Oh My God ! The kind of ads that catch my eyes these days. They are... well, scary would the right word to describe them. Advertisements need to be effective enough to inscribe the product in the minds of prospective buyers. But I have a feeling that these ads will never make a positive impact whatsoever.

There was one ad that wants to get across this message - "Dress To Kill". And the visual to get this message across is a lady dressed in clothes from this particular shop, and there is this guy who is dead and lying on the stairs with blood all around the place. Is this the only way to get across the message ? Is the message they want to get across right in the first place ? I actually avoid looking in the direction of the hoarding that hosts this gory ad. Its kind of inauspicious to look at, first thing in the morning, when you set out to work.

There is this other ad which potrays creativity at its peak - It says "Thoughts Unzipped" and has the picture of a tonsured head and a zipper that runs through the head, the zipper unzipped to half the distance of the head. Instinctively, I moved my eyes away from the ad. To date, I have not bothered to check what that ad was for.

So whats the big point in making ads aimed at being head-turners, but end up turning heads away in disgust ?

There's more to write, but some other day maybe....

When the wave forgets that its part of the vast ocean,
When the ray forgets that its part of the mighty sun,
When the toddler forgets that its doting mother cares for him,
When man forgets that he is part of the eternal divine,
... thats when fear arises.

Was I gone for long ? And how long was that ? An epoch ?

Now I'm back. And back for real.

And thanks a heap to all you guys who kept pinging this page for updates. That was really very flattering and warming. And I wont promise that I'll be more regular hereafter, because I want to blog when I feel more spontaneous hereafter and not just to weave a storm out here with words. I feel easy with thoughts more during a drive than when I sit in front of this computing machine. But yeah, I started this blog partly due to my fancy for the language thats English and partly because I felt I had a mind full of thoughts which I necessarily needed to empty somewhere (something like what Professor Dumbledore does in Harry Potter - download all thoughts to a pensieve for later introspection). If only unloading thoughts to someplace was so easy !

I read quite a few books over the past few months - well, that was not an epoch after all. Lol.

Real good books they are - yeah, 'real' books. Autobiography Of A Yogi by Shri Paramahamsa Yoganandaji, The Power Of Now by Eckhart Tolle & The Guru Of Joy by Francois Gautier.

I dunno if I really have the right to review these 'scriptures'. I'd never be able to get the right words however spontaneous I try to be about it, still I am going to do it. I will write about the energy valves that these books unplugged in me, the enormous capacity of the mind that so long remained unused that they revealed to me, the amazement and gratitude that they made me feel towards everything around me and most importantly the 'attitude-transformation' that they have bought about in me that makes me LOVE life, love each and every moment of life, yeah, each and every moment of life!

The trailors were inviting. The dance performances were astounding. The movie was disappointing.

We enjoyed the two songs 'Agar Main Kahoon' and 'Main Aisa Kyon Hoon' immensely. But otherwise the movie is another LOC Kargil with a single Captain though. Preity Zinta's reel life portrayal as Romila Dutta is loosely adapted from Burkha Dutt's real life role as an NDTV reporter. Hrithik as always gives his one hundred percent to everything he does in the movie, so much that sometimes its close to over-acting and is really frustrating. Amitabh Bachchan was wasted. If Farhan intends to convey that Amitabh inspired Hrithik to go for his Lakshya, it nowhere looks like that in the movie. It appeared more like he wanted to reach his Laksya because he was rejected by Romila and later on to avenge the death of his comrades who were gunned down by enemies.

Very very disappointing! Tch Tch!

P.S - This is a post that I had drafted nearly a month and a half back.

An evening show at the Prarthana Open Air Theatre. Movie - Ayitha Ezhuththu. Expectations - Very High. Result - Disappointment in proportion direct to expectations.

Manirathnam has enjoyed creating this novel on screen. But what an average movie-goer who looks at entertainment value for his money, expects of a Manirathnam creation is a tad different. The movie looked more like a lift and join of ideas from his previous movies - Roja, Alaipayuthe, Nayakan, Mouna Ragam. But what we expect of Manirathnam is freshness, novelty, creativity at its zenith.

The movie appears a bit disjointed at some places and keeps coming back to the Napier Bridge scene, taking us back to the restless Maddy in Alaipayuthe. We have admired Mani's picturisation of songs so much over his past movies. But in AKK, except for "Fanaa", none of the other songs stand out. After the likes of "Pachchai Nirame" and "Kaadhal Sadugudu", AKK's "Unmai Sonnaal Nesippaayaa" is a big let down. Sidhdhaarth and Trisha remind us of Maddy and Shalini, while Surya and Esha's romantic encounters are reminiscent of Arvindswamy and Madhoo in Roja. The dialogues were pretty predictable, especially the ones between Sidhdhaarth and his father. Again, its probably because we are so accustomed to Mani's style that his dialogues have become kind of refrains and are etched in our minds forever.

Here are the positives - the cast, Surya's character sketch, Rahman's music and...and...well, am thinking hard but can't think of anything else. I liked Main Hoon Na better.

We watched Main Hoon Na over a weekend. Miraculously landing the tickets for a movie that was houseful for two days in advance, we were sort of destined to watch it that day. This post is kinda late for the movie that we watched two weeks back. But nevertheless, here are my two cents.

Main Hoon Na was a sweet entertainer. For those of us who were disappointed with Kal Ho Na Ho, Main Hoon Na is a real make over. The story see-saws between serious terrorist activities and a happy college environ. Shah Rukh as Ram Prasad Sharma is an impressive army Major. Sushmitha Sen makes the role of a Chemistry teacher formidable. The use of Matrix stunts has kind of become a routine in Indian movies these days, but still makes enjoyable viewing. While Amrita Rao as Sanjana is refreshing and Kiron Kher as the mother is dignified for the role, the one who steals the scenes and our hearts at the end is Zayed Khan. He was simply marvellous. He comes across as a damn damn cute, jolly-go-lucky Laxman Prasad Sharma aka Lucky. He epitomises Generation Next as perfect IBCds - Indian Born yet Confused Desis. Shah Rukh and Zayed's interactions in the college are awesome and so were the comical sequences involving Sathish Shah and Booman Irani.

If something was on the flip side, it was Sunil Shetty's acting. Was it purposefully downplayed that way or not, I am not sure. But I was tending to contrast his performance with Ajay Devgun in Khakee and that made it look all the more miserable I guess.

Otherwise, its a great movie. Just go and watch it. Its 100% fun.