Boredom

Second part of previous post..... d) Spotlight - Watched it yesterday and I wouldn't be surprised if it bags the top honors. It reminded me of an era when Hollywood was used to churn out thought-provoking movies in tonnes. A crafty, stylish and surprisingly moving film about a much publicized child sexual abuse case involving 297 priests of Boston Archdiocese that was covered by a team of investigative journalists of Boston Globe who goes by the name of 'Spotlight', it has got a powerful cast at its core and all the other ingredients at the right place to win the Oscars. Very strongly recommended. e) Mad Max:The Fury Road - An out and out action film that is based in a dystopian world and has Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy as our action heroine and hero. Very surprisingly, it has managed to touch the right chords with both audience and critics who have bestowed 'universal acclaim' status upon it. I absolutely loved it but knowing that Academy has rarely awarded

There is a ritual that's I am following almost religiously for the last four years and that's watching all the Best Film Nominees of Academy Awards or Oscars before Academy awards anyone of them with the tag on the biggest annual night of Hollywood. So far, I have been to able to catch up with 8 of final 9 nominees and there were definitely some feature films whom I handpicked up from various critics' site and were extremely close to make the final cut themselves. So let's start with their synopsis one by one and I shall let you know about my pick at the last of this post: a) The Revenant - The most powerful nominee and probably the most completed film of past year that could finally enable Leo to bag his long, coveted Oscars. He has eaten a bison-liver for God's sake all raw and bloody for this film and though it's become quite a notorious moment of the film, it could finally fetch an Oscars best actor trophy for him. Also for second year in succession, A. G

'Second Spring' is the debut work of Ms. Sandhya Jane and when it arrived along side a consignment of 7 books to me for review, I was undoubtedly most hyped about it. Its cover page was illustrated with maple leaves and skyscrapers and wrapped in plastic giving it a look must suitable for all those Dickensian and Russian classics of yesteryear which we love to go over and over again. I wanted to read it first and certainly the most but something inside me stopped me from doing that. It could have been its serious look or width and with 288 pages, it was certainly a time-consuming work, and so I decided to go over with all the lighter (presumably) titles first. I finished them one by one and then I got stuck with it. First 20 pages, disappointing. Second, 20 pages, still at the same place. 50 pages done, no progress. 100, oh, come on!! 120-odd, two lovers of this book; Mr. Rohan Rana, all too charming and guy-next-door from a conservative family of Rajasthan and 32 years old an

Creed marks the seventh silver screen coming of Sylvester Stallone's beloved movie character, Rocky Balboa and he isn't slowing down. Creed by all accounts has breathed a new life into a nearly fledgling franchise and appears to be most classically made after the very first film into franchise, Rocky (1976). This film again proves a theory that even an out-and-out commercial flick can become a work of art if it is helmed by a competent and thinking director. Ryan Coogler put some brain and a lot of heart in this money-churning machine and came out with a fine product that was third only to Rocky'76 and Rocky 3. It's a film that needs to be seen for his moving performances for we all know where sporting drama lead their audiences to with their all-too-familiar plots and yet you shall find yourselves contented. Rocky'76 was the brainchild of a great brain and that brain belonged to Sylvester. He wrote it and film went onto become the one of the rarest of sporting d

I am a Coldplay fan for quite a long time, in fact this is the only contemporary music band whose music and lyrics makes sense to me. So when I heard that Coldplay has released a single about India by the name 'Hymn of the Weekend', I was ecstatic. It was long overdue and when it happened, it appeared as a dream finally came true. No wonder, song became a hit worldwide but then it also sparked controversy. Reason, 'cultural appropriation of India'. We shall get back to it in a short while. Just after two weeks, the much maligned (in India for one of its executive didn't recognize Sachin 'The God's' luggage) British Airways released an ad film depicting India in all of its glory. It shows an old Indian lady travelling in Business Class of BA and her getting emotionally attached with one of the air hostesses happened to be British. Indians loved it, so did I. I actually had tears in my eyes ready to soak my cheeks. The ad ends with a line: BA, loving Ind

If I say that Daniel Bryan was one of the most accomplished and popular wrestling superstar of modern times, that wouldn't be saying too much. Daniel Bryan today announced his retirement from active wresting on Monday Night Raw after giving his absolute all on various wrestling circuits for last 16 years. He was an absolute mat wrestler who would give five star matches day in and day out and that was the reason why he was so over with crowd. A seasoned wrestling fan likes cavalry as much as gimmick and that's why he loves both 'The Rock' and 'Kurt Angle'. Daniel Bryan was a fighter, wrestling not only his style but personal demons too and it was all too fitting that he ended his career with WWE, the very best in professional wrestling industry. He worked his body off, using it like machine, in various wrestling circuits all over the world like Japan, Europe, Canada shedding both tears and bloods and put up spectacular matches worthy of inducing awe. All of this

I am experiencing all the firsts in last couple of weeks. It's getting better with each book. The 'it' here demonstrates the 'pure joy of readership' and SOAR really stood for its true definition. First book that kept me hooked till its 3/4th part and there is nothing wrong with the last 1/4th either but believe me, readers of this age are so smart and knowledgeable that they get to know very well in advance where a particular book is leading them too. I am glad I ended up in a happier place. So where do I start? Let me elaborate some more on the 'predictability' quotient of a book. As I said in last para, readers get to know everything in advance going into just 30-40 pages and proceed only if they get something interesting to cling onto. Here in SOAR, there are multitudes of factor that will keep you engrossed. Top class vocabulary, negligible grammatical mistakes (yes, those have become quite a spectacular feature of modern Indian books; so fewer, the b

Alan Rickman and David Bowie, two of the finest British Imports to Hollywood passed away sadly this week. To be very frank, I never knew about or heard of David Bowie before his news of death overwhelmed the Internet but thanks to my regards for Harry Potter phenomenon, I was aware of the charismatic presence of Alan Rickman in Hollywood. He was Severus Snape, the most feared, still the most loyal and reliable lieutenants of Albus Dumbledore and the way his character was developed by J.K. Rowling in her novels and magnified on screens by all the directors, it was commendable. It became all the more cherished for Alan was playing it, the God of a God-like voice. No wonder, I was most drawn to this character other than Sirius Black when I first watched a Harry Potter movie (that gotta be 'Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban'). So continuing my research further into Alan Rickman's life and deeds, I found out that he amazed everyone in Hollywood with his very first featu

It's been a while since I wrote something of note and hence I am starting afresh here. The subject in hand is a documentary and it's titled as 'Man on Wire'. I resisted it for close to five months for the sake of feature films due to various reasons, foremost of them all, documentaries demand your unwavering attention unlike a feature film and since I didn't have that much time to guarantee that much focus, it suffered my apathy. But three days ago, I coerced myself into watching it and rewards I dare say were handsome. You all must watch it for it celebrates an accomplishment which hasn't been reciprocated since or before it. It reintegrates the belief in our life that we can do anything if we are driven enough. Phillipe Petit is the person responsible for that affirmation. Yes, go ahead and google him. It will be worth your time. Phillipe now all of 70+ years old has been a high-wire artist throughout his life and he still approaches a tightrope walk with ch

Vikkas Arun Prateek's 'Voice of the Silent Creek' deserves a review, a recommendation and an applause. I'm going to give it all three for one rarely comes across a book that combines empathy with new-world bravery. Rarer still is an Indian book and author that bring about the naked truth of Indian society, both rural and urban, with such poignancy and courage. We always stumble across an incident which we digest with great difficulty but we seldom discuss it or if we do, we do it with third person's perspective thinking and believing that it wouldn't occur to us. Vikkas helps us here in a way, coming up with a book that describes gruesome truth with horrifying details and thus letting everyone know that such incidents do take place around us and that they need our empathy and if possible, some actions too. The book tells us two stories which I believe are running parallel. Arti and Shanti both belong to India but whereas Arti looks to defy all the odds with h

Khel-The Writings is a genre offering by Mr. Vishal Goswami. It belongs to Horror genre and comes across as a very thoughtful and well-written novel. I must say it kept me in check all the time and didn't particularly disappoint me except for it's all too familiar plot. I wouldn't blame it on Vishal though for genre offerings always fight for cognizance in recognizable territory yet whatever is up there for readers in Khel's pages is still pure delight. The story revolves around an 'abandoned' haveli that used to belong to a Nawab Saheb and was left in its present status due to some terrible incidents having taken place there. A group of five adventure-seekers and wannabe documentary makers (of the type of 'Paranormal Activity') go to the Haveli and fall victim to the apparent chief patron of Haveli, Ms. Gomes (call her ghost). Police investigates the case and we all slowly get to know that Haveli is haunted and not to be referred to in any case, let alo

Prassant Kevin can write. Oh yes, he can and his second offering, ‘King of Hearts’ gets as close to a blockbuster hit status as an eventual one does. I don’t really know the current status of this book, it’s standing in the market and reviews et al but I do know that of all the writers’ works that I have gone through so far, his is the one with widest scope and biggest canvas. King of Hearts has powerful characters at its core with sublime themes of ‘love’ and ‘friendship’ and Prassant never lets the intensity drops down at any stage of the book. A classic rags to riches story seldom gets a climax as good as this one. Ayan Kapoor and Misha are two central characters of this book and they are the fastest of friends. They share all of their feelings, tastes and stories with each other and always get the back of other whenever the need arises. Like the time when Ayan, an aspiring writer, finds nothing to work upon that suits his taste and later, when he finds himself plagued with early