Quran 13:8
(We were blessed with a second child on Aug 22nd 2010, weeks earlier than the expected date)
Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai is a movie on the life and times of Sultan Mirza, loosely based on Haji Mastan and Shoaib Khan, based on Dawood Ebrahim.
Ajay Devgan is brilliant and looks natural in the role; the dialogues help him set the screen alight. Emraan Hashmi brings out the negative shades in his character but is becoming a bit stereotyped in his roles. Randeep Hooda’s presence and narrative never lets the film lose pace.
The railway track sequence at the beginning of the movie looks innovative and has been nicely done. Costumes and background music help bring the ’70s feel reminiscent of Deewar. The dialogues in the movie are outstanding and are the major USP of this flick. Two of the tracks, Tum Jo Aaye Zindagi Mein and Pee Loon are melodious.
Overall, a very stylish gangster movie and a must watch for fans of underworld movies.
Just finished watching Madrasapattinam - a love story set in British times. The movie is about a British lady who loves a “Madrasi” - a native. She is forced to leave him and go back to London due to opposition from her family and India getting independence at the same time - which forms a nicely interwoven backdrop. The lady then returns after 60 years to search for the native hero.
The filming style is like Rang De Basanti, which employs frequent flashbacks to move the story forward. One thing that I would have definitely liked is for more of period Madras/Chennai to be shown. Overall, I liked the movie though I thought it was a bit lengthy.
Pros
- Good detail in shots of old Madras (which is why I set out to watch the movie in the first place)
- Fast paced
Cons
- Slightly lengthy
- Less of period Madras shown
I visited the Ampa Skywalk mall this evening with family and heeding warnings of the poor parking facilities by Sushil and my father, I decided to take an Auto Rickshaw to reach the place.
The mall’s interiors are on par with most major malls in the country. It is spacious and the shops seem well spaced. The escalators are functional but I did not find any elevators. I found the food court large enough and there were about 20 options for food, which is good when compared to other malls in Chennai.
There is also a play area with video games and rides for small kids but it did not seem to be fully developed - lot of stuff was stashed around the corners. Both the food court and the kids play area mandate getting prepaid cards at the counters for use. While I understand the need for it at the play area - swipe and play games/rides, I do not quite accept it for the food. Not every dish is priced evenly and it is a hassle to get the card charged every time since the food is not cheap. In my opinion, the requirement for card use at food outlets should be done away with. I did not visit the theaters in the topmost floor as I am not a movie buff. I might visit them though if some interesting movie shows up.
Overall, my experience at the mall was good and I’d definitely visit again. With Landmark setting up shop soon and, KFC and McDonalds as options for food, not to mention the theaters playing movies, it would be hard to give this mall a miss.
I have recently taken a new role at work and have been worrying about not doing well on the job. In the past too, I have had different kinds of worrying and negative thoughts about various things. At that time, my father had given me Norman Vincent Peale’s book “The Power of Positive Thinking” to read. This book helped me a lot. So, this time too, in true Norman Vincent Peale style, I decided to confront the worrying thought and asked myself the question - What would happen I did not do well? These are the answers that came up.
The list of choices that emerged made things clear. Out of the five possible outcomes, only one outcome was to do with me being totally replaced, a 20% chance. All these negative thoughts for a one in a five chance? I decided to stop worrying and get on with the work!
The graph above shows how I live my life and compares it with how others do. Clicking on the image will take you to the Flickr page for a larger version of the image. Ionz will build this graph based on your answers to their 9 questions. Around 45,000 people seem to have used this.
2 States: The Story of My Marriage by Chetan Bhagat is a love story inspired by his own. I had read Chetan Bhagat’s Three Mistakes of my Life and found it engrossing. Cricket and politics along with a bit of romance had me interested in the first book I read of Chetan Bhagat. After this book, I decided to read 2 States: The Story of My Marriage as it was generating a bit of a hype in the media. The hero in this love story is a Punjabi and the heroine is a Tamilian. They are IIM graduates and want to get married with their parents’ consent. How they get their parents to consent to their wedding forms the rest of the story. The story is engrossing in the middle but starts to wear down on the reader as it progresses. This is noticeable as Chetan tries to cut it short towards the end. The language is easy and has a generous mix of Desi words, which in this case includes Tamil ones as well. As is the case with Chetan’s books, the language includes swear words (including the F word) in English, Hindi and Tamil.
One gets the feeling that the author is a bit biased towards Punjabis and shows his racist tendencies towards Tamilians, often making the Punjabi characters comment on the Tamilians’ skin color. Also, from his interactions/perceptions, the author portrays Tamilians as cold-hearted people; things that I found unpalatable.
The book is strictly one to pass time and not a great literary piece of work. The story is nothing novel and can be summarized as a rehash of the movies Ek Duuje Ke Liye and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge.
