what we have and what we dont.

Funny place we're at.
someone just bombed a couple of grand hotels,
in a grand place.
Media Media and more Media.
It's a nice name for a woman - both caring and heartless at the same time.
Anger and loathe are distributed like pamphlets.
I watched it burn,through a beautiful camera angle.
wonder if they fought over the best seats to capture the image,
or over the interview of the orphaned child.
or perhaps they competed on outshouting each other,
or on who had the most accurate estimate of the dead.

I didn't know anyone who died.
I didn't know the twenty year old who killed them.
If they meet in afterlife, I wonder what they'll say to each other.

The Ballon d'Or belongs to Jesus

I wonder how many would have expressed surprise at Kaka winning this year's Ballon d'Or Award. He was by far the best thing on the football pitch this season even better than the flamboyant Ronaldo and the twinkling Messi. Now that's saying something!
To illustrate just how brilliant Kaka has been this year, let me bring to light how brilliant the other two have been.
Cristiano Ronaldo is a magician. The man dances with the ball and the defenders hate it. Over the years he has learnt to supplement the art of passing and team play in his game, and now his package is lethal. We see him tear through the defenses week after week. Yet his performance falls well short of Kaka's achievements.
Lionel Messi is , well, a god sent. His solo goal against Sevilla where he ran through five opponents and finished with the panache of a world class player earning him a comparison to the great Maradona , is testament to his genius. His finishing is lethal and he has quite comfortably outshone Ronaldinho and Eto'o.
And Kaka is better than them both. Kaka is not a trickster like ronaldo or a swift moving- inside cutting winger like Messi. Kaka's game is simple, pass and move. His ingenuity is shown incredibly in the way he dribbles, the way he passes and most importantly, the way he moves into open spaces. Let me remind you of the champions league goal he scored against Manchester United, where he collected a pass from Seedorf, just outside the penalty area with heinze and Ferdinand on him, and with his first touch moved past both of them even before they could bat an eyelid. Then he had to beat Van der saar from a close angle on his weaker foot- oh sorry i forget, someone like Kaka does not have a weaker foot, or so Van der saar will swear by after Kaka comfortably placed the ball at the far post. Milan 1, Man utd 0. Ronaldo looks on.
One could go on and on about Kaka and how he has so often left you breathless with his play making. The man's a genius and no one can or should doubt that. I should think that Messi and Ronaldo were honored to even be mentioned in the same breath as Kaka. Both of them are outstanding players but there is only one king, and his name is Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite. :)

Saawariya - If only there was substance.

The story is simple on the outset, but wreathed in labyrinth like complexity. A charmer, in a strange town falls in love with a mysterious woman who aspires nothing more than platonic companionship, for she is already in love with someone else. Fyodor Dostovesky's character in "White Nights" went through a roller coaster of emotions, before eventually losing the girl. The girl, on her part, is so stunningly mysterious and recondite that one is left feeling helpless looking at the man's attempts to break through her impervious facade. That was "white nights", written in and for an imaginary world, but staying true to the human emotions. Thats what works for the Story. For the Film, sadly, Mr. Bhansali has decided to desecrate the literature by showing no regard to the emotion of the story that truly makes it special.
Saawariya is a beautifully shot film. It has dreamy frames, and one can see why Bhansali wanted to do this story - just so that he can show that he is quite capable of churning out one good frame after another. Sadly, he forgot that the film should have a purpose, a connection with the audience. One could not comprehend why Sakina (Sonam Kapoor) was portrayed as nearly demented , especially when she laughed out loud , something that was quite pitiful. Her character, had innocence, yes, but absolutely no mystery. Bhansali failed to interpret the character, and add that spin of the unknown to it. Sakina fell flat, as though thrown from the tallest building of the "place that is not traceable on any map".
Ranbir Raj(Ranbir Kapoor)was certainly charming and naive. His innocence was well captured. What was also well done was the scene when the character burns the letters given by Sakina to be sent to her lover. The hitherto naive and charming hero is not without vice. nice. Finally something refreshing , thank you for at least getting this right, I think.
Gulab (Rani Mukherjee) was to be fair a decent character. I liked her. She was the narrator of the story and also the head prostitute and by far the prettiest one - one can see that after all the investment in the set creation, bhansali couldn't really ask his producers for models as prostitutes.This place, dear reader, has about 20 people in it, 16 of whom are prostitutes. you might throw your hands up and say that I am joking, I wish I was.
Ranbir Raj sings in fluent Urdu , but has the propensity to talk in real bad hinglish (hindi + english). Apparently the delicacy of Urdu strikes our Romeo only while singing. Sakina is a little scary at times. She is unpredictable and her obsession with the other man (salman Khan) is unfounded. One can not see why she would be in love with Salman khan's character.
As for the performances, mark my words.This is exactly whats going to pan out -
Ranbir Kapoor is going to rise to be a star, something like Hrithik roshan. The man is good looking, can act , and he can dance. The checklist is over, the man's destined to be a star.
Sonam Kapoor will start doing light heart comedies ala Lara dutta and gang. I don't see her going further than that. but I sense she could prove me wrong here. She is only 19 , and has a lot to learn. I do believe she can make it, but she has a long way to go before that.
There you have it then. I wouldn't say that Saawariya is a must skip , but you can just about watch it once. The movie is well shot. But it can hurt you sometimes. The chemistry is missing, and i blame that on Mr. bhansali completely. Watch it for the kids.

Muziboo - A musician's haven.

Adam Levine, the lead vocalist of the American band Maroon 5 recently commented that he hoped that a competition to spot talent like American Idol was around in his time, it would have saved him from the morass of struggling to establish himself. We don't , even for a second, doubt that.
But Mr.Adam has inconspicuously brought an important point to surface- That of being noticed, the channel to express oneself. Music is within and around us. All of us can't be Dylan or Mr. Adam himself for that matter, but some of us actually can. We know we can, how do we get the others to know it?
I imagine that's the question that beleaguered Prateek Dayal, founder of the music site Muziboo, when he set out to create Muziboo. He along with his wife form a two member team that has created a site that hosts works of many amateur and semi professional artistes. But thats not all. your work gets reviewed by fellow artistes, and under an unspoken writ, it is understood that no one means any malice.
One could go on and on about the many features that Muziboo has for you, and really come to think of it, even a site like UTube has similar features.
But here's what i think really makes Muziboo a site to stand up and take notice of- the fact that it is dedicated so arduously to the cause of promoting music, in whichever form. you have discussion rooms where people talk just about music, no videos, no fancy gadgetry , its pure music. You share, you learn, you keep the ball rolling. You put up your record, people review it, they comment. Imagine getting reviews for your own composition, or for a cover you think you have done well. The feeling of satisfaction is beyond words, and really , at the end of the day, aren't we all just working towards that?
Muziboo is more than just a site to those who use it. They know what Muzibo truly is all about- a place to do what most of them love to do- music. With over five hundred members in just six months, Muziboo has caught on like wildfire. If you are a musician , you know you can't get a better deal than Muziboo, simply because of the charming honesty and dedication that the site has.
So if you have an itch to put up something, or just surf to see what people are putting up, log on to www.Muziboo.com and spend some time with pure unadulterated music.

No smoking - a review

Silence has never been used better before. Anurag Kashyap's "No smoking" starring super model-unfortunately-turned-actor, John Abraham is an attempt , a bold one, at redefining Film making. The cinematography is par excellence. It didn't have the time freezing stunts of the matrix (or krishh dare I add), but it did have enough, and thankfully not an overdose of, camera tricks and graphics. The characters are surreal, and it must be said that every ancillary character did a commendable job.
"No smoking" is not for everyone. I still haven't forgiven JA (John Abraham) for what he had subjected me to in "Kabul express", something that I hold as a prime example of rock bottom acting. The man's expressions were buried ten feet under the sands of Kabul in that one. So when AK (anurag Kashyap) rolled in JA for his movie, I was a little bewildered. But ten minutes into the movie, and I could see AK's point.
JA's character is not an everyday man. He is nauseatingly rich, perhaps in his twenties, with a six pack and a toned body. He also sleeps after oiling his body as though he had just finished a gladrags shoot. AK has gone all out this time, he has done what he thinks works for him and his film. It may not work for you, but AK is not bothered. He knows there is a lot in the film that will work for you.
At first the script looks nebulous. You begin to worry whether you have wasted a good amount on this movie (the popcorn and the drink included, never mind the travel and the eating out you will be doing there after) and got nothing back in return. Then the script hits you. when you least expect it. Its impact is as stunning as a Mathew Hayden six. The seemingly pretentious script suddenly has a backbone. you are left wanting for more.
The film is really all about a man's obsession with cigarettes. In fact, JA never eats or drinks in the film; he only smokes. JA's predilection to get topless in the bathroom, wear fancy sun glasses and smoke a cigarette as he stares expressionlessly (this is perhaps the only place in JA's career where looking stupid has worked for him) into the mirror gets onto your nerves sometimes. You are left wondering why AK is so obsessed with JA's body. But you must get yourself to look beyond it, as there is a lot more to savor.
The film is charming, even though you hear people groaning in the pyre or incomprehension. There is something about the film that makes it click.
Now for the performances. I would have loved to see Rahul Bose do JA's part. JA himself wasn't bad actually. By now one seems to have gotten used to absence of expression, but the lad is improving, however slowly it may be.
Paresh Rawal is just too good to be commented on. Ayesha Takia is not irritating in the film so thats pretty good.
No Smoking is the kind of film that will have cult following. It will be thrashed by the critics and a majority of the film goers, only to be picked up by a sect of film lovers are revered. The film has its flaws, but at least it doesn't make you feel like you've wasted your time.