THE POSTER OF MURDER 2 ANN MUNNA BHAI R PUBLISHED

By Subhash Jha

Director: Nikhil Advani

Cast: Rishi Kapoor, Akshay Kumar, Dimple Kapadia, Anushka Sharma, Hard Kaur, Prem Chopra

Rating: ****

It takes us just five minutes to get the hang of this film's narrative structure. It is as nimbly-paced as a fast-bowler playing cricket in a wide-open field trying to avoid all the roar and din of the cheering crowds in the stands.

For a film that has a surprisingly large number of characters (after the 23rd Sikh-Briton running up and down the wooden staircase I stopped counting) the noise decibel is surprising low. The clamour of a crowded Sikh household in London never overpowers the emotional kernel of this film.

The delicate supple bonds that grow among people, who are not just mal-adjusted in a foreign land but are also spiritual and emotional misfits in their own household, are brought out in vignettes that show the hand of a confident storyteller.

Nikhil Advani's admirable episodic structure of "Salaam-e-Ishq" failed because of its inordinate length. This time Advani takes no chances with the length. Economy of expression is paramount to the effectual storytelling in "Patiala House". Not that Advani shies away from taking risks. The self-assured manner in which he aggregates the characters in a house run by a patriarchal Sikh in Britain (Rishi Kapoor, firmly in command) without crowding and asphyxiating the canvas shows Advani's deep empathy with the characters who drift into his range of vision.

At heart, "Patiala House" is a father-son story. Akshay has done them before. One immediately recalls Suneel Darshan's "Ek Rishta" where Amitabh Bachchan was the father who drove son Akshay to a state of smothered silences. In "Patiala House" Akshay's silences scream in wounded protest every time papa Rishi Kapoor's iron hand falls on the boy's dreams.

In many ways the screenplay (Advani, Anvita Dutt Guptan) is a compendium of cliches -- despotic dad, timid mother (Dimple Kapadia), unfulfilled son, encouraging girlfriend, her precocious surrogate-son (he reminded me of Kajol's boy in My Name Is Khan). Advani converts familiar characters into real believable warm endearing characters whose lives begin to matter us as we watch them in their Southall setting.

Farah Khan has replaced choreographer Ganesh Hegde on Just Dance as one of the judges. And this, before the reality show even goes on air.

The other judges Vaibhavi Merchant and Hrithik Roshan stay put.

The show has an international format wherein dancers from all over the world perform and vie for the top spot.

All actors say that they don't care for awards, and their appreciation comes from their audience, but Salman Khan is the only actor who actually believes that.

He is the only actor who has not gone up on stage to collect his trophy, even though he was present at the venue at two award functions this year (to perform).

His brother Arbaaz Khan collected them on Bhai's behalf, and the trophies are now at his office.

PS: The Dabangg team has collected over 50 awards already. And the award season isn't over yet.

Shah Rukh Khan played mediator between two of his fav leading ladies, Kareena Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra, at a recent awards event.

In fact, had it not been for his intervention, there would have been a bigger altercation.

The tiff

A source reveals how Khan diffused the tension at Yash Raj Studios where the two actresses had a face-off offstage.

"The shooting of PC's performance took longer than expected. The Kapoor lass, who was given the same time slot, kept waiting for her to finish her act.

Eventually, it got really late and Kareena decided to stage a walkout."

'Let's talk!'

SRK was at the venue rehearsing his bit. When he heard about the tiff, he decided to sort it out. The source adds, "Knowing that the two don't get along, he spoke to them separately.

He told Bebo to take it easy and suggested she shoot her act the next morning instead of cancelling it completely."

Bebo was in a rush, as she had to return to Pune to shoot for Bodyguard at he earliest. "However, since she has the highest regard for SRK, she could not ignore his request.

She returned the next morning to finish her shoot." Shah Rukh then went up to PC and told her that Bebo had agreed to shoot the next day. He also told PC to return Bebo's gesture with warmth and gratitude."

So, before Kareena left for the day, PC walked up to her and gave her a warm hug.

Shah Rukh Khan got Rs 20 crore for hosting Zor Ka Jhatka. All for 10 days of work. Zor ka jhatka laga kya?

Irrigation is an artificial application of water to the soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall. Additionally, irrigation also has a few other uses in crop production, which include protecting plants against frost,[1] suppressing weed growing in grain fields[2] and helping in preventing soil consolidation.[3] In contrast, agriculture that relies only on direct rainfall is referred to as rain-fed or dryland farming. Irrigation systems are also used for dust suppression, disposal of sewage, and in mining. Irrigation is often studied together with drainage, which is the natural or artificial removal of surface and sub-surface water from a given area.
Irrigation is also a term used in medical/dental fields to refer to flushing and washing out anything with water or another liquid
Archaeological investigation has identified evidence of irrigation in Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt and Ancient Persia (modern day Iran) as far back as the 6th millennium BCE, where barley was grown in areas where the natural rainfall was insufficient to support such a crop.[4]
In the Zana Valley of the Andes Mountains in Peru, archaeologists found remains of three irrigation canals radiocarbon dated from the 4th millennium BCE, the 3rd millennium BCE and the 9th century CE. These canals are the earliest record of irrigation in the New World. Traces of a canal possibly dating from the 5th millennium BCE were found under the 4th millennium canal.[5] Sophisticated irrigation and storage systems were developed by the Indus Valley Civilization in Pakistan and North India, including the reservoirs at Girnar in 3000 BCE and an early canal irrigation system from circa 2600 BCE.[6][7] Large scale agriculture was practiced and an extensive network of canals was used for the purpose of irrigation.
There is evidence of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Amenemhet III in the twelfth dynasty (about 1800 BCE) using the natural lake of the Faiyum Oasis as a reservoir to store surpluses of water for use during the dry seasons, the lake swelled annually from flooding of the Nile.[8]
The Qanats, developed in ancient Persia in about 800 BCE, are among the oldest known irrigation methods still in use today. They are now found in Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. The system comprises a network of vertical wells and gently sloping tunnels driven into the sides of cliffs and steep hills to tap groundwater.[9] The noria, a water wheel with clay pots around the rim powered by the flow of the stream (or by animals where the water source was still), was first brought into use at about this time, by Roman settlers in North Africa. By 150 BCE the pots were fitted with valves to allow smoother filling as they were forced into the water.[10]

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