Action Replayy - Movie Review

Recently I saw a movie "Action Replayy"  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_Replayy) starring Akshay Kumar and Aishwarya Rai (not the most favorite of my actors, either of them). 

I was immediately reminded of an English movie "Back To The Future" with almost a similar theme. The wiki entry quotes the director of the Hindi movie as saying that any similarities between the two movies was coincidental. My foot. It is as much coincidental as similarities between the movie "3 idiots" and the book "Five point someone".

Action Replayy is an Indianized version of the English movie. And the songs made me puke. I dislike most new songs anyway for their lack of music.

I am reminded of song and dance sequences in the movie. Women were (Aishwarya Rai, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aishwarya_Rai, and one another) wearing skirts that stretched a couple of inches below the waist. When I looked at their outfits I imagined an elephant wearing a skirt.

Can you visualize it? No? Ok. Close your eyes.

Imagine the elephant standing tall beside you. Wearing a skirt covering the top of the elephant (right from where its neck starts to where its tail begins) covering the top 4 inches of the legs.

Got it?

That's how it looked to me. Granted that elephants are not as fair as Aishwarya (or the other lady), they don't usually have green eyes, nor only 2 legs. Nevertheless I was reminded of a pachyderm in a mini skirt where the skirt fitted the need of perhaps looking fashionable while the purpose of preserving modesty wasn't exactly addressed. And those stout legs... The thought I had was, you couldn't topple these ladies. Suchhhh a strong foundation. I am reminded of a description in Tamil which is very appropriate "Draping an elephant in a loin cloth" (yaanaikku komanam kattina pola).

The environment department should ban Aish. So much plastic (smile) is bad.

The redeeming factor in the movie was Akshay Kumar. The way he looked (like a "lallu" or an idiot) and his mannerisms were a riot. Just like me..

Radios And Advertisements

I have been addicted to radio since I was in my early teens. I always had a radio which would be playing songs in the background while I went about whatever I was doing.

I show strong loyalty. I pick one radio channel that plays my favorite programs and I stick to the channel. 

Today I found that I surfed radio channels (stations) meaning I changed the channel to some other station because the advertisements in the channel were getting to be too much to bear (hear).

I have a strong dislike for advertisements (http://vbala99.blogspot.com/2011/03/free-market.html, http://vbala99.blogspot.com/2011/01/advertisements-promises.html). There are three kinds of advertisements in my world.

• Advertisements that I like listening to or watching. There would be very very few advts that fall in this category.
• Those that I tolerate. This would be a fairly large number. These are advertisements that I neither like nor hate.
• Those that I hate. In terms of numbers this would fall between those of the above two categories.

When it comes to the last category above (the ones that I really dislike) I am reminded of two advertisements each of which causes a distinct distaste .

One is a jewelry advertisement which shows Adah and Madhavan sitting on a sofa. The lady is very upset, Madhavan gives her something. She is still pouting as she opens the box. Then on seeing the jewelry inside her face lits up in a 1000 watt smile. This advt brings out in all 1000 watt clarity the avarice of a woman, the craving for expensive things. It highlights the cheapness in a person's character. Though of course this is not what the advertisement wants to highlight!!

The other ad shows 2 boys trying to chat using a phone, one using an "ordinary" phone which is a pain to type on while the other boy expertly chatting on a Nokia phone probably indicating a nicer interface. Now the 2nd boy's face, as he gleefully types on the phone, is sickening to me. What was man created for? To consume the best things in life? Is this what we want to communicate?

Should advertisements only inculcate an ardor to consume?

I like to think of advertisements as a communication to announce a new product or service in the market. A communication that specifies what the new thing is all about and gives factual information. I expect the tone of the advertisement to be not much different from what would be the case if you were talking about an equivalent but competing product.

Untouchables: Stairway Scene

One of the best movies that I saw was Untouchables starring Kevin Costner. There is a particular scene inside a railway station where Costner and another cop would be waiting to nab Al Capone's bookkeeper. The bookkeeper is crucial for the prosecution's case against Capone. The bookkeeper with some musclemen are trying to make a getaway from Chicago by train.

The scene involves Costner and another cop waiting for Capone's team, a lady climbing laboriously up the stairs pushing a pram (with a baby in it). Costner is waiting at the head of the stairs. And then there is a shootout.

Though the scene involves some violence, I can't but help love the scene. The gentleness and the violence are intermingled in such a sweet way. 

Here is the video of the scene http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTtj-VXxgbc Unfortunately the audio is not in English, perhaps in Czech, I couldn't locate an English version. (But it should be ok, since the scene is visual and there isn't much dialog in this scene.). Here is an English version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SXy8QcBT5Y

A quote from the movie:
"I grew up in a tough neighborhood. We used to say, "You can get further with a kind word and a gun than you can with just a kind word"

Family, Marriage in Philippines : Winner Takes It All, Loser Standing Small

A friend was explaining to me about family, marriage in Philippines. What I heard was fascinating. So I started to read more about it.

I came to know that Filipinos are largely Catholic, that a marriage between a Filipina woman and a foreigner (foreign man from any country, preferably USA) is very desirable. That parents would prefer that daughters to marry a rich man and emigrate, that foreign men come shopping for wives to Philippines (and girls from Cebu are the "best") and so on. I even read an article listing the do's and don'ts of wife shopping written by an American.

Apparently Filipina women are very sweet looking and make a lovely wife; this is the brand recall. And hence they are sought after. And it is a developing country, not very rich. Filipinas have a tradition of wanting to emigrate and marrying a foreigner is quite common. Hence foreigners come "shopping".

Apparently infidelity in marriage is very common. A woman's role is to be a mom and take care of the home and children and perhaps she doesn't have time or the energy to enthuse the husband. This extra bit of fun is provided to the husband by younger women, for a price.

I asked a friend about it. Why would young women want to be a mistress of an older married man, when they could marry a younger man. She said something that made my jaw drop. That women prefer to be with an older/dashing/rich man with status than be a wife of a poor nobody. 

So the (stronger) alpha male gets to have multiple women. And the (weaker) Beta / Gamma males get to suck their thumbs. To quote ABBA, "The Winner Takes It All".

On Liners

I was talking to a friend of mine about people having online friends. I guess the reason why people make friends online (than offline or in the real world) could be because:

They are people who:

• Don't have a social life in real life. They are lonely. Single/divorced/or if married, not much of a connect existing with the spouse.
• Cant go out and have a social life for reasons that are social (for example, already married), financial (cant afford to go out).
• Have a need for some warmth/stimulation in their lives.

As my friend aptly put it, these are people who need the "illusion of a rich social life".


My friend then asked me to evaluate the depth of a relationship. So I came up with a definition. A relationship can be measured on these dimensions:

• Longevity (fly by night friend as against life long friend). This dimension is perhaps a result of the other dimensions mentioned below.
• Quality of emotions/relationship (How much can I do for you.. Will I avoid you the moment I sense a problem or will I let you cry on my shoulder as long as you want.. Do I provide "Unlimited shoulder time" and/or also fix your problems?
• My availability (how much of the 24 / 7 hrs am I available).
• Another friend later added a vital point which is sharing a wavelength.

I realized later that there are other softer factors which also are relevant. How much do I expect from you in return? Do I suffocate you by needing your presence or by having high expectations (of exclusivity, attention expensive gifts etc) from you all the time?


This other friend also explained one thing to me. That when people come online, it's like going to a bar or to a movie. You are not going to be serious there. You want some instant fun, light banter. Not serious stuff. Hence good friendships usually aren't formed online.


Hmm. Interesting. Never thought so much about relationships. 

How Old Is Grandma - Paalangal

I came across this (http://www.cyberlegends.net/howold.htm) today. And I thought how many things have changed in such a short time.

I am reminded of one of the best social novels that I have read, this one in Tamil called "Paalangal" (noun: means "bridges") by the renowned writer Sivasankari. The novel is actually about three different families, unrelated to each other in three different generations. The author tracks the events of each of each story (a typical middle class Tamil Brahmin family) through one generation. 

The details that she provides about the family of the 1930's is amazing. It's almost like reading Frederick Forsyth's "Day of the Jackal" - such is the attention to details.

Through the events of each sub story, she describes how the customs change with each generation. She brings out the contrast between the family of the 1930's to the one of the the 50's and the one of the 70's (and briefly also "predicts" how the the family of the 90's would be. This novel was written before 1990!!).

When I read the link above it took me back to the "Paalangal". Of course Paalangal is not just about the events of three generations but it's about the role of a woman in a family. And how she remains the bridge (and thus the title of the book) between her conservative parents in law and her children (daughter). She shows how the same woman who as a girl was so irresponsible and cantankerous mellows into a responsible, mature woman who now becomes the "paalam" her daughter and her mother-in-law after marriage and birth of her children.

And this role of the woman has not changed much across the generation as per the author. Though I am not sure whether that conclusion is still applicable today.

Nevertheless Paalangal by Sivasankari
(http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/lr/2002/04/07/stories/2002040700260500.htm) continues to be my favorite Tamil novel.

Maths Puzzle 12 - With Answer And Marks

I got this puzzle today and the solution was so nice, I had to publish it.

But can someone figure what the mistake was that the student made?