Nothing special

Nice "Idea! Cellular" campaign for Maharashtra - good use of 4 of the most prominent Marathi actors today (prominent outside Maharastra too; these are Mrunal Kulkarni, Atul Kulkarni, Milind Gunaji and Sachin Khedekar) dressed up in traditional Marathi attire with the ad copy consisting of some of the most well-known fragments from Marathi songs/literature.

Very emotionally appealing, no doubt, to the MaraThii maaNus (correct spelling? or is it maaNuus?) Good example of locally targeted advertising. It is a high profile & high budget campaign judging by the locations of the hoardings in Pune, so curious to know if it translates into an increase in business.

The Volvo rides to Pune on most Saturday mornings and the return on Monday mornings have seldom disappointed in terms of the climes and the views. The whiff of Bombay in the mornings, the misty ghats and the gentle cold in Pune - make up for the lack of sleep in having to make those rides.

TV snippets from Sat. Films starring two of the least successful (and probably the two most interesting) of the Kapoor third generation. Vijeta and Hero Hiralal. The former was a pretty decent effort at inner angst and the air force (probably still the only decent IAF film from the Hindi world) and the latter was another schizophrenic effort from Ketan Mehta, which still offered some interesting moments. "PhaTaa Poster, Nikalaa Hero", another Amitabh cameo in a Gul Anand production and the ensemble cast. You didn't mind Naseer overdoing things or Sanjna Kapoor not getting the hang of acting but looking like a dearie. I'm sure the third sibling Karan Kapoor had a life in the films (not to be confused with Bombay Dyeing), but not sure which one.

How is it that an entire generation of Malayalam film singers sound so much K.J.Yesudas. I know he's been a towering presence in that region (and elsewhere), but such a lot of impact? (Listen to the likes of Unni Menon and you'll agree.) A recurring mystery. I can understand all Pakistani offspinners bowling the duusra and getting called for throwing a la Saqi, but this bit of influence from our South-Westernmost state is too much.

Among the usual ROTFLs from the Rajnikanth starrer "Phool Bane Angaarey" was the fact that it stars Tamil comedian Senthil. Which is quite extraordinary because one never thought that any of the supreme slapstickers from Kollywood had made these excursions up state. What's better, he seemed to be doing a decent job at attempting to speak the dialogues (it was dubbed, but the lips weren't slurring over the unfamiliar Hindi). Pity it didn't catch on - the viewers up there hardly know what they missed.