Big Paheli

Spoiler Warning: Plot and/or ending details follow

Watched the movie 'Paheli' over the weekend. It's kind of a fairytale story and if one doesn't think about the film logically and sleeps through the narrative-breaking songs, it can be quite interesting at times. As let out during the promos, SRK plays two roles, one as the hubby of chubby Rani (let us call him Shah) and another a bhoot smitten by Rani (let us call him Rukh). Shah goes away for business the day after his wedding for five long years and Rukh takes the opportunity to take his place. It so happens that our bhoot is an ichadhari bhoot. It can take any physical shape. So it enters the Shah household as Shah and Rani is delighted. But our dear bhoot is a moral bhoot. He tells her that he is not her real hubby and that if she wants, he would go away. But our chubby does not want to be alone for 5 long years and asks Rukh to stay. And they indulge in a bit of fun. The movie unfolds. Rukh even impregnates chubby and as she is about to deliver their kid (one paheli is whether the kid is human or bhoot or half human), Shah returns. Confusion happens. People decide to take both of them to the raja to find out who the real Shah is. They meet a ingenious shepherd on the way who puts both of them to three tests. The final one being the age old formula of trapping the bhoot in a cask. Everyone is happy save Rani. She has fallen in love with the bhoot. Application Suhaag raat is reloaded with Shah being the parameter (In fact there are no less then three suhaag raats. One is the real one where Rani learns of her hubby's impending departure, second is when Rukh returns as Shah, and the third is when the real Shah returns). Rani tells Shah that she knew that the guy she was living with was in fact Rukh and she had consented to their relationship with the full knowledge of his identity. Surprise Surprise. There is a twist in the tale. The bhoot has somehow escaped from the cask and entered Shah's body. So now its really Shah's body and Rukh's bhoot. So now everyone is happy including Rani. But the paheli is, how did Rukh escape the cask? And the even bigger paheli is, if the bhoot could enter Shah's body, why didn't he enter it when he saw Shah for the first time? If he had, he would have saved everyone so much trouble (including us watching the movie, there wouldn't have been the movie afterall).

If you have watched the movie and spotted any other unanswered paheli, do jump in. It's an open house here.

Formula Zero

With a farce of a race taking place this Sunday, the FIA has lost more ground than they had covered in the period of some years. Seven out of the ten teams refused to race citing safety issues.

The Michelin teams, flexing their muscles on the basis of being the majority, refused to race unless a chicane was erected prior to the turn 13. They were ready to start the race on the grid behind the Bridgestone teams and were reportedly even ready to forgo any points.

The FIA didn't relent and gave the teams various other alternatives which they refused. It would have been really unfair, to erect a chicane, forcing the teams with Bridgestone tyres, who had come prepared for the race, to slow down as much as the teams whose equipment was lacking. The teams could have imposed a self restriction on the speed limit at the critical part of the track or avoided that turn by going into the pit lane every lap. I quote a piece from the Formula 1 official site:

Formula 1 is a sporting contest. It must operate to clear rules. These cannot be negotiated each time a competitor brings the wrong equipment to a race.
...
The Michelin teams' lack of speed through the turn 13 would have been a direct result of inferior equipment as often happens in Formula 1.

Which I agree with and believe to be completely true as opposed to Mansell. You bring inferior equipment and then refuse to agree to do anything about it. And also want the teams who have brought proper equipment to compromise. Take a hike guys.

The FIA intends to bring about a list of charges against the Michelin teams.

Big Brother

The government has finally decided to ban [snip] on screen for movies released after October. First it was reported that the I&B Ministry had written to the Health Minister that such a ban was difficult to impose. Then some activities happened behind the scenes and a compromise reached. It was decided to impose the ban with retrospective effect. So the old films have been sparred and so has been a lot of effort to screen them.

Now the next logical thing to do is to ban [snip] from appearing in books too. Will not the kids of the next generation who grow up not knowing what [snip] is, having never seen it on screen (sic), have an urge to try for it when they read books where [snip] is glorified? The next level in censorship is not too far away.

Another statement made by the I&B Minister almost simultaneously was regarding why Indian editions of foreign newspapers are not allowed in India. According to Mr. Reddy, the Indian newspapers will not be in a position to withstand the competition. So he uses his anal(-)ytical reasoning to keep us having what the newspapers such as the Slimes dish out. In short he decides what we read.

Big Brother taking shape?

Update: The government has finally decided to allow foreign newspapers to print facsimile editions in the country!

Farewell

I had stated earlier that one of my teammates is leaving his job. Today was his last day. So we went on a small team lunch today. The bill was of course borne by the guy who was leaving. Beers (and colas for the non alcoholic ones like me) were drunk. Dead animals were eaten. Photos were clicked. Fun was had.

For those who are inclined towards not eating dead animals for religious causes, here is a nice piece.

Aussies on the mat

Remember when the Aussies came to India in 1998, they were put on the back foot very early by the Mumbai Ranji team? And in the very first test match, Sachin took the winds out of their sail. Do we see the same thing happening this time in England? After two consecutive loses, Aussies will now be vary of England, and if the Poms can beat them in their first encounter, it may well happen that they will be on their way to a great Ashes victory. Only time will tell how bad the Aussies have been affected by the early set back. Whatever be the end result, we will see a great series ahead, Aussies trying to redeem their pride and the English trying to cash in on the early advantage.

Price Wars

It seems that I am in a war mood, with most of my recent posts having something to do with "wars". First it was the Sardar Wars, then Spoof wars and now Price wars. But I am generally a very peace loving person. With my friend Binay giving me a run for my blog, I better pull up my socks and get to serious blogging. Well, time to get back to the topic.

In Maharashtra, there seems to be a mini price war between cellular operators Idea and AirTel. Sort of a small noncoperative Game Theory. So when Idea prices local calls to Idea at 75p and other calls at Rs. 1.75, AirTel goes ahead and introduces an offer where calls to any mobile in India will be cahrged at Re 1! When AirTel makes incoming calls when a subscriber goes to Mumbai free, can Idea, which does not have a network in Mumbai be left far behind? They tie up with BPL to provide the same service to their customers.

And while all these happens, its the customers that benefit.

Spoof wars

That is what is taking place between Apple and Microsoft right now. Source. At a recent conference, Steve Jobs, demonstrating a countdown clock "widget" for the Mac, Jobs typed in the word Longhorn and the date 12/31/2006 (a couple months after Longhorn is expected to be on the market).

On the other hand, Microsoft did a spoof report on Apple collaboratingwith Toyota to create an iPod/Prius hybrid called the "hy-pod". Interesting!

Apple is also planning to ship its next OS X operating system, to be known as Leopard, at the end of 2006 or in early 2007. This is really in contrast to Apple's earlier nomenclature policy of using the names of apple types.

A detailed post on Microsoft sometime later.

Dull work can kill

If you feel that your work is dull, you have a higher risk of suffering from a Heart Attack, say a research team from University of London College. What this means, is that more than half of the world's adult working population fall into the category of people who are doing unexciting job hence more prone to Heart Attack. Now since this discovery has been made, these people will have the option to either continue with the dull boring work and be exposed to a higher risk of heart diseases or kill their boss if he/she gives them dull work and go to the gallows or if nothing else works, leave work and die of hunger. This brings us to a conclusion that no matter what one does, one will suffer from the same fate - death. What a startling discovery!

King Rifle

Rafael "rifle" Nadal has been crowned the new "King" of clay. And boy did he deserve it. He has been on a roll all season (on clay) being on the verge of beating Roger Federer the last time they met. But this time he was not to be denied. And having done that, he has joined Federer atop the ATP rankings. Playing some breathtaking Tennis over the last fortnight, Nadal, who was clearly the pre-tournament favourite, lived up to his reputation.

Lets hope that the Tennis' latest sensation doesn't join the select group of "Clay Court specialists" and gives Federer and guys a run for their money for a long long time.

Vamos Nadal, vamos!

Gone with the smoke

Now we cannot see Rajni making the cigarette flip, and the next time one sees "Deep Throat" on the screen wielding a cig, identifying him will become even more difficult as the cig will be blurred. But do not be afraid, the government has not banned smoking as such. It's just that one cannot show smoking on screen. The esteemed Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss feels that youngsters are influenced to smoke when they see their role models, actors in most cases, smoking.

Our good minister, if he is so concerned about our health, doesn't go and ban smoking altogether. How can he. It can effect the economy of the country in a major way. He can never ban smoking in reality. So he goes ahead and does the next best thing. Bans it virtually, from television screens. Isn't that a great solution? Every one is happy. The tobacco industry and the government. There are only some few disgruntled actors. But who cares about these people anyway.

Wrong. Cinema is more a reflection of society than the other way round. There are some critical questions which our Minister is not prepared to answer. Is smoking more dangerous than most other violent crimes the filmmakers glorify? Wouldn't a youngster be influenced when he sees his dad smoking more than somebody on screen smoking? Then why not go ahead and prevent the dad from smoking? It is another thing that every man has the right to choose and if he chose to risk his/her life a little, the decision is his/hers. If the governments doesn't want to curb people's freedom to smoke but still don't want youngsters to take up the habit, why doesn't it ban selling cigarettes to kids? Again, this may work in a exactly opposite way, as forbidden fruits may seem sweet to kids.

But even as this ban takes place in India, cigarette companies are going ahead with their research on how to hook up more women on smoking.

Another piece of news that caught my fancy was about some new research linking trust to the hormone oxyticin. Spray someone with oxytocin and he/she will trust you with all his money and life. In oxytocin, we trust. Spray along.