Rang De Basanti

So after a brief (okay, pretty long) hiatus, I think I'm gonna get back to blogging. Given that no one knows about this blog of mine, it doesn't really matter whether I blog or not in the general scheme of things. Nonetheless, I felt like making that grand announcement......

Jotting down random thoughts and recording events from my completely uneventful existence might keep me distracted from obsessing over my stupid B school applications! Have been checking the B school forums (the crackboards as our effervescent DKNY calls them) 20 times a day! (naa, who am I kidding, it's more like 50 times a day). and this despite the fact that I'm already in at 2 schools and know that MIT is like a black hole and it's unlikely I'm gonna hear from them for at least a month....okay, all this needs to go on another entry! onwards to a brief review of one of the better hindi movies i've seen in recent times....

watched it on friday night. excellent movie! i'm no movie critic/expert but it was easy to appreciate the crisp direction and great acting all around. one of those movies that has multiple layers. different people will come away with different personal impressions after watching it. beneath all the fun and humor, you get a glimple of the real india, a glimpse of the good ol college days, friends bonding, the attitude you see about day to day life in india. and by the end of it, you can't help but feel that nationalistic fervor rise in you.

one of the things that might be different for people born and raised here (unless they have made a conscious effort to learn about these things) as opposed to in india, when they watch the movie, would be knowing the stories the movie talks about. most folks who grew up in india would know the stories of chandrashekhar azad and bhagat singh and lalaji and the train robbery and how azad killed himself rather than be taken alive etc. so maybe it's easier to identify and follow along. watching the scene about jalianwalla bagh reminded me of all the patriotic songs that i used to know back in the day...from a distant past...one of the songs had the line... "jalianwalla bagh ye dekho, yahan chalin thi goliyan, khel raha tha bacha bacha yahan khoon ki holiyan...."

the actors were brilliant. every one of them. (aside: the english girl looked like a cross between kyra sedgwick and calista flockhart). it was really cool that amir khan was treated as just one of the 5 in the latter half. not given any special treatment/camera time because of his superstar status. there were quite a few instances where the movie could have turned pretty cheesy and melodramatic but i thought the director did a great job of preventing that.

finally, loved the touch of not talking bout azad's story till the end, when amir is cornered and then blending it in.

wish they hadn't killed them all off though. "i want no survivors"...what the hell was that..that didn't quite make sense...oh well.

all in all, one of those rare laugh out loud funny movies that actually had a message in the end. never seen desis clapping and applauding at a theater. happened both at the interval and at the end of the movie.

ps: it's 3:30 AM. aussie open finals are gonna start. this is gonna be good. that baghdadis kid has some serious talent. federer in 4 sets says my crystal ball.