Youtube India

Its no secret that a large portion of my time is dedicated to Youtube. The first video I saw in Youtube was a thrilling fight scene of our beloved Balayya babu (someone posted that link in the famous "I hate Balayya" community way back in Jan 2006 (??) ). From there on both Youtube and I have come a long way. Finally because of Maitri, I could finally post my own video in Youtube (yaay !!) Right now my profile says I have seen 2,572 videos which is very misleading to say the least.

No wonder then that I got a shocking surprise as I heard the news that youtube now has started an Indian edition. Now what does that exactly mean ? It means that viewers who access this site in India will now have a different page all together. The featured videos will be different. The video section which has different sections like "most viewed" "most recent" "most popular" will be different. And most importantly the channels will be different. The first thing I did when I visited the Indian "domain" was the directors channels in Youtube India. I was obviously disappointed to see no one is having fun with the cam in their free time. Undoubtedly I can see a big change in the type of channels within the ... hmmm ... ok ... let me not guess.

Then I quickly checked the most viewed videos. No surprises what so ever.#%^$&!. I am surely not expecting a change in this for god knows how many years.

Then I went to the featured videos. A strange feeling swept over me and I was suddenly wondering how they choose those videos. What I then see is a grumpy looking old man with a vlog. Too many puzzling questions came to my mind. How many would see it? How many would appreciate it ? How many would care to type a text response to it? How many would be negative? (and how negative?) This old man then claims this: "I am a virtual brand Ambassador for You Tube India. My services were actively used in organizing launch function. I do not require appointment letters or money." (woooooooooooow :p ... ok ok ... he has already posted 534 videos ... so he has the right to say that :p)

Surprisingly he goes on to sing in Hindi. Hmm ... Would Youtube feature a video where someone sings in a regional language? How would the comments for that video be? Suddenly I realized having a Youtube India is not such a thrilling thing after all. Suddenly I was reminded of the logic that no set formula can ever apply to India.

The next day iself (ie today) I get my answer. "If you go to Bangalore...Veena Player" has more than 10,000 views. (cant say how many views were recorded today). But it has only 12 ratings. And 18 comments and already the boring debate of "talk in Hindi" "national language" in full flow only because the poor guy opened his mouth to talk in his mother tongue. Orkut is full of that shit. Now its the turn of Youtube (as if it isn't already)

The joy that Youtube India exists suddenly has been completely crumpled by the fear of failure. I dont want Youtube India to fail. Again ... only TIME will tell :(

Jodha Akbar

This again is for DAUTYA

******

Ok. Let me generalize here. Most of us are engineers who have always hated history classes (not me though). Most of us probably never cared about what happened in 1556 AD. Even when it comes to films, we prefer Matrix to Gladiator. But Ashutosh Gowarikar’s Jodha Akbar had a mix that most of us couldn’t resist. He was aiming for his hattrick ( after Lagaan and Swadesh) with the batsman ( the audience) being surrounded by close-in fielders like Hrithik Roshan, Aishwarya Rai, AR Rahman, stunning Cinematography, and of course the historical characters Akbar and Jodha Bhai. I got out c Jalalludin Akbar b Ashutosh Gowarikar. Probably this result was predictable as the distributors of the film bet big and released it in AMC theaters here in Houston!

As far as history is concerned, Akbar ranks as the second best emperor India ever had (after Asoka the Great). He was obsessed with India and everything Indian. He called himself Hindustani though everyone else he knew called themselves Afghani or Persian. He had people like Birbal (his Military advisor), Todar Mal(Finance minister) and Tansen (Hindustani music composer) in his court who were a part of the famous Navratnas or the nine gems. He was of course the first Muslim king to marry a Hindu Rajput girl and form an alliance of mutual respect and trust with the Rajputhana.

Ashutosh Gowarikar has tried to highlight most of the secular actions of Akbar. The transition from Jalalludin, the child to Akbar, the emperor of India who took strong decisions on his own, some of which were considered to be blasphemous by many in his court, was beautifully portrayed in the film. Keeping in mind the fact that the director that only Akbarnama and a few other sources as references, it was tough for him to get all the variables in Akbar’s life. But unbelievably the director has made a masterpiece without going in for clichéd filmy screenplay.

Aishwarya did what was expected of her. She was totally hot as usual but she completely blended as a Rajput princess. But Hrithik just blew me off with his great acting. He effortlessly portrayed the role of an emperor who sometimes behaved like a ruthless monarch, sometimes like a lover and a flirt, sometimes like a benevolent king and sometimes like a confused child sharing his thoughts with his mother. If only he had that royal grace in his walk (like Prithviraj Kapoor in Mughal-e-Azam) and also looked 10 years older.

The cinematography was breathtaking, to say the least. AR Rahman just breathes life into the film. The spiritual content in Khwaja mere Khwaja was just awesome. The choreography was simple, beautiful and apt. But what I personally loved was the dialogues. On one side, we had Akbar speaking in Urdu with heavy usage of Arabic and Persian words and on the other side we had Jodha chirping away in pure Hindi. Of course the English subtitles spoiled the whole fun but hey … but I can’t claim to have understood every line that was being said.

But the same can’t be said about the war scenes though. Too much inspiration was drawn from LOTR and Troy. Sadly we have seen these films like a billion times. And why AR Rahman chose to go for a western BGM for the last fight scene is a mystery.

Was anything I was expecting to see missing in the film? Yes. I must say a few scenes with Birbal would have added to the message of the movie. And also I didn’t see any peacock in the whole movie which was something strange as I always thought they were raised in palaces to increase its scenic beauty. Ah … I think I am being a bit too harsh here. But Ashutosh Gowarikar has taken Bollywood to such great heights in this film that I think we can start asking such stupid questions and criticize the movie because it had no peacock.

P.S.

Gowarikar played it safe when he started the film with the disclaimer: “Jodha Bai, Queen of Hindustan and wife of the greatest of Mughal emperors, Akbar, may not have ever existed, claim some historians. Others claim that she was his daughter in law and not his wife.” But it was not safe enough as the film got banned in Rajasthan, UP, MP, and Haryana. Fortunately, we are in US where such unnecessary controversies can ever arise.

29th Feb.

Heres for a day that comes once in 4 years !!

Enjoy !!!! :)

Dhana Dhan Dhoni !!!

Haha ha ... and ha

I couldn't stop laughing when I went back in time and saw all Dhoni's pics in cricinfo.com.

Here are a few hilarious ones. ( I am sure there are a lot more )

Now, that actually is a decent shot.

Power shot :

same shot, but on the leg side:

The perfect way to play a yorker?

Did I mention that he is a wristy player? but I didnt realize he even uses shins :o !!!!
Dance baby Dance
WTF ?? Fart Shot ?
He literally throws his bat at everything:

He might end up killing someone on the field! Bravo had a lucky escape.

Now go back to each photo and notice the muscles in his arms! ... gulp ...

Dreams unlimited

What are the activities that we do daily in our "common" day to day life ? The standard answer : Eat , Work , Sleep , yata yata , blah blah , etc etc. We dont realize that we spend almost one third of our life dreaming. The total science behind dreaming is not yet known, but my take on it is that the brain during our sleep time gets bored with less work ( see ... ironic isnt it ? It doesnt want to work when we are awake :p )

So it invents a parallel universe which mimics the real world. We are the variables ( though the variables are less in number ... ) and all the environmental constraints like gravity, etc are mimicked almost accurately ... Did this motivate Adi Shankaracharya to write his thesis on the real hidden meaning of life according to Hinduism ? And yes ... his thesis did ultimately inspire the makers of my all time Fav. movie "The Matrix".

I dream. I dream a lot. I actually can work part time as a guinea pig for those who are doing research on Brain mapping and Dream.I still remember the heavy traffic of dreams I had during the siestas I had in my intermediate days ( in Gowtham, S.R.Nagar Room 201 ).Maybe the work load or the tension during the IIT prep days got my brain going.

Of late, I have realized that the type of dreams I have is called "Type 2 False Awakening". Like the one I had in Room no. 2321, when Kiran and Bhakta were sleeping in my room (exams time of course). Or the Aishwarya Rai poster dream that I had. Scary dreams not worth revealing. I usually don't do anything worthwhile the next day.

But the reason why I am writing this post is because I have started to dream in the class also. No not day dreaming. I dozed off and then I dreamt that I was in the same class attending the same lecture but everything else was peculiar. I then dozed off in my dream to wake up to the real class :). Serious ... I am not kidding. And neither am I imagining this.I felt guilty for the next 3 days actually.As if this is all because I am forcing the brain to do something it doesn't want to.

What the was the most useful dream I had ??

It was when I had misplaced my wallet. I searched and searched for it, eventually gave up and went to sleep in a bad mood. Guess what I then dreamt where my wallet was. Awesome isn't it ?