Archive for October 2nd, 2008

Drona:Movie Review

Story Drona has been directed by Goldie Behl. Abhishek Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra, Kay Kay Menon and Jaya Bachchan are the main characters in the movie. As for as the story is concerned it seems that it is the mixture of Indian mythology and the imaginative world of Harry Potter. Abhishek has played the role of super hero Drona who is the protector of the world. Priyanka has played the role of Sonia who is both Drona’s love bird and bodyguard. The whole of the story is about the fight between good and evil. Evil force has been represented by Kay Kay Menon who wants to conquer and rule the world. But for it he needs ‘Amrit’ while Drona is the protector of ‘Amrit’. All it leads to the battle between good and Evil.   Plot and Performance This is not any major difference between Drona and other superheros. The plot of the story is loosely knit and direction also lacks maturity. Characters are poorly defined. The strength and powers of the characters have not been dealt in detail. Even the characters don’t know their powers exactly. Drona gets his powers by lifting his sword and chanting some Sanskrit mantras. There are very few instances when he himself fights with the evil magician. Priyanka has taken most of the credit in the film as she has played the role of his bodyguard who fights mostly against the evil. Even evil magician’s character gets better of Drona. Even the music department of the film is unimpressive. Songs seems unbearable in the film. Even the actors have not performed as compared to their standard.   Effects It are only the special effects, the sensuality and glamorous look of Priyanka Chopra that provides some relief. Characters zip across continents and time zones. Aditya’s transformation to Drona has been executed well. From the story. we can say that this movie will be liked by children because the stuff suits the childhood fantasies. ‘Drona’ is not only a story of a superhero but a fantasy tale. It can not be predicted that how Bollywood reacts to it but one thing is sure that ‘Drona’ has ended the cold war between SRK and Bachchans. It is said that SRK with his wife attended the premiere of ‘ Drona’ and wished him all success. He said the cold war between us is only the the media creation.   [...]

Senate Approves India-US Civil Nuclear Deal

Approval A new chapter of cooperation between India and USA opened when US Senate gave a resounding 86-13 approval to the US-India civilian nuclear agreement on Thursday, October 2, when India was celebrating birth anniversary of its Father of Nation, Mahatma Gandhi. Four days ago, House of Representatives had also given a thumping approval to the agreement with 298-117 votes. With the approval of Senate , decks have been cleared for President Bush to sign the agreement into law and it is being expected that President will sign it on Thursday. It was being expected that President will seal the accord on September 25 during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to US. But it could not be done because of the financial crisis.   Relationship Bush administration had taken the deal as a very, very high priority which is evident from the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s hard work, numerous meetings and phone calls to the US law makers. She will arrive in New Delhi on Saturday where She and India’s External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee will sign the inter-governmental agreement and operationalize the deal. It is being called a rare foreign policy victory for President Bush. With the operationalization of the deal a new era of mutual cooperation will start and relations will be redefined between both of the nations that had remained strained during the cold war.   Various Stages Operationalization of deal will enable India to meet its rising energy needs. The success of the agreement is the fruit of the hard work and leadership of President Bush and PM Manmohan Singh. The agreement has gone through many ups and down. PM Singh had to face more difficulties at home that President Bush. Opposition parties had tried to topple the government in protest of the deal. Even the Communist Party had taken the support back from the UPA coalition. On the other hand non-proliferation lobby had tried their best to thwart the success of the agreement at its various stages. Critics say that it will severely affect the non-proliferation regime and also encourage the other Asian countries to resume their nuclear program. But others have said that with the agreement non-proliferation regime has been strengthened.