Dum Maro Dum

Goa meri jaan jannat ki shaan par jannat main bhi saanp baste hain translating to Goa is a paradise but even in paradise there are snakes. This is the tag line of the opening scene from the movie Dum Maro Dum.

The movie which is a joint production between Fox SearchLight Pictures and Ramesh Sippy Entertainment scores high on style and substance. After Abhishek Bachchan's disastrous portrayal of Beera in Ravan I was in two minds whether to watch this movie. But getting good feedback about the movie from my brother, I decided to bravely check out Dum Maro Dum (DMD).


DMD is a riveting tale of drugs, sex, money and personal tragedies set against Goa's beaches. So we have rave parties happening with goans and a mix of foreigners ranging from Israelis to Russians. The main characters are:

Lorry : Prateik Babbar (Lorry) who wants to join his girlfriend in the US and is held back due to lack of funds

Joki : Rana Daggubati (Joki) is a DJ who also owns a music shop and has a girlfriend Zoey (Bipasha Basu). Zoey is now the local businessman Lorsa Biscuta's arm candy.

Lorsa Biscuita: Aditya Pancholi (Lorsa Biscuita) plays the local businessman who has a pie in almost all the businesses from drugs to shipping.

Vishnu Kamath : Abhishek Bachchan (Additional Commissioner Police Vishnu Kamath) who goes from being the corrupt officer to a crusader against drugs.

Michael Barbossa: The most intriguing and shadowy character in the entire movie whom no one has either seen or heard.

The strong point about the movie is the story by Sridhar Raghavan. The movie has its weaknesses when the pace begins to slacken. Even though this is supposed to be Abhishek Bachchan's movie, the real hero and surprise package turns out to be Rana Daggubati (Joki). For a person who is making his debut in a Hindi movie, he comes out with a decent performance. It's also nice to see Aditya Pancholi playing the bad guy with sophistication.

Other interesting characters are Rane (Govind Namdeo) and Mercy. I was surprised with the movie climax and it could have been handled better. But it's for you (the viewer) to find out :)

The only grouse against the movie is the title song Dum Maro Dum. Deepika Padukone is definitely no match for the vintage Zeenat Aman. Remixes are fine but this one was bad. Except for Dum maro Dum you can't make out the rest of the lyrics. Sometimes it's better to leave the original untouched.

There was a wikileaks cable about the US Embassy's views on Bollywood. Atleast as far as Bollywood-Hollywood collaboration is concerned it hits the bulls eye. This movie which doesn't compromise on the script nor the style quotient is a perfect example of how such partnerships can bring lasting value to Cinema and the audience.

Overall it's a good movie and is worth watching atleast once.

(Image Courtesy: http://movies.sulekha.com/hindi/dum-maro-dum/pictures/1.htm)

Sathya Sai Baba

India is a land of the spiritual gurus. So much so that the words "Guru" and "Mantra" has become a part of the English vocabulary. For instance, I was having a discussion with an American colleague at work and he freely used the words like "Mantra" without batting an eyelid.

That surprised me and at the same time I felt proud as an Indian because who would have imagined a few years back that words like "mantra", "karma" and "Guru" which was limited to an Indian context would find a wider audience in the present day.

Nonetheless, I was referring to the above as the news of the passing away of Sri Sathya Sai Baba was across all the electronic and print media. Although I was born in Karnataka, I spent most of my growing up years in Andhra Pradesh and was very much familiar with the topography of my adopted state.

Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka were two states in stark contrast. Whereas Karnataka was blessed with abundant greenery and exotic locales. Most parts of Andhra Pradesh were dry and barren. The pockets of affluence was limited mostly to its state capital Hyderabad and West Godavari district. Also the depleting ground water levels didn't help.

Anantapur district belonged to the latter category. But one person did make a difference and that was Sathya Sai Baba. I remember when I was in college and waiting at the bus stop, a man walked upto me with his bicycle and struck a conversation. Now this man was dressed in a simple kurta pyjama with a jute bag slung over his shoulders. He spoke in English and his communication skills was good. After sometime, he took out a picture from his bag and turns out that it was Sathya Sai Baba. That put me off as I felt that this man was using his conversation as a bait to find new converts to Sathya Sai Baba's cause.

What irked me about Sathya Sai Baba was that people considered him as God. I was not able to reason out how can you make a human being take the place of God. Now God as we know and call him by several names is someone who we think is a higher power.

It also amused me that Sathya Sai Baba's audience included a who's who. From the Prime Minister, Governors, Chief Ministers, celebrities, cricketers and foreigners there was no one who hadn't met him.

Just like he had millions of devotees across the world, Sathya Sai Baba had his share of critics (including me :)). But looking back, when you see the amount of work done by his organization like setting up the Superspeciality hospital where complex surgeries are done free of cost, the drinking water supply project which covers most of the villages in Anantapur, Sathya Sai Institutions of Higher Learning etc.. if people consider him a god, no one should grudge that. Some of these infrastructure building activities come under the domain of the government and he has stepped in to fill the void when the government failed to do so. Even Sathya Sai Baba's bitter critics would agree on this point.

We had so many famous and infamous godmen. People like Chandraswami who was linked to the ex-Prime Minister Narasimha Rao, Rajneesh of the Osho ashram and the recent entrant Yoga guru Baba Ramdev. Where Sathya Sai Baba stands apart is that inspite of having his share of controversies he used his wealth (mostly donations from his devotees) for the greater good of the society.

As one famous quote goes there is no escape from death and taxes, even a living god like Sathya Sai Baba is not an exception. I hope that the good work done by his organization, the good will among his devotees and his message will inspire many for years to come.

(Image courtesy: http://www.ndtv.com/album/listing/news/sathya-sai-baba-life-in-pics-10292/slide/5)

India's population Census 2011

That India is giving a tough competition to China as far as population growth is concerned is not a secret. The recent census figures of 1.21 billion have for the first time shown that the increase has been much less than anticipated. However even with a marginal increase in the population to an already existing base of a billion people, the sobering thought is that the human density per sq. km has increased.

A case in point is Mumbai which as per the recent census figures has a staggering density of 20K people per square kilometer. So the pressure on the land, water and resources is only going to increase. This also implies that our forests, national parks etc.. will come under increased threat of encroachment. The current state of things is not good and it will only get worse.

Take a look at the cartoon published in "The Hindu". A picture indeed is worth a thousand words :)

(References: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/cartoon/article1592142.ece)
(Image courtesy: thehindu.com)