Novel : Arthur Hailey : Airport

Characters:

Mel Bakersfeld (Manager Lincoln International airport)
Cindy (Mel's wife)
Keith Bakersfeld (Mel's Brother who works at the Radar Control)
Tanya Livingston( Trans World Airlines passenger relations manager)
Joe Patroni (Trans World Airlines head of maintenance operations at TWA )
Vernon Demerest (Womanizing Pilot at TWA and brother-in-law of Mel)
Sarah (Vernon Demerest's wife)
Gwen Meighan (TWA Airline stewardess)
D.O. Guerrero (Construction Company head who has lost everything)
Iraz Guerrero
Ada Quonsett (Lady who always stowaways from Los Angeles to New York on TWA flight to meet her daughter).
Danny (Managing the Snow Control Desk)
Harris (pilot of Flight Two, "The Golden Argosy")

Plot
The plot revolves around the fateful night at the Lincoln International Airport.
Mel, General Manager of Lincoln International airport, Chicago, is a very busy man today. There has been an unprecedented snow fall at the airport. This had lead to a Chaos. Many flights have been delayed leading to hours of delay for the passengers who are getting jittery. The runways are getting blocked with snow which needs to be cleared. One Flight skid away from the runway 30 and is stuck in the mud and snow. Clearing of runway 30 is on priority. Because the runway 30 is blocked, runway 25 is being used more frequently. This has lead to huge noise in the Meneawood neighborhood who are not able to have a peaceful sleep. So on top of the existing issues at the Airport, an agitating Meneawood community lands at the Airport. Danny is handling the Snow department today. But Mel needs to be present at the Snow desk to help danny.
Mel has one more problem at hand. He needs to attend a dinner party with his wife for some charity function. Mel is going through a rough patch in his marriage. Cindy had specifically instructed Mel to be present at the dinner party. but looking at the state of affairs at the Airport, it would be impossible for Mel to move an inch from the airport. Mel realizes that if he skips the dinner, it will leads to serious consequences at his personal front. But he is helpless. On top of this, his elder daughter does not act like his daughter. He is worried that their relation is going nowhere. His only solace is his 8 year old daughter who still loves him.

Tanya is busy handing the passengers and solving the problems of the Ticketing staff of TWA. Tanya and Mel are good friends. Infact they are more than good friend. Tanya has divorced once. She has a soft corner for Mel. Mel likes Tanya as well. Though they have never slept together, Tanya feels that the Rumor mill at the Airport would have definitely liked them together and the juicy stories would be floating around.

Keith Bakersfeld works in the radar control section of Lincoln International airport. Keith had been on duty on the fateful day when a small jet collided mid-air with another training flight. Though he was not sitting in the radar room, he had left a young guy at the radar control who messed things up. Keith feels responsible for the accident and is in a state of depression. He is on duty today at the radar control. He has something on his mind today for which he has been preparing for months.

Joe Patroni is the hard, hands-on guy. He handles the maintenance operation at TWA. he has risen from the dust to become the most responsible guy for operations at TWA. He was a mechanic who had a fascination for planes. He had gone back home only to be called back to fix the problem on Runway 30. The plane stuck on runway 30 needs to be cleared. Joe is stuck in the traffic where a huge tanker has slipped onto the road, blocking all traffic. Any delay on Joe's in Joe's arrival will cause lot of problems at the Airport.

Vernon Demerest, is the pilot of TWA. Today he is the co-pilot of Trans America Flight Two, "The Golden Argosy", which is a Boeing 707 and Rome-bound. Vernon has written a scathing report against the Airport Maintenance and has circulated it among the various airline officials. This will hit Mel to some extent. Vernon, though is brother-in-law of mel, does not like mel one bit. Vernon and Mel have had tiffs in the past over various issues like insurance policies doled out at Airports. Vernon is married to Mel's elder siser Sarah. Vernon is a womanizer and has had a series of affairs with stewardess. Right now he has a relationship with Gwen. Vernon and Gwen are on the same flight to Rome today. They will have a 3-day handover in Rome. They plan to have a wonderful time in Rome.

Gwen is an intelligent stewardess, which is one of the qualities that attracted Vernon to her. She has maintained her charm and has been successful in keeping Vernon's attention on her. Today she has an announcement to make to Vernon which is going to shock him. Vernon is busy making plans for the holiday in Rome.

Ada Quonsett is a frequent stowaway. She has a daughter in New York. Very often she gets an urge to meet her daughter and she sets off to New York. Her problem is that she does not have money, so she has devised various mechanisms to skip through the airport staff onto New York bound flights. She prefers TWA flights as she has been successful in snooping in on many occasions. She has been caught on a flight and is being questioned by Tanya.

Guerrero, is a failed businessman. He is broke and is not able to manage his family. All his construction projects have either been scrapped or failed. He is not sure of his future course of action. His wife has taken up a job at a departmental store. But it is not helping much. She is a caring wife but is not able to handle the eccentricity of her husband. Gurrero has bought a flight ticket to Rome on Flight Two, "The Golden Argosy". He has written a letter to her wife that she should expect something exciting from him. His wife is worried and rushes to the airport to meet her husband.

Harris is going to fly Flight Two, "The Golden Argosy" today. He is uncomfortable with the fact that Vernon is his co-pilot. He understands that

The plot revolves around the above characters, their actions during the fateful day.

My Impression
=============

I was impressed with the story telling of Arthur Hailey. This was my first Arthur Hailey. Needless to say that I will be reading many more of his books.
This novel was written way back in the 70s. So the airport setup does not match today's airports. So characters like Ada Quonsett and Guerrero cant be related in today's Airports.

I would go with 7 out of 10 and a thumbs up for the novel.

Richard Karn: Credit and Credibility

An Interesting 5 part Article on Credit

You can download the report form the Richard Karn's website: http://www.emergingtrendsreport.com/

Alternately, its up on financial Sense Website, Richard Karn's Page at:
http://www.financialsense.com/fsu/editorials/karn/archive.html

Right now only 3 parts of the 5 part series are posted. We will have to wait for the other 2.

Europe Gold Holdings

Below is a graph of Central Bank Gold holdings by various Europian Countries. The graph shows the various countries stacked up year wise.
Interesting to see that Swiss have reduced their gold holding over the past 10 years. Most of the Europian nationals (like Germany, Italy) have maintained their gold holdings.

You can find the Graph at: http://www.financialsense.com/fsu/editorials/ash/2009/images/0723_clip_image002.gif

Attaching the image to this post.

Movie : Hindi : Barah AAna

Cast : Naseeruddin Shah, Vijay Raaz, Arjun Mathur, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Violante Placido, Benjamin Gilani

Barah Aana is the story of 3 people, a watchman (Vijay Raaz), A driver(Naseeruddin Shah) and a Waiter (Arjun Mathur).
Naseer is a driver of Mr Mehta (Benjamin Gilani). Vijay Raaz is the watchman of an apartment and Arjun works as a waiter in a coffee shop.

Mr. Mehta is sympathetic to Naseer, but not his wife (Mrs. Mehta). She is an irritated soul and is very unhappy with Naseer. She has problem with Naseer's driving, his boby odor, his mannerisms. She keeps complaining.
Vijay has a problem with the inmates of the apartment complex. The current secretary of the complex takes a dig at the previous one and vijay is dragged into it. Other people ask him to do their petty work. Vijay is on the verge of an outburst. On top of that his son is not keeping well and he has to send money home but he does not have any money.
Arjun has a relatively simpler life. Has a regular job. An English lady keeps coming to the coffee shop every other day and asks for Arjun. Arjun starts to like the lady. In the mean time, rani, his neighbor who owns a small shop likes him and tries her best to woo him.
A friek accident involving Vijay results in vijay bringing the accident victim to his home. Naseer, Arjun are taken aback. In the mean time the victim's family thinks that their son has been kidnapped. Vijay gets hold of the phone number of victim's family and tries to call them to inform them about their son's whereabouts. Family memebers think he is the kidnapper and they are ready to settle the matter by paying money. Vijay is confused. But nevertheless he agrees. he had not expected this. He is surprised with his luck. This incident rings a bell in his head. Why not make this their way of living ?
Rest is the story of the movie.

My Impression
=============
Interesting story. But nothing new. You can watch it on your home DVD when you are lazying around on a sunday afternoon.
I would give it 5 out of 10.

Play : Rangashankara : Hakki Harutide Nodidira

Hakki Harutide Nodidira is an andaptation to kannada by Prema Karanth. It was originally written by Vijay Tendulkar. The original play goes by the name Ashi Paakhare Yeti

Arun has just missed his bus to bangalore and is angry about it. When he is cursing the driver and his fate he notices a beautiful lady standing. He tries to talk to her, but she goes off. Arun is mesmerised by her beauty. He goes in search of her and reaches Mr. D.W. Murthi's house. The girl (Sarsu) is the daughter of Mr Murthi.

He tries his tricks and is successful in convincing Mr Murthi and his wife that he is the son of Jois from their old locality. They are happy to see him

In the meantime he gets to know that a biy is coming to see Sarsu (the girl). He goes inside the house to meet Sarsu. Sarsu (aka Saraswathi) calls his bluff and tests Arun and she proves that his is not the son of Mr. Jois. Arun accepts that he is not Mr. Jois son. She wants to know the reason for his arrival in their house. He tells her that he was attracted by her charm, to which she laughs aloud.
She does not believe him. He tries his magic and tries to tell her that she is indeed the most beautiful women he has every met.
Arun gets to know that a boy is coming to see her. But she does not want to see the boy. She does not like to go through the process. She hates it. Arun realises that it is best for her and tries to convince her. She agrees to see the boy.
Sarsu is unusually calm and smiling when the boy comes over to see her. The boy's side is ready to take her as the bride. But Sarsu is not ready. She flatly disapproves the relation. Her father get furious and she has to bear the brunt.
Arun is surprised as to why she does not want to marry the boy. To which she replies that she like him. Arun, on his part likes sarsu but he cannot think of marrying her.Sarsu says that she was happy when the boy came to see her because all the while she was imagining Arun in the boy's position and that he was the one in her mind.
What happens next is the rest of the play.


All this is being narrated by Arun to his friends in a Bar.

My Impression
==========
I loved the play. I was totally engrossed in the play. The play had its moments of laughter, sadness. My heart went to Sarsu for her gullibility and her frankness. Great adaptation.
Direction of the play was amazing !!! The play is played in 2 sections. In one section of the stage the play is going on and in the other section, Arun is narrating the story to his friends. The play seemlessly moves between both the parts and holds on very well.
In some scenes the characters go in and out of both subscenes. This has been directly very well.

Rating
======
All in all a great play. I would give it 7 out of 10.
The whole crew acted really well. I was impressed by sarsu in particular because of the character and excellent portrayal by the actor.
Nice way to spend Sunday afternoon.

Novel : P.G. W odehouse : Piccadilly Jim

My wife is a big fan of P.G.Wodehouse and she wanted my to read one. So this time when I went to the library i did inny miny maina mo and picked Piccadilly Jim by P.G. Wodehouse.

Needless to say that the moment I started reading I was pulled into the magic of P.G. Wodehouse.
A Jist of the book is as below:


As usual Jimmy is at it again. His misadventures are in the newspapers again. Aunt Nesta Ford Pett would not have been bothered much about this but for the fact that her photo was printed next the news article and the article referred Nesta as the Aunt of Jim and Jim was branded as Piccadilly Jim.

Aunt Nesta Pett (previously Nesta Ford) is a Famous Fiction writer in the America. She married Mr. Peter Pitt who runs a company. Jimmy is the step son of Eugenia, Nesta's sister. Eugenia stays in England and is a very famous figure in the UK. She married a small time theater actor Mr. Bingley Crocker. Jimmy aka Jim Crocker is his son and hence Euenia's step son.

Nesta was very upset when her sister had married this small time actory Mr. Bigley Crocker. She had called upon Eugenia and told her that she would no longer talk to Eugenia for what she had done. But the acts of jimmy made it impossible for her to tolerate any more and hence she left London to meet Eugenia and get Jimmy in America so that she can let Jimmy work in Mr. Pett's office.
Nesta travels with her husband and Mr Petts niece Ms Ann Chester.
When Nesta reaches UK, Eugenia insults Nesta and asks her to return back to america.
In the mean time Jimmy Crocker has been involved in another brawl with Lord percy and it has made headlines. Jim's butler informs jimmy that he is in the newspapers again this time. He finds the brawl humourous and talks to his father about the news article. But this time jimmy's father is not amused by the article. Jimmy is surprised that his father did not find the article funny. Then he realizes that probably his acts were not proper.jim is remorseful and decides to leave London to avoid any further insults to his father and his step-mom.
When he is going around on the streets he bumps into Ann Chester. He saves her life. She has had a brief encounter with Jimmy about 5 years and she hates him to the core. But she has never seen him so she does not know that the man who saved her life is actually the same jim croaker.
Jim in the meantime books a ticket for the next boat to america. he bumps into ann again.
jim's butler arrives at the dock to see off jim. Ann mistakes jim as the son of Mr. bayliss the butler.
what follows next is a series of interconnected strange events which leads to a dramatic finish.

My Impression
==============
I was impressed by the first wodehouse bookthat I read. Wodehouse is a great story teller. He has woven the story wonderfully.
These are very interesting layers of stories within the story. Woodhouse keeps the pace of the novel going througout the novel. He connects the characters and events in a very nice way. All the events and characters culminate to a very interesting and humorus end.

All in all, a great book to read.
In 2004, a movie was made based on the same book.

I would give a 7 out of 10 for the novel. Wodehouse fans should read this book.

Movie : Hindi : Stone Man Murders

Credits
======
Kay Kay Mennon, Arbaz Khan

Sanjay is a fire brand police officer. He is know for his voilent approach in solving cases. He gets involved in a custodial death of a local thug. He is suspended from duty.
In the mean time, a series of killings are unleashed on the streets of Mumbai. The Footpath sleepers are getting killed at regular intervals of time. The case starts to get media coverage as the killer is not caught and the killings keep increasing.

Sanjay (Kay Kay Mennon) pleads with his boss to give him a chance to prove his mantle. He promises to solve the case and in return wants his job back. His boss does not give him his job back but asks him to start his investigation in the background. His boss also warns him not to inform anyone that he has authorized him unofficially to look into the case.

Sanjay starts to reconnect with his old hawaldar and his infomers to know about the killings. His informer gives him a tip that it could be the taxi driver Mohammad. This taxi driver talks and acts strange. So all slum dwellers think he is the killer. Sanjay starts to follow the taxi driver.

What follows next is a series of clues, leads and misleads and more killings.

My Impression
===========
I was pleasently surprised with the movie. I did not expect it to such an engaging and nail biting movie. I watched it in my bus. The movie was so interesting that I never got to know the 2 hour bus ride.

Story
====
It is based on the serial killings wittnessed in 1983 in Mumbai. Very interesting story and an equally good script.

Acting
======
Kay Kay Menon and Arbaz put up a great show. Both sound very natual in the movie. Great piece of acting.

Rating
=====
I would give it a 7 out of 10 a thumbs up. It should be watched atleast once.

Movie: English : Angels and Daemons

Credits
=======
Director : Roh Howard
Actors : Tom Hanks aka Robert Langdon, Ayelet Zurer aka Vittoria Vetra.


Director Ron Howard is back with his second offering of Robert Langdon's religious adventure in the form of Angels and Daemons. This is an adaptation from Dan Brown's novel which goes by the same name. Though written before Da Vinci Code, this was made into a movie after the success of Da Vinci Code.

The beloved pope has died under mysterious circumstances. 4 cardinals/preferitti (i.e. the preferred people for the pope's role) have been kidnapped from the vatican.
A letter has been sent to church threatening to eliminate the 4 preferitti's. Along with the letter, is a scribbling of symmetrical words on a paper. Illuminati are supposed to be back and with a vengeance!
Symbologist Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) is enjoying a dip in his pool when he is requested to come to Vatican to help solve the mystery. The 4 preferitti's are supposed to be eliminated one after the other, every hour, starting at 8 in the night.
Vatican in the 16th century was supposedly against Science and philosophy. The scientists and philosophers were tortured and humiliated during that period. They has supposedly formed a secret brotherhood called Illuminati. In one incident 4 scientists were killed in 16th century. This kidnapping was supposed to be to take revenge against the Vatican.
In the meantime a scientific experiment is being conducted to collide particles at the speed of light to obtain the antimatter. The experiment is a success and scientists are able to extract the antimatter into small glass jars. Vittora Verti is thrilled to know about this and rushes to the laboratory only to find fellow scientist dead on the floor and one jar of anti matter missing.
Vetri and Langdon meet at the vatican to solve the twin mysteries.
What follows next is a tale of following clues and gory killings.

My Impression
=============
It is a very interesting tale of Illuminati and the secret brotherhood. Also interesting is the suspense and drama in the backdrop of the Vatican. Though I have not read Angels and Daemons, I could follow the story quite easily and enjoy it thoroughly.
The thrill factor is maintained throughout the movie. The story of Angels and Daemons is like Da Vinci in the sense that there is supposed to be a brotherhood and Rober Langdon follows a series of clues. Also, both stories were about Christianity. But both pieces of work are different in the fact that the story line is entirely different. So in that sense, it was a pleasure to be treated with a new suspense movie.
I had a great time watching it and I would consider it a great work.

Cons
====
I could find many loop holes in the story. Either I did not watch the movie properly or I was really engrossed and was able to catch the mistakes


Rating
=======
I will give it a 7 out of 10 and a thumbs up for the effort.

Movie : Crossing Over

Cast: Harrison Ford, Ashley Judd

This movie is a ensemble of lives of many immigrants who want to get naturalized as citizens of the United States of America.

It is the story of a Jew who does not know a thing about Hebrew and wants to become a citizen as a scholar of Hebrew.
It is the story of a 15 year old Muslim girl (Summer Bishil) (her parents spoke Bengali in the movie, so I presume she depicted a Bangladeshi immigrant) who had sympathy towards the 9/11 attackers. She gives a talk in her class urging her fellow class mates to not treat the attackers as cowards but as brave people who believed in something and tried to fight for the cause. She claims that she does not justify the 9/11 attacks but, that, the other voice should also be heard. This talk leads to the FBI landing up at her house.
It is a story of a Chinese, play station playing boy who gets involved in a grocery store robbery which goes horribly wrong. He was supposed to be naturalized the next day.
It is the story of a Chinese girl who works in a factory as an illegal immigrant. When the police raid the factory she pleads to the officers for her release. She has a son who is with a care taker.
It is the story of an influential Muslim family. The head of the family is a know figure in the society, whose son is a lawyer and the other son works as a cop. He will be naturalized the next day. The head of the family has a Chinese daughter (I am not sure how he managed one though). He is not very happy with her mannerisms.
It is the story of a small time Australian actor (Alice Eve) whose visa is expiring. She cannot renew her visa because she has not paid the money in time. She bumps into an official of the immigration who is ready to process her file and help her with a green card as an acclaimed figure. But she has to pay a price.
It is also a story of Harrison Ford who is a police officer (with a heart) who is part of a team which tries to catch illegal immigrants.
It is the story of a lawyer (Ashley Judd) who fights for the immigrants who happens to be the wife of the immigration officer.


My Impression
=============
Very though provoking movie about immigration and naturalization of people in the US.
I was so engrossed in the movie that I never felt that it was a movie. I felt as if I was part of the whole story and i was living the story along with the characters of the movie.
I think it deserves a watch.

Cons
====
I am not sure what exactly was Harrison Ford doing in this movie. The movie could have stood on its own without the support of Harrison Ford.


Rating
======
Story : * * * * * * *
Acting : * * * * * * *

Overall : * * * * * * *
(7 out of 10)

Note: There are some explicit scenes in the movie.

Play: Rangashankara Theater : Kuri

It was a pleasant Sunday afternoon and I was in the mood for something creative. So I contemplated, why not a play. So I left for Rangashankara. I reached there and had a look at the play for the day. It was titled "Kuri" (Goat). Now I was not sure whether it was about a Kuri or they were planning to make me one...

With a lingering doubt i bought the ticket and went into the hall. I was not prepared for the crowd that was in the hall. I thought there would be a handful of people. But to my surprise I found almost all seats used up. With some difficulty I squeezed into the central row of seats.
After about 15 minutes, the play began.

The play was more about how the ignorant and gullible people are taken for a ride. The play is originally written in Hindi. It goes by the title "Gandhiji ki Bakri". written by (late) Sarveshwar Dayal Saxena. The play has been adapted in Kannada by C.P. Ravi Kumar. Directed by M.S. Sathyu.

The play starts of with three people happily jumping around and claiming to the local dafedar that they have come up with a brilliant Idea of making money. They Dafedar being human gets curious and wants to know the plan. They 3 pull him into the plan and ask him to find one goat. The dafedar goes around the village and gets one goat for them. The three proclaim that the Goat in front of them is Gandhiji's goat. That the fore-father of the Goat was actually rared by Gandhiji and that the goat is very knowledgeable. They anoint it as a devi (goddess).
In the meantime the owner of the goat a simple old women comes in search of her goat. On finding her goat she is elated. But her happiness does not last long as the gang of 3 drive her out saying that this is Gandhiji's goat that they she does not deserve to have this goat. They ask her to get all the villagers of her village. Insulted and bereaved of her goat, the lady goea back to her village to call the men go get her goat.
On seeing the large crowd the gang of 3 + the dafedar try to silence the crowd and ask them to sit down. The crowd sits down but are not pacified. They keep rumbling. The gang of 3 explain to the people that this is Gandhiji's goat and that it should not be in the village. It should be kept in the dharmshala. If people object to it then all ill will fall on them and they will suffer. The villagers fall into the trap and let the 3 have the goat. The old women is shocked. She tries to protest, but the dafedar pull her and locks her up iun a prison.
What follows next is a story of exploitation by the 3 people and the dafedar who take advantage of the ignorant public to serve their needs and the three end up being rich and wealthy. When the reality strikes the villagers they take up their sticks to seek revenge.

My Impression
=============
I liked the play for its simplicity and being succinct and still delivering the punch.
I was pleasantly surprised to find Ramesh Pandit in the play as the priest (one of the 3 members of the Gang of 3). In the image below, Ramesh Pandit is the one standing.


The most hilarious part was the loud speaker who reinterprets what the Politician says and what actually he meant. The crowd burst into laughter every time the speaker reinterpreted what the politician meant.

All in all a very beautiful portrayal of reality.

I would give the play a 7 out of 10 and a thumbs up.

PS: Thanks Ravi for pointing out the mistake. I have corrected the blog.

Movie : The Hangover

Hnaglover is the story about a Guy named Doug who is about to get married. He and his friends decide to have a blast in Vegas before he takes the vow.
Doug has three friends. One is a Doctor the other is a school teacher and the third basically does nothing (but is great at casinos. He also gets slighted as fat jesus. Incidently he is the brother of the bride).
Doug's father-in-law gives Doug his Mercedes and lets them loose to enjoy in Vegas. The gang-of-four set out thinking they would have a blast. But what follows in Vegas is not what they planned or hoped for.

Hangover is a hillerious story of interconnected events. Finally, what happens in vegas stays in Vegas.

My Impression
=============

Concept:
If you have watched Ayesha Takia's "Friday", you would relate to the story to some extent. Basically the friends have had a blast and they do not remember a thing about it. As the story unfolds they get to know about their deeds on that fateful night.
Sine I had seen a similar movie, the concept was not new to me.

Story
The way the story unfolds in interesting and very different from Friday though.


Funny Moments
The funniest moment was when they get back the car and someone starts banging from the boot. and when they open the boot they find themselves in a very precarious situation. what follows is a very funny sequence.

Cons
My only grouse is that things cannot fall apart and fall in place so nicely. I cannot buy the ending.


Rating
======
On a scale of 1 to 10 I would rate it at 6 1/2 (1- Least Rating and 10-Highest Rating). Plus 1/2 for the fat jesus :). So I would give a 7 on 10.

Movie Reviews: New York

With the Distributor-Producer conflict getting resolved amicably, we saw the release of New York 2 weeks back. I got a hand on the 3GP version of the movie. I loaded it onto my Transcend MP850 player and settled myself to the 2 Hour bus ride back home.

After reading the reviews in paper I had a Neutral opinion of the movie. So I went into the movie with no bias.

The movie is about an Indian Named Omar (Niel Nitin Mukesh) who is arrested for being in possession of an AK-47 riffle in boot of his car. The FBI (case being handled by an officer of Indian Origin, Irfan Khan). On finding the Gun, Omar is shocked and flabbergasted. In no-time he is the interrogation room of the FBI is being quizzed by irfan about the Gun). Omar has no clue and pleads innocence, but it falls on deaf ears. Irfan wants to know about Omar's college days in New York State University. He wants to list out his friends in the university. Omar recounts all his friends at NYSU including Maya (Katrina Kaif).
Irfan wants to know about Samir (John Abraham). Omar is lost for a second and then he recollects samir as well. Irfan is suspicious and pokes Omar as to why he intentionally forgot to mention Samir. Omar is puzzled. He tries to explain that it was just a slip. But Irfan does not buy that. Irfan wants all the details of Samir.
Omar is lost. He wants to know what details does Ifran want about samir and why is he fixated with Samir. Irfan is Unfazed. He wants all the details of Samir from his college days.
And Omar starts to Narrate the story of Friendship, love and being heart broken.
Irfan makes a revelation to Omar. Irfan is shocked and does not believe Irfan.
What follows next is the story.


My Impression
=============
I was pleasantly surprised with the movie. I did not expect such a mature treatment being meted by the mainstream production house (Yash Raj Production). Since I had an open mind and approached the movie as it went along, I was happy to see a fairly decent movie. SO here are my observations for different aspects of the movie

Cinematography :
Great cinematography. New York was captured beautifully. I was taken into the beauty of New York. Great Cinematography.

Story
I was impressed with the story as well. Not that this is some path breaking script. But it delves into the life of one of the possible suspects who gets wrongly caught in the aftermath of 9/11. His desperation and his reason for what he did and is doing. I liked the different view-points expressed in the movie.

Songs
For once I am happy to see the songs being in the background and not obstructing the relevance of it in the movie. Songs do pop up at time but they merely reflect the mood of the moment. I like it this way and I was happy to see it getting reflected in New York.
Camera work of the songs is excellent. Music is good too.

Acting
We all know that John Abraham is not very good at varying emotions on Screen. Thankfully he does not have to do much with his emotions in the movie either. So John Abraham as Sam does a fairly decent job.
Katrina as Maya surprisingly comes out with a very good performance. I liked her acting. I feel, given a chance, she can deliver great performance.
Neil Nitin Mukesh has acted well in the movie. I was not thoroughly impressed but was happy with his performance. I would definitely like to watch more of him in future.
Irfan Khan as the FBI agent goes through his scenes with a poker face. Nevertheless he did do well. More so because the scrip was tight and his role was properly etched out.
Overall the cast looked good, I could not relate them as a team but was happy with the final performance.

Rating:
Overall I would give a 7 on 10 for the movie.