Awake...

What if you wake up someday and gradually find out that everyone is fast asleep and not willing to wake up?? Roads are deserted, no policemen, no criminals, no doctors, no one to turn to take help of… Initially, you may just smile at your freedom. That you can buy whatever you wish to without paying, you may not have to work, and you can do whatever you wanted to. But when you realize that only humans are the ones who have fallen asleep and not the animals and that they are marching towards your city, what will you do? Oh, on top of that, the animals start talking to you in your language…

That's what Awake-by Egan Yip is all about. While searching randomly for some e-book to download, I came across this novel. Found the preface exciting so downloaded it. For grownups, who likes to read thriller or biographies, this novel may look kiddish (it actually may be for children below 15 years of age, but I enjoy being in this category at times J ). While reading this novel, I was constantly imagining that an animation movie is going on in front of my eyes. I wonder if any animation movie has been made on this, if not, it's a good plot.

Anyways, it's a story of two teen boys (Kevin and Andrew) who realize on a morning that everyone around them has fallen asleep mysteriously and not waking up. On top of that, the cats and dogs reveal that the animals understand human language and they can talk also but only in case of emergency like this. Normally, they pretend not to understand or speak human language for various reasons (to avoid becoming witnesses in criminal cases, for example). They tell these kids that there is an organization of animals (HPC) to take charge of the situation and know the reason for this sleeping epidemic. They decide to go to the nearest town to understand the situation and on their quest, they meet few more humans, many other animals (friendly animals). All of them try to keep themselves awake to avoid falling prey to this epidemic. Meanwhile, wild animals, who hate humans to the core, have started pouring in the city to take back their land. Kevin and team lands up in an underground lab to find that a scientist was doing experiment on whether people can connect with each other in their dreams while sleeping. The experiment turned wrong and the result outspread throughout the world leading to this epidemic. But now the scientist has also gone to sleep and so he cannot suggest any remedy to the problem.

When the kids and HPC are searching for a possible solution, they are continuously attacked by forest animals, who are controlled by a dragon who wants to kill all humans to take revenge against them for killing his bread to extinction. At this point, initially the fight between forest animals and kids was going good but it was over stretched. They were confronted over and over again. At one point, I thought that the fight is over and they will get back to reveal the solution to this sleeping epidemic but they were again attacked. In case, someone decides to make a movie out of this novel, please cut short this part…

On going back to the lab, a robot has designed a machine to let Kevin go into Dreamland and urge other people to wake up and come out of their dream (the ideal life that they want to lead and that they can do only in their dreams so, no one wants to wake up and Kevin got to make them realize that they cannot forever live in dreams). They finally succeed in waking up everyone and everything comes back to normal, without others knowing about the adventurous and horrible endeavor of these kids. The wild animals are back in forest, the dragon is dead and other animals are back to using their animal language, except with these kids. I enjoyed reading it, except the over stretched part of animals fighting with the kids. CHEERS!!!

Kitne Aadmi The...

No need to even ask you to make a guess of which movie this dialogue belongs to. Every Indian (until and unless you have a language problem for Hindi) has seen this movie- Sholay. Some of you might have just seen the movie but most of us are in love with Sholay, including myself.

Recently read the book, Sholay- the making of a classic by Anupama Chopra. She did not tell the story of Sholay in this book, rather tells about what all went in to make this epic. Sholay in a way was a movie which changed the way movies were made in Bollywood. The white dhoti-black kurta-black teeka clad dakus were transformed into paint-shirt wearing ugly daku, sand-dunes were replaced by big boulders as the adda of these dakus, 70 mm print was introduced for the first time, was the first film in the history of Indian cinema to celebrate a silver jubilee (25 weeks) at over a hundred theaters across India, first time even the writers- Salim-Javed, got their name printed along-with the star cast of the film, first Hindi (and possibly Indian) movie to have a stereophonic soundtrack... Such a huge star-cast, stunt directors from foreign, huge budget, the size of the crew and set... everything was BIG.

Every dialogue, the background music, the characters, the songs, they are immortalized. Gabbar, Thakur, Jai-Veeru, Radha, Basanti, even the mare- Dhanno, Imam saheb, Ahmed, Soorma Bhopali, Angrezo ke zamane ka jailor, Ramlal, Sambha, Kaalia, Mausi are still remembered, irrespective of the fact that many of them appear on the screen very briefly. Like, Soorma Bhopali had just one scene. Sambha, surprisingly, had just one line to say in the entire movie- "poore pachaas hazar" (when Gabbar enquires the prize money police had announced for catching him). The cassettes of Dialogues of the movie were sold off more than the cassettes of songs only. Not many people know that Danny was chosen for the role of Gabbar prior to Amjad Khan. Due to problems with his dates, Amjad stepped into his shoes and since the beginning till the release of the film, everyone, baring few, had doubts about him. But ironically, Gabbar's popularity surpassed every other character of the movie.

For every small scene, lot of thought process went in. A whole new village had been set up for Ramgarh, at Ramanagaram, near Bangalore. Amitabh-Jaya got married, Jaya delivered their first child during the making of the movie and was again pregnant with Abhishek by the time film was ready for release. How Sanjeev Kumar was famous for his drinking habits, how Dharmendra-Hema affair kicked off and Dharmendra used to bribe the spot boys to make any careless mistake for his romantic scenes with Hema so that there would be more re-takes, that Sachin had done more than 60 films by that time as compared to few films done by Amitabh and that Amitabh had started considering him his senior (eventhough he was much younger than Amitabh)....

Trivia:

1) The director's original choice for Jaidev (Jai) too was different. Shatrughan Sinha was almost  signed, when Dharmendra convinced the producers that Amitabh would be the right choice.

2) The producers wanted Danny Denzongpa to play the bandit chief, but he was committed to Feroz Khan's "Dharmatma". Amjad Khan was a second choice.

3) The scene in which Thakur's family is killed was cut by the censor board; the murder of a small child was deemed too horrific to show. Moreover, there was no child underneath that white sheet, since the child artist had his yearly exams at school and could not afford to miss them. Thats the reason that his sheet was not blown away by the wind.

4) The film showcased two real life romances. Amitabh married Jaya Bhaduri, who played the widowed daughter-in-law in 1973, 4 months before the filming started. Dharmendra married Hema Malini, his second marriage, in 1980, five years after the release of the film.

5) Amjad Khan prepared to play a bandit chief by reading a book titled Abhishapth Chambal, which told of the exploits of Chambal dacoits. The book was written by Taroon Bhaduri, who happened to be the father of Jaya Bhaduri.

6) The screenwriters, Salim-Javed, named Veeru and Jai after a couple of Salim's college friends.

7) The original ending of the movie had to be changed because of Censor Board, after much reluctance. In the original ending, Thakur crushes Gabbar after hitting him repeatedly with his nailed shoes and then breaks down and cries. But since it was "too voilent" and that the police (Thakur was a retired Police personnel) cannot take law in their hands.

8) Due to the length of the movie, a dhabba scene and Soorma Bhopali's scene were cut in few of the territories. But later Soorma Bhopali's scene was added back.

9) When the film released on 15th August, 1975, it was declared a commercial flop by the critics and the audience  but with the word-of-mouth, the movie clicked and became the highest grossing movie of all-time in the history of Indian Cinema. At Mumbai's Minerva theater, it was shown in regular shows for three continuous years, and then in matinee shows for two more years.

For the fans of Sholay and its insights, go ahead and read this book. I now want to again watch the movie...

The Shock...

Yesterday evening I got the “small” shock of my life (I mean, not that big a shock to ruin my life, but enough to ruin my night). I came back home after office and hurriedly settled myself with my chocolate biscuits to finish off my novel- The Associate, by John Grisham. I bought this novel from Odyssey just like that, while scanning through so many fiction novels in the shop. Since when I bought it, I could find it mentioned in magazines, newspapers, Internet and so many copies displayed in various book-stores. I was feeling very happy to have made the right choice to chose this book, for this is much talked about novel these days.
This is the story of a very young and bright law student, Kyle McAvoy of Yale School of Law. Had nice noble plans to start off his career with the offer from the biggest law firm up his sleeve. But he bumped into FBI agents, who claimed to have known his dark past, of an alleged rape which took place in Kyle’s apartment, by his fraternity brothers, in front of him, though he was too much on booze to realize it, five years back. They knew every bit of his life. Though he was not the one who committed the crime, but he was present on the scene. These “FBI” guys had a deal for him. This deal is talked through one Bennie (or whatever his real name was). You follow our directions or face the trial. All this blackmailing on the basis of a video of that night, which these guys showed to Kyle. He agrees to face the trial. He reads out the first page. Turns to the next. To his shock, all the other pages are blank. There is no trial. These men are not FBI guys. They are thugs, working for “someone”, who has unlimited money, power and manpower. This was the biggest twist I had ever witnessed. Well written, and so engrossing. He is left with no other option but to follow them.
His each breath is being heard, each step is being followed, and each move is being recorded. In his own apartment, he has 3 cameras, mics at various places, the blackmailer’s men can come and go out of his apartment any time, without his knowledge. He is forced to join the biggest law firm, get on to the biggest trial between two companies and pass on the secret information out of his own firm.
He reports to Bennie many times. His life in the law firm is sucking. He finds himself a girlfriend. Then some twists. He decides to get out of this. Involves his father; who is also a well known principled lawyer, his friend, Joe; who is one of the two main culprits, decides to hire a lawyer for himself, confides everything to the real FBI. His father solves the matter with the victim (the girl) so easily (I didn’t expect that, for Kyle was afraid throughout of how this girl will react once she comes to know of the video).
Everything seems to be going good. I was about to find out who was this Bennie. Who was he working for? Where did he mysteriously run away? After telling the truth in his firm, will Kyle be able to pursue normal life or he will be banned for life? Who killed his friend, Baxter, the main culprit? What happened to Joe?
Last 3 pages, excitement to its maximum. My room-mate asked me the story. I hurriedly told her in the briefest possible way (I am sure, she did not understand anything) and went back to reveal the secret.
BUT. The novel came to an abrupt end and I did not get any of the much awaited answers. How is this possible? Did I pick up the pirated copy, with so many pages missing from the original story? Is John about to introduce the second part of this novel like most other movies, I mean, a sequel? Never came to know what happened to that much talked about case, who was Bennie, and who was he working for. This disturbed me for long time. Still can’t forget this.
Wish someone give me the missing answers. The novel is well written till some 25 chapters, at times gets repetitive for the Bennie and Kyle meetings, introduced small but nice twists. Towards the end, the story fastened up the pace. But the end disappointed me. Would have been better with the answers. Anyone interested? I can lend you the “original” copy.

The Half blood prince...

So, what’s new? Nothing. Weekend was pretty uneventful. It’s raining heavily here. Majority of my time went in two activities- sleeping (oh, my dear sleep!!) and reading two novels at a time (wow, see the appetite).
On Sunday night, I was very tired and it was getting late but I fought my sleep (how can I do that??) because I was almost at the climax of one of my novels- Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.
Yes, I am a fan of Harry Potter (HP) series- the books and the movies and the game as well. I am far away from the teen-age (yet, I did not reveal my age) but still gets excited like a 5 year old fan of Harry Potter, if at all any topic is touched related to HP. Still remember the only good thing that the CAT exam did to me. I was very upset after the exam (95% of the candidates are always upset appearing for this exam). So, my mum-dad decided to take me to watch the Harry Potter- and the Prisoner of Azkaban in the movie hall (1st and last time that I watched HP movie in hall else always have to settle down with the VCD on my laptop)... who cares about CAT after that...!!!
Hats off to JK Rowling for carving out a completely new world of wizardry and magic – Hogwarts.
For those who are completely unaware of this world, let me give a sneak preview. It is a story about a boy- Harry Potter who lives with his uncle-aunt and their son and they treat him nothing better than a servant. The boy is special because his mum-dad were wizards and they died while saving him from the Dark Lord (Voldemort), considered as the most evil wizard of the world, when he was just 1 year old. Voldemort wanted to kill HP but could not (because he was special). One fine day, the principal (Professor Dumbledore) of this Magic school- Hogwarts decides to enroll HP, and that was the day when he came to know that he too is a wizard. He then sets on his journey in the school, where he is already famous because he fought Voldemort and defeated him at the age of one. A world which stands amongst the “normal” people, yet they cannot see it, it has its own rules and regulations, houses, students, teachers, enemies, friends, subjects, classes, secrets, offices, ministry, strange people, magical animals, sport (Quidditch)... Here anything is possible. You can fly, you can make things fly, you can travel to any street through the fireplace (with the help of magical powder and some abracadabra), you fly on broomsticks and you have self speaking letters. Here Harry meet his friends for life- Hermione Granger (my favorite, because, she is the brightest of all) and Ron Weasley (always terrorized but cute). In all the parts, Harry has to fight the Dark lord (who still wants to kill HP) and somehow comes out unscathed, beating his greatest enemy. Harry and his group reveal some new secret every time.
It is not only the magical words and charms that bind me; it’s the journey that we had witnessed. All the actors started working in the movie as kids and they have also grown with the story, and so had many of us.
Harry Potter is not only about magic but also various emotions. Friendships, hatred, animosity, respect, love for friends and parents, trap, misunderstanding, sorrow and so on. It is about believing in self and what he/she desires.
JK Rowling has succeeded in binding her billions of fans and adding new ones with each new edition. Same applause goes to the directors of the Harry Potter movies for translating the book into motion with such detailing. I actually started watching the movie first and then read the books. By then I had already associated faces with the characters, thanks to the movies. So could easily visualize the scene written. Even though, I already knew what is going to happen in the next chapter but still the fun and suspense was same as encountering the story for the first time.
The writer appealed to her fans not to discuss and reveal the end of the story to anyone after they had read it, for not ruining the fun of other readers. Every time the new part is released, it creates a sort of history of fastest selling novel. The last (6th) part made a record of 15 million copies sold within the first 24 hours of release. The previous record holder is again HP- and the Half Blood prince with 9 million copies sold within first 24 hours.
Waiting to finish off the last novel of the series and still eagerly waiting to watch last two parts of the movie.