Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.
- Eleanor Roosevelt
Thursday, 24 December 2015
Monday, 21 December 2015
Uncle, Aunty aur Audience- The "Dilwale"
My definition of Dilwale- Udti hui saree aur lambi si gaadi, or lambi si saree aur udti hui gaadi...
Let me end this post with some key notes on the movie-
Two 50 somethings dancing, bouncing and romancing on the screen. Salt on scars (jale par namak) is Varun Dhawan's overacting sprinkled with terrible dialogues like- ab meri bhi shaadi hogi, mera bhi honeymoon hoga. What laurels are you bringing to your father's name!? Garnished by Kriti Sanon's blundered extra-innocence, all she had to do was to look beautiful.
Ghosshhhh! pardon me SRK and Kajol fans, but this movie crossed the limit of my tolerance. I would repent forever at the moment I decided to watch Dilwale, just because I couldn't get tickets of Bajirao's next n number of shows!
Hum sharif kya hue puri duniya hi badmaash ho gayi- Every fifth contact of mine on Whatsapp had set this as status for a week or so, which apparently happens to be SRK's dialogue spoken at an unrelated point of time in the movie.
Grandeur of sets, expensive vehicles, overpaid but under-utilized foreign locations, gaudy attires, mediocre plot, nonsensical dialogues, idiotic comedy, a-little-more-than-average music, overacting by every actor, Goa-but-almost-no-beaches- were the only flaws in the movie. Rest of it was hilarious (if anything is left)!
It felt to me like one day those people met over coffee and decided- chalo ek movie banate hai (come on, let's make a movie), and they ended up in this overrated crap. Selling the tickets at high prices and earning huge amount of money is not so astonishing phenomenon. Eventually, they call it a grand success on box office. Dear Rohit Shetty, do you even know they just released a rotten movie on your name...? You must be in coma by now upon knowing how they spoiled your repo...
Someone go and tell the not-so-old Aunty and Uncle (you-know-who), that they have now aged enough to play the roles of Mom-Dad and must quit romancing on the melodious numbers like Gerua. Paying hundreds of bucks and not even gaining a penny's worth of entertainment turned me furious. I wish I could paste a print out of this post outside every box office in my city and rescue the innocent audience from the torture beforehand.
Let me end this post with some key notes on the movie-
Ghosshhhh! pardon me SRK and Kajol fans, but this movie crossed the limit of my tolerance. I would repent forever at the moment I decided to watch Dilwale, just because I couldn't get tickets of Bajirao's next n number of shows!
Hum sharif kya hue puri duniya hi badmaash ho gayi- Every fifth contact of mine on Whatsapp had set this as status for a week or so, which apparently happens to be SRK's dialogue spoken at an unrelated point of time in the movie.
Grandeur of sets, expensive vehicles, overpaid but under-utilized foreign locations, gaudy attires, mediocre plot, nonsensical dialogues, idiotic comedy, a-little-more-than-average music, overacting by every actor, Goa-but-almost-no-beaches- were the only flaws in the movie. Rest of it was hilarious (if anything is left)!
It felt to me like one day those people met over coffee and decided- chalo ek movie banate hai (come on, let's make a movie), and they ended up in this overrated crap. Selling the tickets at high prices and earning huge amount of money is not so astonishing phenomenon. Eventually, they call it a grand success on box office. Dear Rohit Shetty, do you even know they just released a rotten movie on your name...? You must be in coma by now upon knowing how they spoiled your repo...
Someone go and tell the not-so-old Aunty and Uncle (you-know-who), that they have now aged enough to play the roles of Mom-Dad and must quit romancing on the melodious numbers like Gerua. Paying hundreds of bucks and not even gaining a penny's worth of entertainment turned me furious. I wish I could paste a print out of this post outside every box office in my city and rescue the innocent audience from the torture beforehand.
Saturday, 19 December 2015
Birthday Special- 2015
I've heard someone recite- "बचपन में लोग पूछते थे - बड़े हो कर क्या बनना है... जवाब अब मिला- फिर से बच्चा बनना है |"
It's almost the end of the day, to be specific- my birthDAY and by the time I hit "Publish", it would be 19th December. It was a fun filled day, mainly owing to ample of wishes that kept pouring in since 12 midnight! I am ecstatic to have such wonderful folks (family, friends, relatives and colleagues) around.
Is your mind buzzing to ask how old did I turn today? Amusingly, my answer is-"an year younger than you..." :) Jokes apart, age is just a number! To temporarily transform my two digit age into a single digit age and to rejuvenate the spirit of childhood in people around me I offered toffees to my colleagues at work. To my surprise, it was received well, and all enjoyed relishing the flavors of the simplest childhood memories.
Later in the day, I was gyrating my thoughts to that period of time when -
our biggest troubles were a broken pencil or a lost eraser,
the harshest punishment we could give to each other was a katti,
we were not supposed to be well-behaved, well-dressed or well-versed,
we were free of the social taboos,
discipline only implied finger-on-your-mouth in the classroom,
butterflies brought sparkle to our eyes,
between day and night was an eminent sunset,
we never had to remind ourselves to keep-the-child-in-us-alive,
messy hair and dirty feet were absolutely fine,
'Chinese whispers' was nothing more but a non-toxic game,
piggy bank was the treasure,
I-am-gonna-tell-your-mom was the scariest sentence,
when moon-followed-our-car...,
ours was aselfless- selfie-less image,
technology didn't take over...
...and the list shall keep flooding.
We didn't realize we were building a pile of memories while we were growing up, and that we are still doing that.
Is your mind buzzing to ask how old did I turn today? Amusingly, my answer is-"an year younger than you..." :) Jokes apart, age is just a number! To temporarily transform my two digit age into a single digit age and to rejuvenate the spirit of childhood in people around me I offered toffees to my colleagues at work. To my surprise, it was received well, and all enjoyed relishing the flavors of the simplest childhood memories.
Later in the day, I was gyrating my thoughts to that period of time when -
our biggest troubles were a broken pencil or a lost eraser,
the harshest punishment we could give to each other was a katti,
we were not supposed to be well-behaved, well-dressed or well-versed,
we were free of the social taboos,
discipline only implied finger-on-your-mouth in the classroom,
butterflies brought sparkle to our eyes,
between day and night was an eminent sunset,
we never had to remind ourselves to keep-the-child-in-us-alive,
messy hair and dirty feet were absolutely fine,
'Chinese whispers' was nothing more but a non-toxic game,
piggy bank was the treasure,
I-am-gonna-tell-your-mom was the scariest sentence,
when moon-followed-our-car...,
ours was a
technology didn't take over...
...and the list shall keep flooding.
We didn't realize we were building a pile of memories while we were growing up, and that we are still doing that.
Thursday, 17 December 2015
Book Review: The Bestseller She Wrote
I received this book as a part of a Book Review Programme by Blogadda.
First things first! Who says that Indian authors don't write well. The standards of this book match to that of foreign authors. Ravi Subramanian- as his bio states on Goodreads, has been a banker and now a best selling author. For that matter, his stories revolve around the lives of bankers, including this one. This enhances my firm belief that a fiction can never be entirely a fiction, and is eventually real life plus some necessary exaggeration. Had the author been staying in a village, his fiction would have been based on poverty, sustenance, child marriage (a wild guess).
The thickness of the ~400 pages' novel initially scared me, but once I took a dive into it, I couldn't resist ecstasy of reading, credits to the wit of the author. This was an UNPUTDOWNABLE book (as in one of the dialogues!)
About the plot- Its a thriller wherein the protagonist Shreya is the apparent antagonist. Aditya Kapoor has authored several bestselling novels and also is a successful banker, an IIM Bengaluru passout. He leads a near perfect professional and personal life at 40 something, with a high rank banking job, a writing career and a loving wife and son. That's when Shreya steps in their lives as a fresh Management trainee from his alma mater. She is recruited by Aditya and his HR friend Sanjay for his bank. She is a psyco, cold blooded, muti-faceted, extremely attractive, obsessive girl, who is a voracious reader and aspires to become a bestselling author like Aditya, whom she uses to get her dream come true (my discreet biasness right from the first few chapters against her ). She goes to the extent of seducing him with her youth and leading him to an extra marital dalliance, showing no signs of guilt. Sanjay has an important role to play in the whole span of the story. Unfortunately, I can't disclose everything here, since that would be unfair. The rest of the story is about the romance, conspiracy, trust mistrust, lie truth, heartbreak, adultery, fame, suffering and the tables turning at the end of it all. All it lacked is background music!
Looking at the cons of the novel- It is very lengthy, with 392 pages from cover to cover. Shreya and Aditya's romance could have been cut short as per me.
Aspiring writers can relate well to the process of book writing, publishing and marketing covered throughout. The crux of the whole plot is skewed in the last 75 pages, every moment of reading which was breathtaking. Aditya's speech at the end stole the show. An alternate title could have been- "Victory of Good Over Evil", based on the obvious and inevitable happy ending.
The author has spun the story very well, accompanied by rich vocabulary. The cover page reads- SOON TO BE A MOTION PICTURE. I must say this book deserves to be a motion picture, however, it requires some more mirch masala (and cutting short the intimate scenes) in order to expand the audience base.
My verdict- Overall, I would rate it as 4 on 5 stars and recommend it for any of those who are interested in thrillers; have the capacity to read a thick book; are aspiring writers; have the wit to relish smart plots; some scenes on adultery don't bother them and who want to learn to understand the sour facet of the human race.
I am reviewing ‘The Bestseller She Wrote’ by Ravi Subramanian as a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!
If you are an author and want your book to be reviewed, drop an email at bookreviews@mansiladha.com.
Wednesday, 9 December 2015
Tuesday, 8 December 2015
Book Review: 99 Thoughts on GANESHA
Upon reading the title, one may assume initially that it is perhaps a compilation of hymns or folklore on Ganesha. Well, not truly. Its far more than that.
The author- Devdutt Patnaik is a mythologist. He has written several other books on Hindu mythology focusing on the rational part of it, with a consolidation of all the relevant information.
Ganesha is who is one of the most celebrated and beloved gods pan India. About him, not much is known to people, except for stories revolving around how he came into existence, and that he is worshiped before doing anything afresh.
In this book, Devdutt Patnaik has penned down an account comprising Ganesha's creation, the rituals associated with him, the literature, symbols, festivals, history, stories, etc.- most of which was not unveiled in so simple manner yet (best to my knowledge). It contains a brief of each of them, leaving the rest to the reader's zeal of exploration.
Even after including such vast fountain on information, this book is a precise, concise and quick read. In general, the chapters not inter-related, can be read from anywhere. Every chapter has wonderful illustrations to provide a better insight into the respective section. Regarding the text- it contains simple vocabulary, meticulously articulated, suited to the contemporary generation who escape from reading huge epics or upanishads.
The best part is that it doesn't aim at cultivating superstition, but seems to based on the available documentation and author's interpretation.
My only apprehension is that, unlike fiction based novels, the reader might not be able to retain and recall all this by reading only once. I rate it 4 on 5 stars. For those who are looking for enlightenment on mythology and are curious about Ganesha, must read this book.
(PS: the reviews expressed here are based on my personal reading experience, and do not intend to defame, derate or degrade the sale or vice-versa for the book. I am not paid for writing the reviews.)
If you are an author and want your book to be reviewed, drop an email at bookreviews@mansiladha.com.
Saturday, 5 December 2015
Book Review: The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari
This is one good novel by Robin Sharma- the motivational speaker, first published in 1997. This is his first book, after which he has penned down various others in the same genre. He is also a keynote speaker at various seminars.
They say- "Motivation doesn't last daily. Well, neither does bathing, that's why we recommend it daily." This book is a dosage of motivation to fulfill your dreams and reaching your destiny.
I am sure I am too late in reading this book- one, because this was published when I was a kid; two, because I read other motivational fables prior to this. Owing to both the reasons, much of the wisdom covered here already occurred to me with other texts. Nevertheless, human brain requires frequent revision!
It comes along with preaching, principles and paradigms to be what you are destined to be; to attain your goals; awaken your soul; stay healthy, wealthy and content. I am proud that some of the paradigms are engraved in my mind now. My rating is 3.5!
A few minus points: I believe is that it isn't able to capture consistent attention, especially of a mischievous mind like mine. It doesn't captivate my senses, and I had to compel myself to keep reading. Reasons may be that the story wasn't woven as a definite fiction, but most of it was a conversation. The lessons kept pouring in as answers to Frequently Asked Questions, along with the typically designed terminologies and very little examples. I guess I kept comparing the content with that of others like How to Stop Worrying And Start Living, What Got You Here Won't Get You There, Eat That Frog, The Secret, which are also aimed towards self-improvement.
Nevertheless, the Odyssey is a good read for those who are looking for a life of purpose.
(PS: the reviews expressed here are based on my personal reading experience, and do not intend to defame, derate or degrade the sale or vice-versa for the book. I am not paid for writing the reviews.)
If you are an author and want your book to be reviewed, drop an email at bookreviews@mansiladha.com.