Observations

More Photos from India :)

2010-01-12T12:49:00.001-08:00

I can't get over how much fun we had during our trip to India. Here are some more photos to share with you :).

MY BRAND NEW WEBSITE

2008-05-13T16:35:00.000-07:00

I started working on my DECO Clay website almost a year ago. For someone who has almost no clue about programming and website designing, it was a tough thing to do. I approached several people to help me out with this. Honestly, most were of no help at all. Then, Sarang's friend Meher (Please visit his photography pages for a visual treat. A link to the same is provided on my blog), stepped in and created some web pages for me on WORDPRESS. It was a good start, but I wanted more. And to make it more complicated, I had specific ideas of what I wanted. So, Sarang and I started working on it and after a lot of atrocious designs (Have you ever noticed how some things that look good invidually don't look that great when arranged together?) reached a color scheme and finally put in some text and images. All these months, we did not find time to work on the website again.
Meanwhile, we moved from Arizona to Hawaii and I started teaching small groups, on behalf of my academy, at some craft stores and some people started asking for arrangements to buy. Also, there were several enquiries from my website. So, we decided to have an online shopping cart. So, yesterday, I decided to install (or whatever the right technical word is) the entire cart on the website. That I did! But.... I messed up big time :). I deleted all the pages that I had previously created. So, Sarang and I worked again on creating a new website (Sarang on the codes and I on the aesthetics) and we added more text, more links, more photos , made it more secure..... basically, made it more fun (At least that's what it seems to us :) ). ALL IN A DAY'S TIME!
Included in the E-Commerce package that we bought, was a Traffic Facts program. We installed that too. That gave us some BIG surprises.... We came to know that my website has been visited by people all across the world.... from countries like Sweden, Singapore, Canada, Italy, China, Canada and of course, USA and India. Even people from small cities like Amravati in Maharashtra, India have visited my website. How exciting is that! The program also lets me know what websites/links people followed, to get into my site. Here too, I was surprised to know that other than my academy website (where I am listed as an instructor), and the search engines, people visited my website following links even from Sarang's blog and passionforcinema.com! Wow! One thing that disappointed me though, was that, not enough people were following the link provided on my Orkut profile to visit my website. Basically, not many people listed on my Orkut profile are too interested in my work.... that is a let down, but its okay, I guess :). I do know that a lot of my acquaintances are of the opinion that I am wasting my time and money on a non-academic/corporate endeavor :), but if I keep thinking of only the negatives, I will be a part of the rat race and not do what I think is fun and fulfilling. Sarang's happy with my pursuing this craft and so, I am happy too. A word of encouragement would be great though! Please leave your feedback on my website's contact page....

Being an Indian in the USA (You could call it being an NRI Part III)

2008-05-08T09:44:00.001-07:00

This blog is about being an Indian in the USA. What's the difference from being an NRI? Well, my previous posts were about the reactions to us from people back home. This one is about reactions from Americans to us Indians - and trust me, they are equally amusing!
Well, for starters, Americans get confused if we say we are Indians. To them Indians mean Native Americans (We used to call them Red Indians, remember?). So, we are still paying for Christopher Columbus' folly :). Just because he thought that he'd reached India, the Native Americans are still known as Indians. And the Americans - native and immigrant - have made no attempt to correct themselves in all these years (The politically correct term is Native American though!). Anyway, the jist of all this explanation is, that we Indians (the India waale) have to qualify ourselves as East Indian! We can't even call ourselves Asian... the reason? For Americans, ASIA, means China, Japan, Malaysia, Phillipines etc. Basically, any country that has people with Mongoloid Race characteristics. Even if you say that India is within Asia, a lot of them will look lost! So, here's the conversation that happens between me and a regular American on a regular basis:
AMERICAN: 'So, are you .... are you....?' (They are very sensitive about not saying the wrong word and hurting you .... lest you think that they are racist :)

Me: Yes, I am. I am an Indian.

AMERICAN: Indian? (They give you THAT look!) Oh East Indian! (Realization!)

Me: Well, I am an Indian from INDIA (Have to make my point too :). I take great joy in irritating people!

What follows this declaration of mine, can tell you more about the person I am talking to...... you can almost predict which way its going to go.....

Response 1 : So, so..... is it true that elephants roam around freely on Indian roads?
My feelings: Those of anger, frustration.... almost feel like banging their heads on the nearest wall.
Kind of American: No clue about India. The kind that thinks that India obviously is a country full of savages (and Pagans, if I may say so :) ), where elephants and other wild animals roam around on city roads. And people usually adopt the occupation of a snake charmer. Do I blame the Americans? Well, yes and no. Yes because, even a guy like Steven Spielberg - when he made a film like Indiana Jones, the Temple of Doom - chose to reinforce the beliefs of his countrymen about India, rather than give them a proper picture. Yes, because most people in influential positions make no attempt to educate their countrymen about the great wonder that is India! And that includes people like President George Bush (who anyway looks like he doesn't know what he is talking about half the time! Heard his latest statement about India and China being responsible for eating more and driving up food prices? He should just stick to what he's best at - Giving clueless looks and walking his dog.) and the Presidential hopefuls Mrs. Clinton and Mr.Obama. On the other hand, can you blame other country folks, when our people are at fault themselves? Ever so often I hear Indians say the most atrocious things about their own country, my country! They smugly announce how they have a 'selection' of girls to 'pick' from, for an arranged marriage. They even explain how DOWRY is their birthright! (Feel like kicking them!) One guy actually told someone that he was going to India much in advance for his sister's wedding, because he had to organize several horses and ELEPHANTS (yes, elephants!) for the wedding. Organize several horses and elephants? What was he thinking, that moron?
Then again, there are our fellow countrymen who brag about cows on our roads (which is true, but nothing to brag about!). And Americans just extend bovines to lions and tigers too!
Last but not the least, news channels like CNN (which now have a wing in India in the form of Rajdeep Sardesai's CNN-IBN) choose only to focus on weird news coming from India.... children being thrown from roofs to get blessings for them, some creepy guru walking over his disciples as a form of blessing etc. Of course we have things like that, but we have more too! How about focussing on the general interest in education in India being so much greater than in USA that they are forced to hire more and more Indians every year to take care of their most important needs? Anyway, that is the first kind of American.... rather, the first kind of impression that you find Americans have about India. Let's move on....

Response 2 : Umm.... India.... the curry country.... so tell me THE recipe for chicken curry.
The 'THE' before the recipe puts you in a spot, because you have to explain that there is no 'the' curry and that there are hundreds (or even thousands) of kinds of chicken curry. And that, curry is not the yellowish brown (sometimes red) unpalatable junk that you buy from most Desi restaurants at 10 dollars an order. Anyway, being a cook at heart, I explain it :). This is the kind of American who associates India with spicy, flavorful food. And I, like the Great Amitabh Bachchan in 'Cheeni Kum' extol the virtues of Indian cooking and explain how foreigners like them are taken for a ride in the Indian restaurants that have cheap posters of elephants (yes, again!!!!) and the Taj Mahal. This kind of conversation is not very frustrating to me.
Also, I have sometimes been pleasantly surprised at the amount of spice and heat an American can take in :). People with Hispanic backgrounds, or people from California and New Jersey (or anywhere in Canada), who have been brought up with good Indian food as an option, often gobble down dishes that I have found too hot, sometimes.
There is of course the odd American who won't touch Indian food (no matter how mild) from the fear of dying of spicyness, but that's okay.... I don't mind. After all, I wouldn't touch their Medium Rare Steak (or any steak for that matter).... and not because its beef... because, its this chunk of meat that's grilled without any masala (sometimes left almost completely raw) and to my Indian mind, everything needs SOME masala, right? :)

Response 3 : Oh! India.... I so want to go there. There is so much positive energy there, we can find so much peace..... I am a Hindu.
Though, I shouldn't ....I almost dread that declaration, though I try to cover it up with a polite "That's nice!".... Partly because an American convert to Hinduism probably knows more about my religion than I do :) and they often go on and on about the advantages of Hinduism over other religions. That is all fine and I should be happy that my religion is earning some converts, but I am not. Partly because I don't believe in organized religion and partly because I think Hinduism is much more than a religion - its a way of life and a wonderful one at that. And mostly, because most of these people have half-baked knowledge of India and Hinduism. But this is not about me or my feelings about Hinduism. So, lets get back to the fresh American Hindu convert. Now, I don't say 'convert' with the intention of putting myself on a higher plane than them, as one born a Hindu, as opposed to one converted to Hinduism. Anyway, let's come to the funny part.... you will more often than not, find that they have a BRAND NEW Hindu name. Suddenly, Joe becomes Krishna ji or Jane becomes Meera Maata. Now that is something I find really funny! Why does one need a separate name because he or she has chosen to follow a different path than before? And why, the 'ji' or ' maata' ? I mean, what person would refer to himself or herself as 'ji' in India? I must digress and mention here that I found it equally funny, when our gardener is St.Ann's school, converted to Christianity and told me, "Paapa (child), please don't call me Pochaiah uncle anymore. Call me unce Paul, for Jesus has saved me". Anyway, coming back to the original theme of this section.... there are also non-Hindu Americans, who feel they have some Karmic connection with India... and how do you recognize them? Garish Indian clothes that you and I would feel embarrassed to wear even at a wedding party, stone bindis all over their face, a long red tika on their foreheads, ill-fitting salwar kameezes and of course, kurtas that say 'OM' or "Hare Krishna" (Often Krsna, if you know what I mean :) ) ..... these are all signs of the over zealous Americans leaning towards Hinduism and India, the ones that feel that they have a 'Karmic Connexion' with India :).
Like all things, this has its benefits too. There are a few 'leaning-towards-Hinduism' stores, that sell Ayurvedic medicines, good quality agarbatti, idols and other such 'exotic' stuff, which you wouldn't find anywhere else. Also, I MUST mention here, that funny though they may seem most of the time, there are really interesting people you meet too. For instance, we went to the Iraivan temple in Kauai and till the chanting was over and the priests came out to give us prasad, I did not know that the perfect-Sanskrit speaking gentlemen were Americans! I felt humbled. Also, once in a while, I meet these gentle people who are not in-your-face Hindus.... one lady I met, was exquisitely dressed in a saree that you would find your mom in and totally at home in it. She was into holistic healing, yoga and such stuff with which you associate with the over zealous... what separated her from the prototype was her knowledge and the way she carried herself..... the good thing is, there are lots of people like that here...

Response 4 (The most common one!): Oh! BOLLYWOOD..... I am a big Bollywood fan.
Again, a response that I dread! And hate! Because most of the time, you find people who have seen the obvious movies.... "Kal Ho Na Ho", "K3G","Dhoom" or even worse just "Monsoon Wedding". We once met this bunch of 'Bollywood' fans who sang "Mahi Ve" for us. Though its entertaining to meet such people once in a while, I guess, I have had an overdose of them. Watching silly Hindi films and calling themselves BOLLYWOOD FANS. And I hate the term Bollywood.... it is not Indian, it presumes that the Hindi film industry is nothing but a culturally impverished version of Hollywood and it has come to stand for fluffy Hindi films that make no sense. Of course, I love some of those movies too..... and I am not ashamed to admit that I cry each time SRK dies onscreen in 'Kal Ho Na Ho'. But I also know that SRK is better than "Kal Ho Na Ho" or "K3G", I know he can do a "Swades", "Paheli" or "Chak De India". I know Amitabh is not just "Namak Halaal". I know that we have Satyajit Ray, Guru Dutt, Vijay Anand, Shyam Benegal, Govind Nihalani films too. And I know that we have Ritwik Ghatak, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Mani Rathnam, Jahnu Barua, Shaji Karun, Rituparno Ghosh, Aparna Sen..... not to mention the recent out-of-the-box film makers... but more about it later. Films being my passion, I will definitely get carried away in explaining this kind of Bollywood loving American. So, there shall be another post for it :). But, I so wish that they would go and check out some of the brilliant stuff that we have. I mean, Guru Dutt, Ray, Ghatak are taught in film schools all over US and Europe, but the general public has no clue about them. And again, here too, I would blame my countrymen too. I mean, we have one BOLLYWOOD festival and we see films like "Amar Akbar Anthony", "Saanwariya", "Kuchh Kuchh Hota Hai" and "Kal Ho Na Ho" - all of them reinforcing the belief of Indian cinema being nothing but fluff. Anyway.....the Knight Riders' Vs Royal Challengers of Bangalore IPL Match is distracting me ..... and I am not making much sense here..... so I shall sign off and take in the match completely.....
Of course, before I end, I would like to mention that what saves the day for me - in my interactions with Americans - are people who are like you and me, not knowing that much, but willing to learn, willing to try, willing to see India as a country beyond its backwardness and fluffy films..... (Am not too good at finishing up blogs, right?)

Being an NRI - Part II - New Jersey is the place to be!

2008-01-09T14:30:00.001-08:00

Ever since people came to know that I am planning to move to US, they have been giving me all kinds of advice. That is nothing new. Indians, especially Bengalis are experts in imparting advice - warranted or unwarranted. But when they come to know that you are going to America, their advising faculties work overtime.
I am surprised by the number of Indians who think they know all about the US, just because they have a relative (mostly, a child) or a friend staying there.
I live in Honolulu, Hawaii and one of the things I hear a lot is that Hawaii is not a part of the US (Yeah, people need to brush up their GK, I guess!). Yeah, I get to hear that a LOT. I get sick of hearing it. Not that I care... because Hawaii is HAWAII :) - part of the US or not. Actually, left upto the all-knowing desis, if you don't live in New Jersey (and the surrounding states) or California, you don't live in the US. You are just making a pretense of living there, but are actually not. Social status wise, you are living in a place that is worse than living in an Indian village. Even living in crime-ridden Baltimore is better than living in Hawaii to many Indians. Reason? Its close to New York and New Jersey where there are a lot of Indians. (So?)
When we were living in Phoenix, Arizona, a lot of people (read Indians) told us that we were living in a village and there was nothing to see in Arizona (even Indians living in Arizona complained about that!). Nothing to see in Arizona? Nothing to see in the state that houses the GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK? We, in our one year there, couldn't get enough of Arizona - Petrified National Forest, Painted Desert, the Native American Ruins, the Meteor Crater, the RED mountains of Sedona, the small town beauty of Flagstaff, the everchanging scenary of ROUTE 66, the marvellous sunsets..... the list goes on. Apart from all this 'places to see' stuff, we found Phoenix a perfectly nice place to stay - and, I must mention here, cleaner and better maintained than any city I have seen in the US! None of the horrific traffic of California too! So, why shouldn't I want to live in Phoenix? "It's too hot for us", Indians say. Too hot? Hello..... we are INDIANS. Haven't we lived in similar temperatures in India? And we did not even have air conditioning then. The hot weather hardly affects you (unless you decide to spend an afternoon jogging in the sun!) So, I fail to understand the complaint.
The best comment came from a lady in Calcutta (my first meeting with her!). She said she's never been to the US, but has seen photos and heard about the country from her many friends who live there. She asked me where I lived. I said, "Phoenix, Arizona". I could make out that she wasn't happy with my reply. She replied, "Hmm Arizona ta ektu remote, taai na? (Arizona is a little remote, isn't it?)" I was shocked to hear her confident declaration. I was yet to recover it when she came up with her masterstroke, "Why don't you move to New Jersey? Its got beautiful Pine trees." I wanted to scream, I wanted to laugh..... move to New Jersey because it has PINE TREES? I wanted to tell her, "Lady, you don't know me, you haven't even been to the US and you are telling me where to live and giving me a ridiculous reason to relocate?" But I didn't want to hurt her, so I kept quiet and nodded dumbly. I didn't have the heart to tell her that I had a Pine tree too - in my front yard, right in Arizona.

Being an NRI - Part I - Naturally Rich Indian

2008-01-09T12:49:00.001-08:00

First things first - I am, by most standards, a newly non-resident Indian. I have been in the US for just around 2 years. What I am about to share with you are some amusing experiences with people at home and here.

One of the most common things I have to deal with, is the idea that all NRIs are minting money and are rich :). Family, friends, family friends, people in shops - they all give you that look which says,"Umm Hmm NRI!! Must be RICH!" And they don't stop at that. Sometimes they want to know how much money you make and HOW. They want to know if you are buying properties in Bangalore, Gurgaon, Noida or Hiranandani Estates(Mumbai). If you tell them that you don't have enough money to even buy a decent flat in Hyderabad, they are very very surprised and often disbelieving. Then they go ahead and tell you how this friend of theirs, or that relative of theirs, own a flat here and a piece of land there. But they miss out on a certain facts - those people buying property every month - are often people who have lived in the US for years. They haven't spent three years of their 4-year career, paying off a student loan. They are mostly people who have at least two working members in the family and probably even a software business on the side. If not that, then, at least a Green Card which allows them more flexibility. They are not like us - husband working in a regular salaried job and wife looking for one :).
But people in India, they tell you, "But you are earning in Dollars".... Well, we spend in dollars too!
"But its Dollars".... They press again...'Aren't Dollars falling in value?'
"But its still DOLLARS".... By that time, I am almost ready to give in....but not yet. I try to make them understand some ECONOMICS which they obviously aren't interested in. They have already decided that you are rich and that you are trying to hide how much money you make and how much property you have.
"No matter what you say, its still DOLLARS"..... I give up! I am the richest Indian in the world with two homes .... one in India and one in the US (So what if we are struggling to pay the monthly bills!). I even have a Honda Civic! (So what if we bought it because its one of the cheaper cars available and the fact that its a HYBRID helps us save money on gas!)

It is very irritating when people make assumptions and stick to them no matter what the reality is. But mostly, it is funny. I get to behave like I have a lot of money :). People even look at you with awe and tell you how lucky you are!
And sometimes.... wickedly... I use it to my advantage. On my recent visit to Calcutta, I met a person (a filthy rich businessman with a 5-storey house in one of the best locations in the city) who was interested in buying our apartment in Calcutta. He was offering a rate below the market price (even lower than what I had spent on buying the flat) and I kept saying I wasn't interested. Then he said, "But you are an NRI, you don't have to make a huge profit on your apartment". I clinched the opportunity and said, "Well, simply because I have money, doesn't mean that I have to make bad financial deals" That was it. I had my vengeance :). May sound trivial (even cheap), but I don't care. After being looked down upon by the 'business class' in Calcutta for belonging to a middle-class salaried Bengali family, I was able to give it back to them in my own way. No more does anyone at AC market in Calcutta dare to say, "Don't even think about that dress, you can't afford it". I have money, remember? If not in my bank account, at least in people's minds.

India, Indians and Indian Politicians! - Part I (The Ram Setu issue)

2007-12-09T08:23:00.000-08:00

Someone truly said that we deserve the politicians that we bring to power! Actually, with a little introspection, we will realize that we are like them in many ways. We can't stay united on any one thing-not even the love for our nation.

I am not a good writer. But I feel passionately(sometimes a little too much) about a lot of issues in India and throughout the world. One of those, I would like to discuss today.

Today's topic of discussion is the Ram Setu. There is a huge uproar happening in India regarding the Ram Setu, also called the Adam's Bridge. It is the 30 mile long chain of limestone shoals between Srilanka and India. Legends say that Lord Rama and his Vaanar Sena (Army of monkeys) built the bridge to rescue his wife, Sita from the Lankan king Ravana who had kidnapped her.
The Indian government now wants to destroy the bridge and clear up the area so as to allow ships to pass through it (They otherwise, have to go around the Lankan island.). There is some logic in that. But, I don't think it is enough. Do we destroy something that we hold so close to our hearts, just for some commercial benefits?
Agreed, neither you nor I were alive when the Ram Setu was 'built'. But nor do we have solid proof that it is entirely a natural formation. But our Tamilnadu government (a so-called 'rationalist' party, which thrives on caste-based and language-based politics, just like the others!!!!) says that the entire Ram Setu is total nonsense and there is no logic in keeping the structure. The chief minister goes on to say that Ram was a drunkard! I know, I wasn't around to see Ram. So, I don't know whether he was a drunkard or not. But frankly, Karunanidhi (the minister in question) wasn't around either! So, logically, he doesn't know either whether Ram was actually a drunkard anymore than I know that he wasn't. Makes sense?
In the past too, Karunanidhi's party men have done things like garlanding our Gods with slippers - an extreme insult to Gods! - just to prove that Gods don't exist. If you ask me, I think every man is entitled to his beliefs. So is Karunanidhi. But, I also believe that if you believe in something, you won't run down the opposite in order to prove that you are right. In doing so, you are only showing your insecurity in your belief. Karunanidhi (and his cronies) did just that! In putting chappal malas (garlands of slippers) around Gods, the 'rationalist' parties just proved that they were insecure in their beliefs of 'rationalism' (a perfecty respectable belief otherwise!).
Coming back to Karunanidhi's latest comment on Lord Rama - of him being a drunkard.... Could he have said the same thing about Jesus? After all, Jesus drank wine. Now here, Karunanidhi and I will do the same thing. We won't call Jesus a drunkard. But the reasons are different. I won't call Jesus a drunkard, because frankly, I don't care. I would rather focus on the good things that Jesus taught the world, rather than trying to find out if he had a drinking problem! But Karunanidhi won't call Jesus a drunkard, because he would then stand to lose millions of Christian votes. That is the politician part of it. It is fashionable to play around with Hindu beliefs, it is perfectly fine to insult our Gods. But a minority's belief cannot be questioned (not that they should be), because they are vote banks for the politicians.

Now we come to us, the common Indians. What do we do when we hear Karunanidhi making such comments regarding Ram and talking of destroying the Ram Setu? We divide ourselves further. We allow people like Karunanidhi to tell us, that the basis of Ramayan is the Arya-Dravid conflict, which is basically, the political term for North Indian-South Indian conflict. We also allow them to tell us, that Ram was only revered by the high caste Hindus. So, we further divide ourselves into high caste Hindus and Dalits. WE ALLOW POLITICIANS TO DIVIDE US, BASED ON THEIR SELFISH INTERESTS. But are we any less to blame? We have serious conflicts within Indians - Hindus-Muslims, Hindus-Christians, Sikhs-Muslims, High Caste Hindus-Dalits, Minorities-Majorities, Brahmins -Non-Brahmins, OBCs(Other backward castes)-non OBCs who are Dalits and perhaps minorities who are backward but not represented in the OBC category, North Indians-South Indian, Catholics -Protestants, Ordinary Catholics - Brahmin Catholics (I encountered them in Goa!!!), Sunnis-Shias, Ordinary Sunnis-Wahabbis, Iyers-Iyengars. There are so many more! We allow OUR petty prejudices to hamper our unity. How much more stupid can we get? How many more partitions will it take for us to realize that it is really not that difficult to live together despite our different beliefs. We need to learn and appreciate other beliefs, debate, and then follow the best of other beliefs, other cultures while throwing out the negatives of our beliefs and cultures. And who tells you, what is right and what is wrong? Try your own conscience. Question it. It will never lie.
My conscience tells me that

Coming to India - our country. Well, our Bharat Mata is not a country like others. She has a mind of her own, and a very strong one at that. She suffered several shocks like foreign rules and partitions, but has kept her Indianness intact. She has learnt to take the best of every culture and adapt herself to the same. She has always stood for unity, unlike us or our politicians. And she wishes that we would practise - Unity in Diversity, rather than just preach it.
Can we just try?

Films, Films and More Films

2007-08-25T07:12:00.001-07:00

I am one of those movie watchers who watch ANY movie! But like Rikki Thukral of Jhoom Barabar Jhoom (JBJ), I think, "I got class!". That brings me to JBJ..... I have no idea why it did not work. I mean, it had its flaws, but I have seen worse movies work! 'Salaam Namaste' worked, didn't it? Even when they showed two financially stressed people renting this HUGE, apartment that is virtually 'on-the-beach' (That's just the beginning of the stupidities!). My husband and I enjoyed JBJ though.... Loved the 'MADNESS' of it, the 'over-the-top' -ness of it :). And loved the vocals of Sukhwinder, as usual!
After JBJ, saw "Gandhi, My Father".... Do I even have words to describe the movie? It was such an emotional experience! At one level it was Mahatma Gandhi's and his son's story. On the other hand, it was the story of all of us, who have conflicts with parents at some point in their lives. We know that we love them and they love us, but aren't able to convey that love through actions. That pain of trying to convince parents that we are worthy off-springs, but failing to live up to their expections of us! Akshaye Khanna , I always knew was a tremendously gifted actor. I was waiting for his one movie, where he shows what he's made of. And in 'Gandhi, My Father', he does. And how!!! The father too....Mr.Darshan Jariwalla... was mindblowing. The scenes of conflict were so subtly handled by the director. And Shefali Shah .... my heart went out to her.... she was stuck in the middle of the father-son conflict. How I wish, actors like them get more scope to do the kind of roles which allow them to be above the average fare they are forced to be part of.
Hmm.... now, 'Chak De India'.... WOW! Shimit Amin.... I loved his 'Ab Tak Chhappan', even though I don't like movies with violence, I don't even like cop stories. But his treatment of the story was totally different and so was the way he made Nana act. Nana Patekar was MARVELOUS, after the longest time. I had become sick of watching him do the 'Krantiveer' act for more than a decade (with the exception of 'Khaamoshi', in which he is wonderful!). So when I heard Shimit Amin making a movie on hockey was I excited? Yes, I was. When I heard Shimit Amin was making a movie on hockey,with Shah Rukh Khan as a hockey coach was I excited? You bet, I was! (I was dying to see SRK outdo his 'Swades' act!) When I heard that Shimit Amin was making a movie on hockey with SRK under the Yashraj banner, was I excited? NO! I was SCARED. I was totally scared that the movie would end up being another 'Ta Ra Rum Pum', another 'Dhoom' (Dhoom 2 too!)even. I was scared that Yashraj would pressures on Shimit Amin to mould 'Chak De' according to Yashraj sensibilities.... romantic angles, at least one character that would be running around in the famous white-chiffon, songs coming out of nowhere. But I am happy Yashraj did not do any of that. The movie has the Yashraj class in terms of production value, but not the mush that is associated with them. And Shah Rukh came up with a class act. After KANK, I was totally disillusioned with Shah Rukh. Don did not help much either. But with Chak De, SRK is back!!! :) I love it when he underplays the role, stops quivering his lips and eyebrows and gets down to some real acting :). I love SRK the most when he gets out of his 'Raj-Rahul' persona and becomes the vulnerable Sunil (of Kabhi Haan, Kabhi Naa), the conflicted NRI Mohan Bhargava (of Swades) or the disgraced Kabir Khan (of Chak De India) who has just one chance to get his honor back. I love it, when he stops being the star and becomes the actor. But 'Chak De India' was not just about Shimit Amin and SRK..... it had 16 odd interesting ladies ! I loved the way their characters were developed. Everyone had a background story, briefly and intelligently dealt with. And everyone had a real, compelling character sketch. I want to find out here, who coached the girls on their accents..... they did a wonderful job! The language coach/coaches were better than the ones Mira Nair used in 'Namesake' (Sorry, couldn't resist that! For the performance that Tabu gave, she deserved a better language/accent coach!).
I saw another Indian movie the previous month.... "Shankardada Zindabad", the Telugu remake of "Lage Raho Munnabhai". Not only does the movie fall short of the Hindi version, the movie is focussed on Chiranjeevi's star status and not the character that he plays. Prabhudeva, the director, shamelessly plays to the galleries and the lovable 'Lage Raho....' transforms into the rather crassy, 'Shankardada...'.
Oh! And I watched another movie..... not in the theater though. I downloaded it from indya.com. The movie was, "The Blue Umbrella".... a delightful piece of work from Vishal Bharadwaj and Pankaj Kapoor. Pankaj Kapoor shines in the role of Khatri, the greedy shopkeeper!

Ta Ra Rum Pum Review

2007-05-01T19:13:00.000-07:00

"Ta Ra Rum Pum"! That's not exactly what I was singing when I came out of the movie theatre. Not that I was expecting great things from the 'stable' of Yashraj Films (especially after Neal and Nikki, Salaam Namaste, Fanaah and Dhoom 2!), but I seriously think that Yashraj Films needs to do a re-think on the directors it has been hiring.
You could forgive Siddharth Anand for making Salaam Namaste.

It was his first film.
For a change, we were shown glimpses of Melbourne instead of the standard Switzerland, London, US fare of Yashraj (Not that it is important, but it was one of the refreshing things in an otherwise insipid movie)
Most importantly, Anand roped in the exceptionally talented and miserably underutilized Javed Jaffery as the 'Eggjactly' man who 'don't the trust the Indians'. If there was one character that redeemed Salaam Namaste to some extent, it was this man.

However, we aren't talking about Salaam Namaste. We are talking about "Ta Ra Rum Pum". For starts, it looks like a movie made by an immature film student, who wants to make a movie but does not know how to make the movie work. There is no attention paid to detail and hence, its full of ridiculous inconsistencies. If I ever meet Siddharth Anand, I am going to ask him the following questions:

How is a NASCAR track so full of cracks? Even if he did not have the budget to shoot the race scenes on a real NASCAR Track, he sure could have used one of the softwares available to cut out the cracks from the racing scene.
How can a Yashraj scale movie have so many continuity problems like changing of car colors, the heroine's dress (No, not in a song. We are used to those!), flower vase (which is tilted one moment, straight the other). Its not that I had planned to be critical and hence looked for details. I had, in fact, planned to enjoy the movie. Rani and Saif are wonderful actors and do as much justice as the script and the direction allow them to.
If the characters are really so 'POOR', as Rani's character reminds you again and again and again, where did they get all their designer clothes from? Not only that, they look remarkably clean, despite the lack of water in their 'poor' locality home.
Where did Siddharth Anand get the ridiculous surname of Rai Banerjee? Never heard that one before! And pray, which Bengali uses her father's name in the middle of her name? (I was reminded of an incident in my University in Baroda, Gujarat where I had a hard time convincing the controller of examinations that we Bengalis, do not use our fathers' names as our middle names, as the Gujaratis or Marathis do.)
How could Saif spot Rani in the NASCAR stadium in a crowd of thousands of people? Not just that, he could do it from a distance of hundreds of feet.

Even if I did overlook these ridiculous things, there was absolutely nothing new in the movie. Rani Mukherjee has by now, perfected the troubled wife role. She's had a lot of practice with Saathiya, Chalte Chalte, Yuva, KANK. So, she's good in the second half of the movie. The first half, well, I could have done better without her crazy hairdo and equally 'disturbing' dresses. Her dress sense in the second half, though, improved considerably, even though it wasn't consistent with her economic status in the movie :).
Saif, well, I wish the director had focused more on the development of Saif's character and less on Rani and Saif's love story. The change he undergoes from an irresponsible person to a mature father and husband, happens in an instant. Other than that, Saif's just fine. He too has done the metrosexual man role umpteen number of times and has by now perfected it. And then, as in all Hindi movies based on Indians born and brought up abroad, neither Saif nor Rani have any kind of videshi accent :). But that's okay. We are used to that too. Not every director is a Mira Nair!
There were moments I liked in the movie too. But they were few and far between. The kids were cute, the bear family song was super cute and visually appealing. But that was it, unless you count Javed Jaffery who was the best investment made for the movie.
Despite all these flaws, it is not Siddharth Anand that I am most angry with. It is the choreographer who directed the 'Bring it on' song. Javed Jaafery was given the worst of the steps in that song and just appeared fleetingly. The misutilization of Javed in that song, was criminal to say the least!
Finally, the race scenes.... The lesser said about them, the better! They made me feel like I was watching a Pradeep Kumar movie where Pradeep Kumar 'apparently' drives a car, but it is the rotating scenary that gives the drive 'feel' to a stationery car. They were not only badly executed, they were also terribly repetitive. And Anand unnecessarily made a villain out of the gora racer!
All in all, if you thought Salaam Namaste was bad, give 'Ta ra rum pum' a skip. It is insufferable most of the time.