review

This has to happen and finally it did . Happy Price Menu of McDonalds got little bit pricier. Rupees Twenty becomes Twenty Two. Do I mind the price hike ? Nah. In this time of recession , I feel the slight increase is quiet reasonable.

The happy price menu has been the secret formula of the McDonald success story and even other MNC food giants like Dominos and KFC have taken a cue from it. So that explains the Rs. 35 pizzas in Dominos and Rs 25 burger in KFC menus. But nothing beats the price and quality of Mc Donald’s Happy menu , if you ask me !

Mc Aloo Tikki is one my favorite fast food ! It is pocket friendly , makes pretty neat brunch or fatafat dinner . When we get late from office and tired to cook dinner , Mc Aloo Tikki is the quick answer to the demanding stomach ! There is something so nice about the mashed potatoes and peas patty sandwiched in-between two simple buns along with onion and tomatoes and a special secret sauce and when had garam garam  and dashed with tomato sauce mmm…..  zimply delicious !  The Mc Donald’s quick service wraps the good feeling of the food ! What else is my pick from the Mc D menu ? Mc Swirl ! both the plain vanilla as well as the Chocolate ! Yummy !

So Twenty became Twenty Two , so what ? I ‘m Loving it ( still ! )

Five Point Someone is the maiden novel of Chetan Bhagat , the IIT / IIM graduate turned Author , whose novel “ One night @ Call centre ” was quiet a hit with the Indian readers (but not with me) and was later made into a flop movie “Hello”.

Honestly , I was not quiet impressed by his “ One night @ Call center ” novel , well am not writing a review on it because its quiet a long ago I read it and do not want to revisit it for a review. We had ordered “Five Point Someone” thanks to Citibank reward points.

The book is also currently in limelight because Amir Khan is acting in a movie “Three Idiots” directed by Rajkumar Hirani (who gave the classic munnabhai series ) based on this novel. So I thought that Five point someone must have some good point, if an actor like Amir khan is impressed by it.

Five Point Someone is based on a three lead character’s life – Hari , Ryan and Alok during their IIM college days. Simple , Isn’t it ? After reading it , I felt watching an 80’s movie based on college days ! Nothing new. Nothing exciting . Just a simple, time-pass novel. The three students mess up with their grades and find themselves on the average grades (five point grades out of 10 ) that explains the five point part of the title. Each one characteristically different from each other but become best of buddies and the story narrates chapter to chapter how they mess up their study days and in between a love track between Hari and a professor’s daughter, Neha. There is nothing great about the story, makes me wonder how Chetan bhagat became to be one rated as biggest selling English language novelist in India’s history! There are far better works than his. Or is it like Indian movies? A blockbuster movie does not necessarily mean a great quality movie, right ?! One good point though reading Chetan Bhagat’s novels gave a glimmer of hope to my wife and me that one day we could also become a writer !!!

I wonder what made Amir Khan agree to do this movie. Having read the novel, am eager to see how Amir khan manages to work around this story into a movie of his kind ! Going my the characterization , Amir Khan must be playing Hari , Madhavan as Alok , Sharman Joshi as Ryan , Boman Irani the Head of Department , and Kareena Kapoor as Neha.

Update ( July ‘05 ,2209) : It seems Amir khan is playing Ryan , Madhavan as Hari and Sharman as Alok .

My verdict: Do read it, if you get it free. Read it, if you have time to kill and no better books to read. Ok ok time pass.

My Wife’s Review :

Finally! I have watched the song “Masakkali” on the big screen, well it looks good on that screen! Yeah we watchedDelhi 6 today!The cast is very very impressive. All good actors and big names, Waheeda Rahman still beats the youngsters not only in acting but looks as well. Its good to watch her breaking tobacco on screen and chewing pan (beetle leaf). Abhishek Bacchhan, Sonam Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor, Om Puri and the list goes on. There is no such impressive story but the concept is good. The movie opens to a morning Delhi and starts weaving it around the characters instead of characters replicating the story. The movie traces the journey of abhishek bacchan in the Delhi City as he is born and brought up in US. So he is there with his dadi ma and the journey starts of the gullies of delhi. So you have both hindus and muslims residing side by side and u can feel the bliss of the city,the first half is really good, in the sense u just smile and and let urself lose while relishing the jalebis, the next door neighbours who will come at the drop of hat. A typical mohalla is shown and then there is a kala bandar (not sure how many of us remember the Black Monkey incident). But this incident forms an integral part of the movie. So you find two brothers who are fighting with each other and they live in the same house partitioned by wall. But there wives are best of friends, a sis-in-law who is of marriagble age and so is the daughter and so on and so forth. The songs are good, and yes there is a ramlila also happening and its fun to watch. So first half goes in the introduction of characters, a hero who is discovering India, a heroine who calls hero Burgerchap and who wants to be indian idol and a policeman, a character called Gobar, a sweeper and list is never ending.

Comes interval and the story takes a turn and there is one event – Kala Bandar which brings it on. And you find the story becoming serious. A girl who wants to run away as her father doesn’t want her to go Mumbai, a photographer who is a two timers type, a hero who is American born confused desi, a fat man who was hero’s father friend etc, all thrown together. As the story unfolds, there is a hindu muslim conflict reason being as each believes that the Kala Bandar is from opposite community. Caught in the midst of is our hero who wants to stay back (as he realised he is Indian), he has fallen in love with Bittu Sharma (well my nick name is also the same) and he wants things to set right. So on and so forth! The movie ends with hero trying to stop the heroine from running away from home and to do this he wears the Kala Bandar dress and due to this he is beaten blue and black and even gets shot! But then alls well that ends well! He is alive and in his home India.

Over all rating - Music good, starcast couldn’t have been better, storyline is also fine but there shud have been a balance as i assume that the viewers’ find it tough to handle the sudden change of storyline from fun to serious. Please go to theatre and watch it if u really wanna have fun and enjoy it.

My Review :

Well the promos of the movie , the director who gave one of my favourite movie – rang de basanti , the name Delhi – 6 , mazakali song , my wife’s favourite actor abhishek bachchan all put together made me book the ticket for the movie today.

The movie started with the dadkan of Delhi . We have the NRI ABCD who makes his visit to India along with his granny. The first half of the movie revolves around the mohallas of Delhi-6. The bylanes , countless characters, the bustle and chaos of the city . hindus and muslims living happily. , the mosques , temple , Ramleela ..  I think its high time directors think beyond Ramleela when they decide about plot in delhi. Its over done. The once infamous monkey man also plays a major part in the movie.

So the first half moves effortlessly cause there is no story at all. We have the delhi – 6 locality introduced. The inumerous characters introduced but the story not thought about . Suddenly it feels the director realises that intermission time has come and he has to weave in a story and he has the baggage of Rang de basanti weighing on him. So Rakeysh mehra resorts to the time tested but always in handy hindu muslim issue . So the mysterious but unseen monkey man brings a bitter environment between the two sides. We have a saffron clad poitician woman  jumping into the fray ( I bet Rakeysh mehra was inspired by Pragya singh ) The heroine tries to run away from home with a help of a tricky photographer to escape the proposed marriage and to chase her dream of winning Indian idol . Our hero tries to stop her ,  gets mistaken for the monkey man , gets shot and suddenly the  figthing hindu muslim crowds realise their mistakes and gets change in heart. Hero is taken to hospital by the crowd forgetting their enemity. End of the movie. Oh ya someone also gives the message that the real monkey man is within us. Thank you .

The director seems to be constrained under self pressure , clueless how to better the path he has charted for himself with Rang de basanti. End result : Confusion. There is too much of characters , too much of bits and pieces and a kichidi of not good proportion. First half was light and hallow and second half hurried and bland.

Waheeda Rahman , Rishi kapoor , Abhishek bhachan , Sonam kapoor , we even have Amitabh Bachchan as God  , Prem chopra and countless other characters. The performance of the artists are good . Waheeda Rahman acts with ease and its graceful. Sonam kapoor is unconventional by bollywood standards but brings in a freshness and something original in her that stands her out of the seemingly artificial and plasticky actors of current lot. Abhishek bachhan well he looks good , acts good but then someone also tell him that just his smiles won’t make his movies into box office hits.

AR Rahman’s ” Mazakali ” is already a chart topper and looks nice on screen too.

My Verdict : One time watchable , if you have enough of time to kill and no expectations.

My wife religiously tunes to Radio One FM 94.3 everyday morning while getting ready to office. So eventually I also got hooked to the morning doses of the FM channel. They used to have this quizzies in the morning with a surprise goodie bag for the right answer.

Day before  the question was :

Which country’s currency is almost black ?

Well , I had no idea whatever it could be .. even good search in google also failed to throw the right answer.  I had a vague guess and tried calling them but the number was buzy and at times it kept ringing. So I gave up anyways I don’t know the answer . later someone made a wild guess that it could be

Answer: Egypt

And that wild  gal was damn lucky too with that answer . Anyways she got the goodie bag.

Yesterday the question was :

What is the widely consumed milk in Arab countries ?

My common sense ticked me it should be camel. So I tried calling the number , it kept ringing but no response. When the almost finished the song they were playing , i tried too but still no response. Finally , a guy called up with the answer camel and bagged the goodie bag.

Today morning we switched on the channel and the question was :

Which country is the largest producer of coffee ?

“ Brazil ” the word instantly flashed in my mind and my wife instantly echoed the same.

We decided we would give a try again today. Immediately I called the number .. “tring tring … tring tring .. tring tring ..” It kept ringing and no one picked the call.

My wife SMSd the answer to the number the channel screams out in every break. I too SMSd .

In between , few others called and gave the names of all other countries except Brazil.

I was loosing patience . Here we are both given the right answer but there is no response for our SMS or calls but all others giving wrong answer were been entertained. Even my call was not been answered and it kept ringing and finally after many attempt , I really got furious and hang up the phone.

Finally at the end of the show time , someone called up and said the answer “Brazil ” and bagged the goodie.

Makes me wonder ? When I had messaged the right answer much earlier , why was not my answer entertained ? When I kept calling , why there was no response ?

What is cooking inside ? I smell a rat.

Is it a way to keep getting more SMSes till the end of the show , so they can get more revenue ? ( obviously SMS to special numbers like this have premium rate ! )

Damn it . I got really natural called . ( well am putting it in a decent way rather than saying Pi$$e% &&F )

So finally I figured out what my blog domain should be and registered it too !!!

Its going to be www.yatyaty.com

Well , I have just registered it . The actual migration will take a couple of months. I should find time and resource to work on the look , feel and other factors that would go into it. Neverthless , Am happy that I have registered a domain name !

Why yatyaty ?

We all love to yat yat , don’t we ? Its just that am yatyating in blog and so the name yatyaty.com !!!

How you find the name ? Do let me know.

Dostana breaks the streak of stupid movies i watched oflate. The movie starring Abhishek Bachchan , John Abraham and Priyanka Chopra made my day . Its an out and out comedy brilliantly done.

The movie touches the subject that could be a taboo till some years back in India. When there is a serious discussion going on the homosexuality rights and recognition in India, the movie makes a wonderful take on the subject .It does not dwelve into the serious aspect of it but the gay subject is hillariously ventured into. The best part of the movie is it doesn’t make fun of gays not gets serious about it.

The movie is fresh . The movie made me laugh my heart out. The movie flaunts the body of John and Priyanka. Still its not sleazy or cheap. You love the characters. Its a laughter riot till the end. First time in the history of Indian movies , we have a gay kiss on screen ! You love it , belive me , Its cleverly done and you would enjoy it !

After the debacle of Drona , Abi jr should thank his stars for being cast in the movie. It would do wonders to boost his confidence and image. John Compliments him well . Till date in bollywood , we have only heroines to flaunt their body and in this movie , the director , Tarun Mansukhani has used the best of John Abraham’s body. Visual treat for female crowd for sure !!! Guys are not to be left alone . Priyanka looks hot and great !

The songs by vishal – shekar  are good. Chart buster “desi girl” rocks ! I wished they played it again !!!  ” Jaane kyon ” , “khabar nahi “  is wonderful too. The title track “shut up & bounce ” is an eye candy with special appearance by Shilpa shetty who is again hot !

Bobby deol , Boman Irani , Kirron kher have done their part brilliantly . Boman Irani comes briefly as a gay boss and adds punch to the laughter riot !

The story revolves around the friendship of AB , John , Priyanka . One lie forms the whole story line and it makes the movie a blockbuster.

Parting shot : Highly recommended . Must watch.

Hello is the movie adaption of best selling novel One Night @ Call center by Chetan Bhagat. Couple of months when i read the book , i though it would make a good bollywood story material. Well it should have been a good bollywood film but …… well some wishes shall only be wishes when we have no control over it.

Star cast : The problem with the movie had started right from the star cast. This is a movie that has no place for Salman Khan to begin with. The star has been roped in mainly to increase the saleable factor of the movie but it has definitely misfired. So is Katrina kaif. The director , Atul Agnihotri should have shown the confidence on the story rather than on the super star cast. Gul Panang and Isha Koppikar are again a misfit for the main roles. Sohail Khan , Sharman Joshi , Amrita Arora fits well into their roles. Sohail and Sharman steal the limelight.

Story Adaptation : The original story by Chetan bhagat had  lots of potential to make a neat bollywood movie. Director wonderfully manages to spoil a good movie. I wonder what is the need to cast Salman khan and Katrina kaif and then go overboard by having helicopter and waiting lounge to replace the original story line on train journey. Argh ! the introduction Salman khan song was a total dud. Unwanted to the core. The movie would have struck the chord with audience if it had been shot in train and with underrated actors replacing the star power. Alas ! this is bollywood and here people tend to believe in spending money on star power and glossy visuals .

The climax was rushed in . I feel it would bring a vaccum and something missing or lacking feeling in the audience when it ends. If you had read the novel am sure the feeling would be multiplied.

Only saving grace is Sohail khan’s funny acting and Sharmaan Joshi’s subtle performances. My wife found the tiny red devil symbolising the inner voice of Sharmaan Joshi interesting and cute. Well that is one spark of good innovation on the adaptation but unfortunately its the only good spark.

My Parting shot : Hello , Oh Wrong number.