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Saturday, February 02, 2008
* So Nair told me that Princeton gives some sort of fellowship to 51% of its undergrads. Also, since it's Princeton, the cost/year is 50,000 $. We both concluded that the other 49%( which includes Ambani's son) essentially fund the 51%
* Watched two good Hindi movies lately - Dus Kahaniyan and Manorama:6 feet under. Dus Kahaniyan is like an anthology of short stories. Some are lame, some are predictable and some are really good. The movie is perfect for ADD people. I have been hooked on to IFC shorts of late and Dus Kahaniyan is Bollywood's shorts.
Manorama - 6 Feet Under is a Coen Brothers-esque thriller set in a sleepy desert town. It breaks the conventional, cliched Bollywood formula in every way possible. Few elements of the movie remind one of "Fargo" -- the stories are set in towns where absolutely nothing happens.. they are set in winter ( however, I'll go out on a limb and say Fargo's winters are probably worse than Rajasthan winters ) and that somehow adds to the suspense.. the protagonists are normal people ( Abhay can't even conquer two goons -- are we really watching a Hindi movie? and in Fargo the protagonist is a pregnant woman.).. and the other seemingly normal people have dark histories... there are hauntingly long shots of wide open winterscapes / desert.
Apparently it is inspired from an English movie called "Chinatown" and boasts that it's the first noir-fiction Indian movie. Welcome to Bollywood, Navdeep Singh.
Qn : What would Mallus call a slow dark thriller in the backwaters?
Ans : Nair fiction.
* "Juno" is really good.
* Some Web gems:
-- Walkscore calculates the "walkability" of your neighborhood. My neighborhood's walkability is 94%!
-- Shipgooder is Kayak for packages to be shipped.
-- Indiemuse's mp3s category
-- Illustrated Coffee guide.
* One more thing... I got engaged to my part-time lover and a full-time friend.