Zindagi Na Milegi Dubara – 2

Dilon mein tum apni betaabiyan leke chal rahe ho toh zinda ho tum
Nazar mein khwaabon ki bijliyan leke chal rahe ho toh zinda ho tum.
Hawa ke jhokon ke jaise aazad rehna seekho,
Dariya ke jaise lehron mein behna seekho,
Har ek lamhe se tum milo khole apni baahein.
Har ek pal ek naya sama dekhein ye nigaahein.
Jo apni aankhon mein hairaaniyan leke chal rahe ho toh zinda ho tum.
Dilon mein tum apni betaabiyan leke chal rahe ho toh zinda ho tum.

– Javed Akhtar

Credits to NV for typing this out!

Zindagi Na Milegi Dubara

Jab jab dard ka badal chaye,
jab gum ka saya lehraye,
jab aansu palko tak aaye,
jab ye tanha dil ghabraye,
humne dil ko ye samjhaya,
dil akhir tu kyu rota hai,
duniya mein yuhi hota hai.
Yeh jo gehre sannatey hai,
waqt ne sabko baatey hain.
Thoda gum hain sab ka kissa,
thodi dhoop hain sab ka hissa.
Aankhey teri bekar he num hai,
har pal ek naya mausam hai.
Kyu tu aise pal khota hai,
dil aakhir tu kyu rota hai

– Javed Akhtar

Credits to RK30Jan for typing this out!

Dil to Bachcha Hai Ji

Who else but Gulzar could have penned down words like Dil To Kachcha Ha Ji. Its been long since I saw this awesome a play of words. My new fav song!

Movie: Ishqiya (wiki, IMDB)
Lyrics: Gulzar
Music: Vishal Bhardwaj

Aisi ulji nazar unse hatt ti nahi
Daant se reshmi dor katt ti nahi
Umar kab ki baras ke safaid ho gayi
Kaari badari jawani ki chatt ti nahi
Walla ye dhadkan bhadne lagi hai
Chehre ki rangat udne lagi hai
Darr lagta hai tanha sone mein ji

Dil to bachcha hai ji
Dil to bachcha hai ji
Thoda kaccha hai ji
Haan dil to baccha hai ji
Aisi ulji nazar unse hatt ti nahi
Daant se reshmi dor katt ti nahi
Umar kab ki baras ke safaid ho gayi
Kaari badari jawani ki chatt ti nahi
Ra ra ra ..

Kisko pata tha pehlu mein rakha
Dil aisa baaji bhi hoga
Hum to hamesha samajhte the koi
Hum jaisa haaji hi hoga
Hai zor karein, kitna shor karein
Bewaja baatein pe ainwe gaur karein
Dilsa koi kameena nahi
Koi to rokey, koi to tokey
Iss umar mein ab khaogey dhokhe
Darr lagta hai ishq karne mein ji

Dil to bachcha hai ji
Dil to bachcha hai ji
Thoda kaccha hai ji
Haan dil to baccha hai ji

Aisi udhaasi baithi hai dil pe
Hassne se ghabra rahe hain
Saari jawani katra ke kaati
Piri mein takra gaye hain
Dil dhadakta hai to aise lagta hai woh
Aa raha hai yahin dekhta hi na woh
Prem ki maarein kataar re
Taubah ye lamhe katt te nahi kyun
Aankhein se meri hatt te nahi kyun
Darr lagta hai mujhse kehne mein ji

Dil toh bachcha hai ji
Dil toh bachcha hai ji
Thoda kaccha hai ji
Haan dil toh baccha hai ji

The music reminds me of the glorious times of Hindi music when instruments were simple and artists were masters of their craft. Must hear for any Hindi music fan.

I dint type the lyrics. I copied em from here.

Review: Avatar


Alert: This is more of a rant than the review.

I just came back from a screening of Avatar. Apparently they spent about 4 years and USD 200 mn on making this movie. And they created software and hardware (cameras et al) specifically for this film. And they had to push the release date so that theaters across the world could install 3d screens. And not to mention the special language and culture that was created for the inhabitants of Pandora.

Avatar probably got more hype than any other movie ever. I have never wanted to watch a film so much. All friends on FB, contacts on twitter and other assorted certified happening people had been raving about it. How could I miss it? And be left out on the impending discussions?

So, coming to the movie, the movie is very long. It seemed like eternity before the intermission came. In one of the scenes, I almost wagered my hair that a rain dance – transparent clothes – romantic song was around the corner. And the movie ended in too much of melodrama.

I do have some questions though. Why is that the hero never dies? Why is that the good always wins? Why is that the hero gets the bet weapons and hottest girl? And finally, towards the end, they allow couple of humans to stay back. Both are men. I wonder …

Amazing ideas. Brilliant execution. Only thing that lacked was the story and the screenplay. Every kid knows that in the battle between good and evil, good always wins. Even before the movie ended, you could predict that good would win. The predictable could have been made unpredictable but it was too predictable. I could predict the predictable predictable. And that my friends, is a grammatically correct sentence.

In the end, is the movie worth watching? It is. For the colors, images, imagination. Is the movie great? No. Could they have spent those 200 mn dollars and 4 year better? Definitely Yes.

And the best part? Dinner at McDonalds and drive back home!

Quotes from Shawshank Redemption

Finally I saw it. And yes I like it. Here are few quotes that I loved.

Dufrense to Red, in the letter

Dear Red, If you’re reading this, you’ve gotten out. And if you’ve come this far, maybe you’re willing to come a little further. You remember the name of the town, don’t you? I could use a good man to help me get my project on wheels. I’ll keep an eye out for you and the chessboard ready. Remember, Red. Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies. I will be hoping that this letter finds you, and finds you well. Your friend, Andy.

Red on Dufrense’s escape

I have to remind myself that some birds aren’t meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright and when they fly away, the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up does rejoice, but still, the place you live in is that much more drab and empty that they’re gone.

Red after reading the letter

I find I’m so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it is the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend, and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.

Dufresne on Music

Forget that… there are places in this world that aren’t made out of stone. That there’s something inside… that they can’t get to, that they can’t touch. That’s yours.

Copied liberally from wikiquote and IMDB. BTW did you know IMDB was owned by Amazon?

And like Dufresne I like to have projects. I do have one right now.

Love Aaj Kal

I had composed this when I saw the movie. Dated review.

Saw Love Aaj Kal. This is one of the most talked about, awaited movie of the season. Saif Ali Khan’s first home production, with Deepika Padukone and directed by Imtiaj Ali (the Jab We Met guy).

And before I move on, please be warned that I will be talking about plot hereafter.

So the story goes like this. Saif Ali Khan (don’t remember his onscreen name) is a typical gen-next who falls in and out of love as easily as people change clothes. But for some reason he sticks around with Meera (yes thats what Deepika Padukone is called). Then they have to move to different countries for their work and all. They get into this huge debate about practicality and love. Since both Saif and Meera are educated and think a lot, they decide that they need to part ways. Fair enough. I can relate to it. I have parted ways with someone with similar arguments (because we thought we cant work out things with emotions and if looked at practically, things wont work).

So, Meera moves to India. Saif bumps into Veer Singh (aka Rishi Kapoor). Veer Ji, once upon a time, had fallen into love with one Harleen Kaur (aka who?) at first sight. Ms Kaur moves to Kolkatta, VeerJiloans money, sits in the Punjab-Kolkatta train and follows her there, apparently to have one last look. All this happen and they dont even exchange words except some mush encounters.

Now Veer Ji tells his story to Saif and then a lot of mumbo jumbo later, Saif and Meera get together. And they live happily ever after.

I wish I could critically review the movie (as good as 2s does for mutiny) but since I cant, I can only point at good things and bad things.

Good things to start with

  • Rishi Kapoor
  • Ms. Padukone. She looks stunning in her shaadi outfit.
  • Music. Chor Bazari, Aaj Din Chhadeya are simply awesome. If you cant buy the music and give two hoots to piracy, you might want to download songs from here.
  • Last scene of the movie when Harleen has grown up into Neetu Singh.

And bad things

  • Ms. Padukone cant dance or act.
  • Harleen cant act.
  • There was only one moment that made me laugh. Otherwise humor is drab and flat.

And final rating? 1.5 on 5. And this does not comes from a professional reviewer (if there is a breed like that). I am an armchair activist at best.

And btw I am not sure how Imtiaj Ali wrote our story without meeting us.

99 – Delhi Destiny

Right in the morning I have this bad habit of listening to music. While channel surfing all the music channels, I stumbled upon this fun song titled Delhi Destiny. Reached office and first thing I did (after checking my emails) was hunting for it on IMDB and Youtube.

IMDB just says that its a comedy releasing in 2009. From the song, I know it has Kunal Khemu, Soha Ali Khan, Cyrus Brocha, Simone Singh, Boman Irani in the movie. Who else?

This is one of those movies that I want to watch. Any idea when is it releasing?

Man About Town

Last night when I was wondering what to do, while channel surfing, I chanced upon Man About Town at Sony Pix. Although I dont watch a lot of English movies, something about this one appealed and I saw it.

Here’s a tailor …

I realized that Jack’s life is very similar to mine (mine being lot less successful), he has the same insecurities that I have (although I dont have a wife to worry about), he is skeptic of same things I am of (apart from the fact that he is rich) and he is as confused as I am.

And its a wonderful movie. It enters my list of favorite movies. And I dint know that “Man About Town” meant these.

A, B and C

One of the latest pieces of work that has really caught the fancy of the world has been Anurag Kashyap and Abhay Deol’s Dev D. It is a story of this young lad, Dev, a rich dad’s poor little boy, an obsessive lover, an escapist, disillusioned by the world and in search for something that he calls love.

So much for Dev and his psychedelic life. Let me talk about me and a couple of my friends. Let me call these three people A, B and C. All three have a fairly enviable education background. All are beyond their prime now (28 types).

A works for India’s most visionary entrepreneur’s prodigal elder son’s one of million companies. This company is one of few organized players in India’s burgeoning retail market. A is one of the most extraordinary people that I have ever met. Although he doesnt put a lot of time and effort in coming up with insights and ideas but whenever he does so, he comes up with gem. His words are worth their weight in gold and diamonds and platinum. His thoughts are very clear and he knows what exactly he wants out of life and work. He is also one of the laziest people you would ever meet.

B works for a “conglomerate” with businesses ranging from chemicals to locks to rocket engines to foods to retail to real estate to medicine and to what not. If we legalized gambling and prostitution, they would have launched that too. Of course they would have put myriads of hierarchy and long designations for doing seemingly innocuous work. Anyways, B is an engineer by education, manager by designation and Shikari Shambhu by character. His sole aim in life is to make more money than anyone he knows, own the biggest house amongst his reference group and retire with enough in the pension fund. Nothing wrong about it. Just that its a different story that he is not doing anything about it.

C thinks that he hard to understand for most of the people that he knows. Including C himself. Actually that’s what C thinks. He is often branded random, frivolous and fickle minded. He is trying to ride some 19 boats at the same time and needless to say, failing at staying on course. He work a 8:30 to 5:30 job and leaves his office strictly at 5:30, goes to his place and stares at the wall and TV for about 5 hours before he sleeps.

So, three of us, our life stream can put any number of Devs‘ to shame. A typical day for each of us is VERY predictable. We probably are the cheapest targets for detective agencies. Sitting here, in my office, I can tell, with 100% certainty what the other two are upto. For example B is trying to scroll through his gtalk chat list thinking who he can chat up with. A would be out of his office smoking umpteenth cigarette of the day. I can also say for sure if you asked the other two about all three, everyone but A would know what others are upto. A’s secretary might have some answers.

Not that we dont try to break out of this monotony, its just that we are constrained by things that seem out of control and we dont even try to move out of the rat race. For A, its lethargy, for B, its security and for C, its, well he doesnt know.

Dev was better. He at least had an outlet in blur of alcohol. We dont.

P.S.: Title changed from “Putting Dev D to shame” to “A, B and C”

Gulaal – Yaara Maula

Track: Yaara Maula
Lyrics: Rahul Ram, Aushim, Piyush Mishra
Movie: Gulaal

Ever since I saw, Gulaal, I have been gung ho about it. As I said earlier too, I cant decide if I hate the movie or love it. But one thing is for sure – I couldnt ignore it. The music is super awesome. The lyrics are even better. Here is the best track from the movie.

Yaara Maula

Yaadon mein hai ab bhi
Kya sureela wo jahaan tha
Hamaare haathon mein rangeen gubbare they aur, dil mein mehekta samaa tha

Yaara Maula

Wo to khwabon ki thi duniya
Wo kitaabon ki thi duniya
Saans mein they machalte hue zalzale, aankh mein wo suhaana nasha tha

Yaara Maula

Wo zameen thi aasmaan tha
Humko lekin kya pata tha
Hum khade they jahaan par usi ke kinaare par gehra sa andha kuaan tha

Yaara maula

Phir wo aayi bheed bankar
Haath mein they unke khanjar
Bole phenko ye kitaabein
Aur sambhalo ye salaakhein

Ye jo gehra sa dhooaan hai
Haan haan andha to nahi hai
Is kooein mein hai khazana
Kal ki duniya to yahin hain
Kood jao le ke khanjar
kaat daalo jo ho andar
Tum hi kal ke ho Shivaji
Tum hi kal ke ho Sikandar

Humne wo hi kiya jo unhone ne kahaa
kyunki unki to khwahish yahi thi

Hum nahi jaante ki ye kyun ye kiya
kyun ki unki farmaaish yahi thi

Ab hamaare lagaa jaayka khoon ka
ab bataao karein to karein kya
nahi hai koi jo hamein kuch bataaye
Bataao karein to karein kya

Via Musicaloud