Singh is Kinng

Singh is Kinng (2008)



This is a stupid movie. No doubt about that. So I am not going to talk about how stupid this movie is.

Overall the first 40% of the movie (till just before the interval) is decent and has some new stuff in it. The remaining 60% is a standard Hindi movie. Nothing special there.

This movie highlights the increasing mix of Bollywood with Hollywood. How Western artists like Snoop Dog are being involved in Hindi movies. Hopefully someday soon we will understand what a good movie is like instead of just bringing in white backup dancers, shooting at exotic locations or using Hollywood level special effects for moronic/stupid stunts.

Oh and Katrina Kaif does a brilliant job of proving yet again that she can show just one expression on her face.

:)

Maya (2001)

Maya is a movie directed by Digvijay Singh. I am not going to review the movie. More information can be found here and here for those who are looking for a review.

I am writing this post to talk about what kind of feelings it generated within me.

It started with a feeling of deep and intense anger. I felt like burning down all temples, maiming and casterating the priests involved in such a ritual. I also felt ashamed to call myself a Hindu. I felt that Hinduism as a religion is based on things that have now lost their context. Like most religions Hinduism is like a building being built on a rotten foundation.

Then came acceptance. We cannot look at situations from the outside and judge them. One cannot loose sight of the context. If you do that then you are as guilty as the ones who you are fighting against. I realised this fight was not with people but belief.

Finally came anger at the stupid way in which the movie has been laid out. How the director uses the worst possible way to shock people without giving any deeper understanding of the issues. There are many questions that the director has left un-answered.

Keeping all this in mind I cannot tell people not to watch this movie. In fact I want to FORCE people to watch this movie. The tragedy is that this is not a 'special' movie. It is the subject that is special. It goes down like a bitter pill which everyone (especially people inclined towards religion) should swallow.
The failing of this movie is that you discuss the movie and the issues it is based on separately. In a well made movie the movie is the issue and the issue is the movie.

Go watch it!

I asked God...

I asked God to take away my pain. God said, No. It is not for me to take away, but for you to give it up.

I asked God to make my handicapped child whole. God said, No. Her spirit was whole, her body was only temporary.

I asked God to grant me patience. God said, No. Patience is a by-product of tribulations. It isn't granted, it is earned.

I asked God to give me happiness. God said, No. I give you blessings. Happiness is up to you.

I asked God to spare me pain. God said, No. Suffering draws you apart from worldly cares and brings you closer to me.

I asked God to make my spirit grow. God said, No. You must grow on your own, but I will prune you to make you fruitful.

I asked for all things that I might enjoy life. God said, No. I will give you life so that you may enjoy all things.

I ask God to help me LOVE others, as much as he loves me. God said... Ahhhh, finally you have the idea.



These lines were sent by a friend. I really liked them especially the second last one.

:)

Calling all Teenagers: BharatMatrimony.com

Check out this highly idiotic ad for BharatMartimony.com (BM.com).

It seems to advertise the fact that BM.com caters to teenagers with 'Ash' fantasies rather than people looking to get married. Or maybe they think NRIs use only the brain between their legs when evaluating a match?

Somehow I don't see any normal person (let alone an NRI) saying to himself "Man I gotta get me a gal that looks like Ash, then I can marry her"

Also look at the genius bit of phrasing: "Find love within a few miles"
It reminded me of the 'Store Locators' that most retail chain websites have where you enter your postcode and you get the contact information for nearby branches.

This ad seems to be targetted more at horny teenagers wanting to get laid by an 'Ash' lookalike. But the funny thing is a horny teenager would already know the location (and other details) of sexy gals within a 2 mile radius of where they live. ;)

:)

FishEyePics

I will be posting photographs taken by me on FishEyePics:

http://www.fisheyefocus.com/fisheyepics

Hope you enjoy!

About the new look...

I have recently changed the look and feel of my blog.

Let us see what everyone thinks of it. Feel free to comment!

The pic in the header (the three green marbles) was taken by me.

Those are not ordinary marbles. They are radioactive marbles (very low levels) which fluoresce under UV light (the blue patch). The lines are the surface of the cushion on which the marbels were kept.

VG assissted in taking the photograph by holding the UV lightsource at a particular angle! So partial credit goes to her for helping me setup the photo!

Hancock

Hancock is an AMAZING movie. It is a difficult movie to categorise. It just doesn't fall into one class. That is the beauty of this movie.

It is a very different kind of movie. Good fun with lots of light and funny moments as well as fast paced action. Will Smith plays the role of Hancock - a misfit superhero.

It is a must watch movie. Go get the DVD or go catch it in the theatre.


I will not write a detailed review except give it a 9 out of 10. Go WATCH IT!

Destroy everything you touch...

http://fisheyefocus.com/fisheyeview/?p=11

Destroy everything you touch.... read it... not too late... yet!

India in the World: Part III - Water

The post is here:

http://fisheyefocus.com/fisheyeview/?p=9

India and water issues there...

Enjoy!

From Azahar to Uncle via Bhaiya

The other day a friend of mine from India, asked me if there were a lot of Indian girls at the university where I am doing my Ph.D. from.

I told him yes and every year there are more and more students from India.

So he jokingly replied - I should find some Indian female students to coach.

I replied - yes and they will call me 'bade bhaiya' (elder brother).

He replied - the newer batches would be different.

I replied - yeah that newer batches will call me uncle!

:)

Race - Full Speed Backwards!

I had expectations when people who have similar tastes in movies recommended this movie.

I had misgivings when I saw the trailer. But I put all those misgivings aside and decided to see the movie.

My GOD what an IDIOTIC movie. If the predictable story (due to bad edit effects in the hospital scene) and downright moronic special effects were not enough, some b-grade humor by Anil Kapoor and blank expressions by the 'trophy actresses' - Sameera Reddy and Katrina Kaif made sure that I had wasted two and a half hours of my life.

The final scene has the worst special effects I have ever seen. I think the special effects in some of the computer games I play are much better.

The twists and turns in the movie feel forced and pasted on. In the end mostly to extend the movie.

The only thing good about the movie was the eye candy in form of Katrina Kaif and Sameera Reddy (I don't like Bipasha that much ;) and the title song of the movie (it comes during the title roll at the end). The Johnny Lever comedy scene was cute and predictable.

One thing I don't understand is why did Akshaye Khanna and Bipasha get married in a church? Why were they wearing black to mourn Saif's death?

Come on guys I know this is a normal Hindi movie so I don't expect it to be a study in logic. But at least let us not confuse our religion!

The songs just spring up like weeds in between the movie without any reason (thank god I could skip them!).

Other than that the movie is crap. Just keeps twisting and turning till you get fed up and want the movie to end.

I think we need to improve our copying skills. I say that if you want to copy at least copy well!

What they wanted was a fast-paced thriller. What they got was an F1 track with speed-breakers after every 100 meters.

Yawn!

:)

My new blog - Fish Eye View

I will be posting on two blogs (for the moment). As a friend suggested, post funny cool things here and more serious stuff on my new personal blog.

:)

It is called Fish Eye View because I am a Piscean and it talks about how I see the world!

So the link to my new blog is:

www.fisheyefocus.com/fisheyeview

Hope you enjoy reading it.

Looking forward to comments and feedback!

Long Live India: A Land of Hindu Shame?

The land of God or the land that God forgot?

India advertises itself as a 'secular democracy' but the religious divide runs deep. It can be seen in the top layers of the Government as well as at the grass-roots level.

The Indian public is simply the most gullible and idiotic when it comes to differentiating between information and opinion. We are very quick to react and the reactions can be extreme.

These reactions are fueled by lack of resources. With a population of 1 billion+ and growing no wonder the incidents of violence are increasing in frequency and magnitude.

More and more people are fighting for the same set of resources. Some people get lucky and those who don't get more and more frustrated. This was the classical scenario which Hitler used to spread propaganda against the Jews.

I think we Indians need to learn how to differentiate between opinion and information. Greater access to facts and figures rather than opinion and hearsay will empower the people.

Another thing that we need to do is to eliminate the middle layer which brings the political message to the masses. This means getting rid of the hands and legs of the political machinery which is used during critical periods.

Remove one politician and you will find hundred others waiting to take their place. Remove one middle man or make political associations a liability then there will be no way that people will be manipulated into doing things (like starting riots).

The Approximate Doctor

Life is full of approximates. We have approximate times, approximate dates and even approximate amounts of money.



But I realised life is full of approximate academic achievements. Often people are stuck in between the exam and the result. Or the result and the award of the degree.



No one knows this better than a Ph.D. student. One gets used to these 'in-between' periods.

If nothing else, a Ph.D. surely teaches you to be patient.



From the seemingly interminable wait for the viva to the end stage delays. From university procedures that converts a gap of few weeks to a gap of few months. Even after the viva things do not change. Informally you can call yourself a Doctor (if you so wish) but to adopt the title formally you need to wait some more time! Till then you are an approximate Doctor! ;)

:)

Five Questions in Life...

The other day I came across five important questions related to something I was working on.
These five questions were:

1) What have you done?
2) Why have you done it?
3) How did you do it?
4) What have you found?
5) What are the implications of these?

I thought these five questions pretty much represent the doubts and conflicts of life.

What have you done?
What have we done in life is something that keeps us awake at night sometimes. Everyone comes across this question at least once in their life. Have we done anything at all in life? Or are we wasting it one day at a time.

Why have you done it?
Why did you do something. Why did you NOT do something? Remember there is action in inaction. Doing nothing also means you are doing something. But why was it done. The motivation is important. One often asks this question especially after difficult moments in life.

How did you do it?
This is another question that keeps us guessing after the fact. After tough periods one always ends up wondering 'how did I get through it'. After doing something amazing people wonder how they did it. Most people are not able to answer this question or answer it with statements like 'it was luck' or 'Thank God!'.

What have you found?
This is one of the most important questions in life. What have you found? In your journey of life what all things have you come across. What were you searching for and what did you find? Did you find what you were searching for? Or did your finding what you were searching for lead to another search.

What are the implications of these?
This is perhaps the most important question. Things we have done, things we have found. What do they mean? What are the implications. What did we gain/loose while finding or doing these things? This is where the accounts are balanced.

So remember these five important questions... and I hope they give you some direction in life.

:)

Stars in a bottle!

These are the pics of a 'USB glitter lamp' that I have. Some I took out-of-focus to give the the glitter effect.

Enjoy!

:)

Dor - A fascinating half-movie

A friend of mine had been telling me to watch the movie 'Dor' for the last 6-7 months.

'Dor' means a thread. This movie is heavy with symbolism.

The story line is simple and there are just four main characters in the movie.

Inspite of this the story brings together several different themes such as: people going to work in the Middle East for money, the plight of widows in Rajasthan, the problems faced by women in general, the status given to women across the different states in India.

Note: Since this movie is available on DVD/VCD I would advise readers not to watch the whole movie at one go unless you are really relaxed and can concentrate on what is happening. This is not the kind of movie you can watch with one eye on food and one eye on the screen or when you are half asleep after a days work.

To appreciate you should watch the movie when you WANT to watch it.

I watched the movie in three parts over a two day period.

One of the most amazing thing about this movie (apart from the story) is the location. It is filmed in Rajasthan (in and around Jodhpur) and the scenery is 'jaw-dropping'. The amazing desert vista will make you eyes pop out.

There are a few scenes filmed filmed somewhere in the Himalayas (according to the movie Himachal Pradesh) which are equally beautiful.

The movie talks about the meeting of two worlds.
On one side we have the restricted and life-less world of the young widow (Ayesha Takia).
On the other hand we have the tough yet happy life of the new bride (Gul Panag).

The unhappy state of women (especially widows) is a true reflection of the state of affairs in the villages of Rajasthan. The movie also touches upon the high rate of female infanticide in Rajasthan (which now has a female Chief Minister!).

Opposite to that we see the relatively free and bold women of the hills. This too is a typical state of affairs. Women in the mountain states of India, such as Himachal Pradesh, are more empowered than their desert counterparts.

I am glad that I saw the full movie before I deicded to write a post about it.
The movie develops normally till about the last 40 minutes or so when so many things start to happen that it feels as if the makers of the movie realised midway that the movie was going to be too slow for normal public. This means the thread of the story gets lost in between.

This means that ending of the movie is fairly cliched and disconnected.

One wonders why actors, when they are leaving on a train, always end up taking the seat on the side of the platform.

I was also disappointed that the interaction between the widow and the new bride is not developed further after the truth comes out.

The involvement of Nagesh Kukunoor (who is not at all convincing as 'Mr. Chopra') feels added on after the fact.

It seems as if the makers of the movie lost faith in what they were doing mid-way and then decided to bend the storyline to bring it closer to something less unique.

All said and done.. this movie is worth watching once.
If not the whole movie then at least the first 80 minutes or so.
That is where the magic of this movie lies, the symbolism simply amazing.

Another funny quote...

Onslow (Keeping Up Appearances) - "To me the Kama-sutra was an owner's manual"

A funny quote...

Rodney Dangerfield - "I haven't spoken to my wife in years. I didn't want to interrupt her."

We pay in diamonds...

People talk about the colonial-era Britain robbing the wealth of India. But where was 'India' before the British?

The Indian sub-continent was divided. The British came and unified it. In its unification they sowed the seeds of their downfall.

A united India directed all its energy against its colonial masters. The creation turned against the creator. But as the creator (the British) beat a hasty retreat they took away the perceived wealth of India including one of the world's most famous diamonds: the Koh-i-noor.

Since then there have been demands for the return of Koh-i-noor by India and Pakistan.

But why do we want it back? I think the diamonds and other precious jewels they took should be considered as payment for uniting the country (among other things like the English language because of which India is doing so well in the service sector). A diamond sitting in a museum gathering dust is no way any better than a unified India with a strong and vibrant economy.

The way you pay the barber after getting a haircut or the doctor after getting a check-up I think it is fit that we pay this 'fee' to the British for uniting India.

:)