Deshdrohi screening banned in Maharashtra!

This blog is turning out to be a movie blog! No way. This is going to be the last of movie related posts that I am putting up for some time now. 

 

Alas! Kamal Rashid Khan’s magnum opus Deshdrohi’s screening has been stayed by the Maharashtra state government for 60 days. The film will entertain the rest of the country from November 14. So, as much as I wanted, I won’t be able to view this movie, let alone review it. What luck!

 

But with the rampant piracy that is happening, I guess whether this ban is really going to work? In Mumbai, any movie CD is available almost on the day of release. And given the penny pricing of these CDs, coupled with this renewed interest in Kamaal Rashid Khan and Deshdrohi, my sense is that more people will be able to see this film.

 

KRK’s Deshdrohi now join a select set of films that have been banned in the recent past –

·         Fanaa banned in Gujarat

·         Jodha Akbar banned in MP

·         Aaja Nachle banned in Haryana (I guess, not sure!)

·         Da Vinci Code banned in Punjab and Goa

 

Welcome to the big league!

More than pictures…

Some pictures mean more than they say! These are random shots that I have collected from various places. Am not a photographer – but am sure you can see the depth in these pictures!!!

A New Beginning – This was taken one fine morning at the Food Mall on the Mumbai Pune Expressway at 6 am. The sun had just lit up the sky, while the solitary lamp post seems to be looking at in awe, wondering if it could ever manage this magic!!!

Light-up-the-sky!

Land’s End? – Taken from atop the Chapora Fort in Goa, this breathtaking picture is more than a shoreline. It’s a reminder of what the planet was before we starting killing it bit by bit. How soon before the end?

Phir Milenge! – The sunset. This painting on God’s canvass is the most tranquil scenes that I have ever seen. When was the last time you felt peace?

See ya, tomorrow!

Waterworld! – Nature’s temper tantrum in Mumbai. That’s abour 5 feet of water in my building!

Where

Life is full of choices – It’s the choices you make that truly define you. Just like this wall. Elegant, Beautiful, Solid, Fighter. Never give in, never give up!

Carved in stone!

Goa!

 

When we went to Goa last January for our annual vacation, we decided that this time it would be serious beach bumming. The program was simple. Eat, swim, drink, swim, drink, well I guess you pretty well get the picture!

 

First things first. Buy swimwear.

Option 1 – No swimwear, wear your shorts and t-shirt in the sea. Be a laughing stock.

Option 2 – Adorn (yes, that’s the word) swimwear on our bodies. Be a laughing stock.

 

Always ready to take on challenges, we took the risk of getting swimwear. Megs and I walked boldly with steely determination on the streets of Baga towards a swim wear shop. We saw one, bold and pink. “Bikini Shop” screamed the hoarding with a picture of a firang girl, who would have looked better with some clothes on, maybe one of the bikinis that the shop was selling! Our resolve melted, our mind was clouded with a million questions… was this shop only for firangs? Should we go in? We could pass of as our neighbours from the south with our complexion…No! Let’s go to a decent shop, and we meekly walked into a garment shop. The shop owner gave us pitiful looks while pointing to the “Bikini Shop”. Left with no choice, we walked in there. Once inside, we tried to look as cool while clearly we were as comfortable as a mouse is in a mouse trap. We tried to ignore the attendant and started to sift through the racks. It was easy picking a suit for Megs, with the attendant giving his “two bits” (pun intended) of his recommendation for “bhabhi” – we discovered he was from UP who thought it was ok for firangs to wear two piece costumes, but not us. Racist, was he? Maybe. But a feminist, definitely. He didn’t have trunks for me. His next shop did.

 

With the victory of buying a swimming costume for Megs, I strut in confidently into the “men’s” shop. On asking for trunks for me, he removed a piece of cloth barely enough to cover my wallet! I looked at him with a menacing glint in my eye for “down sizing” me. He smiled. “Sir, try to karo, fit hogi”. Highly optimistic, I smirked. Walked into the trial room; wondering if that piece of cloth would even make it up to my knees. Horror, wonder, it not only did it slide smoothly up my legs but it did fit, quite comfortably.

 

Second challenge. Wear swimwear. Which I did. My twiggy body not withstanding, I walked the beach like a gladiator who had just slain the fiercest lion. I had bigger challenges to face. I can’t swim. I just stood in chest deep water beating my frail arms. Hopefully the water not only hid my body but I hoped that maybe the refraction could possibly add a positive visual effect to enhance my bulk!

 

And, now when I watch the promos of “Dostana” where John Abraham is wearing the yellow tiny trunks, walking out of the sea, I get a sense of déjà vu. Hopefully my gymming should get me closer to his figure. Goa, here I come this January.

 

 

Related post:

Go Goa!

 

 

Go Goa!

I love Goa! And I want to go there all the time. I spent a week for the first time in my life in Goa only to realise that life was so incomplete till then.

While plans for Goa were on for more than a year between the Mo’s and us, we finally managed to do that this January. A week of bliss, a week of heaven is what we got. The way I am, I had everything planned out…. when to visit Fort Aguada, the flea market at Anjuna, the Chapora fort, Calangute and so on. But in Goa, I realised, the biggest mistake one can make there is make a daily plan. The biggest pleasures are in beach bumming (is that the word?!?). And I discovered this only on the last day when all of us spent the whole day at Baga lying on the beach, swimming eating and drinking beer the whole day. And that’s what I want to do on my next visit to Goa. Soon. Very soon.

Simple things bring you the greatest pleasures. The sunsets, the beaches, the people and the food all add to the intoxication. After my honeymoon in Munnar, I thought there would be no other place would give me the high. I was wrong, Munnar hangover took a half a year to vanish, the Goan one continues.

I’ll be there soon, at least twice, once with Megs and Myra – this time she insists that it will have to be Taj Holiday Village. And the second time I’ll head there with some guys who prefer to shack it and bag-pack. I want to feel Goa from one spectrum to another, I want to live Goa completely. I suggest you do the same, its not always that you vacation in heaven!