Pickles- Tempting Assortments!

Hello Everybody,

How are you folks doing?

Today i would like to share with you all the tantalising and toungue teasing assortments of food: Pickles!

Rags To Riches !

Hello Bloggers,

What's on!

Hope this finds you all in the pinnacle of health!

Today i would discuss with you all Director Danny Boyle's latest offering "Slumdog Millionaire."

This movie generated some interesting discources in the form of feature segments involving opinions from filmakers, actors on channels as Times Now and so on.

A viewer of the channel stated: "The movie is an attempt to sell emerging India encompassing all sections of the society, with its potent middle - class, Call- centre culture to the west."

The movie also has generated interest among the public both nationally and internationally by winning the coveted Golden-Globe awards including individually for A.R. Rahman's powerful score in the production.

As you might all have known i watched this movie in a multiplex just near my institute (Fun-Cinemas) with my movie-buff partner, father. Gerry (pursuing Broadcast Journalism) and this production surely will create some sort of impression in the viewers mind.

The movie starts very creatively. The flashback of the story is shown running parallely with the present happenings ( such a technique was followed by Rang De Basanti, though the context was different there)

The movie is a fictionalised account of a young boy from the slums of Mumbai city emerging as the Millionaire in a Cash Quiz show which is a take on America's "Who wants to be a millionaire?" in the production's English version and "Kaun Banega Crorepati?" in its Hindi version.

The character is Jamaal Malik( Dev Patel) who growing through harsh realities of life lands up in the quiz-show of a production owned by Mr. Kumar ( Anil Kapoor) of which he is the host.

He is suspected by Kumar as to have used fraudulent means to earn the cash-prize on the show.

Thereby Jamaal is sent to Jail by Kumar himself when he on the penultimate question goes to the show's studio's bathroom and writes the wrong option for an answer upon one of the mirrors which becomes misty by the steam generated from the tap's hot water!

The opening shots are well-executed. The camera angles of profiles are good (these had to be so , for it is a Hollywood production).

Jamaal's journey from being an immature, everyday kid from the slums who lost his mother in communal clashes to being a responsible and humanitarian life-partner to Latika (Freida-Pinto) is well portrayed.

High handedness and typecast unreasonable attitude of Policemen towards convicts is shown by the torture meted out to Jamaal in the jail.

Inter- connectedness of Slums being attacked in this case by rioters and subsequent arrival of racketeers in the guise of Orphanage management people who lure children and try exploiting them according to their suited interests is also intelligently shown.

The most logical explanation Mr. Boyle tries to give in Jamaal's "bulls-eye" answers in the show is that he tries to piece together nuances of his personal life-experiences and a little bit of "Midas-touch" guess-work!

Father Gerry says that the concept is good and Boyle's imagination is convincing. He finds fault in one of the scenes when he says that a scar shown in the character Latika's(Freida Pinto) cheek is on her left when she is cut on the area by goons pursuing her in one scene is shown as being on her right side.

Overall a good Movie with symbolisms and interesting anecdotes thrown here and there in the form of objects, elements etc.

For instance, in the ending scene when our underdog hero is shown being reunited with his lady-love Latika in the V.T. station platform, the clock is shown with its dials on the figure "0" which i guess shows that their lives have started afresh braving all the turmoils and upheavels.

Music uphelds this movie and A.R. Rahman atleast for India's pride in the international arena shines bright with trademark- east meets west compositions in the form of tracks like the powerful anthem-like "Jai-ho" at the end picturised with dancing extras behind our hero and heroine ala, true Bollywood Style!

What is making the production more publicised is its 10 nominations for the Oscars this year with three being for the humble musician himself.

An underdog story with Bollywood streaks here and there the movie is worth a watch.

I would suggest you all to go and watch this sudden, out of the blue sky-rocketting pulp-fiction.

I won't discuss the story and deprive you of the thrills!

Just go and hit the theatres!

God Bless you all.

Keep Blogging

Subtle Satire !

Hello Bloggers,

Virgin Paradise !

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The Eternal Voice !

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Delhi - City of Hearts !

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With Great Power....!

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Enigmatic - Conscience Pricker !

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Detective shows on Indian Television !

Hello Bloggers,

Hope this finds you all in the best of health!

The Great Indian Love Story !

Hello bloggers,

We have been growing up with the 80's stuff and we feel ourselves previledged to chew the cud and ruminate whatever we have come across those vibrant years!

The common man resurfaces again !

Hello Bloggers.

What's on!

Films are a wonderful recreation. It is a destressing medium and also one which carries a certain moral or the other.

The movie I would like to discuss with you all is YashRaj's latest installation.

It is Aditya Chopra's " Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi " which was released on 12th Dec, 2008.

The Aditya Chopra-Shahrukh Khan duo had earlier offered us magically weaved productions as Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge and Mohabbatein.

It is after a hiatus of 8 years that the two are converging again for some visual fireworks!

The movie marks the debut of a fresh face, Anushka Sharma.

The tale is woven on streaks of romantic-drama genre that the banner expertises in yet succeeds in leaving the audiences interested till its end.

The story goes on something like this.

Surinder Sahani (Shahrukh Khan) works for the electric-generating company, Punjab-Power.

He is plain and ordinary in his thoughts as well as dressing.

He sets off to attend the marriage of his teacher's daughter. He was his favorite student.

He is introduced in the ceremony to the would-be-bride as well as his daughter, Tani(Anushka Sharma).

She is a vivacious, fun-loving, bubbly young girl about to experience a married life.

Surinder falls head over heels at her feminine and natural looks couple with the quintessential charm which according to him is rare to be seen in contemporary girls.

An hour later news reaches that the Bridegroom and his family had met with a fatal accident while on the way, which claimed their lives.

Suddenly, the rejoicing and festive house is pushed into pervading gloom. Surinder's teacher and Tani's father suffers a heart attack and is rushed to the hospital, with doctors claiming it as a major stroke.

Surinder's teacher calls for him in the ward and tells him that he would be satisfied and would depart from this world as a happy man if Surindr marries Tani.

After some persuasion, Surinder agrees and Tani is allied with him.

Tani agrees due to her dying father and in the process strangulates her wishes and desires in the process.

Her father passes away and she arrives to Suri's working class home in Amritsar.

Suri out of his gentle nature and kind-heartedness leaves her alone in his room, leaving it all for herself while he goes to live in the attic.

He prepares breakfast for himself and his newly wed wife and after a knock or two on the door leaves a note on the table with his cell number written on it.

Tani has not been able to overcome the sudden grief that struck her and was awake the whole night sobbing.

There is an interesting scene when Suri leaves the breakfast along with the note. He tries to place a red rose on the note indicating his love for her but after a few seconds again puts it back in the vase.

This shows his pent up love for her which he is somehow not able to express !

The same morning Suri is queried by his colleagues in the office that why had he been missing in the office for a couple of days and finds out abot his marriage.

They ask him about celebrations in his house and gather in the evening for dinner at his place.

Suri goes home worried and encounters Bobby Khosla( Vinay Pathak), his long time friend and owner of the salon, "head turner" in the locality. He grumbles on him being not informed about Suri's marriage!

Bobby talks with his friend and comes to not abot the circumstances leading to this alliance and also learns that Suri loves her dearly but cannot express the same!

His colleagues arrive and suri asks his friend to take care of them, while he goes to query his wife.

He knocks on the door and tells her that his friends on knowing about his marriage persuaded on some celebrations and tells her that it would be nice if she would just say a hello to them.

Upon not getting any response, Suri tells her from outside the door that he will tell them that she isn't well.

His colleagues are in the midst of their rejoicing when lo! she appears, with snacks prepared by her along with Sherbet and acknowledges each of his drunk friends.

They feel elated and earns Suri's respect as she saved him the blushes of the lot not being able to meet their newly wed bhabi.

Suri's love and admiration for her is at its peak when that night she suddenly confesses that she would need some time to adapt to the changed house-hold conditions and adds that she will transform herself from her earlier self to a new self.

Surinder is shocked when he hears that she would never be able to love him as her husband!

Surinder is broken from whitin yet keeps up a brave face.

As Tani promised he gets his breakfast and that too before he comes to prepare it himself! In addition he also has his office-tiffin prepared in his "yellow-lunch-box" kept in his scooter.

The reason for me mentioning the shade yellow is that it can have a layered meaning for yellow is a colour generally associated with meek, timid persons.

Surinder consoles his heart and considers this act of her's as his spouse's love towards him!

Tani as is a vivacious, spontaneous and fun loving girl finds it tough to keep her promise!

She happens to get the news of a dancing-competition that has come to town from Bombay, titled "Dancing-jodi"

Its criteria is that it requires pair of a male and female for dance. She approaches Suri and also tells him that if he disapproves of her not joining it, she would oblige.

After a few minutes, Suri quitely keeps the fees for the admission in the event besides the handbill for the event!

She thanks him and he acknowledges it quitely!

She goes to the auditions and gets involved in the process.

Meanwhile our never say die Suri approaches Bobby to help him earn the love from Tani.

Booby can be said to be the catalyst in the tale( running on the lines of Deven Verma in the portrayal of a theatre artist who comes to the rescue of Amol Palekar in the classic,"Golmaal .")

He spunks up Suri's hair, makes him adorn flashy designer tees, stone-washed fitting jeans complete with coloured glares and pointed beatle shoes for footwear!

Suri's Moustache is cut off (Bobby wanted it to be trimmed!) when the lights in the salon goes off !

The direction is clever here, for he doesn't present Suri's alter-ego i.e. the non-existent Raj as a genuine hunk but infuses charicatures in his portrayal of Raj - a Jat-Punjabi character, hence his over the top dressing and one who flirts with pretty girls at the drop of a hat !

Suri reaches the audition centres as Raj and spots Tani there and as the rules of the competition go they are made to pair with each other.

Much to the bewilderment of Tani, he doesn't know to display the right moves and struggles with his partner, who is a quick learner.

This goes on for some days. As expected Tani finds solace in Raj's Mannerism-his candidness most of all his capacity to make her smile almost everytime. Suri is delighted. As the longer dance-sessions requires time at hand , he tells his wife at home that he will be late home as he is on overtime at the office.

One fine day, he says to his partner that she better find some other dancing-partner for his moves would take her nowhere. He tells this to find her reaction.

After a couple of days, she visits the address that Suri as Raj provided at the dance-centre's records.

This leads her to a motor-garage of a Sikh friend of Bobby. Bobby is present there when she arrives and informs Suri about the matter.

Suri is delighted and excitedly heads for the address but only after changing his attire from Bobby's salon!

Upon reaching there as Raj, Tani tells him that as he is her partner it rests on her to carry this relation forward and that is by teaching him to dance.

He is elated and their rigorous sessions day in and day out begins.

Suri tells Bobby all this .

Guts and Glory.

Hello Bloggers,

How is Everything?

Sufi - Saints of India.

Hi Bloggers,                                                       

Hope this finds everyone in the pinnacle of whatever you all do!

Chilly and their many varieties.

Hi Bloggers,

Hope everyone is well and good!

Jeans and their History!

Hello Everybody, What's up?

3G Blitzkrieg !

Hello to every blogger,

How is everything?

Today i would like to place in front of you all the technology and features of 3G phones.

I dedicate this post to our System Analyst and Assistant Director, Father Dejus of my institute Niscort who has a an electronic communication degree from London and who eats, breathes and lives technology.

Journalists in Comic-Books!

Hello every Blogger!

What's on?

Cultural-Influence on Religion.

Good Morning Bloggers,

Rise and shine!

Today I would like to discuss with you all the topic that does Culture influence Religion?

The world earlier was disintegrated, with no communication , common language, common - currency, etc.

The passage of time taught man a lot of things.

The world is composed of the following religions: Christianity, Islam, Zionism, Zorastrianism , Confucisinism , Buddhism , Jainism , Hinduism , Sikhism and certain animistic and nature - worshipping cults.

The father of Communism , Karl-Marx stated: "Religion is the opium of the weak ! " 

Propositions aside, Let us track the influence of culture on religion. 

The Islamic republic of Iran has a rich culture which is manifested besides other things in its language.

Iran shares good bilateral ties with Democratic India. 

This nation before coming under pan-Islam comprised of Parsees, a cultural community who are alledged to have come as refugees to the erstwhile princely state of Gujarat. The ruler of Gujarat as traditional narratives has it had asked the Parsees, as to how will they be accepted in this territory  to which they had replied: We are so harmonious, that "we would mix ourselves in this land as sweetly as sugar does!" 

Period!

The Parsees speak Parsi language which has synonyms to the Persian language spoken by the Muslim population now. They are Fire-Worshippers.

Persian had enjoyed a great status in India with the Mughal emperors having it as their court-language and mother-toungue. This was due to the inter-marriage the Mughals had with the Iranian nobility of that era.

There are a lot of accounts in the form of letters, essays, poems, treatises on India in Persian.

The Marathas ( who after Shivaji were a disintegrated nobilty with a lot of Peshwas) corresponded in letters to the Muslim rulers in this medium.

Urdu, which was developed in the Sindh and parts of North West Frontier province(present Peshawar) of undivided India to the present format has a lot of derivations from Persian.

Despite these, the common link between Parsees and Iranians among many other things is the usage of the term, Khuda , referring to God. The Parsees refer to God as Khudai !

All sweet sounding terms trace their origin to Persian. The name of Indian superstar, Shahrukh Khan, Shahrukh, a Persian name denotes Princely or Royal-face.

My name, Jawed is of Persian origin too. It means " long-life !"

The concept of Secularism has been worked with the backdrop of the amalgamation of the rich composite culture and adapted accordingly.

It traces its root to the Persian term, "Sulekhul " denoting the same. Our  statesman-like Prime Minister, Pandit Nehru had thrown his weight behind it.

The Maratha term " Peshwa ", as adressed to the rank of the chief in their nobility traces its origin again to Persian.

Even after being an Islamic-Republic, Iranians celebrate "Navroze" or the Iranian new-Year which is again celebrated b the Parsees in India!

Iran is a culturally strong nation it encompassed all that was available in Souh-Asian as welll as Oriental traditions during its build up as a nation.

The Panchatantra tales of India had travelled to Iran besides Greece and had manifested itself in their own peculiar narratives.

Culture is what our ancestors have to give to us. They can be in the form of mores, folkways, different forms of traditional media, literature and its many genres, historical, sociological records and accounts.

The present world is a globalised one with human-resources from almost every country flocking to economically-sound nations for better career and economic prospects.

We should try to preserve our culture. It is a gift from our ancestors.

Thank you,

Keep blogging!

Mills and Boons of India!

Hello Folks,

What's on!

Today i will share with you all my understanding of an Teeny-bopper movie of Indian cinema.

The movie to be discussed is the 1981 teen romance, "Love-Story" directed by yesteryears star, Rajendra Kumar. It was the debut of Kumar-Gaurav(Rajendra-Kumar's son).It also starred Vijeta Pandit(the sister of JatinPandit, Latit Pandit of the Music- duo fame).

It starred Rajendra Kumar himself, Danny Denzongpa, Vidya Sinha and a brief role as Kumar's wife, Bina.

Its theme was a teenage love-story with the backdrop of the lead pairs parents' at war for trivial reasons as ego-clashes!

It has Rajendra-Kumar as Vijay Mehra, a real-estate builder who wants to marry Suman(Vidya Sinha).

But as fate would have it, she ultimately marries Ram(Danny), another rising builder who is in love with her.This event in their lives sets the tone for grudging enimity between the two. Subsequently, Vijay also marries. Tragedy strikes Vijay when his wife dies while giving birth to a baby-boy. Vijay names him Bunty Mehra(Kumar Gaurav).

On the other hand, Suman(Vidya Sinha) gives birth to a baby-girl who is named Pinky-Dogra by her father, Ram-Dogra.

Bunty is given all comforts of material life. He is a boy living life in the fast lane. Is literally a street-smart, outspoken character!

He dislikes orderliness and punctuality which his father is bound to maintain in corporate life and keeps on teasing his father that these rules will force him into fleeing from his home!

Elsewhere in Ram's household, he is portrayed to be an overtly caring and possesive father of Pinky. she also literally, gets tired of his attitude towards her.

Life comes full circle when years later, both Bunty and Pinky meet each other in a bonfire picnic.Both are opposites with Pinky being kind and generous hearted while, Bunty being a dashing and devil may care lad!

"Opposites attract" tenet of love comes into play when both of them fall in love with each other, thanks to a series of misunderstanding between the two and the symbolic "handcuff" tied to both of them by the light-natured, Havildar,Sher Singh(Amjad khan)! This happens for, they have fled from their homes, and the police frisked by their respective families.

Coming in terms with their weakness for each other our hero and his damsel approach each others parents. But of no avail, their egos prove greater than this alliance.

Knowing of this stumbling block,Both of them elope and try to set up their own home in the countryside with each standing up for each other.

Their parents intervene and seperate both of them much to the sorrow of the teenagers.

Meanwhile, Pinky's marriage is planned and even scheduled by Ram against her wishes.Our hero reaches the venue tries to make peace with her father but of no avail.

Bunty's father, Vijay reaches out to his son and even agrees on making truce with Ram, but the latter doesn't twich a bit from his stubborn stand.

This leaves Bunty with one option that to take away Pinky before the marriage begins.He does so and earns the wrath of her father who goes after them with a gun!

On hearing this, Vijay goes to pacify the enraged Ram. As pinky was about to be married, She was in her costly bridal-attire and jewellery.This catches the fancy of the petrol pump worker, where Bunty goes with the car they are fleeing, to be fuelled up. This man informs his thug accomplice about this matter immediately on phone and tells him to overpower the couple on the highway.

As they are chased by these cronies and told to stop, Bunty hits the brake hard to outrun them. These goons chase them to the brink that forces Bunty to throw away the jewellery bundling them in a cloth. As he throws the lot along the roadside Our friendly Havaldar, Shersingh out to catch the couple picks it up and comprehends the fishiness of the matter.

The havaldar who had set out to catch the troubled lovers gets involved in tracking and  countering the thugs instead!

Ram with blood boiling over his head finds out the plight of the two innocent lovers caught in the web of unfavouring circumstances.

So the fathers of both the teens try to pull out their progenies from these troubled waters !

In the heat of the fight with the thugs, our hero recieves a stray bullet on his arm that was to claim Ram's life!

This proves the innocene and selflessness of the couple's love for each other. They do not want to maintain their parents illogical grudge to poison their relations

And thus, things take a turn for the better, ala Bollywood churned out romantic-drama style!

The highlight of the movie is its sountrack and music, composed by none other than the late Rahul "Pancham" Deburman.

One is bound to go down memory-lane while listening to tracks: "Yeh Ladki Zarasi deewani..." as well as "Teri Yaad aa rahi hain.." with trademark Pancham instrumentals.

The male lead's voice was provided by debutante Amit-Kumar(son of the late Kishore-Kumar). The female's was by Asha bhonsle and the inimitable Lata Mangeshkar.

We get to see  elements peculiar of the 80's in the film. Bell-Bottom trousers, Dirt-Bikes, Hot-Pants, Checquered-suits with a snug-fit to name a few!

The  shooting locales are an interesting mix of countryside territory, lush-green valleys and industrial, contemporary infrastructure.

Kumar Gaurav's(launched as a fresh face) performance at the time of its release was accepted by cine-goers barring a few-scenes where he appears somewhat, frozen or stuck in body-language.

The movie was a run-away hit, with Gaurav earning the sobriquet of "a one film wonder" as he did not click with the audiences in his later movies.

While it was the only movie of female lead, Vijeta Pandit. She later entered the forray of playback singing.

The first such teenage-romance was Raj Kapoor's "Bobby."

Comic-relief was provided in the country-bumpkin like portrayal of a kind-hearted Havaldar by Amjad Khan. Audiences will love his colloquial accent when he utters: " Ludka, Ludki ! " referring to the eloping couple!

This movie interestingly set the trend  for  Teenage-romance flicks as Qayamat se Qayamat Tak and Maine Pyar kiya!

I suggest you to watch this movie with your own understanding of the tale.

Till then, Happy Viewing!

Peace.

80's Martial Arts

Hi Bloggers,

Hope this finds you in the pinnacle of whatever you do!

Today i would like to discuss with you all a movie.

It in the strictest terms can be categorised in the Action-Adventure genre of movie-viewing.

The movie in hand is "No Retreat No Surrender."The script was penned by the trio of See-Yuen Ng, Keith W. Strandberg and Corey Yuen. It was directed by Corey Yuen himself. While it was produced by See-Yuen Ng.

One last production detail is that its studio was New World Pictures. It was released on 2nd May, 1985.

There were are a lot of martial arts movie being made in Hollywood by the industry's collaboration with Hong-kong based filmakers or studios.

The legendary Bruce Lee had started it all!

The movie if told in a nutshell will appear somewhat like this:

Jason Stillwell(Kurt Mckiney) , a Bruce-Lee fan, is beaten a numerous times and trains from the spirit of the legendary martial artist.

Jason then, must use his new-found capabilities to fight a crime-syndicate, whose top martial artist is Ivan(given in the cast credits as Ivan the Russian!) played by the rugged Jean-Claude Vandamme.

This is just lesser than a nuttshell understanding of the story.The story is for you all to watch.

I will be delighted to give you a little detailed understanding or to put it this way, my non-rigid understanding of the story.

The story takes off when Jason Stillwell, a Bruce-Lee fan finds himself helpless to protect his father from the Russian syndicate which includes its fighter, Ivan from pressurising him via muscle-power to hand over his little Karate-centre in Los Angeles.

The family leaves the city to head for a quiet life in Seattle. Jason's father's leg is broken by Ivan and he has no option left for teachng martial-arts.

A strange grit and a determination of sorts inculcates in Jason's soul throughout this whole experience.

He makes varied friends in the vicinity as R.J.(J.W. Fails) He also earns some tormentors as the fat-bully who is jealous on his knack for martial arts( he is learning in the seattle centre!) as well as on R.J.

Jason unable to keep his lack of practise heads for the local centre which has produced state-level champions including the current one!

There he is pissed of by the fat-bully who takes his revenge on both Jason and R.J.He tells the coach there that jason beat him up on the heated arguement that, L.A. Karate is better than Seattle's!

This angers him and the unknowing Jason is told to fight the peak-level Light-weight champion of the centre.Obviously, our hero is beaten because of his amateur-level.The fat-bully's mission to emberass him is accomplished as Jason doesn't get admitted there.

R.J. sticks with him through thick and thin.

Jason is again humiliated, beaten and insulted in his Girlfriend Kelly's Birthday by the same group of tormentors. As he is no match against the trained players who are the fat-guy's friends he leaves with a heavy heart with some failed and erratic resitance to them!

He once visited Bruce-Lee's Grave with R.J. in town. He again heads for the venue.

He breaks down at his epitaph and tells Bruce that he is a loser!

Back home it is no better, as his father seeing his torn clothes and bruises assumes that his son has had been the bully!

It was natural as he was still shaken by his encounter with the cold-blooded syndicate and was afraid of his son's plight.

He tears the posters of Bruce-Lee in the storehouse outside their home where Jason trains and throws the wooden-dummy where he would practise locking, kicking and punching techniques tirelessly alog with other implements.

Saddened by all these, Jason heads for R.J's place. He asks him a place to store his things needed for practice.

R.J. helps him in getting a temporarily abandoned room of a friend large enough to serve the purpose.

Jason while in the room tired and hapless is visited by the ghost of his idol, Bruce-Lee himself!

Bruce-Lee much to the bewilderment of his fan says that as he called for him by a true heart, lo!he was there to train him.

Rigorous lessons follow. Starting from the rectification of Jason's conventional techniques to the incorporation of new-ones. Bruce-Lee's training sequences are memorable, for he uses his uncanny style often seen in his movies coupled with knowledge attributed to simple, commonplace and often neglected elements.With his unique style, he not only trains him physically but toughens him mentally by clearing his pre-concieved notions.

The witty one-liners of Bruce-Lee intact and Jason becomes an arsenal complete with the fatal-kick which Bruce-Lee expertised in. It was executed when the other leg is being blocked with the player landing a kick on the chin of the opponent by somewhat propelling himself with balance and precision.

The last scenes are a treat for action-lovers as Jason fights Ivan in the state tournament when every Seattle champion is knocked off by his lethal fighting-skills.

Jason with the same panache and technique-execution as Lee counters Ivan's moves.

Sidelined, Ivan goes for the kill and tries to keep Jason at bay by entangling him in the ropes of the ring and punching his jaw constantly.

To the delight of the positive and indomitable element in Jason, R.J. yells:

Jase, " No Retreat No Surrender ", charging our hero with much needed adrenailine!

Jason strikes with renewed passion and suceeds in knocking him off by landing the specialised kick of Lee on his chin!

He proves his point in a constructive and justified manner.

The hallmark of the production is the music-score by artist, Paul Gilreath. These were typical 80's energetic compositions which so many generations have grown up listening to!

The title-track stand on your own is nostalgic and truly inspiring with the added delight of Gilreath's instrumentals peculiar of 80's pop-rock genre.

Movies on martial arts against all odds are plenty like this productions contemporary, the Karate Kid.

They ran on moral themes with an underdog protagonist having the last laugh.Many youths grew on these movies and tried to emulate the lead characters!

80's was a fantastic phase for pop-culture including unorthodox martial arts, street fighting, comic-book culture, T.V. sitcoms, break-dance etc.

This film is different because the ordinary youth can identify with Jason's character. He has the simple aspirations to get better each day like the ambitious and enthusiastic boy-next door.

The Weak points of the movie can be the tone of its dialogues.They appear campy at places.

The sound-impact of the kicks and punches sound like hitting wooden surfaces.That is something to do with the production values.

The performance of Jason's father (Timothy D.Baker) appear unconvincing as regards his dialogue delivery and corresponding expressions.

The supernatural element of Bruce-Lee's ghost coming to the aid of jason was something new, unused in other martial-arts franchise of that period.

This production led to the making of two more franchises under the same title, but they were not sequels to this story.

Anyway, it was indeed a nostalgic movie for some generations.

I will recommend you all to watch it and relive the magic of the 80's!

Happy viewing!

Peace.

Here 's the original trailer of the movie:

Shield Slinging Sentinel!

Origins of some Food !

Hello Everybody,

What's up!

I thought let me discuss with you all something about Food.

To start with , "Biryani" which is a famous oriental dish has got a great fanfare in India-the ''melting pot'' of almost everything in the world.

This mouth watering and filling dish is prepared in different ways in the states of the country.

The Parsees, a cultural community of Iran who had migrated to India long back in the state of Gujarat and who in contemporary times have quite a number 0f 'nostalgic' eateries in Maharashtra prepare it in a different manner.

The Muslims in Hyderabad prepare it in a different way. Same will be the case with Karnataka, Madras etc.

In Delhi it is prepared in the traditional Mughalai style and has also undergone changes down the ages.

Speaking of Mughalai fare, the Karim's chain of hotels in the city are excellent in this regard , with outlets near Meena-Bazaar in Jamma-Masjid and the one near the Sufi Saint, Hazrat Nizammudin Auliya's Shrine.

Biryani, the assortment of flavoured rice with traditional additions as "Kewra", "Gulab-Jal" (Rose-water) , Bada- Elaichi and boiled Mutton/chicken has a long history of its coming to India.

The Mughals had brought it here among the many 'firsts' they had introduced to this land. Its origin can be traced to Central Asia and Iran from where the Mughal's Family-tree starts from that region with many inter-marriages with Turkish and Iranian nobility.

It was In Emperor Akbar's reign, that his cavalrymen were fed with this dish as it was wholesome and nutritious and gave them a boost to march untreaded terrains.

The Method of carrying these were somewhat like this.

They were filled in big-handis i.e., saucepans with wheat-dough smeared around the corners/edges of the lids covering these dishes , preventing the heat from escaping thus, keeping it warm and were tied on to Elephant backs including its rear with ropes!

Biryani was a rich dish and it required a good constitution for digestion so, the Mughals used to have "Burhuni" after the dish. Burhuni was a digestive like the Rajputs, appetiser, "Jaljeera".

It was made of curd with oriental and Indian spices mixed with it.

Be healthy, Eat healthy, Think healthy!!

So Much for now,

I will be back again at your service.

Till then keep bloogging,

Peace.

Of Ranches and Cactuses!

Hi Every body, Hope every thing is going fine.

Last night I watched the movie, Mackenna's gold

Folktales are here to stay!

Hi everybody.

How did the night go.

Good morning. The sun's rays are kissing the face of the earth!

Paheli, The movie directed by the semi-art movies actor of yesteryears, Amol palekar if viewed from the apparent level will show us a canvass of medieval fairytale often narrated by the elders of the house orally to their kith and kin.

As we go deeper into the treatment given to the tale by the director considering the proprtions the medium of cinema covers we get to see that it can also be passed of as a tale about the emancipation of women. Or to put it this way, is it a wrong choice for the jurists to select it for the BAFTA awards equivalent to Oscars.

We can asume that it has something in it which made it India's official entry to 2006 edition of the awards.

The "Hullabaloo" surrounding its selection by the jury-panel is not objective.

Yes, everything has its flaws and loopholes,to which criticism is welcome.But, people judging Black to be a better competitor to paheli is not on. The jurists are not an ignorant or arrogant lot.Their decision is rational.

"Black", the tale of alzheimer's disease and victims falling prey to it and even then , rising, attempting to advance while braving all odds is a remarkable and inspiring tale.But, the tale has been adapted to so called Indian standards of movie making and given a melodramatic touch in the process just to serve our masala- loving cine-goers by Sanjay leela Bhansali.

Such themes in movie making sans the melodramatic touch can be easily concieved by the proffesionals of Hollywood.

In fact, such tales of victims of fatal disease braving all odds and attempting to rie above sympathy is Hollywood's brainchild, the only thing is that such a movie had not been made in our industry.Earlier, there were movies like "Koshish" with Sanjeev kumar in the lead. There was also Sunil Dutt's "Dard ka rishta. " Their treatment of the subjects of malfuctionalities and diseases were awe-inspiring.

Yet at the same time these propositions do mot steal the glory of Bhansali's genius.

Leaving suggestions, Countersuggestions aside, if we introspect Amol Palekar's production, we can see the significance allied with it.

It falls in the genre of paralllel, offbeat cimema which very subtlety interprets complexities and phases of the dynamic human life. These techniques were implemented in moviemaking by the likes of Kudan Shah and Ketan Mehta in his middle phase of filmaking. 

Paheli highlights the culture, traditions and heritage of our land interpreted to the audience via a folk-like feel with use of colours, Puppets, song and dance symbolic to the state of Rajasthan.

The story is originally adapted from Vijaydan Detha's Rajasthani folk tale, "Duvidha."It was earlier made by another gem of a director, Mani Kaul in 1973 by the same title.

The tale permeates our rich composite culture containing in the unparalleled literary compositions of indigenous authors.

Instead of lauding Shahrukh Khan who is a main stream superstar of the tinsel town attempting along with Amol Palekar to present to the world the rich Indian collection of stories which gave their stamp on the Hans Anderson, Grimms Fairytales and even the Aesop fables, we are demoralising them by branding the film which runs  on a non-stereotyped theme, as a wrong choice by the jury panel.

Also we have to keep in mind that literature has been the forte of Indian cinema for many years and years to come.

signing off only for today,

keep blogging. peace

Which is the Best-Science or Arts?

Hello folks,

Salaam and Namaskar to you all!

I would like to throw in front of you all a topic as to which is the best discipline, Science or Arts.

People argue that Science is a discipline which lives in the real world whereas Arts in a make believe one.

With no offence made to any of the propositions I would like to state that The world is not a compartmentalised matter, it has had over centuries and ages produced Scientists, inventors, mathematicians, discoverors, innovators, biologists, alchemist, astronomers, metereologists, ornithologists etc..

In a similar manner, the world over has had the privilege of witnessing the articulate, romantic( not in the limited sense of the term.) , delicate and well-crafted works of Poets, Authors, Novelists, Playwrights, Essayists etc.

An ignorant senior of mine once commented to me while we were indulged in an evening stroll, "students from Science background can easily go for arts studies in his/hers higher degree of studies and also adapt to it but an Arts background student cannot do so! "

Little does he know that how can that science student bring lucid vocabulary in his/her pen? How can that student involved in dissection of parts of amphibians in his lab be satirical in his compositions and notes?How can that student inculcate in himself connectivity, creativity, nuances required or to put it this way how will he/she in one stroke develop aesthetic sense?

India has had the blessings of a long tradition of learning, knowledge gathering, chronicling them via the mediums available down the ages.

It has had the previlege of being bestowed with two of the oldest universities known in the annuls of history, The Taxxila and The Nalanda.

It has had the previlege of being visited by knowledge-seekers like Huen-Tsang and closer home the oriental scholar from middle east, Al-Biruni.

I will quote one instance from Al-Biruni's treatise on India which speaks volumes about his modesty and humility as far as pride upon his learning was concerned.(Arabs like Indians has had the proud legacy of Astronomers, Chemists, Mathematicians, Inventers-the world's first camera was made there)

He was in his death bed and was disturbed regarding the solution of a mathematical problem and was constantly inquiring about it to his freind by the bedside.His freind not to worry about it as will strain his nerves. His freind went out of the chamber to fetch something and heard a yell of joy. On returning, he found his freind dead and a paper lying beside him on which was scribbled the solution of the mathematical problem!

The famous Physicist, Issac Newton when on the peak of his achievements had stated-"I am still picking up the sea-shells by the shore!" 

Persons giving irrational or judgemental staements on any issue should be made to do their homework and acquainted with the time-tested saying of Rousseau which runs as:

"A little learning is a dangerous thing ! "

The Mughals were patron of letters, architecture as well as technology, evident from the capacity of their awe-inspiring weapons and arsenal.

Tipu Sultan, the warrior-king of erstwhile Mysore state knew 4-5 languages, was a distinguised poet, an author( he had written the military mnual, Fateh-Al-Mujahideen),was an innovator too. He had modernised Rockets invented during his father, Haidar Ali's time, to that level that English adventurer,William Congreve, involved in the last battle of Mysore in which the ruler was martyred, carried the technology to England and came to be known as "the father of rocket-technology"

Cinema is composed of varied elements it  has comic relief borrowed from great dramatists works, it has satire from essayists and authors works, it has aesthetic sense in the form of poetry, paintings, pictures, portraits etc..with the many special-effects, sfx ,sync-sound, camera-positioning it involves. 

Nothing happens in isolation. The discipline of Journalism now into an advanced sphere of electronic-media is all-encompassing. It covers almost everything under the sky.The cause and effect methodology of approaching concepts, issues comes into play here.

So to all wannabe journalists being carried away with their little learning, be responsible and objective in whatever comment you think to make.

This applies to individuals of any occupation and vocation otherwise terms like "being politically correct" wouldn't have existed!

Thank you all for blogging!

Be positive,

Peace.

 

The Birds - Boon or Bane ?

(First Pic: Actress, Tippi Hedren.  Second Pic: Poster of the movie.)

Hello bloggers hope this finds you all in the pinnacle of whatever you all do!

Today I would like to blog about a Classic movie "The Birds" by master of mystery and suspense, the late Alfred Hitchcock.

Based upon the thrust of the theme of the movie, I would like to dedicate this note to the greatest ornithologist of India, Mr. Salim Ali aka as "the Birdman of India!"

To begin with let us dwelve into the obvious fact, i.e. human psychology is an interesting and complex study.

Equally interesting is the study of co-creations of his world-the animals and birds.
Birds have millions and millions of species and sub-species with its origins being traced to the pre-historic creature, Archaeopteryx.

The movie, "Birds" directed by Alfred Hitchcock runs on the time-tested themes of human psychology and his attitude towards other "lesser-creatures."

It stars the then debutante, Tippi Hedren ( mother of actress,Melaine Griffith) .She was a classic beauty who could give any contemporary actress a run for her money had she been in her prime.
She portrays the role of Melanie Daniels, the dashing and outspoken daughter of a rich newspaper owner in NewYork.

The story as many of you would know takes off when the second lead character of a gentleman named Mitchell Brennor arrives at a bird-shop to buy a pair of Love-birds for his sister essayed in the role of Cathy Brennor on her 11th Birthday.

Here he has a chance meeting with Tippi as she is a freind of the lady who owns the shop. Her unputdownable attitude towards life convinces her of giving Mr. Brennor a surprise by delivering the birds at his doorstep along with a message-note!

Upon not finding our hero in his appartment at the city, she heads for his summer- retreat home at Bodega Bay in the countryside.

Thereafter, alittle bit of inquiring at the general store leads her to the place where the Birthday girl's Schoolteacher, Miss. Annie Hayworth resides.
After brushing up the details about the Brennor family from her, She delivers the cage of the lovebirds at their doorstep.

While coming out of the house through the backdoor and taking the boat which she used to ferry herself across the river leading to the house on the other end, she is seen by our hero!

Her trauma and distress starts when she is literally attacked by a sea-gull with the creature cutting across her head with its razor-sharp claws while she is ferrying herself tro the other end.

Luckily, Mr. Mitchell Brennor comes to her rescue and nurses her with the first aid he can lay his hands upon in the general store.This "incident'' becomes the talk of the quiet little town.

As days go by, this town is seen at the recieving end of mass-attacks by "Sea-Gulls and Crows"

They make the townfolk run helter and skelter for fear of their lives!
Our hero's mother had, Mrs. Brennor had in the meantime witnessed the ghastly death scene of one of her freinds in his home with piercing marks, bruises all over his body and with his eyes perforated. There were dead birds strewn all over the room.

How they( the townfolk) react and respond to yhese attacks is to be seen...
The birds surely prove menacing than anything anyone could possibly ask for!

Hitchcock's franchise if viewed from the apparent level makes it a tale of suspense, thrills, mystery and macabre abound!

On an analytical level, it throws light on human beings preparedness to face any disaster-natural or artificial.

Also we get to see human psychology with corresponding body language through the mannerisms and tone of dialogue of the different characters.

Human attitudes are vividly shown in the scene when Tippi converses with he girl's Schoolteacher(where she stays for the night) and finds out that Mrs. Brennor, Mother of our hero is a possesive, obssesed woman who suspects every woman coming into her son's life(This was shown in the portrayal of the mother of Norman Bates in Hitchock's earlier production,'Psycho.')

As for Tippi Hedren's role, she is the thread of the story and is shown in a typecast portrayal of a rich and pretty blonde who in this case, is not only pretty but has the presence of mind to use her intelligence when needed.

Her profile needs her to be associated with Page-3 socialising of the Rich and Famous circles.

From Technological level, the birds when shown attacking humans look unconvincing with only close shots of the creatures shown biting the fingers of their victims appearing real . But considering the timeline of the production, and with the amount of special effects available at hand, it was an enviable ''concept-execution.''

Alfred Hitchcock's characters are essayed as having an aura of mystery around them.

All said and done, well folks, I am raring to watch the newest adaptation of this classic with Australian beauty, Naomi Watts playing the lead. Till then, comparisons are bound to occur.

Keep watching and commenting!
Peace to all.

This is a picture of Australian actress, Naomi Watts: