99 Movie Review

A low-profile movie (by Bollywood standards) that has no real star power releases. It doesn’t get too much media attention (by Bollywood standards again). But slowly but surely it creates a buzz. A friend mentions it on the phone. Colleagues talk about it. No, they are not gushing about it or anything. It is a […]

My Friend Sancho – Review

Amit Varma’s debut novel My Friend Sancho is a welcome change. I say this not because of its literary merit. It is a welcome change because a) It is pop-fiction b) It does not try tricks like that IIT-MBA fellow whatever his name is (blending bollywood and cricket, well fuck you!) and most importantly c) […]

The 3 Mistakes of My Life

‘The biggest selling English language novelist in India’s history’ says the cover of The 3 Mistakes of My Life, Chetan Bhagat’s new novel. In the Acknowledgments page he writes, ‘However, I don’t want to be India’s most admired writer. I just want to be India’s most loved writer.’ By ‘admired’ he meant ‘respected’ I think.In […]

Scorpions Rock Bangalore

The Scorpions came to town and rocked a nostalgic crowd for a couple of hours. The elderly gentleman in the front stood, in stoic silence, and watched Klaus Meine and his boys trying to recreate their magic. There’s a story right there: the Scorpions have definitely lost a bit of their sting all right, but […]

AeroForce One Crashes In Bangalore

As it turned out, it was a pretty bad show. Yes, it was bad trust me. Tyler sang as if he had no interest at all in entertaining the audience. He never hit the high notes. And most times, did not even sing! Joe Perry was equal in his rather pompous display of utter incompetence. […]