Hello??!!

After watching the movie, yes I am talking about "Hello" I was in the mood to write a hate mail to one of the most promising Indian authors. On second thoughts, I decided to go public and spread the joy.

The movie is based on Chetan bhagat's popular book : One night at the call center.

The only thing screwed up in the book was the end. That's alright, I am not good with ends either. An afterthought to his last two novels always makes you wonder "Why would he do that to the end?!"

However in case of the movie, everything from the first frame to the last frame was screwed up. They screwed up the characterization, the plot, the setting and not to forget the end...of course! It's sad, more so unfair to drag the "significant mine" to such movies....just for my undying love for Chetan's writing. He was thoroughly bored, and was sms'ing his pals during the 3 hour ordeal.

What went wrong?
Well everything....

a). Salman Khan plays the role of Chetan in the book. I mean... HELLO?!
He even had to do a cheap thrust number to save the movie. Sorry, but topless Salman doesn't work anymore.

b). Katrina plays the role of story teller in a language she cannot speak.Thats right,Hindi.
Luckily her voice is dubbed, but please check out the wardrobe malfunction Kaif goes through. Not to forget, she vanishes into thin air.Literally.

What a beautiful edit of the book..I can bet on my life...that the end couldn't have been more messed up. I mean...you have to give it to them...for that.

c). They work in a call center that has just 5 employees who are the central characters of a movie. The director could have easily shot the movie in a real call center, however he preferred to shoot it in the most pseudo setting.

d). The call with god... Lesser said...the better.

e). The characterization is very weak, for eg. Radhika bounces back after her tragedy and starts takings calls, etc etc. None of the characters were built as well as they were in the book, and the wadrobe doesn't do well for them either.

f). The songs are too boring and of no significance.

g). The love angle between Shyam and Priyanka isn't even built up, and moreover Gul Panaag laughs like a horse.

There are so many more....and it's already started to disgust me.
I think it was Atul Agnihotri's experiment which trust me has failed. It was very sweet of Salman and the entire Khan clan to help out his directorial venture.

Should we write off this director?
Yes we should, Atul you couldn't make it as an actor...you wouldn't probably make it as a director as well.

The only good part about the movie :
Oh yea..It does exist.
Sharman who played the role of Shyam, a very promising actor and has done a decent job.
Vroom played by Sohail Khan...Now Sohail is funny and he proved it in the short cameo he played in a recent film "Jaane Tu..."

But ALAS! they really couldn't save the film either...
Indian cinema has found a good story teller for fresh scripts. But he needs to chose the director sensibly.

Well luckily, Five point someone is being recreated in the IIM B Campus and is being directed by Raj Hirani. Hope lives.

P don't preach!

It would be easy to locate Chetan Bhagat’s speech for the BBA students in symbiosis. If you catch it somewhere, do read it. Just a few days back I and the significant other were discussing a lot of these famous speeches which were so much better when u read it, and a complete turn off when u actually heard them.

I don’t know how well he delivered it, but the document is a must read. I have always been a fan of the connect he creates with almost about everyone with his pen. He was a good story teller; he is now becoming a youth icon.

My take on the speech – Rather my take away from it, the things I believe in.

Do what you love and Monday mornings wouldn’t seem so blue. I strive to get there and there is nothing more important than that. Not even the money or the brand or the perks.

Do not value money. It’s not that hard to earn money. Value the people you love, value friendships and most importantly value health and mental peace.

Make happiness a state of being and everything else gets taken care off.

I get scared of people who are extremely serious. I mean what’s the need.

One last thing about nurturing the spark - don't take life seriously. One my yoga teachers used to make students laugh during classes. One student asked him if these jokes would take away something from the yoga practice. The teacher said - don't be serious, be sincere. This quote has defined my work ever since. Whether its my writing, my job, my relationships or any of my goals. I get thousands of opinions on my writing everyday. There is heaps of praise, there is intense criticism. If I take it all seriously, how will I write? Or rather, how will I live? Life is not to be taken seriously, as we are really temporary here. We are like a pre-paid card with limited validity. If we are lucky, we may last another 50 years. And 50 years is just 2,500 weekends. Do we really need to get so worked up? It's ok, bunk a few classes, goof up a few interviews, fall in love. We are people, not programmed devices.

Go fall in love. It’s risky but then you are the happiest when you are in it.
It makes the world go round and it makes you believe that anything is possible.

Lastly, as Chetan says: Keep the spark alive!

Which book are you guys reading today?

I just finished Chetan Bhagat's latest. It is called "The 3 mistakes of my life" and it is his third book. I never though very highly of "Five point someone", I am one of the people who enjoyed the call center one much more. Well moving on, I feel Chetan should start writing scripts for bollywood movies. His stories are extremely gripping, however the endings are usually hurried and very melodramatic. The good thing is, they are always happy! I believe in happy endings...


If I ever met him, I think we will have a good chat.
Nevertheless, I have finished all his books in a day flat.... so I hold high opinions about him.

In all the three books, the characters come alive and you actually start feeling for them.

So this one is definitely my recommendation.

Completely off the topic....

A very interesting thing...that my dad told me was about his rendezvous with an old friend at the Mumbai airport. This man owns a book store at the airport. And has introduced my dad to several authors over the years....

They became good friends...en route!

My dad has stopped travelling like before, so this time when he landed at the airport. He saw that the airport was under construction and the his favorite shop wasn't there. He was sad and decided to grab some coffee. Just next to the coffee stand, was a small new bookshop with the name changed. When he entered the store...he met his friend. They were glad and this time he introduced my dad to this "The Ghost" by Robert Harris.


I didn't wanna give a review on it, but just highly recommend it.


And then there's the book I read this weekend "The Secret"
A best seller and even has a movie on it. However, it gives all the funda's of life that we are all aware of. We do understand the difference between right and wrong. Sometimes, we apply it and sometimes we don't. I wish I could make money stating the obvious. I was never born with a golden spoon. So things would come hard to me.

By the way, the book's cover is brilliant.... "Kabhi naye packet mein beche...tumko cheez puraani"

:-)

Kudos to the cover designer!

Delhi has lovely weather today. I just took a stroll with my good friends....
Enjoy the unlucky Tuesday!