Student Of The Year is a typical Karan Johar wala film

 

Review: Student Of The Year is a typical Karan Johar wala film
Film: Student of the year
Cast: Sidharth Malhotra, Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan, Rishi Kapoor and Ronit Roy
Director: Karan Johar
Rating: **1/2
A Harry Potter locale, Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na-style storytelling, the melodious styling of High School Musical, inspiration from Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar and the typical Johar drama, that’s Student of the Year. Despite being an uncanny mix of all these characterstics, K Jo manages to hold your attention throughout the film.
SOTY is set in St Teresa’s High School (St T’s as they call it) in Dehradun, the most reputed school in the country, where students either come from a filthy rich background, or are on scholarship – the Tatas and the Batas, they say. Here kids either drive a Ferrari or stylish bikes; girls don miniskirts, designer clothes and are dressed well enough for a party each day; and flirting, dating, break ups, patch ups are all a part of their normal life. But every year, the students compete for one competition with all their might – Student of the year.
Rohan Nanda (Varun Dhawan) is a typical spoilt kid. His father is the biggest business tycoon in the country and is a trustee of St. T’s. Shanaya Singhania (Alia Bhatt) is a glamorous but innocent young girl who has only fashion designers on her mind and comes from a broken home. Rohan and Shanaya are childhood sweethearts. Shanaya loves attention, and Rohan gives her just what she wants. But she is quite aware of his flirtatious behaviour. Life is perfect till Abhimanyu Singh (Malhotra) enters their world with an entry like that of Hrithik Roshan in K3G (remember Deewana Hai Dekho?). No, he’s not as rich…he is an orphan who is in St. T’s on a sports scholarship. Of course the popular rich brat has ego clashes with this small town boy, but they land up becoming best friends till love tears them apart.
Rohan and Abhimanyu are inseparable as they confide in each other, their deepest secrets. While both suffer when it comes to family matters, they are the most popular students of St T’s. Abhimanyu and Shanaya fall for each other, and hell breaks loose, all this, while they compete for Student of the year title with vigour.
SOTY is not a new story – two boys fall for one girl and compete for one trophy. The characters are archetypal – a rich brat becomes friends with a bechara garib boy and in between is the K3G’s naive Poo-type blonde. It’s the presentation that attracts you and the stellar performances that grab your attention. One thing is clear – it is not a realistic script. Then again, the filmmakers of SOTY never promised it would be one, unlike other filmmakers these days.
K Jo has done a marvelous job when it comes to grooming these three debutants in their acting skills. Though Alia has very little role to play, with all the attention on the leading boys. She leaves a mark with her glamorous presence. K Jo does a fab job in presenting her as a doll. Varun shines throughout the movie with a very a resilient performance. His dancing skills are commendable. Malhotra too has done an extremely good job and his presence is strongly felt throughout the film.
The other characters are a treat to watch. Rishi Kapoor steals the show as a happy and gay (literally) principle of St T’s. He has once again proved that he is not just a brilliant actor, but a versatile artist. Others like Ronit Roy, Ram Kapoor and Farida Jalal are established performers and have done justice to their roles.
Karan Johar’s direction is commendable, as always. Yet it fails to bring anything new to the movie. The entire film has K Jo’s trademarks which makes it more or less like a combination of all his previous films. Ayananka Bose’s cinematography blends well with the larger-than-life setting. The editing is smooth.
The songs are the high points of the film. Alia’s introduction with Gulabi aankhein and other songs like Yeh chaand sa roshan chehra, Radha, Disco deewane are all chart busters. Vishal-Shekhar deserve a a plaudits for these foot-tapping numbers. The choreography of each number is quite admirable. Ishq Wala Love, the romantic track has excellent music, but could’ve been better if the lyrics made any sense.
All in all, SOTY is not something you would want to miss if the surreal setting with bubble gum romance is your calling. The performances make this film a great watch. It’s a treat for all K Jo fans and if you didn’t really enjoy Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, K3G and other such films by the director, you can easily skip this one.
Spoiler alert: Watch out for the Amar Singh look-alike who tells his son “you can either be rich, or a

Makkhi introduces the idea of a new-age hero

Review: Makkhi introduces the idea of a new-age hero

Review: Makkhi introduces the idea of a new-age hero

Film: Makkhi
Director: SS Rajamouli
Cast: Sudeep, Samantha Prabhu, Nani
Rating: ***

This typical South Indian fare is sprinkled liberally with masala and served hot with dollops of passion, vendetta, reincarnation and the triumph of good over evil. But what sets the movie apart is its protagonist – a humble housefly that thinks big.

SS Rajamouli’s Telugu blockbuster Eega’s Hindi version, Makkhi narrates the tale of a business tycoon (Sudeep) who will go to any lengths to get what he wants, whether its wealth or women. When he lusts after a do-gooder micro artist Bindu (Samantha), he murders the guy she is in love with.

And herein lies the twist! The slain lover boy Jani (Nani) is reborn as a housefly. And his mission is to protect his lady love from the lascivious intents of the villain and to also avenge his own death. How the makkhi thwarts Sudeep’s overtures and keeps Bindu safe forms the crux of the story.

Being small and insignificant does not stop the insect-hero from doing all the things that a quintessential hero does – guard his turf, fight the bad guys and emerge victorious in the end. He is aided in his efforts by Bindu who designs a mask and mini weapons for him after he convinces her that he is Jani’s reincarnation.

Despite some absurd situations, Makkhi entertains in a way only South Indian films do – through heavy doses of maar-dhaad, filmi dialogues and comic relief. Kannada superstar Sudeep plays the bad guy well and the animated makkhi is decent too. Worth a watch for the new-age Indian hero who may be tiny but has lofty ideas.

Featured: Top 10 Best Android Halloween Apps and Games

It’s that time of year folks, it’s time to break out the pumpkins and get your costumes together, Halloween is almost upon us. Whether or not you’re big on Halloween you can’t deny that for one day of the year, there can a lot of fun had and it’s always amusing to see what your family and friends come up with when it comes to costumes. Smartphones and tablets can be great this time of year especially if you have kids around. Thanks to the vast majority of Android apps you can rest assured that theres a good offering for apps based on Halloween as well as games. Here at Android Headlines we want you to have fun and so we’re going to let you take a look the best games and apps for you have a good Halloween on Android.

10. Halloween Live Wallpaper 

There’s something about live wallpapers that creates a sort of love them or hate them vibe that I can understand. I really like the look of live wallpapers but, it’s really difficult to get them right, to make sure they behave properly and don’t generally suck. I’m not sure whether this one has got it right but, it’s a Halloween themed one and one of the better ones at that. For those of you that simply need to have a live wallpaper – perhaps still, for bragging rights? – then this could impress a few folk around the office or be a good call for the 8GB Nexus 7 you’ve be handing down to the kids real soon.

9. Spooky Sounds

Halloween is all about embrassing the fun side of horror or at least, that’s what it’s become. With this brilliant sound board you’ll be able to have alsorts of fun surrounding spooky audio. There’s a great selection on offer from the app and I’m sure there’s something you can find that will either make you laugh or scare your friends or co-workers. I have an image running through my head of playing a zombie sound through cubicle walls – that just me? Moving on, the app has a funky theme to it and should work well on all phones or tablets. Please, don’t give someone a heart attack using this, Android Headlines will not be responsible for that.

8. Haunted House HD

Sometimes the best things are the ones that we can enjoy with others and this gem of an app is going to be great to enjoy with the kids on a tablet or just on your phone. It’s a little spooky but it’s more on the Halloween cliche side of things so there’s nothing that’s going to give you nightmares here. You can customize the content in the app as well which will be really great for the kids. There’s something about suspense in this way that’s a whole lot of fun and I’m sure you’ll all have a laugh with it. Go ahead and give it a try and if you’re the type easily frightened, you’ll be fine with this app.

7. Bubble Blast Halloween

Ah, games, the one thing that everybody wants to play this time of year is games. The Halloween culture that has been formed by modern America certainly lends itself to fun little games like this. Many of you may have already played Bubble Blast but now, tit’s back with a Halloween Edition to make Hallow’s Eve that little bit more fun. Or, if you’re just a sucker for cheap stuff then this is the one for you. The game has some good gameplay and I’m sure it’ll be easily played by everybody. Well worth taking a look and perfect for phones and tablets a like.

6. Camera Zoom FX Halloween Pack

If one things for sure over the course of Halloween week it’s that people are going to go to parties, dressed like idiots and do stupid things. Now, in some cases you’re only likely to remember these moments is if you were to have some photos of them. What better way to take photos of Halloween with some spooky filters for you and your friends to look back at the morning after? The app is a bolt on to the already very good Camera Zoom FX that recently got quite a big update so they’re both worth checking out. Besides, with this you could snap a shot of your costume for next year!

5. Coin Dozer Halloween

When you’re so full of candy that you can’t move, you don’t want to be knee deep in a game, you want to do as little as possible. The simplest games are great for this sort of thing, ensuring that you are entertained without frustration. Coin Dozer and it’s addictive yet super-simple gameplay is a sure fire way for you to be satisfied whilst chowing down on your candy haul. It doesn’t matter how old you are – you still go trick-or-treating don’t you? Oh, just me then…

4. Angry Birds Seasons

That’s right folks, our squawking friends are back with some spooky fun for us! Whilst the game might be getting a little long in the tooth now it’s just as much fun as it first was and it’s become a sort of tradition that there are new levels whenever there is some sort of holiday. So, here is Angry Birds’ 2012 affair for Hallow’s Eve, it’s a pretty good one and it’s perhaps the one game here that I doubt anyone will have a problem with but, of course, there’s always somebody isn’t there? Go ahead and update the app for the new levels and, if for some reason, you don’t have it installed, just go ahead and get it downloaded!

3. Dead Trigger

No Halloween would be complete without Zombies and Dead Trigger is the game on Android that blows away all other Zombie games. With stunning graphics the game can be quite demanding however, with most modern phones from the last year or so there shouldn’t be a problem at all. By now, I’m sure we’ve all played through the large majority of Dead Trigger by now, for some it might be getting a little old but, let me tell you there’s something truly hilarious about shooting Zombies with Pumpkins for heads. The app is free as it always has been and if you’ve already got it installed all you have to do is go ahead and update it.

2. Zombiewood

MOAR ZOMBIES! That’s right, at this time of year, there’s little chance of avoiding them so, if you already feel like you’re stuck in a zombie apocalypse then move along. This latest from Gameloft is firmly aimed at the Hallowed Holiday and puts you in the shoes of a crazy movie director, tasked with killing a load of zombies. It’s a brilliant lot of fun and Gameloft’s timing is impeccable. Whilst Dead Trigger could be considered the better game, this is fresh and new and is something that will appeal to a whole lot more people plus, it still has that crucial ingridient: Zombies.

1. Great Pumpkin: Charlie Brown

Everybody loves a good story, I don’t care what any of you say, everybody loves a good story. There’s also a good chance that everybody likes Charlie Brown. Okay, maybe that’s less likely but, the folks behind Charlie Brown have bringing us great stories for so long now and with this Halloween offering they continue to entertain us. This is basically an interactive story in which you can customize your clothes and come along with Charlie Brown and the gang. It’s brilliant and you need to go and get right now. It’s also 40% off if you hurry! What are you waiting for?!

Read more at http://androidheadlines.com/2012/10/featured-top-10-best-android-halloween-apps-and-games.html#AQddoE8d5fZvtebj.99 

New Technology May Double Smartphone Battery Life

Smartphones have revolutionized the manner in which we interact with our mobile devices, and with each other, but there’s a glaring flaw in their march to overtake our communication habits – the battery life. The charger cord is the bane of virtually every smartphone user, regardless of manufacturer or device. There have been advances recently in wireless charging, but it’s merely a band-aid for a much larger wound. As demand for more powerful hardware, more advanced software, and constant data connections grows larger, the need for a more efficient and longer lasting mobile battery is becoming increasingly vital to the future of the industry. A recent breakthrough in power amplification and battery technology may usher in the next era of efficiently powered devices.

Power amplifiers are at the core of the breakthrough, so let’s go through the basics of how this technology works. Power amplification is the process of turning electricity into radio signals, or the means by which your cellular connection is created and maintained. This happens at the cellular towers dotted around the landscape, but it also happens within your phone. It’s a horribly inefficient process, potentially wasting 65% of the energy involved. This becomes especially evident when sending large files or using a large amount of data in a short amount of time, and you may notice it as your device heats up.

ETA Devices, an MIT spinout company, may have a solution to this glaring issue, according to MIT Technology Review. Two MIT electrical professors, Joel Dawson and David Perreault, believe they have found the solution in a new amplifier design. The changes they are making boil down to a gear box, which can select the appropriate voltages to send across the transistor, at a speed of almost 20 million selections per second. This ultra-fast selection process minimizes wasted energy, allowing the most appropriate flow of electricity throughout. Another piece of the puzzle is the fact that current amplifiers maintain a high level of power at all times, but this new technology should allow them to stay in a standby mode until needed for data transmission, without affecting the user experience or performance. The energy savings could double the battery life of future devices.

The company is funded by Ray Stata, a co-founder of Analog Devices, as part of his venture firm, State Venture Partners. The $6 million investment by the venture firm should get the company into production and release by next February, at an event to be held in Spain. The initial market is the improvement of base stations in developing nations, where an unbelievable amount of energy is being wasted by the large towers, which are currently run on diesel generators in many areas. However, the true aim of the company is to bring their technology to the mobile market as quickly as possible, and in a big way. By providing a single chip that can handle all global standards in terms of frequencies and modes, they can eliminate multiple chips currently taking up space in the smartphones on the market today. For example, the iPhone 5 has five chips monitoring and using network technology, that number could possibly be reduced to 1 in the future.

Google Will Soon Launch The Physical Google Wallet Card

Folks over at Android Police have gotten their hands-on some leaked images that look like screenshots of Leaked Google Wallet app. Doesn’t sound any interesting, right? Well, the interesting part is that these leaked images clearly show that Google is working on a physical Wallet card. Yes, you heard it right, a physical Wallet card that can be used as a companion to your Google Wallet app.

The physical Wallet card will work the same way any other credit/debit card does. Once you choose the default credit card to be charged in the Google Wallet app then whenever you’ll use the physical wallet card it will charge to the default card selected. It will be accepted everywhere major credit cards are accepted. Now, if you can’t find a tap and pay point for your Google Wallet app then you can whip-out your Physical card and pay with it. This will make it painless to pay via cards as you don’t have to carry all your cards with you just one Google Wallet card and you can use any card you want or the purchase.

As you can see in the images below, you can have the card shipped directly to your house through the app. Google also recently set-up a sign-up page for something new for Google Wallet, looks like the physical card is coming soon.

This was only the awesome part of the story with the new update Wallet is also getting some new features. The ability to deposit and withdraw money from Google Wallet – Watch out PayPal. All it needs now is the ability to transfer money from account to account.

Looks like Google is trying to make Wallet a big competitor in the mobile payments market but unfortunately there are no words on the availability of this service outside of US. We’ll keep you informed of all the latest news following the Wallet card, till then stay tuned.

Karate Test

On Saturday, I had a belt test at my karate.  I do a style that combines Shotokan and MMA (Mixed Martial Arts). Right now, we are doing a big kata.  It is called the Thunder Kata.  I tested for my 2nd brown belt. Here is a picture of my 2nd brown belt:

I have been doing karate for around four years.  Here is the story of how I became an expert at karate:

One day, my mom asked me if I wanted to do karate.  At that point, I was only four years old.  Before I started karate, my mom and I had been walking in and looking at kids do karate.  Then I took a free trial class.  I really liked it so I kept on going.

My sensei's were sensei Tom and sensei Andy.  I really liked sensei Tom because he really tried hard to teach you karate and he only played games if we were doing our best.  I learned that the #1 rule in karate is always try your best.  I liked sensei Andy because if we did good for about 20 minutes we would be able to play games for 25 minutes.

I went to karate with my friends:  Kelly, Ethan, Deven, Dylan and Wyatt. Deven and I are the only ones who still go to karate.  One day, I went to karate with my friend Dylan and there was a new sensei named sensei Trever.  I was sad that sensei Tom and sensei Andy left but now I am happy that sensei Trever came.  Also, sensei Romel came.  He quit after about a year because he is on someTV shows.  Along the way, my senseis Eric, Brandon and Leandro joined the dojo.  Now after 4 years, I just got my 2nd brown belt.  At my dojo, the belt order goes:  white, yellow, orange, blue, purple, green, 1st red, 2nd red, 3rd red, 1st brown, 2nd brown, 3rd brown, black, 2nd black.

Do you do karate?

Do you like karate?

How long have you been doing karate?

What belt are you?

Yuvraj claims maiden fifer in drawn encounter

Mumbai: Comeback man Yuvraj Singh excelled with his maiden five-wicket haul in first class cricket as England`s warm-up game against India `A` ended in a tame draw at the Brabourne Stadium on Thursday.

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The 30-year-old Yuvraj grabbed five for 94, improving upon his previous best of three for 25, as India A dismissed the visitors for 426 in their first innings but not before conceding a 57-run lead.

Yuvraj, who had scalped Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell yesterday, added the wickets of Samit Patel (104), Matt Prior (51) and James Anderson (19) in the morning session today after England resumed at 286 for four.

India A scored 124 for four in 40 overs before the play was called off ahead of the scheduled close by mutual consent on the third and final day of the game.Openers Abhinav Mukund (3) and Murali Vijay (32), Yuvraj (14) and Ajinkya Rahane (54) were the batsmen out in the home side`s second innings.The openers were claimed by Anderson while Tim Bresnan sent back Yuvraj, who has come back to top level cricket after undergoing treatment for cancer that put him out of the game for close to a year.

Rahane hit six shots to the fence before Samit Patel had him caught at slip. Captain Suresh Raina (19) and Manoj Tiwary (2) were the unbeaten batsmen at close.

Raina was lucky to be dropped on nought by Anderson at second slip off Bresnan and his stay at the crease later too was unconvincing against Bresnan`s pace.

England now take on Mumbai A in their second warm-up game at Navi Mumbai`s D Y Patil Stadium from November 3-5 before proceeding to Ahmedabad for the third game, a four-day tie, against Haryana from November 8-11.

The opening Test of the four-match series versus India is set to commence at the Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad from November 15-19.

England were dismissed half-an-hour after lunch with Yuvraj, who has taken just nine wickets in 37 Test matches, finishing with his first five-wicket haul in first class.

His previous best was three for 25 in a Ranji Trophy game against Jammu and Kashmir in the 2001-02 season.

Captain and lanky left-handed opener Alastair Cook and stocky middle-order batsman Samit Patel notched centuries while Jonathan Trott and Matt prior hit half tons for England.

Resuming at the overnight 286 for 4, Cook and his overnight fifth wicket partner Patel were then kept in check by the home side pacers.Cook departed when Dinda angled a ball away to which he poked his bat at and edged to keeper Wridhiman Saha. His partnership with Patel yielded 169 runs and came off 321 balls, pulling the side from 133 for 4 to beyond 300.

The England skipper must have been satisfied with the long vigil he had, battling at the crease for six hours and 19 but he added just seven runs in 18 balls today.

The arrival of Prior quickened the pace of scoring as the Sussex player looked for runs from the beginning even as his partner Patel preferred to inch his way to the three-figure mark from 82 overnight.

Prior was also lucky to be dropped by Rahane when on 4 as he slashed Dinda to the gully fielder. Patel reached his first 100 on the tour with a single to square leg in the 11th over, having taken almost 50 minutes to add the 18 runs needed to attain the landmark.

Dinda was unlucky not to have added the wicket of Prior to those of openers Nick Compton and Cook in his bag.

Prior raced to his 50 in as many balls and with the help of nine hits to the fence before his forward prod resulted in an edge to slip fielder Raina off Yuvraj. The left-arm spinner struck again off the last ball in the over by dismissing Patel for his fourth wicket of the innings.

Patel was caught by Vijay at covers off a leading edge when trying to flick the left arm slow bowler. He had stayed for more than four and a half hours and struck 14 boundaries in 173 balls. The partnership between Patel and Prior was worth 65 runs in 12.1 overs.

Swann was bowled when a ball from Vinay Kumar kept a bit low as England reached 396 for 8 at lunch.

In the seventh over after the break, and after the addition of 30 runs, Yuvraj completed his five wicket haul by having Anderson caught at short leg for 19.

Tim Bresnan remained unbeaten with 33 off 61 balls with four fours and a six. The innings ended with last man, the injured Steven Finn unable to bat.

By tea, India A wiped off the deficit by reaching 68 for the loss of one wicket in 20 overs. Abhinav Mukund, who made 73 in the first innings, fell for three in the second over off James Anderson with 4 on the board.

At the end of the second session, Vijay (32 in 58 balls) and Ajinkya Rahane (33 in 49 balls) were the not out batsmen.

Vijay departed soon after resumption by slashing Anderson to slip fielder Swann after batting for 87 minutes and striking 4 fours and a six. He also added 65 runs for the second wicket with Rahane in 76 minutes.