Sholay producer GP Sippy dies...

If one was to ask a 100 Indians to name one Bollywood film amongst the millions released in the last 80 years or so, one name will dominate the poll – Sholay.

The movie was released in 1975 – and no one knew then how big a legend was being born. Everything in the movie came together perfectly. It broke all previous records and in real terms no Bollywood movie has ever come close in over 30 years.

Numerous movies still have references to the characters, dialogues and scenes of the movie. I am one of the die-hard fans who has an original 1975 poster of the movie adorning a wall in my house.

I recently saw the re-make of Sholay - RGV Ki Aag. All I can hope is that GP Sippy did not see it. I sincerely request all Sholay fans to avoid the same at all costs.

Rating: *****+

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Finally (still fingers crossed...)

I was a bit harsh on Allen Carr three months ago when I claimed that their therapy did not work. It certainly did - though it had a delayed reaction (on me). I did smoke for another day before I kicked the addiction in September.

It's been three months now and I have not smoked a single cigarette (or cigar or pipe or...). The fact that smoking has been totally banned in England in bars, pubs & restaurants helps.

On a recent trip to Morocco - I had everyone smoking around me in enclosed places (there is no smoking ban there), but I did not feel the need to light up at all.

I have succeeded, this time (I think). So for all those who really want to quit smoking, may I recommend the Allen Carr method. If it is not available in your country, please read the book. It helps.

10 years later....

We owned our first classic car in Chennai, India. It was a Morris 8 (1948 model), but due to our move to Mumbai (then Bombay), we had to sell it in 1997.

10 years later, we will soon be owners of the blue MG Midget (1967 model). We will be getting the delivery of the car after Christmas... I will post more pictures once we get it home in London...

Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech 2005

Amazing speech...

...and the Oscar for the best orginal script of 2007 goes to...

..The Darwin Conspiracy.

If I had read this in a fiction, I would not shunned it as too imaginative.

"March 2002: A man vanished in the sea and his canoe was found after weeks of police search. As the body wasn't found an inquest declared him dead in 2003. His wife claimed insurance.

Nov 2007: The man (John Darwin) walked into a London police station and says: "I think I am a missing person" and claimed he does not remember anything after a family holiday since 2000 (A case of complete amnesia!) The police contacted his family, only to find that his wife (Anne) had sold off all their UK properties just 6 weeks back and emigrated to Panama.

As the story unfolded, the police discovered the whole fraud. It was planned from the very beginning - the vanishing, the insurance claims, the move to Panama....

Mr Darwin has been charged, while Mrs Darwin is still not back from Panama (she is selling her story to every tabloid in town before she gets arrested)

I am still not convinced that the story is complete...there is definitely more to it. Let's wait for Anne Darwin's arrest.

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Script: **********

Does someone care what the consumer wants?

I own a Nokia N95 mobile phone, which is the the most technologically advanced phone I've ever had. It's a phone, a computer with wifi, a mp3 player, a 5mp camera with flash with a a memory card (available up to 8GB today).

As I mentioned in one of my blogs, I have a wifi network set up at home and I wanted my N95 to connect to the wifi network and access the hard drive (containing all my music files). But it would not access the external hard drive for some reason - either the two platforms are different or N95 does not behave like a host. Imagine if I could access my music library through my phone - my N95 would become a remote control for the whole music at home (see Picture)

May be I am imagining - but isn't it what every consumer would want?

Om Shanti Om

A wicked spoof on 70's Bollywood. To fully appreciate, you should have seen Bollywood movies of the 70's or you will not catch the satire. It has every possible masala you can imagine in a movie - romance, song & dance, reincarnation, action, comedy...

Shah Rukh Khan has done an amazing job. So has the newcomer Deepika.

Hat's off - making a spoof is easy, but to make it the biggest earner for Bollywood (of all times) is another thing.

Can I see it again? Of course, I WILL see it again...

*****

Click here for teaser