And the Most Farcical Awards are…

Couple of days ago, I was browsing through the NDTV website when I came across something called the ‘GR8 Women’s Achievers  Awards’. These were new to me but apparently Kelvinator has given them for the last 2 years. I was browsing through the photos of the event to see who got the awards….some inspirational stories maybe?…stories of women who achieved something against all odds…who contributed positively to our society…?NO! But who do I end up seeing…Aishwarya Rai, Sushmita Sen, Bhagyashree (yup..the one from Maine Pyar Kiya), Diya Mirza (she’s every where these days), Yuktha Mookhey, Aarti Chabria, Zarine Khan etc in their beautiful sarees showing off their blouses and some in their skimpy clothes showing off their well-toned abs and yea..how can I forget….Shabana Azmi..she’s all things feminist isn’t she?

I was so disappointed…there was no one who I could admire, who actually contributed something to our society. Did Kelvinator conviniently ignore people like Dr. Sunitha Krishnan, the founder of Prajwala and many other women who are aplenty in our country? Do GR8 Women Achievers all have to be bollywood starlets? Dr Sunitha Krishnan, the founder of an NGO called Prajwala, who was gang raped at a young age fought back her horrors to become a psychiatrist and help children who are severely abused and sometimes sold and trafficked. Isn’t she inspirational to other women? Isn’t she deserving of this award?

What exactly have the bollywood startlets achieved may I ask? Most of them were models before they became actors or progeny of stars. They get paid crap load of money for their work…live in posh homes, drive extremely comfortable cars and dress in designer labels. For me, a GR8 Achiever is someone like Dr. Sunitha Krishnan…who is ACTUALLY doing something good for our society against all odds.

She is the only one I can think of now but this doesn’t mean there is no other woman in our country who is helping another. I am sure you will find one in every street corner. Such awards should carry some value…give it to people who really deserve them, to encourage them, to motivate them, to recognise their efforts and to show to the world what they do so that their organisations/NGO’s get the much-needed support. It doesn’t matter if you don’t give these awards to actors, they will still be fine…they won’t be missing out on anything. Who will it be next yr? Katrina, Kareena, Deepika etc?

Shame On You Kelvinator and the GR8 Women’s Achievers Awards panel!

What I didn’t like about Sarkar Raj

I went to the movies yesterday to watch Mongol but my plan backfired. After some emotional blackmail’ing’ by S, I sat through Sarkar Raj. I was not mad about watching this movie after reading Raja Sen’s rediff review…and I also had an inkling that it would not live up to the prequel Sarkar.

I cannot get myself to write reviews about movies that I don’t like so please read Raja Sen’s review here. Instead, I will let my dear readers know what I didn’t like about the movie.

Here goes…

• Welcome to the world of Sarkar Raj where people never smile…No..Never. It is depressing.
• Meet Anita Rajan (aka Ash Rai Bach) who is supposed to be the CEO of a multi billion dollar Energy Company but is not half as dynamic as she is supposed to be. Instead, she takes people management, leadership and communication skills tuitions from Shankar Nagre (Abhishek Bachchan).
• One wonders why this ‘CEO’, who is supposed to be sitting in her air-coditioned office signing off deals and contracts lingers around Shankar Nagre. Doesn’t she have better things to do?
• Why Shankar Nagre confides in the CEO about his dark secrets and fears is above my understanding 😛 I mean…the man just lost his wife (Avantika aka tanisha) and it’s not even been a week and is already smitten by the London returned chick who walks like a model and talks like a plastic doll 😈
• There are too many twists and turns that by the end…you loose the plot and find it difficult to piece things together…who is who…who did what…what’s he doing here…isn’t he supposed to be dead etc etc are some of the common questions that pop up in your head…
• Amitabh is definately toast of the movie. Rest do an OK job. Ash’s job is to cry and talk about the power plant…that’s it.
• Overall, the movie is dark and depressing. Don’t waste your money….rent the dvd once its out or even better…watch it online 😀

My Rating: 2/5

PS: New Photographs in my Photoblog. Do take a look 🙂
 

Happy for No Reason :)

No..I did not get a new job offer, the weather could not have been worse….my head’s throbbing since morning but I am still happy! Isn’t it lovely to be happy for absolutely no reason atall?! We had such a bad long weekend. The weather was horrible. We wanted to go out one of the days but it was windy and rainy 😦 So stayed home and enjoyed a lazzyyy weekend. I broke my own record yesterday by waking up at 2PM 😀 the reason for my headache. Another reason for me to be happy today…I can now write text on my photographs! Yayyyy!!!! (OK..before you laugh at me…let me just clarify that I am NOT a techie…so this is a big deal!!) . Not that I care if people use my pics but I’d not like people basking in my glory 😛

Currently, listening ot AR Rahman’s Jeans…remember…the terrible movie starring Aishwarya Rai and Prashanth…which was the official entry to the Oscars in 1998 (if I am not wrong) ROFLL!!! I cannot even imagine how this movie was selected by our great panel…I am sure the jury was either drunk or bribed by Ashok Amritraj…producer of the movie…oh yea…the tennis player.

One of my fav song’s from the movie..Njoy! (Terrible lyrics since it’s a dub…but enjoy the music)

What I Thought of Jodha-Akbar (The movie of course)

Went to watch JA coupla days ago. I wanted to get myself to writing and updating my blog but my holiday has done me bad…I feel extremely lazy!!! But since S is snoring away to glory and the weather is gloomy….i thought…ok….why not write 😉

Well anyways, I am not going to write another review of the movie ‘cuz most of you would have already read it somewhere. So, I will keep it simple and tell you what I liked and disliked about the movie.

So first go the pros –

Hrithik……Hrithik….Hrithik…. 😀 OMG…how good looking he was…Mind you girls, I am not a great fan of HR, but he was jaw-droppin good lookin in this movie. His acting was not bad either. He is much better in this movie…when compared to Dhoom-2. I read somewhere that Akbar actually had 199 wives, the 200th being Jodhaa…..but if he was as good looking as the actor in the movie…..THEN AKBAR is NOT TO BE WRONGED!!! 😀

Coming to Ash, as Philip rightly mentioned in his blog, I was just glad that she stayed away from all the inappropriate giggling

Music by A R Rahman was fantastic as always. You might not instantly like the songs…but when you watch them on the big screen, the choreography, the sets and the costumes….it looks and sounds amazing!

I don’t know much about direction but to mention some of my favourite scenes in the movie – When Jalaluddin (Akbar) goes to Jodhaa’s place to apologise and get her back to Agra, Jodhaa refuses to return. Akbar requests her and Jodhaa turns a deaf ear. It only reinforces the fact that nobody is spared from the ‘nakhre of women’. Another note-worthy scene is when Jalaluddin sees Jodha’s face for the first time without the ‘Ghoonghat’. He then goes into a trance…like he’s seen the most beautiful thing on Earth. There are other scenes aswell…BUT GO WATCH THE MOVIE!!

Ila Arun and Sonu Sood were a revelation. Infact, I did not realise it was Ila Arun who played Maham Anga until the finishing titles started rolling.

Coming to the Cons –

The movie is way too looooong….222 mins if I am not wrong

I wouldn’t call it a con…but just a piece of advise…Don’t expect it to be like Troy. Ashutosh Gowariker has done a good job in gathering people, horses, elephants etc….but I guess Bollywood does not have the bucks Hollywood does…so has to compromise on flamboyance of the scenes and the sets.

I was also disappointed to see that some of the scenes were similar to that of Troy. For eg., the background score in the beginning when Big B narrates how the Moghuls came to power is similar to that in Troy. I was surprised to see that even A R Rahman has started looking to the West for inspiration 😦

Though  history behind the movie can be debated….we can instead choose to take home positives from the movie. Akbar always wanted a united Hindustan…..a Secular India….which we strive for so hard these days but end up getting hurt very badly. I am not very concerned about AG distorting history to sell his movie…but I saw something good in the movie and I hope everyone will see the same. Afterall, Secularism is a jewel in a beautiful Crown called India…we all have to do our bit to keep it that way.

Well anyways, enough of the serious stuff! My fav song from the movie….here goes…NJOY MAADI 😀

Looking forward to Jodha Akbar

Probably, it was Jalaluddin Akbar who first dreamt of a Secular Hindustan. No…I am not saying this ‘cuz I just saw the trailer of Jodha Akbar…I also happen to take a keen interest in History 🙂

Here’s a sneak peak

Hrithik looks WOW!