When I read Agatha Christie's "And then there were none", I was reminded of another movie that I can watch anytime - Gumnaam. The movie seems to have borrowed its storyline from the book though again there is nothing path-breaking about the story. On the contrary, over the years the plot where a group of strangers are marooned on a remote island only to be killed one after another has become a sort of a cliche. If my memory serves me right, the group in this movie is travelling on a charter plane because each one of them has won a trip to some place.

And it's a huge group too. I am not sure I will be able to recollect the entire caste despite watching this movie umpteen number of times but I will give it a try- Manoj Kumar and Nanda are of course the lead pair.Helen is there for the customary song-and-dance sequence these days is called "Item number". Then the evil side is well represented by Pran, MadanPuri and one more guy whose name escapes me now. Tarun Bose and Marathi actor Dhumal complete the group.

The plane I believe makes an unscheduled stop and when the passengers get down to stretch their legs they hear the sound of the plane taking off. When they come back to where they had landed they find to their dismay that the plane has taken off without them though their luggage has been kindly dropped off on ground.They turn on Manoj Kumar who is one of the pilots but he denies any knowledge.

And then the haunting song begins, its lines - such as "Kaun balaa tufaani hai, maut ko bhi hairani hai"and "Aaj agar tum jinda ho to kal ke liye malaa japanaa" - giving the stranded passengers their first inkling of what's in store for them as they trudge ahead in search of a shelter. I have always loved the picturization of this song which at times zooms on the faces of the passengers - some of them puffing away seemingly non-chalantly, some of them looking confused and some looking plain scared to death.

So they arrive at a mansion where there is a cook -Mahmood who provides the customary comic relief. And the funny comic song "Ham kaale hai to kya hua dilwalehai". Just when we are getting used to the lighter mood, death claims its first victim and thereafter the invisible murderer keeps striking again and again till the mystery is solved in the end by who else than Manoj Kumar!

As far as the rest of the songs go, I personally never liked the song that Helen sings on the beach "Gam chhodke manao rang raili". The duet "Jaan-e-chaman sholaa badan" picturized on Manoj Kumar and Nanda in rain however is very romantic despite the nasal jarring voice of the female playback singer - whose name I believe was Sharada.

I am not a fan of Manoj Kumar with his peek-a-boo style way of occassionally covering his face with hands but in this movie he looks positively handsome in the pilot's uniform. Hell, with such a handsome guy around who minds getting marooned on an isolated island - even if people around you are dropping dead? :-) Nanda is given a weird hairstyle and I could never be sure whether her discomfort and awkwardness throughout the movie was because of this or it was her way of conveying the character's confusion and fear. The rest of the party that gets slaughtered does its job of keeping the suspense of "whodunit" well till the end.

Mahmood brings moments of mirth with his Hyderabadi style Hindi and I remember hoping he doesn't end up getting killed when I saw this movie for the first time.

So all in all, it's a well-packaged movie though the genre has lost its shock value and novelty in the course of time. Still, if it's raining outside and I am asked to choose a movie to watch, I will go for"Gumnaam" along with a cup of hot cardamom tea and plate of steaming pakodas - I am sure none will disappoint me!

Harbhajan banned for 11 matches.
Lalchand Rajput fined 50% of his match fees.
Sourav Ganguly and Shane Warne fined 10 per cent of their match fees.
Umpire GA Pratapkumar handed out a one-match suspension.

IPL = Indian Punishment League

I was telling my brother about the cost-cutting measures that the airlines have been increasingly adopting like operating the flights at reduced speeds, keeping less fuel, providing blankets only on demand and replacing paper manuals in cockpit with electronic ones.

My brother listened to me and then asked tongue-in-cheek “I hope they will take us to our destination. Or are there any plans to hand over chutes to passengers halfway through the journey?” :-)

US Prez Bush seems to be having yet another of his “Foot-in-the-mouth disease” bouts, if his latest pearl of wisdom - that the Indian middle class is responsible for the worldwide food crisis – is anything to go by. He argues (in a very illogical way that has become his hallmark) that since this considerably sized middle class is now prosperous it is demanding more nutritious food thus sending the prices soaring. More nutritious food? What do you think we were otherwise eating, Mr. Bush? Stacks of hay? Roots dug out of ground? Ants, maybe? Do you still believe “Mr. President” that snakes and tigers roam about the streets of India? Can you point out India in the world atlas for me, please? :-)

Oh and you seem to have conveniently forgotten that China is the most populous country in the world. Or don’t the Chinese eat nutritious food? Wonder what the Chinese Premier will think of this. And what about your favorite people on the planet - who you called “Pakis” in another of your “Foot-in-the-mouth disease” bouts - Mr. President? Don’t they eat?

Forget about the Chinese and Pakistanis (BTW, this is what the people of Pakistan are called, in case you haven’t still got it!), Mr. President. Do you know what bio-fuel is? Do you know that the land that was earlier used for food production is being increasingly used for cultivating bio-fuel? What do you think that could be doing to food production and hence to food cost? C’mon, I will give a penny for your thought!

At this rate, sooner or later you will blame the Tatas for soaring oil prices. I can see your reasoning (or lack of it). You will say that the Indian middle class now wants to travel in style, so it is buying more cars that it can now afford thus sending the oil prices soaring.

The entry of Nano will no doubt result in more consumption of gas and probably a rise in its price but the Indian middle class won’t be single-handedly responsible for that. Just as the increase in their food consumption might have contributed to the food crisis but is definitely not its root cause.

Don’t you realize this, Mr. Bush? Or is this is a smokescreen to divert attention from the brink of recession that the US seems to be tottering on? Or are you feeling left out because everyone these days seems to be talking about only Hillary and Obama? Any publicity is good publicity, is that it?

There is a saying that it is better to keep quite and let people wonder about whether you are a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubts. Obviously, Mr. Bush has never heard of this one. But then, there wasn’t any doubt anytime either :-)