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Burlesque Director            Steve Antin Cast                  Cher, Christina Aguilera, Stanley Tucci, Eric Dane, Cam Gigandet, Peter Gallagher , Kirsten Bell, Julianne Hough, Chelsea Traille, Tanee McCall Year                 2010 Genre               Musical Spunky is the word that first comes to mind when you watch Burlesque.   First time director Steve Antin (well almost first time since his other video movie didn’t really create waves) gives us an extremely heady mix of jazz put together in a style that can only be described as Coyote Ugly meets Moulin Rouge.   One could choose add a taste of Chicago to it as well but just a dash mind you.   Small town girl aiming to make it to the bright arc lights...

Director            Madhur Bhandarkar Cast                  Ajay Devgn, Emraan Hashmi, Omi Vaidya, Shazahn Padamsee, Shruti Hassan, Tisca Chopra,   Shradha Das Year                 2011 Genre               Comedy Madhur Bhandarkar for the first time moves away from his standard formula of a topical movie – Page 3, Fashion, Jail etc.   I have always thought that he is vastly over rated but for some wonderful reason – one of the mysteries of the world – he has always gotten away with it. Probably because he makes movies that just about make the cut.   Movies which appeal to the audience just enough for them to overlook the ridiculous amounts of inconsistencies and gaffes. It was quite amazing to see that ev...

Director            Danny Boyle Cast                  James Franco, Kate Mara, Amber Tamblyn, Sean Bott, Treat Williams, John Lawrence, Kate Burton, Fenton Quinn, Lizzy Caplan, Clemence Poesy Year                 2010 Genre               Drama I think I have finally cracked the solution to make really really really big bucks.   One has to do something that is super duper stupid under the pretext of having a “sense of adventure”.   Maybe play with severely poisonous snakes or crocodiles like that guy from down under used to do.   Or follow the footsteps of our protagonist and walk into the Grand Canyon. Alone. And make it a point that you don’t inform anyone – I repeat – don’t mention it to a soul as to whe...

Season of the Witch Director            Dominic Sena Cast                  Nicholas Cage, Ron Perlman, Stephen Campbell Moore, Stephen Graham, Claire Foy, Christopher Lee, Robert Sheehan, Ulrich Thomsen Year                 2011 Genre               Fantasy All actors have to keep themselves busy.   Some more than the rest.   And Nicholas Cage falls in the former (more) category.   The Season of the Witch is Cage’s desperate attempt to tell the rest of the world that he is still around and still acting.   So what if he is pushing 50 and has acted in over 50 movies in his 30 year career? He released only 2 movies last year as compared to the 4 in ‘09 and 4 in ‘07 (only 1 in ‘08).   And so what if ...

Director            Kiran Rao Cast                  Aamir Khan, Pratiek Babbar, Monica Dogra, Kriti Malhotra, Danish Hussain, Jehan Manekshaw, Kitu Gidwani, Ashok Varma, Sanjivani Oagle, Babita Sehgal Year                 2011 Genre               Drama Dhobi Ghat was by far the most awaited movie in this month. And it everything that people expected it to be from the trailers.   If one was disappointed with the end result then I guess we were giving too much credit to the audience.   In a very “Crash meets Bollywood” style of movie making, Kiran Rao gives us the story of 4 people in the city that doesn’t sleep, whose lives are intertwined thanks to various twists of fate if one may call it that.   And she ...

With MNP all set to release country wide tomorrow, there are something which you need to know. There aren't much fineprints which would affect the user in the MNP race, but its better we know what we are talking about. 1. You can port your number only 3 times in your lifetime. I repeat, three times, and thats it! You are fixed back to your operator. 2. You have to have been atleast 90 days with an operator before you can port your number to the next operator. 3. Once you request for a change of operator, your current operator has 48 hours to make you stay back. If you refuse the offer, you will be shifted to the new operator after the 48 hours are over. 4. You can shift from CDMA to GSM, GSM to CDMA, CDMA to CDMA, and GSM to GSM. You cannot shift your broadband number yet. 5. The maximum an operator can charge for a transfer is Rs.19 + 10.3% service tax on it.You will still need to pay for the SIM card from the new operator. 6. A 2 hour "dead period" is usually pos...

This is an ode to my Filipino maid who is with me for 2 and half years. Its festive time for Christians with Christmas and New year   around the corner and here is a Filipino dessert to tingle your taste buds. The first glimpse of the Piaya actually makes you feel it is an Indian dish. Since it looks like a paratha (Stuffed bread) and the first bite gives you a nostalgic feeling as it tastes somewhat like the Puran Poli. After the completion of 2 years with me, my domestic helper(maid) who helps me dish out these wonderful dishes went home to visit her family and came back with this sweet delicacy for us. Since we are strict vegetarians we were a bit skeptical, so she told me, ”Maam it is completely vegetarian”. I tried it and the taste was so much like puran poli that I decided to share this wonderful recipe Piaya PIAYA This Filipino dish originated in the Negros province found in the middle of the country which is considered as the sugar capital of the Philippines . Other re...

When Telugu super-hit "Vikramarkudu" was intended to be made in Tamil little did the director understand that the tastes of two states are hugely different and making a frame by frame re-make isn't going to fetch good results. Director Siva who was in-charge of the Telugu version has wielded the megaphone for the Tamil version also but the problem is that the movie looks too alien for the Tamil audience. Karthi who had enthralled the audience with his tremendous acting skills has for the first time acted in a dual role and with a screenplay that isn't too strong, it looks like he will have the first flop of his career. Rocket Raja (Karthi) along with his side-kick Kaatupoochi (Santhanam) are good at looting things and they hardly leave anything behind at the crime scene. They both live in an abandoned cinema hall with all amenities possible. One fine day, when they decide to loot in a wedding party they come across the beautiful Swetha (Tamannah) and without any prope...

Director            Samir Karnik Cast                  Dharmendra, Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, Kulraj Randhawa, Nafisa Ali, Anupam Kher, Mukul Dev, Sucheta Khanna, Himanshu Malik, Amit Mistry, Nikunj Pandey, Year                 2011 Genre               Comedy This one was what I was really waiting for.   After the disaster of their first movie together titled “Apne”, the Deol family probably sat down together to have a serious discussion and decided that the next time they would come together would be for a comedy.   Either ways people were laughing at their first attempt.   Might as well get them to laugh at what is meant to be laughed at right? The rushes were quite reasonable and I was quite keen to catch...

Puri effect: how money vanishes There are people out there who made the money that Puri lost Citibank’s rogue relationship manager apparently blew up most of the money he ‘diverted’ on the stock markets. Specifically, he seems to have been trading in Nifty derivatives. I almost wish that he had instead run off with the money and was sunning himself on a beach in the Caribbean, wearing a false beard with the money safely laundered into a Cayman Islands account. But alas, it was not to be. Like traders around the country, he found the lure of ‘effendo’ too strong. Even though ‘effendo’ sounds like a magical spell from Harry Potter (like Confundo and Diffindo), it is not. It is the popular way of pronouncing F&O, otherwise known as futures and options! But Effendo seems closely related to a Harry Potter spell called Evanesco which makes things vanish. Effendo can make money vanish as if by magic, as it did for Shivraj Puri and his victims. Now I know the whole story about ho...

Temples and religious institutions across Maharashtra , Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh are among the latest to join the tech-savvy tribe, as they seek to automate and integrate complex processes by deploying sophisticated solutions like enterprise resource planning. A growing number of devotees expecting quicker religious services and the pressure to become more transparent are key drivers for these temples to seek the help of business software solutions, used traditionally by large corporates like Bajaj Auto, ONGC and Maruti Suzuki. “Temples have evolved into a service industry; expectations of devotees have increased,” says Kishor More, CEO of Shree Saibaba Sansthan Trust at Shirdi in Maharashtra. A data centre will come up inside the temple campus and first modules of the popular ERP software from SAP will go live later this month. The shrine is the latest among places of worship that are moving to ERP solutions to manage donations and daily activities. The Tirupati temple at T...

Researchers in South America have studied the viability of using earthworms to process hazardous material containing high concentrations of heavy metal for the bioremediation of old industrial sites, landfill and other potentially hazardous areas. They provide details of a possible approach in the International Journal of Global Environmental Issues this month, according to Inderscience Publishers. After pollinating insects, worms are probably the gardener's best friend and they have been encouraged to process garden waste and soil for generations. The common earthworm, Eisenia fetida, could also become a useful tool in the processing and safe management of hazardous solid and liquid wastes with high metal content, according to chemist Lué Merú Marcó Parra of the Universidad Centro Occidental Lisandro Alvarado in Cabudare, Venezuela, and colleagues there and in Argentina. The team has carried out two feasibility studies on the use of worms in treating waste. The team first us...

Morning Glory Director            Roger Michel Cast                  Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford, Diane Keaton, Patrick Wilson, Jeff Goldblum, John Pankow Year                 2011 Genre               RomCom Becky Fuller (Rachel McAdams) is a hard working woman.   Hard working to the extent that she always talks about work even on dates.   She is not a workaholic.   Just a little too involved with work.   So it is not surprising that after a couple of dates at best, the future prospect loses her phone number. It is therefore also no surprise that her favourite activity seems to be banging her head against the wall out of frustration – not just related to her personal life but also to her work life ...

Director            Raj Kumar Gupta Cast                  Vidya Balan, Rani Mukerji, Shireesh Sharma, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayub, Myra, Neil Bhoopalam, Yogendra Tikku, Geeta Sudan, Samara Chopra, Bubbles Sabharwal, Rajesh Sharma Year                 2011 Genre               Drama No one needs to be told what happened in the Jessica Lall case.   Enough and more has been said about the case and written about it and there would be hardly a soul in this country who is not familiar with what happened in the case. Plus with the advent of the net, there are going to be enough and more hits on the likes of Wikipedia to try and understand the gorier details of the case.   There will be a little more talk about it over drinks...

  Wishing all our readers a very Happy New Year !!! From all of us at the Keepwrite Team