Michael Phelps at a very young age

A Brilliant mail 'Forward' !
Hats off to whoever created this image!
and Hats off to Michael Phelps too for letting our imagination go crazy!

Indian Animation – Is it good?

No, this is not about the visual quality of animation or the technicalities behind it. This is a layman’s take on this sunrise industry. Bollywood has set its eye on animation! So far we have seen a bunch of mythological movies making waves in animation. Now that there is a movie planned on every god (goddesses forbidden) ever created by man, it’s time to move on to other shores. There is news on every big production house wanting to make an animation movie and many film makers wanting to fancy their hands at it.

In the land where animation in strictly for kids, some of the upcoming movies are scripted for adult audience. The Indian audience over the years has been treated with bollywood masala (adeptly adopted by other ‘woods’ too), but animation begs to be different from the usual treatment or at least that is what we expect. Now we wonder, what to expect and not to expect from Indian animation movies. What the creators will do and what they can’t?!

A few naïve things I could come up with-

What can change….

· No more problems of call-sheets from big actors who charge a bomb to act in a movie. Animation heroes don’t charge you a fee! J
· No worries of seeing the same faces of actors again and again and again. Movies don’t necessarily feature same characters, unless it’s a sequel.
· Hollywood looks up to top actors for lending their voice skill to the animated characters. In India, if we need a particular voice, the mimicry artistes can do a better job than the actors themselves.
· Forget the model turned actresses with pathetic acting skills. Animators can give better acting to animated characters.
· No ‘item’ songs and rain songs (!) in animation movies. Who wants to see a bosom popping animated character anyway?! (Don’t prove me wrong folks ;-) )
· Movies can do away with rape scenes.
· Hopefully no ‘rasigar manram’ (fan club) menace for the lead character of animation movies. Even if some come up, it might not put up cut outs and perform poojas to please their heart throb.
· Politicians can breathe easy, as the successful character in animation movies won’t get into politics!!


What won’t change!

· Animation movies would still deal with more love subjects. Robots love each others. Dog falls in love. Triangular love between a fox, crow and owl!
· Hero and heroine sing love songs running around green trees in the middle of Sahara desert with snow falling over them.
· Police will always come at the end of the movie based on a tip off, to arrest the antagonist. And they say ‘Hands up’!
· The hero is strong enough to hit a hundred bad guys at the same time.
· Heroes cannot be killed by machine guns. They always manage to escape by a whisker. Even if shot, they’ll manage to stay alive till the climax.

Animation in India is going to be a potpourri of old and new trends. Have to wait and watch if it comes good.

Vada Pav : How to name it ?!

Of all the controversies and chaos surrounding the nation at this point in time, there is something brewing hard in the Maharashtrian politics. It might not sound like an actual issues but it is one and may well decide the future of the state. No, am not exaggerating. Recent days has seen a bout of debates among political parties. The crux of the matter is- How to name Vada pav, the Maharashtrian way ! Amusing isn’t it!
The Shiv Sena, in the process of collecting the region’s trust, has gone some way and proposed to have an association of Vada Pav vendors. It also feels the compelling need to change the generic name to something ‘native’. Initial discussions have lead to several innovative ideas and one among them is to name it after Chathrapathy Shivaji. Now, how does SHIV PAV sound?! Cool isn’t it!

Some more interesting names proposed are, Pune Pav, Mumbai Pav, Uddhav Pav, Raj Pav, Maha pav, Bal Pav, Marati pav, Hindustan Pav. Even McDonalds in India have applied for patenting their new products- McPav, Pavizza and Pav Wow!
Why Vada Pav the target now and what is it btw? For those who have little idea about it, it is a snack quite famous in Maharashtra that people can’t live without. It usually consists of a Vada made of mashed potato sandwiched in a loaf of bread/bun: as simple as that. It is believed that Vada Pav was invented in Maharashtras in around 300 BC.

Who would have thought that even a snack can be politicized?! Jai Hind!

First Day First Show

I have been thinking of watching an animation movie first day first show of its release. I was able to do that for the first time yesterday, thanks to my second shift at work. The movie was Dr.Suess’ Horton Hears a Who. Funny name but a not so funny movie to say the least. The kids liked it though. The movie is about an elephant named Horton, who tries to save a tiny world that lives on a speck of a flower. The movie starts with the elephant taking a bath in a river and hears sounds of help from the speck flying past him. But in a short while, the camera zooms into the speck to show the ever-happy tiny city of Whoville and the people there living happily without knowing that their world is flying off from a safe place. That gives rise to the first question….if no one knows what is happening to their world, who shouted for help ?! Well, its just a movie for kids and there is no place for logic I guess.

When I booked tickets online, the screen showed that only 15 seats were available. Morning show on a working day, that too for an animated movie, only 15 seats left?! People have suddenly become so fond of animation movies?! Something fishy! And I sniffed right. Actually, only 15 people turned up for the movie. The theatre (INOX) owners were probably making some stunts to create demand. Considering that the movie is about an elephant and Bal Ganesh being a famous Hindu deity around here in Pune, I was expecting a lot more to make it to the movie. Anything remotely based on mythology has to do well in India, isn’t it! Alas, I was disappointed!

Ad Gimmickry

Teeterboard and Parkour - Crazy skills!!!

The two most interesting things I came across last week happened to be quite ‘sporty’. Both are very exciting and fun filled to watch.

First is the Teeterboard acrobatics performed on a plank of wood setup like a seesaw. I found a video which WOWed me when I was searching for an animation reference. These acts performed in a Russian circus runs to nine and a half minutes and it’s definitely worth a watch.

Next one is called Parkour (French) or the art of displacement. I have seen in some movies and thought only Jackie Chan and Tony Jaa can do such crazy things. I was awe struck to know that these mind blowing acts are performed by many just for fun!

Wanna try?!
Parkour India
Parkour tutorials