The poster outside the theatre reads "Sex, sleaze, sin"...and much more (can’t remember the whole list now). In the introduction they say...its all about murder, greed, corruption, violence, exploitation, adultery and treachery. The catch line is if you can’t be famous, be infamous.
The show lived up to these. It begins with a number 'All that Jazz' - beautifully choreographed...with hot women with perfect bods in SEXY form-fitting bodices and panty hose, good looking hunks in tight pants and body hugging see through shirts or just waistcoats.
And everything in black...the stage, the clothes...excellent and giving the effect that this is a dark tale... 'The Cell Block Tango' number where the six murderesses of the County Jail tell their tales of murder goes well with the entire theme.
Chicago tells the story of Roxie Hart, a chorus girl who murders her lover, then manages not only to avoid prison with the help of razzle-dazzle lawyer Billy Flynn, but uses the trial to propel herself to showbiz stardom along with another murderous chorus girl, Velma Kelly.
Roxie is played by a petite redhead and the way she blinks her eyes, nods her head and shakes her bum is brilliant...the act of innocence is perfect and she comes across as a pretty damsel in distress, so vulnerable rather than a cold blooded murderess. The song where Billy and Roxie tell her story to the press – 'We Both Reached for the Gun' is fabulous - my favorite in this show.
Then of course I mustn’t forget Sob sister reporter Mary Sunshine with her opera singer like voice. The shock comes later as they say ...'all is not what it looks like' and Mary Sunshine removes her dress and wig and we realize she’s a man!!!
Billy Flynn, the lawyer is properly slick and manipulative…his gelled hair, his suit says it all...His rendition of 'Razzle Dazzle' was really good. This is the only time we see a bit of color – white as the dancers do wonderful choreography with white feathers. The way they hide him, with only his face popping out...and then the other way around as they circle him and he appears like the centre of a flower...Brilliant and so clean...
If I forget to talk about Amos, Roxie’s husband then it would be just like in the play...his problem is that the whole world just passes by him without seeing him...his parents moved the house while he was away to school!!! The rendition of 'Mr. Cellophane' makes you think...how pathetic.
I remember Shabana Azmi telling someone on one of the dance shows that a good performer is one who even after finishing their performance, keep up the act till they leave the stage, as long as they are visible to the audience they must keep up the act.
That was another amazing aspect of this show...right through the show it had some of the actors sitting in chairs on the side of the stage and they were clapping their hands and clicking their fingers without a miss,in perfect sync...and they would move to a full out dance in the blink of an eye.
A delightful musical...
28 January 2008
24 January 2008
ARE friends delight or pain?
~Emily Dickinson
ARE friends delight or pain?
Could bounty but remain
Riches were good.
But if they only stay
Bolder to fly away,
Riches are sad.
22 January 2008
18 January 2008
Tare Zameen Par
I watched this movie quite some time back- the first weekend after its release…
I simply loved it…and cried a lot while watching it. Initially I thought that I was the only emotional fool, but who ever I talk to seem to have been moved by it.
A friend, who I hear from once in a blue moon, mails to tell me that I should go watch the movie...Another friend calls from India and the 1st thing she says – go watch Tare Zameen Par…
Well, I expected the movie to be good….Aamir Khan is after all a perfectionist. He always seems to do movies that leave a lasting impression.
Just thinking and most of my fav movies are his movies.– DCH, Sarforosh, Lagaan, RDB and now this one.
The movie is all about a dyslexic boy and how no one including his family realizes that. They think that he is just not interested in studying and is simply naughty. The movie begins in the life of a happy and care-free boy Ishaan Awasthi, played by Darsheel Safary and moves on to how later he feels he is being punished when he sent to a boarding school and the trauma of separation from his family that he goes through…and finally how Aamir Khan as his art teacher helps him come out of that and overcome his difficulties with reading and writing…
The other message that I liked about the movie was the emphasis on creativity and how it has no value in our academic system…
Darsheel Safary is fabulous…the show stealer…and his character is so well sketched… The contrasts are amazing…
Initially when he is punished and made to leave the class, he thinks its Bindaas…and is break dancing outside the class…
Later in the movie, when again he is punished in the boarding school and made to leave class he is totally lost and so scared. One just wants to hug that boy then. And one realizes that he has changed so drastically …become so quiet from the naughty boy who would jump on the kitchen top to pick up the fish bowl from on top of the fridge, grab a sandwich as his mom shouts at him to wash his hands…even his clothes are clean now…earlier he looked like a typical naughty boy returning from school…shirt out, mud marks all over his clothes, laces and tie undone…
The song ‘mein kabhi batlaata nahi’ is THE MOST TOUCHING song I have heard...it just brings tears into your eyes...
Well…overall a brilliant movie and if you haven’t seen it…don’t give it a miss…
I simply loved it…and cried a lot while watching it. Initially I thought that I was the only emotional fool, but who ever I talk to seem to have been moved by it.
A friend, who I hear from once in a blue moon, mails to tell me that I should go watch the movie...Another friend calls from India and the 1st thing she says – go watch Tare Zameen Par…
Well, I expected the movie to be good….Aamir Khan is after all a perfectionist. He always seems to do movies that leave a lasting impression.
Just thinking and most of my fav movies are his movies.– DCH, Sarforosh, Lagaan, RDB and now this one.
The movie is all about a dyslexic boy and how no one including his family realizes that. They think that he is just not interested in studying and is simply naughty. The movie begins in the life of a happy and care-free boy Ishaan Awasthi, played by Darsheel Safary and moves on to how later he feels he is being punished when he sent to a boarding school and the trauma of separation from his family that he goes through…and finally how Aamir Khan as his art teacher helps him come out of that and overcome his difficulties with reading and writing…
The other message that I liked about the movie was the emphasis on creativity and how it has no value in our academic system…
Darsheel Safary is fabulous…the show stealer…and his character is so well sketched… The contrasts are amazing…
Initially when he is punished and made to leave the class, he thinks its Bindaas…and is break dancing outside the class…
Later in the movie, when again he is punished in the boarding school and made to leave class he is totally lost and so scared. One just wants to hug that boy then. And one realizes that he has changed so drastically …become so quiet from the naughty boy who would jump on the kitchen top to pick up the fish bowl from on top of the fridge, grab a sandwich as his mom shouts at him to wash his hands…even his clothes are clean now…earlier he looked like a typical naughty boy returning from school…shirt out, mud marks all over his clothes, laces and tie undone…
The song ‘mein kabhi batlaata nahi’ is THE MOST TOUCHING song I have heard...it just brings tears into your eyes...
Well…overall a brilliant movie and if you haven’t seen it…don’t give it a miss…
11 January 2008
10 January 2008
Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is one of the best-written books I have read…
Even in its simple style the book is immensely powerful and is able to arouse a Kaleidoscope of Emotions...
It took me back to my childhood … when my mother would tell me stories about Sikhism…called Sakhis… the narrative style of this book was like that…simple but so engrossing that you just do not want to put the book down.
The author has used the style of the Russian Authors – while telling the story of Amir and Hassan, it looks at the history of Afghanistan as it moves from its final days of the monarchy, to the Soviet invasion and then the atrocities of the Taliban.
Set in Afghanistan it starts with the childhood of Amir, a small boy from a rich well to do family...who has all the worldly things he could ask for, except his fathers love. He thinks that his father hates him because his mother died during child birth. The father-son relationship is handled in a brilliant way.
The way the author describes his feelings you can almost feel the desperation on Amir’s part to prove himself to his father…
Hassan is Amir’s servant’s son– a Hazara (low caste), illiterate boy…with whom Amir has developed a close, unlikely friendship…Hassan literally worships Amir but Amir often makes fun of Hassan’s naivety and innocence …
At the annual kite flying competition, while Hassan again proves his loyalty…he could have given the kite to the bullies but does not because according to him it rightfully belongs to his Amir Agha. But Amir fails him as he hides and watches in fear as his friend is beaten and sexually abused by the bullies…
Amir goes on a guilt trip after that and avoids Hassan. This part of the book is heartbreaking. One cant help being moved by Hassan’s plight as the young child cannot understand what happened to his dear friend, why does he avoid him all the time, why don’t they spend all the time together as before, why his Amir Agha does not read stories to him…
But at the same time one feels bad for Amir. He was after all a child and its OK if he got scared and did not stand up for his friend…but the guilt and shame he feels is really touching…
This guilt sets the pace for the rest of the book.
Many years later Amir gets a chance to overcome his weaknesses. He returns from USA during the Taliban rule to atone for his sins to Hassan and save Hassan’s son Sohrab.
Sohrab’s character – again well sketched. The author is able to bring out his terror, his inability to trust anyone very nicely. A child’s mind… slowly seems to forget the past and learns to trust. But soon we realize how even a small slip can destroy everything that may have taken days, weeks …maybe even months to develop…and therafter how difficult it is to gain that trust again.
One line in the book that haunts me "How a child deals with terror – they just sleep it off…" and then I can just visualize Sohrab crawling into his bed and curling off to sleep…
The end is beautiful…as Amir repeats to Sohrab what Hassan said to many years back – "For you, a thousand times over"…
Overall an unforgettable book.
Even in its simple style the book is immensely powerful and is able to arouse a Kaleidoscope of Emotions...
It took me back to my childhood … when my mother would tell me stories about Sikhism…called Sakhis… the narrative style of this book was like that…simple but so engrossing that you just do not want to put the book down.
The author has used the style of the Russian Authors – while telling the story of Amir and Hassan, it looks at the history of Afghanistan as it moves from its final days of the monarchy, to the Soviet invasion and then the atrocities of the Taliban.
Set in Afghanistan it starts with the childhood of Amir, a small boy from a rich well to do family...who has all the worldly things he could ask for, except his fathers love. He thinks that his father hates him because his mother died during child birth. The father-son relationship is handled in a brilliant way.
The way the author describes his feelings you can almost feel the desperation on Amir’s part to prove himself to his father…
Hassan is Amir’s servant’s son– a Hazara (low caste), illiterate boy…with whom Amir has developed a close, unlikely friendship…Hassan literally worships Amir but Amir often makes fun of Hassan’s naivety and innocence …
At the annual kite flying competition, while Hassan again proves his loyalty…he could have given the kite to the bullies but does not because according to him it rightfully belongs to his Amir Agha. But Amir fails him as he hides and watches in fear as his friend is beaten and sexually abused by the bullies…
Amir goes on a guilt trip after that and avoids Hassan. This part of the book is heartbreaking. One cant help being moved by Hassan’s plight as the young child cannot understand what happened to his dear friend, why does he avoid him all the time, why don’t they spend all the time together as before, why his Amir Agha does not read stories to him…
But at the same time one feels bad for Amir. He was after all a child and its OK if he got scared and did not stand up for his friend…but the guilt and shame he feels is really touching…
This guilt sets the pace for the rest of the book.
Many years later Amir gets a chance to overcome his weaknesses. He returns from USA during the Taliban rule to atone for his sins to Hassan and save Hassan’s son Sohrab.
Sohrab’s character – again well sketched. The author is able to bring out his terror, his inability to trust anyone very nicely. A child’s mind… slowly seems to forget the past and learns to trust. But soon we realize how even a small slip can destroy everything that may have taken days, weeks …maybe even months to develop…and therafter how difficult it is to gain that trust again.
One line in the book that haunts me "How a child deals with terror – they just sleep it off…" and then I can just visualize Sohrab crawling into his bed and curling off to sleep…
The end is beautiful…as Amir repeats to Sohrab what Hassan said to many years back – "For you, a thousand times over"…
Overall an unforgettable book.
09 January 2008
“Hope” is the thing with feathers
~Emily Dickinson
"Hope" is the thing with feathers—
That perches in the soul—
And sings the tune without the words—
And never stops—at all—
And sweetest—in the Gale—is heard—
And sore must be the storm—
That could abash the little Bird—
That kept so many warm—
I’ve heard it in the chillest land—
And on the strangest Sea—
Yet, never, in Extremity,
It asked a crumb—of Me.
08 January 2008
Queen Of Fucking Everything…
That’s what the Managing Director - my client has on her mug…
As she sips her coffee in a do or die meeting I wonder… how am I expected to keep a straight face …
I just love that mug…I have to have it… I am in a dilemma…should I snitch it or should I snatch it …
As she sips her coffee in a do or die meeting I wonder… how am I expected to keep a straight face …
I just love that mug…I have to have it… I am in a dilemma…should I snitch it or should I snatch it …
07 January 2008
Winter Wonderland and Themepark simulator rides
The Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park was not really as impressive as I expected it to be…not very large and the rides there seemed to be more like for kiddies really…an old-fashioned carousel, a haunted mansion, sliding down an ice slope on tires, jumping on a trampoline while tethered to pulleys by bungee cords, a ferris wheel etc.
There was also the much hyped largest outdoor ice skating rink in England. I would have expected a far more festive and much larger ice rink (looking at the pictures on the adverts for this event) but it didn’t seem that huge… regardless of that it was packed with skaters.
But I did get my first taste of a simulator ride here…like my cousin said …it was as close I could get to getting on to a roller coaster. (Since I had just been telling them how much I enjoy roller coasters).
It was one of those high-tech simulator-ride capsules…quite small – it takes up to 14people at a time. It was just loaded at the back of one of those heavy equipment trailers –what a space saver and flexible too…just drive it to the next location.
My first impression (as I looked at it from outside it just seemed to be moving very little) was it won’t be anything great…probably again only for kiddies… but I guess I was wrong…
It was quite amazing….the theme for the one we got onto was the galaxy…and while sitting on the ride all I could think was – such a small capsule and capable of creating such fantasy …and what thrill…I guess speed was quite high coz we actually were moving from one end to the other on the seat.
It still cannot replace a real roller coaster…but when one does not have an option for a roller coaster this will do!!!
There was also the much hyped largest outdoor ice skating rink in England. I would have expected a far more festive and much larger ice rink (looking at the pictures on the adverts for this event) but it didn’t seem that huge… regardless of that it was packed with skaters.
But I did get my first taste of a simulator ride here…like my cousin said …it was as close I could get to getting on to a roller coaster. (Since I had just been telling them how much I enjoy roller coasters).
It was one of those high-tech simulator-ride capsules…quite small – it takes up to 14people at a time. It was just loaded at the back of one of those heavy equipment trailers –what a space saver and flexible too…just drive it to the next location.
My first impression (as I looked at it from outside it just seemed to be moving very little) was it won’t be anything great…probably again only for kiddies… but I guess I was wrong…
It was quite amazing….the theme for the one we got onto was the galaxy…and while sitting on the ride all I could think was – such a small capsule and capable of creating such fantasy …and what thrill…I guess speed was quite high coz we actually were moving from one end to the other on the seat.
It still cannot replace a real roller coaster…but when one does not have an option for a roller coaster this will do!!!
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