6 Degrees - Game of Blogs Book Review

6 Degrees - Game of Blogs by BlogAdda.com

This interesting book is also available at Amazon, Flipkart and GoodReads!! 

Madaari

Movie Review (Hindi)

Irrfan Khan is one of my favourite actors and I wanted to watch this movie only because he stars in it. As usual, he did not let me down. But the movie did. I was impressed with the opening and the jump cuts and the montage effect. Each of the actors played their parts so well but the story just lost its grip. I certainly did not expect it to end the way it did. All the effort, the buildup and then nothing. I know it is nice to reveal that our politicians fleece us and make false promises, but what's new? Also, could the director not come up with a PM who did not look like our own Prime Minister? 

The movie reminded me of A Wednesday starring Naseeruddin Shah, the common man, who like Irrfan, takes on the system and demands justice. Comparing the two, Madaari loses. 

Such scope to let the actors carry the film forward and such mishandling in telling the story!! On the whole, please watch but do not blame me if you get bored at times!!

My Dreams and Passion

I am blogging about my dreams and passions for the Club Mahindra#DreamTrails activity at BlogAdda. You can get a Club Mahindra Membership to own your holidays!

I am a History buff and from this love emerges the love for travel, art and culture. If I could just travel to all the places rich in history (which is almost the entire world!!) I think I would be the happiest person. I know I would barely be able to cover all the places I would want to visit in my lifetime, but the journey is so full of wonder that I don’t mind leaving it incomplete.

This is all about time travel, only going backwards. As I enter monuments frozen in time, I cannot resist caressing the walls or the pillars. I shut my eyes trying to recreate a moment from the past. I feel a deep sense of longing for that era. Every image in an ancient place of worship, a boudoir in a palace, a palace garden, each of these has a story to tell and I really would love to have been a part of all that.

Imagine being a part of the bustling Meena bazaar during Shahjahan’s time in the Red Fort premises which is now like any other flea market. Imagine Fatehpur Sikri where Akbar held council with the navratnas of his darbar, or his discussions on Deen-e-Ilahi at the Ibadat Khana. Old Forts and underground tunnels almost resound with gunfire.

While in Kurukshetra in Haryana, I stand under the huge peepal tree where Lord Krishna delivered the Bhagwad Gita to Arjuna before the Kurukshetra war, trying to imagine the scenario. A little ahead lies the Bheeshma Kund , a water body created by Arjuna’s arrow to quench Bheeshma’s thirst and as I dip my fingers in it I love to feel that I am a part of that story. Whether it is mythology or history, it is a part of our past and it grips me.

As I tour the Ajanta caves I try to look into the lives of monks and their daily routine. I try to see how the artists went about painting the walls in darkness filling them up with exquisite scenes or sculpting a majestic profile of the Buddha.

It is really an exciting and enticing moment to be sharing history going back hundreds or thousands of years.

History for me is not gone, it is close at hand. One needs to feel it and make a connection. As I travel, I love to interact with people asking them about their past and the changes in their environment in the past few decades. I am attracted to  art that each place speaks of which varies from the way houses are made, to the dress they wear, moving on to their culture including language and food.

It is a never ending romance that I share with travel, art and culture and with the time I have I hope my passion makes my life rich and meaningful.

Movie Review (Hindi)

Sultan

Hero of the masses, Salman Khan pulls it off once again with this movie.

Why did he pull it off? Well, the story follows the rise, fall and rise of a wrestler from Haryana and who does not love a story where odds are conquered by the underdog? 

But for me, what really stood out in the movie was the focus on wrestling as a sport, of women in this sport and also its international recognition.

Salman needs a good director and in Ali Abbas he found one. With romance, comedy, tragedy and drama thrown in for good measure within three hours in a well edited and well written story, there was bound to be but one outcome ---- a success!! (As usual the excesses were the songs which could have been edited.)

Looking forward to such entertainers... 

Movie Review (Hindi)

Dhanak

A story about two orphaned children, sister and brother, living with their uncle and aunt. The 8-year-old boy, Chotu, is blind and the 10-year-old girl, Paro, does housework as ordered by aunt and fails in class each year to catch up with brother to help him with his studies. No that is not the synopsis, just a peek into their lives and this could be the beginning of a really sad story. 

But guess what??? It is anything but sad. Director Nagesh Kuknoor has skillfully woven so much joy and wonder into this simple tale of love that you cry out of sheer love. 

I loved his master stroke of getting Shahrukh to play a very important character in the movie without actually having to give him credit for it!! 

Blindness does not necessarily find a friend in pathos. Chotu was full of joie de vivre, belting out melodious folk songs, witty rebuts, building stories around his hero, Salman Bhai and showing unadulterated love for Paro. 

And it did work for me --Dhanak is about Paro leading her brother along a magical journey to witness the Rainbow.

The Jungle Book

Movie Review (English)

I remember reading The Jungle Book as a kid, and that was many, many years ago. Mowgli finding a home with wolves always fascinated me. Later, I saw the animated movie and after a long hiatus saw the latest one directed by Jon Favreau. 

With every frame, I lived with Mowgli in the forest, roaming with the wolves, the elephants, Kaa, Baloo, Bagheera and of course Sher Khan. It was quite a magical journey. That an animation movie could accomplish all this really is indescribable.

Its exciting to imagine the kind of movies we will be watching by the end of this decade. Technologically, I mean. The 3 D effect already had me inside the jungle, almost hynotised by Kaa  and devoured by Sher Khan. Neel Sethi couldn't have given a better performance considering he had to imagine the jungle around him.

 Jon Favreau, you have patience and resilience. Hopefully, you will continue on this difficult path and give the world many such pleasures!!

Airlift

Movie Review (Hindi)

Quite a misnomer. I really do not understand why the movie has been titled Airlift when the act of lifting in the air happens at the end of the movie. For me, it was the journey towards the rescue operation that was the highlight of the movie rather than flying out.

Many of us would not have the faintest idea of what really happened to Indians during the Iraq war with Kuwait. So this movie truly engages. The film is well shot and the editing is tight. There are no moments of relief keeping in mind the nature of the plot.

I stayed glued to the screen wanting to know how Ranjit Katiyal (Akshay Kumar), the protagonist, overcomes one obstacle after another. A man who was a go-getter businessman turns into a messiah for more than a lakh Indians stranded in Kuwait.

There are moments in the movie where patriotism shines through and it is nice to see the bureaucratic wheel turning sometimes, while the politicians are really painted in a bad light, though I am not complaining.  I generally do not watch Akshay Kumar’s movies, but am glad I watched this one. You should watch it too.