it's picture time

Dhrona-the indian superhero

i have hardly watched any indian films the last few years, and for good reason. there are just too many of them, and only a handful that are alledgedly any good. so i avoid them completely. however, when i'm visiting friends, i manage to watch a few, and reassure myself that i haven't been missing much.

last week it was dhrona. there were certainly a few aspects of the movie that i enjoyed. abhishek bachan, whom i like, played the title role of dhron-a superhero. there were some impressive graphics, animation and effects. however, i soon realized that all that fancy schmanzy stuff was in there just to show off what the filmmakers were capable of doing. i know i should be talking about the good things about the movie first, but now that i think of it, there really wasn't much.

the story sounded pretty good in the beginning. soon i realized that the entire movie, story and effects together, was a mash up of harry potter, the mummy, and the lord of the rings. if you've seen any of the three you'll immediately notice all the blatant references-faceless beings in black hooded robes, sandstorms that have monstrous faces, dhrona living with foster parents-his true identity hidden from him throughout his childhood, an old man with snow-white hair and beard dressed in a white robe and with a staff, and so on.

i mean, the filmmakers obviously have the capabilities-the animated stuff is proof, but why put all that to waste on an unoriginal story.

and here's a spoiler (because there's nothing original, anyway.) this guy is supposed to be a superhero, the chosen one. but apart from herculean strength, he doesn't really have anything else going for him. and even that is only when he wears a particular outfit.

the major drawback of the film (if you are still interested in watching it) is that dhrona doesn't really overcome any obstacles by himself. there's nothing that he figures out for himself. he is told what he needs to do at every turn, and he simply does them. and he always has help. it just seems too easy. to put it in very plain terms, there aren't any "oh shit, how is he going to overcome this?" moments. and if there were, i missed them when i dozed off (three times, i think.)

dhrona is a film that aspires to be visually appealing-and it achieves that to a certain extent. however, in doing so, it comes off as a showcase of the filmmaker's animation skills, and nothing more. so if you want to see how far indian animation has come, go ahead. but if you're expecting anything more, (now that i have ruined it for you) you're better off watching something else. or reading a fairy tale.

Run Deepti Run

It's been a two month hiatus. It certainly feels longer, and there have been many things that I've wanted to talk about. However, I felt compelled to come back with something worthy of your attention. So here goes.
A dear friend of mine, Deepti Shrestha, is running the NYC Marathon on November 2nd. She is hoping to raise at least $2000 for educational scholarships for underprivileged children in Nepal. Helping her in this challenge is Sarvodaya Nepal (raising the money, that is. As far as running is concerned, she's on her own!)
Anyway, I hope you will support Deepti and Sarvodaya Nepal now and in the years to come.

and now, we have a prime minister

so finally, we have a prime minister. prachanda- the struggling actor has gotten his break. let's see if his performance is oscar-worthy. the time for talk is over.

...rattle and roll

just felt a tremor...more of a jolt, really. and i thought it might have been the coffee!
no matter how prepared you are, earthquakes do leave you weak in the knees for a few minutes after. must have been about a 5 on the scale and now i'm just waiting for the aftershocks.
hang on.

yeh bhi koi baat hai?

as much as it bothers me that our new veep took his swearing-in oath in hindi, i think that causing all this hoopla over it is just pushing us in the wrong direction.
as always, someone does or says something that doesn't sit well with others, and we spend weeks after that protesting. two weeks from now, it'll be forgotten and we'll have found something new to complain about and take to the streets.
india has always been a touchy subject with us nepalis. i guess the resentment stems from the fact that they always seem to interfere in our internal matters. india's the big bad wolf waiting to pounce on us. but that's just the way it's going to be. and we need to live with that.
but my whole point is that, in the last 15 years, we haven't really done anything. sure, we have overcome political hurdles and have gotten rid of the monarchy (and i don't want to diminish the significance of that) but what about the economy, health care, education? i don't expect it to happen overnight and i do agree that we're just starting to lay the foundation for that. but why bother ourselves with taking to the streets every time someone does or says something?
let's get to work. the time in now. isn't this why we took to the streets all these years? so that we did not have to keep doing it again and again?
and as far as parmanandha jha taking his oath in hindi goes, it does bother me. but what would really piss me off is if he sucked at his job. uh...what exactly is he going to be responsible for again??

hello, mr. president

and now, we have one too!
ram baran yadav is officially the first president of nepal. parmananda jha is the veep.
i'm just a little skeptical that yadav has been a girja loyalist. however, he's also one of the guys who stuck to his principles and stayed with the NC when the smart thing to do then might have been to switch parties. so i guess there's a sliver of hope.
but here's the thing. during the nomination process, the maoists insisted that if their candidate wasn't elected president, they wouldn't form the govt. what kind of threat is that? all they've done so far is make threats...if we don't get this, then we'll do this, or we won't do this. this presumption that they are owed everything. what if the Republicans said that if John McCain isn't elected president, they would stay away from the Congress and the senate? not quite the same, but you get the idea.
the significance of having a madhesi prez and veep is certainly not lost on me though.
hello, president yadav.