Breaking Dawn(Part-1) * * * *

It's that time of year again when we fall in love with the idea of love. Bella and Edward are back and this time around they invite you to the most anticipated and awaited on-screen wedding of all times. And this first part of the grand finale to twilight saga has delivered more than promised.

The cinematography especially of the grand wedding is spectacular. And all the Twilighters will definitely have a hard time managing their tears. It has been filmed with such simplicity and beauty that we fall in love with it. After all, we have waited so long to see them getting married and Edward has been waiting for more than a century to loose his virginity.Better late than never.

The wedding is followed by a honeymoon in Brazil which intrigues you as the vampire libido seems too much for the human Bella. Soon Bella gets pregnant  which is very unusual as the cold ones are apparently all impotent. And the story then revolves around the future of this unborn child and the possibilities therein. This ultimately ruins the treaty between the Cullens and the Quileutes which results in thrilling drama towards the end.The performances of all are commendable and the direction is soothing and streamlined. He even seemed to be generous this time allowing Jacob to fashion some cloths.

Final verdict, if you have loved the previous three of this saga, you are going to love this one like anything and this is the perfect prequel to the grand finale which will be coming next. And for New borns, it's just a romantic drama with a little of wolf thrill. And yeah, guys, you might even end up meeting your Bella at the theater as girls are turning out in huge numbers.

Uma's Agneepath against Walmart

On lines of Advani's Jan Chetna Yatra, Uma Bharti has revealed her upcoming agni-yatra wherein she plans to travel across the world to burn down all the Walmart stores as a reaction to the Government of India's decision to allow FDI in multi-brand retail. At first, she only expressed the desire to burn down any store if it opens in India. But looks like she wants to play safe before the upcoming UP elections.

Uma Bharti in a press conference said that she is up for the interest of small traders and burning down all such multi-brand retailer giants is the only solution. She even said that once these huge retailers are thrown out, the kirana walas and local traders from India can fill in for the retail market across the world. She said this would boost Indian Exports. Talking about her yatra, she said she will use the same rath that Advani ji travelled in to have his blessing.

During the press conference when she was told that the government had many riders along so as to protect the interest of the small scale traders and the agriculturists and that this move will be creating around 10 million jobs in the country, she got angry with the press and even threatened to burn down the media houses and called them puppets in the hands of the ruling government.

In her Agni-yatra, she would be accompanied by Karan Johar, who would be promoting his next production 'Agneepath' featuring Hrithik Roshan. Other luminaries like Sushma Swaraj, Rabri Devi and Sharad Pawar( who is in a militant mood after getting slapped) have also expressed their desire to accompany Uma  But she would definitely would not want anyone to steel her thunder and to take political leverage out of this noble cause.

Rockstar * *

Expectations are never good. After the rom-com 'Jab We Met', the standards were floating real high and we couldn't wait any long for Imtiaz Ali's next and apparently it was already a success for his fan following. But cult is rarely followed by another cult. And Rockstar, for the most part of it, has been disappointing.

This so called 'musical' is about that good old saying that music can only come from a broken heart. Janardan Jakhar alias Jordan, has been playing music since childhood but he hasn't got the chords right yet. And for the sake it, he plans to fall in love with the heart breaker from Stephens. But the direction and scripting are so pathetic that you never actually feel that he fell in love or broke his heart.Every thing just seems like a deliberate attempt.

Nargis Fakhri turned out to be a total disaster. When will casting people understand that a hot chick looking like Katrina is not always the right choice. With apparently no acting skills and ridiculously large lips(No they are not at all like Angelina Jolie's), she is total alien to the movie. Also, another problem is unlike the west, people in India do not have a role model for a Rockstar. Here we worship Heroes and not singers.The saving grace for the movie is of course the scintillating music but also the authentic portrayal of an artist who creates music from pain. Ranbir's intense and powerful expressions and his energy levels helps the audience to connect. In fact, that's the only thing you would find worthy of stars in Rockstar.

Heritage or Just old buildings ??

Recently I visited probably the most impressive fort that the Mughals left behind and which is more than 450 years old. It is one of the most detailed and intelligent piece of art. Every single structure has a purpose and every single purpose has many dimensions to it. One would be amazed to see the principles of water harvesting, modern ventilation and planned drainage, all were there and in most cases better than what we have today.

Amidst the grandeur and vastness of this place, I was intrigued by an opinion."Do we really need them today? There is a land crunch and I guess we can better utilize the huge spread of this monument".

With the growing disinterest of people in such places of historic relevance and the third class maintenance by the government officials, one might find himself/herself leaning towards this opinion. But when you dig deeper to seek the larger picture you find so many other variables that actually matter a lot. In a country like India, tourism industry is one of the largest employers. Although, most of it is in the unorganized sector.

Take for example, the city of Agra. The economy of Agra is solely run on the basis of tourism. There are zillions of hotels and like half of them are named after the 'Taj'. The city also has other monuments like the Red fort, Sikandra and Fatehpur Sikri which make it an attractive tourist location. Everywhere in the city, you only find hotels, restaurants and travel agencies. Every other local is either into hospitality or is a travel guide.

Tourism is something which has a great potential for India and a lot needs to be done to make sure that we fully utilize it. We are fortunate to have so many places with monuments and natural beauty spread all over the country. These can be productively be used to provide employment to the huge labor force of the country. And also various incentives can be provided to promote self employment and small scale industries at such places.

Call it heritage or call it old buildings, the bottom line is we need to preserve such places. If not for the legacy they carry, then for the fact that millions depends on them for their bread and butter.

Respecting your words

Any social psychology expert would tell you that people behave differently in the presence of others.And the deviance from the real 'self' depends upon the level of closeness with the audience.The self, as per sociologist G.H.Mead, has two components namely 'I' & 'Me'. The former represents the incalculable,unpredictable and innovative component and the later is the coercive culmination of value premises imposed by the society. So, the former is the real self.

Mostly, all people are governed by the dominating 'Me' component. And even though we might be having a huge list of criticisms for say a person, we tend to behave normally before that person. We even try to please that person and don't let the grudges to surface in the conversation. But we find ourselves opening up quite frankly to a third person. We like to bitch about others behind their backs to this third person.

But when this third person sees you change colors like a chameleon in front of the person whom you have been insulting all the way, what would that third person conceive of you. You just became a spineless, coward and  degraded person.This phenomenon is not restricted to just this. Sometime we go on blasting off grandeur in our talks and making propositions to impress others without even digging a little on our capabilities to turn them into realities. And even worse, sometimes we keep on fluctuating our opinions like a damn pendulum which makes it difficult for people to trust your words.

You should respect your words if you want others to respect you. You should be bold enough to express yourself freely to others. You should speak of things only when you are sure of your potential to turn them real.  You should be what you are.All the time. A person of few words but with a spine is any day better than a verbose, spineless and coward jackass.

I confess that my past and present would certainly make me a spineless coward. But I am not going to project it to my future.I mean it.

In Time * * * *

Remember that good old saying that people keep on slapping at our faces when we show a little lethargic gesture.Time is Money.This flick written and directed by Andrew Niccol who's track record seems impressive with movies like Lord of War,The Trueman Show and The Terminal, is all about this very saying.And he has done it in style.Yet again.

The movie is set up in an altogether different sort of world where a human is born to live only 25 years and after that he can only live for the time which he earns and to do that there can be many ways.Once you are 25, you stop aging and the in built clock in your arm starts ticking.As salaries and wages people get time, to buy stuff they give time.Time is the universal currency.

But it isn't much different from the world we have today.It is also ruled by the rich who have millions of years on their clocks.They divide the world into time zones so as to keep people with similar leftover time together so as to avoid chaos and anarchy.They keep increasing the prices to pull out the time from the poor."For few to become immortals, many must die"

But Will Salas(Justine Timberlake) believes "No one should be immortal, even if a single person has to die". He wants to break the system controlled by the timekeepers who are no better than slaves to the rich. He teams up with the kingpin's daughter to steal time from the riches and distributes to the poor.Like the good old Robin Hood.But it's the vivid imagination and the wonderful portrayal that will impress you.One can also call it a satirical and sci-fi fantasy mocking the modern capitalistic societies. It's a short,fast and pretty interesting movie which is surely worth your precious 'time'.  

SRK assasinated at his residence

Mumbai. In a bizarre turn of events, the self-proclaimed 'king' khan of Bollywood was shot multiple times using a sniper by an unidentified assassin at his residence Mannat.The king khan was out on his balcony waving to his fans like he did everyday and at least 10 times a day.

According to close friends of SRK, he was getting threats over the phone after he spoke about his plans for a sequel to Ra.One in  a paid interview recently. Ra.One, which got many accolades at the recently held Golden Raspberry awards, is seen as a trend setter movie. Although these calls seem to have further motivated him and he announced that he now wants 'Ra' series to even outnumber the potter flicks.

His son, Aryan Khan,who is in his early teens, said his father was a role model for him. He also dreams of a career in Bollywood(like he has a choice). He also added that the last words of SRK were,"My name is Khan and I have slept with Karan Johar". Well, people do show what they actually are in their dying moments. Aryan, who was high on emotions said that he would fulfill his father's dream of Ra.Two one day.

SRK, who claimed to be the best in business, was also known for his marketing skills which he probably picked up in a bridge course at IIPM under the visionary guidance of Arindam Chaudhury, who btw will be coming up with a biography for SRK. Not everyone is capable of creating shit worth 150 crores and then making a profit out of it.SRK would be remembered for his works in Ra.One,Om Shanti Om,Paheli and many others.

RIP.G.One