Paint It Black... urrrmmm Yellow

A lot has been said about "Rang De Basanti" and I am surprised that everyone is appreciating it. It has been hailed as "the movie of this generation", "better than DCH" and many other things but I did not find it special in any way. It does not even come close to DCH for many reasons. This is supposed to be a serious movie and the first hour of the movie is just "bakchodi" (Can't find a better word for it). I think Aamir has mastered the art of choosing great subjects but still he is unlucky that his movies turn out to be like The Rising or RDB.
The idea behind the movie is to make people think and celebrate freedom. I would love to watch a movie in which complex issues like these are addressed but they are dealt with in a proper manner. The script has it high points with the witty dialogues but the serious ones fail to make an impression and hence appear extremely cliched. Soha's cry, Atul' rendition of the Bismil poem and the last scene in which Atul and Kunal shake hands reminded me of Karan Johar to say the least. Such scenes if handled properly make me cry but doing it the Karan way made me pull my hair off.
In one particular scene when the central characters are plotting a murder, Sharman Joshi gets up and says "Nahin nahin.." What he said after that was drowned in the huge roar of laughter that emerged in the theater. For the record, it was not a comic scene. I agree that for Indian audience its necessary to have comic relief but one full hour in the beginning is over-doing it.
There is one more point which I don't think many people have noticed or they have not pointed it out is the fact that Aamir is playing a guy who passed out of college 5 years ago. Am I the only one who thinks that he looked much older than that. With all due respect to one of the few good actors left in Indian cinema I think he should not have played this. It has ruined his image in my eyes and I am quite sure that many others will agree me on this.
When the script was written the movie probably had a message but somehow it was lost on the way. In the end I would say that it is not all bad. This movie at least tried but it failed miserably.

Dilli Chalo

This page should be updated soon and you will see a very handsome guy there smiling away to glory. I know that someone doesnt want me there but if you are reading this... "tumhari baddua kaam nahin aayi" :P. I'll be coming to Delhi on 10th. I just wish that it is Kingfisher, have heard a lot about the little red riding-hoods. I have already contacted couple of bloggers I want to meet and I would love to meet you if you are reading this. If there is any sort of bloggers meet on that weekend, please tell me about it. I never had the pleasure of attending one.
If anyone of you want to meet up do send me a mail.
A formal thanks to my team members for I-Quation: Thanks Anurag and Akhauri. And yeah, thanks Cram and Ish for waiting till the quiz was over. :)
And yeah... 5k reward to the person who poisons the IIT M team.
For all those who haven't seen Rang De Basanti yet, DON'T. It is a complete waste of time, money and energy. The only good thing is the ending when the characters get punished for what they did to us and our pockets. (It cost me Rs. 220 which is the highest I have ever paid for a movie). I just don't understand how the hell is it getting so many positive reviews. I will do my bit pretty soon.

The SF that was..

This was by far my favorite fest to say the least, thanks to some special guests and the quiz winning spree. It was so good that the quizmaster has offered to pay me if I do background research for his questions. I will be going to Kolkata next Saturday to fix the deal. The name !Xobile (watch Russel Peters for pronunciation) proved lucky and we won all the quizzes in the fest.
Shankar was good but what made it better was a PYT dancing next to me. For the record, I was also "trying to" dance but as some of you would have guessed by now that its not possible for me to perform this feat without being drunk. The stupid 22:30 curfew at girls hostel could have made things worse for me but somehow it turned out otherwise. :)
Heard Skinny Alley and they were better than usual. The fame that Dutta has earned is well deserved. He made the guitar cry and elucidated the difference between boys and MEN. And yes, they did play "Stairway To Heaven". Mobiles have replaced lighters but I planned to do it old school during the song. It was all going fine till some part of the 4 Rs. lighter melted and burnt my finger a little. Trust me, it was worth it.
The Hobos won the rock competition again beating out Faith (again). It must be pretty sad for Faith to lose twice in a span of 10 days but it was quite a close contest on both occasions (Nihilanth and SF). In my opinion, the cover of Purple Haze won it for The Hobos along with their originals. In case that you have heard them, do you also think that they sound like a softer version of NIN?

Consider It Done

There are valid reasons for this so called break and I think I am in the safe zone now. 6 months from now you will see me in Pune and within couple of years in Amster-fricking-dam. \../
A quick round-up of the days that just went by:

• Got a job with Syntel Inc.
• Another New Year's eve went by when I had no one to kiss at midnight.
• Finally won some money at Nihilanth. Thanks Arnav.... for not coming.
• Had a fist fight after a real real long time. The last I remember was in ..... well, I can't remember the last one.
• Attended performances by Orange Street, Pentagram amd Euphoria (today). If I have to pin point a day in my life when "the music died", it would be today. I am not a music snob and I do like Indian bands to a certain extent but please don't murder Floyd. They could'nt even perform MaeRi properly and yeah... who the hell comes to perform in a rock concert wearing a WHITE SHIRT.
• Saw Elizabethtown 9 times. Yes 9 times after I stopped blogging. Call me a sissy but I did cry when they were playing Freebird all 9 times and I am proud about it. Makes me feel human.

I realised how important blogging is as quite a few people (known as well as unknown) contacted me when I disabled it. The unknown ones also included two hot gals. When I called one of my close friends to tell her that I got a job, her reply wasn't "Kewl! Where?" "How much's the package?" "Which company?" but it was "Good. Now you can start blogging again." I asked her to write a comeback post for me but she did that only on condition that she would remain anonymous. This is what she came up with:

As promised by its author, this blog comes back to life when he has succeeded in finding a job. Congratulations Handa and all the best to the company which hired him.
Some of you may be wondering who I am. Remember the nasty anonymous comment left on this blog which attempted to summarise H's qualities? Nope, I ain't the commenter. Instead, I am the first person he called to ask if it was me who had written it. That pretty much tells you what I think of him. However, despite all the hatred that we may express towards this pet of Satan, there is something about him that draws us to him. Something which makes us want to be friends with him. Something that gives us pleasure when he succeeds, makes us feel sad when he doesn't. On this occasion of his securing the first job of his life, here's wishing him the best! Hope life in the big city suits him well!
Special message for Handa and his readers: Say no to Smoking. Say no to Alcohol. Practice safe sex. Seek long term happiness, short term thrills are just that, short term.

This was 15 days ago and after that I had been just plain ol' lazy. Now be nice to me for a change and say "Welcome Back".

.... and here's looking at you kid! See you in 300 minutes.

I never knew I had a dream
Until that dream was you
When I look into your eyes
The sky's a different blue
Cross my heart
I wear no disguise
If I tried, you'd make believe
That you believed my lies

Thank you for loving me
For being my eyes
When I couldn't see
For parting my lips
When I couldn't breathe
Thank you for loving me