A poster ..

.
... at my G M A T coaching had this

Ring the bells that still can ring, 

Forget your perfect offering, 

There is a crack in everything, 

That's how the light gets in.

Think about it! How apt!

I am very sure Leonard Cohen didn't had a competitive entrance exam in mind when he wrote this song! By the way, I was just thinking - aren't all the competitive exams are just about testing how good are you at cracking that particular exam and not how intelligent you are?

More on this later.. right now, very busy in writing essays! Any tips will be appreciated! 

Chennai Express - An honest review

Let me get this out of the way, if I had to give a rating to Chennai express, I would give it a 3.6 on a scale of 5. According to me, it is not as horrible a movie, as the so called Twetterati or esteemed critics are claiming it to be. Now, as with everything with life, you have two choices - either close this page, and move on with your life, or read on to understand why I think people are following a herd mentality to judge this movie. 

Yes, there are some flaws with this movie, and the biggest of all is the lack of sub-titles for the part where Tamil language is being spoken. Apart from that, I guess you will get almost everything you expect from a Rohit Shetty and Shah Rukh Khan movie! If you went looking for a strong story line, and a class acting in this movie - I think its you who is stupid, not the guys who made this movie! 

Now, it may be that I liked this movie a little bit more than others, because of two fundamental facts about me - I am a die hard SRK fan, and the love of my life is from Hyderabad. (though, technically Hyderabad and Chennai are hundreds of miles apart in terms of both distance and cultures, but then I could certainly relate to many sequences in the movie!)

This movie, if I may, is similar to Rainbow Surprise doughnut - The base is something completely different, the filling is going somewhere else, but then you mostly eat it for the colorful particles sprinkled on the top! The movie is very similar in this regard - there are so many typical (and funny) SRK moments sprinkled in this movie, that it reminds you of the whole two decades of worth remembering SRK moments! And surprisingly, SRK looks pretty young in this movie - at least compared with his recent appearances in IIFA and some small time TV shows. On top of it, SRK was back as Rahul, and yeah, the movie has that grab-my-hand-to-catch-the-train-scene 5 times in a row! ;)

Deepika padukone, no doubt, sported a horrible south Indian accent in the movie. I think at some places it was more irritating than Deepika Padukone herself. But then, overall, her acting made up for what she lacked in the accent. I think she was better than SRK in most of the intense scenes in the movie.

The movie is shot in beautiful locations down south. I never knew Rameshwaram was such a pretty place - it is definitely on my must travel Indian locations list now! That reminds me, I am yet to visit the backwaters of Kerela as well! It has been on my must visit places since past 3 years!

If you have seen any tamil movies (i have seen plenty with subtitles, while I was in BHU), the madrasi don and his goondaas will not seem out of place humor to you, neither will their hacking knives! The big muscled goondas are shown in their full tashan, with scorpios and all! BTW, I don't think any respectable goonda up north would ever ride a 12 lakh ki scorpio!

The music is hit and miss! While some of the songs seriously get on your tongue, there were couple of them, which could have been easily ignored! Tera rasta choodun na, was a total surprise!

Mehebaani Nahi Tumhaaraa pyaar maangaa hai

Tumhein manzoor hai, tabhi toh yaar maanga hai

Gairon ke dar se, tere shehar se 

Hai kasam rishta todoon na 

Tera rasta main chhodoon na

And that temple scene, where SRK carries Deepika for over 300 steps, was much more deep than you could imagine from this movie!

Overall, I would say the movie is definitely a one time watch, and is not as bad as people are portraying it to be! People, specially on twitter and facebook, tend to follow herd mentality these days, I believe.

Just to get more RTs and Likes, they will try to write what people want to read! These days, not many people have got the guts to write what they really feel! If you like a movie, God damned, just accept that you liked it! No two people in the world have got exact same tastes, and for starters, I am not one of those who will not write what he feels - even if the whole world thinks I am wrong!

mint-o Ultramintz Review

First things first - I am reviewing mint-o Ultramintz as a part of the Product Reviews Program at BlogAdda! In case, you want me to review any product or service for you, feel free to use the contact form!

When I got the email from Blogadda, I wondered - How are they going to send me mints! My first guess was probably some nearby paan-walla would come and deliver them to my house! Needless to say, the Ultramintz guys fared way above my expectations in this regard! What I got was two royally packed, elegant boxes of Ultramintz, marked with my name and all! Nice!

Inside these cardboard boxes, was a tiny metallic box with mints surrounded by velvet clothing et. al. Ek baar ko to maine socha, kuch badi mehngi cheez aa gai hai - isko khaun ya bank locker me chupa doon :P Anyways, I am keeping the packaging to reuse! Biwi khush ho jayegi packaging dekh ke hi :D

Anyways, as shown in the picture below, Ultramintz comes in a tin box, containing 60 pellets for Rs50! Doesn't the word pellet remind you of Paintball? Which, in-turn, reminds me of Sheldon Cooper!

Waise, the mint is pretty strong! Don't go by the size of the pellet. Its like chota package, bada dhamaka! Probably because of the special peppermint oils from France, which the company boasts of! Kaha kaha se kya kya dhoond laate hain ye company wale! I am not into mints or chewing gums, but this thing surely freezes your mouth and throat man! Just have a cool glass of water after these mints and you will realize what I am taking about!

Comparatively, the mint is better than a lot of competitors available in the market. I am sure, smokers are going to love the mint!  Classier to show off, easier to keep in the pocket! By the way, isn't mint a natural line of growth for ITC? Sutta bhi banao, mint bhi! I have always believed that 90% of the mint and chewing gum sales are at the sutta shops outside offices!

Plus, the mint also boasts off being sugar free! Girls, are you listening! ;) I think this is a pretty tempting feature for the people who eat mints multiple times a day, and are calorie conscious!

On the business side, I think its a good strategy to give 60 pellets in one go! Enough to hook a person for a long term! Much better than selling one one toffee, which is a bad strategy for customer retention!

Overall, I think this is one of the better mints available in the market. I recommend that you guys give it a try, specially if you are habitual of eating toffees or gums throughout the day! Plus, since I am recommending it, this mint is going to be the next cool thing in town :D So, don't be the left out kid! :D

On a serious note, I have offered it to few of my close friends and colleagues, and it seems to have been received pretty well! I have gobbled up one box, but the second one is still seal packed! So, in case you want one, and are around me, don't hesitate! :)