as well)

I was totally uncomfortable with the Veg Zinger. I want the veggie burger back which looked and tasted the way I wanted it to. Has anyone tried the veg zinger? How do you like it? How does it compare to McVeggie? Share your views as comments.

Lunch @ High Note and a Movie

On a boring saturday, the Arien decided we had to see Predators (the movie) and I agreed if only for an excuse to go out. I have been wanting to eat at High Note for a while and so I tried to sell that idea to the Arien. After stuffing my face, I may fall asleep during the movie and miss it completely. Thats like a double yeah!! (I am so evil ;P) Planning, planning, and more planning - which show to catch? Do we ask the Taurean? Does the Arien still want to catch Predators? Can we catch the 4 pm show? There is no show at that time... Grrr.. In an hour, it was all settled: We were having lunch at High Note, catching Inception (yes, not Predators) at 6 pm.

Lunch was not the yummy affair I wanted it to be - the Arien did not like the food very much (Dragon Chicken and Lamb chops) - but then he is very much a kebab person. He liked the ambience though. The Taurean freaked out on the Veg Melange and Bruchetta. I had the Potato Au Gratin and could not do justice to it. After a while, it was simply too much of cheese, helluva lot of potatoes and I was ready to Guz it. When the bill came, the Taurean offered to treat us and I accepted his offer graciously (I think).

The movie experience was so awesome that I did not obsess over the unclean restroom facilities, the awful seats, a bunch of north-indian guys who for the life of them could not understand the movie, or any other stuff that I usually obsess over. The movie was simply that good. In fact, while Shutter Island solved the mystery for us and we all had this Whoa?!! feeling - in Inception, it was open for interpretation and you never really get rid of the Whoa feeling. The Taurean had already seen the movie but was game for watching it again - I could totally understand why. The Taurean and myself spent the drive home, discussing - nah- fighting over what we considered was the actual sequence of events in the movie while the Arien decided not to join the fray. This is the second movie this year that has totally exceeded my expectations - Ya, the first was Shutter Island. So, if you have not caught it, yet - DO NOT MISS IT.

Dinner for Schmucks

This was supposed to be a laugh riot. In the trailer that I had watched, Steve Carell looks at a picture of Nelson Mandela with the home owner and says "Wow - this guy is frends with Morgan Freeman", and I thot - tht is seriously funny! Ufff!!! I think I laughed maybe thrice and never uproariously.

Ok first things first -- if you have already seen the movie Bheja Fry, and did not like it much -- do not go for this movie. If you have seen Bheja Fry and liked it - do not go for this movie. If you have not seen Bheja Fry but are willing to get ur bheja fried - go for this movie. Both Bheja Fry and Dinner for the Schmucks are remakes of the French movie (The Dinner Game). Most folks have mentioned that every dialogue is funny and blah de blaah.. but seriously, NO! Maybe you can crack a smile... but after the Intermission you are thinking of walking out! I stayed and watched the entire movie :(

Counterfiet Notes - How to identify

I had been delaying the writing of my 100th post for some time. I wanted to write something that was useful to my readers for the 100th post but I had no new ideas. It was the Arien who gave me the opportunity to write something useful but b'cos of the surprise result of the "I write like.." quiz - this has now became my 101th post.

The Arien wanted to deposit Rs. 10, 000 in his account in the branch near our home. Because the bank employee was taking forever to individually validate each note, he was slightly irritated until he was told that one note was a counterfiet. Naturally, being a very curious person (in a good way) the Arien wanted to know how to identify a counterfiet note. The banker showed him two easy ways to identify a counterfiet note.

First, all notes now have this really funny cloud like design which seems to have a lot of commas on the left side on the vertical band. When you turn the cloud design towards the light - you will notice that the commas actually denote the denomination.

Second, there is a specific geometric shape associated with each denomination, triangle for a 100 rupee note, a circle for a 500 rupee note, and a diamond for a 1000 rupee note. There are actually 12 ways of identifying if the note that you have in your hand is a counterfiet or not.

One of the easiest ways to identify a fake note, one that I use is the missing year of printing. A note that does not have the Year of Printing is clearly a fake. When I find that missing, I check for the first two options. I noticed that there are a lot of fake notes in circulation. In fact, more than twice, I have received a fake note from an ATM. I have never really paid attention to the Notes that I receive from shops, ATMs, ppl but the teller refusing to accept that note had me shocked too.

After googling for additional information, I found that this year, Bangalore was in the news for the counterfieting racket and the police have nabbed a gang that circulated them. Scary eh?? Well, anyway, I also found this useful web-page:
http://jaanlo.com/howto/how-to-identify-counterfeit-currency-notes

Share this with everyone you know so we are all more aware of this menace. Take a printout of the images for the higher denomination notes - and share it with ur ofc junta. You must consciously check if the note in your hand is genuine or counterfiet - after all - it is our money.

Really??

My pal Nish, took this quiz "I write like..." and though she did not like the results, she asked us to try it. I was very sure that I would get a totally blaah result when I was surprised with this:

I write like
Stephen King

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Yupp - I am still going "Really? Really??" I think this is my shortest post till date.

Dressing Style of Phatphatiya Riders

The Phatphatiya is not just a bike - it is a status symbol - most ppl gawk at you if you own or drive a phatphatiya. Maybe they jes gawk because they can hear the phatphatiya from far and have to move out of the way. :D But, if you look closely at the teenagers, boys especially, - they have this look of worship for the bike combined with a look of pure envy directed at the rider which is almost funny to watch for a pillion rider like me.

Maybe because the Arien now owns a phatphatiya, nowadays, I notice every guy who drives a phatphatiya. I also observe their dressing style. Today, as I was driving to work, I heard rather than saw this guy on a Phatphatiya. As he drove alongside me for a few seconds, I noticed that his hair was curly, unkempt, and he had on a nice cool pair of shades and wore one of those muffler thingies around his neck. His whole look was kinda wild but cool at the same time. Interesting. Most guys wear the tried and tested classic look: white shirt, jeans, cool pair of shades and a nonchalant air as they drive past us common folk (those in bikes tht are not Phatphatiyas) while the rest of us chew dust as we can def not drive faster than them.

Well, what I did learn at the end of the day was that Phatphatiya riders are as eccentrically well-dressed or badly dressed as the next person. Whaaat?? You expected sm punch dialogue?? hahahaha :D

Bangalore Elevated Tollway - a guided tour

On Saturday evening, after a sleepathon that lasted a solid 4 hours, I woke up completely re-charged. The Arien immediately jumped into action. The story so far: He had installed SQL Server and was trying to create some alerts that would notify him if the server instance crashed.. (I think) and so for most of the morning - he had been very busy. Now, he was fed up and really wanted me to get up and so we could go on a drive.

After calling the senior Arien and getting his assurance that it was indeed a good day to check out his tollway. It was a loooooooong loooong drive and I was quite exhausted. The Arien was taking a break from breaking his head on SQL so he was not complaining. I cud not believe that the Taurean and the Senior Arien travelled this distance on a daily basis. We went to the senior Arien's office. After a very loong time, I was visiting the senior Arien at his site. The senior Arien was of course full of enthu. He asked us if we wanted Chai - I did - but I also knew that he was eager to show off his elevated tollway that that question was a mere formaility. The senior Arien then asked us to leave our car at his ofc and asked us to get into his Scorpio. The Arien was now full Khush.

Anyway, the Senior Arien started showing off the hi-fi tollway - first he showed us the 4-lane flyover that could easily accomodate most of the Electronic City traffic and improve their cuurent traffic situation. The lanes were indeed quite wide. I asked him what happens if there is an accident or someone has a breakdown. In a fast lane, that is usually a very frustrating moment. He showed us the laybyes created in case of a breakdown. We actually stopped at one of the laybyes. The driver signalled that others can carry on as most ppl slowed to watch us. There was space enough for at least 3 cars to be parked at the same time, at the laybye.

As we drove on, there was quite a few vehicles using the tollway and I jokingly asked the senior Arien if the project was on profit mode and he said that there were issues resulting in a hit on the profits. First of all, only a minority of the folks at Electronic City were actually using the tollway as opposed to the original plan. Second, folks who used their own transport seemed to consider the toll quite expensive. During the free run, everybody enjoyed escaping from the traffic chaos but when it came to paying up for the service, they were fewer takers. However, he expected this to change in a short span of time. Especially, when they notice the ease at which they can easily traverse the usually messy stretch. I also felt that it was just a question of time. No tollway is free. I recall in Mumbai also, we have these tolls and while it is a realtively new concept in Bangalore, I am sure it would pick up too.

The senior Arien also showed us the phone booths from where ppl cud call if there was a traffic jam, an accident, or if they needed some help. When we had visited, the phone was not yet connected. It still looked pretty hi-fi. I asked him why tht was required wen almost everyone has a cell phone these days. He explained tht most ppl are concerned 'bout their bills, incoming, outgoing etc. and so rather than assume tht one of the folks with a cell phone wud call, it was always better to have these bhooths. The logic made a lot of sense if you think for a moment that the person who may be at the juncture could be a driver of the Electronic City buses or can be a driver of these indicabs. I mean, we always assume someone will call, but usually, these drivers may have a mobile phone but may not be able to make any outgoing calls. Hmmm.. so that was taken care of as well.. Gr8!!

We neared the actual tolling booth and we watched the ppl drive past the booth, either driving too slowly or driving too fast. The folks standing around the booth, were having those lamp-cum-stick kinda thing which they waved to ask a speeding person to stop or a slowing down driver to keep moving. We stayed and watched for a while.

I think it is a boon who those who travel to Electronic City on a daily basis. For the others, it is more like a tourist spot - quite far away from the city but still who does not want to say - "Yes - I travelled on the 10-lane Elevated tollway. The first of its kind in Bangalore" - I sure do :)

We really wanted a Chai now as it was growing dark and so we did what we usually do - walked into Indiranagar's Shanthi Sagar for a hot cuppa of Chai and spent the next twenty minutes complaining 'bout how the standard of Chai at Shanthi Sagar had fallen. Have you been on the Elevated Tollway? Write to me 'bout your thots on it :)

Proud Owner of a Phatphatiya

Ok Ok.. so the Arien is the actual owner of the Phatphatiya. I am only the pillion rider when the Arien feels like it.. but Proud Pillion Rider of a Phatphatiya does not really sound like the title of a blog post, does it ... does it??

Anyway, last month, the Arien brought home the T-bird or the Phatphatiya. This has been one of his dreams and after having various mini-squabbles with me on the expense, do we really need this now, what 'bout ur CBZ - none of which fazed him - he took me to the showroom so we could drive it home, together. Two ppl cannot really drive it but the idea made me go aww... (Score for the Arien!) and so there I was with him at the showroom. For the folks who are bulbing, Phatphatiya aka T-bird is actually Thunderbird -- not the Ford Thunderbid which is a luxury car -- but the Royal Enfield Thunderbird Twinspark.

The Arien chose the silver coloured T-bird while I totally fell for the red one - shown here. The Arien realized on our first drive that he cannot drive it the way he drives his CBZ. After a month of driving, he tells me that the first month was akin to taming some wild beast. The bike is indeed quite powerful and heavy. You shd chk out his huuuggee smile as ppl openly gawk at the person driving the T-bird. As far me, well, I am the proud pillion rider of the T-bird. I have driven the CBZ but this is a whole new species, and I really don't want to test my skills on this beast.

Raavanan

First came the hype, then the Cannes fiasco - where Deepika outshone Ash and Ash was compared with Mallika Sherawat for speaking with an interesting accent. This was followed by the audio release, and then finally the release of the movie in two languages - Hindi and Tamil. The moment the movie was released, we were bombarded with quite a few bad reviews, surprisingly nasty reviews, and a few good reviews. With soo much going on, we decided not to catch the movie the weekend following the Friday when the movie released. So it was a week later, that we finally caught the movie.

The senior Arien was on a visit to Chennai to attend 1 wedding, 1 shashtiyapthapurthi, and 1 Upanayanam. Both the Taurean and self were not accompanying him because he was on a four-day break starting on a Wednesday. The weekend dawned bright and sunny and for the first time, the Taurean agreed to join us for Raavanan. Ya.. in the last week, we had decided tht Vikram was a safer bet in comparison to Aby baby.

Without further ado - I liked the movie. Vikram was the perfect choice for the role of Raavanan. As you probably know by now, the movie is based on the Ramayan. However, the interpretation of the story by Maniratnam was different and more believable. The cinematography was spectacular. Prithviraj was amazingly good-looking with a cool pair of shades and without his moustache. Priya Mani was good. Almost everyone except Beera (Raavanan) had a small role but their roles though small were meaningful and each actor did their bit well. Ranjita who was in the news for all the wrong reasons (Nityananda scandal) played the role of the wife of Khumbakarnan (Prabhu).

The first half was a chase - that seemed to go on forever. After the chase, the story was slower but not uninteresting. The falling off the cliff scene was well-done and for an Indian film, it was superb. However, considering tht most of us catch a lot of hollywood movies, you feel we still have a loong way to go. Case in point being the jumps performed by Karthik as Hanuman. Aishwarya is beautiful and manages to mouth some meaningful dialogues and honestly this is one of her better efforts. In some places, she lets out a few high-pitched shrieks or yells which is slightly painful on the ears :) All in all - worth a watch once - if only to blog 'bout it - but hey its really not tht baad as most of the reviewers are saying but its not an amazing piece of Art either as the director believes it is. Paisa-vasool.

PS: A R Rahman has done a fantastic job, again. As usual, it takes a while to like his songs but I liked Kedakkari and Usure Pogudhey a lot. Khalvare was awful and totally unnecessary. And instead of being beautiful - everything 'bout Khalvare or Kilire seemed forced.