Letters to the editor.

Here's a puzzle for you:
There is an article in an online news portal about OSO and Saanwariya releasing on the same day(diwali). The comments section of the article go like this:
Commenter 1: OSO seems like a masala movie, Saanwariya might be boring
Commenter 2: OSO will be a bigger hit, SRK rocks
Commenter 3: SRK is crap, he has always been doing the same roles in all his movies, he should retire
Commenter 4: Yes C3 I agree SRK is crap, in fact all Muslims are spoiling our country...they should be sent to pak
Commenter 5: All you bloody hindus don't realise that all industrialists and great people of India are muslims
Commenter 6: kaun hain yaar ye C5, isko pak bhej do and send Raja sen(a movie reviewer) back to kolkata..he is crap
and the thread continues with more pak/india and other people bashing, whereas the article was a harmless piece contemplating which bollywood movie will do better! Guess which news portal am I talking about?

Ok here's another sample:The article is about the India and US nuclear deal...all very serious business people. And what happens in the comments section? Yeah you guessed it - more pak bashing, this time along with US and taliban and how all countries except india are not 'doodh ke dhule'. And what else do I see here in comments? 'If you failed at 5th standard or uneducated, do not worry. Go to Andhra universities. You can get BE, MCA, MTech degrees for few thousand rupees and go to the USA to spoil their economy'. &%5E$*&%5E#@*&$^*& what does that have to do with the article, you say? Well I say the same thing!

So now from the samples provided above, tell me what portal am I talking about? Yeah you guessed it right fellows! Its our dear rediff.com! While I really admire the instant gratification provided by online news sites to people who want to convey their feelings about a particular issue, I am taken aback by the way this is misused by some people(and almost all rediff commenters). Its all nice that you don't have to wait for your letter to reach the editor, and then get published a month or more after the issue was raised but people! Is technology enabling us or just making us stoop to a level where we have to bash those who are not like us? Why do we have to succumb to the urge to verbally assault someone we don't even know? (why should you get that urge in the first place?). And don't even get me started on the irrelevant comments(the AP education type!).....As far as my memory goes, responding to an article is a literary activity and should create an atmosphere of debate and perspective...not meaningless chatter that is intended to spark raging tempers!

Note: The comments are a 'direct lift off ' from rediff.com.

Fultoo Dhamaal!

This review might be a little too late but the movie is good enough to warrant a review, late or otherwise. So this weekend we got the Dhamaal DVD from an Indian store. I was expecting a half-baked attempt at comedy, with lots of sexual innuendos and double entendre, a la Masti style but was pleasantly surprised. Before I delve into the depths of brainless slapstick, a word of caution: Dhamaal is a remake of 'Its a mad mad mad world', with a few scenes lifted from 'Roadtrip'. And if you have not seen the above mentioned films, you are in for a great time.

Its a fantastic story of four good for nothing friends who, while attempting to save a dying criminal(a completely bald Prem Chopra ofcourse!) learn that dus carode have been buried in some park in Goa. Thus starts the mad fun-filled trip to Goa, complete with a pagal-khane wali bus full of mental cases, a hanging from the cliff rescue, a daku following Riteish(BTW i observed that its the nth time Ritesh Deshmukh has changed the spelling of his first name!) and the like. Most of the gags work superbly without trying too much(a tribute to the original movie i guess). The gag that takes the cake is when Arshad Warsi, when confronted by a pistol-toting Sanju baba, drops to the ground to show his fear and remorse, and starts collecting mud in an attempt to blind Sanjay Dutt (like Dharam paaji does to Gabbar in Sholay) and by the time Arshad has thrown all the mud in the air, Sanjay has already moved away and he says "sholay maine bhi dekhi hain"....hahaha. One thing is for sure. If you want to enjoy this mad movie, better leave your brains at home(or at work if you are watching at home) and grab that snack and cola and be ready to be entertained bollywood ishtyle! And hey! there are no women or songs to take your mind(didnt you stow it away?) away from the fun!