When so-called negative things start happening in your life (or you think it's negative ;)), you feel victimized. And it's very easy to feel so at those moments. One has to constantly try to get out of the feeling-sorry-for-yourself mode. It's difficult, but definitely possible. Psychologists are wonderful people, I think. They tell you it's normal to feel all the bad stuff you're feeling, all the negativity. At such times, positive things are so wonderful. It could be just one sentence of someone or even a smile that lifts your spirits up.. they get you out of that pit of sorrow.
Came across these beautiful videos with such positive take-home messages, couldn't help but share/document:
One of the best albums that I have ever discovered! I am not a huge fan of Jagjit Singh and Chitra Singh, but I really love this collection of songs and the music. I think there might be more tracks in this but these are the ones I am aware of.
Each and every single one is so divine and makes me feel happy and excited and gives me goose pimples!!!
It's been more than 10 months since I watched a Hindi movie in theater. So 3 Idiots it was! More of my thoughts on the film below.
Warning: Spoilers ahead. Please do watch the film, it's worth it if you still haven't seen it.
10 Things I liked about 3 Idiots:
Sharman Joshi's acting - his emotional scenes and comedy ones were great. How he took the jokes about his family lightly and didn't let them affect his mood. How he was not afraid to speak the truth about himself. His love and respect for his family. The scene where he gets the job. The scenes where he appreciates Rancho and his ways. This guy makes you fall in love with him because of who he is at heart.
Aamir Khan's acting - where to start? I think he portrays it in his character - go after perfection and success will come to you. 400 patents! (okay, that was a bit unrealistic but it's forgiven for you can't improve perfection :D) Go Aamir! Loved his dialog in the beginning where in introduces "aal izz well" and tells about heart being fearful in general and that it needs to be fooled. Did you see how cute he looked at the end in glasses?
The message it conveys about our schooling system. Ratta lagaofying - rote memorization isn't the only thing, it is the understanding of the subject that is needed more than that.
The message it conveys about expectations of parents and teachers from students. That it is about what one truly enjoys doing than to do what earns more. That grades aren't everything.
Kareena's charachter Pia and her acting - how she is all that a girl is - silly, confused, adorable, cute, lovable, caring and strong. Loved the scene where she finally confronts her father about her brother's death. The scenes where she disagrees with Rancho and is upset, but listens to him nevertheless. How she acts when she has to do a doctor's job: deciding about Raju's father's condition, her sister Mona's delivery, etc.
R. Madhavan's acting - the scene where he convinces his dad and also when he and Raju frantically search for their college pal/roommate Rancho. He looks oh-so-handsome, specially with this geeky-glasses look as well as macho-mustache look!
Omi Vaidya's acting - this dude can truly act! He was annoying and made everyone mad... even in the audience. It was hilarious when he receives a call from Wangdu. His best scene would have to be the one where he gets upset with Rancho and Farhan about messing up his speech on Sept. 5. Also him honking the car horn loud to disguise his farts was hilarious.
Millimeter's character - scenes likes when he knows exactly what ViruS is going to say as well as the one where he gets tipped by Farhan and he returns the favor by suggesting they wear good underwear tonight. He reminded me of Bholu from Hungama.
Boman Irani's acting - only he could have done justice to the character of Viru Sahastrabuddhe. Well, may be Paresh Rawal would have but he did it! The guy came across as the oh-I-hate-him disciplinarian who thinks only his ways are the right ways. He was the most annoying when he makes Raju write that letter and then when he refuses to give an extention to Joy for his project. Also, when he gets upset with Rancho when he tries to tell him what's wrong with our education systems.
The little things: The inventions at Wangdu's school in Ladakh and the long drives to Shimla, Manali and Ladakh. Oh, these places are gorgeous!!! I also liked the font used in the titles - as if it was written on blackboard with chalk. :) The way the shirts/clothes of three boys were color coordinated. The songs and music were nice too... my fav songs are "give me some sunshine" and "zoobi doobi".
10 Scenes that made me laugh out loud in 3 Idiots:
A drunk Pia (Kareena Kapoor) describes Gujarati food items - dhokla, fafda, handwa, thepla, khakhra, etc. What was the dialog? Something like "Bush ne Iraq pe do dhokla gira diya" as if they were missiles. :D
Chatur Ramalingam/Silencer's speech where chamatkar became balatkar and dhan became stan. The Sanskrit shlok was just outrageous!
Raju forgetting his pants when he frantically leaves to meet Rancho and his wife's reaction to it.
Farhanitrate and Prerajulisation scene along with how an induction motor starts and not to forget "aap ko pata hai hum kaun hai? hamaare naam, roll numbers?" and they mix up their papers with the rest in stacks, and then the not-so-simple definition of books.
Suhas (Pia's fiance) comes out of his room in robes and fluffly pink slippers looking for "kaun phere le raha hai?"
The ragging dialog "tusi great ho, jaahan-panaah". Well, most of the times, but I think they overdid it a bit in the beginning. Reminded me of "dola re dola re" ragging scene from Munnabhai. Chatur being James Bond ha-ha-ha funny.
Raju and Farhan come with Rancho to Pia's place at night where he is going to propose to her and Farhan removes the alphabets from the name plate and makes it "ViruS buddhe".
When Farhan, Raju and Rancho invite themselves to Pia's sister's wedding and Rancho spills chatney on shoes of Pia's boyfriend.
When Raju and Farhan try to flush down the ashes of Shamaldas Chanchad in toilet and real Ranchhod tries to save them.
When the man (I forget his name) shaves off Virus' mustache because Raju got a job and he comes home feeling naked. Reminded me of my fav film, Golmaal (1979) and Bhavani Shankar's world-famous mooch.
10 Things I didn't like about 3 Idiots:
The name of the film
Virus' phone call to Joy's father and his suicide
Raju jumping off Virus's 3rd floor office after he forces him to write the rustication letter
Virus' attitude and beliefs and discipline (of course, this is a major role and it contributed a lot towards the story blah blah blah, but still...) Him telling Joy how he was back to work the next day after his son died.
The peeing (it was too much) and undie-showing
Rancho and Farhan breaking into Virus' office to steal the exam paper
The delivery scene - it wasn't needed
Pia agreeing to marry Suhas after what all happened? That just made her look stupid.
Many scenes were similar to scenes from other films and that made them kind of not-so-original. e.g. Farhan running out from the flight/airport reminded me of "Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na", the graduation scene at the end reminded me of the drawing competition scene from Taare Zameen Par and there were many more scenes like this.
The butt-chairs, okay I guess they aren't so bad, but I couldn't find the last item to add here so... :P
I leave you all with this fun video of a cricket match between the cast and crew of 3 Idiots. Enjoy!
I had been wanting to type up the lyrics of this Ramayan Choupaayan ever since I listened to the track jai gauri maa of Vivah. Finally, was able to do it! (with a lot of typos and mistakes in the words, I am sure). In any case, simply fabulous! that's how I'd like to describe it.
Every time, I listen to this 1-hour long track that has the entire story of Raamaayan, it makes me feel happy and emotional; it also stumps me to realize what an ideal human-being should be like and inspires me to be more like Him.
That's right! These guys have about 75,000 light bulbs flashing and dancing to the tunes of music played at a local radio station 104.1 FM. Every evening from 5:30PM to 11:00PM they're on and they're free for our enjoyment.
More photos of Severns-Pease Xmas Lights are here.
And here's my low-quality video to give you an idea of what you'd see in real, which is so much better than this. :)
So if you're in or around the San Francisco Bay Area for Christmas/Holidays time, don't forget to stop by at this place. They're located at 1164 & 1168 Tangerine Way, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, California 94087.
This one where both of them are news anchors on national TV. Check out the video of Matt Laubhan proposing to Emily Leonard. The expression on her face is so funny and him so adorable.
Scenes and music like the one here amaze me! So much unsaid yet said; so many emotions conveyed in those moments of silence. One of my favorite scenes from the film.
Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bhaduri in the scene at dusk; harmonica background score by Panchamda (R. D. Burman); film Sholay (1975):
I had this music for years but never cared to listen to it until just couple of months ago. When one night my nephew just refused to sleep and we couldn't figure out a way to make him fall asleep. My cousin finally put this on and it calmed the kiddo down like drinking a glass full of warm milk makes you fall asleep at night. Ever since then I've become a fan of Ernesto Cortazar. In fact, I am getting so addicted to listening to piano since then that I've started listening to more and more piano songs in Hindi film music as well.
Most of Ernesto Cortazar music is instrumental & piano music. Here's some info I found on the composer and some of his beautiful pieces that some folks have incorporated with their favorite photos and created videos of.
Ernesto Cortazar was a Mexican Pianist and composer. He was born in 1940. He started his music career in Mexico at the age of 18 composing the background music for the motion picture “La Risa de la Ciudad”. Since then, he has created the background music for more than 500 motion pictures. He has traveled to more than 25 countries to perform as he only knows. He gave concerts at very important places as The Kremlin (USSR), The Mexican Presidential House and others. He also has performed for very important people as Charlton Heston, Danny de Vito, Michael Bolton, Octavio Paz, The Rolling Stones, President Menem (Argentina), Nikita Krushev (USSR) and more.
Ever wonder how some times you are just surrounded by negative feelings about others, about your life, about a lot of things in general... and then something happens and that changes everything; it makes you realize that what you were thinking or were planning to do or not do was not so right?
I am glad to have watched this video today. I wasn't going to because I read here that it would make me cry (I do run away from things that make me cry, be it having an emotional conversation with someone or watching a sad movie or just reading something touchy) so I was putting it off, but I am so glad I watched this video today.
And I have to admit, one of the things that encouraged me to watch this video was Neha's "Its only words..." post. I've learned that what you say matters too and what you don't say does as well.
I have got a ton of thinking to do now... as usual, because believe it or not, who I am makes a difference!
This is THE most ridiculous ad I have ever seen. Yup, it truly is!
Caught it when they used to show it almost every 10 minutes during those cricket matches in February. Actually, when I think about it again, it is actually ridiculously funny! jeez! unbelievable.. those guys who made the ad... sheesh!
Now that the show is over, I really miss him the most and every thing about him.... *sigh* :(
The way he closes his eyes when he listens to a slow beautiful song. The way he shakes his head with head phones on. The way he holds the mike between first two fingers and talks, when he holds it close to mouth. The way he says "kya baat hai!" listening to a fantastic song! The way he asks for approval for scores and looks towards Vishal. The way he smiles. The way he sings. The way he blushes. The way he looks at the camera. The way he acts fainting in the Home Delivery video. The way he got embarrassed seeing himself fainting in a film scene (Home Delivery). The way he couldn't stop laughing when Sujoy Ghosh was talking about him. The way he lifts his left hand while talking and points to the stage. The way he combs his hair/bangs. The way he grooms his beard. The way he speaks in Gujarati - "ahiya paN ek Gujarati beTho chhe"! The way he gets up and starts clapping. The way he imitates Himesh. The way he advises singers. The way he jumps and dances on stage. The way he stands with his hands in pocket. The way he gives a standing ovation to singers after they do an awesome job singing! The way he holds hand of a girl (hmm lucky Deepika). ;-) The way he says thank you. The way he says mind-blowing!!! The way he... well, practically just all of him.
Still don't know what I'm talking about? :{ Check these videos.
He has been the best singer so far in the Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007. He is the most versatile singer who can sing any kind of song. He is the only singer who has never given a faulty performance. I am happy to say he is one singer who has never disappointed me – every single song he has sung has left a positive image in my mind. I am talking of none other contestant than Amanat Ali from Dubai/Pakistan. Today, hearing rumors of his elimination this Friday sound very unbelievable to my ears. Here are all the songs Amanat has sung. Winner or not of this contest, this is one singer I know will last longest in the industry compared to all other singers. All the very best to you, Amanat! You deserve all the success and may God bless you with that and much more.
5/11/2007 Mere Naina Saawan
6/01/2007 Tera Jaadu Chal Gaya
6/02/2007 Jaane Kahan Gaye
6/02/2007 Ramaiya Wasta Waiya (in title song)
6/23/2007 Yeh Hausla, Dor
6/23/2007 Kadhi Aa Mil
7/06/2007 Fiza
7/06/2007 Jab tak bikna na tha? (in title song)
7/07/2007 Ya Rabba, Salaam-e-ishq
7/13/2007 Hume tumse pyaar, Kudrat
7/14/2007 Mora saiyan
7/20/2007 Dil Lutiya, Jazzy B & Apache Indian
7/21/2007 Chori chori chupke se, Lucky
7/27/2007 Rasm-e-ulfat, Dil ki baatein
7/28/2007 Kuch tere dil ne kaha, Tere Mere Sapne
8/03/2007 Jhokha hawa ka aaj bhi, Hum dil de chuke sanam
This kid's becoming my favorite singer now after Raja Hasan. He's got beautiful voice and his looks remind me of Nipun. ;) haha! but in any case, he's got fantastic voice and I'm looking forward to listening to more of his talent.
