Facts n Fiction

I know it’s little too late to write about the supposedly most awaited blockbuster of the year – “Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna” . After getting some immediate reviews from the victims of the show, I was dwindling between ‘watch’ and ‘don’t watch’. However, after much efforts and committed decision making I saw the movie (only to be disappointed ofcourse) only for SRK’s run with outstretched arms and Bachchan(s) effect. There were rumours that Karan Johar had matured and this piece of work is much different that his earlier works. Yes surely, none were as boring as this one. The movie does deal with relationships but were loose ended. Meaning extra marital affairs are definitely justified in the movie. However, there doesn’t seem to be strong reason enough for Rani or Shahrukh to fall out of their respective married lives. A loser SRK (in the movie) gives some sense of the protagonist Amitabh in “Abhimaan”. I would have instead preferred at the couples reworking their relationships to attain

Come September and you will something distinct in the means of transport for the Mumbaikars and rest. The long history of "Black & Yellow" taxis will fade away slowly, as these will be replaced with modern distinguished looking taxis with technological infrastructure and plush interiors. The project will be implemented in phases starting September. “The Mumbai Taxi Company Pvt. Ltd.” already has 60 permits for these taxis and the demo cabs are ready. The project named “Fleet Taxi Scheme 2006” will have white Maruti Esteems that will be converted to be used as taxis. Some key highlights of this new-age (atleast for Mumbai or India for that matter) cab are: Air conditioning Cushioned Seats Electronic meters Bill printing facility (with fare, time traveled, distance traveled details) Debit/Credit card swapper (to pay your bills) Mobile display unit in English & Hindi (for traffic related information) Support systems using GPS (to track traffic & alert about the tr

Sunny Deol’s famous dialogue, “Tarikh pe Tarikh” from the movie "Damini" echoed in my ears after I read on CNN IBN website about ‘ 2003 Mumbai Blasts’ verdict getting postponed. After a long wait of 13 years when justice just seemed to dawn on Mumbaikars, the court adjourned the hearing till 12th September. The hearing was actually to take place today (10th August). The resident of the most bombed city, Mumbai, has another wait of about one month when the verdict process kicks off. Not many though were positive about today’s (10th Aug) hearing. The families and relatives of those killed or injured said they weren’t expecting too much out of the scene. And their despair came true by the evening of the judgement day. The then police authority, M.N.Singh rightly said that he was disappointed but not surprised by this delay, as he had seen many of these since day 1 of the trials. Mr. Singh and his team had cracked the blast case within a year i.e. by 1994. However, all that h

I was watching the ‘KANK (Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna) Special’ promos on MTV and other exclusives about KANK that aired on a lot of channels. Amidst everything, one thing I noticed clearly and felt deeply was that I like something about SRK (Shahrukh Khan, for those of you who don’t know). Though I have liked him in ‘Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa’ and ‘ Swades’ I am not a SRK fan. I have been terribly bitten by film making and the venom is very intense (thanks to my wife, who kindled these instincts in me). I keenly observe the makings of movies, the reviews, and the movie itself (though not all). And all this has probably made me view SRK from a different perspective. As my wife rightly puts it about SRK and Karan Johar – “No matter how or what they are, they have the true sense of presentation in acting (SRK) and film making (Karan)” There was (and is) one thing that I definitely like about SRK – his style of running. Remember when he runs on the wooden bridge over the lake to meet his daughte

Exactly a week ago, last Sunday, most of the TV viewing population was glued to their seats watching the rescue operation of Prince. Prince, a 5 year old boy had accidentally fallen into the 60 feet deep hole and all the news channels had flocked to Kurukshetra to telecast the live proceedings of the operation. Prince was safely rescued followed by overwhelming pampering of the kid’s will power, many felt their prayers were answered, the army & rescue team walked out with pride for their efficient work. Truly it was a rewarding Sunday for many. The news channels must have already made some handsome revenue out of the whole act. So must have the mobile operators by making people SMS their views about the fate of the 5 year old. Prince himself has got some good rewards, which includes offers from Bollywood. These facts would seem to be obvious conclusions after the happenings of Sunday. Let us quickly travel to Gujarat from Kurukshetra to learn something different. The state truly kn

13 years and finally we are going to hear something concrete about the disastrous tragedy that Mumbai faced in 1993 – the serial blasts across the city that crippled its major operations. We had our SSC exams going on during that period and I understood less about these blasts, why they happened, who did them – not in details atleast. All I knew was that people were killed, some injured, buildings destroyed and there was a major destruction. I just heard some elders having discussions over it, newspaper articles and news channel (Doordarshan at the time) showing the proceedings. Something else was more important that time, my SSC exams. As I grew up I started understanding things a little better and thinking about them. There were a few updates on the blast case trail that made news once in a while. However, there was nothing that was definitive. Though the memories of the tragedy are still fresh in the minds of the people, the hopes of punishing the conspirators soon looked fading awa

I was waiting to cross the road after getting down from the bus this morning. Just then a plush Octivia stopped at the crossing, the polished glass rolled down and out came a blood stream like spit. Nothing to be horrified, it was a ‘paan’ spit, red in colour that came out of the window and turned into some form of a modern art as soon as it touched ground, just in front of my shoes. Two surprises back to back, one was that at 9am in the morning people like to chew ‘paan’ (I always thought it has to be had after meals) and second was that a man can own an Octivia and still spit out on the road to make it dirty. I otherwise get angry and irritated at such a sight. However, today I just smiled feeling pity for that person, as I was just reminded of the new regulation that BMC would pass to keep Mumbai clean and maintain it. The BMC wants to educate people and make them understand civic sense. Though fine is one option that has failed time and again, the authorities now plan to introduce