some (actually most) reviews of the movie were glowing, forcing me to make an unusual trip to the theater mid-week for a 7pm show. some said it was a tear-jerker, so people i guess were willing, ready and looking forward to shed a few tears at the theater. some reviews even said that the film would tug at the heart strings.

what a disappointment. the movie is good in the first hour or so, mainly because of the tried-and-true bollywood formula played out between shah-rukh khan, kajol and karan johar – the master of the craft. and just when mr.johar tries his hand at non-formula piece in the later half of the film, the script falls apart, the editing horrible, and the movie hurtles towards nonsense like plane about to crash to the ground.

how else can you explain made-up scenes in stupid looking town in georgia. people shuttling back and forth between georgia, san francisco and los angeles within a span of literally one picture frame? kajol going all stone cold on shah-rukh khan all of a sudden? how else can shah-rukh khan be captured, be on television, and then go away incognito?

what a mess. karan johar’s craft is no longer relevant. not when we have kaminey, devD, isqiya and such coming out of bollywood, the nautanki-style thumka movies are pretty much done. karan johar now tries to modernize his film making and it’s a big disaster.

of all things i feel really sad about de-valuing the debate of indian muslim identity, the mind of an autistic child and the american way of life by way of incorporating them into this directionless excuse for a film. bollywood took a step backwards.

but the movie is fantastic. it’s not one of those movies that grabs you and demands attention. it is very consumable, allows you to sit back and comes to you slowly and steadily, leaving you with a great cinema viewing experience at the end of it.

ranbir kapoor seems to have employed two expressions in this movie – at once he has a petulant frown on his face and at other times, he’s this happy-as-a-clam fella. konkana sen sharma is fantastic, plays within the role and, what perfection. she probably should’ve played all those roles that go typically to vidya balan.

though it drags a bit towards the middle as it transitions from sid’s discovery of his self-worth to his discovery of his love for the lady. the script is very tightly and carefully written with no awkward jumps in narration and no wasted motions.

the story is about this rich brat that is a failure academically, and takes things for granted. it’s about how he meets the harsh realities of life outside the comfort zone of his dad’s business, and discovering his true passion in life. konkana sen sharma has her own story line, but the key element is for her to be the ‘guide’ for sid in his journey of discovery.

waiting to check out rocket singh. with shimit amin and co, it’s sure to be a good film.

just look at the load pattern : 250,000 total test takers, taking the test over 10 days, spread across 105 testing centers, where they have 2 test sessions per day –> pretty much yields 12,500 concurrent test takers across the entire system, and 119 test takers/center.

Update: each test taker takes about 150 questions over a 3-hr period, so that’s about 1.875M transactions over 3 hrs, 173 transactions per sec. Can India not achieve THAT? What a shame.

not being able to handle this type of load pattern is outright pathetic. blaming it on a virus is even more tragic attempt at someone covering their butt with a transparent plastic sheet.

the folks that took the test wont get a credit if the entire testing method is invalidated. those that didn’t take the test need to go through the stress another time. those that took the test will stand at a disadvantage because the question bank gets leaked in nano-second.

Update 2: according to WATBlog, here’s the notice against leaking, provided to test takers: “Disclosing, publishing, reproducing, transmitting, storing, or facilitating transmission and storage of the contents of the CAT or any information therein in whole or part thereof in any form or by any means, verbal or written, electronically or mechanically for any purpose, shall be in violation of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 and/or the Copyright Act, 1957 and/or the Information Technology Act“.

Are they really going to hit with an 1872 law?? really??

whoever deployed this solution should be fired for massive incompetence.

… and ironically, i found this ad in a newspaper couple of days ago. this is one sure way to solve all scalability problems – beg users to spare the system.

You call THIS simple?

contrast the state of simplicity elsewhere – e.g. designing simple personal web pages made simple -

quietly taking in kishore kumar and latha mangeshkar lain over rajesh khanna, amitabh bachchan, sharmila tahore, hema malini and asha parekh, one realizes how badly the world misses the magic of those two voices. those golden pipes in perfect concordance with the tunes, themes and the times when a direct and full-on expression of romance shone ever so melodiously over the silver screen.

next time you fight the remote for that those few fulfilling entertainment moments on your TV, turn to youtube instead. pull up Sharmila Tagore in “Mere Sapnon Ki Rani” – wasn’t she a bombshell, not to mention Willys jeep was cool forever. rajesh khanna was the perfect babu in kati patang, showing how to woo a lady. which girl wont take him home? or ammitabh/rekha magic in Salaam-E-Ishq – could there be a more perfect pairing? or a more hearty smile than Dharmendra as in Sholay. and may be you could try the towering screen presence of the kapoor clan.

and in Salaam-E-Ishq, just as you struggle to take the eye off Rekha and from being swept out in the subdued rhythm of Lata’s voice, you get with the tsunami of Kishore hitting with disarming force. as those golden pipes open up and lay their fell swoop, for a brief moment,  the cup of joy may just have gone over the edge a bit.

]]> http://valleychai.com/blog/2009/movies/opening-up-those-golden-pipes/feed/ 0 http://valleychai.com/blog/2009/other/my-special-vishnu-sahasra-naamam/#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed http://valleychai.com/blog/2009/other/my-special-vishnu-sahasra-naamam/#comments Sun, 13 Sep 2009 09:54:37 +0000 spandana http://valleychai.com/blog/?p=573 in విష్ణు సహస్ర నామం, this is the శ్లోకం that belongs to my star (ఉత్తర 4వ పాదం).

యజ్ఞహ ఇజ్యో మహేజ్యశ్చ క్రతుస్సత్రం సతాంగతిహి|
సర్వదర్సీ విముక్తాత్మా సర్వజ్ఞో గ్ననముత్తమమ్||

yagnaha ijyo mahejyascha krutussatram satangatihi
sarvadarsee vimuktaatma sarvagno gnanamuttamam

what is the meaning of the above?

(some portions of the above are in Telugu language, courtesy nivedita)