Sudipta's Life

I watched Skyfall (quite) a few days back. Yes, the James Bond movie that came on the 50th year anniversary. Daniel Craig is the new Bond, following an illustrious list of people from Sean Connery to Pierce Brosnan. Like many others, I certainly believe that Daniel Craig's portrayal of James Bond has been very novel - his scriptwriters and directors have presented a rare look into the "real" world of the spy. The rosiness of the life has been removed, and a much more brutal (and realistic) character has been developed. It has been a bold, a necessary and a successful transition. Before we talk of transitions, though, we must establish what was status quo. James Bond represented much more than a good action movie to me, and I believe to many many young boys growing up like me. The essential thrill of a movie like James Bond is that they represent the ultimate fantasy life within the bounds of reality as we know it. Allow me to explain the paradox. You see, when you watc...

Or rather, the post should be titled "Why I saw the same Delhi Belly that everyone else did". This post is sort of in response to a review of the movie by Greatbong on his DNA India column: Did I see the same Delhi Belly as others did? So let me begin with what I do agree with him about, in terms of the movie (or its shortcomings thereof). All of these, for sure: No, I did not find putting a “b****c***” every few words and the generally endless stream of unimaginative profanities (save the one about the car) to be a sign of Hindi cinema’s newfound boldness and maturity. I cringed every time we were asked to believe that Imran Khan, who looks like he spent half his life in a beauty parlor, is actually a down-on-his-luck, unwashed and filthy bachelor who lives in a dingy apartment with his slacker friends. I find nothing progressive and gritty in actually showing people toiling over a toilet bowl. But what I do find funny is the fact that there is a fat slob of ...

I know I should be seeking compensation from Mr. Ratnam, but his pseudo-protagonist and himself have become equally evil by subjecting movie-goers to a torture as long and boring as this movie. I haven't written many movie reviews in the past, but given the standards set by the movie, I doubt if I can do worse. Seriously, sire... semi-psycho and pseudo-Maoist protagonists deserve a much more ugly death and much less sympathizing on screen, let alone showing the police as a bunch of incompetent buffoons whose camps are always available for over-running by a herd of bare-bone cows on their last scamper. Lets start at the beginning. Imagine, if you will, a perfect confluence of the movie Predator and Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead . Arnold Schwarzenegger was covered in mud as a natural camouflage while hiding from the super-powerful alien. Howard Roark begins the novel while standing naked on a clifftop watching the rising sun. And what does Mr. Bachchan do? He is covered in mud, ...

All right everyone, thanks for bearing the brunt of the last post --- I was just a little pissed off and therefore found the best place to rant: i.e. here! :) Like many of you pointed out, I was reading too much into too little: and I trust my roomies very much. Just sudden outpours --- I hope you know. Anyway, coming to this post. There are a few movies and actors, music directors etc. who I've come to like, but not necessarily everyone else has. I'd try to be specific about why I liked these actors/directors, but at the end of the day it is a personal choice. First, Abhay Deol and the two movies he has featured in. The first one was " Socha Na Tha ". It is both an uncommon and a common love story. I call it uncommon, because we don't usually find such a storyline in other Hindi movies. Usually the hero fights it out, kills a dozen bad guys and rescues the damsel. This movie was common, however, because it was so closely based on reality. There is something calle...

You will not understand this book unless you've lived away from home sometime. You will never catch the little nuances of the story or the vast hollows in the hearts of the characters if you haven't lived alone, faced the world in all its wilderness all by yourself. You must have felt the need to find your roots, reminisce about your near and dear ones, missed them for the simple comfort and warmth of their welcoming smiles to be able to feel the theme of this book, The Namesake. The story traces the life of a child born to Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli, who migrated to the USA when Ashoke came there to pursue his doctoral degree and post-doctoral faculty work. Through a quirk of fate, the name Gogol which they had originally thought of as a pet name for their son sticks with him for life. We see the life of this immigrant family through the eyes of their son as he grows up. Somehow the confusion of his name points to a more fundamental identity crisis in his generation. He never u...