Bangaluru Habba - A perspective

Yup! My blog is back in Action. Yup! I've stopped being net-lazy and have gone straight to be a web-guy!! yeah!! *bows to the applause*
My last authentic blog had 129 messages last time I counted, *bows to the standing ovation*
I wonder if half of that number of people even know I'm back in blogosphere. Apologies for being away for so long. Explanation due, Agreed. Will proceed shortly! *grin*

Dec 13th is an anniversary of sorts, so ill be celebrating!! :) The week's caught onto me, Office was fun, but packed. The weekend also was pretty hectic. And action packed, we caught the Grand Finale's of the Bangalore Habba. Here's an update.


Day 1 - Saturday 9th of December

Drove into Palace grounds just as Mr. Shivmani was doing his sound check. Walked in, searched for the pals who I had to give the complimentary passes to, and seated ourselves strategecially to hear the pre entry bands to Shivmani.

We heard the Gerard Machado Network, Amit Heri and Group and some other Bands
Yes, there were some technical glitches and we had wisecracks from the audience pouring in aplenty.

Guitarist (to sound guy) : There's a buzz in my Guitar
Wisecrack (to the general junta) : Maybe its the 'B' Flat??

Musician (To the Public) : Meet Amit Heri and group
Wisecrack (to the general junta) : Amit is really Hairy

Musician (to sound guy) : Can we have some more on the Bass
Wisecrack (to the general junta) : Yeah maybe if you had some women in your band!

Musician (to the general junta) : We've got some progressive Jazz blues for you
Wisecrack (or shud i say Crack) : Balle Balle, Apadi Podu Maga!!!

If those managed to tickle you, then maybe you missed out on the concert! lol.
But if it got u wondering what u were doing amidst these buffoons, then you will empathise with me and realise that maybe it was a wrong audience that these bands were talking to.

The bands were playing Benny Goodman, and the audience was doing "dapankuth", the bands were juicing out hendrix and the audience was doing bhangra!!!

Ive decided we dont need no more stand up comedy. All we need is to shoot video of the guyz around me and put them on big screen!!!
Id defenitely like to shoot them! Not with a video though!

I mean - These Guyz certainly werent the biggest JAZZ Enthusiasts ive seen!!!! *grin*

And then came the magician of percussion and he brought along some more wizards of the beat with him.
The first thing he did was take a minute to thank his "good friend". Dr. Rajkumar. The entire Audience, gave the late Annavaru a Standing Minute of Silence! Phew! What an Energy.
And with that move and a couple of "I Love bangalore's" Shivmani had cast his spell on all and sundry.
What a MOve! way to go Shivu! :) Savvy!

The Concert with Shivmani Jamming with SankaranKutty and his Kottuvadya drummers Stole the audience Heart Beat by beat.
Ive seen these drummers perform at the Guruvayoor temple and the Thrissur Puram, but watching them Jam, note for note, with Shivmani was a treat.
Phew! What a Rush when u hear esctatic sounds emenating from instruments you thought were temple props!!!!

Reminded me of the numerous gigs ive done with Shivmani. Yes it did take me on a nostalgia tour, especially to this once when we jammed up in Mambo's in Goa. Maybe another blog on that someday?

And as shivmani put it very nicely... The first beat that a human being hears is.. "Da-Dap ... Da Dap ... da Dap...Da Dap ..." The sound of your mothers Heartbeat! And from there starts our journey of rhythm. Our journey into the fantastic world of percussion. Our journey for the love of beats!! :)
The concert was overall exhilerating, and defenitely a miss out for all who didnt make it.

ANd oh! lest I forget, it was COLD!!!!! Frrrrreeeezing COLLDD! Luckily Ammu brought a shawl along. T'was our lone saviour... that wollen wonder!!! We were thus smarter the next day and padded ourselves with inners and outers and what not! hehehe

There was also MC Munish. Who Made a complete fool of himself. Wish I could tell it to him on his face. He's such a sweet kid, I have no heart to heart hurt, but here's to hoping he's game for constructive critisim. (I hope he's reading this)And there was MC Ramya. Was defenitely impressive and I'd like to audition her for Radio One *grin*. (I hope she reads this too!!)

Day 2 - Sunday 10th of December

After we got seated and all that Jazz, we realised that there was a seperate enclosure right in the front! Unfair!
We had VVIP Passes. But so did the entire World!!!!

Agreed there were people behind us and junta sitting everywhere else too, and that provided some consolation i guess. BUt ive learnt to be happy with what I have. & like they say "Its not what do not u have , its what u do with what you have"

The first act was B jayashree and her group - Spandana. Such a thrill to see a niche theatre performance on a Mass Stage like this. Her rangageethe renditions were to die for. Its always a pleasure to listen to Foot Tapping non commercial music.
This KInd of music is like the Rabbi of Indipop to give my outer worldly blog readers a similie.
Her tracks included hits from Hayavadana, some Kuvempu plays , and even a Pro-Kannada sentiment song which was a instant hit with the audience. (Scroll back to find out who the audience was *grin*)

Then came a barrage of nonsense following by our Stud Compere Munish, followd by Mr. Prasad Bidapa and his entourage with Three interesting sequences.
- The Titan new collection
- Peter England Collection
- & Hemanth Trivedi's Design Collection "Sheetal"

The Titan Collection was nicely Choreographed, but the fact that the watched couldnt be seen and left most wondering why the models were holding their hands up, was a flypside.

The Peter England collection was nothing much to rave about. I mean im no Fashion Literatti, but it takes less than common sense to see what looks good and what doesnt! No further comments! :)

It was a welcome change to see our very own Hemanth Trivedi back at what he does the best - Design.
It was good to see him on stage after his nicely cut Designs, and some of his clothes did get a few "ooh's" from the audience.. include a certain audience member seated right next to me! Now I know who's designing our wedding clothes! lol

Then was the susprise promised to the crowd by Prasad.
Arjun Rampal along with Meher Jessia. The 20,000 odd crowd was definitely surprised.

THey were there to promote their new film, I see you. The songs seemed arresting and Arjun himself was splendid. He cajoled 2 girls and a Toddler onto stage. Danced with them, kissed them, knelt down before them, and made their days. He surely stole 3 hearts that day. along with another 20,000 hearts! :):) I like!

He even Threw CD's at the crowd. And they clamoured for it like it was gold raining down from heaven or something. It was a nice moment. Somthing about crowd control, and dynamics of how people react when you show them genuine warmth. Something to be learnt there! ANother day perhaps!

He even Cracked a few wisecrack on how if his film "I see you" didnt do well, he'd end up in the ICU. Yup the man got multiple "so cute's" from the girls, and I have to admit, the men were pretty moved too!!!

Some more inane MC blabber followed that.And then a spurious energy burst in the form of Kailas Kher took over the stage. His Rustic Village Voice and Fantastic vibe took over Palace grounds and everyones hearts.

And then the true highlight of the concert breezed in.
Mrs. Malaika Arora Khan, Stimulatingly Attired in Short Gold Pants and showing perfectly toned body out to thousands of ogling eyes . Phew! Wat a turn on!!!!
Her breathtaking moves and gyrations to Chaiya Chaiya, Tauba Tauba, Kaaal, Ishk Toh, Ishk Toh and other HIts was defenitely a heady mix of eclectic excitement!

The highlight of my evening was defenitely Malaika Habba Habba Habba Arora.

The highlight of everyones evening, at the bollywood night was Malaika. Even as she attempted at throwing bouquets of flowers at the audience, hearts swooned!!
The flowers came all in pieces and were reduced to green shrubs!!!
But it came out from the malaika's hand!!
The crowd was going YAY! - Malaika Threw me Foilage!!!

And as a finaly, in between some more inneccesant compere banter, Nandini Alva and Padmini Ravi graciously took a bow, as bangalore bid adieu to this years Habba!!

For those who didnt catch the entire habba, This is what you missed!! It takes a great effort to celebrate Bangalore. And full marks to this years Habba for doing it in style!! :)

Bangalore has a lot of GIG's coming up. We got shakti (13th December) , Sonu nigam (16th December and Deep Purple (17th December) coming up soon.
For a city that shuts its party's down by 11:30pm, for a city that has the KRV fighting against english in advertisements, for a city that wants to educate its lower schools in Kannada, and for a city that thinks anything non-kannadiga is non bangalooru, thats a pretty heavy duty line up!!!
Ironic??

"The Guardian" - A Film Review

Film : The Guardian
Date of Release (India) : 9th December 2006
Cast : Kevin Costner, Ashton Kutcher
Director : Andrew Davis (Fugitive, Collateral Damage)

“There is a legend of a man who lives beneath the sea … he is a fisher of men … a last hope of people who have been left behind.”

The Film starts with Kevin Costner’s voice in the background , (now we know where Bollywood gets ideas from!) and moves to quick snapshots of a helicopter whirring over some Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers. This tense emotional action drama is the highlight of this flick.
A noticeably trimmer Kevin-“Coast”-ner plays a veteran U.S Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer Ben Randall. He holds all the records that can be held. But after a rescue mission goes tragically haywire, and suffering from the psychological scars of that mishap as well as the breakup of his marriage, Ben is sent to teach new recruits at an Coast Guard academy. He is advised to “download his resume where it matters”!
Enter high school swim champ Jake Fischer (Ashton Kutcher) – aka Goldfish – who wants to beat every record that Ben has created.

The film is well casted and Costner steals the show as the conflicted trainer. For a change he plays his age with the crow’s feet near his eyes, and the wrinkled salt and pepper look. There’s also an appealing ensemble cast of secondary characters of both officers and recruits. The story is quite enjoyable, filled with scenes of watery challenges and student bonding, with a good dose of humor sprinkled in. The trainer and trainee relationship goes through the checklist items of a typical training camp film. The candidates are subjected to backbreaking drills like oxygen deprivation, hypothermia, and how to save a drowning victim in the high seas. There are also the respective lady-loves of Ben and Jake, & they provide some emotional color to the entire sketch.

Yes, of course, Ben sees something of himself in the young hotshot Jake. But he also senses a hesitation on Jake's part to save someone if they were in true peril. So the question that both mentor and student must answer is whether Jake has the courage to sacrifice himself should that moment ever happen. The film goes into a lifesaver’s mind and dives into questions like “When you cannot save them all. How do you decide which one to?” And it gives you answers in the end.
This film will prove to be a film trivia buff's delight. The typical Newbie and Commander, Rookie and Officer, Trainee and Mentor relationship will remind you of many of the Basic training camp films it replicates. It is easy to brush this film off as a predictable, watery remould of "An Officer and a Gentleman", or a “Top Gun in the ocean”. Yet I found myself absorbed in the tense rescue scenes that dot the film from beginning to end. The film has interesting camera work & splendid underwater shots which add to the emotional drama. But I’ll give the film this… If you thought coast guards were “Baywatch” & Pam Anderson and Hasselhoff in their red trunks, well think again, Here’s a flick that’ll make you feel like hitting the pool and learning how to swim better.

Warning : The film runs over two hours.. so take your sweater along, it could get cold in the theatres when u watch those chilly alaskan rescue sequences.
Anjaan’s Verdict : Worth a Dekko, but Pick up the DVD!