Movie weekend

We caught up with a few movies this weekend.
The first was Sex and the City. For long I have felt deprived because it seemed like I was the only woman in the US who hadn't watched SATC yet! So finally this weekend I hopped over to Blockbuster and brought home the coveted DVD. Since I am not a SATC series watcher, I had no idea what was in store. I had heard from friends and colleagues that it was one great girls' movie and I HAD to be a part of the girly fun. The fun ended 12 minutes into the movie. I started with 'These women are so shallow', 'There is no story', etc. Slowly I stated getting irritated with the frequent talk of shoes, sex and labels. I found the fashion too silly and impractical for my taste(think the Louis Vuitton bag that Carrie gifts Louise.) I found the girls(or women) too shallow to be in love and too jobless for my liking. The 145 minutes of the movie were the longest and most boring 145 minutes of my life. I could have very well put them to better use!

The second movie was 'Mumbai Meri Jaan'. Now this one was truly riveting. The way the stories of these various characters is woven together is praise-worthy. I was totally involved in the movie from beginning to the end and not one moment was I bored. That, I think, is a trademark of a well-made movie. Having lived in Mumbai for 3 years, I really identified with the characters' daily lives.

The third and last movie we watched was 'Vicky Christina Barcelona'. This is Woody Allen at his best, I think. We have seen most movies by Woody and enjoy each dialogue thoroughly. His characters are well etched and dialogues are well-written and his humor is very caustic and dry(my style!) Penelope Cruz takes the cake in VCB and deserved her Academy Award. And BOY does she look hot! I liked the last 2 minutes the best. In true Woody style, the events of a few seconds jolt the errant characters into doing the right thing. A lot of reviewers did not like the voice over by Woody, but to me, that was the best part of VCB.

AB and his baby

For someone who has thrived on media and critics and box office, to slam all of them at the same time with this entry in his blog is baffling.

He says 'The sincerity of the work must come through. That is what pays eventually.' Why then, AB are you so worried about the views of a couple of critics? Did you say it was unfair when the same critics were falling over each other praising you, the junior and the bahu for your over-rated roles in Sarkar/Sarkar Raj?

It seems like Delhi 6 really got reviews that were on both ends of the spectrum. Case in point is rediff.com where one reviewer calls it 'Silly' and the other says it is a 'Good follow-up to Rang De Basanti'! Owing to such wide ranging reviews, BIG B asks: 'So how feasible is their report when their observations differ to such an extreme and large extent.' My thoughts on this? With all due respect Mr. B, reviewers are also 'people' and their reviews are in fact, their personal opinion. So when you say 'I can understand personal opinions that respondents make, but what baffles me are the reviews of critics.', that baffles me, because critics' reviews are their personal opinion and there is nothing wrong with that. Cold hard truth, we all pay to read their personal opinion!

'There is then the quotient of bias and deliberate intent, where personal equations come into play in complete disregard of the code of journalistic conduct.' Why does AB believe the whole world is out to get him and his family?
Why does he say 'If you have through no deliberation spoken to one electronic channel in some priority of time, you will most certainly be reduced to rubble by other rival ; merits be damned. Planted vox populai, or what is now commonly termed as ‘voxpox’ by the community, will be brought in front of visiting camera crew to spew venom and to deride creative effort.'? Why does anything anyone says about him or his family in purely 'career' terms always taken to be a personal affront?

And why does he go on and compare Slumdog and Delhi 6? I have not seen Delhi 6, but find it odd that he has to compare the reception of Delhi 6 to that of Slumdog. Why Slumdog? There are 1000 other Indian movies whose subject comes close to that of Delhi 6. Loosely, Swades comes to mind. Why is he so obsessed with Slumdog?
Why would AB crib, crib and crib so much about the extreme reviews his beta's movie is garnering? Why is he taking these things so personally? Methinks the beta should finally grow up and deal with his life himself rather than pa and ma holding his hands every time he needs to take a step into the big bad world.

Sonam's first movie got all negative and appalling reviews(not that the movie was any good), she was in the news for all the wrong reasons(break up with Ranbir, depression, drunken revelry), but did we hear a peep out of Anil Kapoor? Did we see him slam all the critics of her movie, the journalists and say that they are personally biased against him and his family? I did not!

PS: My intention in writing this was to just put my thoughts on paper(blog), not to demean AB! For a long time I have been meaning to write about the things AB writes on his blog about how the media treats him and his family. I always thought it comes with the territory. You reap the benefits of being a celebrity, bear the brickbats of being one!

Tomorrow night....

Slumdog or not?

Of being PC

If you are at a party, would you argue with a person who says something positive about an incident that you hold in absolute contempt? A few years ago I would have said yes. Now I don't. Not because I have grown wiser, but because I now believe you cannot hammer sense into a person in a setting that is meant for harmless social interaction. Parties are not for serious debates. I have seen that gossip and meaningless chatter goes well at a social do, than meaningful argument about current affairs, local, national or international. PC(political correctness) is the name of the game. Agree with everyone and say yes yes or keep your mouth shut. PC has ruined all intellectual debate that there could be among people. I remember in movies of the 70s where men and women would be gathered in circles, spirits in their glasses and in their hearts, debating away about some topic that they are all passionate about(don't remember which movies exactly.) That, in my opinion, is real social interaction, not the 'hello ji, how are you, sab theek?', 'did you hear about so and so's son?' or 'I love the jadau set you wore the other day'! What happened to the good old arguments between friends about the economy, politics and things like that? Have we become so scared of an argument that we embrace PC like never before?
I think PC also makes us boring. If you are the type who does not like gossip in any way, shape or form, all you have left to discuss is sports or the weather. (on a side note, imagine talking about weather in India. It is so warm today, it has been warm for a long time now, it will be warm tomorrow...etc.) If you are in the US and attending an American party and are in a group of non-Indians, you cannot even discuss sports if you have no idea of football or baseball or ice hockey.
The idea of PC is to not hurt the sensibilities of anyone around. Since there are different kinds of people at a gathering, better say things that are mundane than things that might raise an eyebrow. That I understand. But PC among friends and family? I have seen friends who will speak either about a third friend, a celebrity, sports or weather but not about politics or any other topic that might instigate a debate. Are we afraid of debates? Are we no more interested in conversations that make us think long after they are over? Have we become so robotic that we do not need an intellectual conversation that is food for thought?

Deep dark secrets tag!

Although I have just finished a 25 things tag, this one, tagged by IHM is different in that I need to write 25 things about myself things you were better off not knowing :) I have borrowed a few from my old 25 things tag and most reveal the kind of person I am.

1. I cry whenever I see a character in a movie cry. No matter how silly the acting is, I cry.

2. I am a workout junkie. I like running, walking, the elliptical trainer, weights, abs exercises and everything else under the sun. BUT I hate working out outdoors. I need strict climate control to be able to sweat it out!

3. I am fairly tall for an Indian girl(5'8") and am also broad shouldered and wide. Most of my life I have been the tallest and the biggest girl around. My feet are huge too. While I was growing up, my mom had to buy clothes at least 1 size big so they fit my height and shoulders, consequently, all my clothes were loose elsewhere. I also find it difficult to find footwear that does not look like man-sandals.

4. I am a horrible singer but I love to sing. I have been warned not to sing in public.

5. I argue with anyone who I feel is undermining women, irrespective of the social setting or my relationship with them. As a result, I come across as a rude, arrogant woman to a lot of people who are not used to women arguing.

6. I love to dress up only when I want to. I hate to do it when I am 'needed' to. I might put flowers in my hair by myself but if you ask me to, I won't. Ditto with wearing traditional outfits, bindi etc.

7. If I feel like I am getting hurt, I do not speak out. I keep it bottled up and go and cry in the bathroom.

8. I feel most comfortable in sweatpants and a tee or a kurta and jeans.

9. I have a little sister and sometimes I treat her like she is my daughter , sometimes we are like friends and other times, she gives me advise on what to wear and what not to!

10. The husband has a better sense of fashion than yours truly. He also has infinite patience to wait outside the trial room for hours while I try out outfits. He also gives suggestions as to what looks good and what does not.

11. I love organizing. This does not, however, apply to the closet which is as shabby as it can get. Give me papers and files and folders and clips and such stationery and I am off!

12. I think I have an obsessive compulsive disorder when it comes to walking on a tiled surface. I try not to step on the lines, always try to place my foot INSIDE the tile. Imagine my consternation when I find tiles that are too small for my foot!

13. I dislike Indians who break out into their mother tongue the moment they realize you know the language even when you are with other people who do not. I hate it when I feel left out of a conversation so I hate it when someone does it to others.

14. I have a bad habit of assuming things about people. Most often my instincts are correct but there are times when I have had to reassess a person after spending time with them. I am working on trying not to jump to conclusions about people.

15. I do not believe in assigned traditional roles for the sexes. Although I might do things that seem more female oriented than not, it is because I want to do them, not because i HAVE to do them.

16. I have begun to love the idea of having a baby. I get overwhelmed with emotion whenever I see a pregnant friend.

17. I am averse to socializing in big groups. I do not mind small, close group to socialize. I'd rather sit on the couch and read a book or watch the news or chat with the husband than go out and party!

18. I get embarassed and red faced when someone other than the husband praises me. I do not take very well to praise that is heaped publicly.

19. I hate being in the limelight. I cringe and my worst smile comes to the fore. Imagine my status on my wedding day then, where I was the center of all attention. I am seen smiling awkwardly, shying from the cameras in all pictures. I also have a terrible fear of the microphone.

20. I like the idea of me cooking up a great traditional meal but I lack the requisite skills.

21. I always feel like I am the most boring employee of my office. Also the most nerdy and geeky!

22. I have 2 left feet. I was enrolled in a Bharatanatyam class when I was 14. I learnt for 2 full years before the instructor ran away(yes he did). My family says he ran away because he could not bear to see the dance form being butchered by my clumsy moves!

23. I read more women-authored blogs than mens'. The husband says I am biased towards women. I hope it is not true.

24. I never forget people who have been nasty to me. I have a very sharp memory and I remember their deed for life.

25. There is a certain 'type' of women and men I absolutely hate. I shall refrain from saying what the exact type is, but if I talk to you or read your blog, it is not you!

Random thoughts...

Rediff creeps
I have a bad habit. As I arrive at work 8:00am or so, I open my laptop, connect the power cord and the LAN cable and open my Firefox and type in 'rediff.com' on the browser and hit enter. Then I spend the next few minutes looking at the headlines, and sometimes, if a headline is sensational enough, go read the story. I also admit, sometimes, during the course of reading the story I glance at the comments. That is when I am magically transported back in time. Back to India, and traveling in that crowded bus, where one creep passes comments on how nice I look, while the other whistles and makes annoying noises and one more is desperately trying to get close. The comments are almost always creepy, weird, with sexual undertones. Even a fairly harmless story about a movie release gets these creeps out of the rocks under which they hide. Once out, they cannot keep themselves from commenting on practically every aspect of the article, the author and anything even remotely related to the article in question, in a morally decrepit manner. And whenever I read those, I have a seriously string urge to find these creeps and laugh on their face. Do look at the rediff comments when you have nothing better to do and need to pass your time!

Gaaliyan!
Ever notice how most mass 'gaalis' are related to women in one way or the other, Ma*&^, Behen%*&^%$ etc? Does it not bring back the age-old idea that a woman is the chief protector of family as well as personal dignity? A 'gali' given to a man is almost always tied to either his mother or his sister. He loses his dignity when the women in his life lose theirs.

A random tag

I picked up this tag from Ritu who tagged all her readers.

Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you.

1. I cry whenever I see a character in a movie cry. No matter how silly the acting is, I cry.

2. I love to workout and eat what I want, no wonder I haven't reached my goal weight yet!

3. I think I have an obsessive compulsive disorder when it comes to walking on a tiled surface. I try not to step on the lines, always try to place my foot INSIDE the tile. Imagine my consternation when I find tiles that are too small for my foot!

4. I used to paint and draw well and was something of an artist during undergrad. I haven't painted/drawn in the last 6 years.

5. I hate waxing. I'd rather be a hairy gorilla than undergo the torture.

6. I love my fingers. To me, they appear long and thin and beautiful.

7. I used to hate being the tallest girl around when I was in school. Now I love it!

8. I love Sonu Nigam's voice.

9. I am a pathetic singer(I really mean pathetic) but love the idea of singing, so I subject my spouse to the torture every so often.

10. I am not traditional at all.

11. I love doing the Hindu crossword. Never managed to finish it, but it gives me a good challenge.

12. I like coffee more than tea but drink tea more every day.

13. I am hooked to reading Indian blogs.

14. I like to read movie gossip.

15. I hate it when people undermine women. I have taken up many a fight when I was in India. Sometimes, fighting to lose!

16. I like politics.

17. I can read anything. I can even read the fine print in a credit card statement if I do not find anything else to read.

18. I love masala movies. The more jhatkas, matkas, the merrier. The more slapstick, the better.

19. I am a BIG fan of Akshay Kumar, even now.

20. I absolutely hate Aishwarya Rai and her newly acquired 'family'. I think they are more tamasha than necessary.

21. I am a foodie.

22. I love to cook when I am in the mood. Mundane, everyday cooking makes me yawn!

23. I love to dress up sometimes, but am not a girly girl at all.

24. I don't think I can survive without the Internet or phone or both.

25. I love earrings - small studs, dangerously long danglers and everything in between. That reminds me, I need to organize my earring collection better!

I tag anyone who would want to get tagged!