Sunday, October 26, 2008

Movies this week

Another quite interesting and eventful week has passed and i yet again saw many movies and documentaries. As always the reviews are as follows:
1. The Bourne series (Identity, Supremacy and Ultimatum)
This series is quite an amazing action packed series. I thoroughly enjoyed the entire series. I have become quite a fan of Matt Damon after seeing this series. The tricks by which he deceives the CIA are quite thrilling. 7 points out of 10.

2. A documentary based on the First World War
This documentary is based on the works of Hew Strachan. It consists of 10 episodes and each episode seems to be factually correct to me. Its really shame that people remember the genocide of Jews by Germany while they blatantly condone the genocide of Armenians (roughly around a million) by the Ottomon empire and expulsion of Serbs from their own country Serbia by Austro-Hungarian forces supported by clever Bulgaria. It also describes in one episode how Indian soldiers defended Suez Canal against the attacks of Ottomon forces and eventually protected the entire British Indian from the German-Turkey conspiracy to overthrow the British India (I quite fancy about it). 9 points out of 10.

3. La battaglia di Algeri aka Battle of Algiers (1966)
This movie is based on the Algerian freedom movement against the colonial occupation of France. This movie has a glimpse of Indian freedom movement. Quite an amazing movie to know north Africa. This movie is in French and its black and white. 8 points out of 10.

4. Days of Glory aka Indigenes (2006)
Another movie about Algeria made in French. This movie renders how native Algerians fought for the French cause against the German aggression in 2nd world war and how they were ditched by the French government after the war. This movie draws an interesting parallel between the Indian soldiers and Algerian soldiers fighting for their colonial master. 9 points out of 10.

5.Paradise now (2005)
This movie describes the dark shades of human character in battle torn Palestine. Quite an interesting movie. 2 human bomb and mission Tel Aviv. 6 points out of 10.

6. Dr. Zhivago (1965)
Based on a book of the same name by Boris Pasternak, this movie tells an enthralling story of a freedom loving man caught up in Russian revolution, from the Bloody Sunday of 1905, 1st World war, 1917 revolution and the civil war between Bolsheviks anti-Bolsheviks. I have become a huge fan of Omar Sharif after seeing his acting in many epic movies (Lawrence of Arabia and Night of the Generals). This movie is a must for all the people specially for the people who sympathize with the Communist cause. 10 points out of 10.

Wish you a memorable Diwali. Signing off.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Chandrayan -1: India's mission to moon

Today is really a great day for Indians. Its really an honous and privilege to see Chandrayan blasting off. ISRO is famous for making big achievements in a very humble way. Congratulations to all the Scientists and engineers who toiled so hard to make this mission a success. These remind me of the words of Iqbal re-iterated by Rakesh sharma from space "Saare Jahan se accha Hindustan Hamara". Signing off.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Book Review [8] : Istanbul - Memories of a City

Today i finished the second book of this month (first being Gunaho ka Devta), 'Istanbul memories of a city' by Nobel prize winning Turkish author Orhan Pamuk (courtesy my dear friend Aviral). This book is about Istanbul (known as Constantinople in the times of Byzantine empire) and its miseries because of the very position it occupies in the history as well as in geography (sandwiched between two continents as well as two civilizations) . Western authors describe battle of 29th may 1453 as the fall of Constantinople (the last great ancient Roman empire or the Byzantine empire) while the Turkish authors describe it as the Conquest of Istanbul and the people of the Istanbul had been divided on those lines since then. The story talks about the confusion of the people of Istanbul to choose between the Western civilization and the dying Ottomon civilization.

Orhan goes on saying that the western people who come to visit Istanbul praise Istanbul for its Ottomon past and its remains while the very people of Istanbul feel very shameful about their Ottomon past. The greatest Turk of the last century Kamal Attaturk in the zeal of founding a new western looking Turkey banned the ethnic dress of Turkey and many ancient buildings were destroyed to make Turkey more western.

This book is a sort of autobiography of Orhan as well as the story of last 150 years of Istanbul and the psychology of its people. This book will be a difficult and boring book to read for a person who is alien to Turkey but for a person who loves to read between the lines its a gem of books.
Recommended (7)
Enjoy reading till i sign again.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Great Indian Sedan

They say "Impossible is a concept created by the people who never tried to surpass the challenges, who never won a war, who never played a hero, who never weathered the odds. Impossible is the word coined by the mortals for the mortals and Sachin has proved time again that he is not bounded by the domain of Impossibility". Impossible is certainly nothing.

I started watching cricket at the age of 7 and i was very fortunate to watch Sachin smashing "Shen Warne" of late 80's i.e. legendary Pakistani spinner Abdul Qadir in 1989 for huge sixes. I was completely mesmerized by this little champ and i thought i have a figure to track and a game to follow. Sachin was never my idol, he has been more than that me. He has been an undisputed favourite of mine since 1989's. I was such a fan of Indian team in early 1990's that i can not write.

Lets give tribute to the undisputed God of India, who gave moments to enjoy in much communally/Ethnically/Politically/Financially/Socially troubled times of India.

The rise of a star
Sachin became a star immediately after smashing Abdul Qadir in a team full of legends like Kapil Dev, Ravi Shastri, Dilip Vengsarkar, Mohammad Azaharuddin and emerging ones in Siddhu, Sanjay Manjrekar, Manoj Prabhakar etc. India has found a hero.

Here comes the sunlight
Then came the famous India-England series and Sachin became the darling of British crowd after scoring a scintillating hundred at old Trafford in 1990 at the tender age of 17. I missed the match courtesy Doordarshan.

Here i come Mr. Bradman
The test series of 1991-1992 of India-Australia established Sachin as one of the top most batsmen of the world cricket and this very series also gave birth to the fiercest competitor of Sachin i.e Shen Warne. Sachin's century at Perth will remain one of his greatest innings.

The early 1990's also saw the rise of various other world class batsmen in Brian Lara, Mark Waugh, Injamam ul Haq, Vinod Kambli, Sanjay Manjrekar etc. Some went on to become great batsmen, others were not that fortunate like Kambli and Sanjay Manjrekar while the greatest seat was reserved for Sachin.
Sir Donald Bradman stamped the greatest seal on Sachin by making famous comments in 1996 that "Sachin reminds me of my days".

Sachin became the God

The 1998 Sarjah series made him the God of Indian public. His back to back centuries against all odds (Australians and the desert storm) in April were almost equal to the nuclear explosions done by India a month later.

Revival of Indian Cricket
The early and mid 90's saw many matches fought and won lonely by Sachin with literally no support from the other end. The year 1996 saw the revival of India cricket and India got three world class batsmen in Rahul, Sourav and Laxman and these players have been a bed rock of India since then. Sachin got much needed freedom to score freely and India has not looked back since then.

World Cup 2003
Sachin almost single handledly (no offense meant to Srinath, Zaheer, Nehra, Harbhajan, Ganguly and Dravid) brought india into the final. The greatest ODI glory of my life till date. He will never forget how close we were at Wanderers on very unfortunate date of Indian history 23rd March 2003. (same day India lost her brave souls in 1931).

From Gavaskar to Border and from Lara to Sachin
In early 90's Allan Border broke the Gavaskar's record of maximum number of test runs. Indian took about 15-16 years to win it back. Sachin please make sure that it will remain with us for ever.

Signing off.

Book Review [7] : Gunahon Ka Devata

I have read many books and i will read many but the book that i have finished just now will haunt me for ever. 'Gunahon ka Devata' a magnum opus by Dharmaveer Bharti is a terrible story of few peculiar personalities.

Chander, Sudha, Pummi and Vinati these characters are resonating like anything in my ears at this moment. What is a love a carnal desire or a worship or a sacrifice, this book shows love is everything and everything is love. Well I am very close to the character of Chander, a hard core idealist (although losing some sheen with every passing moment) lost with no sense of practicality or a magnificent waste of complex cerebral organic compounds.

I admire Sudha a lot and only a Sudha can make or break a troubled soul like Chander.
A must read book for any person having few waves of emotions.
Highly Recommended (9/10)

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Films and documentaries of this week

I have become a sort of video content addict. So it happened this week again. Saw many movies and documentaries, thanks mainly to Aviral.

1. The Message (1977)
Not many good movies have been made on the initial days of Islam. The message is really a good movie with some really actors. The acting of Anthony Quinn and Michael Ansara is impeccable. As Islam prohibits the depiction of Prophet in picture so the focal point of the movie can neither be seen nor be heard. This movie has inspired me a lot to read Quran completely without any prejudice. I will try to figure this out soon. Overall this movie worths 7 star out of 10.

2. An Inconvenient truth (2006)
Very well presented by Al Gore, this documentary really raises some hackles and it really deserves to be screened in all the colleges and schools across all the countries. Its a quest to save our only home in the entire universe. 10 out of 10 points.

3. Partition: the day India burned (2007)
Its a documentary by BBC. The good point about this documentary is that its based on the incidents narrated by the people who had witnessed the very terrible partition. 5 out of 10 points.

4. God must be crazy (1980)
Simply superb movie. It shows how the very fundamental things can make you to laugh like a rhino. A must movie for every person. I really like one line the most "Now the human civilization has become so complex that one has to study for 15 to 20 years to understand it. First men adapted himself to the nature and now its forcing nature to adapt to the mankind". 9 out of 10 points.

5. Kidnap (2008)
Bad one. Pathetic acting by poor Imran khan. Minisha Lamba looked good in bikini but i will not waste a single penny to watch her on silver screen. Sanjay was ok. 2 points out of 10.

6. Drona (2008)
Priyanka looked superb in this movie. She wore very very nice costumes in this movie. Overall a good concept was lost in translation. Kay Kay menon (one of my favourites) has disappointed me terribly. I will love to forget this movie and its hard to believe that he is the same actor who has done Hazaro Khwahishe Aisi, Dansh, Chhal, Deewar, Sarkar etc. Abhishekh counts nothing. 3 points out of 10.

Thursday, October 09, 2008

And my hero retires....

I was not stunned by the snap sound of retirement by Sourav two days back but being a Sourav admirer since Dhaka final against Pakistan in 1998 its hard to believe i will not see him in action 1 month from now. My admiration for Sourav has been far far greater than for Rahul or Kumble or Laxman even for Sachin, because of only one reason his defiance to all the mortal laws. I started watching cricket when Sachin started playing for India and my hero worship started with Sourav. During those days 1990-1998 indian team was one man show with rare exceptions but with the arrival of Sourav and Dravid we became a force to reckon with in international arena and the good time of Indian cricket started in 1998.

I have written many blogs about my favorite innings of Sourav and so i will not enumerate them all but i can not stop myself in mentioning two really great innings played by him., his inning of 127 against RSA in RSA in first ODI and his 144 against Australia in Brisbrane in first test 2003 are undoubtedly by favourite innings. These two innings really define his character and his ability as a batsman.

He has many flaws in his batting and his inability to handle short balls has already become a legend in its own but only few guys remember that he was the one of the best players of short ball untill 2001. His demolition of spin bowling is a legend in its own. No one can forget the words frm Monty Paneshar to Sourav "Abhi hum bacche hain" in famous IND-ENG test series 2007.

ODI cricket made him a legend and ODI cricket destroyed him. He had all the abilities to become a great test batsman and he certainly lived to the potential till 2000 but the pressure of captaincy led to a steep downfall in Test cricket as a batsman post 2000. His inability to convert good starts into big innings played a huge role in putting down his average to 42. His average in Test cricket looks too modest and as well said by a famous clown "Statistics are like a skirt and blah blah"but his contribution to Indian cricket in test arena has been phenomenal. To be honest i never saw India winning Test matches abroad till 2000 but Ganguly gave us all. His captaincy can not be expressed in words. Everyone remembers that Ganguly stripped down his start after winning famous Netwest final at Lords in 2002 but no one remember who prompted Ganguly to strip it was none other than stripping of shirt by Flintoff after ODI series leveling one by ENG in Mumbai in 2002. Tit for Tat has been certainly an attribute of Ganguly's character. I can never forget his famous line to Steve Waugh "shut your mouth" when Steve waugh started criticizing Sachin in very infamous Mike Dennis saga in South Africa in 2001-2002.

He has been a far better player in ODI than any one else apart from Sachin produced by India and he certainly figures in top 20 alltime ODI greats. Very few people remember that he topped the charts of ODI ranking consistently in late nineties and in early 2000's.

I was very happy when the greats of Australia were retiring one by one and ever thought that time that we have also to suffer the same. Ganguly has started the chain reaction and i reckon within a year or so Kumble and Rahul will retire, Laxman and Sachin can carry on till 2011 or 2012 depending on their physical abilities and form. Its really a very sad period for Indian cricket and we can only salute our heroes for provising us such great moments to cherish and pride to wear and tears to hide.

Let them say i lived in an era when Sachin demolished the greats, Sourav thundered like a volcanao, Rahul defended like a wall, Kumble fought like an evergreen warrior and Laxman played like an artist. Let them say i admired Sourav most. Let them say, let them say......

Let us salute the fearless mind, indomitable spirit and sheer fighting skills of Sourav. Choice has always been a character of the braves.

Sunday, October 05, 2008

The wind that shakes the barley

Welcome back dear Amigos. Well for the last 6 months or so i have been voraciously watching movies and documentaries and i can not stop myself to write down a few lines about these movies and documentaries. As my dearest friend has asked me to write reviews as well so here i start.

1. The wind that shakes the barley (2006)
Its a movie about glorious Irish revolution (1919-1922) against the foreign occupation of the Great Britain. It contains high intensity emotional drama and being an Indian i can easily attach myself with the feelings of the Irish men. Its story about two brothers fighting for Irish Republican Army (IRA) against the Britishers resulting in the martyrdom of younger brother (Damien) by the order of the elder (Teddy). You can easily draw parallel with the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) formed about same time under the leadership of Chandra shekar Azad and Sardar Bhagat Singh. Its a must watch movie for any person interested in history or revolution or patriotism of fighting on one's ideals. I will give it 9 out of 10 points(9/10).

2. The last king of Scotland (2006)
Its a movie about the dictator of Uganda, Idi Amin (who used to call himself "The last king of Scotland). The movie renders the experience of Idi Amin close confidant rather personal doctor Dr. Nicholas Garrigan. The first half of the movie shows the brighter side of Idi Amin while the other half shows the brutalities done by the Idi Amin (killing of about half a million innocent people and expulsion of Indians from Uganda). This movie is a must watch for the people who always ignore the other side of the coin. Sometimes its better to know the two sides :). i will give this movie 6 points (6/10).

3. Hotel Rwanda (2004)
Well, I will give a plot of this movie. Its Schindler's List shot in Africa. It depicts the ethnic cleansing of Tutsi by Hutu majority people in Rwanda. The manager of the Sabena Hotel des Mille Collines just like Oscar Schindler saves lives of a number of people under disastrous circumstances. It also exposes the effectivity of the UN peace corps just like in "No Man's Land".
Overall its a must watch movie for everyone. I will give it 8 points (8/10).

4. The story of India by Michael wood (2007)
I am a big big bif fan of Michael wood after watching his two series (Troy and Alexander) so i may be biased in praising this series like anything. Its a beautiful story of India. I am grateful to my British (Irish) manager who gifted me the DVDs. I will give this series 10 points (10/10).

5. The Dark Knight (2008)
Well, Spiderman will always remain my sci-fi hero although Batman is not too far behind. Its a great movie (i will say the best movie of the year so far). The acting of the joker can not be penned in words. Heath Ledger has done a great job (I am really sorry for his death before the release of thsi movie, my heartiest condolences). I will give this movie 9 points (9/10).

Adieu till i write again.