Radio বাংলা Rock - make this week the best week of my life.

পশ্চিমবঙ্গ ছাড়ার পর , প্রথম রবিবার. পুনে তে রাত্রি বেলা রাস্তা দিয়ে হাটছি। যাদের সাথে হাটছি তারা বাঙালি বটে, কিন্তু বাংলা ব্যান্ড এর সম্পর্কে কিছুই জানেনা বিশেষ। মনে মনে ভাবছি আজ আর FM এ ROTR শোনা হবেনা আমার , রুপম দা আর hometask দেবে না - make this week the best week of your life. ROTR বকলমে জীবন থেকে চলে গেছিল। কিন্তু পুরোপুরি চলে যায়নি । সাইবার কাফে তে গিয়ে radio rip download করে শুনতাম। বাংলা ব্যান্ড থেকে বিচ্যুত হয়েও আমার বিচ্যুত হওয়া হলনা তাই । আমার মধ্যমেধা, আমার rooted নিম্ন মধ্যবিত্ততা, আমার বাংলা medium আমার মধ্যে বাংলা ব্যান্ড কে বাঁচিয়ে রেখেছিল। এখনো রেখেছে। আগামী দিনেও রাখবে। বিগত ৮ টা বছর একটাও বাংলা ব্যান্ড এর performance দেখিনি আমি. এই ৮ টা বছরে অনেক বাংলা ব্যান্ড জন্মেছে। আমার কাজ এর চাপ বেড়েছে, জীবন বদলায়নি,দায়িত্ব বেড়েছে হয়ত. কাল নিজেকে একটা task দিলাম। কতটা এই মধ্যমেধার তালেবর হয়েছি, কতটা আমি বাংলা ব্যান্ড connoisseur. 

চালিয়ে দিলাম radio বাংলা রক. একে একে গান বাজতে থাকলো। solo, ব্যান্ড, রক , না-রক. সুমন থেকে অঞ্জন, মহীন থেকে মিসিং লিংক। আরো আরো অনেক বাংলা গান যা কত দিন যে শুনিনি মনেই পরেনা। একজন বাংলা ব্যান্ড কর্মী একবার আমার সম্পর্কে বলেছিলেন - ছেলেটা বাংলা গান শুনেছে। confidence টা ছিলই। এর পর যা হলো তা সারি সারি goosebumps আর স্মৃতি রোমন্থন। সুদ্ধবাদী র মতে,এলিটিস্ট দের কানে যা বাংলা গান এর ধংস রোমন্থন। আজও আমি সব ব্যান্ড কে চিনি। তমাল এর joker চিনি, roadroller চিনি, ফিডব্যাক কে চিনি, নগর বাউল কে চিনি . এই passion টা চাই। শ্রোতা র থেকে চাই. যে গান চয়ন করছেন তার থেকেও। আমি এই connoisseur, connoisseur খেলা এ হেরে যেতে চাই. বিগত ১৩ বছর ধরে চেষ্টা করেও বাংলাদেশী ব্যান্ড eclipse এর 'এ কিসের আয়োজন' জোগার করতে পারিনি। রেডিও বাংলা রক এই গান টি আমাকে উপহার দিলে চির কৃতজ্ঞ থাকব। রুপম দা অনেক অনেক গান উপহার দিক,নতুন গান শোনাক - এটাই চাইব। অনেক মধ্হমেধা,ও মধ্য কান ওয়ালা শুভেচ্ছা রইলো। এবার রেডিও বাংলা রক কে শ্রোতা রাই taskদেবে - make this week the best week of my life.

Fossils 4 : The achieved "Poriborton"

Post Fossils 3 release , one of my friends used to pass this sarcastic comment  - "erokom cholte thakle ebar Alt + F4 mere debo". It had such a minimalist approach to criticism/ ground reality (or a frustration) that I gave a tribute to that statement on my Facebook wall on the eve of Fossils 4's official release. Me, my friend and perhaps many like us, wanted changes in Fossils' approach to an album. We expected the album to be beyond the tertiary brilliance on Inlay cover pics and the characters it portrays, beyond the story / theme it wants to say through the course of 8 or 9 songs; we could do away with "Sada Jama lok". All we wanted are 8 awesome songs, which would live with us forever, which are enriched with avant grade lyrical quality of Fossils 2, musically on par with exquisite and path breaking Fossils 1. How often did we hear in past - "Fossils 1 ek baar e hoy boss, o jinis just hoye gechhilo, ar hobena".  I think this statement has more to do with the frustration of not meeting the expectation in following album that Fossils 1 had set, than how brilliant Fossils 1 is. I will not write off Fossils 2 from its glory. Fossils 2 was such a lyrical extravaganza that Bengal had never heard of, or could dream.  Audience took time to understand the depth and lyrical power of Fossils 2. May be that's why another belief started to creep in among listeners about typical Fossils' album . That is - "Fossils er album ekbaar shune bhalo lagena, multiple listening chai." I think, even Rupam too would agree, musically Fossils 2 did not have the bite of the earlier installment. Then Fossils 3 released and obviously there was sky high expectation as usual. Perhaps we expected a bit too much from Fossils that time, perhaps we expected the better components of previous two albums to be present in Fossils 3. What it ended up with is actually a story of a protagonist.

As I said before, we wanted "poriborton" and I am glad that Fossils too responded to those demands. Few major points that I would like to highlight here :-

1. Fossils got rid of Steve Fallone. I am glad they did. Did that guy from US has anything  to offer than the tag of his citizenship. I am thankful to him for one reason only. Had Fossils not thought of US (or steve) pre 09/11, I think we would not have this numerical series since Fossils 1. Listen to whole album of Fossils 3 or "Harano Padak" from Fossils 2, and one feels the mastering has gone for a toss. Fossils could not have done anything better than going for Anupam and to give him that enough space/chance to be in groove in live gigs , prior to sneaking into studio.
2. Getting rid of Asha audio. You could feel the freedom in Fossils 4's sound.
3. Moving to Grunge majority with a very hardcore melodious base.  I think that prompted Rupam to sound lot sweeter ; which was missing in Fossils 3 or at some parts of Fossils 2 as well.
4.  To keep it simple and organic, not fall in to the trap of overplay. With Allan coming back into the team after Fossils 1, it just had to happen.
5. I heard Tanmoy first time on ETV Bangla Bandwagon. Ironic it is , he was playing "Acid" cover that day for "Atmahatya". This guy is a sheer talent, miles ahead of Bubun as a musician. The new dimension that Tanmoy added to Fossils 4 is not only Unputdownable; in years to come, I am sure we might even call Tanmoy the star of Fossils 4.

With all these brownie points, Fossils had lesser chances of faltering. And Boy, did not they just nail it in Fossils 4. It is an album to buy, to be heard, to be discussed and loved. We have not heard something like this for a long long time in Bengal. This is almost like a Musical boom.


I would start the journey with the last song of album, which is my fav from Fossils 4 as well. Mrityu it is. Mrityu is like open door, hard core, dirty , bed breaking sex. It is that good, I could not find any other way of depicting it. It grows high and pumps up the expectation in every second verse and continuously overwhelms it on the next one and then sets you up for a blast at the end. The song hits you like a bang on the first listening and then keeps increasing its margin on every further listening. Rupam has written quite a few songs on death. But they were mostly on post death consequences. Mrityu talks about the niggling pain of going through the process of dying each day and waiting for the last day to arrive. if I directly jump into the penultimate verse of Mrityu, I will say I have not heard Rupam sounding so helpless as the character of the song for a long long time.  And then on the last verse, the epic redemption comes back almost like a recoil energy. Tanmoy and Chandra have a done a mind boggling job in this song, while I salute Allan for putting those riffs all accorss the track. The grooves at the end of the song is almost like a fitting end to an epic album, which oozed in eargasm all through.

My next fav is Mahakash.

Rupam is the king of bengali Ballads, he has always been. The song has such calmness and a spacey feel to it. The song is like the Free zone part 2. As if Rupam as a song writer has grown from where he had left us in Free zone (from the solo album Nishkromon). Has it some thing to do with retirement too from the Job life ? or a retirement from a materialistic world which demands responsibilites every minute ? Musically the song does not deserve comments or words from any one, because everything will fall short in praise. Better if you can keep on pressing space bars on forum. Perhaps that would be a fitting tribute to the song.

Khoro amar Fossil.

Historic; every one knows why :) . The song is the reason why the band was named so. I read the lyrics years ago in epitaph. I used to crack this joke on that "teerey esho sahoshini, othoba dubey jao" bit.  I used to call it a "Bond Girl"song :D (who can forget Ursula Andress or Halle berry coming out of the sea in Bond flicks). Jokes apart, that very next line reminds me of a line from Kabir Suman's song 'Jua' which says - ''Tumi ki kakhono amar bhaggo hobe". I love the whole grunge feel and simplicity of the song. Suicidal , Provoking, at the same time devoid of angst and obviosly nostalgic Can we call it a Love anthem post Hashnuhana ? I think we can.


Shoytaan and Bnaador

 Let me thank Mr. Roy and ABP first. Had those asses never opened their mouths we would not have got these two. Both of them have that typical R.A.T.M feel of angst. Specially Shoytaan. Some delicious alliteration word play from Rupam's end. Mafia Media, Susheel Shomaaj, Pretattar Patent, Kharij Khyamta. And then it breaks into an epic Rap section where Rupam gives his all. When I listen to Shoytaan , I imagine a jam packed Najrul Manch all singing this track lungs out and Rupam is going bonkers on stage. Angst of Bengali youth ? Yes it wins. Oh I forgot, to mention. One big thumbs up to Anupam for Bnaador.

Bari esho and Haajar Bichhana.

Again two old songs. Bari esho Perhaps still sounds a little like 'Killing in the name of' by RATM at the beginning. But I must say, Fossils have done lot of work on it. Lyrically Bari esho brings back Rupam of 90s in the album. That same at your face angst in love, or hatred. One more thing to keep in mind, Bari esho was written way way before the Park street Rape case. "Jani Khudartho sex ar oboshaad er jongol e bhese ajo, Nirapod moroker swapod desh e".  The song has finally found it's place in a Fossils album when the time demanded one.  Haajar Bichhana will be a live gig treat. Perhaps a potential gig opener. I just love the Guitar tone used in this song. Rupam sounds extremely mature in Haajar bichhana. Almost like a teacher. I found the mix of Karaoke and solo very soothing at the climax.

Resolution.

Lyircally kind of in line with "Bangali koreche Bhogoban re". In line because, in dearth of confidence and on land of broken dreams, one ridicules himself/herself just like "Bangali koreche Bhogoban re" depicts the wishlist of a quasi european/quasi american bengali mind. Resolution does not have much to offer musically. Perhaps the weakest one in the album.

Sthabor Awsthabor .

Finally to wrap it all an epic instrumental. It reminds me of Coldplay's sound. That same spacey, organic  and 'all-stalled' feel.

I wish i could do research on this album in coming days, because this album deserves plethora of discussions. Because this album has put the smile back on my face. Lot have been commented against me on this blog by Fossils fans in past. I hope they understand now, I was only looking for quality.     

Serendipity in bollywood

 

You thought, Akshay Khanna always played the role of a good guy. Well, this snap from a crap movie called ‘Deewane tere naam ka’ may force you to think again.  God knows what was he trying here.

 

 

The next one is a true memorabilia. A walk down the memory lanes of ten plus two standard, when students like me used to struggle in higher secondary physics. The Saviour was the physics book of CRDG. And then you see SRK reading the same old physics book in ‘Mein hoon Na’. The moment of nostalgia.

 

The third one is not exactly an awkward one. I fell down from my couch and then rolled on the floor laughing after watching this on TV one morning. Obviously the TV was mute. The name of the movie is – ‘Karthik Calling  Karthik’. P.S: Deepika was teaching Farhan how to make a cocktail here.  You somehow miss the tail part.

 

 

 

The fourth one is a good competitor of all those Titanic- Inception jokes. Here comes the Real Bollywood one. Gulaal and Dev D got merged in one scene. Epic it is. Deelip and Dev boozing together in an AK classic.

 

Most of us have seen Rang de Basanti. Have you seen Sidharth’s reactions in the song ‘Tu bin batayein’. If you have overlooked it, give one more shot. There’s got to be one story between Sid and Soha, which was never told.

 

 

Back to the hilarious pieces –

 

Its that awkward moment , when you see Bobby Deol talking about Pather Panchali and Satyajit ray in an Abbas-Mustan movie ( Naqaab) and Urvashi Sharma is not paying the attention !!

 

 

 

The last one comes from an English guy (my friend) who had tremendous doubts on Aamir khan’s character’s sexuality after seeing this song on youtube. Gotta check this.

 

There are few more gold dusts sprinkled here and there in this long tenure of 100 years of Bollywood. Will love to share few more, if I you find this first edition interesting.

 

Jioh Awkward Bollywood  !!and the serendipity attached to it.

Happy Birthday Rupam

What Rupam means to Bengal now? Just a Rockstar, a singer?

I would have said yes, if it was before 2005-06. Rupam is now a voice. A voice which has the power to pull every album down on charts no matter how good they are in quality, a voice to keep every counter voice mum and moot no matter how logical and truthful that mouth was. From an umbrella term, Rupam is now more into the mode of ONIDA TV advertisement. Yes he is neighbour’s envy, owner’s pride. If you trust on Rupam and on his compositions you don’t have to be in the catch 22 of a win-win situation. The victories will be kissing your toes, and smiles will be as wide as if lips gonna touch ears. For last five years I am out of West Bengal and now out of India. But whenever I go back to Kolkata I see young guys wearing black shirts, Tees and heavy duty accessories. They keep their hair long; they wear heavy duty accessories on wrists. I wonder whether this is the after effect of Rupam’s onstage antics or not. Might be.
Now the question arises, how Rupam managed it over the last 12 years? Once upon a time, Fossils used to market on a phrase ‘Rock Majority’ to keep the spirit high of the minority audience. Why did the minority spread like a disease and turned into euphoria. How easy it was to teach them a lesson of Rock music, when the mind was pre-occupied with Bollywood and Kumar Sanu- Kishore Kumar seemed like Kurt Cobain of down-and-out times.
Rupam did it in an alternate way. rather than reaching them via guitar riffs and bass slaps, Rupam used his craft of lyrical expertise. As if a larger portion of young Bengali generation who hardly read Shakti Chattopadhyay, hardly aware of Bengali literary strength was introduced to a language or a dogma which was very different from what they read in text books. A ‘Prosno’ could be matched with ‘I don’t know’ in Rupam’s poetry. A similar sounding answer to an obvious question triggered the liking of many. Rupam has this uncanny ability to spill out truth which we always wanted to say in life, but could never do. ‘Boli show cause ta ditey Joma’ , ‘Bondhuder bhireo ekla ekla ami khuje feeri lokkho amar’ and many more lines which we all knew within ourselves, but never said, was crooned by Rupam.
When I look back in the history of Bengali songs where female character names have been used, I see ‘Nilanjana’ , ‘Sudeshna’ ,’Jhinti’ and few more. But they all seem to be characters of dreams, unreal. Though being in the same genre of character songs and that too using the name of a living lady Hashnuahana has become a song synonymous to love, where ‘Mou’ supposed to take the back seat and the simile ‘Hashnuhana’ won the heart by long margins. These days, in live concerts Hashnuhana is no more a song of Rupam’s voice. The audience not only shares the duty, they snatch it from Rupams voice like dacoits of Chambal.

Rupam has changed over the years in more than one way. Not only voice, not only in literal way, but metaphorically too. Since 2007 the change has been drastic. I dont know whether the change was required, but one is thing is assured. Without those changes Rupam would not have been the Rupam, what he is now for larger audience. These days Rupam does music for movies, belts out solo album parallel to Fossils' acts. There’s a conscious approach to eat up the market during Pujas too. There are updates about every activity of Rupam and Rupam’s child on Twitter, Facebook, where the comments are exact opposite of what Rupam wants to say.

Though I hardly met Rupam, I still feel very close to him. I am sure many more like me feels the same. In spite of having a huge collection of many Rock and Metal acts from all over the globe I still listen to Fossils. I still remember those days when I used to get beaten by my parents, as no one would allow me to go to concerts and I escaped each and every time. It’s been a relation of 12 long years, where I have missed a joe sat show though having pass, written 5 English versions of Rupam’s song, received umpteen slaps from my family. I have seen Rupam grow his hair and as a performer, I have seen my English versioned Fossils songs on "about me's" of other ORKUT profiles(with a text 'written by Rupam Islam' beneath'). I have tried whole heartedly as a solo to understand the inner meaning of his songs. I have received abuses and slangs for doing so too. But still I could not get over Rupam’s hallucination.
On this 25th January, I again wish happy birthday to Rupam. Wish him all the success for future.

Nishkromon : The departure of Rupam

More than an album of Organic sound, Nishkromon is an album of an ever changing Rupam in lyrical aspect. Ironically it’s a departure of Regular Rupam who used to speak in riddles and different dimensions to a Rupam who loves to draw picture in lyric. The album brings out a new Rupam who loves to write big in angst and craves to make some points clear. The album is my only companion now, while I walk down the lanes of Cardiff.

Free zone: How often does it happen that you strive too much to express in a song, the lyric spills out before you could understand it is actually happening. The first song Free zone is a good example of uncontrolled lyrical angst.
“Eshobe taai britha jorai
Jhankiye kaandh beriye jaai
Theke ki laabh shroddhar obhab
Jure jure osobhyotaai “ To express these 4 core lines of the song Rupam not only wrote big in first and third verse, he actually put too much pressure on himself while singing. See this album is introduced to mass as an organic live sound filled album. Now when you listen the first or third verse of the song, honestly do you feel its live sound? I don’t. When composition runs faster than the speed of lyric, it is extremely tough to tackle. And when it’s tough to tackle, it no more remains organic sound. Nishkromon as an album loses its honesty and faith on the first song. Though keeping these nuances aside, I would say the even numbered verses pull off the Rupam of old. How nicely Rupam controls the slurs in between “songi” and “amar”, which goes wanting in “doinik songbad”. I would say Free zone is a birth of new Rupam as a lyricist as well. I have hardly seen Rupam writing songs that’s picturesque rather than multidimensional. The pictures drawn through “akashe megh baateel abeg” and “Kono kono bhore Anti-Christ-er janalay boshe chokh mochhe Moriyom” speak a lot about Rupam’s so called fantasized “songjom” which keeps him within the “dehatito free zone” safely away from the naughty ill-behaved people. Perhaps it’s better to kill the Judas as remedy 

Chador: I put my bank balance down and scream to the top of my voice that Chador is a classic. Since the day I heard Chador I knew what potential this song has. Chador goes beyond the barrier of regular compositions and stands tall on the podium of world music. The composition is exceptionally well crafted; the singing by Rupam is just brilliant. Hats off to the drums work and bass slamming too! And again Rupam’s lyric is picturesque rather than multidimensional. The frustrations lying as a dead soul waiting for the success of heaven – Chris de burgh must be happy like hell! Chador is an accumulation of many genres in a single song and I hope mass will give importance to this song in coming years as they did for fossils 1 songs.

Taake chini: Again a song of angst and perhaps recently written. The main difference between Free zone and Taake chini is the length of lyric and shorter lyrical length does help. Taake chini is poppy in sound and brings out the Music director Rupam, who wants to make music for Bollywood 

Ghor sajai: sorry, it is not a song!

Kisher Aaral: Punk could be an obsession for a musician, but it does not mean you would force something again and again without any reason. Kisher Aaral is very nicely written but it lacks creativity in musical section. As a punk number it’s too stereotype.

Aalo: superb track indeed. “Lennon amar Lennon, amar moner moddhe Jeh john(jon noy)” ; very few can actually describe Moner manush, the movie so brilliantly. The bass lines are sex! and Rupam did his best until he screams! Aalo is surely the second best track of the album after Chador.

The WO WO song: It’s tough to get ahead from where you had started. Garage rock sound prevailed among the pioneer rock bands of late 90’s Kolkata and still it does. The WO WO song is just the perfect example of it. Then it suddenly slides down to jazz from garage sound in whisker. I liked the ayub bachhu’ish “ami asholey jaa chai” part. I hope Rupam could do a moon walk on stage while singing this part live. Lyrically the song brings out a Rupam in many shades. The contradiction of “amar ichhe kore toder moto dhonger kotha koi, amar ichhe kore palte dite nyaka projonmoi” is so alternatively delicious. And Rupam’s new age fans should pay an attention. But then comes the ugly religionist attack in “shaitan ke di laal golap porajito jehadir beshe” and the ambience is shattered.

AtmoBishleson: Typical Greenday sound! Awesome lyric! I don’t know why do I see an Apu of Apu’s trilogy in atmobishleson’s first verse. May be the statement of negligence and arrogance remain the same for all Apus’ accross this world. How often Rupam’s cross cultural and cross religion life comes in his lyric. From Hollywoodish intimate and bestial ambience of second verse Atmobishleson slides into a mimic ride of humiliating stinky Hinduism. Only Rupam can jam in Lord Shiva’s wife and “Sotidaha protha” together so easily. The long solo of Atmobishleson is boring and pretty monotonous though 

Thanks to Nishkromon for Chador , Aalo and The Wo Wo song, how impotent it may be for rest of the songs.

Aarakshan : Is not about Reservation !

1. Madhur Bhandarkar, Mani Ratnam and Prakash Jha movies are basically sub types of a certain genre of Hindi movies which doesn’t have an umbrella term to be specific. While Madhur’s movies are based on certain urban lifestyle, where upper class exists, so that they can be stripped naked and whiplashed in front of the world, and his one screen theater ticket buyers can feel the boost of a psychological and ethical victory, Mani sir’s movies have never dealt with any subject that’s not today’s and hardly holds any strong connection with the youth. Looking by the core of ‘Raavan’, which was basically an epical misguided adventure of finding the roots of Naxalism in ‘Ramayana’, Prakash Jha is steadily heading the Mani Ratnam’s style. I doubted in ‘Rajneeti’; ‘Arakshan’ makes my belief stronger that Prakash Jha is long way away from his ‘Mrityudand’,’ Apaharan’ and ‘Gangajal’ root.

2. Arakshan’s naming is poor. Yes the movie is not about reservation. I can feel for the director, as I know except Mr.Kashyap there is not a single soul out there in that industry who has the guts to speak about such sensitive issues freely, which could cause riot in streets, chaos among the apes of parliament and more over your film might not release. This movie is about Prabhakar Anand [Amitabh Bachhan], a principal of an eminent educational institute. He is a good-hearted and intelligent soul who lives his life by certain principles and dangerously naïve about the rules of outside world. His face has several by-lanes of years and hair is dyed in sliver color, but he is still the Bachhan of seventies. He lives in a bubble that kept this crude world at bay. But then there are other clone bubbles like Deepak [Saif] who has harnessed his skills and studied under Prabhakar, but did not keep the world as a neglected chapter. When these bubbles collide for the first time, you know some things gotta give. That’s why, Prabhakar need not be a person from educational system; he could be a good hearted banker, a good hearted lawyer or a good hearted cricket coach. The movie is all about living a life of truth and honesty. But that’s not what we expected from the title? Did we?

3. The contradiction of the characters in this movie holds a strong ground. Poorbi [Deepika] does not know whom to support; her boy friend Deepak or her Dad in crisis? Prabhakar does not know where to head, be resolute to his principles or to move on with his Job, which gives him financial security. Deepak does not know what to choose his Job or his life? The best of the contradiction comes when Prabhakar’s wife says to her husband “Main ek maa hoon, Bharat maa to nahin”. But all these dilemmas are kept in private. To Outside world Prabhakar’s wife is like a rock and will never take any one granted against her husband, may it be her own child.


4. Deepak enters into an interview and looks surprisingly young. Perhaps not young enough to suggest he is a pass out from college (Bhopal, 2008) and seeking a Job. But then in the trade off you get what you like the most; the old strong Saif Ali khan of Omkara, who knows how to bring power into performance. When constantly questioned about his mother and asked how he could match in with people from higher classes of society, he retorts back that his good breeding is prominent in the fact that he has not yet smashed the paper-weight on the jury board’s head.

5. Its would really rude to say from Deepika’s point of view, but I had to salute Prakash Jha for finding an unbelievable way of hiding her, which her earlier directors never thought of. Whenever the dialogue is long for Deepika, the camera pans at the listeners rather the teller. A lady who has by-hearted her lines like a school child and fearing to belt them out in front of the camera, should inevitably struggle in putting proper facial expressions. Prakash Jha invented a different way to tackle mediocrity.


6. There are at least five or six mini climaxes in the movies which are funny and illogical to say the least. There’s no detailing about Sushant’s character played by Prateek Babbar. All we know is that he is a rich man’s child, comes from a higher class family and drives a Pajero. His return to righteousness is hardly detailed, and what ridicules more is the sudden change of heart of the widow and her sons. I want to see that police officer of DSP, who can be ready to shoot on a mob of students on one call of a minister. If its students, it does not work like that way in India. ‘Arakshan’ is not based on China! Prakash Jha’s inability to flesh out these characters in hurry of dragging the curtain down and creating enough space to put Hema Malini in front of Big B before that, makes the movie a painful watch in last 30 minutes.

7. I don’t need to type a single word about Mr.Bachhan and Manoj Bajpai. They can play these roles in sleep.

8. The path of honesty, many a times darts back at you. What an awesome scene that was when Prabhakar Anand was paused by the banker guy who is no more eligible to answer Mr.Anand’s questions, because it is that recommendation of Mondal commission which has let the banker down, and that’s what Mr.Anand endorsed naively on paper. Backed by a mute pause and realizing his cocooned existence Mr.Anand returns to what he does best and dives into the world of Bernoulli’s Principle.


9. The school students looked too keen to study. I am not sure about their large existence in India.

10. Prakash Jha is following a Woody Allen, Quentin Tarantino, Subhas Ghai legacy of coming in to the picture for one scene. Do you remember that person in sunglass sitting on the backdrop, when Deepika in blue Sareers meets Saif in a Park? Oh! There was a good metaphor also. The bank that was awaiting others to give the loan for so long has a name as ‘Apex’ bank on top and Hindi naming of ‘Apeksh’ at front. ‘Apeksh’,’Apeksha’; I think you got it! And did you see Deepika reciveing Saif’s call from US and the number that comes on Deepika’s mobile starts with +91. Did not know he was using international roaming 

Arakshan is a movie that reminds of late 70’s style to uplift the values and principles. But as the title suggests something else, audience will feel disgusted and too many flaws in the screen play will make it all the more worse.

ZNMD : a poetical road trip

1. Like all other countries Indian families too are economically divided in to three bands - rich, poor and middle class. But what differentiates India from most other countries in this aspect is that poor and middle class families though convinced about their financial state and limits, will always have an urge to scratch the rich and their aristocracy or dream of being so. Zoya Akhtar after her magnificent debut in Luck By chance, where she told a subtle story of a middle class guy breaking through as a face of bollywood, comes up with zindegi na milegi dobara [ZNMD] as her second venture, that cashes on that dream of poor and middle class indian.

2. Like all other Road movies, ZNMD too uses Road the word as a metaphor. Road of life as they say, and how a single trip abroad changes every thing as life meets fear of death, the flaws of past and the compromises the life has made.

3. Tell me how many Indian families could choose three tier sandwiches in engagement party, afford pre marriage bachelor party in Spain and toast from the husband? I guess most cant. Still life of ZNMD will not be too alien to you even you are not coming from a rich family. Its all feel good factor of ZNMD's life style that keeps you going and the screen will be screaming its lungs out "Guys, have fun in you life, its only one you get". Who does not want a life of that scale and economy? But the thing that bothers you in ZNMD, is the language these extremely rich characters speak. Its like talking in English and sounding like Hindi. Arjun [Hrittik] a Broker, who deals with crores day in day out, says 'Bara Hazar euro' instead of saying 'Tweleve Grands'. The worst comes from Laila, character played by Katrina, "Its like Holi, par waha Tomatoes ke sath khelte hai". I mean why not make a movie like 'Delhi belly' or 'Dhobi Ghat' so that life style of the character could complement the lingo he/she is speaking; why this 'Let loose' kind of attitude for the one screen theaters.

4. ZNMD is actually a collage of many beautiful moments rather then a full fledged movie. What I want to say is that, five years down the line when you would again talk about ZNMD, you would not be saying about the movie as a whole, which you could associate with a 'Dil Chahta hai'; rather you would be memorizing these little moments in bits and pieces like the 'maantally the sick' scene, 'The doordarshan logo montage music' spoof, Kabir's [Abhay] Paitra to pretend as if he knows some secret of the friend and the later spills all by himself, or that word association game. Screaming at people to scare the hell out of them is kind of odd when you consider Farhan, Hrittik and Abhay's personal age, but then thats star cast for you !
One little moment I would like to mention here, which may not be topping charts of most. The scene of galloping Horses.

5. Talking about DCH, ZNMD is quite similar to the former's structure. Two friends with an issue [Akshay - Aamir, Hrittik - Farhan] , a pacemaker [Saif , Abhay] and a disturbing character [Ayub Khan , Kalki]

6. When Kalki comes to spain thinking her hubby Abhay is fooling around her, she welcomes Farhan first in the hotel but later tells Abhay that she does want others to be thinking that she is a Chudail [ Though she wanted to say Bitch, but as you know Zoya wants her to speak certain words in Hindi]. Thats a good insight of a particular woman nature who smiles at the world, but keeps lack of trust for the boy friend. But where goes the detailing between Hrittik and Farhan's relationship. How could Hrittik agree to spend a vacation with this 'good friend' of him who once had stolen his girl friend? There had to a story to be told, which should have eased off the bitterness. But Zoya tossed it off.

7. In spite of all these, I quite liked the Farhan Hrittik Track. In the earlier part of the movie we are pushed to believe that Its Farhan who holds the upper hand between the two. But as the movie grows old we come to know that Its two palms that make a clap. It was Poor of Hrittik to reply Farhan's abbu's death via a mere mail and even his ever expanding pride over his ransome income, but when the girl friend thing comes, you know why Hrittik was looking at Farhan with merciful eyes.

8. Hrittik's second girl friend track did baffle me. Well Hrittik says to Farhan that Farhan should be saying sorry to him untill sonali does not go from his heart. If sonali is that special for him, then why is this second girl friend coming to picture?

9. Saare Jahan se achha Rock instrumental just reminded me of a 'Top Gun' scene.

10. Hrittik has been shown as a meticulous packer [ He even rolls his ties into a tight bundle], whereas Farhan's packing is just the opposite. At the very beginning Zoya gives a good picture of who abides by the rules and who sticks his middle finger out.

11. Again the best scene is a tough tussle between Farhan and Hrittik. I would go for Farhan's emotional meet up with his Wanna be famous painter father Salman Habib played by Naseeruddin Shah. We know a thing or two about Farhan's sense of humor, and that 'bagwati' piece was so hilarious to watch, but hardly did we know how he could handle a scene of such emotional scale so beautifully. "Sorry Kahiye toh dil se Kehna" and that departure and then the way he says sorry "really from the heart" to Hrittik, speaks a volume of Farhan's acting skills and Zoya's superb capability of handling a melodrama.

12. Hrittik does not go too far when he comes up on the boat after scuba diving challenge and breaks into tears backed up by an awesome poetry recited by Farhan and written by Javed Akhtar. Its that Kind of feeling when a Man meets up his biggest fear of life and comes up head held high. Success of livelihood in the scarcity of life does bring tears to the eyes.

13. After Hrittik beating water and Farhan beating the air, you guess ah! its time for Abhay to beat Fire. It would not only be fire but also his impending fear of marriage where he would circumnavigate the flames. It does not go that far by the way. There was bit of bull in the end.

14. The real star of the movie is Javed Akhtar - the genius. Sir wherever you are take a salute from this naachiz. Poetry or Dash of 'Dil nichodna' sir !!

All in all ZNMD is like an absolutely adorable first look and first love kind of T shirt, that comes with dry clean alarms too. After the first watch of ZNMD its so easy to be on high, but as the time goes you will feel a chunk of that magic is missing.