[Instrumentals] Gaata Rahe Mera Violin : Prabhakar Jog

Violin happens to be a favourite instrument of mine... no! I can't play it, but yes.. I love to listen. In India, it is not as commonly popular as other instruments.

Gaata Rahe Mera Violin by Prabhakar Jog would rank one of the best pieces available. The pack contains six CDs, each costing Rs.100/- if purchased individually. Out of six, four CDs are of Marathi songs and 2 are Hindi film instrumentals.

The CDs are good music companions for long stretches of lonely travels, or to listen to while working. Just push in a CD, and you find yourself humming a tune without getting distracted from the task at hand.

The only drawback I can say is, in Hindi songs, all are only of Lata Mangeshkar. No complaints about that, all the songs are my favourites; nevertheless, it would have been great to have an assortment of songs by Asha, Rafi, Kishore and Manna De as well.

[Music] Classical Songs from Films: HMV

HMV has a huge collection of melodies recorded during the Golden Era of Hindi Film music. No wonder that it keeps on churning out compilations of these songs in various categories. Recently, I chanced to have a valuable piece of the same.

Classical Songs from Films is a pack of 2 CDs, costing Rs. 250/-. A look at the contents is enough to justify the price. It has most of the popular favourites such as:

• Madhuban Me Radhika-Rafi
• Bole re papihara-Vani Jairam
• Ajahu Na aaye-Rafi/Suman
• Sawan aaye na aaye-Rafi/Asha
• Naino mein badra chhaye-Lata
• Rasik Balma-Lata
• Aayo Kahan Ghanashyaam-Manna De
• Puchcho na kaise maine-Manna De
• Biti na bitai raina-Lata
• Hume tumse pyar kitna-Parveen Sultana

It also has some songs that are quite unheard of... My personal favourites among these are:

• Ja Re Badra bairi ja: Lata
• Tere Naina Talaash Karein: Manna De
• Garjat Barsat Sawan Aayo Re: Suman
• Re mann sur mein gaa: Manna De-Asha
• Ketaki Gulab Juhi: Manna De-Bhimsen Joshi

As someone who has grown on MP3s, buying this pack was in itself was a major milestone for me. Indeed, why buy 25 songs for Rs. 250/- when you can get nearly 100-130 songs for something like 30/-? However, since I have been harping a lot about protecting my own IPR (An Open Letter to Forward Enthusiasts) , the realization has been that I must respect the same in others too! MP3s clearly do not achieve this. Moreover, an original CD definitely has much better sound quality!

Do get this pack in your collection. Nothing can match the pleasure of listening to "Ja re badra bairi ja" on a cloudy evening, or listening to Manna De and Asha Bhonsle match each other note for note in "Re mann sur me gaa"...

Welcome to G Reviewz!

Well, I scratched my head quite a lot to come up with a better, "heavy" title for the blog, but just couldn’t think of any... and so ended up with this. Come to think of it...Does it really matter?

Now, to what I shall be scribbling here... It would mostly be my thoughts and reactions towards books that I read, moviews that I watch, software applications that I use, places that I occasionally visit, so on and so forth...

Since these are "G-Reviews", they are entirely personal in nature. I make no claims of any authority on any of the topics I may venture to comment on.

Just a minute... did I just write "moviews"? I meant movies... Seems the strain of coming up with a suitable title is getting on my nerves. So I had better sign off for now, heh heh..

See you soon.

-GS.

07-07-07

[Biography] Einstein: His Life & Universe

Einstein: His Life & Universe
By Walter Isaacson

Few books have created the kind of excitement the way this biography has. I read a short review of it in Sunday Express about three weeks ago, got curious and looked for more reviews on Internet. To say that people have liked this book would be a gross underestimation. It has been hailed as one of the best biographies ever written. Here is what The New Yorker has to say about it:
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2007/04/02/070402crbo_books_updike

What makes it so special?First of all, it is the biography of one of the greatest geniuses of all times. Few people inspire the kind of awe that Einstein does. So much so, that the name Einstein itself has become something of a synonym for “genius”. And understandably so! Photoelectric effect, Brownian motion, Special Theory of Relativity, General Theory of Relativity... each of these would have been enough to put him among the greatest scientists. However, he never seemed to be complacent of his achievements. Even during his last days, he was working on the Grand Unified Theory, a theory that would bring together General Relativity & Quantum Theory.

The name Walter Isaacson is familiar to me because of his interview of Bill Gates for Reader's Digest about a decade ago. At that time, Gates was fresh from the spectacular success of Windows 95, and he was crushing the competition in a ruthless way. There were two extreme reactions towards him: people either worshipped him as a visionary out to transform the world or some evil genius set out to rule the world. Isaacson's interview of Gates brought out a humane side of him and showed us all was Bill was as human as all of us, just a bit more competitive.

I am very much looking forward to reading this biography of Einstein.

More about the book can be read here:
http://www.amazon.com/Einstein-Life-Universe-Walter-Isaacson/dp/0743264738

[Movie] Don

Well, I watched Don at City Pride-Kothrud (Pune) last Sunday, along with my brother and cousin brother. I had not seen any of its promos, still had some positive vibes, because this remake was being directed by Farhan Akhtar, whose earlier two movies Dil Chahta Hai and Lakshya are among my favourites.
...and he has indeed lived up to the expectations. His version of Don is as good as the original one. Here are my comments on the same....

Story/Script/Dialogues:Writing anything about the story would giving away the movie's USP. So suffice it to say that the story is different from the original one.
Most of famous dialogues from the original movie are retained: such as "Don ko pakaDna mushkil hi nahi, naamumkin hai" "yeh tum janti ho ki pistol khaali hai..." "Muze uske joote achche nahi lage...." etc.

Music/Songs:
Music is by Shankar-Ehsaaan-Loy and they have done a good turn by retaining the theme from the original. Songs have been kept to the bare minimum. "Main Hu Don" is rather good, and "Khaike Paan Banaaraswaala" has been made more zingy.
The song by Kareena Kapoor is more vulgar than sensuous. In fact, it is rather boring.

Cinematography:
Simply supperb! Almost entire movie is shot in Malaysia, and it is refreshing to see something other than the snow-clad mountains of Alps/Switzerland or the by-now familiar trio of Paris-London-New York. I guess this year more Indians would be visiting Malaysia than ever before.

Cast:
Apart from Shahrukh as Don, the star-cast consists of Boman Irani, Priyanka Chopra, Isha Koppikar and Arjun Rampal. Boman Irani is the best of the lot. It's a joy to watch his facial expressions and body language. He is certainly one of the most versatile actors we have today.
Priyanka Chopra seems to be modelling herself on Angelina-taai ( the one who was in Pune, not so long ago, along with Brad-bhau and Shiloh Nouvel-baaL).Isha Koppikar and Arjun Rampal do their roles rather well.But, the movie rests squarely on the shoulders of Shahrukh.... and let's admit it, the King Khan has certainly done a good job. His Don is more flamboyant, more flirtatious and.... well, much more cunning and ruthless. Of course, Shahrukh is yet to overcome his typical mannerisms, but they don't affect the don's character to a great extent.

Direction:
Full Marks to Farhan Akhtar. He has interpreted the classic in his own way, without damaging the original. This Don is more sophisticated ( uses a Compaq laptop and drives nothing less than a Mercedes), the film is a polished work of art and is edited in such a way that it picks up the pace gradually and then never slows.]

Do watch this movie.... it's full-too paisa wasool.
I am aware that there would be some who want to spoil the mood by comparing the remake with original and whining about Big B's acting etc... IMO, Amitabh's movie is certainly a classic but Shahrukh's Don is as good in its own right.