Fork in the road

Today I watched some episodes of "Malgudi Days" on DVD. I don't really remember watching any specific episode on TV during its original/second airing (I must have been 7-8 years old), but do have vague memories of watching the show, and of course, liking it.

By and large, my exposure to the world of Hindi TV withered during the 2000-2009 decade. The last Hindi TV show I watched regularly is probably the soap "Kahin Kissi Roz" during my last year in engineering college, in 2004 or 2005. On the other hand, during the same period, my consumption of Hindi films has held up very well. In fact, during the last couple of years, I hardly remember watching any new English film (either on the big screen or on small screen).

My point? I think that the quality of Hindi films has improved significantly during the last decade. Each year there are atleast 4-6 excellent/very good movies and another 7-8 decent/watchable flicks on view. Perhaps there is a higher number of good Hollywood films (ignoring for the moment films in other languages), but 10-15 good movies annually works for me. I don't even need to explore other sources to get an adequate movie-fix. With TV, the situation is reversed. I watch so much English language TV for entertainment (British and US) that I hardly feel the need to surf to the much vaster array of Hindi channels on offer.

I wonder why the two industries have moved in different directions. Bollywood manages to produce interesting offerings like "Dev D", "Bheja Fry" and even "Bird Idol" (a new animated movie aimed at kids), albeit amidst a sea of mindless junk like "Tashan" and "Blue". Hindi TV offerings never seem to rise above the ubiquitous soaps and reality shows. Both ultimately cater to the same broad market. If Bollywood has multiplexes to showcase a "Dor" or "Manorama Six Feet Under" to a niche audience, then television producers also have the medium of umpteen niche channels to showcase their talent. Both industries have received plenty of funding (there have been dozens of Hindi entertainment channels launched in the last few years; unfortunately each one has produced the same fare). The fact that I watch Hindi films almost to the exclusion of Hollywood offerings eliminates the possibility of me being completely "westernised" to the point of not being able to appreciate modern Hindi TV programmes. I have no ideas about the reasons for this phenomenon. But I do regret not having a cause to follow any Hindi television show, since none is on par with "Gilmore Girls"or "Psych" or "Hustle".    
 

Loanshark, literally

I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but one of my favourite one-episode characters in Buffy is the loanshark shown in Tabula Rasa (Season 6, Episode 8). Everytime I see the recovery agent with the head of a shark (like tonight), I burst up in laughter :)

Memories and Perverse Pleasures

Today's NY Times has an article about German consumerism and an advertising strategy ("German Ad World Declares the End of a Catchy Slogan"). What interested me most though, was not the short discussion of changing consumer behaviour at different points of an economic cycle, but the simple memory evoked by the tagline of Saturn, a music and electronics store, "Geiz ist geil!" (Stinginess is cool!). I bought one of my first ever music CDs in a Saturn store (Ein Neuer Tag, by Juli). Living in Cologne was fun, and I sure would like to go back there sometime, preferably in summer to laze on the lawns of the Uni. The Christmas markets are very wonderful too though :)

Tonight I was about to call a friend. Suddenly I realised that "The Soup Nazi" episode of Seinfeld would be playing. I messaged my friend, "Can I call you at 11:30 please?" "The Soup Nazi" is a classic episode! How can a bunch of people be so self-consumed and inconsiderate towards others, and yet be such an absolute pleasure to watch?!" I guess it's my wicked side that loves Seinfeld ;)

Happy Holidays

I really like the Club Mahindra ad that's been playing recently on TV. The tune of the song "You Happy" is really pleasant, and constant cycles through my head. Perhaps, I want to travel again :)

Puppe Mann!

After finishing an anime called Basilisk, I started watching Angel on my computer again. For the uninitiated, Angel is a spinoff show of Buffy featuring many of the same characters who appeared there, led by Angel, the vampire with a soul whose love with Buffy was doomed. Like its mother show, Angel is characterised by extremely witty and funny dialogues, interesting storylines and characters to-die-for. It's darker and gloomier in its overall outlook though.

I watched the first four seasons of Angel on Star World in my four years of engineering. The fifth I missed because I was in WIMWI. So I bought that season on DVD in Cologne and currently watch the show in German with English subtitles :)

Joss Whedon has created another gem in the form of this show. The fifth (and final) season has been brilliant, the overall story arc moving slowly, but almost every episode featuring one or another idiosyncrasy. The episode I saw on Sunday ("Why We Fight") featured Angel (who is a 240 years old) being forced by the US government to help them in the Second World War by bringing back a U-Boat. The flashback scenes in Buffyverse are, almost without exception, visual treats. Also, learning more about the pasts of various characters is always delightful. The episode I saw today ("Smile-Time") depicted Angel being turned into a puppet (or Puppe in German). Puppet Angel is hilarious! His fight with Spike is too funny! So is the scene when Fred calls him cute and starts petting him :) Best of all though is the shot where the team walks along the corridors in slowmo, against a background of stern music - a fairly typical sequence, except that Angel is a puppet here!!! Expected, but still too funny!

The girl in the photo above is Fred, played by Amy Acker. Like Melissa Theuriau, she deserves a photo of her own on my blog :)


Sarah Michelle Gellar, who played Buffy, and is very, very pretty, should be featured here too. She will soon be :)