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1. Pink Panther
Recently I watched Peter Sellers play the bumbling French detective Inspector Clouseau in the classic "Pink Panther" series. He is undoubtedly one of the most comically gifted actors that I have ever seen. Steve Martin has done a tremendous job too in the recent remake of Pink Panther. While watching Awara Pagal Deewana yesterday and seeing Paresh Rawal drive everyone crazy by messing up their names, a thought crept up in my mind, "What if they remade Pink Panther in Bollywood". Most of the so called current "comedy" directors Priyadarshan, Bazmee and David Dhawan would massacre/defile the revered classic, but let us assume for a minute that we have a good director for this script.
Paresh Rawal would play an absent minded bumbling Gujrathi Policeman who considers himself to be a brilliant detective. He drives criminals as well as his superiors crazy by the sheer buffoonery that he is capable of and also by his innate ability to forget names. Johnny lever would be perfect as his assistant Kato who has been told to attack him at all times so as to keep the detective more vigilant. Chief Inspector Dreyfus could be played by Boman Irani who is eventually driven by Clouseau to such complete insanity that he ends up being admitted to an asylum after he tries to assassinate Clouseau himself. This could be a laugh riot if handled properly.
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2. Indy is Back
Also watched the latest version of Indiana Jones in the theatre, first day first show. It was an "out-worldly" entertainer though not as good as "Raiders" or "Last Crusade". I was all of 10 when I last saw Indy (Last Crusade) in a movie theatre in Singapore. It took me almost 19 years to see the famous Fedora and Whip back in action. I ended up humming the familiar movie tune all the way home. Welcome back Mr. Jones.
The last couple of years, the movies coming out of Hollywood have re-kindled some old memories. First they made "Transformers" (one of my all time favorite cartoons when I was a kid) into a movie. Then there were the sequels to "Die Hard" and "Indiana Jones", some of the most memorable films of the 80s. Now they have just released a movie version of "Get Smart" a hilarious old TV sitcom that had a bumbling "Agent 86" called Maxwell Smart" trying to outsmart a criminal organisation. In addition to all this, an aged Rambo and a retired Rocky were back for more action, the Joker will be playing mayhem in Gotham city and Superman has a new younger avatar.
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3. Central Park
After living in the NY city vicinity for more than 3 years, I finally managed to explore beyond the 5th avenue corner of Central Park. I had no idea that there was so much to do in Central Park. They have beautiful lawns, lakes and large green meadows filled with throngs of people in the summer playing ball, flying kites, throwing Frisbees or just plain lying on the grass tanning in the sun. And all this activity is right in the middle of the city. Sigh, when will the honorable city planners of India ever learn the importance of green space.
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