A Rape and it's Aftermath

In an unfortunate incident,a twenty something girl   lost her life.A shocking one indeed.What worries us more is the fact that this happened not in Mayawati's U.P or Omar Abdulla's J&k but in our God's own country.

Some random thoughts on the possible repercussions of this incident.

1.Right from Ms Sara Joseph to our neighbour 'Shantha' chechi gives statements to the media on the horrors of travelling alone in a train.

2.The 'christian' channel,'the muslim' channel and the 'secular' channel sympathise with the girl only to resume their fight over the spilt ice ceam a few days later.

3.The Chief Minister assures the public that he would put all the rapists behind the bars sooner or later.

4.The 'Party' channel launches a sting operation while the 'secular' channel cries fowl.

5.The hindu party demands judicial enquiry into the mishap whereas the women organisations want the C.B.I to do a dummy experiment.

6.The Blame game starts: -The media blame the police.They inturn accuse the railway officials who on the other hand put the blame on the girl herself for travelling alone in the train.

7.'ABC' commission headed by the retired high court judge begins their probe on the accident.Six months later, submits a 10,999 page report to the government which is read by none.

8.The channels start pondering on more serious issues like this.

9.Shaji Kailas and S.N Swamy announce a movie titled 'Trainile Kolacase'.

10.Someone else gets raped,repeat 1 to 10.

-nikhimenon

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Dhobi Ghat(mumbai diaries)-the review

Just not good enough!

 The main problem with Kiran Rao's self indulgent directorial debut 'dhobi ghat' is that it tries too hard to be 'serious' cinema,yet falls short in it's attempt.The movie is well shot,has brilliant music by argentenian composer Gustavo Santaolalla, complimented well with competent performances from the lead cast(comprised mostly of rank newcomers,except the big 'Khan') but is put down by mediocre writing.Too many things happen by chance in Ms Rao's world which is definitely one of the main drawbacks in the screenplay. The movie manages to be an ode to the much loved city of Mumbai,but seldom rises above being just that.

There are only five characters in the movie; Anand,a maverick painter (played by Aamir Khan) who is a divorcee; Shai,an investment banker(Monica Dhongra) from the U.S. who is on a sabbatical; Munna,the dhobi who develops a liking for Shai; Yasmin Noor,a newly married bride with a troubled present with whom we get aquainted with via the lost mini dv tapes chanced upon by Anand in the apartment to which he has recently moved in.The last character is the city of Mumbai herself presented in all her beauty and chaos.There is the Mumbai in rains, Mumbai of Ganesh visarjans, Mumbai of Marine Drives Mumbai of Mohd Ali road during Ramzan –  anything and everything an average mumbaikar goes nostalgic about.The movie is slow paced, quite expected of one which belongs to this genre.

As a lot has already been  written about this movie by the so called critics and the 'intellectuals', i don't think that there is any point in writing a very long review of the movie.Just sharing a few thoughts on this one.

Kiran Rao and her husband had already made it clear(in the pre release media briefings) that 'Dhobi ghat' is not the conventional mainstream hindi film and had quite uapolegetically stated that it would cater only to a niche audience.Quite a smart move indeed.But i seriously doubt the acceptance of 'dg' even among the so called 'niche' which Ms Rao and her husband were referring to for the movie neither has the sensitivity of an 'Amorres Perros'(Alejandro González Iñárritu,2000 )or a 'Life in a metro'(Anurag Basu,2007) nor the provocativeness of a 'LSD'(Dibakar Banerjee,2010).However Kiran Rao hasn't shied away from including almost all the cliches which usually one associates with the 'film school' type movies.As Raja sen rightly pointed out in his review,the film comes across as earnest but hollow.

Dhobi ghat essentially belongs to Prateik Babbar who is an absolute delight to watch.He has a teriffic screen presence and as the dhobi Munna(who is also a rat catcher/wannabe model/male escort), literally steals the show in dhobi ghat.The scene in which he is watching a movie with Shai at the multiplex alone is sufficient to explain what an excellent performer he is.He also surprises us in the climactic sequence of the movie.Monica Dhongra as Shai is also competent and her subtle portrayal of the confused NRI was effective.Kriti Malhotra was also sincere though one gets the feeling that her character(yasmin Noor) could have been developed a bit more. The final revelations about her doesn't shock us much as we had almost guessed something bad to have happened to her.Aamir Khan as Anand makes up for the absence of a saleable star in the movie.As Anand,the painter he has delivered a decent performance.

On the whole,Kiran Rao's Dhobi ghat is a movie which ends up as an average fare despite excellent performances and high production values due to mediocre writing.Buy a Dvd of 'Life in a Metro' instead.

Rating: 5.5/10



-nikhimenon

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Ekta Yatra and some unanswered questions..

Bharathiya Janatha party could have done away with their plan to hoist the national flag at Lal Chowk today.They might have their own political agenda but......

1. Why has the hoisting of the national flag become a law and order situation in Jammu when it's still a part of the Republic of India?
2.  Is Mr Omar Abdulla trying to appease the so called 'intellectuals' and the 'secularists'/separatists by blocking the hoisting of the National Flag at Lal Chowk?
3. As the B.J.P claims,do the people of Jammu hoist the Pakisthani flag instead of the tricolour at Lal Chowk on the republic day?  
4. Is it fair from the part of B.J.P to resort to provocative acts like this at a sensitive place in Jammu,when the Government itself had earlier backed away from it?
5. The Government is repeatedly saying that raising the tricolour will disrupt the peace in Kashmir.But if they can't ensure a peaceful flag hoisting in the republic day,then what is the so called 'peace'that they are talking about?
6. One of the greatest 'intellectuals' of our country Ms.Barkha Datt has written in H.T. - Hindustan Times (January 21), : 'So, while the Ekta Yatra seeks its legitimacy in the cover of 'nationalism', in fact, it is a patently dangerous and destructive political approach that will only tamper with an already-fragile peace in the state. If Jammu and Kashmir  erupts into unrest and violent regional conflict as a result of this yatra, won't that be the very opposite of national interest?'.There is a saying in Malayalam 'Thummiyal Therikkunna Mookkanenkil ,innallenkil naale mattoru thummal vannal athu therikkille?'
7. Right from Ms Mehmooba Mufthi to Mr Omar Abdulla says that the B.J.P.has nothing more than their Political agenda behing their Rath Ektha Yathra,but should we overlook the plight of the poor Kasmiri Pandits who are forced to flee from their homes?
8. Why did the B.J.P not conduct a similar yathra when they were in power?

    nikhimenon    

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Screening of 'silence'- short film

  The short film 'Silence' will be screened in the competition section(short film) of the film festival held by the Kannur film chamber.'Silence' had earlier gone to 'Montage 2011', organised by B.P.C.,Piravom and the 'International Video Fest' held at kannur.The screening will be on the 28 th of this month.

Venue: Jawahar Auditorium,Near old Bus stand,Kannur

Date: 28,January 2011

Time: Will be informed later

Everyone is invited.More about the movie here,here and here.

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Suresh Taneja's 'We can pull it off'-the review

          At a time when even the judiciary isn't entirely free of corruption,Suresh Taneja's debut work as a writer 'We can pull it off' comes across as a relevant book.Suresh not only envisages a corruption free,super power India by 2030 but also puts forward a novel strategy to achieve the goal.

          'WPTO' tells the story of G4,(Vikram, Yuvika, Manisha and Akshay).They chance upon certain unexpected events during their vacation of 2009 which inturn force them to fight against the rotten system.In this fight for justice,they are also joined by the eminent journalist ,Varsha Dutt, a character modeled on the high profile NDTV journo,Barkha Dutt.It is quite ironical that the book has come out at a time when even Barkha herself is under the scanner for her alleged association with the corporate lobbyist,Niira Radia.The narrative flips back and forth between the India of 2009 and that of 2030.

          Debutant writer Suresh Taneja deserves accolades for having chosen corruption as the subject of his first book.WPTO is an honest and sincere attempt which manages to make a lasting impact on it's readers.The best thing that I liked about the book was the description of India of 2030,which had become a super power .

The plot- The biggest strength of this book is it's plot and the concept which it tries to convey.Some of the statements which it makes ('Corruption in the government sector can be attributed to the widespread economic disparity between the public and the private sector';'We don't want to be labelled as the citizens of a corrupt country')are hardhitting and needs to be pondered on.The concept of 'Corruption density index' was something which i liked very much.There are references to 'The satyam' and 'the cash for vote' scandals in the book which ifound quite interesting.But the abduction of Varsha Butt episode was outright childish and could have been easily done away with.

The Characters- There are too many characters but sadly none of them have been etched out well.The adults in the book often behave as if they are just out of school and mostly mouth cheesy dialogues.For instance,this is what a character says about one of her childhood friends-"wow! she is a combination of beauty and brains?".All the characters have been portrayed in a positive manner and for the same reason some of them lacked believability.

The writing-  Probably with the intention of getting a wider readership,the author has kept the language as simple as possible.But the language is so plain at times that I often wondered whether i was reading a book that is actually meant for young adults.Certain phrases get repeated again and again which hampers the free flow of the narrative.For instance,the phrase 'it's only the tip of the iceberg' comes every ten pages or so.A couple of grammatical errors have also crept in which can adversely affect the commercial prospects of the book.'We can pull it off' is that rare book which is brilliantly conceptualised but ends up as an average fare due to lousy characterisation and bland writing.

On the whole Suresh Taneja makes a decent debut with 'We can pull it off' and hope he comes up with another interesting issue based book in the near future.

Title : We Can Pull It Off…
Author : Suresh Taneja
Publisher : Frog books,a division of leadstart Publishing
Prize : INR 200/-

(The author is a C.A. by profession and is employed in a large listed companyas it's chief financial officer.This is his first completed work as an author.He can be contacted at taneja_suresh@hotmail.com)

reviewed by nikhimenon@gmail.com

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Download 'Silence'-the short film

These are the links for downloading our first short film 'Silence'.It was recently screened at the 'Interational video fest' held at kannur.'Silence' was also an entry to 'Montage 2010',organised by BPC,Piravom. Part 1 http://www.megaupload.com/?d=XNK8E89L, Part 2, Part 3,Part 4. Go to the link, choose the regular download option .Once all the four parts have been downloaded extract the rar files using winrar and play the file using vlc media player or mediaplayer classic with the appropriate codec installed in it.  Be warned,'Silence' is a film that is made on a limited budget,has mostly first time actors in it and has been shot using an HD handycam! Be kind. :D More details on the film here and here.The youtube link of Silence here

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Traffic- the review

Rajesh Pillai's debut movie,'Hrudayathil Sukshikkan' which came out in the year 2005 was a poor copy of the hollywood hit 'Meet the parents'.But his second movie 'traffic' which is also the first malayalam release of 2011 is not only an original one but also manages to keep you in the edge of the seat throughout it's running time.

Traffic has 6 main characters -an aspiring journalist (vineeth),his friend(asif),a superstar(rahman) and his family,a young cardiac surgeon(kunchakko),his friend(krishna),a police commissioner(anup menon) and a traffic police constable(srinivasan).An accident changes their lives forever and how they tackle with it is what the story is about.(As i don't believe in giving out the story line completely in the review,i am not going in further into it;find it for yourself at a theatre near you!) 

The good thing about the movie is it's script which hooks you in compeletely.The better thing is that unlike it's most recent counterpart (Cocktail) it's  genuine and not a frame to frame copy of some canadian/latin american flick which fakes as an original one.Almost all the characters have been etched out really well and the script writers have tried to give justification for almost all of their acts and deeds.The events unfold in a brisk manner,gives you a surprise every now and then,manages to tickle your funny bone(the interview sequence/the 'politician' scene) occassionally, yet doesn't end up as a big joke once it is over (remember 'tournament'?).The interval punch is brilliant and keeps you guessing about the different probabilities that can happen.

Though the movie doesn't have a hero or a heroine as such ,it hasn't deterred the lead actors/actresses in delivering  competent performances.All of them have performed brilliantly and the pick of the lot is Saikumar,playing the anguished father.Rahman ,Anoop Menon, Asif ali were also good.Kunchakko Boban was ok. Among the females it was Lena who had a meaty role though at times her dialogues were too silly and artificial.

Coming to the technical department,you can't find much fault there with almost all the departments faring well.Special mention must be given to the brilliant bgm by Mejo joseph and the cinematography by shyju khalid which matches the mood and tone of the film entirely.The editing is also tight with no unwanted scenes or unnecessary fights.

On the downside,there are a few instances in the movie(especially towards the end) which defies logic(the colony scene for instance).Likewise it's not clear why dr abel behaves in that manner once he realises that the car has hit her(it's pretty clear that she has no idea about the one who has hit her, from the previous scene).Similarly the whole idea of covering that much distance within a span of two hours also lacked believability.

All these flaws apart, 'Traffic' is the perfect entertainer for the season.It is the kind of cinema that thrills you,amuses you,frightens you and even makes you stand up and applaud once the show is over.Hats off to rajesh pillai for giving us this movie.

Verdict: Go for it! 

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The 5 lessons that Malayalam cinema taught us last year

Major Ravi has seriously no talent at writing and directing!-Even after four films,Major ravi seems to have absolutely no clue about what he is doing.This seriously make us wonder how he made a reasonably good 'Keerthichakra' 3 years back.Wasted the two legends of indian cinema(Big B and lalettan) in a below average flick named 'Kandahar'.


It's time for Meera Jasmine to retire gracefully!- The malayali audience have got sick of Meera's 'damsel in distress' act.They neither cared about her sob fest 'Paattinte Paalazhi' nor the equally ridiculous Saji Surendran misadventure 'Four Friends'.

Sathyan Anthikkad should reinvent himself!- Sathyan does the same thing again and again and manages to achieve reasonable success.But with 'kadha Thudarunnu' ending up as an average grosser at the boxoffice, we seriously hope that he tries something new,the next time.

Amal Neerad should get over with his fetish for ultra slo-mo shots: It was just fine when he did it for the first time in the slick Mammootty starrer Big B'.But it's not cool anymore,dude!

Dileep and Ranjith are back with a bang!- Dileep had a forgettable 2009 with almost all of his movies biting the dust.Though ranjith made the critically acclaimed 'Palerimanikyam' and 'kerala Cafe'(production) last year ,none of them were hits.With 4 super hits(one as the producer) and one average grosser to his credit,Dileep proved this year that he is still a bankable star while Ranjith got that elusive hit with the crtically acclaimed 'pranchiyettan and the Saint'. 

- written by nikhimenon@gmail.com

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'Silence' selected for short film competition..!

             I am extremely happy to inform you all that our short film, 'Silence' has been selected for the 'International Video fest' to be held at kannur in the first week of january.'Silence' will be competing with twenty seven other shorts from different parts of the country.

             Silence is the story of Rajesh,an 18 year old boy who after clearing the I.I.T JEE is on his way to join the institution at kharagpur.He happens to save a stranger who is severely injured in a road traffic accident.How this incident changes the lives of these two men is what 'Silence' is all about.

             Silence is a story about people,relations,hope,longing and hidden truths.The movie was shot using Sony HD handicam.The major locations of the movie were Kochi,kolenchery and Kumily.

      Cast and Crew Credits 

Director: Dr Nikhilesh Menon.R.

Banner:  Sanskriti movies/Random thoughts/End dream Media

Producers: Dr Kiran Gopal/Dr Sarath R.S/Dr Nikhilesh Menon R

Project designer,Co- ordinator: Mr Harish Krishnan

Screenplay,Dialogues: Dr Nikhilesh Menon R

Director of Photography: Dr Sarath R.S/Dr Joseph Sabu

Story Board: Dr Joseph Sabu Pulinattu

Editor: Mr Harish Krishnan

Sound Editor/Designer: Rajeev,Bright

Composed by: Jarvis Raju Vadakkan

Creative assistance: Mr Harish Krishnan

      Cast

Dr Kiran Gopal- Rajesh

Dr Unnikrishnan C-The stranger

Dr Joseph Sabu-The stranger's friend

Ashwini- Ash

Dr Saumya Ramachandran-Rajesh's Girl friend

Dr Viji Paul Thomas-Doctor

Dr Aju Jose-News reporter

Dr Nijad k.k.-Male nurse

Dr Biby joseph-Attender

Extras-Dr.NikhileshMenon.R,Abid,Jarvis,MasterArun/Master Roshan,rajeev,reghu(the mob)

Studio-Bright studios, Ernakulam

Sony vegas pro 9.

Some of the other movies which are in the fray are Fill in the blanks(Vinod krishna),Aleena shanthamanu(Ashok R Nath),kilukkam(Biju c das)Davyadooth(shaji),niyogam(vyasan),The return(sherry),A stream of love(Shaji)      

-nikhimenon@gmail.com

ps: More about the competition can be read here

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Is Your baby ruining your sex life?!

the machoman!

Times has written an enlightening article on this topic.Those of you who wish to get 'enlightened'  click here.The losers like me who are reading this post can click here.

Wishing you a happy sex life,

-nikhimenon@gmail.com

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'Tournament: Play and replay' - the review

Too many cooks spoil the broth!

                  Lal's third outing as an independent director,'Tournament: Play and Replay' after the decent '2 harihar nagar' and the mediocre 'In ghost house Inn' ends up as a disappointing film.The script goes haywire post intermission,the twists get repetitive and culminates in a climax which is silly and idiotic to say the least.

                 The intention of the director to make a breezy road movie ala 'Saroja','Gamyam' is quite evident and he almost gets it right in the first half.The four friends who are about to attend the  selection trial for the upcoming 'kochi' Apl team are introduced quite convincingly.A song later,one of them gets injured in an accident making him unable to attend the trial to be held in bangalore a week later.So the other three starts off to bangalore along with their common friend,Aswathi(played by new comer Roopa Manjari).Several unexpected events happen during their journey (along with a couple of twists thrown at the audience every fifteen minutes or so),new characters pop up at regular intervals (cracking mostly toilet jokes).I am not going on further into the story line as there is too little of it here actually!

                 As i had mentioned earlier the first half is breezy and entertaining barring the suppossedly funny track involving the truck driver and his cleaner(kochu preman and bijukkuttan respectively).The three songs which belong to this half have been picturised well.The back stories of a couple of incidents  also get revealed in the first half itself.Though the format is new to the malayalam film industry i must say that it has backfired here terribly.

                Post intermission,the script loses track and wanders aimlessly.The sequences involving indrans,the tribal people and the jeep which has lost it's driver in the second half are atrocious and totally unfunny.The twists in the second half become predictable as the audience have become smart after the unexpected turns they had witnessed in the former.The climax is a let down and it can only be termed as an 'ending of convenience'.Lal was almost successful when he did it for the first time in '2 HHN',but not anymore.


                The main problem with the movie lies in it's writing and characterisation.It's often said that one can't paint everything on black and white.Agreed,everyone has shades of grey but does it necessarily mean that the world we are living is full of crooks?


                 On the technical side,'tournament' is something which has high production values.The visuals are rich,the back ground score is decent(done by Alex Paul),the editing is also fine.Music by Deepak Dev deserves special mention and is far superior to that in Lal's first two films.The songs have been picturised well and suits the mood of the film.


                 All the actors have done their part well and one rarely gets the feeling that this is their first film.Fahad fazil,the experienced one among them was okay as he had nothing much to perform.The guy who played the role of the (real) John Subramaniam was also good though he almost went a bit over board at times.The actor who played the character of the fatty 'Usman Ali' managed to raise a few laughs .The protagonist 'Bobby' was fine.New comer Roopa(Aswathy) had a meaty role and she looked good.

Overall 'Tournament: Play and Replay' is a film which looks slick and cool with some decent performances from the lead cast,with no Suraaj Venjaramoodu in it,but ends up as a below average affair due to sloppy writing and too many silly and predictable twists.   


reviewed by nikhimenon@gmail.com

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The face lift..

nikhimenon@gmail.com

After spending six long hours in the net and editing the html scripts of atleast two dozen templates, managed to give a decent face lift to random thoughts.Hope the new design is more user friendly and easy to read.

Ps: The second part of NBS film awards is currently in the 'draft' box.Will be published soon.

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NBS Film Awards 2010-Part 1

awarded by nikhimenon@gmail.com

This year’s NBS film awards…(The second part of this post will be published next week)


 1.    The best Feature film- 'Once Upon a Time in Chennai'.The Award- the shades used by Rajnikanth in the movie,Enthiran.

 The plot- Sajan (D.Rajan) is a school drop out who dreams of making big money.His father is Satyendra,an honest lower division clerk in the irrigation department. Satyendra gets falsely implicated in a PVC pipe scandal which results in his dismissal  from the service.Struck by poverty and hunger,Satyendra takes his son to Galeinjer,the local politician(who is a godfather like figure to the people and a man of principles) and pleads for help.Galeinjar appoints Sajan as his private secretary.Sajan slowly becomes Galeinjar’s trusted aide.Meanwhile Galeinjar gets married and goes to Guatemala for honey moon. The Clever Sajan takes advantage of Galeinjar’s absence and bribes his party members to vote for Thalaivi’s party in the upcoming by-election(thalaivi had promised sajan, 3 jeeps full of money in return!).On his return from Guatemala,Galeinjar comes to know about this and slaps Sajan for his misdeeds.This infuriates Sajan and as a revenge,he files his nomination against Galeinjar in the next parliament election ,defeats him and also becomes the next telecom minister with the help of the Godmother.The movie ends with the wide shot of Sajan and his 3 jeeps(full of money).

2.    Best Actor- D.Rajan for pulling off the character of Sajan with panache (Movie-Once upon a time in Chennai).

      The Award- The hat used by Quick Gun Murugan

 The winner also gets a Dvd of nikhimenon’s latest blockbuster movie,’Maut ki Dukaan’.

3.  Best Actress in a leading role- Hira Badia (Once upon a time in Chennai,Godmother)for breathing life into the character of ‘God Mother’ in ‘OTIC and it’s sequel ‘Godmother’. The Award- The dupatta used by Neha in the movie ‘kareeb’

 The Plot of Godmother-As stated earlier,’Godmother’ is the sequel to ‘once upon a time in Chennai’.Badia plays Ragini,who is a telephone operator in ‘Data Corporation’, country’s largest mobile company.The C.E.O of the company,Mr Batan(played by Vatan Data) falls in love with Hira.Meanwhile Rajesh joseph,a clerk in ‘Data Corporation’ gets pissed with Hira’s progress in the company.So he makes an MMS of Vatan making love with Hira and leaks it to the media.The movie ends with the close up shot of a depressed Vatan.

4 Best Actress in a supporting Role- Sona Gupta( ‘This is it’) is a surprise entry to this year’s list.She bags this coveted award for her role in the film ‘This is It’.It was the story of an aspiring actress,Yinta whose life takes a U- turn following a wardrobe malfunction.

The Award-The ‘snake’ dress used by Mallika Sherawat in ‘Hiss’

 The winner also gets a pink chaddi sponsored by V.I.P.

5 Best Still Photographer- The man who took this Snap (Movie-‘This is It’).The Award- The wig used by Akki Bhai in ‘Action Replay’.

6 The Promising talent of the year- Rangan Mohan yeddie (Movie-Kursy ki Aawaaz) . The Award- The chair used by K.B.Kiddyurappa in the movie 'Yeddie and the Undie'  
              Immense screenpresence,terrific looks,impressive histrionic skills; Rangan has everything that's needed for a true super hero.After parting ways with the Kaangress studios,Ranjan is all set to launch his new banner, 'Rangan Films'. 
Last year's NBS awards 

3        

                  

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" Trust me,he will behave himself"

buzz by nikhimenon@gmail.com

"//He Will Behave Himself. Trust Me, He Will Behave Himself//"- oops.! Its not nikhimenon  justifying his pet dog through his blog.He is just quoting a corporate lobbyist . Apparently Ms Nira Radia,(tata ji's privacy keeper) was referring to the (former) telecom minister of the largest democracy!

Ps: Neither the desi news channels nor the sardesais' seem to have heard this.So posting it here too.
Hats off to Outlook india,shame on you Barkha!

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The Six Movies that influenced me the most,this year.

thought by nikhimenon@gmail.com

1.Love Sex Aur Dhoka(Hindi,2010)

                                    LSD was Bollywood’s answer to ‘The blair witch project’ and ‘Paranormal activity’.Though the concept of using hand held cameras and passing off the visuals as third party footages was nothing new,Dibakar Banerjee (Oye lucky lucky oye,Khosla Ka Khosla)could successfully make use of it in telling not just one,but three provocative ,disturbing and (most importantly) interlinked stories.Undoubtedly,a masterpiece!

2.Pranchiyettan and the Saint(Malayalam,2010)

                                    Pranchiyettan was unarguably one of the most successful(both critically and commercially) and honest malayalam movies of the year.Though the movie had no story as such to boast off and relied on three major incidents in the life of Cherammel Eenasu Francis(played brilliantly by Mammootty) to take the narrative forward,it was a gem of a film.Some of the references were quite obvious (~jewellery ad,padmasree)while someother were subtle and intelligent.After Kayyoppu and Thirakkadha (I seriously believe that his ‘palerimanikyam’ was highly over rated),another good one from Ranjith.

 

3.My Name is Khan (Hindi,2010)

                                                Karan Johar’s’  MNIK’ was the story of Rizwan khan,a man with Asperger’s syndrome who was on a quest to personally deliver a message to the US president.Kjo,the master of ‘Raj-Simran’ stories talked about a very serious issue(of  terrorism and religious tolerance) in his own trademark stye(read emotionally manipulative/bollywoodish)but what he had to tell  was definitely worth listening to.Even SRK delivered a restrained performance and  this movie is easily his best work to date.

4.Vinaai Thaandi Varuvaaya(Tamil,2010)

                                    In a touching climactic sequence ,Karthik(Silambarasan)tells himself ‘Kathale thedi pokanathu kathal alla jessie,athu thaniye nadakkanam'.

Gautham Vasudeva Menon’s VTV was so realistic that you could actually feel the hero’s pain (in not being able to unite with his lady love) and sympathise with him.VTV gave a new lease of life to Silambarasan's acting career  and he was indeed good in this film.Hats off to Gautham Menon,for giving us this beautiful tale of love.

5.Magadheera(Telugu,2009) and The Social Network(English,2010):

                                    ( ‘Magadheera’ was released in Aug,2009.Since it is one of the few good movies that I have seen this year,it gets a place in this list)

                A princess and her bodyguard fall in love. Both of them die in a battle prior to their marriage. Four hundred years later they are reborn and the problems repeat again one by one.Magadheera was not a great movie by any yardstick,but was escapist cinema at it’s best.Afterall,one hundred and sixty minutes of pure,unadulterated fun isn’t a bad thing,right?

David Fincher's ‘The Social Network’ had a great script,riveting performances from the lead cast and an effective background score.A truly remarkable film.

Ps: I am yet to see Peepli live and Inception…

-nikhimenon

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‘Bala takes the plunge’ is funny in parts..!

Title-Bala takes the Plunge
Author-Melvin Durai
Publisher-Hachette
Pages-192
Price- 195 INR
source-Review Copy sent by the Author

             The Chetan Bhagat effect in the Indian publishing industry is undeniable.He inspired quite a number of men and women to write on ‘the young urban educated Indian’ in simple(often plain) language. Even the international publishing giant,Penguin started a new line of low prized books,aimed solely at the masses(or the ‘new readers’). Most of the popular bloggers(Amit Verma,Sidin Vadukut,Arnab Ray,Meenakshy Reddy Madhavan et al) turned authors overnight evoking mixed responses.As Mr Surender Mohan Pathak, the grandmaster of Hindi crime fiction rightly said in an interview ‘there is a Chetan Bhagat kind of book releasing every fifteen days,these days’.

             ‘Bala takes the plunge’ is humour columnist ‘Melvin Durai’s debut novel published by ‘Hachette india’.Prized at a modest 195 INR,this book has the potential to become the next ‘big thing’ in the so called ‘commercial fiction’ market provided it’s marketed well.

             Melvin’s prose is more like an ‘Anurag Mathur’ than a Chetan Bhagat.’Bala takes the plunge’ is the story of Balasubramanium,a middle class tamil boy who dreams of making tamil films and directing his favourite actor,Rajnikanth.After completing B.E. from Tiru Harischandran Institute of Technology(THIT),he ends up in the U.S. as the director of design at FlexIt Inc which makes exercise machines.Bala’s life in the U.S and his attempts to find a suitable match forms the rest of the (?)story.The plot and it’s treatment is quite similar to Anurag Mathur’s ‘The Inscrutable Americans’ which came out almost two decades ago.But still,’Bala takes the Plunge’ manages to raise a few laughs and that’s where Melvin Durai scores.Traces of black humour can also be seen in the flexerciser episode.

            The two scenes in the book which I liked the most were the one in which Bala joins the Sociable fun ride group(Melvin also manages to make a few statements here) and the one in which Bala names his dog America.

        On the downside,the book has cheesy lines in plenty,right from the very first page(‘’ ..the IIT where brainstorms were common than rainstorms..’’,’’I haven’t tried any cream in my life except ofcourse ice cream-,…’but if you asked me to name my favourite dish,I would have to say satellite dish’-*wtf!*).The chapter about the Matrimonial ads (chapter 10) was not that funny and something similar had been done in a funnier and much more effective manner by Arnab Ray in his book-‘May I hebb your Attention Pliss’(Harper Collins,2010)

        On the whole ,’Bala takes the Plunge’ is the kind of book which you can make use of on a boring Sunday afternoon.If you are not looking for a light read,please stay away from this one.
Verdict: Decent debut.Rating-3/5

-nikhimenon

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