Indian Ocean

Awesum day!

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First, Dada made a century, in Kolkata. Here is what Anand Vasu has to say.

For Ganguly, Kolkata feels an unconditional love, the kind that asks for nothing in return and yet blindly accepts whatever it gets. There’s nothing objective about the manner in which Ganguly is assessed as a cricketer, and anyone who dares to contradict the overwhelmingly positive image is not spared. He’s the uncrowned prince of Kolkata, and on Saturday, in the company of VVS Laxman, the man who earned the position of the lord of Eden Gardens with his 281 against Australia in 2001, Ganguly rattled off a century as easily as he was batting in the bylanes of Behala, and not a Test match.

Next, TK, Bharathi, Ritu and me attended the SAARC music festival at Central Park, CP. Brilliant place for a concert. Listened to Raghu Dixit Project (formerly Antaragni), East India Company, some Bhutanese band, and Indian Ocean.

Raghu Dixit Project, as expected, was awesome. Lot of showmanship, crowd enthu and nice songs. I had heard most, except three. Aambar (I wish I could get the mp3), Khidkiyan, and Gudugudiya sedi nodo (awesome again, mp3 anyone???).

East India Company to me was the highlight of the show. The lead singer was wasted but had an awesome vocal. They were kind of electro-folk. Nice mix. They sang some Rajasthani, a couple of Assamese, and two hindi songs I guess. Hindi ones were a remix of Tere bin nai jina which was good. The next one was a not so good remix of Mast kalandar. Overall, I loved the band.

The Bhutanese band was ok, nothing great. I think they got overwhelmed by the occasion.

Last – the most awaited event. Indian Ocean. They were so damn delayed by other bands that they hardly had an hour to play. Rahul Ram (the bassist) was so damn pissed off at it, and so was I. They started off with Bande, the some other song which I have heard, but don’t know the name of. Then a new one Bula raha hai, which I liked. Then we (TK and me) had to rush off to get the bikes from the Palika parking. And I think they played Kandisa and Hai Tamasha after that.

Topped it off with some nice food and gen bakar at Mamu’s (Chimpoo at JNU). Ended with coffee at Barista. Perfect!

PS: Lot of snaps at the music fest. Snaps to be uploaded soon.

Black Friday

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I saw this movie quite a while back, but the scenes are still fresh in my memory. The gory scene just after the blast and the deformed bodies. The police torture scene and the man shooting himself and his family. The exploitation of angry Muslim youth by Tiger Memon and many more. Its hard to believe that the same director has actually directed Shaka Laka Boom Boom.

The movie has been adapted by Anurag Kashyap from a book by Hussain Zaidi. The movie is fast paced and moves effortlessly form the past to the present and various scenes. The movie uses original names, from Tiger Memon to Dawood Ibrahim. No one has been spared, not the Muslims, not the Hindus, not the Police and not even Balasaheb Thakare. For once a hindi movie has called a spade a spade. The movie even manages to humanize the terrorists without actually pardoning them. As Ojas puts it here, “And that graffiti on the police station cell wall and that chase sequence… they have managed to catch even the minutest details.”

The brilliant Kay Kay Menon, as Inspector Mario, speaks more from his eyes than his actions. The scenes with his dipping his head in a bucket of water, and giving the lady her spectacles back are just awesome. However, the movie’s best act goes to Pavan Malhotra as Tiger Memon. He has played his part exceptionally well. Tiger’s histerical shouting after his office is burnt down and his manipulation of the angry Muslim youth is spell binding. Also worth mention is a splendid performance by Aditya Srivastava as Badsah Khan. His potrayl of Badsah’s journey and the troubles during it make you sit up and take notice. His tussle scene with Yeda Yakub for his passport gets you to the edge of your seat. Overall the movie gets a 4.5/5 from me. A def must watch!!

One complain with the movie. I think at points it has under used the music by Indian Ocean. The song Bandeh comes at the end, and is a masterpiece. I wish I hear them play it live once.

अरे मंदीर ये चुप है, अरे मस्जिद है गुमसूम, इबादत थक पड़ेगी हो
समय की लाल आँधी, कब्रिस्तान ये रास्ते, अरे लतपट् चलेगी हो

अरे नींदें है ज़ख़्मी, अरे सपने है भूखे, की करवत फट पड़ेगी हो
एह आंधी चोट तेरी, कभी की सुख जाती, मगर अब पाक चलेगी

PS: What is it with guys and water. I personally feel so much better after a shower when I am depressed and also how sweet the rain feels at times.