FAST FORWARD 2008-BOLLYWOOD

As 2008 is nearing an end, here is a look at the Hits & Pits from the world of BOLLYWOOD. This rating is strictly based on the fact that these movies made an impact on me. They might have made me dance,sing,cry,have fun, or have done absolutely anything that amused me. So here goes…

THE HITS

1. ROCK ON

***ing: Farhan Akthar, Arjun Rampal,Prachi Desai.

Directed by: Abhishek Kapoor.

A wonderful movie about the reunion of a rock band that had split due to differences and ego problems with some great music by Shankar Ehsaan Loy. A must watch if u hadn’t till now. Rock On takes top honours.

2. JODHAA AKBAR

***ing: Hrithik Roshan, Aishwaria Rai Bachchan.

Directed by: Ashutosh Gowariker.

A period movie set on the times of King Jalaluddin(AKBAR). A poignant love story with some great chemistry between the lead pair set the screens on fire.

3. JAANE TU YA… JAANE NAA

***ing: Imran Khan, Genelia D’Souza, Manjari Phadnis.

Directed by: Abbas Tyrewala.

A story of friendship,love and fun with entirely newcomers in the lead role and foot tapping tunes from A.R.Rahman that made it big at the box office. It also made Imran Khan(nephew of Aaamir Khan),the heart throb of bollywood land. This film takes the honours for being the first big hit of 2008.

4. A WEDNESDAY

***ing: Naseeruddin Shah, Anupam Kher, Jimmy Shergill.

Directed by: Neeraj Pandey.

A film with a stong social message with power packed performances by nasseruddin shah and anupam kher. The rise of the comman man made an impact at all centeres.

5. DASVIDANIYA

***ing: Vinay Pathak.

Directed by: Shashant Shah.

Loosely based on THE BUCKET LIST, this movie tells the tale of a man whose days are numbered. Watch out for Vinay Pathak in this joyful and soulful tale. The music by Kailash kher deserves special praise.

JUST MISSED IT!!!

These are a group of movies that may not have made it to my top 5 but are the once u shouldn’t have missed this year.

• AAMIR
• RACE
• OYE LUCKY!! LUCKY OYE!!
• WELCOME TO SAJJANPUR
• FASHION
• DOSTANA

THE PITS

1. TASHAN

***ing: Akshay Kumar,Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Anil Kapoor.

Directed by: Vijay Krishna Acharaya.

Arguably the worst movie to have hit the screens this year with a shabby storyline and anil kapoor,s damaged HinGlash(English). Even Akki could not save this box office disaster.

2. LOVE STORY 2050

***ing: Harman Baweja, Priyanka Chopra.

Directed by: Harry Baweja.

A futuristic love story between a guy and his lost lover, even robots acted better than the lead pair. There was no love in this love story and the future was never so bleak.

3. MANN GAYE MUGHAL-E-AZAM.

***ing: Rahul Bose, Mallika Sherawat,Paresh Rawal.

Directed by: Sanjay Chell.

The purpose of why this movie was made is still not known. What more can in say about this audience killer. I recommend you to not even watch it on dvd or a tv premiere.

4. KARZ

***ing: Himesh Reshammiya, Urmila matondkar.

Directed by: Satish kaushik.

A remake of the old Karz with some unbelievable bad acting and an equally unbelievable storyline made sure the audiences stayed away from theaters. So long Himesh!!!!!!!

5. HELLO

***ing: Sohail Khan, Amirta Arora.

Directed by: Atul Agnihotri.

Based on the novel ONE NIGHT AT A CALL CENTER by chetan bhagat, this movie was the worst adaptation one could ever make of the book. No wonder hello is in the top 5 of the wrong side.

JUST MISSED IT!!!

Some equally bad movies which gave the audiences a nightmare at the movies.

• KRAZZY 4
• CONTRACT
• WOODSTOCK VILLA
• SAAS BAHU AUR SENSEX
• BLACK AND WHITE
• SUNDAY

and the list goes on…………

RETROSPECTION

Looks like i have been blogging too much, very evident from the fact that i post too often. However the frequency of posts will eventually come down once i set foot in India purely because i do not possess a personal PC (kinda dumb!!!). But I’ll try my level best to blog occasionally when i get time.

This week’s been a ripper with all sorts of news filling the news channels, sports being the major part of it, Gracias to the Olympics. And the week for me was good enough personally too with me laying hands finally on an N73 and its for me to keep. Yup i have upgraded my 6230i for an N73 ME and it rocks big time!!!

POLITICAL LIMBO

Prez. Musharraf has resigned. Oh!!! it was never a hot news except for the news channels going gaa gaa goo goo all over it. It was inevitable given the fact the PM and Co. had already planned to impeach him. And Musharraf was like a kid complaining to the teacher sitting in front of the TV cameras for a record 70 minutes (i thought records were being broken only in Beijing!!!) and busy telling the world how good he was (oh!!! what lies) and blah, blah!!! blah!!!. Just minutes after he was quoted telling “i have decided to resign for my country” (no…no…it wasn’t a comedy show), celebrations were sparked across the nation which seemed to thoroughly enjoy his ouster. Just goes to show how good a man he was!!!(LOL!!!). Looks like “DEMOCRACY” is the new buzz word in Pakistan…finally!!!

OLYMPICS TIME

The Beijing Olympics has already seen loads of world records being broken. Going for the Gold was the USP of many a player and even the Indians have a gold medal at this years Olympics to boast about. Let’s check out some top performers at this years Olympics. The names that have made a mark at BEIJING 2008.

MICHAEL “WATERBOY” PHELPS

Touted to be the fastest human on water this young lad has carved a niche for himself at this Olympics. Thrashing record after record has become a habit for this lad from the USA that he has earned himself a spot in the Olympic hall of fame. 8 medals to his name in this edition of the Olympics equaling Mark Spitz record and a record for being 15 time gold medalist at the Olympics. Want more, he also holds the WR for 6/7 swims in Beijing 2008 and he is just 23.

USAIN “LIGHTNING” BOLT

If Phelps was the fastest man on water, Usain Bolt(ed) his way to become the fastest human on earth sending the WR for the 100m down for a walk. 9.69 secs – and he didn’t even try. The bigger names felt the heat. Tyson Gay gave away at the heats and didn’t qualify for the 100m final. Asafa Powell could only finish the race a sorry 5th and could just watch his WR record tumble to his fellow Jamaican and competitor Bolt. Now that’s what i call a “Sprinted” victory.

ABHINAV “SHOOTING STAR” BINDRA

If ever a whole nation was relieved by someone winning a medal, it was INDIA and thanks mainly to shooting heroics of Abhinav Bindra. This medal made Abhinav a household name across the nation and he will be remembered in the history books forever.

ELENA “JUMPING JACK” ISINBEYEVA

If ever a human was made to break record after record, it is Isinbeyeva. Man, what a lady. My Favourite athelete. Breaking her own world records have become a cup of tea for this beautiful damsel from Russia. 5.05m, the WR and OR to her name and still going strong, her records will be hard to catch up.

RAFAEL “NO.1″ NADAL

Winning gold was his only ambition coming into the Olympics and he did it in style. Along with the gold he ended Fedderer’s reing as No.1 in the world. Tennis has got a new World Champion in Rafael Nadal and he’s here to stay for the world to see. Vamos Rafa!!!

Enough of Olympics let’s move on…

“CRICKET”AINMENT

After a pathetic batting show by the Indians in the test series in SL, losing 2-1 to the home side. The ODI batters promised of a good show. But, as it turned out indian viewers (me..me) were eventually robbed 7 of their precious hours watching the dumb show put up by the Indians in the first ODI. The batsmen proved that they bat really well with their mouths than their bats. Mendis couldn’t have asked for a better team against to showcase his talents. If the Indians repeat the same in the following 4 ODI’s im hoping they don’t..let’s wait for the best…

IT’s SHOWTIME

Last week i had watched “SUBRAMANIAPURAM” and would like to recommend it for all those original movie buffs. An excellent movie with awesome performances and retro settings taking us back to the 1980’s. Akshay Kumar has been officially selected new king of bollywood after his SINGH IS KING broke records all over the world. And after eternity i had a chance to watch THE DARK KNIGHT and would like to watch it at least twice in theaters again.

AH!!! i just remembered that i have to go shopping for my trip back to India…Sign off…

SINGH IS KING-THE TRUST VOTE

Today was one of the chaotic days our indian constitution had witnessed in years. The debate over the trust vote continued for the second consecutive day and it witnessed speeches that were ranged as good,bad and ugly(had a mix of it all!!!). A whole lot of drama unfolded in the Parliment(rather a fish market!!!) today. A government was in danger of being toppled in case they failed the trust vote. PM Manmohan Singh called for the trust vote when the Left parties pulled out or ill say he was left with no other choice than to prove that the ruling party still enjoys the majority.  It was tense, dark(darker than the dark knight!!!) and a whole lot chaotic. Some sparkling speeches were made by the FM P.Chidambaram, Rahul Gandhi and Lalu Prasad Yadavji on contrast to some ordinary and ugly utterances from the opposition. When the PM was about to speak he wasn’t allowed to atleast by the opposition who didn’t want that to happen(who said our country still enjoys freedom of speech!!!). Then to the horror of all the people watching it live 3 MP’s walked in and showed hot cash(all in 1000Rs denominations) and said they were bribed by Mr. Amar Singh causing a pandemonium in itself which led the house to be adjourned,all this left me speechless and denoted the sad plight of my country. Shame on them!!! i felt to myself. The PM’s sppech was scheduled next after that the voting would take place. The PM chose not to speak and asked to go ahead for voting. The voting was won by the UPA 275 to 256 to the opposition. When the speaker announced “the ayes have it,the ayes have it”  the Govt survived but it left a lot of questions in the minds of everyone witnessing this saga. Was it a clean victory?? Were MP’s bribed??? Is this the way the county is run??? all of which are left unanswered. In the end there was one winner the man who stood by all his convictions,a man who belived he still enjoyed the majority of the houses Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh. The whole Parliament went silent just after the result declaration not because of this victory to the UPA but VANDE MATARAM was played,perhaps the only moment the whole place was silent(atleast they respected it!!!). Mr. Singh had the last laugh and proved that the LEFT was not right…Singh is King!!! after all. Congress was here to stay. All this tumultuous happenings left me thinking…Thank God!!! the Govt. is safe…but “Where’s my country heading????