The infamy

"In the Future, Everyone will be famous for 15 minutes."

He was so true!

.

I Love Bombay

marine drive 1930s

Mumbai is an aging whore. And everyone around is still out to f**k her. Be it the North Indian Bhaiyya or the local Marathi, they are out to suck its resources - namely fame, power, money - bleeding dry.

The Eloi don't give a shit nor do the Morlocks. In H.G. Wells' Tme Machine, there was a power strife between the two, but in Bombay the Eloi have a problem with each other, ditto with the Morlocks fighting amongst themselves. These are mindless, futile territorial pissings that care less about the land and more about inflated egos of confused clans.

Funny thing is that the SS (not the German Schutzstaffel) and the MNS's 'son of the soil' call might land them in trouble as they undermine the huge influx of daily wage labourers that arrive not just from UP or Bihar or elsewhere but also from drought-striken calamity areas within Maharashtra like Vidarbha, Amravati, etc. Interestingly the fight is at 2 levels - super powerful and those below or at level with poverty line.

For the super rich its an ideological power struggle whereas for the have-nots it boils down to their very right for survival. And all this happening at a place where I've lived all my life.

Its very clear that the Thakerays can ever stop this influx legally, even if they go in for a wild naming spree of public venues, Marathize all literature and deploy other votebank building gimmicks. Also the North Indian brigade with their funny Bhaiyya Hindi are absolutely resolute and immovable. They claim to love Mumbai more than anyone else and over some years this brigade has just turned stronger. Now it gets only more intense as the ring gets bigger and fatter names are pulled in!

And the love affair continues with this concubine that was Bombay once....

Salman Khan Wanted

MAFIA WANTS HIM DEAD, POLICE WANTS HIM ALIVE

Hello buffs! After 2 weeks of hugely over-rated films like Ishqiya, Rann, Veer, (Chanus pe Danus?) I thought I needed to brighten your little screens a bit.

This might seem like a dated post as it has been a few months since the film's release last year. And I never was a big Salman Khan fan. This post comes after a few dismal Sallu Bhai flicks - Veer being the latest. This is not even a review - in fact its an account of how much I've enjoyed watching Wanted on DVD and how you should also take courage, go ahead and flip the dvd in your players.

To all of those who found the promos very 'T-series yucky' - you all were right. They were freaking tacky all the way! But Wanted was a bloody delightful watch, keeping us all in splits. I was surprised at the witty ends of the movie.

Prabhudeva and the South Brigade are an innovative and funny lot. Wanted by Prabhudeva is an extremely entertaining movie. This I'm sure I don't need to reiterate. In fact Wanted is not even exactly a Pokiri remake!!

The film has brought back wonderful ways of the 70s and 80s but with highly stylized formula fights of relentless baddie bashing, sexy heroine gyrating, cheeky jokes, and the man himself does more than justify his screen presence. If all of us shrugged at Sallu's last dozen films that flopped, there is always one film that more than saves him. Mind you - Wanted is not just for the rickshaw audience. It actually exemplifies classic Bollywood hit film-making.

I also love the way Salman can state expressions derived from his own life into dialogues and what prowess. This guy has got balls larger than life! In fact at a point - I felt like watching the Hindi counterpart of Superstar Rajnikant!

If you are interested in others in the movie then - Ayesha Takia is cat like sexy and makes a hot combo with Salman. Mahesh Manjrekar is best in his evil role. But watch out for Southie acting great Prakash Raj in the role of Gani Bhai, I caught him in some South Indian films and this guy is cult!

Oh and Salman as Radhe has played himself in the movie.