One Idiot To Rule Them All

In the Summer of 1988, cine-lovers were treated to yet another romantic flick from the Nasir Hussain Films banner, Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak. This one, a desi adaptation of William Shakespeare's romantic tragedy Romeo & Juliet, became a hit and ever since has been a staple on every movie channels romantic flick line-up.

But apart from the movie's story and its popularity, there was another element to this flick that perhaps is more significant. QSQT marked the debut of Nasir's young nephew, Aamir Khan. The 'chocolate boy' was a nationwide sensation with his charm and soft spoken persona and became the new kid on the Bollywood block.

Fast forward 21 years, that new kid is now one of the most commercially successful actors in the country. With a body of work that is more diverse than our nation's population, Aamir Khan is an artist par excellence. His deep commitment to every project, that he is part of, is in a word, commendable. Khan has long shed the chocolate boy image and has since donned many different hats on and off the screen.

With his latest movie (well as an actor at least!) Aamir went all out with the publicity drive, to the extent that his personal blog dons the new movie's theatrical poster on its home page.

He may not be considered as a superstar in the same way as his contemporary, Shahrukh Khan. But ask any decent film critic and he is certain to tell you that of the two, Aamir is definitely a true actor. And I agree. Aamir's versatility and knack for perfection is apparent in every role that he has portrayed over the years.

Over the past two decades, Aamir Khan has been part of many movies, most of which have been absolute gems. But there are a few movies that I feel truly reflect this actor's brilliant talent. Here are my top picks, starring Aamir 'the actor' Khan that any Khan fan must watch ~

Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar

Another hit from the Nasir Hussain Films banner, and yes another romantic flick. But this one is a high school romantic caper (possibly the only successful one!) and doesn't end tragically unlike QSQT.

Khan is the spoiled younger sibling of a high school bicycling champion. Aamir's wayward ways and despise for the sport and his gradual transition to becoming the new champion of the bicycling event forms the crux of the movie.

One of the many highlights of the movie is the musical number, 'Pehla Nasha', which is undeniably one of the most amorous and romantic songs to be ever written and composed in Indian cinema.


Andaz Apna Apna

A cult classic, this is the only movie in which Aamir shared screen space with another Khan, Salman to be precise. Aamir and Salman star as two hapless youngsters who are on their way to win the hand of a supposed NRI damsel.

Throughout the movie, the two Khan's, Amar and Prem, are trying to one up each other. The plot gets many comical twists thanks to brilliant performances by the supporting cast which includes Paresh Rawal and Shakti Kapoor.

Although there is no coherent character to portray here, Aamir is at his slapstick best in this movie. With absolutely inane dialogues and equally inane comic situations, Aamir's comic timing is commendable.


Rangeela

Okay, most of us probably only remember Urmila Matondkar's steamy dance moves, but for those of you who actually saw the movie you would agree that Aamir was absolutely brilliant in this movie.

Aamir plays a typical Bambaiya bhai in this movie, who sells movie tickets for black and lives his life to the fullest. Khan has a crush on his friend, Minnie, who is an extra in the movie business but dreams of becoming a superstar someday.

Khan's portrayal of a 'tapori' became a benchmark for all wannabe 'Munnabhais' and is one of his most memorable roles till date.



Sarfarosh

Aamir plays ACP Ajay Singh Rathod, a senior police official investigating and eventually bringing down, with his team, the terrorist network plaguing the country. Khan shares the screen with Naseeruddin Shah, another fine actor, in this one.

The movie in itself is a rare gem, and Aamir gives one stellar performance with superb dialogue delivery. Khan's character seems so grounded in reality that it is very easy to forget that he's actually playing a part in a movie.


Lagaan

Now here's a movie that is an absolute masterpiece! Lagaan is the story of how a village defied the then British 'Raj' and defeated the Queen's men at their own national sport of cricket.

Aamir plays the village lad, who believes in the ideals of independence, freedom and equality and who leads his team of players to victory in this epic tale of good versus evil.

Khan's commitment for the role was again apparent as he perfected his accent, diction and look to bring that authentic 19th century rural feel to his character.
The movie also marked Aamir's foray into the production business and highlighted his strong business acumen.


Dil Chahta Hai

Another cult, classic, Farhan Akhtar's directorial debut pitted Aamir with Saif Ali Khan and Akshay Khanna in a story about three friends and the ups and downs in their lives.

Khan plays a typical urban youth, who doesn't believe in the concept commitments of any sort and lives life one day at a time. This is pretty cool considering that he was already way past 35 when he played the character.

Aamir's witty dialogue delivery and knack for looking the part make this movie an absolute must watch for any Aamir fan!


Rang De Basanti

Director Rakeysh Mehra's solo hit, here Khan is an Delhi University ex-student, who hangs out with his college friends.

Khan and his friends, enjoy the good life with a happy-go-lucky attitude until an event shatters their world. Their transition from the carefree to the brave and revolutionary is what Rang De Basanti is all about.

Despite being an ensemble movie, Khan is outstanding in this flick. His rendition of a typical Delhi student is uncanny Once again the actor in him surprises us all with his penchant for perfect diction and body language. Khan also lent his voice to a song in the movie. Now that's what I call multifaceted!


Taare Zameen Par

Khan wasn't the protagonist in this one as he made the transition from actor to director. TZP was a movie that dealt with a very sensitive topic, that of dyslexia among children and the society's perception of the disorder. And Khan's direction paid off as the movie enjoyed both critical and commercial success.

Khan's many years as a fine actor are obvious as his direction captures the best from every actor in the movie. Damn even behind the camera, this man is a genius!







And now, the Khan is all set to entertain us once again with his rendition of a college student in Rajkumar Hirani's  3 Idiots a cinematic adaptation of Chetan Bhagat's five point someone. I for one am definitely going to catch Khan's latest (and probably blog about it as well!). I am still stunned that despite being 44, he is still managing to look younger than Sharman and Madhavan in the 3 Idiots promos!

Aamir Khan, an actor, a producer and a director par excellence. Truly, this Idiot deserves to be appreciated for his awesome talent and unparalleled genius.

Action TV

Growing up, there were many television shows that I enjoyed watching. But being a guy, there was (and still is!) a genre of shows that had special appeal to me. These were the shows about men and their machines. No not those machines you pervert! I'm talking about the mean vehicles that these heroes used, to chase down the villain and then use the vehicle's awesome arsenal of weapons to blow the bad-guy to kingdom come. Yeah there were the shows that epitomized raw machismo.

Developed during the decade that truly endorsed the action genre, the 80's, these shows were dime a dozen. Some lasted for a respectable number of seasons, while others vanished without a trace. But for a true fan (such as myself!) these shows are more than just nostalgia. We grew up on this, so it kinda shaped our own perception of the action genre and was perhaps our first formal introduction to the world of 'Super' Automobiles.

Every time I see a new action adventure series, invariably I begin comparing it to these retro shows. My benchmark, out-dated as they may be, are these old action series, where Good was good and Bad was really really bad and you didn't need an intricate and twisted story to get the TRPs. It was all about the action, plain and simple!

So here are the top three shows of the Automobile Action Adventure Genre (The AAAG!), that I absolutely love! And for extra effect, I've even thrown in the Intro sequences of each. Enjoy!

Airwolf

The protagonist is Stringfellow Hawke, a loner who is recruited by a covert government organization called 'The Firm' (yea i know sounds kinda cheesy) to recover a stolen supersonic attack helicopter code-named Airwolf.

Well our hero does succeed in bringing the prized chopper back home, but decides against handing it over to the government. Instead Hawke ,with the help of his confidant and buddy Dominic Santini, hides Airwolf in a defunct volcano. Hawke refuses to return Airwolf until the FIRM can recover his brother, St. John, who has been missing in action since Vietnam.

To get access to Airwolf, Archangel, the deputy director of the Firm, offers Hawke protection from other government agencies who will try to recover Airwolf in exchange for flying missions of national importance for the FIRM. What followed were four seasons of chopper-tastic action and loads of dog-fights and mach flights.

The helicopter used in Airwolf was, in one word, awesome. Agreed that today almost every war helicopter has a larger arsenal than the Airwolf chopper, but back then, this baby was gold. I would spend hours just picturing myself at the helm of this beastly beauty! Sigh,  too bad no one has thought of reviving this superb show or even considered a feature-film adaptation. Or have they?

Street Hawk

Here the protagonist is an ex-motorcycle cop, Jesse Mach, who is recruited by the government to test their top secret project, an all terrain motor-cycle, Street Hawk, designed to battle urban crime. The bike in question, is capable of reaching top speeds of 300 kmph and has an arsenal of weapons comparable to a Sherman Tank!

Obviously Mach's true identity is a secret, shared only by one other person, federal agent Norman Tuttle, who is also the designer of Street Hawk. With Tuttle as his eyes and ears supplying real-time information from their base, Mach embarks on assignments with his mean machine to stop criminals cold in their feet.

Although short-lived (only 13 episodes!), the series developed a cult following (with me as one of the cult members!) and is often regarded as one of the best TV shows featuring a Motor-Cycle.

But what was most memorable about the show was the theme music. Rendered by the German electronic music group Tangerine Dream, the opening sequence is an adrenaline charged symphony of sounds that will raise you testosterone levels by some several notches! In fact I love the main them so much that I've downloaded three other versions of it and just enjoy listening to them on my mp3 player.

Knight Rider

Forget Baywatch, Knight Rider is the show that shot David Hasselhoff to fame. By far the most popular of the three, this epic action adventure series chronicled the exploits of one, Michael Knight, who drives a state of the art sentient talking car with artificial intelligence.

Knight is actually police detective Michael Long, who after a near fatal gun shot is rescued by billionaire Wilton Knight who gives Michael a new face (via surgery) and a new identity, Michael Knight. Wilton selects Michael to be the muscle in the pilot program of his Knight Foundation-funded public justice organization, the Foundation for Law and Government (FLAG).

The car was the Knight Industries Two Thousand (KITT), a Pontiac Trans Am controlled by a computer with artificial intelligence. Michael and KITT are brought in during situations where "direct action might provide the only feasible solution".

Knight Rider spawned an entire franchise with toys, games, and tons of other merchandise. However Efforts to revive the famed KITT in different avatars on the small screen have proven somewhat unsuccessful, with even the latest adaptation featuring an upgraded KITT (voiced by Val Kilmer) being taken off the air after one season.

What I enjoyed about the show, apart from the obvious drool worthy modified Trans Am Pontiac, was the chemistry between KITT (well the AI of KITT) and Michael. Their conversations were packed with humor and dry sarcasm, which made the show a treat for everyone. But yes, the car itself was oh-so desirable. Even today, I doubt anyone would refuse the opportunity to get behind the wheel of KITT (or KARR for that matter).

Action at it's best!

Men and their Machines!

This post is part of my Retro Series, in which I talk about all things from my childhood which are now considered as retro. Check out the other posts in this series by clicking here - Retro Series

Return Of The Clients

If you been using twitter (and after reading my previous posts, I sincerely hope you are!), then you are definitely familiar with the twitter website and it's features or lack thereof!
Don't get me wrong, the web-site is very simple and clutter-free (unlike facebook and orkut), but reading tweets from multiple peeps becomes somewhat of a challenge. Also, you have to constantly refresh your page to check on different portions of your twitter page (read favorites, followers, mentions, etc.)

What if you could organize the people you follow, keep all your favorite tweets at easy reach and have a holistic view of your twitter experience?

Enter the twitter clients!


Table Top Wonders!
You've got Outlook (or ThunderBird if you're into open source!) to manage you mail offline. So why should your tweets be treated differently. Desktop clients are the key to tracking your tweeps and their tweets in an organized and fun manner. Here are some of the best desktop twitter clients -

TweetDeck

Managing your tweets couldn't get simpler than this! Built on the Adobe Air, TweetDeck offers integration with your twitter, facebook and myspace accounts.
TweetDeck is the complete package, upload media, shorten your URLs, maintain your hashtag history and even translate your tweet!
A prominent feature of TweetDeck (one which makes it my preferred desktop client) is the column. Create separate columns for different functions, i.e. one to track all your DMs, one for all your mentions, one for your list of followers and so on. This is great if you're interested in organizing all your tweets and focusing on specific aspects of your twitter timeline.
If you are serious about tweeting, TweetDeck is definitely the way to go!



Seesmic

Next to Tweetdeck, Seesmic is perhaps the most sought after twitter desktop client. And for good reason. The client has a web, desktop and mobile avatar and also supports integration with your facebook profile.
Although I've downloaded the seesmic desktop client, I don't really use it much, but those who have,swear by it. So do check it out before you zero in on a client.
Pssst...if you are really interested in a more detailed comparison between TweetDeck and Seesmic, check out this link


HootSuite

Although a web based client, HootSuite offers most, if not all the functions available in TweetDeck and Seesmic. Labeled as the twitter client for professionals, HootSuite is essentially targeted at those organizations who wish to leverage twitter for their social media presence.
But that doesn't mean that you need to be the CEO of a company to appreciate the features provided by this baby!
A few things that I liked, were the customized shrunk links that allow you to track the number of hits on the target web-page, provision for scheduled tweets and profile statistics summary.


Fun On The Run!
Tweeting is all about keeping your updates mobile. Let's face it, not all of us spend hours together in front of the PC, well not voluntarily at least. So if you need to keep feeding the twitter bird on an hourly basis with your tweets, how do you do that? Well thankfully there are a plethora of clients designed for every mobile phone platform (read OS). Some of the most popular ones are -


Gravity

Designed for Symbian smart phones (read Nokia N&E Series and the likes), this is by far the best in its class. Apart from supporting all the standard twitter functions (retweet, reply, favorite, Direct Message, etc), Gravity also features other cool features. These include forwarding a tweet as an SMS (super awesome!), uploading pictures to multiple media sharing sites (Mobypicture, posterous, twitpic, twitgoo, yfrog, img.ly), creating groups of your followers and even schedule your tweets.
Gravity also integrates with Google Reader. So if you have a RSS feeds synced with your Google Reader, then you can read them right off your phone!
Recently even a facebook integration has been introduced. Although it's still a little buggy, but nonetheless a great addition to an amazing mobile client.
Be warned, this application is not freeware and comes with a price tag of $9.95 (plus taxes). But it's worth every cent!


Tweets60

Tweets60 was the first free native twitter application for Nokia S60. Tweets60 lets you change your status, read the tweets of people you follow, re-tweet, and manage who you follow.
With a fairly simple interface and basic functions of twitter, this is the a great mobile client for those who don't want too many fancy features.


Tweetie

Tweetie is the twitter client for the oh so sought after iPhone and iTouch. Well to be fair, it is originally the twitter client for the Mac, and has a mobile version for Apple's touch products.
Needless to say that the features of this bad boy are at par with the other touch applications. And in true Apple style, Tweetie has seamless integration not only with your web profiles but also your phone address book.
Apart from that the client is fully loaded with features like one-touch media upload, group management, landscape support and much more.
If you own an iPhone (or the iTouch), this is the client you need on your device.


And with that, the Twitter Critter series comes to an end. Through this series I have tried to cover as much area as possible to make your twitter experience as simple and hassle-free as possible.

I hope that these posts have been helpful in demystifying the twitter universe, oops I mean Twitterverse.
Do let me know if there are any other aspects of Twitter that you'd like more gyann on. Till then...


Happy Tweeting!


Previously in the series:
The Twitter Critter Strikes Back!
Attack Of The Apps