thorns?

Yep ... that's what Kaante translates from Hindi to English. Out in the theatres today and I'm planning to catch a show tonight. In fact, I did catch a show tonight. But more later (faithful to Kaante as well as it's immediate parent Reservoir Dogs, this is a flashback).

Los Angeles. baara mai do hazaar (12 May 2000). jahaa.N ham chhe pa.NTar pahalii baar mile the. humane sochaa thaa ki duniyaa jeet le.nge. apani lag gayii {translation: Los Angeles. 12 May 2000. Where the six of us met for the first time. We thought we'd conquer the world. We got screwed}.

An hour earlier. We drove to Galaxy Cinema on Jimmy Carter Blvd and got tickets (deserted... but mostly because the previous show hadn't cleared out yet). We then drove to The Mughals. The music playing was surprisingly from previous decades, and, R D Burman (yay!). In fact, it was a seldom-heard song of his zamaane mein sabse puraani from the ill-fated Lovers. After placing an order for mutton biryani I paid a visit to Bollywood Video next door, and returned with two finds: Lovers/Kasam Paida Karne Waale Ki and Romance/Sawan Ko Aane Do. When I got back to claim a rather generous helping of excellent biryani, they were running a song from Romance. As if the coincidences with R D Burman weren't enough, these were both Kumar Gaurav starrers and so was Kaante which we were about to watch in less than an hour.

Back at the theatre, we weren't disappointed by the rush of people waiting. After navigating past some irritating Indian lass who insisted on vertical and horizontal integration of captured seats (Indians, no matter where they racinate themselves, will always be Indians -- NOTE: this statement has some positive vibes too, but not in this context), we found ourselves some good seats and settled down to be entertained.