Movie Review: Bhool bhulaiyan

This is another mediocre movie from Priyadarshan. The film looks as promising as its sneak peeks and trailers in first half but the plot just fumbles in the second half. Once the mystery is solved, the remaining movie looks like wastage of reels (It happens very earliy in the movie).
Akshay kumar (Aditya Shrivastav) is very predictable through out the movie. Amisha Patel(Radha) has acted as expected (I doubt if anybody expects a good performance from her). Priyadarshan has done a single sensible thing by not giving her much footage in the film. Vidya Balan (Avani) is lackluster and Shiney Ahuja (Siddhartha) is non-existent. Although Paresh Rawal (Batuk Shankar) is very stereotype, he is the only one who makes you laugh in the first half. Rasika Joshi (Janaki - Batuk's wife) is hilarious in one particular scene. Rajpal Yadav (Chhote Pandit) has nothing new to offer in this movie. Apart from a few laughter, movie goes on without invoking any emotions. I will categorize the movie as B grade comedy. Its anything but a thriller. I will bite my tongue twice before calling it a drama.
Story revolves around a cursed property that belongs to the Royal estate. As caretaker of the cursed 'Mahal', Batukshankar arranges for renovation of old property and also arranges an extra income from the expense of renovation. Royal heir Siddhartha returns from US to his town along with his wife, Avani, on a project to build a dam ( He is not once shown on the site of dam neither in the office! All he does is sit in front of his laptop and play with its keyboard.) Siddharth's marriage comes as a disppointment for Uncle and his adopted daughter, Radha. Radha is now heart broken but faces the reality bravely (Yawn!). Despite uncle's warnings Siddharth and his wife decide to stay in the cursed palace.
Story behind the curse goes like this. Old Maharaja is in love with young performer (Manjulika), but Manjulika is in love with another perfomer (Shashidhar). Majulika and Shashidhar plan to run away and start a life together. Maharaja come to know about the plan and beheads Shashidhar before Manjulika. He imprisons Manjulika. Heart broken Manjulika commits sucide but vows to take revenge and kill the maharaja on Durgashtami. Terrified Maharaja performs Yagya and locks the entire floor by 'Bhairon ka Dhaga'. Since then the palace is considered as cursed.
Avani, being a foreign educated 'mem', ridicules the idea of haunted palace and decides to unlock the floor. Locksmith who makes the duplicate key of the floor dies on the very same day. Uncle fears of 'unhonee' and warns Siddharth again and finally decides to stay with the couple in the haunted palace. Uncle's whole family moves in the palace and weird things start to(Ghungroo ki awaz, mujara songs in midnight, woman's voice in Bengali etc. etc.) happen. Siddharth suspects Radha. Everybody, except Uncle, is convinced that Radha is mentally ill and she is behind all the weird things. Siddharth ask his friend, Aditya, to help. Aditya is a renowned Pyschiatrist. He plays a detective and finds out that Avani has multiple personality disorder. She is acting as Manjulika and she could murder Siddharth.
Here is story behind Avani's illness. Her parents leave her with her dadima to find opportunities in US. They then come back to take Avani to US. Avani, who is emotionally attached to her dadi, doesn't want to go, but her parents take her forcefully. Meanwhile, dadima dies and that causes mental trauma to Avani (Oh god, gimme a break!!!).
Now I suppose, this personality disorder gives the patient immense power of lifting a very heavy double bed with a single hand, as well. Avani with her super powers literally single handedly lifts a heavy bed! (bhagwan uthaa ley iss script writer ko).
Aditya takes help of a baba (Vikram Gokhale. Now a days, he plays any type of role in any type of movie. After all, liquor is becoming veryexpensive. He must have some extra income to satiate his enormous beer belly!). Baba performs yagya on Durgashtami. Baba promises Majulika that he will help to take revenge on Maharaja but asks in turn to leave Avani alone. Manjulika accepts the deal. Brilliant Aditya arranges Siddharth's dummy and Manjulika beheads the dummy with a sword (Bhagwan ab mujhe bhi uthaahi ley). After hypnotism, Aditya helps Avani to forget about whatever has happened and treats her illness completely.
Now why do you need a professional to write such crap story? Anybody could write something better than this.
Anyways, for online 'muft' film it was okay. I pity them who paid hard earned money to watch this movie. Its a bhool bhulaiyan for people who watched the movie expecting some entertainment but found no crux.

Everything is relative.

For some people, being right is the ultimate goal of their life. To me their whole life becomes a paradox. Look in the mirror and right becomes left! Live a life of bat and night will be full of light. One one hand, A romantic poet always looks at horizon as dream land where the two entities from different worlds can live together forever. On the other, a scientist can think of horizon as a perfect example of asymptote. What is it really, then? Its both at the same time!
If such is the case, should anybody be in the position to distinguish right from wrong? Should the life of person who lives by his beliefs and principles be shattered?
To avoid chaos that will be created due this right becoming wrong, dark becoming bright we as a society defined set of rules and called them laws. We, the Indians, are proud of our ancient wisdom, our philosophy and our religious literature that precisely tell us the way of living. In fact Hinduism is considered as way of life. Is it too safe to consider that the oldest civilization has witnessed all lifestyles, hence, the path defined in Hindu literature is the truest path? And if I strongly believe that every word in the literature is hundreds and thousands of years of research and hence must have some scientific basis, aren't people with different faiths and beliefs entitled to think the same? And if so, why an entire society with different beliefs become a threat to society if he lives what he believes? Remember that hundreds and thousands of years of assumption about earth's shape was entirely wrong, assumption of Catholic church about earth being center of universe was wrong. There will always be an Aristotle to build fundamentals but there will always be a Galileo to contradict them. There will always be a Newton but there will always be an Edison to prove the theories otherwise.
My point here is everybody is entitled to his own belief. Do not expect people to change their beliefs overnight.
Its not pointed towards anybody. Just came to my mind. Life is a paradox!

British Rule: Boon or bane?

I am sure, every single person in post independence era must have thought over this topic at least once in his lifetime. I can argue in both ways. But my honest opinion is British rule was a boon for Indians. I won’t disagree if any body says that they plundered us of our wealth, they destroyed our ancient education system, they changed our life style, they divided us on religion and caste basis, and they changed our map; divided our country in three pieces. The harm they have done is irreparable. The partition they caused killed millions of people. We can still feel the after effects of partition, Kashmir mess still unresolved, and this is all because of the British diplomacy who thought nothing of the demography of nation before carving out two separate countries.
List the names of powerful rulers of India before British. Names come to my mind are Nizam Shah, Adil Shah and Qutub Shah. Condition of non-mulsim leadership in India was so pathetic that during the Sepoy Mutiny all non-mulsims (Brahman, Marathas, Rajput, Bengalis etc) accepted Bhadur Zafar Shah as the ruler of India. I am very happy that Sikhs and Punjabis did not support the mutiny. I cannot imagine ‘shining’ India under muslim leadership.
Apart from being biggest plunderer of Hindu wealth and biggest destroyer of Hindu religion, its the pattern in the growth of countries lead by mulsims which bothers me a lot. Its anything but a growth. Its downfall of muslim countries which gives sense of relief and makes me think that British has made biggest favor to India by helping her to get rid of muslim leaders. They are no more conquerors anymore but are minorities in India. Its not muslims that I hate. I hate Islam. Any person with even a little knowledge of human history knows that reasoning power of humans makes us superior than any other kind in the world. If Earth is only planet with life, it makes us the only superior kind in entire universe. Continuous change is the key of our evolution. These very things are denied in Islam. No word can be changed in Koran. No amendment is acceptable in rules that are formed in 6th century. Imagine if nothing had changed in apes. Would we be here? Imagine no change in Gods creation, not a single change in DNA strands, not a single change in environment, no extinction of Dinosaurs, for that matter no big bang (I believe in Big Bang theory). Nature is full of changes; it is full of varieties. Change in season, changes in continents, extinction of species, evolution of species, life and death and many more things. And here is a religion that denies a single change in life style, that rejects right of a follower to question or to suspect, because nothing could be change, even for sake of proving its own point of view. There is no space for existence of other kinds. No change means no progress. Stagnated minds and bodies can’t do anything good for society. I cannot see any nation progressing forward with even tiniest faith in this kind of religion. No nation that believes in stagnation can survive for longer period. Time will soon decide faith of such nation. Thankfully my homeland will not be in that list. I thank British for helping us getting rid of muslim conquerors.

Yunan o Misr, Roma sab mit gaye jahan se.
Phir bhi magar hai baki, namo nishan hamara.
Kuchh baat hai ki hasti mitati nahin hamari ,
Sadiyon raha hai dushman, daur-e-zaman hamara.

ये दौलतभी ले लो ये शोहरतभी ले लो

ये दौलतभी ले लो ये शोहरतभी ले लो, भले छीन लो मुझसे मेरी जवानी. मगर मुझको लौटा दो बचपन का सावन, वो कागज की कश्ती वो बारीश का पानी....
आठवते का ही जगजीत सिहच्या आवाजातली गज़ल? ही गज़ल ऐकल्यावर मला माझे बालपण आठवतं आणि वाटतं खरच मिळेल का मला माझं बालपण परत जगायला? मिळेल का पुन्हा बाल्पणीचे खेळ खेळायला? भेटतील का माझे सवंगडी परत? पतंग, लंगडी, लगोरी आणि िकतीतरी खेळ...पावसात कागदाच्या होड्या सोडणं, त्याचा कंटाळा आला की नकळत कोणाची तरी चप्पल पाण्यात सोडणं,पाऊस पडल्यावर धावतपळत घरात जाणं आणि पाऊस झाल्यावर झाडावर बसुन झाडाखालुन येणार्या जाणार्याला भिजवत स्वतः ही भिजणं.ते अप्रतीम िदवस आजही मोत्याप्रमाणे जप्ले आहेतआजही त्या कळ्यांचा सुगन्ध तेवढाच सुखावणारा आहे.अजुनही आठवते ऊन्हात जाताना रागवणारी आई. अजुनही आठवतं ऊन उतरल्यचया आनंदात अनवाणी पायाने धावत जाणं, ऊन्हाळ्यातील संध्याकाळी रस्त्यावरील कोळसा चुकवत सायकल चालवणं,प्रत्येक संध्याकाळी फाटक्या टायरची रेस लावणं, कुणाला कुठे साप किंवा खेकडा दिसला की सगळ्या कंपुनी धावत जाणं आणि आपण किती आणि कुठे असे साप पाहिले याची गिनती करणं. बसची वाट पहात कंच्यांचे अनेक डाव रंगायचे, अनेकदा चिडायचे आणि पुन्हा पुन्हा खेळायचे.आजुनही तशीच कळ उठते काळजात जशी शहरात आल्यावर कंचे फेकताना उठली होती.घराच्या भोवती चारही दिशांना कंचे फेकले होते.अजुनही आठवतो शहरातील शाळेतला पहिला दिवस, वर्गात जागा नस्लयाने नवीन विद्यार्थ्यांना पाहुन उठ्लेल्या कपाळावरच्या आठ्या आणि जागा नसतानाही जवळ बसवणारी मैत्रिण (नंतर कळले की तिच्या ड्ोक्यात भरपुर पीक असल्याने कुणी तिच्य शेजारी बसाय्चे नाही.मी शिताफिने करुन घेतलेली स्वतःची सुटकाही आठवते.)नवीन शाळा, नवीन खोड्या, नवे अनुभव.आठवतं मला प्रत्येक शिक्शकानी घेत्लेले माझेे नाव, मला दिलेल्या ताकिदी आणि 'पुन्हा असे वागणार नाही' हे माझ्या कडुन घेतलेले वचन.वाटतं सगळं पुन्हा यावं. पण पुन्हा येणार कसं? पुन्हा ते खेळ येणार कसे जेव्हा vidoe games चा जमाना आहे, जेव्हा boy friend आणि Parties चे चलन आहे? कोण म्हणतं भारत मागासलेला आहे? इथेही dating आणि fashion ची प्रथा आहे. Parties मधे दारु अाम्हालाही नवीन नाही, दारु पिऊन भान हरपणे आम्हालाही गैर नाही.कर्जामुळे मरणारे शेतकरी, हुंड्यामुळे जळणार्या मुली...छे छे! ते अमचे बांधव नाही.केस रंगवणारे आणि आधुनिक पोषाख घातलेले Americanized Indians आज आमचे idols आहेत.

India-Pakistan Reunification

I came across a very optimistic thought of reunification of India and Pakistan in one article. The author was thrilled about the idea of reunification and proposed some ideas to achieve the same. I read several comments applauding the author's view and congratulating him for his optimism. There was only one comment, which disagreed with the proposal. I share the same disagreement over the reunification.Author of the article dreams about establishing a framework that 'recognizes' as well as 'facilitate' the principle of democracy (Does the author know that Pakistanis are not familiar with this term and right now they are enjoying the rule of president who happened to be an army chief? and it is the same unawareness of democracy who facilitated militancy and misery in Pakistan...duh!), diversity (Kar lo baat...Is the author aware of the fact that the Government of Pakistan took care to convert non Muslim people and threatened the ones who resisted the conversion. History has witnessed the dramatic fall in the non islamic population in Pakistan after partition. Destruction of Buddha statue in Baamiyaan, Afghanistan by Taliban (Brian child of ISI) gives the proof of Pakistani intolerance towards other religions), Pluralism (Has the author ever heard about dominating presence of Punjabis in the Government and Army of Pakistan and ignorance towards Sidhis?) and federalism (What kind of federalism can we expect from Pakistani military raj? The one like they have achieved in Waziristan where matters are resolved by trading females in the family?). Come on.... be real. We cannot reach to an agreement with Pakistan on the fundamental issue like democracy. The journey made by India has brought her to such an extent that it would be foolish to go back and nurse the broken country with our blood, which would in return give us Kargil war and bomb blasts in Delhi and Mumbai.Foundation of Pakistan is based on fear of Hindu majority. We have all kinds of Pro-muslim parties from congress to SP, which would go to any extent to get muslim votes. Out of these people, how many were able to win Muslim confidence? Imagine what would they do once Indian mulism populations will get combined with Pakistani population. After this shameless appeasement, do you get positive response from muslims? No. They are always cribbing about the economical condition, illiteracy, unemployment, health issues, blah blah blah. At the same time they expect to establish parallel Sharia courts to practice Islam. It is impossible to give them sense of assurity, as there is not genuine feeling of insecurity amongst the muslim population. Its all about being in lime light and gain sympathy.Who wants this headache? Who wants Shia-Sunni riots in addition to hindu-muslim riots? Who wants drug trafficking, militants, shameless muslim appeasement and anarchy? I will be ashamed to be an Indian if world would start recognizing people like A.Q Khan as Indian.India has attained heights of success and recognition in very short period. It is the only country, which has made US amend its nuclear regulations. Pakistan would be the only country, which has managed to loose world's trust in such a short period and has lost its confidence completely.I oppose to reunification (if it ever happens) because I love my country.