Ek Udaan

Had missed this movie when it came (and subsequently disappeared as well) in the theaters but about two months back sat down with Ashwini to finally watch this. And I was blown away by the movie. Would rate it as must watch, cannot miss. I had read about this movie but my resolve to not miss it came when I heard Amit Trivedi and gang play a few songs in last year's Mood-I.

The story line is about this boy who is expelled from school and returns home to an extremely abusive father and an innocent younger half brother. The acting is really good, Ronit Roy as the tyrant father and Aayan as the younger half brother really do a good job. The music of this movie is such a high. The lyrics, music and the filming of the songs standout. The climax “run” of the movie with Aazaadiyan playing in the background leaves you at the edge of your seat. Another song ‘Naav’ also stands out with its lyrics and music.

Dabangg

So despite knowing that this is a Salman Khan flick, we somehow still went on to see this movie because of a few people recommending it quite highly.

And the movie is good. Once it hits you that the over the top theme of the movie is intentional you settle down and start to appreciate the movie. Everything is over the top right from the Matrix and Jackie Chan type of stunts right in the first 5 minutes to the extravagant Salman dance moves. I haven't seen anyone dance like that since probably Amitabh ;-)

The music is superb. Tere Mast Mast Do Nain, a Rahat Fateh Ali Khan song is my new favorite these days. Other songs are very good.

Acting is good, Salman fits and plays the Dabangg character right till the final extra 'g'.

The director is Abhinav Kashyap, brother of Anurag Kashyap (Dev D, Black Friday). But Abhinav, I found out from Wiki, wrote the dialogues for Manorama Six Feet Under. It shows in this movie too the dark undertone about corruption and life in rural India. But the deliberate "fizz" of this movie is what ultimately stands out. See it like that and the movie is the most enjoyable ;-)

August & Everything After...

This album by the Counting Crows has been playing in my music system for a week now. I have owned this album for almost 12 years now. Actually in between for about a year it was out of my possession but I managed to get it back after a bit of hounding! ;-)

August & Everything After, remains one of my top 10 albums of all time. Great lyrics, music and stories throughout the album.

The album starts with 3 amazing songs "Right Here", "Omaha" and "Mr. Jones". On these 3 songs along with almost every other song on this album you will find that while you are listening they have this ability to bring along amazing imagery. After the first 3 songs just when things seem to settling in there is the haunting "Anna Begins". Oh but you just wait for "Raining in Baltimore". This song is "simple" with Adam Duritz the vocalist on the Piano.

Most of the songs are about everyday things and everyday people but the lyrics really take a hold of you. Just play the album and see if you can stop yourself from drifting off to a few years back thinking about some incident or person in your life.

Overall the album is fairly dark and gloomy in nature but the music is such a beautiful compliment that it ends up making the album very pleasing in nature. The album is very much like the month of August itself, at least here in India. It is the rainy season with dark clouds hovering about and it gets quite gloomy but there is still a beauty and freshness around that makes the environment feel blissful and there is still that harmony all around, especially when the sun breaks through the clouds...

Ek Hulchul

Ek Hulchul, ek aberration, ek weirdness...that is what the movie Dev.D is...

Of the tons and tons of things that are wrong with our Hindi movie industry, Dev.D is an aberration. It is what is right and how the industry should be. The movie is bold, frank and risky. It is all things that the Hindi movies should strive to achieve. The movie is so good that I totally don't care about its flaws, which is mainly its length. The movie should be shorter by about 30 minutes. But despite that everything about this movie, I appreciate...

Anurag Kashyap, Abhay Deol and the whole crew, they don't deserve to be thanked with just a pat on the back. They need to be blindly given all the awards for this year. Just give it to them, all of them. The movie on a whole is brilliant, the concept, the story and the script. The direction, the music etc all stand out. The movie is just too risky and risqué! So glad that they made a movie like this, really shows the talent that resides deep inside bollywood.

The music is outstanding. The songs Ankh Micholi, Duniya, the rock version of Emosanal Attyachaar all are good stuff. Nayan Tarse is really good, the start is so Pink Floyd-esque, it's a trip ;-). When has a Hindi song ever been a trip (Tell me if you know of one, maybe I haven't heard it). Dhol Yaara Dhol and Saali Khushi really stand out. Dhol Yaara Dhol is actually outstanding with its beautiful Indian folksy music, arrangement and singing. But the song I liked the best is the uplifting 'Ek Hulchul Si'. That is exactly what this movie is...Ek Hulchul!

With recent movies like A Wednesday, Rock On, Dasvidaniya and Dev.D this "hulchul" seems to be catching momentum and it for sure has whet my appetite.

Smoke Signals - Summertime Rocks

Came across this song by a folk/pop/rock fusion band called Smoke based out of Bombay.
Kailash Kher, who is probably the current "Voice of India", is the singer with background vocals by two guys, Ashu and Dhruv. Ashu and Dhruv who own a pub called Bull Frog in Bombay are the mainstay of the band Smoke and Kailash Kher is the guest singer on this song...
One thing apart from the song and music that stuck with me are the various sights from around Bombay that keeping popping up and passing in the background :)

Ktulu

After ages I heard Metallica's "The Call of Ktulu" and then I thought I'd ask this question. Which Metallica song is your favorite? Enter Sandman? Unforgiven? Nothing else matters? One?

None of these are my favorites. Mine are, by far, Orion, Call of Ktulu, To Live is to Die and Pulling Teeth. They are all Cliff Burton songs. Songs where Cliff, Metallica's bassist at that time, played a dominant role in writing and arranging these songs. He shows off his musical ability not just with the bass guitar but by displaying sheer genius in composing and some super genius in song arrangement skills.

But Cliff Burton died in a freak bus accident at the age of 24. Since then the other members of the band have tried so hard to create music of Cliff's caliber. Lars Ulrich the revered drummer and James Hetfield considered my many the ultimate front man, pale in comparison to Cliff. They have tried very hard for the last 22 years to recreate music at Cliff's level but never ever came close in capturing the magic that Cliff could bring. Don't get me wrong the rest of the band has made some really good stuff but Cliff was the 'X' factor that the band and we as well will never ever have again. They tried a lot, on subsequent albums and songs like "The Outlaw Torn" etc etc but never came close. Also I am not claiming Cliff did it all by himself and if one of the others had left instead of him, outstanding music would have still continued to be made. No, everyone in the band played a part but it was Cliff who paid the biggest and most influential role.

For me their best albums are the second and third ones, "Ride the Lightning" and "Master of Puppets". On the first album the songs were already written by the time Cliff joined but he still managed to influence a couple of songs but in the next two albums he played a major role. Then the first album after his death there were still some remnants that Cliff had put down that the band members used and turned out a decent album but since then, without Cliff, the rest of the band just haven't been able to make anything close. They have been lost like kids without their elder brother. Lost in trying to create music that blows people away, the band has only managed to create commercial upheval but nothing that can be called path breaking or mind blowing. Things that they were known for when Cliff was around...

All this by the way is my belief. Metallica has been a phenomenal commercial success. They have gone from strength to strength with regards to the number of fans and money. They easily sell out stadiums in any remote corner of the world but for me their music has become worse and worse. Their music is stale, taking the easy way out wherever they find it.

I think the band members do realize what they lost when Cliff died and probably that is why they hardly ever play in entirety some of the Cliff Burton songs...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliff_Burton

Naagin - Decibel

This rendition of that Naagin movie song on the guitar by an Indian rock band is so worth checking out. It is instrumental and the guy taps the heck out of the guitar. I don't know if the technique is hard or what and the notes are sort of repeated throughout the song but what innovation! So much fun to see someone trying out something like this, weird :)
The band is called Decibel. The mp3 is available from Decibel's website here.

Things just came rushing to me...

I was listening to the song 'Perfect Blue Buildings' by Counting Crows and that had the following lines:
...Down on Virginia and La Loma
Where I got friends who care for me...

Great song by the way but for some reason I went to Yahoo maps and put in 'Virginia and La Loma, Berkeley, CA' and there it was, the place showed up. Why did I put Berkeley? I think subconsciously I remembered that Counting Crows is a Berkeley based band and there was this other thing. I have lived on Virginia St. in Berkeley. My brother used to stay just a block away from Virginia and La Loma.

I checked it out and Adam Duritz the vocalist for Counting Crows is from Berkeley and the band started there. I have spent a lot of time in that area and have plenty of memories of Berkeley...things just came rushing to me...

Audioslave - Revelations

In music videos I usually prefer 'band' videos. As in videos in which the band just performs, not in some outlandish setting or a live concert but something like a studio or a fixed set sort of place. Videos in which the band members just play the song as they actually would at any other time...anyway I just like such videos.

Audioslave made such a video for their song 'Revelations' that I really liked and found to be amazingly cool. There is another video that I like, 'Sweet Child O' Mine' by Guns N' Roses. The GnR one has a little too much glam in it than the Revelations one. You can watch both of them below for yourselves...

Taxman!
If you drive a car...I’ll tax the street
If you try to sit...I’ll tax your seat
If you get too cold...I’ll tax the heat
If you take a walk...I'll tax your feet
-- Beatles

And the wars go on with brainwashed pride...
For the love of God and our human rights,
And all these things are swept aside.
By bloody hands time can't deny,
Are washed away by your genocide
And history hides the lies of our civil wars

--- 'Civil Wars' - Guns N' Roses

Now life devalues day by day
As friends and neighbours turn away
And there's a change that, even with regret, cannot be undone

Now frontiers shift like desert sands
As nations wash their bloodied hands
Of loyalty, of history in shades of grey

--- 'A Great Day For Freedom' - Pink Floyd

Some music that is currently on my playlist...

Audioslave - Revelations
Audioslave was the band that was formed when the lead singer of Rage Against the Machine left and the rest of the members joined up with Chris Cornell. Chris Cornell was the lead singer for the band Soundgarden and was coming off a couple of solo projects. Together they formed a super group called Audioslave.
INXS - Afterglow
Athlete - Wires
U2 & Green Day - The saints are coming
Snow Patrol - Chasing cars
All American Rejects - Move along
Nickleback - Far away
Angels And Airwaves - The adventure
Stone Sour - Through glass
Flipsyde - Trumpets
The Fray - How to save a life

Athlete...

...is a brit soft rock/pop band that I have been listening to recently. I saw the video of their song "Wires" and went ahead managed to get their whole album. They are a very musically inclined band. As in, they are very similar to Coldplay, lots of piano, soulful melodies and lyrics dripping with emotions and feelings.

Their latest album is ‘Tourist’ and the song ‘Wires’ will get to you immediately. The song is about the singer’s new born daughter lying in the ICU of a hospital. The song is pretty horrific in the sense that it is about a new born all hooked up in the ICU but at the same time there is a lot of hope in it and also something very enduring about it. It goes:

You got wires…going in
You got wires…coming out of your skin

Running down corridors, through automatic doors
Got to get to you, got to see this through

Some of the other songs that stand out are Chances (the chorus ‘Those first steps that I can't calculate’ is really nice on this song), Half Light, Trading Air (It has these lines ‘someone better hit the alarm…set it off’, that I found really intriguing!), Twenty four hours (this song has a beautiful & haunting chorus). The striking thing about ‘Twenty Four hours’ I think is that the song could be about just about anything, anything that someone is anticipating anxiously...

Software Geek aka Superhero!

Huh?
I just found out that Parikrama had recorded a song for the launch of some Microsoft products. The song is called "Superhero" and the tagline is "Celebrating the Indian Developer". The song is nothing great, its a jingle at best but still worth a listen and read. The first line of the chorus is quite catchy. He’s no less than a super hero!

It is so strange and weird to have a song about us, software developers and that too a "Superhero" song...LOL!
Song and lyrics available at:


He’s no less than a super hero! :)

One song that helped me through my run last Sunday was Pearl Jam's "Release". It goes:

I'll ride the wave where it takes me
I'll hold the pain...Release me...

I guess if you have heard the way Eddie Vedder sings these lines you may understand why these lines had such an influence...

India
Over some drinks, last week, someone remarked how in some communities parents want their daughters to be married only to someone settled in the US. Now along those lines there were some other comments like "I will never go there", "And I am proud to be an Indian" and "I never felt at home there or could never somehow call that place my home". Anyway that apart, Fahrenheit 9/11 was coming on TV and there is one segment where they show how on a regular basis the US have invaded countries. That got me thinking...

In 1998 the US bombed a far away country and destroyed a primary school and an Asprin like drug making factory. They never helped Rwanda but they happily went and flattened Iraq twice. They gave Osama 3 billion to spend and god knows how much more to Saddam to fight against Iran. They have assassinated probably half a dozen presidents and leaders in South American countries throwing these countries in chaos and sending them spiraling into further poverty and then installing puppet dictators.

What I am getting at is my country has never done that. We have never invaded anyone. Despite having one of the worst neighbours ever possible we have never been the aggressor against even them. We have the worst corrupt politicians but still we have never bombed a primary school. We have never bred hate and violence in such blatant forms to satisfy the greed of the elite rich and the so called "corporations". I can safely say that our collective conscience is clear in this matter. This makes a big difference in my mind, proud of that record...

Che Guevara
The second thing that I quickly wanted to write, came to me while watching Motorcycle Diaries. The movie is about Che Guevara. While living in Los Angeles I had read and known about him but hadn't seen the movie as yet. The movie covers Ernesto Guevara and his friend taking a road trip on a rickety motorcycle across South America. Something changed in him during this trip. He saw the economic disparity in the countries he traveled through and that changed him to become one of the most influential leaders who fought for the weak and poor. His photo (below) is among the most recognized pictures in the world. Che, which became his famous nickname meaning "man" or "pal", is the symbol in the fight against inequality and injustice all around the world.

But what sort of popped in my head was a song that AC/DC plays in their live shows called Bonny. Angus Young, one of my all time favorite guitarists, plays a very soulful version of this song. Anyway the song goes:

I`ll take the high road
And you`ll take the low road
And I`ll be in Scotland afore ye

So did Che Guevara take the high road or the low road? I am not sure. Don't get me wrong, there is no doubt his intentions were righteous and I find what he accomplished very admirable and inspiring. But was it the high road? Now let me ask you if Gandhiji's road was the high one or the low one??? I have no doubt as to which road it was...

Apparently Che was inspired by Gandhiji and claimed armed conflict was never his first option but looks like finally revolución was the only option he was left with...

Have the time of your life...

Was listening to this acoustic song by Green Day (watch it here) that conveys a simple but vital message about life, "hope you had the time of your life". I see people around me, including myself, in misery struggling with life’s decisions, rights and wrongs, yes, no and maybes but as this song conveys that is just how it is (it being life) and in end it is all right (as in correct), so don’t forget to have a time of your life…

Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road
Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go
So make the best of this test, and don't ask why
It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time

My interpretation of this is that don’t question things too much, don’t struggle with things too much, these decisions are not questions that you absolutely have to and must answer in one way or the other. These are just circumstances, just make up your mind to go ahead either way and if required learn the lesson that is there in it. And if you have to just keep learning all the time, so f’ing what!?!

Here is the chorus…

It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

Really life is unpredictable, plan it but don’t harp on it too much because finally it is unpredictable. And you know what, yesterday, today, now and in the end whatever you do it is all right. Just don’t forget to have a time of your life. Not meaning go out on a binge all the time or go around hurting people but you know what, stop worrying about things. Circumstances will never go away they will teach you lessons till kingdom come. Listen to this song, maybe it will have some effect...

Go ahead, have the time of your life because in the end it's right...

Does that make me crazy...

Oh, I found a really cool song, maybe because it hits so close to home for me :)

Check out Crazy by Gnarls Barkley. Right from the first 4 beats the song just has this really cool vibe. You can't help rocking to it. The song has a really groovy, smooth flow to it with the bass in the background, it'll have you humming the tune. Be careful though because if you hum "Does that make me crazy" people are going to nod and say "oh ya for sure" :)

The video (watch it here) is extremely creative too, caught it on VH1. It has those weird blotted shapes that psychiatrist use. Those shapes keep showing up and somewhere the singer's head will be there. Really gave me a kick...

But maybe I'm crazy
Maybe you're crazy
Maybe we're crazy
...Probably...

Tell me baby...

...what's your story.
Where you come from,
And where you wanna go this time...

I caught the video of this funky song "Tell me baby" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers on VH1. In tune with the lyrics pasted above, the video has everyday people just dancing without a care, playing the band's instruments and generally freaking out. I want to be in this video it looks like a lot of fun! :)