Monthly Archives: November 2013

Bullet Raja Review : When Tarantino meets Tigmanshu Dhulia

Posted on by under Movies

Bullet Raja – It’s crazy fun

If we have to choose a genre to describe Tigmanshu Dhulia’s Bullet Raja, then it has to be the genre of Quentin Tarantino, like in Tarantino films in Bullet Raja too grave situations are treated with irreverence and violence is mixed with funny interludes.

Bullet Raja simply put is a story of 2 best friends Raja misra and Rudra on the lines of Jai- Veeru (sholay) set in the Heartland of UP’s rouge  political climate. Raja meets up with Rudra accidenly when he gate crashes into a wedding of Rudra’s cousin sister to escape from some goons. Right from the word go two friends take off and also get involved in an encounter where our heroes successfully  eliminate a mob who have come to avenge the bride’s father and there by unintentionally getting into the gangster politics of UP and in this process Raja and Rudra start killing, kidnaping with ease and elan and become superstars among the youth of UP, Raja meets with Mithali (Sonakshi sinha) in one of these kidnap episode and she goes on to stay with them as she falls in love with him. Post interval the film deals mostly with revenge of Raja.

The high point and USP of the movie is not so much the story but Dhulia’s treatment of these violent situations with casualness and in a over the top manner with dialouge which is rooted and locale, with express peace. On the whole Bullet Raja is a fun masala film Tigmanshu style.

 

 

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Possible Good is better than Impossible best

Posted on by under Politics

Possible Good is better than Impossible best

As part of the run up to India’s General elections 2014, we keep hearing from these “ Left Liberal Intellectuals” right from Ramchandra guha to Arundathi roy that the country needs some one better than either Rahul gandhi or Narendra modi, the question i would like to ask them is who is that other alternative they can suggest ? and if they do have one in mind do they think it is realistic for that alternative to win the elections? As long as they don’t give answers to these critical questions, the stance they take of neither modi nor RG is rather a lazy and easy stance to take.

As of today there are only two choices in front of the citizens of our country :

Its either Rahul Lead congress or Modi lead BJP, now lets asses these two on 3 key factors :

  1. Past governance record
  2. Leadership Qualities
  3. What are their policies to shape the future of India

As far as Governance record of Mr Rahul gandhi is considered there is nothing to asses as he has not taken up any key responsibilities like being a minister or chief minister and yet sadly blames the system and talks of changing the system forgetting it is the congress party which ruled for 65 years and more importantly the last 10 years where if he was willing to had all the power at his disposal to change things. Worst part is he is absent during most of the debates on important legislations in Parliament and missing in action when protests like Jan lokpal movement and Nirbhaya happened. The country does not know what he stands for.

If we consider the record of congress party it self, there is no need to remind every one of the kind of indecision and policy paralysis our country is suffering after the revelations of one after another monumental scams. The congress party talks about empowering the common man, they fail to realize the Prime Minister of our country first needs to be empowered. Sonia and Rahul Gandhi’s two power center strategy has not only diminished the office of PM but also made Manmohan Singh a scape goat while Sonia gandhi enjoys power without accountability. the congress party and UPA has not only failed at the national level but even if you look at any Congress ruled states, the same symptoms of indecisiveness, populist welfare schemes rather than good governance and improvent in infrastructure and short term measure for immediate electoral gains is the norm whether it is AP,Maharashtra or Rajasthan, in all these states too the office of Chief minster is reduced to being a loyalist of the Family rather than a competent leader.

Take the top 5 states which are fast progressing states of our country, you will see that all of them are non congress ruled Govts : namely Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Orissa, Chathisgarh.

Lets contrast this with Modi’s Governance record as Gujarat’s  CM and you will find there is a lot to chew about the things he managed to develop like  24 hr uninterrupted Electricity to whole of Gujarat, Tap Water supply to even far removed regions of Kutch, consistent GDP growth of more than 8 % for the last 10 years, many Infrastructure projects and massive Industrialization as attested by the top Industrialists of our Country and more importantly people of Gujarat giving the Mandate to Modi 3 times consecutively is a proof of his Government passing with flying colors. Now what is the biggest failure of Modi which these left liberals keep refering to, its the Riots of 2002, yes agreed one has to agree whatever the circumstances the handling of 2002 riots may be considered as a failure on his part. but you dont judge a leaders capability bsed on just one incident you have to judge it in a period of time and over the last 13  years when Modi was in power not a single riot took place in a state where there are many such places where riots and curfew would go on for months every single year prior to 2002.

Now consider BJP as party’s performance and in contrast congress we can see that the CM’s of BJP ruled states are leaders of their own making and highly competent and are empowered rather than running to high command for every decision to be taken and if take look at the BJP ruled states like : Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Chathisgarh, Gujarat, they are rated high on development and strong consistent leadership, with a exception of Karnataka, there too they got rid of Yeddyurappa knowing well that it is going to effect there victory.

Not only in terms of Leadership and Governance, Modi and BJP are better than RG and congress but even in terms of the policies for the future there is a fundamental difference, while the congress party is hell bent on distributing free bee schemes like Food security bill and Right to education bill which they themselves know will not be possible to implement but do it not just to sympathize with poor people but a blatant attempt to Glorify poverty and gain votes from it where as on the other hand Modi talks about improving countries Infrastructure, Industrialization which generates employment and make poor self reliant and independent rather than helpless beggars.

Having said this about Modi and BJP, i am no way saying Modi is perfect, no he may have many short comings, there are many factors on which Gujarat fares badly but important thing to realize is there is no Perfect option available, there is only a better option available in such circumstances important remember is

  “Possible Good is better than Impossible best”

About My Icons

Posted on by under About

Jayprakash Narayan :

Jp sir as he is called is a hero for me, when i watch his interviews, speeches or when i read about him i feel a rush of inspiration in me and an urge to do something, to change something. His story from being a Physician who was deeply moved by the Loknayak JP movement against emergency to one of India’s most successful IAS officer to an activist for Political reforms to a politician who is toiling hard to reform our countries Politics which is stuck in a vicious cycle of money power, criminalization, cast equations. with a  general acceptance by public at large that we need a crook to work a crocked system, Jp sir has accepted a humongous challenge to fight for new politics without involving money, criminals and vote buying there by giving a hope to many like minded people like me who are interested to contribute but till now had no option to participate in politics as the traditional parties were practicing immoral and unethical politics where there was no space for common people.

When you hear Jp sir you will know he is a man with a sea of Knowledge and immense wisdom coupled with logic,sharp and crystal clear articulation of problems of India and solutions to tackle them, I don’t know what should be done to see India as a developed nation but i know one thing for sure if we can implement what JP sir says we can see India as a developed nation.

Some Quotes from of JP sir :

“ The answer to bad Politics is only better Politics and more Politics ”

“ It is always a small group of thoughtful committed people who change this world”

“ The solution is not the change of players but change of Rules of the game”

“ I believe there are two sins in our country one Unfulfilled Potential and the other Avoidable suffering and i get angry when i see this all around but i don’t show my angry face instead i channel my anger in a creative and constructive manner.”

Ramgopal Varma :

In every ones life knowingly or unknowingly there will be one person who shapes our thinking, attitude towards life and  influences the decisions we take, in my case undoubtedly RGV is the most influential person who has not only moulded my thinking but also provoked, enlightened and connected in may ways and made me a happier, stronger person.

The first ever time i heard the word director was when my father told me about RGV and then when i watched SHIVA (RGV’s first film) when i was probably 13-14 when i had a little more sense of cinema, i was blown away  it was only gradually as i grew up watched more movies like RATRI, Kshana kshanam, and came to know all of these are RGV films, my curiosity started to grow,but my curiosity for RGV and his films peaked after i started watching and reading his interviews mostly in the film magazines at my barber’s saloon, his responses to most questions would range from extremely frank to funny to shocking but they had some connect with me sub consciously whether be his views on GOD/religion or the Hypocrisy of our society or his discomfort with social formalities, and slowly i was waiting, searching for his interviews. I remember a time when there was a ad on gemini TV that the coming sunday there is an interview with RGV and i was desperately waiting for that and almost felt a feverish frenzy before the interview got started the kind of anxiety we experience when we are sitting in an exam hall waiting for the Question paper.  Although i never missed even a single interview of RGV, still did not understand the personality, philosophy or his beginnings until he started writing his blog “ RGVZOOMIN.com” which gave the most insight in to what shaped his personality and how he deals with his life and also introduced me Ayn Rand.It was this blog which really made think about life and what is that we get happiness from and how one should face conflicts, confusions and problems. I spent many hours day dreaming and having sleepless nights just thinking about these blog posts and RGV’s philosophy and still continue to do so.

RGV not only made many Path breaking films but he influenced a generation of film makers both in Telugu and hindi Film industries, there are approximately 30 – 40 directors today  who were assistants with him and many more technicians who he introduced as he says “ I don’t give chances I take chances” .

The 2 most important things i realized from RGV is

  1. Success is that ability to do what ones wants to do from the time we wake up to time we sleep, instead of just going about life with a 9 to 5 secure job from which we are always hoping to get a break just because we are too afraid of tomorrow and just bend down to social pressures. Although i am no where near of achieving this success, at least i am aware that i am not.
  2. every one will have flops and hits in his or her life and it is more likely that one has more flops than hits. but when you have flop, instead of worrying start thinking, thinking will lead to decision- decision will lead to work – if it does not work well all you have to do is RE-WORK .

 

Some Quotes from RGV :

“ Your Life is your decision”

“ The point of life is there is no point to it and the best point one can aim is to live it point by point and point to point”

“ Ramusism is about all ism’s and no ism at all, taking what ever is suitable for you to achieve your goal and discarding the rest”

“ Its not about learning its about unlearning”

“ Stop worrying and start thinking ,thinking makes you reach a decision and the decision you reach will result in work and if the work does not result in what you wanted from it, all you have to do is Re-work”

 

Ram Lela is a well crafted and well casted film

Posted on by under Movies

Ram Lela is a well crafted and well casted film

As expected from a Sanjay leela bhansali film Ram leela is a visual treat as he mounts each frame deliciously  with vivid colors and grandeur but what’s different and what scores in comparison with his previous films is that he creates two feisty characters Ram and Leela and backs them with equally sharp dialogues and swift peace until the interval, post interval the film goes down hill but thanks to the terrific performances from the leads and other ensemble cast I never lost interest in the film.

Ram leela is an indianized version of Romeo Juliet set In a fictional village in rural Gujarat where Violence is a way of life between to waring factions of Rajadi and Sanera and expectedly Ram and Leela belong to these warring families but what works most in the film is the sizzling chemistry between deepika and ranveer Singh right from the first scene they are together and the films most enjoyable moments are between them, unfortunately as then story progresses to the point where the two lovers are separated by there respected families, movie slips and many scenes don’t make much sense and too many songs and fights don’t help either.

Over all Ram Leela can be a good one time watch for its performances, ace camera work from Ravichandran and of course in the end it’s a  Sanjay bhansali film as he is credited as writer,music composer, editor and Director   ,it’s a signature bhansali film.