On the parchment

Rating: 3/5 Another movie on how to live life, or is it? Kaira (Alia Bhatt) dates a guy whom she cheats on with another guy. This other guy wants to take the relationship to the next level that’s when Kaira behaves very cool and odd. Now this other guy gets engaged with his ex, and let’s not blame him here because Kaira is a bitch. But that’s not how it is portrayed. She is heartbroken because she doesn’t have an open relationship now and the love of her life (apparently) leaves her high and dry. There is a break up song during which every guy in the theater hates her guts and then she goes to Goa. This is where she meets the psychiatrist Jug (Shahrukh Khan) who, somehow has only Kaira as his patient and learns to resolve her unresolved childhood issues. During the second half of the movie, the director forces the spectators to fall in love with Kaira but can we? Let’s journey back. She behaves like a slut, she goes out with way too many guys, she works in the film indust...

Clich é = Karan Johar I know it should go the other way around but you will understand when you watch the movie. Twisted and complicated love triangle, immature decisions, pretty actors, scarce cladding, desi songs, shot in London. Should I go on? Because this pretty much summarizes all his movies. Karan is looking for a signature in all his movies which I'd say he got long back when he directed Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. You would think that he will bask in that glory and let it go, but no.  Clich éd dialogues, title song, hit songs from his previous movies played in the background, logic that is so ridiculous that it is beyond explanation are his combination to success (if he calls it so). In this movie, there are slight changes to the formula. His sentiment is moved on from Rani Mukherji and Kajol in guest appearance to Alia butt.. Change of season goes for thorns too, not just for flowers. But he couldn't deviate from the tradition of killing the heroine with cancer. And ju...

This was the scene this morning in Mylapore Tank bus stop. Usually a crowded place, this road on this busy morning was swarmed with people from all over the city. Reason? You’d be wondering if a foreign delegate is meeting the CM today or if the PM is visiting Chennai. Oh it’s not that. Today is Malaya ammavasai. Sorry non-Tamil folks. There is no literal translation for such words in English. This is caused by the local people. People paying their respects to their ancestors and forefathers by causing chaos is how we can describe this occasion. This time we can’t blame the government. This beautiful lady set up her small stall in the bus stand to sell flowers and garlands to those who have arrived today. The buses that usually halt there to pick up passengers had to speed through the limited space graciously left out by these vendors. “The hustle and bustle of the traffic is not my problem”, she says dismissively. Most of the bikes were parked on the road and th...

This review is going to be very discouraging to the author as well as to those who are planing to read the book. In my opinion, 1 star is worse than no star. And no, the rating is not just for the story. It's for the writing and narration. The author couldn't have made it more indirect. One page into the book and I was tired of facing yet another inept writer. I am not saying my English proficiency is off the roof but all I am saying is do not publish an ill written work for hundreds of people to read. I will say this again, it is okay to write a book in your mother tongue or in the language you are comfortable in and have it translated in English if needed. Or the least you can do is to have someone proof read it! Someone who is good at it. It's good to learn and improve your English but it not fair to publish it and test the readers' patience. There can be only two reasons why such a writer would prefer English. Either he thinks writing in your mother tongue is too...

Clear thoughts translated into many languages. The translator has done a great job. The shepherd's destiny takes us through a path of desire, dreams,  hard work, epiphany, realization, relentless approach and love. This was the much awaited book that I always wanted to read and I finally had some time to invest in this book. I was rather disappointed by the length of the story as I expected the book to be very big. The story travels along with the boy in search of a treasure that he has recurring dreams about. His journey albeit a little adventurous, is more of a philosophical dogma that we may or may not agree upon. "Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should live their lives, but none about his or her own" The boy's thoughts seems purposefully mature to entrap the readers into turning the page. His perception on how the sheep might think or his consideration of the sheep's perception itself is astounding. He is a simple boy with simple...

Rating 4/5 Karthik Subbaraj has given another good one. His direction has streamlined on feminism from a guy's point of view. Three guys steer their life in different ways around three women. Their approach and behaviour towards women and their idealism in their own way is pragmatic. The story is smooth and entertaining. When I heard that the movie is about feminism I expected something on another level. Movies like Aval appadi than, Kalki, English Vinglish, How old are you (36 vayathinile in tamil) scream of feminism. This one sends a very subtle and indirect message to the spectators without antagonizing either gender. I am sure this is one of the very few movies which has not offended either gender. Malar's (Pooja Devariya) character is a controversial one whereas Ponni's (Anjali) and Yazhini's (Kamalinee Mukherjee) are typical tamil girls'. Malar's character looked like something derived from one of K. Balachandar's female characters. Anjali, who usua...

For most part, the story revolves around the time when India was struggling for independence although except for the part where Gandhi is quoted and Renuka, the protagonist becomes a krantikari and bombs a British officer, the slavery and the struggle is scarcely mentioned. Renuka is a headstrong girl of 14, when her character is introduced. She meets the love of her life as she hides from the British police in a bungalow. Shashank, the gentleman every Indian woman wants, falls for this brave little girl on the first sight. He holds his emotions and shelters her and protects her till he drops her off at her house. This episode is long forgotten for a few pages until Renuka's maasi finds her an alliance with the son of a Zamindar family. One would think that is the stranger from that night but no. Lalit is a spineless guy who couldn't raise his voice on the wedding night when the groom's father, Nagesh Choudhry, rejects the girl for not producing enough dowry. To everyone...

***Spoiler Alert*** The writing and the quotes were so deep that shows how much one should have dug into self realization to write such a book. I am only reviewing the book and not commenting on spirituality or divinity. This is just a few remarks on the beautiful thoughts and insights shared by the author which has touched me and inspired me and given me a few moments of peace of and clarity while reading the book. I hope that it lasts forever. "When the living gets unburdened with needs and desires, the life becomes simple and easy to carry." We all have so much to do in the short span of time, but we never really are sure what we are doing and why we are doing it. We just follow what is being done for generation to generation. We don't even find the time to stop and think for a second. When we look back at our life towards the end, we realize that we have been running a race without noticing that we were on the wrong track. I am not a big fan of spiritual books or ...

It was raining. We were sitting in the cafeteria on the terrace. Class was over before the scheduled time so that the students can reach home safe before it started pouring. Few of the students took this opportunity and left even before our teacher could announce that the class was coming to an end. So it was only me, Shalini and Sabrina in the cafeteria, enjoying the after-class mirchi bajji in the cold weather. Shalini was busy copying previous day's notes and asking questions to Sabrina that would make her wonder why she stayed back after class. "Did mam teach how to use articles with respect to adjectives yesterday?", asked a curious Shalini. I didn't want to be the geek and answer that question and invite glares from Sabrina. Sabrina said, "Just copy the damn notes."  Shalini pouted for a while and went back to writing. She was so engrossed in it that she didn't notice Sabrina eating her bajji. We had some tea while we waited for it to stop r...

"He wants to meet you in a coffee shop", said my mother. "No, let them come home", I said. It is bad enough that my parents are arranging a date with a guy for me, imagine meeting him in a coffee shop in maami's area! We all know how that would go. Hailing from a typical Indian family I was aware of the usual drill and kind of had an idea how this would end. At least I was prepared to make it end the way I wanted: make the guy say no. That was my whole idea. "Ask them if they are free the day after tomorrow. I have an appointment tomorrow in the evening after work", I told her. She conveyed the message and I thought the guy's side would drop the whole idea as the girl was fixing the date. But that did not happen. He came home five minutes earlier than expected, with his parents of course. And there I was, meeting him comfortably in my house in my room. He said, "Hi". Damn! I was going to open with that. I said, "How is ...

You'd think that the book is from Sita's perspective but it is not. Like every other girl in India I did not like Ramayana for the same reason that Ram abandons Sita on the account of being a righteous King. I was prepared to give only three stars to this book no matter what as I have been told and retold of this epic a million times so far. But this book by Devdutt opened my mind's eye to a lot of significant roles played by Ram. But that still doesn't mean I will disregard Sita's abandonment. I liked Lakshman's character more than Ram's during their exile. When Ram was exiled from his own country, Lakshman was determined to go with him. Urmila's loyalty in helping out Lakshman by sleeping for fourteen years was mind-striking. Ram often snapped at lakshman. Like when Lakshman questioned about a tigress killing deer or when Surpanakha was infatuated to Ram, he rejected her, directed her to Lakshman which was totally unacceptable and uncalled for. La...