Monday, December 13, 2004

VEER - ZAARA

This is my take on Yash Chopra's latest love saga Veer Zaara.

I have already watched this movie 3 times and its on its way to becoming a favorite. A lot of people don't like sappy romance movies cos they think its just not possible for people to be so dedicated in love and that may be true with the way the world is going but there will always be the exceptions.
I am a die hard romantic at heart and would love to spend all my time keeping some woman happy, though I haven't had that privilege yet. I completely agree with those of you who might feel that just after a day spent together, Veer and Zaara cannot feel so strongly about each other that they would cross so many obstacles to be with each other. But thats also like saying that a couple who have been in love for 10 years, cannot cheat on each other. Everything's possible. So I will say the plot is believable.

The most interesting part of this movie was the fact that there was no Pak bashing at all. In fact all the pakistani characters were very believable and genuine. Manoj Bajpai was the only negative character and even he is redeemed when they say he went abroad to live, meaning at least he's not the kind of character who tortures and abuses Zaara cos she broke their engagement.

Shah Rukh can sleepwalk through a romantic role and pulls it off with the finesse of the showman that he truly is. The old man get up was a bit much, but he did manage to induce some genuineness into the character with some very good dialogue delivery.

Priety has always been a favorite of mine, ever since here Liril days and she pulls off a slightly complicated role brilliantly. The scene when she tells her mom that there's a man across the border who will die for her, and also when she tells Shabbo that Veer is ingrained in her soul were brilliant.

Rani underplayed her role quite magnificently. A very deglamourized role with some powerful dialogues and she is turning out to be one pocket sized dynamo on screen. Watch the teaser trailer of BLACK ( Sanjay Leela Bhansali's next with the Big B and Rani ... looks like she's gonna pull off another brilliant role).

Some of the interesting scenes:
1. Shah Rukh and Kiron Kher .. shen she comes to beg for Zaara's life ... superb interplay between the characters.
2. Rani and Anupam Kher ... his dialogue after he loses the case ... plain old truth is so effective.
3. Shah Rukh and Manoj Bajpai ... when he tells him to take care of Zaara .... it takes a lot of guts to do that and the scene was very strong.

All the actors pulled off their roles with aplomb and Yash Chopra proves again that sex and sleaze is not needed to make a hit movie. Jus a good story and belief in what u'r presenting. Also each of the songs was directly a part of the narrative and the lyrics are quite stunning.

My loudest cheers are for Aditya Chopra ... for his sterling screenplay and some of the most impressive and heart tugging dialogues I have seen in a long time. Hats off.

This is just the way I feel about the movie. Please write and let me know if u agree or disagree. Criticism is always welcome, isnt it??

Monday, August 02, 2004

God Vs God

Well finally something interesting to write about. I recently heard this scenario from a friend. What if there was no Devil. There was just God but he had a split personality .. kinda like a Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde. In case we assume this possibilty to be within the realm of reason, then doesn't it explain a lot of things?
( for those of you who don't know this particular story, check out http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/SteJekl.html )
Firstly, one of the questions sceptics and athiests always ask is "if there is a God, why does he let suffering, evil, pain and other things exist when he has the power to stop it all ? " Now if all this was happening when he's on his Mr.Hyde side of the mind , then he would be powerless to stop it. Maybe eons ago , Dr.Jekyll was more powerful than Mr. Hyde in the mind of the Lord, but through ages, things might have changed. Now as Mr.Hyde becomes more powerful, there is more pain, suffering, skewed morals etc.
Secondly, accoring to the Bible, man is built in God's own image. And we for sure know that each one us of acts in a way sometimes that we are ashamed of later. We think .. I'm a better person than this .. why did I just say this or do this ?? Or some really bad people have done certain good things too. Well if there's a Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde within each of us, and we are in God's image, then maybe God is that way too.

I don't want to sound blasphemous or criticize people's beliefs. I believe in God, but questions pop into my head too. For a nice explanation of how the universe was created, a theory which tries to fuse the scientific one with the religious belief, read Angels and Demons by Dan Brown.

Well if anything controversial pops into my head .. I will pop up here soon.
Adios
The Moj.

Monday, July 26, 2004

Update

Got this link from one of my friends .. its a parody about the Bush Vs Kerry race for the post of the President, which by they way is very fast becoming a big joke all over the US.
http://goodbysilverstein.com/client_site_beta/thisland.html  .... Thought it was pretty funny.

So I've been up to nothing much. Just the usual routine life , plus a lot of cursing cos this is the worst summer we have had since I got here ( which was eons ago, by the way ) . It keeps raining all the time and we have hardly had any sun. Sucks big time.

Kudos to Lance Armstrong. Proved once again that determination, single - mindedness and endless hours of practice can make anything possible. For a guy who was given less than 50 % chance of survival in life, to fight back and win the most gruelling event in Sport - 6 times in a frikkin row - is pretty mind blowing.  Over the course of 20 days they cover about 2000 miles which is the equivalent of 600 days of running for me on the treadmill. Bet u aren't even doing that.

The Indian cricket team is playing like it used to about 3 yrs back -- sloppy, lazy, careless and like a bunch of amateurs. Hope they wake up and smell their pants on fire before they get their ass whopped by Sri Lanka again.

Schumi Schumi Schumi ... when u gonna lose one next. Somebody has to try and give this guy a run for his money soon.

Is there anything else ... hmmm .. nothing comes to mind right now except for a small trip I am very much looking forward to ... in abt 3 weeks time.

Adios.
The Moj.

Saturday, July 24, 2004

I, MOJO

So here I am again. Its been a very long time and before I listen to more abuse from Aps, lemme write something to keep it going. Saw the movie I, Robot a few days ago and was very impressed with it. Am not a fan of Sci-Fi movies at all. So didn't have too many expectations walking into the theatre. Primary reason for going was to see Will Smith cos I'm a biggg fan of his kind of entertainment movies. ( Got to see too much of him though .. he's exhibited his body proudly in this movie) And the movie was totally worth it. The mix of futuristic thinking, combined with Will Smith's deadpan humor and some excellent graphics to pull of the Robot is gonna set the cash registers ringing. By the way , not many are even gonna give any credit to the guy who played the Robot .. Alan Tudyk ... but I thought he was excellent. He's as important as Will Smith and they carry it off brilliantly.

Well now that this is out of the way, lets get down to more serious stuff. I really don't understan how I can listen to love ballads interspersed with Gangsta Rap and enjoy both thouroughly. So any explanation toward that is welcome. I promise I will be back with more soon.

Tuesday, July 06, 2004

Red White and Whooo

Am Back Bloggin now...
Was away for a while ... took a whirlwind tour of Washignton DC , New York City and Syracuse .. to celebrate the American Independence Day. We reached DC quite late .. too late in fact to catch the museums ... which is the best thing about DC. But did manage to get to all the memorials and monuments. Walked like 10 miles I guess ... was one tired dog by night time and found what a tired dog could really use .. The Hard Rock Cafe. HARDROCKCAFE .
I had been planning a visit to this place for a while now .. and it was definitely worth the wait. What an awesome place. Great drinks, Excellent food, Cool waiters, Brilliant music and superb ambience. Yeah I was excited ..as u can see. Picked up a souvenier too ... Beer mug .. one from every city is the objective. So that topped off the day really well. That was July 3.
July 4 .. Independence day ... decided to go to NYC to catch the Macy's Fireworks display ... voted MSN as the best fireworks display in the country. Got stuck in the wrong end of the right street but still managed to catch it .. though it wasn't up close and personal .. but a 30 min fireworks display is pretty amazing when u actually see it. The went to this restuarant called Bubba Gump .. the whole place is themed after the movie Forrest Gump. BUBBAGUMP . Brilliant store and good food .. prices go through the roof though. But it was great experience ... they are right on Times Square and the squar as usual did not disappoint. Also got a pic taken with The Rock's likeness outside Madame Tussaud's .. that was a highlight for me .... waiting to develop it and get it scanned.
July 5 was much more laidback. After all the walking and running of 3 and 4 , the body was starting to give up. Went to the Carousel Center which is supposed to be one of the biggest malls this side of the country and did some shopping. So after all that we gt home .. I had a big hole in my pocket ... but still mustered the courage to go see Fahrenheit 9/11. Best documentary I ever saw and it got me thinking .... the politicians in India aren't too bad after all .. the corruption here is even more. And why is it that all Presidential candidates here are such dick's. We all know George W hasn't exactly distinguished himself ... u think Kerry is better .. go check KERRYLIED and u'll know what I'm talking about. This country might actually go to the dogs one day. Guess India might in fact become a superpower like some great minds predicted centuries ago.

anyways that was my weeked and now am back to the drudgery of the work day. God help me with that.

Adios ppl.

The Moj.

Thursday, July 01, 2004

Life - Does it get to you ?

A very wise friend of mine inspired me to put some thoughts on to paper ( figuratively speaking ). If you fear what life has to offer, then you live in the sort of state of mind which prevents you from enjoying what is right before you .. thinking instead of what might / might not happen say 6 months down the line. So thats when I thought its better to let life hit you in the balls someday rather than fearing that life might hit you in the balls someday. That might not have made sense to a lot of people but thats the way it is. When you don't expect it and you get hit ( in the balls .. by life ) then u r in pain for a while .. maybe a few days but you will survive and move on and all the while you would have been having fun till the 'incident'. But if you keep expecting to get hit ( in the balls - by life ) then you today is as miserable as the day when u actually get hit and then the tommorow's are no better. So go on enjoy life and let it hit you when it wants to. Don't expect the unexpected ..... jus let it happen.

On the subject of Balls .. saw this awesome movie DODGEBALL which was so full of physical humor and some lewd jokes I guess but it was so much fun. Ben Stiller does surprise me with his ability to morph into characters which are actally so unlike him. Anyways their slogan is GRAB LIFE BY THE BALL. Now that is interesting ... I guess its reverse psychology ... instead of life hitting you in the balls .. Grab its balls.

Anyways hope all your balls are safe and you are moving ahead safely on the ball-bearings of life.

Balls to everyone.

Moj.

The Sport of StickBall

Today was a fun day for me. Anything's fun for me as long as I don't have to study. Played my first game of stickball. For the stickball - virgins, stickball is an offshoot of baseball. Its played in a much smaller are than an actual babseball pitch, the bat is a lot thinner ( kind of like the dry brooms in India ) , and its played with tennis balls. So the rules are similar to baseball ... tag outs, home runs, running bases etc. My team lost 27 - 24 but I managed to hit 4 Homers and never struck out the whole game. And I was told that was kind of a big deal for a decent player, let alone a debutante. So at least now I have an alternate career option .. albiet an amateurish one.

Followed that up with Spiderman 2. For those of you who liked Spiderman 1 .. u'll love Version 2. Its a better story and the effects are just as good .. and a few scenes are heart stoppers. There are a couple of corny scenes in there but overall .. its a billion dollar making money machine. The producers are gonna laugh all the way to the Swiss Bank. For those of you who don't care too hoots about it .. don't go see it and spoil it for the rest of the people at the theatre ( like some girls at the movies over here did today).

Heading to sleep now. After a 15 hr day .. now I get 3 hrs of sleep before I head off to work again. Man life is tough .. but sometimes fun.

Cheers.
The Moj.

Saturday, June 26, 2004

Wanna Make a Quick Buck

Apparently 'Sex' is no longer taboo in India too. The one topic that for decades has been held within wraps has also now come out into the open. Read an article on Outlook a few months back about how gilrs from high profile houses were making anything from Rs. 20,000 to a lakh for a night of hot steamy sex with some guy ( obviously there are a lot of them around ) who had a lot of money to blow.

Now this article on Indiatimes ( check the link ) has once again made me think. No offence to anybody, but isn't our culture one where the kings used to have loads of wives and concubines and where promiscuous sex was all over the place. Well I guess what goes around comes around. Maybe the days of casual sex are back in this country ... its soon becoming an accepted custom .. maybe in a few years no one will bat an eyelid about the whole thing. We have to go back to our roots someday I guess.

Anyways lots of money around .. to be spent and to be earned.

Time to Enjoy.

Ciao.

Wednesday, June 23, 2004

The Effects Of Alcohol

Alcohol is an interesting substance to consume. Personally I prefer hard liqour to beer, cos thats just empty calories man. Not that liqour is a diet food but it kicks in faster and its more fun to order.
Now that brings me to yesterdays events. Went out with some friends to celebrate a girl's victorious driving test. Mixed a bit too much I guess. It was a JACK w/ COKE ( My Fav Drink ), followed by a LONG ISLAND ICED TEA, then a VODKA w/ CRANBERRY and the a BLUE HAWAII ( Thats basically Malibu Rum w/ Pineapple Juice ) .... and since it was 2 for 1 night ............ thats 8 drinks for the price of 4. So finally tipsied out of the bar and we decided to walk home ( we is me and 2 of my female friends ). The walk is about 45 mins .. isn't a good choice when u r piss drunk. Made it about halfway there and then almost collapsed onto the road. So finaly had to get a cab and was dropped home by my 2 beautiful friends. God Bless Them.

Skipped work today and slept through most of the day. Its only now that I'm feeling a lil better.

Anyways all the alcohol makers say " Drink Responsibly " and that was certainly not what I did last night. Here after all the Irresponsible Drinking will be strictly at home.

Asta La Vista.

Sunday, June 20, 2004

Friendship

Only Friendship takes u higher ... every day as friends we grow. - from A tamil song

Boyfriends and girlfriends will come and go .. but friendship is for life. - Phoebe from F.R.I.E.N.D.S

Somehow these lines seems so appropriate to me today. I have always looked for the perfect girl ... someone who I hoped would complete me. ( From Jerry Mcguire) But maybe I was looking for the wrong thing all my life. Honestly I think I have some friends for whom I would do anything .. and who would do anything for me. I have always been blessed with some awesome friends and I keep making new ones who make this life worth the living. So maybe that is all I should be looking for. Maybe I was looking and hoping for too much earlier. I should be happy and contented that I have such an awesome set of friends. After all " There is no history of any man who is too greedy and any woman who is too short-tempered ..living a full life " - from Padayappa.

So here's a more enlightened, aware, and happy young man signing off saying .... tell all your friends how much they mean to you ... and u'll have a great day .. and great days lead to a great life.

Njoi.

Moj.

Mohan's Day Out

WOW ... Jus got back from the Six Flags Amusement Park at Darien Lake and it was an absolutely awesome experience. I had been there before but this time felt way more special .... maybe it was cos of the company or jus the fact that we did a lot more fun stuff this time around .. which brings me back to the company ... so yeah that was definitely it.

Went on all the frikkin roller coasters and it was an adrenalin rush if I ever saw one. And to top it off we went on something called the Skycoaster .... kind of like bungee jumping .... but u do a free fall down and then travel parallel to the ground at some incredible speed ... wondering what would happen if you hit something on the way. It was a super thing to try and I have to thank my buddies for saying ... " yo man lets do it " .

Been out of the house for like 20 hrs straight and the bed looks so inviting ... pity I have to sleep on it alone.

Will post more later. This one was after quite a while.

Cheers
Moj.

Thursday, May 06, 2004

R u Happy ?

Was lounging around my room today and u know how my mind starts working overtime thinking about life and all the baggage it brings with it. Well anyways I realized a long time ago that maybe I am not the ambitious kind at all. I would be happy living a simple life in a small house with a small family. Maybe I'm not the kind of guy who likes to have a lot of money and wants to have his photo on the cover of " Hollywood Celebrity" or " Top 10 Geniuses of the World". The mistake I did though, was to not do anything about the realization I reached. I still continued doing the things that I should have been doing if I wanted to get where other people always wanted me to get to. I'm sure everyone wanted the best for me, but still thats based on what the world thinks is best for a person right. For example ... for a guy doing his masters in the US .. the best thing that could happen to him would be to finish his degree, get a job paying him 80K and a green card in due course. But maybe thats not what makes everyone happy. Or is that I'm not dreaming high enuf or hard enuf. ..... OR maybe I spend too much time dreaming about a simple life ( which is hard to get ) that I'm not getting anywhere with the ideal life ( job, car, house, money). Well for whatever its worth .... if I am in a better state of mind 6 months from now .... I'll definitely have something to write home about hopefully.
Signing off from the base station
The Moj .... cheers

Tuesday, May 04, 2004

hmm .... jus some thoughts

Was involved in a conversation today with a friend of mine .... which got me thinking about something I think about sometimes. One thing which gets me irritated is when a person speaks highly of himself ... boasting doesn't go down well with me and I usuallly make it known .. with a perfectly timed sarcastic comment or with a look that shows how much importance I give to that person in a social environment.
But sometimes I wonder why people choose the other way out. They do not think as highly of themselves as they ought to. This isn't to say that they have an inferiority complex or anything of that sort .. I'm not even going down that alley. All I'm saying is sometimes people are too critical of themselves. There are moments when u need to be that way .. its the way to improve and make something better out of yourself. But sometimes a simple comment like " U look great today " gets a response " Come on .. don't pull my leg " ....hey I wasn't pulling your leg .. I was jus saying how I feel.
This particular facet of a person's personality is definitely not a turn off for me ... cos I do the same sometimes .. in the opportunities that are few and far between of me actually getting compliments ( cos I don't deserve them ... hey or am I being too critical of myself ?? ) .......its just that I wonder why people choose these 2 ways of responding to a compliment .. when the best thing might be to say " Thanks a lot .. and u look great too " . Anyways before I ramble on too much and push somebody's wrong buttons .. i'll sign off with the promise that .... i'll be back with more ridiculous thinking.
Cheers.

Monday, May 03, 2004

My first blog

Hmm .. so this is the fun part .. or so I've been told. I wonder why a person has so many thoughts running in his brain sometimes that he doesn't even remember what he thought about last. But I am not among those people ... more the kind of guy who is always thinking ... but whose mind is blank .... always seem to be busy ... doing nothing.

Since I have the freedom to write what I want and in whatever order I choose to ..... lets continue talking about me. What is it with me and girls ?? Lets be honest .... girls are a lot cuter than guys, wear better clothes, smell better and generally r more fun to be with. Mind you ...I wouldn't be saying this if I was a girl myself ... seeing how most girls over here seem to love calling each other the sweetest expletives in the most endearing manner possible. And I always seem to be falling in love with a new girl every few months .... through experince I have attained the knowledge that it is not called love but just a crush. But what is a crush ? IS it what one feels when one is around a person and thinks ... man this person is fun to be with ... why can't I be around him/her more ? And if thats the case .. then it could very well lead to love.

So prospectively ..... if a person has a crush a year ( more like 24 in a yr for me) , he could end up falling in love about 50 times in his lifetime ( my own count though is Math which is beyond me) .. and any one of those could be successful in terms of a relationship ..... so if he makes a wrong choice ... shouldn't he be allowed to make the choice again ..... After all they keep saying ... we are humans and humans make mistakes right.

Well now that I have realized that this discussion with myself is leading to nowhere ... I will shut up shop and leave with the promise that I will be back with more endless drivel from time to time.

Cheers Buddies.

The MoJ