Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka, M.P. Prakash, gave a wonderful speech on Tuesday.
“It is unfortunate that these crorepatis (industrialists) think they form a major chunk of the city’s population. The city comprises people from all professions. The Government has to cater to the needs of all sections of society and not just the IT sector,” he said.
Well, of course, how can they assume that the non-crorepati, non-IT population of the city want good roads, less traffic jams, proper drainage and sanitation, better public transport, fewer electricity outages like them?
“Instead of asking what the Government has done to improve Bangalore, why cannot the industrialists ponder over what they have done for the city,” the Deputy Chief Minister asked.
Yeah, what have they ever done for the city except bringing in foreign investment, providing employment, generating tax revenue and other countless atrocities? Not to mention the heinous act of creating a public-private body called BATF, which created bus shelters and public urinals all over the city among other things. Had the government not realized that they were evil, stopped supporting them and forced them to shut shop, who knows what other harm they might have done to the city.
So, indeed, the IT sector has no reason to complain.
Well said, Minister.
Few days ago, an article in The Times Of India caught my attention. The title said, “World-class governance needed”. It was actually an interview of Karnataka’s Former chief minister M Veerappa Moily in which he said that India needed world-class governance to “stand up in such a competitive atmosphere and integrate [India’s] economy with the world economy”. Now, I had a question in my mind. What exactly is world-class governance? I mean, really, it is one thing to say world-class service; even world-class city is okay but world-class governance? Please, people. Try to make sense. Don’t make world-class or any-class a standard prefix.
But unfortunately this class fixation is everywhere. A new hoarding for “Kingfisher Airlines” on my way to the office claims that it offers “world-class in-flight entertainment” and “international class cabin crew”. International class? Now, that’s just ridiculous. Is it not? Am I the only person to which this doesn’t make sense? I hope not.
I realized that my blog was getting a little impersonal therefore I decided to give all the readers some personal information about me so they can know me a little better. Alright, so here are two little weird facts about me that are not known to too many people, not even the ones who are very close to me:
- I feel a little dizzy when both people and mannequins surround me. I mean, it’s not just the presence of mannequins that makes me dizzy but when life-size mannequins are placed all around the shops and people are also strolling though that area then I get very dizzy. I feel like the mannequins are walking around and the people are standing still. Its crazy and I don’t know if other people get disarrayed around mannequins too. But it happens to me and I don’t know why.
- I cant bring myself to ask for a ride (lift) even when I absolutely need it. I consider it a kind of weakness but it hasn’t hurt me too much as yet. I just can’t do it. I guess its cos I fear being turned down by strangers. I have a huge ego, you see. In fact, twice I was offered a ride without asking for it out of which once I rejected (cos I was waiting for my college bus and didn’t need the ride) and the other time, when I was standing outside my college and did need a ride, I couldn’t make up my mind as to why the driver stopped and in the mean time, other guys who wanted a ride too got in the car. So till date I have neither asked for nor accepted any rides.
Saw the movie yesterday and decided to do a review cum analysis so lets see how it goes.
I went to see the movie with an idea of what it’s about, thanks to an interview style promo of Saif and Preity that’s been airing on all TV channels lately. So I pretty much knew what to expect.
In short, the movie is about an Architect/Chef [Saif] and a Doctor/RJ [Preity] who both hate each other initially, then love each other, start living together, get pregnant, start hating each other again for a while and then finally have twins and then get married. (Not a brilliant summary but it will do.)
And now for my review:
The Good:
- The lead pair of Saif-Preity is perfect. They suit their roles to the T and are very real in their roles. I am a big fan of Preity and she is great in the movie. She looks beautiful, as always.
- The first half is refreshingly fresh and different from the other popcorn flicks of the recent times.
- Saif shows more skin in the movie than Preity so one point for objectification of the human male.
- The movie has genuine kissing scenes, unlike the rushed through ones in most other bollywood movies.
- The humor in the movie is pretty good and classy (except in the last few minutes of the movie which is mentioned in detail in cons). Saif, Preity and Arshad are all good in the comic scenes. But the winner here is Javed Jaffery, who is very funny, for once. May be he should thank the writers for coming up with the hilarious “Sorry…Exactly” routine.
- The movie has no parents, which means no old-fashioned rona-dhona only the subtle, stylish tissue paper crying.
- The movie has only four songs (Can you believe that?)
- The music of the movie is pretty good. “Salaam Namaste” as well as “My Dil Goes Mmm” are nice. The songs have been shot in an imaginative manner too.
- The movie is very glossy and stylish, has been shot very well and surprisingly, edited well too.
The Bad:
- The story is not all that thought provoking and representative of the current youth and live-in relationships as being claimed by the media. It’s more about this one couple and how they deal with pre-marital pregnancy.
- I also have a problem with how this movie was publicized as yet another Yash Raj-Karan Johar style popcorn flick, which it is but only in parts. The result of such publicity was that there were a lot of families with kids in the theatre. This movie has been rated U/A and rightfully so cos the film is not at all suitable for kids under 12 and we all know how no cinema halls in India would stop kids accompanied by their parents. But there is too much in the movie about protection, pregnancy and delivery that the kids under 12 need not know about. But may be I am old fashioned. I mean most of these kids watch all the ‘K’ soaps on TV so they cant be all that innocent.
- The movie itself is very entertaining till the penultimate reel after which the movie becomes a cheap copy of an episode of Friends and the climax of Nine Months and I cant tell you how unhappy I was with all this. I came out of the theatre praying that the director has shot an alternative ending that will be at least released on the DVD. I have never seen such a good movie fall flat after ridiculously terrible climax. And why the hell would they think of copying from Friends given that the intersection of the target audience of this movie and that show would be almost 100%.
- Tania Zetta cannot act. Both Preity and Saif’s bosses are irritating.
- The song “What’s Going On?” does not fit in the movie well because the dynamics between the lead pair at that time do not permit them to sing and dance together (especially when Preity is 8 months pregnant!!!)
- Abhishek Bachchan is miscast as the stupid doctor in the final scene that ruins the movie.
- The whole “radio listeners rushing to help unite the lead pair” thing is pretty ridiculous too.
The Ugly:
- Preity’s voice in the argument scenes is so shrill that it would have been enough for me kill her.
- Javed Jaffery is now on my list of “People I hate because of their bad, irregular teeth”.
Verdict:
The first half is great and the second half is okay till the last scene where everything goes down the drain. (I cant stop going on and on about it) It’s a Commendable effort by debutante director Siddhartha Anand and definitely worth your money and time.
Rating:
6.5/10 (Which means good enough for watching once and in case you are a fan of Saif or Preity’s then probably twice)
Raj
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