Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from April, 2020

🙏 Om Shanti Om.. Shanti Shanti Om..🙏

From the adolescent of Mera Naam Joker, to the Romantic Hero of Bobby (the name trendy enough to prompt someone very dear to refer me with that endearment) and other early RK films, to the youthful hero of the mid-late 70s, to Manmohan Desai's multi starers like Naseeb, Amar Akbar Anthony & Coolie, …To the solo hero of Karz & for being the life of beloved Mohammed Rafi's comeback to Stardom Qawwalis of AAA & Hum Kissi se Kam Nahi, To being the middle-aged leadman of Yash Chopra  movies, to playing the second fiddle in the launch film of the new Badshah of Bollywood in Dewanaa to the Twilight classics of Hum Tum, Kapoor & Sons and Agneepath rehash. The Journey of beloved Rishi Kapoor has been legendary, yet understated and underutilized.. Thanks for being such an integral part of our lives.. 🙏  Om Shanti Om Rishi Kapoor.. Your offspring, the finest actor of the current generation, will ensure your dad's dream of the Kapoor show to go on...

My Lucky Stars!!

Stargazing has been one of my passionate habits at the onset of Summer. Today after a serious thunderstorm, I was surprised to see a fairly clear night sky and my surprise heightened when I could spot some stars in the midnight sky from the balcony. Without wasting much time, rushed upstairs around 1 30 Am to reunite with the companions of the night aka the Stars and Constellations. While I was able to see some stars if not all, the following are the Stars that a novice in me can instantly recognize even today. Venus – The morning star of the Northern Hemisphere, easily the brightest planet visible even after the onset of bright morning Summer Sun. Mercury- Little below Venus, not as bright but definitely visible in the morning sky. Mars- Staying on the eastern side of the night sky, Mars is the reddest star you can see with the naked eye, while the reflection of red light is quite evident. One basic rule I was told is Stars twinkle and planets do not twinkle. T

Hemanta Kumar!

There were times during my growing up years, which had the usual the annual visit to my place of birth Guntur for Summer Holidays.. among a lot of things there, one striking aspect was how all families were united by the love for Music, Indian Classical as well as Western.. Back then, almost inevitably at least one member from every known family knew how to play the Harmonium aided by a voice with nasal touch.. They would never shy away from showcasing their limited range of songs agai n and again year after year with the universal favorites being the Nagin been music & couple of songs from films like Waqt etc.. Saw this Video during idletime YouTubing & just thought how good should the legendary Hemant Kumar be if his supremely rich, velvetly smooth, Baritone voice sounded this good with Doordarshan mics.. He was I think aged around 69 at the time of giving this rendition..(passed away at 70) Was great to see this interview of the original voice for Dev Anand

Rohit Gurunath Sharma!

A long due ode to en erstwhile enigma of sports, who for the first five years of his career might have given more income to the stand-up comedians and trollers than he did for himself. As a sports fanatic, I have a hierarchy spread in terms of allegiance I have for Sports personalities & teams. Top of the list & a thing of beauty that would never return to full-fledged action would be Stefan Edberg. I don't think in my limited view of sports, I have seen a more graceful poetic movement in a sports arena. Followed by that for a neck to neck tie is the Indian Cricket team and Liverpool football club, who don the Silver medal by the narrowest of margins. Will torment about these two in a later post. Before I get to the bronze, I would like to make some honorable mentions of Yuvraj Singh, VVS Laxman, Mohd Azharuddin, Rahul Dravid, MS Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar in that very order, who I really adored to watch during their peak and had an emotional connecti

Ala Vaikunta Puramu looo-- A Review!

The usual saga of Trivikram Sreenivas movie is you go with a certain amount of expectations only to be let down by what you see but then you realize that what you saw may not be as good as you thought it will be but it's novel and re-watchable enough and the movie becomes a cult classic eventually. And then it's a rinse repeat cycle when you await his next movie. Alaa Vaikunta Puram lo is no exception, you wished the writer stuck to his core attribute of dialogue writing during a crucial phase of the first half instead of the protagonist showing his macho muscular brawn to convey a point but at the same time you do not regret the length of the movie as the basic elements of the story has lot of content and we await the unfolding of drama with a certain amount of expectations no matter how predictable. 3v also has a known tendency to get back, yesteryear actresses and weave a graceful and arrogant character around them, it was Nadiya few years before, Kushbo last

The God, Me & the Karmic Connection

Long post with back and forth screenplay & introspection & good luck if you read it through. A while ago, was on my way back home after taking care of some annual rituals. The road leading to the home was blocked by four back to back heavy vehicles and just in nick of time, I took a left turn so that the shorter cut can overtake the four heavy vehicles and the last Kilometre or so can be a smooth ride. A Wagon r also swiftly followed me and I had a fleeting pride of being a pioneer in adverse situations, I reached the end of the road in no time only to notice a ditch with varying measurements apparently dug in to stop the usage of the road. I promptly put aside my pioneer hat and donned the safety one, got down to gauge the width of the ditch and made a calculated assessment that the car would be safely negotiated if it's taken from the extreme right corner and tried the same, only to realize that the front left tyre was badly stuck in the Pit. When I

Deconstruction of The MegaStar!

Chiranjeevi post his Megastar-dom has mostly been a conflicting personality. The guy who after modest and industrious beginnings has seen the unsurmountable highs till the time of ‘Gharana Mogudu’ (A Rajini remake, remade in Hindi as Ladlaa) later sunk to inexplicable inconsistencies ever since and has become more desperate to regain his invincible status. The harder he tried, the more difficult it was to reconquer the invincible summit, till he finally gave up after various futile attempts by way of forgettable films from 92-97. Of course, he slowly rediscovered the Midas touch by picking some well thought off scripts and signed off with a hattrick of blockbusters in the early millennium. Once he reached the second pinnacle, a downward slide was seemingly inevitable again. The next slump took him to the lowest ebb in his life when he started an innings in Politics, where he failed miserably. His trusted lieutenants (including himself) again let him down and Chiru’s fragil

The King of Good Times!!

If you were a person who grew up watching cricket seriously from the 90s, you would associate a peculiar pattern with Indo-Pak games. As a classic example, the fans would line up for a game with high expectations at Sharjah against archrivals Pakistan, where Pak would pose a formidable 250 to start the great Indian run chase. The Indian chase and the match would effectively end within the first 5-6 overs once Tendulkar falls to Wasim Akram or Aaquib Javeed. In another scenar io, the opponents pose an imposing total of 250+, thanks to Sachin, India remains the chase till the 30th over. Panic then creeps in and the unavoidable Indian batting collapse would ensue spearheaded by the master himself. The advent of Yuvraj Singh has challenged this stereotype and predictable loop of agonizing so near yet so far Indian run chases. India started winning matches while chasing. It wasn't the Kanitkar Boundary or Rajesh Chauhan Six or another handful of matches we could easily coun

Gone too Soon- Sridevi

Gone too Soon.. Sri Devi.. She carried Bollywood on her shoulders when the Big B was fading, Anil Kapoor was finding his feet and did so with aplomb till the Khans arrived.. It's also unfortunate that the tremendous acting potential of this fantastic actor of the 80s and 90s did not find the directorial talent and range of experimentation that we now have.. Her second innings which began on a fabulous note with two back to back performance blockbusters in English- Vinglish a nd Mom was interrupted by this unexpected and premature departure.. Hope her Kids, who are still very young get proper guidance, support and protection & have a more secured life than their mother personally & equally impactful life in whatever profession they choose.. Sri Devi the finest actor of my growing years and the first female SuperStar of Bollywood who gave us Sadma, Chandini, Lamhe, Mr India, Chalbaaz, JVAS, Kshana Kshanam to name a very few and whose acting prowess was rev

Playing the Big-Brother to the tee!

India continues to set the benchmark for Pakistan. We won the Rothmans cup in 1985 at Sharjah; they win the Australasia cup in 1986 at the same venue (Miandad last ball six). We win the world cup in 1983, they win it in 1992, we won the T20 world cup in 2007, and they do so in 2009. We win the Champions trophy in 2013, they oblige with by winning the next version in 2017. Always admired the way they play their cricket. Their element of unpredictability makes them a very likable  and well-respected team in world cricket. In the year 1992, Pakistan was on the verge of getting knocked out of world cup against New Zealand in the semifinals. I saw Inzamam ul Haq bat before and I kept telling my folks back home that these guys can still win the game. They won; I rejoiced my hunch and was duly banned in the cousin group for my pledged allegiance to a tabooed neighbor. However, as true cricket lovers, we all wondered why or when India would get our own Wasim, Waqar or Saqlain. Just