The Times of India (Dated 17.12.06) carried a full page article on how music has returned in Hindi films. It praised the new sounds, and even commended on the use of Urdu in few songs.

I disagree.

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A chance mention of the film to a colleague made him bring the VCD (yes, he had bought it!). Since I had secretly wanted to watch it all along, I grabbed the opportunity eagerly. It adds to my list of B-and-C-grade films like AK-47, Hottest Mail.com and Fun. While taking the VCD from him, in a mock leering voice I said, ‘Ek se mera kya hoga’, and immediately my colleague stated, “Precisely why I got you two films” and fished out something called Jangli Pyaar as well. (Yet to see, but keep watching this space).

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Every year there are some innovative and hilariously titled films released; when Filmfare releases the list for its award nominations, I always go through the list to have a hearty laugh at them. This year, these are the titles that caught my attention, alongwith some of my comments.

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These are movies that either promised more, or had huge budgets and big star-casts. I have purposely left out films like ‘Ek Se Mera Kya Hogaa’ that were doomed to bite the dust!

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It wouldn’t be much of a surprise, but some days back I was again on the drive. This time, we were on the stretch between Agra and Firozabad, which falls within Agra District – or so we thought.

Just for formalities sake, allow me to list out the towns/villages we crossed; of course, interspersed with a few incidents that made it possible for this post to be written.

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With the year almost to an end, there aren’t many biggies lined up for the winter. Due to lack of anything else interesting happening with me lately, I decided to pre-pone this list to now.

So, here we go…with the movies I enjoyed watching this year, in no particular order, barring the first one:

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Yesterday, spent some more time on the rough and rugged Western U.P. roads – this time on the outskirts of Aligarh. The road from Agra to Aligarh seems to worsen with each visit (it seems they are re-building the road and replacing it with a cemented one; but by the way things are moving, it looks it would be another decade before they complete it!) The ride shook, stirred, moved, hurtled and swung me around in the terribly uncomfortable Maruti Van, which our taxi provider had sent in lieu of the usual (and more comfortable) Indica.

The list:

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In my farewell post from Nepal, I had said I will someday surely re-visit my Nepal memories. These few days, I have been regularly visiting those memories, viewing at the snaps taken there and remembering small details which normally I thought I had forgotten. It is difficult to write down all the things, so I will just mention the top ten things that I miss in Nepal.

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No, no, no – this is not a review of Karan Razdan’s yet another forgettable click Aath-Shani. This is a tag that Juneli gave me. In this I have to inform who tagged me (which I have done), say eight things about me (which I will do shortly) and tag six people (which I will refrain from doing).

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There is a common English saying – “There are no free lunches in this world!” But I realized that there could be some free dinners sometimes!

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I know an update on Random Expressions is long overdue; I have received subtle suggestions, friendly reminders and even dire threats, which all proved the love and affection for this space. Thanks to everyone. And because of you all, just writing in to say I am fine, and alive – and so is this blog!

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