My Name is Khan Music Review

I have high expectations from My Name is Khan. Starring the best actor in the world, numero uno Shahrukh Khan with Kajol after a long 8 years in a movie directed by Karan Johar. Doesn't get any bigger than this. All of Shahrukh's movies have had excellent music and considering Karan Johar has a fine ear for music, I was keenly anticipating the music of this movie. I've listened to each song many times because I figured the music is very different and will take time to grow on you. Here is my review:

• Sajda: This song has one of my favorite singers Richa Sharma with Rahet Fateh Ali Khan and Shankar Mahadevan. This song was on the second trailer shown. This looks like a situational song in a Shaadi environment or it a sufi number ?. The chorus portion of the song is impressive. The USP of the song is Rahet and his rendition. His voice resembles his late uncle. It's not a melodious track and will need umpteen listens. Having said that, I love this song now !

• Noor E Khuda: This is my favorite track in the album. Every Shahrukh Khan movie needs an exceptional track and Noor E Khuda is the one in My Name is Khan. The song is beautifully rendered by Shankar Mahadevan, Adnan Sami and Shreya Ghosal. The opening of the song was shown in the very first theatrical trailer. I am not sure what I like more in this song. Is it the beautiful mix and transition of the mood of the song from Guitar, western-sufi mix, tabla, melancholy, slow beats, hope and the chorus (OR) the amazing vocals of Shankar, and Adnan. The duo take the song to a totally new level whenever they go high in pitch. They make singing look easy and enjoyable. This one of the best songs Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy have come up with. This is one song everyone is going to love. So my suggestion is love the song or keep listening till you love it !
  

• Tere Naina: This is an instantly likable and catchy song. This might be the only track in the movie that Shahrukh lip syncs for. After the start, the song slips into Qawwali mode. This song has a great chorus with nice orchestration and tablas. This song is my least favorite song in the movie. I believe this song has been sung by the same guy who did Mitwa from Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna.

• Allah Hi Rahem: A very spiritual song like it says. Usually songs of this nature is best when composed by A.R.Rahman. But I should say SEL have not done a bad job either. I'll however say that SEL have been inspired by some of Rahman's works for this song. It's pretty catchy for a spiritual track.

• Khan Theme: Every Karan Johar movie has a beautiful theme or an instrumental. This theme looks original in that, its not an instrumental of any other songs in the album. The theme is very haunting and melodious. It however reminded me of Braveheart theme in parts. From the mood of the theme, it looks like My Name is Khan might have a sad ending.
  

• Rang De: Looks like SEL are overly inspired from their work in Rock On. Many songs of that genre has followed since then. They tried it successfully in Wake up Sid. This song rendered by Shankar Mahadevan (yet again !) and Suraj Gagan (who is this guy ?) is instantly likable. A beautiful fusion of mild rock and violin follows the initial vocals. Rang De is a good song but I wouldn't call it a classic.

For the first time, a Karan Johar movie has a set of very unconventional tracks. The tracks reflect the mood of movie and I can tell Islam is a big part of it. One thing that annoys me is Shankar Mahadevan sings in every movie of his. He is a good singer, no doubt about it but is he the best voice that the song deserves ? I hope he quits doing this because that's going to make people tired. Back to the music, I think its great after few listens. Couple of them are instantly likable, couple of them grow on you, others don't not so much. Nevertheless, a good start to 2010. I bet this is going to be the biggest hit of 2010, with Shahrukh Khan walking away with all the accolades. Good luck Shahrukh Khan and the entire team of My Name is Khan !

Cycle of Life

I've been meaning to write about this topic for quite sometime. I'd start writing and then delete the post. This time I am determined to get this through.

Sometimes, when I get time to myself and actually stay calm, my mind wanders thinking about stuff unknown to me. I ponder about Deja Vu a lot. I also think about after life, Elysium, the whole process by itself. The start of life by itself is such an enigma. I started thinking about what happens after life. Do people come back or they don't ? I also get fascinated by idea of parallel worlds, universe, dust, and such.

I started thinking about the cycle of life. I truly believe it's a cycle.

[X] --> Birth --> Life --> Death --> [Y] --> [Z] --> [X']

Let me define the variables

X: Initial repository

Y: Karma Space

Z: Transfer/Transformation

X': Rebirth in a parallel universe

We all know the process of birth and how we are born. When doctors tell the expecting mothers that they are indeed pregnant, where does the soul for the baby come from ? I define that as X. I believe there is some kind of a repository where it comes from. I also believe that they can only go one place and thats where they are born.

Then we live and one fine day we all die. Where do we go after life ? Different religions have different theories. My theory is you do your time somewhere and that is Y. Either Elysium or Purgatory ! This might be for a zillion years or few days. Both theories could work. So what happens after we do our time ?

I think we are ready to enter the world and I call this process Z. One of the two things could happen here. We could get ported to a parallel world which is similar to the world we live in. So you take birth as who you were in your previous birth to the same parents in the same hospital and such. Second is, you could come back to the same world after it's gone through its cycle. I name either one as X'. Then X' goes to X" and so on.

Either ways, do we live the same life over and over again ? I think not. Though you do go through Y for your deeds, you carry some sort of residual that'll change this life for the good or bad. On the same note, I believe you receive some sort of a feedback from your previous life on certain things. This could explain the Deja Vu and gut instinct feeling we get about a lot of things.

This is a wacky theory but I've had this in my mind for a very long time. I had to write up and I am glad I did. I hope people don't find this offensive or blasphemous because that's not my intention. I think better with numbers, formulas, finding links and such ! Happy life and happy reading !

Feel free to post your thoughts and beliefs on cycle of life 1

My Name is Khan Official Trailer

I've been waiting for almost a year now to have a glimpse of this Shahrukh Khan starrer. My Name is Khan ! What a great title befitting the best actor. Check it out everyone: http://www.mynameiskhanthefilm.com/. Click the link and the trailer is on the front page. The trailer is 3 minutes and 1 second long.

The trailer starts with the younger self of Shahrukh Khan comforted by his mom. Then comes the King Khan on the screen. The first line by him in the trailer is "mera naam rizvaan khan hai ... Khaaan". His facial expressions on those scenes look amazingly real.

Then come a series of beautiful scenes between him and Kajol. It's awesome to see Kajol back on the big screen with Shahrukh Khan. The background music so far is happy and I believe it was similar to the scottish music we heard in Lord of the rings - I (Starting few scenes). Halfway through the trailer, the happy scenes become sad. The movie shows the hard times that he and his family go through because of his "disability". The trailer ends with Shahrukh Khan saying "My Name is Khan and I am not a terrorist". The trailer is beautifully made and the visuals are stunning. I truly believe this movie is an honest attempt to show the world that peace and love conquers all. In addition, this looks like a powerful movie on a very sensitive subject which will be accepted universally.

I am waiting for Feb 12 to go see this movie. Now I have something to look forward to :)

Shahrukh Khan looks terrific in the few minutes you can see ! Ofcourse Kajol is good as always. So move away Akshay, Aamir, Salman, Ranbir or any other peacocks ... the real star is back !

Wow ! I am super happy and kicked right now ! Shahrukh Khan rocks !!

iPhone 3GS Vs HTC Hero Sprint Review

I had the HTC Hero powered by Google's Android OS on Sprint network for a week. I returned it, and signed up for AT&T so I can get the iPhone and I'd say that was a great decision. I'd like to review both the phones since I used both of them. I'll try my best to be unbiased so it can help the readers !

Source: Apple



Source: HTC

Aesthetics (Winner: iPhone)
I think iPhone scores with its sleek sophisticated look. HTC Hero is not too bad either. I should however add that HTC Hero's touch screen seemed better in terms of the material used. I didn't like the interface on the HTC Hero's non-touch pad. Seemed poorly designed in terms of looks, but easy to use with its bright roller ball. In addition, you can unlock the iPhone for usage by pressing the circle and sliding on the touch screen. On HTC, you have to press the "hang"button to bring the screen up, and then unlock it. HTC though provides different unlocking mechanisms on the touch screen. Also, you can notice a lot of finger prints with use on iPhone compared to the HTC but it wasn't really a big deal for me. As a last note, I like holding an iPhone compared to holding a HTC Hero.

User Interface (Winner: HTC Hero)
Apple has a simple clean interface with nice big icons just like a Mac Book. HTC gives you the option to customize the "Scenes" (as they call it). Depending on how you choose to place the different shortcuts, HTC can look better than the simple iPhone look. HTC has a nifty looking weather update widget on the front GUI and trust me that drains the battery !

On-screen Keyboard (Winner: iPhone)
I used HTC Hero for a week and it felt very easy and good. Then I used iPhone and I could see a world of difference. Both of them seem to be good, but I'd say iPhone on-screen keyboard rocks. To me, I made fewer mistakes on iPhone compared to the Hero. HTC Hero's word recognition is probably better than iPhone though.

Battery (Winner: iPhone)
When I had the HTC Hero, I had to end up charging the phone less than once a day. This was with minimal usage. So I optimized the settings and used an App to kill applications that drained the battery. Is crippling the ability the best way to save the battery life ? iPhone 3GS rocks in this department. I am having to charge it once in 2 - 3 days after decent usage. The phone is at > 20% when I charge, so iPhone does a lot better in this area. Some people think it's not important but to me battery life is extremely important !

Multi-Tasking (Winner: HTC Hero)
HTC Hero wins by default. Lot of people would like for iPhone to be able to multi-task. I am OK with the way iPhone operates right now for the most part. I know that my iPhone does not run unnecessary stuff in the background that I forgot to close. At times, I just wish I can switch to see my stocks for a bit and return back to facebook or something like that. But as I mentioned, it doesn't bother me much. The only aspect of iPhone that supports multi-tasking is the iPod. You can listen to songs and do everything (except making calls ofcourse).

Applications (Tie)
I downloaded just few applications and I've had no complaints on either of the 2 phones. I've heard that Android developers don't make as much money as Apple developers and there is speculation that in future the number of Android programmers might dwindle a bit. Also, note Apple (2+ years old) ha so many more apps compared to Android (which is less than a year old). With Apple trying to be more open these days, I can't see any other competitor winning over Apple in the near future.

Speed (Tie)
HTC Hero comes with a faster processor on paper. However, iPhone seemed a tad bit faster on applications such as: Browsing, Texting, IMs, and such. The landscape/portrait toggle seems way too fast on iPhone. It's sluggish on the HTC.

Experience (Winner: iPhone)
The usage experience was great with HTC Hero. That was my first HTC product and my first real smart phone. HTC Hero syncs the phone contacts with Google Contacts and Facebook. That was very impressive. So as long as you have your Google contacts updated in your Gmail, you are in good shape with HTC Hero's contacts. One extremely annoying aspect of HTC Hero was it's broken bluetooth profiles. You can't send/receive files unless you work really hard. Everyone is waiting for Android 2.0 or 2.1 which is supposed to fix all these bugs. To me, waiting for updates through Android/HTC/Sprint seemed a long road to a good solution. I'd rather go with something proven that will just work out of the box. I have to say activating and porting my number to the iPhone took less than 30 seconds over automated teller.
Apple can sync your contacts with Google contacts via iTunes. The fact that iPhone setup is through iTunes seems seamless and straightforward. The iPod on iPhone rocks. HTC Hero's music player is good but nothing close to iPod. We all know iPod is the best music player in the world. Morever, I have a MacBook and it interfaces easily with my iPhone. Me being a big lover of anything Apple, I was naturally biased towards the iPhone.

Memory (Tie)
HTC Hero comes with 2GB but you can add upto 40 GB (I think). I am not sure why HTC Hero did not pack more GBs into the phone. iPhone 3GS comes with either a 16GB or 32 GB option. This is probably important to lot of folks. I wish iPhone had an option to add memory with all those miniSD cards becoming dirt cheap !

Having made my decision to switch to iPhone a week back, I am absolutely loving it. I'd like to point out that HTC Hero is a good phone and probably a good competitor to iPhone. If I am paying $179.99 for the phone and $70+ monthly for my smartphone it better be something apple ! That was my thought process ! At this point, we don't want competitors to iPhone but something better (if there is anything possible like that). Apple has set the benchmark for smart phones just like any other products they've come up with. So I'd think all competitors should focus on coming up with something new rather than trying to better Apple ! Apple rocks and will continue to rule !

Jhansi Rani's Letter to the British

Source: Wikipedia

This is truly of historical significance. I've read about this letter in history and comic books that Rani of Jhansi wrote to Lord Dalhousie. Jhansi Rani wrote the letter to the British to see if they would accept the adopted heir to the throne which they obviously declined. And I am glad they did, because that's what spurred Jhansi Rani into fighting against the British openly. Here is the news article describing the find. I really hope they can show a picture of the letter that she wrote. I'd love to see her hand-writing (even though it says it's written in Persian). More than the contents, it's the fact that Rani mentally prepared herself for rebellion against the British after the letter was rejected by Lord Dalhousie. Though her revolution against the British was short-lived, she inspired thousands for the cause. She died when she was just 31. I only wonder if she had lived till 100, what impact she could have made ! Talking about that, she was born on Nov 19. Her life is truly an inspiring read for one and everyone around the world. She was a great ruler, not just a fighter.

Here is a short wikipedia article of the brave lady. Must read for everyone !

Is Shiv Sena India's Taliban ?

What the F is wrong with Shiv Sena ? They seem to be operating like a bunch of rogues 24/7. They've been running this moral police for all kinds of useless issues and one of them is upholding the marathi cause whatever that means. We know, Shiv Sena has always done something idiotic to get publicity but now Mr. "Ball" Thackeray has gone a bit overboard slamming Sachin Tendulkar on his recent remark on Mumbai! This comes at a time when the whole world is praising Sachin for 20 years in international cricket. Click here to read what the old senile delinquent Bal Thackeray says. Sachin Tendulkar is India's proudest possession and we all should be proud he is a part of India. Sena and the Thackerays can definitely be classified as India's Cancer !

However hard I scrutinize what Sachin said, I can't seem to find anything even remotely derogatory or controversial. So this brigade of rogues who talk about upholding the marathi cause, what do they actually do ? I read a lot of news about them bashing up people from other parts of the country trying to make a living in Bombay (sorry I like this name better than Mumbai). Every time a movie releases, they pick up on something and get fake publicity out of it. Now they are behind Kareena for a bare back scene. I am glad she has the guts to retaliate. One thing I seriously question when talks come about Shiv Sena is "Where the FUCK was Shiv Sena during 26/11 ?". For all the furor and uproar they create about silly issues in Maharashtra, 26/11 was the saddest and worst incident to have happened in the recent past. They had absolutely nothing to do with supporting the Marathi cause then ??

They issue orders to the CM of Maharashtra and they run their own small private government. To add to all of this, jack-asses like Ram Gopal Varma make movies glorifying the Thackerays portrayed by Big B and his useless son. Don't even get me started there. This was going to be a separate post but oh well, all idiots can be discussed in one post ! Big B sends SMSses to folks wishing them well or congratulating them or wishing Happy Birthdays right. But our own super star from 30 years back waits relentlessly for a reply back from them. If he doesn't get one back, he immediately goes to his blog and rants. Prime examples are non-responsive Dhoni and Shahrukh Khan. Get a life, stupid Bachan or maybe stop sending SMS ! Mobile phones are not for monkeys and morever SRK is a busy person, way busier than you !

Back to Shiv Sena, I seriously hope India cracks down on that useless organization. At a time when everyone is looking ahead to the future, cockroaches like Bal Thackeray will only take Bombay 10 steps backward ! A positive about Shiv Sena is their reach is limited only within Bombay or so I hope ! I've heard few people from Bombay actually saying that what Shiv Sena does is right. But bashing up people or demonstrating in movie halls doesn't sound right whatever their goals might be ! It's only going to get worse if someone doesn't check them. Bal Thackeray, now Raj Thackeray ... keeps getting worse ! If they seriously want to do good for Bombay, let them help secure it so it remains safe from intruders. But all this moral policing is just getting old and stale and sooner or later someone is going to decimate this silly organization !

Mark my words on this Sachin issue, Bal Thackeray is going to face backlash from every quarter. He should have known better than to mess with Sachin. One of the very very few things which unite India is cricket. Sachin is the world's best cricketer and GOD of cricket. Whole of India loves Sachin ! The stupid Thackeray is going to back track on his statements after couple of days !

Sachin ROCKS !

All in a night ...

I had gone out for something and when I was walking to my apartment, I noticed something that shocked me. All the units leading to my unit had the doors open slightly (about 15 degrees) . I was hoping mine would be closed but it was open too ! So I go to my neighbors unit and knock his door. He is clad in Navy uniform, and he is as white as a chalk ! So I ask him why everyone's door is open and he coolly says "Maybe, it's the vampires". He steps out and says he will see around and he just vanishes !

I was bewildered but then I saw people stepping out of their homes. I saw couple of people I knew from Hawaii step out of some apartment units. I was pleasantly shocked and thought I'll catch up with them. Then I saw some of my college friends with suitcases and bags ready to move out. I tried convincing them not to do it, but they didn't seem to listen to what I said. Pretty much, all the people that stepped out started moving out of the complex. If that didn't shock me enough, I saw a bloodied zombie walk out of the unit next to mine. And, the zombie was pleasantly well-mannered and cordial !!

By then, the whole complex was empty and dusk was setting in. I decided that I am not going to leave my home and my belongings. So I go in, and lock the door. As to not make things further bad, the electricity had gone out. I started hearing eerie disturbing noises from the outside. It was pitch dark inside my home, and I wanted to turn my laptop on and see if I can read something. It wouldn't turn on. By then, I was filled with fear and almost beating up myself for not joining the other people ... But then I had a gut feeling if I open my eyes I'd be totally fine which is when I woke up ! The time was around 3:30 AM !

Whew ! This was one dream where I remembered all the details and it was very scary till I knew it was all a dream !

What a historic Knock !

I was just watching the desert storm knock few days back and was wishing for one more of those. Neither Sachin nor God disappointed. Single-handedly Sachin almost won the match for India. Here are the highlights from YouTube:



I no longer care if India wins or not. I care more about Sachin's performance and his mental state after his knocks ! I feel that in his 20 years of cricket for India, he has handled more pressure than any other sportsperson in the world. In this match, Sachin scored more than half of India's total. When a team is chasing a mammoth total like 351, you expect atleast 2-3 of the players to chip in. Sachin, as usual did the majority of the work with decent support from Raina and very mediocre support from Sehwag, and Jadeja. When Sachin got out, India needed 19 off 17 and sure enough our "tigers" fucked it up !

What bothers me again and again since the 1990s is people come up with theories that Sachin is selfish, never wins matches for India, and all that crap. The best part is, I don't think people will stop. CricInfo came up with an amazing article and backed it up with numbers. Click here to read it. After 435 ODIs, his average has been 44+, and strike rate is 85+. If these numbers don't state the obvious, I don't know what else will !

Enough of me ranting, go watch some highlights of Sachin smashing the ball outside the ground. It's a delight to watch anytime ! Sachin is GOD !

Promo: Three Idiots

This is one of the best promos out this year. Aamir Khan looks dashing and so is Madhavan. I don't know who the other peacock is ! This definitely does look like a blockbuster !!! Enjoy

Source: IndiaFm

ill-fated ...

Been a while since I blogged. Few things have changed !Work's been crazy, traveled to India for a bit, then visited my best friend and his wife in California. My best friend from Knoxville moved abroad for his International MBA. But, now I am back !

I've never been known to have good luck. I always tell people "I am blessed with bad luck". So I was pondering about stuff happening in my life while I was driving and the Sun was glaring at me. At that moment I remember my favorite historical character from Mahabharata - Karna. He probably did not have ANY luck whatsoever. He was ill-fated, timing was never his forte and he had the whole world against him. Within a second, I was able to glance through his life right from his birth to his death. Lot of people who are aware of Mahabharata would say Karna chose the wrong path by joining hands with Duryodhana. Some people like me would totally disagree with that. I would say that was the only RIGHT thing to do.



What I am trying to say is when people (me included) are down, we should think about greats like Karna who had a much harder life but lived in majestically and did not let go of any of their principles. Karna was almost invincible and it took a lot of people including Gods to deceive him so he can be defeated and killed by Arjun. Even when odds were stacked against him, Karna was magnanimous enough to grant anything to anyone. Hail Karna !