Us :-)

Aditi & Ritesh...

Love, Pain, Nostalgia, Memories, Healing, Song

You came in to my life,
Like a breath of fresh air,
Changing every moment ,every day,
Into a memory,to last a lifetime.

You smiled with me, you cried with me,
Your were forever there when I needed that support,
It was a whole new world.
A world that was my favourite place.

But as time would have had it,
Destiny showed us different paths,
I chose to go on,
You stood behind at the place,
Where our paths moved away,
I never dared to look back,
Knew wasn’t strong enough,
Till the day you moved on to.

Today as we have taken our separate paths,
I look back,
With a smile on my lips and tears in my eyes,
At that very place.
I see you,I see me,
And I see memories and happy times,
That gave a lot,
However short they may be,
They will last a lifetime.

A lifetime where every prayer said,
Every smile shared,every nostalgic moment ,
Would never be complete without you...

Signs - A must watch (short film) for all lovers of Cinema and Love :)

SIGNS is a must watch film for all lovers of movies and all lovers! ;-)

It is a film made by Patrick Hughes and was one of the 2009 Cannes film festival winners. The subject matter is Communications and there is not even one dialogue. Beautifully made, the film has a superb emotional & visual appeal and really brings home the message that sometimes Words are just meaningless...

Note: YouTube link

Greatest Movies - My Pick!

There are some great movies that i have seen in these 25+ years and trust me, i have seen quite a few. Some of them are quite brilliant, some not so much but over the years i have found that my basket of movies tend to be split in generally three baskets;

1. Average and Bad movies - whatever the language,
2. Great Movies but which do not appeal to me, &
3. Movies that have really made me cry/ wonder/ gasp/ shout/ laugh/ feel intense happiness

I have also realized that most of these films in the 3rd category are those that deal predominantly with Fantasies - Magic & Wizardry, Surrealism, Extreme Romance, Resurrection of thy self. There might be a few exceptions but that is because the movies would have blown me away with the sheer magic of the acting.

I Present this list of top 25 movies and will also like to present a listing of top movies within each genre as i know it. One factor that i have kept in mind is that multiple parts have been clubbed as one movie preferably.

Top 25:

1. Forrest Gump
2. Vita e bella, la (Life is Beautiful)
3. Shawshank Redemption
4. Godfather Series
   
5. Lord of the Rings Series
   
6. Wall - E
7. Before Sunrise/ Before Sunset
   
8. Jaane Bhi do Yaaron (Forget about it, friends)
   
9. Kannathil Muthamital (Kiss on the cheek)
10. Rocky Series
    
11. Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (Yup i am Mad ;-) )
    
12. Requiem for a Dream
13. Saving Private Ryan
14. Usual Suspects
15. Raat (Night)
16. Laberinto del fauno, El (Pan's Labyrinth)
    
17. The Terminal
18. Gandhi
19. Gladiator
20. Braveheart
21. Dumb & Dumber
22. The Dark Night
23. When Harry met Sally
24. Wall Street
25. The Exorcist

Genre Wise:

• Romance - Before Sunrise/ Before Sunset & DDLJ
• Fantasy - Lord of the Rings & Pan's Labyrinth
  
• Action - Matrix & Rocky
  
• Historical - Gladiator & Braveheart
  
• Comedy - Dumb & Dumber & Jaane Bhi do Yaaron
  
• Animation - Wall e & The Lion King
  
• Resurrection - Forrest Gump & Shawshank Redemption
  
• Drama - Godfather & The Pianist
  
• War - Saving Private Ryan & Full Metal Jacket
  
• Horror - Raat & Exorcist
• Business - Wall Street & Barbarians at the Gate
• Superheroes - The Dark Knight & The Iron Man
• Western - Once upon a time in the West & The good, The Bad and the Ugly
• Musical - Sound of Music & Singing in the Rain
• Biography - Gandhi & The Pursuit of Happyness
• Sci fi - Star Wars & Back to the Future
• Sport - Rocky & Remember the Titans
• Thriller - Psycho & The Usual Suspects

These are the movies that i will be writing more about in this blog and the blog Reality on 35mm, a blog where i talk about and review movies but do not update that often! :) (In my defense, i have to say that reviewing movies is hard work!)

These are the movies which have really shaped my viewing paradigms. Some of them might not be liked by many folks but that is understandable. According to me, movies are the world that we escape to when we are tired of the 'outside' world. And hence a lot of external attributes define & refine our tastes. Everyone has the right to create his/ her own world.....

However as i have said it earlier, this is my real world......Hope you Enjoy it!!

Iktara Male Version - Request to Karan Johar!!

This is probably a violation of copyright laws but what the hell!!. This is just a medium to request Karan Johar to launch Amit Trivedi's background score for Wake Up Sid, probably as a separate album. Shankar Ehsan Loy were very good in this film...but the Trivedi magic that we have already seen in Aamir and DevD is simply brilliant. This guy is here to stay and create amazing music that bollywood has not provided in a very long time.

Presenting here the male version of Iktara composed by Amit Trivedi and sung by Tochi Raina - The best song of Wake Up Sid and something that should have definitely been there on the album.

The shortest Fairytale ever :-D

Loved this PJ and hence posting it against better judgment!! ;-)

The shortest fairytale ever:

A guy likes a girl and asks her, "Will you marry me?"
The girl says "No!"

The guy lives happily ever after...

:-P

Something Happens - Precious platinum advertisement :)

Being a sucker for romance, i just fell in love with this advertisement. It is such a beautifully done ad and with such sublime lyrics and piano play. Superb! In fact i was surprised that i had to search really hard to find this on the net.

Anyways here are the lyrics...Enjoy!!

You know they arranged everything, the meeting, the date, the place and we...we did the only thing we could, We Laughed
Today 1 year, 2 months and 11 days later,

(piano music)
Things just happen, That's the way it feels...
Somethings just happen, things we just cant see...
Who knows the reason why, should i laugh or should i cry

Suddenly we discovered...Our Day of Love

Something happens...to you and me
hmmm...hmmmm....hmmm.....and me....

Beautiful Pictures

One of my friends while forwarding the pics said "It seems as if one has already lived and then betrayed each and every part of it."

Commitment


Sorrow


Innocence


Departure


Pain


Solitude


Passion


Respect


Compassion


Grace



Friendship


Music


Wait


Stranger


Rescued


Best friends

Something Stupid - Possibly the most romantic song sung...

Yes....as far as i am concerned, this takes the cake...and the girl too....

Possibly the most romantic of songs, it has been sung by the Great Great Entertainer called Frank Sinatra (Same Zodiac sign you see :-)) and his Daughter Nancy Sinatra....this is for those occasions when the words are about to tumble and the pianists are readying themselves to stand in a line...

Lyrics:

I know I stand in line, until you think you have the time
To spend an evening with me
And if we go someplace to dance, I know that theres a chance
You wont be leaving with me

And afterwards we drop into a quiet little place
And have a drink or two
And then I go and spoil it all, by saying something stupid
Like: I love you

I can see it in your eyes, that you despise the same old lies
You heard the night before
And though its just a line to you, for me its true
It never seemed so right before

I practice every day to find some clever lines to say
To make the meaning come through
But then I think Ill wait until the evening gets late
And Im alone with you

The time is right your perfume fills my head, the stars get red
And oh the nights so blue
And then I go and spoil it all, by saying something stupid
Like: I love you
(I love you, I love you,...)

- A devout romantic :-)

Father's love towards his Daughters....

"I soon found that the greatest joy in my life was the joy I saw in yours. And I realised that my own life wouldn't count for much unless I was able to ensure that you had every opportunity for happiness and fulfillment in yours."

- Barack Obama to his daughters Sasha and Malia for expressing regret for not spending enough time with them in the last 2 years.

Slumdog Millionaire...It Rocks!!

It has to be about a Love Story....It just has to be!!

In one of the finest films made this year...shucks...till date...at least on Indian Soil, the love remains the undercurrent for everything. And why not?...if you take out the romance between the lead protagonists Jamal Malik and Latika, you lose the soul.

In an utterly impalusible movie, it still makes you wonder just a little bit...can this really happen, and this is the biggest tribute to the director since everything else is absolutely real. Both sides of India with its pukish slums, brothels, pimps, beggars one one hand and the glitzy call centres, Reality shows, Hiranandani and Mercedes Cars on the other are very 'in your face' real!!

The story is just an elongation of the Movie Name: Slumdog Millioniare in Hindi Slang - Basti/ Jhopad/ 'gandagi' ka Kutta who becomes a crorepati. A dog from the slums who is one the verge of becoming a millioniare and then just before the last question is asked all hell breaks loose. Since the guy is a slumdog, he should not know the answer to questions which even rich people do not know but he does....the situations that he has been in his life till date which makes him know the answer is what forms the crux of the story.

The Q&A moves between the good and the bad but keeping in kind that it has been made for international, particularly British audiences, it makes sense. What makes the Q&A session brillaint is Anil Kapoor, who in a short but career defining role is as slimy and stinking as the pot of shit in which the protagonist falls.

The situations are very real and what makes them more so are the young actors and their interaction. Watch the scene in which the blind child tells Jamal that bearded baldy on a $100 note is Benjamin Franklin. The subtlety of being blind is brought forward so well that its spellbinding. Or take the scene of a vey young Jamal dancing infront of his beloved Latika. The children keep the movie really alive. Infact they are so good that they overshadow the main cast members Dev Patel, Frieda Pinto and also Irrfan who are also quite impressive in their meaty roles.

This movie at some levels reminded me of 'City of God'. There are actually a lot of similarities in their subtext if you observe carefully though they are quite different in their overall positioning.

Finally the 3 things that make the movie so great are, The music of AR Rahman - this guy is a genious and mark my words, one day they are going to call him the greatest musician ever. Some of the tracks are exceptional and without words they convey so much meaning. Then there is the Direction of Danny Boyle - Hats off sir for making a movie in India which is better than what our bollywood has been dishing out for the last 50 years. Some of the scenes are extremely gritty without ever being distasteful. They are just 'Real'. And finally what makes this film truly memorable is INDIA - yes, it presents a myriad of colours and sequences and events our country that have become part of our life. It is what defines India today....sometimes to the extent that we have started ignoring some of these grusome facts about ourselves. If in some way - and i think it will - this movie awakens us to the darker underbelly of India and lets some reality seep into our consiousness, it will deserve the Oscar that is awaiting it right now!!!

Kannathil Muthamittal - A kiss on the cheek

Just finished watching a movie which should be rated as one of the best i have seen till date. Kannathil Muthamittal - A kiss on the cheek

What an apt name for the movie. Probably one of the finest Mani Ratnam movies ever made. This guy needs to be saluted for his sheer genius. A tamil movie made about the Srilankan strife where no sides have been taken is a great sign of courage by the director.

The premise is relatively simple. An adopted girl in search of her biological mother and idealistic parents who help her in every step to grant her this wish. But what keeps this movie head and shoulders above anything else you have ever seen is that this is not about that girl - thats there just to keep the story moving - this is about a world where human life is reduced to nothing. Its about a world where the success is measured by the number of graves i was able to provide my brother who is now my enemy - hopefully that number is greater than mine. Where people fight for an ideology which ruins not just their lives but the lives of everyone who did not even wish to be part of it but are sucked into it. Where sometimes even ideology has died because it was given to a 10 year old who shot at its heart with his kalashnikov.

The story of the girl and her travels to the emerald island to find her mother is a moving one which has been handled brilliantly without any melodrama. The movie is a slightly long one at around 3 hrs but it probably needed this time. The best part about this movie is how natural it looks. The family life shown is like any other indian family and the romance so subtle. Something that will bring a smile to your lips is a great love song shot at scenic beaches and ragged ships on great salt farms but not between the lead pair but between the mother and the adopted daughter. Brilliant!!

The cinematography is excellent. Sri Lanka's beauty is captured in its raw essence. Its actually eerie to see beautiful parks and forests and amongst them just the shell of buildings. School Girls on cycles laughing like they do not have a care in the world and the next minute a gunfight at exactly the same place that looks so real that mentally you pary for their safety even though you know that its not real (or maybe it is!!!). Even the indian scenes are well captured. There is a scene where the young girl is running around in circles with her father in the centre and suddenly the father tells her that she is not their biological daughter. On hearing this she still keeps running around her father but now her happy carefree expression changes slowly as realization dawns on her. You go to movies to watch this...

Which brings us to the acting. Needless to say, Ratnam extracts superb performances from the various actors. Madhavan as the dad and Keerthana as the child are brilliant in the movie. Nandita Das in her small role potrays a great amount of character as the biological mother. She really looks the part as the Sri Lankan Tamil girl who goes through great turmoil in life. But the greatest of my applause is reserved for the fantastic Simran. The role essayed by her is really tough as that of a mother caught between wishing for her daughters happiness but at the sametime apprehensive of the steps that they have taken. Caught between the love for her adopted daughter while longing for her own sons too. This is one superlative performance.

And before i forget....the music...It seems that AR Rahman and Mani Ratnam are brothers. The music just knows how to follow the story and vice versa. The background score 'Vellai Pookal Ulagam' is haunting while the rest of the songs just simply fall into place.

A great movie which hopefully should make you wonder why do we fight when all we need to sort everything is to just kiss on the cheek...after all he is just your brother.

Hope and a Little Sugar

'I survived two wars by learning to hate the enemy. It's the only way to protect what we love.' - Hope and a Little Sugar

I don't believe that....You are not protecting what you love. You are just not letting it flow like water to find its own destiny. The problem is that as soon as you start hating everything around you, you stop seeing the beauty of life and the varied fragrances it brings.

Think about it. Hope and a little sugar is what everyone wants from life...

As for me....The hope has been the only one which has existed till date....

Have just prayed and asked for a little sugar in life from God ;))

This is Love

A gem of an article i read some where:

Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked about a contest he was asked to judge.

The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child.

The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.

Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.

When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said,

"Nothing, I just helped him cry"....

Rise of the Phoenix

Have you ever realized that life gives us those great opportunities sometimes that just test us in every thing that we do, our abilities, our balance, our mental strength, our beliefs, our values and our dreams itself. It’s like baptism by fire that cannot be compared with any other test that we would have undergone.

We can actually take these so called opportunities and think about the mess that we are in or we can emerge stronger from it. After all, to emerge stronger from something, we need to go though pain. This pain is something like the pain that we feel when we have run hard for a couple of miles. It’s sweet if you want it to be. It’s bitter if you want your heart to feel bitter.

The best part of this test is that, if you believe in your beliefs, and just don’t bow to anything and everything that is thrown at you – mind you, the test is stern – and do not let anything question your beliefs…I think we will emerge so much stronger that we would ourselves be able to challenge any thought which has not been tested. Ever heard of Phoenix the legendary bird, the one which after every 500 years burns and re emerges from the ashes.

I believe strongly in the concept of love. All I know is that I have my belief and that belief will stay that love exists. I might not be happy at the end of my life but well....not all love stories are happy!!

The thing is that if you stop believing in love, you will never be able to know what it is like.

(Follow me…You won't find nobody else like me) ;-)))

Idea of Ideal Love

I believe that i am the most romantic person in the world. I may be wrong but then, even if i am not, i can always try to be one...

My idea of the perfect life...not just in terms of romance but in terms of the life itself is a very simple one. Walking hand in hand with my wife in a big green field and "feeling happy down to your toes" - as CS Lewis would have put it - and not once regretting the fact that you could have lived life differently. Its something like the movie 50 first dates but the difference lies in the fact that its just not about 50 dates, its about making sure that you do it every single day of your life.

Its about a life time of happiness and still finding a way to fall in love when you are 65 years old!!

I believe that is what BLISS is all about .....