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Everyone is flooding the theatres to watch Fashion. Not for the film, but for the beauties. 

But as if I am a strange alien, I have been thinking too much over it. The hype around the film, expanded my eyes and ears for in-depth analysis of the film that came out as a review. So checkout my “Fashion” film review posted or rather guest blogged on “The Newspaper Blog” which is run by Ashwin from Chennai. No, no, its not a popular daily or weekly journal or something, but the blog is popular for its Torrents, Movies and TV show reviews. Long back, that blog contained tips and tricks for eligible people to woo girls and win hearts or ways to be romantic, but now I guess he is busy belling the CAT and smoking Apples and Mac!!

Excerpts:-

Enjoy reading!!!

I had resorted to review immediately each and every book that I read, so that I could pen down my views and the emerging thoughts influenced by the writing onto the blog. But off late, the timing was not enough and bad scheduling have chopped off most of the thoughts. So before I lose them all, let me share few lines atleast for some of them.

Brida by Paul Coelho:

I had finished this soon after I did the page123 tag. The effect of Paul Coelho had kinda started to diminish in me one by one. Not that I disliked his theme n all, but I am not that impressed any more. Maybe that’s why I am hesitating to take up the thrid book of his from my bookshelf, “By the river Piedra…”. There had been many instances which I didn’t liked or believed in this book, say for example, the re-birth and the story of Wicca and Witchcraft. I don’t deny or say that re-birth is false, but its just that I have not been convinced yet of those thoughts. The main thing I liked is that, Brida was in search of her soulmate, if it ever existed, just like any young woman and the revelation to her that we can meet more than one soulmate in our lives. The concept of the Dark Forest was also meaningful at times, and I particularly liked the ending (if at all you have the patience to reach there!) , which is almost applicable in the present life.

Ladies Coupe by Anita Nair:

The starting of the book was great, since it spoke of the railway station and train journeys which reminded me of my own travels. There was a fictional part of listening to all the life stories of 5 people in one single night, but nevertheless its a fiction. The stories of all the young ladies strikes a note with present life, but not entirely at some places. Some places it looks exaggerated, but we never know what all happens at urban places or within relationships. The protagonist, Akhila searches for an answer whether is it essential for a woman to get married in life. The unrevealed answer is contained in the open ending, so as to create more depth in the intrigued solutions of the common question. For me, its actually par with the Arranged Marriage, but on the other side, and I feel it portrays unconventional answers, but depicting conventional importance. Read the rest of this entry »

I had watched Kidnap last Sunday. It was unscheduled but still we got tickets. Imran Khan would be really happy that we had seen his both films!!! Nothing much to write about as its pretty much done here. At most places, RK and me were laughing out loud for the stupid scenes, and at the artificiality of Bollywood. Obviously, how can you not laugh when an 18 year old kidnapped victim, instead of making use of the chance and escape, nurses the kidnapper who has been gun-shot!! The glam dresses of both mother and daughter are again unfit to the theme. Minisha is not fit for glam roles. She is cute and able to act, but I guess needs to be choosy. The only part I liked was the tasks set by the kidnapper, the clues, the convincing answers for the actions, and tasks and the ending, which unlike other films doesn’t end up with love story among the kidnapper and the victim!

Does it also points out at the dark side of the law system and the juvenile home treatment and jail which creates more criminals out of young people?

From many years, the most catchy topic among the film writers are the stories involving emotions. There are many international and national or even regional films or movies created which talks of the simple and heart-felt underlying emotions of human being. This clearly clarifies that human beings, though belongs to various regions, speaks different languages, follows different religions and customs, are made up of the same atoms which contains the elements of emotions too. As in the survival of the fittest, its upto our surroundings and environment, that some times turns heart into stone.  Recently I watched some films which spoke of the pure feelings and love deep hidden amongst our hearts, and some of which even has a dark shade to it.

My Girl (Fan Chan in Thai) is a Thai film, which speaks of the innocent and pure love towards your childhood best friend. Jeah and Noi Nah were the best friends and neighbours when they studied in the same school. At the small age, when we loved to grow,  and grow on adventures, Jeah struggles to balance his friendship with Noi Nah, while juggling his priorities with other boys and his adventures.  Just like us, he forgets that time does not wait for him and they move apart. After few years, he hopes to meet her again at her wedding. The Thai small town landscape depicted the typical Indian villages kinda atmostphere and the sissy sassy games, the school classes, and the routine, brings back and flashes your childhood memories where in you can relate to some way or the other. The lyrics of the songs are beautifully poetic, when you understand them, with the help of the sub titles. Read the rest of this entry »

“Lucky hote hai woh jinhe zindagi mein doosra mauka miltha hai…”

Yesterday, on the fly, we got tickets for Rock On!!! And it was absolutely rocking. I don’t want to review it. I couldn’t view it as a film. It portrayed characters with some shades of mine, rather you, or everyone.

The film spoke of the rock band, Magik, which did live performances and created wonders. It spoke of the drift in life, in which they are carried away with the compromises of life. I too, rather ,each one of us has created Magik in our yesteryears. I don’t mean live performances or great music. But some magic moments. At various phases in my life. There were KD, Joe and Rob, Tanya and Debbie in many of those whom I met. There was the reminiscent Tea stall in the form of restaurants and other hang outs. There was even Sakshi amongst us, who tried to bring out the real “us”  from inside. And there were the drift aparts too. It has not been 10 years as in the film, but time has taken its toll already, and is dominating. Are we gonna miss the 10 years? Are we really satisfied with the way we live? Are we really happy? Are we being the real? What is it that we are lacking? What if, we don’t get a second chance unlike in the film? Or did we miss the second chance? What if, we are not lucky as Rob in real life?  Do we need to wait for another Sakshi and Devika to sprung up in our lives and take us back once again to recreate Magik? What’s pulling us back to take the initiative???

“..kab woh mera peecha chodenge?..”
“…jab tum unse bhaagna bandh kar dhoge…“

I have been tagged by Sreeram a while ago on the 123 book tag. Initially I thought it to be very easy one, and i thought I would do it the minute I got the time and internet on, but the choice of books have led me crazy. I am supposed to post the next 3 sentences from the fifth line of page 123 of the nearest book. But which book?

I was reading the “3 mistakes of my life” by Chetan Bhagat when I  was tagged. But I didn’t had the pc that time in Chennai. So I thought I would take it up when I am at home, in Bangalore with nothing to do. But now, the number of books are too much lying around to pick one. I then thought of writing something from “Arranged Marriage” but it didn’t seemed to be interesting. It was a collection of short stories, and if I post some lines of some short story, it wouldn’t blend. Then I had “Brida”, but it was already posted by Sujatha. I glanced through some other books too which was unread, but nothing seems to be captivating except for this one. Its by Paulo Coelho again, “By the River Piedra I sat down and wept“. I don’t know what is it that urges me again to buy his books again and again. Maybe its food-for-thought imprint in every line of his book? Maybe. Maybe one day I would get fed up of his books and style too… hmmm.

Anyways here they are:

“The light from his cigarette illuminated our faces. He took my hand and we sat there for sometime. I ran my fingers through his hair.”

I am in real need of more books to feed my idle mind, and hence though the tag is not that interesting, I do want to tag the following few bloggers:

Megha (seems to be dormant.. but does she will accept my offer?)

Archana Raghuram (have been quite busy offlate… is it the work or writer’s block?)

Ashwin (who has that voracious-book-reader look.. do you take up tags??? or always just torrents? )

and any lazy bloggers who wants to revive up…

After being smitten by Aditi song from Sree, I was following up with the trailors of Jaane Tu.. everywhere in TV and in papers. The fancy words of friendship and love and the borders and all always excited me as any other young woman with no exception. The only problem is that it triggers me into the world of dreams and adventure of untravelled paths and pulls me into never-answered pool of life-related questions.

Like all other girls, I could only say “ga ga goo goo” over Imran Khan, as he is such a cute and handsome boy. Genelia too was cute and I am sure, almost all the guys who came to watch it, would be “meow“ing in their dreams that night. The rest of the gang played only side kick roles and you are not gonna remember them, unless they reminded you of some persons or events in your own college life.

The most unexpected part was that the story was so simple. I had thought of some twists and turns, but nothing happened. Within 15 mins of the start of the film I could realize what would be the end. And to top it all, my favourite song of the film was missing in it! But later I realized it was not the problem of the theatres, but that of the final editing itself. I love the voice of Sukhwinder Singh for the amount of pain and emotions he puts in every line of any song. And here, the lyrics of that song was also good.As explained in other reviews of the same by Deep, Sreeram and Ashwin, I could also sense the dragging of some guest appearances. The impracticality of the screenplay or the script especially in the later half, drove away all my excitement from me. It was like the much-hyped book “3 mistakes of my life“, of which some parts you love and some you hate. The film had the theme which resembled the Malayalam film “Niram” by Kamal; the similarity being reminded to me by a friend of mine.

But there was humor (would you call it rather situational-comedy kind?), there was freshness (there are so many new faces, and of which many are not so bad ones) and there was the energy, and not to forget the songs and the superb background music. I would rate it for 7/10 as its a good flick, if you want to time pass at home, watching it for over a 40 rs DVD with snacks at reachable distance from you.

And as expected, it has triggered again the thoughts in me, rather the partly answered question: Boys and girls can never remain just close or best friends forever. Is it??? What do you say???

“Arranged Marriage” by Chitra Banerjee is a small collection of short stories. Its been long I read short stories, and I even wondered for a sec whether I did a mistake by buying the book. But I was not that much dissatisfied. Maybe its because of the similar emotions I am dwindling in. Or maybe I could understand what they mean when they bring out the moral ” Perfect life is an illusion”. Now that doesn’t mean anything personal about me, but it somewhere resonates in the mind that its part of the bitter truth.

There are stories dealing with dreams and hopes of a bride to the hidden pains and troubles of marriage amidst the unexplainable bond of happiness or the silent comfort and dependency attached to it. I thought it would contain some reflections of a newly wedded couple and their thoughts, but the book grew beyond the small things to reflect upon the big picture. It talked about the live in relationships, pregnancy and abortion and related feelings, the depth of decision making at various stages in life, including that of a adoption, or the delicacies of hiding infidelity and disdain in absolute blankness. What touched me was the bare blankness attached to every character leaving them raw (or ripe?) enough to bare life with half-closed eyes.

The 350 bucks was too expensive for the collection. But nevertheless, it was a good read and had simple vocabulary enough to keep you bound. It can disturb your mood swings, so I would never recommend to read it unless you are in a state of what-the-hell with the world or are in practical terms with life.

I would rate it at 6.5/10.