C'est La Vie;That's life

I'm just back from watching the movie, "Slumdog Millionaire". Armed with too many reviews - the good, bad and the ugly, decided it was worth writing home about. Not about the movie itself, but about the how's and why's of one more of the millionth 'rags to riches' story touching many hearts. Again. Let's see. Superheroes have their own rightful share of our adoration and admiration. But, we're always mindful that they can exist only in comic books or movies or a fantasmic 'cuckoo land'. After all, saving the world is strictly a position for a chosen few, who are most likely acrobats or trapeze artists in disguise. Right? That leaves the remaining 99% of the population like us who have to go through our daily lives devoid of any room for super heroic acts. No, taking the trash out (even a truck load) or doing a humongous load of laundry (including dirty socks) do not count. Very unfortunate, but true. So, do we tend to satiate our daily...

This is the running theory in most of the South Indian movies that I've ever seen till date. Movie heroes are always chasing bad guys. Repeat, re-repeat, re-re repeat. OK. We faithfully swallow that one. But, how the hero takes out the bad guy? That's what beats me. Let's see. First of all, the hero pretty much self-appoints himself as the savior of the society's evils. But what about his plan? Well, what plan? You know, the one which pretty much involves the most primitive weaponry in the history of mankind. No thinking whatsoever - just take an axe and cut someone's body part off? Gruesome. Last time I checked, even boys in a kindergarten playground probably exhibit better fighting strategies than our movie heroes do. We're choking by now but let's move on. After a horrendous battle, and after we scream and plead - enough, please I don't want to see one more drop of ketchup ever in life, the director mercifully decides to end our torture. Hero kills th...

I'm talking about the "Hinglish" (Hindi + English) medley of songs in Bollywood movies these days. Regional movies are holding their language forts. It's only the Bolly songs that drives me bally. Really. Most of the songs have such a mix of English and Hindi. It's all so confusing that my brain gets pretty much fried by the time a song is over. Constantly switching from English to Hindi and back to English again, drives me up the wall. Even a novice in hindi like me can tell you that it's a beautiful and rich language with tons of vocabulary to choose from. So, why unceremoniously borrow? You know what my wildest dream would be - Collect all these film lyricists and lock them up in room. No food or water until they get all their songs out in chaste Hindi. Or worse, order the Chinese "word" torture....make them listen to all their lyrics over and over again until they promise to pen better. The Angrez have left a long time back. Please get over it, f...

I have a pet peeve. Yes, unbelievable, but true. It's about the names that the Indian movie industry have come up with for themselves in the recent years. I hope some of you feel the same way, because i'm liberally including you all in the "we" here.... It all started with Bollywood. Like the storyline of our Hindi movies, shamelessly copied after their global counterpart - Hollywood. We gritted our teeth, but thought - why not? It is not too bad. Bombay-Bollywood. And, the analogy is right there too. Both are the biggest churners of reel, in the world of cinema. Now, our regional moviemakers had started fuming already. Does this mean they are nomenclature-challenged? Totally made-up word. DO NOT GOOGLE. Anyways, let's look at their names. The term Kollywood was equated with Tamil movies. Supposedly, for the area in which majority of the studios are located in the Chennai metro. We're getting a little antsy now. Do we have to go this far? Next, came the Telugu...

Sometime last year, a sudden itch to do something fun and hip took over me. OK, i am inching into 40's - if you have to know. Those of you under 35 wouldn't even remotely understand these urges, so please spare me the looks, will you? Thanks. And those above 35, you know what i'm talking about. Where was I? Yeah, i decided to get into the Bollywood hype. For someone who hasn't watched any Indian movie for almost a decade, this was a revelation and quite a journey. I had a hard time knowing the names, following the news, who's who etc. Most of the movies are copied from Hollywood, so no creative stories there. But, the songs with a mix of desi bhangra, rock or pop (what inspires these composers, i don't have a clue) are kind of entertaining. And, what i like the best of all is that i picked up a lot of Hindi along the way. Such a pity that none of my Hindi-speaking friends would let me practice on them, so i prowled around with a vengence. Ha, finally, picked out...