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Friday 16 September 2016

10 reasons why you should watch pink - the movie

10 reasons why you should watch pink

1) Amitabh Bachchan - actor par excellence , his silence speaks louder than words and when he speaks the courtroom feels small , really small & his sardonic sense of humour

2) it's not about candle night marches or women crusaders but regular issues which a women faces and the reality that unfolds

3) the three leading girls .. Gutsy , brave and independent and an important scene around why we need to know more about Meghalaya

4) the policewomen who lies through her teeth when she is  questioned by the man who has no bad hair day - Amitabh Bachchan and the golden handshake she gets at the end from the great man

5) the judge who for a change does not go bombastic but appears quite reasonable taking in both sides of the argument with an even head

6) the supporting cast of the actors and the friends who look and sound perfect for the role .. Getting the Delhi lingo just right

7) this movie is not about jazzy production values , item numbers or slapstick comedy .. But content and real issues

8) this movie will inspire you to run and get that mask altitude training mask which AB uses

9) the background score , the early mornings and late evenings of Delhi

10) last but certainly not the least .. The last time I had seen a good courtroom drama was in a few good men .. Pink beats this by a big margin as it deals with real reasons, does not offer solutions wrapped in colourful paper


10 reasons why you should watch pink - the movie

10 reasons why you should watch pink

1) Amitabh Bachchan - actor par excellence , his silence speaks louder than words and when he speaks the courtroom feels small , really small & his dry sense of humour

2) it's not about candle night marches or women crusaders but regular issues which a women faces and the reality that unfolds

3) the three leading girls .. Gutsy , brave and independent and an important scene around why we need to know more about Meghalaya

4) the policewomen who lies through her teeth when she is  questioned and the golden handshake she gets at the end from the great man

5) the judge who for a change does not go bombastic but appears quite reasonable taking in both sides of the argument with an even head

6) the supporting cast of the actors and the friends who look and sound perfect for the role .. Getting the Delhi lingo just right

7) this movie is not about jazzy production values , item numbers or slapstick comedy .. But content and real issues

8) this movie will inspire you to run and get that mask altitude training mask which AB uses

9) the background score , the early mornings and late evenings of Delhi

10) last but certainly not the least .. The last time I had seen a good courtroom drama was in a few good men .. Pink beats this by a big margin as it deals with real reasons, does not offer solutions wrapped in colourful paper


Tuesday 2 August 2016

#shinewithbosch

#shinewithbosch

That kind of day where there was absolutely no traffic on the streets of bangalore because of a bandh and for a brief fleeting nano second of a moment you start missing the traffic and then it rained ...

The #Shinewithbosch event which was held at the Royal Orchid Hotel Lawns and organised by Krafting Success Productions was different from the rest .You were greeted by an assorted variety of vehicles which looked like they hadnt seen ek boondh ka paani for quite some time .The vehicles were ergonomically stationed in just the right manner ( link & picture attached -https://twitter.com/shevititan/status/759265360159862785  with the two wheeler , hatchback and the SUV sharing screenspace to get maximum eye balls.

The event started bang on time with all the reviewers waiting to get their hands dirty literally, figuratively and metaphorically. The Emcee urging the assortment of bloggers and reviewers to come over have a dekkho and clean up the mess .The Vehicles though dirty had a strange beauty which required a #selfiemoment with them and they gladly  obliged (link &picture attached https://twitter.com/shevititan/status/759273623106519040.

Age is just a number , its the spirit that counts and everyone was invited to come over and put mud on the vehicles and then the most interesting part of the clean up . We all love playing with water. We played our version of holi with a modern day pichkari aka a high pressure washer which was hugely efficient , easy to navigate , light and simple . (Link and picture attached https://twitter.com/shevititan/status/759278705537581056



We were shown different models of the high pressure washer and what i liked was how the product was integrated with the event wherein everyone was urged , encouraged to have a go at cleaning the vehicles using the different combinations of the high pressure washers.

Rain did not want to miss out on the fun and it looked like the raingods also wanted to do their two bits in cleaning up which forced all of us to take solace whilst the discussion during the lunch break was all about Bosch's new products , its configurations and the pricing


Everyone had a good product experience at the launch of the high pressure washers looking at the smiles of all the bloggers, reviewers gathered there . After all who doesnt like playing with water and cleaning up.( Link & picture attached -https://twitter.com/shevititan/status/759287423356456961

 The range of high pressure washers looked they were invented for life making it a fun experience for everyone. If you are looking at getting your vehicles clean and dry come rain or shine ..Bosch's high powered washers might just work for you ..




Tuesday 12 April 2016

#playbold

It was always going to be Royal challengers Bangalores batting versus the sunrisers Hyderabad . The Chinnaswamy stadium has traditionally been a batsmans paradise and it didn't disappoint this time . David Warner won the toss and chose to field first and I guess that's the one and only point he won . Chris Gayle who has a walk and persona reminscent of Undertaker from WWF walked out along with Virat Kohli - the numero uno of Indian cricket leading from the front literally , figuratively and metaphorically to the loud din of the trumpets at  Chinnaswamy stadium. Chris was done in by a Bhuvanesh kumar special which scraped his thigh pad and poked his stumps .. The undertaker made the long way back to the shed .. And then the ground reverbated with the chants of " AB , AB " . AB is quite popular in Bangalore for his batting pyrotechnics and the way he defies geometry hitting the ball all over the park is a sight for sore eyes . Kohli and AB launched into the sunrisers bowling .. Helped in no small measure by Nehraji returning back to the sunrisers shed injured in the middle of an eventful over. Spinners and Seamers ( if we can call them that in this format of the game ) were treated with utter disdain . Ab using the batting crease , getting his shape ,body balance just right whilst Kohli ran the singles hard and hit the big ones clean and straight . It was a batting display straight out of a movie - poetry in motion in the fastest format of the game . Kohli & AB set the foundation for a strong total allowing the rest of the players to come and express themselves . The pocket sized Sarfaraz khan ( yeah good things in life come in small packets ) capitalised on the opportunity , he expressed himself and how .. Bisecting the fielders & finding the gaps at will during the business end of the first innings taking the team total to 227. This format is extremely unforgiving to bowlers but spare a thought for mustafizur Rahman . It was his bowling guile versus the rcb batsmen with the wily bowler getting two wickets off consecutive balls with his change of pace This lad will do well on batting pitches with his versatility






The south paws - shikhar Gambhir and David Warner had to come to the party and freeload on the shots to chase 228. Shikhar was deceived by a straighter one from the spinner Pervez before he could get his eye in . David as is his wont smoked a few sixes scoring a quick fire fifty  but then a short ball bowled by arguably the best all rounder who can bat at any position did him in Holing out a fielder in the deep . Virat leading the challengers beautifully ... Fielding like a panther inspiring the challengers around him . He brought in the spinners , making bowling changes showing the same kind of urgency he displayed while batting . The leg & off spinners chawal & Rasool got into the act , getting hit for the odd four and sixes buying their wickets with a mean line on a batting wicket. 228 is always a big score to chase and with wickets falling in a hurry . The inevitable had to happen .. The sunrisers 

needed a big partnership and with wickets falling in a hurry it was always going to be difficult .. The sunrisers ended up losing  by 45 runs.

The Royal challengers played true to their motto in the first game of the 2016 season - play bold . Let the drum rolls begin .. 

Wednesday 6 April 2016

Virat Kohli - you love him , you hate .. But you just cannot ignore him #wt20


This man with that perfectly manicured facial fuzz has taken the cricketing world by storm with his run scoring acumen.

Hairy issues aside , Virat kohli has made this World Cup t20 2016 his own . He came , he saw and he single handedly conquered .. well almost . He had a platinum run in this tournament and those intense and steely eyes gave us a glimpse of what he is really made of . The unbeaten innings of 55 against the Pakistanis on a rank turner in Eden Gardens was a case study for all batsmen on application. Another masterclass was to follow in the game against the mates from down under , a sublime 82 which had class written all over it . He played shots all across the Mohali ground playing the anchor role to perfection , pacing his innings like a marathoner and when it was time to deliver the counter punch hit  shots which the champion boxer Mohammed Ali would have been proud of . It was not just about fours and sixes but the way the scorpion ran his one's &two's like India's life depended on it speaks volumes about his fitness levels and mental alacrity. Finally the game against the West Indians at Mumbai where Virat once against paced his innings to the t scoring 89 odd runs playing proper cricket shots and picking gaps like an expert surgeon.He almost won this game for us with his batting and his one over as a bowler too but no balls and the West Indians had other plans on that fateful day.

When you look at Virat Kohli in the cricket field .. He is passion personified .. Quite like a gladiator , loving the idea of a challenge in a battle and he will go the whole hog  in spirit and mind to achieve the impossible .This man with his touch , timing and class  can make you win matches from any situation and in this World Cup when the entire nations expectations are on you , he delivered and how bringing his A game to the table . Let's chew on some numbers to get an inkling of what he was all about in #wt20 2016

273 runs in 5 games
Average-136.50
3 half centuries
Strike rate of just under 147
Nominated as Captain of ICC world T20 team of the tournament
Nominated as ICC World T20 men's player of the tournament


Enough said.. I like that glint in Virat's  eyes in the midst of a cricket battle which says "you never win the silver , you only lose the gold "


Sent from my iPad

Friday 4 December 2015

God In Colours

Its always nice to talk to a Poet who goes by the Nomenclature of Dr Bhupati Kumar Das and he has a penned a book of poems which is aptly titled " God in Colours" which is quite relevant at all times.

Below is a conversation with him where i had a few questions and he patiently answered it!!! and if you want to know more you could always click on the hyperlink below

https://www.facebook.com/godincolours/?fref=ts&__mref=message_bubble

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1. “God in Colours” is a very profound name. How did you come up with a name like this?

In this book ‘God in Colours’, I wanted to explore the various facets of God – the various nuances,

the oft- changing flavours, the evolving images and the conflicting interpretations. The Vedanta

wisdom which says, ‘You are the cloud, You are the rain, You are the healer, You are the pain’, has

influenced and overwhelmed me regarding the concept of God quite early in my life. I feel one must

have faith on a power superior to human spirit and endeavour so as to make the process of

journeying through life work. The image of my God takes root in this context. God is one and above

all. Only the interpretations vary. God to me is benign, benevolent and beneficent who, in the

ultimate sense, symbolizes the powers of love, peace, happiness and bliss. I like to visualise God as a

good human being. He is supreme and yet has feelings like love, hope, anger, alienation, sympathy

etc. More importantly, my God also fails sometimes. This image of God helps me keep faith in

humanity. So I thought how do I name the book of poems which reflects all these varied emotions. I

toyed with the idea of naming the book, ‘glimpses of god’, but ultimately, on deeper thought, settled

on the name,‘ god in colours’.

2. What do your poems deal with?

From my childhood, I was comfortable in creating pictures of moods and sensations in simple English

words. My random thoughts and feelings have often found expression in the form of poetry as I feel

the overwhelming urge to capture them in words. More than two decades ago when I wrote my

early poems, the perennial theme in my work were love and life. Love is a universal feeling which

gives a person strength to face ups and downs in life. Life is interesting and exciting because of the

rewarding relationships formed during the journey of life – no matter whether it relates to a

relationship of ‘a mother and a child’ or ‘a girl and a boy’ or ‘a wife and a husband’. I have examined

and dealt with various forms of love in my poetry – love for the country, love for the parent, love for

the son, love for the beloved, love for God, love all encompassing. Then as I matured over time, my

poems started capturing a whole range of emotions in life – hope, frustration, anger, love,

spirituality -  as well  as various facets, manifestations and ambiguities of mystical nature. My poems,

therefore, depict various visuals of human life and living and carries soft notes of love- waves.

However, I am little uneasy with close rhymes in tight structure. So my poems are free flowing, open

and very often without rhymes though a central thread of rhythm runs through them always.

3. One notices a lot of pathos and angst in your poems? What is the reason for it?

As I live life deeply, emotions and feelings have a permanent role in my psyche. The rat- race to

achieve the best in the school and colleges that I went through, considered to be amongst the best

and subsequent high pressure life in the upper echelons of corporate world only heightened these

feelings of restlessness and frustrations and left an indelible mark. My humble creative urges arising

out of these experiences found expression in the form of poetry which refreshed my soul in times of

despair and from which I derive great peace of mind. For me, poetry works both as an artistic outlet

and a therapeutic medium.

For me, life is a voyage to be experienced in totality. Life has so many different facets, so many

different ways of driving home a message. To live a healthy and enriching life, one has to be capable

of tasting life in full – through ups and downs in all its contours of hard emotions and stark realities. I

am quite philosophical about life and death. To me the concept of death resides in the very basis of

living. Therefore, one must have faith on a power  superior to human spirit and endeavour so as to

make living meaningful.

In reality, I am an eternal optimist though at times the optimism is tinged with melancholy,

disappointment and despair. I strongly believe that one should never give up hope in life. In fact, one

of my earliest poems is on ‘hope’. It goes like this – i wait for / the tomorrow / that would bring /

hope and laughter / to me / when that tomorrow / turns today / the illusion called hope / runs away

/ i would run after it / stumbling but not falling / someday i would run faster / and catch it / the

hope.

For me, life has a fair share of disappointments, frustrations, agony and sadness. So, unless a person

is inspired by something beyond the boundaries of everyday -living, life may degenerate into a

mechanical walk-across from birth to death. I believe, living life is much more than that as it

normally celebrates the triumph of human intellect and spirit.

So my poems reflect the emotions experienced through this entire process of living life. Writing

poetry has been a rewarding experience for me. For, it has provided me a medium for sharing my

feelings, inner thoughts and general life perspectives.

4. One notices that you have written a poem on the September 11 Bombing. One line lingers

“tragedy and sorrow have no nationality and no colour”. Tell us about it.

I wrote the poem “September 11, 2001” on the very night the twin- tower terror attack took place.

The poem was published on the cover page of English Daily, “Sentinel” on September 13, 2001. My

wife was travelling in USA that time. When I saw the pictures of deaths and destruction on the twin

towers of New York in the TV that evening, I was worried, angry and sad. While waiting for the news

of the well-being of my wife, I did not realize how the night had passed and in those agonizing

moments, I penned the poem.So I know how much people suffer on such instances of mindless

terror. Pain is experienced in the body and sufferings in the heart. And body and heart are same for

everybody irrespective of caste, creed and colour. Tragedy and sorrow have no nationality and no

colour as tear tastes the same and sweats of fear smell the same of all the people in the world.

5. Your poems reflect what society is going through!

I believe literature including poetry can mould the society. ‘Literature is a mirror of Society’. A poet’s

or a writer’s dreams, ideals, hopes and aspirations, thoughts and feelings, experiences of life – all

these put together, when articulated, make literature. And hence it mirrors what is happening in the

society or in the civilization. As someone said, ‘no man is an island’. The air he breathes, the sound

he hears, the ambience, the voices, the dreams he has – all are linked to society and finally all these

produce literature either in prose or in poetry form. So the input or the raw material is society and

the output is literature. In that context, my poetry also becomes a faithful mirror of life which

reflects the concerns and thinking of contemporary social milieu. I only hope my poetry would bring

back the new generations to written work of poetry and prose who, as someone said, are paralysed

for words without the comfort of a keyboard, to appreciate the beauty of love, life and nature.

Friday 20 November 2015

Spectre....and the lack of it




James Bond - I have come to kill you
Villain - I thought you have come to die
James Bond - it's a matter of perception


Everything has a sell by date .. But James Bond.. It's a matter of perception and that's what was running in my mind through a blocked nose and a noisy neighbour who was munching on her Black Forest cake ..she was bribed by her mom so that big momma could watch Daniel Craig strut his stuff in sharp tailored suits. Bond movies are all about moments and one expects the start to set the pattern but it just didn't work for me .. The sound track overlapped the opening sequence and it just didn't provide the thrill which earlier bond avatars provided. The topography of the locales were top notch but then if you are going for a bond movie .. You expect the best and some semblance of a story . The story attempts too many things and one finds mention of characters of previous movies in this spectre which is not a bad thing but it also takes focus out of the primary plot . I was looking out for Monica bellucii and her appearance was like that kiss which could have lingered a little bit longer if bond was not in a hurry to put his best foot forward and jump onto another continent ." M " has a pained expression throughout this movie and "Q" with his sardonic lines and his penchant for creating all things fast and furious creates the car which can go for 0 to 60 in 3.2 seconds and I was thinking of a Suzuki shogun which could do the same in our Indian roads . Speed thrills but the car chase sequence .. fell flat. One of the villains who looked like a machine dressed in pin stripes for a strange reason reminded me of Big Arun Lal ( yeah that cricketer who was stuck in a time warp and could not do " the back to the future journey " ) and that hand to hand combat between him and Mr Bond in the middle of the train journey was like a drum roll for WWE minus the hyperbole.

The second heroine who went by the moniker of Madeleine Swan had a thing for glitter and for a doctor she had a glum expression throughout this ordeal ..I would have loved to see more scenes of bond with Money Penny and she was right on the penny with her colour coordinated outfits . This movie could have been much more but alas .. And now that man - christoph waltz who can charm you into drinking milk   Was a match for Bond but it left a lot to be desired . He could waltz his way to your heart with his diction and impeccable dialogue delivery but his screen time was blown to smithereens literarily , figuratively and metaphorically

This bond movie could have been much better ...Its time for the original Caveman in a suit to brush up his act and save the world and it's adopted brother again

Mr bond it's been nice knowing you .. I will see you when I see you