Category Archives: india
Bollywood For Discerning Minds – Part Deux
Here then is my second installment of entertainers, and even some gems, from Bollywood in the categories that I had created.
(As expected, I’ve merged my previous #2 and #3 into the second category below).
Unadulterated Bollywood:
- Jab We Met (2007) – See it for Geet played by Kareena Kapoor. Romantic drama with comedic moments in a pucca Punjabi family. One of those entertainers that can be seen and enjoyed more than just once. As a bonus, there’s great music, dancing and a cute hero too.
- Ghajini (2008) – an Aamir Khan spectacle that just works; remade from a South Indian hit film. Has a little bit of everything – romance, action, drama….and of course, Aamir.
- Veer Zara (2004) – a glorious romance between a Hindu and Muslim crossing the Indo-Pakistan border with relish. Told with all the colorful, extravagant and musical trappings of a Yash Chopra movie.
- 3 Idiots (2010) – I thought it was overrated and over-hyped but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t worth a watch. It does have a unique story, good dialog, 45 year old Aamir actually looking like a college kid (collagen fillers work wonders!), good music, comedy and drama (a bit much).
- Dil Chahta Hai (2001) – The tale of three young men, their friendship, their relationships and their life. One of these really well-thought through scripts acted and directed brilliantly. Another gem with Aamir. I could watch it again today and be entertained.
Innovative (maybe even Groundbreaking) or Art House:
- Stanley Ka Dabba (2011) – breaking new ground for sure, this wonderful gem made by Amol Gupte is a charming and heart-wrenching story of Stanley and his missing lunch box. New this year and not to be missed. All the little actors – Stanley and his buddies – are naturals. Kudos to Mr. Gupte who is also one of the main characters as the baddie in the film.
- Shor in the City (2011) – a look at the small time criminals in Mumbai with parallel stories made even more interesting because of the direction, actors and tight plot. Watch it for Sendhil (wow!), the supporting cast and great music. One of the few good movies this year, and a surprise to boot.
- A Wednesday (2008) – Rage against terrorism! And about what we do to bring justice to terrorists. Naseeruddin Shah is simply awesome (is he ever anything else?) in this awesome movie. Did you say you have not watched it? Shame!
- Rang De Basanti (2006) – what a unique movie that juxtaposes the modern (corrupt) India with scenes from fight for Independence from the British Raj. Very innovatively shot. Great screenplay, acting, music and direction!
- Aamir (2008) – Scenes of the Mumbai underworld in terrifying realism, this fast-paced movie takes a newly arrived UK doc from Mumbai airport through the most terrible back alleys of Mumbai, all the way to a surprising finish.
- Omkara (2006) – Shakespear’s Othello re-done but set in, of all places, Uttar Pradesh. Fantastic film and performances, created by India’s most prolific director and all-rounder – also a writer, producer, musician and singer, Vishal Bhardwaj. It seems there’s nothing he can’t do!
Aamir Khan at Berlin Film Festival 2011 (Why not, with so many of his films listed here?)
2. Innovative (maybe even Groundbreaking) or Art House – a first or near-first for Bollywood or an art film -which is typically a serious, independently made movie for a niche rather than mass audience.
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Yoga: The Magic of Surya Namaskar
Surya Namaskar means Sun Salutation and it is one of the most comprehensive of yoga asanas. It consists of a series of twelve separate asanas or postures (an advanced variation can be done with 16 or 18 steps) and it truly works every muscle in the body. Made more famous recently in India by Bollywood actors who use it to maintain their girlish figures, it has caught on as a healthy weight loss strategy.
I’m glad to have taken advantage of one of the benefits of living in India – learning yoga, which I have been doing for the past 3 months. Not that you can’t do the same elsewhere, such as in the U.S., where yoga’s popularity continues to soar. But the really cool benefit is that I can (afford to) have a personal yoga teacher who comes home three mornings a week to teach it. With this, I can get a personalized training session with individual attention paid where it is most needed – like all over, in my special case.
When I did my first surya namaskar, I thought I would die. And, I didn’t even do it correctly! Now, I have advanced to three “sets” – three surya namaskars where I repeat postures # 6,7,8 ten times each, for a total of 30 repeats. I still don’t do every posture correctly but there is undoubtedly a huge improvement in the state of my body. (And my mind). I can feel every darn muscle in my body str….etch….ing!
Here’s a great pictorial article of the 12 different postures – check it out so you can get an idea of what I am blabbering about. No doubt about it,I think it’s an amazing all-over body experience (that sometimes feels like an out-of-body experience!).
And to give you an idea of what muscles are worked during these various postures, here is a sampling of some of the postures (#6 which is not pictured below but is in the article above, is the toughest nut to crack!):
Posture #3
Posture #5
Posture #7
Posture #8
There are several ways to get the best out of doing Surya Namaskars:
1. You can repeat the entire set of asanas several times (Size Zero Kareena Kapoor purportedly does 100 of them every day!)
2. You can repeat some of the postures (like my torture, I mean, yoga teacher, makes me do with #s 6,7,8 – the hardest ones, if you please). Several times.
3. You can hold each position for several seconds – 30, 45, 60…the more you can hold, the better the results. Duh.
All of these variations can work wonders for you – not just physically, but mentally too. Trust me.
I just wish I had started learning yoga in my childhood. However, I have also discovered that it’s never too late to start – based on the difference that a mere 3 months (that’s only 36 hours in all; three classes a week) have made.
You can’t underestimate the tremendous all-over benefits that you gain!
And of all the yoga you can ever do, I can safely say, Surya Namaskar is the most and the best – a tortuous but magical series of yoga postures that work everything. The yin and the yang. Give it a try, won’t you?
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Photos By http://theholisticcare.com [CC-BY-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
The Yin and Yang of Life Anywhere 