Taare Zameen Par - True Gems Unearthed

I had the opportunity to watch the movie Taare Zameen Par yesterday in San Jose. Aamir Khan's directorial debut has been a well chosen one. There are two aspects which make it a well chosen venture. One, because there were no expectations which the movie came with, since it was not meant to be a commercial venture in any case. As a result, this gave Aamir the opportunity to gain a foothold as a director, and gain confidence from critics. Those same critics who may have thrashed a commercial venture lacking any common sense. Secondly, under his own banner, this gave him all the liberty to experiment with his skills at direction.

The movie starts off with a slowish pace and leaves the audience wondering initially, when it will get over. The concept of a child being pressurised by his parents without any clue of his suffering from dyslexia is something new to Bollywood. But, Aamir has carefully interwoven the message of less able children, with the pressure on children these days to outperform every single day. A message which clearly reaches out to every single parent out there.

The movie picks up pace slowly, but does drag on, with some unwanted songs in between. The songs only slow down the pace of the movie, and seem more like a publicity gimmick to add a commercial twist to it. The title track and the song Kholo Kholo take the cake, and are really worth listening to.

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Muir Woods + 17 Mile

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20-20 - Not So Plenty

And so, India brings back the World Cup. Albeit the 20-20 version of it. A celebration definitely deserving of such a wonderful achievement. The craze of the fans to watch their demi-gods come from the land of the springboks, was almost unimaginable. The crowds were pouring on the streets of Mumbai, even as the politicians tried to make a point themselves. Forget rooting for the victorious team, they were not even bothered to display the Indian flag, and were all too happy waving their party flags. The icing so to speak (pun intended) was indeed the seating arrangement at Wankhede once the team arrived after a 6 hour victory parade. All except Dhoni seated in the front row, were the able BCCI officials and politicians. Some things never change in India.

After India defeated Australia in the semi finals, The Australian newspaper reported that India was celebrating as if it had won the Soccer World Cup. Well, India sure did win the Cup finally, and Australia will have to wait for 2 or more years to get a crack at it. What The Australian probably doesn't realise is that cricket is a religion in India, and is the only sport where India can still claim as being a dominant force. India did win the Asia Cup Hockey tournament which recently got over, but it almost went unnoticed. In all the hype and hoopla of the first Indian Test series win in England in 2 decades, it was lost. And now, the Hockey players want their share of the booty. Is it a fair demand ? I would say yes, simply because, India still failed to perform in the more grilling 50 version format at the World Cup. And if one has to go by sheer weightage, 20-20 deserved only 40% of what a 50-50 should have received.

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