The Best of 2007
2007 was a mixed-bag for me personally. I finally got engaged and am all set to move into a totally different phase of life. Or as my mother would put it, "get settled". It is a new feeling, and anticipation fills the air, don't want to get used to the feeling soon though.
The year also showered on me several other joyous moments that I will surely remember for quite a while:
Plenty things sucked about 2007, and given the kind of person I am, that should be a much longer list and requires a lot more patience than I can produce at the moment. In a week's time maybe.
The year also showered on me several other joyous moments that I will surely remember for quite a while:
- I moved from one teeth-chatteringly cold place in central USA to another. I have always been termed a freak of nature. Someone to be born in a hot, humid city like Chennai, then Madras, to go on to love the colder places on the planet is quite freaky I suppose. But the snow, the chill and the freezing cold make me feel a lot more at home than stressful heat. It is not the scenery that interests me, nor the country-side, for Steve Taylor's sake, but its the mere sense that it sets me well into loner-mode, covers me up with a warm privacy-blanket and lets the mind truly rule over the body. Enjoying it so far.
- Like most movie-goers, I have been waiting for that one performance from Shah Rukh Khan that would shut everyone up for good. And he finally delivers with a highly-nuanced portrayal of coach Kabir Khan that is far more internalized than anything else we have seen this year from any other actor. After having followed his career closely over the last decade and more, I realize how smooth a transition it has been from playing the man everyone loves, to characters he himself loves to be. He has got to a stage where the only thing he seems to be doing is having fun with himself on screen. It is hard for a superstar to play around with himself, he does that too in Om Shanti Om, quite literally in a few sequences. Don and now OSO - these are just perfect for people like me, lovers of the Ocean's 12 kinda cinema. Keep going SRK.
- The Bourne Ultimatum was the one hollywood film that I enjoyed most this year. After a wierdly subdued performance in a half-baked role in The Departed, Matt Damon is right back into scintillating form in a role he obviously loves dearly. The film is gripping right through to the very end, has some more terrific car-chases and hand-to-hand combat, and some intelligent characterizations. Well played Matt. Oh, I am not complaining about the shaky-cam at all. In fact, I had to be told about it to actually have me take notice even in the Supremacy.
- I got myself hooked big-time on to golf in 2007. And hooked to an extent where I now claim it to be the greatest sport in the world. I always watched golf on tv, from a very young age and enjoyed it immensely, but playing it and playing it well is just quite something else. I can now go to a pretty-darn-difficult course and not actually embarass myself, maybe even make a few pars every now and then. I still have to improve my putting game, where I tend to lose concentration real quick.
- Serbia - I have absolutely no idea about the country as such. But it was an absolute delight to see such a small country be represented by 3 players in the top 10 in the world of tennis. Novak Djokovic, Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic must make a small country like Serbia - same population as NYC I believe - real proud. While Jankovic's rise has been a slow and steady one, Ivanovic and Djokovic have captured the crowds' imagination with both their tennis and their off-court earnesty. You oughtta be proud Serbia.
- Madhuri Dixit finally came back to hindi films. Not in a great film, as I had hoped, but in a film that was still enjoyable despite its flaws. And disappointingly, she was not any special, but maybe that was the point of it all - you went nowhere Madz, you are still the queen. And for my money, the very best I have ever seen. I am ready to wait for any stretch of time to see you on the big screen again - just so I can sit back and smile everytime you appear - coz I know, we all know, even when you go, you never leave.
Plenty things sucked about 2007, and given the kind of person I am, that should be a much longer list and requires a lot more patience than I can produce at the moment. In a week's time maybe.