News Event of the Week: Chinese Yuan

To me, the biggest economy news of the week was , China re-valuating its currency Yuan.
This is a major move announced by the global superpower, making significant changes in global trade. BBC has done nice analysis of the situation. Also read Hindu BusinessLine article and fantastic coverage by MorganStanley.

Sarkar -

On Sunday noon (!), I watched Sarkar (Reviews: BBC/ imdb /Rediff / Indiafm / Sify). It is a bollywood movie which is supposed to be a tribute by famous director Ram Gopal Varma.
Firstly, about the movie. Its one of most fantastic Hindi movies I have ever seen. Its a flat 2 hour show without any songs and any crap. Surprisingly, it didn't have gala opening in U.K. (# 10 this week) It is supposed to be inspired (?) (remember Anu Malik's statement!) by
The Godfather, the classic made famous by Marlon Brando and Al Pacino.
But except the initial sequence, the story is totally different and Indianized. There is no chance to call it as an imitation even though Rediff review rates it so. Ramu has just taken the concept from The Godfather
Amitabh as usually has given a stunning performance, Abhishek seem to be improving, even though lacks smooth and flawless execution of the role. Katrina is sweet and beautiful, even though dubbed voice sucks. Surprisingly, Tanisha (profile) has got a very short and sweet role. The way she proposes Abhishek inarticulately is marvelous.

Secondly, about the matinee show. After almost four years I watched a matinee show. I am a movie buff, frequency at least one movie a week in a movie theatre. (This of course excludes movies watched on my home DVD player !) Still the ambiance and the crowd flocking the multiplexes at 11 A.M. (!) was amazing and bit surprising to me also, as I always linger around the lovely shopping malls only in the evenings / late nights. This mall revolution is really going to vanish the small shops especially the garment and snack type eateries

Raning, raining and raining

Vapi !!- Here I have seen maximum rain in my life. This can easily beat Mumbai rains.
Since last night it is raining so much ..
All towns in nearby vicinity are having a flood alert. Death toll is over 90. State of Gujarat is facing very heavy rains in this monsoon. Vapi has become like an island. Daman, Sylvassa, Valsad have been overflooded with heavy rains and waterlogging.
Telephone lines at Vapi are constantly down as BSNL infrastructure seems to be extremely fragile.

Paheli

Yesterday, I watched Paheli (official site),a bollywood movie starring Shah Rukh Khan, Rani Mukerjee, Amitabh Bachchan etc.

Overall the experience was very boring. For first half-an-hour nothing happens. One spirit just keeps on taking various forms.

I am really surprised that it was directed by Amol Palekar. Real shocks were how Amitabh Bacchhan was starring in such movie.

No wonder about Rani Mukerjee as she has started performing in bad movies since Bunty Aur Bubli

If at all someone forces you to watch this movie, please do not watch !