4084 or Chaalis Chauraasi or 4084 (whatever)

Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Kay Kay Menon, Atul Kulkarni, Ravi Kissen, Zakir Hussain

Direction: Hriday Shetty

What happens when you have two class actors, one Bhojpuri superstar and one of country’s best actors, in one movie? What happens when they are planning a heist of Rs. 20 Crore? What happens when they’re dancing to the super hit 80s song ‘Hawa Hawa’ by Hasan Jehangir? You get Challis Chaurasi…..or is that 4084 (whatever even the guy at the ticket window was confused)??  Well some movies need superstar to shuttle between cities, so that people pay to see their movies. While there are others which need bunch of good actors and good enough script to attract movie goers. 4084 (I will use this to address the movie’s name…obviously cauz it’s easier & shorter to write) definitely falls in the latter category. With accomplished actors like Naseeruddin Shah, Atul Kulkarni, and Kay Kay Menon, this film highly depends on their performances (Sorry, all Ravi Kissen fans for not mentioning his name in the same breath as the other three…but then it’s obvious isn’t it). Ok enough of my gibberish talk, let’s get to the point- I mean my review of the movie.

So what’s the story?? It’s about four guys (a car thief, an ex-professor, a drug trafficker & a pimp) who decide to rob an isolated house (where they exchange real rupees for fake ones), this house is apparently protected by just ‘TWO’ guys. So part of their planning is to dress up as “police” and steal a police van and scare the goons away and then walk away with the cash. There is just one problem (actually two), while these fake policemen are roaming around Mumbai…drinking..singing..dancing..harassing people, they are caught by a real policeman (Rajesh Sharma) who wants them to accompany him to catch a dreaded gangster (guess who Zakir Hussain of course). There plan goes haywire but they manage to catch the gangster but in the process come to know that the policeman was actually using them as shield and already knew that they were fake. He asks them why they put on the act…they tell him why. Of course the greedy policeman now wants the money, so they go to the isolated house to rob the goons. But find that they now have to tackle half a dozen mad and pissed off (they don’t really like the ‘Thullas’) gun trotting Haryanvis (mind you I don’t have anything against the community but that’s how they’re addressed in the movies & as such they don’t have names). So as you can imagine it gets really messy in the end with all the shooting going on (please don’t expect me to explain that...it’s as messy as ManU are currently in front of goal).

About the performances, as I said earlier he is one of the best in our country, Naseeruddin Shah a.k.a. Pankaj Suri or Sir is excellent in the limitness of his character. He is a seasoned pro and effortlessly does his part, but I am disappointed because director could have easily used him better. Atul Kulkarni, well honestly I feel that this guy is an amazing actor and its time Bollywood used him more. He plays the character of Bobby, and he and Kay Kay Menon a.k.a Pinto share an amazing chemistry in the movie and their comic timing is impeccable. And how can I forget king of Bhojpuri cinema, Sir Ravi Kissen, to be fair he doesn’t have much to do in this film. But he does manage to get your attention with his dance (I mean the way he thrusts his neck and pelvic puts all the background dancers to shame). Rajesh Sharma (as the policemen) and Zakir Hussain (as the gangster) also do full justice to their small but important roles. But it’s the ‘Haryanvis’ (I should mention this again that I don’t have anything against the community) who steal the show. They are awesome and probably are part of the best scenes of the movie. (Note: catch the Indian Rambo he’s funny). Music of the movie is mediocre, only saving grace is of course is (you guessed it right) ‘Hawa Hawa’. So how do I rate the movie, well the star cast is excellent but the movie could have done well with a tighter script. It’s not a bad option considering the kind of movies that released in its competition this week. So final verdict 2.0 rating for this one, it won’t be a part of my DVD collection but is a good one-time watch just for the good acting.

(PS: I have seen the original video ‘Hawa Hawa’ by Hasan Jehangir at least 10 times after seeing the movie. Its hilarious….thank god (or should that be Google) for YouTube)

Man Vs Woman (the eternal battle)

Yesterday, I was watching Pyar Ka Punchnama (for like, the nth time) and it was hilarious (yeah again). Well I guess it’s true that Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. So I thought…let’s add some more fuel to the fire- the eternal battle of sexes. So presenting to you the Man Vs Woman battle (revisited).

Argument:

Well women like to argue endlessly. It’s like they have to put in each and every point that comes in their mind (it doesn’t even matter if the argument makes any sense or not…they thought about it so they have to put it forth). And women want the solution to every problem at that very instant (even if it’s about world peace).They can stretch an argument endlessly (even after years they will remember it).

Men on the other hand want the argument to get over as soon as possible because they know arguing endlessly would solve nothing (and it’s ok for them even if it’s not solved at that very instant). Men suffer from memory loss, they generally don’t even remember about the arguments (or fights) after a while.

Image Source: www.freedigitalphotos.

Dressing-up:

Women like to dress up for occasions. It’s just that even going to office, grocery shopping, evening walks, etc. also come under the list of occasion for women.

Men dress up only when they are going on a date or on their own wedding. Rest of the time it’s just the snap judgment they make about the clothes they want to wear.

Maturity:

Women mature early. It is said women mature by the time they are 18.

Men are more blessed, they think they are mature when they are 25 but the truth is even on their 50^th birthday they don’t have a remote idea what maturity means.

Shoes:

Women have 6 shoes for one occasion.

Men have 1 shoe for 6 occasions.

Shopping:

Women like to shop for every occasion. They usually shop for clothes, jewelry, accessories, etc. (stuff that never makes sense to men)

Men (like dressing up) use snap judgment technique for shopping. Men usually like to shop for some mindless new gadgets. (Stuff that never makes sense to women)

Mobile:

Apparently, better tariff plans were created by Telecom co.’s because of women. And mobile phone companies started attaching better batteries (longer talk time) to their phones because of women.

Telecom companies created the internet pack for men only. And mobile gaming is now an industry because of men.

When they like someone:

If a women likes someone they will make sure the guy comes up to them and asks them out for a date. And her girlfriends will help her on this mission.

If a guy likes someone, he will tell all his buddies…n those buddies will make fun of him whenever that girl is nearby; making sure the guy gets nervous. And when the guy finally proposes the girl and gets a slap from her, these same buddies of his will make once again make fun of him.

Television:

Women like to watch daily soaps and reality television.

Men like to watch sports all the time. They also like to watch reality television only if they have women parading in short clothes.

Magazines:

Women like reading magazines about fashion and women issues.

Well the kind of magazines men like cannot be talked about in public.

Friends:

Women when with their friends talk about all the issues from how their skin is feeling dry these days to what their boyfriends/ husbands said last night.

Men, usually just use slang words to describe workplace environment, last night’s match or their relationship status. (And mostly they do that after they are down with two drinks)

I know everyone of us will have a lot to add to the list. I would love to do so. Please send in your comments and additions.

(The post is inspired from movies, personal lives, friend’s lives and website named www.funny2.com)

Image Source: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=2125

FriendShip of Life

"Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born."
- Anais Nin

This is probably the best quote I found about friendship, when I decided to write a post about Friendship Day. Friends are the best (or the worst in some cases) gift to us. So I thought of remembering the old times.

Image: photostock / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

School Days: Probably the best days of anyone’s life (most would agree), when you were carefree and were always upbeat even after a bad mid-term result (which was such a regularity with me). I spent my school days at two places, Delhi (Primary education) and Gandhinagar (Secondary & Higher Secondary). I was a thin, dark and shy boy back then (Not much has changed from then besides my weight of course). It used to be so much fun although we didn’t have any multiplexes or malls to go around. Today’s teenager’s expenses for a day were our pocket money for a month or two. We didn’t have bikes or scooties, but we had bicycles (geared ones were a rage back then). Although many now live in different cities, we are still in touch because of Orkut first and now Facebook of course (I met couple of friends from my Delhi school after about 10-12 years..Pretty amazing)

College Days: College (A-square P C-square i.e. AA Patel Comm College) was not much different from school for me. There’s a famous idiom in Hindi “Aasmaa se gire khajoor mein atke” well that was our situation back then. We left school in hope of being free and do all the fun stuff shown in movies, but all our dreams were shattered when we reached college. First of all, college was in same education complex as our school secondly it was guarded like we were prisoners in the jail. Anyways, I found quite a many great friends here and we had lots fun (details of which can’t be disclosed in this post…let’s just say read my earlier post Four Question Marks???? to get an idea). I had probably one of the best friends in life during this time. We were like brothers. It was amazing.

Pune Year: Honestly speaking I didn’t have any idea about life till I came here (Not that I still have a good idea…just a better one). My life was limited to a small city called Gandhinagar, cricket and friends. I actually didn’t want to go, but brother dear almost dragged me there to prepare for CAT and MBA exams and I will thank him for that all my life. I was scared. Yeah scared, of the big city, the traffic, so many unknown people, not being able to fit in, the list just goes on. So I enrolled for CAT coaching and in Diploma in Journalism there. I was living with my brother here in sort of a bachelor’s hostel. So I learnt to, clean my room, dishes and clothes and how to be self-reliant. With not much to do here, books became my best friends (I didn’t even have a mobile phone back then). Friends here were totally different from what I had seen till now. Firstly, they were older (in some case 5-10 years), then more mature, knowledgeable and intellectual. I learnt to understand things here. And slowly and steadily started to have my own unbiased view about things, issues and subjects (about anything). The city also gave me a new hobby- movies. I became a total movie buff. My departure from Pune was very sudden because of a family emergency, but I still remember the days that really made me a different person.

The fun MBA: When MBA finished I felt man it should have continued for couple more years. Yeah MBA was fun. With lots of event participation (and wins), it felt even better. Made a lot of friends here (friends for life). We had a big group of about 10 people in college and we had loads of fun. These guys were special and I just love them all. There were others whom I can never forget, can’t name them all but they all are super people. A special mention of my grand Project Partner here (he is a dude), without him god knows where my project would have gone.

Kreadiots: Well, part of the MBA group, Kreadiots is made up of four people. All four of us like to call ourselves creatively idiotic. This is because we bring creativity to idiocracy and have fun in the process. We also have a group t-shirt with our nicknames inscribed at the back. Yeah sounds childish, as I told you we do idiotic stuff creatively. (Some of that stuff can’t make it to the blog).

Working Days: Many of my friends tease me by calling me “Krishan Kanhaiya”. This is because six out of my nine colleagues are girls. You can do the math. Jokes apart, all of them are great individuals and really good friends.

The Pen Pals: Have had couple of pen pals since 2000. Well, you can’t call one of them Pen Pal actually, we are more of SMS, chat and FB friends. Other one is probably my second best friend I have ever had. Both of them are really awesome gals.

Just in case you were wondering who my best friend is, well she lives in Gurgaon. She is my best friend and has been so from the day I came on earth. She is my sister. Words can never explain the relation we have. We don’t need to say things to each other, to convey our thoughts. It’s just awesome. (Love you sis).

So that is me and friends. 

Image Source: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=2125

What is Imp? Money or Joy?

I and few of my friends have this habit of having long threads of emails being exchanged about various topics. (Dude you still use emails???Why??Don’t you have any social networking accounts?? Yeah for some we might sound archaic for still using out of fashion emails). We have email threads running over hundred at times. Well, in college days we had 40 minutes of discussions in college canteen but since it’s not possible for all of us to meet often because of various problems (like distance & time), we make full utilization of our employer’s internet connection. (So enough for the background of this post)

So like innumerous email discussions it all started with a different topic and boiled down to something else. One of the friends (‘HeMa MataJi’ our very own melodramatic aunty) had seen the movie Zindagi Naa Milegi Dobara, and got nostalgic about the time our group spent during the 2 years of MBA (she wasn’t the only one though because I know at least half a dozen people who felt the exact same way after the movie). Anyways so the thread started. I and few others joined in and so on it went. Then one of our friends (we fondly call him ‘Tara Singh’ of Gaddar fame…don’t remember how the name stuck though), sent us a mail with the subject line “What is Imp? Money or Joy?” Although I replied to it yesterday noon only but the question still stuck in mind, and so I thought of writing this post.

It’s quite a simple question you might think, but is the answer to it really that simple? Often in life we have to make tough choices…choices where your mind and heart are in opposite teams and fighting for your acceptance. Whom should one listen to? The Practical mind or The Emotional heart? I for one, always have this eternal confusion about almost everything. And often I make wrong choices which I rue later. I guess almost all of us go through such situations in life. (At least I hope so I am not the only one). Anyways here’s what I replied back to Tara Singh:

“Wats Imp?Money or Joy?...well ans in most imp is thyself....so put urself first...choose wat u want Money joy or nethg else...cauz nethg cn b imp dependin on d situation!!!u tuk d rt decision cauz dats rt 4 u...evrythg else will fall in2 place if ur happy wid ur dec!!hai ki nahi..”

Life is as complex and as simple as you make it. Agreed we need to make tough choices many a times in life, but will these choices be so hard if you have put yourself first and decided what’s right for you. ‘It sounds so selfish’ many would say and being selfish is not a virtue is what our elders have always told us. But think about it again. Aren’t all living beings selfish? I feel we all are selfish and there’s nothing wrong in that. If we aren’t happy how can we make anyone else happy? Now don’t get me wrong it doesn’t mean you take a gun and ape Anders Breivik, and go on a killing spree. Absolutely not. What I mean to say is one should be happy to take a decision and not force self into taking a decision they don’t want to.

Now, it’s not a one solution fits all problem kind of strategy. Depending on the situation and what you want you should take your call. So you could be chasing money or joy/happiness depending on the situation and what you really want.

Another thing we might do, is weighing ourselves down. That is, carrying unnecessary baggage over our head. We all carry these baggages from our previous experiences. But we forget that experiences are meant to facilitate our judgment and not completely overtake it. I have seen people who are so engrossed in their past that they aren’t able to navigate through their present. So it’s important leave past in the past. That’s the best way I feel.

One more baggage that we carry is the baggage of expectations. Especially we Indians have that extra expectation pressure from our families, which again weighs us down. But family should be your pillar of strength and not the anchor of a free-flowing boat. In any decision in life, if you cannot convince your family to accept it, believe me no one will. So if tackled properly, one’s family can be convinced. And then again if you are happy and if your family sees your decision working for you, they will accept. Like I said earlier, one needs to make thyself happy before making anyone else happy.

So this is what I thought……..(till now that is). I know most of you might have their own view (same or opposite), so why not share it. Use the comments to put in your views. So till the next post Asta la vista.

Our Mobilizing Era

One of my colleagues lost her mobile around a month back and has not bought a new one since then. As a usual reaction, we were all surprised and asked her why doesn’t she just buy a new one? Her response is simple, she doesn’t feel the need to and that she actually gets time to do other things (like reading books). Her responses although amazed me but also got me thinking. Is so much technology really helping us or just eating up all time from our already loaded schedules?

To answer that question I did a small test on myself. I just tried to record the number of times I checked my phone in a day (for messages, emails or anything else). Well my average for couple of days was 16 times. That was quite amazing I thought but then it was not probably a big figure I thought. So I tried to check how much time I spent each day actually using my cell phone. Well I am not much of a caller so, at an average I talked for around 20-30 mins a day. Messages (sending or reading the received ones) took away another 30 mins. Music and radio usage came to about 2.5 hours a day on average. Internet and various application usages also took around 1 to 1.5 hours. So here after the accumulation of data, I was using my cell phone for 4 to 5 hours a day. Now this figure was big I thought. Probably my colleague was right, one can actually get a lot of time without these mobiles.

And guess what yours faithfully has had three different mobiles in last 16 months.

By the way how much time do you spend on your cell phone? Please do comment.