The Best of Bollywood - 2007

The awards season has started in Bollywood in full earnest. While Taare Zameen Par, Life in a Metro, Chak De India etc. are in line to bag the major awards, spare a thought for these little gems that Bollywood produces. The delightful films have their own dedicated fan following. It is parallel cinema in its own right sans Om Puri, Shabana Azmi and their ilk. Hence I decided to honour some of 2007's most interesting films in my own right. So Ladies & Gentlemen, please give it up for Best of Bollywood that you missed ...

Some of the plot lines are courtesy unknown fans of these movies who've posted the stuff on Imdb, Indiafm etc. Thanks to all these unknown brothers

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Lets Start with 50 lakh - Story, Screenplay & Direction by Chandraekhar Yeleti

It is the story of Irfan Khan Iliyazi who's from a poor family in Bombay. He enters the life of crime at the age of 17 when threatened by an opponent, he retaliates by killing him and scattering his body parts on nearby railway tracks (What a start to his career, I'm impressed). Thereafter Irfan goes on to become an underworld don as well starting dealing in drugs and narcotics, and acquiring multiple identities and passports from Mumbai, Indore, and Sultanate of Oman (I love the geographical spread of his choices) !! On August 10 the Mumbai Police has him cornered at the airport while attempting to flee to Dubai, but Irfan escapes and re-locates to Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh. Once there, he plans his escape by disguising himself and arranging the hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane to Kathmandu, Nepal, and thence making his way to Dubai (IC 814 remember anyone??). The Indian Police announces that they will reward anyone who apprehends Irfan dead or alive.

Everything goes according to plan for Irfan till the time he gets on the plane. Here he ends up getting abducted by four naive and inexperienced youth - who want to better their individual lives - by holding him hostage and claim the reward anonymously !!! However, the Police Officer, who these youth initially contact, happens to be on the payroll of Irfan and his associate, Musharraf. The rest I leave to your imagination.....

The original review was Written by rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)

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Our next little jewel has one of the punchiest titles of a Hindi movie, it's called Cocktail - The Deadly Combination

Director: Maninder Bhandari, Writer: Naresh Namdev , Starring : Vijay Bhatotiya, Samarth Chaturvedi, Preeti Jain, Mushtaq Khan, Waqar Khan, Gufi Paintal

The movie, released under the banner of Maa Chamunda International (?) caught my eye not just for its amazing title, but also for Preeti Jain. In case you don't remember her - think Madhur Bhandarkar and the so called rape case !! Details on its plot are welcome :-)

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Gabbar Singh - In the year of the disastrous Raam Gopal Verma ki Aag, I wonder why this one didn't set the box office on fire (pun intended), just read the plot courtesy an anonymous fan...

The prize on dacoit Gabbar Singh's head is Rs. 1 lakh, while the amount offered to capture Ram Katori (Sapna) is Rs. 2 lakhs! Gabbar can't bear the thought that he has been demoted from his legend of being the most wanted dacoit. So, he wants to kill Ram Katori to reclaim his title.

Meanwhile, Ram Katori kills her gang member, Bijli, when she tries to quit. She also kills Rajesh, with whom Bijli was in love. Rajesh's friend, Vijay, swears that he would avenge both the killings. One day, when Ram Katori and her co-dacoit, Birju, are out to buy bullets, Gabbar Singh manages to kill her. Instead of proclaiming Ram Katori?s death, Birju recruits her look-alike, Ram Pyari (Sapna), to impersonate her. Vijay, mistaking Ram Pyari for Katori, tries to kill her but realizes his mistake in time. Ram Pyari and Vijay fall in love and run away to live their lives in a small village. Gabbar tracks them down and kills Vijay. Ram Pyari takes revenge by finishing off Gabbar.

Stunning isn't it? I just wonder why these creative geniuses never make it to the big stage !!

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This one makes it to this for the sheer magnetism and originality of its title, I don't care what the story is and who the actors are, Sirf Naam hi kaafi hai.... khawatin-o hazraat, presenting Hi- Fi Log

Banner : Karan Arjun Films
Star Cast : Neha Joshi, Ramesh Goel, Tejas Kapoor, Seema Patil, Abhay Bakshi

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Our next feature stars some over the hill dinosaurs and the yesteryears star of the titillating 'College Girl' Amita Nangia !! Oldd Iss Goldd (If extra letters could guarantee hits, numerlogists would have owned Sony, Columbia & Warner Bros. long ago)

Oldd Iss Goldd 'iss' about the life of three oldd men trying to become youngggg again... The story starts with three oldd men (Kader Khan, Shakti Kapoor and Asrani) who are boredd in life and want to have sommmme fun to overlook the thought that they are old... The story develops when these three men go on vacation to Goa without their wives and have a gala time of their life...

The movie also stars a hunk named Vikram Singh whose filmography boasts of underground hits like Souten, Bombay Godfather etc.

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And finally people we come to the end - Stop Laal Batti

hello... that's the name of the movie we are talking about, what were you thinking ??!! The plot of this movie is thought provoking and has a tragic end, but I guess the movie has relevance in these troubled times....

Raj is a rich businessman married to Manisha. The two have only sex on their minds (what a loving couple!!). One day, Raj's business fails and he is about to lose everything he possesses. When he is not able to raise any funds, his friend Pritam, offers him the opportunity to become a gigolo (dost ho to aisa!!). While Raj gets deeper into the job (??), Pritam tells Manisha that the only way she can help her husband is by earning big money as a call girl (Bhagwan aise dost sab ko de!)

Soon, Raj and Manisha become Prostitutes without each other's knowledge (Wait I thought Raj was a gigolo, when did he become a drag queen?). In the meantime Pritam is raided by police and when he offers the inspector a bribe, the cop asks him to send his (Pritam's) wife for the night. Pritam's wife has to sleep with the inspector, after which she goes into shock and dies. Pritam reveals to Raj that Manisha has become a call girl (Meri Beewi mari, to teri bhi jayegi!!). Raj is shattered, but he and Manisha confess to each other, realize their mistake and reform. But, by then, both discover that they have AIDS......

Producer, H B Singh must be complimented for having the guts and the money to make such a movie, nevertheless I am screening this one in office this coming World AIDS Day ...


That's it Folks - see you again next year

Looking for God?

Je rab milda nahateya dhoteya, te rab milda dadduan machiyan noo,
Je rab milda jangal phireyan te rab milda gaiyaan bachiyan noon
Je rab milda mandir - masiti te milda cham chidikhiyan noon

Ve miyan Bulleya rab onhan noon milda
Ati dil-eya achiyyan sachhiya noon

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If God was to be found by bathing and cleaning, then frogs and fishes would have found him long back
If God was to be found by roaming in jungles, then cows and other animals would have found him long back
If God was to be found in Temples and Mosques then the birds and the bats would have found him long back

Bulle, God will be found only by those who are true and good at heart....

Growing up with trains in Delhi

Just back from a convention of train crazy nutcases !! It was two days of non-stop train talk and all things associated. Even though I'm back in office, the hangover hasn't rubbed off yet... Dug out this old piece that I'd written which I'd like to share with you

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Delhi has never been in the same league as Bombay or Calcutta when it came to being a 'Railway' city as Delhi's public transport system has been predominantly road based. Despite that, trains have somehow been a constant fixture in all my years growing up in this city and I am taking this opportunity to share some memories of all these years with you.

My earliest memory of trains in Delhi dates back to the time when I was just a 4 year old and we used to live in Ramesh Nagar in West Delhi. Every now and then my grandma used to take me along to visit her sister who lived in Kirti Nagar area and the Meter Gauge lines to Jaipur used to pass practically through their front yard. I remember those sunny winter afternoons when the grannies used to sit in the lawn shelling peas and knitting sweaters and gossiping about Mrs. Sharma's latest necklace or Mrs. Verma's daughter running away with the milkman. Oblivious of it all I used to be doodling around the lawn in a tricycle stopping and watching in joy awe the magnificent steam trains that passed, and jumping with fright whenever they used to let rip their whistle!

A few years later, my uncle got married into a family that used to live the government flats in the Netaji Nagar area. This development meant numerous journeys in Ring Railway local trains between Kirti Nagar and Sarojini Nagar. I used to love the fast pick up of the EMU locals which used to be clean and shiny then - having been introduced a few years back alongside the 1982 Asian Games. Proximity to the Kirti Nagar station also meant that we could take a local direct to New Delhi station to catch long distance trains. So my adventures in the GT Express used to be preceded by a fast 30 min EMU ride that used to drop us right inside New Delhi. My dad used to then take me to the famous Lassi Wala opposite the Pahar Gunj entrance and only then would father and son think of boarding the train.

In the mid - 80s we moved to our current residence in Janak Puri which wasn't exactly on the railroad map so my travel was mostly by road, even though I used to beg my dad or uncle to stop for a moment on top of the Delhi Cantt. Flyover and let me survey the yard and only when I was satisfied were they allowed to move further.

After Class 5, I joined the senior section of my school at Barakhamba Road, which was a stone's throw away from the Shivaji Bridge station near New Delhi station (NDLS). Many a time, we could hear the horns of trains arriving or departing at NDLS and I used to make mental guesses of what train it could be depending on the time of the day and the sound of the horn.

As I grew, the subjects got more boring and I preferred bunking school and spending hours at Shivaji Bridge or Tilak Bridge watching the WDMs, the WAMs and the WAPs run endlessely in and out of NDLS while my friends whom I use to tag along used to tear their hair trying to figure out what was so sexy about a diesel smoking up or why on earth an antenna was called something as weird as a pantograph!?!

Many a time, I used to purposely miss the school bus, catch an EMU till Patel Nagar and then trudge a kilometer through the filth to the bus stop and catch a rickety DTC bus home. Money being a scarce commodity then, I used to buy the cheaper 2 rupee anti-clockwise ticket to Patel Nagar, but used to catch the longer clockwise train via Nizamuddin to maximize the bang for the buck. Once or twice a TT did catch me, but I could always claim that I asked the driver it'd go to Patel Nagar and he said yes. so how was I supposed to know if it went this way or that!

Going to college in DTC buses was a mini train-spotting session as we used to pass through the under bridge outside Shakur Basti yard and one could invariably spot a couple of trains waiting for clearance. That was the place, where I saw my first WDP1. I clearly remember it was 15002 in the standard red-cream livery, but what really caught my attention was the now famous 'baldie' short hood. To my untrained eyes, the 'sleek' and sexy loco looked as if it could easily do 200kmph and I really used to watch out for these locos and other baldies WDM2Cs who made an appearance at more or less the same time as the WAP4s!! Those wonder years for me, thinking that the high-speed age was finally dawning on IR with the appearance of these 'aerodynamic' loco. It took a couple of more years of 'growing up' before I started working and moving around the country that I really got to see these magnificent machines in action.

It was the starting of the Internet age and I had barely got my first email ID active. Those days even Google was not around I guess, but I typed Indian Railways Pictures into a search engine and the resultant was a site full of WDM2 pictures by a gentleman called we also know as Diesel King! God only knows how happy I was to learn that I was not the only nut on the planet!! Another few months down the line I formally joined this wonderful place called IRFCA. It's been close to 7 years now that I have been here and as our friend from Badnera once said that all of us love trains as kids, but some of us don't grow up.

Well neither have I. I am close to 29 now and I still fight for the window seat and yes I watch Thomas the Tank Engine too. its much-much better than the Saas Bahus ....