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Nope, this post is not about music/ movies, for a change! Given the number of blogs springing in India every day, it seems to me that blogs, as a medium is being taken seriously just recently. More celebs are blogging and they’re making news for airing their opinion. The earlier model was such that they aired their views discretely to a journalist who added spice and published it. Now, a star of Amitabh’s stature blogs and publishes his opinion online, himself. Whether he was paid an obscene amount to do so by a questionable Ambani is besides the point

The reason for this prelude? The results of perhaps the first ever Asia-Pacific wide survey of bloggers. This was a survey conducted by public relations firm Text 100, on a range of topics including bloggers’ attitude to Public Relations outreach and what sort of content they prefer. The aim was to better understand bloggers as an audience, how they like to work, and how Public Relations professionals and their clients can better engage with them.

Out of the 125 predominantly tech/ business/ news bloggers surveyed, Indian bloggers secured maximum participation! On an APAC level that is mighty impressive.

Considering many regular readers and visitors to Milliblog are bloggers themselves, this may be relevant. Text 100 has also released the results of this survey in the form of India’s first social media news release (SMNR). The SMNR is a new form of the age-old press release and adopts the so-called web 2.0 tools/ tactics to make it more presentable to the online media, in particular.

So, here goes - the results of India’s first ever bloggers’ survey (PDF, 1.67 MB) | Social Media News Release announcing the results.

Disclosure: I work for Text 100 and was part of the team that facilitated this survey in India.

A note of appreciation on Firefox 3! I was one of the folks who waited for the refresh at 10:30 pm last night, but got hold of their website and the file only in the morning. And, the browser rocks. It loads most pages – specifically Gmail! – noticeably faster and I’ve made most of my regular add-ons work, using Nightly Tester Tools! My primary concerns were Tab Mix Plus and Sidebar Autohide, which were not compatible initially. After a furious Google, I managed to trace compatible updates for both - cannot use Firefox without these two! Mozilla folks – take a bow!

The lilting title song, Tu meri mehbooba is the only track that connects immediately – but it abounds in extended phrases of ‘boob’s and ‘doob’s, quite unfortunately, while Khwabon ki rani and Yaar tera shukriya merely rehash the Laxmikant Pyarelal sound with limited Ismail Darbar flourishes. Kuchh kar lo, Achcha to and Dilruba are surprisingly disjoint and dissonant. Babuji shamelessly dips into the composer’s own chartbuster Nimbuda, displaying complete lack of range, even as the qawali, Deewana, is an unnecessary and conventional blast from the past. Mehbooba’s soundtrack is nothing but a mistimed relic – a once promising composer’s once composed soundtrack.

Keywords: Ajay Devgan, Manisha Koirala, Sanjay Dutt

Raahat’s version of the title song is better than Rekha Bharadwaj’s, though both have too familiar a Vishal tune. Raghav’s two songs - Rang and Khwahish offer precious little, while Anand Raaj Anand contributes with the surprisingly decent Jeeta hoon and Rani - both with delightful vocals by Sonu Nigam and an old-worldly charm in the tunes. His other track, Oye hoye is mere hai hai. Pritam’s lone track with Labh Jajua and Hard Kaur, Agg lage, is functional but nothing like the groovy stuff we expect from him. Anand Raaj Anand wins the 4 cook broth that is Haal-e-dil.

Keywords: Amita Pathak, Nakuul Mehta, Adhyayan Suman, Raghav Sachar, Pritam, Vishal Bharadwaj, Anand Raaj Anand

Folks,
This theme change is not what I ideally wanted, but just got a mail from Google saying Milliblog has been removed from their index due to hidden spam text posted by a third party who may have gained access to my directory. I did find this spam text but I’m still wondering what I can do to prevent this in the future. I’m running WordPress 2.0 and need to port to the latest version of WordPress - but in order to do so, I need to back-up my database first - which I’m unable to do either via my host (Yahoo’s) back-up tool or directly via PHPmyadmin (its throwing up some error). I’m not a techie and can just about manage codes by reading the help pages. Any suggestions/ help appreciated.
Karthik

The Paki-rock elements in Bandya are outstanding - Khawar Jawad’s composition and arrangements are so well balanced with Farah Zala and Khawar’s own vocals, without being overpowering. The title song is poignant and Ammar Hasan’s voice carries Shoaib’s lyrics beautifully. Ahmad Jahanzeb’s vocals are captivating in the very sweet (thanks in large part to Lagan Band’s tune) Janie janie, the classical Tiluk Kamod and the bouncy Duniya ho. Allah hoo’s brooding, loungish fusion comes out predominantly because of its lead singers, Saeen Zahoor and Zara Madani, with trance-like arrangements by Khawar Jawad and Rohail Hyatt. Khawar’s other track, Mahi way has a genuine and painful longing in its tune with Faiza Mujahid’s English part interspersed with Khawar’s own Urdu lines, with seamless dexterity. The hopefully cheerful Hamaray hain by Lagan Band has an easy, guitar-driven melody that rings long after it’s over. If there’s anything worth nitpicking in this soundtrack, it’s the completely unnecessary Indian additions – DJ Suketu and DJ Aqeel’s dance floor remixes of Alla hoo and Bandya. Does Sony BMG really think Indians need these pointless extras to buy a CD? Khuda ke liye’s soundtrack is a brilliant assortment of songs from across the border – just grab it!

Keywords: Shoaib Mansoor, Ahmad Jahanzeb, Shuja Haider, Kami Jee, Lagan Band, Farah Zala, Khawar Jawad, Saeen Zahoor, Zara Madani, Rohail Hyatt, Faiza Mujahid, Ammar Hasan, Naseruddin Shah, Iman Ali, Larry Neumann Jr, Shan, Fawad Khan, Austin Marie Sayre, Rasheed Naaz, Simi Reheal, Hameed Shiekh

Zara si & Haan tu hai – Jannat (Pritam, Hindi)
Jannat is one of the best soundtracks I’ve heard in recent times. And it’s pretty difficult for me to pick tracks out of it. I love all the four main tracks barring Jannat jahan, which has refused to grow on me. While Door na jaa and Kamran’s Judaai is mighty impressive, I go back to Zara si and Haan tu hai again and again - Haan tu hai in particular, its questionable origins from Amr Diab notwithstanding. This is a fantastic combination of Pritam sense of harmonious sound and a tune straight out of Nadeem Shravan’s repertoire…which perhaps explains the Amr Diab/ Middle Eastern connection

Jinke marina - Nanda Nanditha (Emil, Kannada)
The catchiest Kannada track I’ve heard this year. Composer Emil is appropriately enamored by his mentor, Jassie Gift and it shows, quite obviously, since the song is an unabashed take on Jassie’s chartbuster Malayalam track, Lajjavadhiye, which was reused in a Kannada film as well, recently. I caught this track while channel surfing on a Kannada music channel and was bowled over by its energy and cool vocal effects!

Neend na aaye – Journey (Fuzon, Indi/ Paki pop)
Rameez’s singing is no doubt fantastic, but considering the fact that there is an online video of Shafqat singing the same song, this one pales in comparison! But, to be fair, the tune is what works across both versions - it’s simply awesome.

Sorutihudu Maniya Maligi & Gudugudiya Sedi Nodo (Raghu Dixit, Indi-rock/ pop)
More Kannada numbers! These are the 2 best tracks in Raghu Dixit’s debut album. It takes guts to go with 2 vernacular tracks in a mainstream indi-pop/ rock album and hats off the Raghu and the composing duo, Vishal and Shekhar for backing him. My Kannada is terrible but I did have a session with my Kannada expert friends to understand these 2 songs’ lyrics by Shishunala Sharief - they’re amazing! The tunes too are extremely addictive and hats off the Raghu for pulling these off so well!

Chhor gaye and Humrahi – Meri Kahani (Atif Aslam, Indi/ Paki pop)
This is the most Atif-like song in his new album, Meri Kahani and I prefer this over the title song. Setting aside Sunidhi’s recent comments about Atif’s singing and the recent debates within Milliblog about his so-called nasal voice, just listen to this track for the typical Atif experience. Humrahi, on the other hand, reminds me of some vague 60s/ 70s SD Burmanish number and I love it precisely for that reason!

Boot polishaan (Gurdas Mann, Punjabi)
Yaju had recommended this one to me recently. When I noticed that Jaidev Kumar is the composer for this new album by Gurdas Mann, I was sure that I’d find something interesting here. Even though I’ve stayed in Delhi long enough to pick up a good smattering of Punjabi, it’s not as good to decipher what Gurdas sings throughout the album. But the one track that caught my attention was the title track, Boot Polishaan. Love Gurdas’ way of singing and the lively music.

Tashan mein – Tashan (Vishal Shekhar, Hindi)
My pick in the latest by Vishal Shekhar. Vishal and Saleem are in incredible form as they take turns extolling the virtues of the titular Tashan, even as Vishal’s rock pedigree lends super zing to this track.

The results are out. Taare zameen par tops almost every category! I was a judge this year too! Considering Anwar was in the contention too (I had listed it in my Milliblog Best of 2006 list, since the soundtrack came out in November 2006 - but RMIM took the film release date, I suppose - which was early 2007), its rather surprising that its not rated so high - by the other judges, which pulls it out of all the categories. Wonder what young Mithoon’s next soundtrack is! Any idea?

Jashn-e-bahaaraa - Jodha Akbar (A.R.Rahman, Hindi)
This song is the triumph of a fantastic tune set amidst very limited music. It does require a captivating voice and Rahman’s choice of Javed Ali seems to have delivered commensurate results. A lovely sing-along-ish track, this.

Jalsa - Jalsa (Devi Sri Prasad, Telugu)
Simple, mindless fun. Devi sure seems to have crafted something tailor made for Pawan’s on screen persona. Baba Sehgal crooning it is another bonus - the un-Telugu voice and that rocking rhythm work superbly in tandem!

Soona soona - Classically Mild (Sonu Nigam & Deepak Pandit, Indipop)
Classically mild is a gorgeous album and a spirited effort. This track in particular showcases Sonu’s vocal prowess like very few recent tracks. And the best part is he seems to be thoroughly enjoying himself singing this melange of jazz, carnatic and what not!

Aaj tu - College Days (Gaurav Dagaonkar, Indipop)
I wasn’t that impressed with the title song - an obviously blatant attempt to recreate Ali Haider’s evergreen Purani jeans in a slightly more post-graduat’ish scenario. But Gaurav’s tune in Aaj tu is simply fantastic, as is his vocals. Actually, this is the most Indi-pop’ish track in the album - something like the stuff you expect from say, Leslie Lewis. And it seems to work every time!

Saiyyan - U Me Aur Hum (Vishal Bharadwaj, Hindi)
The lyrical nonsense in Saiyyan rivals only Disco-San Francisco - its that idiotic. But, Vishal’s tune and Sunidhi’s singing does the trick. This is more of the massy Vishal, but the way he works with just 2 opening lines - using the 2nd as the hook is brilliant.

Break Free - Krazzy 4 (Rajesh Roshan, Hindi)
Welcome to the Americanization of Indian English - After years of calling it ‘eezed’, here we’ve Vishal Dadlani calling it the ‘zee’ - I’m talking about the alphabet Z, in case you’re still wondering! I suppose Rajesh Roshan started composing this track with the intention of making it into THE item song of 2008. Sure, he’s on target - but spare us the multiple versions, please.

Marhaba Mustafa - al Risalah (A.R.Rahman)
For someone like me who grew up on Nagoor Hanifa’s ‘Iraivanidam kaiyendhungal’ set to the tune of the title song of Ilayaraja’s ‘Poove poochoodava’, Marhaba mustafa is an epiphany. The strange thing is that despite being a pious religious track, Rahman retains a very filmi arrangement and tune structure that works really well!

Aasmaan ke - Humsafar (KK, Indipop)
The only track that made the cut in Humsafar, at least for me. Very Pritam-like and very filmi. KK’s vocals continue to rock.

Dhaiyare dhaiya - Vellithirai (G.V.Prakashkumar, Tamil)
Dhaiyare is almost Yuvan. GVP continues to surprise with his imagination at such a young age.

Anaikkindra thaagam - Nepaali (Srikanth Deva, Tamil)
The fact that this song is being called ‘Priya, Idhu sit out…’ is ridiculously funny. That is the dialog that starts the song, for heaven’s sake! But that playfully seductive banter is so apt as the prelude and Bombay Jayashree is marvelous all through the track. Srikanth Deva can compose too!

Shocking, to say the least. He was (is?) one of the most influential writers for me personally, across languages. He was solely responsible for me to start thinking in Tamil - though it is getting increasingly difficult. His Tamil usage is inimitable and some of his short stories are way way way ahead of time. For instance, one of his short stories had an accident narrated from 3 different view points - all three had a person directly involved in the accident. Sounds familiar? Yes, Amores Perros! The only hitch - Sujatha wrote his short story in the 70s!

I can easily say that Sujatha, along with Douglas Adams, are my two favorite writers. Ever.

Sujatha…you’ll be missed.