Agneepath – Good but far from the Cult Agneepath

How do I review this movie? This question popped to me as I sit on my Laptop and try to type the thoughts post my 3 hours of Agneepath.
This movie unlike any other remakes will have two set of audience. One is who are the all time fans of the Cult Agneepath (Amitabh Bachchan as Vijay Dinanath Chauhan) and the latest one. The fan following of the old Agneepath is much stronger than the other classics of which remake have been made like Don.
The movie opens with a tribute to the Late Director Mukul S Anand who had directed the cult, original Agneepath and was a highly talented director, unfortunately died in his 40’s.
The original Agneepath was more intense with less of humor but high on emotions whereas the latest Agneepath intensity is diluted. The old one was a flop whereas the new one is more commercially viable as it has bit of humor, romance and drama as well.
Speaking of characters, can anyone fit Vijay Dinanath Chauhan other than Amitabh Bachchan in the whole of bollywood, probably not but yes, Hrithik Roshan does deliver a good performance. I understand he doesn’t have the strong, hoarse baritone like of Amitabh, but I wished that the director could have experimented with his voice a bit, as it seems to be softer in the movie.
The old or, I would say the real Vijay was cold blooded, intense, no nonsense criminal or Robin Hood whereas the reincarnated one is slightly softer, bit of humorous and seems to be low on confidence.
Did the director underplay his character deliberately or he was not able to live the immortal again on the screen?
Either the debutant director Karan Malhotra or Hrithik knows better about this.
Let’s get into the skin of supporting characters – the father of Vijay, the mother, Police Officer Gaitonde and the same characters in the latest Agneepath ; the characters are much better played in the old movie than the latest one without any doubt.
I also missed the character of Krishnan Iyer M.A played by Mithun Chakraborty in the old one which has been eliminated in the latest one.
Add to it the leading lady of Vijay played by Madhavi, in the old one was a supporting cast whereas the leading lady played by Priyanka Chopra in the latest is a distraction.
How can we end the character discussion with the infamous Kancha Cheena played by Danny in the original and Sanjay Dutt in the remake? While Danny was stylish, Sanjay Dutt is menacing with his looks, a complete contrast to the character. Danny was subtle in his dialogue delivery where Sanjay Dutt is bit loud.
Well, the latest one does score over the older one in the item song Chikni Chameli by Katrina Kaif against the one done by Archana Puran Singh and Shakti Kapoor in the old one.
Another missing feather in the latest Agneepath is the lack of popular one liners or bunch of dialogues from the old Agneepath. Though, they have kept the most popular ones like “ Naam – Vijay Chauhan pura naam – Vijay Dinanath Chauhan, Gaon- Mandwa but the types of unnoticed yet classy one liners like – “Hawa Tez hai Dinkar Rao, Topi Sambhalo Ud Jayega” are missing.
Overall if I sum up the comparison I can say that the latest Agneepath is like the Cult Jack Daniel’s Scotch which has been diluted with water – Real fan of Jack Daniels would vouch that they love it neat and hard and so am I as the ardent , never fail to watch type fan of the original Agneepath.
Retake
I try to erase my memories of the original Agneepath and take a fresh perspective. The movie is well shot with good cinematography and some strong performances by Hrithik Roshan, Sanjay Dutt and not to forget Rishi Kapoor. Infact, Rishi Kapoor for the first time played a completely negative character and he has done it perfectly. The Mumbai slum goon who is a flesh and drug trader gives patronage to Vijay, the hero against another goon Kancha Cheena. The battle is between Rishi Kapoor and Sanjay Dutt as they both want the control of Mumbai’s drug business whereas Vijay wants the village Mandwa where his innocent father was not only brutally killed but his character assassinated as well by Sanjay Dutt.
Add to it, there is childhood love interest of Vijay played by Priyanka Chopra as she tries to bring in some humor and romance in the movie to subdue the violence. After all, it’s a Karan Johar production and the movie has to appeal to the whole family than a specific set of audience.
There are few strong emotional scenes which have been beautifully shot like the one where Vijay goes to his estranged mother’s place for having dinner and the conflict of opinion happens between the mother and the son. Then, there is another one; the violent killing of a henchman by Vijay during the Ganpati visarjan.
I also liked the climax scene where Sanjay Dutt is killed; it’s violent but you want the hero to win over the evil by then.
Overall, the movie good and I am sure it will be commercially hit unlike the old one. The opening on Day 1 is surely going to break the earlier opening records as there is news coming of house full in every theater across India.
My Rating – 3/5

Love with Goa - Sun , Sea and Sand ( A travel story)

This was my first holiday in Goa and indeed a special one as it was our honeymoon in Goa. Though, I have been to many Indian holiday destinations before , but I can vouch that the love that happened with Goa will always remain so and will always be the best holiday place for us.
After, taking a flight from Delhi to Goa, I checked in the resort" The Goan Heritage" in Goa. This resort is in the range of Rs. 4000 plus during the season and is one of the most accessible resort as it is right at the Calangute beach in North Goa. North Goa is more happening and lively whereas South Goa is more scenic and historical.

Staying at the beach resort makes life easier for you as one can keep their valuables and extra clothes in the room and enjoy the beach with your mind completely cut off from any concern.
I loved the resort, its ambience, food and the buzz happening in the resort near the pool, garden and the beach. So, if you want to stay at the beach in North Goa, I will recommend "The Goan Heritage" as an ideal resort for families and couples.
In Goa, the first shopping that I did was to buy tees, shorts, slippers, a cheap sun glass as I tend to forget it at the beach and a Goan hat. Also, we had rented a bike which cost us Rs. 300/day and is much cheaper compared to self drive car which cost 900Rs/day and with narrow roads and beach galis parking would be a nuisance.
This made life simpler for us as we zoomed across the city's different parts. I remember doing Pub hopping during my college days in Delhi and here we were doing Beach Hopping from Calangute to Baga to Anjuna to Candolim and also coupled with Shacks hopping from Pedro's cafe at Calangute to St. Anthony's, Brittos, Lucky Star at Baga to St. Lucia at Candolim.

I would highly recommend St. Lucia for its Italian Pasta and Lucky star beach shack at Baga for its Shark Sizzler with lemon rice.
I had heard a lot about Britto's and St. Anthony that they are great; in my opinion they are good but slightly over stated and one needs to explore beyond these famous beach shacks.
Some of the shacks like Lucky Star also play live music which is mostly rock music and you could see firangs and Indians dancing away on those songs with bottles in their hand.
The overall atmosphere becomes so much exhilarating that you feel just immersed in the trance of life.
If you are in Goa, try doing a lot of water sports. Like we did, Jet Ski, boat ride and para sailing. These sports are fun and adventure and also we were fortunate enough to do it as the rough sea makes it difficult some times.

Goa is infamous as a drinking and drug paradise. Well, I didn’t explore the latter but yes, there is only one law on drinking in Goa, that is "No Law". People are seen drinking in the streets at day, night and alcohol of all sort is sold at the cheapest rate at every corner and at any time of the day.
I was almost on staple diet of wine, beer and sea food everyday with lots of beach activities to burn the excess calories gained.

The food is excellent especially if you love sea foods like shark, lobster, crab, calamari, fish, mussels and prawns. I tasted all of them and really liked the shark and lobster among all of them.
The people in Goa are generally friendly and also expect the same from you. Transport is slightly expensive if you dont rent a bike, but if you can drive a bike than dont give a second thought and rent it from day 1 in Goa.
All, I can say about Goa is that its a different world altogether in India and you feel completely liberated and just chill and enjoy in the sun, sea and sand with liters of alcohal and best of sea foods with great lively music and lovely ambience.
Its not only a must visit destination but a place where you want to visit every year for your holidays.
Love you Goa !
Cheers..Hic..hic..
Amit

Mumbai Diary II - Pictures Along the Arabian Sea

If there is a nature's gift to Mumbai which makes it really beautiful is the presence of Arabian Sea. The coast along the Arabian sea in Maximum Mumbai is surrounded by skyscrapers and boulders that’s gives a contrast to Mumbai's landscape which is depth and height.
I am not an ace photographer and not even a photographer but yes I did try to be one with my mobile camera Nokia E5 and let the pictures speak about this city.
The first set of Photographs which is here is taken from the window of cafe seaside restaurant at Bandra Band street. To to add to the beauty of the sea was a beautiful rainy day.
I love going to this restaurant often, not really for the food but to get a good view of the sea and the crowd from the restaurant's window.
So it was a beautiful day not raining initially and I was sipping a coffee in the cafe, when I saw a group of 3 young girls walk in the cafe with a middle aged dark and fat man.
One of the girl was I suppose in her late teens whereas other 2 girls seemed to be in their late twenties.
They were sitting just across my table and were talking to each other and the man was continuosly on the phone while they were also eating slices of chocolate cake.
They seemed to be waiting for someone when it suddenly started raining heavily. All my attention shifted to the rain when suddenly I got a call from one of my friend. I kept talking to him for around 10 mins or so and the call ended. I saw the table across and saw them missing from the table. I didnt gave a second thought about them and started looking at the rains falling in the sea. While moving my neck to get a complete view of the sea I suddenly saw these girls going to the bank of the sea in the rain.
It struck to me watch how they enjoyed the rain along the sea and look at the lively inhibitions less life of Mumbai.
Now let the pictures speak-





The second set of pictures were taken on the eve of Independence Day night in Marine Drive. Needless to say that beauty of Marine Drive in night with lights and tall skycrapers is simply mesmerising. There have been many photos taken of this unique Queen's Necklace in India.
I took these Marine Drive pictures while strolling after a good heavy dinner at the Bagdadi restaurant and some chilled beer at Leopold cafe.
All I can say, after a good dinner and drink a walk at Marine Drive is a deadly combination.

Mumbai Diary I - Life at Mumbai Local

It’s been more than 6 months of stay in this most bustling city of India though have been here many times. But these 6 months have been a new experience altogether as I have seen this city closely ranging from strange experiences while traveling on trains, pub hopping, tasting food at different restaurants to going through the trauma of being in a city which has been a frequent and soft target of bomb blasts.
I intend to write a Mumbai diary, don’t know for how long I will be able to write on this but let me start at least.
If I break the time spent per day in Mumbai, I would say that I spend a minimum of 20% i.e. 2-3 hrs per day of my day in traveling by trains to reach to my office and other places in Mumbai. The scarcity of wide roads and affordability makes most of the Mumbaikars to travel by local trains to their work place on a daily basis.
People make friends on trains, even some become couples in love and share joy and crib about the government. It’s really surprising to see that people who take the same trains daily meet each other, talk among themselves but they don’t even remember each other’s name. That’s what is Mumbai‘s life; it is about being together but still maintaining each others privacy.
I am sharing few anecdotes from my travel by Mumbai local which would give a glimpse into the life and culture of Mumbai.
Anecdote 1
It was a tough evening for me as I reached Andheri station late and had to catch up an evening train going to Panvel, as I stay in Vashi. I boarded the train’s 1st class compartment just seconds before the train started and was sad to not to get a place to sit in the train.
Poor me, I have to travel one hour long journey by standing in the train. All, I could do was crib within myself. I stood just near to a sitting gentleman who seemed to be in his late forty’s and by looks, bag and clothing looked like a government servant. To drift my attention from the pain of standing in the train, I started to read his messages on his mobile phone screen. The man totally unaware of his invasion of privacy was busy in reading the messages and writing message to a recipient called “Kiran Vashi Train”.
By the name of the recipient, I could guess that the recipient seems to be a lady and this person must have met her on the vashi train.
What amused me later was they this person send an adult joke to the this lady on which the lady replied by the following message “ hahha..its good , but tu marwayega mere ko aazkal bacche bhi maa ka mobile dekhthe rehate hai” .
Well, the message meant that the lady said that the joke was good, but you will get me screwed as my kids also check my mobile”.
All, I could do was to smile and forget the pain of standing for long in the train.
Anecdote 2
I took a late morning train from Vashi to CST station and was sitting in a seat near to a gate. There were lots of people in the trains, but there was one couple who boarded the train from Vashi who seemed to be different.
The female was a young lady in her mid twenties with a healthy figure and the male was a middle aged guy in his early forties who was frail , had long curly hair , dark in complexion and truly unattractive though was wearing branded shirt and pants with no watches.
At first instance anyone would think them as may be father and daughter or may be two colleagues. Well, the cat didn’t hide for long as they soon started talking in frequent English and I could hear that she really had a great time at his house.
The lady soon took out a chocolate and gave it to the guy. The guy bit the chocolate by his lips, fed to the lady and then fed to himself.
The train was crossing the Vashi creek and it really becomes windy and romantic while passing the creek. The couple suddenly got themselves very cozy against each other with the guy touching her hair and holding her shoulders.
Yes, they were a couple in love who despite their age difference were very frank to flaunt their affection and love in full public view without thinking of what the on lookers would say about them.
And to the typical Mumbai style, no one really cared for what they were doing. This is the most liberal city, I could ever be in India; I thought.
Anecdote 3
Well this is the shortest of them, though I have so many to share but may be in the part II. I was crossing the foot over bridge to get on the other side of the platform at Dadar station when I had to suddenly cut my pace for few seconds.
I saw a young college going couple who seemed to be boarding different trains stopped on the foot bridge and kissed each other passionately for few seconds in the middle of the way.
It seemed really amazing, as from back I could see people passing by their sides and this couple standing in middle and kissing in full public view. I don’t know should I term it as obscenity or may be the free and liberal culture ; but all I can say is that after staying in so many cities in India, the culture and life in Mumbai is very unique compared to the all other cities.
Hoping to come out with more parts!

Singham – Bollywood masala that will taste good if you have a taste for it

Though, bit late in writing the review for Singham but it’s not that bad if you do a right thing a bit late, but you do it. So here, I go…
Bajirao Singham played by Ajay Devgan is a police inspector in a small village on the Goa Maharashtra border which accidentally is his own village where has grown with people and lived his life. He is tough cookie with large biceps, robust moustache and strong voice. But at the same time, he is nice, humble, emotional, and romantic and loves his people, country and job. All in all, Singham is an idealist cop and a perfect human being.
Jaykant Shirke played by Prakash Raj is a goon cum politician who is the king of Goa and has power, police and money to influence things and even lead to an honest police office do suicide.
The movie set in the backdrop of rural Maharashtra and Goa with many popular Marathi one liner used in the movie revolves around just these 2 characters and rest all of them are only supporting cast. Though Kajal Agarwal as the leading lady of the film looks good and acts reasonably well too.
Rohit Shetty, after his series of Golmaal comes out with a cat out of bag by bringing in action movie, but that doesn’t mean he is going to compromise on his dialogue style and the car blowing scenes. These are copyrights for Rohit shetty and not restricted to Golmaal.
The ill fate of Prakash Raj brings him in contact with Ajay Devgan and this starts the series of bull fight between the hero and the villain. What makes it exciting is that they both get chances to win over each other though the end as usual is won by the hero of the movie. This also makes it different from the hit movie Dabang where one character ruled the whole of movie and this makes Singham interesting too.
The verbal volleys, fight scenes between the two makes the movie exciting and doesn’t let you move away from the movie.The weak point of the movie are the songs which are not good enough to make you hear it and also extends the movie length by few meters. Also, the climax is a bit extended as the director tries to bring in some comedy into the climax scene which makes the movie spicy but it’s a bit long.
Overall, I liked the movie more because of excellent acting by the Villain Prakash Raj and Ajay Devgan and yes the dialogues are good though some time these sound senseless by literary terms. At the end, if you love bollywood masala flavored by some really good acting then go and watch Singham and you will like it.Not to forget to mention that I do like the end credit style by Rohit Shetty.

Shaitan Movie Review – It’s a Dark chocolate which is bitter but tastes real good

Ohh.. What a day yesterday, I had few tight sales meetings with the customers and was running between locals, auto and taxis across Mumbai. Also, it was raining heavily and I regretted not carrying an umbrella as I got drenched in rain and reached home by 9.30 pm.
Back home , I badly wanted to refresh my mind from the day’s events and decided to go for Shaitan, night 10.15 show and it turned out to be a perfect decision to wind myself from work and enjoy the time.
Well, Shaitan opens up with Kalki Koechlin as Amy meeting Gulshan Devaiya as KC in a party. KC is a rich industrialist son and have 3 other friends – a struggling actress played by Kirti Kulhari , a sex obsessed computer geek Parsi played by Neil Bhopalam and a restaurant waiter cum drug peddler played by Shiv Pandit.
Amy who had a tough childhood and has traits of mental disturbance becomes friends with these four characters and here starts the event of being naughty, being evil, being wrong but right in their own terms
Their adventures and mischief’s finally lands them in a trouble one fine Mumbai night when they accidentally run their Hummer over two scooter riders while flying high on speed and drugs.
They try to forget it when a corrupt cop approaches them and asks them for 25 Lacs bribe to shut the case. These young kids don’t want to go to their parents for certain reasons and plans the fake kidnapping of Amy.
This brings in the entry of an honest but a very aggressive police officer Rajeev Khandelwal who is given the charge to solve this high profile kidnapping case.
The direction by debutant Bejoy Nambiar is really good. The way the events are created in the movie matching with real life incidents are the some of the best moments of the movie.
There is one shot of gun fight battle between the cop and underworld agents in a chawl amidst the attempted rape of one of the friends and a dead body of a German tourist with “Khoya Khoya Chand” remixed version being played in the background. This scene is so well crafted and the screen play is mind boggling and is one the finest shots in the recent Hindi cinema.
The song “Fareeda” which often plays in the background after the second half gives the pace to the movie and keeps you on your seats, if ever you feel too much violence and dark events. The only time the movie makes you feel boring is few sequences when Amy remembers her mother quite often.
Rajeev Khandelwal as a tough cop makes his statement that he is such a fine actor and his talent is still unutilized by the industry. All the other actors have also played their role well.
I can say that this is an out and out a Director’s cut and kudos the debutant Bejoy Nambiar , who had assisted Maniratnam in Guru as he lives up to the expectations from an Anurag Kashyap’s production.
Go and watch Shaitan because it’s dark and bitter but yet gripping and you will like it if you are not only an emotional drama lover and like watching different genre.
Rating – 3.5/5

Spring of Life - A short story

I am delighted to write and publish my 100th blog post as a short story titled "Spring of Life".
I have written this story for "ARTREE" Scribble e1 2011 contest which encourages people who love arts in any form to come and share the platform.
http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fartreelounge.in%2Fpage%2Fscribble-e1-2011&h=74114
So here it goes....


“Few steps below, I could feel the restlessness in the wind and long wait for midnight stars….” There is a complete blackout in Mumbai today owing to some crunch power shortage by the terror sabotage a day back that has crippled the city’s lifeline that is power. Mumbai runs on power and no power means no running trains, no work and just restlessness in all the Mumbaikars.
Manu and Meera the two kids whose abode is the Pali Hill street and for them lamppost is their lifeline as they study in night under the lamp post. Manu works as a delivery boy who delivers newspapers to houses, milks and food items to the restaurants and Meera is a girl who was brought from Nepal to be sold in Mumbai but than destiny saved her as she was quick to realize her relative’s intention and ran away from their clutches.
Manu gave Meera a shelter to live in and currently she is working as a maid in a ladies beauty parlor.
Both Manu and Meera have enrolled themselves for an open school run by an NGO and want to study further. While Manu wants to become an engineer, Meera wants to become a beauty expert. They both compliment each other as Manu protects Meera from bad eyes and Meera cooks for Manu.
Manu and Meera are just walking on the streets under the dim light of the stars and discussing about the life they want, the dreams they are chasing when suddenly a big white BMW car stops near them.
Hey Kids, come inside; we will drop you says a man with red eyes and a beard. Manu looks inside and sees 3 persons including the driver sitting inside the car. In the back, a Man in his forty’s and is probably the owner of the car. He is wearing thick gold bracelet and gold chains which are shining more than the headlight of the car.
No, thank you Uncle, we are ok answers Manu.
The man with the red eyes suddenly gets down and is staring at Meera. Meera gets scared and so is Manu. The time it seems have just stopped. The man sitting in the behind takes out a bundle of Rs.100 notes and hands it over to Meera.
Meera hands starts trembling with fear of what these men really wants. Meera tries to cover her torn top with her hands. Manu’s face becomes red with anger and takes the money from Meera’s hands and gives it back to the man.
The Man not getting angry at this says to Manu “Son, don’t take me wrong I am just trying to help you out. “It’s dangerous to stroll late in a dark Mumbai night like this hence I asked my driver to stop the car. I am giving you the money because I saw books in your hand when we stopped the car.
The man added, “Son I used to study on the same street 30 years ago and I made my life on this street. I am an engineer, I worked abroad and I have my own company. I see my glimpse in you.
Manu and Meera seemed totally surprised by his words and feel happy. They smile and suddenly the harsh wind that was blowing has slowed down and also the stars are slowly coming in the stars to mark their presence.
Thank you uncle, but we can’t keep this money with us. We will work hard and will make our destiny bright like you.
All the three strangers in the car smiled and the driver started the car. The owner of the car said to his men, “God Bless them”! And the car moved on the streets.