Goal II

Hokaii,, first things first, if you havent seen Goal I yet .. get off and come back with your home work done..
BUt if already did, thn I have a few thought to share with you--if you thought Goal I, was a good watch - you'd loowe Goal II- its sharper-louder-snazzier and well truely larger than the last one.
Munez made a mark for himself with NewCastle back then while this time he is around to dazzle the Real Madrid crowds..
Set in Spain - the movie captures Munez's starry-eyed boy charms to perfection..and this time around- its one hellova emotional roller coaster ride too..
There are more stars and all get definitively more screen space thn the blink and miss kinds in the last offering. So you have loads of Zidane, Beckham and Ronaldinho all present through out..now with Real Madrid star sensemble was well obvious.
The movie surely also has more cars (Audis and Lamborginis), more females and in all a larger and a definitively deeper canvas.
The turmoils of a young n successful professional footballer- with money pouring in and girls swooning over, strangled relationships with a girlfriend separated by hundreds of miles, encounter with the Mother who deserted him way back as a child and top it all with the nasty press messups- this one has it all..!
Shots of spanish kids playing soccer on street juxtaposed with the flood-lit stadiums - make for a good show.
Now the part which i like the most, is the pair. Now we've all heard about pairs being made in heaven, but well, your truely here is referring to the more sensible ones - not the ones NOT helped by cupid - the ones that so often surface in the hindi reel world too.. Jai Veeru, Munna Bhai-Circuit... And well the lesser known but equally flamboyant Munez-Gavin pairing - together their friendship off the field adds that extra spark to the antics on field - as they menace and cruise their ways flooding Goals for their team. The simmering professional rivalry and Munez's sense of gratitude towards Gavin till the very end makes for a good watch.., plot takes a dramatic though perhaps an obvious turn with the end
The Spanish tracks are pleasant and foot tapping though the spanish conversations left me only wishing for sub-titles-- well which were never there.. :(
The UEFA cup finals is a nice show.. perhaps Shimit Amin could have taken a lesson or two-- but thats a story for another day.. meanhile you go and watch the movie

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The Nokia N 95 (TV Commercial) "There's A thing in my pocket, but its NOT ONE thing, its many..."

Simplicity.

Perhaps the most undervalued concept in advertising, till date is - simplicity.
Or perhaps that is precisely the reason why simplicity catches our attention, because it is quite a rarity. 

I don't know why simplicity appeals - but it certainly does, may be not to all, but some yes.

A not-so -recent ad that really had me caught my attention was the Nokia N-95 commercial. Yes, smart phones are nothing new, yes mostly people who own them DO NOT use even a fraction of applications they come bundled with and yes simplicity is perhaps the last thing one associates with them. Perhaps thats why the ad is more appealing.

I believe the ad is really captivating, with an array of varied but beautiful shots of people offering 'a thing in my pocket', to the camera and all linked together with a pleasing background score and a patient voice over.

Its a relief from the generally in-your-face ads about phones boasting of a 6 mp camera or ability to store the zillion songs. Instead - its more symbolical. There are no gorgeous women to be oggled at, no picturesque locales and definitely no boom-box music. All in all, it does best what an ad is supposed to do. It makes you sit through it- makes you want to see it and hear what they say - and all the while telling you about the product..! You perhaps might not agree with me.. well but you may still want to see it first...

(Video courtesy: www.youtube.com)


Theres a thing in my pocket, but its not one thing, its many.
Its the same as other things, but exactly like notting else.
It has an eye and ears, it shares what billions hear and see.
Its not a livng thing, but if you feed it, it will grow
It can rally the masses, it can silence the crowds.
It can speak a thousand words, but it has no voice.
It can find you the places, so you can get lost.
It can let others feel, what you've been touched by.
Theres a thing in my pocket, but its not one thing, its many.

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Jhoom Barabar Jhoom

Ohhkk.. so you went, you saw and didn't like the movie... well Burn in hell !!

So yes there was no story to speak off and the narration was more like from one of those books you would imagine twelve year old kids (read girls with specks-whom you so made fun off back then)...

Anywaz - the movie helped me come out of a perpetual dilemma - Lara is much better off then Preity anyday !! The looks, mannerisms and well as they put it - the oomph factor LD cleary lead the way out and out...

Oh yes so there was some Abhishek Bachchan antics thrown in (i guess only to bring in the girls). So yes he was once again dwarfed around his father - who manages to leave a definitive mark even if they chose to give him only a song...what a waste you are definitely left to ask.. !

Bobby Deol - lawyer in Uk --impressive .. Bobby Deol - a clueless mammaz boy - sales manager ..well not so impressive .. but then after already seeing the Kiss of love song notting shd come as a surprise .. u couldnt help asking .."Why are they putting us through this ordeal..?"

And last but not in the least - Preity Zinta .. well I sympathise with her .. just like you'd wanna sympathize with a girl you've just fallen out of love with .. ok so she is her usual bubbly self and manages to look fairly good with the trademark Jennifer Aniston skirts and all .. but in the end its Lara Dutta whose walked away with most of my sighs .....

Music.. was there any?? Hokaai there was the title track and the last ten minute super dance bonanza -- and a surprisingly refreshing 'bol na halke' .. period. End of music. Ticket to hollywood.. well off course a visual treat, but I woudnt mind even if the sound was blanked out all the while ;)

In the end ...watch it, for never before has any Indian actress carried off the role of a french the way Lara does.. -so in the end even if you couldnt figure what the story was - dont think much upon.. perhaps, i feel in the hindsight - the movie was supposed to only do what it very perfectly and precisely does .. ;)

The Namesake (Book)

Whoaa.. havent yet seen the movie yet, but read the book on my journey back from bangalore .. Well truth be told.. it did make the otherwise dull 48 hour journey.. livelier..
It indeed was easier for me to trade the hot-humid-noisy S9 55 Bangalore-Jodhpur Express world for the World constantly shuttling between Pemberton Road and Choranghee..
Therez been something distinctly common about the few Indian born english writers I've read so far.. though I fail to collect what is it..
Ashok and Ashima Ganguli's world, their effort to lend some colours of familiarity, to the world around them, indeed touches you .. your heart goes out to them.. in the initial half ..while they try to pull things together .. as they exchange worlds with their children. Bringing them whatever of bengal they've managed to bring from DumDum to Logan International via Heathrow.. and in turn accpeting the bits and pieces of America that their children bring for them - wrapped everyyear at Christmas and Thanks giving.
You cant help but liking Asheema - her simplicity, her longingness for a familiar world- the world she once had, she has in Calcutta which does not have her anymore- the slow and gradual transformation from an Indian daughter and bride to now an Indian-in-America mother.
But it actually is the story of Gogol @ Nikhil Ganguli .. someone whom you could sympathise one moment only to detest a few pages later. His eternal conflict with his name perhaos was more of a conflict with who he is .. ABCD. Moushomi, Gogoles wife for two years was in herself an unresolved puzzle -perhaps unlike Nick (Americanly rechristened) Nikhil's clamourings- her conflict was more intense - her affair with Dimitry, ten year elder american bachelor, her relocation to France, was perhaps her way of defying the norms and coming to terms with herself- just what Gogoles did - when he became Nikhil-Nick or when he moved in with the American girlfriend.
Read it- for perhaps the conflict is universal- perhaps the same could've easily taken place in todays urban delhi.
Read it for the simplicity with which the writer carves each character and for her eye for details.

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FranticReviews........

Its the desperation..simple plain desperation .. am telling you and notting else.. to inspire this blog :)
Look logic here is simple.. I mean once you make an effort of reading those 500 odd pages of that oh-so-well written- book, during the last pages of which you almost fought the urge to tear it all apart and feed it to the sharks (if they would eat.. that is,) or siting through 3 hours of a movie- which later makes you wanna bang your head into your TFT ...
Oks jokes apart-- its notting but a sincere (read almost sincere) effort of making some sense extracted out of some sensible enedeavour I had ventured into lately..books movies and well even travelling !!