When acting makes up for lack of story

I did not love Hasee toh Phasee. But after a long time, it was one movie that could be categorized as a time pass. It had its moments, but i found too many glaring holes in the movie that i don't know how the director, editor, cast missed while making/ editing or watching the movie.

• A young boy does not confirm to rules, is arrogant and breaks out of the house to go and catch an Amitabh Bachchan movie. Skip a few years, he grows up into a spiffy young man and once again, escapes from the town while he is supposed to be preparing for an exam to attend a friend's wedding. Does he become a happy-go-lucky nonconformist maverick? Nope! Instead, he falls in love with this pretty snooty female and bears the brunt of her verbal assaults and constant harassment.  She threatens to break up to get all her work done. He simply gives in to all her threats. Why? Some ghisa phita philosophy about how easy it is to break up and how can he know that the next girl will be perfect? So he puts up with her. Maverick did we think? More of a doormat. Then why waste first ten minutes trying to sketch a character that has no connection with the person he grows up to be! 
• And then a young girl, who is touted to be a scientist, ends up stealing from home to fund a "project" after doing her share of drugs at college. She is said to have spent many years in China doing research and is back again in India since she needs money again and is back to steal from her estranged parents. What has she achieved in China? She has invented a ball made out of a polymer that continues to bounce and its kinetic energy can power a high-rise. She is portrayed to be addicted to anti-depressants, incapable of showing emotions, having "sensations" that cause her to blink too much and twiddle her tongue. But halfway through the movie, she is in louve, she grows her hair and does punjabi dance with an elan of a seasoned heroine! How? 
• The story unfolds against the backdrop of an impending wedding between the hero and his girlfriend. While the groom is seen bonding with the girl's parents, there is not one scene where she is seen talking to his friends or family. 
• The story is too flaky and all over the place. Why introduce skype calls to China without any subtitles or a brief about it?  What transpires between Parineeti and her dad when they meet? What leads to her falling for Siddharth? Why does she take pills that cause behavioral changes? How can she just stop taking them and still be normal?  
• Parineeti's character sketch is very spotty while Siddharth has just one brief- try too hard to please the girlfriend and then that he should fulfill the next responsibility that the girlfriend dumps on him- that of taking care of Parineeti- with full sincerity. What makes him put so many things at stake to take care of a girl that his girlfriend brings to him as a guest? All his actions are done regardless of how they affect his career - oh yes! he is bidding for the event management of the IPL ( It's Dharma productions, can it be anything less than the IPL?). To keep his woman happy, he needs to take personal calls while meeting investors, put girlfriend and her family above everyone else. 

Too many complaints? Yes. But despite the way both their characters are sketched, both the lead actors have done full justice to their roles. Siddharth is effortless as the lovelorn boy who wants to prove himself to his girlfriend and get her affections. Parineeti has done a great job in the first half of this girl who is stuck in a mess and is slightly dotty. And then pulls a power-packed performance towards the end after she realizes that she has lost the love of her life. I had brushed off Siddharth Malhotra as someone who cannot act and dance after watching SOTY. But he does a fab job dancing ( See Shammi!) and with acting too. Look out for the scene where he locks Parineeti in a room and forgets about it and then goes back and hugs her in apology. He is earnest in his attempts to please his fiancee and in taking care of Parineeti to keep her happy. I could totally overlook all the unwanted subplots and inconsistencies in the story simply cause both of them have done an amazing job with their acting. Go watch the movie for their performances. The songs Manchala and Zehnaseeb are haunting and will live with you long after you are out of the cinema hall. 

Reflecting on the 100 happy days project

Oh no, the 100 "happy" days are not over yet, not even half way through for me to introspect about them. Just a few passing thoughts as I am dutifully putting up a picture each day. When I first spotted the 100 happy days project on instagram, I was really kicked about the prospect of all those lovely pictures that would go up each day as "this is what made me happy today!" and going over them at the end of the 100 days and feeling all joyous about all the little things that put a smile on my face that day.

As I started taking the pictures each day, I realized that it is not like everyday you go for an outing that makes you spill over with joy, so trip pictures got restricted to weekends. You cannot keep putting up pictures of jogging track where you go for your morning walk and get the adrenalin rush or the happiness at finding an empty bench in the park after the evening stroll. So you are left with the mundane food and material acquisitions. Well, eating the chocolate cake is fun, but not so much putting up a picture of it while I am waiting for it to cool down.

So this puts me into a moral dilemma. I end up putting pictures of "things" that are photograph-able for the project. But what about the moment when I threaten that Arnab Goswami shouting on TV will end up causing our divorce and the husband promptly hands me the remote and then wistfully looks at it, hoping I would change my mind? At this point, I smile more than what I did when I ate the chocolate cake and change back to the shouting match cause I can't see the fellow's depressed expression. Or the moment that the sister laughs at me complaining about the weather in Bombay and tells me that it is God's way of punishing me for all the days when I turned off the fan saying I can't stand the cold. And the next moment she tells me that sitting in the biting cold in Delhi, she does miss having me around. And my heart just melts.  A whatsapp conversation with a friend can make me all chirpy the whole day, but how do I capture such moments of joy?

Most things that make me happy are abstract- a spoken word, a warm hug or actions from people I meet or interact with. Until there is a way to put these up on instagram, I will stick to the more material things that are secondary sources of happiness. I am just praying and working towards ensuring that at the end of 100 days, it does not look like a collection of "what I cooked" or "what I ate" today :D

P.S. Oh, and by the way, you can find my collection on instagram hash tagged as #100hdquirkygrl 

Spoilt for Choice

I still remember the time when Diwali used to stand for waking up before the sunrise, the traditional ganga snanam, touching the elders' feet afterwards and receiving blessings and new clothes from them. Diwali, Pongal, maybe Ganesha Chaturthi and the birthday were the only occasions when we would buy new clothes. So much that, everybody would eagerly anticipate the arrival of the festivals, get their clothes ready in advance and get terribly excited about the prospect of trying the new "dress" on. Did i go through all that this year? Of course not. I woke up as usual since i did not have to really compete against the street kids as to who would burst the first cracker of the day. I stopped the cracker bursting business ages ago. The ganga snanam happened in cauvery water and since mister tailor had not gotten my new clothes ready, i had to resort to wearing something that was not brand new. But what surprised me was the fact that i was not really disappointed. And why is that? That is because i dont really look forward to the handful of occasions anymore to pick a new dress or a pretty accessory. The "have money- will spend" attitude has taken away  the thrill out of new clothes for festivals.
I saw a poster yesterday that said, buy only things that are absolutely necessary and things that you really love. I think half the stuff i have is something that i have picked up as an impulse purchase, only to stop liking it a few days later. Another quarter of my stuff is what i have picked up because the discount was great!  Goal for 2013- Junking all the items not used over the past 6 months, giving away everything that i have stowed away in the secret hope that i will be able to fit into it someday again and to buy wisely from now on.
Coupon shopping has wrecked havoc with monthly budgets the whole last year. After a year of reckless spending, i am now wiser to know that no deal is the last deal. And most things that are bought with coupons are only add ons to existing stuff. Do i need that extra handbag that is on unbelievable 50% off? I know i will survive without it. So am not buying it. How many watches does one need? One or two for regular use, a dressy one for occasions. The eyes and the heart will continue rivet at the shiny Rolex watch on the glossy supplement of the ToI. But it is about finding out whether it is a want or a need.
There is plenty of choice out there when you go shopping. Life was much more simple when there was not much choice. I had one watch that i wore all through high school and college. Bought clothes only for festivals. Wore that same gold earring everyday. And now, i have to dwell on what to wear to work each morning even though i have a closet full of clothes. Once the clothes are picked, think about matching accessories. And no, not done yet. Shoes? Winterwear? I dont know if it is simple to go back to how it was in school. That would mean giving away all those accessories and am not yet ready for that. But yes, i am resolving to cut down on purchases. To pick up only the best of the things rather than being carried away by a discount. And am reserving all future purchases for important occasions so that, when i recollect a purchase, i can also recollect the occasion and the happiness associated with it.

Why Pinnnk for the ladies?

I have been going through hoards of websites in the past couple of weeks in order to get the best deal for a certain phone that i have had my eye on for a while. The search spanned the Valentine's day week and I was cringing whenever i saw the hearts all over the websites. What irritated me the most was, in the gifts for Him section, you found all the smart looking phones and practical gifts. On the other hand, gifts for her featured *PINK* stuff, and was mostly things like stuffed toys, chocolates, pink bags and wallets, pink phones (Beat that!). What makes the online stores think that girls would love stuffed toys? The very fact that she is old enough to receive a valentine's day gift means that the girl is a grown up! Stuffed toys are for kids! And why do they not think the ladies would be delighted in receiving a practical gift? Why give a pink phones that has hardly any desirable features? Don't you think a black "useful" phone would please her? Don't you think she would appreciate a practical gift like an external hard disk ?

A note to the online marketing people, women don't need a pink phone or a stuffed toy to make them feel special. The poor guy will probably face her ire if he gives her an overstuffed teddy bear while she was expecting something useful! And what makes you think that women should be given pink gadgets? I bought myself a stylish black phone  and am in love with it! More on the phone later.
Women these days are probably as informed as the men about gadgets. They are practical and they know what they want. And speaking from common knowledge, what they want is certainly not a cuddly teddy bear!

Day 86: Of losses and pains

I lost my two month old android phone yesterday. One minute it was in my bag. Next minute it was gone. Stolen, to be more precise.

Story goes like this- handicraft exhibition opens in Mysore. Yours truly gets over excited about exhibition and all the deals and bargains that it promises. I then visit a couple of stalls, make a few purchases. As usual, check for smses. Then go to a really lovely handloom stall to check out some sarees. In no time, i was done draping a couple of them and chose two for purchase. While mother dearest was looking for her wallet to pay for them, i decided to take my phone out to take a few pictures of the place. And i dug into my sling bag and saw it was devoid of the phone. I actually went blank for a second.

High drama ensued with me frantically trying to call the phone. The exhibition supervisor announced about the phone. The horrible person who flicked it actually picked it and said hello before hanging it up. After which i got busy tone for a while and then what i had feared happened- the sim was removed. Phone was unreachable.

Had to go through the drill of getting it blocked and getting a replacement.

Then an FIR. The police say they are hopeful of tracking it with the imei number. The fact that a couple of calls were made and i could get them in my call logs in the bill would help.

Am waiting for some time now before buying a new phone. Will it be a case of once bitten twice shy, and hence inexpensive phone, i don't know. But i miss the wonderful apps. I miss being online and checking stuff when i am travelling, or playing angry birds, or simply scrolling through my playlist with the flick of a finger.

For now, i will hope that the person who took the phone will rot in hell later. And it is a lesson learnt for me to be careful and alert all the time. And also to not develop too much attachment towards gadgets like this. After all, all the materialistic things are an illusion, moh and maya. Real happiness lies within you. (yes, the sadness of losing a phone has pushed me into philosophical mode. I will be okay soon!). What promised to be a bargain turned out to be a raw deal for me!

Wedding Bells

No. I am not getting married. Not as yet ;). The title was only to get some traffic into the blog :P Here is my actual post:
As I was leaving her home, the aunty asked, "So, yavaaga oota haakstidiya?" (Roughly translated, "when am i getting invited for lunch?").
I took the question at face value and told her that she was welcome any weekend. That i have been coaxing her to come home but she never does! To it she laughs and says, "Not that oota, maduve oota!"
That's when i realize the dumbness of my reply. There is an awkward pause which dad tries to fill up saying, "In good time".
Last week, i get talking to a gentleman on the way to Mysore. We discuss a variety of topics like real estate prices in Bangalore and Mysore, traveling between the two cities, lack of B&B's in India, how the Home stay concept is now catching on well. I was feeling good about getting to have a nice conversation in the course of the journey. Then he suddenly asks, "So, you are what, 25?"
I was initially taken aback at the bluntness of the question. Composed myself and said, "Uh huh, not yet".
So he says, "Ha! Then you got time! For the wedding bells, you know ;)!"
Excuse me? Is 25 like an expiry date? Why is the whole world concerned about my wedding, oota and all the things associated with it?
Buy gold and they say, "Ha! You need it for the wedding".
Lose weight and you are asked if you are dieting before parents start looking for a groom!!
You are surveyed thoroughly if you by mistake end up at a wedding! "Oh! You stay by yourself in Bangalore? You can cook? Super!" I am consciously avoiding attending weddings or other gatherings these days! I mean, please give me a break!
There is no way i can mention a friend's impending wedding now without a few eyebrows being raised, as if to ask what reason i have to be happy right now?! I never faced peer pressure at school. But this is one place where i think the pressure will be imposed upon me!
To all the Aunts and Uncles out there:
You might mean well, but no thank you for your concern or photographs of prospective grooms. My parents are there to worry about my wedding. You don't have to remind them that i am growing older! Or that the number of "nice" ( you go figure its definition :D) guys is dwindling by the day! When i tie the knot, you shall be invited. I will be getting married for my happiness, not yielding to pressure! Till then, please let me be!