Sunday, May 31, 2015

Quick Review of Ishqedarriyaan

Image Courtesy: www.glamsham.com

Cast: Mahaakshay Chakraborty (Agam Diwan), Evelyn Sharma (Luvleen), Mohit Dutta (Arjun), Kavin Dave (Rahul), Suhasini Mulay (Dadi), Ravi Khemu (Arjun’s father), Yatharth Dholakia (Laddu)
Direction: VK Prakash
Produced by: Rajesh Banga
Music: Jeet Ganguli, Jaidev Kumar, Bilal Saeed
Release Date: 29th May, 2015
Duration: 135 minutes
Language: Hindi

Ishqedarriyaan lacks the depth and is full of emotional drama. I sincerely wished that atleast Mahaakshay’s career should take off from this movie.  When the film started, I felt that the movie might be good. It appeared as if Mahaakhsay has worked on his voice modulation, presentation and acting and he would be able to carry the movie on his shoulders. But within 10 minutes, everything appeared to be substandard in the movie, be it the screenplay, actors, story, overall presentation. The only aspects appealed to me in the movie were songs, and a few locations which looked beautiful. I don’t want to comment saying that Mahaakhshay lacks acting skills, but the truth is that he is not able to prove his mettle. The movie is about unconditional love, sacrifice, love traingle. But it is hard to connect to the movie.

Mahaakshay plays the role of lead protagonist Aagam Diwan. He is a very successful businessman settled in USA. People don’t know him by face, since he is aloof from the public eye and he does not allow media to publish his photograph. Rahul as Aagam’s friend (Kavin Dave) manages his affairs. He is definitely a delight to watch. Kaya, a journalist, after consistent follow-up, manages to get 2-minutes interview with Aagam. She gets offended when Aagam does not give her time beyond 2 minutes to complete the interview. She decides to set the score right with him and digs down his past. Kaya threatens Aagam that she would expose him and informs him that his father had fled away from India after taking 20 Lakhs from someone. Aagam gets disturbed with this revelation and he decides to investigate and get to the depth of this matter. This decision takes Aagam and Rahul to India, where the entry of suit clad Luvleen (Evelyn Sharma) happens, who is running her grandfather’s school and staying with grandmother (Suhasini). Luvleen is trying desperately to get some donation so as to keep the school running. According to Kaya’s report, Aagam’s father had taken money from Luvleen’s grandfather.

For Aagam, it is love at first sight with Luvleen. Now the plot is very much simple and conventional. A boy falls in love with a girl, and the girl falls in love with another boy. So, the other character is Arjun (Mohit Dutta), an upcoming musician. Here is a predictable love story, confusions, sacrifices, dilemmas etc.

The child artist Yatharth Dholakia (Laddu) has been given dialogues which do not reflect his innocence at all.

It is very easy to predict regarding what happens in the end? Who amongst Aagam and Arjun get the girl? How does Aagam explore the truth of Kaya’s story?

Ishqedarriyaan has nothing to offer in terms of story, actors, dialogues etc. My rating is dedicated to the music of the film.

Rating: 1.5/5 (Poor +)








Saturday, May 23, 2015

Review of Tanu Weds Manu Returns

Image Courtesy: indiatoday.intoday.in

Cast: Kangana Ranaut (Tanu and Kusum), Madhavan (Manu), Jimmy Shergill (Raja Awasthi), Deepak Dobriyal (Pappi), Ejjaz Khan (Jassi), Swara Bhaskar (Payal Rathore), Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub (Chintu aka Arun), Rajendra Gupta (Tanu’s father), KK Raina (Manu’s father), Dipti Mishra (Manu’s mother), Rajesh Sharma (Kusum’s brother)
Direction: Anand L Rai
Produced by: Kishore Lulla and Anand L Rai
Written by: Himanshu Sharma
Music: Krsna Solo, Tanishk-Vayu
Cinematography: Chirantan Das
Edited by: Hemal Kothari
Production Company: Colour Yellow Pictures
Distributed by: Eros International
Release Date: 22nd May, 2015
Duration: 132 minutes
Language: Hindi

Tanu Weds Manu Returns, a sequel to hit Romantic Comedy firm of 2011 - Tanu Weds Manu. There is always tremendous amount of expectations from a sequel of a successful film, and it is interesting to see, how Director Anand L Rai has shaped up this movie. When I had watched Tanu weds Manu, I had always wondered how Tanu and Manu’s marriage life would shape up - two diametrically opposite individuals. If Manu had a very subtle and polite attitude, Tanu had rebellious attitude. The earlier version had its own quirks and twists, which has not changed in this movie also. The sequel is titled as Tanu Weds Manu Returns, and indeed the return is even more quirky. The tone of the movie is unapologetic, non-judgmental, and unconventional. As was the case with the predecessor, the plot grows beyond dualism, right/wrong. The characters have not changed at all, the eccentricities continue in full form in Tanu Weds Manu Returns as well. It captures the various aspects of marriage- what happens when monotony slips into marriage, when the spark misses from the relationship, how one is not able to understand the emotional challenges faced by the other, how the couple is bored in relationship and finds reasons to blame each other, set of expectations followed by disappointments with each other etc. The best part is, humour is there throughout the movie, no emotional baggage is there, no villain in the movie. Set in four locations - London, Delhi, Kanpur and a Haryana village Jhajjar, the screenplay free flows magically in absolutely entertaining manner.

Movie begins from where its predecessor stopped. Tanu is getting married to Manu. Their wedding scenes are there on screen with the background score ‘Sun Saiban Sun, Pyar ki Dhun…’.  Does ‘Happily lived thereafter’ become true for Tanu and Manu? This movie captures their lives ‘Four Years later’ after their much loud and dramatic marriage. Tanu (Kangana Ranaut) and Manu (Madhavan) are at the doctors’ desk discussing their frustration with one another. Hilarious scenes. If Tanu has complaints about Manu not showing any spark / enthusiasm in relationship;  Manu’s logic is from where to bring spark (is he a lighter) and how many times or ways he should be telling the same three words –‘I love you’. Kangana complaints about monotony in relationship. Manu interprets Tanu’s moodiness, emotional ups and downs as her having bipolar disorder and the doctor very politely puts it across to him, if that is the case, then every female on this earth might be having bipolar disorders. Both of them had a long list of blames and accusations against each other. The whole drama and conflicts makes Manu land in mental asylum and Tanu decides to come back to Kanpur. Her uneasiness of leaving Manu in mental asylum is handled in her own eccentric manner. She informs Pappi (Deepak Dobriyal, friend of Manu) in a very effortless tone regarding Manu being in mental asylum and asks him to get him out. Pappi is in his usual witty self, prefers to do the sight-seeing in London rather than directly going to the asylum. On getting Tanu’s reminder, he brings Manu out of the asylum. Both of them fly back to Delhi. Another hilarious scene is the conversation between father and the son. Manu talks to his father about his desire for giving divorce to Tanu. During their conversation, Manu’s mother is cribbing in the background and father tells him that marriage is all about compromise and so Manu must continue with his marriage. When Manu retorts saying that he had to bear the torture for four years, father says he is bearing since last 40 years. Two school of thoughts here (without any preachy dialogues).




Twist to the story happens when Manu goes to University to deliver a lecture, where he sees Tanu’s look alike Kusum Datto Sangwan, an athlete. Manu feels that in spite of dreading to fall in love, he has once again fallen in love with Kusum. Kusum has typical Haryanvi accent. Plot moves to show how he chases Kusum. Parallelly, frames are shown about Tanu being at her usual best - eccentric, unapologetic, unpredictable and rebellious. She deals with her heartbreaks in her own unique fashion. She doesn’t mind going to each and every ex-boyfriend and meet them without any emotional baggage. If Manu is dating Kusum in Delhi, Tanu is supposedly going out with Raja Awasthi (Jimmy Shergill, her ex-flame). 

Jassi (Ejjaz Khan) and Payal’s (Swara Bhaskar) marital life’s glimpse is also there in this movie. Chintu aka Arun Kumar Singh (Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub) is the new character, who is a tenant in Tanu’s house and an advocate by profession. He is another eccentric character.

What happens, when Tanu comes to know regarding Kusum? How is Raja Awasthi in this sequel, is he the same old Raja? Do we get to hear the bullet shots from Raja? How and when does the paths of Tanu, Manu, Kusum, Raja cross one another? Whom does Manu choose at the end – Tanu or Kusum?

Kangana rocks as Tanu and Kusum. She has actually evolved through her various roles. She has done complete justice to both the roles. One is rebel and feels that she also has the right to do whatever she wants to do and whichever way she wants to do, whereas the other takes pride in her achievements with her hard work and determination. If Tanu is the ‘Batman of her Mohalla’, Kusum is independent and responsible in her own stride. You can imagine, what happens when Tanu and Kusum come face to face. A great delight to see Kangana essaying both the roles effortlessly. Although I did feel that Kusum’s accent is not very clear in some parts, but overall, both the characters Tanu and Kusum have used their typical accent, enunciation and dialect well.

I am disappointed with Madhavan in this movie. I loved him absolutely in the first part. But here, I felt, he is tired, has nothing much to do. Very few dialogues are there with him. Is it intentional that he has been given an exhausted look? He is polite as earlier, but I am just wondering, was it possible to explore his character and demeanour differently ? Deepak Dobriyal and Ayyub excel as Pappi and Chintu. Rest of the cast are all good. Songs blend with the narratives of the film.

I also felt that the pace of the movie was comparatively slow in the second half. And certain scenes are just not realistic. But as one of the song goes: “I might be sentimental, but don’t be so judgmental”, it applies for the movie as well. Since the movie is an absolute entertainer.

Tanu Weds Manu Returns is a pure entertainer full of hilarious and eccentric scenes. Double Dhamaal with Kangana’s dual roles.


Rating: 3.5/5 (Good +)







Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Review of Bombay Velvet

Image Courtesy: http://tribune.com.pk/

Cast: Ranbir Kapoor (Johnny Balaraj), Anushka Sharma (Rosie Noronha), Karan Johar (Kaizad Khambatta), Kay Kay Menon (Vishwas Kularni), Manish Choudhary (Jimmy Mistry), Siddhartha Basu (Romi Patel), Remo Fernandez (Portuguese Man), Satyadeep Misra (Chimman), Vivaan Shah (Tony), Raveena Tandon (cameo)
Direction: Anurag Kashyap
Produced by: Vikas Bahl, Vikramaditya Motwane
Written by: Vasan Bala, Gyan Prakash, Anurag Kashyap, S Thanikachalam
Based on: Mumbai Fables by Gyan Prakash
Screenplay: Juhi Chaturvedi
Music: Amit Trivedi
Cinematography: Rajeev Ravi
Edited by: Prerna Saigal, Thelma Schoonmaker
Production Company: Phantom Films
Distributed by: Fox Star Studios
Release Date: 15th May, 2015
Duration: 149 minutes
Language: Hindi

Bombay Velvet, is a Indian Period Crime Drama by Anurag Basu. After watching the film, I was confused, how to review this movie. I was in dilemma whether to like the movie or not. And by this time, when I sit to review this movie, much has been already written about this. Most of the reviews say that movie is a disaster. I really don’t feel like calling this movie a disaster. Box office results may be frustrating, but, here is a film, where a filmmaker has definitely crafted it with great style. The most appealing aspects of this movie are its visuals and soundtracks. But, the screenplay is very ordinary, treated at a very superficial and shallow level, lacks depth. I wonder, whether, Anurag Basu could have handled the plot differently, but I think, he did experiment with a new style.

Bombay Velvet based on a book called Mumbai Fables (by historian Gyan Prakash) projects the city of 1949-1969. Lot of street fights, boxing ring scenes, murders, political rivalries, shootouts, treacheries, power play etc. all are shown in the film. And in the backdrop of all these, jazz soirees happen. A love story also blooms.      

Raveena Tandon opens the film with her Jazz song. Balraj and his friend Chimman (as kids), are shown to stray into Bombay City. Balraj is raised by a sex-worker. He grows up as a fiery young man. He gets his dream to be ‘a big shot’ when he watches ‘The Roaring Twenties’ (a gangster film - 1939). The climax of this movie influences him: James Cagney dies in the arms of Gladys George and she says to an onlooker: “He used to be a big shot’.  This becomes the turning point of Balraj and he starts aspiring to make it big.

He happens to fall for Rosie Noronha (Anushka Sharma, this character is influenced by Lorna Cordeiro, a Jazz singer who ruled the night clubs in 1960s). Rosie is finding her own ways to survive in the city by modeling, working in a beauty parlour and singing at night clubs.

Balraj, in his aspirations to be a big shot, chooses wrong paths. His attempt of bank robbery along with Chimman fails, but that is where, the antagonist of the movie sinister media baron Kaizad Khambatta (Karan Johar)’s entry happens. Kaizad offers him opportunities to be a big shot. Balraj becomes Johnny Balraj. His style changes. Chimman is there with Johney Balraj in all his efforts to be a big shot. Johnny Balraj very soon grows to be the owner of Kaizad’s nightclub Bombay Velvet. Rosie becomes the star attraction of Bombay Velvet club with her Jazz singing. Rosie is his life. Bombay Velvet becomes the center of all illegal transactions.

What happens next? How Kaizad’s manipulations shape the story? How does the mentor-protégé (Kaizad – Balraj) relationship shape? What happens, when Balraj understands Kaizad’s manipulations? Is the love story between Balraj and Rosie a smooth one? How politics, power-play influences the story? What happens to the friendship between Balaraj and Chimman ?

Ranbir has done complete justice to his role as Johnny Balaraj. His retro look is convincing. Anushka has less of dialogues and more of jazz singing. She is also good but appears to be pretentious in some singing shots (is it due to her lip job gone wrong).

I am wondering why the opening credits say –‘Introducing Karan Johar’, since Bombay Velvet is not his acting debut. He has acted in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jaayenge. Karan Johar is successful in defying his good-looking image to be a villain.

Satyadeep Misra as Chimman stands out in the film. He is a terrific performer. Manish Choudhary as Jimmy Mistry (a newspaper editor) fits into the character very well. Siddharth Basu as Romi Patel is also good. Vivaan Shah as Tony (Rosie’s chauffeur), is good. Kay Kay Menon is shown as a helpless Police officer who has to succumb to power.

Bombay Velvet, though low on entertainment quotient, is very high on style quotient. You would definitely appreciate Jazz Soiree and the authenticity with which retro Bombay is shown.

Rating: 2.5/5 (Average +)

Monday, May 11, 2015

Quick Review of Oru Second Class Yatra (ഒരു IIക്ലാസ്സ്‌ യാത്ര)

Image Courtesy: http://www.nowrunning.com/movie/16672/malayalam/oru-second-class-yathra/gallery/
Cast: Vineeth Srinivasan (Nandu), Chemban Vinod (Maran), Nedumoodi Venu, Shreejith Ravi
Direction: Jackson
Produced by: Bijoy Chandran
Release Date: 8th May, 2015
Language: Malayalam

Oru Second Class Yatra (ഒരു IIക്ലാസ്സ്‌ യാത്ര), a film by Jackson, has definitely disappointed the viewers. The screenplay chose to focus on weird jokes or giving cues with double meaning to the audience. Very badly knit storyline. It starts by the narration of Prithviraj and the training in a Police academy. The director chooses to project the voyeuristic attitude of a police officer with no good reason. After the initial frames of the police training academy, the shots move forward by four years by the police officers Joly and Balu being entitled with a responsibility to take two criminals from Kanoor jail to Trivandrum Poojapura jail.  Yes, you guessed it right, one of the criminal is played by Vineeth Srinivasan (Nandu) and another one is Chemban Vinod (Maran). Two Police officers along with the two criminals start their journey in a train by 2nd class. The movie explores the sexual abuse story, but it falters completely. Some cheap jokes takes precedence.  The plot didn’t shape up at all. Why and how Vineeth became a criminal is conveyed in a completely uninterested manner. Vineeth’s magic is completely missing from this movie. Filmmaker hasn’t instilled any passion into this film, story, characters.

Oru Second Class Yatra is absurd. Avoid it.

Rating: 0/5 (No Rating)




Quick Review of Kuch Kuch Locha Hai

Image Courtesy: http://jilaaga.com/
Cast: Ram Kapoor (Praveen Patel), Sunny Leone (Shanaya), Suchita (Kokila), Evleen (Naina), Navdeep Chabra (Jigar)
Direction: Devang Dholakia
Produced by: Mukesh Purohit
Release Date: 8th May, 2015
Duration: 144 minutes
Language: Hindi

Kuch Kuch Locha hai, a film by Devang Dholakia. I thought not to review this movie, but later decided to write a quick review just to stop you from watching this horrible movie. There is only locha in this movie. I wish, we stop making such movies. It does not fit under a specific genre. Neither there is any entertainment nor there is any message in the movie. Praveen Patel (Ram Kapoor) is a businessman in Malaysia and is a great fan of Shanaya (Sunny Leone), a bollywood actress. He wins a reality show which fetches him a date with Shanaya.  Shanaya wants to prepare herself for the role of a Gujarati housewife and so she seeks help from Praveen Patel. Praveen manipulates his wife Kokila (Suchita Trivedi), manages to send her out of the house and brings Shanaya home. Indeed lot more locha take place during all these: Praveen’s son Jigar is a debutant Navdeep Chabbra  and his love interest in the movie Naina (Evleen) are equally irritating. Sunny Leone is continuing to do what she has been doing in all previous films – just made an object of desire and lust. I am sad with the fact that Ram Kapoor, even after the failure of Hamshakals, chose to do another disastrous film.  

Kuch Kuch Locha hai has only ‘Lochas’. So, just avoid it.


Rating: 0/5 (No Rating)

Review of Piku

Image Courtesy: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/41/First_Look_Poster.jpg
Cast: Deepika Padukone (Piku), Amitabh Bachchan (Bhashkor Banerjee), Irrfan Khan (Rana Chaudhary), Moushumi Chatterjee, Raghuvir Yadav, Jishu Sengupta
Direction: Shoojit Sircar
Produced by: NP Singh, Ronnie Lahiri, Sneha Rajani
Written by: Juhi Chaturvedi
Screenplay: Juhi Chaturvedi
Music: Anupam Roy
Cinematography: Kamaljeet Negi
Edited by: Chandrashekhar Prajapati
Production Company: MSM Motion Pictures, Saraswati Entertainment Creations Limited, Rising Sun Films
Release Date: 8th May, 2015
Duration: 125 minutes
Language: Hindi

Piku, a film by Shoojith Sircar, celebrates the father-daughter relationship in a very unique manner. Released two days prior to Mother’s day, definitely celebrates this wonderful relationship between an aging parent and the adult daughter. It is being said that there is not much difference between a 7-year old child and 70-year old person. Piku explores the regular bittersweet relationship between parents and children. It stands true in our Indian context, where, the parent, who takes care of children, when grows old, wishes to be taken care of by children. Story telling is done in a unique manner, where most of the time, one problem persists i.e. constipation of the aging parent. Humour is linked to this. The punch line ‘motion se hi e-motion hota hai’ speaks volumes about the movie. I will not say that this movie will be liked by all the people, but I am sure, it would strike some chord and touch your hearts.

Piku (Deepika Padukone) is a 30 year old professional associated with an architecture firm. Her father Bhashkor Banerjee (Amitabh Bachchan) stays with her, who has serious problem of regular constipation. He does not hesitate to even give message to the receptionist of Piku’s office in regard to his bowel disorder. Piku definitely gets irritated by his habits, but that does not stop her from taking care of him. Piku is very well aware that it is her top most priority to take care of her father. Although, the differences between Piku and her father us shown, but the best thing is that, it is shown in such a natural manner. Piku wants to sell their ancestral house Champakunj at Kolkatta, and on Bhashkor’s insistence (rather emotional blackmail), happens to travel by road. The cab service owner Rana Chaudhary (Irrfan Khan) chooses to drive the cab. Rest of the story covers their road journey: irritation of Rana with Bhashkor’s and Piku’s moodiness, Bhashkor getting insecure with Rana talking to Piku, bittersweet talks between Piku and Bhashkor (minus any emotional baggage), confrontation happening between Piku-Bhashkor, Bhashkor-Rana etc.

Dialogues though conveyed in a very light manner have great meaning. Bhashkor says that females with low IQ marry. He specifically talks about this in context of females since they just leave their parents’ home, and dedicate or sacrifice their whole lives for husband and family. Though, one tends to agree with this dialogue, the real undercurrent is the insecurity of a father not wanting his daughter to go away from him after marriage. A father dreads to be left alone after marriage of his daughter, and the daughter understands this fact so well. The emotional troubles of the daughter is also captured beautifully. In spite of her wanting some space, she knows that she can’t live without her father and vice versa. Such a beautiful relationship, where dependency of both father and the daughter are depicted in a simple manner with lot of humour added to the same. Bhashkor has no qualms in telling the prospective grooms of Piku that she is not a virgin and she is financially, emotionally  as well as sexually independent. His idea behind this disclosure is to make the person decide against marrying Piku. It is interesting to see, how Bhashkor is particular about spelling of his name (Bengali roots). He picks up fight with the maid, keeps troubling his helper. But all these are done so naturally that one ends up believing in the characters.

Although 60% of the dialogues are woven around bowel disorders, the movie is about an aging man, who does not want to die with pain. He is extra conscious all the time. His nostalgia is also clearly depicted, when he just does not want to sell Champakunj, since this house has memories of the past. Also, the movie talks about the bond between a father and a daughter in spite of the differences they have. How along with the growing age, the role reversal happens: the child who was taken care of, now has to take care of the parent. The bonding between Piku and her business partner Syed (Jishhu Sengupta), the kind of understanding between the two and the budding romance between Irrfan and Deepika have been handled very subtly.

Amitabh, Deepika and Irrfan have carried the movie on their shoulders. Moushami as the Mausi of Piku is also good.

Most of us would be able to connect to Piku. A simple story told in an interesting manner.

Rating: 3.5/5 (Good +)



#Piku #MoviereviewofPiku #Hindifilmpiku #reviewofpiku


Sunday, May 10, 2015

Share The Load

Rahul and Raji always made an ideal couple. So, the friends and family were shocked when Raji announced her decision to divorce Rahul. Their 3.5 years of marriage was coming to an end. The World was not able to understand, what actually went wrong between them. People gossiped on the basis of their own assumptions. Rahul fueled to the gossip by posing to be helpless and denying his consent for the divorce. Raji chose to keep quiet.

Being a close friend of Raji, one day, when I sat with her, she broke down and confessed that she was really emotionally troubled due to the negativities spread in and around her due to gossips. But what was Raji’s story? Are you interested to know?

Raji entered into matrimonial alliance with just one simple hope, of making it successful. Raji accepted the fact that Rahul was a different person, rather diametrically opposite to her. Raji being an entrepreneur had a hectic work life, but this never became an obstacle in her fulfilling her domestic responsibilities.

But Rahul was from a different space altogether. He had a detached attitude towards life. Forget about sharing the load, he did not even bother to sit and share some time with Raji. Raji told me, that how Rahul used to keep to himself completely. On reaching home after work, he would never even try to pick a glass of water for himself, rather would expect Raji to do that. Raji might be suffering from fever or anything, he would not even try to ask her how she was, forget about taking care of Raji. There were two doors in Raji’s house, in case, Rahul reached early, Rahul would enter the house from the back door, but would never keep the front door unlocked for Raji to come. This was there even when Raji travelled out of station for her work. And on her return, Raji had to keep the baggage aside, unlock the door first  and then enter the house. Raji said, she felt so very unwelcomed and unwanted in her own house. Raji still remembers, how, once when she secretly paid Rahul’s credit card bills so as to surprise him, but ended up getting lot of abuses in return. The list like this goes endless.  

Raji said, she was still ok with Rahul’s all these habits of not sharing the load at home, but she kept on asking herself, couldn’t Rahul atleast sit with her to spend some quality time with her.

Ultimately Raji took the toughest decision of her life of parting ways with Rahul. She was questioned about her decision, but she was very clear. Her heart and mind said the same thing. For the world, Raji’s decision was absolutely wrong. But Raji told me one simple thing: “The world wants to know, how I felt abused by Rahul; how to let the world know that emotional abuses don’t leave any physical scar but it leaves a deep scar on heart”. Yes, emotional abuses are equally painful, rather more painful than physical abuses. Raji decided to part ways with Rahul since he neither bothered to share the load at household things nor bothered to share his life with Raji.

Image Courtesy: http://blog.blogadda.com/2015/04/23/sharetheload-share-the-love-with-ariel-blogging-household-chores
I don’t deny the fact that as Raji has her own version of story, Rahul also would be having his own version of story. But one fact is without denial that situations would have been definitely different, if Rahul could have taken efforts to atleast be part of Raji’s life. Gone are the days, when a man used to be the bread-winner of the family, and a woman used to be just a housewife and take care of the house. Today, females are equally contributing towards corporate boardroom as well as homes. And so only, it is very important for the husband and wife to share the load (#ShareTheLoad), household chores, finance etc. Life would definitely be very beautiful with being part of one another’s life in every sense- be it physically, emotionally, financially… Afterall, families’ bond grow only stronger and stronger with the sharing.

It is not important that how much time, one spends with each other, but it is very important that how much quality time a couple gives to one another. I really resonate with Ariel and believe that equality within the household leads to better quality time with each other and results in success for the household. Indeed, marriage is all about partnership and sharing the load would make this partnership stay intact for the lifetime.



“I am writing for the #ShareTheLoad activity at BlogAdda.com in association with Ariel.”

Mumma: Angel of my Life

Me with my Mumma

Dearest Mumma,

Luv you Mumma!

Today, when I sit down to write a letter to you, I am choked with emotions. I want to let you know, how u have shaped my life, but I am not getting any words to express my feelings. Yes, Mumma, I know, only off late I have started expressing to you that how important you are to me, but I keep wondering, haven’t I taken you for granted for most of the earlier years. I never sat and expressed to you, how you made me what I am today. All those early years of my life, I never told you, what you meant to me. I know, if I start writing all those instances where you instilled in me the values of my life, this letter would be a never-ending one.

Mumma, do you remember, what I did when I was in 3rd Standard. You probably would have forgotten this as one of my mischievous activity, but I have never forgotten the same. Rather this incident drives one of my values of my life today.

I remember, I was so lazy to write. Papa used to make me sit and study. So, not knowing an answer to a question in examination never happened in childhood. It was 3rd Standard annual examination. During all the test papers, I felt too lazy to write the complete answers and just left all the answers incomplete. Since I knew all the answers, I narrated the answers to one of my friend Shobha sitting next to me.

After a month, when the results came, I was aghast and had no option other than pay the price for my laziness. I had scored hardly 35, 40, 45 on an average out of 100 in all the papers and Shobha stood at 3rd rank with 80, 85, 90 etc. I knew Mumma that you would scold me for the poor results of mine.

I took red ink pen from another friend of mine, and just corrected all the low marks and rewrote there 90, 95, 98 etc. and after doing the total, and wrote ‘First Rank’ there.
With my corrected mark-sheet, I came to you Mumma and you understood that I have lied to you. You asked me to accompany you to meet my class teacher, but I made excuses for not being able to come.

You and Bhaiya went to meet my Class teacher and got to know my actual marks. You know Mumma, when you went, what I did ? For the first time in my life, I did Pooja on my own and prayed to God that my class-teacher should validate my corrected marks. But, obviously, the truth had to come out.

And Mumma, you remember, when you came back, you did scold me. But you also said one thing: “You should not have lied, however bad marks you got.” I was just 7 year old, probably could not understand much at that point of time. When I grew up, I understood your message Mumma, you wanted to convey to me that It is absolutely alright to fail in life, but it is not good to be dishonest to one’s own conscience and to the loved ones.

You taught me one of the greatest lessons of my life. I have failed so many times in my life, had so many low points in life, but your lesson has stayed with me Mumma. I believe that success and failures are part of our lives. I believe in giving my best (unlike my childhood), and even if the results are not as per my expectations, I remember your lesson Mumma that I need to handle myself in failures as well. You taught me Mumma that I can never afford to be dishonest towards my own conscience. You also taught me that by accepting the failures gracefully and being ready to learn the lessons out of it would ultimately fetch me success.

This was just one incident Mumma, where you have influenced me and taught me. But there are so many incidences in life, where I have picked up so many things from you.
Thank you Mumma for making me what I am today. I know, I have never told you, let me tell you today: You are the angel of my life. I want to be born to you in every forthcoming lives. I am very selfish Mumma, I want you to be there always for me.

Happy Mother’s Day Mumma.

With loads of hugs, love and kisses,

#YoursHonestly
Bindu


I am writing a letter about how a mother teaches honesty to her child with the Max Life Insurance i-genius  #YoursHonestly activity in association with BlogAdda.

Image Courtesy: http://blog.blogadda.com/2015/05/07/blog-for-max-life-insurance-yourshonestly-this-mothers-day-weekend


Friday, May 1, 2015

Review of Gabbar is Back

Image Courtesy: www.glamsham.com
Cast: Akshay Kumar (Aditya aka Gabbar), Shruti Hassan (Shruti), Sunil Grover (Sadhuram), Suman Talwar (Digvijay Patil), Jaideep Ahlawat (Kuldeep Pahwa), Kareena Kapoor Khan (Cameo), Chitrangda Singh (Item song)
Direction: Krish
Produced by: Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Viacom 18 Motion Pictures
Written by: Rajat Arora
Story: A Murugadoss
Music: Songs – Chiranta Bhatt, Yo Yo Honey Singh, Manj Music, Bacground Score – Sandeep Chowta
Cinematography: Nirav Shah
Edited by: Rajesh G Pandey
Production Company: Bhansali Productions
Distributed by: Viacom 18 Motion Pictures
Release Date: 1st May, 2015
Duration: 130 minutes
Language: Hindi

Gabbar is Back, a film by Director Krish and remake of 2002’s A Murugadoss’ Tamil Film Ramanna. The iconic character and villain of Sholay - Gabbar’s name is being used for the protagonist of this movie. Gabbar is absolutely non-erasable from Indian Cinema. As such, there is no similarity between Amjad Khan’s Gabbar and Akshay Kumar’s Gabbar. The former one had ‘naam aur Kaam villain ka’ whereas the later one has ‘naam villain ka, kaam hero ka’. The theme of the movie is really relevant. It talks about the corrupt system existing everywhere in our country, be it government officials, builders, hospitals etc. We have seen this theme many times offlate.  There was tremendous scope for this movie to be a great one, but the screenplay falters. Lot of punch lines and dialogues are used which at times goes overboard. Also, the songs pop out, which do not add much to the screenplay. In fact, we have seen this Akshay Kumar also in the past who tries to fight the system. Still, one can watch the movie for its theme. None of us can deny that fact that the system needs cleaning from top to bottom and that is what is shown in the movie. All of us can relate to various scenes, corrupt medical system - where a hospital is exploiting the patient’s family, government officials demanding money to do every work, builders bribing the officials to get sanction for illegal constructions / or use poor raw materials for construction etc. I completely resonate with a dialogue of the movie: Himmat hai to power nahi, power hai to himmat nahi, and agar power aur himmat hai to corruption hai. So, to clean the system, lot of such Gabbar (s) are required. PWD (Power Wala Danda) is required.

Akshay plays the role of Aditya aka Gabbar, who is in a mission to flush out the corruption from the society and he literally eradicates corrupt officials from the society. Initial shots show him surfing and finalizing the list of corrupt Tahsildars and very soon police officials get the information of kidnapping of 10 Tahsildars in and around Mumbai. One of them (the most corrupt one) is hanged with files tied to his body and rest of the nine although return home, don’t speak out. Nobody knows the identity of Gabbar, nobody has seen Gabbar. So, Police officials and media keep discussing about how to catch Gabbar. Police officials, media, common people get a CD with Gabbar’s voice in it that his mission is to get the corruption out of the system. There is Sadhuram (Sunil Grover aka Gutthi of Kapil’s Comedy show fame), a junior personnel in the Police Department, who had the talent and aspiration to be an Inspector but could not get the much deserving post due to corrupt system. Sadhu keeps trying in spite of being discouraged / humiliated by his senior officials to search for Gabbar in his own manner and later, he indeed gets clues about Gabbar’s identity.

Later, the script reveals the story of Akshay of how and why he transformed from Aditya to Gabbar. Opposite him, there is Digvijay Patil (Suman Talwar), a real estate tycoon, who believes that he is a brand in himself. Patil blames Gabbar for the miseries caused to him. Then the fight starts between the two.

CBI official Kuldeep Pahwa (Jaideep Ahlawat) takes up the charge for catching Gabbar, but he also seems to be relying more on Sadhuram.

Shruti Hassan, plays Akshay’s friend (cum love interest), a lawyer by profession, who relies on google information. She is very average in this movie.

I wish that both Akshay and Shruti sported a better hairdo. Akshay’s beard is also not going with his looks.

Akshay is there in every frame of the movie. He and Sunil Grover carries most parts of  the movie on their shoulders. Kareena appears in a song sequence. Chitrangda in an item number – Oh, I felt sad for her, absolutely wasted in this item number.

What is the plan of action of Gabbar? What about Digvijay Patil and CBI officer’s plan? How Sadhu manages to get some clues? What made an ordinary person transform to Gabbar ? What was the old score between Digvijay Paatil and Gabbar, which had to be settled off? How does the climax shape up? Do you get to hear the unforgettable dialogue of Gabbar – Tera kya Hoga Kaaliya?

"Gabbar is Back" can be watched only because the message is loud, clear, and very relevant. Dedicated to Swachch Bharat. My rating of 3 goes because of the theme of the movie.

Rating: 3/5 (Good)