There appeared unto her
A host of heavenly farishte
And they spoke to her, saying:
“The meek shall inherit the earth
So you’d better change your attitude, missy!”
May no little spaniel bark at you, and may you all be blessed with lots of love and happiness this holiday season!
“This award is given to a blog that invests and believes in PROXIMITY – nearness in space, time and relationships! These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.”
Banno, whose writing and photography I adore, and whose film I am dying to see when she subtitles it (hint, hint) has given me this sweet award. I had no idea when I started blogging that my world would grow so immensely. So here are some of those (and there are many more of you, but I only can pick eight) I’m particularly happy to have become acquainted with virtually and hope to meet someday personally!
I have tripped and fallen over a theme song of my very own! There are two reasons, no three many reasons why I cannot resist it:
Here it is: “O Chale Ho Kahan Kaho” from Reporter Raju, sung by Rafi, music by S.S. Mohinder:
*Edited to add: My very reliable and informed friend Sunny has informed me that Kishore actually does the yodeling here for Rafi, which makes no material difference to it remaining my theme song, but good to know!
*Edited again to add more: Now more people are on board the it’s-Rafi-yodeling boat, see comments if you are interested! It’s still my theme song, no matter who yodels, even if it’s a Swiss farmer who was imported just for the task.
My social calendar for the past few days has been too busy for film watching, sadly. Although probably it’s good for me to get out and about occasionally so I don’t lose all my social skills.
Instead I’ve indulged in a little Photoshop-fun, greatly helped along by my friend Per-Christian’s fab cover art scans of his ginormous equally fab collection of Hindi film music albums. Thanks, PC!
I rarely venture into movie theaters any more, being antisocial and all. Danny Boyle’s never been a favorite either: as most of you know, I like happy! not his brand of in-your-face hellishness! But when a friend offered a ticket for this one, I couldn’t resist.
It’s been winning awards at film festivals for several months now, but that’s not what drew me. I just couldn’t wait to see Anil Kapoor in a “Hollywood” movie. Of all the actors in Hindi cinema these days, he’d be one of the last I would expect to see cast in one. For one thing, he doesn’t seem interested in an international career—his son had to explain who Danny Boyle was when he was offered the film; and for another, he has not been making a lot of movies for some time now.
So did he deliver?
If you are one of the two or three people who have not seen it yet, first watch the Crazy Indian Video…Buffalaxed!* video on YouTube.
And then watch the “Sarah Palin and John McCain” version at Funny or Die.
Enjoy! or be very very scared. You decide.
*Song is “Kalluri Vaanil” from the Tamil film Pennin Manathai Thottu starring Prabhu Deva and Jaya Sheel
I’m reading reviews of Hello (which are pretty much universally dismissive) and it occurs to me that it sounds like Bollywood has made a call-center film which indulges in what I was afraid this one might: namely, cultural cliches and glib stereotypes.
Fortunately, this film avoids that. Although told from a definite American point of view, it is very equal-handed on the outsourcing issue, and, most importantly, affectionate and accurate in presenting the Indian characters and culture. It’s a sweet, funny film and everyone should see it. It also made me homesick for India, if that’s possible when you are a gori mem from the U.S.
MemsaabStory 