The Year that was and a few recommendations…

Since each and every journalist or blogger worth his or her salt is coming up the best list, the worst list, the fucked up list and what all lists that exist in the trash cans inside the head… I’ve had not the slightest inclination to start one of my own. This feeling could also be the basis to explain to many readers as to why sometimes I don’t do reviews for many movies they expect I would - cause it has been done to death by the million odd bloggers online along with the professional critics that there remains nothing more to add or say. (I know I know, I’m going tangent again from the topic of this post)

So here’s a list of things that happened / did not happen in my life in the year of 2007, mixed with a few personal recommendations of movies that come to my mind, at the time of writing this post, for you to watch this last week of 2007, incase your workplace is closed until Jan 1st and you are tired shopping, attending your kids (if you have some), baby sitting your neighbor’s kids (if you don’t have your own), following your wife around to her friends’ for dinner, beer drinking, vaccuuming the house a millionth time, cleaning the kitchen shelves and replacing the newspaper off the shelves with new ones (this time perhaps it’s those colorful pages torn from magazines), more beer etc. etc.

Here goes my list of a few memorable moments, ugly incidents, sweet movies and anything else for you to use…

• Love Actually… my personal recommendation to watch this on these lazy afternoons. It’s a mix of parallel characters and stories running together. Perhaps too sweet in places, a bit off in a few others… but overall it leaves you with a nice smile on your lips to celebrate the evening with a nice wine with wifey or your girlfriend… or both.
• My parents are ones for whom an astrologer means a therapist. So earlier this year they went to someone to whom I was later asked to call and talk to. The therapist… sorry… astrologer, made these grand deductions about how life is gonna be lovely, rosy, honey dewed and all that which one experiences just two seconds before ‘The End’ rolls up in an average potboiler of a movie. Ever wonder why every astrologer deduces that your good times are going to start 6 to 12 months from the day you are talking to that astrologer. Six months later that glorious days of gold, honey, money and blondes are still 6 months away. What the fuck???
  So this whole phone conversation happens with the astrologer in March and good times are about to begin like in May. Yeah Right!
  Something happens in March. I’m all burnt out. I am tired. I am frustrated from this day in and day out society controlled life of work, go home, eat, drink, fuck, sleep, get up, work, eat drink, fuck, sleep - and I decide to do it.
  I break the code of living. Resign. Come home. and instead focus on what I really wanna do. Get PFC inline, look for opportunities in the entertainment business (well, you’ve got to start that one before you lose puberty to get somewhere), write, sleep, drive, walk on beaches, more astrologers via Parents’ arranged phone meetings cause they think I’ve lost it, write the book, publish it, more stuff, get broke - this for six months till a major music company hires me as a consultant. A month into it, and I realize why I left my job six months ago, it was the “getting back” into the moronic cycle of life or how it has been defined and should be religiously followed by most of us middle class. I’ve decided to move on and will be jumping in consulting jobs until I find my place…
• Four Weddings and a Funeral, has and will always remain close to my heart. If you don’t know oz, then check out Hugh Grant in this one… there are or perhaps “were” a lot of resemblances and some scenes in the movie directly replicated in mine. Treat yourself with this one sweet delight. For any romantics looking for pickup tips, watch a not so old wonderful (light) comedy called The Tao of Steve
• My favorite genre remains the Thriller, the heist stories. If you are open to watching foreign movies that have English Subtitles then you are in for a huge treat. I got to see this year some of the best heist stories, specially those from the Spanish Cinema. I highly recommend Swindled for you. Swindled is just the right blend of heist and comedy rolled into one and the surprises… that throw you off balance is a whammo! If you liked Nine Queens, you’ll love Swindled
• For those in the US, get yourself a 5 day pass to Bikram Yoga. I know I know, but trust me on this. Do it all 5 days back to back. The first three days will be terrible, it’s the fourth and the fifth day that will give you a feeling which I can describe as being much better than sex. By the fourth day your body is gonna surrender and give in to the 90 minute @ a 110^oF Yoga workout. Highly recommended.
• Perhaps the most important discovery for me this year has been the sinus irrigation kit. Now my sinus acts up whenever I start smoking a lot (which is a lot) or the weather gets chilly and windy. The headaches kick in and if the sinus decides to be a guest for a couple of days, I end up losing the whole month for sickness.
  Not anymore. There are now a few kits for flushing your sinus out. Walk into a Rite Aid and pick up some called the ‘Sinus Aid’. What it is - is a bottle which you fill up with lukewarm water, pour a sachet of saline and press the bottle so it shoots a jet of warm saline water up one of your nostrils, zips through your sinus cavity and pushes out the sinus from your other nostril. It isn’t bad as it looks. No more sinus sprays, headache pills, vicks vaporab and all that crap. I’m doing it a few times a day and it keeps my sinus to an all time low. At times I put in half a pill of Vicks Vapor in the bottle and by Jove! it’s amazing when you feel both your nostrils wide open, unblocked and taking it large volumes of delicious air.
• Just finished watching another lovely thriller, called Box 507. Spanish cinema in the last few years has come up with exceptionally lovely treats for thriller/heist fans. The movie is about a bank manager who is tied and locked in the locker room by thieves who rob the vault of the bank. While trapped in the locker room, the bank manager finds an open box (507) which contains leads to the murderers of his daughter, who was supposed to have died in an accident seven years ago. Loved it. Ideal for watching late evenings with a round of beer and when the rest of the family is about to retire or has dropped down and good byed the day.
• This must be the year where I ended up watching the maximum number of foreign films and by that I mean non English and non Indian language. I also found that I fell in love with many European and Latin American films than those made in Asia. Chinese, Korean and Japanese films did not do it for me, or perhaps I did not get to watch the ones which would. Japan seems to be obsessed by the horror genre in recent times, Korea is pushing itself to film stories never heard before and in the end, all that mix and match leaves a bloody mess. Except for The Host, I didn’t find much from Korean cinema that kept me binded this year. If there were any I don’t remember at the time of writing this post.
• The cinema from Israel gave us this year, The Band’s Visit, a movie I watched in the theaters and was pleasantly surprised. It was a very simple story, lovely characterizations and basically no plot lines. Just a linear way of telling a unique story of an Egyptian band visiting Israel and getting lost. The movie shortlisted by the Oscar committee in the best foreign film category, then removed, cause of reasons like - most of the actors were non Israeli or something like that. A pity. Oh and watch Walk on Water, about a Mossad agent… not for kids though.
• This year saw one of the firsts. My coming in direct contact with people from cinema. Anurag Kashyap, Nishikant Kamat, and so many others that I met at the IFFLA film festival. It becomes quite difficult for me to articulately express the fun and excitement of those meetings… perhaps a few pictures and a video may convey that. Here are a few pictures of PFC’s parties in Los Angeles and Bombay. It’s moments like these… that makes it all worth it…

  

• …and here’s a video shot at a party held in Bombay at Anurag’s place on the first anniversary of PFC… It was fun to see (though I’m not at the party) Onir, Sriram Raghavan, Anurag Kashyap, Sourabh Narang discuss cinema with PFC Authors in Bombay. This was a priceless gift that Vasan emailed me… a treasure for keeps, now I’m sharing with you. The video quality isn’t good, so do bear with it… perhaps the best of moments are meant to be captured in not so best picture or video quality Notice the pure joy and fun, the exchange of experiences and knowledge taking place… it makes you wanna rewind the time and jump into that scene… gosh… if only one could

  PFC One year Anniversary Party - Video (may take some time to steam in. Video is in flash)

• It was a very unusual year. Never before seen experiences. The highs I’ve never experienced. The lows, I’ve never been pushed to. Quite remarkable to say the least. Friends and even family ask me how could I survive without losing it - specially the six months when I decided to take a break from it all. Well… I have no clue. But I’ll do it again without a second thought, this time with more savings and backup income
• I always used to wonder what attraction did the Black&White movies have for the NRI people. Now I know. It transports you to someplace only a desi settled out of India for years, can experience. The joys of listening to the music of 50s and 60s is oh so delicious. Heavily recommend Dev Anand’s classic hits like “Yaad kiya dil ne kahan ho tum…”, “Dil ka bhawar karen pukar…”, “Jaye to jaye kahan…”, “Leke pehla pehla pyaar, bharke ankhon main khumar…”, “Khoya khoya chaand, khula aasmaan…” and much more…
• And lastly the favorites from Hindi cinema for your viewing pleasure this year end… beginning with Manorama six feet under - I’m telling you. If destinay smiles one bit, then Navdeep is the man to watch out for. Though technically this is not a Hindi film… The Namesake, if you don’t mind a few tears and the process of opening up. Life in a Metro, Anurag Basu I’m told wasn’t sure about this one, and after the release and the movie becoming a subsequent hit, he just shrugged, smiled and said “Wow… picture chal gayee yaar!”… it sure did . Cheeni Kum, RGV faltered with a similar subject in Nishabd, but Balki didn’t. He made sure Cheeni Kum had just the right ingredients in the right proportions. I know this will sound preposterous, but I had let go of the fact before entering the theater that David Dhawan had lifted each second of Hitch to make his Partner. Hence perhaps, I was able to laugh a bit through Partner… you could give it a shot. Chakde! India, perhaps may be your family cup of tea. Don’t forget Sriram’s Johnny Gaddaar, I had my reservations, but the experiment cannot be ignored. I’ll say it - inspite of me giving Johnny Gaddaar not a great rating, I’ve still ended up watching in a couple of times on video. Jab We Met was another nice one and could take you down the memory lane of your own years of romance, a small movie in Hinglish called Outsourced that could get you that right bursting into a laughter moment. It was quite a year for movies in Hindi cinema too, with the smaller ones coming out in tons. Watch out for next year - it is going to be one hell of a ride

Do join in and share your best and worst moments of 2007. Well on second thoughts… let the worst be gone… talk about your best moments, and if you have none, talk about your dreams… for in 2008 they all shall come true… Amen!