3-tier a/c hell

kisna the review
kisna, or krishna. same thing. vivek is warrior poet! long hair and face whiskers, he's still hunky as hell. and very fitting of him to play krishna. it's 1935 in hardawar, uttaranchael (sp?) in north india, where you can see the ganges and the mountains. movie is in flashback, of course. an old white english woman narrates her story and her love for kisna as a child in 1935 till she hooks up with him after being banished to delhi. it's 1947 during the revolution at this point and the indians are kicking the white man's ass. hence a host of problems, cause the white girl is in love with an indian, even though another indian girl also wants him-white gopi versus brown gopi-can you say "meeeooowww?" the blond, who is actually french is so striking you can't take your eyes off her and speaks bad hindi. the indian is seen constantly praying to her krishna deity for love of kisna and does yoga postures suspended by ropes, we don't really know why, but it looks cool. (jeff-think naach). vivek-krisna-of course plays the flute and the dances are very krishna like, like cloned krisnas blue skinned and all. it's charming, really. as i stated earlier, this movie was filmed in both english and hindi and one song is entirely in english, which is almost impossible to watch. i personally don't think indian movies need to cross over to america. i happen to like indian cinema exactly the way it is. let those that deserve it's bountiful fruits find it for themselves. however, i still will watch it again if it happens to reach chicago in english this spring. the cinematography is breathtaking, the script is not, the best acting is only when the late great amrish puri enters the screen with one blue and one brown eye, just as evil as ever. god i miss him.
should you see this movie? sure, but it's way not on par with many others i've seen. it's a good one to start out with if you are inexperienced in bollywood movies. the seasoned viewers don't need it. i give it a 2.5 out of 5 stars, mughel-e-azam being a perfect 5.
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3 tier a/c does not rock
we took a couple of bulging rickshaws to the trivandrum rail station, got on the train right away. seemed too easy by indian standards. of course it went down from there. skinny indian business men were snoring away in our bunks, so we got put in someone elses bunk. seemed ok for awhile until we got to kochi and were promptly kicked out of our spots by mean indians from london. luggage scattered all over the place, no one to help us. my only choice was to kick out the dude that was fast asleep in my bunk. fun fun fun. me and 5 men crammed into a corner, me sleeping on top of my purse, everyone's luggage chained and safe except for ours. only hours before, we were forced to tip jerks who pointed to our seats, and a waiter with a drinking problem from the velvet dawn who followed us to the rail station and also begged for money for booze, cause he had gotten fired from the restaurant for bugging the guests for money and being drunk. seriously creepy. not a wink of sleep for me, dudes staring at my ankles, me worried about my luggage, the english indians cursing us out. luckily the rest of the trip was mild, some of the dudes had gotten off in mangalore, so there was more room. no privacy at all, and way too cold. food is always good on the rail, though. bathrooms clean, which is always surprising here. of course we thought we were out of the red until we tried to exit the train. just think "haj stampede" and you will understand why indians crush each other to death every month. this giant indian woman crammed her body into mine and refused to let me off till her and 100 others got on, me with huge pieces of luggage, backpack, yoga mat and purse. i wound up my arm to punch her out, but than the indian jail scene popped into my head just in time. she told me not to push, i screamed at her, it was ugly. and than my new bag ripped totally in half, exposing all my stuff. weeee... got into a 500rp government taxi for the hour long ride to panaji. next time i go first class. forget being herded like cattle for 18 hours.
still, goa rocks and panaji is charming as all hell.
bindifry