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