Tuning Into 'Bobby Long'

I know you rock music lovers who are crazy about their collection, will show off their taste ranging from the good old Led Zeppelin to contemporary skull-crushing Rammstein. Then there’ll be others who will invite you to check out their special vintage collection comprising of artists like Dean Martin and Kishore Kumar. Such people may even be proud to share trivia like how Amitabh Bachchan's character ended up having the name Anthony Gonsalves in the movie Amar Akbar Anthony. Incidentally, the name was given as a tribute to Mr. Gonsalves by the film’s most popular Bollywood composer duo Laxmikant-Pyarelal. (Anthony Gonsalves was Pyarelal’s music teacher from Goa.)

No matter what genre of music you enjoy listening to, the music album of Love Song for Bobby Long, in my opinion, is a must have in your collection. It’s not an album that you can boast about in the public. Honestly, it doesn’t even consist of artists that are as famous as your ‘favorite’ Britney Spears or Michael Jackson. But, I would still strongly recommend this album for its sheer musical simplicity and beautifully written lyrics.

The album goes with every mood and under any circumstance (even if you are sweating and traveling in a crowded bus. Or, even worse, spending a night in your house when there’s no electrical power; shit scared and shivering due to the freezing temperature on Christmas). Whether you are straight, gay, lesbian; in love or heart broken, you can still listen to the album at any time of the day and for every reason. All you need is love for music; and if you appreciate good stuff, you will surely listen to this one not just once, but over and over again.

Priyanka ki ma* bah** ki 2008 ne

Priyanka Chopra’s Flopped Story 2008

Nikhil Advani's ensemble piece, Salaam-e-Ishq: was Priyanka Chopra's first release in the previous year. That filmed bombed. Her next release, Big Brother was also a disaster. And this year, I felt like giving her a tight slap on her face for all her releases including for Fashion and Dostana. She is an utter disaster and it’s best for her to go back to where she came from. Madam of the ‘World’, you don’t deserve to be an actress even though you had all the opportunities to save your stand in the Hindi Film Industry. Your talent is so full of shit that it has become unbearable for us to breathe in the cinema halls and in front of our television.

Love Story 2050

- Well the movie is a bad copy of a lot of English movies. Major portion has been ripped off The Time machine. Frankly, its one of the worst movies I have seen this year. She overacts as if she is a soft, chui-mui, princess with ridiculous hair-do (red), fashion faux pas and weird verbose. She's already tasted success with Krrish (in the sci-fi genre) and thinks she's made for this. Well, to tell you the truth Miss Chopra – it’s terrible...

God Tussi Great Ho!

– OMFG….That’s it…That’s all I have to say about this crap. This film is a complete copy of Bruce Almighty and is very very bad. Priyanka hope God saves you in the coming year 2009.

Chamku

– This movie had Priyanka Chopra doing absolutely nothing much other than being Bobby Deol's love interest and play a goody-goody teacher. Wow! What a role? Mind Blowing!

Drona

- Drona is easily one of the worst movies in Indian history. She acts like a zombie in the film. Of course, there’s one thing that I can appreciate about the film, Priyanka can start a fitness regime and give some tips to our super-dumb hefty hero – Abhishek Bachan. He seriously needs one.

Fashion

– From rags to riches; also going through a marital affair, sex, drugs, booze, bitching and being awfully racist after sleeping with a black guy. All this has certainly helped Miss Chopra gain an instant success with not so Khicddi waala film by Madhur Bhandakar. Too bad, her beau, Harman Baweja, will have to apply the same tactics for the sequel as well. Fashion, to me, it was another rubbish- twisted film. Not worth watching for even once. Uff, Spare me the horror, girl.

Dostana

– This is a story of two guys (one is underdressed and the other is overdressed), a dim-witted woman and a pretentious gay story. Priyanka does another terrible improvisation in the film again – by adding her ‘Oomph’ quotient.

Priyanka Chopra looked really bad in the film. Even, if she was wearing that so-called bikini while walking on the beach. This Nature’s Mistake was certainly a torture for the viewers. She looked cheaper than the cheapest slut and uglier than the ugliest tramp in that Desi Girl song with her shimmering sari tucked between her boobies.

After all this, I bet Priyanka Chopra can’t wait to get out of 2008. I think what’s best for would be to take an exit from the Bollywood and never return, thus sparing us from watching you do all those mindless acts I’ll surely be the first one to give you a hearty farewell treat. It’ll be a much awaited honor for me to do that for someone special like you.

Step Up: Dancing All the Way

I would believe only in a God that knows how to dance. ~Friedrich Nietzsche~

It’s been only four months since I have been learning Street Jazz with Ashley Lobo, but it had been a long time since I realized that dancing comes naturally to me. After going through various stage performances, choreographing numerous dance shows and winning accolades and prizes in scores of competitions in school and college, I always knew at the back of my head that dance was special to me. Unfortunately, none of this - prizes and praise mattered to me because it wasn’t enough for me. That’s because I wanted to do more; it’s like the saying, “Dancing with the feet is one thing, but dancing with the heart is another.” I was relentless and desperate to learn more that would make me happy.

Years ago, I had joined Bharatnayam. One day, there was this Annual Day where I had performed on stage (I can’t remember the song, but it was surely some bird dance that I had to perform on). That’s when my father felt that I had something in me and should move further to improve. That’s when he made me join Bharatnayam. I learnt a lot of stuff from this classical dance like making movements with my eyes, hands and head. Another thing that I imbibed while learning Bharatnayam was the importance of having grace as one of the basic foundation required to be a good dancer. Sadly, I couldn’t continue with it. My father was transferred from Mumbai to Jammu. After that, I never had the chance to go back to Bharatnayam.

Now that I have joined street jazz classes that has a bit of hip- hop and other crazy moves, those Bharatnayam movements and all that grace that I had learnt during those days wouldn’t easily be forgotten. It’s a lesson that I’ll treasure it for long. However, dancing in the Danceworx (Ashley Lobo) is a lot more fun than learning Bharatnayam.

My dance instructor is really supportive. I remember this one time where she had spent a good 15 minutes talking to me after our stage performance got over. She was pretty much pleased by the way I had danced that day on the stage in the group choreography, except that I wasn’t going easy on myself. She even mentioned to me that it’s not necessary to perfect each step. Messing up the steps looks cooler and hip. What’s more important is to remember to keep up with the attitude, because that’ll grasp the audience’s attention more than anything else. Face expression, eye movements, grace, attitude etc are some of the secret ingredients that’ll surely help enhance my dance. It is extremely important to be in the zone than go off the beat and dance like a stupid person.

When I see films like Save the Last Dance I & II, Centre Stage, Honey and other films, it gives me an inner sense of encouragement and inspires me to do more and excel in it. It’s like how Constanze puts it, “Dancing is like dreaming with your feet”. The song “What a Feeling” from the film Flashdance says it all, when passion and dance mingles; it gives an amazing sense of being yourself.

What a feeling.

Bein's believin'.

I can have it all, now I'm dancing for my life.
Take your passion

and make it happen.

Pictures come alive, you can dance right through your life.