Confessions of a Born Spectator

'Lola Runs' as the name directly translates to, is a German action-packed riveting film. I can surely place it on Numero Uno in terms of intelligent film making. The film explores a fragment of 20 minutes of Lola's and her boyfriend's life (a small time crook) as three alternatives. It teaches you the lesson that, you are what you are because of the choices you've made. The film is an excellent take on "what if's" and "what could be's" as it portrays the possibilities that can arise out of choices very smartly. The film consists of 3 Runs (as we can call it) which show Lola (and her boyfriend) trying to make a 100000 marks (which Manni, the boyfriend lost a while ago on a train) in 20 mintues, each time experimenting with a different alternative. The first two Runs shows failure in the end, with one of the principle characters dying, whereas the third run gives a very fresh and cinematic look to the film, where they come out of these 20...

This movie is the story of three friends: Gonzalo, Silvana and Machuca himself who belong to different social classes and observe the oppressive military coup which was fabricated to overthrow the first socialist president democratically elected in a Latin-American country, President Salvador Allende. This impressive, politically powerful and accurate, touching tale of friendship is one of my all-time favourite movies. The portrayal of emotional attachment between friends in the backdrop of a school, in which the Father (priest) tries to bring children from different social classes together, in the platform of education is truly fantastic. The director has done a real great job in capturing the immense potential of the script and has presented us a visually delightful movie which according to many, is the best Chilean movie ever-made. Casting is truly great as the actors (whom I've never seen before or after) have done a great job in coherently putting forward this realistic piece-...

I think, I watched this movie on Star Movies for the first time and if I'm not getting it wrong, it was a English dubbed version. Today I decided to watch this Majid Majidi master-piece again, after about 6 years (this time in Persian, with English subtitles) and am not able to contain myself from commenting. My limited vocabulary fails me to praise this marvelous piece of film-making. Majid Majidi captures a strata of Iranian lifestyle in a very heart-warming way using Ali as the central character. The simplistic nature, excellent acting by the complete star cast (including Ali's father), the premise of the story and the capturing plot can keep anyone glued to the seat for an hour and a half easily. One can always discover the marvels of photography and portrayal of life through this wonderful movie. The story revolves around a pair of lost sneakers and Ali's journey to get a new pair for her sister. In this movie, the sweetness and innocence of childhood is so effectively...

Rock music, as the name suggests, is there to shake your inners and make you stand up on your feet to its beats. It is the most popular form of English music and has been around for more than half a century now. The huge popularity as well as extreme condemnation of Rock music is due to some pretty hard-hitting reasons. Actually, Rock confronts, what we rather ignore, It celebrates, what we often deny and It indulges in, what we fear most. We can trace the roots of Rock music to the early 1950’s Rock n’ Roll, Blues, Rocabilly and Country music influences. The diversification of Rock started from the 1960’s and as a result of constant fusion and hybridization with other forms of music, many new genres and sub-genres have evolved. Rock songs boast a prominent vocal melody which revolves around the guitar and is accompanied by a strong back-beat. Primarily, a guitar, drums and bass act as the musical instruments. In some styles though, use of key-boards, violin, flute, banjo e...

This is the only write-up that I managed to get published in my school magazine. Written about 3 years back, this is my first try on fictional grounds. 1 st January 2010, Darjeeling , 11:20 PM (IST) It was a bright sunny morning of the very first day of 2010. The Mt. Kanchenjungha reflected the rays of the morning sun and its glorious pink colour just startled me. I was strolling down the Mall after completing my job at Kalimpong yesterday. I am around here for some days to collect information regarding ‘Orchids of Kalimpong’ for my magazine ‘Science and Universe’. Being the chief editor and a man of astrophysics I often try to fill in the pages covering wide spectrum of science. Another reason for being here was to relax and experience the shivers (now I would rather call it obnoxious) up here in January. Finally I reached ‘Glenaries’ for breaking my fast. After having some hotdogs and chocolates I was scanning the morning paper while my Mobile rang. T...

I wrote this article after reading something on this topic in a monthly magazine about 3 years back. This is the the original write-up without any modifications. COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES HAD ALREADY SHRUNK THE WORLD. BY FURTHER ELIMINATING THE DISTANCE, TECHNOLOGY OF VIRTUAL REALITY HAS OPENED UP NUMEROUS EXCITING POSSIBLITIES OF DEVELOPMENT OF THE HUMAN RACE. Virtual Reality as the name suggests is something that is apparent but is ‘extremely experienced’. It is also termed as ‘tele-presence’ (i.e. perception of actual presence) by some scientists. Virtual Reality was first used in aircraft industry for training pilots using flight simulators almost 50 years ago. Student pilots learned how to manoeuvre airplanes by manipulating controls in specially built cockpits (which actually were removed from airplanes and placed on movable platforms). These were then controlled by the student pilots to learn to control an airplane. Nowadays, it is possible to have dinner with a friend sitting ...