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	<title>I chose the red pill &#187; Movies</title>
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		<title>Kites: A Review</title>
		<link>http://www.harishanker.net/2010/05/kites-a-review/</link>
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		<pubDate>Sat, 22 May 2010 14:13:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>hari</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[Kites was one of the super-hyped movies of 2010. It features the &#8216;comeback&#8217; of two prodigies: Hrithik Roshan (who hasn&#8217;t seen silver screen since 2008-hit &#8216;Jodha Akbar&#8217; ) and Anurag Basu (who spent time battling cancer, post &#8216;Life in a Metro&#8217;). Rakesh Roshan (the producer and Hrithik&#8217;s dad) did a good job of promoting the [...]


<b>Related posts:</b><ol><li><a href='http://www.harishanker.net/2009/09/quick-gun-murugun/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Quick Gun Murugun: A Review'>Quick Gun Murugun: A Review</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.harishanker.net/2010/03/vinnaithaandi-varuvaayaa-review/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa &#8211; A Review'>Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa &#8211; A Review</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.harishanker.net/2009/11/two-states-by-chetan-bhagat-a-review/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Two States by Chetan Bhagat &#8211; A review'>Two States by Chetan Bhagat &#8211; A review</a></li>
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<p><strong>Kites</strong> was one of the super-hyped movies of 2010. It features the &#8216;comeback&#8217; of two prodigies: Hrithik Roshan (who hasn&#8217;t seen silver screen since 2008-hit &#8216;Jodha Akbar&#8217; ) and Anurag Basu (who spent time battling cancer, post &#8216;Life in a Metro&#8217;). Rakesh Roshan (the producer and Hrithik&#8217;s dad) did a good job of promoting the snazzily-shot trailer, months before; the movie premiered even in Cannes to reasonable applause. Rajesh Roshan&#8217;s music added fuel to the hype&#8217;s fire.</p>
<p>But, when a movie is hyped beyond its mettle, conventional wisdom drives home the point that it is bound to disappoint; &#8216;Kites&#8217; isn&#8217;t exactly different from this predicament.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.harishanker.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/p1.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-889" title="Kites: The Poster" src="http://www.harishanker.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/p1.jpg" alt="" width="358" height="518" /></a></p>
<p>The premise has centuries-old wine in a ramshackle bottle &#8211; Triangular, oops, &#8216;Rectangular&#8217; love. <img src='http://www.harishanker.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_razz.gif' alt=':P' class='wp-smiley' />  So, we have a swashbuckling hustler &#8211; Jay(Hrithik), who&#8217;s a dance teacher -cum- eclectic-odd job man (one of his odd jobs include marrying illegal immigrants for green cards). Rich, spoilt dance-student, Gina (Kangana Ranaut) falls for her instructor, and Hrithik toes her line at the prospect of reaping green, realizing that she&#8217;s the daughter of a casino-lord played by Kabir Bedi. That&#8217;s when Hrithik meets Mexican beauty Natasha (Barbara Mori), Gina&#8217;s brother Tony&#8217;s  (Nicholas Brown) fiancée. Natasha (a.k.a. Linda), was the last among Hrithik&#8217;s &#8216;green card wives&#8217;, and she is still married to Jay. An instant-chemistry sparks between the duo, and they elope after a rendezvous-to-get-divorced which progresses into a chaste-romantic-extended-date. How the doomed couple evade an army of cops and escape Mexico forms the rest of the plot.</p>
<p>The best thing about Kites is the chemistry between the lead pair. Don&#8217;t know whether the &#8216;affair&#8217; rumors have helped, but Hrithik and Barbara make an awesome couple. The movie is best noted for those small nuanced moments between them. The kisses are passionate, and the acting is so intuitive that at some point in time, you get a vague feel that the rumors <em>may </em>be true, after all. The communication gap (Barbara&#8217;s character speaks just Spanish)  is also well portrayed &#8211; and that makes the couple kinda cute too. The emotions are elevated to an ethereal level, which means you simply cannot relate to the passion &#8211; but still you get overwhelmed at times.</p>
<p>Anurag Basu has got his technicalities right in Kites. The camera work is brilliant, and Las Vegas is excellently portrayed. The movie has an equal share of Spanish, English, and Hindi (unlike <em>some </em>movies, where everyone in USA are Asians and speak Hindi). Ayanka Bose (the cameraperson) has indeed done a brilliant job. This flick has a glossy exterior which makes it seem a straight import from Hollywood. Kudos to the appealing stunt scenes (which occupy at least a quarter of the 2 hour flick). Another high point of the movie is the foot-tapping music by Rajesh Roshan. The lone-dance sequence is impressive and has Hrithik gyrating to one of his best performances. Kangana proves that she&#8217;s a talented dancer.</p>
<p>The glossy exterior does little to impress the discerning movie-buff; the flick disappoints you thoroughly. Beyond a certain level, it simply fails to make an impact on your psyche. The flaws start right from the story, which is a marriage of bollywood and Mexican teleplays, only to give a disastrous combo. What baffles you is the fact that four scriptwriters worked nights to get such an appalling screenplay made &#8211; Too many cooks spoiled the broth here, evidently. <img src='http://www.harishanker.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_neutral.gif' alt=':-|' class='wp-smiley' />  The low point is the second half of the movie, which is listless (and I&#8217;m being polite here). Some scenes even question your intellect. You see a deliberate attempt to stretch the limits of &#8216;The Bollywood Love Story&#8217; (which has now attained cult status like &#8216;The American Dream&#8217;), that make you feel like puking, at times. Some parts of  Kites are outright dumb. For instance, Hrithik grows a 10 cm thick beard within just two days of &#8216;being marooned&#8217;, and we don&#8217;t see any evidence of genetic anomaly here! <img src='http://www.harishanker.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_neutral.gif' alt=':-|' class='wp-smiley' />  Also, Kangana is wasted &#8211; even she does something downright absurd, during the climax, something that goes beyond all logic. Not to mention the obnoxiously-bad acting by the supporting cast, including Nicholas Brown, who plays the villain. Even the dialogues (in Hindi), seriously suck!</p>
<p>Summing up, Kites is predictable; albeit in a different way. Watch it for the expensive, well-shot stunt sequences. Watch it for the chemistry between the lead actors, who are the <strong>most </strong>stunning people in silverscreen (citation needed). If you&#8217;re looking for a stellar movie, having taken bait of all the media promos, <strong>DO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE &#8211; </strong>you would come out with enough dissappointment to burn down the theatre. It&#8217;s one of those movies that you can see on Television, on pirated DVD, in the comfort of your living room.</p>
<p>Recommended, <strong>ONLY </strong>if there aren&#8217;t better flicks in theatres around you.</p>
<p><strong>Rating: 6.5/10</strong></p>
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<p><b>Related posts:</b><ol><li><a href='http://www.harishanker.net/2009/09/quick-gun-murugun/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Quick Gun Murugun: A Review'>Quick Gun Murugun: A Review</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.harishanker.net/2010/03/vinnaithaandi-varuvaayaa-review/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa &#8211; A Review'>Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa &#8211; A Review</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.harishanker.net/2009/11/two-states-by-chetan-bhagat-a-review/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Two States by Chetan Bhagat &#8211; A review'>Two States by Chetan Bhagat &#8211; A review</a></li>
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		<title>Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa &#8211; A Review</title>
		<link>http://www.harishanker.net/2010/03/vinnaithaandi-varuvaayaa-review/</link>
		<comments>http://www.harishanker.net/2010/03/vinnaithaandi-varuvaayaa-review/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:32:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>hari</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Movies]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[Gautham Menon is one of the best (and perhaps most successful) directors in the Tamil film industry. His long track record of  eclectic successes range  from sleeper-hit Minnale to an intense Kaakha Kaakha. An enthralling &#8216;Vettayadu Vilayaadu&#8217; to an endearing &#8216;Vaaranam Aayiram&#8217;; the auteur has a habit of doing an encore of his spectacular successes, [...]


<b>Related posts:</b><ol><li><a href='http://www.harishanker.net/2010/05/kites-a-review/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Kites: A Review'>Kites: A Review</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.harishanker.net/2009/09/quick-gun-murugun/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Quick Gun Murugun: A Review'>Quick Gun Murugun: A Review</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.harishanker.net/2009/11/two-states-by-chetan-bhagat-a-review/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Two States by Chetan Bhagat &#8211; A review'>Two States by Chetan Bhagat &#8211; A review</a></li>
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<p>Gautham Menon is one of the best (and perhaps most successful) directors in the Tamil film industry. His long track record of  eclectic successes range  from sleeper-hit Minnale to an intense Kaakha Kaakha.  An enthralling &#8216;Vettayadu Vilayaadu&#8217; to an endearing &#8216;Vaaranam Aayiram&#8217;; the auteur has a habit of doing an encore of his spectacular successes, growing with each movie that emerges from his stable &#8211; &#8216;Photon Factory&#8217;.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.harishanker.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Vinnaithaandi_Varuvaaya.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-831" title="Vinnaithaandi_Varuvaaya" src="http://www.harishanker.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Vinnaithaandi_Varuvaaya.jpg" alt="" width="375" height="500" /></a></p>
<p>When a movie like Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa is released and promoted with a barrage of PR, even the average joe has half a mind to drag his/her ass to the theatres, just cause it&#8217;s a Gautham Menon movie. Yeah, this is a movie which sells because of its director, not to mention other myriad factors &#8211; a long list topped by A.R. Rahman&#8217;s soulful music.</p>
<p>At the outset, the story seems mundane and hackneyed. Aspiring director, mechanical-engineer, Tam-dude Karthik (Silambarasan) woos landlord&#8217;s daughter Jessie (Trisha) who happens to be a Mallu Christian, and a year older to make things worse. He&#8217;s smitten by her at the first sight, follows her and speaks his heart out, only to get summarily rejected. He follows the female all the way to Kerala (with a movie-cinematographer for company) and meets her in the church to apologize. Spending a day with Jessie in Alappuzha (where Jessie&#8217;s native place is located), love starts blossomming between the two. What follows is a series of cascading events that are complemented by Jessie&#8217;s parents&#8217; disapproval of the duo, a bitter physical exchange with Jessie&#8217;s brother and Jessie herself getting cold-feet. It all culminates to a very pragmatic and compelling climax that comes totally unexpected. And shocking.</p>
<p><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="480" height="295" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9Px2YJJM2r0&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0xe1600f&amp;color2=0xfebd01" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="295" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9Px2YJJM2r0&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0xe1600f&amp;color2=0xfebd01" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></p>
<p>As I said earlier, the two high points of the movie are Gautham Menon himself and A.R.R.s music score. Menon has moulded what is cliched story into total perfection and compelling awesomeness. The movie&#8217;s execution is taut and brilliant. Menon has a way with nuances, so we&#8217;ve attention to the minutest of details right &#8211; from Simbu&#8217;s check shirts to Trisha&#8217;s cotton sarees; no stone has been left unturned. Menon&#8217;s mastery of the language deserves special attention &#8211; the movie has some VERY classic lines, most of which are quotable. There&#8217;s one line which repeats itself all through the plot: <em>&#8220;Ulagathille yevallovu penngal irunthum naa yen Jessie love panne?&#8221; </em>(The world has many beautiful girls, yet, why did I choose <em>Jessie? </em>) Plus, the movie has its share of goosebump-moments. The chemistry between the protagonists is again perfect, and this adds on to the beauty of such scenes. The subtle way Simbu collapses onto the gate of his on seeing the girl of his dreams, the first kiss in the train, the &#8216;central park&#8217; scene towards the end&#8230; all are worked out wonderfully.</p>
<p>We see parallels with other Gautham Menon movies in this film. Menon himself plays a Cameo (the role of a spotboy in a shooting set), something he&#8217;s done in all his movies. He&#8217;s even dubbed the voice of Jerry &#8211; Jessie&#8217;s (Trisha&#8217;s character&#8217;s) brother. There are some references to the director himself, when Simbu&#8217;s protege cinematographer <em> &#8211; </em>the self-proclaimed cameraman of Kaakkha Kaakha mentions Gautham&#8217;s name. The frequent use of flawless English (and the F word)  is also a Menon exclusive. Of course, there&#8217;s the Kerala connection as seen in previous GM movies  (namely, Surya&#8217;s Kerala registration jeep in Kaakha Kaakha, the &#8216;Kozhikkode scenes&#8217; in Vaaranam Aayiram) with Jessie being a Malayalee. There are two songs in Malayalam too; all of which leads to Gautham&#8217;s roots in Kerala; his dad hails from the state. Besides, the romantic scenes seem to be a direct transition from Vaaranam Aayiram and Kaakha Kaakha &#8211; an area where Menon excels supremely. As I said earlier, the &#8216;goosebump moments&#8217; are just perfect, making Kaakha Kaakha&#8217;s intensive-passion and Vaaranam Ayiram&#8217;s whimsical-affliction seem puny in comparison. It requires significant foresight and creativity to do justice to such minutiae. Plus, at some point in time, one tends to suspect whether the movie has parallels with Gautham&#8217;s life. He too was a Mechanical Engineer and did a paradigm shift to movies, very soon. Menon&#8217;s first movie, incidentally, was a love story which went on to be a smashing hit &#8211; Minnalae (Simbu&#8217;s character goes on to direct a movie, later on in the movie). Which, perhaps, explains the extra mile.</p>
<p>Special acknowledgement goes to A.R. Rahman for the music. The oscar-winning musical prodigy needs no further mention and the soundtrack will go down in history as one of his best compositions ever. My picks are &#8220;Aaromale&#8221; &#8211; for its intensity and feel (sung by Malayalam Music director Alphons &#8211; his voice deserves plaudits) and a feel-good Hosanna. This is one album in which each song outperforms each other to such extent that it&#8217;s hard to pick out winners. The music has actually gone a long way to help the movie do brisk business.</p>
<p>Simbu and Trisha get applauds for their acting skills. Especially Simbu, who has carved a niche for himself with this understated acting. His expression of silent excitement and frustration, the unabashed, but controlled anger, the thinly-veiled hitting-on &#8211; all are classy, to say the least. Trisha also excels with her understated expressions. There are no flowing emotions/dramatic outpours in the movie. Everything is controlled, although the same cannot be said about the co-stars, who fade into oblivion as mere props, masked by the sparkling performances by the lead actors. At one point in the movie, you feel the movie has just two actors!</p>
<p>Realism is another striking feature of this movie. Perhaps, this is one singular accolade that every spectator would unanimous agree with. There&#8217;s no supernatural element whatsoever &#8211; not even within the stunt scenes. The plot, especially the climax, shines with stark realism that hits you straight in the gut, leaving you with an elegant depression of sorts as you walk  trudge out of the theatre. I say elegant, because the sensation is actually enjoyable. Apart from the climax, every scene of the movie lacks hype/super-realism, which is typical of Tamil movies. Even the stunt scenes are natural to the core; although Simbu escapes unhurt after the two-odd stunts, there&#8217;s the redeeming explanation that he&#8217;s the boxing champion at college.</p>
<p>Editing by Anthony is taut, and makes what would&#8217;ve been an insanely long movie, concise and watchable. So are the frames by Manoj Paramahamsa, which are rich in visual aesthetics.</p>
<p>Yet, Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya is not a movie that would be loved by all. Not everyone would be equally endeared by the movie; many would tend to shun this flick, citing it  worthless. Sad fact, since, most of us are hypocrites, escaping from reality, hence the ostracization &#8211; that&#8217;s the only explanation I can offer. There&#8217;s the evident con of a hackneyed story, which even makes you yawn at times. Even with Antony&#8217;s editing, the movie  does drag. There aren&#8217;t many funny moments within the flick, and certainly you wouldn&#8217;t feel good once you&#8217;re out of the theatre, even though it does leave an indelible impression within your psyche. The portrayal of Kerala too, has drawn brickbats. There&#8217;s a fleeting glimpse of a &#8216;Sagar Alias Jacky&#8217; flex board, which has let Mammootty fans down. <img src='http://www.harishanker.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_neutral.gif' alt=':-|' class='wp-smiley' />  (Dumb, I know!! <img src='http://www.harishanker.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_neutral.gif' alt=':-|' class='wp-smiley' />  ) Trisha&#8217;s character speaks appalling, stuttered Malayalam, which would&#8217;ve been worked out by using a better dubbing artist. Besides, the plot has a tad too many complications &#8211; which means, you&#8217;d have to see it a couple of times to properly comprehend the entire movie.</p>
<p>All said, the movie is certainly watchable, and is <strong>VERY STRONGLY RECOMMENDED. </strong>This flick is a total-must-watch. Pay a deaf ear to the negative opinions and give it try. The pic would be a refreshing addition to the clique of movies one should watch just for the &#8216;experience&#8217; of it. Even if you&#8217;re brainwashed by the negatives, watch it for the music, watch it for the goosebump-moments, watch it for the chemistry, and the best of &#8216;em all &#8211; watch it for some of the best, quotable, pick-up lines!</p>
<p><strong>My Rating: 4.5/5</strong></p>
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<p><b>Related posts:</b><ol><li><a href='http://www.harishanker.net/2010/05/kites-a-review/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Kites: A Review'>Kites: A Review</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.harishanker.net/2009/09/quick-gun-murugun/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Quick Gun Murugun: A Review'>Quick Gun Murugun: A Review</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.harishanker.net/2009/11/two-states-by-chetan-bhagat-a-review/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Two States by Chetan Bhagat &#8211; A review'>Two States by Chetan Bhagat &#8211; A review</a></li>
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		<title>Quick Gun Murugun: A Review</title>
		<link>http://www.harishanker.net/2009/09/quick-gun-murugun/</link>
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		<pubDate>Sat, 12 Sep 2009 05:58:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>hari</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[The Earth is my bed, The Sky is my ceiling, The whole creation is my native place My name is Murugun. Quick Gun Murugun. Whatay punchline! What a movie! It was Sidharth who dragged me with him to the theatre. The two of us desperately had to watch a movie &#8211; we hadn&#8217;t been to [...]


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<li><a href='http://www.harishanker.net/2010/03/vinnaithaandi-varuvaayaa-review/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa &#8211; A Review'>Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa &#8211; A Review</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.harishanker.net/2009/11/two-states-by-chetan-bhagat-a-review/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Two States by Chetan Bhagat &#8211; A review'>Two States by Chetan Bhagat &#8211; A review</a></li>
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<p><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="425" height="344" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/W2shlxipzyk&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/W2shlxipzyk&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></p>
<blockquote><p>The Earth is my bed,</p>
<p>The Sky is my ceiling,</p>
<p>The whole creation is my native place</p>
<p>My name is Murugun. Quick Gun Murugun.</p></blockquote>
<p><a title="Domain Maximus! Plagiarizing him. :P" href="http://www.whatay.com/" target="_blank">Whatay</a> punchline! What a movie! <img src='http://www.harishanker.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif' alt=':-D' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p>It was <a title="Sidharth R." href="http://amexxlife.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Sidharth</a> who dragged me with him to the theatre. The two of us desperately had to watch a movie &#8211; we hadn&#8217;t been to the theatre in a while. We&#8217;d originally set sight on <a title="District 9" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_9" target="_blank">District 9</a>, but sadly, the theatre-wallahs hadn&#8217;t even heard about such a movie, let alone relase it in this sleepy ol&#8217; Trivandrum! <img src='http://www.harishanker.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_neutral.gif' alt=':|' class='wp-smiley' />  Leaving District 9 for the torrents, we scanned the papers and zeroed in on Murugun.</p>
<p>The story revolves around the travails of Quickgun Murugun, a desi cowboy, whose only &#8216;luggage&#8217; consists of two &#8217;60s model revolvers, played by 57 year old Telugu comedian <a title="Dr. Rajendraprasad" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajendra_Prasad_(actor)" target="_blank">Dr Rajendraprasad</a>. Always clad in Clint Eastwood-ish, cowboy attire (suitably desi-fied), his fight is against arch-rival Riceplate Reddy (Nasser) &#8211; who, contrary to his pseudonym, shows the least affliction to &#8216;rice&#8217; and is intent on making the whole country &#8216;non-veg&#8217;, by converting all veg hotels to non-veg. Now, the purely vegan Murugun isn&#8217;t exactly enamored with the phrase &#8216;non-veg&#8217; (yes, not even the jokes) and single handedly rescues a hotel from the clasps of Reddy&#8217;s accomplice &#8216;Gun Powder&#8217;. An enraged Reddy captures Murugun after a spectacular (read &#8216;ROTFL!!&#8217;) stunt at a coconut grove and kills him. Murugun, after a lot of red tape at Mr C. Gupta&#8217;s (played by Vinay Pathak) office in the  Ministry of Death, gets his return letter sanctioned and returns to Earth in 2007, twenty five years after his death! Meanwhile, Reddy is a bigtime tycoon and is about to launch his new &#8216;Mc. Dosa&#8217;. Murugun, with help from his brother and new-found love Mango Dolly, &#8216;googles&#8217; Reddy out, fights him and his accomplices like &#8216;Rowdy MBA&#8217; and achieves victory!</p>
<p><img style="border: 0px initial initial;" title="Quick Gun Murugun" src="http://www.harishanker.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/quick-gun-murugun-movie-photo-gallery-15.jpg" alt="Quick Gun Murugun" width="486" height="650" /></p>
<p>The high point of this movie is the southie humor. Despite a Bengali director and down-to-last-detail, subtitle, this is a bollywood movie made <em>for </em>the south. You can&#8217;t call it a &#8216;Hindi&#8217; movie, or and &#8216;English&#8217; flick. It&#8217;s 45% tamil, 45% English and some 10% Hindi. The QGM character (born out of the old Channel V caricature) is indeed the USP! The stunt scenes (which have Mr QGM biting the bullet, well, literally), subtly-woven-into-still-racuous humour (The Coconut-climbing training institute, the B/g score &#8211; a flute version of &#8216;The Good, The Bad The Ugly&#8217; theme), some non-veg jokes (all with proper Tam-diction at place); all hit the right note. If you were LMAO at SRK&#8217;s Rajnikanth take in Om Shanti Om, you&#8217;ll love this flick. Kudos to Dr Rajendraprasad, who has done his part exceedingly well! So did most other actors, especially Raju Sundaram (Rowdy MBA) and Nasser. Lola Kutty (Locket Lover &#8211; Murugun&#8217;s erstwhile hearthrob, now residing in his locket) and Ranvir Shenroy (The &#8216;San sani news reporer &#8211; the only guy who speaks &#8216;proper&#8217; Hindi in the movie) and Vinay Pathak (C. Gupta who makes the occasional appearance) are sadly wasted, though. Ghosh has also touched on a plethora of issues like Mumbai&#8217;s roads, and red tapism, in the movie.</p>
<p>All said, not all things about the movie are equally rosy. The accent becomes tedious and repetitive at times. Even hard to decipher, and that too for a southie like me! People from the north must&#8217;ve had a tough time trying to make head or tail out of Murugun&#8217;s wise words &#8211; had it not been for the subtitling, they&#8217;d have totally been at sea. Same goes with the jokes! Apart from the evident &#8216;bullet biting&#8217; stunts, many southie jokes go way above others&#8217; heads. There&#8217;s always unevenness in the storyline, which is clearly unreal, for the discerning viewer. There&#8217;s a comic-book feel in every reel &#8211; a phenomenon that won&#8217;t go down well with the average joe. It&#8217;s again a fact that, the movie as a whole, might seem lifeless, despite the superbly-picturised stunt scenes and the sterling performance by Dr Rajendraprasad. The reason being a visibly staid narrative that falters at times.</p>
<p>All said, I&#8217;d strongly recommend QGM! Because it spoofs quite a lot of things you bitch about. Because you&#8217;re goanna laugh your ass off at the insanely-funny stunts. Because you&#8217;re crazy about vegetarianism and you were looking forward for means to spreading it! (this one doesn&#8217;t apply to all). Because you&#8217;re goanna rip off all those &#8216;Tamglish&#8217; dialogues and seamelessly merge them in your daily conversation! (Trust me, it&#8217;s uber-cool! <img src='http://www.harishanker.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_razz.gif' alt=':P' class='wp-smiley' /> )</p>
<p><strong>My Rating: </strong>8.563/10</p>
<p>Go watch it, I say! <img src='http://www.harishanker.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
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<p><b>Related posts:</b><ol><li><a href='http://www.harishanker.net/2010/05/kites-a-review/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Kites: A Review'>Kites: A Review</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.harishanker.net/2010/03/vinnaithaandi-varuvaayaa-review/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa &#8211; A Review'>Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa &#8211; A Review</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.harishanker.net/2009/11/two-states-by-chetan-bhagat-a-review/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Two States by Chetan Bhagat &#8211; A review'>Two States by Chetan Bhagat &#8211; A review</a></li>
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		<title>To Did. &#8211; A short film</title>
		<link>http://www.harishanker.net/2009/05/to-did/</link>
		<comments>http://www.harishanker.net/2009/05/to-did/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 09 May 2009 07:24:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>hari</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[camera]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Direction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[images]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Movie]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[photography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[stitching]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[To Did]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[I We made our first second movie! To Did &#8211; A short film. Written, Produced and Directed by: Akhil Sasidharan &#38; Hari Shanker R To Did is a short film that celebrates the potency and power of Time. From ancient sundials to the modern atomic clocks, mankind has tried to hold and watch time. Time [...]


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<li><a href='http://www.harishanker.net/2009/07/the-computer-and-i/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: The Computer and I'>The Computer and I</a></li>
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<p><span style="text-decoration: line-through;">I</span> We made our <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">first</span> second movie!</p>
<h2>To Did &#8211; A short film.</h2>
<p><strong>Written, Produced and Directed by:</strong> <a title="Akhil Sasidharan" href="http://im.sliced.in/" target="_blank">Akhil Sasidharan</a> &amp; <a title="Hari Shanker R." href="http://www.harishanker.net/" target="_blank">Hari Shanker R</a></p>
<p><object width="425" height="344" data="http://www.youtube.com/v/hKWMK5c8gFY&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/hKWMK5c8gFY&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /></object></p>
<p><span>To Did is a short film that celebrates the potency and power of Time. </span><span class="description">From ancient sundials to the modern atomic clocks, mankind has tried to hold and watch time. Time is immense and immeasurable.  We wanted to capture the power of time and manifest it in our movie. We wanted to make time stand still, and we realized that there&#8217;s just one way to do that &#8211; by capturing its essence in a photograph! </span><span> The entire movie is a series of still images stitched together at various frame rates. 1568 images were used to make this movie, which reminds you of a picture book from your school days. <img src='http://www.harishanker.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':-)' class='wp-smiley' /> </span></p>
<p><span>The movie has a story in itself,  Akhil <em>Chettan </em>(a pro-blogger, quizzer,  photographer, movie-buff, senior at college and a great buddy) has been obsessed with movies for long. He&#8217;s even written a couple of professional scripts which he&#8217;s submitted to various competitions, but always in vain. Frustrated, and with talent bustling within, he badly wanted to portray his passion and carve a niche for himself. That was when we became buddies and I realized that he&#8217;s more or less a carbon copy of myself.</span></p>
<p><span>We started working on a script for an ambitious short film. But it had a lot of constraints associated with it. Both of us were broke! We couldn&#8217;t afford costly video cameras, actors, props and elaborate sets. Still, we decided to make do with the constraints and started working on a rudimentary script. That was when <a title="Kerala Short Film Awards" href="http://www.keralafilm.com/" target="_blank">Kerala Short Film Awards</a> was announced. The deadline was hardly a week away, and both of us were badly screwed up by the intricacies of the engineering curriculum, namely Projects, assignments, series exams and the lot. Flustered by the lack of time, we decided to choose another story and zeroed in on Time. I came up with the idea of stitching still images together for the movie. We began writing like hell!</span></p>
<p><span>Armed with his Nikon D40 SLR, Akhil Chettan &amp; I were clicking away in no time. Despite an array of project presentations and other crap, we completed our 9 minute movie, in style. It&#8217;s not perfect, but given the time constraints and deadlines, it is our best foot forward. The was my first experience in doing a narration. Although the voice lacks clarity (blame the audio comperssion, my broken up Windows XP, and a nagging cold), I think I did okay. Compared to<a title="Bootstrap: The Movie" href="http://movie.harishanker.net/" target="_blank"> my first movie</a>. I feel &#8216;To Did&#8217; is a better effort by all means.</span></p>
<p><span>Please watch the movie and shout out your candid comments in here. <img src='http://www.harishanker.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':-)' class='wp-smiley' /> </span></p>
<p><span><strong>P.S. </strong>Do read <a title="To Did. - Akhil Sasidharan" href="http://im.sliced.in/filmmaking/to-did-from-start-to-finish.htm" target="_blank">this detailed post about our movie by Akhil <em>Chettan</em></a>. <img src='http://www.harishanker.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':-)' class='wp-smiley' /><br />
</span></p>
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<p><b>Related posts:</b><ol><li><a href='http://www.harishanker.net/2009/04/googles-environment-film/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Google&#8217;s environment film project: Home'>Google&#8217;s environment film project: Home</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.harishanker.net/2009/01/bootstrap-genesis/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Bootstrap: The Genesis'>Bootstrap: The Genesis</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.harishanker.net/2009/07/the-computer-and-i/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: The Computer and I'>The Computer and I</a></li>
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		<title>Bootstrap released!!</title>
		<link>http://www.harishanker.net/2009/02/bootstrap-released/</link>
		<comments>http://www.harishanker.net/2009/02/bootstrap-released/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 05 Feb 2009 03:01:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>hari</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Movies]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[After the obnoxiously-long delay, the movie is finally released. We have our own reasons for the delay. Lab exams, Aagneya&#8230; you name it! Yet, we surmounted them all, and found time to release the movie! Download!&#124; Low Quality, WMV, Filesize: 13 MB; 4:51 Download! &#124; High Quality, AVI DivX; Filesize: 24 MB; 4:51 The High [...]


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<div style="text-align:left;">
<div style="text-align:left;">After the obnoxiously-long delay, the movie is finally released.</p>
<p><object width="425" height="344" data="http://www.youtube.com/v/hg7eRNZb7mk&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/hg7eRNZb7mk&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /></object></p>
<p>We have our own reasons for the delay. Lab exams, Aagneya&#8230; you name it! Yet, we surmounted them all, and found time to release the movie!</p>
<p><span style="font-size:180%;"><a href="http://www.zshare.net/video/55125212d1edd229/"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> Download!</span></span></a>|</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> Low Quality, WMV, Filesize: 13 MB; 4:51</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://www.zshare.net/video/551720844b7dd727/"><br />
</a><span style="font-size:180%;"><a href="http://www.zshare.net/video/551720844b7dd727/">Download!</a><a href="http://www.zshare.net/video/551720844b7dd727/"> </a>| </span><span style="font-size:100%;">High Quality, AVI DivX; Filesize: 24 MB; 4:51</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br />
The High Quality version put up here has some issues. Please wait for a couple of hours more to get a refurbished edition online. <img src='http://www.harishanker.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif' alt=':D' class='wp-smiley' /> </span></span></p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: line-through;">YouTube has currently blocked the audio due to some issues. So YouTube users will have to wait for a couple of days more.</span> But I cheated the YouTube copyright protection algorithm and made the audio live! <img src='http://www.harishanker.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif' alt=':D' class='wp-smiley' /> </div>
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		<title>Reviewing &#8216;Slumdog&#8217;</title>
		<link>http://www.harishanker.net/2009/01/reviewing-slumdog/</link>
		<comments>http://www.harishanker.net/2009/01/reviewing-slumdog/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 16 Jan 2009 06:11:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>hari</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Review]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[The whole world&#8217;s been talking about this movie for a long long time. The banter, applause and sheer admiration (not to mention the 4 Golden Globes!) for the movie grew to such ear-jarring levels that even I, a reticent movie-watcher &#8211; to put it crude, couldn&#8217;t resist. I just finished watching &#8220;Slumdog Millionaire&#8221; a couple [...]


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<p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">The whole world&#8217;s been talking about this movie for a long long time. The banter, applause and sheer admiration (not to mention the 4 Golden Globes!) for the movie grew to such ear-jarring levels that even I, a reticent movie-watcher &#8211; to put it crude, couldn&#8217;t resist.</span></p>
<p><object width="480" height="295"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/AIzbwV7on6Q&#038;hl=en&#038;fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/AIzbwV7on6Q&#038;hl=en&#038;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="295"></embed></object></p>
<p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I just finished watching &#8220;</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slumdog_Millionaire">Slumdog Millionaire</a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">&#8221; a couple of minutes back.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">And, what a movie it was! As the end-credits rolled to the resounding &#8220;Jai Ho!&#8221; track by </span><a href="http://www.arrahman.com/">A.R.R.</a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">, I couldn&#8217;t suppress a loud applause (which, needless to say, attracted quite a lot of brickbats from my exasperated mom!)!</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">To cut a long story short, It&#8217;s one of the best movies I&#8217;ve seen in recent times. <img src='http://www.harishanker.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':-)' class='wp-smiley' /> </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">No, I&#8217;m not saying this because now it&#8217;s &#8216;fashionable&#8217; to say &#8220;SM Rocks!&#8221; with some amount of jingoism. In fact, I knew the story of the movie right when I read about in the back pages of &#8216;</span><a href="http://www.thehindu.in/">The Hindu</a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">&#8216;, long back. I&#8217;d read </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q_and_A">Q&amp;A</a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> by </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vikas_Swarup">Vikas Swarup</a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">, the novel on which the movie is based on, a couple of years back. Frankly, I didn&#8217;t like the book. The story and the premise were appealing, indeed. But the narrative faltered at times and Swarup&#8217;s language was not exactly what you&#8217;d be expecting from a Hi-fi diplomat. So, as SM bagged accolades by the day, my response continued to have more surprise than excitement. Until I was bowled over by the movie, that is</span>.</p>
<p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I loved the movie for the way </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Boyle">Danny Boyle</a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> (the director) has weaved the intricacies of the story. I loved the brilliant camera work by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Dod_Mantle">Anthony Dod Mantle</a> and the chemistry between Jamaal (</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dev_Patel">Dev Patel</a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">) and Latika, played by </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freida_Pinto">Freida Pinto</a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">. (Despite Pinto&#8217;s average looks, I just adored her!! Especially at that scene where Jamaal looks down on her from a top floor of CST. She looked so cute in that Yellow Kurti, flashing a smile looking upwards!! Precisely like someone, umm&#8230; I </span><span style="font-style:italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;">like</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">! <img src='http://www.harishanker.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_razz.gif' alt=':P' class='wp-smiley' /> ) The book&#8217;s movie-adaptation is brilliant. All the faltered narrative has been soothed and all those gory and improbable nuances of the story have been suitably pruned. In fact, apart from the premise of a &#8216;Slumdog&#8217; becoming a &#8216;millionaire&#8217; (This is one of the movies whose story is right there in its title!) and the general stream of narrative, there&#8217;s little similarity between the book and the movie. The credit for this goes to </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Beaufoy">Simon Beaufoy</a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">And last, but actually the </span><span style="font-weight:bold;font-family:trebuchet ms;">BEST </span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">part about the movie is the Music. A.R.R. rocks!! And he rocks with panache! I was swept off my feat when I first heard the soundtrack. Ever since, my bedroom&#8217;s been booming with all those tracks from &#8220;Jai Ho!&#8221; to &#8220;Ringa ringa&#8230;&#8221; (my favourite!!). Mr </span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">A.S. Dileep Kumar</span>, a.k.a.<br />
<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Alla Rakha Rahman, HATS OFF!! I bow before thee!</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Of course, the movie has quite a lot of subtle-India bashing with the underbelly of &#8216;Maximum City&#8217; ripped open to public view. In fact, this point has come in for a lot of derision. Many purists are condemning Slumdog, along with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arvind_Adiga">Adiga</a>&#8216;s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_White_Tiger">White Tiger</a>, for the negative portrayal of the country. I saw the India-bashing element as a feather in the movie&#8217;s cap actually. There&#8217;s no way of questioning creative freedom. And truth doesn&#8217;t become truth by suppressing it. It has to be shown open to the world!</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">However, all is not perfect. There are plot holes. Lots of them. To mention one, how come Indians, (SLUMDOGS, mind you!!) speak English all the time? Alright sir, the movie&#8217;s British; that&#8217;s for widespread-understandability and there are traces of Hindi thrown in here and there. But again, <span style="font-weight:bold;">THE</span> slum dog, Jamaal speaks with a tinge of British accent! Despite all his training to master the Indian tone, he hasn&#8217;t fully succeeded! True, his subtle and understated style of acting endeared me, but from a movie vying for the Oscars, you expect some more perfection.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Then there&#8217;s the most prominent one of all. Who Wants to be a Millionaire is a pre-recorded show. Here&#8217;s it&#8217;s being shown as LIVE! And, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anil_Kapoor">Anil Kapoor</a>, (the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shah_Rukh_Khan">SRK</a>/<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amitabh_Bachchan">Amitabh</a> clone) is the one who calls the police, suspecting the veracity of our Slumdog on a  winning-spree. When, exactly does he do that? There&#8217;s just one commercial break shown in the movie and that&#8217;s being spent with Jamal &amp; Anil sharing the loo.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Alright, that&#8217;s enough criticism. In fact, you&#8217;d forget all these minor blunders at the sheer awesomeness of the movie! There are enough goose bump-moments. Especially the scene where Jamaal is crowned &#8216;millionaire&#8217;. I loved the French Kiss at the end too, even though it wasn&#8217;t exactly &#8216;perfect&#8217;, per se! <img src='http://www.harishanker.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif' alt=';-)' class='wp-smiley' /> </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">In retrospect, I can boldly say that every part about this movie is too good. Yes, even the plot holes. Which is why I&#8217;m generously giving it a <span style="font-weight:bold;">9.99/10</span>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Won&#8217;t be surprised if Slumdog bags a couple of Oscars!</span></p>
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		<title>Bootstrap: The Genesis</title>
		<link>http://www.harishanker.net/2009/01/bootstrap-genesis/</link>
		<comments>http://www.harishanker.net/2009/01/bootstrap-genesis/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 14 Jan 2009 11:22:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>hari</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Musings]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://thethunderbolt.wordpress.com/2009/01/14/bootstrap-the-genesis/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Date: 12th February, 2008Location: S5 IT Classroom, Govt. Engineering College, Barton Hill &#8216;Microrprocessors and Interfacing&#8217; was being taught at class. It was the final hour of the semester. Most students were droopy-eyed and half-asleep, even as the teacher went on to teach the nuances of 8255 Controller. However, two students were dejected for a different [...]


<b>Related posts:</b><ol><li><a href='http://www.harishanker.net/2009/02/bootstrap-released/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Bootstrap released!!'>Bootstrap released!!</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.harishanker.net/2009/05/to-did/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: To Did. &#8211; A short film'>To Did. &#8211; A short film</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.harishanker.net/2008/05/de-tour-1-genesis/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: De-Tour &#124; Genesis'>De-Tour &#124; Genesis</a></li>
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<p><span style="font-weight:bold;font-family:trebuchet ms;">Date: </span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">12th February, 2008</span><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;font-family:trebuchet ms;">Location:</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> S5 IT Classroom, Govt. Engineering College, Barton Hill</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">&#8216;Microrprocessors and Interfacing&#8217; was being taught at class. It was the final hour of the semester. Most students were droopy-eyed and half-asleep, even as the teacher went on to teach the nuances of 8255 Controller.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">However, two students were dejected for a different reason. Their dream, their baby, hadn&#8217;t materialized. They had thought about it all the semester, they&#8217;d made huge plans. They wanted to make it big. But the strong arm of fate hit them hard and pinned them to the ground. But they had the will, they wanted their dream to materialize.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Yes, the students wanted to make a movie. But it was the last day of class. The exams would start on the 18th of December. Time was a problem. And their old script was fully repudiated and ridiculed by their buddies. They had to zero in on a new story and they were too demoralized to make one.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Now, the students were none other than Azarudeen (not the cricketer!) and yours truly!</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Suddenly yours truly had a brainwave. Azar was questioned and woken up from his state of half-slumber.</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">&#8220;</span><span style="font-style:italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;">Dude, why don&#8217;t we make a movie NOW?&#8221;<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Azar was stupefied.</span><br /><span style="font-style:italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;">&#8220;Duh! Now? You mean, today? But how? We don&#8217;t even  have a story!&#8221;<br /></span><span style="font-weight:bold;font-family:trebuchet ms;">Yours Truly: </span><span style="font-style:italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;">&#8220;Dude, we&#8217;ll make one now. See, we&#8217;ve this assignment  to be submitted today. We&#8217;ll weave a story out of it. What say?&#8221;</span><span style="font-style:italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br /></span><span style="font-weight:bold;font-family:trebuchet ms;">Azar:</span><span style="font-style:italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;"> &#8220;But,  but how&#8217;re we goanna shoot it? Do we have a cam?&#8221;<br /></span><span style="font-weight:bold;font-family:trebuchet ms;">Yours Truly</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> </span><span style="font-style:italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;">&#8220;No  worries, man! I&#8217;ve Sreehari&#8217;s camera with me! We&#8217;ll make the  movie!&#8221;<br /></span><span style="font-weight:bold;font-family:trebuchet ms;">Azar:</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> </span><span style="font-style:italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;">&#8220;That&#8217;s the spirit, buddy! We&#8217;ll start  now!&#8221;</p>
<p></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">The rest of the hour saw some intense planning, all amid silence. We brainstormed for over half an hour, dropping in points here and there, and finally writing a rudiment of our script. Our movie was born. We christened it: </span><br />
<blockquote><span style="font-size:180%;">&#8220;Bootstrap&#8221;</span></p></blockquote>
<p><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_q8C65n6Pv28/SW3JF_P9OaI/AAAAAAAAAvg/dSFhP8SJmY8/s1600-h/boot1.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer;width:400px;height:283px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_q8C65n6Pv28/SW3JF_P9OaI/AAAAAAAAAvg/dSFhP8SJmY8/s400/boot1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p>
<p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">To tweak an oft-quoted cliche, the rest of the day saw some kick-ass action which actually made history! The &#8216;set&#8217; (our class) was readied. Actors were coaxed and cajoled under gunpoint (and sweet promises). The nuances were explained, Arc-lights (tube lights!!) were fixed. The shooting began. Within an hour, we were done. &#8220;Bootstrap&#8221; became a reality.</span><span style="font-style:italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">It didn&#8217;t stop just by that.</span><span style="font-style:italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;"> </span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">We (read, Azar &amp; I) worked round the clock, braving tight exam schedules to make our 5 minute movie!</span><span style="font-style:italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;"> </span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">It wasn&#8217;t an easy job. Azar&#8217;s PC overheated due to maniacal &#8216;rendering&#8217; softwares!! I lost my mind, literally, editing music. After all that work, our babe is ready for release. If all goes well, our worldwide release will happen on the 1st of February. We&#8217;re all thrilled! </span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> <img src='http://www.harishanker.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':-)' class='wp-smiley' /> </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Yeah, we&#8217;ve even made our website! Please visit:</span><span style="text-decoration:underline;font-family:trebuchet ms;"></p>
<p></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:180%;"><a href="http://bootstrapblunder.blogspot.com/">http://boot.harishanker.net/</a><br /></span><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_q8C65n6Pv28/SW3JUy25wEI/AAAAAAAAAvo/dLXOllZVWfU/s1600-h/1+big.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer;width:400px;height:283px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_q8C65n6Pv28/SW3JUy25wEI/AAAAAAAAAvo/dLXOllZVWfU/s400/1+big.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>
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