Nexxt is whattt - Cricket is Hott??

Just yesterday surfing through the channels I came across this bizarre ad ever. No...not the LG..Don't be misled by the title..they suck anyway. 'welcome to the touch generation' - oh yeah?? in comparision to the killer i-Phone (don't even get started with me on features, price, blah blah blah..i-Phone rocks..Hands down...)  even with so much Aamir doing various acrobatic dances, nothing comes closer to the pure beauty of touch that i-Phone offers...

Anyways it's the latest Pepsi's "First Ball ka Captain" commercial featuring Dhoni and the same guy from Aircel commercial, you know the one who fears his chances and Dhoni magically assures him after few clicks of button logs on to cricinfo and all that. Talking of which what the heck was that whole ad about? - Hello?? 3-G ain't there boss.. it's still raining GPRS here..Whom are they trying to fool - music downloads, ticket booking, net browsing..all this with only Aircel?? I just don't get the funda behind this campaign..

Again..coming back to the Pepsiiiiiiiiiiiii.. well..as the name implies you drink drink drink Pepsi, see the lid, nothing written? ..no prob..drink drink drink, something written? ..Hurrah!!!!! You just won yourself tickets to ICC T-20 world cup at England.. This, in the words of Punita Lal, Executive Director - Marketing, Pepsi Co India, " which we are introducing to spice up this year’s tournament to add even more excitement to the matches and give our cricket crazy consumers the cricket experience of a lifetime." That set me into thinking for what might be next just to set already mindless craziest and well ..let's just stick to those two.. fans..

1. Getting to Bat the first ball..obvious..ain't it? When you start with bowling..then the batting..
2. First Ball wicket-keeping
3. First Ball fielding
4. Or matter of fact just to keep the pulse even more racing why not have it at the last ? Say Last ball captain, Getting to bat the last ball, Getting to field the last ball
5. Still not enough? Hmm..let's say ..commentating for the first 5 minutes..This just doesn't sound that exciting. I know. But hey we are crazy after all..
6. Bringing drinks during the breaks- this was already there if I remember well.
7. Chance to participate in the first five minutes of team discussion. Wow..irresistable..ain't it? The drinks would go sky-rocketing if this comes up..
8. Chance to give the prizes to the winning captain..that might just mess things up..you know in case India lose but conditions always apply..right?
9. Chance to appear the first 1 minute in the ad commercial? hmm..that might be too lonely if this started with Coke--they just got Gambhir now who is desperate to sell friends..
10. Man..how did I miss the most pivotal of ..Umpring?? Woah!!!!!!!!! Umpring for the first ball, first minute..In the ranks of 10 this might be just be 6..But still it's appetising enough..And actually this might turn out to be a advantage.. Just keep saying no-ball, no-ball and you get to be there more and more..I know with so many camera's analysing things it just can't happen that way..but let's say it can..how aweshomeee...

As crazy as those things might sound I still feel at least some of it might become reality. Ok, just to keep the things straight this particular campaign is only to bowl against greats like Dilip Vengserkar, Jonty Rodes etc and not a live match. It wouldn't be surprising at all just to pulp the already crazy cricket fan, they might just do anything . 

The first time I felt something seriously wrong was during the last IPL . Commentators talking to the players while on the dressing room is understandable, but talking directly with the guy who is batting or with a person who is fielding and with the guy who is bowling..You gotta be kidding me..It was annoying and irritating.. What's your strategy? How are you going to bowl now? How are your chances?? - my foot...And then the technology improvement is just fascinating to say the least - hawk eye, aerial view of all the balls with the trajectories, ball-by ball motion within an over, extending the same thing further ..all the balls bowled by the bowler, lbw through third umpire, noice meter to check for an edge, and the most recent to hit the screens - heat analysis..just to see where the ball strikes. 

This isn't all. In one of the articles from Dataquest I read during the last IPL the live images clicked by King Khan through his cell were sent automatically to all the guys who subscribed to it. I don't know how they did it as there was no such publicitiy at all but take it from me it did happen. In either ways these things keep getting more and more --technology and marketing...all for one cause--to cash in on the crazy customers...If you have any more crazy ideas do put it in or if you think I missed any..just put it in your comments...Until then...you youngstupistaaansss... see ya...

Slumdog Millionaire - Rags to Richest?

It' funny how you get stuck and just can't come out of it (Just checked the log history there were two drafts with the same title... damn..isn't there anything like Primary key here?? hello?? Google?? you listening buddy? ) ... Long long ago in one our usual maa-beta converssations involving food, movies and books we chanced upon this film. Of course the whole world was buzzing with the 'OSCAR' 'OSCAR' and naturally it piques anyone's curiosity. And my mom wanted to know how I felt about the movie, did it really justify all the hype, how much of it stays true to the book, wasn't Big B right in airing his views about the demeaning way in which India is potrayed, on and on it went. It was then I made biggest mistake of my life ... I told her... I mean...I just told her... I would blog about it....And the rest they say is History.

Well almost would have been history...So maa...ab meri bari aa gaya hai aapko diya vaada nibane ka aur ye blog aapko dedicate kar raha hoon... 

Friends and folks...as promised here I present you the most un-anticipated review of the most beloved /hated (depends on which you belong) movie of our times - "Slumdog Millionaire".

Review-

Plot -

Set in the backdrop of Dharavi, Mumbai the biggest Asian slum, this is the story of Jamal and his rags to riches story literally and becoming the first person to win the contest "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" contest. But Jamal is not Harshavardan Nawathe or any genious jackpot..he is just ordinary person selling tea in a call center. The movie begins with this basic premise as one of the charecters in the movie says "What can a Slumdog Possibly know?"..

Beaten, tortured and electrocuted (in that order) the police officers who arrest Jamal can extract no information at all and they just refuse to believe his side of innoncence that he didn't cheat, or have any nexus etc.. They hike up the fuse and electrocute him once more till he almost dies, and that's when he coughs up with blood saying he knew all the answers before. What follows is a series of flip flops from present to past swtiching between the questions and answers as every answer he knew was some part/incident of his life right from his childhood if you can call that..

Interestingly as I read in one of the IMDB's reviewer, his life is reconstructed through the questions as everything fits right from the start to finish..Very Very rare indeed..One in Million Chance that anything like this can ever happen. But that's the beauty of fiction, anything and everything is possible. 

Music -

This definitely is not the Rehman's best but it's definitely the best of anything non-Rehman that has come out of this year and yes that means the very own Masakali-6..Background plays a pivotal role in this movie and the maestro has seen to it nothing, absolutely nothing goes astray. Too bad I couldnt' see in theater but if a 13' inch laptop with a low cost Creative speakers is enough to thump my heart with every beat of Ooooohhh Saaaayaaaaa yeeee ohhhhh Saaaamaa as the camera zooms through lanes and by lanes of Dharavi, I just can imagine the exiliratign adrenaline that gushes through someon watching it in the huge PVR cinemas..My god..one of the best opening sequences I have seen for a long long time - the lazy fat cop chasing the dusty children and teh way camera moves and the single shot from the top as it ends showing you exactly how big the whole canvas really is - speechless.  Paper Planes, Gangsta Blues are exact contrasting beats with teh same theme that is played when we see Jamal's transformation from a very angry young man to 'the' man as he comes to take the big fat kill. 

Frankly for me 'Jai Ho' was jai ho...maybe because I didn't hear between the sounds so to speak. And partly due to at the end of the movie I was more disappointed and the supposedly reviving of faith in humanity kinda feeling was totally amiss..It was just another song...An oscar worthy song? - Definitely think not..

Best Parts -

1. As already mentioned first and foremost is the opeining song and the sequence after the titles rollover.
2. Amazing picturisation- the entire sequence of the Jamal and his brother running away from the riots, the kids escaping the gang before they are maimed through the train, stealing the food from the top a moving train with rope tied around eachother, when Jamal (the second adult) gets supposedly thrown off the building, the colt- revolver sequence and that's alllll.
3. Rehman's music- ya  I have already told that. But I would just like to add the songs grow on you as you listen and I mean all of them excepting the wildly club song - ring ringa ringa..it just so nauseates but aptly suited for the film though. 

Groans -

1.  I felt this movie completely disjointed for one thing between the episodes/answers/flashbacks. The characters were very shallow, eerily sketched and little more story would have given the depth they were looking for. I mean the hunt for latika, surviving like nomads by living swindling, hoodwinking people, acting like a quack to the point of reaching the t.v. show. There is absolutely no emotional attachment.
2. Anil Kapoor-that's it. Not his fault really if that's the director's choice. Making fun of the contestants in a reality show and making poor jokes and making audiences jeer at him. Common I don't think anyone would tolerate that - certainly not regular Indians who are some of the ones who work so hard to be in contests like this. Channels like NDTV, TIMES NOW would go ga-ga and run whole week with that kind of stuff.
3. Wading through shit literally to get an autograph?? -that's the sickest thing I have ever seen in a movie ever. That's taking liberties too far. And shockingly when I was seeing the movie on lappie one of my roomies proudly said when the shot came - isn't it awesome?? wow the kid did excellent job... God, maybe Boyle was catering to people like this..IT's just plain disgusting if you ask me.
4. 3 different persons each play the role of Jamal and his brother along with Latika. After seeing movies like City of God, Legends of the Fall, etc where the central characters grow as the movie progresses there is a certain chemistry between the characters in them but here it just ain't there. It feels completely new like a re-hash of things.

Overall - 

Frankly I enjoyed the book "Q & A" -- Vikas Swarup,  immensely and had a huge expectations on the film with all the gung-ho sorrounding the movie. The book had such a gripping narrative. However far fetched from the reality the events might sound maybe it still had a way to connect with us through each story.  The film on other hand staying 50% true to the book just couldn't deliver the goods. Getting down to the hard realities, common guys face it. We just never want to see anything bad about us and feeling repulsive is justifiable but why is it that we have to make such a hue and cry over it? It's just a movie. Isn't it? I just don't see any difference between the reactions of the people for a movie like 'The Da Vince Code'  and a movie like this. Don't same rules apply- it's just a movie by a noted American Director based on a book that deals with the same issues and a lot more.  No, it absolutely does not deserve so many nominations and teh accolades it has received. It just goes to show how easy it is to emotinally manipulate people overseas. Final verdict - 2/5...Watch it if you like..well..watch it..