Digi's Blog

SPOILERS AHEAD Films based on women are of various types in our hindi film industry. There are few who spend the entire two and a half to three hours glorifying women, going overboard, exaggerating everything, desperately trying to prove that women are supreme. These films will have a climax laden and loaded with ultra heavy jingoistic dialogues, giving us the message that women are the best. And then there are few films which steer totally clear off all these shackles and simply focus on the story. Whatever message is supposed to be conveyed is automatically evident, without the need for any exaggerated dialogues and climax. “English Vinglish” belonged to this category; almost. “QUEEN” belong to this category too, but entirely! “Queen” is a movie which will linger in your mind for a long long time after you have finished watching it. There are innumerable scenes which you will recollect once you have stepped out of the theatre hall. Prior to watching this film, I was ske...

Disclaimer - It might get a bit personal and boring at times. Please bear. There was this woman. I call her a “WOMAN” and not a girl, though she is still only 23 years old. This post is for her – that one single woman who I believe is someone who will be etched in my heart for years to come. For the world, she was a random person, a typical girl, loaded with the usual tantrums, habits, styles and fusses usually associated with a girl of 18 years freshly arrived in college. For me she was different. She wasn’t at all a random person. I loved her typicalities, experienced her tantrums, marveled at her styles, and got angry at times and smiled at times at her fusses. The first time I had met her, I had actually shook my head in disgust as she was unstoppingly and unhaltingly speaking – a thing which a woman totally loves to do. Let us leave the words “love”, “girlfriend”, “relationship”, etc aside. She was a friend. A friend who taught me how to actually trust, love, l...

It is indeed a difficult job to make a list of my favorite songs of A.R Rahman. After much thought and exclusion of MANY songs, here is a list of my favorite ARR songs - Yeh haseen vaadiyaan (Roja) Lukka chhuppi (Rang de basanti) Tum ho (Rockstar) Saadda haq (Rockstar) Bombay theme (Bombay) Tere bina (Guru) Jaane tu meri kya hai (Jaane tu ya jaane na) Jashn e bahaara (Jodha akbar) Ishq bina (Taal) Mujhe rang de (Thakshak) Ek tu hi bharosa (Pukar) Chale chalo (Lagaan) Radha kaise na jale (Lagaan) Sadiyaan (Lakeer) Yun hi chala chal (Swades) Des ki mitti (Bose the forgotten hero) Dil hai chhota sa (Roja) Al maddath maula (Mangal Pandey) Khoon chala (Rang de basanti) Kabhi kabhi aditi (Jaane tu ya jaane na) Tu muskuraa (Yuvvraj) Ae Nazneen suno na (Dil hi dil mein) Jhoola baahon ka (Doli saja ke rakhna) Raanjhaa raanjhaa (Raavan) Dreams of fire (Slumdog millionaire) Maa tujhe sa...

There is this new trend of merging mythology with fiction lately which seems to be working quite well. “Baramulla bomber” too follows the same path to some extent. Written by Suraj “Clarke” Prasad, this book is a combination of politics, cricket and some deep and well done research. PLOT – A lot of things are crammed in this first part of the trilogy. There is a deep insight to the political tension between India and China. Then there is some very thorough description of the mythological being the key. To be honest, I felt a bit too much stuffed in a single book. The initial few pages are a difficult read – ranging from boring to quite disjointed. But soon, the author picks up pace and we are on a racy ride involving espionage, religion, friendship and ofcourse, cricket. There are a lot of twists and turns and unexpected events which manage to hold your interest till the end. WRITING – Clarke Prasad’s writing is quite lovely. I liked his unique style of writing ...

After "Ajab prem ki ghazab kahaani", the team of Rajkumar Santoshi and Pritam return with PPNH. While the former had some great music, I somehow listen to this soundtrack with slightly reduced expectations- blame it on the slapstick trailer, its similarity to APKGK or the absence of Ranbir Kapoor. Let us take a look at the soundtrack. "AGAL BAGAL" sees Mika in full form. Having mastered such songs, this one rises one step further owing to a catchy tune, very funny lyrics and an innovative video. There is also some nice use of harmonium(?), guitar and some really good interludes between the antaras. Massy, entertaining and catchy, this one is sure to set your feet tapping. "HEY MR DJ" is sung by Benny Dayal, Shefali Alvares and Shalmali Kholgade. Included as a pure club number, this one has a heavy hangover of "Latt lag gayi" from Race 2. There is also that templatized disco beat plus arrangement. The "let's go bananas" loop is...

Sachin and Jigar have had a wonderful year uptil now. First the awesome ABCD, then the wacky Go Goa Gone and then the simple Ramaiya Vastavaiya. Now they make a BIG leap as they bag a Yashraj movie. With the promos smelling totally fresh, let us take a look at the music of the movie. "Tere mere beech mein" holds your attention from the first second. We are treated to a collage of sounds- boys echoing "dado mujhe de chhokro", the hustle bustle of traffic, that cycle ki ghanti and that rickshaw ka bhopu backed by nice guitar riffs. There is a sweet whistle playing too. Finally all these sounds give way to Sunidhi Chauhan's voice. Along with Mohit Chauhan, she sings this dialogue-like song with finesse. Mohit lends ample support, his voice sounding good as always, especially in the higher notes. But for the first time he is not the dominating singer. It is Sunidhi who owns the song and Mohit who pitches in at regular intervals- an arrangement for which the comp...

Nikhil Advani is one of those rare directors whose films have always boasted of brilliant music – Kal ho na ho, Salaam-e-ishq, and the recent Patiala House. Even Chandni Chowk to China had the gorgeous “Tere naina”. In short, his movies have always had quality chartbuster stuff. And the people responsible for this have always been the same – Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy. D-Day looks very promising from its promos. However, one doesn’t know what really to expect from the music, as there seems less scope for music here. Yet, let us take a look at the album of D-Day. DUMA DUM gets one more version, this time in the voice of Mika Singh. What is with this song that it is getting so many remakes? No doubt it is a great song, but there is always a tolerance limit. And that has been reached. Earlier this year, even David had a version in the voice of Rekha Bhardwaj. Coming to the song, it is good. Mika does a good job with the vocals. But that’s it. I would prefer the original versi...