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December 22, 2013

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Movie Review: Dhoom 3

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The third instalment of the spirited ‘Dhoom’ franchise that hit the box office this Friday delivers the audience three hours of highs and lows. The movie bumps across its peaks and valleys courtesy the amazing performances, electrifying action and beautiful locations. Not to forget, the movie seriously defies logic and consists of songs where leads dance halting the story and portions of no significance.

The Plot

The movie is about a circus magician and acrobat Sahir (Aamir Khan) and his mission to ring the financial death knell for the Western Bank of Chicago and its director Mr. Anderson (the most expressionless foreigner ever). All this, to seemingly avenge the suicide of his father (Jacky Shroff) due to the bank’s bid to shut off their ‘Great Indian Circus’ to indemnify itself against the loss due to former’s inability to pay back the loans.

What follows is a series of action sequences where the protagonists summersault on bikes, drive autos down the slum roofs, and jump down the sky scrapers. The bikes run on ropes, they float; jump, fly and what not till the final faceoff wherein the ‘chor-police’ chase ends in an unexpected manner. Unlike common parlance, your heart races, quite confused, as you can’t decide if you really support the police or want the thief to escape.

The Positives

Aamir Khan is what you call the USP of the movie, ‘Mister Perfectionist’ as he is; he has acted meticulously pulling off the role well, sporting an amazing body and showcasing expertise on the acrobatic ropes along with his co-star Alia ( Katrina Kaif). Both of the leads have mastered the art well. The sets are grand, the wardrobe appealing and being directed by Vijay Krishna Acharya, a Kirori Mal (DU) alumnus and screenplay, dialogue and Story writer of previous Dhooms, the movie is well shot without any compromises on detailing.
The choreography is wonderful, special reference to the energetic tap dance movie begins with.

The Neutrals

Abhishek Bachchan in his shades and leather jackets and the tapori Uday Chopra have nothing new for audience to see. They are called to Chicago to catch Aamir, for the Chicago forces and SWAT teams aren’t able to, maybe. The music isn’t music to your ears, as you hardly come out of the hall humming any.

The Negatives

The movie is alarmingly lengthy with portions of no significance added to give screen time to other actors as the camera hardly spares Aamir who hogs for all the limelight. Also this movie unlike others, doesn’t show the theft happening, and emphasises more on chases that disappoints audiences. The currency notes fly in sky, and chase begins. (Really!)
And like I said, it defies logics and science.

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Top Picks

5 best things about the winter season

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Basking in the warmth of a cold sun,
Revelling in the respite from gritty summer days.
The cozy conversations, the solitudinous revelations,
Are what winters will be remembered for. Now, and always.

The winter season, you either love it or you despise it with all your might.

In order to justify both sides of this cold coin, we bring to you 5 best things about winters with the 5 worst ones to follow shortly!

Pigging out – 3 words: Gajar ka halwa

But even if you’re the oddball who doesn’t appreciate this mouth watering Indian favourite, winter has something in store for everyone. Plum cakes, rum and raisin chocolates, a delightful array of achaars, sarson ka saag, cashew, dates and walnut based dishes and so on. Not to forget the hot beverages and the satisfying soups. Gluttonous behaviour is excusable as the temperature dips.  Eating more and gaining weight in winters is a given, which leads us to the next point.

Clothes

The weight gain is easily camouflaged. Layers and layers of thick winter apparel not only help keep you warm, but also comfortably hide all excessive fat. Even otherwise, winter fashion is so much better. Read fluffy earmuffs, warm mittens, cozy beanies and chunky socks. On the one hand, throwing on a thick jacket over your nightshirt is a perfectly acceptable college get-up. On the other hand, this season is the time to experiment with various textures to maximize your fashion quotient.

Crisp Air and Foggy Thrills

Bear with me on this one. Blowing into the cold air, pretending to be smoking is one of my earliest winter memories. Waking up to find your house in the middle of absolutely nowhere, surrounded by a dense fog almost feels like you’re floating on clouds. (People living in high- rises will understand) And as hazardous as driving in the bleak visibility conditions is, it does turn out to be quite a thrilling affair.

 

Excusable Sloth

It’s the time of the year when you won’t be judged for lounging in your pajamas all day long. When the pleasure you derive from curling up with a good book or movie and a steaming cup of coffee will be the highlight of your day. When making up your mind to bathe takes seemingly forever and the actual bathing process involves less cleansing, more standing under running hot water, mentally motivating yourself to finally step out.

 

The Fact that it isn’t Summer

Flushed cheeks and a stone cold nose every timeyou venture outside your house certainly beat sunburns and excessive sweating.  The few months of winter that we get are a more than welcome break from the chubhti, jalti garmi we face for the majority of the year. Rubbing your hands together with a friend’s to warm them paints a cuter picture than fighting over the AC vent in the car, no?

you-hands-are-cold

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Features

Procedure to seek information from Delhi University under RTI

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Right to Information Act was passed in the year 2005 to empower the Indian citizen. An act which can penetrate into any government file, any substantial data and take it out into public domain. But after almost 9 years since the act was passed, still not many know how to use it to incur information.

Whether it is any governmental organisation, rules of procedure to file an RTI are the same throughout.

Here are some initial pertinent points one should know before filing an RTI in context to the Delhi University.

  • An application for obtaining information under Right to Information Act, 2005 is required to be made to the Central Public Information Officer of University of Delhi.
  • The prescribed fees for filing an application is Rs. 10/- by way of cash against proper receipt or by way of bank demand draft or banker’s cheque or Indian Postal Order payable to the Registrar, University of Delhi at Delhi.
  • An Appeal can be preferred before a Registrar and 1st Appellate authority agaisnt the decision of Central Public Information Officer of the University.

The application is addressed to:

Public Information Officer

Deputy Registrar (Information), University of Delhi, Delhi (Presently Shri Jay Chanda)

The following steps / points may be noted to make an application under RTI Act:

  •  The person seeking information may apply on a plain paper giving particulars of information being sought and his/her correct address for communication.
  •  Separate applications for seeking information on different subjects are required.
  •  The application has to be accompanied with the prescribed fee (at present a fee of Rs. 10/-). The fee is payable with each application which is towards the cost of processing the request.
  •  The schedule of fees can be obtained from the Public Information Officer of the University of Delhi. For the time being the rates are as follows:-
    • Rs. 2/- per page of A-4 or A-5 size.
    • Actual cost for sizes bigger than A-4 or A-5.
    • In case of printed material, the printed copies could be had from the University sales counter/authorized sales agents on payment.
    • In case of photo copies, the rate would be Rs. 2/- per page.
    • If information is needed on a disk or floppy subject to availability of information in soft form, the fee will be Rs. 50/- per disk/floppy.
    • Admissible records may be allowed to be inspected on payment of Rs.150/- per hour or part thereof, before the date and time of inspection of the same.
  • A major portion of the information will be available from the University Calendars Volumes I & II, and other rules as applicable to the University from time to time and printed syllabi for various courses. Some of these are available on the website of the University.

NOTE: Confidential matters pertaining to examinations, paper setting, evaluation of scripts and consequent procedures, composition and proceedings of the selection committees and minutes of the University Court/EC/AC until these are printed, will remain confidential and not available in the public domain.

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News

Delhi University students to evaluate teachers from January

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In what appears to be a very comprehensive reform in Delhi University, students are set to evaluate the teachers from the next semester starting in January. The Vice Chancellor Dinesh Singh has come out with this measure where every teacher will be evaluated twice or thrice every semester. Confidentiality of the feedback will be maintained in the evaluation system by students according to him.
This evaluation will be decisive factor for the promotion of teachers and would be made part of teacher’s files. Teachers will be judged on factors like quality of teaching, regularity in taking classes and innovation in manner of teaching. The new feedback system is called ‘holistic and formal’ by the Vice Chancellor of Delhi University.

When DUTA was asked on their take at this new system, President Nandita Narain expressed her disillusionment. In a telephonic conversation to DU Beat she said, “It is a very dangerous quid pro quo situation and only the teachers would be blamed. There is no provision about monitoring and authenticity of the students’ feedback for teachers. Teachers were not consulted in this decision and the VC is running the university like a mafia. When the teachers don’t have the right to design the courses, how could they be held accountable? It makes no sense and we will certainly oppose this insensitive bureaucratic device.”

She also said, “This measure is nothing but a retaliatory action to the student feedback exercise undertaken by DUTA earlier this month at several colleges. More than 90% students are in favour of 3 year UG system and opposed the FYUP vehemently in their feedback. Now the VC wants to harass teachers with this tool as a tit for tat measure.”

Mrs Neeru Kapoor, a professor at Delhi College of Arts & Commerce said, “This system can be effective only when the students are mature enough and give their judgement properly. Right now our university is in a chaotic situation with the FYUP and semester system and genuine teachers will be penalised if the evaluation system is not genuine. How can a student who does not attend 60% classes decide on the effectiveness of a teacher?”

Another teachers’ body Academics for Action and Development (AAD) has also condemned the university administration and called it a regressive measure where complexities of caste, gender, religion and region come into operation and may result in harassment of teachers.

“I think this new system will be good if implemented well. Teachers will be more regular so as to teach us certain concepts which we are not familiar with. If they teach us using models, projects, through physical demonstration or case studies, then we’ll be able to grasp the course easily by these innovative methods”, said Vijay, a student of FYUP in Delhi University.

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