Santhosh's Blog (2009-2018)

Hello all! Here's the FINAL Bollywood blog post I will be posting for the year. These are my 30 favorite Hindi songs of this year. I must admit, this was a tough ranking to come up with, as there were plenty of great Bollywood tracks this year, so there were some tough choices to make. Moreover, I don't really like the concept of "ranking" tracks - some songs just cannot be compared with each other, as the genres differ. So please see this more as a "list" than a "ranking" - although the Top 5 are probably my five most favorite songs of the year. So here goes, the Top 30 Bollywood Songs of 2015 , with a Youtube playlist at the bottom. ( CLICK ON READ MORE TO CONTINUE READING )

Hello all! As it is almost a "yearly practice" for me on this blog, this post will be a comprehensive review of the year that was for Bollywood. Thankfully, this time I was in Bengaluru till this month, which means I could catch most of the year's biggest blockbusters in the cinema. (Sidenote: I am back in Geneva, as I decided to leave Bangalore. Will post a Lifeblog post on this topic soon.) On the whole, I must admit, 2015 has been a really good year for the Hindi film industry! There have been quite a few great movies, to watch on the big screen. This mega-post will be divided in the following parts: 2015, Year in Review Watched, and liked/loved Not watched, but highly acclaimed Special mentions 2016, the Releases to look forward to Concluding Note So here goes! Hope you enjoy this post! Do leave a comment, if I have left out any movies, or if you agree/disagree with my choices. Click on READ MORE to continue reading

Soundtrack Credits MOVIE: TAMASHA MUSIC: A.R. RAHMAN LYRICS: IRSHAD KAMIL MUSIC LABEL: T-SERIES YEAR: 2015 (The link to the soundtrack of Tamasha is featured at the end of the post) Review Mika is behind the mic for Heer Toh Badi Sad Hai , singing a genre that is different from his dance numbers. Not too fond of this one, very average, despite many listenings. Sung by Sukhwinder Singh, along with Haricharan and Haripriya, Chali Kahani is a very impressive composition, but not a track that is very "enjoyable". Very situational, so it would obviously be enjoyed fully when watched on the big screen. AR Rahman comes up with an instrumental titled Parade De La Bastille which is extremely well done. Lots of interesting elements used and blended in, also featuring the tune from Matargashti (will come back to this track shortly). The album's "better side" starts off with Wat Wat Wat . An infectious and catchy beat, with superb vocals from

Hello Readers! Hope you guys are doing good. To begin this post on a "happy note", I just realized a while ago that I recently completed 5 months here in Bengaluru! As you may have realized through my last Lifeblog posts, the last few months have been nothing less than dramatic, crazy, or eventful. But then again, call me old-fashioned, but I still look at the many positives which came out of them, despite the "negatives" having outnumbered the "positives". But my life goal of "sustaining Happiness" (which happens to be the meaning of my name, something I keep obsessing in almost every blog post these days) is something that keeps me motivated, and I will obviously hope to have a happier set of "Bangalore Days" in the coming months! This blog post will be divided in 3 parts: Smiles, Distance, and key Takeaways from the previous two parts. (Click on READ MORE to continue reading)

Yolo is the first Himesh track in this soundtrack (sung by Sreeramachandra). Decent, catchy, but gets monotonous after a point. The English rap, however, is top stuff. You ask for a Himesh-Arijit collaboration, you get Baaton Ko Teri . The Himesh fan in me is super happy! What a soulful song – the kind you can imagine Himesh singing, but Arijit does the job for him. Himesh’s best one in this album is Tu Milade . Take Ankit’s energetic vocals, and Himesh’s powerful tune, and goosebumps are sure to follow! Mere Humsafar is “old wine in a new bottle”. The Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak hit song now has a soulful feel, thanks to Mithoon who nails it (yet again!). Tulsi Kumar does great too. The second-best track of the album is Nachan Farrate . I never really got the “Baby Doll” hype (song was great, but was it worth that much hype?), and “Chittiyaan Kalaiyaan” was very poor. But this one is PERFECTION. The Meet Bros rope in Kanika Kapoor one more time, and deliver their b

Hello Readers! So here I am... publishing this blog post on 13th July 2015, with tons of pride. I am two days away from completing two months in this "loveable chaos" called Bengaluru. I remember using this analogy many years back, when I had first started this blog in 2009: "Life is a rollercoaster ride" . To be honest, I cannot think of any other analogy even now. My two months here have been nothing but an "emotional rollercoaster". Every single day has been a learning curve for me. It was very difficult, initially. But currently, I am honestly loving the vibes (good and bad) I am getting all around me! Coming from a tiny and quite boring city called Geneva, moving to the "larger-than-life" Bangalore was never going to be easy... but I am pleasantly surprised at the unexpected changes I have been going through. In Geneva, I was very lazy, not very driven, and not too outgoing. Now in Bangalore. I am one of the first ones to wake up

Hello all fellow Marvel fans! The journey has been amazing, hasn't it? It had all started off with Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk in 2008. Now Marvel is owned by Disney, and they have made themselves probably the largest superhero franchise in the history of cinema! There is a reason for this blog post, and it is an awesome reason. I had written about the Avengers, what seems to be ages ago. My thoughts on all the movies that were before, before building up for the big release that was "Marvel's The Avengers" in 2012. You can check out that blog post here  http://santhosh-geneva.blogspot.in/2012/04/avengers-2012-im-part-of-hype-oh-yes-i.html Since that epic release in 2012, Marvel entered what they called "Phase 2" of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Just a quick recap of Phase 1 for those who are totally lost: Iron Man (2008) The Incredible Hulk (2008) Iron Man 2 (2010) Thor (2011) Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) Marvel'

And IPL season is here again! This looks to be a massive one! And it will be quite a mood-fixer for the disappointed Indians after that heart-breaking World Cup. It's indeed one of my favorite sports tournaments, where you see Australians, South Africans, and players from other such big cricket-playing nations, fighting alongside Indians in Indian franchises. And we see some usual big names performing, but we also see some relatively "unknown" Indian faces come up and do good, which is also very good to see! This post will give a quick preview of each IPL side, to see who all are playing, and what we should be expecting from each side. Will also give my personal predictions and thoughts for each side. Enjoy the read!

So the ICC World Cup is finally over. Firstly, congrats to Team Australia for the big win! Well deserved, no one can deny that! Personally speaking, the way this World Cup ended, made me more sad than happy. To elaborate more on this, and other aspects, I have divided this blog post in 4 parts. One part per semi-finalist. Will speak of my thoughts on each of the teams which made to the semi-finals, including the one I supported, India. Hope you enjoy this read! Thoughts on India's exit This was truly sad, for myself, and I'm guessing for Indian fans all over. I honestly didn't expect the Men in Blue to be rolled over by the Aussies, to end up being "thrashed" so badly in the semis. © AFP All that having been said, we had a fantastic World Cup! Kudos to the whole Team and Management for having played so beautifully till the semi-final! Our batsmen were good, and the bowlers were excellent. Fielding from the Indians was also brilliant, we were

Introduction Hello dear readers, and fellow cricket lovers! Well... we're just 2 days away from that big eventful day. Wait, what? Valentine's Day?? No silly, I meant the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 *insert dramatic echo* This is cricket's biggest tournament, and it indeed does look promising! This post will mainly cover Team India, and my personal thoughts on it, and its chances. This post is coming late (as of now, 2 days before the tournament kicks off), because I was waiting to watch the warm-up matches to have a better idea of what to expect from each team in this tournament. The Indian players have been in Australia for around 2 months (or more, I think). They're exhausted, away from their families, and have been winless  throughout their entire stay in Australia. Despite being World Champions, it will be a tough ask for them to defend the title - no doubt about that! I agree that our Indian team is mainly dominant when playing at home,

Dear Readers, First and foremost, here's wishing you all a very Happy New Year 2015! May this be a good one for all of us! For those who have been following my blog for the last few years, I have had this habit of doing a big massive review of the year that has gone by, at the end of the year. More specifically, I tend to do a "Maha-Review" of Bollywood for that year. And since I have been doing this from 2010 onwards (I think?), I guess it's only fair that I should continue to do this, as it is also one of the posts that gather among the most views on this blog. But apologies for this post coming so late. "Better late than never", and all that, I guess? In the "Year in Review" posts for previous years, I used to split the article by putting the movies in three categories. Now I have changed that to only two main categories: Watched and Appreciated (Liked or even Loved) Highly recommended (Not watched, but recommendations based on c