praveensg.com

It had been a while since I’d checked out what was happening back home. The first site I go to to get my dose of desi news is www.rediff.com and since I’m a huge Bollywood buff, the movie section in there is my all time favorite. Well, to my surprise, there wasn’t much news on the site only to later realize that it was a holiday back home for Good Friday aka Easter. I am having to work my ass off on a Friday living in a Christian-dominated country and our Indian brethren get to celebrate Good Friday? Talk about being secular! I’m just jealous Anyways, without digressing. There were a few headlines spread here and there and one of them was the review of the latest Abbas-Mustan offing, Race. I have always liked AM movies for they are only guys who exclusively are dedicated to making action/suspense/thriller movies back home. And Race seemed to be exactly that, only this time around, they have gone bonkers with the budget and also have like the three hottest girls of Bollywood (1, 2 and check this one out 3).

I have always been a great fan of Raja Sen, the ace Rediff reviewer and usually go by his advice when it comes to Bollywood flicks. He is a no nonsense reviewer and does seem to suit my taste. However, this time around, his no-nonsense behavior went a little too far. As I proceed to read the article, behold, the first sentence I see, he gives away the climax. Seriously, I’m not kidding. The whole damn climax, right in front of your eyes. And he looks pretty damn confident in giving it away. I know, he must not have liked the movie which is why the 1.5 stars. But that is not the question here. The question is about moral ethics of a responsible scribe. You would at least put a spoiler alert in there. I think Raja wanted to look ubercool this time and he tried to come up with a really bold review. And what better way to look cool than to spill beans right off the bat. But Mr. Sen, this was not cool at all. In fact this is totally irresponsible behavior from a well-respected journalist like you and for this behavior of yours, you do owe an apology to your readers as well as the producers of the movie. Agreed, the movie might have sucked beyond imagination but do you realize how much work might have gone into the making of the movie? Producers spend millions and there is a whole crew that slogs its ass for years together to come up with a movie and you just write it off in what, 30 mins? C’mon, give us a break. I’m not sure how many people even read your reviews but I’m certain you have managed to change quite a few minds today; one of them being mine, to not read your reviews anymore that is.

For the ones who missed Raja’s review and do not know the suspense yet, I’m going to point them to a review that is more balanced > Taran Adarsh’s review