Thursday, January 2, 2014

Dinesh Kamath’s column ‘New movie-releases in Navi Mumbai’ (Mr Joe B. Carvalho, Sholay in 3D, The Wolf of Wall Street, 47 Ronin and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty) that was published in Newsband


New movie-releases in Navi Mumbai
By Dinesh Kamath
Mr Joe B. Carvalho

Mr Joe B. Carvalho is a Bollywood comedy film. The film is directed by Samir Tewari and produced by Shital Malviya and Bhola Ram Malviya (Arshad Warsi's long standing secretary). The film stars Arshad Warsi, Soha Ali Khan, Javed Jaffrey and Vijay Raaz. The film also has guest appearances by Geeta Basra and Karishma Kotak. Singer Babul Supriyo debuts in the film by playing a cameo.
The film has Soha Ali Khan playing a dabangg cop in Mr Joe B Carvalho, a comedy of errors. She plays senior inspector Shantipriya Phadnis. She is a cop in the Bengaluru police force, but most of the time she is under cover – a cabaret dance, an apsara or a bazaaru auraat. She is tailing an international assassin called Carlos, played by Javed Jafferi. But she somehow mistakes Mr Joe B Carvalho, played by Arshad Warsi, for Carlos and this leads to a whole comedy of errors.
Shantipriya’s introduction is very dabbang. She emerges from a jeep, throws her aviators in the air and proceeds to beat the pulp out of 20 gundas. She has worn bikini in the film.
Thus the film has Arshad Warsi as Joe B. Carvalho, Soha Ali Khan as Insp. Shantipriya Phadnis, Jaaved Jaaferi as Carlos, Vijay Raaz as Monty Kalra aka M.K, Shakti Kapoor as Khurana, Vrajesh Hirjee as Hira, Rajesh Balwani as Moti, Geeta Basra as Gehna, Karishma Kotak as Neena, Ranjeet as Anil Virani, Himani Shivpuri as Joe's Mom, Manoj Joshi as Commissioner Pandey, Snehal Dhabi as General Kopa Bhalerao Kabana, Kunal Khemu in a Cameo Appearance, Virendra Saxena as Naidu, Babul Supriyo as Malik and Chitra Shenoy as Sundari (MK's wife).
The entire soundtrack for the film is composed by Amartya Raut. All lyrics are written by Amitabh Bhattacharya, Virag Mishra, Puneet Sharma and Jaaved Jaaferi.
The film has songs like Chumma Chaati sung by Shefali Alvaris, Amartya Rahut and Pinky Maidasani, Mind Blastic by Neeraj Shridhar, Ring Ring by Subhajit Mukherjee, Ae Ji Suniye by Humsika Iyer and Amartya Rahut and Carlos by Javed Jaffrey.

Sholay in 3D

Sholay is a 1975 action-adventure Hindi film directed by Ramesh Sippy and produced by his father G. P. Sippy. This film will be now shown in 3D format. The film follows two criminals, Veeru and Jai (played by Dharmendra and Amitabh Bachchan), hired by a retired police officer (Sanjeev Kumar) to capture the ruthless dacoit Gabbar Singh (Amjad Khan). Hema Malini and Jaya Bhaduri also star as Veeru and Jai's love interests. Sholay is considered a classic and one of the best Indian films.
The film has an interesting plot. In the small village of Ramgarh, the retired policeman Thakur Baldev Singh (Sanjeev Kumar) summons to a pair of small-time thieves that he had once arrested. Thakur feels that the duo — Veeru (Dharmendra) and Jai (Amitabh Bachchan) — would be ideal to help him capture Gabbar Singh (Amjad Khan), a dacoit wanted by the authorities for a INR50,000 reward. Thakur tells them to surrender Gabbar to him, alive, for an additional INR20,000 reward.
The two thieves thwart the dacoits sent by Gabbar to extort the villagers. Living in Ramgarh, the lively Veeru and cynical Jai find themselves growing fond of the villagers. Veeru is attracted to Basanti (Hema Malini), a feisty, talkative young woman who makes her living by driving a horse-cart. Jai is drawn to Radha (Jaya Bhaduri), Thakur's reclusive, widowed daughter-in-law, who subtly returns his affections.
The film next depicts skirmishes between Gabbar's gang and Jai-Veeru. At one stage, Jai sacrifices himself by using his last bullet to ignite dynamite sticks on a bridge from close range. Enraged, Veeru attacks Gabbar's den and catches the dacoit. Veeru nearly beats Gabbar to death when Thakur appears and reminds Veeru of the promise to hand over Gabbar alive. Thakur uses his spike-soled shoes to severely injure Gabbar and destroy his hands. The police then arrive and arrest Gabbar.

The Wolf of Wall Street

The Wolf of Wall Street is a 2013 American satirical biographical black comedy film directed by Martin Scorsese, based on Jordan Belfort's memoir of the same name. The screenplay is written by Terence Winter, and the film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Belfort, a New York stockbroker who refuses to cooperate in a large securities fraud case involving corruption on Wall Street. The film also features Jonah Hill and Matthew McConaughey.
The middle-class, Queens-raised Belfort tried and failed to establish himself on Wall Street in a more traditional way — we see his tutelage in the late '80s at a blue chip firm, under the wing of a grinning sleazeball played by Matthew McConaughey — but got laid off in the market crash of 1987. He reinvented himself on Long Island by taking over a penny stock boiler room and giving it an old money name, Stratton Oakmont, to gain the confidence of middle-and working-class investors. The firm employed over 1000 stock brokers and was involved in stock issues totaling more than $1 billion, including an equity raising for footwear company Steve Madden Ltd. Belfort and his company specialized in "pump and dump" operations: artificially blowing up the value of a nearly worthless stock, then selling it at a big profit, after which point the value drops and the investors lose their money. Belfort was indicted in 1998 for money laundering and securities fraud, spent nearly two years in federal prison and was ordered to pay back $110 million to investors he'd deceived.
The movie thus shows how Belfort rose from humble origins and become rich and notorious.

47 Ronin

47 Ronin is a 2013 American fantasy action film depicting a fictional account of the forty-seven Ronin, a real-life group of samurai in 18th-century Japan who avenge the murder of their master. Produced by Universal Studios, the film is directed by Carl Erik Rinsch and stars Keanu Reeves.
The film has an interesting story to tell. The outcast Kai (Reeves), illegitimate son of a British sailor and a Japanese peasant woman, joins a group of Ronin, led by Kuranosuke Oishi (Sanada), who seeks vengeance on Lord Kira (Asano), a ruthless man who killed their master and banished the group. The Ronin embark on a journey with challenges that would defeat most warriors.
The film has Keanu Reeves as Kai, a former slave who joins the Ronin. Reeves's character is half-Japanese and half-British; the character was created for the film. The film also has Hiroyuki Sanada as Oishi, the leader of the Ronin, Kou Shibasaki as Mika, Lord Kira's daughter and Kai's love interest, Tadanobu Asano as Lord Kira, the Shogun's master of ceremonies and the one responsible for killing the Ronin's master, Min Tanaka as Lord Asano, the former master of the Ronin, Jin Akanishi as Chikara, Oishi's son, Masayoshi Haneda as Yasuno, Hiroshi Sogabe as Hazama, Neil Fingleton as Lovecraftian Samurai, Takato Yonemoto as Basho, Hiroshi Yamada as Hara, Shu Nakajima as Horibe, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Shogun Tsunayoshi, Rinko Kikuchi as Mizuki, a witch who serves Lord Kira, Yorick van Wageningen as Kapitan and Rick Genest as Savage.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is an American adventure fantasy comedy-drama film directed by and starring Ben Stiller. This is the second film adaptation of James Thurber's 1939 short story of the same name. The 1947 version was produced by Samuel Goldwyn and directed by Norman Z. McLeod, with Danny Kaye playing the role of Walter Mitty.
The film has an interesting story. Walter Mitty is an employee at Life magazine who frequently daydreams of fantastic adventures. Photojournalist Sean O'Connell has sent a special photograph that he says captures the "Quintessence" of Life magazine and that it should be used for the cover of the magazine's final issue. Mitty works in the negative assets department, and has never lost a photo in his sixteen years of work at Life magazine, but negative 25 is missing. Using the other negatives as clues Mitty decides to go in search of Sean O'Connell and find the missing negative.

Thus the film has Ben Stiller as Walter Mitty, a negative asset manager at Life, Kristen Wiig as Cheryl Melhoff, Walter's love interest and co-worker, Shirley MacLaine as Edna Mitty, Walter's mother, Adam Scott as Ted Hendricks, Walter's new boss, Kathryn Hahn as Odessa Mitty, Walter's sister, Sean Penn as Sean O'Connell, a photojournalist, Patton Oswalt as Todd Maher, an Harmony customer service representative, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as a Greenlandic pilot, Jon Daly as Tim Naughton, one of Walter's co-workers, Terence Bernie Hines as Gary Mannheim, one of Walter's co-workers, Adrian Martinez as Hernando, Walter's understudy and co-worker, Kai Lennox as Phil Melhoff, Cheryl's ex-husband, Conan O'Brien as himself, Andy Richter as himself and Joey Slotnick as a retirement home administrator.

Dinesh Kamath's news item 'Police celebrate “Raising Day Of Maharashtra Police'" that was published in Newsband

Police celebrate “Raising Day Of Maharashtra Police”
By Dinesh Kamath

Photo (Above): Dr Jayakar Ellis, ACP Vivek Masal & Senior Police Inspector Shekhar Tore with children from Bonny School, Kharghar at the launch.
NAVI MUMBAI: In a bid to further narrow the gap in between the Public and the Police, the Maharashtra Police have decided to celebrate “Raising Day of Maharashtra Police” (RD) in association with Heart Foundation, NGO in aid of PACT – Prevention of Abuse of Children & Teen from 2nd to 8th January 2014 for the second consecutive year. This week is also celebrated as Police-Public Contact Week.
The inauguration of the week was done by ACP Shri Vivek Masal. Talking on the occasion, ACP Masal said “It is a very good initiative from the Police and Heart Foundation to let the School Children know about Maharashtra Police Raising Day and the actual functioning of the Police. We would like to continue to serve the community by standing by their side constantly and instilling peace and tranquility in the society.” Adding he said “We are also glad to be a part of the social initiative called PACT started by Heart Foundation”.
Talking to Senior Police Inspector, Shekhar Tore, CBD Belapur Police Station, he said “ It was on this day (2nd January), that the Maharashtra Police was handed over the current flag by the then Prime Minister Late Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru.” He also added that various programs have been slotted for the benefit of the society at large like having Police bands play at different parts of Navi Mumabi, Beat Officers from every Police station will be meeting member of different societies in their beat giving them tips on safety, holding seminars of Public Interests with various sections of the society.
“One of the main attractions has been to invite children from different Schools to educate them of the functioning of the Police station, displaying of weapons and meeting our Police staff. We have joined hands with HEART (Helping to Educate Associate Rehabilitate & Teach) Foundation spear headed by Dr. Jayakar Ellis who has helped in coordinating with various schools like Radcliffe School, DPVN High School, Good Shepherd High School, Belapur, Presentation School, Nerul and Bonny School, Kharghar.”
“I have been a resident of Navi Mumbai for over 25 years and when I heard about the Raising Day for the first time, I felt that it would be awesome to join hands and be a part of helping educate our children about the Police force. So we are glad to be working with them for the second year” said Dr. Ellis Jayakar.

“I am very happy and delighted that our Police department has taken the initiative in inviting our students to the Police station and enlightening them in the working of the Police force. This type of exercise will enable the students to think seriously in joining the force and also make them realize that the Police are loving and human” said Mrs Swati Mukherjee, Principal, Radcliffe School.

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Well played, Kallis!' that was published in Newsband

Well played, Kallis!
Jacques Kallis is undoubtedly one of the best cricketers in the world. As a batsman, he belonged to the class of Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Rahul Dravid and Kumar Sangakkara. Kallis has scored more than 10,000 runs and his average is 55.12. Only Kumar Sangakkara has a higher batting average than Kallis. Kallis was a top-order batsman who could hit 90 mph. 
Kallis also has 292 Test wickets to his credit. He has also taken 199 catches. He is equated with world’s best all-rounders like Gary Sobers, Imran Khan, Keith Miller, Ian Botham and Kapil Dev.  
He was an attractive, classically correct player with the ability to play muscular strokes off either foot. His bowling was versatile, and he could swing the new ball, drop his length and quicken his pace when it lost its shine, and deny runs if all else failed. He could bowl nasty bouncers too and top batsmen of the world have felt uncomfortable to his bowling.
He was solely responsible for placing South Africa at the top of world cricket.
As a batsman he was Sachin Tendulkar of South Africa. But as an all-rounder, he was Kapil Dev of South Africa.
Kallis is undoubtedly the greatest test player of the modern era. He has bowed out gracefully and that is the best thing a top player should do and Kallis has shown how to do it.
Kallis proved that he was a man of skill, intelligence and passion. These qualities are rarely seen among test cricketers and that’s the reason why the cricketing world will miss him. Even off the field, he was a gentleman; there are very few controversies concerning him. He belongs to the genre of gentle and amiable giants that walked the cricketing turfs.
There are many of his fans who can’t get over the shock of his retirement. He looked rock solid in his fitness and thought he will continue for another year getting 300 test wickets and surpassing Sachin’s records for most number of 100's.

Quality all-rounders like Kallis are rare breed in the world of cricket at the moment. Kallis is not only the greatest all rounder but also a wonderful sportsman who carried himself excellently on the field and never ever showed any sign of resentment on any decision. Hat’s off to Kallis! 

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Video: Dinesh Kamath utters Marlon Brando's dialogue from movie 'The Godfather'


Dinesh Kamath's news item 'NCP tries to woo the voters right from now' that was published in Newsband

NCP tries to woo the voters right from now
By Dinesh Kamath
VASHI: The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) wishes to complete some of the projects before elections.
Both the Parliamentary and state assembly elections will be held in 2014 and hence NMMC is keen on working on certain project which they would like to complete before elections. They want to complete these projects before code of conduct is put in force. 
Municipal Commissioner Abasaheb Jarhad feels that some development works should not be affected by the election code of conduct and these works should be given top priority to ensure that they get completed before the elections. The agencies in charge of these projects are asked to complete their jobs at the earliest. The code of conduct, once put into force, will pose a lot of problems like those in the matter of calling for tenders, appointing new staff, inaugurating of completed projects etc. Even new projects cannot be announced during the period when code of conduct is in force.
The election is come very close and NMMC officials are hurrying up in the matter of deciding as to which projects should be given top priority. The ruling party in the NMMC, the Nationalist Congress Party, will undoubtedly show preference for completing of those projects which will boost their vote bank. NCP is seriously considering the issues like FSI, cluster development and LBT which are of utmost importance to Navi Mumbai voters. NCP intends to please the city voters by resolving these issues to suit the voters. The opposition parties are observing the ‘wait and watch’ policy and are all prepared to point out faults in the ruling party’s functioning the moment NCP makes a mistake.

Dinesh Kamath's news item 'NMMC fails to keep its promise' that was published in Newsband

NMMC fails to keep its promise
By Dinesh Kamath

VASHI: The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation had undertaken the task of constructing the three 100-bed civic hospitals at Nerul, Belapur and Airoli. But owing to the considerable delay in completing the construction work, NMMC authorities had to face the wrath of corporators. The civic body has not been able to complete the construction of these three hospitals within the time they had specified.
However, Mayor Sagar Naik is confident that the three hospitals will start operating by February. The hospital will be soon equipped with both equipments and staff, promised Sagar Naik.
The corporators felt agitated owing to the fact that NMMC has been showing negligence in the matter of health issues. According to them, hospitals are urgent needs of the residents of the city and hence constructing of these three hospitals should have been given the top priority and they should have been completed by now. The corporators were of the view that NMMC authorities should stick to their promises. They had promised that the work on the hospitals would be completed by early 2013 and yet they have not been able to live up to their promise.
The engineering department blames the health department for this delay since the latter has yet to install the medical equipments over there. But the health department defends itself by saying that constructing of hospitals is not their job but the work of engineering department which has failed to hand over the completed hospitals to them.  
However, it is left to be seen whether Mayor’s assurance that the hospitals will become operational from February will turn out to be true or not. Corporators wish to know how NMMC will do the completing of internal fittings and installing of medical equipments before February.

Many residents of Navi Mumbai are eagerly waiting for these hospitals to come up since they are not happy with the current situation where scarcity of health centres is badly felt. 

Dinesh Kamath's news item 'NMMC attempts to control the rise in population of strays' that was published in Newsband

NMMC attempts to control the rise in population of strays
By Dinesh Kamath

VASHI: Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation's (NMMC) health department is feeling concerned about the increase in population of stray animals in Navi Mumbai. It has come up with a plan to control this rising population of strays by coming up with the Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme. NMMC is planning to start a four-month temporary camp in the city.
A proposal relating to this issue will be put forward in the general body meeting on January 6. The issue relating to the stray dog population will be discussed in detail then.
As per the World Health Organization (WHO), 70% of the strays should be sterilized in a year. But NMMC has not been able to manage to live up to WHO’s expectation. The civic sterilization centre does not have the capability of operating on so many dogs since there is scarcity of space and not enough medical facilities.
The camp which NMMC intends to begin will have a team of doctors and staff from veterinary colleges in Mumbai.

The corporation plans to perform the operations at Ghansoli hospital which has space enough to carry out the sterilization process. The corporation has also sanctioned a big amount to conduct these operations and quite a big number of strays have been targeted to undergo sterilization.