So finally after quite some effort to get tickets (unusual for a Malayalam movie in Bangalore) I managed to see the much awaited ’2 Harihar Nagar’. Everyone was talking about it, some to the extent that it is the best movie in Malayalam in a long time, which was quite believable looking at the standard of some of the recent flicks I had seen.

This post is not about a review for the movie, so I’ll keep it short. The movie was just about ok. First half was excellent with some good humour (if you can excuse some really bad PJs in between). Second half was at best average, too much emo and twists and turns. But enjoyable anyway. Lal (the director and producer) however has realized the power of nostalgia. Solely due to this, the movie is going to make big bucks. It works on that feeling you get when you think of the golden age of Malayalam cinema that ‘In Harihar Nagar’ was part of.

I was probably 5 years old when the original was released and I remember going to the theatre with my parents and cousins for this. My mind was too young to really grasp the full crux of all that was happening on screen. But watching it again (and again) during adulthood, made me realize how ‘real’ this movie was. The basic plot was too outrageous to be real, but what I mean are the fine details. Every silly joke in that movie, I have seen played around me or I can imagine being played around me. That was the real brilliance behind the original and why it turned out to be a cult classic in Kerala. Every person who has some ‘malluness’ in him, would know those punchlines by heart.

I have heard loads of complaints from my non-Keralite friends, saying that Malayalam films are too real (won’t say that about the recent ones though), that there is no feeling of escapism in them. Well I love ‘real’, and I think most Malayalees do too. Maybe we didn’t need that escapism, maybe it’s already provided to us by all the ‘gelf’ money, lazyness and all the booze that we didn’t need them in the movies. But ‘real’ films owned the market in Malayalam and probably that was the major reason why the recent ‘superhero larger-than-life’ films fail. They should go back to making films like they used to! Those Mohanlal ‘unemployed’ flicks, Mamootty’s family movies, Mukesh’s ‘fraud’ movies, Jayaram’s ‘how-to-escape-from-a-big-mess’ flicks, Padmarajan’s classics, Sreenivasan’s satires… aww.. it was such a beautiful world!

I got bit by the nostalgia bug again! Back to those old cds (.avi’s rather)… ;)

I saw Slumdog Millionaire, many days before the hype started to engulf it. Maybe that’s the reason why I loved this film. It’s a story about love, about spirit. about determination and also a story about India. And I was happy that it won a few Oscars and happier when ARR and Resul got the recognition on the international stage they have deserved.

But I hear a lot of dissent growing against the movie. I read articles like this and this. I hear some of my friends and colleagues telling me it is bad advertising for India. Maybe it is. But are we all really blind? Or experts at putting things under the carpet. I guess every single one of us understands that these things still happen in India. It is not falsifying facts, it is just showing the negative part of the truth. Yes even I am proud and overwhelmed by the strides India has made in technology, space exploration, IT, pharmaceuticals, spirituality, business.. But doesn’t all that gloss simply hide the patches of rust underneath?

For me Slumdog is a movie that also acts as a reminder. A constructive criticism on how we manage to ignore some bare facts about our country. Take pride in glory, but don’t ignore the dirt.

A few days back Renu had told me about this book called as ‘The Last Lecture’ written by a computer professor named Randy Pausch. She told me it is a must read and also a current best-seller, but I had never heard about it. Now that I think about it, being an incurable net-addict its amazing that I never came across this one.

I bought the book a few days later, and started reading it. The fact that I was able to finish half the book in one sitting and considering how lazy I am nowadays reading books, it speaks volumes as to how good I felt reading it. I was in quite a gloomy mood for days before, but reading this gave me instant bliss and I am not exaggerating. It is amazing how a book about the last lecture given by a dying professor tells you nothing negative but inspires you to be positive. And it really did inspire me, I would go as far as saying that it was the most inspirational thing I have heard ever.

Now, after this I did some research about this guy. He really is a hot-shot in the computer world. A major contributor to the world of Virtual Reality and even co-developed one of the best programming learning aide – Alice (try this one out, its a free download). And then I came across the original video of his last lecture, again available for free in YouTube. It is over an hour long, but I promise you, there’s not a minute of boredom in there. It is filled with energy and its not about dying, its about living. Do watch it, its even better than the book!

Dr. Pausch passed away on July 25, 2008. But what a legacy to leave behind…

Buy the book at Rediff.com (India) or Amazon

My connection with the Theater does not go beyond viewing (and even acting albeit in minor roles) in amateur (very) plays at school (and yeah also mugging up Shakespeare for the 12th Standard board exams). So I was kind of skeptical when Renu asked me if I’m interested in going for a play. Hmmm.. Already under some guilt that I just while away my free time in Bangalore, I agreed to go ahead. Doing something once in a while to stimulate that rusty part of the brain couldn’t be that bad.

The play was called as “Always look on the bright side of Life” by a troupe called as ‘Evam’. I really didn’t know what to expect, the only thing I knew was that the theme was humour and it was inspired by the Monty Python. It turned out to be really good. It was good fun, clean entertainment keeping the audience engaged throughout. The play did not follow a conventional single storyline, instead it was presented as a series of mini-sketches like the Monty Python series. What I really caught my fancy, was the way in which the scenes were transitioned with music and dance. Three girls danced and set up the props in a well-timed seamless manner. The fact that the girls were pretty helped out too! The jokes were all mostly original (I think) and also relevant to the world around us. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the whole show.

It is definitely worth a try if you have some free time and the troupe is staging a show in your city. 100% recommended, even if you have never seen a real play in your life before!

For more information on ‘Evam’, show timings and their other plays visit their site www.evam.in

I am not what you call a Sci-Fi movie fanatic, but yet I do have a thing for movies with Robots in them. So here I present my list of favourite Robo movies of all time!

1. WALL-E (2008)
I have rarely been impressed by any movie like I have been with WALL-E. The range of emotions and character traits portrayed by a Robot – unbelievable. Truly one of best feel good movies ever!

2. Short Circuit (1986)
I remember watching this as a kid in the very early 90′s when it came on TV. Those days the only channel we had available was the good old Doordarshan and this came as part of a series unimaginatively called as the ‘English Film Series’ in which they slaughtered a movie into 15 minute episodes and telecast them every Wednesday(?) from 6:15 to 6:30. Wow.. those were the days! (zzz .. Back from nostalgic dreams..) I recently downloaded (oops, am I in trouble?) a print of this and have to say, I still had the same amount of fun watching this now as then. This was the inspiration behind this post too. Not as spectacularly crafted as WALL-E, but yet ‘Johnny-5′ I am your fan too!

3. Bicentennial Man (1999)
Stellar performance by Robin Williams as ‘Andrew’ the robot who ‘lives’ for 200 years. A real epic based on Issac Asimov’s novella and very underrated in my opinion.

4. AI (2001)
There has to be a Spielberg in any movie list, shoudn’t it? Haley Joel Osment as a 11 year old Robo-kid who yearns for his mothers love has done another spectacular job with this one. The most sentimental of all robot movies.

5. The Terminator (1984) and T2 – Judgement Day (1994)
Arnold with his classic punch lines – ‘I’ll be back’. Incredible plot to say the least.

Honourable mentions :
Star Wars (1977) and its se/prequels – I wouldn’t say this is a true robo-movie, so have not included in the list. But R2-D2 and C-3PO did impress me a lot!
Forbidden Planet (1956) – Robby the robot! Great classic.
I, Robot (2004) – Sonny. The best looking robot of the lot and that final ‘wink’ is unforgettable.
*Batteries not Included (1987) – A bunch of robots save an apartment block – cute!

“Yes, beautiful stars! Better see!”