Sunday, March 18, 2007

F.R.I.E.N.D.S

I know there are thousands of people around the world who think that FRIENDS is just an overrated sit-com not worth their time. I couldn’t disagree more. I adore it.
For those who feel the way I do, read on.
I’ve been watching Friends, ever since it first aired on Star Plus (before the latter turned completely Hindi centric). I can surely say, I’ve watched almost every episode 4 to 5 times and some of the episodes maybe even 10 times. I know it sounds crazy but I just can’t seem to get enough of it. In my opinion has been one of the best sitcoms ever to hit television. It could not have got all those Emmys just by being ordinary.
Every character is unique. Monica, the finicky, obsessive, clean-freak who lets you eat cookies only if you promise to vacuum the apartment later; Rachel, the self declared fashion queen, who gossips like there’s no tomorrow; Chandler, quick-witted, commitment phobic, chilled out guy who is always trying to get in touch with his feminine side; Joey, the dumb but sweet neighbor to the girls, who never remembers the name of the girl he spent the night with; Ross, the geek of the group who still thinks that it was ok for him to cheat on Rachel cos “They were on a break!” and Phoebe (alias Pheebs), the craziest among them all but the sweetest.
I guess I’m gushing but I can’t help it. Let me list some of the best lines from the show.

Phoebe and Monica are out with two guys. Phoebe’s date is foreigner who can’t speak English and Monica’s date is that guy’s interpreter.
Monica: “My guy has coupons. You guy can’t even say coupons!”

The first episode. Rachel has run away from her wedding and is taking refuge in Monica’s house.
Monica: “Joey, don’t hit on her. It’s her wedding day!”
Joey: “What? Like there’s a rule??!”

Joey buys a couple of hideous bracelets for Chandler and himself.
Joey: “Look! We’re bracelet buddies!”
Chandler: “That’s what they’ll call us!”

At the hospital, when Karen (Ross’s ex-wife is about to give birth to Ben).
Ross: “Where is she? She must still be in the cab….”
Rachel: “Don’t worry Ross, it’s probably $1 for the first contraction and 50cents for every additional contraction!”
Ross stares at her
Rachel: “What! It’s ok when Chandler does it?”
Chandler: “You have to pick your moments”

Rachel wants to get an annulment from her marriage to Ross.
Ross is trying to convince her not to.
Ross: “Common… just once in a while when you fill out some form, you check the box that says Mrs instead of the box that says Miss. Its right next to it!”
Rachel: “Oh! I was under the impression the boxes were far apart!”

Let me end with…..
Smelly cat, smelly cat, what are they feeding you?
Smelly cat, smelly cat, its not your fault...

Sunday, March 04, 2007

Salaame...

I guess I’m writing this too late, but I want to make my voice heard. Just finished watching Salaame Ishq. In my opinion, it is probably one of the most over-hyped, substance-less (if there’s such a word!) movie I’ve ever seen. The promos made it out to be this love saga which will bring a tear to the eye but what I got were stomach cramps. Ok… I think I’m being a little too harsh here. Let me give you the low-down on SI.
6 love stories, 6 beautiful endings is what Nikhil Advani promised the audience. And what he finally cooked up was a 3 and a half hour long boring tale of these 12 odd people dealing with love and life in their own boring (forgive me for using this word twice) way. Here, I must mention that the only stories that really held my interest were John – Vidya’s and Govinda-Shannon’s. The final scene of former couple was heart wrenching, with both Vidya and John (surprisingly) putting in amazing performances. Govinda as the innocent taxi driver is cute as well as witty. Even though Anil and Juhi’s story did not hold my interest for a long time, their performances did. Salman as Rahool (?) was boring (with a capital B). His dialogue delivery is stilted and incomprehensible. Half the time, I found myself leaning towards the screen trying to figure out the words that were tumbling out of his mouth. And why the hell does he have a wired accent?? Priyanka is ok as Kamini, the item girl, but gets a little too irritating at times. Sohail and Isha are cute though they did not get much screen time. All things considered, Salaame Ishq is worth watching only for Vidya, John, Govinda and Shannon (maybe even Sohail and Isha). The others just slow down the pace of the movie.
I wish Nikhil Advani comes up with a better movie next time and shorter one, please!