Rule# 73

73) Always remember, a successful person is someone who is not afraid of failure!

Pretty basic stuff huhh.....

1. Drink Water
2. Exercise
3. Run
4. Read
5. Travel
6. Use camera
7. Watch more movies
8. Learn some instrument
9. Eat healthy
10. No Soda
11. No coffee
12. No candies and random goodies
13. Eat breakfast

Rule# 72

72) Argue less, Achieve more.

Rule# 71

This may sound weird; hope someday it’ll make sense to you.
 
71)  Sometimes washing dishes can be therapeutic.

तू कहे अगर

तू कहे अगर
      तो लौट जाऊं  वहां ...... 
      जहाँ से कोई लौटा ही नहीं
तू कहे अगर
     तो रुक जाऊं और मोड़ लू राहें अपनी, उस डगर को .....
     जहाँ से कोई आता ही नहीं

तू कहे अगर    
      तो रूठ जाऊं पल भर को, के यह भी भूल गए है ... ...
     कभी कोई मनाता ही नहीं
तू कहे अगर
   तो मूँद ले आँखें फिर से ,
   ख्व़ाब में कोई आता ही नहीं …….

बिन खुद जले न हो उजाला

Unleash the awesomeness

Unshackle the beast

Work HARD, NOW.

Rule# 70

70) अगर आप आराम की ज़िन्दगी चाहते हो तो .....मेहनत तो करनी पढेगी !

Rule# 69

69)  Whenever sad - smile.
       Whenever angry - smile
       Whenever in pain - smile
       It even confuses the brain.

Rule# 68

68) Always remember you’re THE HERO of your movie, give it a happy ending.

• Caillou

• Thomas and Friends

• Wonder Pets

• Kipper

• Tro Tro

• Dora

• Diego

• Curious George

• Delhi Safari

Movie Review : Lootera

1)  Extremely well made movie, one can sense the pains director and his team took to maintain the look and feel of the movie.

2) It was filled with excitement 'built-up-scenes' but they never resulted in an explosion or ‘release’, rather after hitting the peak, instead of blast, taking it to another level, director decided to take couple steps backward, e.g. when father-daughter find out Nandu’s reality, instead of explosion there was ‘intermission', making one feel cheated , or when  Nandu ends up at Pakhi’s guest house, they still mumble jumble about murders and stuff so casually, that killed the whole momentum built by prior chase-scene.

3) Low on entertainment quotient. 

4) I think they should have added captions to certain scenes, you may call it force-feed the viewers but still I think adding captions in opening scene like 1955 Manekpur, Bengal , or in scene after interval like 1958 Dalhousie, HP. That would have helped viewer to absorb the settings better.

5) Lyrics/Music/Vocals were absolutely stunning, and background music was brilliant, it was so minimal and effective.

6) Dialogues – Very nicely done, no over-top-bhaari-bharkam dialogue baazi, and better were the pauses between the words, in fact pauses were much more powerful and added meaning to words.

7) Acting wise – I think both lead actors missed something; they simply couldn’t leave their modern-chic mannerism, which was a letdown. They were good in patches but overall average; they lacked the conviction of love-tales of 50s/60s. Supporting cast was minimal, Vikram Massey was good, Sonakshi’s best friend had just one scene, but Zameendaar sahab was fabulous.

Overall, a solid 3 star movie.

Rule# 67

67) Work hard, Nap hard.

Rule# 66

66) Whenever you really enjoyed watching a movie or finishing a great book, then take a day off to relish it.

Movie Review - Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani

It's been really ages since I really did any movie review kind of post, or any kind of post.
So, last one was 'Delhi Belly' and there is a link between them, and people who know me, know that too.

So let’s start in classical bullet points, primarily to keep things in track -

1) Didn't like the title when I first heard of it, and don't like it now either.

2) Ayan Mujkherji, this guy really impressed me with his restrained direction in his debut movie, it was brilliant.

3) Ik taraa - Tochi Rana version, became one my favorite, so was expecting another that kind of song.

4) Add 'thinking' star Ranbir to the above mix, skyrockted my expectations.

5) Now coming to the movie, it started on a bad note, seriously what the hell Madhuri was doing there? Whole song/sequence looked so forced and out of place. After movie ended, no one, really no one remembered Madhuri or song or music or dance for even 1 second. It seemed like some afterthought from producer, chal movie ban gayi, ab surprise element daaltey hai....Madhuri ka item number, just like Ash's Kajra re caught everyone by surprise & became a rage, but whole idea fell flat.

6) Introductions scenes were so repetitive and clichéd, characters were introduced in same old way, that cool friend with sharp tongue and a headphone, studious one with chashma, and of course cool and happening , life of every party one in the opening song-sequence. No comments about Aditya Roy K.

7) Whole ‘hiking’ trip picturization was so FAKE and irritating. Right from buying train tickets, boarding train, all of them carrying EXACT same kind of bag pack (just in different color), meeting plasticiky girls in compartment, playing those games, blah blah blah, highly irritating.

8) Now actual hiking shots, what were they thinking while shooting those? Anyone who has done an even half-a-mile hiking will know how one looks like after it, but here everyone ( including instructor) looked so fresh and crisp, no sign of sweat, or tiredness, or feeling/looking thirsty, dirty clothes/shoes, but NO everything was so perfect. And then there were those idiot/timewasting/highly irritating scenes between Bunny and LARA while hiking.

9) And the LOWEST point of the movie was when instructor talks about some ‘Bhagsu Point or something, and then gives crap about ‘Puranmasi ki raat “, mannat and all.  This is 2013, not 1997 when Madhuri explained Valentine’s day with puranmasi reference in DTPH.

10) In one shot it was all snow and in very next shot it’s ‘Balam Pichkari’ song, it is possible but looks highly unconvincing on screen. It was more of music video which they decided to plug in.

11) Fighting with local goons was pathetically conceived and acted. Everything was BAD in that sequence. Acting, writing, direction, location/set it was BAD BAD BAD.

12) Characters were not established at all, there was a brief reference to Deepika’s family but later on nothing, Aditya Roy Kapur was the weakest link, he needs acting classes and less whiskey glasses. He tried to present as charming goofy kind of guy but only succeeded in irritating. He talks about his father but it never seemed convincing.

13) The transition between 8 before and 8 years after was very blurry, there was hardly a difference. They all looked same, behaved same. They should have invested little bit in showing their after-8 yrs life, may be a shot or two of Deepika as doctor running her clinic.

14) Casting of Kalki as Aditi was the master stroke, if one looks from distance there is nothing new to her character but casting a blonde hair girl with unusual(in good sense) looks added a lot of dimension to her role, plus she really acted her part extremely well.

15) Another high point of movie was Farooque Sheikh, he really brought warmth and believability, his scenes kind-of had touches of Ayan’s Wake Up Sid. Though I still feel Tanvi Azmi was wasted in that minuscule role.

16) Another guy who must be ashamed of his decision of doing this will be Rana Duggubatii, what was he thinking when he agreed for that role? May be a chance of getting a better/bigger deal from Dharma Productions in future.

17) Now let’s talk about Ranbir Kapoor, as expected he really acted well in this movie too, and undoubtedly he is meant for bigger success in future. In this movie, I noticed that he too is about to fall into trap-of-being-a-superstar, that is when RANBIR KAPOOR becomes bigger than the character he is playing, exactly same way SRK is. In this whole movie, it was a RANBIR KAPOOR show, almost in all scenes he was there, almost ALL, just like SRK used to be in Karan Johar/ YRF movies. Like I said earlier I didn’t like the title of movie, they could have called it ‘A Ranbir Kapoor Show’.

18) Music – I liked it, though lot of songs were amalgam of Pritam’s prior work which he packaged in a very Dharma Productions kind of boundaries, and in couple of songs he tried to create ‘Ik Taraa’ magic like song in ‘Kabiraa’, or tried to cash-in Mohit Chauhan’s Rockstar success. Overall , pretty decent lively peppy MUZIIIIIK. 

19) Overall, I saw some flashes of Ayan's talent, but this time seems like Producer had a bigger say in the shaping of the movie.

Rule# 65

65) Always remember, truths may be hard to face or difficult to understand but they are never complicated.

Rule# 64

64)  One task at a time, you can only fool yourself by thinking you're multitasking. There is no such thing as 'multitasking', in real world, it's called multi-toggling.

Rule# 63)

63) You are not REALLY studying unless you've a writing instrument in your hand, otherwise its just plain reading.

Rule# 62)

62) Once in a while take a good look at your kitchen garbage/trash-bin , you’ll learn a lot about your eating and spending habits.

Rule# 61)

61) They say, we're average of the 5 people we spend the most time with. That's true, but to further narrow it down, I would say, remember, we're average of the 3 people we talk most with.

Rule# 60)

60) Once in a while drive with windows rolled down throughout your journey.

Rule# 59

20 seconds, yes it takes just 20 seconds to change the course of your actions, which could lead to change the course of your life, and we end up justifying our call, or plainly name it destiny, fate etc.

It takes 20 seconds of courage to speak up your mind, or decide to keep mum; it takes 20 seconds to defeat that ‘tiny’ pessimist voice in your head or to succumb to it.
20 seconds of decision-making changes life. 

Remember, that window is small, and happens at very innocuous times, on its’ face look innocent and harmless but its’ affects are life lasting.

59) Remember, this 20 seconds rule – battle of heart and mind can be won or lost in 20 seconds.

you are not my antidote
you are not my addiction
you are not my journey
you are not my destination

जो ओढ़े बादलों की चादर , वोह तुम नहीं
जो बोले बारिशों की बोली , वोह तुम नहीं
जो करे तारों से बातें , वोह तुम नहीं
जो घोले शामों में काज़ल , वोह तुम नहीं 

you are not my rainbow
you are not my companion
you are not my twilight
you are not my beacon

जो पहने चाँद का टीका , वोह तुम नहीं
जो बोए इंद्रधनुष की क्यारी , वोह तुम नहीं
जो हो फ्हुहार झरना की, वोह तुम नहीं
जो रोके उड़ती हवा को, वोह तुम नहीं 

ज़िन्दगी !!!

Rule# 58

Here, I'm laying a set of guidelines, heck even this whole 'rules' series is a set of guidelines, derived from personal experiences, personal mistakes and missed opportunity.

Dream --> add a Date to it = Goal
Goal -->  broken into small steps = Plan
Plan --> pursued with disciplined action = Dream realized.

58) Most importantly, remember it starts with a dream.

Rule# 57

This is again, a pretty basic one, and also a reminder to self.

57) Remember, the day you stop playing outdoor games* , you start growing old.

*any game that require physical activity, so indoor games table tennis and badminton qualify.

Rule# 56

My dear son, I read this one today, and I know it's pretty basic and obvious, but it is usally the obvious things which we tend to overlook. And before I forget, I want to log it for you.
It can't be said in a better way.
 
56) Comparison is the thief of joy. -Theodore Roosevelt