The Common Man Speaks

Archives for February 2012

Mumbai Meri Jaan

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The magic of the city of Mumbai is such that even the simplest of every day scenes stay etched in your memory. Celebrating that magic of Aamchi Mumbai, I present some of the simplest yet memorable pictures from the great city. Have a look!

Army Restaurant, Kala Ghoda (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

View from Indiabulls tower, Lower Parel (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

Outside Bandra station (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

Outside Metro Adlabs (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

Outside Metro Adlabs (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

Dadar railway station (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

Haji Ali sea face (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

Churchgate station (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

Shivaji Park maidan during monsoon (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

Sunset at Shivaji Park beach (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

Helicopter inside the premises of Chatrapati Shivaji Vastu Sangralaya (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

Sunset at Shivaji Park beach (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

Sunset at Shivaji Park sea face (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

Irani Restaurant near Shivaji Park (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

View from Bombay Natural History Society building (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya Box-Office Prediction

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Star Value: Riteish Deshmukh and Genelia D’Souza aren’t big stars. In other words, they don’t have enough star value to attract audiences to a movie. However, the fact that the couple recently got married and the way their marriage was hyped has made them the talk of the town. The timing of their marriage is spot on, which is just before the release of their film.

Hype: As mentioned earlier, the hype for the movie is created due to the wedding of the lead couple in real life. However, one can’t deny the fact that its comical promos have impressed the audience.

Music: Apart from the title track, no other song has managed to gain popularity. The promotional material of the movie is only focusing on this song.

Prediction: Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya will fail to get a very good opening at the box-office. It will at the most have an above average run if it manages to impress at the onset.

(Filed under the category BOLLYWOOD)

Jodi Breakers Box-Office Prediction

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Star Value: R Madhavan’s star value has increased in Bollywood after the stupendous success of 3 Idiots. But since he is playing the mail lead in Jodi Breakers, it is a question mark whether it will attract audience towards the theaters. Bipasha Basu, who plays the female lead, has lost the star power which she possessed earlier. However, there is Omi Vaidya as well. So, all in all, Jodi Breakers has a decent star value.

Hype: There is not great hype surrounding the movie, although the comic promos have gone down well with the audience. More publicity and promotion is needed.

Music: The song ‘Kunwara’ has become well-known while the track ‘Bipasha’ has just managed to make heads turn.

Prediction: Jodi Breakers won’t attain a very positive opening. The collections would range between average to decent. It has more chances at the metros than the smaller centers. It is vital for the movie to create an extra-ordinary effect in the initial weekend if it wants to succeed.

(Filed under the section BOLLYWOOD)

BMC Elections 2012 Results!

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So, the much awaited results of the 2012 BMC Elections are out! However, one cannot say that the whole of Mumbai is responsible for the results since more than half of them turned a blind eye to voting and instead preferred to chill on a holiday!

Results:

Congress         – 46

NCP                  – 21

Shiv Sena        – 65

BJP                  – 32

MNS                – 27

RPI                  – 1

Others           – 22

 

 

More than 50% Mumbaikars lose their right to complain!

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Since time immemorial, people of Mumbai have been complaining about poor governance, poor roads, water and electricity shortage, dumping of garbage, lack of civic amenities, etc. But do you really have a right to complain if you fail to exercise your basic right of voting and selecting appropriate people for governing?

Likewise, more than 50% Mumbaikars have lost their right to complain as they were too lazy to carry out an exercise as simple as voting! In other words, these people should not raise eyebrows when there is water-logging in their locality during the next monsoons. What else can one say when the voting percentage in Mumbai for the BMC elections yesterday turned out to be as low as 44%?

Anyways, the results will be out shortly. One can just hope that whichever party wins, turns out to be people-friendly! And a hearty GET WELL SOON to all those who didn’t vote yesterday.

Ekk Deewana Tha Box-Office Prediction

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Star Value: There is no such star value in Ekk Deewana Tha. Having said that, Prateik Babbar is becoming quite known these days, while debutant Amy Jackson has started impressing people by her looks.

Hype: Although the promos of the movie haven’t taken the audience by storm, they have certainly made heads turn. But the biggest publicity for the movie is created by its song ‘Hosanna’. However, the film’s promotion is negatively affected by the hype surrounding the 2012 BMC Elections.

Music: As mentioned above, the track ‘Hosanna’ has managed to enchant the audience in no time. Javed Akhtar’s touchy as well as peppy lyrics have worked wonders. The song has single-handedly managed to promote the movie. The rest of the songs are hardly heard.

Prediction: It will be difficult for Ekk Deewana Tha to get a good opening first up. But if it manages to strike a chord with youngsters in the first weekend, it might well turn out to be the surprise of the season.

Will South Mumbai vote this time?

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After the 26/11 Mumbai attack, the rich and elite South Mumbai-ites formed a candle rally near Gateway Of India where they literally bashed and abused the government. They even declared overpowering the existing Congress government.

However, at the time of the Lok Sabha Elections, that soon followed, hardly anyone from South Mumbai cared to vote. The percentage of vote was as low as 12%! In fact, this has been the sorry tale in South Mumbai since long.

Now, the 2012 BMC elections are just around the corner. So, will there be a better turnout this time in South Mumbai or will it be the same old story?

The people from this part took active part in the Anna Hazare movement mostly in August where they again vowed to overpower the government. This gives an indication that they care for the country. It’s high time they show this concern by lining up to cast their vote since this is the least one can do!

Looking at the way corruption has grown amongst politicians in recent times, I can understand the overall mindset of not trusting a single politician. But it is wrong to say that each and every politician is good for nothing. You can visit myneta.in and get all the information on the candidates from each constituency. On this website, one can also find whether there are any criminal cases on any of the candidates along with their bank balance.

People are anxious to know the winner of the BMC elections out of Congress, NCP, Sena-BJP, MNS, etc. But I am equally anxious to know the percentage of vote in South Mumbai. This is because I firmly believe that if you can’t do a small deed like voting, you have no right to sit back in your drawing room and say, “Is desh ka kuchh nahin ho sakta!”

Kala Ghoda Festival 2012 Photos

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Like every year, even this year’s Kala Ghoda Arts Festival is a treat to your senses and the creative genius inside you. Have a look at the photos of the 2012 Kala Ghoda Festival.

Gold Car (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

Tower made out of cutting chai glasses (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

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Gold Bricks (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

A huge ball made out of umbrellas (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

A still from the play 'Azad Ka Sapna Hindustan Ki Azadi'. (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

 

Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu Box-Office Prediction

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Star Value: Kareena Kapoor is one of the biggest names in Bollywood. Her performances and choice of films have made sure she is one of the most sought after actresses today. Even the Ra.One debacle has had no effect on her popularity. Imran Khan’s popularity is also well known. He is also fresh from his last release Delhi Belly, which was a blockbuster. Hence, the film is high on star value.

Hype: No doubt the movie Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu is known and the promos are well received. However, there isn’t as much hype as one expects from a Karan Johar movie. It would have been difficult for the head honcho of Dharma Productions since there wasn’t much gap between the release of EMAET and the keenly anticipated Agneepath.

Music: The title song of the movie is slowly becoming famous. Although the rest of the numbers aren’t popular, they have a chance if the film scores big at the box-office.

Prediction: Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu will certainly get a good to descent opening at the ticket window due to Kareena and Imran, who are cast opposite for the first time. The initial response will determine whether it will sustain the collections after the first weekend and attain success at the box-office.

Gali Gali Chor Hai Movie Review

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Direction: Rumi Jafry

Production: One Up Entertainment

Cast: Akshaye Khanna, Shriya Saran, Satish Kaushik, Mugdha Godse, Annu Kapoor, Aditya Lakhia, Murli Sharma

Music: Anu Malik

Rating: * ½

Plot: Bharat (Akshaye Khanna), plays a Common Man from Bhopal who works in a bank as a cashier and leads a simple life with his wife Nisha (Shriya Saran) and father (Satish Kaushik). Just before elections, politician Manku Tripathi’s (Murli Sharma) men ask Bharat and family to let them occupy a room in their house for election purposes. However, Bharat, at Nisha’s insistence, refuses. In this way, Bharat indirectly invites great trouble in his life.

Review: The promos and the promotional title song of Gali Gali Chor Hai gave a clear indication that the film deals with fighting against corruption. This became more evident when a special screening of the movie was organized for anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare.

However, what is presented is a tiresome saga of the central character’s struggle against the corrupt system which, after a point of time, is difficult to believe or sit through, leave alone creating an impact!

Coming straight to the point, the film is an amalgamation of unconvincing scenes and situations. This starts with a silly misunderstanding between Akshaye and Shriya, straight out of those boring daily soaps. To solve this, a song is forcefully added. Then, the troubles for our protagonist begin where an age old table fan and few corrupt individuals turn his life topsy-turvy.

But due to the dumbness of our common man you finally lose patience at the end of the first half when he gets to know that the table fan has become a big villain of his life. Later we realize the writers have given more importance to the fan than the two actresses.

They also make sure you stop caring for the characters courtesy some more unconvincing events in the second half where the misunderstanding factor also keeps returning! To make matters worse, a raunchy Veena Malik item number ‘Chhanno’ is thrown in. But the way our hero is further submerged in trouble takes the cake (pun intended)! Although some heroism and encouragement is shown in the final scene, it hardly leaves an impact. You really wonder how a bunch of producers agreed to finance a film with such a script!

One shouldn’t blame Rumi Jafry’s direction when he is as a writer, along with Mumukshu Mudgal, has failed.  It’s only plus point is the creation of some interesting characters and few funny moments here and there.

Composer Anu Malik’s return produces a well written title track. The rest of the songs aren’t much to talk about. Dialogues, cinematography and background score aren’t bad.

Akshaye Khanna’s performance is the biggest plus point. The actor excels as a victim of corruption. But one hopes he chooses better films. Shriya Saran isn’t bad as his wife but even she needs a better platform in Bollywood to showcase her talent. Annu Kapoor gives a stellar act. After 7 Khoon Maaf, he once again proves he is one of the best character actors of Hindi cinema.

Aditya Lakhia and Murli Sharma play the bad men well. Mugdha Godse has hardly anything to do while Satish Kaushik is likable.

Overall, Gali Gali Chor Hai makes a mockery of the concept of Common Man versus corruption. It is impossible for the movie to survive at the box-office.