Shopping Malls in Delhi - Noida

Shopping Malls in Delhi, Noida - Centrestage Mall, Great India Place and Spice World Mall.

This weekend I had a busy time mall hopping in Noida, located in nearby Uttar Pradesh near Delhi. With no means of transport of my own, I took a bus to Rajnigandha Chowk and from there took a cycle rickshaw for Rs.10 to Centrestage Mall where I began my 'tafri baazi'!!!!

Center Stage Mall, Noida - Located next to Atta Market in Sector 18, Centrestage Mall has a glass facade and stands around six stories tall. Branded clothing stores are there on the ground, first and second floors such as Westside, Nike and Adidas. The other floors are relatively empty and mainly house restaurants such as Ruby Tuesday, Punjabi Tadka, Pizza Hut and pubs like Platinum Lounge and Geoffrey's.

'Club Elevates', one of the top nightclubs in Delhi is on one of the top floors. The railings here are barricaded coz some depressed soul once jumped off committing suicide. The list of rules pasted outside mentioned that only smart club casuals are allowed. People with sneakers would not be permitted entry. Centerstage Mall also has the five screen Wave Cinema multiplex.

On my way down, I picked up a can of Diet Coke from a coke vending machine for Rs.25. I had to put two ten rupees notes (which were rejected by the machine twice) and one five rupee coin before the coke can came out through the slot. In the basement is the play area for kids, some knick knack stores and a display of the new Tata Sumo car. There was also an Air Hockey table where I doled out Rs.40 for a five minute game. The result was a 7-7 draw with my brother.

After a powercut, the airconditioning in the mall stopped functioning and the place got quite heated up. We thought about going to the Amusement Park outside Centrestage Mall, but it was way too hot once we went outside, so we dropped the idea. Instead, we crossed the road and went to the Great India Place Mall.

Great India Place Mall, Noida - This mall is huge huge huge. It has a range of designer labels like Ritu Kumar and Satya Paul, branded fashion stores like Globus, Bossini and Shoppers Stop, grocery supermarkets such as Big Bazaar and Dollar Store and way too many fast food restaurants. It also has the five screen Adlabs Cinemas and the Ebony Lounge. We had fun testing the new X-Box 360 at the Planet M store. It was priced at Rs.20,000 while the Playstation 3 was for Rs.20,000 and Rs.25,000. My brother thought that the graphics acceleration was real smooth and he is planning to buy one in the near future.

On the top floor of the Great India Place was the Food Court and the games section. As it was Saturday, the games cost a bit more than they do on weekdays. We bought a 'pool bowling combo' for Rs.250 (twenty shots of bowing and one frame of pool) and headed to the pool table. Since, it was my first time, my brother and the helpful assistant explained to me the fine nuances of playing 'real' pool as opposed to computer games - how to hold the cue, hit the centre of the white cue ball and the amount of force to use. I was quite lucky and managed to put quite a few balls in the pocket with tough looking shots.

The Bowling Alley was fun too. We had to take off our shoes to avoid slipping. The assistant at Great India Place bowling area showed me how to hold the ball and throw it down the middle of the lane so that all the pins would fall in one go. All the same , I got quite a few gutter balls. Since, I am quite petite, the assistant gave me a light ball to use, however, there was this eight year old kid who wanted the same green ball. Eventually, tired of the kid grabbing the ball from my hands I used a slightly heavier pink ball. Now my right arm hurts real bad.

Next we went to grab a bite at the Food Court. We had to purchase a Debit Card which could be swiped at the different food stalls selling donuts, street food, south indian, chinese, italian and punjabi food. The Dollar Store selling American products was just opposite the Food Court. However, instead of selling stuff for a dollar or less (Rs. 40), most products were priced at a steep Rs.99. Later, we visited Big Bazaar, the supermarket in the basement of Great India Place Mall to purchase some 'Rasna' asked for by Mom and spent some time sweating it out in the checkout queue.

The best thing about Great India Place Mall was the benches placed all over the floor where we could rest our tired feet and do some people watching. Our next stop - Spice World Mall.

Spice World Mall - We took a cycle rickshaw for Rs.20 to Spice World Mall located in Sector 25, Noida. Compared to the Great India Place, this mall seemed miniscule. The main attractions of Spice Mall is the 4D Movie Theatre, the eight screen Spice Cinema complex and the food court on the third floor where lots of couples were hanging out.

After lazing about a bit in the food court of Spice World Mall, we went to see what a 4D Movie was all about. The cost was Rs.100 for a fifteen minute movie. We booked tickets for 'The Escape from Bane Manor' a mystery horror flick. The staff gave us 3D glasses to wear before the eerie experience began. The movie was about a Victorian castle that is haunted by ghosts, vampires etc. It was quite scary because of the 4D experience during which the seats shook, wind blew and water got sprayed in my face. The other two 4D movies running were the historical 'Legacy of the Pharaohs' and adventure film 'The Lost Island'. I doubt they were half as scary as the one we watched.

I had a fun weekend after a real long time. I enjoyed played Pool the most followed by Air Hockey. Have you visited these malls? How was your experience?

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Movie Reviews - Race, 27 Dresses, Taare Zameen Par, Black and White

Race, 27 Dresses, Taare Zameen Par, Black and White - Film Review

Here are the movie reviews of the movies I watched this week, namely, Race, 27 Dresses, Taare Zameen Par and Black and White.

Race - 8/10 - Suspense thriller starring Akshaye Khanna, Saif Ali Khan, Bipasha Basu and Katrina Kaif. I caught this movie at Satyam Patel Nagar this weekend. The story is about two step brothers who own a stud farm and race horses in Durban, South Africa. Each brother schemes to kill the other in order to claim a huge insurance bounty. The movie was very slickly made with awesome cars, fresh costumes and amazing locales. The story was riveting and kept me hooked for the whole duration of the movie.

About the actors - Akshaye was the main lead of the film and did justice to his role. No matter how you dress Saif, he still seems to look like a piece of chalk. It's great that he was missing for most part of the film and turned out to be the villain in the end. I liked the color of the red dress worn by Bipasha Basu in one of the songs. About the love making scene between Bipasha and Saif in the stable, we never get to see Saif's face, so it is possible that a body double was used. I really wouldn't mind watching Race in the cinema hall again.

27 Dresses - 7/10 - Romantic Comedy starring James Marsden and Katherine Heigl. I downloaded this torrent since none of my friends (who are very few anyway) would accompany me for this movie plus DVD's of Hollywood movies are rarely available in India. The movie is about a nice girl who was bridesmaid for 27 of her friends' weddings but never the bride. She is in love with her boss, who takes her affection for efficient service. Soon, her slutty younger sister comes along and manages to trap her boss into agreeing to marriage. Meanwhile, a reporter for a newspaper on relationships is trying to interview her about the number of weddings she has attended.......like all romantic comedies the movie ends on a happy note.

27 Dresses is a good candyfloss chick flick movie to perk you up on those dateless weekends when you feel you'll end with no one. I was crying for almost half the movie because of the movie's resemblance to my life.....you see my younger sister has already found someone and may be getting married before me :(

Taare Zameen Par - 9/10 - Drama starring Aamir Khan and Darsheel Safary. The movie is about a dyslexic child who overcomes learning difficulties. I had heard about people returning from cinema halls after watching this movie with tears streaming down their faces, so I kept avoiding this flick. However, on Saturday, I wrote the movie from my hard disk on a DVD and watched it. I'm really glad that I did, coz it was an awesome film.

The script and screenplay was crisp and realistic. Casting was perfect. It is quite sensible of Aamir Khan to select actors who really suit the role and can actually act instead of casting some powerful filmwallas relatives. Aamir Khan's fetish for strange mustaches continues as he makes his entry as the new Art Teacher in Taare Zameen Par. The best thing about the movie is the way that the disabled have been portrayed. Unlike Black, which showed a hard stereotyped insensitive view, Taare Zameen Par offers a just humane caring way of dealing with the disabled. Most funny scene of the movie - When Aamir Khan holds up a picture of Abhishek Bachchan grinning goofily to a class of third graders.

This movie reminded me a lot of my school days when I'd get punished outside the classroom almost everyday and my classmates would poke fun of me (which I'd ignore). A telling movie which every parent, teacher and child should see, hopefully watching Taare Zameen Par will make school a better place for each and every kid.

Black and White - 1/10 - Political Drama starring Anil Kapoor. This movie is about suicide bombers. Just like it's name, the movie ends up reinforcing common stereotypes about the Muslim community in black and white. It simply fails to see the myriad colours or shades of grey in between. After a while, the preachy dialogues of Anil Kapoor were just too much and I ended up switching off the television. In one word - awful.


Have you watched any of these movies?? What did you think of them??

Movie Reviews - Jodha Akbar, Mithya, SuperStar

Jodha Akbar, Mithya and SuperStar - A Film Review

I saw these movies a few weeks ago, but found time to write a review about them only today. This is how I rated them -

Jodha Akbar - 5/10 - Historical Drama starring Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai. The movie is supposed to be about the love between Mughal Emperor Akbar and his Rajput wife Jodhabai but ended up being about their silence and political debauchery. The costumes, locales and sets were quite good. Aishwariya Rai's sword fighting sequence with her brother Sujamal and Akbar looked very sissy and so did Hrithik Roshan's long 'frockish' outfits. The screenplay instead of sticking around a single point of romance to justify the title kept zooming through war conspiracies, communal harmony and Mughal politics. A lot more character development was needed. Jodha Akbar could have been made much better by including interesting characters present in the Mughal Court such as Birbal, Tansen or the other 9 Ratans.

Mithya - 3/10 - A dark comedy drama starring Ranvir Shorey and Neha Dhupia. The movie is about a small time actor who is hired by gangsters to replace another gangster whom he closely resembles. Later the actor loses his memory and begins believing that he is the gangster who was earlier murdered. The story, script and basic idea behind Mithya was great, the only problem was the casting. Neither Ranvir nor Neha have the personality, charisma or acting ability to keep the audience captivated till the end. The movie ended up being an unmemorable boring drama which few would ever watch a second time.

Superstar - 6/10 - starring Kunal Khemu in a double role and a few unknown actors. Superstar is a commercial flick about a young talented Bollywood wannabe(Kunal) who is hired as the body double of a new star(Karan) who is being launched in the film industry by his powerful producer dad. As the producer's son is an alcoholic who is totally uninterested in acting or films, the body double ends up doing all his dialogue, scenes, dances and stunts. Soon there is an accident in which one of them dies........

Superstar can be watched atleast once.They should have found a younger looking actress to star opposite Kunal Khemu. Kunal Khemu acts well, only wish he was a little bit less 'chinky' looking. Otherwise, a good popcorn flick.

Did you watch Jodha Akbar, Mithya or Superstar?

Michael Schumacher - After A Real Long Time

“When I go out for a drink, someone else does the driving.” - Michael Schumacher, 7 Times World Champion.

Recently, I saw Michael Schumacher’s photo on a newspaper website after a real long time. I couldn’t help recollecting how until two years ago, I’d stay home every weekend watching him race in the qualifiers and on Raceday. Most of the time he’d win, but even when he did not he’d never give up and try to finish the race as high in the standings as possible to gain some extra points for the team.

The photograph showed Michael Schumacher in Brussels launching a campaign by Bacardi against drinking and driving. This ‘Champions Drink Responsibly’ campaign will be launched in more than 40 countries around the world to spread the message that 'drinking and driving don't mix'. Advertisements will show Michael Schumacher using taxis instead of driving, being a designated driver and raising awareness that you shouldn’t drive if you have been drinking.

Nowadays, Michael Schumacher is also trying his driving skills at motorbike racing. Even though he began practicing only around six months ago, he seems to be doing quite well for a beginner at his age. However, he has said that he is not trying to be the new Casey Stoner or Valentino Rossi and will not be pursuing motorcycle racing as a secondary career. Usually, whatever Schumee tries his hand at; he always aims to succeed and ends up doing unbelievably well. I believe that if he put his heart in MotoGP, he’d come out with shining colours even today!!!