tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37597663372655481762024-03-19T13:14:54.760+05:30At peace, writing gibberishFor the answers I know, the questions are hard to come by.Ravi Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14719174666413173350noreply@blogger.comBlogger91125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759766337265548176.post-75354056177139864162020-10-04T19:45:00.122+05:302020-10-05T09:27:40.861+05:30That Thing You Do<p><span style="font-family: "bookman old style", serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">This article was first featured in <b>Unbound</b> Issue #5 launched back in December 2018 by <b>FWBA (For Writers By Authors)</b> who were generous enough to accommodate the piece in their magazine despite its lengthy and verbose nature that was in a sense essential to convey the experience of listening to your personified 'self-doubt' talk, but is nonetheless a hard sell in todays times of shrinking attentions spans.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: "bookman old style", serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Theme of the issue was <b>The Shape Of You </b>and f</span><span style="font-family: bookman old style, serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 16.1px;">or those interested, the Kindle edition of the magazine is still a</span><span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 16.1px;">vailable <a href="https://www.amazon.in/UnBound-Issue-Theme-SHAPE-YOU-ebook/dp/B07MR5B2S9" target="_blank">here</a> for forty nine bucks- a bare minimum price that allows you to read several good entries (atleast five of which I can assure you will stand out as great).</span></p><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 16.1px;">Do check it out if you can.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">-------------------------------------</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://justinallenmiller.blogspot.com/2011/11/big-fat-naked-guy-ive-been-sketching-on.html" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1173" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOmMdEWpoDmhKiq0PvubgsauzVamfAOLDTl_czqo9GaW8DfgDsZ2QUfDwA9ao9WFUl4KS5gNlMKKBPJvjjbtZ_NOAqXEc225UHdyyagRrCu2-ym249nu_aMTPxRxYSKVOhNqlQisLZ8eBi/w294-h400/Fat+guy+2.jpg" width="294" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">(C) <a href="http://justinallenmiller.blogspot.com/2011/11/big-fat-naked-guy-ive-been-sketching-on.html" target="_blank">Justin Allen Miller</a></span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><span></span></div><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>You’d think writing an article on a subject as
straightforward as this would be just that, straightforward.</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">But <i>no, </i>says
the over-thinker in you.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">What if,</span></i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;"> he is quick to add, <i>what if what you want to say about the subject isn’t straightforward—or
worse, what if what you want to say about the subject won’t carry much weight
if you put it in a straightforward way.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You nod at that, partly because you sense a logic to
it, but mainly because the other choice you have is of not nodding, which in
turn means giving the over-thinker more space to meander before he arrives at
whatever it was he originally wanted to say.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">And you don’t want that happening.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Because once this twitchy, middle-aged, heavily
spectacled and perpetually balding version of you has had sufficient time to
get under your skin, you know there is no easy way to get him out of there.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You know he will talk a lot, and then talk some more until
you can feel him crawling all over you from the inside. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">And there are places in there that you never really liked
visiting. These are places so sensitive you have assumed your brain will have
trained itself by now to just not show on whatever GPS network your memories
are on. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Unfortunately, the overthinker does not require GPS to
drag you to those places.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">All he needs is time.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">And so, exercising caution, you take to your seat in
the audience, unburdened of the mike, spotlight no longer on your person, and-
with one eye on the clock- motion at him to begin.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Which he does, in his usual roundabout manner that at
times might feel lengthy but makes sense by the time he’s reached the end.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">(Sometimes it doesn’t—also sometimes it does but the
mental havoc he has wreaked on you by that time is just not worth it—but
anyway.)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">He tells you in a solemn tone—<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">I have
always believed that stories are the best way to put forth your opinion on any
subject.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">An opinion,
in its plain form can only be as important as the world considers the one who
is holding the pen or the mike to be.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">And while I
might agree if you argue that storytelling works the same way—your contention
being that the importance attached to the opinion of a character or the
narrative voice of a story is directly proportional to the importance the
audience attaches to said character or narrative voice—there is a fundamental
difference between how the two mediums operate that makes the latter far more
potent than the former, especially when done right.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You see—</span></i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">he pauses for dramatic effect—<i>an opinion in real life, as I have stated before, has to come from a
place of importance to be given importance.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">A story, on
the other hand, can come from anywhere.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Another pause as he looks around in the audience for
approving nods, which he doesn’t get. He continues, mildly miffed—<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">‘Subtext’
and ‘flow’ are the key of course, and—when done right in fiction—these two are elements
capable of making what one has to say seep into the readers’ subconsciousness, a
feat that is near impossible to achieve for most in real life.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">His eyes turn hazy, like he is playing back to himself
whatever has been said till now.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You have seen this before, so you know what will
follow is a qualification.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Which is
not to discredit those who have achieved this in real life. For there are
indeed those who, with accounts from their real lives, have left lasting
impressions on the world and have had their opinions on varying subjects bring
varying degrees of change to the world we live in.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">I do not
mean to discredit them</span></i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">—he
gestures with his hand as if clearing the air of a cloud of uninvited smog.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">No sir I do
not…even though…<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">—with a smug smile—<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Even though
I am aware, as are you, that real-life based biographical accounts have their
own prescribed dosage of fiction.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">—adjusts his spectacles with two fingers—<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You know
how it is, don’t you? They want to keep it real. But they don’t want to lose
out on those moments where the readers will go, “How can something that
actually happened in real life come together so beautifully?”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">He makes air quotes at ‘come together’ and
‘beautifully’. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You roll your eyes wondering where the fuck this is
all leading to. Five minutes in and he is nowhere near to even broaching the
theme you were supposed to write on.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Should you have risked not nodding?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">No. I do
not mean to do that at all.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">His tone is solemn again.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">I do not
wish to discredit their way. In fact, in a way what I am saying is the complete
opposite.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">What I am
saying is— <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">THIS
existence </span></i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">(he’s pointing at you)<i>, yes, this one, front row, third seat from
the left</i>…<i>this…life, if you decided to
compare this with the lives of other…better people, say, the lives of successful
and influential men, the prominent orators and the popular inspirational
writers of our time, you’d realise…I’m sorry to say…you’d realise that this
life has been utterly insignificant.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"></p><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Pause.</span></div><o:p></o:p></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i></i></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDHgr2Z_vkXZpV8efMPrTPJ3lF6JHWLH3LcJyfw-AOndHqx6iGThEkXMzGa4-vuhh4LGYgZMWiGUomjFxU11A4ZPqkVypn2IBQyblMDyWWqV5SOYKSrxmW_NgWBrMOq223jcZsdHHy7ZDm/s274/Stage.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="274" data-original-width="184" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDHgr2Z_vkXZpV8efMPrTPJ3lF6JHWLH3LcJyfw-AOndHqx6iGThEkXMzGa4-vuhh4LGYgZMWiGUomjFxU11A4ZPqkVypn2IBQyblMDyWWqV5SOYKSrxmW_NgWBrMOq223jcZsdHHy7ZDm/w269-h400/Stage.jpg" width="269" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">His stage or yours!</span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;"><br /></span></i><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Which of
course makes me </span></i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">(he points at
himself) <i>insignificant too, yes it does.
I assure you, I know that. But that’s not the point.</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">—adjusts his spectacles again—<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">The point
is, my belief in putting forward opinions through the mouths of characters and
narrative voices in my stories instead of putting them forward as just that, as
my opinions, stems from this…it stems from my knowledge of having led an
insignificant life.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">He is looking at you.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">And to
clarify, when I say insignificance, it is not about how little the reach of my
opinions will be due to this insignificance that I’m thinking about.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">When I say
insignificance, I’m thinking more about how big a hypocrite I will feel like
after, if I give opinions as myself knowing what I know about me.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You nod. The fucker does have a point.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">And so, I
write stories instead.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">My
characters, my narrative voices, who I can give either profound or endearing or…or
at least relatable attributes speak for me in front of many…and maybe in doing
so make me feel like a lesser hypocrite because those ‘many’ are listening to ‘them’,
not ‘me’.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">—gives a nervous shrug—<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">So that’s
my thing. The thing I do.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">He puts down the mike and looks at us, all of us.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">That’s it? That’s all he wanted to say? Well that
wasn’t so bad now, was it? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Alright then. You can still cover up for this detour.
No time to waste though. So, let’s just…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">But of
course</span></i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">—he’s started again with
your arse hovering two inches above the surface of your seat because you were
about to get up<i>—once in a while comes a
subject that makes you question your belief.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Once in a
while comes a theme that makes you wonder if what you want to say will make
more sense coming from ‘you’ the person, instead of some character in a
fictional narrative or the narrative voice of that fictional narrative.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">He looks grim.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Maybe it’s because
you have known this subject personally, and for long.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Maybe you
acknowledge, it is one of those subjects you are qualified, perhaps too
qualified, to speak on without worrying about feeling hypocritical, after.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">It is, you accept,
a straightforward subject.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Your arm has shot up instantaneously. Your arse has
risen from your seat again. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">This is it. This is a good opportunity to make him
stop because this was how you had started the piece. You had started by saying
something about the subject being straightforward.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Full circle. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Excellent.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Now if you can just…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">And yet—</span></i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">he continues without noticing your movements<i>—you decide to not go that way, for other
reasons. <o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Motherfucker!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You decide
against writing an opinion piece on how the shape of you has come to define who
you are today. Or worse, an opinion piece on how you are whoever you are today
because you did not let your shape define it for you.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You decide
against the latter because you know that is bullshit. Of course, the shape of
you has contributed in shaping you. Whether in a good way or bad, now that is a
separate question. But the contribution cannot be refuted.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">He has started to move around the stage. The spotlight
hung from somewhere above moves with him. This is what you had been worried
about but it is happening anyway.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">The stage is not yours anymore.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You also
decide against the former because when you read the theme back to yourself
again, what comes to you is not a neatly done review of your entire life summarizing
the many obstacles you had to face due to your physical proportions.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">No sir.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;"></span></i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">—waves a hand at the audience—<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Unless you
want me to be dishonest, this does not go that way.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">There is
nothing linear about this. Nothing straight. Nothing that will fit snugly into
one line for you to plot and study.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">He is pointing at you again.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">There are
layers here.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">And, layers
need peeling.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Another pause.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">So…you read
the title of the theme again. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">He is staring at the stage floor as he speaks. His
eyes have turned hazy as before.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">And you are
reminded of two things-<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Murad
Badshah is the first. But for sake of a discernible flow, I shall reserve him to
be explained second.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">The second
is an odd little memory from when you were young. It is a memory, sketchy yet
distinct, from your college days—eleventh grade; maybe twelfth—of a lecture on
book-keeping where the professor decided at random to have a little fun at the
expense of a back bencher, who he was seeing for the first time in his class
despite it being second semester.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You are
seated somewhere in the middle row, intentionally so, because this is a
professor you don’t want registering your existence in class. He is someone
you’ve pegged as one of those whose good books is as bad a place to be in as
their bad books because <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">(a) you
have seen him humiliate one classmate, a studious one, just for bringing in
class a reference book by an author he did not approve of (for the rest of the
year, every time he’d want to single out the kid, he’d just say, “Yes, you,
Chaudhary & Chopde, what you want?”), and <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">(b) you
have seen him slap another classmate for laughing a little longer than others at
a joke cracked by him. (“Yes you, guy with specs, why you smiling?, come to
front, come now, yes, remove specs, SLAP!!!, now go to seat, don’ forget specs.)
<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">So, you
remember where you’re seated in his class.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You
remember the professor asking the back bencher to stand and introduce himself
to everyone, which he did.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You
remember the intermittent silence and the look in the professor’s eyes during
that silence, as if to say, ‘Mil gaya aaj ka bakra’ (I’ve got one for the day).<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You don’t
recollect the classmate’s name but you do recollect the exchange that had followed
between them:<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Prof: You
are new zoinee?<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Backbencher
(BB): No sir. I’ve been here since start of the year. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Prof: Here?
Here where?<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">BB: In this
college sir.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Prof: But
aye never seen you bephore? You not attended any my lecture bephore?<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">BB: Sorry
sir. I was not able to.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Prof: Why?
You like canteen food that much you sit there only?<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">BB: No sir.
I have sports practice.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Prof: What?<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">BB: Sports
practice.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Prof: What
sports practice?<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">BB: Cricket.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Prof: Cricket?
You play cricket?<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">BB: Yes
sir.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Prof: What you
play cricket as? Umpire?”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You
remember the laughter. It’s like a wave, commencing from the first benches, gaining
strength as it rolls on till it reaches you in the middle, and keeps going till
it hits the wall at the back, ricocheting off it. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You
remember it because you had joined in too. Maybe it was so you wouldn’t stand
out. But you did. You contributed to the wave.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Prof: Umpire
will suit you (Eyeing the backbencher from top to bottom). You look like umpire.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">More
laughter, nervous, brash, and ugly.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">BB: I’m a
leg spinner. College doesn’t have training program for umpires. (And before the
professor can say anything further…)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">BB: Body
type doesn’t make any difference. Talent hona chahiye. That’s all you need.
Look at Inzaman. Top quality batsman. Can tear into any opposition with ease. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">And you
remember the wave vanishing almost immediately.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i></i></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9rnSzrDg5ujIM8kuMHeBchjbEKThQOOVuUh1_1FDRs50WBrG5oWW8QWweaP4qLEMzBKBZ81V41jUy0M0qkx2ezhF-D0W2OCK-akpJwmkNKk2t63jyNSD052c-Pkty3JEe44U_K6PkQNfR/s920/inzamam-ul-haq-the-runout-king-920x518.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="518" data-original-width="920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9rnSzrDg5ujIM8kuMHeBchjbEKThQOOVuUh1_1FDRs50WBrG5oWW8QWweaP4qLEMzBKBZ81V41jUy0M0qkx2ezhF-D0W2OCK-akpJwmkNKk2t63jyNSD052c-Pkty3JEe44U_K6PkQNfR/w400-h225/inzamam-ul-haq-the-runout-king-920x518.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Leg Sweep: Leisurely but effective</span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i></i></div><i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></i><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">The look on
the professor’s face; you remember thinking then that it was a mixture of the general
embarrassment of being answered back to and the specific realization of having
crossed a line that a person in his position should ideally not be crossing, because,
after a pause, you remember him asking the kid to sit down and resume dictating
whatever problem on book-keeping he had been dictating to the class before.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Now, when
you replay the scene though, you are convinced that wasn’t it. It was just the
look of a man telling himself, ‘Aaj galat bakra mila. Kal dekhte hain’ (Picked
the wrong guy today. Let me try tomorrow). <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">But, he’s
not why you are recollecting this memory. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">After all,
there have been other, bigger assholes who taught you or didn’t teach you but you
still knew of who were in a position that granted them power to mock those under
their tutelage.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You are
recollecting this because you remember turning and looking at the backbencher
as he was talking about talent and body size and Inzamam-ul-Haq and Inzy’s
capacity to tear into bowling oppositions with ease instead of looking down at
his bench, his shoulders drooped, waiting for the ordeal to end on its own like
most others, including you, would have done in a situation like that.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Sixteen, face
showing signs of what might grow into a full beard in another five years, head
showing signs of what might grow into a bald patch in another twenty-five, plus-sized
t-shirt concealing a heavyset chest, stomach bulging both front-ways and
side-ways, and—most importantly—all of it ensconced in supreme confidence.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You
remember nodding as you got back to taking down the problem being dictated.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You
remember nodding then just as you will nod years later when you pick up Mohsin
Hamid’s <a href="https://www.amazon.in/Moth-Smoke-Mohsin-Hamid/dp/1594486603" target="_blank">literary debut</a> and are introduced in Chapter six to the big man, Murad
Badshah, M.A., rickshaw fleet captain and land pirate.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Murad, as
you are conveyed through Hamid’s beautiful writing, considers huge (and also
massive, enormous, and gigantic) as terms that might describe him well. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">But rarely
is he called fat.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Fat, as he
goes on to explain, implies a certain ungainliness, an inefficiency, a sense of
immobility, a lack of industry, an unpleasant, un-aesthetic quality; and so on
and so forth. ‘Fat’ is not a term that makes one think of attributes one would
consider as ‘good’, which might not be true for all things large in size, say,
for instance, the awesomely powerful rhinoceros, the supremely efficient and
magnificent sperm whale, the deadly grizzly of North America. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">And so, he says,
the word can hardly be considered to apply to him since he claims to be able to
carry his mass wonderfully and has time and again demonstrated attributes such
as industry, drive, dexterity, cunning; attributes that can hardly make one imagine
somebody demonstrating them as being ‘fat’.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Murad also
claims it is no secret that he dances well and most willingly.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">“If A has
fundamental characteristics the very absence of which characterize B, it cannot
be said with any degree of accuracy (or may I add, sophistication) that A is B”
is his conclusion on the subject before he moves on to narrating what he saw on
the night he considers pivotal to the downfall of Daru or Darashikoh, the
novel’s protagonist</span></i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i></i></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy2vKFwluoUW0rL5tXyDhxMjE7SkCn2oWwG16AteLFCrGxkOY7xZLqYEdZs36XwFCmxQejW-ZsDZD3JJDrUlSmnCet1cbEPK6znvLbRWvgUORU-HSIFrhaAeFRQD8ZrGpwv3Q8vDhRGjQ-/s286/set-of-fat-guy-silhouettes.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="286" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy2vKFwluoUW0rL5tXyDhxMjE7SkCn2oWwG16AteLFCrGxkOY7xZLqYEdZs36XwFCmxQejW-ZsDZD3JJDrUlSmnCet1cbEPK6znvLbRWvgUORU-HSIFrhaAeFRQD8ZrGpwv3Q8vDhRGjQ-/w400-h280/set-of-fat-guy-silhouettes.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Murad bhai prepping for a dance number? </span></td></tr></tbody></table><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;"><br />But you
remember not wanting to move to the next page the first time you read the novel.
You remember going back to the beginning of chapter six and rereading the two
pages Murad (Mohsin) dedicates to the subject of physical proportions, much
slowly this time, perhaps to analyse, to segregate and then strip those two
pages of any literary merit just so you could see if there were any flaws in
the logic being used as a defence for not being called fat by a character who
admits to being huge and enormous and massive and gigantic.</span></i></span></i></p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You
remember wanting to do so because by the age of twenty-four, you have been
through many such inspiring moments before, only to realise within a few days
that what you thought was irrefutable logic at first was just the writer
flexing his or her writing muscles that could irrefutably conceal all the flaws
his or her logic might have been riddled with.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Also, you
remember wanting to do it because at the age of twenty-four, you are still
unclear where you stand in terms of your physicality.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">So, you
read it again and are filled with admiration. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Even after
you have separated Mohsin’s voice from Murad’s and are now left with just the
subtext and no flow to beautify it, the distinction drawn between fat and
not-fat strikes you as most singular.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">It is a
usable distinction. A practical one, unlike other sources of information that
have only managed to confuse you more about your own physicality and the
complicated manner in which it changes with the passage of each year.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Let me, for
better understanding of the audience, elaborate on this physical complication
so they may, if wiling, be able to admire Mohsin’s (Murad’s) logic as much as
you did the first time you came across those particular pages.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">—takes off his specs and rubs the corner of his right
eye with the back of the hand holding the specs—<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You were
born a healthy baby. You know what a healthy baby is, don’t you? A newborn with
cheeks and buttocks the same size.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">So far so
good.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">At the age
of six, you were cute and chubby but still looked like you were a six-year old.
Same goes for when you were twelve, although you are not too sure how cute you
looked then.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Still good.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Then…<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">At fifteen
you started to look like you were a twenty-year old boy on the cusp of becoming
a man. You were fine with it, except the grey hair or two you would find above
your temple from time to time, which were, frankly speaking, alarming
experiences.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">At
eighteen, you still looked twenty, still on the cusp of manhood, and began to
believe your physique and your age were simply playing catch-up, perhaps making
up for a rift between them that got created due to some anomaly.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">It’ll be
fine in a couple of years, you would tell yourself.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Then, at
twenty you remember starting to look like a thirty-year old man.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">At twenty-two,
you remember being asked by one of your clients how many kids you had and on
telling the client that you were yet to get married, you remember being looked
at the way an alpha male looks at a thirty-eight-year-old virgin.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">At
twenty-four, you remember being mistaken for someone from senior management on
the first day of your first ‘proper’ job and being made to shake hands and
mingle with people much older than you, people most of whom would later on
refuse to even acknowledge your existence on the office floor once they
realised you were just a ‘Manager’, and a level one manager at that, not even
level two.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;"></span></i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">—puts his specs back on—<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">So, like I
said, at twenty-four, you are forced to acknowledge that your physicality is
complicated.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You are, as
you will continue to call yourself over the next five years after having
crossed twenty-four, a fucked-up version of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0421715/" target="_blank">Benjamin Button</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">And so, you
find it admirable when you come across Murad through Mohsin and read about his
(their) take on what is fat and what is merely weighty, because you are aware
of your disproportionate height and weight gain over the years being the main
reason behind the fucked-up manner in which your age seems to increase, much
like a five-year plan rolled out with an estimated completion date that is
falling after six months.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You also
admire Murad’s confidence in himself, for you know you need a lot of that to be
able to dissect your attributes in front of an audience, something you have
never been able to do yourself and—as a consequence—in lieu of which you have
to resort to self-deprecation whenever a conversation veers too deep into the
reasons for and consequences of your weight/height/looks.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Of course,
you admit that self-deprecation works. Cracking a joke at your own expense just
so everyone can laugh and get back to minding their own fucking business is an
easy way to get out of many situations that have the potential to leave mental
scars if handled the wrong way.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You
remember, for instance, that time when sitting in a group of four (drunk men)
you were suddenly asked how you were even able to travel in a normal sized bus
given how tall and broad you are.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Two or
three straight responses in, the line of questioning had continued, as if they
wanted in on some age-old secret you were holding back from them, by which you
were able to travel around in public transport not meant for abnormal people.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You
remember sighing, then you remember telling them about that one time you
accidentally boarded a double decker bus and had to stand for the whole
duration of the journey with your head tilted sideways so it wouldn’t hit the ceiling.
You also told them about the woman seated next to where you stood, and how she kept
pointing you out to her kid like you were some freak wearing clown make-up and
walking around on stilts in an amusement park.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You
remember the group laughing and high-fiving you at this. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">“But what
about trains. You can’t avoid trains, can you? Must feel like you are
travelling in a suitcase, no? How many seats do you need, two? No, must be
three, no?”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You had
sighed again and then narrated to this particularly thick bloke, a nightmare
you had had a couple of weeks back.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">“I’m
travelling in a train that is fully packed and there is a bomb blast in one of
the compartments and the train derails, but thankfully I’m still alive, and as I’m
getting up from the floor of my bogie I realise there are two men stuck under me,
so I turn around and I know both men are dead but their teeth are still
gritting and their eyes are fuming. Its like they’re saying, “Yes, we’re
fucking dead, but it wasn’t no fucking bomb blast that killed us. IT WAS YOU!
IT WAS FUCKING YOU!”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">More
laughter and high-fiving. Then they had moved on.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i></i></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOLrqWeut3QHQbAZAmsCV3FYi-2cy2zrU4aNmCVQaV031IvqJaNLfl7gVBkhFvFZpiOg8ent9fZGt6Oy-EHxhkeZg9QVKtq9Hp1VutqjJy8ilhBSNP-GPNZahXnvVEeCxpvp-4WMYi5lUF/s634/laughing-cartoon-you-want-it-when.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="318" data-original-width="634" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOLrqWeut3QHQbAZAmsCV3FYi-2cy2zrU4aNmCVQaV031IvqJaNLfl7gVBkhFvFZpiOg8ent9fZGt6Oy-EHxhkeZg9QVKtq9Hp1VutqjJy8ilhBSNP-GPNZahXnvVEeCxpvp-4WMYi5lUF/w400-h201/laughing-cartoon-you-want-it-when.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">"IT WAS YOU!"</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i></i></div><i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></i><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">But there
are only so many jokes you can crack at your own expense, as you remember
learning in other instances. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">And you
remember imagining Mohsin’s Murad walking out of all those other instances
unscathed, intact. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">So, you
admire him even more.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You see,
Murad, unlike you, has the courage to sufficiently shut his audience up about
his weight issues in a matter of two pages before he moves on to doing the
thing he does best, narrating a story, even if it is merely a chapter in a
novel that he has been assigned to narrate.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You
remember envying that. Because you know that is how it should be. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Your
physical attributes are but a part of you and not the whole. They are two pages
of a chapter containing twelve with the remaining ten blank and ready to be
filled in by instances that will more or less revolve around that thing you do
best, that thing you want to define your life with.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Like
writing stories…<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">—adjusts his specs again—<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Like making
up fictional narratives and characters to voice out your opinions as theirs so
you can feel like a lesser hypocrite.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Worry, if
you must, about that. Worry about the thing you do. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Not the
shape of you.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">The spotlight from above has stopped moving. The
overthinker stands still, centre-stage.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">He looks exhausted, sweat gleaming on his forehead,
the moisture in his underarms visible on his shirt. You see him wet his lips
with the tip of his tongue as his eyes stare down at the stage floor.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">He is done(?)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Do you wait till he comes off the stage on his own? Or
maybe you should just get up there and lead him to the backstage exit. How
about a handshake while you’re at it, a hug even? After all he’s covered most
of what you wanted to say. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Nothing left for you to do once he’s done but to
deliver the closing line.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">A memory
within a memory.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You sit startled by what you have heard. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You look around to see if anyone else in the audience
has reacted to it the same way. Nobody has moved.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You look at him trying to meet his eye. But he is
still staring at the floor.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You want to raise your arm again and wave ferociously
at him, signalling that you’ve had enough of this shit. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You want to get up and storm the stage and drag him
from up there to the darkness that lies beyond those flowery curtains at the
back, and maybe punch him right in the nose until there’s blood leaking from
it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">But you find yourself still seated, arms by your sides
as they were before.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You wonder instead how long until your bum starts to
itch from the plastic surface of the chair. Or how long till your legs and your
feet go numb from all this sitting without movement.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You wonder when you’ll get to go home.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Unless you
want me to be dishonest, this is not all that I wanted to say.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;"></span></i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">—wets his lips again—<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">It is as I
had stated before- <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">There are
layers at work here. And layers need peeling.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">He finally looks up at you. Your eyes meet, and you
realise there is no pleasure in this for him either. He is as uncomfortable as
you are to do what he is about to do next.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">And you know he will do it anyway.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You are on
a plane.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">He begins, his eyes still on you.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You are
seated three rows ahead from the rest of your family.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You look
outside the window as the flight takes off, the lights on the ground below turning
into blurry spots before disappearing altogether.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">It is by
habit that you have taken out your earphones, plugged them in your ears and pressed
play on your phone as the flight was taking off. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">And now as
the lights on the ground turn into blurry spots before disappearing altogether
from your vision, you find yourself surrounded by a wall of music that you used
to love.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Music that
you know you are forever going to associate with loss and suffering hereon.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">But in that
moment, you are alone. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You are no
longer thinking about the girl at the check-in counter who could not understand
why you had presented her with five plane tickets when she could only see four
passengers travelling. You are not thinking about the other staff who took her
aside perhaps to explain to her what the words Human Remains stamped on one of
the tickets meant, after which she issued you boarding passes and you were
allowed to continue to the security check point.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You are
alone in that room with walls of music that you had always loved to hear till
that moment but you know you are going to dread hearing it again for the rest
of your life because it will always take you back to this moment, to this
plane, to this seat three rows ahead of your family, where you are alone and
can finally mourn your loss without worrying about how your mother will react
to it.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You remember
breaking down like you never have before in your life. It has been a rough day
and you’ve always had problems in expressing yourself openly in front of
people. And you are alone now, with the music surrounding you, drowning out the
instructions from the airhostess and the feeble enquiries from the man sitting
next to you if everything is alright.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You
remember crying your heart out for your loss and you mother’s loss, you
remember crying for the future that you had planned but is never going to play
out the way you did.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You
remember crying for him to come back so this nightmare can end and you can see
your mother smile once more.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You
remember crying not knowing why it happened.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">It is
uncommon. He had just crossed sixty. There was so much life left in him.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Then
how…and why…why now…<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">And you are
responded to with a flash from another memory even as the wall of music around
you continues to play, with just the track playing in your ears changed from
one to another.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">—wipes his face with the back of his hand—<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFqGGR-tYoU8-lkgJqySwn8WhYvRZKo9T4QefUUJa6z3cX10R1jZp9HisVGmP7Q0KTUActBTImq2K9iORbyKMmiwMRGmvQ0rWtw0nIqzl4lGwOGQ_7FGOz-zZ_I7lkkdiYbbkV0t8EjRyA/s1000/Plane.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="1000" height="330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFqGGR-tYoU8-lkgJqySwn8WhYvRZKo9T4QefUUJa6z3cX10R1jZp9HisVGmP7Q0KTUActBTImq2K9iORbyKMmiwMRGmvQ0rWtw0nIqzl4lGwOGQ_7FGOz-zZ_I7lkkdiYbbkV0t8EjRyA/w496-h330/Plane.jpg" width="496" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">A view to remember, a night to forget</span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">It is your brother’s
wedding that your mind takes you to. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Right after
the main rituals have been completed and lunch has been served and eaten.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">A distant relative
has walked up to you and is chatting with you about your own prospects of
marriage when your dad happens to pass by.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">“Ranga,
come here.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">“Look at
him.” You remember him telling you as your dad walks slowly towards you, his
face jubilant, his arms open towards both of you.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">“How old is
he? Sixty?”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">“Fifty-six”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">“Fifty-six?”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">“Yeah”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">“So how old
should I be then?” you remember him making your dad stand next to him so their
shoulders are matching and his right shoe is aligned to your dad’s left shoe.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">“I’m eighty-five!”
he doesn’t wait for you to answer.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">“Eighty-five
and even I look younger than him, can’t you see?”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You
remember smiling. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You
remember your father smiling as well. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">“You can’t
take these things lightly you know. Look at what shape he is in!”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">And you are
back on the flight again. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Except now
you are not crying anymore because all you can think of is what you could have
done differently from the day of your brother’s wedding till yesterday and if
you had, whether it would have really helped in prolonging his life.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Four years.
<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Forty-eight
months.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">So many
fucking days.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">He coughs lightly. You wonder if it is the spotlight
hanging from above but he is looking older than what he was a minute ago. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You find yourself coughing with him.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">A painful
memory.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">He is still looking at you.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">But a
necessary reminder, maybe?</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Your arms are still at your sides but you feel your
hands shivering as the mike slips from his hands and drops on the stage floor
with a loud thud. He bends down carefully to pick it up again, this time with
both hands.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You see,
you remember Mohsin…then you remember Murad…and you remember how physicality is
bundled up in two pages out of twelve by an author in a novel you loved…<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">He has started walking towards you and you find
yourself getting up from your seat, your movements matching the pace of his.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">And it is
beautiful to know.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Beautiful
to believe that your life will ultimately be defined by the thing you love to
do and not merely by what shape and size you physically occupy in this world. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">But… <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You… <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Must… <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Remember… <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">One word for every second step he is getting down from,
as you wait at the landing, your arms wide open, your mind ready to take him
back in where he will rest once again, until you are faced with another subject
that you feel is straightforward but he wants to prove you wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Remember…what
shape you are in might not matter, but what shape you keep yourself in
definitely does. After all, life doesn’t come in two hundred and fifty paged,
bound paperbacks that end on the second last page, with the last page
intentionally left blank.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">It is a
game of chance. And all we can do is to try and better our odds. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">For all we
know…<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">He reaches you as you reach for the mike, not taking
it from him, but taking it with him.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">And he becomes you, and you become him, and into the
mike your voices combine into one statement that you acknowledge would’ve
definitely featured in whatever it was you originally wanted to write:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">You’d be
waiting for the plot to unfold and life could end on page number two.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">-------------------------------------</span></span></div></span></span></div>Ravi Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14719174666413173350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759766337265548176.post-61475317385893565862018-01-26T12:26:00.002+05:302018-02-04T19:02:56.185+05:30Two Years Eight Months and Twenty Eight Nights by Salman Rushdie<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqyZIU8_eClVWCp77USu2Pz5MuF5vhxlmGNGGPl7oiSYFq-4A0_RSg2JI5BQdW-DexIf9XswzTPBDp3U36qKUiJl197o1OWL76-8qoJcWwCQg3bzFXMZ9ADLhneBLLgbLp1LQ0to3r0ndp/s1600/Two+years+eight+months+twenty+eight+nights.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="292" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqyZIU8_eClVWCp77USu2Pz5MuF5vhxlmGNGGPl7oiSYFq-4A0_RSg2JI5BQdW-DexIf9XswzTPBDp3U36qKUiJl197o1OWL76-8qoJcWwCQg3bzFXMZ9ADLhneBLLgbLp1LQ0to3r0ndp/s400/Two+years+eight+months+twenty+eight+nights.jpg" width="258" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">I
just hate it when time plays spoilsport.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">So
now, instead of the long rant that I had planned to unleash upon the
unsuspecting audience (which I still will, but only in a few days) I am having
to console myself by merely giving a rating to this book that I finished
reading yesterday.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">However,
the out-of-the-box thinking chap that the author is, it would be most unfair if
I rated his book using anything but an out-of-the-box rating scale wherein I
refrain from comparing his book, to books written by other authors who are,
well, not-Rushdie and by that definition simply NOT presentable on the same
rating scale that Rushdie's books can be rated using.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">As
a consequence, I have no choice but to present my verdict in the following
manner:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">On
a scale of <b>Grimus</b> to <b>Shalimar the Clown</b>, <b>Grimus</b> being the lowest rating
assignable followed- in that order- by <b>Haroun
and the Sea of Stories</b>, <b>The
Enchantress of Florence</b>, <b>Fury</b>, <b>The Moor's Last Sigh</b>, <b>Midnight's Children</b>, <b>Shame</b> and then <b>Shalimar the Clown</b>; with <b>Shalimar</b>
of course being the highest rating possible, <b>Two Years Eight Months & Twenty-Eight Nights</b>, in my humble
opinion, falls somewhere between <b>Grimus</b>
and the <b>Enchantress</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">How
I wish the author understood the importance of remaining tethered to a
discernible plot-line!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">I
wouldn't say this is a bad novel (because it isn't), but it most-certainly is
one of his weakest stories yet.</span></div>
</div>
Ravi Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14719174666413173350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759766337265548176.post-10369905691103882292018-01-26T12:10:00.001+05:302018-01-26T12:28:09.734+05:30Black Mass (2015)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGuB7Hyr6f25Mal1XDiQgyBqZhOvRQB93TrKppuiP1JF6QL9ZVW5DEoZ-yJNm_2aZfzYiB-mJpoOLLBeE1gOzQ2n8bTDlCXz5pKu89Tk_-2OP_lK1oMnmPa2cLAXVgH-nS-OAlkKz3Ooxv/s1600/Black+Mass.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="510" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGuB7Hyr6f25Mal1XDiQgyBqZhOvRQB93TrKppuiP1JF6QL9ZVW5DEoZ-yJNm_2aZfzYiB-mJpoOLLBeE1gOzQ2n8bTDlCXz5pKu89Tk_-2OP_lK1oMnmPa2cLAXVgH-nS-OAlkKz3Ooxv/s400/Black+Mass.jpg" width="282" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">At
long last a film where </span><b style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">Johny Depp</b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">
isn't playing a fucking geeky geek!</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">As
the notorious crime boss James 'Whitey' Bulger, a menacing make-up laden <b>Depp</b> manages quite brilliantly to lay
low and still stand out at the right places as pure evil personified.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Bulger
is a mob boss who will ask you a seemingly harmless question at random and
whether you end up dead in a dumpster the following night or not will depend on
how serious you sound to him when you answer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">While
it would be a long shot to say that this is his best role ever, I could say
that this might be his best role in the last half decade at least.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">And
he is supported by an excellent side cast, including <b>Joel Edgerton</b> (who the film belongs to, in my opinion), <b>Benedict Cumberbatch</b> (pulls off the
Boston accent despite being British and that definitely earned some brownie
points in my books), <b>Julian Nicholson</b>
(is terrific in one scene where Bulger tries to freak her out), <b>Kevin Bacon</b> (bit role) and the
promising <b>Jesse Plemons</b> (bit role
again).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">But
despite the top notch acting, I would still say the movie is underwhelming on
the whole. At best a good film. Not mind-blowing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">A
definite one time viewing though.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Watch
it for what has now officially been termed as <b>Depp</b>'s return to serious acting and for <b>Edgerton</b>'s performance as FBI agent John Connelly who was able to
convince his agency to protect Bulger as an informant for nearly two decades in
which Bulger managed to commit several counts of murder and racketeering
without anybody pointing a finger at him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Catch
the trailer here:</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/CE3e3hGF2jc/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CE3e3hGF2jc?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
Ravi Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14719174666413173350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759766337265548176.post-22145357284461708942018-01-26T12:02:00.002+05:302018-01-26T12:28:09.740+05:30Bone Tomahawk (2015)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYco3a7mM6P_vjs39grv0MEHcrZZhxhxh5lMZveahiz-m51Jsno2gyNztquf_K20o5GwnlCgLXqcwxavfQkrvN149XJfjo24-oyGm9R_salTBPKmlX9Wi82zBkkeSCDGlj3mUkvCF8G8ph/s1600/Bone+Tomahawk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="666" data-original-width="450" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYco3a7mM6P_vjs39grv0MEHcrZZhxhxh5lMZveahiz-m51Jsno2gyNztquf_K20o5GwnlCgLXqcwxavfQkrvN149XJfjo24-oyGm9R_salTBPKmlX9Wi82zBkkeSCDGlj3mUkvCF8G8ph/s400/Bone+Tomahawk.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">What
the fuck did I just watch right now! Seriously!</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">This
came out of nowhere.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">I
wasn't expecting anything when I sat to watch this, but I must admit, this
turned out to be one heck of a goose-bumps inducing and- not to mention-
singularly gruesome viewing experience (Not sure how I will sleep now).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Starring
<b>Kurt Russell</b> as a small-town sheriff
who sets out with three other men to rescue captives taken by a group of
savages living in the mountains, the film draws you in right from the word go
and leaves you as curious as you can get when you have squished a spider with a
Hardcover but haven't yet lifted the book to see what the result looks like.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">While
the pace is slow, the film is able to build an excruciating amount of curiosity
as to what will happen next by combining elements from four different genres,
namely- Western, Horror, Gore and Comedy, to brilliant effect.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">The
cinematography reminded me of some scenes from <b>There Will Be Blood</b> perhaps because of the coldness. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">I
think the usage of still camera shots with little or no focus on giving the
audience a wider view of the background works in favour of the director as it
creates a claustrophobic effect and you keep biting your nails all the time, knowing
that danger is lurking only an inch outside the frame.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Also,
that the acting is top notch (especially <b>Russell</b>)
only adds to the effectiveness of it all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">I
liked it. But you might want to check out the content advisory before going by
my recommendation. Some really gory scenes in this. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Few
in number, yes, but very... VERY disturbing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Catch
the trailer here:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/0ZbwtHi-KSE/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0ZbwtHi-KSE?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Ravi Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14719174666413173350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759766337265548176.post-80032804634139242572018-01-26T11:42:00.000+05:302018-01-26T11:46:15.828+05:30The Stanford Prison Experiment (2015)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeou4oV24Yns_r5RJvKhvr9nVPsu2xdClYQcyxddf3TnzvBFJgooS6MsL3LaSXDSvqIMIcpS_AncpvQGe__C4jl_GAq0yrSAuOQFQ3ieEUm2yoIl0qZ-HfDpmCTLty08RA00pYDnLh-9kY/s1600/The+stanford+Prison+Experiment.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="319" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeou4oV24Yns_r5RJvKhvr9nVPsu2xdClYQcyxddf3TnzvBFJgooS6MsL3LaSXDSvqIMIcpS_AncpvQGe__C4jl_GAq0yrSAuOQFQ3ieEUm2yoIl0qZ-HfDpmCTLty08RA00pYDnLh-9kY/s400/The+stanford+Prison+Experiment.jpg" width="282" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">This
was very intriguing indeed.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">For
a film that does not have any threat of death involved, <b>The Stanford Prison Experiment</b> sure did manage to keep me disturbed
enough to keep watching till the very end. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">For,
it is disturbing, yes. But not in the sense that one would normally expect when
a film promises to be just that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Based
on true events, the film is about twenty-four male students who were put into a
simulated prison environment- half of them as prisoners, and the other half as
guards- to study the psychological impact it would have on the subjects over a
period of two weeks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">And
to the surprise of <b>Dr. Philip Zimbardo</b>
who arranged this exercise and who assumed that this would just be another
boring two weeks spent over nothing, what transpired during the first six days
was so shocking that he had to call the whole thing off before matters got any
more out of hand.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">I
found the film to be engaging and- despite being based on a real incident- it
held its own by not just playing out as a simple narration of the facts already
available. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">It
has been to shot to induce enough claustrophobia into the prison scenes so that
for the length of the film, you are part of the experiment while also being
outside of it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">You
experience the dread that unlimited authority can create in the average human
mind and the copious amount of corruption that comes with power over other
humans, but at the same time, you are not able to stop yourself from feeling
ridiculous that human beings would actually allow themselves to be treated so
degradingly without a word of protest just because they have been told that there
is no way out- which I thought was a truly remarkable achievement, given (I
repeat once more) how little the stakes of actual physical harm to anyone
involved was.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">The
acting is fantastic, especially of the mock guards who seem to get a little too
much into the skin of their roles. <b>Billy
Crudup</b> as Dr. Zimbardo does a competent job.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Overall,
I'd say, worth a watch, even if a tiny bit underwhelming on account of the
source material.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjubtWWYAC8joBrExnSAH0SJ-T5zFMgsvBL0ikCUZowRjiMV5DGWLIfp5xPEdYc96TQgGqi9efU34cfzt7czaQ6FVe-9P1IQbBTbBEoMsQUpqjdrz3CZ4XT0HUvvNMDkSveQN40Lp9CdQI_/s1600/Die+Welle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1125" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjubtWWYAC8joBrExnSAH0SJ-T5zFMgsvBL0ikCUZowRjiMV5DGWLIfp5xPEdYc96TQgGqi9efU34cfzt7czaQ6FVe-9P1IQbBTbBEoMsQUpqjdrz3CZ4XT0HUvvNMDkSveQN40Lp9CdQI_/s400/Die+Welle.jpg" width="281" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">But...
but, before I finish, I cannot help but mention another film of the same kind
that I found to be much more powerful, even if not more disturbing than this
(maybe because it’s NOT completely based on a real life event. Still, a film is
a film, so)- </span><b style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">The Wave</b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;"> which is a
German movie (of course, it had to be a fucking German movie!) about a high
school teacher's experiment to demonstrate to his students what life is like
under a dictatorship.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Now
THAT is one experiment where fatality cannot be ruled out. You fill innocent
minds up with enough hatred towards a particular group of persons or object,
teach them to make it their sole purpose of existence and send them on a
mission while you sit back, relax and enjoy the show (or as they so lovingly
put it in India- Mandir wahi banayenge. Of course they have another name for
such 'righteousness' in the middle east but, meh, thats common knowledge so am
not mentioning it here.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Both
films are recommended.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Catch
the trailers here:</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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Ravi Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14719174666413173350noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759766337265548176.post-3030684804508705082018-01-26T11:11:00.000+05:302018-01-26T11:46:15.795+05:30Katyar Kaljat Ghusali (2015)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ5j37ku2-isyB-DK9nMWPvu-X7ltk5JwDx1fmamT7DvGqjxH6JdQe4wAlS3S2xQx7GKWhyphenhyphenWurPYP0ElNueG2VKCmGMYyCCgSbMPpwDB3k2HA6OMyAaqC59un3XZYcW0S7FZ6UtSe9mOzB/s1600/Katyar+Kaljat+Ghusali.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ5j37ku2-isyB-DK9nMWPvu-X7ltk5JwDx1fmamT7DvGqjxH6JdQe4wAlS3S2xQx7GKWhyphenhyphenWurPYP0ElNueG2VKCmGMYyCCgSbMPpwDB3k2HA6OMyAaqC59un3XZYcW0S7FZ6UtSe9mOzB/s320/Katyar+Kaljat+Ghusali.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Subodh Bhave</span></b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">'s
<b>Katyar Kaljat Ghusali</b>, a film based on the play from the sixties, came quite close
to becoming the best musical I saw in 2015. And given that <b>Whiplash</b>- which released earlier in January that year- was what it
was pitted against for the title of best musical in my list, I must clarify
that <b>Katyar...</b>, despite its flaws, coming
a close second was no mean feat.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Yes,
the film has many flaws. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">As
is the case with many other good commercial films that aim at striking a
balance between the film-maker's urge to produce pure art and his burden of
wanting to keep the film accessible to a larger audience that has, to his
ill-fortune, over the years gotten used to being spoon fed with ham acting
disguised as dramatic flair.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">The
plot stretches itself too thin at some places and the tight editing from the
first half comes undone post the interval, thus resulting into a good thirty
minutes of additional scenes making it onto the screen, that should have been
left out of the final cut.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">The
acting from all three male leads is good albeit not without those few bits and
pieces strewn across the film's length, that come off as overt.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">And...
that is all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">I
am- I shouldn't be but I still am- quite surprised at how incapable I find
myself now of jotting down any further negatives about this wonderful film.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">And
so, I take a turn- well not as dramatically as <b>Sachin Pilgaonkar</b>'s Khan Saab does upon being disturbed when he is
at his egotistical worst, but still- towards
the brighter side, or rather, the melodious one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">It
is but obvious that the element of a 'Musical' that defines its purpose of existence
and that will primarily determine its standing among many others, is the music.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Katyar Kaljat Ghusali</span></b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">
has fantastic songs. They are vibrant, they are vivid and the vocals so
powerfully evocative that I had found myself moist-eyed and clapping with the
rest of the audience (A full-house!) after every good song ended, more often
than not, cribbing at the short length of these musical pieces. The Qawwali
from the second half is nothing short of dazzling.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Shankar Mahadevan</span></b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">
has done a commendable job as the lead singer and music composer. While most of
the songs are from the original play, it is to <b>Mahadevan</b>'s credit that he succeeds in replicating the genius of
legendary singers from the past while also making the songs his own.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Apart
from the lyrics, what also packed a hefty punch for me, were the dialogues
(both Urdu and Marathi), the visual effects (particularly the catchy opening
sequence) and the effective usage of montages to convey emotional turmoil.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">All
in all, <b>Bhave</b>'s directorial debut
lacks much but makes up for most by keeping the focus where it should be- on
the art to which it is an ode. The rest are mere ancillary elements...
enablers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">The
film made me ponder hard as to what my stand on religion and God would have
been had music been the only product of believing in them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Alas,
if only.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Catch
the trailer here:</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/1iTazEogwiY/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1iTazEogwiY?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
Ravi Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14719174666413173350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759766337265548176.post-74718078078742508442018-01-26T10:54:00.001+05:302018-01-26T11:46:15.822+05:30Talvar (2015)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYw6X0uworvvBxgDh5OIjL_tfsGvg0S-D_NZEW_QeC3LyzzU-qaGDi6Cn5Q_wtCD6wGMXBK4frqcb9kNoCBDe0klDUDFbsi7AsaXw1jcU-8mHYoQAYb7dazox3rQlDPLOmWBBfQcCKsdbo/s1600/Talvar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="744" data-original-width="620" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYw6X0uworvvBxgDh5OIjL_tfsGvg0S-D_NZEW_QeC3LyzzU-qaGDi6Cn5Q_wtCD6wGMXBK4frqcb9kNoCBDe0klDUDFbsi7AsaXw1jcU-8mHYoQAYb7dazox3rQlDPLOmWBBfQcCKsdbo/s400/Talvar.jpg" width="332" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">I
should be pleased to have come across India's official answer to </span><b style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">Bong Joon-ho</b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">'s South Korean masterpiece
</span><b style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">Salinui Chueok</b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;"> </span><b style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">(Memories of Murder)</b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;"> in the form of this tight and tense drama
presented as a fictionalized account of the real-life murder case from few
years ago that caught the fancy of many, mostly due to the perverse details
involved.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">I
should be very very pleased.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">As
a film, <b>Talvar</b> scores high in all
departments right from the script, the camera-work, the sound design, the
dialogues and- most importantly- the acting. <b>Irrfan Khan</b> steels the show again with his effortless portrayal of
the lead investigator assigned to the case by CDI (Read as - CBI), but not
before the local police have irredeemably botched it all up. The casting for
even bit roles is spot-on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">The
drama is restrained and kept subtle wherever possible to not hint at a
prejudiced take on things. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">So unlike other films based on real incidents, all
the alleged culprits behave like humans instead of ham actors playing culprits
who know they are supposed to look innocent but cannot look completely innocent
for benefit of not ruining the suspense.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">I
am yet to read <b>Avirook Sen</b>'s <b>Aarushi</b> and so would not be in a
position to compare fact with fiction. But as a film, this is nothing short of
a <b>Fincher</b> level production from <b>Meghna Gulzar</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">For
which, as I have said twice already, I should be very pleased and therefore be
giving the film a four out of five.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">But
I will give it a full five.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">For
the film, just like <b>Joon Ho</b>'s, did
exactly the opposite of pleasing me when the end credits began to roll.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">It
left me helpless.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Catch
Trailer here:</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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</div>
Ravi Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14719174666413173350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759766337265548176.post-49360081063382306662018-01-26T10:35:00.000+05:302018-01-26T11:46:15.811+05:30Arbitrage (2012)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXsT8L_pzBeECigQx0U6CeG8wKSqyjtlB7yMjoyGQgrZa1Yiyr1-0JICeu1XHL1BX-bTHasxLea2szXGFmvfUcMnOedBdxr3bqMXWc93S6o93TZ1oAcXcNAzU9BII8CtVG1nodK05r8uCf/s1600/Arbitrage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1120" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXsT8L_pzBeECigQx0U6CeG8wKSqyjtlB7yMjoyGQgrZa1Yiyr1-0JICeu1XHL1BX-bTHasxLea2szXGFmvfUcMnOedBdxr3bqMXWc93S6o93TZ1oAcXcNAzU9BII8CtVG1nodK05r8uCf/s400/Arbitrage.jpg" width="280" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">So
</span><b style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">Michael Douglas</b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;"> as Gordon Gekko
enjoys cult status even two decades after </span><b style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">Wall
Street</b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;"> was released and </span><b style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">Richard Gere</b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">'s
Robert Miller from this film totally flies under the radar of almost every
critic I follow for four fucking years!</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">It’s
just wrong. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">So…
So wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">And
I am quite sure that I would've been unlucky enough to have missed this myself
had I not happened to have a few people on my friends list who in turn happen
to have excellent taste in cinema.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Gere</span></b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">
brings so much charisma to his portrayal of Miller, a troubled hedge fund
magnate who has lied a few times too many to wriggle out of the combined repercussions
without scarring himself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">A
family that knows Robert too well to overlook signs that things are about to go
south for them, an affair that ends abruptly, the crime that it leads to, a
business transaction gone bad (and the crime that it leads to) and of course
the clever cop who is always one step behind the anti-hero (<b>Tim Roth</b> in great form. As to why and
how I have not seen more than a handful of films he's acted in, I've got no
clue. Shame!)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">This
is a great plot and the taut script leaves little or no place for boring
detours viewers usually have to put up with in most non action-based thrillers.
<b>Nicholas Jarecki</b> directs with just
the right amount of gloss to give <b>Gere</b>
enough opportunities to shine as a devious human who has dug a hole too deep to
have any other solution but to keep digging.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">In
all, while I may not go too far and proclaim this to be the best that there is,
I really liked this a lot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">An
easy three and a half out of five.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Certainly
worth a shot, especially for <b>Gere</b>
and the charming albeit wicked little 'I know too much to lose' smiles that he
sports at every twist and turn.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Catch
trailer here, but know that it is of crap quality. Makes the film look like an
average rated TV show. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">I
guess you'll just have to take my word for it.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/UmJSV9ePx7c/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UmJSV9ePx7c?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
</div>
Ravi Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14719174666413173350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759766337265548176.post-27277136180920930702018-01-26T03:52:00.001+05:302018-01-26T11:46:15.789+05:30Calvary (2014)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAB4FLDpPSrjzueivt-cvHYQpMUeSOHvokTcotEk6PHfulJMnWtoRO2odD61vyYr-kUU6yId0odc3jBn-K7hD1VGP1jJXxW5lNsPzzxhEVigJiGAAMXG8zhl1ElO4V41HmtLiZj7zajxQ5/s1600/Calvary.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="770" data-original-width="520" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAB4FLDpPSrjzueivt-cvHYQpMUeSOHvokTcotEk6PHfulJMnWtoRO2odD61vyYr-kUU6yId0odc3jBn-K7hD1VGP1jJXxW5lNsPzzxhEVigJiGAAMXG8zhl1ElO4V41HmtLiZj7zajxQ5/s400/Calvary.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">The
Irish are the best when it comes to dark humour.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">And
this film proves just that (Although this time it is more dark than humorous).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">A
film that begins and ends with two of the most emotionally affecting scenes I
have seen on screen, <b>Calvary</b> is odd in too many ways to describe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Despite
having seen it many times already, I somehow always seem to fall short of words
when I attempt to pin down what I loved and did not love about it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">The
film is borderline strange. Which is not necessarily bad, but makes the job of
a reviewer not wanting to adore or thrash it outright, very difficult.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Shot
on the picturesque landscapes of Ireland and featuring a power-packed
performance by <b>Brendon Gleeson</b> as a good-natured priest who receives an
anonymous death threat from someone in his community, <b>Calvary</b> contains a whole
variety of characters, whose traits ranging from goofy to hurtful to outright
sinister- and unpredictably so- make the story move ahead a tad unevenly,
albeit never without plucking your interest.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Along
the way, questions revolving around religion and human nature in today's times
are raised directly and indirectly, of which few are quite uncomfortable and
either lay bare the irrefutable logic of there being no real justice in the
world for God's presence to be believed, or make us think on whether sometimes
our messed up expectations from religion and God are more worrisome than the concepts
themselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Sadly,
most of these questions are left for the audience to answer on their own. Which
means, the sub-plots more or less conclude as character sketches that were not
meant to have any story arc to them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Hence
the mixed reaction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">And
yet, I cannot get enough of the film. I am sure I will watch this again in the
near future.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">So,
for now, I rate this 4 out of 5, if not for anything else then at least for how
it starts and how it ends.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">A
lot may have been left for us to decipher but one message, however, that did
manage to shine through brilliantly was this:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Patience
and tolerance are and shall always be the right way. </span><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">And on that I concur.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Catch
trailer here:</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/LGM5rq_vX4U/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LGM5rq_vX4U?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
Ravi Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14719174666413173350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759766337265548176.post-4985563633452648162018-01-26T03:41:00.001+05:302018-01-26T11:46:15.817+05:30Udta Punjab (2016)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFBolsxmW7N-xPc4I7G8HiBOtdnFwj4jeS_Xm3Z3kBC_znP_UgxKU45IpmyGA_J-bKE45gUVFZLPdjUrLV532ZG5pvLOcawQOa8yICaiZR13gHu3bFoCZP-kwHsx_i243i_YM9uYvbjweh/s1600/Udta+Punjab.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFBolsxmW7N-xPc4I7G8HiBOtdnFwj4jeS_Xm3Z3kBC_znP_UgxKU45IpmyGA_J-bKE45gUVFZLPdjUrLV532ZG5pvLOcawQOa8yICaiZR13gHu3bFoCZP-kwHsx_i243i_YM9uYvbjweh/s400/Udta+Punjab.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Disappointed
to say that a somewhat muddled second half makes a good film out of something
that could have been so much more.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">The
flow up to the interval is a fascinating mixture of dark and comic elements, well balanced and well-timed for the sequences to not feel abrupt or
unnecessary- two flaws that abundantly plague the run time post intermission.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Same
goes for the editing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">The
acting is competent though.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><b>Alia
Bhat</b>, if we ignore a few unintentionally funny moments of dialogue delivery,
leads the lot. I thought the subplot revolving around her unnamed character was
the best of the three. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">I'm not saying some other equally competent actress
couldn't have done the job, but <b>Bhat</b> justifies her selection well enough.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><b>Shahid
Kapoor</b> is in top form. He rocks the stage as Tommy Singh, a rockstar whose
songs are, for lack of a better term, pro-drugs. But his role is mostly
restricted to humor and little else (except for a scene where he is brought
face to face with the effect his songs have on his fans)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><b>Kareena
Kapoor</b> feels totally out of place in the scenes where she is emoting glee. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">I
mean, 'happy' is still fine, but glee! The fuck! One doesn't feel 'glee' when
one has succeeded in partially uncovering a drug racket involving political
parties during election time. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">One just doesn't.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">(Unless
one has read the script and knows beforehand that one is going to be killed off
by the end and one wants the audience to cry more than what one's character
getting killed off genuinely deserves)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><b>Diljit</b>
is a find. He plays his role with zero overt-ness and makes us care for his
fate. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Would definitely want to see more of him in future.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Mind
you, I would still recommend you watch it, but only because there's a lot here to
learn about how to (and how not to) deal with multiple plot-lines and mingle
humor in dark tales.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">A
generous 3 out of 5.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">I
repeat, I'm disappointed.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">PS:
Kick-ass soundtrack though. </span><b style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">Amit Trivedi</b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;"> is a genius.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Catch trailer here:</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/EJylz_9KYf8/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EJylz_9KYf8?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
</div>
Ravi Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14719174666413173350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759766337265548176.post-48577955041786721162018-01-26T03:33:00.000+05:302018-01-26T11:46:15.806+05:30Begin Again (2014)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcv7PP-RBvdnzVWhwLDpML6Alu51TqJ9-498UQ1ECJY4HVRX893dLc-KQI6pEEbGNwIAwEwz0ydk8IiC7ziWR-I2gXrS38yFVp66PNWBJLKqOvs7rQGeNP1X8Raf0VAQyDXDRVrUVOWqZl/s1600/Begin+again.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcv7PP-RBvdnzVWhwLDpML6Alu51TqJ9-498UQ1ECJY4HVRX893dLc-KQI6pEEbGNwIAwEwz0ydk8IiC7ziWR-I2gXrS38yFVp66PNWBJLKqOvs7rQGeNP1X8Raf0VAQyDXDRVrUVOWqZl/s400/Begin+again.png" width="355" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">With
<b>Begin Again</b>, <b>Carney</b> presents to us '<b>Once</b>'
more a film about a pair of down-and-out artists teaming up to make their own
music, albeit this time unlike the last, the focus is more on making the movie
more legit.. more wholesome, which in my opinion works both for and against it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">A
budget much bigger than what he might've had on his first outing, the director
opts for A-lister stars, professional camerawork and a visibly grand production
value to spend it on... which is fine.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">But
I wouldn't have minded if there were less substance in the film and some more
full-length songs to remember after the film ends.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Ruffalo</span></b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">
and <b>Knightley</b> as producer and
aspiring singer-songwriter is spot on casting. They certainly have the
chemistry to make the now-romantic-now-platonic pairing feel genuine.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Also,
shots of the band recording songs in public venues all across New York city are
well done.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">But
for me the film didn't offer anything new or breath-taking unlike it's heart-warmingly
simple predecessor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">A
generous three out of five seems more than fair for this one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Watch
it if you have the time. But I won't recommend it over a repeat viewing of <b>Carney</b>'s debut film <b>Once</b>. Nothing beats listening to <b>Glen Hansard</b> and <b>Marketa Irglova</b> sing their hearts out to some of the most sincere
songs from the past decade you'll ever hear.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">PS:
If I wanted to make a fair comparison, I would say that this is to <b>Once</b>, what <b>Bradley Cooper</b>'s <b>Burnt</b>
is to <b>Jon Favreau</b>'s <b>Chef</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">You
wouldn't believe the amount of craving I felt for a cheese burger after I was
done watching <b>Chef</b>. And that was
after I'd already had dinner!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">After
watching <b>Burnt</b> though, I mulled over
<b>Bradley Cooper</b>'s fine acting chops
for a bit, then took a piss and went straight to bed without a second's glance
towards the kitchen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Catch
trailer here:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/uTRCxOE7Xzc/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uTRCxOE7Xzc?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">Catch
the opening song from </span><b style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">Once</b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;"> here:</span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/JMqKOt7R_K8/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JMqKOt7R_K8?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<br /></div>
Ravi Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14719174666413173350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759766337265548176.post-35740168619193252018-01-26T03:15:00.000+05:302018-01-26T11:46:15.800+05:30The Conjuring 2 (2016)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis9m-5AhSWtezAdQQRHny3B8lUC2H8PgqaiWkhUiqTpKbztGwbLMOiJrYWXlmIpdG5VXshi70o6xOVIL6pLRqQa8wPAKjPotoZc1P4c2Gen_f5SKUGxVcUbMXqV6DfOlWr3ilplhIJrbaf/s1600/The+Conjuring+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1132" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis9m-5AhSWtezAdQQRHny3B8lUC2H8PgqaiWkhUiqTpKbztGwbLMOiJrYWXlmIpdG5VXshi70o6xOVIL6pLRqQa8wPAKjPotoZc1P4c2Gen_f5SKUGxVcUbMXqV6DfOlWr3ilplhIJrbaf/s400/The+Conjuring+2.jpg" width="282" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">I
have to hand it to <b>James Wan</b>. The man knows how to shoot movie scenes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">You
almost always get into the exact mood that he wants you to get into while
watching a particular segment made by him, no matter how unbelievably cheesy
the story-line.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">What's
more admirable is the fact that <b>Wan</b> achieves this without employing any fancy
gimmick. No CGI spectacle here. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">And
certainly no <b>Del Toro</b>-esque creature art to grab ones attention.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">A
simple combination of long takes, subtle variation in colour and lighting, a constantly
gliding camera, an eerie score, above average to good acting and- last but not
the least- fantastic prop placement is what does it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Good
old filmmaking techniques used to maximum effect.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">But
this time around the story was- for lack of a better expression- too *bleh* to
keep me hooked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">More
than one jump scare, yes. And perfectly executed as well. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">But
unlike part one, this one failed to scare the crap out of me, which I mostly
didn't mind, but also missed, in a sick sorta way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Definitely
worth a watch though. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">To
my misfortune, the theatre I saw it first in was fully packed and made me instantly
regret the decision to pick a crowded hall and show.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Some
people start up conversations or just laugh and are too fucking dumb to
understand that its fucking irresponsible and even more fucking irritating.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Three
out of five.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Catch trailer here:</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/VFsmuRPClr4/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VFsmuRPClr4?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
</div>
Ravi Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14719174666413173350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759766337265548176.post-84108341982827688672018-01-25T22:46:00.002+05:302018-01-25T22:47:41.416+05:30Killa (2015)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgjAGC7CR3MQSzgmCff2EjYYwQxIGo4ZXtuJmDdIgbHOEFLsKaQIIOVAdXvSeaeNoVy3J8xrWObLo5CTI26EZHhbSALCs4hfHO3fqTKW4_iLnwNlutwUdxD_DLyBPT9BQydRj7a_5-NbGx/s1600/Killa+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="734" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgjAGC7CR3MQSzgmCff2EjYYwQxIGo4ZXtuJmDdIgbHOEFLsKaQIIOVAdXvSeaeNoVy3J8xrWObLo5CTI26EZHhbSALCs4hfHO3fqTKW4_iLnwNlutwUdxD_DLyBPT9BQydRj7a_5-NbGx/s400/Killa+2.jpg" width="305" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">It
is remarkable and also very inspiring to note that a film with so much of heart
and soul is the doing of a débutante director (</span><b style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">Avinash Arun</b><span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">After
<b>Elizabeth Ekadashi</b>, this is the second Marathi film from my recent viewing list
that has left me simply bowled over by the amount of commitment, patience and
sheer drive to tell a story that seems to have gone into its making. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">For,
without these it can never be that what gets captured on camera when ten or
eleven years olds are in front of it, does not feel like forced-down-the-throat
acting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Stunning
performances from all actors involved. Especially the children; every single
one, right to the last kid who made it onscreen for only a second or two. Pure. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Uninhibited. Natural. Real.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">And
the cinematography! Oh, I wouldn't want my petty words to describe something
that is meant to be seen for its praiseworthiness to be believed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">I
thoroughly recommend this film to all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Watch
it only on the big screen if you truly want to allow the beauty of nature and
the innocence of the characters to hit you, tug at your heartstrings and
involve you so much into it that you end up putting your younger self in the
scene being played- be it sitting alone on the beach or riding a fisher-boat
with the world behind you and the mighty sea in front, its waves blowing a
steady breath of salty air into your face; or finding yourself strolling inside
the walls of that mesmerizingly shot <b>Killa</b> (the fort) touching its moss laden
walls with your fingertips as the rain pattering down hard on rock brings to
your ears, a slapping sound both curious and dreaded.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">Watch
it today. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">For if nothing else, the least it'll do is make you want to meet
your friends and go on a holiday to some place green.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Catch trailer here:</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/5ORlbsJLJuQ/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5ORlbsJLJuQ?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
Ravi Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14719174666413173350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759766337265548176.post-53752270253968462622018-01-25T22:36:00.000+05:302018-01-25T22:37:39.918+05:30Demolition (2015)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiBYo8Xtgv85_GMmbVtgcn4k-GWt-ExSAKq2TkxwfCsh3yQRN2s3GoKynzdYinEjw9R5QbC-ssZNBb2Rcb_sOjS1t_KNe70Ljrar7TuczfySgMqTAg_44ubGHpbqdoZoq2yaqhHkllHpAS/s1600/Demolition.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="846" data-original-width="600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiBYo8Xtgv85_GMmbVtgcn4k-GWt-ExSAKq2TkxwfCsh3yQRN2s3GoKynzdYinEjw9R5QbC-ssZNBb2Rcb_sOjS1t_KNe70Ljrar7TuczfySgMqTAg_44ubGHpbqdoZoq2yaqhHkllHpAS/s400/Demolition.jpg" width="282" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">More
therapeutic than cinematic an experience, <b>Gyllenhaal</b>'s latest is a good film,
is what I can tell you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Depicting
the life of an investment banker who, in the wake of his wife's sudden demise
is left to cope with the fact that he never really loved her or was honest with
her about many things, the film is smooth and swift in narration.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">While
there is nothing new about the story, it was the jump-cut editing style, the
acting (of all actors including an in-form <b>Jake Gyllenhaal</b> and a terrific
performance by the kid <b>Judah Lewis</b>) and most importantly the background music
that helped me avoid noticing the clichés in it until after the film ended, so
much so that to avoid thinking about those clichés for a while longer and- more
so- to experience the film's therapeutic vibe some more, I looked up the songs
used and ended up playing them on loop for about an hour.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">The
camerawork overall and in one particular scene in specific is so fucking
soothing that I've watched that particular segment over twenty times already in
two days.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">And
for just that along with the music employed, I rate this a four instead of the
three that <b>Demolition</b> actually deserves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Neither
as moving nor as powerful as the director's English debut venture <b>Dallas Buyers
Club</b>.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">But
worth a watch.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Catch trailer here:</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/3UnSXelOJo0/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3UnSXelOJo0?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
</div>
Ravi Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14719174666413173350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759766337265548176.post-16846042009556758702018-01-25T22:24:00.002+05:302018-01-25T22:25:31.307+05:30The Wire (2002-2008)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">My
season-wise ranking </span><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">:</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPKyqAAd4jc" target="_blank">1. Season Four</a></b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLIevwa0jFy5UelfYC7w0Y5BQk-8ldrvgDbYTp9zofKpJ_2TOEn9TiWLTq9FbtyTwuIhnLdAy2Zs1Y271XodKnywesQPDKiNdcHCrdktWOudNYssY6qQmgnCdxZzlFzPRYLZANoB6nNalh/s1600/The+Wire+Season+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLIevwa0jFy5UelfYC7w0Y5BQk-8ldrvgDbYTp9zofKpJ_2TOEn9TiWLTq9FbtyTwuIhnLdAy2Zs1Y271XodKnywesQPDKiNdcHCrdktWOudNYssY6qQmgnCdxZzlFzPRYLZANoB6nNalh/s400/The+Wire+Season+4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Primarily
revolving around the Baltimore schooling system, season four was when the show
hit its peak. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">The characters have either matured or evolved and the newer ones
are intriguing enough to make their presence felt.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC34qP61sIQ" target="_blank">2. Season Three</a></b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh_hC0yma2xaFP3GUt8OicwPts0pUiR5rfscm-7J2x49-bMqftQhNqkWwgl22D2D2xonzgka1T0Zg5SimrQ9_IkQAvi9F8GaNqDLRQoc0AS4_T7p_PTt9xUXWNPFm8CvtIgV529sQf3ODu/s1600/The+Wire+season+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh_hC0yma2xaFP3GUt8OicwPts0pUiR5rfscm-7J2x49-bMqftQhNqkWwgl22D2D2xonzgka1T0Zg5SimrQ9_IkQAvi9F8GaNqDLRQoc0AS4_T7p_PTt9xUXWNPFm8CvtIgV529sQf3ODu/s400/The+Wire+season+3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">This
season brings closure to the main story arc from <b>Season One</b> while also adding
another fantastic plot about a cop with an unconventional solution to
Baltimore's drug problem. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">Got so hooked that I ended up watching all thirteen episodes
(an hour each) in one day. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">Fucked up my eyes, sure, but definitely worth it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TraSFcARVwM" target="_blank">3. Season One</a></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0LBrkhqw1rZ8KTYoGdXkX5o4_sJ7Jx5sHHaMJJrad0IgahcwtP51QhPJUPgifhLKpAEh1WMRatUnLwoQu_rloi4HEtBXvFUNU_B1HqMFqxwvpY6K2IFJXzeZ54_XzPdrPYpybDriLYYQu/s1600/The+Wire+Season+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1000" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0LBrkhqw1rZ8KTYoGdXkX5o4_sJ7Jx5sHHaMJJrad0IgahcwtP51QhPJUPgifhLKpAEh1WMRatUnLwoQu_rloi4HEtBXvFUNU_B1HqMFqxwvpY6K2IFJXzeZ54_XzPdrPYpybDriLYYQu/s400/The+Wire+Season+1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">'tis
how it all began, a show about a bunch of police officers assigned to a special
detail that requires wire taps for surveillance of drug traffickers. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">I was
drawn to it like nothing else.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSGkh61rMhM" target="_blank"><b>4. Season Five</b></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-FT5EWQiOE90_Og-zvhTiqNJARs9fOQXopvWOZs_iCNRSr7QyC-XWYJbUbmqoGgoe1PJPjtT3HONIhJAkTUi2KmV8S0S4Ds7YjdokL7DQZny4g2_b-m9mrlMI9eq2wVpCd8FnpuSaOanx/s1600/The+Wire+Season+5.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="951" data-original-width="620" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-FT5EWQiOE90_Og-zvhTiqNJARs9fOQXopvWOZs_iCNRSr7QyC-XWYJbUbmqoGgoe1PJPjtT3HONIhJAkTUi2KmV8S0S4Ds7YjdokL7DQZny4g2_b-m9mrlMI9eq2wVpCd8FnpuSaOanx/s400/The+Wire+Season+5.jpeg" width="260" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">I'm
not sure if one more season was even required, considering how most of the
relevant sub-plots were concluded already by <b>Season Four</b>. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">The few that were left
loose felt justified, a realistic injustice of sorts. Nonetheless, it still is
a good season. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Subject tackled: print media and it's dying quality in the face
of sensationalism.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqONtP8v4hg" target="_blank">5. Season Two</a></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia0zysLw7IwbAb6T5_lmWOyDm1HbpXbBLy5AKqNUqSeqINUPrFhluQfT_z-MdiH5wyhVwQyjEsr4ke00mJxgfAbZI6GnsHbsHjIpftjKzxc-T2-oBCxPg6wesJkiYA6ztPb3mdvYTcLDJX/s1600/The+Wire+Season+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="342" data-original-width="250" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia0zysLw7IwbAb6T5_lmWOyDm1HbpXbBLy5AKqNUqSeqINUPrFhluQfT_z-MdiH5wyhVwQyjEsr4ke00mJxgfAbZI6GnsHbsHjIpftjKzxc-T2-oBCxPg6wesJkiYA6ztPb3mdvYTcLDJX/s400/The+Wire+Season+2.jpg" width="291" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">I
must've fallen asleep around six or seven times while watching this. We see the
action shift from the police unit of <b>Season One</b> to a dockyard in Baltimore, a key
player in the drug supply chain. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Almost all episodes were equally boring. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Some
of them drag on and on about nothing in specific and had I not been aware of
the remaining seasons being of a better quality, I would've stopped watching at
episode four, maybe even earlier.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">With
no background score to assist in creating the mood, <b>The Wire</b> is one hell of an
example of uncompromising and original writing that is able to bring to the
screen content that is immersive purely for its quality and depth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><b>HBO</b>
sure did show a lot of guts in backing something of this sort back in 2002,
each season basically being nothing but a twelve hour long movie.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Recommended
for its fascinating story-telling technique where the problem of drugs and its
impact are shown from multiple POVs.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">PS:
Omar Little is now one of my most favourite TV show characters.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
Ravi Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14719174666413173350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759766337265548176.post-76333417109910100322018-01-25T21:46:00.000+05:302018-01-25T21:46:47.049+05:30Titli (2015)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhyphenhyphenzXtQHGKQCYcRBaDE_uNxYdzcyWbYSjv2_ug9zh1lkFeVFeknggdPlJdyjh9pnaJk4kbSeRUHukXLsxOtRh_QtOP9FeHIclgS_6IpFSIqN5SGQsdXMW9Q83ySweQc7X5adBMom62KmEA/s1600/Titli.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="599" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhyphenhyphenzXtQHGKQCYcRBaDE_uNxYdzcyWbYSjv2_ug9zh1lkFeVFeknggdPlJdyjh9pnaJk4kbSeRUHukXLsxOtRh_QtOP9FeHIclgS_6IpFSIqN5SGQsdXMW9Q83ySweQc7X5adBMom62KmEA/s400/Titli.jpg" width="265" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">I
have always had a thing for gritty films. (Lets just say I'm a nice enough guy
in real life and so if I am expected to deal with mush even in the art forms I
partake in, I will retch). </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">When in the right mood, I get attracted to such films
like a moth to a burning candle. And like most moths that approach a burning
candle, I end up burning my wings, either because the film is plain bad or, if
I am fortunate, because it is so effective that I drown into depression.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">But
I will reserve that comparison for another day as that wasn't the case with
this film.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><b>Titli</b>
is an effective debut. I believe thats a fair way of putting it. But neither am
I able to write about it as being brilliantly dark like <b>Ugly</b> or some such indie
production nor would it be justified if I wrote it off as a lame attempt at
making serious cinema.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">The
film made me sick in the stomach. I'll give it that. The characters and the
plot are adequately twisted and the camera-work powerful enough to accomplish
that much. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">The background score, which in my opinion should have been used more
generously, is haunting and sets the right tone. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><b>Shashank Arora</b> as the film's
male lead proves that he has what it takes to carry an entire film on his
shoulders. <b>Ranvir Shorey</b> is plain genius. He has an air of helpless menace
around him that makes him both dangerous and unpredictable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">But
all of this, and many other aspects that might make the film technically
perfect fell surprisingly short at holding my attention through till the film's
end. There are portions, especially in the second half, that felt empty. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">I
believe budget constraints could be the main reason for that. But I thought the
plot needed some more development too, to bring out the intensity that the
international trailer I watched a year ago promised to offer in abundance. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">While the scene right before the end credits is executed perfectly, because of
the underwhelming nature of what precedes it, the impact that that particular
scene, again mixed with the haunting score, is supposed to have on you is
somewhere lost.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">If
I were to rate it, I would give <b>Titli</b> a stern three out of five.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Its
a good film and a mandatory viewing, at least for lovers of indie cinema is
warranted. Rest can join too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">PS:
I counted eight people in the hall I saw it in. THAT made me feel more sick in
the stomach than the film itself. I mean, seriously people, your definition of
good cinema is fucked up. Period. I see no point in even expressing my
disappointment with you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Catch
the trailer here and decide if serious films is your thing too. Do note though,
you only have two days to do that because just like other indie films that see
a release once in a blue moon, this is going to disappear from theaters in no
time:</span></div>
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/is5AYNFJU-o/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/is5AYNFJU-o?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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Ravi Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14719174666413173350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759766337265548176.post-13934080388713722018-01-25T21:36:00.001+05:302018-01-25T21:37:01.054+05:30The End Of The Tour (2015)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC1LsQNgLP3PYLGUd2KYgt_Wi5z1rPcXA8uoJG4qeM7PUXc1NNlETeJ_2jGOb7QU-tmyc2ywPRG3yqb0vuAaRNf99ze5O7kjvQdnPRkf-NumJtBjA0s6PXCVXoBrHjohN0-TmB2y1uw9G_/s1600/The+End+of+the+Tour.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1081" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC1LsQNgLP3PYLGUd2KYgt_Wi5z1rPcXA8uoJG4qeM7PUXc1NNlETeJ_2jGOb7QU-tmyc2ywPRG3yqb0vuAaRNf99ze5O7kjvQdnPRkf-NumJtBjA0s6PXCVXoBrHjohN0-TmB2y1uw9G_/s400/The+End+of+the+Tour.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">I
cannot recollect having seen a more heart-warming film than this in recent
times. <b>Jason Segal</b>, yes folks, you're reading correctly, the comedian <b>Jason
Segal</b>, embodies one of the most endearing and intriguing characters I have come
across on screen.</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">His
voice is the voice of a man you would want to pay to listen to, just so you
feel all the noise around you become irrelevant at least for the time the
conversation lasts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><b>Segal</b>
is David Foster Wallace, the renowned American novelist most know for his novel
Infinite Jest, who committed suicide at the age of forty six after battling two
decades of depression.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">But
thats not what the film is about.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Spanning
across five days, the film is a series of conversations between Wallace and
David Lipsky, a writer working for Rolling Stone magazine (played by an in-form
<b>Jesse Eisenberg</b>) who wants to interview the former.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Both
actors get so brilliantly under the skin of their respective characters that
what you are left with by the end of the film is a profound sensation of having
witnessed two intelligent and philosophically well-versed people from another
generation talking about life, the purpose of life, fame, addiction,
materiality, the awareness of how hollow a material life can get, and also the
helplessness that comes along with such awareness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Mind
you, a false note here or there could've easily undone the impact that the film
leaves you with. But to give credit where its due, the straight-from-the-heart
style of direction and the simplicity of the screenplay ensure that doesn't
happen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">In
my experience as a movie buff, a quality I have found lacking in most films of
the feel-good genre (if there ever was such a genre) is nothing but plain and
simple honesty.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">And
I am very pleased to conclude my review of the film, (of course with an
expected recommendation for one and all to give it a shot), by putting it on
record that this is indeed an honest piece of film-making, with a soul of its
own, a soul so personal that I felt awakened- after a very long time- to a part
of me that still wishes to remain lost in the abstract, away from the hassles
of trying to make a name among people who won't even know the real me after I
am gone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">A
definite 4 out of 5.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Catch trailer here:</span></div>
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/DBk1Mrb4RyM/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DBk1Mrb4RyM?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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Ravi Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14719174666413173350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759766337265548176.post-50771880096945552842018-01-25T21:19:00.001+05:302018-01-25T21:20:17.975+05:30The Magnificent Seven (2016)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV0qUYSPSIT_XItcJYRZPc7GZp5UqnMHO0lnnjdub0cIiJ3nfPIE59RUA_pD264ARAICnMi7ecFVBj13b-6Qcx_MHqaCUh0VveOJRyKuTCnA12p3ZhTSMktMCaSCFAE9GYSCIhraTMIIHx/s1600/Magnificient+Seven.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="580" data-original-width="387" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV0qUYSPSIT_XItcJYRZPc7GZp5UqnMHO0lnnjdub0cIiJ3nfPIE59RUA_pD264ARAICnMi7ecFVBj13b-6Qcx_MHqaCUh0VveOJRyKuTCnA12p3ZhTSMktMCaSCFAE9GYSCIhraTMIIHx/s400/Magnificient+Seven.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">Far
from being 'magnificent' as the title claims, this is as ordinary as cinema can
get.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><b>Denzel
Washington</b>'s entry scene aside, am not sure if I liked anything about this film
at all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">The
soundtrack is lacklustre, the dialogues stereotypical, the storytelling
conservative and the shootout from the second half is nothing short of a
magnificent mess (I hope they weren't referring to this when they picked the
name).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">It
takes a special kind of talent to produce an average film with such a stellar
cast at one's disposal. And from watching his previous films I had a fair idea
that <b>Antoine Fuqua</b> had the potential to display this talent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">A
consistent absence of any unique directorial style, thats what I have noted in
the five films of his I've seen so far. (<b>Training Day</b> was really good. But only
because it wasn't a director's film).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><b>Fuqua</b>
seems to prefer being in the backseat and that- as you would agree- does not
bode well if the script isn't singularly powerful on its own.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">I
would rate this two out of five. I found myself rolling my eyes at the deaths
of key characters in the third act, and that speaks volumes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">But
that scene where <b>Washington</b>'s Chisolm appears first in a bar is just really
well done.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">So,
a two and a half still seems fair.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Its
films like these that make me wonder if all that criticism <b>Tarantino</b>'s western
<b>The Hateful Eight</b> received (including from me) was a tad unjustified.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">At
least that man knows how to take charge of his fucking film.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Catch Trailer here:</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/q-RBA0xoaWU/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/q-RBA0xoaWU?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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Ravi Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14719174666413173350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759766337265548176.post-85111701935914777592018-01-21T16:38:00.001+05:302018-01-25T21:20:02.756+05:30Highway- Ek Selfie Aarpar (2015)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh08OZBhN2bZ2IddJQO2pKEEXR9NDPh89QKJe1d6-2o4My-kcvr5Udqf_N2m8Knbt3NrXNEMUokfM2YITx6Ixwh2pY17pUqnTDdTLS7GAgpgeLoMZkRTIil4UsPGMPGJMCpJ-Az31EAdo_C/s1600/Highway-Ek+Selfie+Aar+Paar%252C+Poster.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="531" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh08OZBhN2bZ2IddJQO2pKEEXR9NDPh89QKJe1d6-2o4My-kcvr5Udqf_N2m8Knbt3NrXNEMUokfM2YITx6Ixwh2pY17pUqnTDdTLS7GAgpgeLoMZkRTIil4UsPGMPGJMCpJ-Az31EAdo_C/s400/Highway-Ek+Selfie+Aar+Paar%252C+Poster.png" width="265" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">A
choice presents itself to the audience when they see a film that is shot in an
intentionally ambiguous manner:</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">A)
You call it a pretentious attempt by the filmmaker at appearing more profound
than it is possible for the average Indian filmmaker to be, and you leave the
theatre before the end credits have started to roll without putting a second
thought to it, or<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">B)
You prepare yourself for this not being a film thats going to deliver to you a
simplistic one liner 'moral of the story' that'll fall right into your lap; a
film that will probably not unveil itself to you in its entirety if you aren't
observing everything thats happening. Then, having calmed your baser instinct
of keeping your brain idle, you understand- or rather 'attempt' to understand-
the meaning of all that is being shown while judging the film purely on its
artistic merit and not its ultimate objective. Then, you watch it a second
time. And, if the artistic merit continues to hold true, a third and a fourth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Now
logic dictates, that anybody who has seen the trailer of <b>Highway Ek Selfie Aarpar</b> and subsequently ventured out to see the
film, will be wary of both A & B above and also of the implication of
selecting A over B, or B over A.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">The
hall I watched the film in was packed (which was heartening to see albeit only
a puny consolation to the fact that the film currently has only one show per
day at only one theatre in the whole of Bombay). </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">The crowd guffawed at all the
right places in the first half, seats getting slapped and people rocking back
and forth with laughter as they saw on screen the little details from ordinary
lives that make for stand-out idiosyncrasies when presented in a particular
fashion, on celluloid.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Then
came the second half, sacrificing pace for meaning. Somewhat flawed in
execution, I can be honest here, but still- effective.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">And
some fucker decided to exit while the film was still playing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">A
over B.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">'Good
riddance', I said to myself as <b>Mangesh
Dhakde</b>'s melodiously piquing background score lured me back into the story,
that had by then reached a point of philosophical high.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Two
more exits. Then four.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Then
a whole row got up followed by another two rows, as if the first fucking A-hole
who had exited the hall had decided it for the whole lot of them that 'A over
B' is THE guaranteed path to attaining oneness with the universe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">As
the end credits rolled. My friend and I, and a handful of other 'B over As'
stood at our seats, pondering, replaying the scenes in our heads, each of us
fascinated at <b>Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni</b>'s
capacity to enthral and make a viewer feel the need to ask questions, all
without resorting to high-handed, Rust Cohle-esque monologues.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">'I
need to watch this again. Atleast one more time before I can say that I got all
of it', I said to my friend and he nodded, his eyes reflecting the same hunger
that my eyes must've been shining with; hunger to know more about a film that,
if you ask me, boasts of many things, a few of which I am listing below for
your benefit: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">-
stunning camerawork<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">-
well paced screenplay<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">-
grounded dialogues<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">-
stellar performances from the cast including <b>Girish Kulkarni</b>, <b>Mukta Barve</b> and
<b>Shrikant Mohan Yadav</b> among numerous others<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">-
excellent music<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">-
and (last but not the least), one of the best opening shots I have seen till
date in any film- foreign and Indian. A shot that is bound to induce nostalgia
in any man who has walked the streets of Bombay and witnessed the level of
economic divide that is so blatantly visible in this city.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">It
is saddening to see the strength in numbers of the unappreciative 'A over Bs'
and their equally unappreciative companions who snubbed the film altogether
without much cause.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">A
selfish reason it may be, but I am very disappointed that because of the
collective many whose choice of cinema is as bad as their choice of political
leadership, I am now deprived of a second viewing of a film that deserves one,
to perhaps understand its motives, its loose threads, a little better.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">I
only hope that other films like this meet with a brighter fate.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Catch Trailer here:</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/z75IAOVaPac/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/z75IAOVaPac?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
Ravi Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14719174666413173350noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759766337265548176.post-10388331972012876572018-01-21T16:23:00.002+05:302018-01-25T21:20:02.751+05:30The King Of Comedy (1982)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyGBrj7eJsxOO3rjzRscyrlpnCa0rutg7RdMtmPrTJBDDGBVuotPGkS3CkTSNXzhnvU-8tQ9GmR_lYyWZ-M7K2vQ9cuZKMj1f65ujydwSDiW5F7tmzF393DBpNiZYLmOvxr8fBgftRBpjT/s1600/The+king+of+comedy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="630" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyGBrj7eJsxOO3rjzRscyrlpnCa0rutg7RdMtmPrTJBDDGBVuotPGkS3CkTSNXzhnvU-8tQ9GmR_lYyWZ-M7K2vQ9cuZKMj1f65ujydwSDiW5F7tmzF393DBpNiZYLmOvxr8fBgftRBpjT/s400/The+king+of+comedy.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">This
is criminally underrated.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">A
re-watch of the film after over a year, only made me find more positives and no
negatives to talk of.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Lets
face it- I find <b>Scorsese</b>'s style
mesmerizing. His ability to keep the audience invested in even the most
irritable, irritating and irrational characters- characters whom if you met in
real life, you would want to 'un'-meet if possible and at the earliest too- is
inimitable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Like
other serious cinephiles, I have watched enough of his films to testify that
his sense of music, his usage of camera movements and of course his quick but
surefooted editing style (that has now become a trademark) are captivating
enough to make one want to watch and watch the same film again and again
without any qualm. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">With <b>The King of
Comedy</b>, he only adds one more example to prove this point.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Plus,
<b>Robert De Niro</b> as the desperate
albeit moronically positive Rupert Pupkin is a great departure from his other
popular roles. Pupkin is not the macho, alpha male role one would associate <b>De Niro</b> with. He's an out and out geek.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Pupkin's
misplaced sense of entitlement, the small glimpses into his private life and
the deranged extent to which he is convinced of his talent make the plot so
unpredictable while remaining grounded that despite the outrageous means he
uses to succeed in showbiz, there are moments where you want to root for him,
followed by moments where you do root for him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">But
then he pushes it a little too far for you to feel comfortable rooting for an
idiot (or rather, for you to admit that you were rooting for an idiot all this
while).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Sandra Bernhard</span></b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">'s
Masha is the most irritating onscreen character I have ever seen in the two
decades of my movie watching experience. Period.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Believe
you me, I have seen plenty irritating, but this is so perfectly done that you
just wish she'd drop dead before the next scene comes on. To pull off such a
performance is not only remarkable but also a tad bit insane. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">I can only wonder
why I haven't seen the actress in any memorable role ever since.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Jerry Lewis</span></b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">
as talk show host Jerry Langford, the guy who one might say is the eye of the
storm, plays it restrained and manages to hit the right notes at all times. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">The
sanity of his presence almost naturally balances out the insanity of the rest
of the cast.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Overall
a fantastic film that leaves you on an inexplicable high that is hard to
experience outside of worlds created by <b>Scorsese</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">A
definite 4 out of 5.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">I
must recommend this to all. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Catch Trailer here:</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/0wVhCCo02P4/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0wVhCCo02P4?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
Ravi Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14719174666413173350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759766337265548176.post-22892312480862623452018-01-21T16:11:00.001+05:302018-01-21T16:39:02.808+05:30Wrap it right<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">I
am well aware of the commercial factors involved in this decision, but when
selecting a cover for your book, please do put a thought into what you want a
person buying your book to perceive your book as.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">If
what you have written is a simple, broad-stroked and more or less stereotypical
tale which is grammatically correct and devoid of typos but nothing more than
that, and your cover emanates an aura of advanced literary genius, promising
complex and layered writing, you should be ready to be judged accordingly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">I
find it difficult to believe that it is not possible for a writer to understand
what kind of cover his or her novel deserves. And even if I'm wrong... even if
there is a writer out there who claims to not have what it takes to match the
level of his writing with a picture he's going to wrap his writing using, I'd
say, why not go for a simple cover?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Two
examples I can give here of excellent covers that do not deceive the readers in
any way are below:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; margin: 12pt 0px 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 23px;"></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; margin: 12pt 0px 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 23px;">1.<span> </span><b>The Joke- Milan Kundera</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; margin: 12pt 0px 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 23px;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOTH5-nGrMUyPCyxUynJlkNAe7BxXodfHtHYCw-R2l22yLxY5JMrayM1Y2-Pw6pRWFP5uoqOoLl4ASWg8Xwez4vBSzyj3c8JoxOeKs3AYx77_ughSVcfy2U466lAffedHgaLN2HXat6Fzh/s1600/14199298_1763237200618126_7138366589628089413_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="539" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOTH5-nGrMUyPCyxUynJlkNAe7BxXodfHtHYCw-R2l22yLxY5JMrayM1Y2-Pw6pRWFP5uoqOoLl4ASWg8Xwez4vBSzyj3c8JoxOeKs3AYx77_ughSVcfy2U466lAffedHgaLN2HXat6Fzh/s400/14199298_1763237200618126_7138366589628089413_n.jpg" width="223" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Yes,
it is hideously deceiving, but only in the sense that <b>Kundera</b>'s writing is as
beautiful as the cover is ugly. Yet, you keep going back to the cover and take
comfort in its simplicity as the author narrates his heavy-on-philosophy story
about a political ideology gone wrong and the pointlessness of delayed revenge.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">2.
<b>Twice Written- K. Sridhar</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK3HTTakBY5e-BHzWK0qMyQ1fTxJoWEEGX252mzI1WdF4wG0sOl6uSjGd8fb6EGFPhU_ASeGyO0tTHsLF3t7njoi1EUv41YoFAwctXzs6jaA3VLGSegUvmTPM6PrjCFU3QcaaqSN4D6d2x/s1600/14233248_1763237293951450_7195577386047720156_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="539" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK3HTTakBY5e-BHzWK0qMyQ1fTxJoWEEGX252mzI1WdF4wG0sOl6uSjGd8fb6EGFPhU_ASeGyO0tTHsLF3t7njoi1EUv41YoFAwctXzs6jaA3VLGSegUvmTPM6PrjCFU3QcaaqSN4D6d2x/s400/14233248_1763237293951450_7195577386047720156_n.jpg" width="223" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">I
bought this book just because the cover caught my attention. I knew nothing
about the author when I did. And while I may not have a rave review to offer
overall (some scenes are powerful and excellently done, the rest is very good
but nothing beyond that), the level of writing in this was actually as layered
as the cover made me anticipate it to be. Whether good or bad is a different question
altogether. My point here is, after finishing the book I did not feel deceived.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">In
my opinion, a fancy cover does more harm than help- that is if you're aiming
higher than selling your first two hundred copies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Ditto
for blurbs.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">Disclaimer:
The post may well not apply to cases where the author has had no real say in
the making of the cover and the blurb.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
Ravi Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14719174666413173350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759766337265548176.post-81793638866074624372018-01-21T05:12:00.001+05:302018-01-21T05:12:38.183+05:30La La Land (2016)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip0TRBG88SWmiJW_lNaUmkEt2yJ9u6FrhPk0z6ONsGkhH3Qk2-jgTJoVRvtQgzE-YQBbHwgEIvNLzCzuZekD0S2p0R61ITReCjlytZ4BSRRKGQO9oiyvzgsdov1k3f3KYcIsFHZuiQR5mH/s1600/La+La+Land.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip0TRBG88SWmiJW_lNaUmkEt2yJ9u6FrhPk0z6ONsGkhH3Qk2-jgTJoVRvtQgzE-YQBbHwgEIvNLzCzuZekD0S2p0R61ITReCjlytZ4BSRRKGQO9oiyvzgsdov1k3f3KYcIsFHZuiQR5mH/s400/La+La+Land.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">I
have always preferred a narrower definition of the term ‘musical’ when deciding
if a film falls within the purview of this genre.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Lack
of experience could be the reason for this. Also, I suppose two and a half
decades of exposure to song and dance sequences that make for most of the
screen-time in mainstream Hindi, Marathi and Telugu films will do that to a
person.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Nevertheless,
for me a film is a musical if the characters in it are either singers or
dancers or musicians and the overall theme is just that- an attempt by these
characters to create music or to dance to it (<b>Once</b>, <b>Whiplash</b>, <b>Sing Street</b>, and, to some extent, even <b>Black Swan</b> are a few recent names I can
recollect).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">And
while one would agree that this bit of narrowing down is much needed to weed
out the countless titles of commercial cinema that use songs as fillers and
would only ruin a genre which- I believe- is best kept exclusive to the
deserving few that truly accentuate the audience’s interest in music as an art
form, the down side of having a narrower definition is that one is bound to
miss out on atleast a few good films that fall outside its scope.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">For
quite some time now, a close friend of mine has been trying hard to formally
initiate my interest in these films that I have been missing out on (for no
apparent reason) - films that are not about people coming together to make
music or dance-steps, but films that have stories to tell and only use the
medium of songs to tell them, just as most normal films would use dialogue or
visual cues.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">These
are films that belong to a different era, a different time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">A
separate form of celluloid. A form that, if I am to go by the word of 'musical'
aficionados worldwide, is much richer and purer than the rest.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">A
form that may well be an acquired taste but is, even so, a taste well worth
acquiring.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">And
having watched La La Land, which is a throwback to the long-gone era of good
musicals, I must admit, it is likely that by not honestly attempting to venture
into this unfamiliar territory before, I may have kept myself at a loss.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">(I
say 'honestly' here because I did once try to watch an
outside-the-scope-of-my-definition musical. To my misfortune, I ended up
picking the worst possible film for doing that: <b>Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street</b>. Fucking terrible is
what it was.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Set
in modern day Los Angeles, <b>La La Land</b>
is the story of Mia, a struggling albeit talented actress and Sebastian, a jazz
pianist who wants to save jazz from extinction even as he struggles to make
ends meet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">The
two, each passionate about their choice of career, come together over a series
of chance encounters / songs to become, what would appear to be, the perfect
couple.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">That
is until problems arise when love and ambition are pitted against one another.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">The
premise, even if old school, is ripe for a romantic comedy cum drama and the
two leads- a broody-looking <b>Ryan Gosling</b>
and quirky-as-always <b>Emma Stone</b>-
have a chemistry to them that has stood the test of two previously released
films already (<b>Crazy, Stupid, Love</b>
and <b>Gangster Squad</b>).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Both
actors are in top form. Their dialogue delivery feels natural, their physical
gestures touching and they even manage to pull off the singing and the
dance-steps with admirable panache.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">But...
but, <b>La La Land</b> is not an actors'
film.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Because,
though it may be that they have a sizable contribution in its success, the film
is about much more than just the couple onscreen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">For
a start, it is a reiteration of <b>Damien
Chazelle</b>'s love for jazz and for cinema in general.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Not
only does the director manage to put together some brilliant tunes (<b>Justin Hurwitz</b> as the music director
has done an outstanding job again) and some excellently choreographed dance
numbers that, combined, could easily compete with the finest songs from up to
three decades ago, he does this while also maintaining an originality in his
overall treatment that could have easily gone amiss were a weaker person to
helm the film.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">The
camera glides and moves, as only the cameras of <b>Scorsese</b>, <b>Paul Thomas
Anderson</b> and the likes are normally able to.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Most
of the scene transitions are effortlessly done.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Also,
shot in CinemaScope (Aspect ratio 2.55 : 1), the film has been infused with so
much colour and fervent energy in each frame that 'gorgeous' is the only word
that comes close to describing my experience of having watched it in IMAX.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Overall,
I have no hesitation to give the film a straight five out of five.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">I
would agree if someone told me that this is mush. But whats more important for
me is that this is mush done well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Catch
Trailer here:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/0pdqf4P9MB8/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0pdqf4P9MB8?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
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Ravi Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14719174666413173350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759766337265548176.post-56896984962978826202018-01-21T04:55:00.001+05:302018-01-21T04:56:17.051+05:30Flight (2012)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqXla4VOJ7NBhNhfCz45-rahJSsVCPPGx2yK10SWKQB3WqG_2vU6pEnVoHODtB2eZdR7_QPooz9I651R0PPMCazC1xHmMq5R_yJFKnukME9ihUeqnu2QoLfaCoo6K4ZfJZPil7Yn3fUsuo/s1600/Flight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="267" data-original-width="189" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqXla4VOJ7NBhNhfCz45-rahJSsVCPPGx2yK10SWKQB3WqG_2vU6pEnVoHODtB2eZdR7_QPooz9I651R0PPMCazC1xHmMq5R_yJFKnukME9ihUeqnu2QoLfaCoo6K4ZfJZPil7Yn3fUsuo/s400/Flight.jpg" width="283" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">While
<b>Eastwood</b>'s <b>Sully</b> continues to occupy my dreadfully long to-watch list, I
couldn't help but take the time out to watch this one after hearing somebody
gushing about how much better this film is compared to the former.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Comparisons
aside, this is one of <b>Robert Zemeckis</b>'s
finest films and more importantly one of <b>Denzel
Washington</b>'s finest performances.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">With
a screenplay that starts off as an out and out action thriller and then settles
into a nice and tense investigative thriller drama, Flight is what one would
easily call, a perfectly executed film. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">The
flaws- that is if any can even be pointed at- lie solely in the underwhelming
manner of writing that has gone into the script.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Washington</span></b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">
plays Whip Whitaker, an airline pilot who is dubbed a hero after he manoeuvres
a malfunctioned airplane out of a straight-to-the-ground nose-dive situation
and still crash lands, but with only a few casualties.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">While
he is praised for saving the lives that he did, questions still loom heavy on
whether he is indeed a straight hero and was it really a technical fault that
caused the crash. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">After
all, it is clear from the start that Whip is a heavy drinker and a drug user,
and was both drunk and high on the day of the flight.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Washington</span></b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">'s
portrayal of the protagonist is excellent. He is as restrained as only a cannon
is before going loose.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">His
conflict, though internal, sits right on his face for the audience to see even
as the twists make one wonder what our intriguing lead will finally end up
doing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Zemeckis</span></b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">
directs with a assured hand, which is more than enough for a filmmaker in his
position and with his experience to do for the film to work (and work it does,
oh yes).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">John Goodman</span></b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">
gets a total of three scenes, ample screen-time for him to make his presence
felt as Whip's wacko neighbour cum drug dealer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Rest
of the cast does well too. (I heart <b>Kelly
Reilly</b>, big time. Doesn't matter what movie she's in and what role she's
playing. I heart her.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">All
in all, this is a sure-footed production that delivers the expected.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">And
for that it earns a solid four out of five in my books.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Catch
Trailer here:</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Aqn2L6kQQt8/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Aqn2L6kQQt8?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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Ravi Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14719174666413173350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759766337265548176.post-82770764157001849432018-01-21T04:40:00.001+05:302018-01-21T04:43:49.567+05:30Manchester By The Sea (2016)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZJd3H8gQnOtQ4osxG_w9Z8MlOjxcyqNH84HrrvHy6IsoMbF31uPYH0Dvu_VV2ibQS7OxELo8PwQbrvnRznjgysj4NrWpZ2F6hrAfyB2bGxROoJ7f_FwB1sfnw6CMyiq2JAuaDY8Jl-gy2/s1600/Manchester+by+the+sea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="307" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZJd3H8gQnOtQ4osxG_w9Z8MlOjxcyqNH84HrrvHy6IsoMbF31uPYH0Dvu_VV2ibQS7OxELo8PwQbrvnRznjgysj4NrWpZ2F6hrAfyB2bGxROoJ7f_FwB1sfnw6CMyiq2JAuaDY8Jl-gy2/s400/Manchester+by+the+sea.jpg" width="275" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">For
many reasons, watching this film reminded me of <b>Alexander Payne</b>'s <b>The
Descendants</b> and its subtle approach towards dealing with a situation as
harsh as death. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Written
and directed by <b>Kenneth Lonergan</b> (whose earlier ventures into filmmaking I am very
curious about, now that I have seen this one), the film doesn't have a single scene that screams in your face. The two that come close to doing that have been shot and edited
in a manner that does not allow them to linger for longer than necessary.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">The
background score on most occasions ranges from mild to mildly pronounced. Never
melodramatic.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">In
fact, if you break down the film in parts and watch those parts in a particular
order, it is likely that you will mistake this as a light comedy even after you
are done with 60% of the length (which it is, but that's only on the surface).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">The
drama is not imposed on you in one sudden stroke. The damage is rendered
slowly, one flashback at a time, with almost a casual touch to the proceedings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Like
waves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Gentle
at first, then a little strong, then stronger, then- in its final stages-
powerful.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">The
writing, the acting (even the bit roles), the background score, and the
cinematography. All top notch.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">But
what it eventually comes down to is the one man who carries the entire film on
his shoulders from the beginning to the end.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Playing
Lee Chandler- a young man with a traumatic past who has recently lost his
brother-<b>Cassey Affleck</b> emotes ten
times as much as <b>Hugh Jackman</b> from <b>Prisoners</b> did, only without the
assistance of overtly intense dialogues or facial contortions that'd make the
likes of <b>Hrithik Roshan</b> proud.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Affleck</span></b><span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">'s
face seldom changes and yet is literally an open map of his thoughts. He says all
that is needed to break the audiences’ heart in a thousand pieces, without
saying anything at all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">The
grief. Oh the grief!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">I
must admit I haven't seen too many of his previous films, but if this hadn’t
fetched him the Oscar for best actor, then I don't know what the fuck would
have.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">A
straight five out of five overall. Nothing less.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Recommended
viewing. One of 2016's finest contributions to cinema.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">Catch
trailer here:</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Ravi Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14719174666413173350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3759766337265548176.post-67090456790687577272018-01-21T04:12:00.000+05:302018-01-21T04:13:30.925+05:30Find Me Guilty (2006)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLimEOOTDWRJh-93h7f1Fz4h-Qey6QbyDCDIIdVYPhY6sT7Th0a8WGd9YU5SZVmydOu0ava7wmtPUWTEaocpsoki9PkOkDL8FxHk2xEKpNjCLnTyAhyLfNZihEn79SOgxSFmZwjhzKhmnn/s1600/find+me+guilty.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="733" data-original-width="500" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLimEOOTDWRJh-93h7f1Fz4h-Qey6QbyDCDIIdVYPhY6sT7Th0a8WGd9YU5SZVmydOu0ava7wmtPUWTEaocpsoki9PkOkDL8FxHk2xEKpNjCLnTyAhyLfNZihEn79SOgxSFmZwjhzKhmnn/s400/find+me+guilty.jpg" width="272" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">You
know, when you have already watched </span><b style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">12
Angry Men</b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;"> and </span><b style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">The Verdict</b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">, and
then come across a third courtroom drama made by the legendary </span><b style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">Sydney Lumet</b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">, you'd think the
probability of you ending up describing the third film as 'light-hearted' and
'upbeat' is seriously far-fetched.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">But
legends are legends for a reason, are they not?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">And
<b>Lumet</b> shows exactly that with his
decision of presenting a courtroom drama based on the longest running mafia
trial in US history, in quite the light-hearted and upbeat style.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">So,
on one hand you are made aware that all twenty of the defendants occupying the
courtroom are hardcore gangsters no doubt, being tried on multiple counts. They
are lowlifes; people who have chosen to lead a life outside the law to be able
to lead parallely a life of extravagance and excess. They are into drug
distribution, gambling, extortion, and- as an inevitable consequence- murder.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">But,
on the other, you are also made to see them as bumbling idiots who cannot help
themselves from engaging in stupid banter. Men who are just that- men.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">And
in no time at all you find yourself rooting for them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Or
more specifically, you find yourself rooting for one of them- Jack Dinorsio,
the real-life gangster who chose to defend himself in this case instead of
hiring a lawyer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Jack
is portrayed as anything but the quintessial mafia man. He does not talk tough,
has a sense of humour and- most importantly- considers almost every person he
meets as his friend.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">'I'm
a gagster, not a gangster' he declares to the jury in the opening argument in a
manner that may not win him a legal battle, but will certainly disarm any human
being. And he continues to do exactly that through the course of the trial- he
disarms everyone, including you, the viewer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">This
is inarguably <b>Vin Diesel</b>'s best
performance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Yes,
you have heard it right.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Diesel</span></b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">-
the same <b>Diesel</b> who now keeps coming
back faster and more furious every year without the need for it, the same
Diesel who goes 'One last time' every time he comes back but then again comes
back the next fucking year and says 'One last time' one more time as if the
last time wasn’t enough for him to understand that people are sick and tired of
repetitive shit and want it coming neither fast nor furious anymore, yes, THAT <b>Diesel</b>- can act. (And how!)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Of
course, it must've helped that he was in <b>Lumet</b>'s
more-than-capable hands, but one must give credit where it is due and I must
say, <b>Diesel</b> carries the film through
till the very end with his sheer charisma.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Without
that, I feel this would have been more underwhelming than entertaining.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Four
out of five.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Also, almost forgot to mention how <b>Peter
Dinklage</b>, with this film. proves yet again that he is one fine actor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 150%;">Catch
Trailer here:</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Ravi Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14719174666413173350noreply@blogger.com0