RNBDJ and Ghajni

yup! i've seen both the movies and i'm not going to make this review overloaded with purple-rage sarcasm to show off my wit and writing skills like most other critics. ok, so let's start: while rab ne bana di jodi warms your heart, Ghajni makes your head boil!

Rab ne bana di jodi was light hearted, funny, emotional.....like sweet-and-sour chutney, very delectable. of course, you have to be an ardent shah rukh fan to fall for both his characters in the first shot: Suri being a nerd with a samosa for a nose, Raj being extremely annoying and too loud but of course, king khan did a great job in both their skins. Anushka Sharma was fresh, cute and very confident. she glowed on the screen and was a pleasure to watch. i don't know why the critics spoke so little of her. they've got these very strange parameters which frighten me!
of course the movie was complete with its dose of song and dance. however, there were very few characters compared to other yash raj movies which had truckloads of 'punjabi parivars' which was quite a relief. 'Tuj mein rab dikta hain' has been sung so sensitively that it echos true love with every note <3

Ghajni was stuffed with nail-biting violence [yes, i was even biting my toenails during some of the fight sequences!]. it was picturized extremely well, with not one scene being out of place or context. Asin was spunky, lively, with excellent expressions and dialogue delivery not to mention a great wadrobe which made her look even prettier. her character was extremely believable and very easy to fall for. Amir Khan was fantastic as usual, but sort of freaked me out the way he jumped on the villians and growled and grunted at them like an animal. he almost reminded me of Hari, my dog, in his worst mood. it seemed like he beat up everyone he saw throughout the movie! Jiah Khan did her part well, but perhaps people didn't like her because she made the movie longer with all her blondness and hindrance in our hero's plans. Ghajni, the villian, was convincing, but I couldn't help laughing when he kept calling our hero 'short term memory loss' and said 'yaad hai woh rod' as 'yaad hai woh road' confusing the audience a bit.

in the meanwhile, these heroines are giving me a complex. all of them are helpful, kind, sweet, dutiful, peppy, spunky, beautiful, good dancers, lively.....abbe! bas bhi karo yaar! don't they ever get mood swings, bad hair days, or boils?

angels

the newspapers are full of them.......so are our conversations which used to be full of wit and gossip......no, i'm not talking about terrorists, but negativity.
yes, the year has been pretty low in terms of the stock market, humanity, politics but don't we get scoops of that in the newspaper every morning? the air almost creaks like achy limbs with dull, restless silence......so i've decided, i'm not going to carry this legacy of sorrow like its some 'foward-to-at-least-ten-people-or-you'll-have-bad-luck' chain mail.....i'm going to shake out of it, even if its through one blog, one person.....only if the atmoshpere changes, the droopy, heavy atmosphere, hanging like a heavy black coat on an old hunchback.....only if this feeling changes will times be able to change. the worst things possible have happened, so now things can only get better and i'm going to transmit these vibes of excitement and change for the better.....

today i was watching 'jab we met' for 10 millionth time and i feel happier, lighter, charged.....if one movie can make so many people lighten up.....so can one person, or one blog and that's what i'm trying to do. no more depressing poems, no more heavy droppy articles.....make things snappy, say it from it your heart....
let me start by being grateful......Rhonda Byrne's 'Secret' says that being grateful is the first step towards lightening up the atmosphere....
i'm greatful for all the angels in my life....you know who you are and what you mean to me.....we all must have hurt each other, some have written nasty blog comments and sometimes when i look at facebook profiles i feel like i'm living in some parallel universe cut away from you all....but i love everyone who has walked into my life [some a little more or a little less than others] because all of you are here to write my fairytale, so hugs and chocolates from me <3
i'm grateful for me.....and i think 'me' sumarizes everything i have to say about 'me' because i don't have to explain me to anyone because i already know who i am.......

so, keep dancing, humming and enjoy every minute of yourself and if people glare at you....well, they're just envious of your free spirit.


<3 empress of gib and gab,
warrior of the light [http://www.warriorofthelight.com/engl/index.html]
tolerable, tolkien-like teen
RHEAA RAO

*hum hain rahi pyar ke, phir milenge, chalte chalte!*

SPLITSVILLA

i was watching this show on MTV called Splitsvilla. its quite an interesting concept where 20 girls try to woo 2 boys, and its being hosted by Ranvijyay, the winner of the first Roadies. the first two episodes were fairly interesting and the characters of all these twenty girls [not very interesting, if you ask me] and the two boys have come out quite clearly by now.

Varun Saini, one of the Splitsvilla boys [who was also seen in this season of the roadies], is exactly like some of the wannabe, stupid, shallow, effeminate looking boys i know. in every episode he feels some 'connection' with a different girl, depending on who looks 'hot' to him. from what i've seen of him in Splitsvilla, the only quality that excites him in a girl is how 'hot' she looks. he rarely appreciates the girls for the effort they put in, whether it was this girl who was slightly nervous while singing a song for him, or poetry which a few girls write for him. infact, he blantantly makes hideous faces while they're trying to put in their best. his 'vision statement', his pathetic pick-up line etched on the MTV website is, "nice pair of mountains, when will i get a chance to climb them!". i do like shockingly bold people, but on the whole, i find him pathetically unattractive, though he acts like the cat's whiskers. i seriously can't fathom why some girls in Splitsvilla find him 'hot': he overall appearance or personality seriously doesn't attract me!

then there's Vishal Karwal, a kind, sweet, gentle, sensitive, chivalrous man. he doesn't only measure girls according to their oomph quotient, but tries to find streaks of intelligence, humour and etiquette in them too. in the first round, he was actually upset about dumping [eliminating] girls, because he thought it was too early to dump them, since there wasn't much scope for interaction initially. he always looks genuinely dissapointed while dumping girls at the end of each round.

from the first show onwards, I had found him cute and sweet, however, what he said and did today really bowled me over. he fired this particular conceited, arrogant girl called Hoorzan before dumping her and said that he was upset and ashamed by her behaviour as she showed disrespect and attitude to her fellow contestants by interrupting, walking out and even laughing while they were trying to woo the boys. he told her that she wasn't better than anybody and that everyone had an equal right and equal chance to be on the show, because each of them had something special in them. he said that if she was a boy, he would have broken her bones and teeth for showing disrespect and that he was really angry as he'd never spoken to a girl like this before. he even asked the other girls how they bared with her and said that they should have given it back to her as she hurt their self-respect. he concluded by saying that no one should let anybody hurt their self respect, ever, no matter what the situation is.

Varun, the lizard, on the other hand, according to me, showed disrespect for this girl who was singing, just as Hoorzan did; but he quickly agreed with Vishal, said something mean to Hoorzan about her habit of laughing for no reason [?] and dumped her. Vishal spoke from his heart, without pretence, which was clearly seen. Varun, on the other hand, snapped at the girl half-heartedly and reluctantly, but did so to win respect from the girls as Vishal had just won......

i always thought that boys would woo a girl only if she is hot and terrible irresistible, even if she is arrogant and ill-mannered. What Vishal said today made me realize that it's not the case with every boy.....he has truly won my respect, changed a few opinions and thoughts and made me an ardent spiltsvilla viewer.....

kanyadan

i recently watched this play at Prithvi theatre scripted by late Mr. Vijay Tendulkar, called Kanyadan. set in the 1980's its about this Brahmin girl called Jyothi, born to a middle class family active in the scene of politics, mature, sensible, well-to-do-beings. this girl wished to marry a Dalit man, whom she doesn't love, but just wants to 'break caste barriers' as her father has always encouraged. she does face objections from her mother and brother, not because the boy is a dalit, but because he is an odd-ball: violent, abusive, hot-tempered and awkwardly wierd and scared. supported by her father, she marries him, bears with his physical and mental abuses just so that she can reform him.

the last scene was a memorable one where she yells at her dad and scolds him for his beliefs and virtues he has made her grow up with, which, while teaches her to be a reformer, makes it difficult for her to leave her husband as she'd feel guilty she didn't bring about 'change' in him.

Arun Athavale, her husband, played by Joy Sengupta has given a brilliant performance. from the change of his body language from a scared, wimpering Dalit, to an arrogant, famous dalit writer, his rash-temper, his awkward way of showing affection [which made me shudder]....he was the best. he truly made me feel revolt and loathe for his character which shows the power in his performance.
Radhika Apte, who played Jyothi had also delivered an excellent performance. i simply adored Rajendra Gupte as Nath, Jyothi's father, not only did he act well [the sudden sobbing in the end left me stunned], but his character was cute, doting and at the same time, respectful, with good values, most of which i agree with. one of them was that he NEVER imposed his views and decisions on anyone. he always expressed his sentiments and views, but left the final decision to the person it concerns. Lillete Dubey was wonderful as a worried, anxious mother and Raaghav Chanana, the mature, concerned son of the family did his part well.

but i was shocked by Jyothi's inability to leave her husband. he was a dalit man, hurt by his past and history and thus takes all revenge of his ancestor's difficulty, his troubled, difficult childhood and circumstances on his brahmin wife, which is upseting and rather disturbing.

my mother often says that the boy you decide to marry should come from a good family with a decent background and upbringing. earlier i used to scoff and tell her that it depends on the boy himself and has got nothing to do with his family, but i guess, i'm wrong. it does rely on the upbringing of the boy. boys often get influenced by the way their father treats their mother. if they are used to chauvinist dads or abusive ones and meek, ill-treated mothers, even if they are educated, a large part of them would expect their wife to be like their mom, while they assume the part of their agressive dads.

sometimes, parents treat and bring up their sons and daughters differently, conciously or subconciously. while they try to teach their daughters to be meek, sacrificing and caring, they let their sons get away with murder. this makes them think they have an upper hand over women and many of them may not give women the respect they deserve. this also sows seeds of a terrible epidemic called 'double standards'. while they enjoy at night clubs, party around with women, they think girls 'invite trouble' by enjoying at night clubs, going out with their friends.
its sad and disturbing that women have to curb THEIR OWN RIGHTS because of such cheap, double-standard men. its terrible that in a democratic country we are deprived of such basic liberties like walking safely on the road in the middle of the night!
note: this may not be related to 'Kanyadaan', and i don't mean to demean men. there are lots of mature, sensible men who do not have sick minds and are fair to all. they respect opinions, are trustworthy, along with being charming and witty.