Endearing Film Characters

The two profs in Chupke Chupke are not professorial at all, and are funny in the extreme. Dharmendra and Amitabh in  roles that paralleled Sholay in quality, for me.

Sunil Dutt as Bhola in Padosan, Saira Banu as his haughty but music-loving neighbour.

Mehmood as a Charlie-Chaplin look-alike in Aulad. He sings "Jodi hamari jamega kaise jaani, hum to hain angezi, tum ladki Hindustani"with Aruna Irani in the film.

Om Prakash as Jijaji in Chupke Chupke, a lover of Shuddh Hindi.

Ramesh Deo and Seema Deo in Anand. Very real, and beautifully portrayed.

Jaya Bhaduri in Mili-slightly over-the-top, but her character was like that.

Keshto Mukherjee in all his films, playing a drunkard.

Soorma Bhopali aka Jagdeep in Sholay.

Pran as a Pathan in Zanjeer. Yaari hai imaan mera yaar meri zindagi, he sings in the film, and how!

Rajesh Khanna in Bawarchi-the goodness of his character comes through in each frame.

Deven Verma and Sanjeev Kumar in Angoor. Fabulously innocent.

Naseer and Ravi Baswani in Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro. Satish Shah in the same film.

Saeed Jaffrey in Chashme Baddoor.

Zeenat Aman in Hare Rama Hare Krishna, as the girl who gets into drugs.

Shreyas Talpade in Iqbal.

Circuit (Arshad) in Munnabhai MBBS.

Aditi (Genelia D'souza) in Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na played an easy-going teen. Reminded me of Ayesha Takia in Socha Na Tha.

Abhay Deol and Diana Penty in Happy Bhag Jayegi impressed me a lot.

The two girls in Dangal were great.

Kangana in Queen was also one of the best.

Rudhramadevi- Film Review

This is a film about the Kakatiya Queen Rudramadevi who ruled in present-day Warangal. It was a rule that brought about prosperity and welfare for the most part. She was anointed as Rudra Dev and brought up as a prince, because a female was not acceptable as a ruler those days. She proved herself more than equal to the task, and managed to outwit her opponents within and outside with the help of a crafty Prime Minister, a la Chanakya.

The movie was ineresting to me as I grew up in Telangana/Andhra Pradesh, and Warangal is a place I visited many times. The arch from there also constitutes the logo of Vignana Jyothi Institute of Management where I worked for a few years.

From a historical viewpoint, it is worth a watch to find out how some of the kingdoms functioned, and understand why the foreign invaders had it easy to conquer/plunder India at various times, particularly in the North. The Queen refers to the infighting among Indian kings towards the end of the film. The actress Anushka (Shetty) is competent in her title role. Prakash Raj is impressive as usual, and Allu Arjun does well as Ganna Reddy. Baba Sehgal appears in an unexpected role.

See it if you are fond of history. The effects are not as spectacular as in Baahubali, but overall, it is a well-made film. Trimming about 15 minutes would have made it even better. There are some references to Italy. I don't know if they are meant as a dig at you-know-who.

Queen- Film Review

This is an interesting film for many reasons. First, the heroine is the hero. Barring Kahani in recent times, not many Hindi films have done this. Second, the film is about living your life more freely, whether you are a man or woman. The humour is understated, and sometimes you may miss it if you are not listening carefully, as in the Hash and Aish in Benares in the dialogue between Kangana and Lisa.

Again, it is rare for Bollywood to have realistic foreigners who are normal and not caricatures. The hypocrisy of the Indian male-oriented society also comes through effortlessly, but so does the hollowness of the kitty-partying females.

The drunken scenes and the encounters in the Amsterdam red-light area are handled well, and so are the nuances of the foursome staying in the hostel at Amsterdam. Lisa Hayden also has a very good role, as Kangana's friend and philosophy guide in Paris.

Refreshing, and a very nice change from Salman Khan-starring remakes of atrocious Telugu originals. Hats off to the director.

Cricketing in the Deep

This is intended to be an in-depth analysis of cricket in India and the globe. It will rival the depth in Indian batting. Just clarifying things, in case you miss the point.

There is an Indian cricket team. It used to know how to bat and bowl, and field. But then, Harry Potter came along and waved a magic wand. One by one, our vaunted batting greats fell prey to the magic, and their MAGIC started fading. First, they lunged at balls outside their off stump, pulling them on to the stumps, or giving easy catching practice to a few good men around the bat, in any of different slippery positions, or even silly ones such as silly mid-offs.

Then, some started getting bowled without provocation, as if their ability to play straight and defend had suddenly been taken away- unknowingly to them, it HAD, by a Potter magic spell. Other batting greats were putting their best foot forward, but unfortunately, it was in the line of the stumps, and therefore, the umpire (unless he was blind-only some were) was forced to show them a finger, raised menacingly. LBW it was.

The bowling, you said? Well, we thought we could put a different spin on it with wickets that would turn. Instead, the Panesars of the world made our stomach churn. Any solutions in sight? One could be FDI in cricket, so that the Queen of England (or Belgium) can buy our team. It will give her something to do, you see. Second, P.C. Sorcar, can be unleashed to combat Harry Potter.

Common Errors in English

Not claiming that I am Superman or anything, but there are some common errors we make while using the Language- the Queen would be jumping up and down on her barge on the Thames. Some I can remember are-

Saying 'I could not able to finish the job.'

Using 'loose' instead of 'lose'- this is an epidemic of sorts-all-pervasive.

'Myself Rajendra Nargundkar' as an intro to yourself. Wish more people were inspired by the famous line- My name is Bond. James Bond.

I will revert back to you. Contains a redundant word.

Why you are doing this? Correct words in the wrong sequence.

Reminds me of a joke related to this.
 A government official was explaining the rules for admission into a security area-  "If you have ID, ENTRY. Otherwise, DYSENTRY."

Pre and Post

I thought I would prepone this post. But that is wrong. I mean, the English, according to the Queen. The one floating on a barge with a disreputable sardar. So I postponed the post. That sounds right, somehow, so here it is.

There was a post-monsoon shower yesterday. How do I know that it was post-monsoon? Because experts said that the one last week was pre-monsoon. How do they know? I don't know, but experts being experts, they are always right- like the boss, or the wife. Facts of life, like the birds and bees. And taxes, whose 'dead'line is fast approaching. I have another silly doubt about tax returns. Even if you are not getting any money back, are you still filing a 'return' ? Your Majesty, your views on this, if you be pleased.

Anyway, back to the pre and post business. Can you just 'pre' something like you post something? I will leave you to think about this, post-pulling your hair out.