F.R.I.E.N.D.S – in Bollywood

A lot can happen over a plate of yuktahaar food. The food pretty much sucks (dont ask me why I eat there coz everyone eats there for the same reason) , but to divert one’s attention off it, super conversations take place. Just the other day me and my friend were talking about how Friends is such a brilliant tv show and how we could not find a show half as engaging as it on Indian television. It struck me at that point that there was an attempt -a rather pathetic one at that, to have a desi version of Friends. It was called Hello Friends and aired on Zee. Those were the days when I saw a lot of tv and I remember watching a few episodes of the short lived series. Of course the jokes were all changed to suit our mentalities but come to think of it Friends is inimitable. I cannot recall any other cast that gelled so well on screen. Their mannerisms, their style statements,their popularity etc will remain etched in a lot of people’s memories for eternity. Hypothetically though, if we were to make a remake in India whom would we cast?? We thought about it for a while and came up with

Ross – Hrithik Roshan

Chandler – Saif Ali Khan

Phoebe – Konkona Sen Sharma

Rachel – Kareena Kapoor

Monica – Rani Mukherji

Joey – Arshad Warsi

Janice – Mallika Sherawat

(The characters have been mentioned in the order of my liking)

Hrithik for Ross because David Schwimmer is a brilliant actor and a role like Ross needs an actor of immense calibre and also Hrithik looks like a million bucks. Rachel is all about style and attitude – so Kareena fits the role. She would look good with Hrithik. Saif for Chandler was the easiest pick because Saif has great wit, great personality and very good chemistry with Rani who we picked for Monica because both are a little boring. We had trouble picking someone for Joey’s role because Matt LeBlanc looked so perfectly dumb playing his role that except for Govinda no one came to our minds initially. But he is old now so we picked Arshad instead because he carried of the whole “Circuit” thing pretty well and has great comic timing. Ms Sherawat for Janice is as simple as it can get. Annoying,over the top and easily dispensable!

We could also have cameos by SRK (like Brad Pitt) and Priyanka (like Samantha Applegate) etc. Well this exercise just goes to show how much free time we have on our hands these days. I for one really hope no one even thinks of remaking Friends. Its a classic and should remain that way.

PS: Suggestions for other characters like Estelle and Gunther are welcome.

The year that was

2008 was a strange year. It was a lot of other things as well but it was a strange year more than anything else. We went from being amazed at the shooting fuel prices to being distraught at the faltering economy; from dancing to 20 year old Chris Brown’s hip hop to 42 year old SRK’s dance pe chance; from a growing economic superpower to a vulnerable nation sick and tired of terrorism ; from Bush to Obama ; from Federer crazy to a little less Federer crazy and I went from 20 to 21!

I learned a lot about myself in this past one year but the most important lesson I will take away is that ‘if good things are not happening to you, it only means that better things are in store’. More about that some other time. This post is a review of the year 2008 from my perspective.

Politics in 2008 - Nothing caught my imagination more than the US presidential elections this year. I always wanted Democrats to come back to power and being a feminist at heart I wanted  Hillary Clinton to bag the nomination but I am happy with Obama as well. He looks like a sincere guy and lets hope he doesn’t go the bush-way. On a sadder note, I think I am going to miss all the jokes and satires on Bush when he leaves office. He truly was(is) the most entertaining president I have ever seen.

Indian politics were well….. Indian. There was the no-confidence motion which the Congress turned into another sweet victory by means better known to them. There was this whole Raj Thackeray saas-bahu type ka drama in Maharashtra. I pity the guy and his followers because a few years down the line when they look back at all the crap they pulled out, they will melt due to embrassment. The year ended on a bright note with the J&K polls proving that democracy is still a privelege and a right we cherish. I hope Omar Abdullah turns out to be a model CM because our country needs young politicians and leaders with charisma.

Sports in 2008 -  India had a very good Olympics this time. There were the usual disappointments but we won a gold in shooting and a bronze in boxing – totally unexpected and totally awesome. We need to build on these athletes and not just give them appearances on reality shows and ads for fairness creams. Cricket was great this year. The men in blue were pretty consistent in their wonderful performances and it gives me so much happiness when I see Australians losing. Go Proteas !!! Tennis was the biggest winner last year. There was so much high quality and so much talent to look forward to. Men’s tennis is in great hands with Nadal, Murray , Novak and several others coming through but it was an okayish year for Fedex who will come back strong though. Lewis Hamilton won the F1 championships and although I do not follow the sport at all, I think he is much better looking than that Ferrari driver (cant even remember his name ). Saina Nehwal is the new Sania Mirza. She is supertalented and has achieved so much this past year that she needs to given the attention and shown the appreciation that she has earned with her hardwork. All said and done, 2008 was a superb year for sports.

* – Liverpool are going to do the double this year

Movies in 2008 - Lots of great movies this year. Tollywood first , small budget films with no big names like Vinayukudu and Nachavule etc did good business which is a positive sign. Brahmanandam is a genius. He made two ordinary films like Ready and King super hilarious. He should be elevated to a higher status. Bollywood had an average year. I did not like SIK or Ghajini or Rnbdj which apparently are the three superhits of the year. I was also not too entertained by Jaane tu … and Rock on! . A wednesday, Oye Lucky Lucky Oye, Mumbai meri jaan and Dasvidaniya were the picks of the year. Salman was a huge disappointment. Hollywood had a fantastic year. TDK, Slumdog, Curious Case, Milk, Burn After Reading, Wall-E, Vicky Christina were all fantastic films. It is going to be a very very interesting awards season. I would also take this opportunity to congratulate certain films on achieving all time lows in filmmaking like Yuvvraj, Tashan (inspite of being a Saifeena fan) , Jimmy (Mimoh needs to find another profession) , Maan gaye mughal-e azam etc. When will an Indian filmmaker make a Slumdog Millionaire.

Here’s hoping for a much entertaining, less political and sportingly spectacular new year.

Idol fever!

I am a self confessed TV addict and while I was home for a mini vacation after the end term exams , I realised that the Indian media has gone nuts.The usual soap operas that started an age back are still on air and doing well but that is an expected state.I was mad at the news channels(except for CNN and NDTV) for all the crap they were showing and giving undue importance to.So I shifted gears and started watching Star World though most of the seasons they air are aldready on our LAN,neverthless I decided that Simspons or Oprah would do for me.Then Apprentice got added to my list but the one show I thoroughly enjoyed was American Idol – no,no I am not a Sanjaya Mallakar fan but it was good to see an Indian doing well at a platform like that.It impressed me because the results of the show were so genuine.It seemed as if the people were being judged by a country where votes werent driven by emotions but by quality of the performance.

A few days back Indian Idol started and it reminded me of the first season – a season I followed with immense interest.In contrast to AI our version had nothing different except for the set and the set of judges I suppose.Bad singers were kept in the running while good singers were voted out.Each show has its share of upsets but whats clear is clear.Even while the judges were shouting their guts out no one seemed to take note of it.Then came Sa Re Ga Ma Pa on Zee and there the situation was hilarious.An average singer beat an extraordinary one hands down because the number of votes he received from his region were more than his competitor’s from the entire country.Amazing but true.Since its that time of the year when both Idol and SRGMP have started fresh seasons I hope that the country values talent and votes in sane fashion.

BTW American Idol is all I think about these days.Go Blake Lewis!!

TV – traumatic viewing

Hilarious is the one word that comes to my mind when I manage to get a peek into the TV lounge of the Girls Hostel(GH).It is supposed to be a place where we can watch television but the state in which the set is right now , I am certain that it could be used as a specimen to teach people how not to use a TV set.There is no remote control so we have to invariably keep changing the channels and modulating the volume every other second but that condition has now detiororated to a point where even the delicate buttons have been broken.We use refills and pins to surf through.Some insane things happen in the process like ..

Say we want to watch channel number 45 and are at 46 we have to go all the way to channel 100 and then land back at 1 to move to 45 because the button to move back is out of order.If you touch the volume buttons the channels get changed.If you change the channel the volume gets minimized.Along the way a few of the Gh residents have learnt the art of using this very unique and historically important TV set.Be it watching Nach Baliye or the world cup matches it took immense patience and sweat to set the channel and volume.There was a time when speakers were brought into the lounge bcause of the pathetic volume system.

Inspite of the complaints nothing has been done.What a sorry state of affairs.The TV lounge at one point always had company but now it wears a deserted look.This being the summer break one looks forward to watching a few things on the TV but as luck would have it we cant even do that.A pat on the back once again to IIITH.

Go Ravens!!!

Television has been keeping me company since the time I can remember.I am a tv-addict and it was almost next to impossible to imagine a life without it.Life is full of surprises and you never know when its you!Two years of confinement(thats the word I use to describe my life in Gowtham) and no television.Strangely enough it did not seem all that difficult to adjust to a “no-idiotbox” world.So one fine day I just type the word TV on dc++ and luckily enough I find something called “tv-shows” and one thing led to another till I saw a plethora of soap operas on lan.Will watch these some other time – I thought and that was the end of that chapter.

The next thing I knowI am watchin this movie called “Freaky Friday” and there is this fantabulously(err I kind of re invented this word) cute guy in it.So I ran a check on him.His name is Chad Michael Murray(CMM) and after going through his entire biography I saw a link which mentioned his proffessional achievments. It was like a chain and I dont know why I did not stop.So there it was he had acted in few movies but what stood out was a show called “One Tree Hill” and it had enormously high ratings.So I typed that in and voila there it was on lan.I downloaded a few episods not realising that it was such a good decision.

What started off casually soon became an obsession because this show is like none I have ever seen.Its a teenage drama – about high school kids but yet there is this sensitivity with which each character is portrayed.There is drama – the male protoganists are half brothers which gives enough scope for heavy dialogues and confrontations,the backdrop is basketball and there are cheerleaders too – so lot of action and fun and then the most important thing – complicated relationships.Well Ekta Kapoor could have done wonders with this plot.The only difference being there would be trucks loaded with glycerine outside the studios and people dressed like christmas trees for some reasons known best to her.

The show makes good infact great points about parental pressure with regard to the fact that parents expect so much from their kids that there is hardly any room for personal interaction.Its always coaching and training them up for the so called goals of their life.It also mentions but in a subtle fashion about insecurities.Childhood best friends who have seen each other grow up are so vulnerable that a guy can break their friendship not once but twice.I have been hooked onto this show for a long time now and I am in love with most of the characters.

Thanks to CMM and Freaky Friday I stumbled upon a great show though unluckily OC seems to be hogging the limelight.Well OC and OTH are radically different shows and whoever loves OC like me will surely love OTH .Do watch this show because teenage life has never been depicted better.

Ps:If you r wondering about the title then its the name of the basketball team in the show.