Movie - Dangal - My Review

After a very very long time I have watched a movie first day last show and was it worth it? You will have to go through my complete blog to figure out that. So amidst all the hues and cries for the advance booking and in times of demonetization, me and my family bravely decide to go and watch this movie in a multiplex on first day. That means shell out a lot of money from my pocket on tickets first and then on the overpriced pop corns. So the least I could do was to search for a multiplex which sells these pop corns at the lowest cost. Indeed I do find one which sells pop corns starting at Rs.80. Unable to believe on getting the pop corns at such low cost (Well, true that it looks unbeatable price in comparison to other multiplexes whereas outside you can get around 2 buckets of pop corn at the same cost), I start booking the tickets and what do I get?... The second row from the screen. After a long thoughts of "is it worth it?" and discussions with my family, it is finally decided to carry on with this. After all, we had watched movies like baahubali and lord of rings from second rows. Rather than worth it, it cannot be worse.

So here we are at the movie theater munching on the Rs.80 pop corns and waiting eagerly for the movie to start. For the love of Aamir khan movies, it seems to be worth it.

So then, with the bucket of popcorn, we enter the screen1 where dangal is about to start. Generally i am very eager for trailers before the actual movie starts, but here the movie starts directly. Little disappointed but still believe it should be worth it. 

The intro scene of aamir khan, very good. Seems to set up the tempo for what is about to follow. As everybody knows this is about a movie which defies the general society laws and we have gone through the same in many other movies too. But in this movie cuteness is used to actually get through these situations and also send out a strong message on woman empowerment without much drama and fuss. The first half runs through very cutely with the girls geeta n babitha taking center stage. It is on expected lines without any twists or surprises. It seems all the hype around movie is just hype and at interval i can see the same trend continuing. So is it worth it?

Certainly Aamir khan movies are not without hypes and almost all of them live upto these hypes(ofcourse Dhoom3 was an exception) and now begin to wonder if this movie might not live upto its mark. However what turns around exceptionally well is the second half. Since its a true story, everything moves as expected but what attracts or keeps you interested is the way they have shot. The wrestling matches are treat to watch and they have kept it exceptionally real. The tension during matches are as if you are watching them live. The father daughter relationship, the "I know better" attitude, emotions are all excellent. 

Any movie which begins well and proceeds well but falters at climax, it makes whole movie look bad. But if you have a good ending, you feel its worth it. This movie too has a very good feel factor to it and definitely you would come out with a smile and pride on your face. Is it worth it? Definitely yes...

Certainly this is not a total aamir khan movie but all characters share honours equally. Geeta character certainly has done justice to the role. The little babitha is cute. Watch out for comic relief from aparshakthi. A must watch movie.

Bargaining - is an ART

There we are, at one of the shopping location to buy some clothes for myself. This is the only time I am actively looking to shop and make a quick finish of shopping and get back home to spend the remaining time in a better way. But this time, it was different. I had come to this shopping with my wife and somehow wanted to show some smart bargaining tactics to her. So at the entrance of the shop, I asked her to just maintain some distance from me while I go to the counter and demonstrate my bargaining tactics. Here it goes -

I go to this fellow in the shop and as usual ask him to show few T-shirts. Then I choose the T-Shirt I like and usually I do not do a trial as i feel it is a waste of time, so the only part pending is the price negotiation. So being confident of my skills on bargaining and to show-off to my wife, I ask him the price - he says "Sir, Rs. 699". I say, "No way, I will pay you only Rs.500" (and I stealthily look towards my wife with a little smirk on my face), She is calmly watching and listening to the conversation.  

Fellow - "Sir, it is not possible to give at such low price, It is surely not possible. I can give you at Rs.650"

Me - "No, cannot accept, it is still very high for this quality of shirt. Make it Rs. 550, that is my final offer."

Fellow - "No sir, we do not even get our margins for this amount. Last offer, I can make it Rs.600 sir"

Me - "Well, seems OK, but since you are a good guy, I will accept it and lets deal it for 600. done". And with this I go to billing counter get the savings of Rs.99 and with a proud face, go to my wife and show her the savings done. She acknowledges and slowly and steadily congratulates me. I ask her, if she has now learnt on how to bargain, and she gently pushes me aside. Says - "Yes, I have learnt a lot. Let me show you what I have learnt". Now she asks me to stay in her place and she goes to this fellow to buy another T-Shirt for me. And finally after the selection process, bargaining time comes -

Wife - "Rs.699 is too much. I can only give you Rs.350".

(Behind the scenes, I laugh a bit. I think starting with half price for bargaining, this will not go anywhere and I feel good that my wife will return empty handed)

Fellow - "Madam, not fair, this is too less. I can offer you for Rs.650"

(I am delighted as the fellow is consistent and I feel confident he will not go beyond 600 which is the same price that I bought for.)

Wife - "NO NO NO... for this shirt, the fellow in that other shop is giving for 350 only."

Fellow - "Cannot give madam. We get this at a higher price than this. OK final offer I can make is 600"

(I pump the fist and I hope my wife agrees to this and ends the bargaining so we can go home soon. But my wife is still adamant)

Wife - "No way, I will not give a rupee more than 350. You want to give then give, else I will go to that other shop"

Fellow - "no madam. That is very less. I can offer you 500 as final offer."

(The laugh on my face is wiped off. I get a bit serious. The fellow is offering at 500 and still looks like he can reduce further.)

Wife - "If you give it at 350, I was planning to buy another one, but 500 is too much. Ok I will go to other shop now." (and starts leaving from there. My smile comes back as she has failed to go beyond my price in bargaining and she could not buy the t-shirt as well).

Fellow - "Wait madam, if you are buying 2, then I can make it for Rs.800 for both."

(My jaws drop. I cant believe what that guy has just gave in with little more pressure. I now start wondering what would be the original cost at which this guy gets it)

Wife - "No, 750 is my last offer for both. Take it or I am leaving."

(I cant believe she is still bargaining. I would've blindly accepted it even for 500 a piece and my wife is still going on....!!!)

Fellow - "Done madam, do you have a bag. The carry bag will cost you another Rs.5"

Wife - "Bhaiyya, what 5 rs?, you can adjust it in the 750 only. Give me the carry bag."

Fellow - "OK madam. Take it" (and hands the carry bag with 2 t-shirts, all for Rs.750).

I tend to avoid the shining victorious smile on my wife's face as she comes to me and raises her eyebrow. I try to look away from her and that is when I understand that bargaining is really an art which is cultivated differently by Men and Women.

And the worst part, I had to live with listening to this story for another month or so when this was repeated to every person that visited our home during that time. I vowed never to show my bargaining skills in front of my wife again.....!!!!

Story of traffic signals...

Scorching heat... Middle of summer... a drop of sweat tried to flow down my cheek... Without bothering or de-focusing myself, I looked straight at the RED signal light in front of me and it was quite a while that it had to turn to GREEN. However it was taking forever to turn into GREEN. Still keeping one eye on the signal, I could sense that there is a three wheeler to my right who was also as anxious as me to turn the signal GREEN, however the signal had its own plan on when to turn GREEN. It was a similar situation on my left too as another 2 wheeler was waiting keeping an eye on the signal. It seemed like a start of a formula 1 race where we are all on the starting grid concentrating on the RED lights to go off. By the god's grace, the signal finally decided to show some mercy on our side and turned GREEN. In the same instance all 3 of us and many more following us started to move ahead. It was just like a race... everyone wanting to get ahead of the vehicle in-front of him... Although there are no winners or no prizes to gain, it was still a race for all people. Knowingly or unknowingly we all tried to push each other, honk at each other and accelerate to get past the vehicles in front of us only to find there are more vehicles blocking us from moving ahead.

I had my vision this time on the next signal which was looking green from the distance. As I neared the signal, it turned to Yellow. Instead of applying breaks, I could only think of accelerating to get past the signal before it turns back to RED. As the horror thoughts of waiting endlessly at the signal came to my mind, I zipped past the yellow signal as I passed I could notice it turning into RED. It felt like a glorious victory... An ultimate triumph where I have crossed the finishing line in shining colors. Just as I was about to slow down, a cop watching my victory celebrations could not tolerate and indicated me to stop. All the time I had saved in the previous signal was just about to be lost. He looked at me, I smiled and said "Hello" in the most polite manner. He smirked at me and asked my License. I took out and gave it, he saw my photograph on my license and looked at me... The photo was a 10 year old copy of mine... He looked at me again, I smiled again and said "I know, its from my college days...". He asked me for RC book. I gave him that too... again he looked skeptical about the photo in my RC book. Thank god this was 5 years old photo which had some resemblance for me.

Finally he said ok pay 100rs fine. I asked him for what reason? He said for jumping the signal. I told him, I did not jump the signal, it was yellow when I crossed it. He looked at me and smirked again and told "Sir, when signal turns yellow, it means you should slow down and not accelerate to glory...". I responded saying "but sir, this is what all people follow in our city, Only RED, we stop and not for other lights"... He glared at me and told "If a lie is told by 100 people, it doesn't turn into a truth... please give 100rs". Well there was no choice left for me, I just had to pay 100rs and get back on my way. Just ahead, met with another signal just turning from green to yellow... Instinctively again accelerated towards the signal... Another race to win and many such races continues forever...