nav varsh

faqat nigaah se hota hai, faisalaa dil ka.
na ho nigaah mein shokhi to, dilbari kya hai.

Found this captivating sher after a long time - I'd almost forgot abt my sherdom!. Off Abida Parveen in one of the Coke studio's songs. It says something I've wanted to say for a really long time :) and says it so tersely too!

I don't think I did even 12 posts last year! That's pathetic. :) I mean how much does it take to just write down random stuff once in a while. I should try to improve this year.

Meanwhile, I caught up on plenty of 2010 movies by the end of the year. and surprisingly, many of them turned out to be quite interesting.

alright, the good ones - phas gaya re obama, daayen ya baayen, band baja baraat.
and the rest - knock out (irfan!), dus tola (climax gone wrong?) and payback (!!)

Phas gaya is a masterpiece. Awesome script and so well done. Rajat Kapoor should be given a lifetime for his contribution to indian cinema, period. and the guy who's winning a few supporting actor medals this year is Sanjay Mishra, whose versatility as a character artist is unrivaled. remember pha-phaa in one-two-three?

Also watched mansarovar, 2004. surprising discovery. made very 80's style, and somewhat hamming english - perhaps its only drawbacks. I couldn't help replaying atul kulkarni's soliloquy in front of the malini? elephant. surprising how little (!) it takes to touch you. Anup Kurian, the director is coming back with his second movie - should be interesting.

Playing Patiala House. SEL. Pretty melodious but of course SEL can do much better. kyun main jagoon is perhaps the central number, but aadat hai woh somehow pleases me more - Vishal Dadlani's new lower octave rebirth :) If music directors form a nexus, god knows where the new singers will go. tumba tumba is pretty funny.

Oh, and in these forgetful times, I forgot to mention kahoon na piya tose from srk bola khoobsoorat hai tu. The movie itself is not bad and the soundtrack even better. and this particular song is a plain jackpot. the singer is same as the MD, Vasuda Sharma, her first movie. plenty to be said about the song - the fusion of bass, sitar, tabla and drums. the arrangements never subduing her vocals. so expressive notes and vocals. strikes the right balance between subdued nasalness and throw. and of course, the romanticism of the lyrics.

I've got addicted to posting song links on FB. wonder if I should merge these two.