Tuesday, October 18, 2011

My Friend Prateik...





Some more pics .... i love these dinky French cars!
Would you believe the next 3 images are of an airport lounge??? Yup. Terminal 5 at London Heathrow is this spiffy! Well, at least the BA Lounge makes up for the mediocre flight experience.
Am off to Bangalore tomorrow morning. Love the city. Love the people. Hoping to catch Yeddu on the run somewhere.... ha ha!
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This appeared in Bombay Times today...



My Friend Prateik…
That I adore this sensitive young actor is a given. I adored his mother, Smita. And I see a lot of her in young Prateik. That is why I find it particularly grotesque to read reports about Smita ‘haunting’ Prateik… and not just him. Crew members have gone to town about sensing ‘Smita’s presence’ on the sets of ‘My Friend Pinto’, etc. This is plain disgusting. Exploit a famous parent if you must. But have the grace and good sense to leave a dead mother in peace. I watched a few , really sickening scenes in an otherwise enjoyable movie ( ‘Pinto’), and felt really , really sorry for Prateik that he had to go along with a script that so blatantly used his personal life and tried to manipulate audience sentiment ( he is forced to speak about his dead ‘mama;). Come on, you chaps. Are you that desperate? In any case, Prateik needs to pick his future roles with a better sense of judgment. How many times is he going to flog the poor Goan orphan, innocent and vulnerable, easy to use by bad guys who send him off on dangerous missions? How many times will Prateik be reduced to the stereotypical ‘Mac’ who keeps repeating, “What men? No men!’ and speaking a peculiar Goan –Hindi that does not recognize gender? Kalki, too, needs to run miles in the opposite direction from uttering those fake dialogues as a male ( Main thak gaya…. Main bahut angry hai.”). But the girl is like a poised ballet dancer ( ‘Singing in the rain’ rip off)
Prateik is a far better actor than all his combined roles so far. His range was evident in this movie as well, particularly during the singing and dancing scenes which were straight lifts of or tributes to old Hollywood musicals. The movie is disastrous in the first half, and one sees it going nowhere, with all those amateurish, untidy characters and wonky plot lines. Post –interval, it comes together somehow and ends on a magical, feel good note. If the film maker was attempting his version of ‘Hangover’, well…. that’s a bit too ambitious. ‘Pinto’ had its moments, of course. With a splendid turn by Divya Dutta as a boozed up, fading actress of yore ( watch her signing autographs at the bar for ‘fans’ ). Shruti Seth puts in a great performance as well – here’s a lovely, stylish young actress who deserves better. But it’s really Prateik who breaks your heart – those eyes, that mouth. Even the peculiar, high pitched voice that I hope he doesn’t change but converts into his trademark. He can sing, he can dance, and he can clearly ACT! That’s saying a lot more than can be said about a whole bunch of star sons ( and daughters, of course!).
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There’s no light at the end of the South Mumbai tunnel! This is Day 2 of going without electricity and water. Uddhav Thackeray says it’s a political stunt. I am desperate enough to believe him this one time! Disgraceful and scary. Hate to think of residents occupying the 25th floor of our complex. What happens if there is a medical emergency??

10 comments:

Dreaming Wanderer. www.tonightidream-iwander.blogspot.com said...

had read ur article in todays BT

yes ur rite, tat prateik has talent n he needs better roles... But tats a case wid many gud upcoming actors in Bollywood. (sharman joshi,

u need to have a Baap (as in a Bachan saahab)in bollywood to repeatedly get u those big banners or a Maamu (like Aamir) to get better scripts..

infact even the big names land up in the messiest of scripts here in bollywood (movies like rascals n totally disappointing mausam)

hope promising actors like prateik get more shots at better roles..

goodluck said...

You cant think beyond south mumbai? What about people of Thane and other parts of Maharashtra who are putting up with 6 to 8 hours of powercuts for the last so many years so that you people in south mumbai have uninterrupted supply of power?
On top of it people oppose Jaitapur, Kudunkolam and expect electricity supplied to them from heavens?
The day is not faroff when you people cant drive your cars, cant travel abroad and live like those cave people. I am waiting for that day.

goodluck said...

Do you know babies are dyin as incubators are malfunctioning due to powercuts in rest of Maharashtra?

kakaka said...

don't you find it amazing that debt stricken countries like britain have enough wealth to spend on useless things like airport beautification and hard working Indians who save every penny don't even have electricity.
realize this globalization is the new form of imperialism.
Chinese and Indians are like the emperor with no clothes. We set up factories, use all our natural resources and cheap labor and export products at cheap rates. while those countries keep piling on debt and fart around and do nothing substantial to change things.

this so called economic progress is a farce.all we are doing is ruining the environment and destroying ourselves.

Jogeshwar said...

The lovely dinky car in the picture is Mini Cooper S. The vehicle is in some ways considered the British equivalent to its German contemporary, the Volkswagen Beetle. It's Mr. Bean's favourite car as well. Look carefully there's a Union Jack painted on the roof.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini#Mini_Cooper_and_Cooper_S:_1961.E2.80.932000

Anonymous said...

infact even the big names land up in the messiest of scripts here in bollywood (movies like rascals n totally disappointing mausam)
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चंद्रमौलेश्वर प्रसाद said...

To meet yeddi or reddy you have to break your haddi in jail :)

Website and Printing Solutions said...

agreed Pratiek is repeating too much. He is a far better actor and should do more versatile roles.
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Pooja Rathore said...

nice post on prateik, i like him ,he is a good actor(talented no doubt).hope he gets good roles so that he gets an opportunity to showcase his talent.
sad to hear about "no power" for long period can be very frustrating,your fears are practical ...such power cuts are life threatening (it reminds me of govinda song ...it happens only in India!).Take care and pray!

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