Monday, August 27, 2012

Indianisation of MTV India : Coke Studio : Madari !

I witnessed MTV India transformation from Only English , American like TV channel to a purely Indian Channel, I remember ,MTV India earlier used to showcase only American countdown songs like Billboard & some other programmes like Grind etc. , Anchors used to speak 100 % in English in Americana ascent , no Hindi words , Bollywood was untouchable . I used to watch it occasionally , now don't even remember programme names ?
When MTV India was launched in 1996 iwas catered only for Urban , Xavier like viewers , they maintained same Hollywood copycat  version for almost a decade & only after 2010 Indianisation process begun & shows like MTV Roadies & Spitsvilla in pure desi versions got huge success.We may now call MTV India as purely Local channel , maybe it is something to do with the change of Guards , now MTV India is owned by Viacom Inc. and Network TV 18 .MTV Roadies is hugely popular with GenX & made RanVijay a heartthrob , reverse is also possible I mean ,may be new desi version is not liked by those , who were more connected with the Original MTV. Youths today don't have much choice as all prime time is reserved for Ekta K Saas Bahu dramas & remaining by Dance & Music reality shows , almost no Indian programmes for Today's urban & semiurban youths ?


MTV now : Sometime back I accidently watched MTV Coke Studio , showcasing North-Eastern unknown artist singing folk music , not at all understand by mainstream Indian viewers ( Ye hee sach hey , We treat them discriminatory like our neighbours  not fellow country wallas , Sad it is ..) . It was in contrast to my perception of MTV  , I mean MTV & Folk wow..It was season 3 when I really started liking the Format of the show ,their effort for unusual fusion of folk, sufi, ghazals & filmy popular music with western . Topmost musicians Like Shankar-Ehsan-Loy , Lewis , KK , Kher , Sunidhi , Vishal, Benny ,Wadali-Sabri bros , Gogoi, Shafqat Amanat Ali etc....nearly all are part of this show alongwith new wannnabes on same stage that too singing jointly gr8 .
Ist song I fell in  luv with was ,Wadali  Bros " Tu Mane Ya Na Mane.." Then   Chitthiye & Jhakki Dil by Sunidhi & others , but finally it is Madari by Vishal & Sonu Kakkar which is my latest passion , it is also a chartbuster , amazing song with Indian Roots lyrics ( Gulzar type), experimental , unusual ,having  matti ki Khushboo like Lines 
 तेरी  रुखी -सुखी , सुखी -रुखी , खा  के  देखा ,हर  एक  निवाला  अमृत  लागे  ! 
& Sonu's Blast  इत्  खराक्के , दुख्हद  वज्जे ,तत्ता  होवे  चूल्हा . आन  फकीर  ते  खखार  जावन ,राज़ी  होवे  बुल्लाह
Although I didn't understand all lyrics.  

Le voilà: Madari : Vishal Dadlani, Sonu Kakkar.
Courtesy : You Tube & MTV Coke Studio
















Amazing ..such a passion & devotion , Incredible . Lyrics seems to be amalgamation of Khadi Hindi boli ( rookhi sookhii roti , Madari -Jamoora ), Punjabi , Frontier Pashtun reference Bullah Shah & Gurudwara  , Sufi Makka /Karbala etc. Slight Complicated with modern pop flavor , I was stunned , speechless Wowwww .Both Vishal & Sonu Kakkar are fantastic , Vishal has added another feather in his cap & showed that he is not only a music director , can sing such an Indipop with perfection .Sonu Kakakr energy at full throttle is remarkable .

After-all Coke name is attached with the show , Brand value bhi kuch hey na. True .

Declaimer : I am neither a great fan nor dislike MTV ,Post is about transformation of the channel ,reader's  opinion may differ , Comments are welcome !

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Chocolate


Chocolate




It is often said that Chocolate  is a way of life ,It’s having a character , fun , life ,indulgence , a sort of joie de vivre ,sometime associated with Sex also , amazing !! , it has got stress relieving property  also. I always categories  people, those who like chocolate & other who don’t. I normally don’t have good tuning with those who don’t eat chocolate  unless they are too old & of previous gens. If u luv life & yrself , chocolate is must,

Some chocolate Quotes ;
“There are two kinds of people in the world:  those who love chocolate, and communists. “ Leslie Moak Murray
“My favorite thing in the world is a box of fine European chocolates which is, for sure, better than sex.”  Alicia Silverstone
“All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt! “ Charles Schulz

We may find thousands of poems on chocolate on the internet.

Buying chocolate & liquor at airports is always fun , especially when you are buying in $ or in other currencies  .I feel like  a child while filling my cart & more than that chocolate is fav gift for kids & they just luv it , feel happy to have lots of chocolates ,such feeling gave me immense pleasure  & I always utilised opportunities to buy chocolates.
After all chocolate brings happiness in all sizes and flavors ....& for all sizes.

Reason for writing this Chocolate post is not only due to my liking for the chocolate , but to express that some food varieties can also bring real happiness & one can really indulge in it ,In fact one can buy happiness , isn’t it ! .
During our recent visit to Bangalore , we visited "Corner House Ice parlour" serving Chocolate named “ Death By Chocolate “ or DBC as popularly called , Tukur liked it instantly & immensely , I too had it once & like the stuff. During our 3 days stauly at Bangalore we had visited same Corner house parlour for all 3 days that too after crossing half of the city .

In Mumbai CCD is OK , mainly for their locations e.g. Bandstand   ,  other one is   “Costa Coffee “ at Khar (w) , Café is in posh area of Khar & always occupied by niche gentry , great ambience , seating  both inside & outside(preferred)  beautiful road with huge tress lined on both sides , posh residential buildings , also few bungalows , nice place to drive thru on a weekend , they have some delicious chocolate muffins with chocolate sauce.
Search is still on for more . .

Forget Cutting Chai : Oh  NO  , read earlyer post

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Dil Chahta Hai :Trendsetter

Preamble :Last weekend I went to Kolad along with three young boys i.e. Sid & his 2 friends , we clicked almost 350 pics , as during rainy season whole area looks so beautiful , green everywhere .There was a small old bridge over  a small water stream with reasonable good flow , I asked all of 3 to sit on the edge in DCH style with DCH expressions , such is the impact of DCH on me I always remunate this movie extraordinaire......... so here is the post ;




Sid , Jabby & Varun somewhere @Kolad
Dil Chahta Hai
Chapora fort

Dil Chahta Hai


Dil Chahta Hai
Tanhai

JNMD
JNMD



Even after >10 yrs DCH is still most remembered movie for the youths , directed brilliantly by debutante Farhan , a fresh Start with a different  approach , which is reflected in every frame of this incredible movie , truly a youthful movie although based on proven male bonding Yaar Dost theme .DCH has turned out to be a milestone movie for Farhan, Amir , Saif & also recognised Adhuna Akhtar who did risky hair styling for the trio , after all with great risk comes great reward.
Apart from the theme (Dosti) , great direction & acting by Amir, Saif & Preeti ,  my fav is STILLS in the movie , a new dimension for the Hindi cinema ,a different angle of cinematography , never done before , I still remember most of the stills (Pics ) which were shot beautifully . In fact Chapora fort (pic) in Goa now is called DCH fort ,Everyone wants to imitate the scene in some form at different places , amazing isn't it !
Infact Zoya again tried to repeat certain things in JNMD .

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Malshej Ghat : Travelogue ( Safarnama)

Café Reminiscence : Malshej Ghat
Ascending clouds
















It was the extended weekend of Friday-Sunday(10-12 Aug.) due to Janmashtami , I had therefore already booked room at  MTDC, Malshej Ghat in advance for Friday overnight stay  , as it is impossible to get booking for Saturdays , blame it on Gujjus who are always ahead in planning their vacations , also manage to bring big families together without conflict , I like this quality & family togetherness & always adore them for their travel enthu. I am having tendency to analyze people , there geographical location  , roots & behavior , this time also I have observed  that whole place was occupied by them only , as usual .
KM in parenthesis is distance from Thane Maziwada Jn.
We loaded essentials like Latest songs , water ,some munching stuff  & lots of enthu .We started at 9:30 AM from Thane ,through Bhiwandi - Kalyan –Nashik NH3- route , we took right turn exit from highway at Kalyan(20 KM)  to Murbad route .

Crossing Kalyan was a bad experience ,  bad road , full of pot holes , even down  side road was closed , as it was in extremely bad condition , even munciple authorities have lost hope to revive it , oh yes I also paid 25 bucks toll for this Kalyan road , phew... At (25 KM)we saw  1st sign board  Malshej Ghat , NH222 .We took right side flyover road forming  “ Y” shape bifurcation . Next was Ulhasnagar at approx (26 KM) , my daughter who was tracking route told me that  now we will drive thru highway ( mean NH222) , she was expecting Mumbai-Pune expressway sort of  highway , I told her , single pot holes road what we are driving thru right now  in fact is national highway NH222 , she somehow did not like this new info , anyways after crossing river (picx)at (34 KM) road quality suddenly improved , almost no pot holes , with green surroundings  , road side sign board reads Malshej Ghat 67 KM. Road after  Murbad ( 55 KM) was much better , smoothened  , weather was cloudy but almost no rain so far.

Only after crossing Murbad  real pleasure trip starts Lush mint green surroundings , beautiful , smooth dark black Asphalt road , as if painted just now (pica), Car outside Temp. reading was 26 Degrees wow !We reached Salgaon village ( 66.7 KM) ,  road side board reads Malshej Ghat 46 KM .
 Mountain range with cliffs covered with clouds  now visible , adding excitement & fuelling our expectations for what lies ahead .We had our tea at Pranjali restaurant (73.6 KM) as I was delighted to see a restaurant facing small river ( rain water nallah), flow was in full swing , making it a perfect place to have Chai , fantastic.

We then reached village Tokawadi ( 81 KM) What a beautiful scenic view truly majestic , misty  hill tops , few waterfalls also visible , trees lined up on both side of roads , I also snapped few huge wisdom trees pics , I am always fond of huge trees specially Wisdom ( Bargad)& remember most of the places in Mumbai , where we have huge tress like south Mumbai  , Matunga , Khar ,  Bnadra etc.

Road before waterfall
We started ascending hill at (86 KM), with every passing KM scenic beauty also getting better & better , Mile Stone at 91.8 KM reading NH222 Malshej (pic) .After few KM ( 103 KM) there was a water falls on right side , we got down & took some snaps .Now we can feel clouds .,fog at road level like we are passing thru deep fog & many water falls were there .

Although I was expecting that there will be dense fog & few water falls , but did not expect that a water fall (pic) with tons of water just at the center of road from cave like mountain hammering your vehicle ( Nano may not take that load )  , this water fall  ( 112 KM) was just amazing .

Main Waterfal
It was heavy fog with visibility of only 10 mtrs , temperature was a bit chilly ,we drove thru few more  minor waterfalls , so far after Murbad road condition was extremely good , but due to waterfalls & landslide road condition was slightly bad & also at one place half of the road was closed due to landslide , although heavy machines were already deployed to clear the landslide .

After crossing water fall we had bhuttas as some  parking space was available , overall environment & panoramic scene was beyond imagination , it was raining , clouds , fog , also seen clouds ascending picxx , the whole view was panoramic , ahhhha ,feel like just sit there forever  & watch nature .

MTDC Resort
Finally we reached MTDC resort ( 115 KM ) visibility was hardly 10-12 mtrs , only gate was visible , also inside MTDC (pic) resort it was water everywhere , clouds at your room level , parked cars also not fully visible. Awesome….
After check in we had our lunch , it was OK , Flamingo dining hall was nearly full , everybody seems to enjoying wetness as whole resort including corridors were wet & literally Pani  everywhere .



Lake
After having our lunch ,me & Sid wanted to walk up to nearby waterfall , we went out but come back again as outside MTDC resort main entrance, on main road ( NH222),visibility was so poor that it was impossible to walk on road side , as passing by vehicles only head lights  were visible & driver may not be able to see you ,  it was rather unsafe ,therefore we came back. It was better to  drive then walk , we then took our car and we all went for a drive back to waterfalls to enjoy surroundings , also further down side after  MTDC there is a Dam & Lake , also not much fog , area was lush green ,  there is a resort named Sushant . We had our evening Chai at road side Thela , having dam/lake(pic) in the background .
Dinner at MTDC was OK .

I went out for a  walk after dinner , the place reminds me of starting scene of the BR Chopra movie “ Dhund” watched long back starring my fav,Danny & Zeenat , that place also seems to look like Malshej  only  ,Dhund everywhere & only vehicles  head lights are visible. I must say that Danny has played the  role of a handicapped jealous husband of  a beautiful young wife ( Zeenat , who else ) with ease & perfection.

It was raining intermittently almost whole night  , I was wondering there is almost no continuous rain this season in Mumbai , no water logging , no disruption & this place , oh ! water & water everywhere !!
Next day we checked out at 9 :00 AM it was raining heavily  & very cold , we did not find anybody at any waterfall, maybe it was too early also water may be very cold , I wanted to take few snaps of the valley , but unable to take as it was raining , also fog was too dense & almost no visibility to take snaps , but it was heavenly experience to walk or drive thru such a lovely place . It took almost 2 ½ hrs to reach Thane ( 115 KM) .
Whole trip was such a wonderful experience & we overjoyed it.

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