Next Hyderabad Multiplex: Cinemax

After Prasadz, PVR, CinePlanet and the yet-to-open AdLabs, the next big Multiplex Theatre that is set to open in Hyderabad is Cinemax.

A Kanakia group company, Cinemax already operates thirteen multiplexes, predominantly in and around Mumbai. In Hyderabad, rumor has that it has tied up with veteran Telugu movie producer K. Raghavendra Rao and is going to open soon. The multiplex is located opposite L.V.Prasad Eye Hospital on the Banjara Hills- Jubilee Hills road. The building construction has been going on for quite sometime and even though there was talk that it was going to be a multiplex, I saw the Cinemax hoarding/advertisement atop it just yesterday. Shall try to get a pic of it in the coming days….

With AdLabs (in the Big Bazaar building in Ameerpet) soon to open, and now Cinemax, the movie-goer of Hyderabad will be spoilt for choice. But of course, they have to open first

The ‘Bajaate Raho’ Awards

Via Reuters

Apart from the Filmfares and the Oscars, this week also saw another set of awards being doled out. The Red FM Bajaate Raho Awards 2007 were handed out a few days ago and before you start wondering what the hell are these awards, let me tell you that they’re somewhat similar to Hollywood’s Razzies. This awards (dis)honours ‘excellence in stupidity’, lauds nincompoopery, recognizes talent that has touched new lows….etc etc. Established by Mumbai’s popular FM Channel Red FM, these awards are in its third year.

The awards are presented across four categories viz. Bollywod, TV, Cricket & City but the fun part are the category segment names. Sample this: TV ke duniya se ‘hadd ho gayi’ award – won by the character Baa in the daily soap Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi; Sangeet ki duniya se ‘sabse behtareen lyrics’ award – won by Gulzar for ticket to hollywood from the movie Jhoom Barabar Jhoom; Dilli di shaan award – won by the blue line buses!!! The biggest winner of the night was Ram Gopal Varma, who won two awards – the release se pehley superhit award for RGV ki Aag and Bravery award for daring to make Nishabd! Needless to say, none of the winners came forward to collect their awards

Read the entire nominations list here and the news article describing the awards here.

Awards Nite – Filmfare & Oscars

Sigh! Gone are the days when one used to eagerly fill-in the contest forms which used to appear in the Dec/Jan edition of the magazine for the Filmfare Awards. Gone are the days when on some lazy Saturday/Sunday evenings, we used to watch the telecast of the award show (back then, that was the only important award show, y’know!). Gone also are the days when one used to wake up at an insane hour in the morning to catch the red carpet show followed by the Oscar Awards.

Now all we’ve gotta do is read the scrolling news items of the winners & losers that flash across on every news channel! and probably read a detailed news item the next day on the web. Anyways, here they are, the winners:

• 80th Annual Academy Award(Oscar) Winners
• 53rd Annual Filmfare Award Winners

I’m on LinkedIn

For the uninitiated, LinkedIn is an online network of more than 19 million experienced professionals from around the world, representing 150 industries.

When you join, you create a profile that summarizes your professional accomplishments. Your profile helps you find and be found by former colleagues, clients, and partners. You can add more connections by inviting trusted contacts to join LinkedIn and connect to you. Your network consists of your connections, your connections’ connections, and the people they know, linking you to thousands of qualified professionals.

I had joined LinkedIn quite a long time ago but back then I didn’t have any social network whatsoever to built upon (all of my friends and acquaintances were not on the www) and I just let my profile lie unused and incomplete. It was only recently that I comprehended the importance of having, and of course building, a professional network. With today’s far-reached globalisation, social networks are an important means of staying in touch. Be it with friends who’ve moved elsewhere or old colleagues or acquaintances or old school and college mates. Whilst services such as Orkut or Ryze or Batchmates can come in handy for those purposes, over the years they have become much of an open playground sort of thing. It was fun initially but pretty soon the euphoria and excitement died down!

That’s precisely why you won’t find me regular on those sites anymore. I just hope that LinkedIn will be different from those, given its professionalism and the fact that almost all the members are looking for professional contacts and like-minded information ( and not while away their time in scrapping others ). So I got down to fill-in my LinkedIn profile and make a start in the network-building exercise.

If you too are on LinkedIn, then click on the button below and drop me a line whenever feasible. Lets Link-In

Disney Noodles? No Thanks! I’d rather stay hungry…

While loitering about in Food Bazaar, I spotted a pack of Disney’s Noodles. I was surprised to see them and was wondering why on earth has Walt Disney entered into the business of instant-food! Close scrutiny revealed that these noodles are in fact manufactured/marketed by the Future Group (who own the Central, Big Bazaar and Pantaloon stores) itself, under their brand of Food Bazaar. Then I wondered whether they have pilfered the Disney logo and images of Mickey & Minnie Mouse…but nope, they have licensed them from Walt Disney (as the markings on the packaging indicates).

But sadly, the taste of the Disney’s noodles is nowhere near that of the king of instant noodles – Maggi - the 2-minute noodles. Not only is the texture of the raw noodles too thin but also the masala/seasoning they provide is bland and pathetic *ugh*. Cooking time is no way near the 2-minute mark and the finished product doesn’t even smell aromatic! Its a waste of 24 bucks, that’s what it is! It’ll be a pity if kids start to detest Mickey and gang just because they may remind them of the tasteless noodles

And why am I writing all of this here? I just had to get it out of my system. None of my friends or colleagues had heard of them before and all of my rant was Greek n’ Latin to them!

Updated Moi Space

I somehow stumbled upon my Windows Live! Space today. For the uninitiated, “Windows Live! Spaces” is Microsoft’s attempt at providing a Blogging & social Networking platform [look up info on Wikipedia].

I had created a space over there quite a long time ago and have never really bothered about updating it. When I visited it again today, I was put-off with the old and jaded look of it so decided to spruce things up a little bit! Unfortunately, working with Spaces on Firefox is a major PITA so I quit midway! Anyways, if you’re still interested in checking out how it looks, click on the image after the jump…

Movie Review: Sojaa Akbar err…Jodhaa Akbar

First things first: I found Jodhaa Akbar dull, boring, slack-paced, unevenly emotional and of course, looong! I know period movies (and other genre movies also!) are more often than not but in most cases, there is content to backup the length. Mera Naam Joker was so lengthy because it traced a man’s journey from childhood to middle-age and his tryst with various women. Sholay was as long as it was coz there was a leisurely buildup of characters and a grandiloquent finale. Lagaan was lengthy since it showed the plight of the farmers and proceeded to portray their exploitation and then their ability to beat the Englishmen at their own game. Of course trash like HAHK & H77H & KANK had bucketfuls of songs. Jodhaa Akbar has neither that great a content nor that many songs.

Suffice it to say as a Love Story of an Emperor and a Princess with the backdrop of War & Politics. There’s the whole rigmarole of Inkaar – Iqrar – Takraar – Izhaar – aur – Pyaar as the sponge base, with a delectable spread of war scenes and conflicts as the cream layer, sprinkled with the nutty shenanigans of a jealous step-mom and the saucy betrayal of a power-hungry subordinate, topped with rosy locales of the forts and sandtracts of Rajasthan and the two cherries at the top – Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai. Voila! You have a cake that is too big for your own mouth!!!

Boredom!

Life’s become a mechanical clock! Been following the same routine everyday for the past few days! And hell, I was working even on a Saturday

I was thinking the coming week would spice up things a bit but Monday’s gone and its still as dull as ditchwater!

Random Links:

• Sony looks like winning the Blu Rav Vs. HD DVD Battle
• F1 Rule Changes for 2008 Season
• Strange and Unusual Pics slideshow
• 40 Top Photoshopped Images

P.S: Self-reminder to write up the 2nd part of Hyd trip.