The Dark Knight Rises

20th July 2012, 11.05 am :


The cinema hall is already noisy as late comers scurry to their seats in sanguine anticipation. The screen lights up and the hall quietens as everybody eagerly looks up at the screen. They all let out a collective sigh of disappointment when they see the usual Vicco Vajradanti advertisements playing. On any other day they would've gleefully watched those advertisements and joked along with their friends about it's longevity in Indian cinema halls. But not now, not today. Nope, today they were to here to watch the end of a series, a trilogy to be more specific...the Batman Trilogy.

Everybody had seen the earlier two movies namely Batman Begins (2005) and The Dark Knight (2008). Expectations were high, after all it is a Christopher Nolan movie. And I've gotta say, we sure as hell weren't disappointed!


For the three hours that all of us sat in that cinema hall to watch this movie, we were like a single human entity. We were all feeling the same emotions and exhibiting the same emotions. We cheered collectively when he came on screen and gasped collectively when he was being beaten.


We gaped at each other in shock at the scene when the movie paused for the interval. At that point he had fallen, and along with him so had we. After the interval we saw his struggle, and along with him so did we. As we saw the Dark Knight rise from the depths of hell, along with him so did we!


Never before have I ever had such an awesome movie watching experience wherein you can literally see, and more importantly, feel the impact that the movie has had in the cinema hall. And for that, all the credit goes to Christopher Nolan and his team!


Excellent script, camera work, screenplay, editing and direction! A complete package that one could find in a movie. Some of the dialogues literally give you goosebumps that stay longer than usual. Absolutely fantastic! It took me a day to put these feelings into words and I know I'm still falling short right now.
(Although I have to say that the kissing scene kinda broke the hold that the movie had had on me...only for a little while though!)


If you haven't watched this movie yet, then you're clearly missing out on something great. That's all I have to say.


PS: They showed the promos of Man Of Steel during the interval. Now, although I'm not that great a fan of Superman, as is evident from this previous post here, I still am excited about it as Nolan is the producer! *crosses fingers*

...and I'm back.

Its been two years since I last posted here. A lot has changed in these past couple of years... for starters :


1.
My initial dislike for film photography has died ever since I had a taste of digital. After all, there ain't no school like the old school!
Procuring film and then getting it processed is pretty expensive though :(
So, I should be posting photos from both mediums!


2.
I have changed as well...at least I think I have. I guess evolved is a better term to describe it...people don't really change who they are.
I find myself laughing at how pathetically naive some of my old posts on this blog were, but I've decided against deleting any of them 'coz well, they are kinda responsible for who I am today. Hell, a couple of years from now, I might find myself laughing at the naivety of this post!


3.
I'm done with my four years of Mechanical Engineering. The results are rumoured to be out soon, and if they're good enough then I begin working at my first job, sometime in August...but more on that later!


4.
I'm still pretty unsure about what I want from life, I finally seem to have begun understanding what I don't want from my life. I'd like to call that progress! :)

I started this blog in 2009 with no general purpose and I'm happy to admit that even after three years, I intend to continue it in the same manner. I should be modifying the layout of this blog within the next week, once I've figured out the changes that have happened in Blogger since I was last here.

I'll try to post more often, whenever I find something worthwhile from the mundane jungle that is my life.

But as of now, we're open for business!

Whats in a name??

Being the diverse country that it is, India and its people have always been classified into various religions,castes and groups...and to identify which group you belong to, your last name is more than enough. Now, what came along with that package were also stereotypes.

Whether its the warm hearted, loud mouthed Punjabis, the miserly Gujaratis, the eccentric and always inclined towards the arts Bengalis, or the fact that all South Indians are Brahmins and are strict disciplinarians ...we can't seem to escape these stereotypes even though we know that there are many exceptions to the generalised rule. But since this is my blog, I shall only rant about the stereotype thats been associated with me since birth.

My name is Pranav Shetty. Yep, I'm a Shetty. Now,ever since I can remember, the moment I introduced myself in this manner, I have always received this standard response, "Oh! Your a Shetty, eh? So, how many hotels do you own?"

Yes,'coz thats what Shettys are known for. Thats the stereotype thats been associated with my name all my life. And if you actually think about it, it is in a way justified. Because about 85% of Shettys are hotel/restaurant owners. Of the remaining 15%, around 5% are underworld dons (the ones that are called "Anna"..meaning brother) and the remaining 10% have,what we can call the "other" jobs.

So, my response has always been with an apologetic smile, "No, I don't own any hotels. In fact,nobody in my immediate family owns one."

Some of 'em would accept this reply...'coz its true. But, there are some idiots who go like, "What!?! Stop lying man.You can tell me the truth, I'm not gonna come there and ask you for a free meal!"


Idiots, I tell you.

The worst incident happened about a year back, when I had a welding workshop session in college. Surprisingly, my classmates were ignorant about the stereotype until I had the above,exact conversation with my workshop teacher.Soon, the news spread.

About a couple of hours later, my faith in grapevine and exaggeration increased ten fold, when an idiotic classmate of mine came up to me and asked me the exact whereabouts in Goa, of my two hotels which went by the names of Hotel Alfredo and Hotel Alberto.

While a part of me mulled over as to why a Shetty would give Spanish names to his hotels, another part of me decided that enough was enough. So I came up with an alternative...I changed my way of introducing myself.

Now, my introduction goes about like this, " Hi, I'm Pranav Shetty...and no, I DON'T own any hotels!"

Bah! I know its kinda lame. But, its sure does work as an ice-breaker ;-)