Rahul Ram

It has always annoyed me, how Indian Ocean's Bandeh was sung by the junta ignorantly and in a rock style. Anyway, a cool interview of Rahul Ram.

"Along the way, his marriage broke up. “It began in 2001. But we didn’t divorce for the longest time. Thing is, there was a lot of affection.”

That was a tough period. “Unusually,” he stresses the word, “I was depressed, for about a year. Then one day I was up in the hills, and it suddenly burst on me. Yaar, you were not made to be sad. If your wife wants to leave, let her go. If she’s okay, she’s okay; if she’s not, she’s not."

Am a big fan of their music, even though the word 'their' does not mean the same group of people it seems.

Homeland

The art of creating a thriller. Homeland is one of the best series I have seen. The casting, direction, screenplay, music, story - all spot on! Nothing to complain about except the pace - which eventually suits the twists that the viewer is subjected to.

Claire Danes (Carrie) has done a stupendous job - beyond stupendous. Damien Lewis (Nick Brody) has done a good job. My favourite character though is Saul Berenson played by Mandy Patinkin. He is a caring, decisive, brutal, soft spoken gentleman and ruffian all rolled into one. His equation with Mira is the stuff of great emotional content. In the last episode of the 2nd season, when Mira tells Saul that she is coming to the US, Saul says 'Yes'. No triumph, no happiness, just plain relief.

Homeland touches the viewer at so many different levels and makes the viewer question each possibility. A true masterpiece. But as it goes with so many shows, the odds are that they fk things up in the next few seasons...

Listen Amaya

I had to see this movie because of Farooq Sheikh and Deepti Naval. I saw it today and I was a little disappointed. The story was good, but they made a mess of how the daughter handles the change in her life. The music was rubbish because of its placement and the unnecessary songs (as they do with so many Hindi movies) - I enjoyed the cinematography and the screenplay at times, like the time that Deepti narrates her story to her daughter. The movie was half an hour too long...

The reason I am writing though is because of Farooq Sheikh. I wouldn't say that he is a fantastic actor, but I will say that he is an actor you want to fall in love with. Something so blithely adorable about the guy and the way he creates his character.
He was a good guy. A plain good guy in the city of New Delhi who saw the beauty in the people about him, he spread a smile and a warmth in others. As he walked away with Amaya towards the end and didn't say a word, I saw in him a good life. An honest life lived truly, lovingly and a dash of humour in the simple things we take for granted.

A good life is what we strive for towards the end. Nobody knows when illness will come by, and death will take away a loved one, or a financial crisis will throw us off - all we can do is control who we choose to be. A good life is one that is lived consciously.

All in all, a cute movie - see it for Farooq Sheikh.
For me, it was another eye opener.