Be A Loser! Learn To Fail!

1553rd BLOG POST -->>

Who does not like winning every time they bend to run for the race? Who does not imagine themselves on the victory stand when the referee shouts “Go” and one starts running? Winning becomes a habit and then the performers do not want to see back. They want to be on the Victory stand every time they are participating for something. If they are doing something that does not belong to their profession, they want to score big and set their mark even there. I had always read biographies and autobiographies of inspirational personalities and I only took those lessons in my habits that described them winning something big. I never much concentrated upon their chapters where they described how they kept losing continuously. I found it boring.

I found it boring because in my life I have lost many a times and I didn’t have energy to appreciate losing any more. Even when I tried for something very hard and gave my 100% but someone else won and not me, I would feel frustrated and down for weeks. It happened most of the times when I was in Graduation and I felt that I am not getting the kind of due I expect because of the efforts I was putting in everything- either during exams or extra-curricular activities. I always found either a non-deserving person getting the footage or someone less-deserving than me. This made me lose my interest from college after a while and made me move towards Blogging and reading more passionately. Ultimately, my results didn’t turn out the way they could have been. Alas! Gone times do not return back in life.

But then I learnt while reading one of an inspirational books about Learning to Fail which made me realize how even those chapters in the autobiographies are equally important which described about failures. And then I started failing at things. Initially, I kept my targets low which I knew that I can achieve easily even by sleep-walking and loved seeing the longest continuous streak of my achievements. But suddenly, I started feeling that by winning such easy races, I am making myself mediocre and fooling no one else but me. I had purchased fitness band after which I completed my daily target of 12,000 steps for initial few days and then I fell ill. To keep my streak unbeaten on the App which tracks my work-out, I set the target almost as low as 20% of 12,000 steps. But after a time, when I realized that my body is feeling no changes in itself and as per my new resolution and personal commitment, I am doing actually nothing, I came to the conclusion that let’s start failing at achieving these 12,000 steps target. Only then I will understand how can these steps be completed on daily basis and achieving it will actually make me feel like a Champion. And I did that. The result is that last week, I ended up crossing 18,000 steps twice on consecutive days.

Similarly, writing 200 Blogs has been my target every year. But later on, whenever I saw by October that I am not reaching this number, I used to reduce the target to 150 Blogs. I did the same last year and ended up reaching even that. 144! Now that I know that fooling me has done nothing good to my blog lately as I stopped writing such kind of personal posts and only concentrated on reviews to achieve my yearly targets, my blog lost its charm on its regular readers. This year, I have decided not to cheat myself by trying to reduce the count of blogs to win the race or only reviewing books and movies for the count to reach the target. Now, if I will fail, I will actually come to know the reasons behind my failures. As I have accepted by previous year’s failure of reaching the count that made me realize how my readers have actually stopped following my blogs passionately as earlier because they know that they are only going to know about someone else’s work rather than my thoughts and opinions with which they connected from last 5-6 years.

We should start failing ourselves by not compromising on the quality of work and the amount of work needed to be done which will give us the real ultimate pleasure and content when we will finally achieve the goal. Being the winner always just for glorifying ourselves by showing our victory is the biggest nonsense that we can do with our lives. Let’s respect the potential we, as human being, have. Let’s utilize it to the fullest. Let’s fail again and again by not reaching up to that level. That will make us realize the negative points which are not letting us achieve the goals that we, ourselves, set when the year begun or on our birthday. Ultimately, we will start fighting to stop losing which will lead to the bigger victory than before. Crossing that final line will never let you see back to the failures and you will then become the winner till the last breathe as you would know the insights of winning the game. Be a Loser! Yes!

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA – VEERU!!! 

Chain Reaction by Amit Sayaji (Book Review- 4.25*/5) !!!

1552nd BLOG POST -->>

There are times when you do not get a very good fiction book to read because of mediocrity of the local writers but all of a sudden the faith gets restored because of that one book which makes you want to pick up more random books without reading the name of the author. Something similar has happened with me this week. I have completed reading the book written by Amit Sayaji (about whom I have never heard before) named “Chain Reaction”. Though the cover page isn’t that attractive and impressive but the story and narration has made it one of the most memorable books of my reading journey or now, you can say, marathon, which I am running since last 6 years. 

The autobiographical feel given to this fiction story makes this book very readable and enjoying. The unpredictability of the story makes this book what it is. The characterizations of each and every character even though the books have multiple of them is done so intriguingly that you almost believe that this is a true story and each one of them might get covered in a news report in tomorrow’s paper. Such is the narration of the author! 

Even though the book is of almost 400 pages, you will not like leaving it without completing it in one go. I generally end up reading a book within a day at most even with breaks and all but I took whole one week to cover this book. A reader will like to stay with this story for lifetime. The comic timing of the author in the first half makes this book a very interesting and entertaining read. The protagonist and his friends are just the people you have seen since your childhood. The way whole childhood is described makes you laugh and giggle at many places. The book becomes little boring when the earning phase of the protagonist begins. But the author brings the story back on track when the protagonist realizes what his selfishness has ended up doing for the people he loved the most in life. From here, the book takes a very intense tone which again makes you feel bad for the character. 

This whole pre-climax and climax is written so sincerely that even you will start connecting all the dots of your life and wish to say sorry to everyone who have lost something because of you, your decisions or your mischief’s. Chain Reaction is a book that has all the elements a pulp fiction should have. I wish the author writes many books in future as he has the potential to reach the epitome. As written by a prominent personality on the back cover of the book, I will end this review with the same words,”Amit Sayaji is a truly gifted storyteller”. I rate this book 4.25 out of 5. Recommended!

Thanks

ABHILASH RUHELA - VEERU!!! 

The February of 2007 which changed my life..

1551st BLOG POST -->>

The month of February has many nostalgic moments for me but one incident always overshadows all the good and bad things that have happened with me in this month. Ten years ago, on the day of 6th February, 2007, I remember my father waking me up in the hostel around the time when almost the whole India must have woken up. Though I already had little intuition that something of this kind was about to happen with me because of which I had asked my friends a night before to stay up late and have some conversations with me. They were surprised as to why I woke them up around 1 AM and asked to have some talk without any reason or solid topic. But we had many laughter moments that night. And the next day, my father had made an entry to pack up and take me back to home. It was an end to my hostel life. I was very delighted when I had shifted to hostel about the kind of independent and responsible life I will get to live but it was all a short period of happiness as what happened to me for the next six months can never be described to anyone in words. But let’s not talk about it now. At least after a decade. Haha!

For my parents, I was the most horrible son at that point of time and that thought was killing me on that particular day when the process of my exit was going on. When I reached home, I still remember those two slaps of my mother. Those are the only two slaps I remember till date whereas I have forgotten all the rest beatings since childhood that I have had from her. And it happened in front of my hostel mates, my friends. Nothing could have been more humiliating. Though I wasn’t touched at that moment to revolutionize my life but I had a belief that someday, I will seriously do something different that will make my parents forget this phase.

And now, after 10 years, when I see back and look at my life in the last decade, I am surprised that so much has happened since then but still, it seems that day when my hostel life had ended was just yesterday. I remember each and every minute as it was a life-changing incident. After that, I had been in two years of depression initially visiting doctors every alternate day. To be precise, more visits at the psychiatrist than the doctors. After failing twice in junior college somehow I managed to pass 12th std and that day was the last day of my downfall. Since then, I haven’t let myself see the darkness again. Though my life has entered tunnels in between, but I have always managed to make it see the light in the end of it. I passed graduation and post-graduation successfully. I earned a Diploma certificate in a career-oriented field which led me my first job. It has been 1.5 years since I am doing job in which I have worked under 4 different profiles. Along with it I have also earned another degree in Business Administration. Except all of these, I have managed to write 1500+ blogs. I have been able to publish a fiction work of mine in a nationally released novel. I have read 500 books during this period. I met many public figures who are inspiring or above par in their field because of which they are popular throughout the nation.

I can’t believe that life has changed so dramatically for me. And this assures me that whenever my life will not be in its desired state, there will come a very better future even out of my expectations which will surprise and shock me. Not only that, my own life will motivate and inspire me like it does now. When I see the graph and proceedings of the last 10 years, year by year, the vast improvements that have kept happening annually, I do not need anyone else’s example to feel energized and pumped up. I just need to remember my bad times and how it all changed into good, better, best and period. Even today, I am facing some emotional and professional issues but I know a time is about to come, may be in next 5 years if not now, that will change my whole ideology towards life, money, relationships and love. One today cannot make you see a decade in the range of 24 hours. You need to wait and watch. Life is there to show you what your capabilities are if you allow and give it a chance. I gave and it showed me the best version of myself which I hadn’t seen in last 27 years of my life. But whatever, last 10 years have been special and that’s what makes me look ahead to the day every morning. And PUNE, the city from which I was been pulled back, I am going to come back some day. It’s there in my mind. Only then the cycle will get completed. Till then, my life will stay incomplete even if I become the successor to Trump. J

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA – VEERU!!!

When I realized the damage I did since last 8 years..

1550th BLOG POST -->>

Last month, my MBA 1^st year results got declared while I was in office struggling with some issue. I took out the time and checked the results and found that I passed with very respectable marks. Distinction! I was so glad, happy and proud about it that I wanted to celebrate the case with my friends. But before that, I thought of at least informing few of my friends about it on Whatsapp and then calling them up for a meet or something. But then I got busy again in the production issues that are more frequent in IT field than the lines of code all developers write together. When I came home in the evening and thought of breaking the news to my friends, I actually realized that I have no one in my life that I can celebrate this achievement with. I was all alone. To one person whom I had sent on Whatsapp, in the reply, I just received a THUMB smiley representing the most favorite act on social media- LIKING something. And that was all.

I held mobile in my hands and scrolled through all my contacts in the list and found no one who I can break the news to. In the midst of this process, I suddenly felt a grave loneliness. Not the loneliness we always talk about, but the loneliness that is the result of being ignored and thrown away by the society. It was humiliating, snubbing, helpless and depressing. By that time, I had long tears flowing down my cheeks on the bedsheet while I was searching for that one name that I can call my friend. Then I started counting the people who were very close to me once and considering that camaraderie I could have called them easily and there were lot of them. It was then I realized what I had done to myself. I started sending HII to most of them but in response, received HII only from 2 to 3 of them. Now, I wasn’t trying to call them for a celebration but to let myself feel little content that at least few of them remember me still.

I remember Haruki Murakami’s quote-“I'm not trying to imply I can keep up this silent, isolated facade forever. Sometimes the wall I've erected around me comes crumbling down.” Something like this had happened with me. To write blogs, to read more books, to do different activities, I had always sacrificed one thing before anything else- Friendships. I felt that why do I need friends in life when I have all of these to spend my life with. But this sounds great, I think, only in college times when you want to stay isolated from the noise as everyone around you is just talking, screaming and howling. When you start your professional life, for the whole day, you are sitting alone at your desk/cubicle with a monitor with no one to talk with. And after leaving the office after several late-sitting sessions, you want to meet up some of your friends at least on weekends. Hence, now I have started realizing that too much of peace and isolation is also not good.

Anyways, that moment made me realize the kind of person I am. Even though I have never done any intentional bad to anyone but still I had no one on one of my most important days of my life which made me rethink about my priorities and I immediately changed myself. I never let myself do wrong for a long period of time as I want to regret as less as possible in the last days of my life. In the last week of January, I met my Rakhi-sister. In the first week of February itself, I met 4 important people of my life who have a big role in my college life. One of them had met me after 2.5 years almost even though we were chaddi-buddies in Graduation days. I am Impossible. Seriously! Last week itself I met another graduation friend with whom I always had meaningful and life-enriching conversations. And now I am making continuous efforts to call and meet up all the rest of my friends whom I had left behind in this quest of nothingness called Peace which is not right when you sometimes need socialism and sharing. All my friends are surprised and seeing my messages for connecting with them, I am getting only one reply,”Bhai, kuch hua hai kya?” Now, how to tell them that bhai ko abhi nahi pehle jaroor kuch ho gaya tha.. Haha!

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA - VEERU!!! 

Review: The Ghazi Attack: 1 of the Best Patriotic Movies! ****

1549th BLOG POST -->>

Seriously speaking, I didn’t know about this movie “The Ghazi Attack” until I got a mail in my inbox from BookMyShow asking me to book the tickets for this movie. Still, I was skeptic about this movie and almost ignored it. I got a call from another family in society saying that they have an extra ticket and will I want to accompany them. By the time, the acclaimed reviews were already out for the movie and I thought of giving it a try. Now, that I have watched this movie, I can easily say it is one of the best patriotic movies made in India which does not waste time in useless backdrops and romantic tales but keeps its focus on how the Army is planning to attack a Pakistan submarine.

Though the story is fictionally based on how the Ghazi, submarine of Pakistan, must have been attacked by India’s submarine, but it is made in such a manner that you will never find it to be based on assumptions. As a director, Sankalp Reddy, has done an appraisable job. The kind of intense, ambition and passion was needed to make this story and with the kind of budget associated with it, it is great to see how he has managed to make such an effective movie which keeps its impact after hours of you moving out of the theater.

The first half is all about how the character of Kay Kay Menon and Rana Daggubati are at loggerheads where one is an aggressive captain who wants to attack the enemy whereas another is at total service of the department and wants to stop the captain from breaking any rules. The second half is more about the war and how Indian submarine finally decides to attack and do not return without blasting Ghazi, Pakistan’s submarine. The great thing is that even Pakistan’s side is shown equally intelligent and tough as India’s side unlike many other patriotic movies.

The performances are incredible. The best is delivered by Kay Kay Menon, Atul Kulkarni, Om Puri, Rana Daggubati in the mentioned order. Tapsee Pannu has almost nothing to play in this movie. Her part is not even of 8 minutes in totality. All the other supporting casts are great and really supportive. The dialogues are amazing and make you feel angry, sad and even giggle at times. The action sequences are powerful. The underwater parts are also nicely filmed except little bit of problems here and there which are avoidable. Overall, it is really a great movie to spend your 2.5 hours in. I give it 4 stars out of 5.

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA – VEERU!!!

Little Black Book for Stunning Success + Tools for Action Mastery by Robin Sharma (Book Review- 4.5*/5) !!!

1548th BLOG POST -->>

Robin Sharma is not just an author anymore. He is a legend who is going to be remembered for ages for the contribution that he is making towards the society by spreading his tools for developing in personal and professional life. I read many self-help and motivating books but no book has ever been able to bring more effect that Sharma’s. I am just done reading his latest book named “Little Black Book for Stunning Success + Tools for Action Mastery”. I am as impressed as I have been for all the times whenever I ended up reading one of his books. I have just missed 2 of his books from the plenty that he has written and I regret every day for not picking them up. I am going to do that soon.

Robin Sharma’s usage of words and formation of sentences are another word for perfection. The magic that his words and sentences make upon the reader is unbelievable. I had never imagined that a writer can bring such difference through a book which is not even that lengthy as others yet become one of your priceless processions. This book is totally oriented towards profession and career perspective. The simple tools are shared by the author which can be applied in our daily lives which makes a big difference eventually. And the great thing is that author shares famous examples to prove his point. Nothing in his guidance seems to be a superficial stuff which is written just to sound like a great personality but not possible to apply in our lives. That’s Robin Sharma for you!

The book is divided into small chapters. You can pick to read 4-5 chapters daily in the morning and apply them throughout your day and eventually, make it a habit. After every chapters, there’s a page where you can write daily about what you have felt gratitude towards, where are you going to pursue mastery today and what have you learnt today. This is a great exercise if you will really end up writing this daily in your own journal rather than spoiling this book by writing in it. Overall, this is another book of Robin Sharma which is impactful and can be read multiple times. I give it 4.5* out of 5.

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA – VEERU!!! 

The Man Who Became Khali by Dalip Singh Rana/Vinit K. Bansal (Book Review-2.5*/5) !!!

1547th BLOG POST -->>

Reading biographies about sportsmen really charges you up and makes you motivated towards changing your lifestyle as soon as possible. I have read many autobiographies and biographies of personalities belonging to different professions like politics, manufacturing, sports, movies, film making, entrepreneurship etc. Each time I have read an autobiography, I have felt motivated to do something big with my life and it has changed something in my routine. Even reading Karan Johar’s autobiography did that to me which has nothing related to me. Such books definitely raise the bar about how an autobiography/biography has to be written. I just ended up reading The Great Khali’s autobiography titled as “The Man who became Khali”. The book is co-authored by Vinit K. Bansal who generally writes love stories.

Khali’s life has been very dramatic and knowing his struggles and hurdles that he passed during his childhood years is really painful and inspiring. How he changed his destiny from being a labour to bodybuilder to constable to Mr. Punjab to a wrestler before trying many other sports too. The way he narrates how not being educated made him make fool of his own life at many turning points makes you realize how important education and literacy is. His love for his wife is also evident in the two chapters that is totally dedicated to her. The way he takes tough decisions for his family shows that behind the huge physique there’s a caring and emotional man.

The book is written as a Wikipedia article where you get to know in which year Khali did what. It tells you his journey right from his childhood to the recent years. It tells you about his personality that he gets angry whenever he faces humiliation which makes him do something big and different. The book also tells that Khali takes his own decision and doesn’t listen to anyone even his father. But, there’s a very big problem with this autobiography. Anyone who keeps an autobiography expects to know the minute details about that personality as we are interested in going inside the mind of that person and not through the timeline of events in his life.

Nowhere is it mentioned that what kind of exercises Khali went through. Everyone is interested in knowing Khali’s diet which is never talked about. What did his family feel when he came on the television for the first time is not narrated anywhere. Is WWE rigged or not is never discussed which is the main thing which should have been talked about in the book. How did he manage to learn the little bit of English that he knows is not shared with the readers. How hard, difficult or funny it was to act for movies and advertisements is not described. His fear while fighting with his opponents is never discussed. The book is written with a purpose to just tell what Khali did in each phase of his life but you will never get to know who Khali really is, what he really thinks, what he is passionate about except sports etc. Overall, it is not an impressive autobiography at all. I give it 2.5* out of 5.

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA – VEERU!!! 

The Four Patriots by Sumit Agarwal (Book Review- 2.5*/5) !!!

1546th BLOG POST -->>

I have been reading lots of books published by Rupa publications recently and to my surprise, I have liked most of them. But as it is said, not always roses smell the same. This time I picked up “The Four Patriots” written by the debutante, Sumit Agarwal. The cover page of the book and the synopsis made me very eager to read the story as I found the theme very interesting and intriguing about how four boys in unrelated professions will end up coming together to save the nation from the hands of the politicians who are eating and killing it since years. But I feel that the author has not been able to do complete justice with the theme. 

The writing style of the author is simple which will make the new readers interested in the book. The best part of the book for me has been the initial 100 chapters where the characters and their backgrounds are being disclosed to the readers. It is done in such a wonderful way that the book already becomes your favorite by then. But after that you want the book to reach another level with its chapters and the decisions and actions each of these four characters will take but unfortunately, the story does not take off after that. Only the first half is page-turner till the time the momentum is been built.

The problem with the book has been the individuality of all the characters even when they come together in the second half. Also, not all the characters are treated equally to make you believe that each one of them played their part well. Author keeps on concentrating only on one or two characters while others just play cameo in between. This is where the disappointment scales high as each of them is introduced as unparalleled hero in the initial chapters. Also, there is too much of politics and governance part included in the book which eventually makes the book sound as if the action is done by someone who is a big time politician and not by a common man. Some parts are so over-descriptive that you want to skip it. Overall, I am glad with the attempt of the author that he wants a message to spread across the youth but unhappy with the execution. I rate the book 2.5* out of 5.

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA – VEERU!!! 

Review: Jolly LLB 2: Enough to keep the name of franchisee! ***

1545th BLOG POST -->>

Jolly LLB was a great movie and I liked it a lot even though I didn’t have many expectations before going for it. When I had read the news about Akshay Kumar signing for Jolly LLB Part 2, I was surprised as I couldn’t believe that anyone else can do the part of Jolly as well as Arshad Warsi. Now, after watching the movie, I can very well say that though Akshay has delivered a great performance and made us both- laugh and cry but still I kept missing Arshad Warsi somewhere. Similarly, even though Annu Kapoor tried to give a terrific performance, I kept remembering Boman Irani who definitely did better than the Kapoor. Luckily, I enjoyed watching Saurabh Shukla again in the role of judge. He makes the audience go mad in laughter. He keeps the enthusiasm and comic of first part alive in this movie too.

Subhash Kapoor, as a director, has done well in this sequel. He has done enough to make you wait for the part 3 of the franchisee even though it is not as better as the first part. Well, this is the last time I will be saying this in the review! Right from the first scene, he assures that you will be hooked to the movie and wait for the next scene to appear. Every courtroom scene is so realistically built up that it makes you laugh more and more because you do not find such courtroom drama in any other Bollywood movie. The humor from Akshay and Annu takes a backside in the second half and the story moves towards seriousness; but Saurabh Shukla, as judge, keeps making statements in his funny accent that will keep making you giggle and laugh.

Talking about the performances, Akshay Kumar delivers his part very well. Whenever he wants to make you laugh and cry, he passes in the test successfully. Annu Kapoor and Kumud Mishra plays villain satisfactorily. Huma Qureshi has very little to do in the movie but it was already expected as the movie is all about courtroom drama. The best part of the movie is Saurabh Shukla and I can’t stop talking about him. The dialogues are great in the movie though sometimes the Lucknow dialect looks forced. The songs are forgettable. The climax is very well filmed without any melodrama as such. Overall, this movie can be watched in theater for entertainment purpose. I give it 3 star out of 5.

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA – VEERU!!! 

Review: Haraamkhor: Another riveting performance by Nawazuddin! **½

1544th BLOG POST -->>

In the ocean of Dangal and sea of Raees and Kaabil, people have forgotten a movie released between them named “Haraamkhor”. When I saw the poster for the first time with the title of the movie, I was unable to believe as I had never expected that Bollywood movies will someday have such titles too. After watching the trailer of the same, I got little excited to watch how realistic the movie is. Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s selection of scripts and movies are definitely very different from all the actors. He chooses those movies which no one will ever do; at least, after working with all the Superstars of the country including the Three Khans. Kudos to this man for doing the impossible and creating a path of his own.

Haraamkhor is a movie about the love angle between a teacher and his student who is a teenager. The way they keep their relationship secret in school/tuition and the way they decide about where to meet is what make this movie cheerful in the first half. His chemistry with his wife who was also his student once upon a time is a laughter stock. Every dialogue that Siddiqui has makes you laugh. The emotions portrayed through his face itself speak everything for the character. The character of student played by Shweta is also nicely done on screen. She is playing a role which is half her age and she never looks uncomfortable. Each and every scene of hers is almost perfect.

The roles played by two kids who are behind these two protagonists are the fun factor of this movie. Their attempts made in spoiling the love chemistry of the characters is so amazing that you want them to keep continuing with their mischiefs. The climax is unpredictable and it is the most remarkable way in which the movie ends. Apart from this, I would like to say that even when movie is just around 1.5 hours; it still seems to be very long. It becomes boring at part in spite of great dialogues and some amazing scenes. I would give this movie 2.5 stars out of 5. Not everyone will like the movie so beware!

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA – VEERU!!! 

31 Miles by Vinita Bakshi (Book Review- 2*/5) !!!

1543rd BLOG POST -->>

There are some books which aren’t that lengthy but it takes you a lot of time to complete them. And it is because they become such a bore after a time that reading out each sentence becomes a hell of a job. I admit that I have never skipped pages or sentences between any books even if I find them the most boring thing on Earth. I recently picked up book written by Vinita Bakshi named “31 Miles”. It also has the tagline “Can we ever win against ourselves?” The book has been complimented by Imtiaz Ali and the foreword has been written by Rajiv Makhni. Seeing all this, I had very high expectations with the story but I am deeply disappointed with the outcome.

Vinita Bakshi’s command on the language is undoubtedly unbeatable and she has the skill sets to challenge some bestselling authors of India. But the problem lies with the narration. She gets stuck in a section of the story and keeps on repeating the same until it sucks out all the excitement out of the reader. Even when the story is fast paced and short, it feels as if you are not turning pages anymore. The same thing is retold. The same emotion of a character is defined every time with different formation of sentences. The same type of conversation keeps happening between the character of protagonist and Rajan. The same consequences take place every time after the conversation. This makes the story sound totally boring and uninteresting.

Talking about the climax, I would have rated the book at par even if the ending would have done some justice to it. But it isn’t as fascinating as I expected it to be. When the words like Karma and Dharma are used, you already know what will happen and by whom and to whom. There is not much in it then to surprise you. Same has happened with the climax of this book. Though its intriguing to read how the unexpected takes place but it somewhere got predictable since the pre-climax section begun. Overall, I would say that the narration of the author could have changed the whole outcome of this novel. I give this book just 2 stars out of 5.

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA – VEERU!!! 

Review: OK Jaanu: A fine urban romantic movie! ***

1542nd BLOG POST -->>

Romantic movies are generally very cliché when it comes to today’s Bollywood movies. Not every movie based purely on love and romance does justice nowadays because the filmmaker has to impress both the audiences- urban and semi-urban. In such stressful conditions, Shaad Ali’s directed Ok Jaanu starring Shraddha Kapoor and Aditya Roy Kapoor released two weeks back and didn’t get much response from the audience. Still I opted to watch it and I found the movie quite okay like it’s title. I believe that there are many scenes which are boring and old wine in new bottle but still they managed to keep me interested in the movie.

The first half is basically about how the two characters come together and finally take the decision of living together to eventually get separated later on because of their respective careers which they anyway, couldn’t sacrifice. Thanks to God that the makers didn’t make it cliché by making them sacrifice and forget their careers and long-time target for this thing called LOVE which is anyway not much important for this career-focused generation. The second half then shows how they start facing challenges as days of separation nears and the nervousness and panic begins. The best part about the movie is that nothing has been done over the top and everything looks quite natural. As the movie is shot in Mumbai, the locale looks believable and familiar.

The characters are nicely played by both the lead actors. I finally felt in love with Shraddha Kapoor after watching this movie. The elegance in her performance made me forget the flaws that kept happening here and there. The dialogues are fine and some of them definitely make you smile. The songs are as usual catchy because of the musician involved with the album- A. R. Rehman. The cinematography is great as I said that Mumbai looked as it is- Beautiful and fast. The screenplay and script could have been much better. Editing is also okay because movie keeps moving ahead irrespective of various situations that the maker had to cover in 135 minutes. Overall, I give this movie 3 stars out of 5. I liked it. But strictly, one time watch only.

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA – VEERU!!!