Ishaqzaade Review

1 line review: A love story with a million gun shots.

Two youngsters belonging to rival political parties (a Hindu and the other Muslim) in a small town, fall in love.  


These two families (and the parties belonging to them) have had the history of crossing any limits to win an election. One has a young daughter (Parineeti) and other a young and very warm blooded grandson (Arjun). The opening scene should bring a smile. It will not look like Arjun is debuting here! The first half was entertaining and fun. With Parineeti giving the best of dialogues (won an award in 'Ladies vs Ricky Bahl') and Arjun acting carefree, the story rolls very well till interval. 


The portrayal of narrow lanes of the town and how it's always used to run away after every fight is well shot. It might remind many of the middle class janta who have lived life in such places or atleast spent their entire childhood playing 'lucca chuppi' and cricket. 


The twist in the love story is neat! Considering it's a political love story the interval is nicely timed. But then the second half becomes never ending. The number of times Arjun asks for forgiveness will bore you to the core. And ya one more thing, 90% of the movie, they were wearing the same clothes. If at all there was a costume designer, he must have had fun sleeping through out. As told earlier, 2nd half disappointed me and I came out exhausted. 


I went to this movie for the sheer love of Parineeti and I got what I went for. The new comer Arjun is good and promising, I will not be surprised if his resemblance to Abhishek Bachchan will pull him down :) But he acts well. This movie will remind you of how Aamir and Juhi became iconic after 'Qyamat Se Qyamat Tak' and how this movie is nowhere close to it! 


Special Mention: The songs of this movie needs no introduction, 'Pareshaan' has been playing in my car in repeat mode for atleast a month now, no kidding. The title song may not be that catchy but the other 2 - 'chokra jawaan' and 'jhalla walla' (with a very funny lyrics) are superb. These two songs have been shot on Gauhar Khan (if you ever saw 'Jhalak Dikhla Ja' you would know her awesome dancing skills). 


All in all this love story will not make you cry, might make you smile once in a while, if the ticket rates do not bother you much, 1 time watch may not be a bad advice. But ensure you do NOT go anywhere near 'Dangerous Ishq'. 

Verdict: 3/5 

Ishaqzaade Review

How Music Channels Lost It!

In the good old days, people used to switch on to MTV for what it's meant. Music. I have been watching this channel from my childhood days when there were no other music channels at all. Not even Channel V, Only MTV (excuse me for not considering 'Chitrahaar' and 'Rangoli' from Doordarshan). I guess when I was in class VII, MTV got away from it's Star partnership and that gave birth to Channel V. Btw, did you know that Channel V was run without any name for a month before it got it's name! Now you know.

Anyways, the point that am making is that we do not go to MTV/ Channel V to watch music anymore, because there ain't any music playing there! (Now we go to YouTube channels). Either it's full of movie trailers OR the Roadies, Captain Shack, Splitsvilla etc of the world. MTV simply lost it down the line somewhere and started showing all General Entertainment Channel material. And Channel V soon followed. Actually Channel V went a step ahead and started showing typical love story serials - saas bahu type but with a twist that it's mushy mushy (meant for teenagers). 


Come on guys, there's already so many hindi GEC's showing such programs, you were not supposed to get there at all! In such a case make another channel and show me my music, where I can count on getting authentic good quality music from all around. And ya do not get stuck only on bollywood music (if possible). There is this awesome parody on Roadies which I loved, you should watch it too! Looks like MTV wants Roadies to become a never ending saga of sorts! And that lousy Splitsvilla - what is it supposed to be doing on a music channel? They have truly lost it. Like a saas bahu channel delivers exactly what is expected out of it, isn't a music channel supposed to deliver what its meant to be? Or it's too much to ask for these days?

Very recently they started off Coke Studio and Sound Trippin and are worth your prime time. But it's just not enough, there needs to be more to it. More quality music. More music from around the world. If it really has to be reality shows for these music channels then there are dozens of such program that will attract the right talent and money (for the channel), viewership and popularity. Don't know why music/ singing related programs like Saregama or for that matter Indian Idol do not belong here! But Roadies is in it's 9th leg and Splitsvilla in it's 5th (or 6th, who cares) season on a Music channel! It's time these channels mature and deliver what is expected out from them. 


Disclaimer: There are many more music channels in the Indian market (Hindi, English and regional) but I have watched them intermittently or rarely, for no specific reason. Hence my post is skewed towards these 2 channels only. The views expressed here are personal and you are welcome to object to express your counter view point by commenting here. 

How Music Channels Lost It!

The Avengers Review

1 line review: Awesome. Now multiply that by 6.

Plot: A cube has opened doors with another world, this cube has been stolen and being used for earth domination and it's upto The Avengers to save this world from the devastation. A typical Marvel Superhero movie! :) 

Avengers initiative is the only way this can problem can solved. Our sexy lady Scarlett Johansson (Agent Natasha) gets all the Superheros together in a mammoth warship. [Whow, this ship is another superhero!] 'HULK' is shown working in India (even speaks a few hindi words), 'Iron Man' and 'Captain America' joins soon enough. 'Thor' gets involved as he does not want 'Loki' to get to his agenda. Hawkeye (whose heart is turned and used earlier, joins hand later). 

Positives: Totally action packed, with all the superheros in one what do you expect other than awesomeness. The timely one liners keeps the funny bone tickling. Iron Man, my favorite, does an awesome job. Frankly I went to see him. And Scarlett is as sexy as she can be. The war ship is an integral part of the movie, special effects and graphics were out of this world. Being Marvel, you can expect that to be a given. The gadget that takes Iron Man's suit off, on the roof top - Uff, jaw just dropped! When HULK says - 'am always angry' - too good. Ok, now imagine all this in 3D. 

Negatives: Well, this was expected. Since there are too many characters, all of them cannot be given equal footage. Imagine every superhero have had full movies to themselves, now they have to partner with many more and still fit well in the same 2 hour plot. Tough but still well distributed. A couple of lengthy conversation scenes might get boring as you expect top class action every minute from such a movie! :)

The Avengers Cast

All in all, you need to have watched atleast a few of the Superheros earlier movies to drool more here. Unless you were living under a rock this is a non possibility. If you do not enjoy fiction, unreal stories where someone from another planet wants to make all humans their followers and changes heart wanting to be ruled, this one's not for you! :) 'X Men' comes very close to this Awesomeness! 


Do wait till the credit roll is over, picture abhi baaki hai mere dost!  

Verdict: 4/5

One more thing I would like to point out that the ticket prices have been exorbitant in Bangalore, if in 3D then it blows your mind! Something needs to be done about it. 

The Avengers Review

Got an Increment? Investing or Spending?

Ok, so you got an increment this month! Hoorah! Yippee, Way to go! Let's Party! At no point in time I will discourage you from spending. My wife tells me, unless you spend more you will not earn more. So go out and spend it on you and your loved ones, but especially on yourself. You got an increment coz you deserved it, go treat yourself. 

I am sure you know you can treat yourself in various ways. Other than buying your watch, shoes and that sexy car you always eyed? What else? Heard of INVESTING? Investing some part of your raised salary should be going in making money out of money. Ya, I might get a little boring out here, but if you pay attention for the next 2 minutes (only) you may start liking me more, assuming you already like me. 

I have only 2 suggestions:

Start an SIP (Systematic Investment Plan) with one of the leading Mutual Fund Schemes. I have one with HDFC Tax Saver, invest for good and save tax at the same time! Amount could be whatever suits you, minimum being Rs. 500 per month. One time registration and buy it online. Register online and start fast, Moneysights and FundsIndia should be easy. Check it out you will be able to set yourself up for this in no time.

Invest in PPF (Public Provident Fund), Open up an account with SBI, invest online. With a minimum 15 years lock-in, 8.8% interest, part of the tax saving instruments, Tax-Free interest, the actual return for someone in the 30% tax bracket will work out to be 12% ! A very good long-term investment option I say!

Free Advice: 

Insure your Life, almost everybody in India is under Insured or NOT insured at all! But DO not think of it as an investment, just go and buy a TERM plan from LIC and you are good. A term plan is a Insurance policy which insures your life and passes on the big amount to your loved one, when you die. Ya, you do NOT get anything at the end of this policy - choose this type plan - economical and best! 


A big question people have is that the insurance policy should return good amount after it ends. Let me ask you a question, Do you think twice before insuring your bike or car? And, by the way, you do not forget to insure your 50k or 5 lakh asset but not your own life? Which is priceless am assuming.


2 minutes up. Thank you! 

Oh, before I forget, congratulations and all the best.  

[Track every aspect of your money, only on www.perfios.com for FREE]

Got an Increment? Investing or Spending?