In three steps from living room to bedroom!

                                   

      10th of July 2013, I shifted to a new place, quiet a tiring experience, given the fact that I was going through the rigors of a full time MBA course simultaneously. The same evening I had to do an interesting class assignment, watch the movie,'Ek chottisi Baat' a timeless classic. The movie based in the 1970s is basically about how a guy uses many tricks of the trade to woo the girl he liked a lot. (Reminds me of a nightmare that was called Partner) Now the tricks that were taught to the actor were garbed under the heading 'In three steps from living room to bedroom'. Be rest assured this post is not about how to achieve the aforementioned. I am not even close to being qualified or experienced to preach about it :P. While watching the movie my thoughts drifted into a tangential direction as to how builders and real-estate have made a killing using the line 'In three steps from livwing room to bedroom' as their pseudo-mantra, or in proper MBA terms their 'Mission and Vision statement'. Many people who go house-hunting especially those who come to Mumbai for the very first time face this huge shock when the size of the house is nowhere comparable to the amount they will end up paying for it. And it wasn't very different for me. After watching the movie I actually went and counted the number of steps it takes for me to reach from my drawing room to bedroom... and guess what just Three!!! And thats not all while house-hunting you'll be confronted with some of the most hideous  places ever created by mankind and these agents will present them to you as being a totally customized Taj Mahal only for you. Its not a surprise that they are called 'dalals' and other choicest words that I would not like to mention for maintaining the sanctity of the blog. For instance one of the apartments that was shown to me opened out to a stunning vista of a nullah running 24 x 7, breeding mosquitoes of such size and stature that it seemed they could down shots of All-out every friday night. Seeing the disappointment on my face the beautiful reply that he gave was "Sir, River facing view, bahu saras chhe"(River facing view, its very beautiful). Take that for concepts in sales and Marketing.


Coming to the size of the apartments, There was a report by Jones Lang LaSalle, that the average size of apartments in Greater Mumbai has significantly reduced in the last five years. But somehow the number of rooms has magically increased simultaneously. There is a strange mathematical calculation that governs here, the size of your apartment remains the same, just depending on the number of members in your family, the same apartment can go from being a 1BHK to a 3 BHK. In such a case you shouldn't be surprised if the bathroom in your brand new home is bigger than your bedroom. And believe it or not that would be the USP of the apartment. I mean if ever the realtor made an advertisement for such an apartment it would show a svelte model dropping off her negligee and tiptoeing into a bath tub about the size of a double bed and romancing the rose petals all over her, while a hoarse voice would say " We provide bathrooms which are so large that they can even accommodate all Bangladeshis who have crossed over to India." ...There are so many more instances that the post could run  into reams, but eventually we did find a decent place which is in itself quite a story which I will covered later.

Cheers!!! 

Fukrey- A Review

I had not decided to make a purported effort to watch the film but then when the opportunity arrived I thought 'What the Fukrey' and dashed to the theater. The ‘Dilli wali film’ has become somewhat of a trend in Bollywood. You have smart dialogue, actors speaking in a Punjabi accent and chase sequences in the bylanes of old Delhi.

Mrighdeep Singh Lamba’s “Fukrey” falls in the same mould – the story of four young men who come up with a convoluted idea to acquire some quick buck, so that three of them can get into the coolest college in town , knowing very well that merit is out of question. 

Pulkit Samrat and Varun Sharma play Hunny and Choocha, two friends who would rather spend hours fantasizing about how beautiful their college life will be; without worrying about attendance or studying; They have just one aim in college: GIRLS. Hunny is the street smart charmer while  Choocha the idiotic and garrulous character whose dreams start the entire mess. Choocha is a gifted dreamer who dreams a random sequence where  his dearest friend Hunny is being battered by some animal or the other and Hunny is the only person who finds some logic in those dreams and comes up with some number which they use to buy a lottery ticket. To help achieve their goal of getting into the coolest college they find a willing accomplice in Panditji (Pankaj Tripathi)  who promises to get them the papers, provided they cough up the money.

They come in contact with Lali (Manoj Singh); who has a similar need to get into college so that he can be a part of his supposed girlfriend's gang and  Zafar, played by Fazal Ali, a melancholic musician whose career is not going anywhere. The film just drags along until the arrival of Bholi Punjaban (Richa Chaddha) whose range of businesses would even put 'Bhai' to shame. the riot that follows even though entertaining gets more and more unrealistic. 

The film overall continues to get the laughter out of you even though it is through fillers and not the actual plot. The elderly gentlemen in the park who are a part of a laughter group. The drunkard who keeps on robbing parts of Lali's bike only to turn out to be a wealthy gentleman with a heart of gold. The  love stories between Hunny and Priya and also the triangle between Zafar and his former girlfriend and Lali could all be done away with.  None of these carry the film forward. 

Lamba peppers his film with smart lines and extracts good performances out of almost all his cast members. But he does loosens his grip on the proceedings at several places and the script does waver time and again. Ram Sampath’s music also sets the right tone though it isn't that exemplary.  The film is watchable thanks to superb performances by Richa and Panditji and Choocha which i felt was loosely inspired from Alan's character in the Hangover series. In fact apart from Pulkit none of the characters define the title of the film 'Fukrey'.

“Fukrey” doesn’t have any big stars or glamour, but coming from the Farhan Akhtar house of production I was left a tad disappointed.

Kai Po Che - A Review

I have always maintained that Chetan Bhagat's novels are good Bollywood material but for once a decently written novel has been converted into a pristinely flawless film.

Star cast: Sushant Singh Rajput, Raj Kumar Yadav, Amit Sadh, Amrita Puri
What’s Good: The magical Bromance well fitted in an enigmatic story, enacted to delightful perfection.
What’s Bad: The interval.

The film rides heavily on Abhishek Kapoor's engaging narrative and power packed performances by all the three lead actors. Their non-star status working strongly in their favour (which I hope they will achieve  soon).  Even though I was well aware of the story it was the film-making that rendered it a new version. The story which begins as a fun filled, quirky tale of brotherly romance transitions into a hard - hitting saga of social commentary with utmost brilliance. The film puts together the gruesome events of Gujarat earthquake and the Godhra riots with a mystic touch of humanity (at the same time being very politically correct). What I personally liked about the film was though being based in Ahmedabad and thereabouts, it doesn't go overboard while  showing the local Gujarat connect which was quite a refreshing change from the past films.

Set in Ahmedabad, the story narrates the obsessive fixation of Indians with Cricket, Politics and Religion –all of which cross paths quite occasionally in this country! The main protagonists Govind(Yadav), Ishaan(Rajput) and Omi(Sadh) have been friends forever. While Govind is the geek who falls in love with Ish’s sister Vidya, he is also a fiercely ambitious businessman. Ish is the valiant crusader struggling to harbour his desires of playing cricket and fit into a regular mundane life battling failure From the looks of it Sushant seems to be a pretty good batsmen and if not then a brilliant actor :) . Omi, religiously inclined by proxy politics, entangles himself in a web of right wing and saffron colored politics. While Govind and Omi pull out a very good performance, It is Ishaan who clearly  packs a punch. He portrays a very complex character with utmost ease which is highly praiseworthy given it is his debut performance. He gives the notion that he has been living the character for quite some time.
Cutie pie Vidya (Amrita Puri) does establish her character pretty well as the bubbly adolscent though being separate from the bromance track.

Abhishek Kapoor deserves credit for  reinvigorating freshness into a well read story and make a film on it which still somehow manages to pleasantly surprise you at every scene. He is becoming the director to watch out for. Amit Trivedi’s music as always is soothing and doesn’t intervene with the film’s flow. Manja is one gorgeous song! The background score rather enhances the depth of the film. The film cinematography does bring life to the mundane frames through the very smart use of  vibrant colours.

Though the film could do away with a few factual errors. but overall Kai Po Che is a film with a strongly weaved story brimming with realism and excellence. A film that I hope  attains cult status and does not blur out in the plethora of mediocrity.

Rating: 4/5