The Past One Year

The past one year has been a whirlwind journey for me. Two Failed interviews, my own startup, countless meetings with prospective clients,hectic work schedule in my company and the challenge to ace some of the toughest exams anywhere in the world at this level , and then there was success. Getting a 99+ percentile in Cat which i had worked the last 6 years for,acing all the interviews that i was called for and getting final admits into them too.Cherry on cake was being able to crack into one of the Big 5 B-schools of India.

It all started on March 26th 2010, when the final result for XLRI Jamshedpur was announced.I was crest fallen and clearly remember crying till the point i couldnt hear even my painful cries. My parents who were also involved into this as much as me were also hurt. Seeing my moms pain in her eyes,i made a promise to myself that i am not letting go of this till i get the B-School seat.I understood that when certain things are not written in your destiny,its time to make your own.

In late April 2010,i hit upon a idea of low cost advertising for firms which dont have the marketing budgets to pay up for the large retail marketing firms. Online Advertising was being taken up in a big way to connect to the customers.I floated the idea to some of the people whom i had worked before on certain tasks and close friends. Quickly a crack team of 5 was formed. Each of the team members having a lot of potential, we first discussed the viability of starting this as we all had IT jobs with tight schedules in our respective workplaces with tighter time schedules preparing for exams ,as we were all preparing for higher studies.

Then each of us had a firm belief in the idea and thus we started up.The going wasnt easy.First we dint have a business plan at all for the organization,no structure,no rules and basically no plan.Yet we decided to get into this anyway and then plan on our next steps( a very bad idea if anyway of you are planning to start of on their own).
We approached a few clients, and did have many meetings with them - both in person and phone.Our efforts almost bore fruit when one of the client was very serious about giving us a contract.The meetings with them had reached advanced stages ,but in the last minute the client said he would only go for one of the services in a bouquet of 3 that we were offering him.

We decided that it wasnt worth taking up that assignment as it wasnt the main idea behind us starting up.

We prepared presentations,business plans, posts for each of us in the organization.had weekly meetings on gmail conference,then meeting up in malls,so that the team members could gel with each other more.We worked very hard and were losing out on sleep,given the fact that our finger were in so many pies.We also knew that if there would  be any investment it would be only of our brains and nothing else,atleast till we got some clients.

I have learnt a few things by the experience so far-
1) You need to be absolutely clear in the head of what your capability is
2) Should know the exact worth of what you are offering to the customer
3) And when a client says ,he will call you back,it actually means you need to call back and sometimes hear his/her caller tunes.


Next came August ,
And we decided to go slow on the start up, as we all needed time to prepare for the exams.

Cut to November and the work schedule was so tight for me,i used to cut on my sleep a lot,because i would end up working till 2 am and then had to study the customary share of the day.It was gruelling and sometimes in the office,i could hardly be sane. I missed out on many aimcats because i was tired by all the work that i would sleep during my exam hours.Ended up writing just 4 out of the 20 odd aimcats last season.The ones i did write,i used to write online exams with loud music.This i thought would help me in case there are a lot of disturbances in the exam centre,like loud invigilators,traffic honks,construction work etc. Then i tried writing mocks at different time slots,to see which hour i was the most active and fresh at.Later on i started writing exams after coming home from a gruelling day at office.This i thought would help me just in case the previous day of the exam,i dint get sleep and write the exam half-awake.

The mock scores gave me the confidence that i am mostly going to crack into a top 10 B school this year.


All exams ended,and results starting coming in. I had written just three of the countless MBA exams - CAT,FMS and XAT. First came the FMS result and i had made it through the interview round vying for one of the 100 seats. Next came CAT on Jan12th and i had scored 99.1.My happiness knew no bounds as i had always felt that i am deserving to be a 99 percentiler. Got calls for 5 of the IIMs. XAT , in my opinion was one of the toughest exams till date due to its mystery questions.As expected just managed a 96.8 percentile in it.

Cut to February : The interviews were being held practically at every weekend,and i was back to studying every financial jargon and marketing ones that i could lay my hands on. CNBC and NDTV Profit had replaced MTV on the favourites list.First up were the IIMs and i had to visit the Monarch Luxor hotel practically every weekend in February in my best suit. The interviews went fine and i was quietly confident of getting in. Next came FMS,now i had a feeling that i might have just crossed the cut-off in the written exams,hence knew that the GD-PI-Extempore was  like a do or die situation for me. I was confident of Extempore due to my previous experience of having performed mimicry in stage and coming up with on the spot content.

Interviews had gone disastrously last year and i was apprehensive about it this time.I attended GD/PI course of practically every Cat coaching institute there was,so much so that i made quite a few acquaintances in many of these places. FMS interview came on March 16th and i had to travel to Delhi. 1+6 = 7 and also being the second person on the list to be interviewed in that time slot,i hoped that my lucky numbers 2 and 7 wouldnt fail me.

After all the final results,i had made into FMS and each of the IIMs i had interviewed so far.I felt so happy,just a tinge sad that i have to be away from my home city Bangalore for 21 months.
The best moment came when my father congratulated me by shaking my hand and patted my back telling : "you have made us proud son". My mother was acting like a small kid who was just given a lollipop to eat. I felt a bit proud,felt i had done justice to the amount of hardwork i had put in,to the countless hours mom sat with me post midnight during school to make me study and to all the values they had imbibed in me.

I had made a promise to myself that the day i make it into a top B school,i will buy a expensive set of sunglasses and roam around wearing it on my bike.I  wanted to tell so much,scream so much,yet felt the urge to pray more to God,for having given so many wonderful things and wonderful people in my life.I became quieter after the success.I dint know what to talk.My mind became blank. This had been my life 24*7 since the first year in Engineering.It was the fuel on which my engine was running.

Now i had achieved what i had set out for,next what came the thought.I had become depressed for a couple of days,as relaxing was the only thing i was doing.But i later realised the art of relaxing was not known to me. Then came newer ambitions,newer goals,each of which i am going to work very hard for.

As to why i am writing the post today and not earlier - today is the one year completion of our startup.Just to clarify - we dont have  a single client still,yet each of us have worked a lot for it,and the dream will continue to run till the time the venture is a known brand everywhere.

PS: This post is not for motivation nor for showing off my achievements nor for anything else,its just to tell - if you have a dream and believe firmly in it,then dont give up on it.

Dream On!

How WE brought down a Corrupt Politician -Part 1

To start off,all the incidents in the blog are true.I am writing this to share some of the experiences which we as Common Men and Women had to go through a to bring down a politically powerful Corporator and put his career in shambles.All the incidents happened over almost 4 years but i will try to shorten it so that there is no reader fatigue.

So lets get started then,I am a resident of Sanjaynagar which comes under Ward No 100 in BBMP.Ok so lets take you 7 years back.

There was a huge barren land in front of home which was mostly used as a play area by some local urchins.Though Sanjaynagar is a fairly upmarket area,there is an area called Geddalahalli which houses mostly thugs and jobless people.However these people were not holding any sway over the Sanjaynagar residents.The barren land was starting to get occupied by slum dwellers and this was creating huge hygiene and safety issues for all of us.It was tough to leave our homes unguarded,and infact there were many thefts which happened during this time.

This was also the time when the Corporator elections for the erstwhile BMP (Bangalore Mahanagar Palike) were held and enter the messiah for all of us Mr M.Venkatesh of the Janata Dal Secular.He took up this barren land and converted it into a park but kept a portion of it which was towards the residents houses and retained it as a playing area.He basically concretized that portion.We hadnt realised his true designs then but we dint know he was a beast either.

The very same Geddalahalli thugs who until then had no voice of their own suddenly found one in Venkatesh.Their influence steadily started to grow on Sanjaynagar.Venkatesh's elder brother(who had also stood for Lok Sabha elections) had a son who had a built up a reputation of being a  major rowdy in Kalasipalya circles.He also started to concentrate on the posher areas of Sanjaynagar now.

THE BAD TIMES BEGIN :

Any new house being built,a percentage of the total cost would have to be personally given to Venkatesh.We also realised Venkatesh's penchant for developing new parks.The Horticulture department used to disburse funds to the tune of 1-2 crores per year for the maintenance of the parks and it only increased during Kumaraswamy's government.Venkatesh then went on a buying spree of land in Sanjaynagar.A propreitor of a school near my area,Venkatesh,a Geddalahalli frontman(we used to call this guy Thotada Maneyavnu as he had illegally taken over someone else's land,the case for which is still languishing in High Court) and the local BMP officials got together and built their own evil empire.

The building inside the park which was meant for a library was converted into a full time gym which was used by Venkatesh's boys.The play area also was unusable for us as it was usually occupied by thugs playing cricket and breaking window glasses of the houses in the neighbourhood including mine.We had initially kept quite and after a while it started getting on our nerves.Though the park gates had to be closed by 9 pm (now its 8pm) the ruckus would go well into the night.There would be alcohol parties too and this in the full view of the public.There was no one to stop them.The area police inspector was also in Venkatesh's pocket.

Sanjaynagar residents who had some power,one of them being my dad werent doing anything about it,everyone cared for the personal safety.These thugs wouldnt hesitate to do anything.Once under the influence of the alcohol they had apparently run over some ppl,the damaged car was kept in front of our houses.Other times they would play around with the watchman's wife or daughters.The park was slowly becoming unusable for respectable families.Sanjaynagar was no longer what it used to be.

One night an old man was being dragged on the road by Venkatesh's elder brother's son Raja.He  had a very very bulky frame and everyone were sure to get afraid seeing his physique.He was driving his enticer and dragging this old man by hoding his shirt through the tar roads.It was a gory sight for all of us to see.We were ppl who thought twice before killing even an ant and here we were seeing this.

But still everyone in our area kept quiet.Dad wanted to say something but was stopped by us.WHy simply get involved in all this jamela? Another day there was full scale beating up going on of a perceivably a boy from a well to do family.Reason : he had dared to overtake Raja on the main road.Raja was drunk with both alcohol and power. Dad in an impulse went outside and screamed at them as to what was happening.He told them that he had contacts in the Home Ministry and he could get them behind bars if they dint stop all this tamasha which was happening more regularly and brazenly now.

One of Raja's aides replied. "Yen Madtyo madkolole,nin a#$#$". I was inside the house and heard this comment.I knew how much respect dad had and to get this from an uneducated lout was too much for me.I rushed outside.Opened the gate and went straight to him(i still thank God that he has given me height,else i would be no match to their gymmed up ripping muscles and huge height) "Innond sathige helu,yenu helde anta"
"Tell once more what you just said".Too much film influence had gotten into me.I realised what i was up against and i could never get out of it alive.The opposite guy came and held my neck and i could hardly breathe.

Mom yelled to my dad to call the police.Raja who came there,slapped me on my face and all of the courage i was showing till then deserted me.Dad called up the police and an inspector on his cheetah came there.Dad gave his introduction and that was enough for the police to tell Raja that "Dodda officerappa,sumne bidu anva,"

"BIg officer man,leave this guy".

I found it strange.Forget the influence my dad had.I was a common man protesting another comman man being beaten up and the police officer was not seeing that.It required a contact for him to ask Raja to leave me.This was my first brush with the real society.I realised then that i was a nobody without my dad.God knows what those thugs would have done to me.

This incident shook me up.I wanted to take on Raja one more time.I was 19 back then and the hot blood was still boiling.I wanted to take on this physical beast and beat him to pulp.So once when i was returning from my evening walk,a couple of Raja's gang almost dashed their bike against my leg on purpose and then taunted me as they speeded away.That was too much for me to take.I ran as fast i could behind them shouting through the road.Till then i had a reputation of being a very silent and good guy in my area.I think that slightly changed with this misadventure.Mom rebuked me a lot that day.It was not the way boys from respectable families behaved,i was asked whether i would like to be labelled a rowdy.

The ruckus in the park was also getting unbearable and we would have to go for extended walks in the evening to avoid the noise.We had become prisoners of our own home.If we would go and tell those boys to move to another park to play,they would ask us to vacate ourhouse.Now however their reactions were not extreme as they feared Dad might do something against them.

However the fights with the boys who played there only increased over time.I was aggressive in the mind only till then.These fights started affecting my mouth as well.Bad words used to slip out and i had fallen in my own eyes.We thought we were fighting a losing battle.We also came to know that the Kumaraswamy's government used to give 50 lakhs annually for the maintenance of the library.Infact these 50 lakhs were given for every park.ALas in our park only the number of gym instruments increased.

During one of the long vacations between my semesters while doing engineering i came face to face with Raja again.I had gone from house to house during those holidays trying to whip up an anti-Venkatesh sentiment.Raja got wind of it.I had gone on my evening walk and he caught hold of my hand and twisted it.
He also said that he was seeing my dads face and leaving me.I kept quiet that day.

I wanted to punch him off that day.Fight to the finish and stuff but at that moment as the beast stood front of me,my heart was beating faster and mind had become numb.I came back angry to home,virtually shouted at my mom,i was angry on not being able to do anything.That day i sat with Dad.He told me a lesson which i am going to use through out my life.

"Son these are gundas,their strength is money and muscle power,if you are going to fight them on  these,for sure you will be the loser,we are curd-eaters,you think we can take on meat eaters,never,but you have a power which is your brain,we have only that to shield ourselves from such thugs.force them to fight on your area of strength and you are bound to win"

This was the turnaround,i had become optimistic that i could indeed change something.I will write on the remaining part next week. The part will describe how we took on Venkatesh and eventually restore Sanjaynagar back to its older days.

MANJA LOVES POOJA!!

DISCLAIMER : All the characters appearing in this blog are for real and there has been no exaggerations either for the comic effect or whatsoever.

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So this was one lonely night.Time was around 9.30 pm.Location :Somewhere in Jayanagar 4th 'T' block.Dont ask me what i had gone to do there,but this true story starts from here.Standing in the bus stand waiting for the bus to majestic i was seeing if there were any other co-bus-waiters with whom i can spend the waiting time talking to.

Suddenly a young man who looked like the typical Kannada film mass hero- you know a slim,bearded,tanned and macchu(long sword) weilding hero spewing dialogues like "When God is silent he is violent",came there.

So as he came and stood next to me,with a look on the face that was slightly scary(come to think of it,even if he had stood there with a blank expression,i would still have been scared),i became more conscious.Correcting my shirt and pant i stood more firm hoping he wasn't the person i was dreading.

10 minutes passed by,and yet there was no sign of the bus.He came bit more nearer.At that exact time,my mobile rang,i was afraid to even remove it outside,what if he had come to steal it away!!.I had bought a new mobile barely a week back,i dint want it to be stolen so fast that too in broad streetlight.I dint pick up the call.He came more nearer.

I was catching my shirt collar now.After all idu nanna sheeladdu savaal agittu.(it was matter of my modesty).

Then he suddenly asked

"Majestic ge bus illi barat alva(the bus to Majestic comes here right?)",i nodded to affirm that.

Our wait ended,as a blue coloured bus came soon.Majestic was the last stop.I got a window seat,and the mass hero(Lets call the mass hero as Manja) came and sat next to me.He took out his N91 and i was instantly embarrassed to not have taken out my mobile which was several thousands lesser than that.

As usual i put on my headphones and was listening to a song.Just then Manja started speaking in a loud tone.

I was not interested as to what he was speaking and increased the volume in my mobile.Then in the next stop Manja's friend (lets name him shivu) entered the bus and the two were like a house on fire.Due to the ruckus they created,i could no longer hear to the songs.

Shivu : "Yen illi?" ( What you doing here?)

Manja : "Illa T block alli evening college seriddini"  (I have joined evening college in T block)

Shivu : "Shivaji nagar inda illi tanka bartya sisya" (You travel so far from shivaji nagar?)

Manja : "College bere yavdu sikilla sisya" ( i dint get any other college disciple)

Then Shivu asked "Mathe Maga neenna dove yen madthale"(Dude what does your bird do?)

Now this sentence excited me into attention.I wanted to hear what Manja says,what was his love story all about etc.So i switched off the song in my mobile,kept my headphones on and eavesdroppped on their conversation.And why eavesdrop,because i knew i would get another reason to mock the whole concept of immature love once again.

Manja : "Yaav doveo?Poojana,Rekhana?" (Which bird man?Pooja or Rekha?")

Shivu : "JP Nagar alli idavlappa" (The one who stays in J.P.Nagar)

Manja : "Poojana?? yen naditha illa guru,Fathers day dina avar dyaddy avlathra mathu thakondnaante,nanna meet agbardu andnante (Pooja? nothing is going on with her man,Her Dyaddy took oath from her on Father's Day that she  wont meet me again)

Shivu : "Avan Ammun, avinge yen hidthittu roga" (His bloody mother,what disease had he got?)

Shivu was clearly angry that his dear friend's bird was flying away.

Shivu : Avru Brahmins alva maga, thika ganchali jasthi avrige ,eega yenante avaldu?" ( They are Brahmins right,they have lot of cockyness in the butt,so what will she do now?)

Manja : "Yen illa sisya,matter kayyi ache hogide,aval ajji,phone maddre receive madolla,nangu mind thirgbitre gothalla" ( Nothing disciple,matter has gone out of hand,her bloody grandmother,doesnt receive call when i phone her also,and when my mind turns,you know right?)

Shivu : "So eega Rekha steady na?avlu JP Nagar alva?" (So are u steady with Rekha now?Doesnt she also live in JP Nagar?)

Manja : "Hoon maga,avloo JP ne,adre Pooja first love maga,nenpu maryokke agtha illa"

(Pooja is my first love man,i cant forget her)

Just then Manja receives a call.By the looks of it,it seems to be from second dove aka bird Rekha.

And now Manja's tone has suddenly transformed into Mungaru Male Ganesh's.Very softly

Manja : "Hi Honey,darling ninde nenpu madkontha ide,Shivu nu sikhidda,mathadtha idvi,so yen darling matteru?"

(Hi Honey,Darling i was remembering you only,I met Shivu also,so darling whats the matter?)

The girl on the other hand had told him something,it seemed as  though she was telling that she was having problems in her home.

Manja was not able to hear her voice properly,so he switched on the loudspeaker.

Rekha : "Maneli neenu valentines day kotthid card annanige siktu,thumba baydro,"

(My elder brother got the card you gave me on valentines day,they scolded me a lot)

Manja : "Yeshte meter avnige,yerdu kodbeka kelu?"

(How much meter(guts) he has,should i thump him a bit?)

Rekha : (giggles) (the highly irritating giggle,felt like thumping Manja a bit for making me suffer that)

              

"bido avnu swalpa mental,mathe yavaga pani puri kodstya,gift kodthini andidde,kotte illa?"

(Forget him,he's a bit mental,so when are buying me pani puri again,you had told that you would bring me a gift also,you still havent)

Manja : (seemingly angry but maintaining his composure) "Kodthini darling,nan chinnu alva ninu?,koddhe irtina?"

(I will give darling,aren't u my baby doll?will i not give you?)

And suddenlly i guess someone in her family came to her room.The call ends and Manja starts hurling abuses

Manja : "Nodya sisya,bari ide aythu ivaldu,pani puri ,dress,nandu hidkondu yelodhokke sari aythu ival ajji"

(Did u see disciple,shes interested only in this,pani puri,dress,knows how to empty my wallets,thats all)

Manja had still not gotten over Pooja,she was his first bird also as a matter of fact.

We reached Majestic,and the mass hero before getting down slightly combed his hair and wore his fake ray ban glasses(in the night !!!!).

I thought  - " what style this guy has,we want to always be this good boy/girl,and look at him- so massy,so casual,and he had two girls to show for all his antics.What the hell had i got for being a good guy?.Look at this fellow.Girls just dig him,man one day i wish i can become like him"

And so saying i got down.I wished that Manja would get his Pooja someday because this was clearly "pure laaave"

Hope u folks also wish the same for the couple.

Curious Case of my Barber

Ok to just give a bit of history-I have been going to the same saloon for the last 15 years now.There are 5 barbers in the saloon and i went to this specific young man(about my age ) as it was easier that way.

He would greet me with a smile everytime i went there and i would feel special(no not any of the gay connotations please).My only job was to go and sit there and he would remember what he had to do with the hair.Also he gives some of the best head massages and all the stress of my fully unused brain would be gone.

The past two times however were different.Since he was busy with some other customer i went to the next person to get my hair cut.(Ok for ease of use lets keep my original barber as X and the new entrant into my "hair-life" to be Y).

Now Y was a better barber than X,he knew what hairstyles matched our age group,face type etc,basically all the barber lingo.X was no match for him.So as i sat there getting my hair done by Y,X was giving me glances.He smiled once and as a courtesy i smiled back. He was concentrating more on how my hair was getting done than his own customer.I again felt special :) . Wow this guy is so loyal to me,he cares so much for me and stuff.

Once the hair was done and it was time for my monthly head massage.X told Y that he would take care of that.Now Y was a  new entrant into the saloon also and wanted to do it himself(I think he too wanted a good Annual appraisal from his boss).So after a brief argument which X won,he came to me and said

"Namdu nimdu gothilla avnige" which literally translates to "He doesnt know mine and yours".

I just smiled thinking that there were two barbers fighting for me.(Again the feeling of being special :) )

So once this over i just thanked the guy and came back to my home feeling nothing odd.

Again month of July and again it was time:
I went on a cloudy morning with slight intermittent drizzle to get my hair done.X was again busy.And so was Y. So i went to Z this time,and this guy was even better.I liked the quality of his work.While Y seemed to have gotten over me,X was clearly still hung up.This time again he was giving me the glances,it was more of being slightly angry.So when Z went to change the blades,X walked along and said

"Namma Hathra madskontane illa eega,marthbittidira ansotte" which literally translates to "You are not getting it done by me,i think you have forgotten me) and gave a sad look.I dint know what to tell.Now i had to mollify the poor guy thiking that i had hurt him in some way.

"Parvagilla head massage neeve madi" - "Its ok you only do the head massage"

He replied back bluntly

"Parvagilla bidi,nimge avre chennagi madthareno" - "Its ok,i think u feel he does it better"

Again for a minute i thought"oh it was better i hadnt hurt him"

and then i was like- this is one possessive bugger.Should i be caring for the feelings of the barber? What if this possessiveness turns dangerous,then i felt i was overreacting.The guys used to doing mine,that too for 3 years,
so i said to him

"Next time inda neeve madi" "- "from next time you only do mine"

He smiled and finally i was able to mollify him.But as i was walking out,

"Man this guy is the worst among the 5 that work there,this brand new Z is so good,why the heck should i compromise on this to just keep one guy happy.So i am still grappling with what to do the next time.

I mean i never felt that he was cheating when he was doing some other customer so why was he feeling overtly possessive when someone else did mine.

So as i decide between keeping this jealous,possessive guy happy and keeping myself happy,i hope to get some ideas from u folks.

Till then chao!!!

IGNORANT SOULS!!

Ignorance- comes easy to our generation and so it does to me too.I was so involved in my own world for the past 4 years that i had forgotten some societal niceties,ground realities etc.

There was my sister's son's first birthday and i was also(yes people have started calling me too,advantages of earning i guess)invited. Everytime it would be addressed to my parents and i would be considered a tag along.Not anymore.I was also IMPORTANT now :)


But for the past 4 years i had almost attended nil social events and had forgotten how to behave when confronted with so many relatives at one place.Its one thing to be with people your age,whom you can have something in common with,but what to do in a family get together.

So back to my sister's function and i had made full preparations for giving an excuse for not coming.My mother realised that i was back to my old tricks and she handed me an ultimatum.But mothers, you can manage.Specially the boys know how to mollify their mothers and get their things done.

My sister also knew about my penchant for not attending social gatherings and she too barraged me with calls.The ultimate order came when my Dad also asked me to.My reluctance turned into forced obedience.

So there i was rubbing shoulders with relatives ,some of whom i had not even seen for many years.There were special introductions made by some of them about their daughters.Something about the age group 18-27 i guess.We are given the most attention(good or bad),the most looked at,and every action of yours is watched with keen interest.Its tough to be in this age bracket,almost like you are giving a botany exam every minute.

After having felt like fish out of water,and my mind saying "GET OUT ,GET OUT",and blushing more than a newly wed bride everytime i was introduced to someone,and and and many more.

I was tired.I sat like a dull dodo wondering what the hell i was doing there in a function for people much younger to me,attended by people mostly older to me.

Today sitting in front of my laptop preferring to chat with people online,i began to wonder how unaccommodating i had become,selfish to spare some time with others.It had become all about ME,ME and ME.Probably this was not the reason why GOD sent me to the world.

We somehow have a skewed attitude towards others,always want to crib about their deficiencies.

I did a personality test one day (i am not making this up.)
I sat down and wrote in a notepad certain characteristics that i hate in people,i got upto 20.

Out of them i had 17 of them.I have all along tried to be different than the people i thought were villains,not realising that in the process i had become more like them.

We all need to become accomodating,realise that everyone cannot be like us,accept the wonderful diversity that GOD has gifted us and become better persons which in turn will lead to a better society.

PS: This was my 2 piece.So dont mind.

PRINCE - ITS SHOWTIME !!!

It was not planned.I had gone to meet one of my friend who stays very close to Garuda Mall and we were checking out which movie to go.Then we realised Prince had released - apparently the "Biggest Action Movie in Hindi Cinema till date by the Makers of Race and Action Director ofDhoom".The promos looked good and the songs catchy.

So we went to Rex Theatre and paid 170 Indian National Rupees and sat in the AC-less theatre to watch PRINCE - ITS SHOWTIME!!!. I have been reading reviews by Masand,Anupama Chopra and all of them had referred to Viveik Oberoi using the tagline excessively whenever he gets into some action.Thats absolutely wrong.He has used it just two times and all the rest of them have been used by other characters in the movie.

From the very beginning Viveik catches your attention when he pulls of one of the most difficult and biggest heists in the history of the world(again according to the reporters in the movie).

Viviek has given one of his best performances of his career so far( because he has given so few of them) but probably had a danda smashed into his ass from behind because he was in lot of pain throughout.The expression on his face was Oscar-worthy.

But as a brave actor he tries his best not to show the pain by looking and acting cool(he has to act since he is not really cool) and telling or being told "ITS SHOWTIME!!!. The way he tells or is told "ITS SHOWTIME!!" is classy and cheesy(wondering how it can be both at the same time,you have to check out the movie to believe it).Not much to say about Viviek's performance as it was a one expression throughout.

Coming to the villain of the movie "I dont know who" , he too like the villains of the 70s has an Iron Hand and supposedly is this all powerful man who can do anything anywhere,yet he drives around mostly in a truck and hams his entire performance.This is not the first movie where an aura his created around the villain, but the end is so tame that you end up wondering "Powerful- Dude really?".

And now my favourite part -the original reason why i had gone - the babes( for all the feminists- i am not degrading the women folk into objects ,but giving them more importance for being the sole reason to draw ppl into the theatres ;)) .I was wanting to check out how Aruna Shields acted(acting is just a lame reason).Anyway she is the last heroine to be introduced as Maya, and she mouths cliched dialogues we have been hearing from all hangers of superheroes of our beloved Bollywood. Good thing is that she has a fabulous bod to show off and this distracts you from her boring act.

As for the rest of the heroines-there is one who is there just to take her paycheque and does all the wrong things with one justification "yeh sab mein hamariliye kar rahin hoon".And for all the boys who are hoping to see her in a bikini-i am sad to say that is only for the Tv viewers,that scene has been cut from the movie.

The third actress Nandana Sen.Normally she has done bold roles in the past but that somehow was justified given the script(i know i know "the script demanded it" but it really did given Nandana's case).But here there are only two things she is doing here-

1) shooting Viviek from terraces,trains,helicopters and all possible places ,yet not able to hit him even once.

2)making out with Viveik and and overtly trying to show off her assets at every possible chance.

I think the tagline was written keeping her in mind "ITS SHOWTIME!!!"

And yeah since i had read all the reviews beforehand i did notice all the leathers worn by the protagonists.Really dont know what to comment on that.

So there goes my review of Prince and oh yes- i almost forgot - one of the baddies does survive and there is a clear indicator for PRINCE 2 - was wondering what the tagline for that would be.ANy suggestions??

Random Thoughts!!

Ok i was planning to write this for a long time actually.The ways the songs are intertwined with the story of our beloved movies has always interested me,some of the common scenes across movies etc etc.I am writing down some of them which i remember

Sample this:

Katrina Kaif sits in a cab somewhere in Singapore, watches the tall buildings as they go by, smiles to herself and BAM!!!

"Gale Lag Ja ,gale lag ja" song starts with Ms Kaif jhooming around with Mr Crap Akshay Kumar.

Or this:

A guy who cannot tell his feelings to the girl he loves.The girl is unaware of his feelings and hence is getting hitched to someone else.The hero has a bunch of loser friends who hurt themselves more than the hero himself,bang their hands against walls,tables etc and tell( i am telling in Kannada here)

"Le le le le, nin dil alli avlu idale kano,helbido lo,le yogi helbido,nin manusu thumba avle harodkondidale antha nange gothu kano,hey helo(bangs his head against a nearby tree),nin avasthe nodokke agtha illa kano" che" ....and the hero replies

"Parvagilla kano,avala mukhadalli aa nagu idyalla,aa nagu nodkondu nan idi jeevna kalidbidthini kano kalidbidthini"

Now the thing is who is in love with the girl- the hero or the friend and to spend the rest of his life seeing the girl smile ??!! Dude Really??!!!

anyways

hero and heroine sitting across a table,watching each other,both tilt their face a bit and VOILA

both are romancing in the Swiss Alps with the hero wearing all the thermal wear he can and the poor heroine has to be glamorous wearing a chiffon saree.And these heroes are supposed to be chivalrous.

Some other observations:

During all these Awards shows-the heroine or hero who hasnt had releases for years now will be asked:

Here comes Superstar X

So X what are you wearing today

X: Well i am wearing Shantanu and Nikhil today.They just understand my body type so well you know,i just laaoove them.

Interviewer: Ahahaha and what are those u are wearing on ur feet ,they are so lovely !!@

X: Ya they are Jimmy Choos,i have so many of them,they just fit my leg so correctly..(i think X hasnt heard of something called "right size").

Just to round this off

I remember what Kami Swami Nityananda had told when he was asked whether it was him in the scandalous video:

When your bio-memory desires some other person then the man experiences something called desire for another living being and desires to share some of the life moments with another(note the use of desires)

But when your bio-memory is full then the person doesnt desire anyone else

Kyun ullu bana raha hain mamu,seedhe seedhe batao ki,main bhi mard hoon,sab samajh jhaate!!

Before i become anymore vulgar,see ya!!