Random Musings

Have seen three movies recently. Waqt, Bunty aur Babli and Parineeta.

Waqt was a decent attempt. Some semblance of a story which carried through the movie. As expected, a good performance by Amitabh, and a smart one by Akshay Kumar. They seem to have good chemistry, they have had some good performances together. The story was not substantial. There were too many holes. But in present famine times (in terms of getting good movies), the effort was okay.

I had much more hope from Bunty aur Babli. The promos generated good interest. Seemed like it would be a smart one, with Abhishek and Rani pitted against AB Sr. Well, as it turned out, it was a damp squib. Well, at least it disappointed, against the expectations that were generated. There were some high points – a few energetic and well picturised songs (Kajarare kajarare, dhadhak dhadhak to name a couple), sincere performances by the three stars. But where it badly hurt was in the main execution. It is supposed to be a film of con game and chase. These two are the main pillars of the story. And neither were shown with any degree of conviction. The con game was shown of a very amateurish standard. No serious planning or execution shown. And the chase was almost non-existent. The chase part was restricted to Amitabh mouthing some high sounding dialogues. But no real thinking-outthinking kind of chases, of the kind that we have seen in movies like “Catch Me If You Can”, for example. So all in all, it was a big let down.

The best of the three movies, was the last one that I saw, Parineeta. Clearly the most effort put into the movie, amongst the three referred here. A lot of work has gone in to make it look authentic of the times – 1960s Calcutta. The “Oh Calcutta” factor, with Moulin Rouge, Flurrys, the period train to Darjeeling with the Raj hangover still to be seen, were very well picturised. Saif Ali comes up with a creditable performance. A serious role, playing the lead for once, he does a good job. The new girl, Vidya Balan, is also good. Although Vinod Chopra has only produced the film, and not directed it, there appears to be his stamp on the film. At least as far as making the new girl look good. I remember Manisha Koirala’s transformation from a gawky awkward girlish look in Saudagar, to a phenomenally beautiful and matured look, in 1942- A Love Story. Likewise, cannot forget Priety Zinta, singing Bhumro Bhumro, in Mission Kashmir. That look had the director’s touch written all over it. Vidya Balan has been made to come out equally impressive here. If it is Pradeep Sarkar who has created that character, then hat’s off to him to. Sanjay Dutt does not have much of a role and his small bit is done without much ado. The best part is the story. Being adapted from a famous work of literature, there is certainly a depth to it. So that part is taken care of. However that still needs a screenplay to convert the novel to a feature film, especially to adapt an original 1930s story, to one of the 1960s. That is done very creditably.

Not quite a classic, and certainly not as ostentatious as Devdas (same author, similar theme, similar sets, period, etc.), it is still decent value for money, and 2.5 hours well spent! But surely, there is a famine at this time – good movies are hard to come by, very few and far between.. !

I have had Thalis at a few joints, and all of them stuff you, by their super fast service and never letting any bowl in your thali stay half empty. Before you can utter “no”, they fill it up and move on. But with all that, I have gone to a few thali places and come out standing.

And today, I could not.

It was the Rajdhani thali joint, at Nirmal Lifestyle, Mulund.
(For those who have not been to Nirmal Lifestyle, I’d suggest that you must go by, and just have a look. Like a typical American mall setting, lots and lots of branded stores, restaurants, ice cream shops, huge open spaces, large supermarket- Shoprite; awesome!)

I went there today, after catching the owner, Mr. Barot, on radio yesterday. Not that he said much, but that was enough of an inspiration to make it to Rajdhani today.

There was a long queue when we reached there around 1 pm. I feared the worst – like an hour’s wait or something. But we made it to our seats in half an hour. Thanks mainly to the speed at which they get patrons to eat, and get out!

There were like 9 vatis in the thali, so I could imagine that a lot of things would be coming in. Three vegetables, kadhi, daal (yes, both!), shrikhand, sheera (both of which I did not have, being ‘off-desserts’ for now), devgadhi aam-ras, mango-panah, chhaas, rice, khichdi (yes, again both), papad, roti, phulkas, puris, rotla, dhoklas and patties. Most of the items were good, very authentic Gujarati stuff.

They set the pace with very fast serving. I know it, and tried very hard to slow things down. Also I did not have shrikhand, sheera, puris, patties. So I thought I would be fine. I thought I was keeping things under control.

Yet, by the time we were getting done, I had food upto my throat, all the way down my food pipe. There was no space to put a sip of water in!!

I was not able to get up from the chairs. After they stared at us long enough, and came and asked us 5 times whether we wanted anything (after the bill was paid up), I had to get up. Walked down and had to sit somewhere for a good 15 full minutes, before we could make our way to the car. And I had to ask my wife to drive, as I was still feeling so damn full!

Whew! That was _some_ meal.

Catch it, if you have not done it before. Don’t go on a working day, hoping to get back to work. Make sure you have time to laze out after the meal – you would need the rest!

– Sanjay

I am writing after a long time. Some thing or the other came up for a while, and I could not write. And then the inertia factor struck. I just kept putting off writing one day after another, and let too long a time to go by. So this is a big thing.. just getting back to the writing habit. And here I am!

Life has been busy and interesting these last few weeks.

Summer was up on us. Very very hot. Still is. And in Mumbai, its just so sultry and humid. By the time one is out of the shower, one is wet all over again, but with perspiration. And thus goes the whole day.

We did not travel this summer. Expect for a short break to Panchagani. We went and stayed at a ‘sanitorium’. It was quite nice, in fact. A decent 3-bedroom apartment, with a fully equipped kitchen, television, and a great location, with good breeze, all day long. Was a nice break from Mumbai and work. While we chilled out mostly, playing cards and carrom and watching TV, we also went around a bit, to Mahabaleshwar and Panchagani places. The usual Table Land, Mahabaleshwar Lake, Mapro Gardens, etc. were on the list. But in addition, we went to an interesting theme park in Panchagani, called “Sherbaug”. Made well, it is full of natural habitat, trees, flowers, waterfalls, etc. Quite an interesting place, and nice to discover something new in a place where one has been a few dozen times. In addition, tried out a few food places in Mahabaleshwar and Panchagani. Amongst them, Hotel Nataraj for snacks on the way from Mumbai, Hotel Shakunt for a Maharashtrian prepared Gujarati thali at Wai, and the usual suspects, Hotel Rajesh (so-so) and Hotel Dreamland (Mahabaleshwar) for good Gujju meals.

Other interesting things done recently, include a visit to small town like location in Mumbai, called Khotachiwadi. Unbelievable to find this in Mumbai, if one just saw the photographs of the place, one would think, it’s a small town in Maharashtra or something like that. And yet its actually in the heart of Mumbai, in Girgaum, a great mix of cultures, small houses, balconies where you can jump from one to the next house, and then there was their food festival. A mix of variety of foods, including Bengali, Chinese, Catholic, Maharashtrian, etc. I just had the Soul Kadi, as we could not stay for dinner there. The Soul Kadi was great!

We saw a funny Gujarati drama last week, “Bas Kar Bakula”. I had a lot of fun. Was almost falling out of my seat there. So much fun it was. Not that everyone was enjoying as much – I was enjoying a little more than others, I suspect!

Then there have been a few movies seen in recent times – Waqt, Bunty aur Babli, Parineeta. More about these later, in other postings.

So long – glad to break the jink, and restart on the writing. Hope to be regular once again.