Jurm - Movie Review

Wednesday, November 30, 2005 Vishaal 0 Comments

JurmDirected by: Vikram Bhatt Cast: Bobby Deol, Lara Dutta, Milind Soman, Gul Panag

When you’ve got to do the same thing everyday, life gets into a rut. You begin working like an automaton, not even registering what you do –– it’s all so routine. Vikram Bhatt’s Jurm is a good example of work done with such ennui.
It is touted to be a murder thriller, but there’s little to thrill in this film. The storyline, which revolves around Malhotra, who is framed and then sentenced to life for the murder of his wife (Lara Dutta), has nothing new to offer in terms of sub-plots or twists in the tale. Malhotra does a jail-break, survives three point-blank bullet shots in his chest and then goes all the way to Malaysia, nursing his vendetta.

But the sorry storyline isn’t what has done the film in. It’s the couldn’t-care-less treatment meted out to the film by the director, actors and all others involved, which is unpardonable. For instance, when the police go to investigate the body of the dead wife, they discover a disintegrating skeleton in a grave on the beach. She died only a few day’s ago, didn’t she? So how do you explain the super fast decomposition?

Why the millionaire protagonist Avinash Malhotra (Bobby Deol) can’t figure out that his best friend Rohit Saxena (Milind Soman) is the villain is baffling, given that anyone who has seen even two-and-a-half crime flicks can immediately guess what his game is.

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Aamchi Mumbai ...

Wednesday, October 19, 2005 Vishaal 0 Comments

What is so different about this city. Apart from being the HUB of Indian economy and its backbone it has something that attracts people from all over India and all over the world. I remember the first time I landed in Mumbai ( 1994-95 ) was amazed by the tall structures, the crowd, the fast moving life, the fast moving LOCAL trains and all that was out there...

Slow and steady, as one might observe, got adjusted to the lifestyle and although was in High school, didn't miss an opportunity to enjoy a Metropolitan life ;-). It was a like a festival trying to travel in Mumbai, with the local trains overflowing, and all you had to do was stand on the platform to be sucked into the train compartment by the crowd. Same goes while getting down on a stop. The Central and Western (esp) were pretty bad (dunno if it still remains).


Heard some news last week, that the Govt.'s refurbishing and giving them a good/new look, cushion seats and more spacious I believe, it was a much needed uplift. Talking about people and crowd, the New Bombay region was experiencing an inflow of people, with HUGE development projects going on in that part of Mumbai, everyone started thinking of the future with the Govt backing them up.
It was fun living out there but then I didn't like the commute and the pollution caused by inefficient burning of garbage? Mere thought of going to VT or Bandra would send shivers through my spine. I hope the public realize the need and the importance of a clean environment and would start following how DELHI has started to recover. How far this goes needs to be seen, I am optimistic, though.

And now in Belgaum, its a different world altogether. But I wont like to opine much 'cause it would be comparing Apples to Oranges. I love the life out here in Belgaum, the easy come easy go life, occasional hurry here and there, the night life. The climate of course is totally different. It is already in the 14-15 deg C range while Mumbai is hot as an oven. I do wish to see how the city has developed since my last visit and am dying to go back for a vacation.

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IQ - (Intelligence / Idiot) Quotient

Thursday, September 22, 2005 Vishaal 0 Comments


I have always shown interest in these tests. Have been involved with solving some of the Mensa , tickle and some of the tough tests out there on the net. Though my score reflects as having an above average IQ, I have always doubted these tests.


The simple reason being, one test can no way gauge your intelligence and no way can they derive a score based upon your 45 minute - 1 hour effort. Tomorrow if I take a similar one, I would end up scoring high/less.
 
So here I was reading "Schrödinger's Kittens and the Search for Reality" by John Gribbin on my way to work today ( which I always do - to and fro) and I'd like to quote what he has to say .. He says ... IQ tests which are supposed to measure something called 'intelligence quotient' of human beings. 
 
But it is now generally accepted that what IQ tests measure is the ability of people to do IQ tests. Innate intelligence may be a factor in determining this ability but it is not the only factor.
 
No wonder the results of IQ measurements only tell us about the ability of people to respond to IQ tests, not their real intelligence. Now I give you a moment to digest this. I too read the stuff again and again to make sure that I'm reading the right stuff, but its a well accepted fact now. So, those tickles do not tickle me any more and even if Einstein comes up (as he does) asking me to take it .. I am not gonna buy that crap.
 
A correlation he draws out there (Gribbin) is that the same way when we measure the momentum of an electron, its not the momentum that we are measuring, its the ability of an electron to respond to momentum tests and for that matter mass or any other physical property. I believe he is right not because He says so but the examples he outlines to prove his point is pretty convincing ... Well Quantum Mechanics for that matter has had profound effect on myself within the past 2-3 months ..
 
I never understood the facts  and the main idea was to explain the Copenhagen Interpretation which is now not taken seriously because of the whole concept of the collapse of the wave function. Come to think of it, I have no clue as to what they might find out in the coming decades but what ever it may be, it would be interesting to learn whether faster than light travel is actually possible and if so, does it mean backwards in time ? What happens to Einstein's theory of relativity ?
 
Sigh !!!

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Times have changed...

Monday, September 12, 2005 Vishaal 0 Comments

As I said earlier , its 21st century and we need to rephrase/reformat some of our beliefs, ideologies and sayings .. is really funny (or isn't it) read on :
The usual saying goes "When in Rome do as the Romans do" am telling you ...we need to rephrase that ... too many do's in the saying. Make it simpler it goes "When in Rome ... Do the Romans" ;-)

"Practice makes a man perfect" they say I disagree. I say "Perfect practice makes a man perfect". I hope u don't need a logical explanation for that

"Nothing can travel faster than light" yes !! A wave function can !! And every experiment in Quantum mech has proved it ... so "Faster than light = Backwards in time"

"Dog is a man's best friend" you must be kidding me .. I didn't realize. If you watch Hollywood movies "A Dawg can never be a man's best friend"

"Don't let the grass grow on the path of friendship" well well well ... Grass growth aids friendship

But there are some which haven't changed and which even you cannot even think of changing ... one of em is

"Women shall forever be right, even when they aren't correct."

Even god is surprised by their behaviour; he would be like - how is this possible?? I didn't intend to do this !! No way



The comments expressed in this section are the views of the author and by no means was meant to hurt to the feelings of the reader

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The Matrix

Saturday, March 12, 2005 Vishaal 0 Comments

You know, I know that this steak doesn’t exist. I know when I put it in my mouth, the Matrix is telling my brain that it is juicy and delicious. After nine years, do you know what I’ve realized?
Ignorance is bliss.
-Cypher
The Matrix (only the first of the trilogy) was arguably one of the more philosophically intriguing movies in recent memory, I could probably write like a whole bunch of posts based on the movie, but I want to talk about the Cypher quote above in particular right now.


If you read the title of this post, you must be wondering to yourself now, “What the heck does the Cypher quote have to do with love?” You see, the Cypher quote is intriguing because it’s not exactly unreasonable. What exactly is life? Many will say that life is the sum of our experiences. Understandably, everyone is driven by outcomes in life. We do things because we believe it will make us feel good. There is action and there is reaction. I want to find meaning in my life, because I believe I will feel good about myself if I have meaning in my life. I want to buy a good car, because I think I will get a rush driving it down the street. I pay my taxes, because I don’t want the income tax department knocking on my door. You could argue that it’s not quite as simple, like maybe I pay taxes because I was educated to be a good citizen of this country, or that I believe the nice social infrastructure that I enjoy is a result of me paying taxes. But the point is, I do things a certain way because of the final impact that it has on my senses and experience. And I regret some of my actions because I fail to factor in things that impact me in a negative way or maybe I was dumb enough to believe I can outsmart it. Such as people who decide to steal because they believe they can outsmart the police. 

You ever think about why you fall in love? What is love? What is it that we really want from connecting with another person? I believe we are addicted to certain emotions that certain people can trigger in us. It’s all about feelings; we call those feelings “chemistry”. Attraction isn’t a choice. 

Given these observations, it’s hard not to agree with Cypher.

Does it mean that we are just selfish beings who do things to satisfy ourselves? Does nothing else matters other than fulfilling our feelings and longings? Consider the example of people buying insurance. Why do people buy life insurance to ensure the future of their significant other or dependents? Sure, if you are religious, you can argue that people buy life insurance because they can observe from heaven. But many others who don’t believe in consciousness after death still buy insurance. Why is that? Aren’t people like that better off by purchasing something for themselves than to pay the insurance premium? This shows that there are things we intrinsically value other than our own individual experience. Let’s consider another example. I think I am not alone when I say I place a great value in not being deceived over my own feelings of joy. Suppose somebody acts if he/she loves you, but internally he/she doesn’t feel much for you and was only with you for the money or lifestyle. For me, I rather know the truth and live a life of solitude than to live happily ever after thinking I found the love of my life.

In the end, I think what defines us as human and what make Cypher’s viewpoint really fall apart is the great value we place in triggering feelings in other “real humans”. People write great novels, compose great music, paint great art, engineer great products, and discover great physical laws; not because they want to enjoy the benefits of being famous or rich. Rather they do it because they want others to feel that same humanity that triggers and drives them. We love inspiring others, creating something that communicates and excites others. We like telling stories and hearing them, because we want to share and understand vision with other humans. It’s about expressing ourselves and invoking reflections in others. We want to understand and be understood by others. That said, perhaps love is the ultimate expression of ourselves, finding somebody who you trust to share the best and worst of you.
Being the One is just like being in love. Nobody can tell you you’re in love. You just know it. Through and through. Balls to bones.
-Oracle

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