1. Eklavya has been selected as India’s entry to Oscars this year. Something seems to be grossly wrong with the selection process. Year after year, they send wrong movies to the oscars and, no surpise, that even after Bollywood being hyped so much in west, we havent won a single Oscar in the last 50 years in acting, directing, writing etc. Yes, Oscars are not the end of everything, but still they are much more credible than most other awards .Those who have reservations should watch the academy award winner movies; Out of every 10 Oscar winners I have watched, I have found atleast 8 very good.
Chak De India would have been a much better choice..it talks about triumph of human spirit- in context of Indian women’s assertion of their identity -..Indian diversity is very realistically and interestingly portrayed, patriotism never falls victim of cliches…all these things could have appealed to the Oscar jury, even though the subject and plot is very common in Hollywood sense.
I have watched Eklavya. I did like it. I thought technically it was brilliant and , to an extent, entertaining too. But, I found it very gimmicky too..you know where filmmaker tries to impress the audience with his knowledge of medium and hence makes the movie look contrived. I will be really really surprised if Eklavya finds place in top 5 nominations in the best Foreign film category.
2. Ok, here is one confession. Since last week or so, Iam completely besotted with Deepika Padukone. It started when I watched the promos of om shanti om on India FM and watched her interview. Simply put, she is just too good. She epitomizes beauty in every sense and if she could act even somewhat decent, she will be next superstar in the lines of Hema Malini, Sridevi and Madhuri dixit. I could not think of any actress who has debuted in the last 20 years and who matches her in terms of classical beauty and grace.
3. I have hardly any expectations from Saanwarya, Sanjay Bhansali’s next hyped movie. I think that he is an over rated filmmaker who tends to take himself very seriously. The only movie of his which I found decent was Khamoshi, his debut movie which ironically was his least successfull movie too. I find his other movies simply pretentious and full of gloss & color, but lacking soul and honesty. The only Bollywood movie Iam looking forward to this year is Ashutosh Gowarikar’s Jodha Akbar. Here is one guy who does his job well without making much noise.
4. I came across couple of episodes of reality show Star Voice of India; I could see why shows like this are so successfull in India. They play on sentimentality of Indians. When participants get eliminated or their parents come on stage, there is blatant display of emotions in front of millions of people watching the show. Also, I find that judges get so personal and behave like Gods; I felt nauseated after watching the shows.
5. Since last month, Iam unable to read any book and it’s making me uncomfortable.
6. Since last two days it’s getting cold here after an unusual warm week before that. Iam still wearing my thin sweaters and t- shirts. But then, I feel cold less than even native Canadians.Temperature is between 12 degree and 15 degree celsius
7. So, I finally found that hat at Simons which I was looking to buy since a month.
