A Wildlife Photographer In A Telugu Movie

Creativity seems to be springing into the minds of Telugu film directors. I happened to visit a friend here in Sunnyvale, and his BIL was a big time Telugu movie buff. He was watching a new Telugu movie, Am not used to these movies but since there was nothing else to do I ended up watching the movie.
The lead character in the movie happens to be a wildlife photographer (Now isnt that something ). The role is played by Jugal Hansraj. Probably the director of this movie envisioned himself in that role as the photographer had around 15 people around him on a wildlife shoot, carrying all sorts of reflectors etc etc. May be they were there to help him identify the wildlife. The jungle has a tinge of white smoke everywhere. The director probably forgot to turn off one of those artificial smoke guns. Now how does Jugal Hansraj and his crew reach the jungle ? white water rafting. Hope Mr.Jugal and his crew carried weather sealed equipment.The scene goes like this: Jugal Hansraj is waiting on a shot of a fancy bird (some kind of a cuckoo). Just then a crew member steps on a dry leaf, the leaf crackles thereby making a loud noise ( there's definitely a mike out there ), this startles the bird, the bird looks at Jugal for like a minute ( as if telling him, 'someone scared me' ) and then flies away.
Perhaps the director has never seen any wildlife episode on discovery channel/ngc even by chance :). It was so hilarious to watch the filming of wildlife Hyderabad ishtyle :).

Hiking to waterfalls

Recently we had been on a hike to a waterfall near Sacramento, Feather Hill falls. Its a 3 hour drive from the bay area. From the parking lot its a 2 hour trek to the waterfall and its quite pretty. Unfortunately I dont have a slide scanner to scan and post the slides. I spent a lot of time on the way mounting my tripod, taking pics and walked at my own sweet pace. It was a refreshing hike though. Once we reached the waterfall, spent nearly 3 hours just sittting and gossipping. What we repented most was not carrying food.
The hike reminded me of an earlier hike to MeenMutti falls in Wayanad. That was probably one of the toughest short hikes of my life. The path was so slippery and the descent was so steep that we had to crawl most of the time. Also it was pitch dark and misty as it can be seen here. This pic was shot at sometime in the noon. Thats Punit, Hemant, our local guide (forgot his name)and myself. We were so freakin tired by the time we reached the falls, there was absolutely no energy left to trek back. Somehow we made it.

Another waterfall hike or walk as that I've liked is a really short hike to vernal falls in Yosemite National Park. I didnt know how to take good photographs then and hence this sloppy snap of the otherwise beautiful vernal falls.

Other memorable hikes to waterfalls have been the Jog Falls in Shimoga, and the Hebbe falls in Madikeri Hope I get to trek some more beautiful waterfalls, atleast I can hope to see the Niagara Falls.

Music Tag

Arun, here comes the music tag pal. As it goes with the movies tag, here is a brief compliation. This is by no means a complete list :)

Songs listened to the most number of times, I cant even recollect the count:
1. Pukaarta chala hoon main: Film - Mere Sanam: Playback - Mohd.Rafi
2. Kya Yahi Pyaar Hai: Film - Rocky: Playback - Kishore kumar, Lata Mangeshkar
3. Jotheyali: Film - Geetha, Playback - SP Balasubramaniam, S Janaki
4. Nothing Else Matters : Album, Metallica S&M Symphony, Artist - Metallica
5. High Hopes: Album - The Division Bell: Artist - Pink Floyd
6. Enter Sandman: Album: Metallica: Artist - Metallica
7. Chehra Hai Yaa Chaand: Film - Saagar: Playback - Kishore Kumar

Songs I would love to Sing:
1. Aise na Mujhe Tum Dekho by Kishore
2. Ehsaan Tera Hoga Mujhpar by Rafi
3. Wonderwall by Oasis
4. Mere Naina by Kishore
5. Bhavre Ka Gunjan by Kishore
6. Laaga Chunri pe Daag by Manna Dey
7. O Saathi Re by Kishore

Most loved Lyrics:
1. Kisi ki muskuraahaton pe - Lyrics- Shailendra
2. Chingaari Koi Bhadke - Lyrics- Anand Bakshi
3. Nothing Else Matters - Metallica
4. Coming Back To Life - Pink Floyd
5. Kuch To Log Kahenge - Lyrics- Anand Bakshi

Tag Time

I got tagged by Pallavi for movies and Arun for music. Even a hundred pages will not be sufficient to write about movies and music. The most concise way to put things would be to categorize them, in a slightly different manner.

The most number of movies watched in a time frame:
About 300 in a span of 4 months - year 1998. A celebration to mark the end of college.

The movies watched most often:
Terminator 2 Judgement Day: 40 - 50 times
Where Eagles Dare: 40 - 50 times Year 1990
The Spy Who Love Me: 30 - 40 times Year 1990
The Matrix: 20 - 25 times Year 2003
Sholay: 10+ times Year 1995

Intriguing movies:
The Matrix: First time, I was spooked. Had to watch it again n again to know wot the heck was happening.
Minority Report: Spielberg comes up with a concept, in the end proves it's a piece of crap.Took a while to figure it out.
Gold Finger: Till the end I was thinking GoldFinger would steal money from Fort Knox :)

Emotional movies:
To Kill A Mocking Bird: Gregory Peck brings tears to the audience with his award winnin performance.
The Notebook: An unusual romantic story, powerful perfomances and every scene is filled with emotions.
Titanic: The oscars speak for the greatness of this movie.
Phenomenon: It was unusual to watch John Travolta in such an emotional role.
Top Gun

Inspiring movies:
Independence Day: The speech in the end.
Meri Jung: Oh God the court scenes.
Enter The Dragon: I almost joined a karate class after watching this movie.

The Best Entertainers:
Lord Of The Rings,Sholay,Golmaal,Star Wars,Matrix,Speed

Arun, the music tag will follow pal.

World Environment Day

Yep Sunday it is, also my birthday it is. Not sure what to do. Its just another day for me and am not that much into celebrations. A cup of coffee with a bunch of friends would probably be the best thing. It beieng world environment day, I do feel bad that the environment around us is getting from bad to worse day by day. As I sit and ponder, enormous efforts seem to be spent in preserving what still remains good of the world around us and preventing further damage. However visible signs of the damage are still pervalent. Am reminded of the Matrix philosophy 'Everything that has a beggining, has an end'. Earth and mankind are no exceptions. Mabbe mankind will draw an end upon themselves someday probably a million years from today. Mabbe I am growing pessimistic with age :) have a great week everyone.

Nature Photography Field Guide

I happen to spend atleast 2 hours a week in a Barnes&Noble bookstore browsing through books and magazines. While browsing the photography section, just came across this book by the renowned nature photographer John Shaw. I have tried to read several books on photography but so far none have matched the quality of this nature photography field guide. The book sells for around 17$ on amazon and is worth every penny. It's filled with such amazing photographs. Also John Shaw is such a good writer. Simple and very easy to understand language and humourous anecdotes keep the reader engrossed. For anyone interested in bieng a good nature photographer this book will be a great aid. The book has gotten into me, I should say cos one night I even dreamnt about having a long discussion with John Shaw.