Journey from Global Village to Global Home

Social Media on Mobile Vs Web – How has it impacted your life?”

I still remember, it was my birthday and I had a special gift from my brother Vinod – a Smart Phone. He inserted my SIM into new mobile and also got activated 3G. And just for fun, I installed facebook, linkedin app and also activated my g+ account. All of a sudden, these accounts which already existed but were passive in nature since years smiled at my smart phone’s screen, since I took care of them for the first time (the way, it was supposed to be done) and made them active. I just started browsing my facebook and there was a friend request (atleast 3 months old) from my college friend (after a period of 20 years). I accepted her friend request, and oh my god, there were a plethora of friend requests from my college friends. I went on accepting those requests one after another and within 4 hours, my friend list had increased from 11 to 101. Oops! I was so very happy to find all those friends whom I always missed all these years and didn’t know how to reestablish contacts. This birthday turned out to be very very special for me. I used to open facebook or linkedin on laptop / PC occasionally, but  all these various social medias on mobile made my social networking also mobile – prompt and regular.

Social Media in itself was a revolution for networking, but this networking strengthened further with the advent of smart phones and 2G, 3G, 4G...

Today, Social Media on mobile has become so much part of my life. I not only connect with my friends regularly, but I have found so many new friends with whom I share common interests and connect with them frequently. We interact about our profession, our passion, our blogs, even our wild eccentricities. Instant responses and interactions have transformed the concept of Global Village to Global Home. Who can even feel remotely loner in this era of networking revolution at its peak?

Social Media on Mobile Vs. Web for me:

पहले हम वक्त निकालकर  मिला करते थे

फिर  हम वक्त चुराकर मिला करते थे

अब आप हमारे साथ हैं 

अत:  न  वक्त निकालने की जरूरत, न वक्त चुराने  की जरूरत

आपके साथ का यह अहसास अब मेरी साँस है

मेरे जीने की आस है  ।

“I am participating in the #SMWBangalore activity at BlogAdda in association with Social Media Week Bangalore“.

Review: Shamitabh

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Dhanush, Akshara Haasan

Direction: R Balki

R Balki has again come up with a different concept after Cheeni Kum and Paa. It talks about the relationship between two people – one is the voice of another, one cannot do without the other. One becomes a superstar with another’s voice. How that need-based relationship is overpowered with complexities like ego, rivalry, unhealthy competitiveness, conflicts, hunger for identity, fame, recognition etc. The concept is uniquely presented with two great actors on screen, though drag is felt in some parts of the movie.   

It is the story of mute Daanish (Dhanush) who dreams of only and only Bollywood right from his childhood. When the teacher teaches in school in regard to Mahatma Gandhi and Kasturba Gandhi, he relates to Ben Kingslay and Rohini Hattangidi. Daanish expresses himself with great intensity through actions. ‘Actions speak louder than words’ fits him. Daanish reaches Mumbai with lot of dreams in his eyes. He gatecrashes to meet different directors, but all in vain. Then enters into the scene Akshara Haasan, an assistant to a filmmaker. She is able to identify the intensity in Daanish and genuinely wants to help him to get a break.

Akshara becomes instrumental in getting the voice of Amitabh Sinha (Amitabh Bachchan) for Daanish with the medical advancement. Amitabh is alcoholic and eccentric in this movie, plays a failed actor, who was snubbed due to his baritone voice, lives in a graveyard.

And a superstar Shamitabh is born– combination of Daanish and Amitabh. Why the name Shamitabh was chosen and how the technology supported Daanish with Amitabh’s voice, let me not convey everything.

The movie is about the ups and downs faced by Shamitabh. The movie also talks about how important it is to realize that an Individual’s success is never his or her only success, but many are instrumental in one’s success. If we stop acknowledging others’ contribution towards our success, we might not be able to sustain the success. It is all about completing one another.

How Amitabh faces the identity crisis when Daanish becomes a celebrity? How Daanish at times gets thankless and opportunist is also projected in the movie. How both of them deal with one another have some interesting moments.

The unconventional story line along with the cast could have done more wonders. I felt that the relationship between Amitabh and Daanish could have been explored a little more. I also felt that the song Piddli by Amitabh Bachchan was diluted with the way it was shot (may be the need of the script). Also, the drag in certain scenes could have been avoided.  

Akshara is good. Dhanush is very good, whose face speaks volumes. Amitabh, does he even need any comments???

Shamitabh, electrifying combination of Amitabh Bachchan and Dhanush, rocks and is dedicated to the living legend and superstar of the century Amitabh Bachchan.

Rating: 3.5/5 (Good +)

Indeed, the dawn is beautiful…

I was sitting at Kovalam Beach in Kerala, looking at the ‘red’ setting sun. I had a troubled heart that day. I was feeling very low. But was not able to figure out why I was feeling so low. Generally, I used to enjoy the sunset, but that day, something was bothering me too much. Didn’t know, what it was.

I walked to my hostel room with heavy heart. I wanted to just cuddle myself in bed and close my eyes. But my friends were waiting in my room for me. We had to rehearse for a play which we were supposed to present as part of our college festival. I got busy with my friends, but found very difficult to concentrate. We rehearsed for three hours and then asked my friends to continue with the practice, and I just took solace in my bed. I was having tremendous pain in my heart, as if, something was going away from me.

The night seemed to be longer. Somehow I fell asleep. In my dream, there was the person in front of me, whom I loved most on this earth – my Papa. Oh God, I was wondering, what happened to him? His body was covered in bandage. He walked towards me, sat on my bed beside me. He had lot of pain in his eyes. He kept his hand on my head. I could feel his warmth of love and affection. He hugged me tight and kissed me on my forehead and whispered in my ears: “Pokatte Mole. Take care” (May I go daughter, Take care). I asked: “Where are you going Papa”. He just hugged me more tightly and kissed once again and said: “I love you a lot, don’t want to go, but have to go.” I held his hands tightly so as to stop him from going. But in vain, he had to go.

Telephone rang in my room. My eyes opened. It was my mumma’s call from a different part of the country, miles apart. My Papa had gone to a different world, victim of a fire accident.

My eyes were dry. I could not cry at all. I just didn’t want to believe the news. But it was true. I was amazed at the love of Papa, who couldn’t go without giving me good bye kiss. I felt, as if, my world was over. I had no idea, how to bid good bye to Papa.  

Today after 23 years, I am again sitting at Kovalam beach looking at the sunrise. Papa is still there around me. He ensures that I get up after every fall in my life, he ensures that I face every challenge of life efficiently. I don’t worry about anything now, since I trust and believe that he is sitting up there close to god and protecting me. I still feel the warmth of the last kiss of you Papa on my forehead. I love you Papa, you taught me not to get disheartened with the losses, but face life boldly, since the darkest hour of the night is just before the dawn.

This post was written for Indispire at www.indiblogger.in for the topic – “The darkest hour of the night is just before the dawn.”

Review of Rahasya

Rahasya, a film inspired from the murder of Aarushi Talwar which stormed the headlines of print as well as digital media. Only some premises have been set similar to Aarushi’s case, but otherwise, the film has been treated absolutely differently.

Aarushi murder case was closely followed by the whole country. In 2013, her parents Rajesh and Nupur Talwar have been convicted of her murder and in jail for their life imprisonment. Though the movie does solve the murder mystery, in spite of Rajesh and Nupur’s getting sentenced, that murder mystery still stays as a Rahasya in many people’s minds.

The movie begins with the death of Aayesha Mahajan, twin daughter of Ashish Vidyarthi (Sachin Mahajan) and Tisca Chopra. Sachin is arrested as a prime suspect and even is sent for remand. To go to the depth of the Rahasya, Kay Kay Menon as CBI official enters into the scene.

The movie is all about how Kay Kay Menon connects the various clues, and reaches to the actual murderer out of those people who were suspects: Sachin’s family friend couple, the maid servant Rimi Fernandez etc.

The pace of the movie is moderate. Also, Tisca, otherwise a very talented actress, doesn’t seem to be at her best towards the end of the movie. Kay Kay Menon is good as CBI official.

Rahasya does unfold the Rahasya of the murder in a subtle manner.

Review of Hawaizaada

Hawaizaada is a film based on the life of Shivkar Bapuji Talpade, Mumbai inventor of 19^th century. It was great to understand that he was supposed to have constructed and flown an airplane in 1895. Talpade’s airplane was named Marutsakha (wind-friend). It is said that Wright brothers came up with their first aircraft in 1903 in North Carolina, eight years after Shivkar achieved this feat. Kesari newspaper of Pune had covered this event where a curious audience headed by the famous Indian Judge/ Nationalist / Mahadeva Givin-da Ranade and HH Sayaji Rao Gaekwad Talpade had the good fortune to see Marutsakha take off, fly to a height of 1500 feet and then fall down to earth.

Ayushman as Shivi has definitely given a great performance. The movie projects him as a failure in academics (not sure, whether this is the creative liberty taken by the film maker or the truth), but brilliant otherwise. He is being ridiculed by his father and brother for his poor academic performance. Mithun Chakraborthy, Vedic Scholar Shastry recognizes the brilliance in Shivi and involves him in project of making the Vimana. Shivi’s nephew Narayan (Naman Jain) also joins them in this project. They always faced major threat from British Government.

Ayushman’s love interest Sitara is played by Pallavi Sharda. This love story in the background did slow down the pace and deviated from the core of the movie a bit.

Though lot of fictional elements have been added to the script, it is amazing to see how Shastry decoded Vedas for his research. He used to predict even the favourable time when air would have supported the airplane to be flown.

The story revolves around the central character Shivi and how he takes forward Shastry’s research further, and how he utilized the ancient knowledge of the Vedas, Sanskrit texts, to fly an aircraft, eight years before his foreign counterparts.

Mithun is very good. But the show-stealer is Naman Jain who played Narayan. He effortlessly plays his shots.

The movie does project the financial challenges faced by Shivi. If that could not have been the case, probably India would have had Shivkar Bapuji Talpade completing his research and come up with the successful aircraft.

Hawaizaada, a story of Shivkar Bapuji Talpade, gives us lot of moments of pride.

Revised from to 4.5, based on popular feedback

Rating: 3/5 (Good)

Soulmate may not be life mate but definitely emotional anchor

This is a very interesting question. That is why, I chose to respond to this and created a special tab in my blog (which is absolutely a movie blog) – Miscellaneous Topics, under which I thought I can atleast express my views.

I happened to read a few books by Dr. Brian Weiss’ : ‘Same Soul, Many Bodies’, ‘Many Lives, Many Masters’, ‘Only Love is Real’. I was personally touched by the whole concept of “Souls move in families”. Dr. Brian Weiss says that our soulmate may not be necessarily our life mate. But in our life, we do come across our soul mates, some of us recognize them and some of us don’t. It also happens that by the time I realize that a particular person is my soul mate, I would have delayed the whole process since by that time, the other person might have got married and settled down in his life with family and kids.

Let me now come to what I feel about this. I do believe that every soul born on this earth has a soulmate. Some of us are lucky who have recognized the soulmate and have settled down with the soulmates. But, otherwise also, there is no need of any despair. Our soulmate is near us, related to us in some way or the other. He / she could be our best friend, or the person upon whom we depend emotionally a lot. May be, situations would not be favorable for being life-mates, but certainly, there would be strong connect with the concerned. We would definitely cross paths with our soulmates in our lives at some point or the other.

Soulmate may not be my life mate, but he / she could be great emotional anchor of my life.

Review of Baby

A film dedicated to the heroes of our country, who actually don’t die for the country but live for the country so that no one can harm our country. It is Neeraj Pandey’s film (Wednesday fame). Though the name of the movie is ‘baby’ it is not at all a child’s game. Another brilliant movie from Neeraj Pandey.

Danny (Feroze Ali Khan) heads a special operations wing of commandoes, which is running in its trial period of 5 years with the name Baby. They had picked up 12 people from paramilitary forces. They could avert lots of terrorist attacks. Baby is the story of their last operation.

The movie begins with Danny’s narration. Akshay (Ajay) is in a foreign land trying to get one of his peers saved from the anti-social elements. On knowing that another peer had betrayed them, he extracts confessions from him and averts a terrorist attack at DLF Promenade mall in Delhi. Then the effort starts to reach to the master mind behind ‘all the Diwali’ planned. There enters into the scene Kay Kay Menon, who is in the jail as a suspect in one of the bomb blast, but manages to flee with the support of his people. It is interesting to see, how Akshay with his team under the command of Danny reaches the master-mind. Tapasee is part of his team for part of the project. The second half of the movie is more intriguing than the first half where Anupam Kher (Shuklaji) and Rana Dagubatti join Akshay for the sequences shot in the desert escapades of Abudhabi.

It is so painful to see the uncertainty in the life of such officers involved in the covert operations. Madhurima plays the role of Akshay’s wife. As per the protocol, Akshay can’t even share hois job profile with his family, and so cooks up some conference stories everytime when he is back after some operation. Madhurima tells him only one thing: Bas marna mat.

Mikall Zulfiqar who played the role of Ashfaq and an associate of Akshay in Abudhabi has done a wonderful and noticeable performance.

A special mention to the background music, especially in the Abudhabi scenes, was just superb, added lot of suspense to the climax.

Neeraj Pandey has taken a very non-biased and non-judgmental approach towards handling this movie. Although, certain scenes are there which raised a question mark in me, whether it is possible to conduct secret operations to this extent where these secret agents enter into another country, extract confessions and leads from suspects etc. May be, secret agents get the right to work in such fashion also. I am not making a comment on it, just trying to highlight the same.

There are certain other scenes which need a special mention and highlight is: Danny tells a senior minister in the beginning of the film that the government ought to win the confidence of Muslim community is India, for Pakistan is taking advantage of the community’s sense of alienation within India. In another scene, Akshay during his interrogation of an ISI agent Taufeek, Taufeek says that he writes ‘MUSALMAN’ in all caps in religion column. Responding to that Akshay tells him his story of defending a Muslim family during Gujarat Riots and why he puts ‘INDIAN’ in the religion column in all the forms that he fills. Neeraj Pandey has definitely communicated this loud and clear that terrorists don’t have a religion and no particular community ought to be associated with terrorism.

Another scene: Before every covert operations, Danny keeps telling the senior minister in front of Akshay that if something goes unfavourable, Akshay knows that India will disown him. So, once the minister asks Danny (not in front of Akshay), how would this impact Akshay. Danny says: Mil jate hain sar aise kuch officers, jo desh ke liye marna nahi chahte, but jinda rahna chahte hain taki desh ka koi kuch bigaad na sake.

Baby, a balanced take, has no dull moments. Grand Salute to the unsung heroes of our country.

Rating: 4/5(Very Good)