One

Moong Daal is one year old today. On 2nd November last year I bought my one-way plane ticket and decided to start this blog to document the adventure I was about to embark upon.

Today also marks my first visit — at long last — to the cinema here.  A friend from the UK is staying with me just now, so we went along to the big multiplex next to college to see Ra.One, Shahrukh Khan‘s new block-buster Bollywood/SciFi crossover epic. Co-incidentally, it’s also SRK’s birthday today.

A bit of a strange film… a collision between the Matrix and Terminator, with “heavy references” (shall we say) to Tron and Mission Impossible.  And car chases, and a disaster-movie sequence. And of course, the invevitable Bollywood songs, dance routines and romantic storyline, plus a bit of comedy for good measure. About 2.5 hours’ worth in total.

Apparently it’s the most expensive Hindi film ever made, and the budget is second only to the Tamil Enthiran, currently India’s most expensive film, period. (There’s a rather gratuitous cameo by Rajnikanth in Ra.One, in which he appears as the Chitti character from Enthiran.)

Not sure if  I’d particularly recommend it, but as a snapshot of Indian culture in the postmodern world, it seems like a landmark of sorts.