Review - Jhoom Barabar Jhoom

JBJ is a classic example for theory that a great ensemble of a big production house, star-kids, a beauty queen, a queen bee and a great musical score does not guarantee a great film.

The supporting cast has over shadowed the main leads, Lara was a delight to watch with her street antiques, while Bobby was the cute mama's boy. Both Preity and Abhishek are as stale as their last year's flick together, KANK. One fails to understand why a classy girl like Alvira falls for the piracy-specialist Rikki.

This movie has everything in the book for a good film, except a story, which was clearly missing from the big picture. It was like watching a movie of nicely choreographed music videos, all the songs make you jhoom literally, and cinematography was top notch. Song sequence of bol na halke looks something out of Veer-Zaara, which makes me wonder, is the message of the movie is kiss and make up between India and Pakistan?

On Capt Jack Sparrow

Like almost everyone, i caught the movie as soon as it got on the big screen... my was i disappointed... of course the whole pirate thingy is cool and all.. the first 2 films were awesome (although i fail to catch all the sub plots going on) but they were very entertaining, but when watching the third (and hopefully final) installation of the movie, i just goes to say that the director worked hard to clear loose ends created by the first movie.. hell it just goes to say that like is not always about fun and enjoyment, there is one time when u have to slog hard to clear all the mess you've created while having fun :P

This was some franchise movie banking on the image of a pirate. Who would have thought that ultra awesome Johnny Depp would one day be idolised as a dirty, sissy and irritating pirate who has braids and a scarf that any gal would die for. Me being a hindi film buff, i couldnt help noticing the similarity Capt Jack Sparrow had with King Khan, yes the latest Madame Tussads addition, Shah Rukh Khan himself

Why would i say that, ok lets see... as much as i love SRK, i gotta admit that he being a pukka metrosexual guys, has this sissy, gayish ways some times, and hey all that gayish sequences in Kal Ho Na Ho just went to shed more light into the possibily of this guy's capability. God bless him, SRK is happily married with 2 kids, and so is Saif the hot and eligible bachelor of Bollywood.

But it was a refreshing change in Bollywood filmi world that there is such suggestive scenes... anyone remembers the scene SRK passing the earphone to SAK 'yeh apne kaan mein dalo' and SAK goes shocked for a while...!!

On wearing Prada

The word is out, the devil is now wearing Prada, while we cant even afford a decent Guess or anything in the cheaper price bracket... does that mean being bad is in now? Being bad is more rewarding?

LOL... i am a loyal Shopaholic fan and recently getting my hands on Lauren Weisberger's 'The devil wears Prada' i am totally hooked, with due apologies to Sophie Kinsella, i am enjoying the Prada ride so far. Well yeah i am more of the book person than of the movie... this has been my recent piece of read before i sell it off to ebay again. My message to everyone... be bad, get yourself a Prada, or maybe Aldo (more affordable) and live rich, life is short!

On modern day fairy tales

In the land of Far Far Away, where fairy tale characters live a celebrity life, ala Hollywood, the princess in distress chooses the ugly ogre over the prince charming, on the risk of knowing that she herself would probably turn into ogre forever... bravo Dreamworks, the makers of Shrek!!

The third installation of the franchise does not disappoint its fans, yet pull in just as much laughter and humour admist of drama, romantic and action packed situations. How do they do it, no one knows, but the graphics has been done on computers powered by AMD :P

I remember more than 10 years ago when Hunchback of Notredame by Disney failed to hit the box office, and it was speculated that Americans prefer to see pretty faces rather than a err... unpretty one but now we can proudly say that Shrek has broken the myth. Not only did princess Fiona choose to marry Shrek, they both happily gave away the chance of turning into pretty (and handsome) human beings.

It is just amazing and amusing how the characters of the fairy tales are brought together to rope in lessons in friendship and romance. The best thing about Shrek 3 is that the ogre dude in distress is saved by a this damsel ogre along with a gang of fairy tale celebrities, and I am sure we all LOVE pinocchio

On indian soap dramas

Move over Day of Our Lives and Bold and the Beautiful! Thanks to Astro's new moves on pleasing their customers by introducing more new channels we can now have ZeeTV from India in our homes with 24 hours of hindi language shows. Of course it is nice to watch tv shows on the very same language that we speak at home being in a foreign land and all, but the happiness ends there.

Not only the soap dramas are draggy, they are totally mindless and senseless and take up 70% of the air time. Furthermore even the reality shows seem to be fixed and acted out very well with various controversies. At the end of the day, I dont just lose my logical thinking but also the chance to watch any other show on Astro, thanks to my mom who is almost glued to the tv... thank god i've got other things keeping me busy although tv has always been my first love.. its now been taken away from me :(

On Astro MAX

No this is not a paid advertisement for Astro Max (although i feel i should be getting some royalty for bringing this topic on their Max decoder campaign). I have heard of the TiVo (not sure if the casing is alright?!) making waves in the US, the ability to record tv shows and watch them later... Astro Max came as no surprise to me, as it was high time we got hold of a similar (if not same) technology.

Don't you just love the geniuses of advertising world making ads that really take our attention? And dont u just love the Astro Max advertisement series? Just take Mr.Mohan, who always has time... he knows practically about each show in various languages... He's a household name now and icon for uncles (and my dad) out there who have no time from business and work to catch up with tv shows. And the sports fan father-son duo... i like the last punchline when the dad says 'Daddy tak bias' and puts his newspaper down giving us a view of his tshirt (and fav football team). My fav is the young boy who terrorises his young (and so much in love parents) with his irritating and (nevertheless) cute ways... i can almost picture the look on his face when his parents hang him on the nail on the wall (him wearing superman costume, how ironic?)!!

So did the advertisement make me get Astro Max for myself? Humbly said, I've got no time, the little time i have i'd rather invest in sleeping :-P but i do rush to watch their ads whenever it is aired on Astro!!

On mobiletoaster chef

Domestic Goddess? Nigella Lawson no doubt is popular among discovery travel and living viewers... If you've been loyal to the same channel, there is another chef that would take your attention... no its not the naked chef, Jamie, but i am talking about the chef on the move with his giant mobile toaster that trails his car to different locations and also serves as premise to Bob Blumer's many wacky yet practical recipes.

One episode that would have touched the hearts (and increased stomach growling) of many non-americans was aired yesterday.. targetting NY taxi drivers who work till the wee hours of the night. Guess who's coming for dinner? Its breakfast!

Well Bob was cooking dishes that taste like dinner but look like breakfast, and as usual his guests (real life taxi drivers) were invited to help him in the toaster... the first guy was a very funny oriental looking guy, origin not specified, i am thinking probably Burmese or Vietnamese or even Cambodian, the second guy was a rather subtle but full of surprises, guy from Ghana, who apparently has been in the news for delivering baby for one of his passengers and last not least is a Sardarji (punjabi), we dont have to guess the origin here do we?

Although being an american show, it was nice to see that the non-americans that make the majority of the taxi drivers are beng recognised and invited for the honour (of cooking and eating).

On Bikini Bottom

Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? SpongeBob Squarepants of course..! If you have seen this wacky sponge that works in the most famous patty makers in Bikini Bottom, Krusty Krabs, you'd totally agree with my how funny this guy (i mean sponge) is.. hey this is not those pre-school sort of cartoons where the character and a sidekick monkey in boots is on the mission to educate young kids (Dora the explorer, anyone?), but he is an over enthusiastic sponge next door who loves his job (no matter how boring it is). He also has a lovable but boring pet snail, Gary, an utterly unexcited and uninterested squid of a neighbour, Squidward, a stupid best friend starfish, Patrick and last but not least, miser of a boss, Mr. Krabs... Spongebob is hilariously always excited about starting his day and going to work, which for many of us it totally the opposite although our working environments are totally opposite from the one of Spongebob's, plus his boss isnt exactly bothered about the worker's welfare. And of course like every stories there is also a villain, the plankton, who is as tiny as a bacteria but is always coming up with ways to capture the secret recipe of Krabby Patty... got to see it to appreciate it, having said that, Spongebob is definitely the funniest cartoon in 21st century!!

On inner and outer beauty

Ever wondered how the People, Hello, FHM and what-not magazines rank most sexy or most beautiful people, because from what the list looks like, it shows more of the 'most well known faces of the time being'. How valid are this list when they only focus on the people of Hollywood and only some selected faces of Asian region. After Aishwarya got the invitation to the Cannes (ever since her Devdas stint) she has been called the most beautiful woman alive, and it is only after that she featured in the top 10 most beautiful faces in various magazines, but not as most beautiful. Likewise when I was in the US, i was surprised watching E! featuring Shah Rukh Khan as top 20 sexiest men alive.. SRK is certainly smarted, but not sexiest... but hey seems like the Devdas fever was rubbing on quite a few people.

Just as everyone talks about the inner beauty, such rankings and magazine only consider people with beautiful faces (who cares if its natural or not), beautiful bodies (again, naturally beauty can go to dumps) and not to mention, most exposing people. Just the same as these same magazines promote skinny models, while telling everyone being thin is not sexy...

The bottom line is if you are in the limelight with the current hottest tv shows or movies, then you will feature in most beautiful or sexy list... as we all know this is show business... i doubt the actresses or actors featured in these lists feel flattered by the appreciation of their beauty, but surely it is a measure of how well known they are at the time being!

FHM vs CLEO

If you wanna just get a glimpse of the difference between man and woman, the ones from mars and venus respectively, just read go through FHM and CLEO or any magazine targetted to these genders, and voila!

Ladies magazines focus on self confidence, self esteem, and many other self improvement aspects whish also includes ladies' well known hobby and habit, retail therapy (for those vocab impaired - shopping). While most of these magazines promote make up, accessories and clothes, they also put equal amount of importance in having the right confidence to be able to carry their duty in their personal and career life.

While the men's magazines, well, contain guides to pulling pranks (self-help), weird news on weird things around the world (self confidence) and scantily dressed models (err... self service... u know what i mean). Not just that, they also have step by step guide on pranks that might be useful for any special occasion, possibly to freak out your boss so that you can get the promotion that you've always wanted.

It is said that dog is a man's best friend, diamonds are women's best friend.. which is the smarter sex? Need i say more?

On catching up with handphone trends

You've been saving up and checking out the latest phones that suit your needs (and luxury)... you spend hours at the office reading reviews on the latest most happening phones (well, i did), and finally, (if you are in singapore) you sign a 2 years of mobile slavery contract to a relatively expensive mobile provider at a relatively expensive rates to be able to get the mobile phone of your choice at a affordable price. And slowly, in fact time seems to move so fast on mobile models, in just months you feel your mobile is so old and outdated... does it sound familiar?
It was an easy choice when I chose sony ericsson W850i, i've always had my eyes on one of those walkman phones, and hey it is working totally fine, but seeing the other newer models in the market now, how i wish i could upgrade soon, but remember, the contract..?

Gone are the days when mobile phone models were easy to remember and catch up with, the most famous being the 'banana' nokia phone, 8210, 8310, 3310, etc. Nowdays each mobile giant has come up with some series of phones with the models numbered accordingly.. and each series would have their our speciality. It took a while after sony ericsson's walkman series that nokia came up with their music series. The latest from nokia N95 (for the time being), i like their tagline, it is wat computers have become...

And now the latest craze of iPhone is on, but sadly it is not hitting the Asian market yet... it is seriously very impressive with the touchpad screen, you fingers can do all the work... but i just hope that the screen is made to withstand all the touchings and rubbings and not to mention chipped fingernails!

On Candyman

Christina Aguilera has come a long way from being a mickey kid, pop sensation, dirty and trashy, and now the candyman's lollipop... no pun intended!

I have always felt Gwen Stefani was the coolest, with the music videos, her image, and not to mention fashion... I like her edgyness of a mature woman who is still very hot without trying too hard, she can pull the most raunchy parts without being cheap.

And here comes Christina (previously attempted, unsuccessfully, to be known as Xtina) in a different light, more matured, still raunchy but not cheap, and seeing her in 3 different hair colors in the same costumes is fun, she looks very sweet in fact. Watching the video made me realise that all those high heeled mary janes and high waisted jeans are coming back in fashion now...

Christina's video candyman bids farewell to the super-duper-low-would-turn-flak-if-your-fat jeans Britney brought in fashion during her heydays... ironic? or pure coincidence...? Christina's career went down after some years of popularity, but Britney managed stay in the news with cheap songs, home videos and getting hitched a couple of times, which at last, IMO, is the cause to the downside of her (non-existant) career (face it guys, she cant sing for nuts).

Review : HP & Order of the Phoenix

Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix, Harry is back as a moody and grumpy teenage who is having a crush on his school senior. We all remember Harry as the cute and adorable child whose life changed overnight when he was brought to the Hogwarts, school of wizardy and witchcraft, but in this 5th installation, Harry is not just going through adolescence but is also disturbed by the rise of he-who-must-not-be-named, what the heck, Voldemort.

Before I saw the movie myself, I heard a lot of bad reviews from fellow friends who watched it. Being more dark, and scary, the book version of this movie in fact that concerns from the Malaysian Censorship boards, accusing the books for being too scary for the kids (i think the censorship board itself got spooked out). Gone are the scenes of introduction to the wizarding world and enchanting creatures.. the only creatures you see in this episode are the ones that are trying to kill Harry, but why you may ask, thanks to Tom Riddle (many dont know this is Voldemort's real name) he has managed to collect support from many creatures to be a part of his Death Eaters.

What disappointed me in the movie is that the lack of certain plots that were not potrayed as well as the book. And the character development (except Harry) is horrible, his friends have been turned into cheap side-kicks that we see in cheap action flicks. Dumbledore himself has been cut into very small part, but yet an important one, and Professor Gonagall, is almost non-existent. Nevertheless,even with the minimal footage on Voldemort, he has made a huge impact, played by the good-looking Ralph Fiennes, in fact a lot of work must have gone into giving him the skinny, pale, nose-less face look, which reminds me of another person who could have played the role to the tee, Michael Jackson perhaps? I hope the spoof makers of Epic are listening.. LOL... lastly cho chang doesnt look as good as the Goblet of Fire movie, or maybe my DVD was just a bad copy...

The impressive parts of the movie, no it was not the 'wet' kiss between Harry and Cho Chang, but the graphics and cinematography.. it is amazing how they visualised the story conceived by JK Rowling, and most amazingly, I still do not stop wondering, how did JK actually came up with this huge amount of imagination.. it is just Amazing with a capital A. Dementors are getting more terrifying, in fact they get more footage compared to Harry's friends.
Final verdict, don't watch the movie, grab the book, start all the way up from book#1.

To dhoom or not to dhoom?

When you talk about Dhoom 2, there are 2 different schools of thought. For those who do not follow up on hindi movies, Dhoom 2 is a sequel of Dhoom, which was heavily popular for the good looking hunks (particularly John Abraham) and super style bikes (well, I dont know much about bikes), both movies telling the story of police-theif chase, in which the police (Abhishek Bachchan) comes out looking like a complete dungu (mentally) and gundu (physically).

Although John Abraham was replaced by Hritik Roshan in the sequel, his (then) girlfriend (Bipasha Basu) bagged the role of a cop and beach-loving-brazillian (identical twin sisters.. only happens in hindi movies), and the rest of the main cast remained pretty much the same, with the exception of Aishwarya in her new sexy avatar.

Coming back to the schools of thoughts, some accuse Dhoom 2 of being a total bleak masala film with no substance and illogical effects. I am coming from the other school of thought, where I'd advice you to enjoy it in the true masala action flick way. There are no logics in any action packed movies, the lead hero rarely gets hurt even a small scratch and always get the hottest babe, and hey, this movie is pure entertaiment.

Do not get alarmed with Uday Chopra's ape-ish looks and ways, he is totally harmless as he does not contribute anything to the development of the story, likewise Bipasha, who in the first 15 mins seemed to impress as the intelligent cop, but later turns out only brawns in the forced beach scenes.

Hritik is excellent as the clever thief, equally outstanding in this various disguises in the movie, you would remember his 'look' in the cinema scene as Rohit of Koi Mil Gaya.
The songs are amazingly bad for such fast paced movie... only the title song impresses... watch it for some feel good time (watching Abhi making total fool himself) and of course the greek god Hritik!!

on CSI torch

Doesn't it make you wonder... why the CSI guys are always figuring out a crime scene with small little torches... its like... 'heck why dont you just turn on the light!!' Whether its outdoors or indoors, they always arrive when it is that it's dimmest... and out comes the lil torch... and they go hunting for clues with it... i would probably turn blind by the time they are done!

On public transport

I spent my higher secondary taking public transport in the form of badly maintained buses. From school to tuition, and from tuition to home. Due to the inconvenient nature of the bus routes, I had to take bus from tuition to a certain bus stop near dad's office, so that he could pick me up and take me home.

Those days there was nothing much to complain about on the public transport, except the routes, lack of punctuality, cleaniness-lack of it, rude drivers.. ok.. almost everything.. ok.. so we didnt complain cos we ultimately had no choice. No certain (un)fortunate rainy days, I was allowed to take cab, who in the end also charged quite a lot but then again, not under my control, neither my fault.

Fast forward to present day... I have been used to travelling in my own vehicle, or at least dad's, ever since form 6 days... ever since then taking public transport has been pain in the @$$, literally, cos the roads are bumpy, and the buses are in tip-top(not!) condition, which I only experienced when I was in UPM, travelling campus to pudu and back.. was never ever a nice thing to do.

Ok.. back to present day, being in Singapore, I am now forced to being used to the public transport scene here, and my I gotta say, apart from the crowd, rush, and no-so-cheap fares, the experience has been pretty pleasant. And it was most prominent when recently, due to certain turn of events, I had to catch a bus from my neightbourhood to town, gosh i was in for a surprise, and only then I started appreciating my travelling in Singapore. Firstly, the bus condition, was dirty.. I mean not just dusty or trash lying around, but it has dirty greasy marks all over, even on the ceiling (I suppose the mechanic working on the bus did not bother keeping his hands clean). Secondly, super friendly bus-driver.. well she was like talking to the passengers, well more like shouting, commenting on the traffic conditions and what-not... and next, she even started smoking as if this is her own house or something, let me remind you, this is a air-con bus. The bus was stopping in the middle of every single road, there were not even a single bus stop... ok i guess this experience was just a culture shock after being used to the systematic singapore environment...

It was not such a rude shock, just a plain shock, seeing how different things can be in these 2 places... you know as they say, phir bhi dil hai malaysian (after all my heart is malaysian)

Review - ChakDe India

Chakde India is not just about reviving India's national sport hockey, but also about women rights, unity among Indian states, and last but not least, Shah Rukh Khan's versatility in roles other than the typical candy floss films. It is amazing how the screenplay is able to capture the social issues, as well as bring patriotism message, which in fact, works as good as Lagaan, if not better.

Majority of hindi cinema are banking on semi-clad women to pull in the crowds, but the kind of women power you will see here is totally different and very much appreciated, and hopefully something that we will get to see more of in the future of Indian cinema.

The hockey matches are portrayed exceptionally good, and various tactics put into the choreography of the match, is totally amazing. Despite being a sports based movie, there is no single dull moment, and the absence of typical song dance routines is not missed at all.

Watching the movie in a Singaporean cinema hall, the audience anticipation into the hockey matches and each goal scored truly shows the spirit and essence of patriotism among the locals and NRIs alike. Hats off to director Shimit Amin, for making the Indians proud with his effort.