Tag Archives: India

AIB Knockout – A Toast to the Roast

AIB Knockout – A Toast to the Roast

AIB’s Knockout Roast!!! What a Roast and what a bold new step in Indian Comedy.

If you have still not seen the AIB’s Knockout Roast of Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor, then….. I guess, you must be lying. You don’t have to tell me or anyone else, okay. Don’t come out of the closet. It’s okay, like they said in the Roast, “Why are they talking in public, what we talk in parties”. 😛

AIB Knockout – A Toast to the Roast
AIB Knockout – A Toast to the Roast

AIB is a comedy group of Indian comedians, co founded by Gursimran Khamba and Tanmay Bhatt, along with Rohan Joshi and Ashish Shakya. The event that has generated a lot of interest in them, and their group, is a Comedy Roasting event where AIB, along with Aditi Mittal, Abish Mathews, Raghuram and Rajeev Masand; roasted Arjun Kapoor and Ranveer Singh.

AIB Knockout – A Toast to the Roast

It was special, because it was the first time that a no bounds roasting is done in an Indian comedy group, and that too with Roastee being a celebrity present there.

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Roasting is like an insult comedy, where you trash your guest verbally by making fun of him/her in a best satirical way possible and the guest along with his well wishers present there, take all these insults in a good humor. If you want a more desi explanation – it’s more like in ladies sangeet of Indian Marriage where in some special songs, other party of marriage, is trashed in an abusive language.

AIB Knockout – A Toast to the Roast
AIB Knockout – A Toast to the Roast

Karan Johar was the perfect Roast Master and I would like to say, that he was at his best in the show. He was witty, with a perfect timing and, boy! He was sporty. Infact some of the best jokes were told on Karan’s expense. A big thumbs up for you, Karan.

AIB Knockout – A Toast to the Roast
AIB Knockout – A Toast to the Roast

What was interesting in all this was to see our female celebrities, like Deepika, Alia and Sonakshi, not only present there but also taking a lot of roast on themselves, in a very good way. Specially Deepika, seriously, thanks for taking one for the team. Alia baby, baby baby baby…. what were you doing there? Poor you! My bachcha…. beta, stay at home, these type of shows are for adults only.

AIB Knockout – A Toast to the Roast

Roasting was great, it was all in good fun, sometimes too offensive but when you compare it to Roasting comedy shows done internationally, it was not up to par with them. Where they lack was – content, few members trying too hard and off-course poor editing of the show.

AIB Knockout – A Toast to the Roast
AIB Knockout – A Toast to the Roast

Comedy Central’s Roasting shows are always a great fun to watch for. My favorite among them were those of Charlie Sheen and Joan Rivers. What made these shows fun was not the use of offensive language but the satire and witty one liners.

AIB Knockout – A Toast to the Roast

 

Content is the king. Some members like Tanmay, Khamba and Aditi were fresh in selecting their jokes and creative too. The best out of all the panel was Tanmay, who clearly is abundant in his talent too. Other comedians too were good but they became too much repetitive after some time. Most of the jokes look stale. Raghuram and Rajeev Masand were seriously not a good choice as the member of Roasting panel.

AIB Knockout – A Toast to the Roast
AIB Knockout – A Toast to the Roast

Specially Raghu was still on his Roadies set, and looked like he is trying too hard. He was stiff and abusive unnecessarily. Best rule of roast comedy is to roast someone in a way that as if you are toasting them. You don’t need to shout, as Raghu and Masand did, but infact you have to be satirical; which both lacked.

What did the most damage to the whole show, was its editing. It was like scrap of pieces joined together to make a comedy show. There was no continuity and flow. It was edited so much that it looked like the Roast of roasting panel than of the Roastees. Poor Rajeev Masand was highly edited, I don’t why, but it was like he said hi, and bye in a single shot.

AIB Knockout – A Toast to the Roast

 

To be honest, the Roastees, Arjun Kapoor and Ranveer Singh did a far better roast than the roasting panel. Arjun too, looked like he is trying hard to look cool with the whole idea, but he can’t look cool, not when he is in company of Ranveer Singh.

AIB Knockout – A Toast to the Roast
AIB Knockout – A Toast to the Roast

Ranveer stole the show. He was the best. Let it be his mimicry of Rajeev masand, or his take on Raghu’s abusive private life, he was The Best. Karan scored just next to him. For the rest, you need to up your game.

AIB Knockout – A Toast to the Roast
AIB Knockout – A Toast to the Roast

 

It was not the best, but it is big step for Indian Comedy indeed. Kudos to the whole AIB team for tackling this Elephant in the Room. 😛

Mouthwatering Monday – Oven Baked Mathri

Oven Baked Mathri by Jyoti Singh
Oven Baked Mathri

Mathri and Namakpaare are the most eaten snacks in India. My husband love these salty snacks; only problem – It’s not a healthy snack.  😦

To overcome this problem I tried the oven baked method instead of frying them in oil.

Oven Baked Mathri by Jyoti Singh
Oven Baked Mathri

 

Ingredients

Method

  • Preheat your Oven to 350 F.
  • Mix Flour, cumin seeds, cumin powder, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
  • Add melted butter/ghee to it and with the help of water knead into a dough.
  • To make Mathri, make small balls of dough and place them on baking sheet; just like you do with cookies.
  • To make Namakpaare, flatten the dough and then cut it into elongated rectangular shape with the use of a knife.
  • Spray some oil and put Mathri and Namakpaare on baking sheet.
  • Bake them in Oven for 20 minutes, turn them over and again bake for 15 minutes.
  • Oven temperature varies so just make sure that your Mathris are light golden brown and are crisp.

Mathris and Namakpaare are ready to serve. You can team them up with coriander or mint chutney, or ketchup. Best served along with a hot cup of tea or coffee.

Oven Baked Mathri by Jyoti Singh
Oven Baked Mathri

Enjoy!!!

P.S. My cooking is experimental. You will find many similar and different recipes, but the idea is to explore your food and do experiments with it. Enjoy Cooking Experiments and Experiences 🙂

Mouthwatering Monday – Egg and Potato Fritters

Egg and Potato Fritters by Jyoti Singh
Egg and Potato Fritters

Egg and Potato fritters, were an experiment turned out good. Just to tell you, all my experiments are not as successful. I tried making raspberry pie last week, which looked like a disaster, although it tasted yummy; but we will talk about my failures sometime later (never). Today we will just make some fritters, with potato and eggs. 🙂

 

Ingredients

Method

  • Except egg, mix all the other ingredients in a bowl to make a sticky dough.
  • Roll this mix into small balls of 2 inches and flat them with your hand.
  • Heat oil in a shallow pan on low heat.
  • Whisk your egg a little to mix yellow part and add a pinch of salt to it.
  • Roll small dough balls into egg mixture thoroughly.
  • Fry these fritters on low heat, turning them both sides, till they are golden brown.
  • Keep in mind to heat on low flame, as egg cook easily so we have to give some time to potatoes for cooking.
  • Take them out, and serve with chutney or ranch/dip of your choice.
Egg and Potato Fritters by Jyoti Singh
Egg and Potato Fritters

They should be served hot. Best combination is with tea or coffee. Enjoy this snack while I am off to learn about pies. 😦

Egg and Potato Fritters by Jyoti Singh
Egg and Potato Fritters

 

Enjoy!!!

 

P.S. My cooking is experimental. You will find many similar and different recipes, but the idea is to explore your food and do experiments with it. Enjoy Cooking Experiments and Experiences 🙂

Saturday Scroll – A fuuny Quote for you

“If people winked in real life as much as they do in text messages this world would be a pretty creepy place.”

~ Anonymous

 

Tuesday Talkies – Rang Rasiya / Color of Passion

Rang Rasiya - Story of Raja Ravi Verma
Rang Rasiya – Story of Raja Ravi Verma

I was waiting for the release of this film since it was screened at cans in 2008, but Indian censorship took its toll on this movie, and finally it is released. Main motivation for me to watch this movie was the film protagonist – Raja Ravi Verma. I wanted to see the story of that man who revolutionized the way we see our mythological characters. The man who was responsible for first creating the poster of Goddess Laxmi standing on a lotus flower, the way we saw her today in every Diwali poster. The man who made sari clad Indian women looked sexier and elegant at the same time. The man who made come alive ‘Shakuntala’, Damyanti, Urvashi, Menka, Saraswati and many more. The man whose imagination defined the pathway for Indian arts and paintings.

Rang Rasiya - Story of Raja Ravi VermaYou can write a book on Raja Ravi Verma and still you won’t be able to do justice to capture his large persona, so when it came to capturing his life in an almost 2 hour long movie, I was skeptical. But, I was not disappointed.

Rang Rasiya - Story of Raja Ravi Verma
Rang Rasiya – Story of Raja Ravi Verma

‘Rang Rasiya’ is an Indian film based on the life of famous Indian Painter ‘Raja Ravi Verma’. This film is directed by Ketan Mehta of ‘Mangal pandey’ fame. It stars Randeep Hooda as the famous painter himself, and Nandana Sen as his muse. Feryna Wazheir and Paresh Rawal also plays a pivotal role in the movie.

Rang Rasiya - Story of Raja Ravi Verma
Rang Rasiya – Story of Raja Ravi Verma

This movie portrays character of Raja Ravi Verma from childhood moment of painting elephant on a temple’s wall to his old age when he get motivation to change his course of painting and focus on common people rather than Gods and deities. The way this character rebels against the norms of society is commendable. His selfishness when it comes to painting is shown honestly. His guilt, his progression, his imagination, everything is filmed beautifully.

Rang Rasiya - Story of Raja Ravi VermaThe very first moment you will see the title song of the film, you will be hooked to it. It is like watching a beautiful painting taking shape in every scene of the film. But to advise you, this film is not for everyone. My husband almost dozed off twice while watching it and ultimately he left.

Rang Rasiya - Story of Raja Ravi VermaRandeep Hooda has proven himself again. He has aged gracefully in this film, with every scene maturing his acting skills. His progression from a clueless but passionate painter to the one who is just eager to defy everything that comes in the way of portraying true art, is commendable. He has looked every bit of Raja Ravi Verma. Most laudable were the scenes of court, or his reaction when he saw his muse for the last time.

Rang Rasiya - Story of Raja Ravi VermaNandana Sen is one brave actress. She has done justice to Raja Ravi Verma’s life and paintings. She has looked beautiful and acted superbly. She was vulnerable yet strong, jealous but still madly in love, she was the goddess and yet she was the earthly woman, who could only live in imaginative world of his lover. Most worthy of the praise is the scene when she discovers that her existence to Ravi Verma’s life is only in his imagination. Nandana Sen has etched a lifetime role.

Rang Rasiya - Story of Raja Ravi VermaRang Rasiya‘, as a film is not perfect, it’s not even close to that, but if you watch it for Raja Ravi Verma, than it is far more that perfect. It is a masterpiece, just like all the paintings of Raja Ravi Verma.

 

Note: All Photos credit to Rang Rasiya’s Facebook page.