Two Indian Movies of International Standard

Watched two outstanding Bollywood movies of international quality - Don 2 and Delhi Belly (English). Here are my short reviews on both.


Delhi Belly is an effing laugh-riot from the beginning to the end. Amazing direction, intelligent comedy (doesnt 'try' to make you laugh, u laugh ur a** off naturally), no unncesessary dances in between, and definitely not The Hangover copy. One of my most favourite movies of all time, desi or videsi.




Don 2 has an intelligent story (not copied, for a change), amazing dance choreography, realistic stunt scenes (even Priyanka kicks butt like Ziyi Zhang), superb acting by everyone, style... no unnecessary songs shot in the Himalayas, no ridiculous high flying wire-action sequences, no ugly jokes... The only thing I didnt like is a forced love scene between ****** and ***** (not gonna spoil the movie for those who havent watched it)
Dont miss em.


PS: Shah Rukh Khan told us that his movie Ra.ONE was of international quality. It would have been true if he had said so about Don 2. Cos Ra.One was just one big copy cat. Read more

PPS: Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara review, coming soon to a blog near you :)

Court : Deepak Dev Caught For Plagiarism/Copyright Infringement

Deepak Dev was caught for plagiarising Canadian singer Loreena McKennitt's two songs - Caravanserai and The Mummer's Dance.
His song "Aaro Nee Aaro" in the movie Urumi is a copy of the below song.


But what I liked about the guy is that he did not deny that he was inspired by the song. And he is right that Urumi's "Aaro Nee Aaro" is not a note by note copy of Caravanserai. Currently the court has blocked the movie from releasing in other languages. Further proceedings are going on.

Hope this would hamper the ever increasing problem of plagiarism in the entertainment field in India - like the new copy by M G Sreekumar! He lifted the tune for Madhavettanennum song in the movie Arabiyum Ottakavum P Madhavan Nairum off Amr Diab's song Rohy Mertahlak. Sangathikal onnum vidaathe copy cheythittundu :P



MG Sreekumar-inte sangathi eppo pokkumo entho!

Read more here : http://www.kottaka.com/blog/2011/11/court-ruling-against-deepak-dev/

How NOT to write leave letters!

(Click the image below to zoom)

RA.One : One Big Copy Cat? - FULL LIST of Inspirations

First of all, I'd like to say that I'm in no way bashing the movie. I just feel the movie has been inspired by a lot of sources like other movies, advertisements, games, etc. It's like a giant new pizza made up of pieces from other pizzas we have already tasted.

Below is a list of copies (inspirations) that I discovered.

• Ra.One Poster - Inspired (!) by a poster of the 2005 movie, Batman Begins.
  
  
  Image : IBN Live
  
• The bike SRK rides - Inspired by the bike model used in the movie Tron.
  
  
  Image : One India Entertainment
  
• The heart of Ra.One/G.One - Exact copy (I'm not gonna use the word inspired for this one!) of Tony Stark's Arc Reactor from the movie Iron Man (Why??? Why lift it straight from another movie? Why couldnt they atleast think of a different shape and look? :/ )
  
  
  
  
  
• The scene in which Shah Rukh Khan beats the doctor when he slaps his baby - Inspired by the commercial for The Argentine Foundation of the Hearing Impaired.
  
• The scene in which SRK flips around when he hits the wall - Inspired by the scene in which the evil bot T-1000 does the same trick in the movie Terminator 2 : The Judgement Day
  
• Bits and pieces of Ra.One fusing together after he exploded - Yep! Good guess! T-1000 again.
  
  

The song Dildaara is based on Ben E King's 'Stand By Me', but they got permission to use it. Much better than Pritam lifting tunes off Korean tracks and not giving credits! The theme music - I felt parts of it were inspired by the XMen - First Class OST, but I didnt get a second listen. So, dont quote me on this! Then, there are comments online that compare G.One's suit to the ones in Tron. I felt it's more similar to the suits in the game Crysis. But hey, that's being unnecessarily picky. Thankfully, it's not lifted straight from Iron Man too. I hope I am not being unjust here. There are other bloggers online who are a lot pickier than I am (they rant about Ra.One's coat - Assassin's Creed, throwing cars at each other a la Magneto in X-Men...). I'm being as lenient as I can :). These are just a few thoughts that came to my mind after watching the movie. And, Ra.One is not a shitty movie. It was watchable and the graphics are top notch (although I didnt like the finale fight scene much. Looked too video game-y). And, to its credit, it accomplished its mission - to blast everyone's brains out with the best visual effects in bollywood history. Shah Rukh says that the movie is his way of showing Hollywood that we too can make movies of their standard using in-house production techniques. So, why make a list like this? Well, one or two inspired features could be ignored, but I couldnt digest the fact that they abased such an ambitious project into one big copy cat movie. They were smart enough to come with "RA.One" and "G.One". Why couldnt they apply the same genious everywhere else? Why look for inspirations in each and every aspect? Why not make something totally new for a change? That's how we can show Hollywood that we too can make kick ass movies, not by copying their movies and feeding it back to them. Update: Even the story is stolen... Geez...! (Courtesy : Hindustan Times)

Fresh Tyre for Yamaha FZ

A Nitrogen filled Pirelli Sport Demon ate my four thousand bucks ;)

* Pirelli is the fifth largest tyre manufacturer in the world.

* Deeper treads than the stock Revz

* 140/70 - 17. Taller than the stock one.

* Nitrogen filling is supposed to have a lot of advantages as described here -

http://www.helium.com/items/852639-pros-and-cons-of-inflating-tires-with-nitrogen

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirelli

Top Speed

Earlier, 119 kmph was the max speed I could get out of my FZ. Today, clocked 124 kmph on my dad's Fazer... yeah, u heard that right... my dad's !!!

Cakewalk A-800 Pro (Roland) Unboxing

Unboxing pics of my new A-800 Pro Midi Keyboard Controller.

First impressions:

I really like the feel of the keys. It has the right action that I was looking for. It doesnt feel cheap and plastic-y at all.

It has a lot of controls including a dedicated transport section, but I'm yet to find a way to use all this with my DAW.

Got to read the manual! Updates and videos will follow, I guess.