Bahubali (The Beginning) - My Take!

I was restless since morning in office. Had lot of work and a lot more was pending. Being an avid movie fan, was waiting eagerly for this movie since 2 years. Atlast, watched it on 9th July, 2015 in Pollock Tempe Cinemas, Phoenix, USA - premier show at 9 PM costing 25$ a ticket.

Rajamouli and entire team should be given a standing ovation for coming out with such a huge subject and to execute it to near perfection. He did not make a mistake in choosing the characters/technicians. Everyone worked out of their skins to bring this out for us. 

I am simply giving out my opinion and please note that this is a must watch for movie lovers that too in theatres. 

I will list out the movie attractions:
Ramya Krishna : Its a treat to watch her. No words to describe her royalty in action/dialogues. The way she carried herself is amazing. I was spell bound watching her in full flow
Rana: He showed some glimpses of a good actor in Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum but his role in it probably did not show his full potential. This would be a milestone for him and would be certainly proud of it. His character is much dominating and elevated than the protagonist’s role (Prabhas is the lead role). I simply loved him. His diction, body language, his costumes for the elderly role, his beard.. everything suited him. Respect to you Rana..!
Nazeer : Do we need to tell anything about him?!!
Prabhas: Milestone role for him too. The movie showed his hardwork. 
Tamannah: She is always performance oriented and showed it yet again here
Anushka: Watch out for her in the next part of the movie in 2016
Satyaraj: Very very important role. He showed his elegance. He is not out of form..!
MM Keeravani’s background score is another vital role in the movie
Computer Graphics: Some were really amazing. Credit should be given to the team which worked so hard in creating them.

Stand out scenes (oops.. could be bloopers)
1. I liked the way the titles were given out. Many lead technicians were covered at the beginning itself
2. The entire sequence starting from opening to baby above the water
3. Shivudu lifting Shiva lingam
4. Avantika real entry
5. Kattappa entry
6. Sivagami entry
7. Ballaladeva entry and intro of the kingdom
8. Balladeva’s bday celebrations
9. Kattappa’s realisation & Shivudu’s role elevation
10. scenes before item song(!?)
11. War process, plans and tricks
12. Kalakeya scenes
13. Climax

A bit over the top scenes:
1. Shivudu climbing waterfalls
2. scenes between Avantika & Shivudu
3. Avalanche
4. CG at war

What could have been better:
1. Bahubali inspiration at war
2. More natural combats at war

P.S: 
1. I could not stop thinking about war scenes in Jodha Akbar movie which had very minimal use of CG.
2. Climax ended rather abruptly to keep viewers’ fingers crossed. Waiting for the 2nd part of the movie.

Losses of Telugu Movie Industry

Over a period of 2 + years, our Telugu Cinema has lost noted actors, actresses, technicians.

1. Srihari – Hero/character artist/Comedian/Villian
2. Ahuti Prasad – Character artist
3. AVS – Comedian/Director/Producer
4. Dharmavarapu – Comedian/Director of TV shows (Anandobrahma on DD)
5. MS Narayana – Comedian/Director
6. Bapu – Director/Cartoonist
7. Mullapudi Ramana – Story/Script Writer
8. ANR – Hero/Producer
9. Anjali Devi – Heroine
10. Telanga Sakuntala – Character artist
11. RamaNaidu – Producer
12. Balu Mahendra – Cinematographer/Director
13. Bala Chandar – Director
14. Chakri – Music Director
15. Uday Kiran - Hero
16. Aarti Agarwal – Heroine

We miss you so much

6 years ago…

30^th April, 2009: Hyderabad

This was the day when I gave my last engineering examination at my college. We were all just a bunch of students celebrating the fact that this would be the last exam of our graduation. The memories are still fresh in my eyes.. I was very restless when I started my first answer in the answer booklet. I remember taking 2 additional sheets but don’t remember the subject name..! Some of us were wearing white shirts. I was wearing the shirt given by my close friend then and close friend now.

The exam time was 2 PM to 5 PM. In the morning hours, we sat in the college canteen thinking of studying but ended up gossiping about ‘worldy’ matters.  This was the usual practice on all the exam days. One of my friends had this sentiment of shaking my hands before the start of the exam. Time was ticking away and finally came down to last half an hour. The last 30 mins were probably the longest time of my life and desperate to complete the half answer for the 5^th question. Finally over…!

 

I came out to take my college bag (red colored) which had my house keys but could not find it. I lost my bag on the last day!

All of us stayed in college for some quite some time. My friend and me missed our college bus and were given lift in car till Kothapet in their Maruti Wagon R. I sat on the lap of a friend and he was cracking jokes in his usual manner. We all stopped at Kothapet Spencer’s Plaza to have food at KFC (don’t remember if it was KFC) (It has been replaced by a big shopping mall now), took pics, played a couple of games in the gaming court and then reached home at round 8.00 PM.

I sat for a while in the sofa chair. We were all texting each other. We were feeling very low. This was the end of my graduation.

30^th April, 2015: Phoenix

Life has changed so much in these 6 years. Infact, life starts to change so much at every stage once you enter into graduation. This is where you would learn so many things about career and life.

Life changes rapidly for the first 7 or 8 years after graduation; you try to settle down in your job or try out further studies and then settle for job, get married, have children later or try out some different things altogether. You travel to different places as your job/studies demands it. Take up responsibilities one by one.

Your own car, home, office desk, promotions, hikes, office politics, stupidity of people working around you.

          It was so nostalgic for me today thinking of the time gone by. 6 years passed by since then. I always had this thought in my mind during my graduation of how my life would be after 5 or 6 years, where will I be, how is my career, how would my friends get scattered etc etc.

I am now writing this notes from Phoenix, USA which is around 8851 miles away from Hyderabad, India, sitting on the bed, my better half sleeping beside me in a single bedroom apartment with the time nearing midnight.

Being student is the best part of every one’s life. Its not that there is no enjoyment now but being a student without any responsibilities is a different thing. Carefree, innocence, no answerability are a few words that can describe it.

Excerpt from Chetan Bhagat's Five Points Someone novel: "Like all bad things come to an end on one day, so do good things"

Rules for a happy marriage

Marriage is a very crucial part of life. You may think of many requirements for your future husband/wife. No matter what, the wannabe husband/wife would be of complete opposite to your expectations. This is true in most of the cases I have seen. Whether it is an arranged marriage or a love marriage, adjustments and compromises are inevitable after starting a new life together.

These are some of the to-do things which I could think of for a prosperous married life.

For Men:

1. Start spending more time with her. See that you spend some time despite being busy in office or out with friends for a night party. Always remember to message her atleast to let her know that you still think of her even when you are outside.

2. Decrease the time which you spend on friends.. be it on phones or a friends gettogether or a unplanned dinner. Give importance to her.. change your priorities and let her know that she is the utmost priority always.

3. Keep impressing her like giving flowers or cooking for her on a weekend or doing things for her which she usually does.

4. If possible, walk for 15 or 20 mins a day with her after dinner. This could be the time where you can have a romantic conversation.

5. Plan a trip with friends only if its unavoidable. Such outings really annoy her so much.

6.  Sit idle in a park with her and enjoy the calm surroundings, have small talks in between.

7. Never discuss serious things (like finance, future plans, children, family topics etc) before going to bed. It could disturb the night peace and could possibly have a bad next morning also.

8. Never forget to take good care of important days like valentine’s day, anniversary day, or her birthday and even your birthday. These days can make or break you up if not handled properly. Plan for outing together, gift her something, and last but not the least.. Be the first person to wish her and treat her like a princess. (Even if you do not believe or celebrate them (anniversary day is no exception.. must and should day which should be celebrated or else get ready for the heat..!)

9. Try to enter into her world of expectations and try to reach at least 80 % of them.

10. No matter how busy you are, keep calling or texting her often.

11. Please remember that you would be always the first person to be in her mind no matter where she is or how she is.

For Women:

1. For GOD’s sake, remember one thing in mind: Marriage life is not a dream world what you think of. Be practical and don’t live in a virtual world.

2. Don’t expect too much from him. He could be a dumb ass. He could forget to text you when you are at home and waiting for him. Don’t curse him. He could be really stuck up in work and may not come to mind that he needs to inform you of it.

3. Men will be men.. boys will be boys.. They love hanging out with friends more than anything. Allow him for parties and you be a part of it if possible.

4. Allow him for trips with friends. This could be the biggest gift that you would be giving to him..!

5. Let him booze and drink… he is used to do this before marriage and it is very difficult to give up such good old habits.

6. Even though he may not be with you all day or may not call you up all the day but at the end of it, he sleeps peacefully only if he has a small conversation with you. He could be so bad at coming out with feelings but still please do keep in mind that you are the most valuable person to him.

7. The last thought of the day before he falls asleep is you. You would be all over his mind and personally I feel that this is the time where one truly thinks of himself and about you also. This is really true.

Common:

1. Arguments and quarrels are inevitable in a married life. If one is shouting, the other should try to keep his/her calm. Let the heat come down from the mind and then sit, discuss peacefully in a slow and gentle voice.

2. Its good to have difference of opinions and war of words. It helps you to understand your partner better and not to repeat the mistakes which could be the triggering aspect.

3. Do not ever continue arguments due to external factors like parents, relatives or friends and any other thing which is not related personally to both of you. Someone else should not be the problem topic between you.

4. Never take words that come out of anger seriously. They could have come out at the nick of time. They will feel sorry once situation calms down.

5. Try to have discussions directly in person instead of texting or phone calls.
6. Don't be really true to him/her. Dont lie but hide the hard truth at times which may hurt the other. This is necessary for unnecessary arguments.

These are all the things I could think of. Wish you all the best folks.. !

Flow of Life

Date: 19^th January, 2015, 8:00 PM PST. Flying to Phoenix, Arizona from San Jose, California, US Airways.

My wife was in a bit of dilemma of what to do next after finishing her Masters in Pharmacy.. Whether to secure a job in Hyderabad, then come over to US and join me or come directly to US to look for the chances she has here to continue her studies.

I left wondering why I did not have these confusions of taking the next step in education or job? I do not have the slightest clue why I am a software engineer. I did not have such ambition and did not ever think of what to become in life.

• It all started in my last year of high school.. I did think of what to take up for my +2: Maths or Biology? Like a sheep in a herd, took up Maths (also which is a bit easier than Biology).
• After +2, which stream of graduation to take up? Electronics? Mechanical? Civil? Computers? Computer science engineering was the fashion at that time because of the jobs and salary it is going to fetch with an easy settlement in life. So took up Computers for my graduation.
• I wanted to secure a job after the graduation, due to the fact that I was becoming lazy to study anything further.
• Be it destiny or luck.. I got placed in a MNC company on 8^th July, 2008 in my first semester of my final year of graduation. Out of 960 members who attended the placement program, only 2 were selected into the company and I was one of them.
• My graduation ended on 30^th April, 2009 and I had my joining date on 22^nd Feb, 2010 with a gap of nearly 10 months which was the best free time for me. The only activities I did were eating, sleeping, and watching movies, roaming around city. My close friends went to US for their MS program. I took some time to get over them.
• The training period at Mysore between 22^nd Feb, 2010 to mid of July 2010 was a great learning experience with diverse persons and their backgrounds. Very fortunate to get a great set of friends at this time. A luxurious separate single room with 5 star facilities and a world class infrastructure of the campus, the training program, courses, back to back exams with negative marking and classes, assignments, movies every weekend in the campus multiplex.. It is an altogether different world. This is the best thing about the company.
• The first project at Hyderabad I was into learnt me a lot and gave me lessons for job and life. Thanks to my teammate(s).
• The second project at Mangalore from 13^th February to mid of July, 2012 is a huge milestone in my life personally and professionally. The 5 months plus stay at Mangalore in a single room without a TV, a proper fan, back breaking office work, 3 memorable bike trips, lot of books, the loneliness and the freedom is something I would always cherish for. Thanks to a friend there and for his gyan on sex education.

                    The thought of moving to development area from software testing got planted in my mind here.

• Back at Hyderabad, movement to a new unit, being in software development area with my training batch mates was good.
• Yet again, I moved to Bengaluru for 5 plus months between February 2013 to mid of July 2013. Late night office work often stretching into late mornings, visiting an open air bar, watching movies late nights on weekends, roaming around in Bengaluru city alone the whole day, exploring local markets, tasting food at popular food joints there. It was fun to be at a new place and a very good change from Hyderabad.
• A start of new phase in life.. getting engaged in August, 2013 and then resignation to bachelor life in December 2013.
• First trip to Dindi resorts at Palakollu and falling in love with Godavari river areas once again, lot of movies, busy busy office life, turning into a complete foodie freak, trip to Bengaluru for 5 days and rediscovering the city with my partner, self-driven drives to Madanapalli and Badami rock cut caves for 3 days each, memorable tirupati – tirumala trip just before my travel to US sums up my one happy year of marriage.

Probably any normal person’s life picks up speed once the graduation is complete. I followed the flow of life but did not ever think of where it is taking with me. I did not ever plan for things. I did not have the maturity level to decide a career for me when I was in my high school and exposure that I have now.

Everyone will have true testing times and I had them too.

P.S: Between all these, I did not miss watching movies. Someday I hope to be in movie industry or become a writer. (ha ha .. it’s a bit over board but everyone has their fascination right?)

Ending this article with my all time favorite quote:

"Hope is the essence of life"