Our beloved Julie

My dear dog Julie died today morning. She was 13.5 years old . My  mother is inconsolable. My heart feels so heavy even though I am aware that she had lived a good life .

 I remember the day when she was brought to our home as a 30 day old pup in a tiny basket.The soft fur & paws of the playful pup; The pup who could sleep in our laps just like a baby ;The brave dog who was scared of crackers. 

May her soul rest in peace. We will always love her .

Sea Hawks - The unforgettable hindi Series

Coming soon

My Winter Experience in UK

Although I have been here for the last winter in UK , this is the first time I see winter beginning . And you know that winter has begun, once the Daylight savings time changes come into effect.

The next day , you feel there is an unusual chill in the air. You see your breath change into a puff of smoke. The sun looms brightly in the sky , but you dont feel the warmth of its rays.

One day I braved the cold wind , to prove that I can bear this temperature( just around 9 C and Bournemouth being on the coast is a pretty warm place). I was precariously dressed in an autumn jacket with a pair of slip-ons. and it served me right, as to not to heed to the warnings. I returned home a tired soul with a pair of cold feet , numb hands.

The evening are the dreariest. You come out of the office @ 5 to be swarmed by the night lamps burning bright and the sky staring with greyish black clouds. You feel it is so late in the night and just want to return to the safety of home . At home, you always want be in the room heater's vicinity keeping yourself and wishing for piping hot samosa.


So now an enlightened me leaves home with a pair of gloves , umbrella , winter coat and scarf, besides being warmly wrapped in winter clothes. :D

And people think living in foreign countries is great :)

Salami Ishq

Am back after a longggg time. Was having a whale of a time enjoying the long weekend. Disaster stuck when we decided to watching Salaam-e-Ishq. Great star cast directed by Kal Ho Naa Ho director Nikhil Advani & some great music Promos... We gave in to the temptation & flocked the theater (managing to catch the movie from the beginning).

The film has been ‘inspired’ (euphemism for ‘Copying’ the script) by the Multi-Starrer “Love Actually”. What made the movie bearable was great music score by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. We were actually looking forward to the songs. Half way through the movie, the director had run out of ideas & we were speechless (bcos we had done all the commenting in the first 1 hour). The movie reached its epitome of stupidity Post-Interval.

We thought that Nikhil had a tie up with remix album makers (The characters end up singing almost half a dozen old numbers).

The film hops across the lives of 6 different pairs remotely related to each others.

Priyanka & Salman – Priyanka plays an aspiring Tragedy queen & Salman her childhood love. Personally I think Priyanka is a brilliant actor. But the script lets her down this time. Sallu, with a strange accent while pronouncing his name, has a predictable mysterious touch to his character.

Vidya Balan & John – I thought their chemistry was terrific, even though their story had a touch of grief all along. They were too gud, although I found it irritating that John had to sprint breathlessly everywhere.

Akshaye & Ayesha: Akshaye is the best thing to have happened to this movie. As the confused Fiancé of Ayesha , he steals our hearts with his goof ups & immature line of thinking. He continues his supreme performance throughout the movie. The climax, where he pouts the same lines as John, is unbelievably funny. The most brilliant touch in the movie by the director was sketching a character which Akshaye plays to the galleries. Ayesha, though brilliant, was overshadowed by the boyish charms & pranks of Akshaye.

Anil & Juhi: As the couple , whose marriage is on the rocks, the story is very predictable & boring. WE laughed our hearts out, when we saw Anil shaved & hopping across the disco floor in Cargoes (The director took us for granted. Anil Kapoor as the business man is ok. But as a man trying to get younger –a strict No-No)

Govinda & Shannon: As the cabbie, in search of his mademoiselle, he manages to salvage some pride & shines in his part. Shannon is ok.

Sohail & Isha: Much less said about this pair, the better. We cringed in our seats, angry at the nonsense dished out by them in the name of comedy.

Salaam-e-Ishq: 6 parallel stories . 12 different lives: one problem – story (yawwwwn. This film is 4 hours longgg).

Talent hunts - The inside story


Indian TV has been evolving since a long time. From the message-centric Doordarshan serials to the Saas Bahu tearjerkers. But now the flavour of the season seems to be Talent hunt shows : the ones which advertise their mission to be "find the real hidden talent". Some of them are shows like Indian Idol, Fame Gurukul, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa challenge.

These talent shows are the top TRP grossers. They play to the gallery by spicing up the proceedings of the show. So a deeper look into why these shows succeeded.

Indian Idol:

The concept of Indian idol ,borrowed from the American Idol, succeeded because more than the singing,the family background of the contestants were focussed on. And people also had a say in the proceedings of the show ( interactive via SMS). The grand finale was between 2 people: one who was from a middle class family ( always shown to be very humble, god-fearing) & the others was a story of ugly duckling transformed into a swan .. ( from the village fields to the metro stage). The judges being famous personalities also added to the glamour of the show. The second season of the show sprung up some singers who were substandard compared to the participants of the first season.

Fame Gurukul:

Fame Gurukul was an extension of Indial Idol. The singers, of mediocre talent, put all their acting talents to the fore. Staying away from parents, their fickle attitude ,advertisement gimmicks , their foolish schemes to win the event. The audience would have loved to have a winner from strife-torn Kashmir, and Sony manipulated the Jodi to be a Boy-Girl Jodi. Whew.. And the audience were provided with their daily dose of humor,melodrama.

Sa Re Ga Ma Pa:

Befor long, this show was producing some of the greatest talents of our indian music industry like Shreya Ghoshal, Kunal Ganjawala. But with the introduction of the new show format, the show has been on a steady downhill in the Quality front. The constant quarrels between the judges ( sometimes i thought school kids were well behaved), bragging about their achievements. And the contestants appeal to the audience of their regions. Talk about Divide & Rule Policy.

The sponsors of these winners, bind them to such contracts, and give them good exposure, even thought there are truly deserving persons who r not honoured. But what happens to them after th contract is over?They r left alone in this world of cut-throat competition. They stay at the top only when they deserve the popularity & handle the fame in a humble way.

Dedicated to the deserving talent :)

Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehnaa - The Blockbuster of the year


Fanaa was supposed to be the awe-inspiring blockbuster of the year. But it turned out to be a damp squib. i hope the same does not happen to KANK... Bacause of

1) The All big Star cast & Techinicians
2) The gr8 music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy


This is a story of two couples( Shahrukh & Preity, Abhishek & Rani), who find their marriage at cross roads. How they exlpore beyond their relationships and find solace in people whom they do not know well. Their anguish, frustration, hopes, despair and the way they rebuid their lives forms the crux of the story.

KANK is not Karan Johar's usual theme of sugar coated romance, laced with humor. This is not a run-of-the mill kind of story where everybody lives happily ever after. This is a story of broken hearts , lost hopes & unspoken words. Set in New York & some other exotic locales in America, this film promises to be a roller coaster ride of emotions ..

Do chek out the songs of the film , of which the title track is a class apart. Sung by Alka Yagnik & Sonu Nigam, this reminds of the Philosophical Kal Ho Na Ho title track.

Als worth mentioning are the costumes of the stars, depicting their upper class outlook towards life & their partying mood.

Slated for an august release, I hope the film meets its expectations

Well this is my first post.. I have not got a clue as to what i m going to post.

So today's topic is something vague like football.

With the World cup proceeding in full heat... who do u think will win?
The defending champions Brazil who r yet to prove their defending status .
The pouncing & savage Argentina, razing through the opponent's defence viciously,reducing the opponents to amateur footballers.
The cool & steady host Germany, playing along the plan with a stupenduous attack.
The cosy, stylish English Team, scoring their goals at random.

Or is it going to be a dark horse?

May the best team win. Let us enjoy this celebration of football .