I think something has happened to me today.
I am total mast and bindaas. (bindhast in Marathi).

Photograph Copyright : Cuckoo 

I have been listening and humming the songs which I generally don’t; not in this order and definitely not in one single playlist !! I am playing them in loop; loud on my speakers and folks at home are as clueless as I.

To give you a glimpse, here’s my list. Now, don’t laugh. Believe me; they’ll take anyone on top of this world.

Aaj main jawan ho gayi huN, Gul se gulistan ho gayi huN – Do you remember that Mithu Mian? Read the rest of this entry »

Kaminey (Mean or Wretched)

Kaminey, the most loved used word in Hindi vocabulary after ‘Saale’.

And off late I have started liking it. Not the word but songs of Kaminey. I particularly liked the ‘Kaminey’ song. I have utterly fallen for it.

Gulzar never ceases to amaze me. You got to have special sensory organs to fully cherish his words. His each song is so close to simpler things in life which we tend to ignore most of the time.
I feel Vishal Bhardwaj & Gulzar’s combination is Read the rest of this entry »

Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain.
Whoever has said that, said it rightly.

Monsoon has arrived and I am waiting to get drenched at Marine Drive.
Right now it’s difficult to take one full day out of my schedule just to enjoy the rains the way I want to.

This monsoon should bring some changes, some more trips to green Sahyadris and amidst hot Read the rest of this entry »

I like this game very much. The story builds and mystery unravels with every sentence that is added to it. Absolutely no short cuts. You can not go to the last page to know the end. It’s such fun ! Then don’t know why I take so much time to play a new one.

Anyway, it is never too late to start.  Here is our next game of  “Passing the Sentence”.

Photograph copyright : Cuckoo

As always, I write the first sentence and invite you all to contribute the next sentence, in sequence. The sentence is passed onto the next person to continue and so on.

Leave your sentence as a comment, and I’ll keep updating this post to show you the flow of the story. You can also refer to earlier games to have an idea.

The story is of 20 sentences and this time can we make it a comedy of errors ?

Rules of the game :
1. Anyone can participate in this game.
Read the rest of this entry »

There is one exhibition from the passing out MDes. students of IDC (Industrial Design and Consultancy), IIT Bombay at Nehru center for two days. Today and tomorrow (13th & 14th June).

It is an exhibition from students about their work and it’ll be good if more people turn up for it. The entry is free and it is open from 11 in the morning to 7 in the evening.

Here is the link Read the rest of this entry »

Dev D review ?? Not really but hmmm… what a difference !

Note:- Beware; this post contains some spoilers in the form of dialogues. Now that, it’s become quite old, I don’t mind doing it. The spoilers will only stir you to watch it.

Initially when the movie was talked about I didn’t want to watch it. At first, music looked so unmelodious compared to Dilli 6. But slowly my mood swung and then came a stage I impatiently waited to watch it irrespective of its music. I realized music isn’t that bad and is very apt to the film.

It’s a dark movie.
Dark and serious.
More than half of it is shot in dark. The music is dark, quirky and hard hitting.

It’s a remake of Devdas but with a difference.. .. The director Anurag Kashyap has set it free to come out of its confined existence and constraints to match up with today’s time.

The end is different and it took Read the rest of this entry »

Dilli 6 has been seen and done with. It was more than 2 weeks back and I was politely reminded to write a review before the movie is shown on TV’s national channel. Such are my well-wishers.
So, here I am.

Well, the movie can not be called a classic one, does not even come near to Rakyesh Omprakash Mehra’s RDB. I think he tried to make a mix of RDB and ‘Swades’.  But yes, the movie does convey a strong message to all of us.
From almost the first scene, the story revolves around a kala Bandar (black monkey) in the form of narration which takes a couple of scenes to get used to.

Being a Delhite it is always nice to see an ode to Delhi, this time Read the rest of this entry »

Ok, I tried to find out the origin and meaning of this beautiful song. And it is the same what I already knew.  :(  बस थोड़ा और पता चला |

You can also read other posts related to it here and here.

This is a Chhattisgarhi traditional song, originally written by Gangaram Shivarey & composed by Bhulwaram Yadav. Later, Bhulwaram Yadav taught this song to 3 Joshi sisters (Ramadutt, Rekha & Prabhadutt) who sang this song for first time in 1972 in Raipur. This song is a well known Chhattisgarhi folk song, performed in almost all Chhattisgrahi marriages. The pains of a newly wed daughter-in-law is being depicted through this song.

When A R Rahman heard this song for first time, he instantly selected this for improvisation & Prasoon Joshi edited the lyrics for better understanding of masses. Rajat Dholkia co-composed it. Rekha Bharadwaj, the specialist in rustic rendition took the lead in singing. And here is the result. An exceptionally beautiful song. What a fusion ! How well it is mixed. The chorus notes are notably expressive and the poised fusion gives the slow number a hip-hop groovy effect and yet so traditional.

The only sad part is that none of the original creators received any credits, which is entirely unfair.

ससुराल गेंदा फूल - इस लोकगीत को सबसे पहले 1972 में Read the rest of this entry »

An Update:- According to Abhishek, this song is co-composed by Rajat Dholakia, so we must give credit to him as well. I have not watched videos of any songs, neither have read/heard any review of this movie. I have managed this till now. Will have first hand experience and then will let you all know. 

I just love this song from Dilli 6. For the simplicity, rawness and the witty teasing it has.
Very simple lyrics (did you notice the word bush-shirt ?) and excellent music. A R Rehman and this kind of music ? Incredible !!

Enough of mechanized five star wedding parties and receptions where we all play robots with plasticized smiles on our faces. I want to now enjoy a real live wedding, not in a metro but somewhere in the heart of our country. I want to dance on the tunes of “Mere haathoN mein nau-2 choodiyaN hain“, play the dhol and, and.. .. ok, no more day  dreamings.

Read the rest of this entry »

Ok, lets start the game “Passing the sentence”.

New and old readers of this blog, kindly read the rules before jumping to comments section. The story is going to be 25 sentences long and can we make it a suspense story this time ?

As before, I’m going to write the first sentence and I invite you all to contribute the next sentence, in sequence. The sentence is passed onto the next person. Just leave your sentence as a comment, and I’ll keep updating this post to show you the flow of the story. You can also refer to earlier games to have an idea.

Rules of the game :
1. Anyone can participate in this game.
2. You can participate as many times as you wish with only one condition - between any of your sentences there should be a minimum of two from different people.
3. The story has to finish in 25 sentences. So choose your sentences carefully as to go with the flow.
4. If you write more than one sentence in a single comment, I’ll take only the first one and the story will move from there.
5. Sentences can be as long or short as you wish them to be, use lots of commas & semi colons but the moment you use ‘?’ ‘.’ or ‘!’ your sentence is over. Please refer to earlier games.
6. I have the right to wrap up the story by writing the last sentence if no one is able to do so.

So, here goes my first sentence for this game. Please remember we are trying to make a story full of suspense.

 Photograph copyright : Cuckoo

One, two, three.. she counted them as she climbed the spiral stairs, looking for some blood stains on the spotless marble and granite steps; a song “Aur kuchh der thaher” was being played somewhere then she stopped and turned back and suddenly.…

Now dear readers, the stage is all yours. Loosen the reins of your imagination and create the magic. So, who is next ?

– — – — – –

Ok, Tarun wins the early bird prize.

1. One, two, three.. she counted them as she climbed the spiral stairs, looking for some blood stains on the spotless marble and granite steps; a song “Aur kuchh der thaher” was being played somewhere then she stopped and turned back and suddenly.… by Cuckoo

Read the rest of this entry »