On the parchment

The title should make you laugh out loud but here is fodder to your rational thoughts. This particular store in the centre of Mylapore is very famous for a variety of items that concern with festivals and rituals. Function at home? Drive to Vijaya stores, they will have the ingredients to any ritual/ceremony. From sandal powder to offer to God, to idols of God Himself (any God for that matter, yours, mine) you name it you get it in their three storey building. The shop is usually flooded with middle aged women from all over the city. The sales record reaches it peak during the Navaratri festival, for every middle-aged woman and every happily-married-or-not summangali in the town rushes to this place to get their hands on the best gift article introduced for the season. There are just way too many articles there that sometimes you pick an item and ask the sales person what it is (and then put it in your shopping cart because the other lady just bought it). Vijaya Stores totally...

Rating: 4.5/5 Imagine a blank palette. No wait! Imagine a beautiful painting, of anything for that matter. Now forget that. Imagine a blank palette. Visualize the artist mixing a range of colours on this palette. Now he paints the blank canvas with strokes of colours that turns into a very beautiful picture beyond words. You look at this picture and you realize this is larger than life. That this painting could have been just mediocre but it wasn't. It could be just another painting in the gallery, but it isn't. It would be outcast by many more to come, only it won't. That is how one would feel watching the movie 'Midnight in Paris'. The director's cut is shown in the two minutes of the movie. It speaks volumes of his expertise that he took advantage of, to express his love for the city. I wouldn't call myself a Woody Allen fan, but I was bowled over by this movie. If I knew any better and I had watched many more of his movies, I'd call this his maste...

Rating: 3/5 Sanjay Leela Bansali, against all odds, released this movie but I am starting to believe that it was not necessary to go through all the trouble to release this one. It wasn't all that epic or beautiful when compared to his other movies. But I empathize with the protesters because Ranvir Singh with his charismatic evil eyes and perfect body dominated the Rajput's courage in the movie in spite of Shahid Kapoor having done a great job. After Haider, it has been a long time since Shahid took up serious roles with any scope for acting and he did a very good job in carrying forward the Rajput's pride and honor throughout the movie and beyond. As for Deepika Padukone, I was greatly disappointed by Bansali here, as he usually shows all his heroines more than just beautiful. She is a poor replacement for his usual pick, Aishwarya Rai, in terms of beauty and acting. Not that she is any less beautiful or a bad actor, it is just that neither her beauty nor her acting ...

I noticed a slight difference between regular Deepavali (Diwali) and thala Deepavali (First Diwali in your marriage). On a regular Diwali, you get up at 4 AM. On thala Diwali you get up at 3 AM. If it is regular diwali, you make 10 varieties of sweets and snacks, for a thala Diwali you make a hundred varieties. Normally you'd get a new dress from your parents but after marriage you get two sets, one from your parents and one from your in-laws. While this part of Diwali sounds promising, in every other aspect the graph of regular Diwali Vs Thala Diwali goes down steeply. But this was mine to celebrate. My only chance at the most awaited Thala Diwali. Apparently we get this only once a life time so I was planning to make the most of it. With my husband abroad, I was all set to celebrate a lonely thala Diwali this year. That got me depressed enough to watch an English movie alone the day before Diwali. If that wasn't pathetic enough, I learnt that my mother was not going to p...

Tall for his age, Arjun was coffee bean coloured with eyes the colour of night sky. He was as enthusiastic as any other four year old. He was adored by his neighbours and relatives. He said to his friend, "Can you make a building taller than mine?" "Yes Arjun. Of course I can." "I bet you can't." Arjun was busy playing with his blocks and talking to his friend when his mother entered his room. "Arjun! Whom are you talking to?" she shouted. "My friend here mom." "There is nobody in this room except you and me. You are imagining a friend." "No mom, look! Here he is.. Sitting on my rocking chair," Arjun pointed to his chair near him. But there was no one there. "There is no one there. I have told you several times there is no friend in your room. I do not want to see this continue. You will not talk to yourself when you are alone," said his mother sternly. "But mom, I am not talk...

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...