Anger
When angry, count to four. When very angry, swear.
Mark Twain
Anger always comes from frustrated expectations.
Elliott Larson
Anger will never disappear as long as thoughts of resentment are cherished in the mind. Anger will disappear just as soon as thoughts of resentment are forgotten.
Buddha
All of those quotes must be true since they come from wise people but the problem is that I don't have thoughts of resentment - far from it, I don't even know what I am angry at. Frustrated expectations ??? Maybe but hell I can't think of any. Swear?? Maybe I should till I vent out my anger but thats not really a solution to anything. I think thats the end of my vent here.
I bought myself a pedestal fan - because it has been so bloody humid for the past 1 week that it is hard to sleep or sit without sweating like a pig. Yeah- i know it might come as a surprise but the mall did have pedestal fans in store and i also noticed a couple of ceiling fans - which came as a shock. My other flatmate is getting himself a pedestal fan as well.
I started contacting actors agents for casting 'Nowhere to Love' and let us see how that shapes up. Atleast the wheels have started rolling now. Still have to lock down locations and make budgets- the rough budget i chalked up was a little shock to my system, so need to re-evaulate workflow and processes (and costs).
Bye for now.
Amit
Holiday
The last day of the long weekend. Watched a few more movies -
Seabiscuit (with english subtitles...grrrrrrrrrr....) ;
Owning Mahowny ;
Broken Wings - a fair few I suppose.
I had avoided seeing 'Sea Biscuit' for so long because when the trailer came out at the cinemas, I though 'this looks like another big budgeted hollywood crap' and religiously made sure that I did not accidentally see the movie at cinemas or on DVD. But since my flatmates were watching the movie and I did not want to retire to my bedroom - I sat and watched the movie. It was good - way better than I expected. The lighting in the movie is just fantastic and so is the cinematography. The editing was seamless - except for some of the racing sequences where the cuts just seemed a bit off. But still a good movie for a holiday.
'Owning Mahowny' was slow paced and it was boring in parts - add to it the story was predictable and I think thats what killed my interest in the movie. The evening was rounded off by 'Broken Wings', an israeli movie which won a fair few awards. It is a small and personal movie - heart wrenching and very emotional. The actors were really fantastic and the cinematography was again top notch. It is gently paced and it takes less than 2 minutes to enter that world and stay there.
The '
Nowhere to Love' website has undergone another revision. Benji painstakingly revised the website to remove my rustic design and breath some elegance into it. And I like the revised version a lot. What do you think?
The long weekend has been rounded off by a good 2 hours of badminton a couple of hours back and it was a good game - somehow my anger got translated into improvement in my game. Lance had rung up Thames-Coromandel Council again to see if there would be any difference in attitudes but no result. So definitely going to check out some more locations soon.
Anyway off to bed.
Ciao,
Amit
Movie sunday
It is a pleasure watching so many good movies in such a short time span. Today I watched '
Paradise Now' at the newly refurbished Rialto cinemas. It was a really powerful movie and I would say that it is a companion piece to 'Munich' but more gritty and powerful. While 'Munich' shows the israeli side of things, 'Paradise Now' shows the palestinian side of things and the best thing is that it never steps into the territory of propoganda or political posturing. It is the most amazing call for peace that I have seen. The cast in the movie are top notch and so is the cinematography and pacing of the movie. The movie has recently won the Best Foreign Feature award at Golden Gobe and hopefully that should draw more people to see the movie. It is such a simple presentation of such a complex matter that it really gets under your skin. It will make you think - it really will. And to have achieved such a movie with a budget of a mere US$ 2 million is remarkable {compare it to US$ 70 million budget for Munich}. Highly recommended watch.
The next movie that I watched was '
In Good Company'. No I did not watch it in the theatre but at home on DVD. The movie is definitely not a romantic comedy. It is totally unpredictable and is more a slice of life in corporate america mixed together with some family and romance elements to it. The ending wasn't satisfying because they lost focus on which character's story to tell. If only they had a more grounded ending it would have been a real good one. It is still an enjoyable movie.
Thats pretty much what I did for the day. Some more thinking and some more contemplation. Life still amazes me by its simplicity and the humans by their complexities. I don't think I will share my self analysis session here but I must say that I am happy to a small extent but also angry over myself.
Adios for now,
Amit
Officious seeing eye bitch
Click me to see what I am looking at
Just got back from watching a sneak preview of '
Everything is Illuminated' and it is an awesome movie. It is really tender, emotional, funny, heart felt and entertaining. The image above probably sums up the quirkiness of the movie. The acting is on the spot - from Elijah Wood, from Eugene Hutz, from Boris Leskin and from Mikki (who plays Sammy Davis Jr. Jr. a.k.a Officious seeing eye bitch), the music is fitting for the movie. The rhythm and the pacing of the movie spot on, with no flab whatsoever. And it was a confident directorial debut - it was a story very well told. The more I think about it the more I love it - I will definitely watch it again once it opens in a month's time at the cinemas. It is highly recommended if you want to feel moved by simplicity.
I caught up with Angelique and went to the movie with her. After the movie bumped into Luke - he was same year as me at the film school {he was also one of the 1st AD's on 'Memories'} and also bumped into John Davies - the NZ distributor of 'Memories'. So it was an evening of crossing paths.
Watched 'Dragonfly' at home with Tim and Maddy. It was a tad frustrating because they now watch any DVD's with english subtitles, so that Maddy can read what is going on (it is irritating when it is an english movie). The movie itself isn't that bad - some pacing problems and story structure problems but it is better than i thought it would be.
I still feel caught in a time warp where things make sense but they don't. It is hard to shake off the feeling. What am I doing?
Amit
Surprises and surprises
Yesterday was a day of surprises - first surprise was getting a text from a friend with the invitation to their farewell get together. It was a pleasent surprise because I thought that they had already left the country, so it was good getting to see them before they flew away.
The second surprise was that the mac's finally started responding in their own weird way and I have had some part of the work done - even though it took the whole bloody day to get to that point.
The third surprise was getting a showreel from a person from Belgium - who is travelling through NZ with a kind note saying that they really liked what we were trying to do and just wanted to drop their work, incase there was any point in time that our paths do cross. The showreel itself is beautifully put together.
In the evening - went to the get together and caught up with more friends, whom I hadn't seen in ages. Had a couple of games of pool and I must say that I was never really any good at it. There is this joke going around that i am colour blind because I accidentally used the yellow ball to hit our balls instead of using the white ball...really it was an accident. i was a little bit drunk and the yellow light reflecting of the yellow ball created the illusion that it was a white ball (:-)
There is the long weekend in front of me and I am just sitting here procrastinating - I will be doing something or the other but at this point I am just shaking off the emotions from the farewell. Will keep you posted.
Amit
Munich
Just back from watching '
Munich' and it was a really nice movie - powerful...it has some flab that can be easily trimmed but it is still an awesome piece of cinema, even in its current form. The acting is on the dot by everyone involved and the movie really does drive home it's point without sparing any punches - the never ending circle of violence and terrorism. I found the last shot of the movie to be the most chilling.
The mac's at school are driving me insane by refusing to do simple tasks and it is frustrating to say the least as my workflow has slowed down to 5 km/hr. I also got a random email from an international film festival asking me to submit 'Memories' for selection. Let's see where this leads, especially when the movie was not shot on film and that seems one of their primary criteria.
Need to cleanup my room this weekend as it has turned into a complete mess right now.
Bye for now,
Amit
Updates
The main update is to the 'Nowhere to Love' website - finally got around to doing it. Check it out
HERE. It also includes
the casting call for actors interested in getting involved with a 'no budget' production. The next update on the website has to be the photo gallery. (I know...I know...I will get around to it}
The smaller updates are that I have had a few nights of uneasy and restless sleep. I am thinking of getting a double bed as my single bed is driving me insane, especially after experiencing my nice double bed in Delhi. I am bidding for a couple of second hand beds online - brand new ones at the local furniture shop are prohibitively expensive. I was also bidding for a 2X2 leather couch set but I lost the auction by $1, because I forgot about the auction and went playing badminton...arrrrrrrrrghh...it would have been an awesome bargain if I had won those.
My car seems to be making some really weird noises and I am getting worried. I had made up my mind to start biking to work again but the weather has just gone for a toss. Yesterday there were gale force winds and it rained the whole day and even today it was pouring down. The weather forecast gives the thumbs up for the sun from next Monday.
Everything still feels weird and surreal.
Adios,
Amit
Games...
We all play them - some in the physical sense and the others in the mental sense. I have been playing the physical ones recently. The old netball team I used to play with last year, fell short of a player and asked me if I wanted to play. I readily agreed and man, was it interesting? My thighs are still hurting from the game and we got thrashed because we played one player down for a whole quarter. That was yesterday. Today, played badminton for a couple of hours with Lance, Becks and Dean. The aching thighs did not help the cause at all and currently i am feeling quite shattered.
I watched 'Alien V/s Predator' by mistake yesterday night and it was moneymaking trash. I am not ashamed to admit that both 'Alien' + 'Aliens' as well as 'Predator' were one of my favorite sci-fi movies when I was growing up. I still love the first 'Predator' as it is superbly executed. Now the studio comes along - decides that hell we got 2 franchises and we have a readymade audience - let's mint some money. And bingo, they give us 'AVP' which really did suck in terms of execution and storyline. I won't waste more time writing about that. I started watching 'Apocalypse Redux' but got interrupted and coudn't get back to it. I will try and watch it tomorrow.
Anyway I thought i would do a quick post before crashing into bed.
Adios,
Amit
Good Night, And Good Luck
I didn't realize that I hadn't checked the movie listings at the cinemas since I came back to Auckland, so today morning I checked out what was playing and got a pleasent surprise to see 'Good Night, And Good Luck' playing - so I promptly went to the first screening they had, which was at 2.00 in the afternoon to watch it.
What an experience it turned out to be - I mean the movie was really cool and I loved the way it plays out - without trying to preach anything, but what was better was the overall experience attached to it. There were 10 people in the theatre watching the movie and I was the only person under 65 years of age. How cool is that? The movie was innovative and I loved the way it plays out - it doesn't try to preach and it definitely does not follow the 3 act {frickin!!} story structure that everyone in film making is so obsessed about. The performance by David Strathairn is awesome and the supporting performances are delicately nuanced. A bold and honest movie, which has some really minor and ignorable flaws but the movie comes at a relevant point in time.
The coolest thing was that after the movie, I got talking to the old couple sitting a seat away from me and it was an exciting conversation - they were from Wisconsin, the very place that this whole story took place {I mean that was the place from where Senator McCarthy was} and they had experienced that era and time. Now they are partly settled in New Zealand and partly settled in US { since they can't become permanent residents in NZ because of their age}. It was a surreal experience chatting with them. Life is full of little surprises.
I also watched 'The Terminal' - as it was showing on T.V and it wasn't bad. It is definitely funny but the initial premise on which the whole movie starts off is a tad contrived and so is the ending. I think the movie did not do well in the US but if you look at the financials it did very well. It was made for US$ 60 million and marketed for another US$ 35 million and made US$ 218 million worldwide {including the US$ 77 million on the domestic market}. The figures kind of boggle my mind because it is a decent movie but not exceptional but it still made a profit of US$ 123 million.
Now a couple of movies, which will soon be released in NZ - that I am looking forward to are Syriana, Munich, Aeon Flux, A History of Violence, No.2 {a kiwi movie}. I did not get excited by the trailer of 'River Queen' {it showed just before GN,AGL} and it just feels weird, even though the art department and locations look stunning. A couple of docos that are sometime away are '
March of the Penguins' and
'Why We Fight'{don't know if it will even get released late into the year}.
'In the Blink of an Eye' is a fascinating companion piece to 'The Conversations'. I am still reading it but it is compelling. Again - it never gives instructions on how to edit but provides insight into a state of mind an editor should be inorder to explore the possibilities of storytelling. I will probably be able to speak more about it once i finish reading the full book. I got 'Apocalypse Now Redux'; 'THX 1138'; 'The English Patient' - since I hadn't seen those movies before and after reading 'The Conversations' - it kind of becomes essential for me to watch those movies and then ruminate over what I had read. I know it is heresy admitting to that but hey my knowledge of film is quite limited by what interests me at any particular point of time plus I have spent a better part of my life in India, where the only english movies you see are the hollywood blockbusters.
A couple of key people {crew} have come on board for 'Nowhere' and I am still thinking my way through various challenges which lie ahead. I will hopefully update the 'Nowhere' website with some info soon (I know I have been lax with website updates but it is just hard getting into that straight away when there is so much more happening.}.
Anyway - I think it has been a long update from me and I am dangerously close to going into the territory of babbling.
Adios for now,
Amit
The Conversations
Finished reading 'The Conversations' and it was a really intense experience. It is a visceral experience reading some frank conversations about editing and film making, straight from a legendary editor's mouth. Walter Murch is an eloquent speaker and is able to share his thoughts in a really accessible way. How did I finish the book in a day? I simply couldn't put it down - I was doing work at school which was such that the only thing I could do at that point of time was to stay in that room for the whole time - monitor the digitize; change tapes and follow computer instructions as and when they arose. So I continued reading the book, which I had started yesterday night {I had read about 80 pages yesterday night} and the book was so engrossing that I finished the remaining 220 odd pages in one go. The book is a revelation and is a fantastic way to learn about editing - it does not directly tell you as to how you should edit something but it explores experiences, situations, problems, solutions through the fascinating memory of Mr. Murch. And for me - editing or infact film making is precisely that - following an organic path of exploration, discovery as you try to piece together this massive jigsaw puzzle of a movie and solving problems as they crop in new and innovative ways (which may or may not work but have to try nonetheless to find that out).
So what's next? 'In the Blink of an Eye', which is based on a lecture that Walter Murch first gave in Australia. The book was then made from the transcript of that lecture with Walter Murch adding stuff later to clarify the verbal discussion with the audience and adding a new segment on digital editing. It was a groundbreaking book when it was initially released and still is a revolutionary book. How revolutionary, I will get to know once I read it. I am also about to watch '
Steamboy' - from the director of Akira. People rave about Akira but I never got into it in terms of storyline and the only thing that fascinated me about the movie was the amazing animation (way ahead of its times - the movie was made in 1988), which really blows you away and obviously the sound design. For me - the best anime I have seen is '
Ghost in the Shell' - which works more like a movie than an anime and is definitely one of my all time favorites. Anyway thats completely going off track. I will head off to watch 'Steamboy' for now...
Couple of my flatmates are watching 'Memories' and I think I will escape into the safety of my bedroom. The first impression I got after watching the first 20 minutes of the movie after a long time is that it has a slow start but the story is complex right from the start and is definitely not spoon feeding the audience plus the sound design is amazing in its detail. Some things don't make sense but they start piecing together towards something tangible from the beach scene. Strange hearing those impressions from a guy who wrote and directed it, eh?
Good night,
Amit
Editing and rain
Today was the first time that it rained..no..poured down, since I came back to New Zealand. It was a pleasent change feeling the rain. My other flatmate, Greg, has come back from his holiday in South Africa and now the flat is truly international - a south african, a kazhak, an indian and a kiwi living in the same house. Greg got a new car stereo system, so he gave me his old car stereo system {which is 4 months old} and I am thrilled to pieces - I will try and find out if someone can fit the stereo in my car. It was really kind of Greg to do that and the thought of listening to music in my car is a thrilling sensation - the only music that car has heard is the creaks and groans of different car parts.
I got my second {final) package from amazon and it includes:
In the Blink of an Eye(a book) and
The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing (a documentary). I plan to watch the documentary later tonight but I have started reading
The Conversations: Walter Murch and art of editing film , a book I borrowed from Gerben. It is amazing getting back into the world of creative editing.
Off to watch the doco and then onto 'The Conversations'.
Amit
{
Update - Finished watching '
The Cutting Edge' and it is a really interesting doco, highly informative and essential viewing if you are a filmmaker, critic or a film student. I would say it is a companion piece to '
Visions of Light' - which is an excellent doco for understanding cinematography and film making. There are some nitpicks though - since the doco has been released by Warner Brothers - some of the movie choices by the doco director come as a little bit odd {who in their sane mind would want to include a Steven Segal movie - 'Under Siege 2' amonst the otherwise good examples} and wishes that they were able to access footage from other studios as well. Another minor thing was the amount of time spent with Walter Murch editing 10 seconds of 'Cold Mountain' - it was fascinating to watch but still the amount of time spent there could have been less. I didn't like 'Cold Mountain' as a movie and so I definitely can't connect to the wonderful editing in that {and more so when the editing process for that movie is so hyped up by Apple computers, who have released a seperate book which is titled 'How Walter Murch edited Cold Mountain using Final Cut Pro'}. But those are minor nitpicks and it is otherwise a wonderful doco and hearing all the different point of views of editors and directors (most of them legendary) is mesmerizing to say the least. It is a must see doco and I would highly recommend it. Watch it if you get a chance}
Nowhere
The 2 day editing course concluded successfully and I am kind of pleased with the outcome - I think taking this course snapped me back into reality and further on into dreams. I went to look for the latest copy of 'Real Groove' magazine since Doug tipped me off that he had seen my photo in the magazine {thanks for the tip off Doug},I found the magazine but did not buy it as they got our website address wrong {i think they must have done a spellcheck, which changed unkreative to uncreative...grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....}. It had a cool photograph of me and Lance {a photo from
the music video shoot} and had a good mention about 'Memories', too bad that they stuffed up the website otherwise it would have been nice...
I have been having this massive instances of deja vu's over the past few days and they are powerful and hard to shake off. I just had one a couple of hours back and somehow they always make me restless - has my mind actually travelled into the future? have i dreamt of this? or is it just my mind playing tricks on me?
I discovered the pleasure of the Swedish Sauna at the local gym that I go to and it was awesome. It was my first time in there and it definitely opens up the pores and when you have a shower after the sauna - you feel rejuvenated. Experienced sauna bathers keep going back and forth between the sauna and the showers so that they can luxuriate..heeheee...
It is only tuesday and it feels like thursday. I will take leave for now, leaving you with more photographs from the trip.
Amit
Me climbing imaginary steps against the backdrop of
Qutub Minar - one of the main attractions in Delhi.
Ashwani and me - old buddies from BBA/MBA days. We share the same birthdate, I am one year elder to Ashwani though. We have shared some great experiences together including the trip to U.A.E, eating monster size pizzas fit for 8 people between the two of us, playing practical jokes during our college days which got us into a lot of shit.
The parrot which picked the tarrot cards for the tarrot card reader to tell our future. {This particular tarrot card reader told Veni's and Lance's future}
Me playing with Vaishnavi - one of my first cousins { she is mom's oldest younger brother's daughter}. She had fever that day but she was still really active and her eyes really sparkle with intelligence and naughtiness.
Walking through the shopping markets in Hong Kong. It was about 11.00 at night at that point and the whole place was still bustling with activity. That place is alive all the time, we got back to our hotel around 12.30 and the human traffic was slowing down at that time and when we got up at 6.00 in the morning to go sight-seeing around Kowloon and Hong Kong, quite a few people were already up and going about their business {even though it was a sunday}
Lance trying to stay awake at the Po Lin Monastery in Hong Kong {this was during our way back to New Zealand from India, where the flight from Delhi to Hong Kong blotched up our body clocks and sleep}. The place itself is serene and has a really mystical feel to it.
The view of
Big Buddha from the Po Lin monastery. Getting to that place was a mission but was worth every moment of it. It was really cold up there and I had to borrow Lance's spare T-shirt. We couldn't go right upto the statue because we were there by 8.45 AM while the place did not open till 10.00. We reluctantly returned to Tung Chung and from there caught the Metro into Hong Kong and stumbled across the city trying not to fall asleep before we got on our flight later that evening.
Better
Feeling a lot better today. There is a short 2 day intro to editing course that I am taking at the school and it is good getting back into the flow of things. The pay thing got sorted out and things are back to normal, paid the house rent straight away.
I am also extremely happy that one of the books that I ordered from amazon.com arrived today. It is titled:
The Visual Story: Seeing the Structure of Film, TV and New Media and it is a bloody great book. It is lucid and extremely useful, an essential read for all film makers. I am thoroughly enjoying it.
I will leave for now and here are some more pics from the holiday trip.
Amit
Mom cutting spinach leaves to make them into spinach-cheese dish, which is always yummmmy.... The only minor hiccup was that dad ended up bringing 2 K.G of spinach, so we ended up having enough spinach-cheese dish for 2 dinners (:-)
Lance is amused by the traffic he sees outside and tries to imitate everything he sees - in this case a bull pulling a cart. We are travelling in an autorickshaw in one of the busiest roads possible - which has hand carts, rickshaws, auto-rickshaws, buses, cars, trucks, scooters, motorbikes, tractors and people going on the same road and not necessarily in the same direction as the road.
A beautiful view of Taj Mahal, isn't it just glorious?
Me standing in Ramdas' prison in Golconda fort. Ramdas was the treasurer for the last Golconda king and he was imprisoned in that building for 12 years for redirecting tax money towards building a temple somewhere else. The building is absolutely forbidding and is nothing but a huge hall. The food and water used to be passed down to him from holes in the roof, which doubled up as ventilation.
Lance, in the soldier's barracks, trying his hand at lifting the 250KG block of stone with one hand, as some kids look on at his effort. If a person was able to lift the block of stone with one hand, they gained entry into the army. The block of stone also doubled up as weight for weighing grain, which was used as payment for their services {as there were no salaries at that time}.
Void
Listless saturday and my mood from yesterday continues. I haven't done anything productive (even remotely) and don't feel like doing anything, especially since I forgot to get paid and that doesn't bode well for any weekend. I had one meeting in relation to 'Nowhere to Love' and I think I will put it into perspective once I get back into the rhythm of things.
I will take leave for now. Leaving anyone who is reading this with some more photos from the holiday trip.
Amit
Me -sleeping in my lovely bed in Delhi. I love that quilt and that bed. I had one of my nicest sleep in ages there and never felt like getting out of the bed.
A family photograph (you can click on it to enlarge it) - me, veni, lakshmi aunty, gyanender uncle, dad and mom {going anti-clockwise}
Me with Veni.
Lance exploring the ruins in Golconda fort
Lance becoming an international monument within the fort. The photo session went on for about 15 minutes with Lance in the same position with heaps of different people changing places in each consecutive pic.
Emotions
Anger, disbelief, emptiness, rage, despair - is what I am feeling right now. Don't ask me why but I am going through all those things at the moment.
On a positive note - 'Memories' will be screening at Rialto between March 9-22, a good 2 week commercial run. I don't know what the reaction would be but it would be great publicity for everyone involved with 'Memories', especially the actors. A small step for a nobody like me.
Bye,
Amit
Some more photos from the trip to India:
Party with my college friends: Other side of the table - Me, Chandan, Raj, Puneet ; This side of the table - Sapna, Aditi, Ashwani. All of us went to the same institute in Rohtak {a small town 60 KM north of Delhi} to puruse our degree in business administration. Yep...a table full of MBA's.
Lance standing in front of Lotus Temple {also known as Baha'i Temple} in Delhi. Amazing architecture and I love the silence inside the temple.
Me sitting in the same dining room at Loyola Public School in Guntur, where I was a hosteller and studied during 1986/87/88 {20 years ago}. It was those 3 years that formed me into what I am today. Before that I used to be a brat, who used to drive everyone insane; now I simply drive people insane.
The classrooms and school yard at Loyola Public School - nothing has changed a bit and it is the same as it was 20 years back. The only change is that the school has become co-education instead of a boys only school.
Lance and me standing at the main entrance of Golconda fort - behind us the architectural marvel - a fort built without foundations on a hill. We walked to the top of the fort and came back down and did it again a second time - and this was when I still had slight fever and was just about able to carry myself somehow. The denim jacket and jeans were a bad idea as I was getting toasted alive, took off the jacket when we started doing the second round of the fort. Lance became my mule and carried my jacket in his backpack for the rest of the day.
Black
The grind has started in a way that I did not expect. I have had a couple of rejections from companies and a regional council for supporting us in making 'Nowhere to Love' - the strangest one being the rejection from Thames-Coromandel Regional Council. The guy I was talking to did not even seem remotely interested in listening to what I was saying and he had his answer ready even before I had asked the question. That was bizarre considering the fact that he was into public relations - i didn't see much of those skills. This is in complete opposite behaviour to Auckland City Council and North Shore City Council, who were fantastic when we were trying to sort out locations for 'Memories' - they never ever gave us a single chance to complain even though we were independent film makers making a movie without any money. I am having thoughts about wanting to shoot in Coromandel, especially when the regional council doesn't seem too keen on helping independent film makers or even seeing the opportunity in promoting their area to a worldwide audience. I guess what happens, happens for a good reason and what doesn't happen is because of an even better reason.
I just finished watching '
BLACK' - a movie by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and it is a fantastic movie. It is unlike any bollywood film and I was crying for almost 30% of the movie's 2 hour running time (maybe I am going soft). The cinematography is stunning and definitely takes your breath away with the compositions and the subdued colours. The best thing about the movie is that there are no typical song and dance sequences, which you find in a typical bollywood movie.
Rani Mukherjee as Michelle McNally
The acting was fantastic and the first hour simply flies away. The first few minutes were hard to watch because of over the top acting by Amitabh Bachchan but he soon settles down into a very subtle and controlled performance and it was probably the best performance I have seen from him in a long long time. The performances from each and every person in the movie is fascinating and for better part of the movie the pacing is fantastic. The child actor who plays Michelle McNally was exceptional and so was Rani Mukherjee as the adult Michelle. The movie does slow down a bit in the middle but the story keeps on rolling. The movie is a huge leap for bollywood films and hopefully it's commercial success will open up the audience to different kinds of movies. BLACK is now one of my favorite hindi movies. Incase you are tempted to buy the movie - you can buy it from amazon.com -
HERE. I would highly recommend the movie to anyone and everyone wanting to see good cinema.
I might go and see '
Night Watch', a russian blockbuster in a couple of hours if I am still in the mood for it. I will take leave for now but before I go here a couple of pics from the holiday trip.
Lance at Auckland airport
A view of Hong Kong that one misses - floating houses amongst high rises
A moment of Hong Kong madness
Till later,
Amit
{Update: Back from watching 'Nightwatch' and I was thoroughly disappointed. It is all technical achievement and no heart whatsoever. Suffers from story structural problems combined with editing rhythm miscues. It has some funny lines though.}
Habits
It is already Wednesday and I am still getting used to New Zealand. Food - still a question mark; Work - getting back into the flow slowly but steadily; Physical exercises - on track. I have started going to the gym again after 3 months {I had a long break in between because of my back ache and then the holidays} and have been playing badminton regularly. So atleast one thing is back to normal.
I am still amazed at the difference in cultures across different countries. People are the same everywhere but different, if that makes any sense. We all crave for the same things in life but how we go about achieving that is a completely different matter.
My headspace is still in transition and I have given myself this week to get back into the flow of things and considering that I want to do the second movie this year - I think the project will benefit from my return to the dream world.
Amit
Lazy Sunday
I slept in today and it felt good. I have had a lazy sunday knowing that things will start getting hectic soon. My flatmate and his girlfriend came back from their holiday today morning and it was nice seeing them again. The internet connection is fine - it is just that the wireless hub has its power adapter roasted, so no more wireless access. Tim setup a wired hub and now the only way to access internet is by sitting in the drawing room with a wired connection. But still it feels awesome to have a nice internet connection again.
I started selecting photos from the trip to India and there is a whole heap of them and I have one more folder to go through and after that have to start resizing them - it might take a little longer than I expected to put everything up.
Maddy - Tim's girlfriend cooked a wonderful kazakhistani lunch and it was mouthwateringly yummy. It was an awesome lunch which is hard to describe in words on what it was but the main ingredients were boiled potatoes, mushrooms among other things. Don't you find it surprising as to how much I like and describe food??
I also wanted to thank all the people who have been reading the blog and a special thanks to people who have been posting comments. It is always a pleasent feeling reading what you think. And in response to some of the random comments I have had -
Emma: drop me an email if you want to know Mike's details about the acting course.
Kristopher: thanks for the comments mate. at one point i was totally puzzled because MCD also stands for Muncipal Corporation of Delhi..heheeee... I don't like McDonald's in NZ, for burgers I prefer Burger Fuel where possible otherwise it is Burger King.
Kiran Kumar: Thanks for the comments..
Deb - Thanks for all those different comments while I was in India, sorry that I couldn't reply back or post back.
I start work tomorrow and it will be interesting starting off a whole new year again.
Adios for now,
Amit
Food
It is hard getting used to the food back here. I do miss the nice home cooked meals as well as indian meals we had outside. Suddenly I don't feel like eating much and have already skipped breakfast and had a burger for lunch. I guess I will have to start cooking soon otherwise my budget won't be a budget anymore.
And I do really miss my bed and quilt in Delhi - I have had the most fantastic sleep in that bed and now being back on my single bed with a springy matteress isn't the greatest feeling. I love winters in Delhi because you can be snuggled up in the warm and cozy quilt and nothing else in the world matters at that point, it is just pure bliss.
Talking of burgers - the grilled chicken burger at McDonalds in Hong Kong was yummy. McD has adapted that burger to local tastes and it was the yummiest chicken burger I had and that burger does not compare to it's NZ counterpart. The indian version of the same burger is alright and is again localized for the tastes.
Played badminton again after a month and felt pretty rusty. It will take a couple more times to get back into the flow of things. Got invited to a BBQ at Dean and Rebecca's place {we play badminton together} and it was the first decent meal I have had since I landed in NZ. BBQ is probably the one thing that stands out in Australia and NZ over the summer. Meat cooked over a BBQ grill definitely has a unique taste that can't be replicated anyway else.
Still sorting out my room and cleaning it up slowly. Another couple of days and it will be in place. Internet will be back in a couple of days and then I can start uploading the snaps.
Till then,
Amit
Netless
Back to the warm weather in Auckland and the silence feels great. The flight back was pretty uneventful and I slept the whole way through. Lance woke me up in the middle as I was talking in my sleep - well atleast I seem to be communicating with someone in my dreams, even if I don't speak much in person.
The funny incident in Hong Kong was the lack of wide usage of English. We were standing at the bus stop trying to get to Big Buddha statue and I tried talking to the person in front of me, who refused to understand english and then i tried speaking to the person behind me but the person wildly shook his head indicating that he could not understand me. It came as a bit of a surprise as I thought Hong Kong was more multi-national. We decided that we would take a cab and it took a couple of refusal from cab drivers to find out that we were getting into the wrong cab and that we needed to find a blue coloured cab. We found a blue cab and the trip to Big Buddha was really cool, as that was a Hong Kong, we possibly would not have seen had we not taken that pain. It was beautiful country side unlike the metropolitan image that you think of Hong Kong.
The trip through customs was uneventful and they did not have any problems with the pickles I was carrying, so I am extremely happy. Lance tried dropping me off home but his car broke down and Lance's mom and dad ended up dropping me home and also jump starting my car. It feels great driving again and that too among sanity where rules still hold true. One of my flatmates was on a holiday but I came home to find it empty, so I am presuming that my other flatmate is on a holiday as well and it comes as a bummer as he seems to have switched off the internet connection or something. I can not check stuff at home, which also means that I won't be able to upload any photographs for a few more days - a bit frustrating but nothing that can be done about it.
Overall - the trip was fantastic and it has definitely helped me reanalyse and find myself again. Another couple of days of getting used to the country and the grind starts again. To all the people whose emails I haven't been answering, I will start doing that once my internet connection is restored.
Till later,
Amit
Transit
Writing this from Hong Kong Airport internet terminal as we wait for our flight {which leaves in another 4 hours}. I have caught 'Hong Kong Belly' and it isn't a great feeling - especially when you have a 12 hour flight in front of you.
The flight from Delhi was an hour late and they totally messed up the body clock by serving dinner at 1.00 in the morning. So Lance and me have been dragging ourselves around so that we can see more of Hong Kong. This trip was better as we managed to see Big Buddha statue and also then roam aimlessly around Hong Kong's CBD.
Somehow managed to drag ourselves back to the airport without falling asleep on the Metro and now waiting to catch up on some much needed sleep.
Till later,
Amit
Farewell India
We fly back today evening and it feels sad that I have to leave so soon. Maybe next time around I will make a longer trip.
Yesterday was a feast. We managed to go to Karim's - a mughlai eating joint opposite Jama Masjid. They make absolutely marvellous dishes and are rated the no.1 restaurent in India in Mughlai food. A trip to Delhi is incomplete without a trip to Karim's. Lance and me had a feast of a lunch and later in the evening a feast of a dinner {as I got some dishes packed for home}. I can't describe the taste and the smells of the dishes and all I can say is that they are absolutely mouth watering. After the visit there I kind of feel that my trip to Delhi is now complete.
Ever since coming back to Delhi from Hyderabad, we have been travelling by auto-rickshaws as one can see a lot more of the city. It is a tad more expensive than the Metro but then it provides more fun as well instead of being mechanical and monotonous. We have been walking a lot as well. We visited the Dargah again, Lodhi Gardens, Khan Market, South Ex. Market over the past couple of days. My fever has subsided and my chest congestion is almost gone, so I am a happy chap at the moment.
We get back to Auckland on the 6th after another 12 hour stopover at Hong Kong, during which we intend to see the couple of temples and forts which we missed out the first time around due to lack of time. It is gonna be a long flight back home. The next update will be from Auckland.
Goodbye Delhi.
Till later,
Amit
Sleepless to Delhi
It has been a really long time and i feel exhausted. I had a sleepless night at Hyderabad - thanks to Lance. It was hilarious though. I was just drifting off into deep sleep when i felt a solid kick on my arm -it woke me up and it was Lance, who kicked me in his sleep. I thought to myself that sometimes that happens and i decided to try and get back to sleep but as soon as I was about to fall asleep Lance jumped up on the bed screaming and he was trying to brush off insects or whatever imaginary friends he has off his body. I got concerned and asked him if he was alright, to which he mumbled something incoherently and flopped into the bed asleep on the other side - a complete 180 degrees from how he was sleeping before. He was still mumbling in his sleep, so i politely enquired if he wanted to increase the fan speed but as soon as i asked the question Lance fell silent.
I decided that it might be best if I did it myself, so I got up from my side of the bed - walked across the whole room in the dark and turned the speed of the fan up a notch {it was only a hand's stretch away from Lance}. As I was walking back to my side of the bed, Lance suddenly woke up and asked me, "Are you alright?" , I looked at him puzzled for a full minute and before i could answer he had gone back to sleep. I swear if it wasn't that dark, I would have given him a smack on his head to set things right but I decided to let matters sleep and went back to my side and tried going back to sleep. As soon as i was drifting into sleep again - Lance decided that he wanted the whole bed to himself and his body went diagonal and I almost fell off the bed. So I slept on 1/4th of the bed till the time the alarm went off at 4.00 A.M in the morning as we had to catch a flight back to Delhi. When I told all this to Lance in the morning he did not remember anything and was puzzled as to how he woke up on a completely different side of the bed. We had a good laugh and I am laughing the loudest because now I am no longer bound by my self-promise not to kick or punch anyone in sleep.(:-)
The flight back was uneventful and ever since we have been in Delhi, we have been roaming about the city from market to market. I am feeling a tad weak, have a headache and my eyes want to close even though I want them to remain open and Lance is still wondering as to how he woke up on the other side of the bed.
Delhi is cold - figuratively as well as weather wise and I would say that it still feels like a decaying city. Hyderabad is a really nice place and it is much more pleasent and cleaner than Delhi [relatively speaking]. I am still in a state of disbelief that the time flew away so fast. 2 more days to enjoy the smell, the taste and the feel of India.
Bye for now,
Amit
Golconda
Feeling a lot better today and the fever has almost subsided. I still feel a little weak at the moment. Today was eventful and we first went to Golcanda fort and spent half the day there. Instead of taking a tour bus {after the bad experience at Agra} we just took an auto-rickshaw and went to the fort by ourselves.
The Golconda fort is an amazing place and it is an architectural marvel, especially considering that it was built in the early 13th century. We decided to hire a guide and the decision was based on Lance's ability to understand the guide's english but after the first point the guides were changed and I ended up translating everything for Lance. Maybe I should have charged them a fee for my services. There are so many things about the fort that will take a long time but
here is a link which will give you an idea.
At the soldier's barracks is a 250 K.G stone, which was used as an entrance criteria for the army. Any person who could lift that stone with a single hand was enrolled into the army. Lance tried doing it and the last I heard from him he said he might have pulled a shoulder muscle while attempting to do so. We did the whole fort with the tour guide and decided to do it on our own a second time round so that we could take some snaps and also explore it at our own convenience. The trip was funny because at one point a whole range of people caught Lance and had their photographs taken with him. I waited a fair bit of time but it didn't look like they were gonna leave Lance, so I decided to join in the fun and took photographs of Lance with the other half of his endeavors. At one point, I was in doubt that Lance might actually become an international monument within the fort. :-) I definitely can't wait to upload the photos once we get back to NZ. The rest of the trip within the fort was pretty uneventful. And the fort still amazes me as always. If only they took a little bit more care about it as far as cleanliness is concerned - afterall it is a national heritage monument.
In the evening, we went to Charminar and did some shopping across there. Hyderabad is famous for its pearls and I managed to get some beautiful pearls. I am kind of pleased over here because noone looks at me as a 'foreigner' and they do treat me as a local. My hindi and telugu accent doesn't seem to matter much over here. Lance doesn't seem to understand me half the time because I am speaking in a very low voice as i am still recovering from the sore throat combined with my newly re-acquired indian english accent which will take a while to come off once I return to NZ. Atleast it shows that I am still learning something all the time...heeheeee....
We have a really early day tomorrow morning - with the flight check in time at 4.30 in the morning, so will head off for now. Back to the madness and chaos of Delhi.
Ciao,
Amit
