Dum maro dum Review

Theater: CineMax, Banjara Hills, Hyd.

Krishna as usual calls up and asks if I’m interested to watch paid preview of Dum Maro Dum. Paid preview is a good way of making money these days I guess. The hall was houseful.

After series of comedy movie releases in Bollywood at the start of the year (Tanu weds Manu, F.A.L.T.U, Patiala House etc.,) it is some time for a slick action movie Dum Maro Dum by Rohan Sippy.

Plot:

The story and all the characters are set in Goa. Lorry (Pratiek babbar), a 17-year-old middle-class student is desperate to join his GF in US for studies but cannot afford to go as his financial aid is rejected. He gets trapped by men of most notorious drug dealer Lorsa Biscuita aka Biscuit (Aditya Pancholi) in Goa local area, who lures youngers to smuggle drugs. Joki (RaNa Dagubati) a local singer wants to help Lorry as he has seen his ex-GF Bipasha Basu getting trapped in a similar way and she was never able to come out of it.

Enters ACP Vishu Kamat(Abhishek Bachan), who has a sad past. He is given the task to eradicate drug business and its messy men from Goa. He arrests Lorry and Joki promises to help Kamat, in return of Lorry’s release from jail. The story progresses with these three characters and a suspense woven into the plot – which is  not too difficult to predict.

There are some brilliant scenes and some good dialogues in the movie, which we people will talk about and take back home. After a very long time, I felt the action sequences are well choreographed – not too long and not too dramatized. I liked the fight sequence in the juvenile home (Kamat trying to rescue Lorry).

Performances:

Usually, we see people writing off AB jr. Time and again he proves he is here to stay. He plays the role of a cop with ease. I felt that he believed the director and the role and he gives us a good performance.

I was surprised to see Rana getting a significant role in a bollywood movie. Towards the end of the movie is when he gets to play an important part. I was not a fan of his acting in the Telugu movie Leader and he did just ok in DMD. His dubbing was a big draw back. But defineitely DMD is a good launch pad in Bollywood for him.

Bips doesn’t have much to do and just does what she is best at… showing her wonderful long legs :)

Aditchya Pancholi and supporting actors are good. Especially I liked the acting of the character named Ricky, a drug peddler.

I kept Prateik Babbar last as I have too many things to say about him. I adored him. He is brilliant in some scenes and his innocent looks would make most of the girls go crazy. If he is going to do good movies in future, he is here to stay and make it big in Bollywood.

Minuses:

Music by Pritam.

-      ---There are songs, which were not even required, and Pritam as usual takes inspiration from old Dum maro Dum and Timbaland songs.

-      ---Deepika missed something while dancing may be the right attitude required to dance for the title track. The item doesn’t live up the hype.

-      ---Too many scenes are inspired from Engish movies - like at the end, when ACP Vishnu imagining joining his dead happy family..aka Gladiator.

-      ---There was no need for Bips to be an interpreter from Hindi to Portuguese to the Brazillian drug peddlers, while the audience is Hindi!

Overall, movie is fine and I would suggest it to any one who wants a break from stupid slapstick recent Hindi Comedies, to go and have a dekko.  


"Yeh Sahiba ..Goa aneka..khane ka peene ka, bas chill marne ka..lekin dum..psst psst ..Dum bilkul nahi marne ka" 

Two sisters

Warning: The post below contains some violent material, if you have a sensitive heart, please avoid reading :P

School days:

“Mama, she ate 2 chocolates and gave me only one. When I said I will tell you, she threatened me!” Siri complained.

Obviously, mom would trust Siri more than me - she is younger to me, thin and and fragile. Her innocent looks would buy mom and I got scoldings.

I wanted to take revenge. When she was running in the living room, I blocked her way with one leg of mine. Thhhhhhudddd. She fell on the floor with her face down and hurt her nose. I was more worried about myself than her – what else can poor me, who is a fourth grader do, but worry about the consequences. Even if you are not creative, you can imagine what could’ve happened to me later when Siri told mom.

College years:

“Common you cannot take my clothes, without telling me” I yelled at Siri.

“Hey, you wore my sandals without asking me. Did I complain?”

“Mom, I cannot tolerate this girl anymore. Tell her to have a separate cupboard,” I said.

Mom tried to convince both of us that we shouldn’t fight everyday for petty issues.

Petty!

No way. She always drops into my space without my permission. I hated her! She hated me!!

After my Marriage:

“I’m a guest in your house, so I should be given remote”

Siri was angry “Guests should just sit and watch whatever host is watching on TV. They should not snatch the remote.”

My dad who is in the bedroom comes wondering what were we screaming about, tried to calm us down and was giving an option to watch the other tv in his room.

Both of us wouldn’t cool down and were fighting like anything. The remote broke into pieces. Krishna calls at the same time. I complained. He was like tell me the whole story what exactly happened. I didn’t understand at that time, but now I know he enjoys these catfights between my sis and me. huh!

When mom came back from her work, both of us gave her our versions. She said our relatives think we are the most “ideal” and “loving” sisters and are given others as examples and we shouldn’t fight like dogs in the street.

Both of us said why don’t we tell them the truth!!

Siri has a sharp nose now, I tell her its because of me, her nose bone got corrected. We both laugh at the incident.

Mostly Siri does all the shopping (for her and me). We share our dresses and handbags and footwear too! When it is weekend, she calls me before she is even up from her bed to ask when am I coming to her home! Mom tells me when I’m not there she doesn’t watch TV that much. May be both of us actually like competing for remote.

Once she gets married and moves out of my parent’s house and this city, I will have remote for myself but I think it wouldn’t be interesting though!

RaaVan..On my lips

After Ye maaya chesave in Telugu (Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa in Tamil) I’ve been eagerly waiting for A.R.Rahman’s next musical ‘Raavan’. It is most anticipated music score for sure as the movie is directed by Mani Ratnam and he gives such a liberty to ARR to give best tracks.

The first promo “Beera…Beera” which gave the hint on UP folk style version assured ARR fans that best is guaranteed.

I started listening to it from the time audio is released and as usual I can’t get the songs out of mind.

'Beera..Beera' is the first song and is very catchy. Gulzar’s lyrics add weight to the tune. Next track which is 'Behne De' is feast and is sung by Karthik and Md.Irfan. Though it reminds me of satrangi re of Dil Se, it is a treat.

'Thok de killi' is a foot tapping number and is sung by Sukhwinder Singh. This guy gives his best to ARR I guess. He is flawless.

Next song is sung by current favorite female singer Rekha Bhardwaj - 'Ranjah Ranjha’. It is a mix of Punjabi folk and funky beats. She sounds so different in this song. I loved this song.

'Khile re Khile re' and 'Kata Kata' are just fine.

All in all it’s a wonderful album and has A.R.Rahman’s stamp all over the album. I'm also eagerly waiting for Telugu and Tamil version of the same movie and heard there are couple of extra songs in these languages. Raavan music delivers what is expected. My personal favorites being ‘Behne De’, ‘Ranjha Ranjha’ and ‘Thok De Killi”. Go for it.

Confessions of a shopaholic

“I want to buy gold with the bonus money we got for March”, Ramya said.
Koti shrugged off his shoulders, as usual.

Koti and Ramya are married to each other for a year n half now. We all work in the same organization.
We sometimes take the same cab while going home from office. Ramya and I sit at the back to gossip, discuss and do the same fav time pass of nagging about husband materials.

This discussion of what to do with the money came up on Thursday. Just when we were planning what to do Mr.Krishna calls up and gives an unwanted advice asking me to invest the money for the next year tax planning. Huh!

I appreciated his good idea and asked to invest his money on my name! Remember my money is my money and your money is our money concept!! He sighed and ended the call.

Obviously when I told Ramya about this bad idea, Koti was in support of Krishna and was suggesting Ramya to do the same. All husbands are made of same material. Awk!

As Koti was going to Gurgaon office site for one day trip the next day, Ramya and I decided to go on a shopping spree on Friday.

We finished our office work on Friday and were geared up to go to the Somajiguda area which has around 15-20 famous jewelry shops. We got down the office cab nearer to Malabar Gold shop which has some offer going on for diamond sets. We had a ‘dekho’ at all those sets.

That’s not the end of it, we went around the whole area and window shopped around 10’s of shops. Ramya was just checking every shop to decide on where to buy her stuff. She told me she will come next day with her parents, in-laws and Koti to buy.

At last we were happy that we haven’t spent anything and crossed the road to take an auto home and my eyes got struck on the ‘Metro’ footwear shop. I told Ramya we will just have a ‘dekho’.

After I saw these beautiful pair of platform sandals in maroon color I couldn’t resist. Ramya gave me the required encouragement and I decided to buy them. We were about to go and Ramya’s eyes were set on a beautiful clutch (purse). She decided to buy that. We were in the shop for not more than 10 mins and we decided on what to buy! We realized it is not a good idea to roam around as we sensed that the shop assistant was too eager to show us more stuff. Both of us swiped the cards and without even looking at any other shop we boarded the auto!

I called Krishna to pick me up and told him what I bought. He said don’t cry for the spent money it is ok!

But one has to look at Ramya and me at that time. We were so happy and excited with the outing that evening. We didn’t miss the husbands around, as they never help in decision making when it comes to shopping. Usually when I go out with Krishna and ask him to choose between two things he never gives me a proper answer. At least after picking me up and dropping home Krishna could've asked me to show what I bought. Nah! these guys can never understand that woman loves showing off!!

 My beautiful sandals in the box are looking at me. I think they are asking me when I would wear them. See I can understand their language. They are in the rack with the other 20-25 odd pairs of footwear of mine. I just hope my dad/Krishna wouldn’t count all the pairs.

Seriously retail therapy works. I can feel the peace.

Bangalore Trip

I remember going in train when I was in my III standard vividly. That was last! I avoided travelling and was scared of journeys!

Krishna knows that I haven’t travelled in my life neither by train/bus nor flight after my III stnd stint. My sister Siri many times tried to push me to travel but I always made sure trips are cancelled. Krishna tried his best couple of times booking the tickets to take me out, I ended up cancelling them too.

So this time around when Krishna had to go to Bangalore to meet my friend (and his friend now) on business trip. He literally was after me to join him to the trip. Also my friends Usha and Sree warned me with dire consequences if I cancel the trip!
Finally, I boarded the train! Alas!! Usha checked on by calling and asking if I had boarded the train or not.

Train journey was fun and I enjoyed the window view after 5.00 in the morning as hardly I could see anything at night (It was AC coach).

We ended up landing in Bangalore very late. We headed straight to my friend Giridhar's house. We are family friends and Giridhar’s mom insisted that we stay at his place in Bangalore. His 3-bedroom flat was part of a big gated community with around 9-10 blocks and is on 9th floor at Marthahalli (near ITPL). The morning view of sun from the balcony was pleasure to watch.

After exchanging greetings with Giridhar, we refreshed and went out on roads of Bangalore. I was disappointed with the weather as it was too hot opposed to what I heard about the cool weather. Friends told me there has been drastic change in the weather from past two years cos of massive cut down of trees for the Metro rail project.

I liked the roads; though few roads are narrow I felt Bangloreans have sense of traffic unlike Hyderabadis. Most worrisome factor is traveling in autos. These autowallas dupe new visitors so badly. We had tough time commuting but thankfully with the help of friends we were able to use public transport effectively.

Our friend Hemanth, who came to meet us and take us around Bangalore, has shown us few malls and busy street Brigade road. I didn’t like the ‘Mall cultured’ Bangalore. We went back home tired and hit the sack.

Next day we were to meet my friend Adi (Aditya) at his house for lunch. Little pretext about Adi here. Adi and I met at an online social networking group 5 years ago. We haven’t met face-face though. Adi and Krishna are in same line of work and they had to discuss some business deal - that’s how we ended having a trip to Bangalore.




We were wise enough this time to use the public transport rather than hiring a cab service or take an auto. Adi’s place was at Yalahanka. He invited his three more friends from Bangalore to meet us. Adi n his lovely wife Lakshmi were great hosts. The lunch was lip smacking. While Krishna, Adi and other friends were discussing the business, Lakshmi and I had gala timing nagging about respective husbands! After Adi's place it was time to meet Krishna's childhood pen friend Madhavi's house. Madhavi and her mom were super cool to talk to.

Next day was a big day. Giridhar suggested we take his car to go to Mysore. We hired a Telugu speaking driver and started at around 7.00 in the morning and headed to Mysore.
We had tasty breakfast at one of the small hotels in Maddur and had the famous Maddur Vada. We covered almost all important sightseeing places like Sreerangapattanam temples, Tipu sultan gardens to Sangam river. After reaching Mysore, I tried my level best to find a good Mysore silk shop to buy a saree for myself but somehow felt it was luxury to indulge! We bought few Sandal related items like Doop sticks etc.
We visited the beautiful Mysore Palace – the architecture was a treat to eyes. After having lunch we went straight to the famous Mysore Zoo and Chamundi hills. I had lot of fun at Zoo. By then it was already late and we started back to Bangalore and reached home at 11:00.

Next day we started back to Hyderabad. After coming back to Hyderabad, I had to say to myself “Nothing beats home!”

P.S: Krishna is planning another trip already!! 

Free Ticket

“Acting bug bit me when I was in the college. My dad asked me to get trained in acting before launching me as a hero”.

This is frequently heard dialog from our ‘new gen’ Indian heroes. Not just bollywood but this is a routine dialog from Tollywood (read as Telugu) industry. I wonder if they are ever going to realize that acting doesn’t mean becoming a ‘Hero’. Duhh!

If we see the recent ‘big’ movies of Tollywood all ‘fresh’ faces (Hero) have been from affluent film families.

Four heroes of the Tollywood - Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna, Venkatesh and Balakrishna are like pillars to the industry. Apart from Chirnajeevi, all the other three big heroes had solid background from the film industry.

Now their sons, nephews and nieces play major part in the film industry. Mostly daughters are not allowed to be a heroines as it is still conservative. How strange!!

Sad part is that industry outsiders are literally not allowed to play a bigger role in the film making( exception to Direction, it involves creativity) or acting roles. We will see one off cases like Ravi Teja who made it big with his sheer hard work through years but his recent success is after a crusade of hardship of 10-15 years and he has only few more years to play lead characters.

Take for example Mohan Babu. I always liked the roles he played in past whether as a villain or a hero; he is a self made man. But his desperate attempt to make his sons to get foothold in the industry is laughable. I can’t comment on their acting skills or looks, but as an adherent film buff I wouldn’t want to forcibly watch only ‘dimpled’ angle of his younger sons face throughout 2 and half hours! It is his fame and money power which is taken as a chance by new upcoming directors to make movies with his sons as heroes in a film. Otherwise would he ever put money on these poor little unknown directors and produce a film with outsiders in lead characters!

I’m not against this hereditary in the film industry. Allari Naresh and Prabhas are my favorite heroes and they have a solid backing when they were launched by outside production houses. Still Naresh proved he is a good actor.

It is just that how much as an audience can we take!!I agree many of them have talent but they should realize playing alone a ‘hero’ role is not acting.
Hero≠acting

How many of these new age heroes who have godfathers can act? Oh yea it will take 10 years for them but probably there are quite a number of unlucky stalwarts who are worth it but just cos of no backup or godfathers in the industry their careers in the film industry is never made. Many other people with the film background have taken the other paths in the same industry like taking up productions and marketing businesses. Take the case of Allu Sirish, he writes wonderful and thoughtful articles on film industry in his blog and his passion for the industry is shown in his writings. Of course his magazine is not released without talking/promoting about one of his own family members which sometime irks me a little but it is his magazine and I’m just a commoner to even comment on this. Right!

Also, I wish these new heroes realize that success is not instant and after few trails learn to say “Oh I think this hero thing isn’t working, let me give a chance for the audience to take a break from me”

I know am asking for too much!

Farmville uninstalled!

Finally I uninstalled the Farmville from my Facebook a/c. I’m damn happy about it. My ‘time spent’ on Social Networking sites have come down drastically. What does this mean? What do you think of me?