juxtaposition by the haemoglobin in the atmosphere....

Is it only me or even you, to whom most of the 'about us' lines by designers/design firms on their website sound like 'You see, the whole country of the system is juxtaposition by the haemoglobin in the atmosphere....'? At least the later entertained us in Amar Akbar Anthony!
Why do we, as designers, try to claim so much? I don't mean we don't do all that work, we do! (yeah 'covering the entire supply chain' and all). But why do we become so desperate that we try to claim all that in one single line, bang on the home page itself? WHY? I go mad when I am forced to read these lines on the landing page of their website itself. Why can't we bring the simplicity we claim in our designs, to the content/text on our websites? Do we really think someone is going to give us a huge project/order after having read these lines successfully till end? Whom do the writers of this kind of content, really target?
I have even started hating some of the very meaningful words because they appear so casually on these 'about us' pages in such a incomprehensible claims! Words like, sustainability, integrate, systems, innovation, yes yes the word 'entire' too!

Came across little too many examples recently, some of them are here for you to enjoy! Please note that all the lines below are work of fiction and any resemblance to any online material is a pure coincidence! The design fraternity is doing really great work (including the work we claim!), its just these lines that irritate me!
;)

"We integrate the cultural, ecological, economic and social tenets of sustainability through collaborative design of holistically sustainable contemporary products."


"We tap the potential of design thought, and design processes, to bring about a transformative change in the business through change in branding strategies and product offerings of the clients"


"...from initial concept to manufacture, exploring the wide variety of alternative paths for Product Development while trying to harmonize the requirements of marketing, production and finance, thus offering 'total design' solutions to our projects."

My first DUCATI

:)

:)

OK, it's just a pair of shoes,but it's DUCATI! :) And I am happy for finally having bought them! I have been thinking of buying something nice from Puma Ducati series but was always confused if I should really do that for different reasons. Sometimes I found them in green or blue which is certainly not Ducati colour, the red ones were so red that i didn't know when will I use them, sometimes the ones I found in Ahmedabad stores were so 'too much' that I just wanted to take that Ducati logo off from them, and almost all the time the price was beyond my budget! Ohh and once I decided no to buy them ever, after I watched the movie 'Children of Heaven'! hahaha...

Anyway, so yesterday When I actualy wanted (almost = needed) to buy a pair of shoes and didnt like anything other than the 2 Puma Ducati ones, the only option was to buy one of them! Sid acted like catalyst (even offering to contribute as my b'day gift! :), and I ended up buying these! Thank you Sid!

:)

The funny thing about these DUCATI shoes is, the instruction inside says,'Not recommended for riding!' hahaha....

I think I can't write any more meaningless and purposeless....

So thats it, and now I have something in July 2011 archive of my blog too! hooshhhhhhh...

ohh and before I conclude here is the newest and best from the Puma DUCATI series, which I would still love to buy (or rather be gifted) if it becomes available in India, The 'DUCATI Testastretta II' riding shoes. Dont miss the aluminum sole rim below heel and below puma cat in front! coollll, isnt it? :)

Strange whispers

(only audio and lyrics)

from movie 'Hazaron Khwahishein Aisi'
Strange Whispers


Sun in the earth..
Sunflower..
Bird in the air..
Rain..
Eye within eye..
Daybreak..

Baavra Mann..
Dekhne Chala..
Ek Sapna..

Streets we have never walked on..
Windows we have never opened..
Hands we have never held..
Dreams we shall never..
Never see again..

Baavra Mann Dekhne Chala..
Ek Sapna..
Baavrese Mann Ki Dekho..
Baavri Hain Baatein..
Baavrisi Dhadkane Hain..
Baavri Hain Saanse..

Sun in the earth..
Sunflower..
Bird in the air..
Rain..
Eye within eye..
Daybreak..

Lives we have never lived..
Hopes we have never realized..
Fires we have never lit..
Loves we shall never..
Never make again..

Baavra Mann..
Dekhne Chala..
Ek Sapna..

Sun in the earth..
Sunflower..
Bird in the air..
Rain..
Eye within eye..
Daybreak..

I hear..
Those strange whispers
again........

Inception

Cobb: Dreams feel real while we're in them. It's only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange.

*

Mal: I'll tell you a riddle. You're waiting for a train, a train that will take you far away. You know where you hope this train will take you, but you don't know for sure. But it doesn't matter. How can it not matter to you where the train will take you?

Cobb: Because you'll be together.

*

Mal: You keep telling yourself what you know. But what do you believe? What do you feel?

*

Mal: Do you know what it is to be a lover? Half of a whole?

*

Cobb: Look at you. You're just a shade, a shade of my real wife. How could I capture all your beauty, your complexity, your perfection, your imperfection, in a dream? Yes, you're the best that I can do. But, I'm sorry, you're just not good enough.

*

Ariadne: Why is it so important to dream?

Cobb: Because, in my dreams we are together.

Superman in I Hate Luv Stories

I had some minimal expectations from this movie called 'I hate Luv Stories'. Even they were not fulfilled by movie (and even Sonam Kapoor). The peppy title track! Mannnn they had to keep shaking the camera so much because none of the 'actors' could move considerably beyond their normal erect posture, even to this energetic dance number!
Anyways, so I think I should talk about some better thing in the movie. And that is the 'Forget Superman Try Me' tee shirt designed by our own Neil Dantas. :) I liked many of the tee shirts Imran modelled for (Ok he acted also), and it was nice to notice this particular one. It will be better if you spent more time visiting his own website here, instead of reading this post! His work is simple and different. I like it. He deserves some publicity. Enjoy.

P.S. the movie is not so bad, some say. Sonam Kapoor may keep you watching (movie) for most of the time!
;)

Raavan

Looks like it's the last fight in a typical bollywood movie. As usual both hero and villain have decided to throw away all their weapons and ready to fight in a more macho 'nihshastra' way! I am still trying to figure out who is hero and who is villain! Raavan should be villain as per Ramayana, but seeta was never attracted towards Raavana in the original story! Anyways, the fight sequence on the hanging bridge is shot really well, but no one dies!
:(
I don't know why I wrote about the last (not really) sequence in the beginning, but thats how the first half of movie makes you feel! But if you have paid enough money, you should rather enjoy the very aesthetically shot scenes, locations and music etc instead of trying to understand the story. And why do you need to understand the Ramayana story again? You know it already, don't you?
FOR: brilliant locations, good cinematography, music, colour palette, some stunts
AGAINST: character building, story in first half, predictability in second half

Should be watched only in movie hall!
As reviews said, even I found second half better than first, but that was more because it finally stopped raining in the movie!

'On Any Sunday'

Title: On Any Sunday
Year: 1971
Genre: Documentary feature
Duration: 96 minutes
Direction: Bruce Brown

The movie opens with shots of people riding their two wheelers, people of various age, sex, professions and attitudes and then shows a group of children riding their bicycles on a dirt track imitating motorcycles. The spirit seen in this opening scene is maintained or rather raised as the timeline progresses.
'On Any Sunday', the 1971 movie is credited as the best and most important motorcycle documentary ever made till date. And what makes it so special is not the motorcycle, but people who enjoy riding them! And thats why the movie is for everybody to enjoy and get injected with a lot of positive energy. It reveals the secret behind being successful in a very effective and unique manner in various scenes. What it takes to win is not the strength in your arms and legs, but the strength in your heart, the trust your beloved ones show in you, and the passion to do what you want to do. This is best shown in the Jim Rice brutal crash sequence. Coincidentally I remember to have experienced the similar spirit of living in another movie 'The world's fastest Indian' which is also about a real life motorcycle racer!
The movie is full of some really entertaining (read: funny) sequences and very aptly manages to 'not impart unnecessary technical knowledge' about motorcycles. This film is also a very good example of beautiful cinematography, shooting the very difficult subject like high speed racing and motorsports in a very beautiful manner.
In the end are seen the three friends and the best riders in their own categories, Steve McQueen, Malcolm Smith and Mert Lawwill doing what they enjoy the most.... riding their bikes on a sunday!
A uniquely inspiring and entertaining movie for everybody to watch.
Thanks Kiran for downloading this movie for me! :)

P.S. Do check the links scattered in this post.
P.S.2 Valentino Rossi was born in 1979, so not seen in this movie! :(

GURUs

came across a nice (sounding) TV ad after a long time, or may be its the beautiful jingle that I liked!
This is one of the ads for Samsung Guru mobile and its made by all the gurus indeed!
read this jingle:

उनके आंसू उबल पड़े,
जाते जाते देखा है,
दस नम्बर दस उंगलियाँ है,
बाकी हाथ की रेखा है।
फांसले है भी और नहीं भी,
दिल तो जेबमें रख्खा है।

Ok, this is written by none other than Gulzar, directed by Anurag Kashyap, shot on Amir Khan, music by Amit Trivedi (DevD, Aamir etc fame) and sung by Mohan (I don't know :( )
I feel nice that they made a simple and touching (to target audience atleast) ad for a phone also simple and without any 'touching' features!
I liked the locations and colour palette used for the ad too! Watch this beautifully shot ad on youtube here.
(p.s. they have edited the secondlast line in jingle to reduce the duration I guess!)

Filmy, very filmy!

one liners from bollywood movies.

The classic and common ones (open source)

Kya? Tumne muze MAA kaha?

Hamare khandan ki ijjat ka sawal hai!

Mai kisi ko mooh dikhane ke layak nahi rahi!

Kya kami hai muzmein?

Mai tumhare bachche ki maa banane wali hoon!

Maine tumhare liye gaajar ka halwa banaya hai! :)

Kanoon ke haath lambe hote hai!

Bhagwaan ke liye muze chhod do.

Maa ka doodh piya hai to saamne aa ja.

Ab sirf duwayen hi use bachaa sakti hai!

Mere sapno ka rajkumar.

Aap bade wo ho!

Bhagwaan, Maine tumse aaj tak kuch nahin maanga.

Mai kahan hoon?

The classic ones but 'patented'

Kutte, mai tumhara khoon pee jaaunga.

Tumhare paas kya hai?

Kuchh kuchh hota hai rahul, tum nahi samjhoge!

Jinke apne ghar shishe ke hote hai....

Ek chutki sindoor ki keemat...

Yenna Raskalaa..

Jaaniiiiiiiii....

Tussi jaa rahe ho?

Kitane aadmi the?

Foozul ki baat to mai karti nahi (basanti)

Tumhara naam kya hai basanti?

Mai to kehta hoon aap to purush hi nahi ho! Mahapurush ho mahapurush!

Akeli ladki khuli hui tijori ki tarh hoti hai!

kkkkk... kirran.

From TV commercials ( I am not updated though!)

Maa, mai first aaya!

Mera number kab aayega?

Bhala uski saree mere saree se safed kaise?

Daag achchhe hote hai.

Assam ke bagaano se chuni!

Aayiye, apne sapno ka ghar banayiye.

Wahh ramesh babu! Badhiya hai!

Meri twachaa se meri umra ka pata hi nahi chalta.

Visa power, Go get it.

kee karaa papa, petrol khatam hi nahi honda (sardarji bachcha for maruti)

Jalebiiii????

Buland bharat ki buland tasbir...

my favourite is 'Ting Ting Tiding!' (Britannia) :)

I know there are numerous in the second category, but I like the common ones in first category. And also the TV ad category

:)

Anybody remembers more?

I wanna fly high with u baby

Quite a boring sunday, though I spent a lot of time washing, polishing my bike thoroughly. Also opend and assembled as many parts of it as possible.

The tiny ceiling fan in my bedroom has stopped working. So I have managed to occupy some space on the sofa in living room. Just booted my laptop and found this old video, so watched it. From this place I can actually see three movies simultaneously as Kiran and Sid are also watching something on their respective laptops. I guess Kiran is watching something really hilarious, as we are regularly distracted by his laughter-quakes. There is nothing much interesting to share on the blog, but I have really nothing to do now! Kiran offered me few movies, but his descriptions didn't encourage me to watch them. e.g. He said, "bhavin, watch this movie 'my sassy girl'. its really good yarrrrr... u will cry at the end!"

Anyway, enjoy this video. Nothing so great, but it has bikes, babes and beaches. :)

UPDATE: After around 30 minutes (as per sid it was an hour) of my voluntary efforts to try to 'keep reading signs of my (shakira's) body', I have also found that the movie running on Sid's laptop is..... 'My sassy girl'!!! Congrats Kiran. Here is link to sid's blog about the movie, though he has said hardly anything about the movie actually!

नितळ (Nital)

Directors' Note: 'Nital means transparent.....Crystal clear....
Nital, which literally means transparent, so clear…that one can see the base. It is a portrait of inner beauty, the inner self, which is hidden beneath the obviously visible outer coat-skin.
It touches the crux of the issue of self image and acceptance, thus the need to redefine our arena of ‘vision’, where different senses of body emboss different perceptions of beauty.
The story reflects undercurrents of contradictions and confusions of so called sophisticated, civilised and elite people, who are directed by social stereotypes, while those who are closer to nature have much more acceptance for people as ‘humans’.'
This is story of Dr. Neeraja, a young and intelligent opthalmologist, who has vitiligo (white patches on her skin, face especially). Though medically vitiligo is just the lack of a skin pigment, it affects the entire identity of a person. The story unwinds itself, portraying societal insensitivity and cowardice. On the other hand, it illustrates rationality emerging in younger generation about vitiligo.
An interesting thing about this movie is that, there are lot many characters as joint family members coming from diverse professional, social, 'cultural' backgrounds and age. Inspite of this everyone of them has very clear, precise and appropriate thought process which is put together very well in movie. Most of the actors are from theatre, so acting is obviously very good. Music is also very good. Actually simplicity is the base of this movie, it can be seen in music, production design, cinematography, dialogues, costumes and still everything looks so apt and beautiful!
I feel the time I spent watching this movie and compiling this review is quite worth! :)
Most of the information and pictures here are from the official website of Nital, and the movie is also available with subtitles.
Movie: Nital (नितळ) (marathi movie)
Genre: Social
Release Year: 2007
Director: Sumitra Bhave, Suneel Sukathankar
Lyrics: Suneel Sukathankar
Music: Shreerang Umarani
Singers: Amruta Subhash, Dr. Shekhar Kulkarni, Parth Umarani, Dr. Supriya Gadekar, Sujeet Soman, Jyoti Subhash
Cast: Devika Daftaradar, Dr.Shekhar Kulkarni, Vijay Tendulkar, Deepa Shreeram, Uttara Bavkar, Vikram Gokhale, Jyoti Subhash, Reema, Neena Kulkarni, Ravindra Mankani, Kishor Kadam, Amruta Subhash, Aabha Oati, Sarang Sathye, Sujeet Soman

Natarang

'NATARANG'
based on marathi novel 'Natarang' by Dr. Anand Yadav
Produced by Zee Taklkies
Director: Ravi jadhav
Music: Ajay-Atul
Singer: Bela Shende
Actors: Atul Kulkarni, Sonali Kulkarni

'Guna' a farmer cum wrestler from a village near Kolhapur in maharashtra, has a dream, to play role of king in traditional marathi theatre 'Tamasha'. After loosing their jobs in farms, his friends decide to form a tamasha group to keep earning money to support their families. But Guna has a much bigger dream than just earning money. He is an artist! After they have arranged almost everything including a dancer girl, they realise thay don't have someone to play role of 'Nachya' a typical feminine comedian character played by male actor in tamasha. This turns the whole story and Guna's future also!
Atul Kulkarni has taken immence efforts to play role of macho farmer in pre-interval part and the typical feminine 'Nachya' in the second half. The efforts aren't just restricted to gaining and losing 16kg in a time of 40-50 days, but also a great level of observation and acting, especially for the role of Nachya. (video link at the end)
On the music front, Ajay Atul and Bela Shende have done a very good job. All the songs are great. Sonali Kulkarni (no, not the Dil Chahta Hai wali) has used all the opportunity to showcase her dancing and acting skills to the fullest. The opening dance by Amruta Khanvilkar (a Zee music anchor) is also amazing. I will actually like to watch this movie again in movie hall for this song and dance experience! Excellent.
The movie keeps viewers stuck to their seats till the last line of end credits! The instrumental played for end credits has some magical effects!
An excellent Marathi movie after a long time.

A version with English subtitles will be released on 22nd Jan. Worth watching in movie hall. Till then you can enjoy these youtube links.
To watch efforts taken by Atul Kulkarni click here.
Amruta Khanvilkar lavani dance here.
Sonali Kulkarni performing on the amazing music here.

beautiFiction

It's quite difficult to formulate some conclusion and understanding of this film, almost as difficult as the understanding of 'beauty' itself. It's a very well made and different film which keeps you indulged in its own flow. Even after already having a basic idea of the story, I felt it is much more than a story or even direction or cinematography or many other things, which makes it worth experiencing. May be it's the essence (perfume!) of the story, the urge to understand fundamentals of the concept called 'beauty'. We all have our own individual but basically similar ways of perceiving and reacting to beauty, very naturally. And this is where the movie tries to imply the more acceptable and human way of acknowledging beauty, by revolving around a character having almost supernatural powers, that of perceiving beauty (or lack of it) in the form (?) of smell. Yes true, that smell is part of beauty, but what if for someone beauty is only good smell? And in case of Jean Baptiste Grenouille, it seems quite possible, because he himself doesn't have any smell of his own. In the world of smells he just doesn't exist! His way of perceiving and reacting to beauty is only limited to smell! He is a person who cannot love someone or be loved... may be because he doesn't understand beauty in a natural way, like everyone else around him.
And then there are common people around him, who may not be able to analyse and formulate the essence of beauty in some tangible way, but they sure know how to acknowledge it in a more comprehensible manner. To some extent they can even identify and acknowledge it in the form of the magical perfume developed by Grenouille, the one he made using skin of beautiful women! In the scene of his day of execution he magically and literally rules the crowd using his magical perfume, but himself remains uaffected by its divine power. For you need to have some wholistic understanding of love, beauty to experience it. The word 'beautification' has some meaning only for those who have and understand beauty in its little more generic form. For other it's more of beautiFiction! So what happens when Grenouille almost empties his magical perfume bottle on himself is not very much a mystery. The perfume and the perfumer remain merely the transporters of beauty and love, and being a transporter of something implies there is a lack of that 'something' in the transporter.
I am sure all this sounds very complex and confusing, but if you think, thats how it is.... like the concept of beauty.

Jiya re...

5 days of Diwali holiday... at home... without free flowing internet... phone on roaming.... lots to eat.. a sofa and a TV...
:) what am I supposed to do???
Watched all the movies like Maruti mera dost, Ta ra ram pum (I know u dont want to know more) and lot many ads, ohh also watched MotoGP.. but this time Valentino came second!!!! :(
But there is something good in everything... So I found this nice song in movie 'Maruti mera dost'. Do listen to it. Here is the lyrics.

Singer : Javed Ali
Song : Jiya Re Jiya Re Bata Re
Lyricist : Subrat Sinha
Actors : Chandrachur Singh, Samiksha, Ritika Shrivastava
Music Director : Kartik Shah

kaliyaan baagon se chhooti
boonde bhi chhode badal
ambar se toote sitaare

dukh kis ko zyada hove
jisne chhoda us ko
ya jis ke chhoote sahaare
jiya re jiya re
bata re bata re

yaad hamein
aata hai kyun
jis ko kiya tha vida

bhoole se bhi bhoole kahan
jab keh diya tha alvida
khaali dil bhar jaaye
ye hota nahi re
khaali bhi dil poora
kyun hota nahi re
jiya re jiya re
bata re bata re

koi bulaaye
roke koi
jaaye na jaaye
soche koi
kya kya nibhaaye
tode koi

kuchh dhaage jo baandhe
khulte hi nahi hai
doori se kuchh naate
talte kyun nahi hai
jiya re jiya re
bata re bata re

ho kaliyaan baagon se chhooti
boonde bhi chhode badal
ambar se toote sitaare

dukh kis ko zyada hove
jisne chhoda us ko
ya jis ke chhoote sahaare
jiya re jiya re
bata re bata re

Are you watching closely?

Yesterday, I gave up!

Yesterday, I decided to stop fooling myself.

One of the few things I did, was to change the morning alarm time from 5:40am to 6:30am.

I watched this movie 'The prestige', which just helped me to understands something in a little better way.

Life, as a trick, can be described in 3 stages. In the first satge, you see something, something you feel, can belong to you, to make your life better. In the second stage, you find 'that something' just doesn't exist, doesn't exist for you! But you are not fully surprised yet, rightly because in the third stage, you get that 'something' back! If you were watching closely, you would have found it's not the same thing you wanted in the first stage! It's illusion! But life, like magic, succeeds in surprising you, because you want to be surprised, you want to be fooled!

I have stopped fooling myself, if at all I am not doing so right now!

Are you watching closely?

Kal bhi, aaj bhi, Aaj bhi kal bhi...

kuchh rishte badalte nahi hai kabhi....

I got reminded of this 'VIP luggage' jingle while watching 'Love Aaj Kal'. Not just because it revolves around the two love stories in two different time frames, different cultures, different lifestyles but also, because while trying to narrate these diferences it manages to evoke very similar emotions for both! Feelings, going beyond time, places and cultures, have remained same. What is changing with time is our set of priorities, we are 'practical' people as Saif says. But what is beyond our control is our feelings, no matter how much we try to mask them with a 'practical' set of expressions, responses and decisions. The best part is, we do not realise all this so seriously while watching movie. What we do at that time is.. just enjoy the movie.

Yes, this is a very well made movie to enjoy. Certainly there are some thing you should ignore so as to enjoy. The locations and detailing in the scenes of the older love story are very nice and pleasant including body language of Saif. And so are the details, mostly cultural/verbal etc in the 'aaj' wala love story. By verbal I mean the openness of conversations between the 'aaj' couple shows a high contrast to that of 'kal' wala story. The seemingly random switching between two stories manages to simultaneously tease as well as entertain the audience. Songs are very nice. And most of us can relate to /enjoy some lines or dialogues etc. e.g saif saying after break-up, "mai jyada time dukhi nahi reh sakta yarr..."

Enjoy.

:)

the secret ingredient

Ok, this refers to the movie 'kung fu panda'. Those who have watched this movie know the secret ingredient in 'the secret ingredient soup'... and its 'NOTHING'!!!!!!! there is no secret ingredient in 'the secret ingridient soup'. Panda's father explains " if you believe its special, you don't need a special ingredient to make it special! That's what kung fu panda's secret is!!!!!!! "nothing"!!!! If you believe you have got special powers, you actually don't need them! You can do wonders just by believing in yourself! without anything special for you. There is also one statement in the movie, "there are no accidents!" Yes, actually.... there are only incidents meant to be happened at that moment. These are clues, so that you can understand what you should do next. If you do that, you get something special! nothing? no, atleast confidence!!! its much more than any special power! isn't it?

Anyway, the animation is simple but has very impressive sequences, making the movie a must watch from first microsecond to the last one. The message is serious, but treatment is quite light and comic... watch it if you haven't.

:)

'Salaam Bombay' by Mira Nair

This quite old (1988) movie is dedicated to the children on the streets of Bombay.

Everything (almost) in this movie feels so real, as if not even the smallest kid is 'acting'. Manju, the little daughter of a prostitute, krishna, the small boy struggling to earn Rs.500 so that he can go to his hometown, and those boys living life of roadside 'gundas' or 'mawalis'... all of them just fit perfectly in their own roles, very naturally. Reminds me of DoorDarshan (DD) TV serials in childhood. And why not, there are actors from DD!

This movie, unlike others shows a little different image of Bombay. That of more like a 'trap' and helplessness than 'attraction' or 'addiction' or 'wealthy and fascinating city'.

There are certain sequences which are very hard to forget for me.

e.g. the one in which manju's mother asks the lady authority ' Wo meri beti hai, government 'ma' kaise ban sakti hai?'

and the one in which krishna returns to his adda from remand home and finds a 'new' boy who calls himself 'chillam'. For everyone in and outside movie, chillam was a character who died some 20 minute back in the movie. Everyone is replaceable!!! individual doesn't matter to city, its just a personal matter!!!

Reminds me of many children singing songs and begging and selling something or the other inside local railway compartments...

The movie doesn't give any solution, but it does a better job, of making you think!!!

Somehow I am attracted towards 'Teach IndiA' campaign even more strongly.

.....

Aani Jaani Hai Kahani,

Bulbule Si Zindagani

Banti Kabhi Bigadti,

Tez Hawa Se Ladhti Bhidti

Ha Reham Ha Reham Farmaaye Khuda

Ha Reham Ha Reham Farmaaye Khuda

Mehfuz Har Kadam Karna Eh Khuda Eh Khuda

Mehfuz Har Kadam Karna Eh Khuda....

(song from movie 'Aamir')