review : Jaane tu.. ya jaane na

Quite an unconventional start, with a glimpse of normal love story in between and the typical bollywood-stylish end is what i will say about the movie.
Watching genelia in 'bomerillu'(telugu flick) and knowing the fact that Aamir Khan is the producer of this movie were enough reasons for me to watch this movie. And infact when you hear someone saying that this movie is worth watching 2-3 times then you seriously feel like giving it a try.
The movie starts quite well, with some good humour (remember? 'pappu can't dance') and goes on well until aditi(genelia) and jai(imran) realise that they don't love each other, and are just best friends. And then starts their search for soulmates, obvious twist in the tale. And infact they do find themselves new partners, but you can guess, how this has to end.
Regarding guest appearance of Arbaaz and sohail khan, guys please! for gods sake don't spoil a good-going movie. In some scenes they are okay but by the end, they go crazy and you'll seriously feel irritated. Riding those horses on the roads of mumbai, hats off!
Basically, the story is all the same, that of a usual indian romantic movie. But the way of presentation is quite a bit different, except specially the end, where those 'teen shartein' are fulfilled by the protagonist, however silly they maybe.
The good part is that the actors and his friends are not those only-found-in-indian-movie types, they are simple characters which we come across in everyday lives.
Imran khan seems to have learnt a lot from his uncle aamir, and for sure is a promising actor, the only one after neil nitin mukesh(from Johnny gaddar) I guess.. (of course regardless of who gets the best debutant award at the IIFA awards!). Genelia is one of those few actress who can do those bubbly roles(just like she did in 'bomerillu') with ease, just like preity zinta :).
Overall, the movie is okay. And I'll give it a 3.5 star. Go watch it if you are looking for a little change and yea, its a feel-good movie, so you'll come out in a good mood, which is not generally the case nowadays with hindi movies.
Cast : Imran Khan, Genelia D'Souza, Naseerudin Shah, Ratna Pathak Shah
Director : Abbas Tyrewala
Producer: Aamir Khan, Mansoor Khan
Music: A R Rahman

JAM's Engineering admissions - book review

One of the most confusing times of my life was while taking admission to engineering college, whether to take computer science in NIT calicut or Ceramic Engg. dual in IT BHU or mechanical engineering in NIT trichy was the question that haunted me the most and I think it did almost everyone appearing for AIEEE councelling, and thanks to India Today and other magazines for publishing those annual rankings which are almost always disagreed with, expect ofcourse by the colleges getting better rank than what they deserve like VIT (vellore institute of Technology) getting a rank above the so called much better institutes of our country this year, which always adds up to the dilemma for the students. But finally, something is there to bring relief to all the engineering aspirants and the problems they face while taking admissions.
My first, cynical as usual, expression on hearing about this book was, 'what? another rank list?' and that too by taking feedback from the students themselves. Well, tell me, who will speak bad about his college? (atleast after he knows that his college's reputation is associated with his). But being proved wrong is what happens for good sometimes.
The better part of 'Engineering admissions' is the insight that you get about engineering and life at various colleges rather than just giving a rank list. Many of those already engineers still don't know the difference in Computer science and IT.
Anyways, there are still certain glitches in the book, like

1. The book doesn't cover architecture. Well, considering the fact that most of those who take admission to architecture(B.Arch.) are the ones who prepared for engg. entrance exams, if not much then this is true atleast for those doing architecture at IITs or NITs. So, excluding it is a bad idea.

2. Although most of the rankings are what is generally accepted, but there are some loopholes. As in I was shocked to see PEC, thapar and SGSITS(indore) being given A+(euivalent to IIT roorkee!). I agree they are good colleges but disagree with them being given status better than NIT calicut or equivalent to IIIT hyderabad and BITS pilani. Talking about SGSITS in particular, most of students are placed in bulks like TCS, infy and wipro. The number of companies visiting the campus being around 30 -40. If you talk about NIT calicut(which is given 'A') itself the companies visiting the campus is much more than that. And the no. of companies visiting NIT trichy, IIIT Hyd ('A+') is a lot more than that.

3. And yea, sorry to sound cynical but there are more than a few spelling mistakes in the book.

4. Lastly, the biggest setback for the book is its price, I mean if I were the engineering aspirant looking out for some guidance on selecting the right college, I would have preferred taking advice from my coaching teacher available free of cost (which I actually did thanx to the lack any other resources at that time) rather than buy a book worth Rs. 400! Well, its a little too much for a student in 12th standard. It could have got more buyers, had it been priced at around Rs. 200.

Compiling all those articles published in JAM over the years, like 'unofficial prospectus' of various colleges, is a good business idea by JAM's editor. But still the book is as important for an IIT aspirant as it is for the one taking admission to a local engg. college. Dedicating a whole section to IITs is impressive. Moreover considering the fact that the editor doesn't have an engineering background the work is quite good. Articles giving description of various branches are enlightening. A must guide for all the engineering aspirants, I would say.