"Slumdog Millionaire" – Such An Enjoyable Movie

I watched "Slumdog Millionaire" today (29th March 2009) with my dear friend Sourabh Sinha and his wife Ranjana. And man, I really loved watching the movie.

While I will not say that the storyline is very innovative (though certainly imaginative), what was really innovative was the presentation style. “Narration through flashback” is nothing new in movies. But usually it is a “continuous flashback”. What was really new in this movie was the “situational flashback”, the way every flashback scene was being presented in the context of another scene.

The quality of acting in this movie is really startling. While there is nothing surprising about the world class performance of Anil Kapoor (we all already know his class), I am simply floored by the acting delivered by Dev Patel (Jamal), Freida Pinto (Latika), Madhur Mittal (Salim) and even the child actors – Ayush Khedekar (youngest Jamal), Tanay Chheda (middle age Jamal), Rubina Ali (youngest Latika), Tanvi Lonkar (middle age Latika), Azharuddin (youngest Salim) and Ashutosh Gajiwala (middle age Salim).

Dev Patel has a beautiful command of facial expressions, which shows that he is a natural actor. Some effective pieces of facial expressions (and eye expressions) have been displayed by Freida Pinto as well. And little sweet Rubina and Ayush are also quite strong in this context. Tanay Chheda and Ashutosh Gajiwala have impressed me with their natural body movements and dialogue delivery. In a nutshell, it was a superb teamwork.

At the end, all the best for Freida and Dev. Hope they will have a great career, and will keep entertaining us for many more years.

Have you watched the movie? If not, then please watch it. I bet you will love it.

Photo Courtesy - www.firstshowing.net

I have resumed my physical exercise, and enjoying it

One good thing to have happened recently in my life is that I have resumed my Yoga and free hand exercise after a long break. And you know, I am really enjoying it.

I started Yoga and free hand exercise in high school, and continued it till my college days. I was, honestly speaking, quite serious about my daily exercise routine, determined not to miss it for a single day. Even after college I retained the habit while pursuing the post-college professional courses (like PG Diploma in Public Relations).

Then ultimately came a time when I entered the professional life. Life became tough, demanding and strenuous. I slowly started finding the daily routine of exercise to be an unpleasant burden, and eventually I gave it up.

My professional life has already seen seven springs, and it has so far been a “sans exercise” period. Sometimes I have missed my fitness regime, and have started to resume it. But just after 3-4 days again I have found it to be burdensome, and withdrawn myself from it. This has happned for at least 4 to 5 times.

Then, after a long time, few days back again I got “bitten by the fitness bug”. This time I was determined that I would not only start it, but would stick to it. Yes, I used some common sense this time. I realized that now it is impossible to do a host of exercises every morning, as I used to do during my student days. Because now I do not have that time. So I decided to mark out a handful of exercises (both Yoga and free hand exercises), which would not take much time, and stick to them.

That precisely I have done. I have marked out certain exercises, and have been doing them every morning for last 2 weeks. And I am really enjoying my life. I am feeling fit, feeling energetic throughout the office hours and less exhausted after the office is over, and also happy. People may say it is psychological. May be. But how can one deny the fact that I am feeling better?

I have realized what we all actually know – No matter how much work pressure we have, we must have due time for two important aspects of our life – a.) Family and b.) Health.

I Am Grateful To Bollywood

I am really grateful to Bollywood, the largest film industry in the world and one of the objects of pride for us, the Indians.

So why am I grateful to Bollywood? Because it is only by watching Bollywood movies that I have got to know a lot about my community (the Bengali community) that I myself was unaware of.

a.) It is only by watching Hindi movies that I have come to know that the Bengalis are always dressed in Dhoti and Punjabi. It was a fact that I was unaware of despite being a Bengali myself.

b.) It is only by watching Hindi movies that I have come to know that the Bengalis always comb their hair midway. I am really so ashamed that I myself did not know this interesting fact about my own community.

c.) It is only by watching Hindi movies that I have realized how terribly bad our Hindi is. While I always knew that our Hindi accent and pronunciation are not up to the mark, I never knew that our Hindi is really so funny. And yes, I am not even counting the Hindi spoken by the Bengalis brought up in places like Delhi and Mumbai, who speak really good Hindi (at least I feel so, the Bollywood people may think otherwise). Watching the archetypal Bengali characters of the Hindi movies and listening to their smattered Hindi was really an eye opener for me.

d.) It is only by watching Hindi movies that I have realized that all Bengalis are so obsessed with Rasogollah. I never knew that all of us are so obsessed with sweets, and that too precisely with a single type of sweet (i.e. Rasogollah, while we have so many other types of sweets as well).

e.) It is only by watching Hindi movies that I have realized that all Bengalis have the bad habit of saying “Uribaba” at every 5 minutes. This is really a news for me. I have never said “Uribaba” in my entire life. And now I am really doubtful whether I am really a Bengali.

Bollywood, I am really grateful to you for making me know so many interesting things about my own community, that I myself was unaware of. Hats off to your knowledge base. Keep it up. Keep typecasting the Bengalis, the Biharis, the South Indians, the Gujaratis, the Sindhis and the Sardarjis. Good luck to you.


French Translation

Je Sais gré A Bollywood

Je suis vraiment reconnaissant à Bollywood, la plus grande industrie de film dans le monde et un des objets de fierté pour nous, les Indiens.

Donc pourquoi sais-je gré à Bollywood ? Parce que ce n'est qu'en regardant les films de Bollywood que je dois savoir beaucoup de ma communauté (la communauté bengalaise) que je m'ignorait.

A.) Ce n'est qu'en regardant les films de hindi que je suis venu savoir que les Bengalis toujours sont habillés dans Dhoti et Punjabi. C'était un fait que j'ignorais malgré est Bengali me.

B.) Ce n'est qu'en regardant les films de hindi que je suis venu savoir que les Bengalis toujours peignent leurs cheveux à mi-chemin. Je suis vraiment si honteux que je me n'a pas su ce fait intéressant de ma propre communauté.

C.) Ce n'est qu'en regardant les films de hindi que je suis rendu compte comment terriblement mauvais notre hindi sont. Pendant que je toujours ai su que notre accent de hindi et la prononciation ne sont pas jusqu'à la marque, je n'ai jamais su que notre hindi soit vraiment si drôle. Et oui, je ne compte pas même le hindi parlé par les Bengalis a amené en haut à sa place comme Delhi et comme Mumbai, qui parlent vraiment bon hindi (au moins je me sens alors, que les gens de Bollywood peuvent penser autrement). Regarder les caractères bengalais archétypiques des films de hindi et écoutant leur smattered hindi était vraiment un ouvre-boîtes d'oeil pour moi.

D.) Ce n'est qu'en regardant les films de hindi que je suis rendu compte que tous Bengalis sont si obsédés avec Rasogollah. Je n'ai jamais su que nous tous si obsédions avec doux, et cela aussi précisément avec un type seul de doux (c.-à-d. Rasogollah, pendant que nous avons tant de types autres de doux aussi).

E.) ce n'est qu'en regardant les films de hindi que je suis rendu compte que tous Bengalis ont la mauvaise habitude de dire d' « Uribaba » à chaque 5 minutes. Ceci est vraiment une nouvelles pour moi. Je n'ai jamais dit « Uribaba » dans ma vie entière. Et maintenant je suis vraiment douteux si je suis vraiment Bengali.

Bollywood, je suis vraiment reconnaissant à vous pour faire que me sais tant de choses intéressantes de ma propre communauté, qui je m'ignorait. Les chapeaux d'à votre base de connaissance. Le maintenir. Garder cataloguer les Bengalis, le Biharis, les Indiens du sud, le Gujaratis, le Sindhis et le Sardarjis. La bonne chance à vous.

I Am An Indian

Neither Bengali nor Punjabi nor Tamil nor any other Indian community

I am an Indian who identifies himself with the entire Indian fraternity.

I love and respect every Indian community, and identify with its customs and culture

And know for sure that we all are same, except some apparent differences in our nature.

I believe in a pan-Indian identity, and identify myself with every region of this land

I am quite proud of my so-called own community (the Bengali community), but on any day I will prefer to carry an “All India” brand.


LONG LIVE INDIA! I LOVE MY MOTHERLAND.


French Translation

Je Suis Indien

Ni Bengali ni Punjabi ni Tamoul ni l'autre communauté indienne

Je suis Indien qui s'identifie avec la fraternité indienne entière.

J'aime et respecte chaque communauté indienne, et identifier avec ses douanes et cultiver

Et savoir exactement que tous sommes mêmes, sauf quelques différences apparentes dans notre nature.

Je crois en une identité casserole-indien, et m'identifier avec chaque région de cette terre

Je suis tout à fait fier de ma soi-disant propre communauté (la communauté bengalaise), mais sur n'importe quel jour que je préférerai porter un "Toute Inde " marque.

INDE LONGUE DE VIE ! J'AIME MA PATRIE.

Human Blood

I am the same inside James Brown, a Roman Catholic American

I am the same inside a Buddhist Chinese, named Miao Chan.

I am the same inside a Muslim Arab named Amir Muhammad

And I am again the same inside a Hindu Indian named Akash Chand.

Yes, I am also the same inside you, no matter which religion or country you are from

Who am I? I am that precious red liquid present inside everybody – the Human Blood.


French Translation

Sang Humain

Je suis le même dans James Brown, un Américain catholique romain

Je suis le même dans un Chinois bouddhiste, Miao Chan nommé.

Je suis le même dans un Arabe musulman a nommé Amir Muhammad

Et je suis encore le même dans un Indien hindou a nommé Akash Chand.

Oui, je suis aussi le même intérieur vous, n'importe qui religion ou le pays que vous êtes de

Qui j'est ? Je suis ce présent liquide, rouge et précieux dans tout le monde – le Sang Humain.