Tweeter Heater

Twitter is no more just a social networking site. It is almost like the Venus Flytrap, it looks so beautiful from the outset and if you are not cautious, then you might just end up losing more than just your face.

Two gentlemen in the name of: Shashi Tharoor and Lalit Modi, got to know this in a very crude manner. The Mr Devil-May-Care Twitter, aka Shashi Tharoor, had his flings with the wrong side of tweeting a long time, but then he tried to go a bit too far, when he tried to get IPL-icious. But we should also credit the man for the words that he has given to the oxford dictionary: Cattle Class, Herd Mentality, etc. I think the UPA govt was a bit more patient with him, unlike his other Karmic Brother, with whom BCCI was not very paly with. So the other Karmic Brother: Mr IPL, aka Lalit Modi, himself was also not far behind and when he divulged a bit more than he should have on the tweet, which he forgot was a social networking site and was, probably, thinking aloud. His super bosses decided to give him GPL (kick in the ass, the desi style)., nothing to do with GPI.

So thus the mighty fall.

Moral of the story: Mind your words and Twitter will definitely be sweeter.

I hope Mr SRK and Aamir are listening...

3 Idiots and A wronged Writer!!!

INSPIRED BY VIR SHANGVI's COUNTERPOINT, HT

Starring:

Aamir Khan, Rajkumar Hirani and Vidhu Vinod Chopra as 3 Idiots
Chetan Bhagat as Wronged Writer

3 Idiots is a wonderful movie and I am in awe of Aamir Khan when I saw the movie. But it has left a bad taste post the credit-fiasco it ran into, with Chetan Bhagat claiming that he has not been duly credited by the producers of the movie.

The story so far....

The movie 3 Idiots is released with no opening credits to Chetan Bhagat or his book 'Five Point Someone: What Not To Do at IIT', though it finds a mention in the closing one. Chetan chooses to make his outburst public and comes out cursing the producers of the movie. The Producers and Aamir Khan (Actor), then comes out all fuming against the writer in a news conference, citing the movie is partly inspired by the book and was made a movie largely due to the creative inputs by Hirani and Joshi (the writers of the movie) and Chetan's book was not a script/screenplay material and needed a lot of working. Some bad blood is drawn, some publicity is surely ensured. So the cash register would be ringing a little more, if it has not already done an overtime. For those who are not aware of an opening credit, it is the credits shown at the beginning of the movie.

Now who is to decide how much did the movie actually inspired and how much was invented. Or for that matter would there have been a movie without this book in the first place. Did Chetan handle the situation in the right way?

I am not here to take sides or colour the much talked about episode in black and white. But all I want to say is that the matter has not been handled with class by either party. Slumdog Millionaire played around the storyline and still credited Vikas Swarup. It didn’t cut the profits that the movie made. Neither, would the bottomlines for 3 Idiots would have been impacted by this act.
Vidhu Vinod Chopra has been a volatile person, in career and in character. So when we see him making movie like Parinda, he also came up with a cropper like Eklavya. His outburst at the news conference in Noida, was uncalled for.
I even don’t understand Chetan Bhagat’s outburst, couldn’t this have been handled with elegance, which I am sure he doesn’t lack with.
The only hindrance that bollywood is facing in its path to become world’s most successful film industry is lack of good writers. It would stay forever if we don’t give the due credit.
I would like to mention VIshal Bharadwaj’s name here. In his movie Kaminey, the opening credits were given to Cajetan Boy’s short story Koho. However, those who have read the story would understand the story has been completely changed and been handled in a completely different way than Boy had done in his novel. But Vishal certainly rose above the rest when he credited Boy.
I think we need to understand that the fiasco has been blown out of the proportion and should have been ended with a short apology from the Producers or inclusion of Chetan Bhagat’s name in the credit.

Guys please grow up!!!

P.S.: Hope Mr Sanghvi doesn't make a noise over this... I have tried to credit him duly..

Politically- (in)Correct

As we draw close to one of the most impact making summers of Indian political history, we are now quite sure that a certain person called Mr. Ma’am-Mohan Singh… I mean Mr Manmohan Singh is going to be taking the reins in her… oops I did it again… his hand. So we are looking at a Congress led UPA Govt. As all the hoopla over the UP going to BJP settle down, and Congress lauds the effort of their God-Son, Mr. Rahul Gandhi (naam to suna hi hoga) we are definitely looking at a election that makes me feel that not only have we grown as a democracy but also evolved. Beyond the realms of cast voting (take for example Mayawati in UP) and religion. Of course, we have not thrown them out of the window for good, but of course we have made a move. So as the NDA strongly hopes and prays that the initial trends take a u-turn and the Left with no hopes 'left' are cooling heels, UPA is probably having the last laugh, with everything going right for them, starting with the Jay Ho! campaign, deciding not to align with anyone in UP and even allowing Ma'am Mohan to be vocal (locking horns with L.K. Advani). So Mr Advani now needs to look at making post poll alliances and bend more than his back, if he wants to realise his dream of making it to the PM seat this time...
One of the most heartening thing for me in this election was the 44% turn up in places like Kashmir. But equally saddening thing was the low turn out, even after a lot of campaign, in bigger cities like Mumbai. As I flip windows, between work, blog, TOI site and poll results: a much clearer look of the Lok Sabha emerges with every passing minute.

On behalf of all of India, I would pray for a stable, sensible and effective Govt that sails us through these trying times of global recession and economic slowdown.

Jaye Ho!