Ra.One - Is it the beginning of the end of SRK?

Thanks to the neighbors, we ended up watching Ra.One on Saturday (free tickets).

We were literally scared of being caught by ppl we knew (esp Salman khan fans) and being branded as "u 2 Brutus" as we were/are one of the leading SRK bashers post Kal-ho-na-ho... with the exception being "Chak De India".

Landing in a theater in shorts (for me) and skirt (for Pushpa) in the midst of uncles, aunties decked up in Kanjeevaram sarees , over the top salwar suits and bachha log- contributing to the cacophony, after a dinner of not so good Sichuan food almost made us sick. Not to forget we are always wary of 3-D movies after the Avataar experience at iMax (this is not Apple's isn't it?)couple of year's ago.

We literally prayed for a quick start and hopefully a swift end to the movie.. we were making plans as to what time we should leave the hall and had an agreement anytime after 30mins, if the movie went horribly wrong was appropriate.

I was desperately hoping we will have some good peek-a-boo at the upcoming movies so that it was worth the Sichuanese food we spent on (tickets were free remember). But alas, the screen lit up to Ra-One and the numerous "thank you" notes and media partner lists.. sickness increases..

And then SRK starts as Lucifer with some cliched jokes - iski lee, uski lee and sabki lee, but it works and surprisingly we sit through the first half without much issues.. below is the list as to what works and what doesn't in the first half

Does Not Works

SRK as Lucifer Some jokes

SRK as a Tamilian The kiddo

SRK in general Kareena Kapoor in a cut Roberto Cavalli dress

Sanjay Dutt & PC SRK dying - what a relief

The Rays Crap The Chinese chap

Dilip Tahil The R-One vs G-One fight sequence

Spaghetti and yogurt

blah blah blah

both of us nod that first half relatively went in a breeze and we agree to continue .. and this is where we make the mistake ..and probably the writers, directors of the movie as well... in the second half , two things work in every category

songs - chammak challo and dil dara.. and only because of Kareena

actos - arjun rampal and kareena , especially her under Ra-Ones influence.. she should take up some vamp role..

rest all, including superstar Rajini:( and the climax are a waste of time.. especially Mr. Satish Shah..

looks like initially Ra-one started out to please the kids, but then SRK wants to get to uncles, aunties, girls, boys, straight, gays, lesbians, south indians, north indians, auto drivers, it folks, so on and so forth which ends exactly like "spaghetti and curd" concept.. surprisingly the animal kingdom is let un-touched.. due you have missed a cat/dog in the movie..

also he wants to please by having terminator, spider man, iron man, torn, hulk and blah blah blah all in one single movie.. as he knows this is his last opportunity to do so..

on a whole .. if you reserve 5-stars for rating and split it between the first half and second half.. you can award 1.5-2 for the first half and anywhere from 0.5 - 1 star for the second half.. giving it a total of 2 to 3 stars..

after watching bodyguard and Singham, certainly feel this one is not the crappiest movie to reach 100 crores this year.. seriously do not know if we felt this way because we had ultra-low expectation and also that we did not spend HKD 200 on the movie ticket.. after all it might not be paisa vasool..

whatever SRK has got from the endorsements, cable, and other rights .. he will probably take a loss... looks like distributors will probably take a loss too.. and this will certainly reduce SRK's clout...

its a steep hill for the self-crowned King Khan to climb back.. and i dont think switching gears to Don-2 will work either.. Farhan akhtar will be cursing SRK as to why he had to release Ra One..

ps: i cannot go through the blog again and re-correct myself.. its too much of a pain..

I have just lost the interest to work today. Some days (esp. yday and today, it is just not me). Very bored. Reminds me of those lull days. Third time happening in my life....Reminds me how a careless mistake can cause big misunderstandings. Really bad days.

Hope things will be right soon. Nothing much to say.

Buddhist temple near QindaoHu

A lake.

An island on the lake. A tall mountain on the island.

Stone steps more than 1000 years old. A hard climb. First we see a stone hand sculpted with a Shanka and Chakra. We go higher up the mountain. A flower garden. A pond with gold fish with clear water. And some lotus. Even more higher. We see statue of the Laughing Buddha - He must have been a buddhist monk. Go further, you see a peach tree with pink flowers and then Buddha smiles.

Beautifully maintained temple. Spiritual. It was so silent and a very wonderful experience.

The Art of War

The art of war is an ancient Chinese military book from a Chinese military general called Sun Tzu. Although the book is about military strategies, it has found applications in the modern business strategies. The book is engrossing and free available on the web. You can read it in your free time.

Probably Sun Tzu was like Chanakya.

By the way, I am randomly playing a song from a Norwegian band. Ok, one of the rare Scandinavian bands which does not sound heavy at all. Sounds like a modern beatles song. I highly recommend this song.

Your girl from KakkMaddaFakka (the name is an onomatopoeia for ...well...)