Movies Roundup 2011

Once again it's the list making time of the year, and just like in 2009 and 2010 I have made meticulous notes of the movies (that released during the year/I watched in theatres during the year) of 2011 and am keen on sharing the information overload with you. However, unlike in the previous years where I provided a synopsis of my top 5 Hindi & English movies I have decided to take the tedious way of sharing my 140 character review of all 22 movies I watched this year. Okay. Lazy way. These are my tweet-reviews of the movies soon after watching them and documented here for posterity. For the rest of stats lovers in you, as usual we will do the number summary like in the previous years. 

Year        # Seen    H:E       Top Rating   Avg Rating

2007         32          22:10       9.0                  5.78

2008         30          23:7         8.5                  6.35

2009         24          18:6         9.0                  6.85
2010         25          16:9         8.5                  6.62
2011         22          16:6         8.5                  6.77

Before we go into the entire list of movies and their scores, here are the Top 5 of the year for me, in rank order.

Rank 1

Rank 2

Rank 3

Rank 4

Rank 5

And the complete details follow.

The Tourist- Swift, thrilling, somewhat predictable. Beautiful locales and absolutely stunning lead pair. 0.5 extra for Jolie & Depp. 6.5/10


Dhobi Ghat - Vibrant, fresh and visually appealing. True to it's style leaves the story open at the end. Captivating 95 minutes. 8/10.


No One Killed Jessica - Cinematically left a lot to be desired, but made up for it with the spirit & positivity. Vidya - A+, Rani - B-. 7/10


Yeh Saali Zindagi - a dark, crime comedy that teases you with equal doses of scares and laughs all through. Superb performances by all. 8/10.


7 Khoon Maaf - beautifully picturised dark comedy, haunting & thrilling almost throughout. Could have been 20 minutes shorter. 7/10.


Rio (3D) - Typical witty, funny & entertaining Hollywood animation movie keeping you engaged for 2 hours. 3D adds to the fun. 7/10.


Shor In The City - What a movie! For the 1st time you will not only use Tusshar Kapoor & 'good movie' together but also 'very'. 8/10.


Source Code - Reminds you a lot of Inception and a bit of Vantage Point. Typicall sci-fi thriller, edge-of-seat etc. Recommended. 7/10.


I Am - a stunningly sensitive depiction of four heavy subjects without getting preachy or overtly dramatic. Brilliant portrayals. 8.5/10


Chalo Dilli - a genuinely humorous story with endearing performances by Lara & Vinay Pathak. Resembles Bheja Fry in places. Worth it. 7.5/10


Hangover 2 - perhaps the best example of reproducing something that worked in the past, with minimal tampering. My guilty pleasure. 6/10.


Kung Fu Panda 2 - Delightful story about Po & and his bumbling antics, endearing characters, holds your attention. Good, expected. 6.5/10

Delhi Belly - Crass, toilet humour ridden and wannabe. Still had me in splits in parts. Bold. Tries too hard. Usual senseless climax. 6/10.

Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Part 2) - And with that my childhood is officially over. 8.5/10 [Rating is emotionally inflated]

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara - Fresh & engaging. Beautifully shot. Reminiscent of DCH & Rock On in tone and content. Strong performances. 7.5/10

That Girl In Yellow Boots - Gritty and gripping throughout with an ending that can leave many repulsed. Brilliant performance by Kalki. 7/10

Bodyguard - Will take immense efforts to come up with a worse movie. Glad that we sneaked into the next screen w/out paying for it. 2/10

Ra.One - A visual extravaganza. Shoddy start. Outstanding visual effects, at par with the best. Wafer thin plot. Unpretentious. 6.5/10.

Rockstar - Imtiaz Ali leaves no stone unturned in dishing out a mega disappointment. Contrived & hackneyed. With plastic for a heroine. 5/10.

The Dirty Picture - Predictable and over-the-top in most parts. Points to Vidya for her earnest efforts, Emraan a joke. Disappointed. 5/10.

Royal Bengal Rohoshyo - a pleasant surprise from Sandip Ray after the previous Feluda disappointments. Relived those childhood moments. 7/10

Don 2 - Very (Slick. Classy. Gripping. Pacy) SRK is charm, wit, elegance & stardom personified, and that could be unabashed fanspeak! 8/10.

World's Best, #1, Fantastic, Mind Blowing!

The subject line pales in comparison to the protagonist of this piece, Dr. Engg. Real Estate Agent, Vaccuum Cleaner Salesman and Inventor Punit Sethi.

There are social media experts and then there is "World's Most Popular Social Media Expert as declared by Google" And as his Google+ profile says, in a Bond, James Bond way, "Google my name...Dr Punit Sethi is an"

Where do we start with Dr. Engg. Real Estate Agent, Vaccuum Cleaner Salesman and Inventor Punit Sethi. Let's take the easier route and refer to his introduction. Following are the excerpts:

1. Engineer cum Author.. with MTech, MSc, MBA & PhD. Infra, Power, Highways, Real Estate, TQM, Six SIGMA Expert. Google declared World's Most Popular Social Media, Corporate Communication & FB Expert. Author. Messenger of Peace for World Harmony.

2.Google declared Dr Punit Sethi an Indian Engineer cum Author as facebook expert and his book “Luv U Mate” on facebook as most popular in the World‏.

And at this point you are beginning to doubt the claims of Dr. Engg. Real Estate Agent, Vaccuum Cleaner Salesman and Inventor Punit Sethi, aren't you? Before you sin any further let me share the bona fide Yahoo India news article which confirms that Google did indeed Dr. Engg....Sethi as the most popular expert on Facebook.

Ha! Read that Pope & Rajinikanth joke? No? Good time to do so.

Anyway, moving on to the more concrete accomplishments of BTech (Civil), MTech (Infra/Environment), MSc, MBA, PhD, Member American Society of Civil Engineers, Fellow of Institute of Valuers, Fellow of Institute of Engineers, Member of Indian Roads Congress, Member of Indian Buildings Congress, Chartered Engineer...Lead Auditor QMS, ISO, IMS, OHSAS, EMS, NDT Punit Sethi.

He's penned the first book to win not only the Nobel Prize for Literature and the Booker of Bookers but also the Oscar & the Filmfare Awards - SPREAD LOVE NOT HATE; LUV U MATE!! And once again I notice the strains of disbelief in your eyes oh ye naive readers of this blog.


For you cynical netizens nothing will work unless the 'Wall Street Journal' itself confirms the facts in any blog post, isn't it? Fair enough, here's the revered WSJ itself informing you how the respected Indian minister Kapil Sibal launched the greatest book on earth. And sales have been moderately swift, promptly pushing the Bible to the 2nd spot within a few hours of its launch. Oh, soon after the WSJ article, our own Economic Times followed suit with a post about the greatest book of all time.

Okay, so now that the skeptic in you has been taken care off, the curiosity to know more about the man must be killing you from inside. Fret not, Lord Sethi has once again out-thought you and left enough footprints on popular social networking sites to sing his paens. You can find his illustrious career on LinkedIn, engage in some intellectually stimulating conversations on Facebook and follow his 140 characters of wisdom on Twitter.

And yes, even this cutout of the Indian cricket skipper couldn't escape Dr. Sethi's charisma and decided to take part in the book launch.

We're honoured to be living in the same day and age as Engineer + Doctor (PhD) = Doctor ♥♥ Engineer & a humanitarian. (Engr with MTech, MBA & PhD. Infra, Power, Highways, Real Estate, TQM, Six SIGMA Expert. Google declared FB Expert. Author. Messenger of Peace for World Harmony) Dr. Sethi.


P.S: If anyone has any information on this giant among men please do not hesitate to share in the comments below.

And It Snowed!

November 10th, 2011 will remain a special day as I could finally get "watching snowfall" off from my list of 'Things To Do Before I Die' list. In fact, technically the moment arrived earlier this morning around 8:00 AM when I was walking to school and it was the exact opposite of what I had always expected it to be. Forget about snowfall, it was more like 'spit-fall' and that too by someone who wouldn't do too well in a spitting game. My friend could just not be convinced that those little white things floating around were snow flakes and not pollen grains.

However, on my way back this afternoon, it happened. Complete with the intrigue and romance associated with the phenomenon. I was waiting at the traffic lights when suddenly, out of nowhere, the sunny Evanston skies turned a dull shade of grey and the entire place got covered with the tiny little cold specks that magically appeared. And then things became more aggressive! The specks became little spheres, almost like micro hail stones, and the temperature dipped to freezing levels. The roads, sidewalks and lawns started to be painted white. What a moment!

In case you're as excited about the first snow as Veni & I were, here's a photo captured by her from our house and a video below that I took while braving the sudden attack of the icy globules.

Check out the snow covered roof of our adjoining house!