Airtel Offering "Mobile Office" service to Airtel Prepaid in Delhi. Does it rocks or shocks!!!!!

Airtel finally listened to their prepaid customers and recently started offering "Mobile Office" services to their prepaid customers. Though "Airtel Live" services had been available to Airtel prepaid customers for some time, using which we could access limited internet services through the mobile but there was no way we could access the internet using laptop/desktop using our mobile device.

"Mobile Office" to the rescue. One fine day I got a message from Airtel stating that "Enjoy internet services on your Airtel mobile! Dial *567*1#(free) to activate GPRS. 30 paise for 50kb of download without any monthly rental". Not bad I thought, after this at least I would be able to access gmail on mobile (as it never worked with Airtel Live settings on the mobile.). In addition I thought this might also be used for accessing internet on my mobile during my 2hours + of commute daily (at least for chatting if not for browsing purposes due to bandwidth constraint.

Finally I did activate "Mobile Office" on my mobile, and things worked pretty fine, for a few weeks. But with Airtel you can always expect the unexpected. I suddenly noticed that while i am using the internet on the laptop via the mobile for a data transfer of around 2 MB I was charged Rs 150 instead of being charged around Rs 12. I thought maybe it was an error on my part, so for the next two days i specifically noticed my balance before and after connecting to the internet and below were my findings

For 800 kbs I was charged around Rs.50
and
For 300 kbs I was charged around Rs.10

Surprised and shocked when i called the customer care (121) and was regularly juggling between their complaint desk (198) and customer care (121). Nobody had a clue what to do, finally one fine guy at the Airtel Customer care did register the complaint and gave me a reference number. Though I am not very optimistic of this issue being resolved in the near future (being Airtel of course) - refund of my balance is obviously out of question. So just wanted to make all of you aware in case you were planning to use "Mobile Office" for connecting to the internet.

Ghajini Music Review....

This has been a lucky year for A.R. Rahman fans. Begining with a grand opening in "Jodhaa Akbar" followed by a peppy young album in "Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na" alongwith the melodious "Ada". There was no stopping for Rahman with Subash Ghai's magnum opus "Yuvraaj" and finally wrapping up the year with probably the year's most awaited films "Ghajini". For starters being an Aamir Khan movie (and the so popular haircut) , being sold for a record 90 crores even before the release and A.R. Rahman's music made it one of the most sought after movie of the year. So does Rahman does justice to the hype which this movie has managed to create even before it's release ? Read more to find out

Guzarish - Javed Ali, Sonu Nigam (Guest Vocals)
The track begins with a soothing song in the form of "Guzarish". This was the song which was first played in the teasers/promos of Ghajini and really does lives up to the expectations. Javed Ali has done a great job with the vocals with the surprise package being Sonu Nigam, who I believe for the first time has provided his vocals in the background which has really added magic to this song.Lyrics are good an undoubtedly one of the better songs of the album,

Aye Bachchu - Suzanne
To begin with I thought that this was one of the worst song which A.R. Rahman had ever composed and that too for a movie like "Ghajini" was highly disappointing. After a few listenings in typical Rahman's style this turned out to be really addicive and turned out to be favourite in the album. Enjoy the song at high volume to get a feel of this "electric" song with fast beats and liberal use of the "Electric Guitar". I am sure this might turn out to be the song of the movie, once the movie hits the theatre.


Kaise Mujhe - Benny Dayal & Shreya Ghoshal
This slow romantic number of "Ghajini" boasts of some simple but powerful lyrics by Prasoon Joshi. This slow and romantic number grows on you and forms an integral part of this album. Benny Dayal and Shreya Ghoshal look in great form in this song and looks like Rahman's knack of getting the best out of his singers continue.

Behka - Karthik
Visually the most popular song of this album because Aamir Khan features in 5 different looks in the songs and in the end all of them come together. Now this is what i call a typical Rahman song with a lot of freshness. The kind of hip hop beats adds a lot of magic to the song and the best part of the song for me is definitely the segment from 3:58 - 4:08 in which the singer sings in a single breath non stop. Now this is something which only A.R. Rahman can extract from his singers.
In addition from 2:20 - 2:40 the song reminds me of "Maangta Hain Kya" from Rangeela. Karthik has done well with the song and voice blends pretty well with the mood of the song.

Latoo - Shreya Ghoshal
For me this in definitely the weakest link of this amazing album. Looks like a typical situational song with kind of funny lyrics like "Latoo Latoo mein tujhe pe Latoo". Lot of english lyrics thrown in tries to add some punch to this song, but fails. This might catch up once the movie releases.

Kaise Mujhe (Instrumental)
Now there is one thing with A.R. Rahman that at times the instrumental version of the song sounds more powerful than the actual version of the song. "Kaise Mujhe" falls in that category, with just the background music and the background vocals this song is real winner and definitelty one of the high points of the album. Listening to this one would really transform you into a whole new world.


So the final verdict for me this is definitely Rahman's album of the year and his best since "Rang De Basanti", though i still need to hear Rahman's two upcoming albums supoosedly releasing this year "Slumdog Millionaire" and "Connections". Go ahead and grab this album right away.

Airtel Delhi Half Marathon - Run Delhi Run

365 days later and around 15 kgs lighter, time had come once again for the "Delhi Half Marathon" this time sponsored by Airtel instead of Hutch(now Vodafone) which had been the title sponsor for the past three years. Don't get me wrong, I was in no mood of competing for the 21kms Half Marathon but just the 6 kms long ( if you could call it so) "Great Delhi Run".

My timings for the last two years had been more than an hour each, but this time I had a target of completing the same in less than an hour. Reached the venue pretty much on time and started the race without seeing much of the celebirities this time round (Though Saifeena, A.R. Rahman were there on television but not on the venue for the Great Delhi Run.) 

After the flag off, the first 4 kms were pretty smooth finishing them easily in less than 15 minutes, but the next 2 took another 20 minutes and i finally clocked a finishing time of a little below 41 minutes, not excellent  but definitely a tremendous improvement over my last year's performance. 

Check out my marathon pics out here 

http://www5.marathon-photos.com/scripts/event_entry.py?

event=Sports/CPUK/2008%20Sports/Airtel%20Delhi%20Half%20Marathon&search=1

and meanwhile I am getting all geared up to finally participate in the Half Marathon in Delhi next year :-)

“Yuvraaj” is just like any other A.R. Rahman’s Album – It really rocks…

A.R. Rahman’s gift for this Diwali is “Yuvraaj” an ambitious musical project by the showmaker Subash Ghai. After not having such a good run lately with his movies Subash Ghai is in a real need for hit, and he couldn’t have had asked for a better start based on the response “Yuvraaj’s” music is getting.

"Main Hun Yaavraj" – Salman Khaan
More than a song this is just Salman Khan churning out some dialogues, to the “Fifth Of Beethoven”, this is something which only A.R. Rahman could have tried and manages to pull it out pretty well. Though Salman’s fake accent needs some correction but overall sounds pretty good.

“Tu Mera Dost Hain” – Benny Dayal, Shreya Ghoshal and A.R. Rahman
This is the song which had been doing round of promos for some time now. A.R. Rahman starts the song and again joins the song at the end giving the song it’s real punch. This song is already a hit and I can well imagine it going up the charts in the weeks to come.

“Tu Muskara” – Alka Yagnik and Javed Ali
After giving “Javed Ali” a dream debut in Jodha Akbar, Javed Ali is back with a soft number. Alka Yagnik as usual has done great with the vocals with Javed Ali also giving in his best. Though this may not become a chartbuster, but is definitely worth a listen.

“Mastam Mastam” – Sonu Nigam, Alka Yagnik, Naresh Iyer
This is what I call a truly “Rahman’s” song which has got A.R. Rahman written all over it. Sonu Nigam along with Alka Yagnik have given some great vocals to this song backed by some fun lyrics by Gulzaar sahib. One can imagine this song to be picturized on a feel good situation in a family or something similar. Around 2:40 minutes into the song when the tempo is increased in typical Rahman’s style it gives you a real high, something which only A.R. Rahman can do.

“Zindagi Zindagi” – Srinivas
A slow number from Rahman on the lines of “Tu Hi Re” or “Roja Jaaneman” and boy o boy Srinivas sure does sounds like Hariharan, and in my first listening I definitely thought that I was listening to Hariharan. This is one of the better numbers in the album and watch out for this one once the movie release.

"Dil Ka Rishta" – Sonu Nigam, Roop Kumar Rathod
This is more like a theme music for the movie with some lyrics at the later half of the song. The song is powerful , and takes you altogether in a different world. One of my favorites from the album. At 7 ½ minutes + this is one of the longer songs of album and also one of the most enjoyable.

"Manmohini Morey" – Vijay Prakash
Watch fusion music in it’s full flow with this number. Probably one of the best pieces of fusion I have heard for a long time, and Vijay Prakash’s vocals are something to watch out for – completely in synch with the mood of the song. “Tum tum tana tum tum..” is really catchy.

"Shano Shano" – Sonu Nigam , Srinivas, Kartik
After “Pappu can’t dance” this is another “party” number which would be doing rounds of the various discos in the months to come. For me this is better definitely than “Pappu can’t dance” but honestly speaking you would need some time to love this song. In this first listening I couldn’t love the song , but after a few hearings you wouldn’t be able to leave this song.

"Shano Shano" (Remix) –
Normally I am not too much a fan of remix, but this remix rocks. Adding hip hop to this song really pepped it up, and is definitely worth a listen. This is one of those few songs in which the remix song may outdo the original song. Way to go.

"A Wednesday" movie review

It's been a long time since I have seen a good hindi thriller movie which actually thrills. There have been lots of "Dhooms" on the way but "Wednesday" truly excels in the genre of "Thriller". In a nutshell the movie is all about the happenings of 4 hours on a Wednesday and how it changes the life of the people.

The lead protagonist played by Naseerudin Shah and Anupam Kher as the ACP of Mumbai poilce. Also are Jimmy Shergill has the bad tempered but honest cop and .

This movie again strenthens the fact that Naseerudin Shah is definitely one of the most talented actors Bollywood has ever had. The way he handles his role in the movie you are made to believe that he is actually the person he is depicting on the screen.

Divulging anything more about the movie would spoil the fun in you, but all in all its a great movie which is not to be missed.



Rating - 4/5

Rock on!!! really rocks....

"Meri Laundry Ka Ek Bill.... Ek Aadhi Padi Novel..." with lyrics like these I was expecting a dud movie from a talented person like Farhan Akhtar. But man I was surely proved wrong, big time.

To begin with the music for Rock On was nothing more than loud glaring music, but after watching the movie i have really started loving the music. In addition the real hero of the movie is the music and Farhan Akhtar - the singer.

In a nutshell the movie is all about a band of four people who decide to reunite after a long gap of ten years to bring back their magik (the name of their band). Adi (Farhan Akhtar) is the lead singer of the band, Joe (Arjun Rampal) is the lead guitarist , Purab is the lead drummer and Lenny is on the keyboard. The movie can truly be called a band movie in which the music plays a very crucial role and Farhan Akhtar really rocks in the 7 of 9 songs which he has sung in the album.

Another revelation in the movie is Arjun Rampal for whom this is by far the best performance of his career. He fits into the role of the real guitarist really smoothly and performs to excel. Prachi Desai who debuts with this movie also does a great job , but it still remains to be seen that how well is she able to perform in a typical "heroine" role.

Being a Hindi movie the movie has its set of cliches also esp. the one at the end but overall these minor problems don't negate the overall positive effect of the movie.

All in all this is pretty well made movie and hats off to Shankar Ehsaan Loy for the great music and Abhishek Kapoor for directing such a gem of a movie.

Rating 4/5

www.phulki.com really rocks !!!

If you are a Hindi music fan right from the oldies to latest albums phulki.com is the place for you. In simple words you could call it as the google for Hindi music. It has got a clean simple interface in which you just enter the song / album name which you want to hear and voila it returns you a list of matching songs displayed googlish style.

Whats more - from within the list you get direct links for listening to the song without navigating away from the page, and the song gets added to your playlist. You could add multiple songs in your playlist and even save your playlist (for which i guess you need to register). Also phulki provides some pre-defined playlist which are also pretty neat.

In addition against some songs you also get a direct download link - not being a legal expert not sure if that might have been the right thing to do or not.

Overall its a pretty great experience and I would definitely recommend this song to all hindi movie buffs. Also if any of you could tell me what "phulki" actually means ? Check out www.phulki.com

Moviemart.in - Online DVD rental in India - My Initial impressions

I finally decided to start with an online service for DVD rental. The neighborhood DVD rental store was too expensive with very limited collections. So just reviewed the internet for some options in India and shortlisted to the following options

BigFlix
SeventyMM
MovieMart.in

As expected with BigFlix being a Reliance company poor customer service was the de-facto standard, and the same was confirmed by the reviews which i read online. I guess BigFlix with the kind of investment being put into it may become the cheapest option, but definitely not the best in terms of Customer Service.

Regarding SeventyMM i got mixed response for the same both from my friends and the reviews posted online. I was getting a good corporate deal with seventy mm, but still getting not a too positive feedback didn't help.

Finally came moviemart.in probably the oldest DVD rental company in India (looks like a couple of years old) and not the biggest (they are based out of Delhi but i guess serve in most of the country via TNT courier).  The reviews looked positive almost all over the net so I finally decided to give it a shot. I opted for the weekend plan (Currently available in NCR only) i.e. @Rs 249 i get to see eight DVD's a month and am able to borow 2 DVD's at a time making the cost at around Rs 31.25 per DVD, definitely not the cheapest but not too sky rocketing also. MY account was activated in an hour and the DVD's were delivered on that day itself.

So based on my two days experience with moviemart.in i really found their customer service to be worldclass (quite unlike any Indian company out there). in addition you can always expect prompt responses from their end and they always look eager to help the customer out. In addition they do have a decent collection of movies which definitely would keep me hooked on for the next few months.

Though it would be too early to make a judgement based on just 2 days with moviemart.in but it definitely has been a great start. Great Job moviemart.in for that. Keep it up . Would post my experience after about a month of movie watching with moviemart.in. Hopefully they would be maintaining their standards.

Finally Managed to upgrade my ipod Touch to iphone 2.0 Firmware

After 24 hours of struggle finally managed to upgrade my first generation Ipod Touch to iphone 2.0 firmware which made my waller lighter by $9.95.

With this upgrade came the Januray upgrade to ipod touch free (for which ipod touch users had to shell out $ 19.95). Some of the great enhancements coming up with formware 2.0 support in addiion to the normail January Upgrade (i.e. Stocks, Notes, Email, Google Maps) is

• Cisco VPN support
• Support for Microsoft Exchange Server
• Support for Apps (around 25 % of 500 odd applications available at this time are free. The rest start from 0.95 $ and range upto $40)
• Out of the host of free Apps availbale on the ipod store the remote seems to be really cool. You can actually control your itunes/Apple TV etc. using the ipod touch over the wireless network. No more reaching for the computer everytime you got to change the track/playlist playing on the itunes.

All in all $ 9.95 are well spent it though the iphone users would be getting this firmware upgrade for free.

Apple ITunes Store crumbles under its own load

Check this out. Looks like Apple's itunes store is having a hard time managing load of new iphone 3g users as well as older generation iphone and ipod touch users trying to upgrade their firmware.

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1594632&tstart=0
http://www.tuaw.com/2008/07/11/itunes-activation-server-pining-for-the-fjords/
http://www.forbes.com/technology/2008/07/11/iphone-apple-brick-tech-iphone08-cx_dme_0711brick.html

itunes Store finally accessible from India using Indian Credit Card/Billing Address

Just checked out the itunes store.. Its finally been launched for India. This is really awesome. It Rocks. You can now use an Indian Credit Card with an Indian billing address to finally buy the apps from the App Store (though music/movies etc. still don't seem to be available to Indian users).

The App store is up for itunes Store India. :-)

Though Apple App Store is Up.. 2.0 Firmware for Ipod Touch/Iphone Still not out. Unless we upgrade our existing ipod touch /iphone to firmware 2.0 we would be unable to launch/install the applications from the App Store in our ipod touch/iPhone.

At this point through to use the App Store first of all we need to upgrade to itunes 7.7 and then as we download any applications they get installed into the itunes. Just waiting for the firmware update so that we may actually be able to install the applications on the ipod touch/iphone.

Would update the blog as soon as I am able to update my ipod touch to the latest firmware (from the current 1.1.4).

Cheers.. and Enjoy

Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na Movie Review - It Rocks...

There are meaningful movies and then there are those dull senseless movies. But there are movies in a third category which though not being meaningful do entertain a lot and that's what movies are meant for. Right ?

Jaane Tu Y a Jaane Na is a movie about six yongsters with the leads played by Jai(Imran) and Aditi (Genelia D Souza) and their friends . Everyone including their friends, Aditi's Parents (Anuradha Patel , Jayant Kirpralkar) , Jai's Mother (Ratna Pathak Shah) know Aditi and Jai are in love, but probably Aditi and Jai do not. To make things better or worse Jai and Aditi plan to find a perfact match for each other to prove that they don't actually love each other.

Jai finds Meghna as her love angle and Aditi is enganged with Sushant. But finally following a typical Hindi movie formula Jai and Aditi find that they are actually in love with the climax at the airport (now how many times have we actually seen that :-) )

Now inspite of having a typical Bollywood story and some sterotyped characters Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na still works for the fresh way in which the debutant director (Abbas Tyrewala) has presented the same. All the actors have put in a brilliant performance and Imran Khan is definitely a kid to watch out for. Actually he inherits quite a few of his Mamu's (Aamir Khan) talent. Some of the dialogues are really young and cool and make you split into laughter. The cameo of Naseruudin Shah as a dead person speaking from the frame of a picture (Similar to what happens in Hum Paanch) also adds to the humor element of the movie.

The strongest point of the movie though seems to be an astounding score by A.R. Rahman. Though a couple of songs (Jaana tu Jaana.. and JTYJN title song) have been left out of the movie partially but still the songs alongwith the adds to the overall mood the movie.

Finally full credit to Abbas Tyrelwala for churning out such a great enternainer though the storyline is cliched and the screenplay could have been a bit tighter. Go watch this movie. This one is surely not to be missed.

Rating 3.5/5

Ring Road Honda (Sugoi Motors), Moti Nagar, New Delhi :-( - Feedback regarding servicing of Honda City ZX (Gxi)

After a lot of research I had finally settled for Honda City ZX (Gxi) Anniversary edition with alloys. Its been almost three months since I have been driving the car and touchwood have no problems with the car as is expected from a Honda product. The mileage is excellent, AC supereffective and the drive is real smooth and noiseless.

Unfortuenately the same cannot be said about my experience with getting the car serviced. The first service for the same was due on end April which I took the car to Ring Road Honda (Sugoi Motors), Moti Nagar in almost a brand new condition. I was shocked to receive the car in a dirty condition with all the beige interiors, seat covers being soiled. Had to get the same cleaned in front of my eyes with assurances that this would not happening wasting more than an hour of my time. This was definitely not expected from Honda.

Neverthelss I took my car for second service to Ring Road Honda (Sugoi Motors), Moti Nagar, New Delhi (My second mistake, if i do that again I could probably write a book like "The Three Mistakes Of My Life"), on 22nd June 2008 and this time was for a real big shock. In addition to the seats and interiors being more dirty there were a couple of big scratches in the bumper of the car which were not present before i took the car for service (and the same can be verified on the job sheet where they mark all the scratches). When i brought it to the notice of the concerned people they told me to bring the car another day as it will take one whole day to paint the scratch and then dry it etc. I even talked to the service manager out there all he gave me was the email id and told me to give my feedback over there. All along the way nobody felt the need to apologize and behaved as if they are doing me a great favor by painting the scratch which they had themselves created. In addition this has caused unnecessary trouble for me to take my car to the dealer again for removing the scratch.(And going by my current experience I am sure that i will get a couple of new scratches in addition to the customary dirtying of seats/interiors).

Though I am really Happy with the performance of the Honda City car, but the poor servicing by Ring Road Honda (Sugoi Motors), Moti Nagar, New Delhi is really leaving a bad taste in my mouth. I was a proud owner of Maruti cars for more than 12 years and had never faced any such problem. So all you people out there just keep this experience in mind before taking your car for service to Ring Road Honda (Sugoi Motors), Moti Nagar, New Delhi
.

Update June 20th 2008

Thanks Ring Road Honda (Sugoi Motors), Moti Nagar PR personnel called me up and told me to come over one day for getting the scratch cleaned. When asked about who will pay for my commute to and fro to the service station they said as per the policy they are not liable for paying any reimbursement (I guess as per the policy they shouldnt be allowed to put any scratches on the car either ;-)). T service station being approx 10 kms from my home. This means extra expense for me commuting up and down there in addition to being one whole day of the weekend withotu my car. Thanks Ring Road Honda (Sugoi Motors), Moti Nagar, New Delhi.

It's confirmed. Vodafone also to launch iphone in India

http://www.vodafone.in/existingusers/iphone/pages/preregister-iPhone.aspx

I guess this would be a locked phone only, but the good point is that we do have multiple carriers to opt from.

Aamir Movie Review -- Go Watch It....

Movie - Aamir
Producer - Ronnie Screwvala
Director - Raj Kumar Gupta

Music Director - Amit Trivedi
Actor - Rajeev Khandelwal
Date of Release - 6th June 2008

Seldom you come across a movie like "Aamir", plain yet powerful, small but heavy, with loads of debutant but performance like experienced, with unheard of music but one that sticks on your mind for long after watching the movie. In a nutshell this is what the movie is all about.

The movie Aamir starts with the protagonist Aamir(played excellently by Rajeev Khandelwal in his big screen debut) landing in Mumbai and from that moment Rajeev's life is more like a roller coaster ride questioning Rajeev's belief that a person makes his own destiny.

Not following the typical Hindi Movie stereotypes Aamir has no actress in fact no major actor besides Rajeev Khandelwal in the movie. Though a few songs are part of the movie but they are played in the background and tend to render well on the big screen. In fact I bought the audio cd of Aamir after watching the movie which explains the fact that the songs are some real gems.

In addition instead of shooting the films in beautiful locales the movie is actually shot in the dingiest of Mumbai bylanes which you would have had ever experienced, and honestly this adds authenticity to the movie. Again the end of the movie defies all bollywood logic and makes Aamir a real gem.

Aamir may or may not be a box office hit, but certainly deserves to be seen, appreciated and applauded. Kudos to Rajeev Khandelwal, Raj Kumar Gupta and the music director Amit Trivedi. This movie is definitely not to be missed if you are a movie lover.

Rating - 4/5

It's official Airtel to bring iphone 3g to India

http://www.airtel.in/wps/wcm/connect/About%20Bharti%20Airtel/bharti+airtel/media+centre/fy2008-2009/pg_bharti_airtel_and_apple_to_bring_iphone_3g_to_india_10june

Bharti Airtel and Apple to Bring iPhone 3G to India

Good news for Apple's iPhone ensthusiats in India. Check out the following post at Apples officical website

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2008/06/09bharti.html

"NEW DELHI and SAN FRANCISCO—June 9, 2008—Bharti Airtel and Apple® today announced that they will be bringing the highly anticipated iPhone™ 3G to customers in India later this year."

Can't wait for this to happen. Just hope that the price of the iPhone remains unchanged whenever it is launched in India.

Apple Iphone 3g in India Soon :-)

As per Steve's Job keynote iphone 3g would be launched in India in the next few months. Check out its hosts of features out here


http://www.cnettv.com/9742-1_53-50002572.html

and yes you are right , all over the world it's 8 gig version is priced to a max of $199 and 16 gig version a max of $299.


Check out the below link for it's availability in India.
http://www.cnettv.com/9742-1_53-50002573.html

With such a competitive price i see tough competition for other cell phone vendors like Nokia in India. Already a big time user of ipod touch looking forward to this iphone 3g launch in India.

Check out Apple's India website for more details and features for Apple 3G phone.

www.appple.co.in

Cheers....

Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na Music Review

Movie - Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na
Director - Abbas Tyrewala
Music Director - A.R. Rahman
Lyrics - Abbas Tyrewala

An A.R. Rahman album is mostly the one with an experience outside this world and with Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na (JTYJN) Rahman again solidifies this fact. The launch vehicle for Imran Khan (Aamir's nephew) couldn't have had a better start than this. Two weeks after the audio release a couple of songs are already topping the charts. So here is my take on the songs.

Track -1 , Kabhi Kabhi Aditi - Rashid Ali
Undoubtedly the best song of the album, this song has a young feel to it. The talent of newcomer Rashid Ali is very well exploited in this song. This one pleases your ear from the first go itself. We need to lookout for Rashid Ali, he definitely has got a jumpstart to his career.

Rating 9/10

Track -2 , Pappu Can't Dance - Benny Dayal, Naresh Iyer, Satish Chakravarthy, Aslam, Blaze, Tanvi, Bhargavi
On the first listening this never looked like a Rahman track, and in addition the unorthodox lyrics by Tyrewala didn't help either. But after a few listening this peppy young song does catch up with you and its presence is now all over the music channels. I assume that this song may be enjoyed well on the big screen when the movie releases and the list of singers in the song act as a fresh breeze.

Rating 7.5/10

Track - 3 , Jaane Tu Mera Kya Hain - Runa
One of the songs with typical Rahman songs which grows on you with each listening. Has a nice pleasing melody and good vocals by Runa. Incidently after the aditi song this is another song which contains the name of the title "Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na" within the song. Surely some innovative lyric writing for the movie.

Rating 8/10

Track - 4 , Nazre Milana Nazre Churana- Benny Daya, Satish Chakravarthy, Sayonara, Darshana, Svetha, Bhargavi, Anupama

One of my favorites for this album whose video is now on air on music channels. Again unorthodox mix of English and Hindi form lyrics for this song and gives it a pretty young feel. Multiple singers in the song add that peppy college feel to the song.

Rating 8.5/10

Track - 5 , Tu Bole- A.R. Rahman
This is definitely very different which Rahman has ever explored both with music and his own singing. This song can be categorized as jazz/blues and really well executed by rahman. Though this does not in the league "Lukka Chuppi" ,"Jaage Hain" or "Khwaja Mere Khwaja" but it's totally different from anything attempted before hence we would need to look out for this. I suspect that this might be the title song for the movie.

Rating 8.5/10

Track - 6 , Kahin To- Rashid Ali, Vasundhra Das
slow number with Rashid Ali again doing a tremendous job with his vocals. This song is pretty hummable and should catch up after the release of the movie.

Rating 7/10

Track - 7 , Jaane Tu Mera Kya Hai - Sukhwinder Singh
A slow version of the song by the same title sung by Ruma. This also has a different set of lyrics but does not loose the original magic touch. Sukhwinder Singh as expected is dependable and delivers the good pretty well.

Rating 8/10

Track - 8 , Pappu Can't Dance (remix) -
I was never a big fan of x and this song makes my belief stronger. Not sure why we ever need to remix a song like 'Pappu Can't Dance" which originally is a party number and pretty good.

So the final verdict as for most Rahman album is that it is a must buy if you are a music lover. A couple of songs (like Aditi and Nazre Milana nazre Churana will stay in our mind for a long time).
Final Album Rating - 8/10

Double Bonanza For A R Rahman Fans

You obviously couldn't have asked for anything more. Two Hindi movie releases of Rahman within a week is too good. Both Ada and JTYJN (Jaane Tu Yeh Jaane Na) are real gems. Currently relishing this moment. Will come back soon with music reviews of both the albums, so keep looking out for this place.

Enjoy ....

Delhi Daredevils vs. Mumbai Indians, Firoz Shah Kotla - 24th May 2008

Like any other average Indian guy I am also a great cricket fan, and the current ongoing IPL tournament has meant lots of entertainment for all. Though I have been following cricket matches for more than 15 years for now, but had never got an opportunity to watch a match live from a stadium.

Finally managed to get hold of the cheapest tickets available for the critical Delhi Daredevils vs. Mumbai Indians (though not that cheap priced at 500 Rs.) match which would definitely decide the fate of the two teams for a semi-final berth.

The match was supposed to start at 2000 hours and the gates were supposed to open at 1800 hours. I had planned to reach the stadium at around 1800 hours to avoid the maddening crowd which was expected in a stadium with a capacity of around 40,000 but come on being in Delhi I knew we would be expecting a few more audiences as usual :-) . Somehow got late due to some traffic restrictions at CP and after parking the vehicle at Ramlila ground (around 0.7 kms from the stadium) reached the stadium gates at around 1900 hours, i still thought well in time for the match which was scheduled to start an hour later. But as usual I was proven wrong, getting inside the stadium was probably more difficult that clearing the IIT JEE entrance exams (pun intended). Though I didn't clear the IIT JEE entrance in an hour I came victorious and managed to get entry into the stadium in around an hour at around :-) all soaked in sweat. Finally entered the third floor stands and took a seat on the third floor and got a seat in the fifth row from the back. But as soon as took the seat along with my wife the view was definitely breathtaking and all the pains and below which we had to take to get the venue finally looked worthy. The stadium among the flood lits was shining with glory .

By the time we were settled in the seat Tendulkar and y had come to bat, and Jaysurya was in his golden touch smashing 66 runs off just 42 balls. But as expected Tendulkar got the biggest cheer while we was bating though he could just manage 18 off 16 balls before getting out to a beauty from Mahesh. In addition a good stint by Uthappa in the middle order helped Mumbai to reach a respectable total of 177 off the alloted 20 overs.

After a small break Sehwag and Gambhir came out to bat. Sehwag after hitting four great boundaries (18 of 6 balls) got clean bowled by Nehra as has been captured in the unclear video below captured on the cellphone.

In the coming overs Tiwari, Dhawan and Mahroof stabilized the innings but the icing on the cake was the exhilarating 56 of 32 balls from Karthik which took Delhi to victory with one ball to spare and 5 wickets in hands. The below video captured the last two balls played by the Delhi Daredevils team emerging victorious and coming a step closer to the semi-final slot.

If i thought that after the match my woes was over, i was wrong. Coming out of the stadium was no easier than getting inside. With a gate as wide to accommodate two people at a time getting out of the stadium was not a cakewalk. Look at the snaps/video below to see what I meant.

So finally managed to reach home at around 1 early in the morning, after a quick bite at Mc. Donalds (yes finally Delhi is matured enough to keep restaurants open till 1 in the morning). Sure it was a great experience, but the poor administration and management (esp. during entry/exit) from the stadium really left a bad taste in the mouth and above that is a real risky experience. It's high time the authorities wake up in time.

IronMan is a typical Hollywood superhero movie

From the stable of "Marvel" comics after the stupendous success of Spiderman movies comes another superhero Movie "IronMan". Before stepping into the theatre i had no idea about the superhero nor had heard much about the movie, but despite that planned to take the step forward as that was the only thing which was giving me respite from the scorching Goa heat in May.

IronMan is a story about a rich genius entrepreneur Tony Stark (played by Robert Downey Jr.) in the business of building ammunitions. One fine day he is kept captive in an Afghan cave to create a weapon for the rebels out there. He builds an iron suit to escape from there and improves on the design to build a superhero out of the same called "Iron Man" to fight against evil. By the end of the movie he is also awakened about the ill-effects of the manufacturing arms and how they could easily go into wrong hands.

Now what works for the movie is the way Tony Stark has played his role. His character has been very well built and the special effects in the movie are also worth mentioning. In addition the movie is also well supported by various other characters in the movie like Terrence Howard, Gwyneth Paltrow.

To summarize a nice movie to enjoy this summer and hopefully you would not come out disappointed from the theatre.

Rating 3/5

Off to Goa..

Off to Goa for a week long vacation. Will post a complete travelogue once i am back. Hope you all have a great time out here. See ya..

Khuda Ke Liye... Don't miss it It's a real Gem

"Just because some American people have been bad to me , I will not stop loving America. Similarly if some muslims have done a wrong thing don't hate all the Muslims of the world ". This one line summarizes the intention of the latest Pakistani movie (the first one to be released in India in twenty five years) and i bet it was sure worth the wait.


This movie has it's heart in the right place and a well intended message and talks about the state of Muslims in US after 9/11 happened. In short the movie is a story about two young brothers who are also budding musicians, and how one brother is transformed to a fundamentalist and the other pursues his interest of music by taking scholarship for music in Chicago.

Undoubtedly this is one movie which all of us should watch and I am very sure it would be an eye opener for us. Without divulging much about the story at this time all i can say now is "Go Watch the movie".

Airtel - Accidentaly Charging Rs 99 to its mobile customers in the name of VAS99 Pack ??? Is it so ?

If the already irritating SPAM alls from Airtel were not enough, all of a sudden yesterday both my wife and father got a message from Airtel No 170 stating "Thanks for subscribing to VAS99 Pack. Rs 99 have been deducted from your account". What is this ?

On inquiring from Airtel further they confirmed from us that whether or not we have subscribed to this service (i don't even know if a service like VAS99 exists from Airtel) . On refusing that they registered the complaint and today i have got the messages on one of the mobiles that Rs 99 would be credited back to my account in 48 hours.

Though the amount did come back this set me thinking

Lets assume a situation for a company X (not the real name) and assume that they charge their customers accidentally. Going by experience (and no scientific basis :-) ) less than 30 % people might have cared to call up the X's CC for a refund , for the rest 70 % assuming the current users of X 4 million and assuming only 1% of those were charged accidentally even that meant an extra revenue of 4 mn * .01 *. 7 *99 = Rs 2.7. mn Rs (if my mathematics is right this is approximately 27 lakhs) for X at almost nil costs... Now that sure looks like a business idea ;-) , but i am sure this definitely is not happening. Right :-) ?

Mithya Movie Review - Don't Miss It.....

There is one thing about "Ranvir Shorey" - I honestly believe he is one of the under recognized actors. He has tremendous potential which is actually very well proven by the way he carries the 110 minutes film on his firm shoulders.

"Mithya" is no regular run of the mill Bollywood film and gladly so. It's about  a struggling actor VK (Ranvir Shorey) who is hardly unable to manage  a living for himself. Call it destiny but he resembles one of the biggest don of the city and the rival gang uses his to settle score with the DON (Raje).  The rest of the film is a topsy - turvy journey for VK and how he faces them.

Mithya also boost of one of the finest actors of Hindi Cinema i.e. Naseerudin Shah, Vinay Pathak and Saurabh Shukla. In addition absence of any typical bollywood songs enhances the pace of the movie. But undoubtedly the movie belong to Ranvir Shorey from the begining to the end. The first half will make you laugh quite a few times and the second half isn't end either. In addition the ending of the movie isn't also filmy style but a bit realistic so be prepared for that .

A couple of scenes in the movie are quite fresh like the one in which goons are trying to take a photo of Ranvir Shorey earlier in the movie, or in the second half when Ranvir Shorey force in his own typical style the other party to sign the contract.

Hats off to Rajat Kapoor for producing such a gem of a movie and undoubtedly this is one of the best movies for me this year. Go Watch it.

Ipod Touch - Problems playing youtube videos (Speed is very Slow)

From India and from the past few days I have been unable to play youtube videos smoothly on my ipod touch (firmware 1.1.3) using the wifi network setup at my home. I have a 512k connection and using the same wifi network I am able to run videos smoothly from my desktop as well as the laptop.

In router log's I noticed that whenever we connect to youtube's video from laptop/desktop the following servers are hit

ash-v310.ash.youtube.com Source: 172.16.1.3 Friday, 22 Feb 2008 08:55:55
i.ytimg.com Source: 172.16.1.3 Friday, 22 Feb 2008 08:55:55
video-stats.video.google.com Source: 172.16.1.3 Friday, 22 Feb 2008 08:55:57


whereas in the case if ipod touch the following servers are connected

vp.video.google.com Source: 172.16.1.2 Friday, 22 Feb 2008 08:48:26
bffg.vp.video.l.google.com Source: 172.16.1.2 Friday, 22 Feb 2008 08:48:28

Ping to all the above 4 servers is ok with time < 400 ms.

Is anyone else also facing the same problem ? Any ideas what the issue could be ? Is there a problem with my ipod touch ?

Dying to see Jodha Akbar

As per the reviews of the premiere of Jodha Akbar,  http://www.rediff.com/movies/2008/feb/14jodhaa.htm   it sure is an awesome movie and with music by A.R. Rahman couldn't have had asked for anything more. Going to see the movie on Saturday... Yahooooooooo

Jodha Akbar's Music is Pure Magic

Movie - Jodha Akbar

Director - Ashutoush Gowariakar

Music Director - A.R. Rahman

Lyrics - Javed Akhtar
Audio Release- January 2008 (Finally :-) )

There is music in Bollywood and then there is music by A.R. Rahman in bollywood. In spite of being a complete bollywood buff the second kind of music is the one which I eagerly anticipate and going by A R Rahman's films in bollywood it's seldom more than an annual event. So how do I feel about JA's audio a couple of days after it's release ? Simply overwhelmed and the wait definitely has been worth it. So without adding further to the uncountable delays this audio already has been through, lets walk through with what the album has in store for us.

Track -1 , Azeem-O-Shaan Shahenshah - Bonnie Chakraborty, Mohamed Aslam

This was the first track to be aired with the promos of JA. To put it in simple words this is one of the those huge tracks with which ARR cannot go wrong. The feel of this track is huge from the word go. The strong beats and the various instruments played in the track adds to the feel and the whole momentum of this song. My guess is that if picturized correctly this may well become one of the most popular songs after the release of the song. Bonnie and Mohamed Aslam have also done a good job in the song.

Rating 7.5/10

Track -2 , Jashn-E-Bahaaraa - Javed Ali

This is definitely the pick of the album after a couple of listening. This is one of those sweet melodious song with which starts growing from the first hear itself. Javed Ali's voice perfectly matches the song though it has a striking resemblance to Sonu Nigam's voice. The use of instruments esp. the guitar has been done beautifully. Watch out for this song at the top of the charts (If it's already not there).

Rating 9/10

Track - 3 , Khwaja Mere Khwaja - A. R. Rahman

"Maa Tujhe Salaam","Dil se re...", "Lukka Chuppi", "Khalbali", " Jaage Hain..'," Tere Bina"," Pray For me Brother", "One Love"..We definitely need to add "Khwaja Mere Khwaja" to this list. A.R. Rahman adding voice to his music is nothing short of magic and he dosen't disappoint this time either. The song from the word go is awesome and translates us to a whole new world. This may not turn out to be one of the most popular songs of the album , but for me no other singer could have done justice to this song the way A.R. Rahman has done.

Rating 9/10

Track - 4 , Inn Lamhon Ke Daaman Mein- Madhushree, Sonu Nigam

Another soft number to the album in which grows on you after a couple of listening. Sonu Nigam has lend his great vocals to the song. The lyrics are great and this is one those "black horses" kind of song which would be on your lips after a couple of weeks of music's release. Watch out for this.

Rating 8/10

Track - 5 , Mann Mohanaa- Bela Shende

This as per me is the weakest link of the whole album . This looks like a purely situational song which we would probably be able to appreciate after the movie's release. This songs sounds similar to the likes of "pal pal hain bhaari" and "O Paalan Haare" which obvioulsy were masterpieces but took time to be appreciated. Bela has a soothing voice which definitely blends with the mood of the song.

Rating 7/10

Add a couple of instrumentals to the above list, for the songs "Khwaja Mere Khawaja" and "Jashn e bahara" and you have a great album for your collection. This one is definitely recommended.

Album Rating - 8/10