Wake up with Jaggu and Tarana - Radio Show Review

Desi Rating: 4/5


If you live in Northern Emirates such as Sharjah, Ajman up to Ras Al Khaimah and travel to Dubai or Abu Dhabi for work then morning shows must be essential part of your daily routine. There are few Desi channels available and all have morning shows to make most of their business from the market that is people stuck in traffic and in return make seemingly cumbersome journey a bit pleasant.

My most favorite show is Wake Up with Jaggu and Tarana on station Josh 97.8. The show host Jaggu and Tarana have ruled Mumbai radio scene through morning show for 7 years almost. The show was quite popular, even Bollywood stars still remember them. Josh radio is a new station started only in 2012 and after many failed tries at morning shows decided to bring the tried and tested duo of Jaggu and Tarana to rock the morning of UAE.

The best thing about them is the chemistry and the history together. Chemistry makes the show fun and history adds substance to the show. Jaggu is like mad scientist with all his theories and Tarana is like the critic that gets basically annoyed by any thing jaggu has to say.They both sound like a married couple which they are not. Jaggu is married and Tarana is single. Other people who are regularly mentioned on the show are Jaggu’s wife Khurana and Tarana’s Mom; their numerous mentions make one feel as if they are also part of the show and should get paid for every mention.

This Show offers perfect balance of silly and serious stuff, something which is seriously missing in UAE desi radio world. From 6 to 10 apart from contests/games we get interesting news from around the world and Jaggu/Tarana’s reviews, financial market wrap including Indo-Pak Stock exchange-Dollar / Dirham rate vs. local currency etc, speaker’s corner is a segment where people call and record opinions on topics put forward by Jaggu/Tarana, humans of UAE- fairly new segment where one random person gets to tell his/her story for a minute, obscure world days are celebrated such accountants day, nurse day, (I am not sure from where they get these days from) etc.

There are 3 contests/games starting in first hour with School Run where you get to answer a 5^th standard question through sms and the selected answer gets a call back. There is no prize with School Run what you get is only appreciation (it is hilarious when a caller asks what do I win and Jaggu/Tarana reply with some random appreciation banter)

Second game is “Ao Guess Kerain (let’s Guess)” and is usually a question based on celebs birthday or the world days being celebrated. Here the sms and call back format is same and winner walks aways with open cinema ticket for 2.

Third and my most favorite game is speedy singh, where there is a weekly winner and the prize money is 500 dirham. Speedy singh I believe the name is inspired by Milkha singh. Here basically participant who is randomly selected based on sms has to guess as many songs in a minute by just listening to the intro of the song. The whole setup game and player reactions are super hilarious at times.

If you are lucky enough you get one of those days where the mic is left on during the song and you can enjoy candid Jaggu and Tarana (even more fun). Last time it happened we heard a very angry Tarana wiling to slap Jaggu for giving bad investment advice.

The only draw back, if I have to list one, is the play list, their song selection is very poor and some time makes you change station to get some better music, but this doesn’t mean that their whole playlist is horrible, there are some kool aspects as well e.g. we always get one strings (Pakistani band) song, one 90’s (mostly Indian bands) song and some random english chartbuster.

Overall a very well planned and executed show, with very up to date and entertaining content. My whole family is hooked to 97.8 only because of Jaggu/Tarana.

Let me know what you think about this review also if you want me to review some other radio show.

Captain America - Civil War : Movie Review

Desi Rating: 4.5/5

Directed by:      Anthony Russo

                          Joe Russo

Produced by:    Kevin Feige

Screenplay by: Christopher MArkus

                         Stephen McFeely

Production:      Marvel Studios

Starring:

Chris Evans

Robert Downey Jr.

Scarlett Johansson

Sebastian Stan

Anthony Mackie

Don Cheadle

Jeremy Renner

Chadwick Boseman

Paul Bettany

Elicabeth Olsen

Paul rudd

Emily VanCamp

Tom Holland

Frank Grillo

William Hurt

Daniel Bruhl

I am so impressed with Marvel Studios. They seem to have cracked the code to entertainment when it comes to Super hero movies. 

As per the trailers and poster, I was expecting a solid conflict between Captain America and Iron Man,  that technically should drive the story and eventually lead to an epic war sequence also I was hoping for the movie to be not lost in story development of new characters being introduced and it did just that

Screenplay is very well knitted , what was interesting throughout the film was the evolution of conflict between Steve and Tony and how every one gets involved and we know exactly why each and every character is fighting for the sides they are on. Director has done justice to the screen play as well, nothing seems staged or unnecessary. He has seemingly over come the challenge of having a dozen action heroes in 147 minute movie and yet each one of them shines through with ample screen time.  This Movie is not the story of good vs. evil , audience will have hard time choosing whose side they are on, as director has added concrete plot backing each sides.

Coming to Action sequences great job by the team, as soon as one feels the story/drama is going too far there comes a super hero packed action that will drag you back into movie , none of them feel forced rather helps the plot development.

This movie is action packed and all of the action moments are choreographed to epic proportions but the action sequence at the airport gives you the experience of a life time. Its like every action hero fanatic's dream and fantasy coming to life.

There are two new characters introduced in this episode Black Panther and Spider man.

For me I wasn't aware of black Panther character before so I am not sure how authentic it is in the movie compared to the comic book but his costume , fighting manner, back story really stands out and I believe this character deserves a separate movie.

Spider man is already an established and famous character, his presence in the move was refreshing and made airport action sequences so much fun plus one get full perspective on how power full that character is. He seemed strongest of all the super heroes, being a fan myself that was a delight.

Graphics , Music and Over all production is what one can expect in today's time from Hollywood.

As far as actors are concerned there is no doubt about them. In an action packed super hero film there is very little margin for acting and in this context Scarlett Johansson got the part with the maximum acting potential and she excels as usual.

Dozen of super heroes , over many cities across the world , couple of twists and turns in the plot and of course larger than life action sequences/graphics and yet nothing seems busy or out of control. For all super hero/comic characters movie buffs this movie will definitely wash away all the scars Batman vs. Superman left. I go with 4.5 stars