My Favorite Movies of 2008

Apart from the absurdity like Love Story 2050, Drona, Tashan, Singh is Kinng, Karzzzz ,I believe 2008 have been a superb year for Indian film Industry. This year witnessed an effort towards making serious and sincere movies from film makers. It was a good year for a audience like me to catch a single moment of transcending pleasure. Though exceptions of regular film makers will always be there whose instincts are driven more with box office collections than to present an idea.In this context, Shahrukh Khan who came back to prove his dominance with a dreamland movie like Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, which is not the demand we have from Shahrukh today. Also in the race of becoming the number one and be most profitable actor, Aamir Khan too became a part of raw commercial product like Ghajjini.

Some remarkable movies that arrived:

A Wednesday
A suspense of cat and mouse that ends in a serious note. It is not just gun for gun but a loud and clear message that what a common man can do if bureaucrats and politicians fails to control terrorism because at the end of the day it is the common man who is affected not the elite group. When the elite group doesn’t care about us then we have to make them hear .The movie exaggerates that security services and politicians work with sound coordination but it’s okay for two hours worthy entertainment

Rock On:
A movie that uses the spirit of music to focus friendship, love and dreams. It is something that remarks a new beginning for Indian Music regarding Rock culture as well as the new Indian Cinema. Thanks to Farhan Akhtar for his courage to sings and making them really ROCK ON! Biggest strength of the movie is that it is not about music but uses music to explore the story.

Dasvidaniya
Before watching this movie I had more expectations from Vinay Pathak and without no doubt, he has lived up to expectations. The movie is successful in delivering the old flavor of characters, but having seasoned with masala of subtle humor. This movie remarks as the message of simple man with simple ambitions of his life. It is about those dreams we forget to see, in the rush of life, being mere unimportant to world around us. We must care about people we love, but lets not forget ourselves

Oye Lucky Lucky Oye
It is a movie subtle in humor even than movies like Dasvidaniya, in a sense, that to find the meaning of humor you need to know and understand the cultures and whims of society we live in. I will say it will be an insult to call it comedy film. It is very serious movie about love, hate, family, society and most importantly about self. A very simple movie of a simple person but with a complex life who happens to be a thief and expressed in very simple notions of common man characters whom you can find just around the corner of your street or colony.

Aamir
Another flick on terrorism!! The movie which say we individuals are not Muslims or Hindus and not even Indians, we are human in the first place. That's enough for this movie to count upon. But nonetheless the movie picked the subject with a different approach. An individual who happens to be a Muslim and is well to do is made to do what he never could do. But in the end a man decides himself of his fate. Without any significant budget, without any prominent cast it was a greatly developed movie. Kudos to Raj Kumar Gupta and who in his very first flick unbelievably given the moments of secularism, religion and terrorism.

Slumdog Millionaire
What more is left to say about this movie? This movie is set in the backdrop Mumbai slums and is about a low class person living in those slums. The movie is about a person who hails from slums of Mumbai and goes onto become a millionaire and finds his love of life in the end. The important thing is that movie is not about India and slums. It is about the victory of optimism in the face of adversities. It won't be wrong to put it in genres of comic, tragedy and love story; but in the end bottom line is that how a man can live his life in this cynical world with nothing but a bit of hope. The movie is beautifully played with a mixture of strong emotions and a sense to send a message to audience through this medium but without forgetting that entertainment is primary objective of this medium.

The Dark Knight
When you will watch The Dark Knight on a big screen then it would be a grand visual pleasure comparable to few other pleasures one can think of immediately. I can't remember the last time I felt this satisfied coming out of a film. Important thing about director Christopher Nolan's latest Batman sequel is that it's not only a spectacular comic-book movie, but also one with an intellectual heart. It's not all about chases and explosions and action scenes – although there's lots of that – it's also a really smart film about characters with edge and a plot that actually seems to make sense. Inheriting the character completely, delivering a OSCAR deserving performance that is hard to forget even days after you've watched the film, the late Heath Ledger is The Joker who proved himself as undoubtedly the finest, most menacing villain in any comic-book movie yet.

Wall E
Unlike any animation film you've seen before, Wall-E is a film with hardly any dialogue. Our hero himself doesn't speak at all, communicates at best in a few bleeps and other sounds. And yet the film itself has so much to say.
It makes a very pointed statement about the consumerist nature of humans and also about the state of our environment. But in the end, Wall-E is really an unconditional love story. Its charm lies in the fact that it's about a robot who's gifted with such humanity.

Kung Fu Panda
The real fun in Kung Fu Panda comes from the action scenes which are packed with energy and full of crazy little moments that'll have you in splits throughout. It's also impossible not to lose your heart to Po, the klutzy, couch-potato panda who gets his attitude from Jack Black's amazing voice Kung Fu Panda is a visually stunning film whose animation is part-computer generated part-hand drawn, it's the kind of photorealistic 3-D animation that makes characters and locations come alive because they're so intricately detailed and fantastically executed.

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2009 : The Sky is fully Open now!

It is a prediction that 2009 will be biggest leap in consumer Internet applications. Railway and bus bookings; local bill payments; job applications; registration of births and deaths; storing land records so much progress has been made in e-nabling these basic services that many families will for the first time see real value in a home PC.

And if it more affordable in 2009 , the reason will be the increasing maturity of Open Source tools and applications. Today we have for free download robust desktop operating systems- like Ubuntu; a beefed up browser - Firefox or Chrome; a full function productivity suite - Open Office; a cool imaging tool- GIMP...list grows daily. Going 'open' no longer means living dangerously.

Unlimited Storage
The new shrunken PC alternatives run or power efficiency processors; they have little or no storage. But that does not matter Web email applications offer virtually unlimited storage. Google Docs let you create and store documents online.

Microsoft's sky drive gives you a 25 GB virtual hard drive. So all you really need is a fairly simple device to connect to the Net. The rest is out there. For the Internet Protocol(IP) is the single biggest lever to lift ourselves into an increasingly connected tommorow.

When Vint Cerf, "Father of Internet", visited India a few years ago, he foresaw all this: he wrote a T-Shirt with the legend "IP on everything." The way he said it, stressing "P" rather than "I" , it meant something quite different (and naughty!).

But those of us who heard him , can now, on the eve of 2009, look back and reflect , "you said IT, man! "

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What should be Indian Response to 26/11?

WHAT SHOULD BE INDIAN RESPONSE TO 26/11 ?

War with Pak: Yes
There is no way Pakistan govt will help finding perpetrators of any terrorist attacks that have happened in India over the past, forget about current Mumbai attacks. This is shown in their blatant act of ignorance that any terrorist activity even does exist in Pakistan at all. Similarity can defined for Pakistan govt with Taliban which did not take any action against Al Qaeda, and now Pak is reluctant to recognise LeT (and group). Pakistan's behavior in this respect is also criminal, giving refuse to other criminals. It ior urge, we cannot tell. How to pressurize Pakistan is question which is answered by only taking unilateral military action.
We are left with only military action because over the past, any bilateral or multilateral talks involving India and Pakistan, have been failed utterly in achieving the objective. Though one should not be cynical that if talk has been failed in the past, it is bound to fail again. But going with conditions in Pakistan and attitude of its govt, it is safe to assume.
The other way would have been multilateral pressure on Pakistan with the support of USA(may be Israel also). But here again the glitch is at this point of time, favoring India over Pakistan is not in strategic interests of USA. USA would not want to jeopardize its fight with Taliban on Eastern front of Pakistan, which is its high priority and in which it has already invested.
All India is left with, is unilateral action(not talk) on Pakistan which transforms to war.

War with Pak: No
The solution is not so easy. Lets say we go to war with Pakistan.
First of all that is really not direct solution to India's problem. 'War' means war with Pakistan govt which is in fact supporter of terrorists, not the actual culprit which happens to be LeT and Company Inc.
Secondly there is the mess of Taliban. If there is war between Pakistan and India then Pakistan finds itself in pieces. It will be highly unstable because of war from two fronts - Eastern(India) and Western(Taliban). Now again, unstable Pakistan is highly undesirable for India. India may win one war, but will have to face another war.
There maybe a arguments that Taliban will support Pakistan. Really? The given war will be only platform for Taliban to gain solid stand in Pakistan. After Pakistan goes bust, Taliban will rule the left-overs. Taliban is no mere terrorist group, it has a monumental army gathered(80,000 read somewhere).
On top of that, If India goes to war with Pakistan then it will jeopardize its strategic relations with USA because for USA Pakistan is a crucial ally in fight with terrorism. And in this situation when India is vulnerable from three fronts - Pakistan(west), China(Northern border) and internal threats(like naxalism), it will be a blunder to not have USA as an ally. Because at this point of time, on international front only USA is strong ally for India from the day India signed Nuclear Pact.

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Apple Inc. versus Microsoft Corp.

"Today if Apple stands for Innovation then

Microsoft is the symbol of Renovation"

iPhones which happened to be covering large sections of newspaper and special shows in news channels last week was an example of how Apple’s toys can create a buzz. But this article is not about iphone but its about the two giants Apple and Microsoft. First of all Apple .It was created in late 1970’s by Steve Jobs (a visionary) and Steve Woznaik (a technical wizard) trying to find a way to get customers buying the personal computer before the market and world even knew what a personal computer was. Steve Jobs was trained in calligraphy and wanted the PC experience to be just as much an art and visceral, visible experience as a technical, computer program-interface experience. Actually for Steve Jobs computing means another expression of showing aesthetic art forms. He wanted to sell computers to his customers in any format whether it’s an Mp3 player or a Mobile Phone or someday as a watch also which would something that nobody would have ever imagined. Now the counterpart, Bill Gates who had dropped out of Harvard to pursue his vision of coming up with a PC operating system that he could "license" to all the big hardware manufacturers to use on their machines. That vision of Gates created not only the largest computer software company on the planet, but also propelled Gates to the richest person in the world as well. Bill Gates concentrated on the point that every section of society should own a personal computer whether it is Higher Class or Middle Class, things should be made for each sections of society. No matters Apple today stands for innovation, they create what which was a dream but making dreams reality needs a lot more from one’s pocket and on the counter part Microsoft which I think stands for renovation believes in selling and selling to everyone.

No doubt they copy what Apple created, modify it and reproduce it as a cheaper and friendlier product and that’s why Microsoft Ruled the Operating System Business. Around 67% Operating System business is in Microsoft’s hand with their Windows and less than 3% is being held by Apple. From a small tailor shop to a big mall you will see Windows because it has been made for all, not like Apple which is restricted to an elite group of rich European and American customers and they never care for the rest.

Being an Indian I think Indian society which not so financial strong, Microsoft Windows has played a significant role here. If Windows had not been made for cheaper machines then computers might not have entered our villages and suburbs. Computer Education might not have started in small schools. Small scale industries might not be able to control automations. I don’t care whether you make something original or something aesthetic or not what matters is its utility and importance for society and I think Microsoft had managed it well in India and will go on as their popularity has been now enormous for the computer newbie and for applying computation to different form of commerce on small scale.

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Meaning Of Being Sachin

“Commit all your crimes when
Sachin is batting.
They will go unnoticed because
even the Lord is watching”

On 24 April 2008, Sachin became 35 years old. Nowadays aggressive discussions are going on the role of Senior Cricketers in current team but Sachin is out of this scrutiny .Reality is that among the senior players only Sachin is still in the One Day Squad. This shows even after the arrival of young brigade his reputation is standstill. Starting his career against Pakistan in 1989, the extra ordinary and quality cricket he played till now will be memorable for upcoming generations. May be there are numerous records in cricket held by Sachin but his contribution to cricket is above than facts and figures. He has become a synonym for Indian Cricket. A young cricketer practice at net just to be Sachin, youngster might not be able to tell who are their ministers are but surely will recognize who Sachin is. Sachin is treated as a God in the country where cricket is treated as religion. Just like Movies and Politics cricket has become an integral part of Indian Lifestyle. The elegant style with which Sachin played his cricket it boosts the youngsters to achieve new heights and set new dimensions for the world. Sachin entered Indian Cricket when Mandal Commission was in limelight. He is a true example that talent never needs any sort of reservation. Also when he became the highest paid sportsmen due to his endorsements unknowingly he became a symbol for Financial Liberalization. Extraordinary fame, pride and money never shook his humbleness. He speaks very less, rather his bat speaks much more than that but when he speaks on any issue then entire world listens him. He tries to keep him away from controversies but it is ironical how a high profile personality has kept himself safe from controversies. Not only great cricketer he is also a big philanthropist but he tries to hide his name from media for any unwanted publicity.

From a long time there has a question among Bradman and Sachin who is the best? Actually this question is absurd, it is true that they have lot of similarities but according to me the biggest similarity between them is to prove themselves before public’s expectations under intense pressure. Today other than Sachin there is no one for whom the opponent spends hours to make strategy and they feel relax when he leaves the ground. It is also important that there wouldn’t be anyone who has such an importance for a billion population. Sachin established a specialty of his nation by his superior game and this process helped his countrymen to get recognition before the world. I think this is what the meaning of being Sachin.

"A God Saluting Another"

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