Hope-O-Bama

As I entered the Metro on the way to work, I passed two men of African origins. I took my seat right behind them and was listening to my iPod when the name of Obama rang in my ears. Just out of curiosity I paused my music and the two men were talking about him on this historic day. There were talking about how in Kenya they showed that Obama father's village had no electricity on this day and everyone was hooked to the lone television, running on generator, which was showing his inauguration ceremony. It stuck me how the whole world and esp. the African continent was hoping against hope that this day will come and soon.

There is a good chance that Obama will not bring electricity to his father's village, he may not even do as much as Bush has done for the African continent (as a promise to Colin Powell for his support on Iraq war), he may not even bring peace to the dark continent, but one thing he brings to all the people of the world is 'hope'. From Gaza to Kabul to Nyangoma Kogelo (Obama's family village) people are hopeful that better days are ahead and we as people can achieve the impossible dream. Yes we can.

Ghajini-effect

I was reading an article on the movie Ghajini the other day, and the article mentioned about the curious name of the movie, Ghajini, and how not many movies are named after the bad-guys, which says a lot about huge egos of our so-called heroes. It got me thinking, what if our Hindi movies were named after the villains rather than villain-bashers...

Ramesh Sippy's classic Sholay would have been called Gabbar ke dole.

Anils Kapoor's classic Mr. India would have been Mr. Mogambo Khush hua...phir marr gaya.

Yash Chopra's ghost-directed Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge would have been called Baaujee itni aasani se dulhaniya nahin le jaane denge.

Karan Johar's semi-autobiographical Dostana would have been called Kabbab main haddi (aka Priyanka Chopra)

Oscar nomicated Lagaan would have been Lagaan or no-lagaan, we will rule you for 100 more years.

Vishal Bhardawaj's Omkara would have been called Omkara.

Aamir Khan's directorial debut Taare Zameen Par would have been called Ignorance dharti par.

Farhan Akhtar's classic Dil Chahta hain would have been called Dil chahta hain...ke main tujhe zor se thappad maroon.

SRK's one of the best movie, Baazigar would have been called Mr. Chopra le gaya tera ghar.

Barjatya's rona-dhona drama Hum Saath Saath Hain would have been called Hum Saath Saath Kyun hain

Happy 2009 !!