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Sunday, October 24, 2010

Khaleja ~ A Classical mass movie

God lives in peoples belief. The belief can be a idol, an unseen power or even a normal human being. Its all about what you believe. This belief also generates when one gets to know the qualities that makes a human being, a God. Serving humanity is being god like. The concept of Khaleja movie revolves around this plot of how a Taxi driver turns into the Saviour for a whole village.

The story of the movie involves a village which has been effected by continuous deaths because of unknown reasons. A soothsayer in the village feels that there exists one person who can save them from their distress. They term him as their God. How they find him, how he saves them, what is the actual reason for the death, Is it a curse which can be changed only by God, or is it a intentional Holocaust which can be stopped by any human forms the rest of the story.

Mahesh, plays the role of a Taxi driver, who becomes the most wanted person for a village. He has been a complete revelation. He adopted a completely different slang from the rest of his movies and executed it to the perfection. If looks can kill, he will be the most wanted killer in Tollywood. His action was energetic, dialogue delivery much different from the subtle roles he did. Comedy timing and fights amazingly done.

Anushka is passable. Her character has no ample scope for performance and she does well in the limited time she has. Her costume designer needs a makeover. Sunil, Ali, Brahmanandam etc., makes you laugh. Prakash Raj , though, has a small role does a class act apart from the climax.


Trivikram needs to be appreciated for the story line he chose. He poses questions, answers them and again raises concerns over his answers. This movie has the basic concept of "Aham Brahmasmi" which was earlier taken in the movie "Satyame Shivam". If Satyame Shivam was a complete class movie, Khaleja is a classical mass movie. Satyame Shivam deals with the capitalism and Khaleja deals with the negative aspects of the industrialization. Both the films show how a god can be seen in humanity. Trivikram took utmost care in penning the dialogues. He connected every scene in the movie and made sure that most of the scenes make sense and have their importance in the final build up of the story. His dialogues suited well to the character of a taxi driver. Dances were good and costumes for Mahesh need a special mention.

The negative aspects of the movie being excessive display of bloodshed, too much violence, and a story line which may not necessarily be received by most of the audience. It might be confusing to people who think in the lines of the people in village, but include rationality, which wasn’t shown in the village people.

Komaram Puli ~ A satirical approach

Komaram Puli roars. He roars after a long time. This roar has not only the power but also makes everyone remind their own duties and responsibilities. The duties which are ignored and the responsibilities which are never taken up. This movie emphasizes the fact of being born as a human and the responsibility a person has to live with.

SJ Suriya showed his brilliant skills in almost every scene of the movie. He tried hard not to disappoint any section as this movie was meant to reach everyone and he almost got success. The way he has organised the movie giving scope for all the cast to prove their acting prowess is highly incredible. He made sure that not even a single comedy actor goes away in vain. 

Story line typically gives the example of what is not there in the present society. A honest cop who uses his wit, vocabulary, oral skills to impress all the officials. He can detect lies by looking at peoples eyes, but then, he also has some exceptions for that. His mother wants him to be a cop for the society but not for the personal vengeance which shows the way movie goes. The story of a cop who wants to instigate fear among all the criminals of the world by nabbing one of the top criminal and the way he deals with it is the basic plot of the movie.

The growth of technology and its help in finding out the criminals around the world has been showcased in detail and eventually human wins the race with the technology. Camera work was excellent, as the audience can actually see the ripples going through the actors performance in the scenes. Design of the sets have to appreciated. Puli teams office, Al Saleem's home which actually leaves people wondering which place it is.


Pawan Kalyan rocked the show. He showed that he not only can deliver one liners but also lengthy dialogues effectively if given a chance and he has proved more than once in this movie. For the first time ever some one in a movie actually calls him a Power Star. Never seen before action sequences, superbly co-ordinated fights ala knife held at a perfect angle to obstruct the bullet coming from the gun. He show how tough guy he can be in terms of romance. The resistance he shows to the oomph of heroine cannot go unnoticed. Its an out and out Pawan Kalyan movie which shows all his shades.

Nikisha shows what she is best at. Sharanya managed to look young and delivered well. Nazar wasn’t left behind as it always used to be. He sticks with the hero most of the time. Charan Raj character sets an example of how other characters can be elevated.

Finally, Manoj Bajpai, the villian. The strength of the villian comes from the weakness of hero. Since, the hero doesn’t have any weakness, the villian had to create his own strength which he did succesfully. If you miss heros words, no worries, villian will utter them again for you but with less intensity and power.

Finally, I felt this movie as a landmark of all Pawan Kalyan movies. This can never be and will never be forgetten movie of Pawan Kalyan.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

The start of a new journey



I asked "Madhu, Will you marry me?". She said, "Yes, I will". 

Scene 1: It was the month of December. One fine day, I get a phone call from my parents. The time was on for the search of my life partner. An arranged marriage. They sent me the picture of a girl whom they thought would be a correct match for me. I opened my email, had a glance at the picture and thought "Well, interesting. Let me talk to her once." I spoke to my parents and asked them to let me know the time I can speak to her. 

Scene 2: A honorary function arranged in the honor of Shri Shivananda Murthy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadguru_Sivananda_Murty) at Warangal. My parents get the invitation from her parents. They felt it as the best time for me to speak to her. Then it happens, The first phone call. I don't remember the exact words what we spoke. But, it was more of a cordial talk for less than 5 minutes. We both agreed on to have a chat on webcam later with the permission of parents.

Scene 3: Webcam chat. Thanks to Yahoo we get to see each other first time apart from the pictures. Again a cordial talk  but this time for a longer time. I came to know about a few things more. The things which I liked instantly about her were she was a movie buff like me, respects her parents and gives importance to family values. There were a couple of things which I didn't like. 
The conclusion after my chat was I was interested in meeting this girl. But, I cannot take any decision before I meet her personally.

Then things come to a halt. I get busy with some other stuff and the proposal falls back in the priority lists.

After 8 months, in the month of August, I finally get a chance to visit India. http://deepak-preciousthoughts.blogspot.com/2010/08/itinerary-of-stopover-journey.html  

Scene 4: August 14: Her Home. The official Pelli Chupulu. 

This was the first day I saw her personally. "Live" in the media language. It was the Pelli Chupulu. The time when the girl and guy gets a chance to meet each other. We see each other, then we were allowed to spend some time talking to each other. I was hesitant to speak first. The conversation started with the memories of our first chat. It was almost 8 months since we had our last chat. But, it didn't seem to be. The conversation hit the right notes and it went on. The elders were expecting our talk to go for 15 minutes. But 15 minutes passed, 30 mins gone. If I remember right it was almost 45 minutes. We spoke about a lot of things. The things which I wasn't sure of after my chat, faded away in this 45 minute talk. 

Scene 5: My Home: 

I was still in a confusion. It was going to be the decision of my life and I didn't want to take it in a hurry. I asked my parents whether they were completely convinced with the girl and her family. They said they were more than happy to have her in the family. I was still searching for any negatives. The fact that I was searching for the negative itself meant that there were a lot of positives. 

Next day, it was my friend Sunil's Engagement in Hyderabad. I attended that and was still thinking about the decision which I had to make.

The day after, I call my parents and said that I need to talk to her again before I make any decision. They gave me her number. I called her and asked her out. I thought she wont agree but I was happy to hear that she also wanted to have a talk. We fix a time to meet and the place.

Scene 6: Shilparamam. Aug 16.

We met at her hostel. We started looking for some place to sit. Then we decided to go to Shilparamam. So, the location was set. I started talking. I spoke to her on all the things which I felt she should know about. Exchanged our views about things which we have in common, any differences we had. All this time I was searching for any things which I can think of as completely against to my views. Fortunately, the things I found were very trivial.

The time went by quickly, 2 hours and then I was completely convinced. She will be my choice. No more second thoughts about it. The final minutes of our conversation.

Me: After all this talk, I want to ask you an important question. My decision depends on your answer.
She (confused): What is that?
Me (With a red rose, kneeling down): Madhu, will you marry me?
She (after a pause): Yes!! I will.

Her name is Lalitha Madhuri and I call her Madhu. My life partner.

(Prelogue: Jump back to the time before scene 6: I was almost sure of  making Madhu as my partner. I felt I would be the first person to let her know rather than the usual way of her parents conveying the message. I want to make my decision day memorable. I wanted to propose her. So, before I go to meet her, I wanted to buy a red rose and then give her the rose and propose. Thanks to Pavan, who helped me in this whole episode.)

There I stand committed to Madhu. 

Then the Engagement happened on Aug 21, had to leave India and fly back on Aug 23. More about after Engagement stories later..

Adios.




Saturday, August 7, 2010

Itinerary of a Stopover Journey

I'm flying to India tomorrow. Nothing new in it, as I go home almost every year. I  feel India trips are always short and exciting no matter how long is my stay in India. Its always a pleasure to be at home, eating food without cooking, sleeping with no alarm to wake you up and having all the time to spend on your own. I always prefer to go home in the month of August as it gives me a chance to enjoy the monsoons and thus the rains in India. The smell of the soil when it rains is one of the things which never ceases to amuse me. Nature at its best. Crowded roads, honking vehicles, roadside food makes me nostalgic. Good old days.

This time its something different. This will be the shortest ever trip I made to India till date. This will be a different trip from my previous ones. The main purpose of all my India trips was pleasure and relaxation, but this time some serious business is on the cards.

Well, this trip is a stopover for my life journey. If everything goes as per the plan my sojourn will change my status. Am I excited or nervous. Excitement, nicely packed in a box of nervousness is the best way I could describe my situation. I'm enjoying it though.

To break the ice, I will be meeting my partner for life in this stopover. I've been asked this question of how do you want your girl to be many number of times. My answer was always "She should be smart enough to keep herself entertained and not depend on others for her time." In much simpler words she should be individualistic. I always believe in the quote "Nobody is perfect". I don't expect my partner to be perfect as I'm not perfect either. Only birds of same feather can flock together huh!!! But attempts should be made to make each other perfect to each other as the time goes.

One of my favorite quotes on marriage says "Marriage is not only about sharing the similarities but also respecting the differences". I don't think there will be any two persons in the World who completely think alike. The similarities may vary depending on the individuals but never can be two persons thinking same at all times. So, it would be foolish to expect someone who thinks in the same lines as me always. The differences should be respected and understood.

My itinerary for this stopover journey of my life consists of meeting new people, one of whom might be one of the most seen faces for the next part of my life, attending my roomies engagement, catching hold of new friends whom I've been talking for more than months but never met personally and above all spending time with my family after an year. Huff, lots of things and the time I have is 15 days. Well, that life. Take it as it comes.

Got to pack some more stuff. Jeezzz, these airline rules. India, here I come, with bag full of gifts, chocolates and heart full of expectations which can never make me disappoint. After-all, my expectations can never disappoint me. Thats the way I expect things to go.

Saturday, July 31, 2010

My lines

Change is the only consistent thing in this world and if you are not flexible enough to change yourself for what you feel is good then that shows your incapability for adaptation.


Successfully achieving a failure will get you success, since you will be busy in searching for a successful failure and success often comes to those who are busy in not thinking about success.


When Uniqueness becomes common, a common man becomes unique.


Habits, irrespective of good or bad, are killers of laziness. Laziness rocks and personified.


Boredom is the virtue of Non-creative people.


A person who cannot control his emotions cannot be matured enough in taking decisions which are not supposed to be altered emotionally but can be modified intellectually, and if the intellectuals cannot win over emotions, then the person cannot be considered matured.


Self Respect is respecting self, irrespective of what others respect.


Never like anything to such an extent that you start hating anything about it.


A perfect balance between optimism and reality can lead to a full fledged happy life.


Ashashwathamina vaati meeda shashwathamina prema penchukunte, shashwathanga ashashwatham gurinchina aalochanalu matu maayam avutaai.



Monday, July 5, 2010

The Vegas trip..an year before

I wanted to refresh my memories and make this post as an archive of one of my Vegas trips. I said one of my  trips because I've been to Vegas 3 times and this was undoubtedly best of all. The trip was amazing and very well planned and executed. I wished that this would be another of the reunions but unfortunately 3 of my frnds couldn't make a cut for some obvious reasons, and so we 4, me, Kishore,Vamsi and Shivram decided to have masti.

Shivram was our host. Fortunately he lives in Vegas and unfortunately he is still a student. So, this guy was the begining and end point of our trip. He came from vegas to my place which is about 3 and a half hours away and then we both went to Los Angeles Airport to pick kishore from Dallas. Everything went well, and we started our trip. By the time we reached Vegas it was early morning 5. Luckily all of us shared the wheel and nobody was tired..

Vegas was calling.....5am..July 3 2009

We went right away into Bellagio and started gambling, of course only Kishore, as I dont gamble and neither does Shivram. We were juss enjoying the free drinks, the cokes and the coladas. Kishore was having his share of luck at a table "Casino wars", and then a guy showed up he threw $1500 and started playing. We were surprised at the reluctant throw, but in Vegas it was normal, and to our surprise within a span of 30 mins he went back with $4,500, a win of $3000 in 30 mins, as the saying goes, lady luck always smiles at the rich guys. After 2 hours at almost 7am we started to home to take a short nap and get ready for the whole day and the big thing Vamsi was coming got to pick him up.


Vegas Airport. Around 11 am


We started to the Airport, Vamsi was on time. It was a great feeling to see him after more than a year. He was all changed in his looks. He had long hair,  which he used to have when we were in our college. He was all excited about being in Vegas. Welcome to Vegas dude.


Vamsi was all so pumped up that he didn't even bother to go to home to freshen up. We just hit the casino, since it was Vamsi's first time at gambling, we thought beginners luck would favor him. But unfortunately, nope. It was lunch time and everyone was hungry. Time to eat. Shivram, being a picky at food and a local, suggested his favorite restaurant, The Thai Cuisine. We all had a good lunch with laughs floating around. I cant forget the "Fortune Cookie" incident. I hope everyone remembers it. I wish I could share it, but then I'd be killed for doing that. Later, being tired and with stomachs full, everyone wanted a nap. One more reason being that night we were about to hit the rocking dance floor of MGM Grand, the Studio 54.

Shivaram's Apartment. Around 8 pm


                                    
We really had a great time at Studio 54. The dance floor was amazing and the icing on the cake was the Punjabi number which was played when we were about to leave the floor. After Studio 54 it was the time to gamble again. Kishore was the expert and he shared his expertise with all of us. Being ardent followers and good disciples we also followed him in losing money. By the time we reached home it was late night and time to sleep as the next day was the big day. The 4th of July, and the day of fire work works.

Next day we started late. Last nights tiredness was showing on everyone. We decided to have lunch at Indian restaurant. Had a nice lunch at Gandhi Indian cuisine, and started off for another exciting day at Vegas.

Gandhi Indian Cuisine, Vegas. July 4th 2009. Around Noon time.



I wanted to have Kishore pen down a few thoughts about the trip. He agreed to be my guest blogger. The proceedings of the day would be in his words now.

Vegas streets, July 4th 2009, After Lunch time.

"All these Khaboom around the town reminds me of our trip to Vegas on July 4th weekend of 09. I have been to Vegas 2 other times before that but this time it was unusual. Generally it’s an apt example for “always alive city” but I remember pretty well that we were talking about it being hit by recession so there were not much crowd. It was not even a long weekend when I visited it for the first time but I was so impressed with the city which never slept literally. I took a picture of it at 3 am and it was filled with a lot of traffic on a Saturday night. I said man it is amazing I want to visit this place every year and at least once in a year and so far I did successfully for 3 consecutive years since 07.

It was late in the evening on the 4th we were just wandering on the strip all day long as usual with no plan then we ended up walking all the way to one end of strip to Wynn and then on our way back we were so tired that I had to say OK lets just get the car out and leave home I cant walk anymore and take this anymore [which I am known for ;)] because I was so hungry. We did not even want to wait till the fireworks at Venetian and got our car out to get in to the traffic which was moving at a snail pace about hardly 5 mph. By the time we started to worry about the traffic the fireworks started right then and it was splendid sight with an excellent view from our car with our AC on rather than burning ourselves out in the humid Vegas weather.

Then after all that fireworks traffic finally started moving surely but slowly so slow that we could get down at Bellagio to catch the musical fountains in action and then get back in to the car too. Haha we enjoyed a lot at riding luxury J then we ended up ordering pizza and glutton ourselves that night….We even got to go to studio 54 in MGM and overall I really had a lot of fun in that trip. I guess my friends Deepak, Shivaram n Vamsi, who were my accomplices for the trip would surely agree with me J
On that note I want to tell them I miss them and its been that good one year I met them all. Hope to see you soon guys."

So, that was Kishore. It was indeed a great experience with the fire works. As all good times have to come to an end, so was our long day coming to an end. Tired, exciting, and refreshing at the same time.

 The next day was the time to go back to LA, my place. On the way, we planned to meet another friend, Srinivas and Kiranmayee, the newly wed. The drive was again a long drive, but not tiring as everyone shared the wheel. Luckily, traffic wasn't busy. We reached Beaumont, Srinu's city, on time. Had a nice home made lunch and started off to my place, which was the last pit stop in this trip.

Srinivas's Apartment, Beaumont, July 5th 2009, Lunch time.

       

We all spent the night at my place, then in the morning, visited my workplace, as I had to go back to work and say good bye to one of the wonderful trips I ever had. 
                                                      
My workplace, July 6th, 2009, 8am.
                                                               

It was a trip which I can never forget. The thoughts and memories are still fresh in my mind, though its been a year. In this year lot of things happened, but the best one being Kishore getting married. I wish we have trips like this every year with the additional members joining every year. Well, after dropping me at work, Shivram and Vamsi visited Universal Studios. Since, I'm not with them I cant really pen anything. I'd request both Shivaram and Vamsi to be my guest blogger and put their thoughts. Lets hope for the best.

Looking forward to many more of these trips and many more long posts. Adios.

[P.S: Whoever reading this post, and knowing about Vegas would be wondering about somethings which I never mentioned. But, as you know, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Cheers]

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Emotions and Intellectuals

"A person who cannot control his emotions cannot be matured enough in taking decisions, which are not supposed to be altered emotionally but can be modified intellectually, and if the intellectuals cannot win over emotions, then the person cannot be considered matured."


I personally feel that a person can never take a right decision if he acts emotionally. Decisions should be made by thought rather than feel. Emotions portray the condition or the present status of a person. These emotions can be either positive or negative depending on the situation. Both positive and negative emotions in surplus can shift a person's way of giving verdict in any given situation. 


The line which separates the ordinary cult from the extra ordinary lot starts from the way they think rather than the way they feel. If the feelings determine the sensitivity levels of a person, than the thoughts portray the intellectuality levels. Intelligent people are considered to be intelligent because they make their decisions with a minimum of emotional quotient.


Emotions, differ from person to person, place to place, race to race. When there is no standard for the level of emotion how can one be considered as emotionless. A person born and brought up in USA may not feel the same kind of emotion to a situation as a person in India. Does that mean that one of them is more emotional and the other less or vice versa.


I feel a person becomes emotional when he sees something happening which he doesn't wish to happen. It can be either a positive emotion or a negative emotion. It takes the person to another level from normal state. Then his mind starts reflecting the scenario he is in rather than what he actually is.The influence of the conditions he is in and the decisions taken based on that condition reflects how emotional the person is. An intellectual person may not be completely emotionless. But maintaining a perfect balance between the brain and the heart is the first step for getting away from the emotional zone.


I remember one quote on my orkut profile page, which appeared as a daily fortune. It goes like this " Life is a comedy for those who think and tragedy for those who feel". It states that the life will be like a comedy for the people who take decisions by thinking and a tragedy for the people who takes decisions by feel.