Rann ... Till You Succeed

Yup, I've watched Rann, and the movie is so not as marvelous as expected. Of course, all the characters and actors are spectacular, but wonderful performances don't a terrific movie make...

The story is oh-so-stale, but Ramu wanted to take a shot at it nevertheless, before Madhur Bhandarkar came around with his real-life-story clan. (Madhur has done page 3 before, but Rann is primarily about the news channels on air.) Not surprisingly, the movie is about how these TV-wallahs cook up stories to raise their popularity and TRPs*

(A lot of folks, including me, don't know what the full form of TRP is... It's Target Rating Point, and it stands for "a measure of the purchased television rating points representing an estimate of the component of the target audience within the gross audience", says Wikipedia. I didn't quite understand all of it, but for further info, click here)

Amitabh Bachhan plays the very dashing and respected Vijay (again! but not Deenanath Chauhan, this time it's Vijay Harshwardhan Malik), a popular journalist for over 3 decades. He runs a TV news channel with his son Jay Malik (an extremely talented actor - Sudeep or someone) and the gorgeous Suchitra Krishnamurthy who plays a grey Nalini Kashyap. As Vijay runs the show with honesty and integrity, it is no wonder that his channel is not making profit, a fact that deeply disturbs his son who is eager to ace the race in television channels; a position currently held by Amrish Kakkar (Mohnish Behl, as despicable as he was in Maine Pyar Kiya - which means he's a good actor).

Politicians, businessmen and media professionals flock together for personal interests, and Mohan Pandey (Paresh Rawal, under-utilized), Navin (Rajat Kapoor, as brilliant as in Bheja Fry and Mixed Doubles) and Jay start the game of you-scratch-mine-I-scratch-yours with zero morality and high potential gains. Neetu Chandra (dressed cheaply so that the guys aren't disappointed), Gul Panag and Simone Singh have little to do, but they look convincing in their tiny roles. Who obviously takes the cake is the Big B and the small D... Riteish Deshmukh is fast becoming one of my favorite actors because he infuses tremendous sincerity and passion into his characters. As a newbie in journalism, he beautifully portrays the amateur's dilemma of candor versus profit. And to put in a few light moments, the film makes way for Rajpal Yadav, and does the guy need any introduction? He's superb, man.

I guess the story is evident from the prologue above. Breaking news becomes synonymous with breaking trust and misleading the public, who excitedly watches and believes everything they are told by the media. The plot would have been more thrilling if only all of us were not so painfully aware of this fact. After all the drama and evil is done, Vijay H. Malik candidly apologizes to the public and discloses the identities of the no-gooders. Game over.

My rating - 5 on 10.

My dream run for my MBA abroad is going ding, ding, ding... I mean I'm getting dinged (means rejected) left, right, center. It began with Cambridge, was taken further by Kellogg and now NYU Stern. I worked hard on the last one man, the T-shirt that I made as a personal expression of myself, I really put my brain, heart and soul into it. But I guess I ain't surprised. I've been told that there are blokes who get admitted to Kellogg and not to NYU. It's that great. Chalo, theek hai. Ab rahi toh do ummeede - Michigan Broad and Texas Austin. Have to crack both ya. Sala kuch toh choice ho!

I gave my Broad telephonic interview last night. It went well, I think. The interviewer was in a great rush and I could barely make out 70% of what she was saying. The questions were quite repetitive, I felt, coz she began with the usual Why MBA, Why Broad, and then asked me about 5 questions all revolving around teamwork. I was a tad distracted coz of some annoying interruptions, so I don't recall much of what I said, but I'm sure I didn't goof up too bad. Let's hope for the best.

But for now, it's vacation time! Yoo hooooooo... I leave for Pondi the day after. My packing is reasonably done. And what has eased the process is my latest shopping spree :-D

Awrite now, don't oggle people. I HAD to buy a few things for my trip, besides the shorts and tube. Hit Central the other day, there's a wonderful sale going on, very attractive discounts available. I got a couple of casual but cute tops/Ts, and a beautiiiiiiiiiful dress. I've always wanted to own one like it, and its simplicity is so stunning... Wow! Dying to wear it... Come opportunity, present thyself!

Time to say goodbye, people. I'll see if I can drop a line from Pondi, but honestly I don't plan to be connected to anything/anyone in home city Pune. So, don't get too lost and lonely and disappointed with Princess missing :-) I promise I'll dish it out in bucket-loads after I return - all my adventures and fun and realizations and philosophies.

Cool?

Cool.

Take good care of yourself until then!

Love always,

Princess