Rann - Eye-opener, with powerful performances.

There's always one thing with RGV's movies, they either fail miserably, or go on becoming huge hits. There are few of his movies, which are just average. Well, Rann can be classified under the latter category. Everything works for him in Rann. The script is powerful, portraying the media business, and the politics involved in it. I really wanna give credit for the casting, everyone fits perfectly in their role. Amitabh Bachchan is brilliant in the movie, especially in that last speech of his, which supposedly was shot at a stretch for 13 minutes, without any retakes. Hats off to him for that, only an actor of his caliber can do that. Sudeep, who plays Amitabh's son, Jai, is equally good. His voice is as powerful as Amitabh, but he still needs to work on his Hindi accent (guess what! He hails from Shimoga, my hometown, proud of that!). The first half of the movie revolves around him. Riteish Deshmukh is just getting better with every film, he's matured here and gives stiff competition to other actors, especially in the second half of the film. Paresh Rawal, playing the role of opposition leader is brilliant, I am seeing him playing a serious role, after long time. Mohnish Behl plays the head of rival news channel, he carries it off with ease. Rajat Kapoor playing industrialist, and son-in-law of Amitabh Bachchan also does his role well. Female actors like Gul Panag, Neetu Chandra, Suchitra Krishnamurthy and Simone Singh, also do a good job, although they don't have much to do in here. Even though its a huge cast, the script holds up all the characters together, and thats what works for this movie. The one thing, which I was disappointed with was the music of the film, there was no need of putting songs in the background. Take for example, the lyrics of this song "mera channel dekhna, aur uski TRP badhana". I mean, why the world, would you make a song like that. But since its an RGV movie, you can't expect much from the music scene, the music is most of the time, disastrous. I'd still recommend the movie. I'd give it a 3.5/5.

Ishqiya - It makes you fall in love with it!

There are some movies, which you know are going to be good. Right from the time, when I first saw its trailer, I'd a feeling its gonna be good. And, it did live up to my expectations. Vishal Bhardwaj never disappoints, whether as a director or a producer, like in this one. He has even written the script, along with the director, Abhishek Chaubey. The movie is set in a village around Gorakhpur town of UP. So, all the language employed in the movie is basically the bhaiyya type Hindi and Urdu. If you're not so familiar with it, then you won't be able to understand half of the dialogues, which is the best thing in the film. It is similar to the language used in Omkara, but with addition of Urdu, since the characters portrayed are Muslims. Babban (Arshad Warsi) and Khalu Jan (Naseeruddin Shah) are petty thieves, who are caught by Mushtaq for fleeing with money. To evade him, they end up coming to their friends house, who supposedly died in a bomb blast. So, they meet his wife Krishna, played by Vidya Balan. They both fall for her, but she double traps them in kidnapping an industrialist to get money and discover the truth about her husband's death.

The casting is superb. Vidya Balan, with a never done before kind of role, is just awesome. She is very natural in her character. Arshad Warsi is what I loved in the film. His one-liners were hilarious, like "Sheikh, khud ka dekh", "Tumhara pyaar pyaar, aur mera pyaar sex" and many others throughout the movie which were catchy. Naseeruddin Shah carries off his role with ease, he does most of the talking through his expressions, thats what I love about him. He's this one guy who can convey so many things, without even saying anything. The songs were very situational and were picturised perfectly. I especially liked the video of Dil to bachcha hai. Go for it, at any cost. I'd rate it 4/5.

The Other Side of the Bed (Spanish - 2002)

I pretty randomly came across this movie, but the moment I heard that Paz Vega is acting in this one, I was like, I got to watch this one. Well, the movie is basically a sex-musical-comedy. It is just an okay-okay watch, the songs keep coming in between, just like a Hindi movie, with dancers in the background and all. They get irritating sometimes though. I forwarded through most of them, to be frank. The acting is pretty good by everyone. I especially liked Pedro's role, which was played by Guillermo Toledo, he was very natural, and his curly hair (which was mentioned a lot, even in the movie) also brought out that. I specially liked that one scene in which both Pedro and Javier (played by Ernesto Alterio) come to know who their girlfriends slept with, and when they go to play tennis, they both start hitting the ball and throwing rackets on each other. There were few other scenes which did make laugh, otherwise it was just pretty average. Watch it if you've had fantasies with Paz Vega, she is hot, hot as hell. Even the other female, Natalie Verbeke is pretty good. By the way, there is one other thing which I feel like telling, there is this other guy in the movie who plays the role of Rafa, he looks just like Saif Ali Khan. I'd give the movie 2.5/5.

A Millionaire's First Love (Korean - 2006)

Today, I decided to catch up on some of the movies, which I'd stored on my hard drive long back. I wanted to watch something light, like romantic comedy or something. So, I came across this Korean movie A Millionaire's First Love (2006). I didn't expect it to be so good and all, but I just thought I'd give it a watch. But, it turned out to be a pretty decent one, although I've seen some like this one before too (Love Phobia, again a 2006 Korean film). I specially liked the way the characters were treated, and the narrative of the film. I absolutely loved the female lead in the film (I am bad at remembering Korean names, so please pardon me for that). She was absolutely lovely and she carried her role with an equal ease. The male lead was also good, he carried off well, playing the rich spoiled brat, and his transformation to a more sensible one. The outline of the movie is basically this - the boy inherits his Grandpa's property after he'd turn 18, but there is one condition - that he'll have to complete his graduation (I forgot the name of the place, where he has to do it), without dropping out. This is the place where he meets this girl, who is actually his long lost childhood friend (whom he doesn't recognize), when he stayed with his parents. As time progresses, they come close and he falls for her, but he comes to know that she has a heart problem and won't be able to live for long. They try to do everything in this short period, for each other, which is the best part of the movie, the way they care for each other and all those little things which they share. Watch it if you don't mind light hearted romantic movies. I'd give it a 3/5.

Treat at C-X, and Sherlock Holmes

Pups who got placed last semester, had kept delaying his treat, waiting for others to get placed. But, yesterday, he finally made up his mind, that he's gonna give it, at last. So, he shared the yesterday's booze party with Slog. And for all the non-drinkers, and some wing mates, he decided to throw a dinner party. CX or Chefs Xinlai was the place we guys chose. The dinner was pretty good, other than that order confusion with the waiter.

After that, some of us decided to go for Sherlock Holmes movie, which was long pending. It released in India two weeks back, but it reached Mangalore just today, that too with some of the weirdest show timings. It was screened at 10pm. The biggest and the only problem about this show is that, we won't be getting bus back from Mangalore to college after 10.30pm. But, we had Preetam along with us, he owns the Surathkal based Preetam Travels. So, he arranged an Ambassador to drop us back to the block. That was what we had planned, and thankfully everything went according to the plan, and we enjoyed the night out.

Sherlock Holmes was really good. The performances by Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law and Rachel McAdams were awesome. The direction by Guy Ritchie was superb. The scenes where Holmes analyzes the fight sequence in ultra-slow motion, and then in real-time was great. I haven't read Sherlock Holmes, so I don't know what the actual thing is, but the ending did remind me a lot about the film 'The Prestige', like the way he deceives everyone, portraying black magic, which in actual is just pure science. Apart from this, I loved the background score of the film, provided by Hans Zimmer. I'd give it a 4-star. You should go and watch it in theater, at least once.

The Snake & the Frog

Few days back, while me and some of my friends were sitting at the Reddi's near the Guest House gate of college, we see people gathering around looking at something, and then when we went close we saw a weird sort of creature (well, thats what I thought initially). But, then later on we figured out that it was a snake, with frog in its mouth. We also discovered that it was a small cobra, by that very peculiar mark on its back. The scene was actually disturbing in a way - a frog trying to get away from it to save its life, and we were just standing over there, watching it die. Not just watching, but taking photos and videos, too. Sad, indeed. But, no one could do anything. The snake was very small compared to the frog, as in, I didn't think that it could gulp the frog with its mouth being so small. Initially, the frog actually got off the cobra, but by this time, the cobra had already infected it with its poison. And it had started its effect already. We waited there for like 45 minutes, by this time the frog had probably died, but the cobra was still unsure of where to go, because there were so many people standing around it. It took a lot of time for it to find a passage to go. This was the third snake incident I noticed in college this semester. In the first one, the snake was shedding its skin(the process is called Moulting) near our civil department. The second one was right outside our Mega Hostel Mess, where a rat snake was confused as to where to go.

I'd taken some shots of the snake eating the frog. Here they are:

Musical Nite - Well, not so musical

Today, there was a Musical Nite, organized by the Music Club of the college. We've something like this every semester, or sometimes every other month. But, as compared to the other ones, this one was not so great. Except for a brilliant instrumental, 'Toss the feathers', by The Corrs, the rest all just seemed pretty average. In that instrumental, the fusion of flute and violin was just brilliant, it sounded as close as the original. Apart from these, there were a couple of good performances. Srilekha sang pretty well in Sakhi Re (the tamil version of Saathiya title song) and in another classical fusion. But otherwise, it was a dull evening. There was one funny incident though. While they were performing Dhan Te Nan, one guy just got up from the crowd and started dancing right in front of the stage. He was doing all this, when there were director and registrar of college sitting among the audience. Then DD, Reddy and Somu had to go and pull him out from there. It was funny to see his face, after he was brought, he was completely freaked out. Guess he didn't know that faculty also comes to watch these kind of events.

Apart from this, there was even a performance by my roomie Basu, who sang Zoobi Doobi, along with this female called Naina. Initially itself he wasn't so happy with the song, because the scale had been reduced to -2 from the original one, as Naina was unable to reach to the original scale, and because of this the whole song seemed like a loree, was not happening at all.

From the placement news, Nokia had come today, Slog got placed in it. So again a booze party in the block tonight. And the placed guys are level now, both in the C and D wing of 2nd floor MH, DASA wings to be precise.

Rest, later.

RARE INDI-POP MELODIES

Here’s a list of the “not so famous” Indi-pop songs which are really good. I don’t see any new good pop albums these days, well there are one or two albums which are decent enough but nothing compared to the time when the likes of Lucky Ali, Shaan, Adnan Sami, KK and Sonu Nigam ruled the charts. They’ve all delivered hits, but there are many songs of theirs and others which went completely unnoticed. So, here’s a post to all those rare songs which deserve a mention.

(not in any particular order)

1. Agnee:

This is one Indian band which very few guys have heard of. And to whatever they’re known, we should really be thankful to MTV, for publicising their acts and bringing out their talent to audience. Till date, Agnee has released just one album, but most of the compositions from that are really good. My top pick among them would be Shaam Tanha– it is such a lovely ballad, it always lifts my mood when I’m alone. The lyrics are perfect, the video is great and the vocals are awesome.Among the other songs, Sadho Re is really haunting and so is Ujale Baaz. The MTV Roadies theme perfectly suits the mood of the series; the quotes by Raghu are funny. Recently, they have done a single, atheme for MTV Splistsvilla. This doesn’t have any lyrics, it is just the humming by the lead vocalist, but the guitar chords are really nice and it sounds great.

2. Amit Sana :

I still believe that the first season of Indian Idol had the best contestants - Abhijeet Sawant, Amit Sana, Rahul Vaidya and Prajakta Shukre to name a few. Whereas Abhijeet Sawant walked away with the glory, it was Amit Sana who raised many a heads with his awesome vocal range. The title track of Chal Diye was no doubt good, but I really liked Mohabbatein Lutaonga just for its awesome lyrics (written by Vishal Dadlani, music by Vishal – Shekhar):

“.....mushkilon mein zindagi se kabhi jo na hare, bigda naseeba yahan wohi to sawaare....kehkashan wo khwabon ka zameen pe utaare, bujhi bujhi akhiyon mein umeedon ke khwab phir se main sajaaonga...jo haar gaya wo jung jeet ke aaonga......ek pal hai gham ka to doosra khushi ka,khile raat ki baahon mein rang chandni ka....saath mein andheron ke hai saaya roshni ka,neele neele ambar se chahaton ka chand tod ke laaonga....jo haar gaya wo jung jeet ke aaonga....mohabbtein lutaaonga....”

Of his other album (Yaadein), ‘Woh ho tum’ and ‘Khalish’ are really good piece of work.

3. Avadhoot Gupte :

I haven’t heard many compositions from this guy, have just come across two of them. First one being “Tujhe dekh ke meri madhubala” and the other one “Khamakha” . The first one is just okay, but I really liked Khamakha when I saw its video for the first time on TV.

4. Ganesh Hedge :

This talented guy took all of us by storm when he released his album G. The video of Main Deewana was par excellence. I wonder as to why he didn’t release two or three other videos from this album. There were two really good songs – “Zindagi” and “Aa Bhi Jaa” . The former one is a soothing number which has some really inspirational lyrics, whereas the latter one is a fast paced emotional track, Kailash Kher and Sowmyah Rao have given backup vocals for this one.

5. KK:

His first album Pal had some really nice tracks – Pal, Yaaron and Aapki Dua to name a few. After like years, he released his second album Humsafar, which didn’t do that well. Just during this time, he had come to our college (NIT-K) for our cultural fest and all of us had this craze about his songs. So, we checked out all of his songs and that’s when I came across this beautiful track - “Raina Bhai Kaare (Maajhi)”. This track describes the path of a river and compares it to our lives. Here are the lyrics:

“sagar ko jaati hai, dhoonde hai ye kinara, deewani ye nadi gaati hai har dhaara, behte hi jaana,jism jhoome kisiki,raahein banana jaise ho tum nadi (palamdani palamdani)....behte huye raahon mein kabhi mile phoolon ke sang pathar kahin, kabhi unhe baha ke le chali, kabhi to woh bach ke bhi chali, magar ye ruki na kabhi......sagar ko jaati hai.....dil maajhi hai, zindagi hai nadi, sapnon ki nau sajde hi chali, ye haule haule jhoomegi kabhi, ye hichkaule khayegi kabhi, magar ye toote na kahin.....haath tore more maajhi, bole more raja, zindagi ki nayya nadiya kinara....raina bhai kaari kaari, din ujyaara, nayya to dekhe nadiya ki dhaara,haath tore maajhi zindagi ki nayya...”

6. Raghu Dixit Project:

Again, thanks to my college, I came across this artist. His album Antaragni had some really interesting compositions. “Thousand voices”, “No man will ever love you”, “Father (wish u were here)”and “Hey Bhagwan” to name a few. “Thousand voices” is just like A.R. Rahman and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s “Gurus of Peace”, though it isn’t sung by Raghu Dixit, but by some children.

7. Silk Route:

This is one band which I felt should have gone a long way, but it’s no more, except for Mohit Chauhan. They released two albums – Boondein and Pehchaan. Their debut track, Dooba Dooba was a runaway hit, but none of the other songs did well. One song which I really liked from Boondein was Humsafar, it has great lyrics:

“hum jo chale tum bhi chalo saath, phir kya khabar ke din hai ke raat, bas mein nahi rahenge jazbaat, tum jo sanam hamare chalo saath, hum jo chale....sur se saji geeton se tere yaad, tujh bin sanam bhaaye naa koi baat, kaise kaho akele chaloon aaj, aao sanam soone hain dil ke saaz, kaisi bhi raahein ho kaisi dagar ho, koi bhi rasta ho koi safar ho, chalte rahe hum jo tu humsafar ho...hum jo chale...din ye kahe baitho hamare paas, aao idhar ishaara kare raat, humko magar chahiye wahi shaam...hooo...jis par sanam likha ho tera naam, chandni raatein ya khilti seher ho, chahe din ka wo koi peher ho, chalte rahe hum jo tu humsafar ho...hum jo chale tum bhi chalo saath...phir kya khabar ke din hai ke raat, bas mein nahi rahenge, galiyon mein phirta banjara dil ye, tujh ko hi dhoondega awara dil ye, karta hai jaane ishaare kya dil ye....galiyon mein....”

Some of the other songs of Silk Route which deserve a mention arePaheli, I’m just a child, Sapnay (Ek Pal), and Woh Subah.

8. Sona Mohapatra:

This is one artist whom we should hear more often. Her first album Sona was, literally, a gem and still very few know about it. Songs likeTere Ishq Nachaya, Abhi Nahi Aana, Bolo Naa, Aaja Ve andSapnay are awesome piece of work. The music for this album was given by Ram Sampath (her husband). Tere Ishq Nachaya is an excellent adaptaion of the original one. Abhi Nahi Aana sweetly describes the joy of waiting, whereas Aaja ve is the just the opposite of it. Bolo Naa and Sapnay are equally good. Apart from these, Sona had released a single with Aussie band INXS – Afterglow being the song. The original is a masterpiece, but the one with Sona is equally mesmerising. The use of Sitar and Sona’s vocals bring Indian touch to the song.

9. Zubeen Garg, Shafqat Amanat Ali and Chitra:

His album Zindagi was a decent piece of work. The main track Jia re Jia was good, but the tracks which I really loved from the album were Shafqat Amanat Ali’s Tu Hai Tu Hai and Chitra’s Pal Pal Bekal, though I wonder why these two songs were included in Zubeen’s first solo album.

10. Shaan:

He’s the perfect Indi-pop package; he writes his own song, makes his own composition and, of course, sings for them. His albums include Loveology, Tanha Dil, Bhool Ja, Aksar and Tishnagi, apart from whatever he has sung for Dance Masti (or is it Instant Karma?). Some of his good songs which went unnoticed are Har Taraf (Aksar), Is Pyar Mein (Aksar) and Shuruaat (Tishnagi). Har Taraf features Samira Said, a renowned Arabic singer – the song is decent, check it out to hear Shaan sing in Arabic. Shuruaat was featured in The Chronicles of Narnia OST, it has beautiful lyrics. Shaan is one artist who has done quite a few songs with international artistes, like Kya Maine Socha(with Blue) and Take Me To Your Heart (with MLTR) and the other one being Har Taraf (with Samira Said).

11. Shubha Mudgal:

Everyone knows about her songs Ab Ke Sawan, Aayo Re Aayo Maro Dholna and Pyaar Ke Geet. Some other songs like Ali More Angana, Bairie Chain and Kya Yeh Pyar Hai are equally good.

12. Sonu Nigam:

I still remember his album Deewana, all the songs from that album were really good. Of the albums which he released later (Jaan, Yaad, Chanda Ki Doli, Classically Mild), none did as well as Deewana. But there were few good songs from these albums like Mohabbat Kabhi Maine (Yaad), Chanda Ki Doli’s title track (really love the shehnaipart in this one) and Sochta Hoon Main (Classically Mild).

13. Lucky Ali:

Most of his songs are known to everybody. There are these three songs which not many know – Nahi Rakhta Dil Mein, Tu Kaun Haiand Behti Nadi. Tu Kaun Hai describes the nature of wind whereas Behti Nadi describes the flow of a river. Nahi Rakhta Dil Mein is a sweet melody with adorable lyrics :

“nahi rakhta dil mein kuch, rakhta hoon zuban par, samjhe na apne bhi kabhi, keh nahi sakta main kya sehta hoon chupa kar, ek aisi aadat hai meri, sabhi to hai jin se milta hoon, sahi jo hai in se kehta hoon, jo samjhta hoon, maine dekha nahi rang dil aaya hai sirf ada par, ek aisi chahat hai meri, bahaaron ke dhere se laya main dil sajaa kar, ek aisi sohbat hai meri, saaye mein chaaye rehta hoon, aankhein bichaye rehta hoon, jin se milta hoon...kitnon ko dekha hai humne yahaan, kuch seekha hai humne unse nayaa....pehle fursat thi ab hasrat hai sama kar ek aisi uljhan hai meri, khud chalke rukta hoon jahan jis jagah par ek aisi sarhad hai meri, kehne se bhi main darta hoon, apnon ke dhun mein rehta hoon, kar kya sakta hoon, de sakta hoon main thoda pyar yahaan par, jitni haisiyat hai meri, reh jaaon sabke dil mein dil ko basa kar, ek aisi niyat hai meri, ho jaaye to bhi raazi hoon, kho jaaoon to main baaki hoon, yun samajhta hoon....raste na badle na badla jahaan , phir kyun badalte kadam hai yahaan.....”

Friends Placements

Today, Bank of America had come to college for placements. They had aptitude test ( C-apti and G-apti), and then three rounds of interviews. I couldn't get through the apti itself, because I don't know anything about C-programming. But, I am still more than happy because some of very good friends, whom I consider equivalent to brothers, have made it. Congratulations to Prani, DD, Somu, Adi, Vinu, Nanda and Thump. They all deserve the job. After the results were announced, we had a huge drunk yard in the block. All our juniors had come, and we guys had a bang. Though I don't drink, its fun watching the guys drunk. Had a blast today. Absolute blast.

Congrats to all the homies once again..... :) :)

They Lie. We Die.

Just recently, while I was searching for this one documentary called The Corporation, suggested by a friend, I came across this website called "www.theyliewedie.org". It is indeed a really good site, which has lots and lots of documentaries, and the best part is, most of the documentaries have direct link or have a torrent file attached. And it is all free of charge. It has documentaries like the famous Zeitgeist and its sequel, and of course the one which I was talking about, The Corporation. I really like the concept behind it, and the site address. Looking forward to some of the documentaries from there.

Have fun downloading, guys! :)

Disorganized Fun by Ronald Jenkees

Thanks to my friend Poo, I recently came to know about this guy Ronald Jenkees. He is an absolutely awesome musician. Most of the pieces that he makes are instrumentals, but there are few rap songs too. Disorganized Fun is his second album, the first one titled with his own name itself. The tracks that I loved from DF are Throwing Fire, Outer Space, Guitar Sound and Let's Ride. This guy hasn't been trained in any professional music instruments or courses. He makes music just with a keyboard and FL studio, a software which even A R Rahman makes a large use of. There are sample of his tracks on his website ronaldjenkees.com. Check out the video of him playing Throwing Fire, on Youtube. Just watch the whole video and you'll be amazed, by the way he does it.

Here's the video:

Tracklist - June-July, 2009

Well, here's a list that I've compiled of all the latest good hindi songs, check them out. You might like them. Here it is (in no particular order) :

Welcome to Hollywood - Anushka Manchanda & Karsh Kale This song is composed by Salim - Sulaiman (the only song in the movie to be composed by them) and it is the only song I liked in the whole soundtrack of Kambakht Ishq. Although its a pretty short track, but it has everything going its way, the vocals of Anushka Manchanda and Karsh Kale perfectly suit the mood of the song. The english lyrics are also pretty decent by Sabbir Khan, the director himself, as he knows what the theme should be.

Baawari Hoon Main (both versions) - Shreya Ghoshal / Raja Hasan The first time I heard it, this song really appealed to me, although its from a pretty unknown movie " Dekh Bhai Dekh". I wonder how many have actually heard of this movie. The music is given by a newcomer Shahdaab Bhartiya (never heard of him before). There are two versions of the song, one by Shreya Ghoshal and the other one by Raja Hasan. Shreya Ghoshal's version is really sweet, whereas the latter one highlights the husky voice of Raja Hasan. Both are decent listens, give them a try.

Sapne Bhaye Hain - Rahat Fateh Ali Khan & Rajab Ali When the song starts off, it doesn't sound all that great, maybe because of Rajab Ali's vocals, but as it is taken over by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, it starts getting that lift. The music director has made some interesting choices for the vocals of all the songs and even the instrument arrangements, combining the western and Indian ones is pretty interesting. The lyrics are pretty good, by Moazzam Azam:

" kaahe sataaye, nindya udaye, laaj ke saaye, parde uthaye, nazron ke haathon se mal kar, tan ki kiran ko aise chudaye. kar de kaali dopahri......nainon ki nadiya gehri...."

Main Chala - Nouman Javaid Never heard of this guy before, but he seems to be getting it right here in this film. This track is really soothing, with some nice lyrics(written by Nouman himself) and guitar chords. This is the perfect track when you're feeling low or something.

Nazrein Karam - KK & Shreya Ghoshal Well, very rarely does it happen that you take KK, and the song doesn't go well. He's so very reliable and gives his best everytime. This is yet another great song by him, Sharib-Toshi have chosen the right voice, and Shreya also does a good work with back-up vocals. The song "Aaya Re" also deserves a mention here.

Chaandan Mein - Kailash Kher Well anything said about this guy is less. After coming from a humble background, he goes global with this album (its being released in US by a sister concern of Putmayo Records). After 3 really awesome albums (Aawargi, Teri Deewani and Kailasa Jhoomo Re), he does it yet again this time with Kailasa Chaandan Mein. This track starts off slowly, will take sometime to get on to you, but then it wont get off you.The music is by Kailash, Naresh & Paresh, and the lyrics are by Kailash himself. The video is also pretty decent.

Bheeg Gaya Mera Mann (Cherrapunji) - Kailash Kher This one is the pick of this album for me. This would be in my list of all time favourite rain songs. I didn't know Kailash Kher could also pen down such beautiful lyrics. The music arrangements are just perfect and Kailash, as always is awesome with his vocals. I'm eagerly waiting for a music video of this song, and just hoping it would be as beautiful as the song itself. Here are few lines from the song which I liked: " mastiyon ke ghoot pee, shaukiyon mein tair jaa,

ishq ki galiyon mein aa, in palon mein thehrjaa,

rab ka hai ye aaina, shakl haan isko dikha,

zindagi ghud-daud hai, do ghadi lele mazaa.

chamke chamke ye jharnon ke dhaare,

tan pe malmal si padti phuharein, ped hain manchale se, patte hain chulbule se........ bheeg gaya mera mann"

"dagmagati chandni has rahi hai, josh mein aur patange ga rahe raag-maal, kauns mein ban ke naache behaya besharam pagli hawa, zindagi milke gale has rahi de de dua... barse barse re ambar ka paani, jis ko pee pee ke dharti deewani, khilkhilane lagi hai, muskurane lagi hai.....bheeg gaya mera mann....."

Na Batati Tu - Kailash Kher Well this song is so much of fun. It reminds me of Tauba Tauba from his album Teri Deewani. It is a really upbeat track, the lyrics don't play much of part here, its just the music arrangement and the vocals.

Rang Rang Ma - Kailash Kher This song is really contagious (as mentioned by reviewer Amanda Sodhi). Well it surely is !! The Sitar part is really cool, along with the western instruments used. The lyrics are decent.

Jaana Hai - Mohit Chauhan There is something with Mohit's voice. I end up liking most of his songs. This song starts with a tune similar to "Kholo kholo" from TZP, but when Mohit takes over, it sounds somewhat different. The best part about this song are its lyrics, I absolutely loved them, they're really encouraging.

" ek haath khud ka utha kar kandhe pe apne rakha hai, haaregi humse ye uljhan khud se yeh humne kaha hai, hum chale the banane mitti ka aashiyana, kaale baadal usi din chahte phir barasna..... jaana hai jaana hai baadalon ke paar, woh jahan peeli dhoopon ko, dhoopon ko hamara intezaar...... dhoop mein chale to chaaon hone di parayi, bharke hausle ko seene mein tu kar ladaai, hai khada tu ye sawaal leke is tarah se, intiha ye bandagi khuda ne khud banayi......"

Twist - Neeraj Shridhar

This song starts off with the tune of "Mann dole tann dole" by Lataji ( Decibel copied it from this!!! ). This song is gonna be a big hit, because its this proper foot tapping number which will be used for many dances and stuff. Irshad Kamil's lyrics are mediocre in this song, with a combo of Punjabi-English-Hindi. Neeraj's and Pritam's combination hitting it right once again.

Aaj Din Chadheye - Rahat Fateh Ali Khan

This is a really nice song, very sweetly sung by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. I guess this song might be picturised on the Punjabi character of Saif Ali Khan. Lyrics are nice in this one.

"baqsha gunaahon ko, sunke duwaon ko, rabba pyar hai tune, sabko hi de diya, meri bhi aahon ko, sunle duwaoon ko mujhko wo dila maine jisko hai dil diya....... woh jo mujhe dekhte hase paana chahoon raat din jise rabbba mere naam kar use tainu dil da vaasta "

Ye Dooriyan - Mohit Chauhan Another Mohit Chauhan song, and I like it again. Pritam had given us Tumse Hi, and this is a pretty similar number to that (similar not in the sense, lift). Well, its not as good as Tumse Hi but the closest it can reach to it.

Aahun Aahun - Neeraj Shridhar It starts off with a really peppy guitar chords and that is the highlight of the song. You just hope that it should've lasted for a bit long. The Punjabi part is really good, with some really nice beats, but it goes back to the same trademark Neeraj thing after he takes over it, though the Punjabi "Aahun Aahun" sounds fun. The mixing and the transition from Punjabi to Western is appreciable.

Main Kya Hoon - KK

This one starts off with a trance feel to it. A different sort of song, probably my favourite from this soundtrack. KK does it yet again with this one. Really well sung by him, especially when going on the higher notes. Pritam does a great job in this soundtrack. Take a bow, Sir (and I'm not being sarcastic this time).

Meethi Meethi Baatein - Shaan & Shreya Ghoshal

This song is the pick of this monsoon for me. Really lovely lyrics, and beautifully sung by Shaan & Shreya. The music and lyrics properly go in accordance with the season.

" meethi meethi baatein, hari-bhari shaam, chai-vaai chhodo, kaheen chale hum rim jhim paani bole kahani, aao sune mil kar boondon ki cham cham "

Kal Nau Baje - Sonu Nigam & Alka Yagnik

Feels so good to hear the veterans in some good song after like so many days. S-E-L gives the music for this film. Its very rare that they give a weak soundtrack like this, except for this single track in the whole movie. You'll like it right from the start, a proper romantic duet. The lyrics are really sweet.

Tune Jo Na Kaha - Mohit Chauhan

With all the lifting controversy surrounding Hai Junoon track, I guess this track is not getting the publicity it needs. Its really well sung by Mohit, he tries to bring out all the emotions. The lyrics are perfect for the film's theme. " jaane kiski hamein lag gayi hai nazar, is shahar mein na apna thikana raha, door chahat se apni chalta raha..."

River rafting in Sita Nadi

Hey everyone....
let me take you all a few days back....let me tell you about my first adventure trip that i had been to....
me n my friends always think of something wheneva v have 3 or 4 days of holidays during the semester...
n this time we thought of something completely different n new...but adventurous at the same time....i had regularly been checking this website called adreno.org...its owned by this company called Adreno which organises trekking camps,river rafting,river kayaking and various other things....these guys basically have two camps in western ghats..they work in co-operation with Karnataka Tourism...(so we knew that these guys would be safe to go with).....one is along the Sita River...which is like 30 kms from Manipal towards Shimoga...and the second one is somewhere near Kundapur...while the latter is open only during monsoons..the former is functional throughout the year...n the river rafting is there only in the Sita Nadi Nature Camp...so we thought this is the best time to go for river rafting...
Although there packages are a bit expensive but it doesn't matter much coz they provide you with those sort of facilities right in the middle of a deep thick forest...
okay so let me tell you guys something about their packages...
for 2D1N...it will cost you somewhere from Rs. 2600 - rs. 2900 depending on the place where you want to stay(dormitories or tented cottages)...this includes river rafting short run(12-15 kms)...and the next day they would take you on a trek to Koodlu Teertha...
If you don't wanna stay over there, then you can choose only for river rafting which is Rs. 1250 for short run....n yeah by the way don't forgot to ask them for special offer for students.For more details you can log on to the site www.adreno.org

So,now about our trip...initially we had planned to go for the 2D1N package but later on we came to know that it wasn't available so we had to settle down for the river rafting thing only...we had thought of friday as the day...so we made d necessary bookings....

Now the thing which was troubling was how would we reach over there...initially we considered goin in d bus itslef but later on we came to noe dat there migth be a bus strike on dat particular day...so v decided to rent a Qualis with a driver...which wouldn't be so expensive considering the number of guys who were coming(der were 6 of us who were cumin includin me)....so v booked for the car...n told him to come at 6 o' clock in the morning...coz d time slot which v had got ws of 8.30 n we wud require atleast 1.30 hours to reach der....n plus v evn had to stop for breakfast on the way....

So here starts the day...15th august..friday...
6.15 - we board the Qualis from 4th hostel Block....n then pick Anisha up from d ATM n then some guys withdrew the necessary amount (Rs. 1500...v knew dat wud b more than enuf)...
7.00 - we reached Udupi and somewhere just outside the city we found a decent enuf restaurant for breakfast...v had good food ova der....n left by 7.30...
8.35 - we reach Sita Nadi Nature camp which is just 3 kms from Hebri town...
8.45 - we change our wardrobe n wear the rafting gear (life jacket,helmet)
9.00 - we get instructions by the camp officials on how to raft n wat to do n wat not to do when you r in d river...n then v start d journey....

The River Rafting......
there were totally 8 guys in d raft....in which 6 were our guys n there ws one more lady from another group...n d camp official without whom none of us would return alive ;-)
there was one more raft for one another group....they were mostly old people (old in d sense..they might be in der 40's)...n then we started our rafting session which wud be for arnd 12 kms....then aftr v started off v were once again shown how to do it with the actual equipments in d water....by dat time the other raft had already left....
i was sittin on d first row on d left side...n i had to be in sync wid d guy who was sittin to ma ryt....n evry1 else wud watch us n do...initially i wasnt gettin d grip only n it felt tirin...but later on aftr v got hold of it...it looked awesome to do....we were right in middle of this stream of river with trees surroundin us...n d feeling was,believe me,out of d world...it ws drizzling slightly....n d environment ws jus perfect....all of us wud luk arnd n praise the nature's beauty....n jus then v wud b commanded "all forward" sometimes,"left back" sometimes, "right back" and "all back" sometimes....while rafting in forward direction was easy...i neva got the hold of backward rafting til the end....there were many rapids on d way...which wud splash all d water onto us....but it felt nice...after v rafted for about lik 5 kms or sumthn...in one of the rapids...a guy in d other raft fell into d water....n thn later he ws pulled back into the raft by the official guard...aftr seeing this incident i ws jus tellin this to myself "i also wanna fall once yaar"!! It ws jus goin on calmly lik this for little more distance...n we evn removed the camera from d water proof bag...n took some pix of ourselves....n then aftr dat der ws a rapid on d way...and in this one d raft went a bit more downwards towards leftside n as i was sittin in d 1st row...i lost my balance n fell into d water......i went completely inside first n then later on because of the life jacket i came back to the surface n d water ws till my shoulder level...n i ws jus searching for a way to get back into the boat...d gud thng ws dat whn i fell i had fallen along with the paddle bcoz this ws d thng which helped me get back into the boat...the guard locked his paddle wid mine...n pulled me towards the boat...n then he caught me frm my jacket n got me into d boat....n aftr this Rajan was like "even i wanna fall once"....v were jus laughing at him....during the rafting v came across two bridges,one ws meant only for pedestrians while the second one ws our end point...the sceneries which came on d way were beautiful....these were definitely some of the best moments of ma life...the other instance whn i felt so gud ws during parasailing....which ws also awesome...
so after all this was over we felt that it ws too small n v shud hav opted for d long run...coz d journey was simply amazing...then all of us were taken back to the camp in der own vehicle and a der ws a separate carrier for the two huge rafts...then in camp v changd our clothes n paid the amount...n then v enquired of sum gud place for lunch coz all of us were damn hungry....we came to noe dat der were not many gud restaurants der...so v had lunch in a small restaurant ova der...jus enuf to satisfy the stomach....then we headed to agumbe...
on the way v stopped at the sunset point...wer v cudnt see nythng bcoz it ws totally covered by fog...v stayed der for sumtime...n thn lefft to agumbe town...der i called d guide whom i had enquired of from the "Adreno" guy itself...v met him n he told us dat he wil take us to a waterfall and a hill....

Trek to the Waterfall :
this guy was called Hamid...he came along with us in d car...n took us to the waterfall...he had warned us before only dat d fall is right in middle of the forest so der wud b many leeches on d way....so v reached this haunting sorta place der...sumwhere jus outside Agumbe...v parked the car ova der...n then he lead us into the forest..thick forest...many trees had fallen on d way...n it ws actually scary...because v cud hear our voices echoin along in d jungle...it ws really strange to be in dat place....v enquired with him more about d place...n wat all animals wud be der...he was lik der r wild ox,sambar n even tiger ova der...n yea obviuosly der wud b many snakes also....ryt at dat time he told us dat der were sum guys frm Discovery channel who had done some research on King Cobra in this place...der is evn a research center of King Cobra ova der....
Before starting only he had told us to walk fast because if we walk slow then leeches would cling on to us....so we tried walkin fast...n after a tiresome trek through fallen trees n slippery rocks...v finally reached our destination...d waterfall(m sorry but i forgot d name of the falls)....it ws an awesome falls...it wasnt dat high but it was beautiful....n d water ws fallin wid a lotta pressure...n as v reached dat place...he told us chk out our clothes for any leeches,,,n yea v found some of them on our shoes...socks...n pants...v neva felt them but they were definitely suckin our blood.... ;-)
v slowly n cautiously went close to the water dall...the rosks were damn slippery so v had to tough time reachin der....aftr reachin der v took sum photos...n came bac along d same path as guided by him...jus whn v were returnin a large group of students from Manipal had come to see d waterfall....later on v came to noe dat they were 2nd year BDS students...they had come in 2 mini buses...so they were quite a lot...
after this the guide took us to a place called Kundadri Hills..this place is lik the hughest accessible point ova der...n u cud c evrythn frm der....although it wasnt dat clear bcoz of d fog....v cudnt stand for long in this place...coz it ws freezing cold ova der...so v jus tuk sum photos ova der n returnd....der ws a temple n a pond ova der...it ws built sumtime in 1961...but it was closed down long ago i guess....n thn v left bac to college....
so this ws one heck of a trip for us....v had so much of fun jus in one day...n v had covered so many thngs which v hadnt done...n which most of us wantd to do....
wait wait...its not d end hea...
aftr this v came to college...changed our clothes...n left to Mangalore for dinner...had lovely meal in Amazon, but v had to finsh it fast coz v had booked for late night movie show of Bachna Ae Haseeno...it got over by 1 o' clock n then v came bac to hostel by auto all d way frm mangalore...
so this ws d end of d day....
n whn i wud luk bac into life i wud definitely remember this one as one of the best days....coz v had 19 hours of pure fun n adventure in one day....

Its All Gonna Be Here

Okay, so here we go. This is the place, where I'd be updating about all thats been happening to me in my life. All the music, movies and other things that I like, I'm going to tell you all about them, right here. I'd an earlier blog, but I was never active in that. I hope to be active and kicking in this one though. I don't care who would be reading this, its most importantly for myself, thats what my blog address suggests. A feather-headed is a guy who is absent-minded. Well, I am not absent-minded, no where close to it. But in the long run, you do tend to forget things. So, this is the one I'd be referring to, to cherish the memories. So, lets start BLOGGING then.

About Me v2

Shoaib is a very lonely person.

He is so lonely that he has a twitter profile, a facebook profile and he still uses orkut. If you dig deep you’ll find him on Hi5 and other similar crapsites too. In his free time(which is most of the time) he sometimes writes stuff for this blog(stuff like this).



He has created a blog before this too, but the homepage looked too shady, and the posts were very amateur(some of them are like that in here, too). So, he doesn't use it anymore. But, he still hasn't deleted it.



He hasn't written a single entrance test till now, but has still got into one of the premier technical institute of India, thanks to the NRI quota in the college. He is pursuing B.Tech in Civil Engineering (which he has no clue about, has no idea what they taught in the past 3 and a half years). But, he still believes, he'll be a good civil engineer one day.



He doesn't believe in horoscopes, numerology and other things. But, if he gets time, he checks out the horoscope page at the end of the day, week or month, just to see that it wasn't what happened during that period. He loves watching movies and listening to music, he has read few books, and none of them(each) were more than 300 pages, he plays only few games on his computer, has cleared some exams – but he never got around to doing much good in the world.



He loves just anything about football, Chelsea has been his favorite club team and likes Spain and France national teams. Apart from football, the only sport he has ever followed was cricket where in he remembers neither facts nor figures. He can never remember the field placements and is stumped when someone asks him what a
googly is. He can't play card games with ease, someone else has to start, and only then does he remember how the game is played. He is also ignorant about Cars, F1, sports bikes and like but can form an opinion if Google is around.


He loves travelling and adventure, but he has only got to do Rafting and para-sailing till now. Its his dream to do bungee jumping and sky diving one day. He also wants to visit some of the most exotic places in the world.


For a part of his life, he wanted to be a superhero, thought he had superpowers that will reveal themselves with time but apart from the power to survive without taking a bath for more than a week, he doesn’t seem to have any other superhero traits. No, he doesn’t own any red underwear too.



He is a very peaceful person. Never fought with anyone in his life because he follows in the footsteps of Gandhi ji. He has had a very bad history with his teeth, which are all very crooked and disoriented, so he doesn't like breaking them too, getting involved in a fight. Moreover, he loves his smile.


For the first 13 years of his life he stuck to a hairstyle, which he doesn't even remember how it looked like and then, in seventh grade, when a teacher scolded him to maintain his hair, he started trying out different things. Nothing has worked out properly till now. He hopes to come up with something good, that could please everyone, at least before he goes bald, which has been a heredity in his family. He hopes to get married before that, otherwise he would suffer a major drop in dowry prices.



He is a firm believer in Copy+Paste and depends on Google to write most articles. If you try searching, you'll find that this 'About Me' also has been copied from some other blogs (about which he doesn't want to mention here, and yeah, he does like Pritam and Anu Malik in some compositions, which are never their own).



He has often been labelled as an un-friendly, non-team person and has been labelled as a good friend and team worker too. As new labels arrive he’ll update you about them. At the moment he carries the currently-unemployed, eternally sleepy, I-will-not-leave-my-room-and-my-laptop labels.





Other things that he can't do:

1. look good or pose well for a passport-photograph

2. type a letter/blog-post without any grammatical error

3. remember the meaning of words like existential, preposterous etc.

4. paint or sketch without copying from a parent image

5. make a good first purchase(most of the clothes that he buys have to be exchanged at least once)

6. write in the same handwriting with different pens(his cheques are rejected because his signatures don’t match

with his signatures. *grammatically incorrect but sounds so cool*

7. keep good news to himself

8. dance

9. act

10. defeat Chuck Norris at anything.

11. solve a sudoku puzzle

12. tolerate the sound of a running tap, and a buzzing mosquitoe



5h0a1b:

1. is not homophobic

2. reads magazines from the last page first(for obvious reasons)

3. wants to make a teleshopping commercial one day, that too in all the Indian languages, especially South Indian

4. gives sleep a priority over anything unless he has something creative(which is a rarity) to do

5. is very punctual and always ends up before the guys who invite him

6. has tolerated Twilight, just because his cousin advised him, and yes, it was a girl

7. he fell in love with Dev.D so much, that, this was only movie that he watched thrice in a theatre

8. detests sms lingo and tryz 2 avd it afap

9. is extremely bad at mathematics(his worst nemesis) and spellings(his second worst nemesis) and grammar(you get the idea)

10. once, ended up doing a Sawariya pose, thinking it will be all cool and all, but it hit him back, because he is so fat, that all his friends started making fun of him, after that

11. can drink insane amounts coffee, if a girl wants to have with him, then do Contact Me

12. hates going to places where he doesn’t know anybody. That includes banks, police stations and kitty parties.

13. can cook maggi in 2 minutes #not

14. has mayonnaise with Aloo paratha, fried rice, omelette and almost everything edible

15. often googles himself

16. is stuck watching dumb family dramas and serials, just because he feels he has to spend some time with his family

17. hates mess food, but is forced to eat. Apart from that, he hates curd and pickle, even the smell of them irritates him

18. transmogrifies into an ostrich at the sight of threat

19. silently follows(not stalk) the lives of people he likes/admires even though they may not like him that much

20. ends up writing very long About Me pages, of course with the help of someone else's About Me pages.

21. likes being spelt 5h0a1b

22. ends lists abruptly

Contact Me

Name:*
Email:*
Subject:*
Message:*
Verification No.:*

Contact forms generated by 123ContactForm