I reiterate once again that I don’t believe in reviews since art always has many points of view which makes it more beautiful. Therefore, I review movies only by simple perception of an audience and not as an expert film critic, actor, director or anything else.

I watched the original Agneepath of 1990 just a few days back, gearing up for the remake… so let’s finish the comparisons first. I really appreciate the attempt made in the remake because they have not copied the characters as is, unlike in the case of Don. The new Vijay Dinanath Chauhan is not only an angry-young-man, but an angry-and-emotionally-troubled-young-man which is more real because all that he remembers is his father’s brutal murder. The famous character Krishna Iyer “Yem Yay” is not existing at all, which is fine because the entire focus of the movie is only between Hrithik and the vicious Kancha, brilliantly played by Sanjay Dutt.

The movie adapts the original screenplay very well and keeps up the ruggedness of Mandwa village whilst depicting it in modern context. All the main characters are sketched out very new and the only strong similarity you can draw is from the story line… it does have a few twists though! The original classic character played by Amitabh Bachchan is left untouched, with Hrithik playing it superbly in his own way. This I really appreciate.

Now, judging this version by itself… its awesome! The only thing I found interfering while enjoying the movie was the unnecessary background score and added camera angles which brought out an Ekta Kapoor Serial feeling sometimes. Chikini Chameli was good, but again it had the same old problem of Bollywood where the playback singer is just singing and the dancer is doing something told by the choreographer. Shreya Goshal’s laughter and expression from the song is just ignored while Katrina is busy doing her latka-jatkas… enjoyable, but not perfect. It’s a Karan Johar movie after all!

I will not spoil the climax for you, but please pay close attention to Hrithik’s six pack abs during the final fight… you will know why Bollywood movies, especially Johar’s are never perfected! It’s not about Hrithik’s body at all… that is always perfect, but how the movie makes mistakes even here! It’s needless to speak about the awesome performances by Hrithik yet again, Sanjay Dutt and definitely Rishi Kapoor. Priyanka has not much to do except a nice dance sequence which again pauses the reality of the movie.

The Verdict: Definitely a must watch this weekend; Karan Johar can make a good violent movie, Ram Gopal Varma, you better wake up! Because of the added unnecessary drama and obvious imperfections, I give it 3 instead of 4 stars!

Photo Credit: Dharma Productions and MedleyNews

My last post was back in November 2010, the month I began my first job, earning my first ‘hard-earned’ money. I began training in Mysore, the place where TED India was hosted that same year. The journey from graduating out of College from NMAMIT, Nitte, near my hometown of Mangalore, to learning to live the corporate life in Mysore was just brilliant… one of the best moments of my life, after my hostel days!

Training went on till March 2011 and finally, I began my 23rd year as a Software Engineer in April. I had moved out from Mysore to Chennai due to work and this made me miss my Mangalore city like never before!!! I was completely blocked away from blogging and hardly came onto facebook all throughout these busy days.

Chennai was fine… well, at least not as bad as I thought it would be. But even so, there was so much incomplete. Life is not all about having a job and getting salary, but being satisfied with where you are, doing what you love, living free and enjoying moments with all your friends and family. Anyways, I definitely know that life’s gonna change soon and change for the better… and it’s getting better already! I’ve reopened both my blogs, MPJTime and this one; I’ve also re-begun singing extensively after a long nine year gap, which I wish was never there, and this in year, all I pray and hope is that my focus on what I want and what I deserve gets sharper.

So what’s new in my blog this time? Well, it looks new, with a new logo, kept it clean and simple; I like it and hope you do too… check the poll on the right sidebar. I’ll be coming out with newer and more interesting categories of posts and of course, the previous ones will continue. You can contact me here or subscribe. 

Special thanks to two special people, Mario Monteiro (Yet Another Mario Mario ) for restoring confidence in myself and in my music and Karthik Kastury for always being the Inspirer that he is. Big thank you to Navneet, Thangamma and last but not the least… Praahas. 

Hope you all love my writing and let’s all stay addicted!

I’ve heard a hell lot about this guy. Well, I don’t have to tell you much. Check out this video to know more about this international swimmer.

He’s been among the Top 100 students, invited as Prime Minister’s Guests on Republic Day 2009, the Fastest Swimmer (India 2005) and also recipient of the prestigious Ekalavya Award from the Governor. For some reasons, one of which is the Government’s “don’t care” attitude to upcoming talents, especially in sports other than cricket,    today, Aniketh is busy with his blogs and work at office; and he hasn’t continued swimming as he used to. I think that’s the case for most upcoming sports people. However, from the online interactions and what his close friends have told me, he comes across like a ‘just-another-guy’, with all humility, even after achieving so much at such a young age.

He’s the founder of The Value Network which is really an awesome venture. He also has his personal blog.  What I love is his regular status update quotes on facebook and ‘System is broken’!
One more gem from Mangalore… and I always wanted to add him in this part of my blog. Best wishes Aniketh!

Check out other Inspirers or click here for updates.

The cute little competition is back again with over 108,000 doodles from across the country! This year, we can vote for our favourite doodles, one from each age group. Simply look through all the doodles here and their supporting statements and pick the one you like in each category. Then submit your vote. Remember you get to vote only once. The doodles with the most votes in each category will become the winner of that category and will win a Technology Starter Package.

Besides this, Google’s master doodler Dennis Hwang will himself choose one overall National winner. The national winner’s doodle will appear on the Google India homepage www.google.co.in on Children’s Day, Sunday, 14 November, 2010. The doodler will also win a Technology Grant of INR 200,000 for their school. Public online voting is open till Friday, 5 November, 2010 5:00 p.m. (IST). All those from Mangalore and elsewhere too, please vote for Akshay Raj from St. Aloysius High School in Group 3 of the Doodles. His doodle is as shown above. Do vote in all three categories and lets encourage these little bundles of creativity.

Happy Children’s Day to all you little ones out there and even to those who are kids at heart

127 Hours
Cast: James Franco, Amber Tamblyn
Director: Danny Boyle
Genre: Drama

Due Date
Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Zach Galifianakis
Director: Todd Phillips
Genre: Comedy

For Colored Girls
Cast: Janet Jackson, Loretta Devine, Michael Ealy, Kimberly Elise
Director: Tyler Perry
Genre: Comedy, Drama

Megamind (2D/3D)
Cast: Will Ferrell, Brad Pitt, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill
Director: Tom McGrath
Genre: Animation, Comedy, Family

November 10^th

Morning Glory
Cast: Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford
Director: Roger Michell
Genre: Comedy

November 12^th

Skyline
Cast: Eric Balfour, Donald Faison
Director: Greg Strause, Colin Strause
Genre: Sci-Fi, Thriller

Unstoppable
Cast: Denzel Washington, Chris Pine
Director: Tony Scott
Genre: Action, Drama, Thriller

The Social Network (India Release)
Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Rooney Mara, Bryan Barter
Director: David Fincher
Genre: Drama, History

November 19^th

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson
Director: David Yates
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy

The Next Three Days
Cast: Russell Crowe, Elizabeth Banks, Liam Neeson
Director: Paul Haggis
Genre: Thriller

November 24^th

Burlesque
Cast: Cher, Christina Aguilera
Director: Steven Antin
Genre: Drama

Faster
Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Billy Bob Thornton
Director: George Tillman Jr.
Genre: Action, Thriller

Love and Other Drugs
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway
Director: Ed Zwick
Genre: Drama

My Picks: 127 Hours, The Social Network (India Release), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1

Click here for updates.

Action Replayy
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan
Director: Vipul Shah
Genre: Drama
Awesome concept to start with. A young man tries to revive his parents’ wilting marriage in a unique manner – travel to the 1970s when their romance was budding and make it bloom. This is more complex than he expects. I guess this is the first time such a time-travel story is being attempted in Bollywood. In addition, we have gorgeous 70’s costumes, dance moves, hair-styles and hoping to see brilliant and colourful cinematography. I really love the ‘Zor Ka Jhatka’ song already! And Ash looks stunning and cute at the same time. Other than these two in the lead, we will also see VJ Aditya from Channel V and Rannvijay Singh from MTV… lol. Neha Dhupia, Randhir Kapoor and Kirron Kher also feature.

Dunno Y Na Jaane Kyun…
Cast: Aryan Vaid, Kapil Sharma, Maradona Rebello, Zeenat Aman, Helen, Kabir Bedi
Director: Sanjay Sharma
Genre: Romance
I don’t know what the story is exactly about. But by the looks of it from the trailers and posters, it seems to be a romantic story between two or more gay men. This is the first time in main stream cinema that we will see a movie on homosexuality between men. Do you remember the drama and criticism Girlfriend had received because of the lesbianism it portrayed? Fanatics and orthodox religious groups may create a thamasha for this one as well. That being said, I wonder what Zeenaat Aman, Helen and Kabir Bedi are doing in this film??!!! We have even Lata Mangeshkar singing one of the songs in the movie!

Golmaal 3
Cast: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor, Arshad Warsi, Tusshar Kapoor, Shreyas Talpade, Kunal Khemu
Director: Rohit Shetty
Genre: Comedy
I loved Golmaal 1. I did not watch Golmaal 2 and I’m not going to watch it either. I will wait for all my friends to watch Golmaal 3 and only based on their feedback I will decide whether I’ll watch Golmaal 3. As far as I heard, Golmaal 2 was just plain comedy thrown in, with no shape or form. This time there aren’t any ladies… just one Kareena in the middle of all those crazy guys. So that way, it comes close to Golmaal 1 where only the guys created wonderful comedy between their actions and conversations. Hope it happens again.

November 12^th:

A Flat
Cast: Sanjay Suri, Jimmy Shergill
Director: Hemant Madhukar
Genre: Thriller

Allah Ke Banday
Cast: Naseruddin Shah, Sharman Joshi, Faruk Kabir, Atul Kulkarni
Director: Faruk Kabir
Genre: Action, Drama
This was supposed to release on October 22nd. Wonder why it got postponed.The cast constitutes some of India’s finest! The trailers did give me a Rang De Basanti and A Wednesday feel, but let’s see whether this film can live upto that. It does look good. The film is about the life of two 12 year old boys living in a slum. These boys are trying to establish their stronghold in the ‘crime industry’ through drugs, Mafia, etc.

Ramaa – The Saviour
Cast: Saahil Khan, Tanushree Datta, Khali
Director: Haadi Abrar
Genre: Adventure
Well. I dunno much about this movie. It has a central cast of children. So this may be children’s movie… however I’m interested to watch the Great Khali in a movie. His costumes looks good! The title role is played by Sahil Khan, who is known only for the number of muscles he has ripping out of his body… and nothing at all for his acting! He has acted (if you may say so) previously in Alladin, Xcuse Me, and Style.

November 19^th:

Guzaarish
Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Aiswarya Rai Bachchan
Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Genre: Romance
So Ash’s second big release in a month. She’s on a roll and I feel she will become the most successful actress of 2010 with Robot, Action Replayy and now Guzaarish. After the incredibly boring Kites, I hope Guzaarish brings Hrithik back on the superhit track and also take the top spot in my fav list too. Reports say that this is going to be Hrithik’s best performance ever and that Hrithik is “immortalised” in this film. The trailers look amazing with the standard blue-gloomy feel to the sets just as we saw in previous Bhansali films like Devdas, Black and Saawariya. However all of them were brilliant and beautiful films and I’m hoping a lot more from this one. Not to forget, the Hrithik-Ash pair has never failed!

Rakht Charitra – 2
Cast: Vivek Oberoi, Shatrughan Sinha, Suriya
Director: Ram Gopal Varma
Genre: Biographical
The film is based on the life of the assassinated Ananatpur Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MLA Paritala Ravi. The first part of the film was released on October 22^nd. Check out the review here. I loved the first part and I have a good feeling that the immediate sequel will be better. Finally Ram Gopal Varma has delivered a crisp film after a long time. This release may be overshadowed by Guzaarish, but with south superstar Suriya in the sequel, I think it can give a good fight back.

November 26^th:

Break Ke Baad
Cast: Imran Khan, Deepika Padukone
Director: Danish Aslam
Genre: Romance
Ya ya… they both may be India’s favourite heartthrobs, but they come under my worst actors. This is going to be one more pyar-bhari, break-up kahani. I’m seriously tired of watching Imraan Khan in such movies… but then again I don’t think he can do anything else. Overrated cast from an overrated producer Kunal Kohli. Lets see how this goes. Rekiance Big Pictures will also release this in the US on the same day.

Phas Gaye Re Obama
Cast: Rajat Kapoor, Neha Dhupia, Amol Gupte
Director: Subhash Kapoor
Genre: Crime
This may seem good. Generally Rajat Kapoor films are always a good watch. After the small hit Tere Bin Laden, now its another one on Obama. Lol. I dont think there’s a duplicate Obama in the film, but hoping that this will be quite good.

My Picks: Action Replayy, Guzaarish, Raktacharitra II

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