Chak De India!!

Ladies and gentlemen, the verdict is out - Chak de ROCKS!!! It is a huge ask to make a movie with Shahrukh Khan and not make him larger than life. For the first time, it has been done and done oh so well! When you walk out of that hall, you dont only remember Kabir Khan, actually you barely remember him. You remember Chautala and Preeti and all those other brilliant characters. But let me not jump the gun.



The movie in my opinion wins on three counts. Firstly, a sports movie if made well has the power to incite the audience. Chak de was fast paced, had all the ingredients of a sports match - the adreline rush, the fouls, team dynamics...Each match had the audience at the edge of their seats egging the team on! Even though every person in the hall knew the outcome of the World Cup even before they went for the movie, you could not help but keep your fingers crossed before the whistle would blow for the end of each match.

Secondly, each character was so well defined that you had no time to stare at King Khan. Cliches were brought to life with each state representative. But in their defence, who said that we dont believe in these cliches anyways? How many people really know where Jharkhand lies...or think that anyone from Punjab is not out to beat up the world...know the difference between someone from Manipur or from Nepal...its all true! We are prey to generalization in our daily lives and should awake to the cultural nuances of our vast country before we expect foreigners to treat all races with equality. Coming back to the characters, my personal favourite is ofcourse Komal Chautala. This little 2 footer is so power packed that you can not but like her! Preeti as expected is quite a hit with the guys around and surprisingly, Bindiya's arrogance also seems to work for many. Its amazing how you can get a bunch of names no one knows about and get them to give a performance rivaling the likes of Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar.

Lastly, what I liked about the movie was that it brought to face realities of women in India across society segments. Komal's father grudgingly letting her play so that she can 'get it out of her system' and come home to cook food may seem extreme but frankly is not a rare picture. Preeti's cricket star fiancee assuming that all she can be at the end of the day is his pretty wife was a slap in the face of the picture media portrays of the modern woman today. Vidya being called home by her in-laws to play 'bahu' instead of prancing around a field and her husband not having the guts to stand up to them is for many a reality.

Chak De is a winner through and through! Its a movie I can sit and discuss with my friends over a cup of coffee for hours altogether and not get bored with....but dont take my word for it...go check it out for yourself!!

I, me, myself

I wonder if our lives at any given point of time belong to us. Not in theory. Really BELONG to us. To do with as we wish, when and how we wish. A child's clothes, food, time and everything else is decided by parents. When you grow older and meet someone, you dont do half the things you want to so as not to create discord. Later on, as you get married, you have others to think about...families, society...every decision has variables attached and the outcome is usually far from what you had imagined.

I wonder how it will feel if you were to wake up one morning and do all the things you want...do as you desire, not think of what should be done and what shouldn't. An extremely selfish thought...but luring nevertheless.

The world would ofcourse go into chaos. Probably what keeps us going in a line is the thought of how others will be affected by our actions. It is what helps us keep the balance of life. But only if you are not the one doing the balancing all the time...

Glorious Leos

I usually dont succumb to the world of predictions basis sun signs. Even with my belief in fate and in things that we can't explain, this goes against my basic sense of logic. How can one - twelfth of the world have exactly the same fate any given day? Or similar behavior patterns? And how can that be decided upon the date on which you are born? Does that mean that socialization, cultural environment and experiences as one grows up do not contribute significantly towards who we shape up to be? But this is not a blog about innate versus aquired behavior. This is about the one thing that a friend of mine once said that is strangely true.

During my post graduation, I was sitting with a friend and she was chatting about a guy, who like me was a leo by sun sign. And she said something very interesting. She said, leos follow a strangely similar pattern. They get up in the morning feeling like the king of the world, purring at the glory of being born with a golden spoon. As they hum off towards the rest of the day, the hard reality hits them gradually. And by the end of the day, they come home completely deflated and dejected at how life treated them. And lo behiold....when they wake up again in the morning, its back to their glorious self!!

Perhaps too much of a generalization, but the snippet above does sound familiar for some days of my week. Strange but true...

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Disclaimer: For those who haven’t yet got their hands on the latest (for reasons, I do not call it the last) Harry Potter book, do NOT read on. This blog will act as a spoiler.

For those who have…go right ahead!

J.K.Rowling has finally proven herself. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is just pure brilliant. This one book has transformed the series from a set of individual stories into one long interwoven spell. Like a true Hindi film, the book has all the elements of success – drama, love, sacrifice, friendship, betrayal and the one constant of good wins over evil.

Probably one of the few books which evoke emotions (Like the melancholy ending of Love story or the humor of Inscrutable Amricans), I would have been the saddest person if Harry had died in this book. Not for any other reason, but it would have proven that he was the boy who lived merely out of luck. But thankfully it is not to be. The boy lives on…and with him lives our hope of a better tomorrow.

Not revealing too much of the plot, I believe that the best part of this book versus its predecessors are the twists and turns in the story that Rowling managed to weave. You never know where the plot is leading to. Its also interesting how she portrayed the shades of dark in the greatest wizard – Dumbledore, defying the fairy tale logic of black and white. There is a little dark in all of us. The difference, as Dumbledore says, is what part of us we choose to follow.



And as I recently told a friend of mine, this book has done the impossible. It actually made me fall in love with Severus Snape. He emerges out of this book as the hero of all times. The one who lost his love but yet dedicated his life to protect her son. His story, seen in the pensieve was heart wrenching. Somehow, he doesn’t evoke sympathy or pity at the end of all this. He evokes empathy and love and awe. A moment of silence to honor a man who lived and died with dignity!

Slightly disappointing was how Voldemort died quite an uneventful death in the end. One would have expected the greatest dark wizard to go down dramatically, but it was not so. But Rowling, never failing to please, added the twist about the wands in the final duel, over-shadowing any lack of drama.

As most Potter fans, I wait with bated breath for the next one.. and hope like hell that there is a next one. Perhaps it’s little Albus Severus who takes on the role… who knows what Rowling has in store for us in the future.

Kudos to a woman who imagined this world of magic, a world that seems more real than ours and makes us ache to be a part of it. A world which shall for years to come, be talked about with the same awe that before only Enid Blyton deserved.

The boy who lived - Order of the Phoenix

The world as I see it is divided into two kinds of people - Potter believers and then there's the rest of the world. Harry Potter came into my (and millions of others') life when he was merely a clueless young kid. And he never left!

The latest motion picture, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is by far the closest depiction of the world of Harry Potter that Rowling created. The earlier movies merely managed to narate the story, but failed to capture all the nuances of the book. The wonder of the wizarding world, the awe of walking into a tiny ordinary tent and entering a palace. Harry's dread of the Dursleys, his ache to belong somewhere, his confusion of being the boy who lived and his thrill at being the youngest seeker.

The Order of the Phoenix scored on various counts. It managed to bring together the world of muggles and that of the wizards as two co-existing worlds. The order flying over river Thames on their brooms was not only visually appealing, but also finally brought the books in geographical perspective. The special effects were dazzling and befitting a series dedicated to wonder and awe. The scene where Dumbledore vanishes with a flash of light with his Phoenix fawkes was shot beautifully.



One of the best played characters was that of Dolores Jane Umbridge, the hogwarts spy sent by the Ministry of Magic. Her irritating giggle, the purse of her lips and her evil taunts almost make you want to reach out and give her a piece of your mind. Cho-Chang was a disappointment but surprisingly, Luna was a delight. She played her role to the hilt and you could do nothing else but like the little girl. Even Sirius Black was brilliant. Every time he would give that crooked smile and wink, i could swear that i heard a few hearts skip a beat!!



The movie also had a great sequence where good clashed with evil. Dubmledore fighting Voldermort was an awe-inspiring sequence. The two greatest wizards clashed their powers leaving everyone spellbound.

Why I love the Harry Potter series is something I will share another day. But for those like me who do too, one piece of advise - go and catch the movie. For once, you wont be disappointed.

The click of a mouse...

“The time taken to travel across the world is now equal to the click of a mouse…”

So said a not-so wise person…me! The net is a fascinating thing. It manages to collapse geographies, cultures … seen and unseen boundaries.

I went to a hostel when I was 13 years old. In all the years since then, there have been times that I have been in and out of home….but mostly they never coincided with my sister’s plans. We started living in different cities since that summer. It was an age of self discovery…a time to find out who I was and what I wanted to be. Perhaps the distance between us grew larger as time passed and we became concepts to each other. We loved each other because…well, we were sisters and we were supposed to. But, if you had asked me her favorite book or what she liked to eat, I just may have been dumbfounded.

Time passed. Distances grew larger. She moved oversees and I got immersed in the buzz of university life. It was perhaps then that we started understanding of what we stood to lose by silence. And then we discovered the internet. The world was flat once more. We could bounce off thoughts, ideas, moods and just about anything off each other with a click of a mouse.

And I discovered my sister once again. I saw her for the person she was and the things that made her unique. We saw each other as friends for the first time, as two people with conflicting opinions but no conflict.

If you ask me today, I’m not sure that I can still tell you the name of her favorite book. But I can tell you what can make her shout with glee….or cry at the drop of a hat (trust me, she will when she reads this).

An ode to my sister….for being what she is to me and much more.

One of my fav songs...

One of my favourite songs....something about it always manages to touch some chord...

Thank you - Dido

My tea's gone cold,
I'm wondering why I got out of bed at all
the morning rain clouds up my window and
I can't see at all
And even if I could it'd all be grey,
but your picture on my wall
it reminds me that it's not so bad
it's not so bad

I drank too much last night,
got bills to pay
my head just feels in pain
I missed the bus
and there'll be hell today
I'm late for work again
and even if I'm there,
they'll all imply that I might not last the day
and then you call me and it's not so bad
it's not so bad

andI want to thank you
for giving me the best day of my life
Oh just to be with you
is having the best day of my life

Push the door,
I'm home at last
and I'm soaking through and through
then you handed me a towel
and all I see is you
and even if my house falls down now,
I wouldn't have a clue
because you're near me
andI want to thank you
for giving me the best day of my life

Oh just to be with you is having the best day of my life