Itsy-bitsies

Posted by Anantha | Posted in | Posted on Saturday, April 27, 2013

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Too much in my mind to blog and too little patience to draft it as separate posts elaborately, hence is this itsy-bitsy post again.

  • One of my favourite playback singers of 60s/70s, P.B.Srinivas is no more. Many of his songs are my all time favourites. ‘Tam nam tam nam’, ‘baaDi hoda baLLiyinda’, ‘baara olidu baara’, ‘aaDisu noDu beeLisi noDu’, ‘aakashave beeLali mele’, ‘ide nanna uttara’, ‘baare baare chandada cheluvina taare’, ‘barede neenu ninna hesara’, ‘vithala ranga..’ are some of the ones coming to my mind right now. He was the voice for Dr Rajkumar for many many years until Raj himself started singing in his films. P B Srinivas’s voice was very soulful, earnest and there was some ‘truthfulness’ in his voice which holds my attention till date. All the music lovers will surely miss him.
  • Another person I liked breathed his last breath last recently. It is famous film critic Roger Ebert. Quite frankly, I was introduced to his reviews very late. I was led to his reviews on Suntimes site by a fellow blogger. Only after reading Roger Ebert’s reviews, we would know how shitty the reviews we come across in umpteen news papers and websites are. Most of his reviews were insightful references for me. At times, for some of the movies, I have read his reviews only to understand and appreciate the movie better. At times, I have gone to his site like a kid approaching a teacher to understand a complex maths theorem. Reading his reviews was like discussing a movie over a coffee with a friend!
  • Continuing the chain of sad thoughts, Armstrong was denied to compete in a swimming competition in Texas recently. I am dead against doping in sports but for some reason I have blind spot for Armstrong. When I say that, I do not support what he did in those 7 Tour de France titles, but I feel the mentioned incident and the likes are little too harsh when he has paid for what he has done. That reminds me of a tweet I came across when he was just stripped off the Tour de France titles. Some dude had tweeted, “Uske bachchon ke haath par tattoo karwaado ki ‘mera baap dope maar ke cycle chalata tha’”. Man, that’s really really rude for the family of a once sporting hero.
  • I’m glued to TV set since the start of the IPL. Enjoying the nail biting finishes as much as the light hearted conversations of the ex-cricketers with Gaurav Kapoor and Samir Kochar in Extra Innings. Hosting the show since the start of season 1, these two guys seem to have got the knack of talking to people and keep the show going. I am thoroughly enjoying it.
  • What is IPL without new Ads, ZooZoo is back with all its cuteness of the ZooZoo world. Of the other new ads, I like the Havells fan ads with ‘Hawa Badlegi’ theme a lot. Particularly the ads in which the guy surprises everyone by willing to change his surname in the registrar office and the one in which the maid is told by the family to sit with them for dinner. What struck me the most in them is the bang-on acting by the actors. I liked the way the guy says with great conviction, “nahin madam, yeh Shanthi Pandit hi rahengi, Main banoonga Vikas Pandit”. And in the other ad, I liked the way the maid sits uncomfortably on the edge of the chair and smiles acknowledging the complements for her sabzi. Kudos to the casting also here. In the short duration of few seconds, to tell a story with such superb acting and also to sell an idea is not an easy job. It reminds me of an article of Harsha Bhogle in ESPNCricinfo some years ago, in which he had defended the idea of T20 games as cricket has evolved catering to the changing needs and the short attention of span of cricket fans. I remember he mentioning T20 games are like the TV commercials, just because they are short, it does not mean there is no creativity, there is no good acting, in fact it requires a different skill to be an ad film maker than to tell a story in 2+ hour movie, comparing the movies to the longer formats of the game. It is not necessary that people perform well in both the formats as different formats require different kind of talent. Isn't that example just apt?

Aashiqui poster and the sharing of an ice cream!

Posted by Anantha | Posted in | Posted on Friday, April 19, 2013

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The promos of Ashiqui-2 (found the song ‘Tum hi ho’ quite nice) on music channels – particularly the kissing scene under the leather jacket – reminds me of Aashiqui. I think I was in 2nd or 3rd standard when it was released. The songs were a rage then. For few more years after the movie release, the letter J was reserved for ‘Jaane jigar jaane man’ and M was for ‘Main duniya bhula doonga/doongi’ every time we played antakshari J We used to go to an aunt’s house which was 5-6 kms away from our home, to watch the movie on Doordarshan every Sunday evening. Those were the days (aah... the nostalgia) when families used to visit relative’s homes to watch tv, as not everyone owned a tv those days. OK, I will keep the nostalgic TV watching episodes for some other post and some other time. My aunt’s college going children used to borrow video cassettes and play some new movies on their VCR. One Sunday evening when the movie on DD was not so great (or whatever was the reason), my cousins decided to play Aashiqui video cassette. Curious about the way VCR used to gulp a video cassette, I always used to stand close to my cousins who used to operate the VCR with great pride. My cousin gave me the video cassette cover to hold while he was inserting the cassette into the VCR. Seeing the picture on the cover, I asked him “What are they doing under the jacket? Are they sharing an ice cream and hiding under the jacket so that their moms do not catch them?” My cousins and the people who were waiting for the movie to start were in splits listening to my question. Controlling his laughter, my cousin had said, “Yes, they are sharing an ice cream”. Aashiqui-2 reminded me of my innocent question J I remember we all loved Aashiqui then. Deadpan acting of Rahul Roy and Anu Agarwal bothered us the least, everyone loved the music and hence the movie. Though I have faint memories of the plot of Aashiqui, one other thing I remember is the song ‘Too meri zindagi hain...’ A small girl used to dance to the song sung by her father (I suppose)   showing her midriff on a stranded street on a cold night under the balcony of Rahul Roy’s house. I used to feel really bad for that girl. 
Silly 90s movies and how funny we find it now. Though I don’t have any expectations from Aashiqui-2, but nice it reminded me of my childhood and my innocent question.

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