21st November '07!!

It is indeed a lucky day for both me and my brother, Aniruddha. Both of us got into our respective jobs formally today. I got enrolled with the Bar Council of India (and now I can convincingly and legally call myself a certified lawyer) and Aniruddha got placed with Standard Chartered. Quite a coincidence I must say, and a wonderful one too!! :)

These days I've become so reactive and my behaviour so erratic that its not funny! Mood swings like I've never seen before! One moment I'm happy and chirpy, talking to friends and family, and the other vacant as if I've seen the ghost! I'm generally not like this..or so I shd like to believe! Why am I such a random person??! I've always prided myself on having good control over my mind and self, but that seems to be slipping away gradually......and that's not good. I don't even know why I'm writing all this, or what I'm writing for that matter....just came back from Court, everthing went off well, nothing untoward happened...then why am I feeling so perturbed?! Maybe I'm just tired and need some sleep!

Jagjit Singh Concert


Went for a Jagjit Singh live concert day before. And it would be quite an understatement to say that I loved it. Yes, it was truly brilliant. I have always loved his ghazals but this was the first time that I was listening to him live, and he just made a fan for life!

He sang some of his old hits...ghazals that all of us knew by heart...infact, at one point he left the singing to be done by the audience itself, just giving a cue here and there. And for once I sang with relish too..it did'nt really matter that I was totally out of key since my wonderful voice got drowned with the rest!

Out of all the instruments in the world, the two I love the most are the tabla and the violin. One can never get tired of watching a tabla player create magic on the tabla...I've always been fascinated by the swiftness with which their fingers go! And what I love about them is the way they move their heads...with an absolute flourish, totally consumed by the rythm and beat of the tabla! And the violin!! Was never really that fond of it until I heard this guy play at a Parikrama Concert I went to while in College in Delhi..he was brilliant beyond description! And since then, I've kinda developed a ear for it....no other instrument can sound as meloncholy as this one.
And when you have two of my favourite instruments and some other equally brilliant ones like the flute, dholak and the keyboard in perfect jugalbandi, magic is what is born...especially when they reach that crescendo! The part that I love most about any concert!

Truly a fantastic experience.

Saw Saawariya a couple of days back. And quite contrary to what everyone has been saying about the movie, I liked it! It is so fantastical that, yes, it does take you a little while to get used to what is happening, or even, why it is happening. It is a story about 4 nights, and therefore the only colours that one gets to see are shades of blacks and blues...with splashes of reds spilled here and there. Its quite a beautiful setting actually. Some fantasy world kinda thing..where everything seems to be happening at its own tardy pace. There is a general langour that permeates through the entire fabric of the movie.

Saawariya is a like a fable being told. Something surreal. The city that they've shown seems to be one out of Alladin's land....statues that have both domes, Buddha sculptures, walls that have Ajanta and Mona Lisa painted on them....now that kinda confused me a bit too! Where, amd what exactly is this place??

It runs like a play would. The story captured and told within the confines of one set. With just the 2 lead characters(most of the times i.e) in it. Maybe, thats because its night!
Its a beautiful movie. But why are'nt people liking it? Its probably because they don't understand it. Its about this Muslim girl who feels shy even when her ankle is exposed to the eye of the man she loves...its that subtle at times. And then, almost to a cutting contrast, you have Ranbir's character that is so full of life, that makes funny faces! Its Western and traditially Indian, all at the same time!
Its definitely not a typical Bollywood masala movie by any standards. Sad really for a movie like this to not be appreciated.

But Sanjay Leela Bhansali is generally known to take the extreme path. When he wants colour and vibrancy, he gives all that he can, and all that there is. And when he wants the opposite effect, its the same extreme again. I somehow liked the subdued nature of the detailing that the movie has. Everything very underplayed...

But, but, but, what I liked best were the 2 actors..they're absolutely fantastic! They both look good, and act well too! Although, all that I could find Sonam Kapoor do was weep or giggle, alternatively. She hardly has 5 lines to speak. But she's good.

Soooooo, I liked the movie, even though the world at this point would love to differ with me! I think one must not watch this movie if he/she wants Bollywood masala...its got too much class to be that!

Both Saawariya and Om Shanti Om are releasing next week and I am in a fix! Well, the intellectual kind of dilemnas have often evaded me and nothing has changed this time either. My dilemna is which one to see first! I am a SRK loyalist and never miss any of his movies. Saawariya looks very fresh and rather inviting. And I kinda like both the newcomers too- Ranbir and Sonam Kapoor. The guy is quite cute I have to admit. I remember a friend asking me how I liked him, and I quipped, almost instantaneously, "He's cute, in a slightly demented kinda way!" I still can't fathom what prompted me to say that for such a decent looking actor. Maybe its the kind of insipid faces that the initial teasers saw him making. Ok, I take me words back. He's cute...in quite a ..umm..cute way ( My vocabulary has gone to the dogs..I've lost count of the number of times I've used this word today! Sigh!)! But, more than Ranbir, I like Sonam Kapoor...one of the prettiest faces I've seen lately, rather raw and exceedingly charming.
I'm also a little intrigued by what its going to be about. I believe its an adaptation of a Russian(?) play. The sets look rather make belief and unusual, and that has piqued my curiosity quite a bit.
So, on a chart of 5 stars for wanting to see this flick, I give it....all 5 stars!!

Umm...Om Shanti Om now- Shah Rukh Khan- the one thing enough to make me go and watch a movie. I loved Main Hoon Na ( I have a penchant for liking anything and everything that is visibly devoid of anything intellectual and thought provoking....show me glitz, glamour and lots of dance, and I'm happy!). And I like their new face too..Deepika Padukone is very pretty again. Gosh! I've committed the cardinal sin for any woman-praised another woman!! Two, infact!! :D
But, that oh-so-70's look- long tresses and boot pants look quite passe somehow..its got that been there, done that kinda feel to it, though I can't remember any movie trying that look off late, but still, does'nt seem too fresh...maybe because Farah Khan has caricatured that retro look many times before too in some of her songs.

Soooo....the most important question on which depends the future of the entire world, something that has bothered the US more than Osama Bin Laden too....is finally answered!! We shall see Saawariya first! :D