The Days Of Our Lives

Now 2 movie tributes in 2 consecutive blog posts is not something I usually do but I just couldn't help myself this time. Yesterday night I watched this movie called 'Oldboy'. Its a Korean movie and its AWESOME!! After watching Casshern and a couple of other Korean flicks I'm becoming a die-hard fan of the industry.

In the hope that some Korean director will notice my blog and let me do a superhero role in his next movie, I present to you a semi-rendition of Oldboy - dedicated to all the Korean script writers. And don't worry I won't spoil the story for those who haven't seen the movie (I'm goodboy) :)

So it starts off like this see. One fine day, this guy wearing the fake angel wings (Now do you realize why I mentioned the script writer? :P) ...
...gets kidnapped while on this way home to his wife and his 4 year old (was it?) daughter. And instead of a ransom demand, the kidnappers just put him in a room, all by himself, without telling him why.

Obviously, in a few days he starts looking like this -
I mean come on. Who wouldn't?? :P (Henceforth, I shall refer to him as 'the dude')

But the dude makes the best use of the oppurtunity (poor thing can't do much else can he?) and trains himself in the hope of avenging himself when he finally (if ever) gets out of his hell-hole.

Well as luck would have it, before long he manages to get out.
Correction 1 : 'before long' should be replaced by 'after 15 years'.
Correction 2 : 'he manages to get out' should be replaced by 'his captors get fed up seeing him ruin his life by watching TV all day long; and throw him out'
(The dude thinks he looks cool with those girlie glasses but then again, I ain't complaining. I mean the dude was locked up for 15 years all alone you know. I'm sure in that time you develop your own fashion sense - porcupine hair, butterfly glasses and all!)

So off the dude goes to find the person who fed him horrible chicken dumplings for that long. He does, however, take some time off to go shopping for his weapon of mass destruction - the one that would cause fear in the hearts of this captors - the one that could beat the cool guns used in the Matrix trilogy movies hands down! Yes, dear readers, you guessed it...
A Carpenter's Hammer!!! (Standing ovation to the Korean scriptwriters)

Anyway, the dude seriously kicks some major a$$ and takes down this whole army of fat, bald, topless men who appear out of nowhere to mess his hairstyle. ("Dare you touch my hair you bastards!!! Now die!!!!")
(The above pic is christened 'Hammer Time' and dedicated to 'M.C. Hammer', whose songs I found totally rad when I was a little boy with no taste in music!)

Then he lives happily ever after without a single ounce of guilt in his body. THE END!!!

Anyway, jokes and trying-to-be-funny tributes apart, the movie rocks. It actually has a very unique story and brilliant direction. And believe me when I say this, the climax will blow you away. The mystery of '15 years' is awesome!! A must watch for anyone who enjoys a breath-takingly different, new age movie.

P.S. : There is also this fighting scene (refer to 'Hammer Time' above) which is about 2 and a 1/2 minutes in length and seems to be a single continuous shot (I wonder how many retakes it took to film that!) in which the dude beats up about 20 thugs single handedly with his trusty hammer. The scene is simply too cool!!

Even though I'm quite bankrupt this month due to unavoidable reasons, I could not turn down a chance to go see the newly released and much hyped movie 'Rang De Basanti' mainly because of 2 reasons - primary reason being that I really loved the promos of the movie and secondly, because I recently realised that I've been watching very few Bollywood movies off late and I've decided to try and appreciate the genre more. So off we went, a group of 20 hostel mates to watch the night show of the movie.

Now coming to the movie; the movie is about the Indian youth. Story revolves around a British documentary maker who happens to be a descendant of some British officer who served his time in then-not-independent-India-under-British-rule. She becomes intrigued with his journal which features accounts of brave Indian freedom fighters and decides to shoot a documentary on the same in India. Finding the right faces and voices for her documentary proves a little difficult until she runs across this happy-go-lucky band of college students.

The college students represent the urban-metropolitan-Indian youth - they drink, they race about on their bikes and 4x4s, they don't listen to their parents much and they rate models on Fashion TV. :) Most present urban-Indian students would easily relate to them which makes the movie connect instantaneously.

What I found particularly interesting was this character of Aslam, a Muslim in this group of urban hippies. Although the new-age Generation X sees no bias between religions, which is quite true in my opinion (atleast in the Indian metros), Aslam's orthodox parents mind his Hindu companions and try and instill this fear of communalism within him which he quite rigidly rejects. Bravo!!

Ok, coming back to the plot, the first half of the movie involves a lot of flashbacks relating to times of the freedom fighters but they are so well cinematized that they hardly seem boring. Definitely much better than any history text book I would say. At this point of time, the movie tries to show the lifestyles of the urban youth - chic clothing, rebellious attitude and the anything for friends outlook. Then in this perfect world of these college students, all of a sudden, things go wrong - tragedy strikes, as is typical in most almost-happy-perfect-storied movies. The twist makes the movie quite serious at times. In my personal opinion, the latter plot became a little too unbelievable at times but then again this is, after all, cinema. The whole concept of "It is not the people who should be afraid of their government but the govenment who should be afraid of its people" forms the base, with the icing being corruption within the Indian government, and bits and pieces of anarchism and fascism thrown on top. Storytelling at its best I thought; make the connection and then make the audience think!

Anyway, no more talk about the plot as I don't like giving away the stories of movies. I personally believe that the lesser one knows about a movie, the more one enjoys it. The picturization was brilliant, the music lively and the acting was fantastic. I implore the people reading this, especially the Indian youth, to go see the movie. Its quite nice. Long live this fresh whiff of Indian cinema I say. :)

P.S.: Someone please tell me why Saif Ali Khan was in the movie with a wig on?? :P

IIT Bombay's Techfest 2006 ended a few days ago. As part of last year's organizing team, I was kinda running around a little here and there this time around too when I met a team for one of Techfest's event. The 3 member contingent team was from Pakistan. Very interesting people to talk to; full of stories about Pakistan and their present adventures in India. And since I kinda speak north-Indian (almost) Punjabi ascented Hindi, my tone resembled their Urdu ascents. I later had dinner with them. Interesting chaps indeed.

These guys had me thinking - what constitutes a country? I mean what distinguishes the people of one country from another - esp. 2 countries like India and Pakistan. Is it just the physical boundary that separates the two? Indians and Pakistanis - how different are we from each other? Do we not welcome them with open arms? Would they not do the same for us? And yet we keep fighting. Sad world we live in.

So what have I been doing lately? Hmm a lot of things.

Then one fine day I went to this place called U.S. Pizza where they were having an unlimited pizza offer - for only about a hundred bucks. Too good to resist!!! (drooling) So off we went. About 3 hours later, surviving the dozens and dozens of pizzas thrown our way, I was down with a burnt inner-mouth and an upset stomach. But if I were to put the entire experience in just one word, it would most undoubtedly be - cheese!! :X

I've taken this course on Indian Classical Music, and man, it is brilliant. On entering class, one is subjected to music being played. Its almost like a pub! :) And I love it, even though it is all raags and other Indian classical forms of music. Lately there was so much Nusrat Fatel Ali Khan being played in class, that I fell in love with him. So these days thats all I've been listening to. This has, ofcourse, freaked out my neighbours because now, instead of loud blaring rock music (esp. Nirvana and Pearl Jam) which usually emanates from my room, they are subjected to songs like "Aafreen Aafreen" and "Allah Hoo"! But as I always say - "A change is eminent - the more drastic the better!" Ofcourse, this is just a temporary phase, so hope my neighbours. :)

Coming to a different topic altogther, last night I realised that I needed help. Have a look at the pic below. Here is the original link.
Now what freaked me out was that the guys who were with me when I came across this link were drooling over the hot model, but what caught my attention was the dinosaur toy!! Any psychiatrist reading this blog, please send me your contact information ASAP. :-S

Heres the thing. How many of us have connected? And by connected I mean, you know, been with people who are on the same wavelength. Its like when you sit down next to that person, the thoughts coming out of your head just seem to entangle themselves perfectly with those of your connecting mate. And by connection I don't mean a one-sided conversation, the one where one does the talking and the other listens, but a mutual talk and an enjoyable listen. A talk where you don't have to think twice to shoot your mouth. A meeting of the minds which stops time.

A great example of the connection could be seen in the movie "Before Sunset" which focuses on a couple of friends who meet after a long gap and just connect. The entire 2 hour movie is about them just talking with each other. And its a brilliant movie. Makes one appreciate the sometimes-forgotten essential part of life - bliss.

Another movie echoing this magic is "Lost in Translation" which features an almost-forgotten movie star and an alienated wife drawn together and finding comfort in each other. Against the expected movie stereotype of man meets woman, the friendship is denied the chance to bloom into romance, and yet their fleeting time together makes a strong impression on both characters. Again, a brilliant movie!

This whole connection theory was eating my head so I ventured out and asked a couple of friends what is it that they would like - a soul mate they could connect with or a hot-and-sexy person of the opposite sex who you could lust after your entire life. Everyone goes for the connection. Obviously. Lust wouldn't be expected to last a lifetime; but when you have your connection, eternity takes a new meaning altogether.

So heres the thing - the original question - how many of us have connected? How many of us have found that person who we would love to be marooned on a deserted island for weeks to no end, with nothing to do but just catch up with each other (assuming that theres a big carton of food supplies somewhere there)? What if that person is of the opposite gender?

And if that connection hasn't been found yet, does one wait? If so for how long?

And perhaps, the most ironical part of the whole deal is - what if one does find that connection; of the opposite gender - but - for some reasons things don't work out - because they can't! Then what? Does one wait for a new connection to appear, knowing very well the minute chances of that ever happening? And does that connection become a threshold for judging future relationships/friendships? Should it?

The human mind works in mysterious ways. Sometimes, we try to find something which may not even exist - an epitome of perfection - and sometimes, when we do manage to find it - that too when we may not even be looking for it - we are unable to hold on to it - be it for reasons such as insecutrity, physical separation, ego, or that-all-time-favourite-enemy-of-man mortality. Perhaps the long sought-after purpose of life was intended to be as simple (or as complex) as - to be able to connect. Perhaps.

I am finally back to the world of blogging. My disappearance can be attributed to a number of reasons - placement season during Decemeber end, Delhi visit January starting and my state of laziness which is ongoing.

'Winter of 2005' was unforgettable of sorts. The placement season took its toll on me. It was adventurous yes, but depressing as well. Here is a short summary of the same.

First day was Goldman Sachs. From about 500 people who applied for the job profile, about 120 were selected for the written exam out of which 6 made the final shortlist. I was one of them. An interview based on probability I was least prepared for, which obviously, got me thrown out. Come to think of it, I wouldn't have been able to fit in properly with a group of hardcore mathematicians anyway. Just not my style.

Next came Sales and Marketing at HLL. This I was very interested in, since I always imagined doing marketing for a FMCG company in India would be a worthy challenge in itself. Again, from the 400 people who applied, 70 were selected for the group discussions out of which only 4 survived for the final interview rounds. I was one of them. And my interview went perfect, so to say the least. Which made me all the more disappointed to see my name not being in the final list. This came as a blow.

Then came Microsoft Development and Amazon. I was one of the few people to make it to the final interview rounds again. This was becoming a habit of sorts by now. Both jobs had Hyderabad placement and a shitload of money to offer. Again, God had other plans for me. (Come to think of it, maybe falling asleep during the Microsoft presentation wasn't a very un-stupid thing to do after all :D)

A company called Inductis followed. Although I hated the work which is looking for patterns in thousands of entries in Microsoft Excel sheets, I was still looking forward to the Gurgaon placement, since that is half an hour drive from my home at Vasant Kunj in Delhi. Again, out at the final interview rounds.

Another failed attempt at a US based software company made me a legend of sorts. By now, either people were not getting shortlisted at all or easily getting jobs. I was one of the few who would easily clear the written exams but falter at the interview rounds. By this time I think I was leading the failed interview race, by a huge margin I might add. And things were only getting worse. The top-notch companies were coming to an end. So was my patience.

30th December was to be the lucky day. A company called Induslogic came and all of a sudden my luck changed. I easily cleared the two written exams and this time around didn't do a single thing wrong at the 3 interviews that followed. When the results were announced I was only too happy to jump about and shout "I'm no more berozgaar (unemployed)!!" This was almost like a dream job. The work would mostly by designing - not coding, the placement is in Noida, which is at max an hour's drive from my home and the pay is a shitload of money. Good things come at a price - that price for me was the time. That night the company people treated us to dinner at the Grand Hyatt and all of a sudden the good life had started. I got back at about 2 at night and the first thing I did was book my tickets for Delhi. Within 12 hours I was at my hometown kissing the ground in front of the airport.

And ladies and gentlemen, that was my placement season - not so short, not so pleasant, but it had a happy ending. :)