Another Time Another Place by Chandni Sengupta (Book Review: 3*/5) !!!

1985th BLOG POST

38^th Book of 2021

 

So, I’m enjoying my reading weekends these days as every Saturday I pick up a book and very successfully, I complete it by Sunday evening. The distractions seem to have completely disappeared from my weekends. It’s great as now I am reading last few books of this year and after that, it’s going to be a fresh cycle again consisting of new target and new set of books. This weekend, I wanted to read something short and light hence I picked up Chandni Sengupta’s “Another Time Another Place”. The book is published by Rupa Publications in around 194 pages. It’s a pure love story talking about two characters – Samaira and Mayank. It was very interesting to read about them in the blurb of the book as well as in the initial chapters when their characters are introduced.

 

It's very serene the way book takes us specifically to one character at a time and tells us the story from their perspective. I got a feel that I am regularly seeing two people in their respective bedrooms reacting to the same situation and responding differently. Also, the way authoress has kept their personalities pole apart yet the way they come close to each other so naturally makes it all sound quite believable. I liked how author has worked on the characterizations as you are able to visualize both in front of you. Even the other characters are used in their limited roles quite well. I liked how they didn’t take much space into the main story. Chandni remains focused towards the characters and their growing relationship between them throughout the story.

 

Sengupta doesn’t shy away from speaking about the contemporary world and its way of looking at the other gender. Similarly, how sex is no more a taboo is discussed openly which tells how guys end up sleeping with 25 odd girls just for the sake of one-night stands and doesn’t even feel ashamed of discussing it with the new partner they are trying to get indulged with. It makes you little awkward while reading but then, you know, you can’t deny what’s happening around you. I liked how author has carved the character of Samaira, a 32-year-old girl, who has never been in any physical relationship until then. It is very difficult to write about such character in today’s time, but author makes it all sound relatable and realistic.

 

Author also describes how people are married in wrong relationships and the prominence of divorce taking place around us. It tells us how parental pressure ends up ruining the life of youngsters just for the enthusiasm of getting their children marriage by a certain age limit. There’s a twist in the pre-climax that halts the relationship of Mayank and Samaira which comes as a shock even to us – as readers. The climax is about to give us some news but the way it ends makes you believe that there’s more to this story and this can’t be the end of it. You know somewhere Chandni has already planned a sequel to this story as something remains missing when you end the book and keep it on your heart and think about what should and shouldn’t have happened.

 

Talking about the drawbacks – As author simultaneously talks about both the characters from their point of view in 3^rd voice, sometimes, she just jumbles up between both and the chapters with the characters’ name doesn’t solve any purpose occasionally. Most of the book is about their chatting and conversation on phone which makes it boring after a point of time as you want to read more about how they interact with each other when they are together in person. The climax could have been little more powerful which I believe ends very abruptly. It seems many scenes are written in a hope that this might get adapted into some digital format as it sounds less like a novel and more like a scene of a romantic movie. There are some typos and spelling mistakes. I am clueless how this gets missed these days when there is so much proofing at the publisher’s end. May-be WFH has made some people casual. Haha!

 

Overall, this is a good book for people below 24 years of age who might feel it as a fantasy world. This is also a fine book for beginners to start their journey of reading with. I give this book an average 3 stars out of 5. I am looking forward to reading more stuffs from Chandni Sengupta.

PURCHASE THE BOOK HERE

Thanks.                                                                                     

 

WRITING BUDDHA 

Movie Review: Sanak: Watch it for Vidyut & Action scenes! **½

 1984th BLOG POST

Every time I find trailer of a new movie starring Vidyut Jammwal, my first reaction is to not watch it because I know, it is going to be the same stuff that he does in every movie – fight for the actress of the movie against multiple goons using his martial arts and action skills. But the moment arrives when I take the final call of streaming his movie when I am in the mind zone of watching something very rocking and sporty. The only name that comes to my mind is Vidyut. He has his own niche in terms of selecting movies and the audience who watches his every movie. Unfortunately, I am not among one of them, but I do enjoy the way he carries himself on the screen.

 

Last weekend, I watched Sanak on Disnep+ Hotstar which ended up being on “Most watched movie” list for around 3 weeks since its release on the OTT platform. This surprised me as his last venture on the same OTT platform named “Khuda Hafiz” didn’t get the same kind of word-of-mouth. Sanak’s storyline is almost like Tiger Shroff’s Baaghi movie where here, his wife has been held as hostage alongside many other patients in a hospital where she had almost recovered from her heart condition. Vidyut, playing her husband, comes to the hospital to take her home when he realizes something is wrong. He understands the situation within some time and here begins the movie, Sanak, where his only motive is to ensure that his wife comes out safe. He ends up beating and bulleting the terrorists one-by-one – sometimes with the gun whereas sometimes through his hands whereas sometimes using his crazy martial arts’ skills.

 

It is all fun to watch with the background music which completely justifies the action scenes and uplifts the whole momentum of the movie with each scene. The complete credit for this must go to Saurabh Bhalerao – the man I got to know only after trying to understand whose work was it. The dialogues are fine, and you’ll just love hearing the conversation between the protagonist and the leader of the terrorists named Saju, played by Chandan Roy Sanyal. Talking about the action scenes, as I said, they are just mind-blowing. Typically, the one in the physiotherapy room where the props are used so wittingly in synchronization that you just don’t want that scene to end. Similarly, another scene where Vidyut hides in a section where the medicines are placed, the way he fights with the rest of the terrorists is another beautifully choreographed scene.

 

Talking about the performances, as always, in such action movies, the main protagonist always steals the show and when it’s an actor like Vidyut Jammwal who takes his action scenes seriously, you just can’t stop loving his efforts and appreciating his conduct on the screen. Rukmini Maitra had a good chance to showcase her talent in the movie as Vidyut’s wife, but she has lost the golden opportunity with her silly acting and expressions. Neha Dhupia is completely wasted. The surprise package of the movie is Chandan Roy Sanyal who plays the negative character perfectly named Saju. You just love watching him challenge the system with his amazing body language and accent. Chandan Roy, as a funny element in the movie, who claims to know about the complete map of the hospital makes you laugh with his innocent and comic act. I just loved the way those segments are used as fillers at the right time.

 

Now talking about the drawbacks, the cheesy conversation between the husband-wife couple is difficult to bear. You just can’t stop from fast-forwarding those scenes and move to the next one. Secondly, as it always happens in the Bollywood movies, when the director wants, the target is achieved right with the first bullet itself even if the subject is not in the sight but when it’s necessary or when its about actor of the movie, even the ten bullets don’t hit the target even from the distance of 5 metres. This really irritates when it happens in such a hardcore action-driven movie.  Then there are many stupid subplots in the movie where a kid is shown knowing how to diffuse a suicide bomb whereas the police squad is unable to perform their primary task. It becomes intolerable to consume such scenes.

 

Overall, this Kanishk Varma directed movie is just an average stuff in terms of script and sub-plots but Vidyut carries the movie on his shoulders alone. Whatever ratings I am giving is for him and the action direction performed in the movie. It is 2.5 stars out of 5. You can skip it if you want.

 

Thanks.

 

WRITING BUDDHA 

The Three Khans: And the Emergence of New India by Kaveree Bamzai (Book Review: 3.25*/5) !!!

1983rd BLOG POST

37^th Book of 2021

 

Well, just 2 days back, I completed my target of 36 books set for the year 2021. I thought that I won’t be able to move beyond the target due to the psychological slowdown that happens once we achieve a set target. Hence, I picked up a book named “The Three Khans and the emergence of new India” written by Kaveree Bamzai. It’s based upon our favorite three superstars who have ruled Bollywood for almost around 2.5 decades – Aamir Khan, Salman Khan and Shahrukh Khan. For someone like me who is 1989-born, my whole childhood has been about being fan of either one of these three actors as we keep on changing our interests in our growing year. Haha! But particularly, I was a big fan of Salman Khan hence every time I get a chance to read about him or the other two Khans, I just pounce upon it. Hence, I chose this book to go beyond my target.

 

Before this book, I have read almost a similar book written by Sanjukta Nandy named “KHANTASTIC: The untold story of Bollywood’s trio” which speaks about the lives and careers of the trio Khans. Another book which is completely based on Salman Khan named “Being Salman” written by Jasim Khan is something for which I travelled 4 hours up and down just to get it on time from the hands of the author directly. Hence, while reading this one, I had expectations of reaching the hidden layer of the personalities which has not been discussed yet in magazines, articles, books and other contents accessed by me. This 230-pages book is surely interesting as it keeps your curiosity alive throughout and you wish to know what happens next in the careers of the three Khans.

 

Author manages to talk about all three of them giving them the same space in the book though there’s little less about Aamir as he’s mostly a private person hence one doesn’t know much about him. Kaveree covers about how they initiated their careers in different ways without knowing each other and gradually, their path intersects and brings all of them on the same track to be competing for all their lives post that. We get to know the kind of struggle they have to go through in terms of their ambitions, roles, personal issues etc. yet their spirit to keep the spark alive within them of performing incessantly. You get to know how deep they used to think even at the start of their career as in one of the instances in the book, both Aamir and Shahrukh accepts that they got successful initially not because they were great actors but just because they were new faces.

 

Author then gets into the space which made the three personalities vulnerable and disheartened due to events that impacted their career or personal lives such as – the kind of investments SRK made for Ra.One as he had huge hope from the movie and what its debacle did to him in terms of confidence and motivation – Similarly, for Aamir Khan, how his divorce affected him and made him take support of alcohol to keep himself sane – for Salman Khan, as all of us know, his broken relationship with Aishwarya and several other events of his life kept knocking him down which made him take unwanted actions which damaged his reputation like anything. Author also talks about the disagreement and a bit of anger both Salman and Aamir had towards their father for bringing in other ladies in their life apart from their mother. I didn’t know about this part at all.

 

Along with talking about the Three Khans and their whole filmography until the recent lockdown era, author talks about various other issues that Bollywood has been dealing with – such as the debate on nepotism, Insider vs Outsider, comparison of actors with yesteryears’ legends, Me Too movement, die-hard competition etc. Bamzai keeps on letting us know about what happened with India parallelly in terms of politics and other issues. She also acknowledges few incidents when each of the Three Khans spoke about something that led them towards controversy. But she has also missed many important events such as SRK’s Wankhede ban, Salman’s involvement with Modi etc. Reading about references of Arjun Rampal’s NCB enquiry and Aamir-Kiran’s beautiful relationship in the book, I was just thinking if author could have waited for little longer, she could have covered Aryan Khan’s case as well as Aamir-Kiran divorce too. The book ends with talking about the new era of Bollywood where multiple actors are becoming popular with the different kind of work/art that is getting created and delivered to us. I just loved reading this whole section as it is so contemporary that I could relate with it.

 

Now talking about the drawbacks about the book- I must say that yes, the book is surely interesting for people who love the three Khans because it just makes you happy to keep reading and knowing about them continuously for hours. But the issue is the kind of hatred that authoress has regularly shown towards Hinduism as religion, Hindus as people and BJP as presently elected government favouring Hindus. She also goes beyond this and tells how people support Hrithik, Akshay, Ajay, Ranbir, Ranveer just because they are Hindus. As far as I know, meeting and discussing about movies and actors with so many people, I have never heard anyone preferring or hating the three Khans for their religion. This is just the garbage filled in the minds of people who think like this – unfortunately, the author here too seems to be from the same section of society.

 

Even on the last page, there’s a reference of criticism towards the current government. Author has regularly emphasised on this point that since the new government has come into the picture, the dynamics have changed for the Muslims and how it has become difficult for the Three Khans to survive. I don’t know in which parallel universe is this happening. Also, I feel that very important part from the three actors’ life has been excluded conveniently which doesn’t give the right picture on their career statistics as well as personal lives. There are many typos in the book – majorly in the 2^nd half of the book – it seems that Kaveree tried to complete it on a deadline which couldn’t allow herself, editors and publisher do a final proofing.

 

Overall, I believe along with talking about Khans, this book is also trying to brainwash us towards thinking about Bollywood and cinemas from a religious and political perspective which I believe is truly unwanted. If that part could have been excluded, this book could have served better information on the actors and Bollywood but currently, it’s more about propaganda and agenda against the current Government particularly. I give this book 3.25 stars out of 5.

PURCHASE THE BOOK HERE

 

Thanks.

 

WRITING BUDDHA 

LIGHTS! WEDDING! LUDHIANA! by Jas Kohli (Book Review: 4.5*/5) !!!

1982nd BLOG POST

36^th Book of 2021

There are few authors you always remember because of the unique element they bring on the table. You remember some because they write historical fiction in a completely different way whereas you like another because their mythological fiction makes you go back in time and imagine yourself playing the part of the protagonist. Similarly, one author for me whom I always remember whenever it comes down to humoristic writing is Jas Kohli. Every time he writes a book, he assures that you are actually Laughing Out Loud multiple times while reading his books. Therefore I liked Chetan Bhagat in his initial 3 books because his books carried few instances where he actually made you laugh though the quality has taken a toss now. But Jas Kohli’s books are a complete laugh riot. Specially, the latest one named “Lights! Wedding! Ludhiana!” published by Rupa Publications.

 

The name of the book is kept in the same format as his previous book which was named “LIGHTS! SCALPEL! ROMANCE!” – it had impressed me so much that I had given it a rating of 4.5 stars and this book is no less. It seems as if author’s comic timing is just improving with every book. Particularly, in LWL, what surprised me is how every sentence, ok well, if I have exaggerated, every paragraph makes you laugh at least for the first 2/3^rd part of the book. I was just surprised with the quality of writing, command on the language, imagination of the scenes, format of the story, characterization of every member participant in the story and what not.

 

Right from the 1^st chapter itself when the author describes the family which is moderately dysfunctional, you start getting the smile on your face. I liked how in this chapter and in every other chapter, even if there’s a character discussed only once, the way author describes his/her personality with complete detailing and backdrop sounds so funny and perfect that you just can’t stop yourself from believing them to be the real characters. The chapter “Walk cum Mock” where husbands are talking about their wives’ expenditure is so damn funny that I just couldn’t stop myself from laughing loudly in every other sentence. Also, the way author portrays Reeta’s anxiety whenever it comes to her looks and fashion makes you relate with many female members you know in your life who are equally self-obsessed.

 

I liked how the story took the turn and dealt with a serious topic in such funny setup in the later part of the book where author very cleverly discusses the challenges of new relationships, adultery, extra-marital affairs, marriage, divorce laws etc. I liked how wittingly this has been executed. Similarly, the environmental issues are laughingly discussed but it speaks of everything that we are facing currently in regards to climate issues.

 

Talking about the drawbacks – I must say that the laughter quotient gets little less in the last 1/3^rd part of the book. Also, the wedding part occurs in this section itself and I had high hope as the scenario could have led author to make us laugh more but unfortunately, author ends up describing different marriage ceremonies more than trying to explore places of laughter in them. This ended up disappointing me a bit in the pre-climax and climax.

 

Overall, this is a laugh riot and one of the most entertaining and funny books I have ever read. I will rate it similar to author’s previous work i.e., 4.5 stars out of 5. Go and get it. Highly recommended!

PURCHASE THE BOOK HERE

 

Thanks.

 

WRITING BUDDHA 

Movie Review: Cash: A funny laugh riot! ***½

1981st BLOG POST

Disnep+ Hotstar has released its new original movie “Cash” on 19^th November, 2021 and seeing the humour genre and Amol Parashar as the lead hero made me invest my time into it. The movie is based in November 2016 when the PM Narendra Modi announced demonetization across India which led few currencies turn non-operational whereas new notes were introduced in the space to ensure that the country can get rid of black money. This makes a start-up enthusiast, who’s every idea has failed, adopt a new idea of converting black money into white during this period. All goes well for him until he gets engaged with an aspiring politician’s money who gets behind him after which all his ideas start failing one after another. How, he and his friends – who are his partners in this business fight back and try to return back the promised money makes this movie a perfect laugh riot.

 

Very few Bollywood movies which call themselves an all-and-out comedy are actually funny but this directorial debut by Rishabh Seth hits the ball in the stand and delivers a good boundary in the 1^st attempt itself. Right from the 1^st scene, the movie gives you the positive vibes as an audience and the fun begins just after that. The script works completely in favour of the movie. As the concept is unique where the writers have picked an event from the recent history which impacted every Indian – rich or poor, it was very necessary to have a perfect script in place. And that’s where the movie wins here.

 

Secondly, the dialogues are so apt that even when few scenes are not comedy per se, the one-liners make you laugh out loud. Similarly, when there’s neither a comedy scene nor funny dialogue, the comic expressions of the actors in the movie does the job for you. In short, the movie has every ingredient in their adequate proportion which delivers its best for the audience. It’s good that we have OTT platform these days through which this movie can get a good word-of-mouth and audience otherwise the case could have been very difficult if it must have released in theatres.

 

The performances are good – Amol Parashar does the role of a street-smart entrepreneur who has got stuck in a bad scenario perfectly well. Kavin Dave is another surprise in the movie who keeps you engaged with his confused and exasperated expressions and dialogues. Swanand Kirkire plays his part convincingly and you can’t imagine him as a music person at all considering his great acting performance in this movie. Smriti Kalra, as a start-up partner, also supports well. Gulshan Grover as a bad man justifies the tag given to him. Every time he is on the screen, you know that something interesting is going to happen. All the other supporting casts have also performed their parts well to make this movie a perfect piece of cinema.

 

Overall, the movie is a good weekend watch- in both the cases- if demonetization has been good or a pain for you – it will still assure that you get a laugh at the end. I give this movie 3.5 stars out of 5.

 

Thanks.

 

WRITING BUDDHA  

Movie Review: Dhamaka: An engaging movie! ***

 1980th BLOG POST

The trailer of Dhamaka was enough for me to be excited about this movie featuring Kartik Aaryan in a very serious movie unlike the movies he generally acts in. The film is finally streaming on Netflix and it is the best watch you can indulge yourself this weekend. It’s a short movie of about 2 hours and keeps you engaged throughout. Dhamaka is the perfect example of one-man show as you would remember no one after watching the movie but Kartik. The most appreciative part of the movie must be told before proceeding ahead with the review- this movie was shot within 11 days during lockdown which is quite a mammoth task which seems to be executed very well as there’s no mediocrity or sleep walking around the performances or cinematography.

 

The movie starts for you right from the scene that occurs in the 1^st 5 minutes itself when you see the protagonist completely in love with his partner and soon the frame shifts to the divorce paper which the wife has sent to the protagonist. You want to know why it happened and the writers have adopted a very good method of revealing this gradually through the main plot of the movie itself and not taking the focus away from it for exploring the romantic angle. After receiving the call from the terrorist, the way whole movie shifts towards urgency and the way events start unfolding on screen makes you excited to see how the demand of this caller will be fulfilled on live news channel.

 

The movie particularly talks about how media channels and portals work these days where they don’t care about what the truth is, but they are more inclined towards TRP game and assuring that their audience get enough drama to keep their adrenaline rush moving. There are many stereotypes about media people which has been projected in the same manner but at the end of the day, this is a movie, and it is supposed to show stereotypes as stereotypes, if they don’t choose to go through the realistic way. Almost, the whole movie is shot in the newsroom and keeping the urgency, thrill, and excitement alive in the plot as well as in our viewing experience is the major victory for Ram Madhvani – the director and captain of this ship.

 

The background music is used to show the urgency at times whereas during other times, it keeps on sensationalizing the contemporary scene. The dialogues are fine but sounds repetitive after a point as you hear the word “Sachch” so many times that you want to ask the writers why they want this obvious sentence to be heard by the audience multiple times. The other performance that I would like to mention after Kartik is Amruta Subhash who plays the head of Kartik in the movie and keeps us equally engaged by playing her demanding boss role perfectly.

 

Talking about the drawbacks – I must say that there could have been a lot that could have been done with this plot, but we are just kept in the vicinity of how media people deal with a breaking news. Similarly, few things are left unanswered as to how the earphones of the media people got bomb installed in them. How did the caller get so much access of their infrastructure? Lastly, the romantic angle is put in the movie, but it feels quite unbaked as it’s not given the kind of due importance it deserved.

 

Overall, Dhamaka is an engaging movie and will make you smile with a pleasure of watching a good movie in the end. I give it 3 stars out of 5. Kudos to Kartik Aaryan once again – but dude – please the haircut done.

 

Thanks.

 

WRITING BUDDHA

We don’t need Sympathy but Love & Understanding - Wishing Men's Day to everyone!!!

1979th BLOG POST

Well, like every year, even this year Men’s Day has almost gone unnoticed. It’s fine because the gender has been known to be oppressor for all these years. It is another example of how few people make the whole religion sound bad. Similarly, because of few men, the whole gender is known to be criminal and predator. Whatever you end up doing for a woman’s safety or respect, you will still be seen by the society as criminal if someone blames you of something harmful. It becomes so hard to prove yourself to everyone that you start blaming your gender some days. People think only girls feel bad about being girls when something scary happens with them. But does anyone think similarly for men? No one. People think that men are meant to do wrongs whereas nothing can go wrong with them.

 

Right from childhood, you are nourished in a way that you know a single failure of yours will be mocked until you taste success. Till then, you will be told how useless you are- you need to be responsible – how will you earn – how will you see your family – how will you fulfil dreams of everyone etc. With such pressure, you grow up, and when you are unable to find a job, when compared to your female peers, you are considered a bigger failure. It becomes hard to live with the tag of failure and loser. Men can’t even cry in front of someone because you are told to be strong. Most of the times, you end up faking yourself to be strong even when you are hurt and broken inside. Even if your face tells something is wrong, people don’t care for it but want you to behave responsibly. Why? Because you are the man who is meant to be bold to handle not only yourself but the whole family.

 

In our country, every law is made in a way that women just must make a statement against any of us, and we shall be seen as a criminal without any evidence proving anything against you. The only option that we have is to defend ourselves even if we have everything working towards us. Everyone would appreciate the girl for standing up even if she’s not right or completely fooling around. We have already seen multiple examples such as the recent ones of Zomato and Lucknow case where boys were not at fault, but it has become so easy for a woman to insult the boy socially. But then, we are told that we are the oppressors. I understand that many encounters have happened in ancient pasts where women were treated badly by men but even then, there were kings or Gods who happened to save women from such oppressors. But then, who notices this. Everyone prefers negativity over positivity on any day.

 

Today itself, I read multiple articles on how married men are suffering social humiliation due to false cases registered against them. The suicidal percentage among such sufferers is only increasing year by year. As per the statistics, one married man is committing suicide every 7 minutes whereas normally, a man is committing suicide in every 5 minutes. We have also come across cases where the couple are in relationship or staying in live-in but the moment a girl realizes that her expectations are not meeting in the relationship, a rape or molestation case is filed against the boy. The whole career and societal reputation get affected and the life for the boy never remains to be the same ever. It is that difficult for men to survive in this biased world but if ever the society start thinking from this perspective.

 

I was recently traveling with my mother and sister on a long drive and the number of changes in my way of traveling/halting/night-stay I made was all because I had two beautiful ladies of my life along with me. That is how we respect women. That is how I think for all my female friends. I want every girl to be empowered, strong, financially independent, and successful so that they don’t end up being a shadow like it happens with many of them. And this is how many men of this society thinks and wants equal responsibilities for their sisters, wife, daughters, female friends, female colleagues etc. But only if this class of boys are considered when you talk about boys, men, male or the so-called tyrannical gender.

 

We don’t need sympathy. We don’t need appreciation if we treat women well. All we need is to not blame all of us for something that few of us have committed wrongly. We don’t need false cases against us. We don’t need the tag of creeps or predators attached to us. We need the due respect for the good intentions that we live with. If I have never seen any woman wrongly or treated anyone badly or never hit anyone, I will tend to feel bad if I hear a man or woman say that “All Men are Dogs” or “All Men are opportunistic when it comes to taking undue advantage of a woman’s body”. I know there are some but I am not one among them. If this continues, after some time, we will have to start uplifting men like we have been doing with women for last two decades. Let’s respect each other and make this world a better place to live. Let’s not make it hard and difficult for any of us.

 

Wishing all Men a very Happy Men’s Day!

 

Thanks.

 

WRITING BUDDHA 

Movie Review: Meenakshi Sundareshwar: A Calm Movie! ***

 1978th BLOG POST

Well, the OTT platforms help you explore multiple options sitting at home – the ones which you may not have watched by paying in theatres. On the similar note, I watched “Meenakshi Sundareshwar” recently which released on Netflix under Dharmatic Productions. It stars Abhimanyu Dassani and Sanya Malhotra. It’s a movie about long-distance relationship post getting married and hence the makers had a good topic to explore and present something not being presented before. The film begins with the parents getting ready to reach the bride’s home for the 1^st step of match-making i.e. meeting the families and making the boy-girl introduce and know about each other within 10 minutes of conversation.

 

The fun begins right from this scene when they realize later that they have ended up at another house. But because the name of both the characters i.e. Meenakshi and Sundareshwar is based on our Lords – Goddess Parvati and Lord Shiva, the decision is made to get both the partners married as it’s decided by the destiny. As soon as the couple gets married, one of them had to leave home due to job relocation and here begins the main purpose of the movie – the long-distance relationship. The movie, in particular, is a nice experience to watch seeing how things unfold between the couple- how they try to find time for each other – how they try to manage their space – how they miss each other – how they resolve issues between them etc.

 

They face a lot of downs which brings them close to ending their relationship itself. There are some funny scenes in the movie as I mentioned above when they end up meeting the wrong family for matchmaking. Another scene where both the protagonists try to do some fun through video call is a great scene which will cheer you up. The aesthetics of the movie is also very beautiful in the way South Indian culture is portrayed on the screen. Yes, I know, Madurai doesn’t look the way it has been shown but as an audience, I really enjoyed watching the beauteousness on the screen.

 

In terms of reality, movie tells us how blindly we are married in an arranged setup where not even the names are asked, and the family reach each other’s home for setting up the wedding of their children. Similarly, how casual few people are about their job that they don’t worry about it even when something life changing as marriage happens in their life. How difficult it has become for maintaining this relationship in today’s time is displayed through the concept of long-distance but still, it talks about the speed with which one among the two ends up taking a call of ending it – as immediate as 6 months itself. We don’t understand ourselves a bit due to which we have to ask Google even personal questions like how to make wife happy or how to make long-distance relationship work. How girls are still seen as someone who can shuffle with their careers for the family, but boys are expected to excel.

 

Talking about the performances, I believe this is the career-best performance of both- Abhimanyu (though he is two films old only) and Sanya as they talk less and speak more with their eyes. Their chemistry also looks so beautiful on the screen that you start imagining your love life in front of the screen. The background music of the movie is very serene and keeps you calm even in the challenging times of the characters. Similarly, the songs are soulful with meaningful contemporary lyrics. The dialogues are also engaging.

 

Talking about the drawbacks, I believe that the movie could have been rolled up in 2 hours itself because you start getting bored in between due to the same narrative running for a longer time. There’s another plot that is introduced where Meenakshi meets one of her old friends and you believe that something will happen because of this but the whole segment is completely taken away from the story in the 2^nd half of the movie. Talking about the climax, you wanted a realistic ending, but you are presented the same Bollywood-ish stuff which disappoints a little.

 

Overall, this is a watchable movie which is good for viewing when you want to watch something very calm and slow. I give it 3 stars out of 5.

 

Thanks.

 

WRITING BUDDHA 

Be Wary of Fake & Pretentious People around You!

 1977th BLOG POST

When we hear someone say that they have met fake people in their life, we feel that they are exaggerating about their experiences. But let me tell you, sometimes, you get a bigger experience in life which changes everything for you because of one fake person who has been your closest whereas on daily basis, you meet people faking one or the other story about themselves which impacts you like a slow poison does. Now, the most common example of being fake is evident on social media. All of us want to show people how happy and exploratory we are. Even if we go outside for purchasing milk, andif we find a great cloud formation or a nice arrangement of vehicles on the road, we just click a picture and share in our temporary stories about how exciting our life is. People think that you are traveling somewhere or chilling out whereas their own life is all about sucking up to their bosses till midnight.

 

Such arrangements on social media have really made people live less of their lives and more of a life which is just to post about themselves online. If you’ll get someone pizza, they’ll not eat it first but share it on their accounts to make their friends know that in the same world where they’re having lauki, turai, palak, you are having pizza whereas the truth is – everyday you must be having the same sabzis or even worst – but by pretending on a certain day, you are trying to establish an image of eating only expensive foods and enjoying life to the fullest. Similarly, I see people on trip – they enjoy the view later but first want to get it clicked so that they can share it with people. After that, even if you take them away from that spot, they have no complaints because their job is done. They have already faked it in front of people that they are enjoying something majestic. The truth always remains to be known to them – that they just got it clicked but didn’t spend even 10 seconds looking at that beauty which may have connected them to their roots, soul, or source of happiness.

 

This was an example about social media, people are even faking in real life in different ways. People earning less are faking by purchasing big cars and mobiles on EMI. Students not studying are faking by choosing a competitive exam and spending good amount of their young age in pretending to be studying. People in job are not preparing for their future which is going to change due to AI and ML but sharing that certificate of 2 hours of free course they completed sitting at home on a website. People in toxic relationship share selfies as if their relationship is the strongest in the whole world. Similarly, few rich people are faking to be middle class by not letting people reach their private space and know about the kind of backing their parents/grandparents have left for them. The students who are working hard on academics are faking about watching movie marathon every day so that their peers can get engaged in the same whereas they can spend the same time in building their bright future. Same applies to the people doing well in job – every time you meet them, they’ll tell you how bullshit their life, package, boss, job profile is whereas in reality, they are paying taxes which are equivalent to your 3 years savings.

 

You get amazed, surprised, shocked, astonished, broken and shattered- all at once - when you find someone like this in your life or if you are the victim having considered their fake-ness as reality. When the truth surfaces you, you just end up wondering if this has happened with you only with this concerned person or everyone is similar, and you are being fooled since eternity of the past from everyone you believe. Sometimes, even if you must pretend in front of all, at least to the people closest to you, you need to specify that the reality is something else and not what you are trying to project for others. This makes you relevant and trustworthy. Trust once broken can’t be fixed ever. Hence, pretending in front of the people who are wishing well for you, spouse, parents, real friends, close relatives etc. is the biggest crime you must be committing the result of which would be very ugly if it ever comes out. You will lose every such person from your life who were not pretending- but genuinely loving you. And such people are very rare these days.

 

Also advise to the people who are broken or overcoming from the fact that their closest person ended up fooling them, realize and understand that it’s us who are fool which has been used cleverly by the people. Stop trusting people with blind eyes. Use your senses and keep testing people time-to-time to understand their real colours. It helps you in filtering the useless chaps or soon-to-be-toxic relationships out from your life – or keeping a distance from them. And let me tell you, when you prepare likewise, the chances of getting hurt or being vulnerable keeps getting reduced gradually. What more would we want for ourselves, isn’t it? Well, think about this and let me know if you have experienced something like this.

 

Thanks.

 

WRITING BUDDHA 

BECOME YOUR BEST SELF RIGHT NOW: LIFE LESSONS FROM THE SUPERGURUS (Book Review: 4.5*/5) !!!

1976th BLOG POST

35^th Book of 2021

 

Reading a self-help book even when the concepts become howsoever repetitive gives you the boost you need in your low phase. Still, I have now started avoiding self-help books because I feel almost all of them try to speak the same things which you have read in your first 10 books itself. There are very few authors who speak of concepts which are yet to be revealed or write a chapter/quote which can impact you in a completely new fashion. But as an avid reader, I can’t end up reading every author’s book to find if there’s something new in it hence, I keep myself away from the genre these days.

 

I got to know about this book named “Become your best self right now” which is a compilation of a chapter or excerpt taken from popular books written by esteemed authors. So, basically, this book shares with you 31 chapters from 31 different bestselling books written by 31 different popular authors. Can you imagine the capacity and scalability delivered in this book in terms of knowledge? On top of that, the book is not even 200 pages which means you can either read a chapter daily for a month and absorb the concepts completely or you can finish it in just a single sitting itself. I must tell you, the book has so many beautiful sentences that I got busy in just highlighting the transformational quotes throughout my reading journey. Every time, I found a quote, it felt as if it was better than all the previous ones I had marked till now. Such is the level of the content compiled for this book!

 

The few of many chapters from the books which I really liked reading are mentioned below:

-          The Monk who sold his Ferrari by Robin Sharma

-          The Subtle Art of not giving a Fu*k by Mark Manson

-          The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel

-          The Power of your Subsconscious mind by Joseph Murthy

-          7 Mindsets for Success, Happiness and Fulfilment by Swami Mukundananda

-          Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramhansa Yogananda

-          Om Swami etc.

 

The book has divided the content in three parts where each of them primarily focuses on Success, Wealth and Life. My personal favourite from which I really learnt a lot are Part 1 and 3. The authors who are speaking on different aspects of Success and how you can achieve it are from the likes of Devdutt Pattanaik, Stephen R Covey, Dale Carnegie, Joseph Murphy etc. Murphy’s book is nicely summarized with two examples which helps you understand the concept aptly. Talking about the Life part, it majorly focuses on spiritual aspect of living where we are regularly told to cherish the moment rather than worrying about past and future. Hence, every excerpt primarily focuses on the same in the initial chapters, but latter chapters are completely diverse; such as the one written by Paramhansa Yogananda. That chapter is written in some different space altogether which will make you read it more than three times to grasp the complete understanding of it. Yet, I am not sure if I have understood the deeper meaning hidden behind it.

 

Talking about the 2^nd part, which is on Money and Wealth, I got quite disappointed as none of the chapters are picked which can tell us about practical ways on focusing upon the wealth factor in our life. Most of them gives us the solution of thinking about getting rich and eventually, with the help of subconscious mind and energies, we will get rich. This is not a great advice to be given for people who need to learn about wealth. This is definitely good for people who are already in the process of investment and multiplication of their earnings and savings but not for people looking for practical tips and suggestions. This section literally frustrated me.

 

The book, in whole, will definitely teach you on how to focus upon your priorities and happiness rather than others. It has enough motivation to pull you up from the bed and redefine your days, routine and habits. Few chapters will even impose a different way of looking at things within you – the way you never looked at world, people and things before. Now talking about the drawbacks, well, it doesn’t have many. So, the 1^st one has already been discussed about the Wealth section. The other one is about skipping some important and effective chapters from the books they have already considered for the compilation and mentioning another substandard chapter from it. Like, Robin Sharma has effectively transformed many lives by making people wake up at 5 AM in the morning whereas the book has picked up a less effective chapter which discusses about living in the moment. There are many such instances which I believe should have been considered to cover as many aspects as possible by compiling diverse topics rather than similar stuffs together.

 

Overall, this is a good start for you if you have not read any of these popular books to get a crux of how these books speak with the readers and brings the change in us. This will make you pick up at least one book out of 31 mentioned here which will open the reading horizon in your life. I give this one 4.5 stars out of 5. Definitely recommended!

PURCHASE THE BOOK HERE

 

Thanks!

 

WRITING BUDDHA 

Web-Series Review: Special Ops 1.5: Quite Bollywood-ish! ***½

1975th BLOG POST 

Special Ops 1.0 and The Family Man are the two series which are my most favourite and every time I watch anything, I can’t stop myself from comparing it with both these series. I remember watching Special Ops 1.0 and totally falling in love with its content and execution. I have been waiting for its Part 2 since then. I got little disappointed when I saw the trailer of Special Ops 1.5 as it wasn’t speaking about what happens after catching the terrorist they wanted to but speaks about Himmat Singh’s past. I was still expecting a complete full-on series where I got upset again when I realized it has only 4 episodes – one of them being as short as 30 minutes only.

 

Now that I have completed streaming it on Hotstar, I can say that it is not as good as 1.0 but it’s still a fine watch. I felt this one little more Bollywood-ish in its attempt and less dark unlike other OTT contents hence felt little underwhelmed. The first two episodes are interesting as you get to learn a lot about how Himmat Singh started his tenure and the kind of decisions he made. His younger version is very audacious and does most of the tough and difficult things himself rather than assigning it to another agents. Hence, this becomes exciting to watch as to how he will fight against the person who was once his colleague but now a villain who’s working against the country.

 

The dialogues are nicely written and keeps you engaged. The funny and witty lines do the magic of making you smile as and when the makers wanted. The serious ones are also enough to make you understand the intensity of the situation. The background music goes well with the whole drama happening on the screen. The only shortcoming here is that this looks more like a TV serial in terms of cinematography. The screen is too bright and doesn’t allow you to get into the world of Himmat Singh. There’s always a gap maintained between his world and us – as an audience.

 

Acting-wise, KK Menon keeps the momentum going through his body language and poker face. The makeup of his younger look doesn’t go well but still he manages to keep us entertained. The script fails him at times – such as in the events where such trained people are firing bullets but are unable to connect with the target. All these look and sound so filmy that you are unable to accept most segments of the show. KK Menon, in the last episode, where he performs an emotional scene tells you why he is seen and respected as one of the geniuses in Bollywood. Vinay Pathak does great this time as he is an important character in this season. I am loving how he is trying to carve new opportunities at this stage of his career.

 

Aftab Shivdasani is okay. It is good to see him after such a long gap but he couldn’t do much in his role as script doesn’t allow him. Aishwarya Sushmita keeps you engaged with her dangerous looks and expressions – saying this in a good way. Haha! Shiv Jyoti, who plays Himmat Singh’s love interest looks so adorable and beautiful that you will not be able to stop yourself from crushing over her. Aadil Khan, as Maninder Singh, does a fine job but not a memorable one. Gautami Kapoor enlightens the screen whenever she is involved in the storyline.

 

Overall, I am glad that the makers didn’t stretch this further and completed this within 4 episodes itself but the climax has really made me excited about the next season – as it brings our favourite character back. I am looking forward to it desperately. I give this one 3.5 stars out of 5. I wish I could have given it more, but I am sure Neeraj Pandey will not give us chance to complain in the next instalment.

 

Thanks.

 

WRITING BUDDHA 

Isn't ROAD TRIP and LIFE the SAME EXPERIENCE?

1974th BLOG POST

Long time since our family bought our first car in 2016, we were planning of some long road trip which we hadn’t experienced yet. The most that we tried was a journey from Mumbai to Daman which is not that exploratory as its around 200 kms something. I always wanted to achieve something like 1000+ kilometres by driving all by myself. After thinking a lot, we had this trip last month where all three of us went to Jhansi which is 1000+ kms away from where we stay. I still don’t have confidence on how to drive on mountains and ghats hence I wanted straight highways and didn’t want many adventures to take place. When you are with your parents, even walking on an empty road can lead to 100 warnings. You can imagine the state when you are on a road trip with them and that too driving on dangerous steep turns. Hence, to save myself from millions of instructions and taking care of my mental health, I chose a simple road to travel on my first ever Road-trip.

 

When you drive for 12-15 hours on a stretch all by yourself, there are numerous thoughts that run through your mind. Some stays whereas some disappears in the black hole that must be located somewhere in the brain – otherwise where does all these thought goes which we keep on thinking regularly. I ended up comparing the Road-trip with Life and found so many similarities in both these journeys that I got to understand why it is said that you learn a lot when you travel. Yes! But No for the people who travel only for social media. Traveling is like Meditation – in a form – where the way you see things are specific to you. The experience of seeing the very same thing might be different for everyone who are looking at something. Hence, to experience something vast within you, you must travel for yourself and not for digital platforms, friends or selfies.

 

There is a moment when you are running at your fastest speed say 100-120 kms/hr and you notice that you are not able to view the sceneries around you. I realized that I was missing on so many things- the cloud, the mountains, the greenery, the temples, the different colour formations in the sky etc. So, I slowed down my Car and started enjoying the view. After a point, I remembered that I also need to cover a specified distance on the same day to reach the destination I have to reach at. I speeded up again but with a conscious attempt to be at both the places – Driving fast as well as enjoying the things around me. I think about Life now. Isn’t it similar? We keep running in this hyper-professional target-oriented culture and realize after a point that we are missing time with family, children and friends. Then we try to rectify that and find that we have ended up screwing our professional life which have impacted our family life too. Then we understand how to maintain Work-Life Balance all by ourselves and walk on this path which keeps us sane and peaceful. How interesting, isn’t it?

 

When I was driving, I was thinking of not taking a break at all and try completing the whole journey in one-go itself but after my right shoulder started aching due to 6-hrs of continuous driving, I realized that taking break after some hours is essential if I have to drive so long. The same thing happens with life. We think of working a lot for weeks and months without taking break. We get into this hustling mode and perform our tasks like there’s no alternative to it. But after our medical reports tell us that you have become a successful person but at the cost of your health, you leave everything aside and make your health the priority over everything else. You, then, understand the importance of being healthy and making time for your body irrespective of being howsoever busy you are.

 

When we drive on highways, we get smooth roads as well as bumpy ones. The smooth road comes at a price – yes, I had to pay toll amount of Rs. 2800 in this journey. The bumpy ones are free. You can also avoid these toll roads and chose to travel by alternate bumpy roads – but, you have to travel few extra miles which also damages the condition of your car. Before starting this trip too, I had got my car serviced and spent another 10,000 bucks on it to ensure a smooth ride. In life, too, we must pay for a convenient lifestyle otherwise you can’t have the smooth days and nights – the way you dream of living. Life also shows you some good days where you just pass them off smoothly whereas sometimes even an hour is so bad that it’s more dangerous than bumpy roads. You must bear both if you have chosen to be on this journey. Alas, Life is a Journey which is not a choice but mandate.

 

While taking breaks, I assured that I don’t eat much so that I don’t feel sleepy. But still, on one of the many breaks, I ended up eating more than I had decided to fill myself with and it resulted to tricky situation for me as I was fighting back sleep for some hours while driving after that. In our daily life too, sometimes we end up consuming something more than we need which results into some difficult moments in life. If you end up spending a lot of money on useless things or time on people/mobile/television, there comes a judgement time when the experience of living life becomes terrible. You keep on regretting why didn’t you stop yourself from consuming unwanted stuffs more than you needed. It takes a lot of time after that to come back on track and experience the smoothness of life again. And then you decide that you’ll restrain yourself from being into bad habits even if they are meant to happen occasionally. You learn the art of living life.

 

The Road-trip has taught me more than this and many other aspects of life. I don’t know if anyone of you have also experienced the lessons of life being delivered to you while you are traveling, if not, then please try to travel next time with yourself without gadgets, useless friends or at places where there are less crowds and more monuments. Try reading your mind when you are traveling than sharing about your location with your friends and relatives. I’ll share more experiences in upcoming posts. Thanks for now. Hope you could relate with this post too. 😊

 

WRITING BUDDHA