Mayabazar

Rating- ** 1/2

I watched Mayabazar (Telugu) last week. So, planned to write a review on it. Now do not ask me what Mayabazar means because it is a bit difficult to give a literal translation. But, it's quite a famous title, thanks to the old Mayabazar in black-and-white, which people still remember as a classic. The new one starts with Kubera (The one who lent Lord Balaji the money required for his wedding) being cursed by a sage for his arrogance, but when Kubera pleads him to show him a way to atone for his sin, the sage tells him that the only way he can come out of the curse is by helping a really good human being and serve him for as long as he lives.

Then enters the hero, Srinu (Raja) who is a driver, but is very generous and kind-hearted. He always dreams of becoming rich and helping the poor. There is Anupama (Bhoomika) who keeps following him wherever he goes. One day, he comes across a ten year old young girl, Siri, who is left behind by her father at the airport. Srinu rescues her and takes her to his house. Later, he comes to know that she is suffering from a heart problem and wouldn't survive for long unless it is operated upon and corrected, and he needs three lakh rupees for the same. He curses the God for being so cruel. Kubera hears him and gives him Rs. 5 lakh as debt and Srinu promises him that he will always be ready to give him whatever he wants in return. The girl gets cured and Srinu uses the remaining money to start a business, and he eventually becomes very rich.

Anupama joins him in doing social service as his personal secretary. They fall in love and plan to get married. Now, Kubera wants to get out of all this tension and comes up with a plan. He asks Srinu his life as repayment of his debt. Srinu asks him a week's time to settle everything properly. He tells Anupama that he has cancer and would die in a few days, but she insists on being married to him for at least a day. He requests Kubera to allow him to get married and that he (Kubera) could take his life after a day. Later, after marriage, they come to know that Anupama is Kubera's daughter and now she's married to Srinu. Kubera finally gives in and accepts Srinu as his son-in-law. Srinu takes a word from Kubera that he should use all the money he gets from Lord Balaji every month towards interest for the wellness of the poor. 'All is well that ends well'.

The first half seems a bit sluggsh, but one feels entertained towards the end of the film with good comic timing and well written dialogues. The music will not get onto you, and the songs are badly placed in the film.

This blog is still running!

The previous post was dated in October. It has been more than a month now, and that's because I did not have the enthusiasm to write all these days. There was nothing to drive me to it. You normal again? No. It is just that i felt bad looking at my blog. And, may be it's quite natural for writers to pass through such a phase sometime in their lives. Moreover, what do I write? Give me something to write on. You are the one running this damn blog here. You gotto decide that. Well, ok, but it may take some more time. :)

Was he Netaji?

A 125 year old man has reportedly claimed he was Netaji two days before he died in a village near the Guna district of Madhya Pradesh. He was known as Baba Lalji Maharaj. The Madhya Pradesh police have started a probe into the matter.

The detailed article can be read here.

Woh Lamhe...

Rating- ***

Woh Lamhe has Shiny Ahuja and Kangana Ranaut playing Aditya Garewal, a struggling director and Sana Azim, a successful heroine respectively. Sana Azim shares an abusive relationship with Nikhil, an actor who always makes it a point to remind her that whatever she is today is just because of him and his generosity. Aditya, on the other hand, wants to use her to become successful as a director, but he eventually falls in love with her. She dumps Nikhil and approaches Aditya and also agrees to act in his film, which goes on to become a huge hit. Aditya later finds out that Sana is schizophrenic and even gets stabbed by her in the process of getting her cured. The rest of the film shows the mental trauma that they both go through.

Though the movie has a tragic end, it connects well with the viewer. It might have got a four star rating if not for its second half which appeared sluggish at times. And, the other characters- Sammy, played by Purab and the doctor friend are adequate and do their job well. Kangana suits the role perfectly. Shiny looked better as an actor in Gangster, but he is a good choice for the role. This reel-life story was aided by the real life relationship between director, Mahesh Bhatt and the yesteryear popular actress, Parveen Babi, who passed away last year.

The music of the film was scored by Pritam. Kya mujhe pyaar hai alone is worth listening to.

Intelligent Marketing

Marketing strategies have always formed a crucial part in selling a commodity. These include amongst others, mainly print advertising and telivision advertising- the latter making more impact on the public or the consumers.

The Indian advertising industry has shown a gradual change, getting better everytime. This should be quite evident to anyone who comes across any alternate advertisement on the telivision these days. And, moreover, there is no dearth of breaks inbetween any programme that comes on air. I used to get bored with the long breaks squeezed anywhere into the programme that you so enthusiastically plan to watch. But, nowadays, these advertisements are a pleasure to watch than the programmes or soaps. Smart ads always catch your attention, no matter how lengthy they are.

There are a few advertisements that fascinate me everytime they are shown on the telivision. To name a few, the very new 'Visa' advertisement where a bunch of monkeys try to steal the belongings of a couple in the middle of a jungle and the lady distracts their attention by making a deal with bananas for the belongings. She then orders a truck full of bananas with the help of her Visa Card right from the jungle and then a monkey plays the same trick with her, this time, the Visa Power for her jeep keys.

The new 'Bank of India' advertisement is also good. It tries to tap the human emotions beautifully. The ad shows a small boy trying to hide his small piggy bank somewhere and goes all the way from home in search of a safe place and finally goes to the bank, where the officer puts it in a safety locker, assures him and hands over the keys to the small boy who leaves the bank happily.

There are many such smart ads which make an impact on those who watch them. You still may not buy (or use) the product (or services) that is (are) being promoted, but they leave their mark in your mind. And, after all, that is what marketing is all about- Smart moves to spot you!

24x7

I wish it were 100x7 instead of 24x7. I have never felt such shortage of the number of hours in a day. I really want them to increase. I have been planning to write a post on a small incident that happened a couple of days ago on the road when I was returning home from somewhere, and I haven't had the time to even open the blogger page.

Anyways. This particular incident caught my attention and I was moved by it to a certain extent- may not be an emotional feeling but still some kind of a trigger that pinched me inside. I was on my bike going home at around 8:30P.M. and I saw an auto-rickshaw trying to pull itself slowly along the road. I used the horn twice or thrice and then decided to overtake it quickly. I managed to move closer to it and a slight pressure on the accelerator would have put me ahead of the three wheeler, but a casual glance at it changed all that was going on in my mind at that moment. The auto rickshaw was carrying ten people in all. By the appearance of the commuters, I understood that the driver was taking few children home from school. The driver's seat accomodated three persons including the driver, of whom the other two (boys) had their feet dangling in the air. The back seat (the main seat) was too crowded and accomodated nearly eight girls with two of them almost hanging out from the side of the auto.

I slowed my bike and stopped it in front of the auto. I got down from my bike and asked the driver, "Is this enough? Or shall I get in too? Are you crazy? There are ten people in your auto and none of them would be younger than ten years, when in reality, an auto rickshaw can carry only four at a time including the driver. This can lead to accidents. Just look at the way the kids are trying to hold on to the side rods to prevent themselves from falling down. Why are you doing this?" I couldn't say anything more than that. I just gave a sympathetic look at those kids and left the place.

The boy sitting beside the driver felt amused at the way I posed this question to the driver, and I won't blame him nor any other kid in that auto rickshaw for their plight. For the next few hours, even at dinner, I thought about the different reasons that could have led to it.

The conclusion is that the auto was on hire on a monthly basis to carry children from home to school and back. Now, who's responsible for this? Who is to be made guilty for this situation?

• The driver who wants to earn as much as he can in just a two-way journey apart from his regular fares?
• The parents of the kids who just think of sending their children to school as their responsibility and overlook the different good and bad consequences that may occur in the process?
• The traffic police who inspite of coming across such autos, fail to impose any restrictions and unfortunately either take bribes or let them go unnoticed?

Good Sign

Finally, I get to see some sincere government officials/ sectors in the country - a positive sign showing that there is still something left in the country to feel happy about. The topic under discussion is the power cut 'issue' at the Maharashtra Chief Minister, Mr. Vilasrao Deshmukh's residence in Nagpur. The electricity department disconnected the power supply to the CM's residence for non-payment of dues of nearly Rs. 1.2 lakh.

It is good to see the sectors targeting even dignitaries like chief ministers and other powerful political people along with the common man.

The whole story can be read here.

d' Name game

If my previous post, The Lost Strangers is adapted for a short play, what title would you suggest for it? You have the freedom to dub the play into any language (only the title would be sufficient) and name it accordingly, but please translate the title in a language other than Hindi or Telugu into English because I still have to learn the remaining 21 languages spoken in India. :D

Let there be someone to test your creativity sometimes. :)

I am not an Indian... but I am called so

Just read the article that appeared in the Rediff today titled I am an Assamese not an Indian. This was said by the ULFA (United Liberation Front of Asom which was banned by the government) leader, Anup Chetia who was arrested in 1997 at Dhaka.

Not an Indian but an Assamese. Ok, how does this sound? Hello, I am not from India. I am from a part of India, and I do not want this part to be a part of India. I really don't think the government should sit down and have talks with such people.

Mobile Analyst

Endless analysis of online reviews on different mobiles has made me a good specialist. It has become something like a hobby to me - comparing the features and prices of different cell phone gizmos and choosing the best one amongst the whole range of the product. So, I was just wondering if this could be made into a profession. I mean when one can consult professional consultants prior to investing in stock market, then why can't one use the same kind of services when investing in a mobile. Both cost money and both can be risky. That's because you shouldn't repent after spending some thousands of bucks on a gizmo. And, just imagine what would be the case if you spend around 12K-15K on a mobile gadget and end up cursing the poor sound quality or the cam quality after a week or two. This is a risky investment too just like the volatile stock market.

I have infact started advising few of my friends regarding their best bet. They give me the list of features they would like to have in their mobile and I nail down a few phones for them to decide. So, don't you think this can be a good profession to get into?

Are you planning to get yourself a new mobile? Why risk your money without proper research? You can always consult someone who knows how it can be done. You know, right? :D