Chalte Chalte 1976 streaming on SonyLiv

Simi Garewal in Chalte Chalte

This film is streaming on SonyLiv in a very good print that makes it as fresh as new , with lovely tunes by Bappi Lahiri in his pre Disco days , you hadn't heard Kishore Kumar in this softer sweeter version of him in songs of this film , and Shailendra Singh too has two good songs which suit the actor more. Chalte Chalte is an iconic song that can be heard at farewells besides being an eternal song with warm fragrance of romance.

Simi Garewal is quite excellent as a deranged woman and you may wonder why she didn't do more scary movies or got roles in those Hollywood flicks that chill your spine , she does the 'mad act' with a finesse.

Vishal Anand , nephew of Dev Anand stars in the movie , his real name was Bhisham Kohli. Nazneen stars opposite him. Since he is look-alike of Simi's dead husband , complications start.

Besides the title song "pyar mein kabhi kabhi" and "Jaana Kahan Hai" are other good songs. With a good print , film still feels fresh with evergreen romantic numbers, sort of in the genre of those debut films with fresh starcast and good songs like Betaab,Socha Na Tha etc. .

It seems it was this role which inspired Subhash Ghai to cast her in Karz later on.Vishal Anand died last year on 4 th October . Nazneen played Kunti in B R Chopra's Mahabharat.She and Neetu Singh went to the same school.

Genevieve1953 ‧ Comedy/Auto racing ‧ 1h 50m

Oh! what an enjoyable classic film filled with chases of vintage cars , comedy and romance. It's

Directed by Henry Cornelius and stars John Gregson , Kenneth More , Dinah Sheridan and Kay Kendall as the two friendly fighting couples. It was nominated for writing and music Oscars. I find this classic really endearing , soothingly funny and filled with an old world charm.

Somewhere in the Night

It's a gripping tale of a man with amnesia searching for his past which involves a murder and a stash of millions of dollars. Film is Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and stars John Hodiak and Nancy Guild in the lead. An exciting tale well crafted.

Thugs of Hindustan - Review

This large scale magnum-opus holds your attention and never bored you. Though background music is cliche, and could have been better. Katrina Kaif sizzles on screen in this special appearance in two dance numbers. Supporting Characters are quite good. Amir Khan is evergreen, as young as ever, brilliant here. Amitabh Bachchan is amazing doing spectacular action scenes at this age. Mohammad Zeeshan Ayub Khan is quite funny as Aamir Khan's childhood friend.Film has to be watched twice, as it has too much to offer.Great movie for the weekend.

Ae Dil Hai Mushkil - Review

Ae Dil Hai Mushkil is about how two strangers become best friends for life,the guy wants to have physical relation,but the girl just considers him best friend and thinks that is better than any relationship based on physical relationship,and she wants him to accept as such.And finally he does.
Aishwarya look gorgeous,but her part is not well written and is boring though pivotal to the story.Shahrukh Khan does cameo as her husband.Aia Bhatt too is in a bit role.Fawad Khan is ok of sorts.Anushka looks better in second half ,mor like Deborah Kerr,in first half too she is impressive.The film belongs solely to Ranbir Kapoor and is wholly about how he matures as a person.

The best thing about the movie is its well-written script.Its funny ,its great and many scenes which are absolute classics.Also Channa Mereya song is really good which will bring tears to your eyes.

This movie also is a sort of tribute to Mohd.Rafi and our Bollywood Films,lots of well-known songs and scenes from previous Bollywood hits found place in the movie and makes it an enriching experience to watch,giving more depth to the story.

Reminded me of An Affair to Remember when Ranbir meets Anushka after two years on the roof,just like Deborah Kerr and Cary Grant.

Sun sets over Jyotiba Phule Park Lucknow

April 2016 visit to Nainital

                                  
My train to Kathgodam was at 8:00 a.m. . Nearer to the end of my journey a Muslim woman in burqa came in our carriage with a young boy and her two little kids. She kept talking animatedly to this boy making frantic hand gestures through out the journey. Her children were real cute and kept looking outside train window, taking keen interest in everything that passed by. A nice guy in track suit travelled with me throughout my journey, seemed like an army guy.A plump guy from "Big Bazaar" retail outlet chain too travelled with us talking to his office colleagues on cell-phone through most of the journey.

As train nears Haldwani railway station, there is a big waste dump. Saw lots of trucks and huge mountains of polythene.A real turn-off for any visiting tourist.

I was again stupid to get off at Haldwani instead of Kathgodam,certainly a foolish mistake. Though thankfully Haldwani Bus station is quite nearby. I took a small Bus to Nainital.Met a retired St. James College staffer who had some Provident Fund business to take care of.

I stayed at Payal Hotel, a Mr. Pappu Singh checked me in.I had dinner at Purohit Restaurant.

Nainital lake had shrivelled up because of weak monsoon, though it rained at night. At dawn next day, near the old Bus Stand I asked a school boy to take my picture.Had tea there too, real nice. Later ate hill-fruits shahtoot and strawberries.Had lunch at Purohit Restaurant, since I was fasting for Navratri I ate 'Kuttu' rotis and 'lauki' sabzi with curd, without checking the price.Later I was shocked to get a 500 Rs bill. I discovered each Kuttu Roti was at a whopping price of 75 Rs. I silently paid the bill cursing myself.

 

In Bhowali as I was making some enquiries, a stammering taxi guy tried helping me. I thought to avoid strangers, he got sad saying people don't ask folks who know the hilly roads but choose to ask passengers who have little knowledge. I felt stupid and said I didn't mean to offend him and thanked him for his information. Actually because of K.M.O.U. running small buses these taxi drivers now get no passengers, so they look starved and ragged.

Walking down the upper road - Har Ki Pauri - Haridwar

Bahujan Samaj Party protest peacefully in Hazratganj Lucknow

R..S.S. "Udghosh" at Almora to welcome Hindu New Year

Music from Prague

Prem Ratan Dhan Payo - Review

Prem Ratan Dhan Payo has some highly emotional moments in second half and two nice songs the title track and 'jalte diye' which make this otherwise badly directed movie worth seeing.Plot has often repeated story we have seen in films like Kalicharan or Sachcha Jhutha.Himesh Reshamiya is a big drawback to this film,most of his song much below Rajshri standards.Opulent sets of 'Sheesh Mahal' created by Nitin Chandrakant Desai is not well used or pictured and then destroyed in climax.Salman Khan has done well here,Sonam Kapoor looks good in saris,Anupam Kher delivers a good performance.Deepak Dobriyal ably supports Salman Khan's 'Dilwale' character through out the film and is quite funny. Cinematography by Manikandan is just fabulous.

Sanjay Mishra is in a short impressive comic role.

Film is long, show started at 10:00 ended at 13:30, almost 3 hours thirty minutes ,but last one hour is so engrossing you don't feel the length of the movie.

'Prem Leela' and 'Bachpan kahan' too are better tracks.

Salman Khan's sister Alvira Khan has designed cotumes for this film.
Costume designer Ashley Rebello has done a great job here.

Neil Nitin Mukesh has a short role bits and pieces here and there which make him almost insignificant.The same film could have been much better in a more planned direction and with better music like Ravindra Jain did in 'Vivaah'.Arman Kohli too is in an unimpressive role.

Aashika Bhatia 'Ginni' from one of the popular television serial, Parwarish! makes her Bollywood debut. She plays Salman Khan's younger sister and her football kicks are scenes to watch out for.

Swara Bhaskar who came to prominence after playing the roles of Payal, in the 2011 rom-com film Tanu Weds Manu, Bindiya in the 2013 romantic drama Raanjhanaa, and Payal in the 2015 romantic comedy Tanu Weds Manu Returns. All of the films garnered her critical acclaim and first two gained her nominations for Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress. She plays Aashika's elder sister.

My first Varanasi visit by Suraj - Day I

My train arrived at Varanasi station in the morning at 6:45 a.m. .Sonu Bhaiyya hired an auto which dropped us at Godowlia Chowk.We checked in at Prakash Guest House a nice budget hotel near Dashaswamedh Ghat.

From our room's balcony I could see the ancient Brahaspati Temple really beautiful.

In Varanasi many ghats are along River Ganges like Dashaswamedh Ghat, Assi Ghat ,Maharana Ghat, Darbhanga Ghat etc. .Dashaswamedh Ghat was really clean and river Ganges was really wide and you can see it till horizon across its length.Later we rested and had our lunch at Keshari Ruchikar Byanjan Restaurant.

It was a very hot day for roaming around in the streets so we decided to visit near by P.D.R. Mall. 'V' Mart had really nice t-shirts at the cheapest price. Funny thing when we asked a Rickshaw puller fare for Assi Ghat he said 80 Rs.Assi in hindi which means 80.

In the evening I went to see Ganga Aarti which goes on for 1 hour and so many people including foreigners come to see it.

 

Later we took a walk and had dinner at Hotel Vibhav Harsh. It has a completely south-Indian vegetarian restaurant. A guy stands there with traditional jug 'lota' over wash-basin to help people cleanse their hands before dinner. It's an A.C. restaurant with very good service and food was just awesome. We ordered Soth-Indian thal 'dinner' .

Sonu Bhaiyya was nice and informed me about all and everything.

Next day in the morning we went to Assi Ghat where I took the holy dip in the River Ganges.

After a refreshing holy dip in the river Ganges.

On Assi ghat is a water kiosk providing clean drinking water to public.

Later we went to 18th century Durga Temple, overlooking the Durga Kund and worshipped there.

From here we hired an Auto for Sarnath. After attaining enlightenment at Bodh Gaya the Buddha went to Sarnath; and it was here that he preached his first discourse in the deer park .Its a beautiful clean green place.

 

In Sarnath

 

On returning back to Varanasi I had my dinner at Ladesar Restaurant a proper north-Indian Thali.

As we walked back to Godowlia Chowk I saw St. Thomas Church at  Girijaghar Crossing.

 

Neeb Karori Baba: Meet the baba who helped Mark Zuckerberg find his vision for Facebook

At the town hall with PM Narendra Modi, Mark Zuckerberg revealed an unusual connection between Facebook and India. When Facebook wasn’t the behemoth it is today, Zuckerberg visited his mentor Steve Jobs, whose suggestion was to visit an Indian temple. The Facebook CEO spent a month in the country, including two days at the ashram of Neeb Karori Baba, who is famous for having given guidance to some tech greats, including Steve Jobs, ET reports.

Jobs is said to have been deeply influenced by the Indian spiritualism in the 70s, and he visited Neeb Karori Baba’s Kainchi Dham ashram near Nainital, Uttarakhand. It is here Jobs is said to have got his vision to create Apple.



Though Neeb Karori Baba passed away in 1973, he continues to enchant people even today, and his followers include some well known personalities, including Hollywood actress Julia Roberts. A strong follower of Lord Hanuman — and also believed to be his incarnation — Baba has established more than 100 temples in India, as well as the US.



Jobs, Zuckerberg and Roberts aren’t the only foreigners enchanted by Baba. His followers also include Larry Brilliant, former director of Google.org, New York-based photographer Jim, who was renamed Rameshwar Dass by Baba, and Richard Alpert or Ram Dass, an American psychologist, among others

Overloaded noisy motorboats - River Ganges,Varanasi

Devi Ahilyabai Ghat - River Ganges,Varanasi

Happy Foreigners coming down the steps to attend Ganga Aarti - River gan...

Munshi Ghat - River Ganges,Varanasi

Narad Ghat - River Ganges,Varanasi

Rana Mahal Ghat - River Ganges,Varanasi