Lost in translation

Posted by Anantha | Posted in , , , , | Posted on Tuesday, July 29, 2008

4


The other day, got to see this marvel which won Oscar for the best original screenplay, 2003. I donno how could I miss such a nice movie all these days.

"For everyone, there are those moments when you have great days with someone you wouldn't expect to. Then you have to go back to your real lives, but it makes an impression on you. It's what makes it (life) so great and enjoyable".

- Sofia Coppola, in one of her interviews


If the above statement struck a chord in your heart, there is no reason why you would not like the movie Lost in translation.


Most parts of the movie is shot in Tokyo's Park Hyatt hotel. Bob Harris [played by Bill Murray] is famous actor who has been staying in Tokyo to endorse a Japanese' whiskey brand. He has a wife, to whom he whispers the three magical words mechanically before he hangs up the phone every time she calls him, but doesn’t actually mean it. He has kids, who miss their dad, but 'they are OK with it' [as he says]. He is a man who is undergoing mid life crisis. And the female lead, Charlotte [Scarlett Johansson] is a young female married to a fashion photographer, who actually wants to be a writer or a photographer but she knows she is not good at either. Basically she is bored by the monotony in her married life.


The movie beautifully depicts how once strangers, share a great camaraderie after spending few memorable moments with each other. And if you expect them to start liking each other and sleep together, no you are wrong! They share an intimate relationship which is more beautiful than just what you expect. The movie ends with an amazingly beautiful climax, making you feel you have just been released from an incredible experience that you will cherish for a long time.


The director justifies the lead actors’ relationship in the movie as, "I liked this relationship. I've had friends like that where you have a flirtation but you're just friends. I wanted it to be more innocent. If they slept together, that would bring in reality".


That says it all, Im not going to elaborate more.


Watch it for the sake of brilliant acting by Bill Murray and Scarlett Johanson
Watch it to experience how nice a movie can be made..
Watch it for the ethereal bond two strangers share during their ephemeral encounter...
Watch it for the portrayal of a nice camaraderie between the opposite genders..

Thinking out of the body!

Posted by Anantha | Posted in | Posted on Tuesday, July 15, 2008

10

These topics spur out occasionally while conversing with colleagues / friends. Though I dont wanna tag these discussions as purely philosophical, but they have small dosage of philosophy in it... beware!

One such discussion with my colleague dealt with the subject of sufferings the human beings undergo on earth. Suffering can be because of poverty, hunger, lack of basic needs, ill health or because of any external or internal factors which we believe will affect our lives. When I mean suffering, I mean a person being unhappy for what ever reason.

Our discussion went beyond blaming any country/Govt/System/life style for one's unhappiness.

Why should there be a gap between rich and poor? Why people in Ethiopia starve and rich people from big cities of world are obese..?
Why people in Kashmir get killed for none of their mistakes? Why kids are orphaned for no fault of theirs?
Why people fight with each other?
Why do people have to suffer from incurable diseases?
Why people are born physically or mentally challenged?

And now a very important question, How is the share of unhappiness and happiness credited in each person's account?

Haan.. there we are, we are discussing the very basic question, First of all why should living beings suffer or be unhappy? Though this question seems to project me like a selfish happiness monger, but that makes perfect sense because I am not begging for the happiness of only my family, I want the whole world to be a peaceful place and tenure on earth a life long vacation for every one who is born here.

My team mate who seems to be conversant on these topics, started justifying the concept of re-incarnations, human race being the best form of life, all people suffer on the basis of paapas they have committed in previous janmas. More the sins, severe the punishment on earth. He also enunciated the mention of earth as a prison for human beings in Garuda PuraaNa [or some thing, I dont exactly remember]. He also said the souls attain moksha after clearing all punishments for all their cumulative paapas of all janmas [pretty lengthy process eh... :-/].

Though I am not a firm believer of the concept of re-incarnations, I half heartedly agree with it till I have a better concept to believe in. Actually speaking my dissatisfaction is not towards this theory but on the whole system of it. Assume souls 'wear' different bodies in different incarnations; the memory is not a thing that gets transferred across different janmas. What I mean is nobody will ever have knowledge of the severity of the sentence s/he is going to serve in this prison. And when the punishment actually begins, all of us suffer without knowing the reason for suffering.

Isn't it like a child who gets beatings from his teacher without knowing the mistakes for which he is being punished..?

I am OK with the punishment as long as I am told the reason before I get spanked.

Now that’s a damn serious issue!

Posted by Anantha | Posted in , | Posted on Monday, June 23, 2008

10

Its not a sunny MON morning. Im just about to settle down on my chair, my TL comes striding towards me and says, "I want the current defect to be closed by EOD. It’s a damn serious issue, customer needs the solution badly.."

My reflexes to all such ‘orders’ will be relatively slow on MON mornings. After tasting life the previous weekend and seriously infected by MON blues it ought to be slow right..? I looked at my TL as God would look at a child who is praying to him for a lolly pop. Imagine how would that Supreme power who controls the swaying of every grass blade on earth smile when being pleaded for a lolly pop by a kid. Ya.. I held a similar expression on my face. I could see him speaking some thing further but I was lost in my own thoughts.

He says some blah blah defect is a damn serious issue… WTH..!!

This morning I saw a new toddler working in a petty hotel near by my house. He must have been forced to quit school and made to join this hotel to join hands with two more little boys who have been working there since few years. He must have come from any village near Mandya/Mysore. Now this guy and his future is a new prey for the everlasting struggle for survival.
Now that’s a damn damn damn serious issue…

The other day I saw an aged homeless lady taking shelter in front of a closed shop near my house. She continued to be seen around the same place for quite some time. I have tossed few coins on her spread out sack few times. From past few days I am not seeing her in her usual so called shelter. I donno where that old soul has moved to. She was too feeble to walk around, some thing bad might have happened to her…? God forbid. May God bless her, where ever she is.
Now that’s a damn damn damn serious issue..

Last FRI, inflation was shot up to 11.05%, highest in last 13 years, Now that’s a damn damn damn damn serious issue..

My dad seems to be getting acquainted to his illness than to fight it out with his gumption. Now that’s a damn damn damn serious issue…

And my TL says some zilch of a defect is a serious issue for some gappu customer located in some gappu land…. WTH…

I was still smiling like a God in front of a kid who is praying to him for a lolly pop :)

Bullfighter beats craftsman again :(

Posted by Anantha | Posted in , | Posted on Monday, June 09, 2008

6

The final score, 6-1 6-3 6-0

The final match lasted for one hour and 48 minutes, which is the shortest final in terms of time on court since 1980.

Federer committed 35 unforced errors in the match


Now any Federer fan will be more than disappointed by the above lines and Im not an exception. I watched Fedex beat Monfils in Semis, was shocked by the number of unforced errors he committed there also. If Monfils was more precise with his inherent raw power, he would have made Fedex bite the dust no doubt. With his current form [with virus affecting his health] I was skeptical about Fedex winning his first ever French Open. But I never thought he would surrender so easily to the bullfighter Spaniard.


Being an ardent fan of Federer, can you believe I switched off the TV set after seeing the way he lost his second set 6-3. Federer was committing myriad of unforced errors, dint deliver a single ace in his serves, was missing out heavily on placing his favorite slice shots.. and in answer Nadal was running with his lightning fast legs to every nook and corner of the court to send back the ball with twice the speed that it reached his bat.


I wanna write nothing more on it.. Im heartbroken…


I want Fedex to win French open at any cost next year.. I want him to come up with all the right answers for the puzzles Nadal has been posing to him on clay court from past 3 years..

Mussanje maatu; an average entertainer

Posted by Anantha | Posted in , , , , , , , | Posted on Monday, June 09, 2008

3


Dir: Mahesh
Cast: Sudeep, Ramya
Music: V Sridhar

First of all, the reasons why I wanted to see this movie – The posters of the movie seemed interesting, The director was a debutant, Sudeep was donning an interesting look, Music was superb and last but not the least – my intuition said its gonna be an interesting movie. Hence I went to see Mussanje Maatu.

Pradeep played by Sudeep is an RJ, a happy go lucky person, meets depressed Tanu [Ramya] in a train from HubLi to Bangalore. Pradeep hesitantly inquires the reason for her depression, but does not get an answer from Tanu. And predictably by the time Pradeep alights in his destination, Tanu would have left. Pradeep keeps searching for the interesting girl he had met in train. Along side, the screen play gives an elaborate introduction of Pradeep’s job profile. He consoles, suggests solutions and fills hope in the lives of depressed callers in his show Mussanje maatu. Thus he is quite an integral part of many lives of radio listeners in the city. As the viewer was given a glimpse of Tanu’s depression, she also gets to dial in to the show hosted by Pradeep. Then they get to meet up, talk, shop together, roam together and what else… Pradeep falls in love with Tanu. If you are a regular watcher of commercial movies of South Indian languages and is used to the little predictable twists here and there and a happy ending, you can never go wrong in guessing the rest of the story.


Talking about the different technical departments of the movie, debutant director seems to have chosen a safe script and is heavily influenced by the usual masala in the movies. His talent needs to be assessed when he comes up with a more creative attempt. Sudeep is refreshing with his hip new look suiting his profession, looks ultra slim too. Sudeep impresses with his mannerisms and dialogue delivery, but his-both-hands-always-in-pocket-style looks repetitive. About Ramya, she has gone past the mark of chubby and looks plump; she has to think seriously about reducing. I did not find her acting special in the movie. Rest of the cast has nothing much to do. I seriously don’t understand why Anu Prabhakar accepted the role of Ramy’s friend, she has no special role to play in the story.


What disappointed me was so-so cinematography, less effective dialogues and below average art direction. Not to blame the cinematographer [Sundernath Suvarna] completely for his work, may be viewers' expectation has increased seeing other cinematographer's works post release of Mungaru Male, GaalipaTa etc. Though the scenic beauty had nothing to play special in the movie, but it is sad to say there was not a single scene in the movie which made me say the camera work was ‘waaaww’. Oh did I forget to mention there are lot of scenes in the movie shot in and around Sankey park..


Any love story keeps open the gates for plausibly effective dialogues, but this movie had no such dialogues. About the art direction, it disappointed me in the very first scene. Viewers needed no extra effort to notice the yellow cloth (!!) bearing the name HubLi, which was pasted poorly on the actual name board of which ever town they shot that very first train station scene in.


Now what impressed me most is the music of the movie. ‘ninna noDalentho’, sung by Sonu and Shreya is another gem of a romantic number, ‘kaddaLu mansanna’, sung by Kunal Ganjawala is simply superb and rest of the songs are also very pleasant. Thumbs up to new music dir, V Sridhar for his commendable debut.


All in all, an average movie..

PS: pic courtesy oneindia.in

Ohh dear...

Posted by Anantha | Posted in , | Posted on Saturday, May 24, 2008

10

The question is not how I lost it. Nor it is where did I lose it. Its a fact that I lost it with my utter carelessness. Its unfortunate that I lost my cell [Nokia 7610] which was of worth Rs. 12800/- when I bought it 2 yrs back. Im not the kinda of guy who throws around his cell and searches for it all the time, nor Im of the kinds who throws away his cell to vent his anger. I had hardly dropped it 5-6 times (!!!!!!) in past 2 years, had hardly a scratch on the screen. That must have given you an idea of how much I used to love my cell. Now its in the hands of some unknown, lucky, dishonest bastard.

To give you some more glimpses of my love story with my cell, that was THE BEST high end cell phone that matched my requirements for the best price. It had a large screen, bluetooth, 1 MP camera, 32 MB phone memory and 64 MB MMC. More over I can claim 7610 was the best look- wise also. Some of the new phones are loaded with features but can never come closer to the design of 7610. U can imagine a sense of achievement I had felt buying it in my own hard earned money 2 yrs back.

I had utilized the phone to the extent that I could call I almost exploited the phone. I had un/installed myriad of games/applications/utilities, It was a handy camera tempting me to click each and every thing I came across [statistics say i had clicked nearly 1500 pics using it, not to forget I even had won a photography contest]. It was a personal diary, it was a database of quotations, it was a personal expense manager, rarely used for surfing the net also... it was basically everything for me. Now its all like a sweet dream. Its all gone. I have lost a dear of mine.

Have to add the story of me going to the police station to register the complaint about the loss of cell phone. I entered the police station and went to SI sitting there jobless, 'My cell phone got lost and I wanna register a complaint'. SI asked me, 'u wanna give the complaint as...?'. I repeated politely, 'my cell phone got lost'. SI corrected me, 'cell phone got lost or you lost it?!?!'. Ohh MG! I got irritated for SI letting me know the 'accountability' factor of losing my cell. NO.. actually he was right in saying it. It is right to say, 'I lost it'. If any one has to be blamed it is only me.

After registering the complaint, I casually asked the SI, 'cell phone sigo chances eshTu Sir?'. He reluctantly said, '1000s of people keep losing mobile sir..' and grinned. I said, 'isnt it possible to track using IMEI number?'. I found him perplexed digesting the concept of there is some thing called IMEI for a cell phone, using which one can track where the lost cell phone is and take appropriate action. Psssttt... Such is our police dept..

Currently using my cousin's old cell phone. Guess the model.... it is Nokia 3315 :-/ The once famous, now primitive Nokia model. Im not gonna buy a new cell for next few weeks, umm months may be. I wanna punish my self using Nokia 3315. Every time it rings err better to say beeps, it should remind me that Im the whole and sole responsible person for losing my dearest 7610.

"Things are there to be used, people are there to be loved. But unfortunately we love things and use people" :-/

I do not have a blot on my left index finger..!! - part 2

Posted by Anantha | Posted in | Posted on Tuesday, May 13, 2008

7

Let me just clarify my views on voting and politics. First of all I love my country, I have concerns about keeping my city and my coutry clean, I have not only concerns for the distressed but also have stretched a helping hand many a times, not that I have never voted, I have voted thrice before, but its just that I have lost faith in existing system of politics.

I was reading today's TOI and want to quote few lines stating the reasons for low voting percentage in BBMP areas.

Did the repeated calls of residents' associations, NGOs and media go out and vote unheard?
What went wrong? Is it the wrong day-weekend chosen for polling? After two holidays - Basava Jayanthi, Shankar Jayanthi, it was SAT and then again SUN. A four day weekend that anybody would look forward to, not withistanding that this is the summer vacation.

or Was it also that in efforts to tighten the poll process, did the Election Commission go overboard and dampen the spirits of voters? Was it the low-profile campaigning, ban on posters and banners which denied voters information about their candidates?

or is it because of faulty voters' list? or was it becuase of lack of faith of urban middle class in political process?


There was another column by Suresh Heblikar which more or less summarised it under the heading 'Why the poor vote and rich don't',

The poor need houses, books, schools, rice, and subsidized seed. The parties know this and they promise all these things in their manifestos.

 The rich are genuinely not interested in the democratic process. The rich do not need to approach politicians to get things done. That is because politicians who come to seek donations from them satisfy all their wants.

The middle-class urbanite does not need the government either. He can afford to buy all his day-to-day needs from private suppliers.

Similarly, the young do not feel the need to participate in the democratic process. Today’s youth no longer stand in queues before ration shops. All they are looking for is a hassle-free day and a fun filled night life. The only way to reverse this trend is to make the parties understand the needs of the young, urban and the rich.

What ever could be the reason or let the reason be a sum of all the things mentioned above. But one thing is for sure that after discussing this with my cabbies and some of colleagues [with varied opinions], I have been feeling the guilt of not voting :-/ I will still stick to my political views expressed in my previous post, but except the one that I will regret for not voting this time.

These are some of the artciles that made me repent over my decision of not voting. How is 18% for majority!? and Baby Steps: A Perspective on Voting

Guys, if your constituencies fall under 2nd and 3rd phase of elections, I request you to go out and vote. Choose the right candidate [choose best out of the worst at least]. Vote wisely.

PS: Guys, if you are oriented towards a political party or a fan follower of any of the names I have taken in my previous post, Please dont wage a war of comments on my post! Im not interested in discussing which shit stinks the least. But if you have got any suggestions on voting / voters powers, democracy etc please share them across.

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