Music Review: Bombay Talkies

Music Director: Amit Trivedi


This movie promises to bring together different flavours from four directors, but as far as the music goes, the one-man army of Amit Trivedi reworks its magic and conjures a journey through years of the various tones of Bollywood.

The movie is an ode to the Indian film industry (marking its centenary) and the music couldn't have done more justice to the theme. Firstly, the voice selection is remarkable, bringing together the finest voices we have and then embellishing them with a delightful assortment of instrumentals. This becomes fairly evident with the title track sung by Kailash Kher and Richa Sharma. The frequent change of tempo, and the consistent feeling of dreamy motion it lends to the listener, that runs through most songs in this movie, is well represented in this track.

The reprise with various voices packs familiar sounds from Bollywood and presents a 2-minute roller coaster. Not to forget, the lyrics are perky, smooth and well thought-out. Which brings us to the much hum-mable 'Bachchan'. Save the juvenile "Baccha Baccha gaye from bachpan bachpan" opener (which is also catchy!), the words are a perfect tribute to the living legend. Adorned with the rich vocals of Sukhwinder Singh, the song begins like a typical aarti, stumbles upon the Arabian sounds of the rabab and moves into the beat-laden, electric groove peppered with snippets of Bachchan's legendary dialogues in the background.

'Murabba' is another song with two versions on the album, both as different in their tonal quality as two songs could be. It is hard to pick 'the better' of the two, with Javed Bashir's powerful, neo sufi-esque vocals set to the pace of a chuk-chuk engine in one, and Kavita Seth's slightly-husky, slightly-dreamy voice peppered with Trivedi's backing vocals (very reminiscent of songs from 'Udaan') in the other.

Apart from the pacy tracks above, we have Mohit Chauhan, with his Himalayan shepherd voice, singing a soulful, perky 'Akkad Bakkad' - very beautiful lyrics again. All in all, another work of pure art from the Trivedi House! Just a little surprised, the songs are not entirely grabbing all the air-time even after a week of the music release.

Matter of time, I say!

(3.5/5)
--only because I am eternal optimist, and believe better music will waft into my ears someday! :)

Movie Review: Nautanki Saala (2013)

Release date: 12th Apr 2013
Director: Rohan Sippy
Rating: 1.5/5


A lot of people I talked to in the weeks running up to 'Nautanki Saala' said they were eagerly waiting for the 12th of April (I was one of them!). In such cases, the chances of disappointment enhance manifold. But at times, things come to a point where you wonder why, in the first place, were you hopeful of running into a blockbuster. Just because Ayusshmmaann Khurrraana delivered with 'Vicky Donor' with an ensemble of fresh faces, and the trailers of this one boasted of atleast these ingredients? Perhaps so!

Unfortunately, in this case, Professor Utonium forgot to add the Chemical X. What came out was a patchy disaster - ticklish in spurts, the rest a terrifying drag. No amount of special performances could have set right the pathetic excuse for a plot this movie is. Mr. Khuraana (I am really unsure of the double-triple letters and think it is excusable!) pulls up a fine show again, but refer to the previous point. He should totally take Daddyji's numerological advice when he chooses his next, before he lands up making another attempt at Career harakiri.

The first half of the movie is quite bearable, and there are quite some tid-bits there which are undoubtedly humourous. AK and Kunal Roy's pair indulges in a flurry of 'Jaane bhi do Yaaron'-esque (just for analogy) antics, which set one up to expect more as the movie progresses. The music, as is well known, is well done and gels well with the movie too. The good part ends there. To top off all the script mess-up, the director chose to cast a 'newbie' as female lead- one who is not a looker (at all!), has her voice dubbed (or it is just a complete mismatch to her countenance) and cannot act to save her life. Her only contribution to the movie were two insanely/incredibly/ridiculously long liplocks with Ayyusshman which were completely unnecessary, and their inclusion reinforced my belief that Mr. Sippy knew very well about the complete lack of 'masala' in his script, and tried making up for it in more ways than one.

Worth a watch only if you have some time and money to kill. And, even in that case, just go buy yourself some ice-cream or something.

The late night tea-time of the soul

I am quite the tea freak. Have always been. Considering the ritualistic fashion of tea drinking in my family, I often wonder if our ancestors migrated from China. Ah well, that could explain the tiny eyes… yowser!

My oddly timed requests for tea are often the subject of my friends’ amusement. There have been occasions, and many such, when after a scrumptious chicken meal accompanied by beer (ya mum! Only a little bit), I stretch myself and say, “You know what would be perfect now?!”, and I hear a collective sigh from the rest of the group.

A cup of tea serves loads of purposes. I totally believe that if there was anything that could replace the Hitchhiker’s towel, a cup of tea it would be. First and foremost, it is the refreshing taste. People believe that it is difficult to mess up making tea. For my part, I think making perfect tea is no ordinary man’s task. I would have had innumerable cups of tea at several different places. I am sure that most of them used comparable quality of milk and tea leaves. Yet, I remember the tastes having varied widely. That’s the thing with tea- and it is not just the taste; it is also about the aroma, the optimum amount of brew- every little ingredient an important part of the experience.

Tea is also the healthy man’s pack of smokes. Conversations begin and continue over tea. Friendships deepen as individuals spill their hearts out while casually sipping their cup of tea. Some of my most pleasant after-class memories feature holding a cup of tea and chatting away beside the college canteen. It offers the most preferred amount of break during office hours. Most people do think coffee is better suited. But believe me, tea is an equally refreshing and much healthier alternative. Try it. Though, the vending machine tea is hardly any good. Tell your mother to brew some for you. Rest assured, she would know.

Well, for me, tea is an extended dinner time, after-breakfast time - something to provide me the wanted boost shot any time of the day. Now that I think of it, add ‘tea’ to Ishan, and you have the energy of a pace bowler.

Ok, if you intend to kill me for the bad humour, please let me have my last wish. Aikta cup cha!

Boarding the Meluha bandwagon, at last...

I don’t read enough to start a ‘Book review’ section here, and also, I guess this book is well past its period of being subject to review. So, after I saw everyone clamouring for the final saga of Amish Tripathi’s much talked about trilogy, I thought it might be suitable to give the series a go. Thus, after months of trying to re’kindle’ my reading habits, I walked into a real book store and bought myself a copy.

With Indian writers, especially those who come with a high-flying degree from a prestigious college (yes! I had to say that) and are seen splashed all over the tabloids, one goes in with the expectation of finding pedestrian writing. Through the first few pages of the book, I was becoming more and more certain my fears were coming true. However, the story became increasingly gripping from thereon. The romantic twist helped. And I read the book much more eagerly that I had ever imagined I would.

The writing is fair. The plot is novel. Most descriptions are pretty vivid. Sometimes the rather detailed description of military formations, down to the exact angle, get to you, but then one has to, perhaps, give it to the engineer in the author. However, with books like these – which adapt or recount stories from mythology/religion- ala ‘The Da Vinci Code’, it is sometimes hard to tell if it is the storytelling that hooks you on, or the wow factor of coming across amazing facts about symbols, their origin, clan wars, etc. Remember the ambigram, the revelations about ‘The Last Supper’ and the ‘Aum’ symbol in this case. That been said, Amish is way better with words than most of his Indian counterparts are.

Another bone I have to pick with the author is in the way he depicts Shiva’s feelings, in between the narrative, through text in italics. It is not the font that troubles me, but the trivialization of the language used. I understand that using words like ‘dammit’, ‘bloody hell’ was Amish’s way of humanizing the character. Yet, inspite of the book’s idea of bringing legend to history, the indiscrete language seemed like a huge anachronism. Of course, the trouble with English novels set in the Indian landscape is that one is not able to reconcile men named Veerbhadra or Nandi conversing in the Queen’s tongue.

Well, that’s the little something I wanted to share as far as the book goes. Given that, I would like to reiterate my appreciation of the plot and, to a good degree, the writing as well. Jumping to the next one, soon!  

On dreams and everything else...

A few days back I had this dream. I saw myself hastily running to a notebook and jotting down some brilliant poetry that had come to my mind. I don’t really remember the words, but remember seeing my dream-me thinking how exquisite the verses were. Then I saw two people (probably friends, though their facial characteristics weren’t central to the dream) who came to me and asked me why I was in such a hurry to take these lines down. And then I mentioned that these were some words that had come to me in a dream, and I just feel like taking them down.

When I remembered this dream-on-a-dream (Parag dream?) days later, I first thought how ridiculous this was. And then tried hard to drill deeper in my head, and extract those words. They must be hidden somewhere deep down in my subconscious, I reckoned, ala the ‘Answer to the Ultimate question of life’ which supposedly lay programmed in every being who was created as part of the earth experiment.  The words of God (or any overlord rat-person) haven’t come to me yet. But I guess I am listening, hard.

Reading H2G2 (and I still haven’t read the last two of the five book trilogy) lent me a whole new perspective towards rats. And I see a whole lot of them scurrying across the road around Worli, where I live. Ever seen those creatures scurrying across the road? There is so much purpose in every little step. It all fits. They made themselves so insignificant, so that nobody would ever get a whiff of their master plan. Then, some days I find one flat on its back, squished mercilessly by a careless driver. I see the insects feeding ravenously on it, and I shout out, “O Rat-god. Forgive them, for they know not what they have done.” Ganesha, the Hindu deity, has a rat as its vehicle, too. Couldn’t be mere coincidence?

With this I think I should retire for the day. I was in a mood to write something completely random and ridiculous. Success. Also, I deviously hope I have left the reader with the image of a horrible rat, belly-up (literally) with monstrous insects feeding on its flesh. Ok, I am sure now I have.

Movie Review: Kai Po Che (2013)

Release date: 22nd Feb 2013
Director: Abhishek Kapoor
Rating: 3.5/5


Passion, chasing one's dreams, undying friendship in the toughest of times, all peppered with young, innocent love blossoming secretly. I am so sure Mr. Bhagat knew he would see his story take the shape of a Bolly flick the day he penned it.

The story, and especially how it pans out in sync with the tribulations of the incidents that occurred in Gujarat in the early 2000s, is appreciable. The young, and hitherto little known cast has also delivered commendably. Yet, just after the characters take shape in your head, and you start getting interested in the juggernaut of events that are panning out in their lives, the movie comes to an end. You are hastily fed a heavily awkward, partly happy conclusion to the tumultuous chain of events that had transpired ten years earlier.

Still, this is worth a trip to the theater- for the freshness of its cast, for the joyous sequences which remind us how the religion of cricket binds this nation, for the touching back-slapping camaraderie, and not to forget, for the demure Amrita Puri. One also has to commend the team for boldly depicting an issue as sensitive as the Gujarat riots.

But for the lackadaisical and abrupt ending, the movie lives up to the substantial media hype it had garnered. A good background score definitely helps (Music review here).

Music Review: Kai Po Che

Music Director: Amit Trivedi


Listening to the tracks of this one, there is only one question that perturbs you.

Why is there so little of it?

There are merely three songs on this album. However, as has rapidly becoming a given with Trivedi, each one is extremely rich and colourful. Our man here has mastered the art of bringing together sounds from different parts of the Indian hinterland, and fusing them to create exactly what the auditory aesthetics demand.

'Meethi boliyan' flip flops between the dreamy vocals of Mili Nair, the carefully timed harmonies and the youthful throw of Trivedi's voice. The incredible guy returns with the soulful 'Manja' deeply entrenched in the music of the Rajasthani heartland, peppered with beautiful lyrics. Somewhere, the music with this one reminds me of that from Nagesh Kukunoor's 'Dor'.

The third track 'Shubhaarambh' (or perhaps, considering the title, the first track), replete with the garbha beat, is a reminder of the amazing number of good vocalists storming the Indian music scene. Short and pacy, this adds some necessary groove to the album.

This is Amit Trivedi just doing his casual flick of the wrist!