Tashan Ve.. Tashan Ve.. Tashan Ve.. Tashan Ve..!!

What do you get when you put 15 NITIEans together in a movie theater? 15 opinions, 10 ratings as gtalk status and 5 movie reviews on the blogs. And so it happened with Tashan, as people bored with IPL descended onto the 24 Karat multiplex in Jogeshwari.

The following is the rating from our in-house (read as in-hostel) experts. So while Khalid Mohammed starts sending out his resume, the verdict came out as follows: Viji > 1.5/5, Killi > 2/5, Atlee > 2.5, Brijesh > 3.

With due respect to their opinions (in your dreams :P), here’s how and why I rate this movie.
This movie is about style. “When the packaging is so good, no one cares what’s inside”. Kotler didn’t say this under his 7Ps of marketing, but so says Joey about himself in a Friends episode. This movie is about that..Tashan..Style.

The reason why this movie has been trashed around is the silly story line. The movie basically has very low substance. But the winner for me here is its style, its packaging. The director has spent effort in styling the outcome and it shows. It shows in the dialogues, it shows in the attire, it shows in the camerawork, and it shows up awesomely in the music. The style quotient is present right through the movie and not just on the posters or in the movie trailers on cable TV.
The director has given due attention to the details that make the Style impact. It includes the red hair coloring of Bhayyaji (Anil Kapoor) similar to what my barber from UP sports, as well as the cycle that Anil kapoor rides a la Betaaj Badshah. The eye-wear Anil flaunts is so typical of the goggles you find at Dadar station. Was director Acharya playing to the front row, audience? I think not. He has depicted the Tashan wise aspirations of our brethren hailing from places like Kanpur, and then taken it a step further by packaging it to make a style statement.

The highlights include the opening scene with switching music in a speeding car, making almost everyone wonder..”WTF is going on?”, just enough to glue you to your seat from the word go. Even the narration just before the interval kept me eagerly waiting for the action to restart. The 9 masked Akki’s entry as Ravan with Hanuman riding pillion, on an LML scooter to reach the Ram leela show, is nothing short of being hilarious. It strangely resembled how I and Kaiser reached the movie, bumping through the railway tracks of Jogeshwari. Akki just rocks on in his rustic mode especially in the scene where he stares as kareena rips her jeans into shocking shorts.

The word “Style” keeps cropping up in this review, because that’s what this movie is about. It has little content, but I have seen too many content rich movies lately and they leave me unsatisfied.

Are people over criticizing Tashan? Definetly not. The emotional turn and the climax are superficial. The fight scenes are ridiculous. And characters like inspector hooda and Bhayyaji’s cronies are sore fillers. This movie could have been treated much better, if the script work was given an engaging content.

The rating is derived from 1.5 for Akki + 1 for the music + 0.5 for the superb eye-candy called Kareena Kapoor.
Verdict: The focus is clearly on presenting a visual and audio enticement. I am enticed. I am going to watch it again.

A little more sugar please......

I like to tell stories. I like to be told stories even more. And that’s why I like movies that tell a nice story. Hope and a Little Sugar is nice story, but it has not been well told.

Tanuja Chandra has 3 strong characters in this movie, Amit Sial playing a budding photographer, Anupam Kher as father of an NRI played by Vikram Chatwal, and Mahima Chaudhary, a confectioner married to Vikram. Tanuja weaves the lives of these three around the despair struck from the 9/11 attacks.

Both Anupam and Mahima are first grade, as is the background score. The director impinges the ’92 riots and the 9/11 attacks to entail the spirit of hope. And the sugar in this movie is that she does this without preaching.

Where this movie disappoints is in telling the story. It simplistically proceeds from a demanding situation to a hope-filled one. Just Too simple for a movie. It leaves you with an incomplete feeling, incomplete in the middle.

The movie is definite play on emotions, but the director needed to spend a lot more reels on them. She might have wanted to avoid the banal emotional tugs, but she has overdone it. The background matter is such that there had to be at least two or three moments that could have made an impact. But everything just passes serenely.

Although the movie is crisp duration wise, the director could have easily avoided random ramblings on Anupam Kher’s past as a Colonel as well as the whole photographer angle on Amil Sial. The character of the confectioner needed to be more developed, a la “Chocolat” style, but that’s a very personal opinion because I had a crush on Mahima and found her intoxicating like aged wine.

Verdict: Worth a watch on your DVD player, not worth multiplex viewing.

Rating:2.5/5

My Filling Time

Food for Thought
My address is about to change in about a month now. It’s been a filling stay at NITIE for me and everyone else from the management batch of 2008. People who disagree need to just check their old snaps or the new trousers with extra waist they bought for their summer/winter internship.
So where did I hog? What did I like? Read on to know more just in case you’ll be around to try these places.

1. Mess1-2: Awesome time when it was monthly bill-unlimited food. 4 times a day, 7 days a week, Casserole after Casserole of Medu vadas, uttapas, Parathas, omelettes, flowed through the sea of hungry and vella students. Breakfast and Snacks were the highlights. The lunch and dinner were good enough for that price but lost the zing once we found other avenues. No great ambiance, but one doesn’t look at that when one has pals to chat (read bitch) around with.

2. Mess3-4: As good (or as bad) as Mess1-2, but made smacking Chole Baturas.

3. IIT Midnight Mess: As long as u could jugaad some company (easily available) and a bike with 2 spoons of petrol(very difficult), our neighbors across the lake served value for money food. The options range from Chinese to Udipi fast food and a smattering of fresh shakes and juices. Will cost you 1/8th of the only other option: Midnight buffets @ Rodas.

4. Shiv Sagar: Decent Food, decent price. Nothing great. Junta came up here for just for options. Gadbad Ice cream is a reco here , with 3 ice cream scoops and jelly it really is an indulgence.

5. Srishti: This was like an extended mess. You were bound to bump into at least 30 other batch mates on any day. Nothing distinctive for the veggies apart from the well steamed Dal Khichdi. Non Veggies could feast on the chicken delicacies. Tandoori Chicken in very popular, though my reco is the well grilled, succinctly spiced Chicken Tikka.

6. Thambhi: A very late discovery for me. Tucked away towards Chandivali, this Tam eatery is a nice cozy place. Refreshingly different menu from the “North Indian – Paneer” clones, it’s very easy on the wallet. My reco is the Grilled Potatoes. Excellently sautéed.

7. NH1: Stipend rich junta ka popular watering hole. Came into prominence during summers. Decent ambiance, slightly cramped space, but enough privacy. This is slightly premium priced. Avoid the soups, go order the chicken/mutton kebabs. Decent place to enjoy drinks if accompanied by female crowd. For teetotalers, don’t miss out on the “Death by Chocolate”. Unlike CCD or Mochas, this is a concoction and sinful to the last drop. Though after a couple of trips, you’ll realize the menu is limited.

8. Spirit: Near JB Nagar on the Andheri road. Drinks are reasonably priced and much better place than the shadier Krishna Bar outside NITIE. He will also stock the apple flavored vodka you have heard about, unlike some other “up” places. The chakna of boiled peas dowsed in lime-onion serving is this place's USP. My reco is Chesse Aloo corn Tikki. Very well done, not too oily and very filling, perfect accompaniment with a Kingfisher/Budweiser. Be here on a premier league night. They have 2 large TV screens.

9. Curry Twist: Arguably the best veggie food this side of Andheri. It’s pricey, but it’s worth it. The roti basket is actually a fine collage unlike so many other places just out to fleece you for serving a plastic basket. Offers different cuisines but a limited offering under each. Their “Chutney wale Aloo” will satisfy you as much as the salads and the pastas. The deserts though are NOT awesome.

10. Chakra: A related concern of Curry Twist, shares same rating food/drink wise. It appears to be slightly less expensive than the Curry Twist, maybe for its lesser glamorous ambiance.

11. Maharaja (saki naka): Food/Drinks are okay-ish. I didn’t find anything novel in the menu offerings and nothing grand about the food either. But the seating offers a setting for a quiet conversation.

12. Sujata Palace: This Sujata had a special place in the hearts of many its fans from two of this country’s premier education institutes, IIT n NITIE. These fans observed a 2 min silence as obeisance when this place was razed for road widening. Cheap place for good drinks. It stocked almost every1’s choice. But more importantly it had good and reasonable priced grub. Very cramped up AC section. You were likely to shock yourself for having placed your arm on a complete stranger’s shoulder for past two hours, as much as he would be to find he had been eating from your plate.

13. Pizza Hut: You know the food, its standard. Expect to find a 100 people waiting outside the Powai joint. The one in JB Nagar is generally not as crowded.

14. Smoking Joe’s: Delivered almost an hour after you called them up, had a tendency of leaving me hungry on exam nites, but offered free if one got really upset at them. Subbu has me and Smokin Joes to blame for all the trousers that won’t fit him now. My reco is the simpler ones like Tandoori Paneer and the Grilled Chicken.

15. Pop Tates: I Love the décor of this place. Very different, very young feel about it. Cocktails are good. Mickey and Donald is one kiddo sounding drink but they make it well there. Decent music, a smoky yet comfortable ambiance, a din in the air but doesn’t prevent you from making a decent convo. Grab a suitable seat to catch the sporting events. They make a decent pizza, enjoi the Al-fredo Pasta (creammmmmyyyyy) as well as the Lasagna. The fresh mango mousse, I tried last week was very light and not at all too sweet.

Other places I didn’t frequent but were equally popular are Krishna Bar, Sai Palace, Gurukripa, JK, Dominoes, Sub way, Archies, Mochas, Kobes, Yokos, Bread Talk, Great Punjab, Sheesha, Happy Singh.

These were the places I went to and that form a critical artifact of my fond memories I carry from these two years.

Happy Munching! Cheers!

The Following is a work of total fiction... any resemblance to truth is merely co-incidental

A day in the Life of a NITIE Student

“Beep Beep Beep!” goes my alarm at 7 AM. Just two hours of sleep but this has become a habit now. I pull apart the shades and the beautiful Powai Lake lies serene. The crimson red rays of the rising sun reflect back from the shimmering waters. A jog seems perfect at this hour. My buddies Sharad and Meenakshi join in. We greet each other with drowsy looks but decide to jog to Vihar Lake. As we huff and puff up the hill, a cool breeze brushes past us and birds chirp across the rustling trees and the manicured lawns.

In thirty minutes we are back at the mess, to be enticed at the sight of steaming idlis and butter laden Aloo Parathas. Two cups of strong coffee kick in, just to remind me of a Marketing Case Study Presentation. A quick bath and up the “96 steps of excellence” to the Academics building. The professor digs in hard at the concepts and knowing the reputation of this Prof., there are no airy fairy “strategies”. She wants water tight recommendations with a strong reasoning. Thankfully she is satisfied with my work and I manage a wry smile.

The next lecture is by a Supply Chain Management professor of international repute. I sit with bated breath as he grills the girl in front about the chinks in the supply chain of an FMCG giant. The guy next to her is quizzed on changes in VAT effective in the new budget. If he turns to me I’ll have to blabber what I glanced through in the Economic Times last evening, and which I am sure will push me from the frying pan into the fire. I make a mental note of studying that topic before the next class. Thankfully the guy in question is well read for the lecture and the rest of it passes peacefully.

Post Lunch, I rush for the quiz in Accounting. Seeing multiple choice questions I manage a chuckle. But that was the last time I smiled that hour. The options turn out to be excruciatingly close. I am sweating profusely as minutes tick by. A glance across the room reveals a similar state amongst my all engineer batch mates. I am able to scrape through a few answers just before the professor collects the sheets with a sadist looking smile.

It’s now time for my foreign language course. I am not able to decide whether I love this course for the love of the language or for the attractive French instructor. Almost time for dinner and the mess is buzzing with Junta. I have a light meal but the sumptuous gulab jamuns make me drowsy. I head to the reading room which is filled with students validating the causes of today’s market crash aired on CNBC. Sharad walks in with Tennis racquets and I can’t resist the temptation. It’s just past midnight when we finish our game.

As I lumber to my room, thinking about a full night’s sleep, I am buzzed on my cell. Meenakshi announces a meeting to freeze the new editions of MBALive, our magazine that reaches out to corporate honchos and MBA students across the country. Over cups of cold coffee the junta comes up with one innovative idea after other. We are able to wind up only at 3:45 AM. All the banter has left us famished. Some Hakka noodles and juice at the night canteen save us.

As I finally step back into my room, I can only think about the three hours to go before another fascinating day starts @ NITIE.

Vigorcat goes to "Khuda Ke Liye"

Any Movie that makes you ruminate after “The end” deserves a recommendation.In the genre of movies like Swades, Rang de Basanti, this one too touches a social chord.

The plot revolves around the twists and turns in the lives of related but geographically dispersed Pakistanis around the time of 9/11.The impact faced as wide and far across as Lahore, Chicago and London forms the binding root of the social message being passed on through this movie.

The director creates many moments where it would have been very easy to keep scratching at the causes of problems faced by Pakistanis. He could easily have provided a quick bang wham solution to win over the whistles from the front row crowds. But showing exemplary restraint the movie pulls along without sermonizing.

The court scenes although predictably too argumentative, seem a necessary evil in such movies attempting to drive a socially relevant message. This movie does exactly that and does it succinctly with a tonge-in-cheek jibes at the omnipresent hypocrisies around us .

The characterization is crisp, staying away from banal justifications for the character’s orientation. The use of flash forward at the start keeps the user glued in just long enough to grasp the theme and focus on the subtleties.

The movie has excellent music woven into it without a hint of over emotion. It appreciates the viewers’ intelligence and knowledge on contemporary issues.

Good Performances from the lead characters and a clap inducing cameo from Naserrudin Shah make the movie a pleasure to watch.

Being released at a time when we aren’t in any new direct confrontation with the Pakis, each viewer can realize a newer nuance to how this story could well have been about us.

Director/Writer Shoiab Mansoor deserves the accolades the movie has won.

I sign off with a happy feeling , however hoping I had heard more of the “Allah Allah” track………..