The Himalayas captured aborad
Wednesday, 11 November 2015
Tuesday, 10 November 2015
PAWSITIVE
- Sidharth Sharma.
This Deepawali, lets go 'PAWsitive'!
All of us love pets, don't we? According to reports, the pet population in India has grown from 7 million in 2006 to 10 million in 2011. On an average 600,000 pets are adopted every year! These numbers suggest that yes, we do love pets! Pets are a man's best friend; they help us to ease loneliness and relieve tension. Not only this, pets have a beneficial effect on our health as well! Recent studies suggest that pets help in reducing the risk of high blood pressure, decrease the risk of depression and prevent eczema and allergies to some extent. So don't you think it is time for us to do something for them?
This deepawali, Anushka Sharma has taken a small step for the welfare of pets. And yes, it is indeed a wonderful initiative- PAWsitivity! Pawsitivity aims at celebrating a noise-free diwali so that our pets don't get disturbed. It is a known fact that animals have advanced hearing skills as compared to humans. Owing to this, the noise produced by firecrackers tends to cause them a lot of disturbance! So avoiding the use of firecrackers will not only protect our pets, but will also protect our environment from a lot of unwanted pollution!
Speaking about the same, Anushka Sharma said, "Animals are our best friends. They make me laugh & I share a personal bond with them. Their welfare is one cause that's close to my heart & I will keep taking up initiatives that make us care for them too. When
someone bursts fire crackers during Diwali, they don't think of how it affects animals or birds. With 'Pawsitive' I hope I can inspire some of us to care about them, and avoid making a lot of noise. Diwali is a festival of lights & happiness, and can also be celebrated with your family in a safe & healthy manner."
Let us all pledge to celebrate a noise-free Diwali this year!
Sunday, 8 November 2015
Thursday, 5 November 2015
Wednesday, 4 November 2015
Tuesday, 3 November 2015
Sunday, 1 November 2015
Main aur Charles
Main aur Charles- A confusing narrative made watchable by some brilliant performances!
Cast- Randeep Hooda, Richa Chadda, Adil
Hussain, Tisca Chopra, Mandana Karimi
Director- Prawaal Raman
Verdict- 3/5
What happens when you ride on a bumpy road, full of potholes? Your entire concentration lies on the road, rather than enjoying the journey. Same is the case with ‘Main aur Charles’! You have to follow the narrative so carefully, that you can’t really enjoy the movie!
Based on the life of the famous serial killer Charles Sobhraj (also known as ‘Bikini Killer’), this movie could have been one of the most gripping crime thrillers of the year! But what it turned out to be, is a confusing, yet stylized narrative, coupled with some brilliant performances.
The movie starts off with Charles (Hooda) planning a jail break in Delhi. He is helped by his inmates, the jailer and a law student, Mira (Chadda). Charles and his inmates escape to Mumbai (Bombay), but Mira and the jailer get caught. The narrative then runs back and forth, showing Charles’ colourful life in Goa, the investigations in Delhi and how he finally gets caught.
The story had the potential to make a gripping and intense crime thriller. But the writers seem to be confused whether to focus on Charles’ life- his intentions and his ways of duping his victims or to focus on the jail-break incident. As a result, they end up creating a half-baked story. The narrative moves back and forth in time, which makes it quite confusing. The screenplay lacks pace and intensity. However, it wasn’t meant to be an intense thriller. Rather, what it lacks in intensity, is made up for by style! It is only towards the climax that you can connect the missing links. There is a plot twist towards the end which has been well thought of. The dialogues have been very well written. They strengthen the narrative and Charles’ character, in particular.
Talking about Charles, Randeep Hooda has been perfectly cast in the titular role! He has the charm and the charisma required to play the character. His character has been very well written and he does full justice to his role! Not to forget his accent, which matches with Sobhraj’s to a great extent!! Richa Chadda, as Mira, looks a bit unconvincing. She disappoints in certain scenes but overall delivers a decent performance. Her interaction with Kamath, the investigating officer, can be rated as her best scene in the movie! Adil Hussain plays the role of Amod Kamath, the investigating officer. He is just perfect as the disgusted police officer and plays his role brilliantly! Tisca Chopra, as Kamath’s wife, lightens up the film with her screen presence. She makes her presence felt, inspite of a short screentime. Mandini Karimi, as Liz, has almost nothing to perform. She has been cast to add glamour and she does that sincerely! Among the other supporting actors, Sudhakar, the investigating officer from Mumbai, delivers an excellent performance!
The movie boasts of a stylish Cinematography, which was indeed needed to showcase Charles’ life- someone who is known to be a charmer, a hypnotic! The glass scene, shot in the Mumbai hotel and the scenes in Goa, have been brilliantly depicted! They convincingly portray the dark side of the movie. But the same cannot be said about the Editing Department! Certain scenes could have been trimmed down a bit, to add some pace to the movie. The background score is loud at times, but uplifts the movie to a great extent! It makes up for the lack in intensity in the narrative. Among the songs, ‘Neeli Bullet’ would be my pick!
Prawaal Raman’s direction definitely needs some improvement! He portrays Charles life brilliantly and deserves an applause! However when it comes to depicting the jail-break incident, he fails miserably. A scene, which should have been the most intriguing scene of the movie, turns out to be dull and uninteresting! He adds style to each frame, but had he added a bit more pace to the narrative, the movie would have been the best in this genre!
Final Verdict- A must watch
for all Randeep Hooda fans! Others, wait for its World Television Premiere!!
Saturday, 31 October 2015
Travelling Minds
- Snehal Deb.
Wondered of solitary bounty of nature?
Or the blue and serene red sea,
Schools of fishes jammed your mental view?
Then you breathe, are alive.
For genius minds did study,
The way we live, the thoughts in which we dive,
And did comment on our activity,
Our mind keeps travelling like bees out of hive.
Often we fail to focus,
Oregon and Arizona in mind’s locus.
It’s hard not to envisage,
Scenes and pleasures of previous coverage.
Streak of starlight we fail to notice,
‘Breaks’ from ‘social world’ we seldom practice.
Secrets of this travelling mind,
Sorry! Still not revealed.
Imaginable thesis can never find,
Underestimated mind made of which breed?
Wondered of solitary bounty of nature?
Or the blue and serene red sea,
Schools of fishes jammed your mental view?
Then you breathe, are alive.
For genius minds did study,
The way we live, the thoughts in which we dive,
And did comment on our activity,
Our mind keeps travelling like bees out of hive.
Often we fail to focus,
Oregon and Arizona in mind’s locus.
It’s hard not to envisage,
Scenes and pleasures of previous coverage.
Streak of starlight we fail to notice,
‘Breaks’ from ‘social world’ we seldom practice.
Secrets of this travelling mind,
Sorry! Still not revealed.
Imaginable thesis can never find,
Underestimated mind made of which breed?
Thursday, 29 October 2015
Red Stones near a Railway Track
- Vivek Sharma.
On a random day, I was standing in one corner, aside of cars and bikes, near the 7no railway post. A train was there, slowly moving towards the Guwahati station. From far back I heard a horn constantly beeping 'teeee teeee'. 'What a jerk!', I thought. It was a Grey coloured aviator coming from Panchali. It was rode by a fit and healthy marwari man, must be in his 40s, and an obese girl of 20s in the back. Something was wrong, it was all over the atmosphere. The man hit a Tata Minitruck and damped its bumper. Giving no attention to the Minitruck's driver and his abusive words, the girl on the back got off the 2-wheeler and starting walking towards the gate-post. The gates were down and the train was still moving but gaining speed. Her face was all red like she had been crying heavily. But when she passed pushing me aside, i looked at her face, she was very pretty but at that moment she was only expressionless, she was numb and lost in her some kind of pain and I heard her whispering to herself 'Mama.... Ma...' The man was running behind her with the face of a scared man. He must be her father who was scared of what her daughter was about to do. For a moment I thought of stopping her but I believed myself to be the kind of person who let people end their life out of the misery rather than who gave false hopes to people that everything would be fine and happy ever after. Living is too hard and painful, do the easy thing - die. But she wasn't committing suicide. The train's last cargo just passed the post. Everything went completely silent, all I heard was sound of running feets. About 20-30 people ran towards the left side of the tracks and formed a circle. The girl slowly went inside it with her father still running towards her and me following him. Suddenly the girl starting screaming. She was almost ripping her voice box to scream so loud. I have seen a couple of hundred horror movies but I never had such a shiver. I ran harder and pushed myself inside the circle between the strange crowd and saw a marwari woman of 40s in an orange saree lying on the track. She was ripped from her right shoulder till her lower abdomen. Must have been caught by the train while crossing the track carelessly. She was wearing heavy jewelries, no one stole them. No one dared to touch the dead woman. There was so much blood. Pieces of her lungs near my feet. Her last moments must have been terrible, drowning in her own blood in her half lungs. I bet she wasn't dead till the iron wheels broke her rib cage and sliced her heart. She died painfully. Her husband was grabbing their daughter in his arms just like he must have promised when she was born, 'I will always be there for you'. Yes, it is easy to die, but to see your loved ones dead; that's the most painful thing in this world. Everybody was curious how that happened. I was curious how her loved ones will live with such a horrifying dead. I can't imagine such a beautiful girl living her whole life in the sorrow of her mother's dead. I hope she would kill herself to peace.
On a random day, I was standing in one corner, aside of cars and bikes, near the 7no railway post. A train was there, slowly moving towards the Guwahati station. From far back I heard a horn constantly beeping 'teeee teeee'. 'What a jerk!', I thought. It was a Grey coloured aviator coming from Panchali. It was rode by a fit and healthy marwari man, must be in his 40s, and an obese girl of 20s in the back. Something was wrong, it was all over the atmosphere. The man hit a Tata Minitruck and damped its bumper. Giving no attention to the Minitruck's driver and his abusive words, the girl on the back got off the 2-wheeler and starting walking towards the gate-post. The gates were down and the train was still moving but gaining speed. Her face was all red like she had been crying heavily. But when she passed pushing me aside, i looked at her face, she was very pretty but at that moment she was only expressionless, she was numb and lost in her some kind of pain and I heard her whispering to herself 'Mama.... Ma...' The man was running behind her with the face of a scared man. He must be her father who was scared of what her daughter was about to do. For a moment I thought of stopping her but I believed myself to be the kind of person who let people end their life out of the misery rather than who gave false hopes to people that everything would be fine and happy ever after. Living is too hard and painful, do the easy thing - die. But she wasn't committing suicide. The train's last cargo just passed the post. Everything went completely silent, all I heard was sound of running feets. About 20-30 people ran towards the left side of the tracks and formed a circle. The girl slowly went inside it with her father still running towards her and me following him. Suddenly the girl starting screaming. She was almost ripping her voice box to scream so loud. I have seen a couple of hundred horror movies but I never had such a shiver. I ran harder and pushed myself inside the circle between the strange crowd and saw a marwari woman of 40s in an orange saree lying on the track. She was ripped from her right shoulder till her lower abdomen. Must have been caught by the train while crossing the track carelessly. She was wearing heavy jewelries, no one stole them. No one dared to touch the dead woman. There was so much blood. Pieces of her lungs near my feet. Her last moments must have been terrible, drowning in her own blood in her half lungs. I bet she wasn't dead till the iron wheels broke her rib cage and sliced her heart. She died painfully. Her husband was grabbing their daughter in his arms just like he must have promised when she was born, 'I will always be there for you'. Yes, it is easy to die, but to see your loved ones dead; that's the most painful thing in this world. Everybody was curious how that happened. I was curious how her loved ones will live with such a horrifying dead. I can't imagine such a beautiful girl living her whole life in the sorrow of her mother's dead. I hope she would kill herself to peace.
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