Where is Yash Chopra?

Shwaas is India's entry to the Oscars this year. But can it win?

The answer lies not in whether the movie is good or bad (several bad movies have won Oscars), but whether it can raise enough money to get noticed. Initially, the major hindrance was getting money to include sub-titles. The next hurdle is getting people to watch the movie, which is done through FYC (For Your Consideration) ads in American newspapers and magazines. And for that they need money. Lots of it.

So while Bal Thackeray, Amitabh Bachchan and Sunil Dutt, among others have donated money for the campaign, where are those film industry wallahs who make money by the truckloads? Yash Chopra, Karan Johar, Bharat Shah, and the other bigshot producers?

Just because it's not "their kinda" film, perhaps they've decided to ignore it.
I tell them- get a grip, Messrs. Producers. Because movies like DDLJ (much as I loved it) and Aitraaz (even though it's a surprise hit) will never make it to the Oscars.

No wonder IFFI was flooded with bad movies like Alexander and Vanity Fair.

Is that good or bad?

It's that time of the year again. When people begin to decide what they liked the most- with respect to movies, music, books, parties etc. The Guardian has put up a poll on the Best Films of 2004. No surprises on the shortlist. And then I clicked on a link which took me to a poll of the Worst Films of 2004.

Believe it or not, there are a couple of films present on both lists. Those films are: Fahrenheit 9/11 and Lost in Translation.

I thought the Americans were a confused lot. Perhaps the Britons are confused as well.

The Real Terrorist

Warren Anderson is responsible for the deaths of thousands of people. Yet he remains a free man.

I was just a month old when Bhopal lost its soul and people. But after reading It was Five Past Midnight in Bhopal I could almost see it happening.

Twenty years hence, people are still sufferig from the after-effects. Justice, anyone?

Even I want one!

I want my own TV, PC and telephone. So does almost everyone else. So one enterprising and intelligent Indian at a US university (where else?) has come up with the concept of a PCtvt. That's a PC, TV and telephone all-in-one! The chap has aimed it at the poor people of rural India, but hey, I wouldn't mind owning a PCtvt.

Here's the dope. But in the (true) nature of BBC, the first paragraph is condescending.

Real Awards

Award for most Religious TV serial: Kasauti Zindagi Kay (Mom counted at least five aartis/poojas in less than 10 episodes.

Award for Best Movie (Drama): Uma's Suspension (starring Uma Bharti, LK Advani, with Atal Behari Vajpayee in a supporting role)

Award for Best Dialogue: Kanchi Shankaracharya (for "Am I Veerappan?")

Award for Best Action: BCCI-Clive Lloyd-ICC (over Sourav Ganguly's two-match ban)

Award for Best PR campaign: 'Bad Pitch in Mumbai'

Award for Unoriginality: India's Best- Cinestars ki Khoj, Indian Idol, and all the other 'talent' hunts in the country right now

Award for Best Idea: Newly-married guy selling his wife for a night in a game of cards (nope, not Mahabharata, but one of the K-serials)

Award for Most Popular Event on TV: Reincarnation

Award for Idiot of the Year: We all know who...