Rann Gopal Varma, RUN!

Before you scratch your head thinking why such a title for a movie maker as maverick as Ram Gopal Varma, i'd say quit.

Quit believing that one day everything is going to be fine as much i'd say this to Bollywood:

Quit trying to portray the scum that exists in our political system.

Quit using cinemas as the medium, which could bring reforms to the corporate world and ease the rotten war between the wealthy industrialists.

Quit giving away idealistic thoughts to the 'junta' who hardly cares now.

Quit the cliche. Quit the stereotypes. Just quit quit quit and SHUT UP!

Ready to rip me apart, flay me alive and dump my ashes in the gutter?

Well...did i manage to spurt goose bumps and instil patriotism in you? If yes, then i have hit the bulls eye -- ever heard of reverse psychology?

May be our film makers should now try making a movie like that with a touch of sarcasm-- of a different genre. It would then make more sense for celebrities to justify the " I am going through the script and i think its going to be a different film" comment they give the press.

One plea -- let it last, don't let the negativity ride you for long. Bring the optimism back on, but things happen only if you work towards it, NOT by believing in it alone.

Don't go by these movies and give up. If they say -- everything's not as rosy as you think. I would say -- nothing is as clumsy as you see.

Okay, i have digressed a lot from the review i wanted to give.

So this is a movie about the current state of affairs of our political system, industrial fiefdom and the so-called omniscient and omnipresent MEDIA.

The plot is promising, but both Ram and Rann fail to deliver.

The portrayal of characters are strong but none has given any striking performance that would go down the memory lane, expect Mr. Bachchan who i am told gave the final speech in the movie in one shot. Clap!

The potential of Gul Panag -- a brilliant actress -- was totally wasted in the movie. She was given lame dialogues, which had no defects yes of course or EFFECTS.

Neetu Chandra, famous/notorious (will let you decide that) for her must-show cleave attitude, had no part to play either, except that last cry of loss and solitude.

Riteish Deshmukh -- i believe this lad can act, but in a film as cut-throat as this, he was taken for a different purpose, which is anybody's guess. Am sure his father is a proud man post Rann.

Sudeep is the only one who has room to showcase his acting skills and to stand tall. He manages to stand tall -- literally, but he turns out to be a disaster with the thick South Indian accent and the zippo lighter, which drew more attention than his character.

Amitabh Bachchan -- He must be used to playing the ethical and most righteous father, who deals with the mirth and the filth of the doings of his son. I'll keep it short. It was a job well done by Mr. B again.

And i sum it up this way-- watch it only if you know nothing about what's going on in the country.

The bloggers and documentaries tell better tales.

I honestly think it was another effort busted! The movie is not doing well at the box office either.

Here's my verdict: You rather run than watch Rann.

One for the bored!

I am out from my hibernation with a shocker! Guess what?

When I figured 2 in every 5 youngsters in a sampling of 50 people didn’t know who the president of India was, I lost my will to learn.

On the contrary, most of them were spontaneous with their answers when asked who the president of the United States was.

I don’t want to jump into any dexterous conclusion here, but it was an eye opener more than an embarrassment for many!

It is not always possible to live an arrogant, ignorant life although I know at least one person whose dream is to lead such an existence.

Who cares about who the president is as long as I get to do what I want?

What do we get if we know who the president is? Croons a friend—my salary remains the same, perks (that keeps varying from time to time) remain the same and my job remains the same.

Some IT guys call it the SSDD (same shit different day) syndrome.

It all boils down to perceptions again.

Ha! So what is it that interests these youngsters? Some mindless bantering of VJs, RJs and the likes; head-thumping in the name of music, bitching and bad-mouthing on the pretext of survival? Well. I think most of 'dis' credit goes to the reality TV shows.

I don’t want to sound like a grandma here and gross myself out with the excessive usage of the term “youngster”. Pardon me, but that was not what I intended to do with this blog that comes after eons.

On a different foot, that awol from the bloggers league was indispensable.

I had a very eventful 2009 – from snapping ties with misunderstood friends, being overtly pessimistic about my love and life to making way for some great new friends and getting back to living life the way I want!

“The way I want” is pertinent as long as one knows what she wants. I am assuming most of you know what you want.

Whatever! Do you see the shadows of arrogance erupting out of me now? That’s exactly what I mean by I belong here, to the same so-called ignorant clan.

So what do we do when we see scores of stupidity thrown at us? Ignore.

As long as that doesn’t affect me and anything or anyone close to my bandwagon it’s alright.

But what happens when we are exposed to a social transgression? Do we still ignore and move on? Now that’s something which we can ponder upon being the present voice of the nation.

It really doesn’t matter if you don’t know who the president of your country is, but it would be great if you took interest in the greater things that life and your country throws at you. I better stop before I sound like a public interest ad campaign.

I am sure this blog made the least sense to many, but it doesn’t matter.

If people can put a random color as their status message on the most sought after social networking site in the name of some “fun” awareness campaign – the most bizarre one at that, I am sure I won’t be castigated or asked to testify for writing such a kooky article.

It’s a democracy, guys. There is freedom of speech and expression – CLICHÉ!

I like some drama in whatever I do. On that note:

All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances,

And one man in his time plays many parts,

His acts being seven ages.

-- William Shakespeare

Tweak it as how you would like it. This is what i did:

All the world's a stage,

Life’s a big drama.

We are all artists.

When everyone’s playing their part so well, why should I be left behind?

I strive for excellence and that’s why I would like to remain the DRAMA QUEEN.

Ah-tattooed huh?

To get ink on one's body is not a joke, at least i like to believe so. So many of my friends had been wanting to get one done and am proud to say i beat them all. Alright, i will mellow it down a tad bit.

But, trust me, those squirms were worth it all, especially when i got to see the end product. 

Its funny how words don't flow naturally when you get conscious of what you write. Here I am , weighing every word, thinking twice before i pen down each line. This one goes out to all those who wanted me to write about my tattoo experience.  Thanks Pav, Div, Deep, Asha, Aditi, Babu and Rajesh-you rock!

It's that time of the day when people twitch and turn in bed and being a complete sluggard i would do nothing but that on a Sunday morning. 

10.am still makes the wee hours of dawn as far as i am concerened especially post a late previous night out and here i was, up at 9, in fact sprung up when my flatmate called and my phone buzzed. "Its tattoo time dudette, you have an appointment at 10," she said. " F*** the appointment i wana sleep.." is all i could think at that particular moment. But, she didn't give up, the darling that she is, Deeps makes sure she does the job assigned to her with full commitment and so she did, even if the Bee chickened out from accompanying me only to get back to her slumber mode. Hmm...I still forgive you, honey. 

This was my second day at Zorba tattooes, not because the first round of rendevouz with the artist went stale. It was as enthralling as it could ever get, the designs, the reassurance, the atmosphere and the people--they were all fantastic. Only, the bits and pieces on the "after care" which made me a little unsure about getting one done on a Saturday. I would have had to give up all that fun and frolic, which some of us yearn for, once a week. Yeah, call me a bimbette for doing so, but am fine and glad i didn't the same day. 

Aditi did (yes she DID a tattoo) one the same day. PS/- No change of name here to protect identities ;)  A mother of two pretty lasses, she is as cool as cucumber with no signs of sores or remorse. That inspired me, but to think again for a lady who has gone through labour pain twice, this one would obviously be a cake walk and that got me more apprehensive. The last thing i want is me yelling and jumping outta the hotseat the moment those needles went down my skin. Ouch. That would be something..But what the F? If it was as icky and arduous as i thought it was, then howcome so many of them flaunt one-on the back, the neck, arms, thighs and on all the wrong rather right places? Okay, the known drama queen i am , i wont burlesque this wonderful art anymore.

Back to the Sunday morning flash- I reach 45 minutes late, this time it was only the three of us- a lot fewer from the pervious day's jing bang crowd who did a lot to make it easier on Aditi, who really didn't require all the jazz. Anyways. While, i had my numbing lotion on, Asha got to chose what she wanted. After an hour with the ointment, which could NOT quite numb my senses, Rajesh got on to some serious work. The nervousness was something that of a child getting on stage for an extempore for the first time. For me it was a little worse than that. 

The first prick-NOTHING and i felt relieved. To be honest i did not even realise the needle bristles on my back. I was excited and shouted "go for it" . He was only outlining it; the feeling is quite inexplicable-it was ticklish, irritating , scratchy all at the same time. Thank God it aint painful was all i gasped!

It took him about an hour to finish the outline while my buddies kept me busy. I was so restless and couldn't wait for him to be done with it. Once the outline was done, i thought the job was much easier and that the filling won't take too long. It's like face painting right? I thought.

Hell broke free when he started filling..gosh and the naive me thought it was over. This was more of a swearing, writhing in pain; huffing and puffing session when more foes i mean friends decided to join in. They were going ga-ga over the design and also ga-gagging me, asking me to shut up and not to flutter or else my butterfly would.. leaving only a mark on my back instead of a well-researched design.

Then there was Babu who kept the spirits up with his Congo. He plays such amazing Congo that you almost forget why you are there and for what. No, let me get the air of cynicism cleared. It was only a tattoo that i was getting done. Yeah i know no big sh**. 

But, for a person who used to screech and run at the sight of a syringe, this was an achievement. Again, so i like to believe. The design was superb, the colours were fab and the hurt was nothing compared to what you got in return. So here i come to the tattoo world and i plan to get another one soon. Yes,  it is so darn addictive-both the tattooes and that oohs, which follow. agree you cronies? Some attitude i say! :)

Celebrating womanhood!

Today has been a disastrous one for me so far- I walk in to the office wearing my bathroom slippers (no more ROFLs, please), I get a correction on one of my stories and I trash a 100 rupee sodexho pass along with used tissues.

The worst one- I narrate everything with the innocence of an infant to my male colleagues, who can’t help but pick on women yet again! I wont call them MCPs; no, not all of them. But, why the heck do they think women can’t keep anything to themselves? The reason why I said not all are chauvinists is because of the use of words. Journalists and circumlocution! We sifted through various topics immediately from sense of fashion to the latest Bond- Daniel Craig. I finally manage to get Kudos for not liking him for his "good" looks. Relief! So one of them actually gives me a compliment saying "yeah that’s 'cause you are one of the sensible few" ;) I don't know how easily he jumped to that conclusion. Well. Not that I am complaining. The joy was short lived when I realised what the intention behind such an off-tangent compliment was. He wanted to see my bathroom slippers. He wanted to see if it was the usual pink one with butterflies/flowers on it. What a meanie (don't care if this sounds chic-ish)! No, they were much worse as a matter of fact. They were not the usual flip flops. Hey, wait a minute. I have already been warned that I give too much away in my blog. So I’ll skip the gory details of my fashion fiasco.

We (guess we did) celebrated "daughter's day" a couple of weeks ago. The woman, the mother, and now the daughter. I won’t be surprised if they go on adding to "the days" with aunt, sister, mothers in law all lined up. And finally 365 days won’t suffice for our celebration.

I am yet to understand the need for separate days for celebrating ones existence. And despite all of this balderdash, there is no rest to truculence.

Yeah time to get serious about minimal things, but significant ones. Niketa Mehta was only lucky to get justice from Him at the right time and that’s what you call Nick of Time, Ms Mehta!

I do not know why there was still an intrusion, later a big hullbaloo in to/on someone's private life. 

I am not campaigning for/against MTPs here. But, the whole judicial system arguing and spending ages on one little (ok may be not little) thing about a distressed woman not wanting a child fearing health issues (for the baby) is ridiculous. Such a sensitive issue was handled so irresponsibly by everyone around. Alas!

Without sounding like a feminist and trying hard not to get driven by those instincts, i would like to highlight another incident-now this ones funny! Ever heard of a woman paying alimony to her estranged hubby, and in India that too? I am sure there are umpteen other cases, not many reported though. This one case was interesting as the man in question had apparently lost his job and was going through a financial/emotional trauma with the divorce. The daughter comes to his rescue and convinced the mother to pay her father in distress. And the rest is history. Alls well that ends well!

I don't want to be the weaker sex, coz we are no more. We don't need reservation! How I wish the rest of the world echoed this sentiment! Anyways…there is no compromise on one thing though- we are definitely the more attractive sex.  Alright, I know what you are thinking, you men! *you are still the one made to suffer*DUH! Who cares? And we definitely don't fancy writing our names with pee (read Binoy and men like him ;)

Even amongst the dumbest of leaders there are some things to look forward to. Like our dear Sarah Palin, the U.S. Republican vice-presidential nominee, who recently threw up a few of the funniest quotes ever, of course, coming only second to Bushism:

Sarah Palin and Joe Biden took the stage in St. Louis for the vice-presidential debate, answering a first round of questions about the economy. Biden criticized the Bush administration, saying the country has suffered "the worst economic policies we've ever had." Palin said one way to gauge how bad the situation is would be to attend a child's soccer game and listen to parents: "I betcha you're going to hear some fear," she said. [Source: The Wall Street Journal]

So while Bush managed to badge the title of a clown, Palin was easily able to dodge her critics with glamour -- the latest victim of that being the Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari who was drooling at the former beauty queen and later invited trouble from all the feminists back home.

*Treasured trivia: A search by Reuters found that a 44-second video of Sarah Palin in a swimsuit in the 1984 Miss Alaska pageant had been viewed more than 700,000 times on the YouTube website since being posted on September 26.

When so much is being said about racism and discrimination, I don't know how many women would take a sexist comment lightly. May be it all depends on who tells what! 

Guys, bring it on! But, hey...

Some things do change. To WOO-manhood!!!! ;)

 

The Last Fear

This long due September post can talk about a million things as there have been a galore of events all over the world, the latest being the global financial crisis as Wall Street would call it. Since I don’t want to write about what I already write about and what has already been written about by those hundreds of more eloquent and authoritative authors, including analysts, CEOs and veteran financial journalists, I would stick to my blog domain and try and be oblivious to all those more important happenings at my workplace and around me.

I saw The Last Lear on Sunday; it was not one of those must-watch movies in my list to go on the second day of its nation-wide release. It was neither one of those detestable pieces of art that we call “art cinema or parallel cinema”, I would never go to. With all due respect to the brilliant artists behind the scenes who delve in to such a lot of research and attention to detail in their movies! Sorry, may be I am not that intelligent to understand the nitty gritties of the same and the reason behind the long eerie silence that persist through out such flicks devoid of the otherwise interesting background score. I might be one of those dumb journos who can’t understand such work of art, but it’s ok. Someday I will, I hope.

But, the reason that pulled me to the Last Lear was obvious. Nope, if you think it’s the Bachchan magic, then sorry I am no Big B big fan. Stop guessing the reasons; you will go wrong time and again. I am not pro-MNS either. I can’t stop thinking in my language and start my thought processes in Marathi only because I am in Mumbai -- for no shivs, no senas or senapatis. Me not being in Mumbai is a different issue altogether and so is me being in namma Bengalooru and cannot speak Kannada. Yeah so, what if Jaya Bachchan said she'd speak only in Hindi while addressing a gathering? How would she be possibly hurting any Maharashtrian sentiment with that statement, is beyond my comprehension. It’s ridiculous for the nephew of the majestic Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray to stoop to such levels of regional fanatism. Not that the latter is any better. Makes matters worse with the two being at extreme loggerheads now.

Someone tells me it’s all a stunt just ahead of the premier of Mr. Arindam Chaudhary's debut production venture. I disagree with that someone simply because the Thackerays are heavy names to be meddled with in such publicity mayhems.

The movie was a smoother or rather one like a smoothie drink, which has to be patiently taken in small portions and leaves you with satisfaction towards the end.

It was indeed the legendary director in Rituparno Ghosh doing the trick yet again. I would not hold back my appreciation for Mr Bee, who despite hamming has made the character look real. Preity Zinta was average and Divya Dutta doing justice to those stereo typical roles that come her way. This time it was of a home nurse who is madly and sadly in love with one of those possessive types who remains a mystery through out.

Arjun Rampal, as hot as ever *wink wink, doing a good job as the director of the movie within the movie.

I don't want to talk about each character in the movie as it doesn't warrant so much. It was not an extraordinary movie, but the ratings and reviews do lie some time. It was just another ordinary flick taken with immense care to take it off the "commercial" list. Nevertheless, it was a cinema watchable for its directorial goodies. And not to forget, watch it for the recitals by the angry “old” man of all the greatest passages from Shakespeare.

I am afraid the Thackerays' fixation with Maharasthra and Marathi might one day drive out one of the biggest and most colourful/sought after industries -Bollywood- from the state.

With an apology, the Bachchans overcame their nightmare of getting expelled from the clan, while certain other industry pros are still struggling to establish their foothold in what may be described as "nativist politics". Nice plot for another movie on the Sarkar raj or Raj's sarkar :), this time may be we could call it, errr..ahem- The Last Fear!!!?!

Namesake :)

After the torminous job of choosing a name for the baby, she finally settles on Siddarth with a double Dee. It’s amazing to know to what extent people go to name their kids. It’s fun and formidable at the same time, especially when you have conflicting views with your partner. Yes that’s how big a deal naming a child is, it gets bigger if he/she is your first "bundle of joy". Six of my friends are pregnant with their first child, the dates are one after the other--have you ever imagined how pregnancy-ward hopping is gonna be like? Well, it’s high time i thought of something like that.
Another interesting aspect of "naming" is how careful people are about what those names mean...For i am yet to figure out why some Brits and Americans have funny names like --"Waterman", "Bird", "Witherspoon"...ha , funnier still-- Justin Timberlake, Dick Pole..hold your breath there’s more to come with the likes of Dick Hyman...(rolling on the floor laughing) I am not kidding, the names i took now are all celebrities of some sorts. Timberlake is the cute singer who is a heart throb to many; Pole is a baseball player, quite a famous one at that; and my favourite--Mr. Hyman is an American jazz pianist. *Disclaimer:No offence meant to anyone through this article.
The legacy of names/naming goes on and has become the latest fad stick for all celebrities to stand out with extraordinary (read acceptable) names.
Brangelina leads the race, undoubtedly, with the couple taking credit for some of the best and most innovative names so far.
U.S. Social Security online records revealed that when the couple named their first biological daughter Shiloh in 2006, it cracked the top 1,000 most popular baby names last year for the first time. [source:ET].
I love all of them - Shiloh Nouvel, Zahara, Maddox, Pax, Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline.
TomKat doing a not-so-bad job here too with Suri Cruise :)
At a recent baby shower, we were figuring out all possible permutations and combinations for the parents- If its a girl- then the suggestions that came up were Inikkaa, Mrinalini, Mrinalika and for the boy- Sanath, Arin, Ishaan etc etc. The mother struck Ishaan off the list as soon as she realised that was the name of the dyslexic kid in Aamir Khan's Taare Zameen Par. Boo hoo!!!
The influence of media, there too, huh? Yes, it can be pretty annoying. After all what’s in a name??
That makes me get in to the next topic of discussion- the concept of having psuedo names in the BPO industry, as a follow on to the pen names (Nom de Plume) that writers had earlier. Like Mark Twain (for Samuel Clemens) and Lewis Carroll (for Charles Dodgson); its writer's discretion on whether to use a pseudonym or not. Not everyone adopts a fictitious name for a fictitious reason though. What I am confused about is the use of pseudonyms in the BPO industry. Why would you ever want to change your name just because the new one is easier to pronounce for the English-speaking community? Why can’t they get used to Indian names like we are getting used to funny names from all around the world. My bro has a new name at his workplace despite having a good enough real name for himself. He is Binoy Benhur to us and Brian Walkar at his workplace. He says his clients relate to Brian better than they do to Binoy and calls it sexy. Hmmm..I am not convinced and am not sure if I ever will be; for someone to change his/her name according to certain people's convenience is beyond my understanding. If we are asked to pronounce to-die for perfume and luxury goods brands like Dolce and Gabbana, Givenchy, Yves Saint Laurent, Louis Vuitton the way they want us to. I cant wait to see the day when someone actually brings out a bag named "Ramachandran Subramanium Surianarayana Iyer"..LOL
Signing off,
Tresa Sherin Morera
PS/-I absolutely love the way my name sounds even with variations to the first name like Treeza, Teresa, Theresa, Tressa. Go on guys, am all ears :)

Confessions of a flatmate

This one’s for you, Dev :)
So, if you ask me what’s been up with me and my life, I have only one thing to say... It’s been bloody busy! Nice alliteration, but its true. I have been trying to find a new house/flat to move in to or I have to find a new flat mate before the end of this month, my office is getting shifted to Airport road from MG road. I could have done away with half of these problems only if my roomie was not going back to Pune to be with her mom. Devyani darling, this is not a complaint box I swear, it's only a forum to vent out all the feelings. And you bloody well know that I will miss you. Even though you did not give me those Tobblerone white chocolates, even if you dirtied (you still do) my bathroom by stepping on the wet floor each time, those ghee filled rotis you’ve made and even if you don't disclose where exactly you are going and which company you are joining... I would still keep in touch! I wonder who I’d bitch with, complain to, and make faces at, once you are gone. Hmm…I did NOT mean to make this corny.
I freaked out when I put your perfume bottle down and broke it in to a million pieces. That was worse than how I felt when I stepped on my colleague's i-pod ear phones and broke it, much worse than losing my credit card and getting billed for something which I haven't purchased, however a wee better than leaving my debit card inside the ATM and then forgetting to take it out. Because that leaves you with no other option, but starve for cash till a new card is re-issued to you, which normally takes about a week and a half. The feeling is awful and I am left looking like an idiot!
And to add to the miseries, I did not know which address to give the bank so that they could send me a new ATM card. I can't give my residence address because I do not know where I am shifting to, I cannot give my office address as I do not know when I will be moving to the new premises.
It is nice to know some one weird. The enigma falls behind once you make friends with him/her. You get the freedom to discuss all that is much stranger, eerier and sleazier. I will miss them and the ones I have already talked about – of the condescended contours we have together checked out ;), emolument and ethos; qualities and qualms.
For those of you, who don't know Dev, here are some snippets on this snippet- man shes WEIRD..puff! She had this huge, but adorable dog named Rex, who she sent it back to Pune partly coz of me. But, I can bet she doesn't regret it, and neither do I. Her room will always be the messiest with pieces of clothes (of size zero ;) strewn around everywhere. Moody mostly, but got Phoebe's dry and sarky humour. Oh especially when she kicks Ben's ass. A psycho when she's angry. Gosh! And I thought I was bad, at least I am not destructive. God save whoever is next to her when she blows her top off.
So, what if A***a is still with Mohammed Kaif and chics like N**a always mange to pass the buck to the otherwise unblemished lambs like you know who. Its magical how some of these women who cheat, lie and hurt men, still steer clear of the guilt and get away with it.
For once, I love playing the devil and not an angel : P And we make a pair at that.
FYI- I would have flayed you alive if you had broken my Nina Ricci and shamelessly apologised later.
But hey, thank you for being the weirdest sweetheart ever! :)