My Name Is Gandhi And I Am Not A Politician!

King Khan's latest flick has been generating a huge buzz (no pun intended!). Even before it's release, the movie enjoyed a whole lot of media attention for various reasons. The pairing of superstars Shahrukh & Kajol after a long hiatus was the movie's calling card.

But more famous, or rather infamous was the war of words between Shahrukh and the Shiv Sena (ah yes once again the SS makes their way to my blog!). The tension between the two sides spiraled out of control and resulted in severe security measures taken by the Maharashtra State Police on the day of the release (Only to later realize that the real security was required outside a quaint bakery in Pune!).

The Movie has garnered favorable reviews from the critics (which doesn't necessarily mean that it's a GREAT movie! Read my last post for proof of that!). But what the movie has also managed is strengthen SRK's fan-following especially in the Islamic community. The question raised in the movie, as to why are all Muslims looked upon as terrorist suspects is worth debating.

Terrorism has plagued society since times immemorial. Over the ages, it has taken on many different forms. But only recently has the form been unmistakable. The 9/11 attacks painted all Muslims in the same color as the perpetrator of the said attacks. There were many factors that were to be considered when accessing the cause of the attacks. But it was Osama Bin Laden's ethnicity, his skin color and his religion became the hallmarks of terrorism in the eyes of the western world.

Overnight being a brown skinned person meant you were the bad guy. If you had a turban on your head, you were damn well going to be interrogated and treated as a terrorist suspect. The Asians who were once friends became suspicious individuals for the Caucasian community.

Even today, the stigma hasn't subsided entirely. People of Islamic Origin are still living under certain paranoia and fear. And if you've seen the videos from the infamous Guantamo Bay Prison, you wouldn't blame them either. Although it's been almost a decade since the events of 9/11, the ghosts of the past are still lingering among our present.

The movie, although not the best platform to communicate the message, still makes an honest attempt to highlight a very basic concept. They could be Khans, Khannas or even Kennedys, but generalizing an entire population based on the actions of a few is nothing short of discrimination.

My Name Is Gandhi, And I Am Not A Politician!

Kya Kiya Ishqiya?

Abhishek Chaubey's directorial debut, Ishqiya has received rave reviews in the weeks since it's release. Naturally I was keen on watching the movie, not just for the reviews, but because of the cast. With acting talents like Naseeruddin Shah, Arshad Warsi and Vidya Balan, the movie showed genuine promise. So I was very keen on catching this movie. To the extent that I was willing to watch the late show on a work day! Unfortunately, I am glad I didn't!

With a star cast that is the who's who of fine acting, Ishqiya had the potential to be one of the most critical successes of the new year. Instead, what you get is a steady momentum building up to nothing substantial.

What is perhaps the most disappointing, apart from other things, is the climax of the movie. I'm all for open endings in movies, but in Ishqiya it seems forced and doesn't really add any value to the overall plot or storyline.

Even the stellar music, which has been doing the rounds of all music stations, doesn't offer any respite. The funky number Ibn-E-Batuta is played as a background number as the opening credits roll. Seems like the music video we've been watching is either a teaser or was brutally chopped off on the editing table. However the other popular song, the soulful "Dil To Bachcha hai Ji" is beautifully rendered.

Credit should be given to the actors for their heartfelt rendition of the characters that they portray. The talent in the movie is apparent with each performer doing a bang-up job of staying true to their character. The wardrobe, language, locations and even the extra absolutely echo North-East India's rural setting of the movie

The movie does have some good humor, such as the angle of the steel tycoon KK and his twisted love story. However these moments are too few and too far from each other.

The ONLY thing that left an impression on me was the passionate kissing scene between Arshad Warsi and Vidya Balan (yea, Naseeruddin doesn't get the girl after all!). This is perhaps the most scintillating and long on screen "smooch" between lead actors in a Bollywood flick, well at least from what I recall.

What surprises me is that yet again the media has given undue praise for this flick and given it rave reviews in almost all leading newspapers. Ishqiya has been touted as the kind of movie Tarantino fans will adore. Perhaps they were referring to movies like the second volume of Kill Bill!

Fifty And Still An Infant!

Bring out the bubbly and spread the cheer all over. My previous post, marked a milestone, albeit a small one, in my blogging history. It was my 50th blog post. Yada, yada, yada is now a Golden Jubilee Blog, well at least in terms of posts!

What started as a means to echo my voice through the abyss of the cyber-space has now become a hobby, nay a passion, one which has helped me channel not only my thoughts, but also my opinions. Although I am certain not many may have read nor even heard about this tiny little speck in the infinite universe that is the Internet, it matters not. After all, we as humans are but a speck of a speck in the totality of this universe (or the multiverse, if you want to be politically correct!). Yet to each of us, our minuscule lives and their inhabitants mean the world to us. The same is true for my personal blog.

But enough of this sentimental BS! After all, its also about keeping you engaged and entertained right! Well since this being a landmark for me, I thought I'd chronicle the evolution of my blog from the amateur attempts at literature to, well, continued amateur attempts at literature!

Many probably aren't aware that the blog was originally titled Neo's Blog. Yes i confess, I am a fan of "The Matrix". In fact, there was a time when almost every cyber-space presence of mine was in some way related to the Matrix Universe.

When the Matrix-fever subsided, it was time to re-christen the venture with a more appropriate and apt title. Being a fan of the television sitcoms, I was adamant to search for a worthy title from the colossal universe of the Idiot Box. After about an hour's search, George Costanza from an episode of Seinfeld gave me the answer I was looking for. Thus was born Yada, yada, yada...

The blogging venture began with a series of reviews, movie reviews that is. My passion for watching movies with a critic's eye is very obvious from the earlier set of blog posts. To give you a number, 15 out of the total 50 posts are movie reviews.

For a while blogging took a back seat. Actually it took the very last seat in a very crowded bus! But things really started looking up in the last year. In a way 2009, has a been the year that helped me reboot the blog. And if you happen to see the count of posts, well 2009 has witnessed the maximum number, especially the last quarter.

It is only very recently (read 2009) that I began blogging about topics other than movies. This move helped me expand my scope of topics exponentially and gave me tremendous latitude in my writing style. My range of topics spread across a wide spectrum including politics, news, reviews, awareness and even nostalgia! Some may argue that not focusing on any one genre indicates a lack of focus. To them I say, well being a human you cannot truly focus only on one aspect of your life and neglect the rest. My interests like my mood vary and as such are in constant competition to be penned by me!

Prominent in my diversity of topics was the inclusion, or as some have called it, blatant promotion of social networking sites, with one in particular-twitter! The twitter-critter series was aimed at creating awareness regarding the increasing popularity and usefulness of the soc-net site. As an avid twitter user myself,I began the series to help explain the many facets of twitter including clients and third-party applications. The process of explaining the concept to the readers helped me immensely in understanding the tool myself. So I'd say it was a win-win situation for me!

Another new series that I decided to focus on is what I call the Retro-Series. Being a child of the late 80s - early 90s almost everything that formed a part of my formative years are now considered "old-school". Which made me realize that there is a whole set of people who haven't seen or heard about the things that I and many like me considered staple. This new series is an attempt to introduce those fantastic items to a whole bunch of youngsters and re-introduce them to my fellow "old-schoolmates".

Then there are always those posts that are prompted by current-events and news. 2009 saw many events unfold such as the controversial re-election of the Congress government, the acquisition of the beleaguered IT firm Satyam, the H1N1 swine flu outbreak and the anniversary of the gruesome Mumbai terror attacks. Each topic found a space in my blog in some manner and helped me express my opinions.

And finally, some posts were simply the result of random thoughts pleading to be given a shape and structure. So these posts are completely random in occurrence and are really difficult to label with any one particular tag. But these are kind of posts I hope to churn our more often in the coming months, for they are truly food for thought, well at least for me!

So there you have it. My blog in a nutshell. Fifty posts-old and still an infant!
It may not be much, but like I said, it means the world to me! Here's hoping that my passion doesn't run out on me and I continue blogging far more diverse and soulful topics in the future.

Happy Reading!