12 Angry Men

There are very few movies that make you go speechless, remain awestruck due to their sheer concept and execution. This is one such movie.

12 men, each from a different background, different views and opinions, strangers to one another, come together, along with their personal prejudices, to reach a decision acceptable to all. This line itself shows the magnitude of complexity involved, and to make a movie out of it is a work of true genius and a one that leaves you spellbound.

Right from the first shot, till the final one, you are so engrossed that you would even forget to breathe. If the background sound track, screenplay, script, direction are the cake, then the roles enacted by the characters [I say characters here, not the actors, because you believe they are truly the 12 angry men] are the icing on top of the cake.

Surprisingly it was only after the movie, did I realize that it was a black and white movie. The movie shows that to make a good movie, you don’t need exotic locations or high drama, or superstars. All you need is a good story and good actors who make you forget they are merely playing their parts in the play.

The movie teaches you how an analytical mind and logical thinking can make a difference of life and death. It teaches you to be the most responsible when you have a person’s life at stake. It shows how our personal prejudices and upbringing can affect our reasoning, how our senses play with our sense of judgment, how we let our emotions take over, at a time when it is required to be fair and impartial, how we tend to be a part of the crowd because we scared to be the odd – man-out. How one man, one true, sensible and empathetic man, it takes to make a difference. How important it is to have an objective and open mind, at any point of decision-making - in life/ death matters. How we are so stuck upon the facts and what we see, that we forget to use our mind, the ultimate powerful tool that we have. And that all it takes is sense and reason to convince someone, not decibels!!

There are movies that make you laugh, or cry. There are movies that make you wonder and then there are movies that make you think, force you to ponder upon it, understand it, and learn from it (if possible). This is one such movie and a must – watch for one and all.

To Kill a Mocking Bird

Reading the book didn’t strike me as anything surprising or unusual. As a 21^st century girl, having read and seen innocent men charged guilty all over the world and the high profile culprits walking scot-free, the outcome of the case the protagonist’s father is fighting was predictable. But that didn’t make me forget that the entire novel is primarily through the eyes of a little girl and her brother. Children are innocent; at least they were in the era when the book was written.

If only we adults had the innocence of these children, the rationale to question against the wrongdoings happening around us, when it seems so obvious who is guilty and who is not, but yet we watch the innocent being punished, if only, then the world would be a much better place.                                                 

Corruption and crime have become so common that they no longer invoke our consciousness. And this is a dangerous place for us to be in, very similar to the backdrop where the novel is set.

But nonetheless, this story is about courage, the courage of two children to protect their father in the middle of the night against a group of goons, the courage of a lawyer to fight for the truth in a case entrusted upon him, very well knowing the outcome of the case beforehand. No matter what others say, what the majority opinion is, to continue fighting for what you believe defines a man, and especially a man who is a role model for his kids.

Philadelphia

For a dying man, to fight for his rights requires a lot of courage. And there could be no one better than Tom Hanks to portray this. He is undoubtedly the best actor in today’s age.

Denzel Washington’s first reaction when he learns about Tom’s disease and cautiously scrutinizes every item touched by Tom, exposes the prejudices of literate, educated people, mainly due to their own ignorance. Unfortunately, even today these prejudices exist. And the helpless, distraught look on Tom’s face after being let down for the tenth time by another prejudiced lawyer is heart wrenching.

 The court room scenes are the highlight of the movie. The cruel, cold-hearted treatment Tom Hanks is subjected to is a lesson for all of us on the need to be sensitive to others  state of mind. But even today, even when we all know who is guilty  and who is innocent, we still need to prove it in the court of law. Having a supportive family is good, but we live in a society and we also need them to accept us for our distinct nature and individualism. Slowly, Denzel realizes that he is not just fighting for a law that has been broken, a lot more than the law has been broken and that is what he is fighting for.

 The songs at the beginning and ending of the movie are aptly worded and sung to perfection.

 All in all a beautiful, sensitive movie and a path breaking one too.

Law Abiding Citizen

Sometimes I wonder why people make movies which glorify citizens taking the law into their hands. Your loved ones are brutally murdered, the convicts are let off lightly and you spend ten years preparing to kill everyone involved for the unfortunate incident. Is this a viable logic? 

Though the film tries to present an intellectual, innovative and well planned scheme behind the killings, all our hero does is vent out his revenge on others in the same gruesome manner (worse at times) the way his loved ones were killed. Some parts of the movie reminded me of the epic Shawshank Redemptions.

And by the time the veil was lifted and our smart hero’s execution of the massacre explained, I wasn’t the least bit interested, although considering the fact that the movie was less than 2 hours. Frankly, I really failed to understand who in the entire movie was abiding by the law!

The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari

The first thing struck me as I began reading this book is its language; it couldn’t be more apt. Not too complicated as many authors nowadays tend to write to make their novel look complex, neither is it too simple where you feel you are reading a primary school English text book. Mr. Sharma uses perfect English language, that encourages us to look into the dictionary at times and gives us a chance to enhance our vocabulary. I was marveled by the apt use of words, intricately describing each scene in the book – “... as if to display both a love of these prized possessions and a distrust of this tall Westerner, about as common as dew in the desert”, “... as the first rays of the Indian sun danced along the colorful horizon”, “it was as if the tensions ... had sensed that they were not welcome to the summit of serenity and moved on to more inviting prospects”, to mention a few.

Every para and every line is good to be quoted at in lectures and writings. But all together in a book, it is not as touching as a Paulo Coelho or a Khalil Gibran. It’s more of a management in philosophy rather than a philosophical journey. As Julian enlightens us with his story, I feel like I am still hearing the lawyer in him speak, rather than the Monk who sold his Ferrari.

After about 30 pages or so, the narrative takes a slow pace. It is quite preachy too in some places which makes the reading boring. You can relate this book to Swades, that SRK movie, remember? Although Swades was a good movie, with a brilliant concept, the script got monotonous after a point. It’s the same with this book too.

I know I am repeating myself here, but there is absolutely no doubt about the fact that the language of the book is absolutely of the highest standard in the new era of English writing. I am so much more impressed by the language in the book, rather than the book itself. :)

                                     

To be frank it was not my personal interest in the book that got me reading it. The book had been lying in our house since a long time and I had heard from few of my friends that it required quite a bit of will power to read it or rather complete it. ;)

But a few days back, one of my friends who had started reading was in full praise of the book, so much so that it awakened my curiosity and I rushed to my bookshelf to form my own opinion of the book.

So finally, to put it in gist, the book is a perfect text book for an MBA in philosophy of life. Though it is not effortless reading, all you need is a little bit of will power to continue the started journey and trust me; once you reach the destination you will feel nothing but satisfaction and content with the knowledge to improve your life. Just as Julian teaches you to overcome your weaker thoughts and monotonous life, you need execute the same to chew, eat, swallow and absorb this book.

The exercises and pearls of wisdom mentioned in the book are no doubt effective, viz if you sincerely put them into practice. You can find a million books at any book store that teach you the same pearls of wisdom maybe with different colors, but this book could be considered as that ‘foreign author’ text book we are all told to study to score well in the exams.

Barfi – Effect and After Effects

 





‘Zindagi ke jis mod pe aaj main hun, bahut hi kam cheezen hain jo mujhe khushi deti hai. Aur phir ek din halki hawa ki jhonke ki tarah Barfi aayi aur mujhe apne saath le chali’

After a long time has a movie touched my heart so deeply that even after days of watching it, each time I think of the movie, I find myself smiling. Everyday, as I listen to the songs from this amazingly beautiful movie, on the translucent screen of rain drops, I can see the whole movie in front of me and am in love again!

Despite the fact that 80% of the movie is exclusive of dialogues, you will never for a moment feel you are missing something. The music, the screenplay and the expressions by the actors, especially Ranbhir, are enough to keep you engaged for the whole 3 hours. You will find yourself laughing at his silly-sweet antics, smiling at Priyanka’s innocence and silently admiring the sheer beauty of the director’s caliber of story-telling. And don’t be surprised to find a tear trickle down your cheeks every now and then.

And though there could have other better movies to send for the Oscar, this one’s definitely worth a watch, maybe even two! :)

Agneepath

One of the most awaited movie of this year, is a good blend of action and emotion, where every actor fits into his character perfectly. The new generation Chavan is intense and deep, even if it is quite impossible to make Hrithik, with his chiseled body and erupting muscles, look poor.:)

The popular Munna bhai will from now on be remembered as the terrifying Kancha Cheena though Rauf Lala too will be a strong contender for the ‘Best Villain’ award this year. Despite the fact that Piggy Chops doesn’t have much role in the movie, she is fresh and lively. I just couldn’t help admiring her in the beautiful maharashtrian bridal ware.:)

Though chikni chameli was not as sizzling  as  excepted, the other songs in  the movie, especially the romantic Saiyyan and the emotional Abhi Mujh Main Kahin made up for it.

The famous dialogue said by shehenshah of bollywood in the original, sounds equally enthralling when the new Vijay Deenanath Chavan says it during the Deva shree ganesha song. Though a few of my friends felt the movie dragged a bit ,for me, there was never a dull moment in the entire movie.  

Last but not the least, as one of my friend said, this movie is not for weak souls.

ENJOY!

WAKE UP, SID!

If I had to summarize Wake up, Sid in one line I would say it’s Simplicity at its best!

It’s simple, and yet so beautifully written. I just loved the movie. Well, it’s something like love at first sight. There are no logical reasons; you love it because you love it, no questions asked.

The simplicity of story, devoid of any big filmy dialogues and mushy mushy love, the ordinary, mundane dresses and style helps you relate to the characters and the movie as a whole. All this combined with some decent acting, situational songs and impressive background score is what makes the film worth watching.

DIGITAL FORTRESS

Now this is a truly amazing book by Brown, and just like all his other books this one too has lots of twists and turns. And if you read his other novels, then you will find this book a bit predictable since his style of writing remains the same. This book too involves complex codes and breaking them, though here, the codes and technology are fully digital, which I believe, is far easier to comprehend than the codes and symbols used in Angels and Demons and Da Vinci Code.


A JIST OF THE STORY:

In this story our hero, David, is a professor in Georgetown University, who has recently been offered the post of Chairman of Modern Language Department. His lady love, and the heroin of our story, Susan, works for the NSA (National Security Agency) and is the head of Cryptography Division.


The story starts one morning when David calls Susan and abruptly cancels their trip to Smokey Mountains without much explanation. A stunned and confused Susan gets a call from her boss asking her to come to the office immediately.


What follows next is the two parallel stories of David in Spain in search for a ring and Susan at NSA.


The main character around which the whole story revolves is the TRANSLTR, the single most expensive computing equipment which NSA is proud of, though anonymous to the rest of the world. It is said to be able to break any code written in any language, within minutes, thus giving NSA the power to check out anyone’s and everyone’s e-mails and calls.

Tankodu, supposedly the villain of our story, is an ex-employee of NSA, and a brilliant programmer, who claims to have written a code the TRANSLTR cannot break, thereby holding NSA as a hostage unless they reveal the truth about the existence of TRANSLTR to the world.

The ambitious Strathmore, the creator of TRANSLTR, is ecstatic that finally all his sacrifices have paid off, but alas, the moment doesn’t last too long.


The climax is as gripping as the last ten min of FIFA finals, and you just can’t stop turning the pages.


The half page epilogue, in a way, summarizes the whole story.


Enjoy the book!!!

The first of many to come...

I thought a lot about what my first post should be, something impressive, interesting and inspiring. Spent many days wondering what I should write. And finally, decided to let my instincts take over.


So, here is what I came up with.
Happy reading!!! :)


Like the wind, I wish to blow
Like the sea, I wish to roar
Like the eagle, fly
Higher than  the sky

Swim like a shark
Swift and sharp
Fight like a lion
Fierce and lone

Be a desert rose
Tall and strong against the winds
Be a warrior
And change the course of life

But
Somewhere in my heart
A desire
To stay calm like the Buddha
And meditate with a smile

But in this world of running rats
How to be 
Stormy and calm like the sea?