PK

When I saw PK trailers, I rated it a 4 on 10 in my mind. I was really not too inclined to watch it.Yet, I went with some hope generated by the intelligent, perfectionist Khan's earlier movies. After watching it I felt I could perhaps rate it even lower for all its pretentiousness.
The movie is based on the premises that religion divides. Amir Khan's character, PK, is an alien. He comes to Earth naked, both in body and mind but returns fully clothed.The movie's genuine moments of hilarity come from Aamir Khan's Chaplinesque behavior when he flees from different situations created due to a lacuna between the naivety of an alien and the human behavior. PK's seemingly utter disregard for fashion and wearing whatever he could lay his hands on was quite heartening to watch. How he acquires those clothes is truly funny. For a change, the hero doesn't mind showing the disparity in height between himself and the female lead. For all the simplicity of the character, Aamir couldn't resist jumping on to the bandwagon by going shirtless and showing off his abs
Anushka Sharma's character is a TV news reporter in search of a great story. She follows PK when he displays weird mannerisms but later sides with him to take the resposibilty of finding the stolen  'remote' that can beckon the space ship to take PK back to his own planet. Boman Irani (Anushka's boss), Sushant Singh shine in their brief appearances. The pairing of Sushant and Anushka Sharma  looks fresh, young and energetic. Unlike all other roles that he has been playing trying to pass himself as a hero, Sanjay Dutt fits in his brief role as a good-hearted rustic very well.
But where the movie seriously fails is in  its preachy tone in addressing this issue. The movie was so yawningly preachy that I found myself nodding off towards interval. Post interval it picks up some momentum, but then it does stretch. Of the 2 hours and 33 minutes, I believe, it is a good 2 hours too long.

The supposedly less intelligent hero Akshay Kumar's movie Oh My God did more justice to the topic than PK does. While OMG talked to the audience, PK talks down to them belittling their intelligence. It constantly rubs in the message that religion divides. Like OMG, this doesn't dare deny the existence of God. On the downside, this movie again shows the tolerance of Hindu religion as it gets picked on.Watch out for a surprise cameo at the end.

The movie lacks in content and ends up as a mix of Comedy Circus(weak humor) + Satyamev Jayathe stirred in the OMG bottle and served. Comparing to another movie from the AK stable, I'd rather watch a Peepli Live which was brilliant in its satire and intelligent humor.
The Khan name might attract the audience to the theaters, corroborated by the number of screens it is showing on, but I am not sure this will be sustained after the weekend.

PK reminds us of the moral science lessons of our school. Go watch if you miss those lessons.

Eagle Boys Pizza

When I heard of a new pizza outlet which opened not too far from my home at Begumpet, I was excited. Not only because of the proximity to my home, the chance of tasting something new but also for the lucrative 1+1 offer. Usually I am apprehensive of trying any restaurant in the beginning weeks, but these three factors swayed my decision in favor of visiting the place.

I walked in to quite a spacious place to order my pizzas. I ordered one Mexicana and a much less priced Hawaiin one. I requested the lady at the counter to replace one topping from the Mexicana with another one. She asked me to pay 479/ for the two pizzas and a coke. When I asked for bill, she said that it would be given along with my order. Therefore you actually end up blindly paying without being able to have a look at the components of the bill.

After a wait of about 10-12 minutes, my orders were delivered. I dug into the Hawaiin one first as I like that and what hit my taste buds strongly was the taste of salt. It was salt all the way. I did something sacrilegious...adding sauce to my pizza. With every bite, I tried adding all the sauces they had including KETCHUP! But nothing toned down the saltiness of the pizza. I ate away, hungry as I was around 4 in the afternoon, wondering how soft the bread was. Only after the hunger pangs had subsided, did I notice the very frugal toppings. They were hardly 2-3 pieces per slice. Most of the time, I was chewing only bread. 

Hawaiin Pizza

The next I started on was the Mexicana pizza. Thankfully, this didn't have the kind of salt that the previous one had. When delivered to my table, I asked why the toppings were all confined to the centre and about an inch and half of space left all around with neither topping nor cheese. He says,"I dont know ma'm. I am only the cutter here." Sigh!

Veg Mexicana

As I chewed through, I realized slowly that I was chewing at a bread which tasted like, well, a bread! There was no fermentation/resting that seemed to have happened. I am no baker but it felt like freshly kneaded dough was used to make the pizza base. This perhaps ensured that the pizza didn't stiffen up even when frozen and re-heated. 

Once I was home, I had a look at the bill and found I was charged extra 25/- for the replaced topping! A first time for me, as all my previous experiences have told me that I'd be charged extra only if a topping was added and not replaced. And if this was the policy of the outlet, why was the customer not informed of it even before being billed for it?

As far as service is concerned, there were no welcoming smiles of a newly opened outlet, no one bothered to find out if I was ok with the tastes. The table was cleaned only on request. When the lady came to clean the table, she holds the glass I was using by inserting her fingers in it. Also, there was a heap of tissues lying beneath my table along with its holder. 

Already extremely uncomfortable with the whole experience, I was readying to go when the owner , who was casually passing by, paused to ask how the pizzas were. Upon my saying that they didnt meet my expectation and one of them was salty, he sat himself down opposite me and spoke about the issues he is having in running the place. That was a long-winded chat. My sympathies are with him but, I, as a customer, still left the place unhappy.

Doling out low quality pizzas, not going the extra mile to take care of and wrongly billing the customer will surely not help the pizza chain retain itself. I had thought that it had the courage to open beside three other pizza outlets but then my one-line conclusion for Eagle Boys is that it is no different. 

Olive Bistro

Three of us planned to avail the Groupon offer which we considered a steal for a three-course veg lunch + a mock-tail at Olive Bistro for Rs.700/- each.
First... to reach the place. I think it would be interesting to see how many reach the restaurant in their very first attempt without losing their way at least once. You go through wide roads, narrow roads, no roads, through slum-like areas to finally reach this place which has no signages to guide you. Even after reaching there, the restaurant name is not too prominently displayed.
Park your vehicle and be prepared to walk quite a few steps through a winding way to the restaurant. But while doing so, pause, look around and breathe the fresh air, look at the tall trees and the surrounding woods. The scene will make you forget the frustration of the time and effort taken to find your way.
After confirming your reservation, you walk into the cool interiors and what further sets the mood and brings a happy smile to your face is your name sitting on the table indicating your reservation :)
That was an impressive beginning!
The environment inside with all the wood, emulates old-world Europe; the warm sunlight flooding through the wide green slatted windows lighting up the room with natural light. How I wished wistfully, I could also smell wood polish like I used to when a child!

Upon being seated, the set menu was placed before us. Of the five options, we skipped the soup and falafel and opted for the salad, the rice balls and skewered cheese.

First to be placed on the table were these bread balls along with  the salsa. We were at it till our salad arrived. The warm bread and the salsa made a good beginning.

I am a big big fan of salads and this one didnt let me down at all. It had all the delicateness required of a salad: the freshness of the greens, the crunch, the balanceof acidity, sweetness, salt, a hint of chili , all tossed in an olive oil base. I could easily have skipped the rest of the meal and just gorge on this one item. For me, a hands-down winner and a 10/10.

Apple, Feta, Pine nut salad

The next on the table were the Arancini or the rice balls served with red pepper mayonnaise. They were quite crunchy with a soft centre filled with mozzarella cheese. Not oily, soggy or chewy but perfectly crunchy even after they had cooled.

Arancini

The third entree was the cottage cheese skewer. A very reluctant order from me as I do not fancy paneer in an Italian restaurant. Well, even before the taste, the presentation caught my eye.The paneer was soft and marinated to have a mildly chilli flavor. I am not sure whether the roast garlic aioli was a good combination as we needed a more assertive sauce to offset the taste of that cheese, (not that it was bland).

Cottage Cheese Skewer

For the main course, we skipped the pasta and the tart from the menu and instead went for, first, a 12-inch pizza. The wood-fired, thin crust pizza was delicious, roll-able and served with ample toppings consisting of spinach, olives, sun dried tomatoes and corn.

Pizza

The highlight of the lunch was this ravioli. Four of them tossed in Parmesan cream sauce accompanied with tomato salsa and sprinkled with pine nuts. I went bonkers with all these delicately balanced tastes. The creaminess of the sauce complemented the ravioli so well .The contrasting taste of the salsa and the crunch from the pine nuts completed the dish.

Lemon, Broccoli and Ricotta Ravioli 

The risotto which came with crumbled goat cheese was quite decent in taste but I thought that the rice could be a little more sticky and cohesive.

Green Pea, Zucchini and Mint Risotto 

Sweets are strictly not my forte. But my friends who had accompanied me were delirious over the taste of this. I loved this bread pudding which came with  peaches accompanied by Crème Anglaise. Slightly rich but definitely not heavy. 

Bread and Butter pudding

Next was this coconut and white chocolate pannacota which was well set and surrounded with perfectly crunchy  hazelnut nougats. The flavor of the coconut was mild and not sharp but this was not creamy enough for me.

Coconut and white chocolate Pannacota

The hot chocolate fondant was eagerly awaited by my friends and probably, to their delight, I dont eat chocolate and they had this all to themselves. I was reveling in their expressions when a small scoop of the chocolate brought the hot chocolate gushing out. I managed just a bite of this but was happy tasting the blueberry compote surrounding the fondant. 

Hot Chocolate Fondant with Blueberry  Compote

Though the setting created an environment of a lazy, relaxed, warm, winter afternoon, for me, this came the closest to a fine dining experience, in terms of the delicate balancing of tastes, the textures, or the presentation of food.
I have been to restaurants which hugely compromise on quality on offers with Groupon deal coupons. Glad that this one didn't.
On the minuses, the portion size wasn't really filling and left me yearning for a bite more. Also, the pricing for those portions are rather steep and I haven't actually tried to figure out how much this fare would have cost us had we gone for a la carte offer.The service was quick and good.
The advantage of the three of us going there was that each of us could order one item from each section of entrees, mains, desserts and mock tails and actually end up tasting everything on the vegetarian menu. And if you are wondering at my skipping mentioning the mock-tails, it is because of the extremely forgettable experience. They paled horribly in comparison to the rest of the menu. Diluted versions of the actual taste.
Olive Bistro is definitely on the list of must-visit places in Hyderabad.

Happy New Year

I went to see the movie Happy New Year with a near-zero expectation. I haven't really watched the movie trailers but then the promos on every TV channel including a news channel  piqued my curiosity.
Yet, that itself should have acted as a warning. You need not sell something so feverishly when you know there is something substantial to pull in the audience. Ra.One, all its marketing and its failure at box-office is still fresh in mind. According to Boman's admission, the team spent as much time marketing this film as they did shooting it.
Well, my heart sank when I saw that the movie was 180 minutes long! And, for the first one hour of the movie that the heroine doesn't appear, you are stuck watching a group of aging men acting like teenagers.
Shah Rukh Khan as the producer and Farah Khan as the director  have failed to create the magic they did in their last venture together, Om Shanti Om. Shah Rukh's last one, Chennai Express was, at least, entertaining and funny and had you engaged. But 180 minutes of  the movie of which about an hour is wasted in establishing the backgrounds of each character puts you to sleep.
Shah Rukh Khan, despite his ten-pack, is visibly aging. Deepika Padukone has not much to do except flaunt her hot body in the role of a dancer. Her role carries shades of Rakhi Sawant... "I spik Englis" , "Go slip" kind of English. Abhishekh Bachan is good at what he does best...the oafish character. Sonu Sood was funny and a surprise factor as I have only seen  him play villainish roles in Telugu. Boman looks positively bored.
Among all these, comes Vivaan Shah as a breath of fresh air. He is a kid, has abundant energy and carries all the naivety and freshness of a new-comer. If he carries even half the artistry in his parents' genes, he will make it.
The movie is about planning and pulling off a heist. Wait a minute! And that's all there is to it. Stretching this wafer-thin story to three hours makes it a thoroughly exhausting viewing.  The movie has none of the suspense expected of a heist. It only checks each element thought necessary for a successful movie: dance, check;  fights, check;  hero baring chest/abs, check;  comedy, check.
Fortunately for the audience, the last 45 minutes pick up pace and entertain. The comedy is good in bits and pieces. Like the team's attempts at learning dancing. Oh now don't ask me what dance has to do in a suspense movie? Logic goes for a toss with the plot's mulitiple contrivances. Some dialogs from earlier Shah Rukh Khan movies fail to make the intended impact.

The roles:
Shah Rukh: The leader who has to avenge for  'tera baap chor hai'
Jackie Shroff: The villian from whom the diamonds are to be wrested
Abhishekh Bacahan: Brought in as he resembles Jackie Shroff's son. Yes, a double role
Boman Irani: An expert safe-cracker
Sonu Sood: The strong man
Vivaan Shah: The computer hacker
Anupam Kher: Shah Rukh's father, wasted in a blink-and-miss role
Sajid Khan: Doing what, Farah?
Deepika Padukone: Dance teacher who helps the team learn dance so that they can successfully pull off the heist. Huh?
Brief comic appearances by Vishal Dadlani and Anurag Kashyap...not funny and end up as caricatures.

I will go with one and a half on five for Happy New Year.

Food in Gujarat

When I went to Gujarat, I wanted to partake of the typical Gujarati food. And also check how the restaurants' food compared to the ones experienced at Hyderabad. As I am a vegetarian, here are the different vegetarian options I tried there.
My plans aside, what I happened to start with was this charming place called Cheval Cafe and Lounge with few indoor games laid out on different tables, casual low seating, a huge screen...generally a place where youngsters could let their hair down. And the food? Was simply awesome!

             Russian Salad at Cheval Cafe & Lounge, Ahmedabad 

Pasta stuffed Pizza at Cheval Cafe & Lounge, Ahmedabad 

A mocktail at Cheval Cafe & Lounge, Ahmedabad

Khichu and Dhokla, Gujarati steamed delights at Alpha Mall, Ahmedabad

When I visited the Law Garden area for the street food and shopping, I visited the only stall selling Gujarati and Kutchi food and tasted this.

Bajri no Rotlo and Thota at Law Garden, Ahmedabad

Kathod at Law Garden, Ahmedabad

I made it a point to go to Swati Snacks, a Mumbai based eatery, and highly recommended by friends. A look at the menu below would confirm this place to be slightly on the expensive side. Ordered for their famous Panki Chatni. The taste was similar to our rava dosa, steamed in layers of banana leaf and had a hot and sour flavor to it. Very heavy for one person as it had about five layers.

The Mumbai famous Swati Snacks at Ahmedabad

Panki Chatni at Swati Snacks, Ahmedabad

Panki Chatni at Swati Snacks, Ahmedabad

This humble breakfast of poori, aloo deserves a special mention as the aloo jeera was awesome in taste with a  pinch of sugar added to the curry to spike its flavors. Awesome breakfast served in my room at Hotel Oasis.

Poori, Aloo Jeera at Oasis Hotel, Bhuj

On way to Mandvi beach, I requested my cab driver to show me a typical Kuthci food outlet as we were in the Kutch region. He made a few queries with his friends around Mandvi and drove down to this Aadesh Dhaba & Restaurant. The two of us ate for a grand total of 213/- for Rotis, two curries, and butter milk. The curries came with very unique and sharp taste.

Aadesh Dhaba, Mandvi, Kutch

Aadesh Dhaba, Mandvi, Kutch

Ringana Msala, Rajwadi Dhokri , Tawa roti, Lasan ki Chutney at Aadesh Dhaba, Mandvi, Kutch

Khichidi loaded with ghee, Lasan ki chutney and Achaar at Oasis Hotel, Bhuj

Oasis had attached to it, a South Indian restaurant famous in Gujarat, the Sankalp. It emulates the chutneys that we find in our own Chutneys' restaurant but I found no match in taste. I avoided South Indian food throughout my tour but gave in to this as a last and quick snack before I boarded my train back.

Sankalp, a South Indian restaurant at Oasis Hotel, Bhuj

This is definitely among the hidden jewels across India. In my quest for handicrafts and other priceless work from deep rural pockets of Gujarat, I happened to visit Bhirandiyara with a total population of less than 2500 and here is what I found.
The only place in Gujarat where Mawa is sold in its purest form. No maida, no dry fruits...no nothing...only milk boiled and boiled till its reduced to this form with sugar. And the price? Unbelievable at 200 per kg!

The famous Mawa at Bhirandiyara

THE GUJARATI THALI

Pakwaan vs Gordhan vs Agashiye. 200 vs 250 vs 670. 

The bigger the restaurant the smaller the thali size. For those going to Ahmedabad, the good old Gordhan is the answer if you do not have the time to try all of them.

Gordhan Thaal, Ahmedabad

Accompaniments at Gordhan Thaal, Ahmedabad

Gordhan Thaal, Ahmedabad

Agashiye Thali at The House of MG, Ahmedabad

Pakwan Thali, Ahmedabad

Pakwan Thali, Ahmedabad

After days of Gujarati food, finally Punjabi fare at an unbelievable price of 210/- for this whole platter of 5 kinds of kababs, four each! Can never imagine this quantity for the price in mana Hyderabad!

Sumptuous Paneer Platter from the kitchen of Hotel Atithi, Ahmedabad

And finally, the bring-home snacks from the most famous snack house in Ahmedabad

Induben Khakrawala, CG Road, Ahmedabad

To sum up

• I found the Gujaratis as much of foodies as our Hyderabadis are. My conclusion is drawn from the huge number of restaurants found there
• The vegetarian options outnumber the non-vegetarian ones. 
• What I also liked is the quantities per serve. Huge! And therefore truly VFM as the prices were almost half those of Hyderabad. 
• The not so good thing about Gujarat is the price of tea. A place which is known for its milk production, has its tea priced so high, it is amazing. They have not heard of  Rs.5/- tea at all. The mimimum price for tea even in a road side stall is 10/. And if one were to ask for a special tea which, in our case, was nothing but tea with slightly less sugar, the price can go up to even 20/- . So my usual tea drinking option when I travel came down drastically. 
• What I found common with Hyderabad is the paan...a mind boggling array of paan leaves and flavors starting from 10/...and all of them wonderfully flavored. 

I hope this post of mine, is helpful to guide tourists to Gujarat to some extent.

Haider

Had been impatiently waiting for the release of this movie for long and finally! Haider, it was today!
In a scenario where very often the Indian movies and the actors these days urge you to leave your brains behind when you come to watch their movie, we have a breather in the form of Haider which leaves you spellbound for the  two and half hours of the movie's running time. This movie requires you to apply your intelligence, listen to every word spoken, understand, analyze and absorb it.
There are such complex human emotions involved...elements of poetry, romance, comedy, pathos...How the director Vishal Bhardwaj balances so many emotions and shades of character so dexterously is amazing. People have been speaking of Tabu's acting in this movie but my eyes were on K. K. Menon, the evil and slimy character of Khurram, uncle to Haider (Shahid Kapoor). I was missing seeing him in recent movies and then bang, he makes this appearance and what an appearance! His repulsive and slimy ways make you loathe him to the core.
Shahid has aced in every nuance of the character, crying, laughing, dancing, romancing as a troubled college student, as a lunatic, as a revengeful young guy...He has finally come of age with this one.
Irfan shines as usual in his brief role. Tabu's character portrays the body language of the old and young woman equally effortlessly as the plot keeps swinging between the present and past.
Brief but brilliant cameos by Ashish Vidyarthi and Kulbhushan Kharbanda add the necessary subtle elements to complement the story.
Among all such strong portrayals, newbie Shraddha Kapoor manages to hold her fort, though she doesn't have a lot to do.
The movie is an adaption of Hamlet. Set in troubled Kashmir of the 90s, it shows how lives are effected in the strife between Pak-India-Kashmir. The director has chosen to tell the story of one such family that is caught in this milieu.
The story is that of a young man in search of his father who was taken away years ago as he was suspected to be siding with the militants and of all such half widows in Kashmir. Bhardwaj has been very cautious, treading the line carefully, not siding with any of the parties nor adapting a preachy tone.
Plenty of discerning subtleties in the movie need rapt attention. After 'Lunch Box,' this was a movie where I uttered not a word and never realized how that 2 hours and 42 minutes of the time flew.
For those seeking pot boilers and mere mindless entertainment, please keep away. But for those seeking a story, passion, an intensity and acting, que up, buy the tickets and rush to the theaters. Don't know when again Hindi cinema would dare make its footfalls on this untrodden path.

Vegetarian Biryani preparation

Step by step Veg Biryani made by me at home with (kheera raitha).

The recipe followed is by VahChef Sanjay Thumma:  http://vahrevah.com/vegetable-biryani-mumbai-wedding-style#.VCGNe5S1ZvK