Saturday, February 25, 2006
Taxi Number 9-2-11
Enthused by the upwardly mobile quality of Hindi movies (Zinda, Rang de Basanti, Mixed Doubles), and because I wanted to see good ole Mumbai, I went to see Nana Patekar's Taxi Number 9-2-11 ... not wanting distractions of any kind ... I went alone
It starts off with a cool "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" kinda non-linear narrative ... deftly edited
A few minutes later, I realised that the basic plot was taken from Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Affleck's "Changing Lanes"
Nana Patekar is the Atlas who lifts the movie on his shoulders ... and the plot was sufficiently original to be entertaining even for those who have seen the inspiration
It's funny and black at the same time and Nana is a 'life give-up hai' kinda person who suffers from a happy ending courtesy John Abraham at the end ...
Oh yeah ... and for those who didnt notice ... the locker number 1129 is the palindrome of 9211 ...
Go get up and see it ...
It starts off with a cool "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" kinda non-linear narrative ... deftly edited
A few minutes later, I realised that the basic plot was taken from Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Affleck's "Changing Lanes"
Nana Patekar is the Atlas who lifts the movie on his shoulders ... and the plot was sufficiently original to be entertaining even for those who have seen the inspiration
It's funny and black at the same time and Nana is a 'life give-up hai' kinda person who suffers from a happy ending courtesy John Abraham at the end ...
Oh yeah ... and for those who didnt notice ... the locker number 1129 is the palindrome of 9211 ...
Go get up and see it ...
Great Indian Rock 10
Last weekend, RSJ's 10 annual Great Indian Rock fest was held at Pragati maidan, Delhi.
I headbanged on the second day, with Zero ...
The show began with Cassini's Division, who played an impressive and animated all-original set. Next were Medusa, with their sampler ... they played tight, and they showed great energy ...
The crowd roared when Demonic Resurrection entered the fray ... most of the rioting in the moshpit was when DR was on-stage ... their guitarist had sound troubles ... but it was finally sorted out
Next was Perestorika ... but their sound mixing was not good ... their guitars could hardly be heard ... though u did see the lead guitarist trying very hard and playing very-visually-impressing looking guitar ...
Zero, the most-awaited band of the day, the veterans who have set the Indian Rock scene afire, finally took stage ... they played some new songs, a funky cover of Sting's Roxanne, Lucy ... and a great rendition of Mariachi ... after every song, those of us near the moshpit kept shouting PSP PSP PSP ... and Bobby and Warren and Rajeev were trying hard not to pay attention to us ...
Finally, Zero was left with 5 minutes, and their last song, began with slow opening bars ... the crowd felt it was a new one and started tapping their feet ... we fans were dissappointed ... and then suddenly we realised that it was a mellowed down intro to PSP!
At that moment the moshpit went wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiillllllllllllddddddddddddd ... and then they finally kicked off into PSP ... and no one in the crowd was left 'standing by'
The last band of the day, firangi guests from Britain, "Your codename is: Milo" took stage. The only thing that went against them was that Zero had played before them ... they were a good Brit-rock band ... if you like that kinda thing ... anyway, their bassist kept the junta entertained with his antics ... and his yellow t-shirt was in great demand ... he didnt do a Salman Khan though ... much to our disappointment ...
All in all, a good spend of Rs 150/- (better than watching a dumb Hindi movie at your nearby PVR)
I headbanged on the second day, with Zero ...
The show began with Cassini's Division, who played an impressive and animated all-original set. Next were Medusa, with their sampler ... they played tight, and they showed great energy ...
The crowd roared when Demonic Resurrection entered the fray ... most of the rioting in the moshpit was when DR was on-stage ... their guitarist had sound troubles ... but it was finally sorted out
Next was Perestorika ... but their sound mixing was not good ... their guitars could hardly be heard ... though u did see the lead guitarist trying very hard and playing very-visually-impressing looking guitar ...
Zero, the most-awaited band of the day, the veterans who have set the Indian Rock scene afire, finally took stage ... they played some new songs, a funky cover of Sting's Roxanne, Lucy ... and a great rendition of Mariachi ... after every song, those of us near the moshpit kept shouting PSP PSP PSP ... and Bobby and Warren and Rajeev were trying hard not to pay attention to us ...
Finally, Zero was left with 5 minutes, and their last song, began with slow opening bars ... the crowd felt it was a new one and started tapping their feet ... we fans were dissappointed ... and then suddenly we realised that it was a mellowed down intro to PSP!
At that moment the moshpit went wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiillllllllllllddddddddddddd ... and then they finally kicked off into PSP ... and no one in the crowd was left 'standing by'
The last band of the day, firangi guests from Britain, "Your codename is: Milo" took stage. The only thing that went against them was that Zero had played before them ... they were a good Brit-rock band ... if you like that kinda thing ... anyway, their bassist kept the junta entertained with his antics ... and his yellow t-shirt was in great demand ... he didnt do a Salman Khan though ... much to our disappointment ...
All in all, a good spend of Rs 150/- (better than watching a dumb Hindi movie at your nearby PVR)
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Bomb Hoax
Today I enjoyed watching "Fun with Dick and Jane" in the morning. Also enthused by the quality of "Mixed Doubles" (starring Konkona Sen, Rajat Kapoor, Koel Puri, Ranvir) that I saw yesterday, my faith in Indian movies was somewhat strengthened ... So inspite of having gone thru the horror called "Neal N Nikki" and having vowed never to watch a Hindi movie again ... I decided to see "Rang De Basanti" today ... at the PVR in the Metropolitan mall.
And bloody 1 hour into the movie, some people started running out of the theater ...
I was thinking ... "The movie is not bad at all ... I like it ... why are the people running out as if Neal and Nikki are gyrating on screen?"
In the mean-time some elderly uncle-aunty types started running out too ... followed by children ... followed by young uncle-aunty types ... and finally, couples who usually hide in corners started running out ...
When the couples started running out, I felt something was really wrong and took my eyes off Soha Ali Khan .. and wow - theater deserted ... then I heard the low-volume announcement ... "Kindly vacate theater for security reasons ... Kindly vacate theater for security reasons ... Kindly vacate theater for security reasons ...Kindly vacate theater for security reasons ...Kindly vacate theater for security reasons ..."
So I finally waited till they stopped the projector and left ...
And then I realised that the entire goddamn mall was being emptied! And then when I left the mall, I realised that all the malls had been emptied! People were walking aimlessly walking on MG road rather than spending their money inside - now that doesnt happen usually - I was happy to see some action in Gurgaon finally ... the crowd almost made me feel that I was in Mumbai ...
Some people were muttering something about 'bomb threat' ...
The khaaki vardi gang had arrived by now ... and were trying to clear the people
But everyone was waiting ... poeple were like, "Bloody didnt get to see the movie ... at least let me see the goddamn building blow up"
I too waited hoping to see some fireworks much in advance of Diwali ...
Needless to say ... nothing happened :(
And bloody 1 hour into the movie, some people started running out of the theater ...
I was thinking ... "The movie is not bad at all ... I like it ... why are the people running out as if Neal and Nikki are gyrating on screen?"
In the mean-time some elderly uncle-aunty types started running out too ... followed by children ... followed by young uncle-aunty types ... and finally, couples who usually hide in corners started running out ...
When the couples started running out, I felt something was really wrong and took my eyes off Soha Ali Khan .. and wow - theater deserted ... then I heard the low-volume announcement ... "Kindly vacate theater for security reasons ... Kindly vacate theater for security reasons ... Kindly vacate theater for security reasons ...Kindly vacate theater for security reasons ...Kindly vacate theater for security reasons ..."
So I finally waited till they stopped the projector and left ...
And then I realised that the entire goddamn mall was being emptied! And then when I left the mall, I realised that all the malls had been emptied! People were walking aimlessly walking on MG road rather than spending their money inside - now that doesnt happen usually - I was happy to see some action in Gurgaon finally ... the crowd almost made me feel that I was in Mumbai ...
Some people were muttering something about 'bomb threat' ...
The khaaki vardi gang had arrived by now ... and were trying to clear the people
But everyone was waiting ... poeple were like, "Bloody didnt get to see the movie ... at least let me see the goddamn building blow up"
I too waited hoping to see some fireworks much in advance of Diwali ...
Needless to say ... nothing happened :(
