Lootera Movie Review

The Last Leaf

Also posted on MouthShut.

 

It's been a while there has been a beautiful romantic story in Bollywood/ Tollywood. Lootera, a heart soaking love story set in the 1950s of Bengal. And the pace of the movie really lets you dwell in the romance that by the end of the movie you are left with the memories of the feelings when you, for the first time felt true love ever.  Like many said, the pace is absolutely not the problem with this movie but works to its advantage. This movie is definitely not for the masses. But for all those who have been in love, are in love. For all those who can appreciate art. In fact there are many scenes which you DO NOT want to rush through. You would wish you stayed there for few more minutes.

Pakhi, living with his father Zamindar, is the most pampered, protected child. Sonakshi Sinha has done an amazing job in this role and she would really take home few awards this year. Pakhi's character is a sweet adorable girl which every would be forced to fall in love with her mischievous braveness. Varun & Dev come to their house as archeologists. Pakhi with her charm attracts Varun and they fall in love with each other. But Varun is not allowed to fall in love. Why? Did Varun & Dev come to there to fall in love or with some ulterior motive? 

Soon, Pakhi right on her engagement day is abandoned by Varun. Both her heart and life are shattered to pieces with Varun betraying her. Her father not coping with the events passes away too. She moves to Dalhousie and practices writing, which she always wanted to do. Her being a TB patient, she lives waiting for the day to die. Die like the old tree next to her house. She believes that the day the tree sheds its last leaf is the day she would die too. In any other movie you would have thought silly her. But in this, you would sympathize with her. Not everything in life is in absolutes. There are stories, fables, imaginations, metaphors. Director exposes all these absurdities of life so beautifully with this story.

Suddenly Varun on one fine day comes back to her life. And you would expect an usual drama with heavy dialogs, sobbing, screaming and emotions here. But there are no huge explanations nor interrogations. Each scene shouting out loud that "THAT IS LIFE". These are all eventualities which no one can escape nor can be reasoned. All one can do is to accept and come in terms with it. And each of us carry a weapon that can hurt our own selfs, with us all the time - your heart. A heart that can break you or make you. And so by the end of the movie everyone gets what they deserve from the movie. Characters and the audience.

Director is just mind-blowing with his perfect balance of drama, emotions and music. The background score elevates each scene. I would give 5 out of 5 for this movie.

10 Years Journey Into....

Last sunday, the July 14th, 10 years back I reluctantly joined IT field. Cause my Dad suddenly declared that he cannot sponsor my higher studies abroad. So I was asked to work for few years earn and sponsor my own studies. For almost 8 months( yes, I clearly remember for how long, cause I was counting each and every day), into my career all I cherished was my I20. I just was waiting for a day to leave. To fly. To reach the sky. To soar.

Even in school and college days when I thought of my career I did not think about a steady job that pays for my bills and loans. This was never my idea. I always wanted to be a student. A scientist :-). Well, in which specialization again, I did not know, all I wanted was to be a scientist, doing some kind of research, analysis. Even till date I exactly do not know what these titles are for, in reality.

Now, 10 years into my career, I no more have the same energy or passion for studies. Or may be I lack motivation or the environment. Once in a blue moon, I get inspired by one of my friends, and I seriously think of doing a management course. I send out mails to institutes and I collect all the data and keep it. Call people and gather information.  Just keep it! Tucking it safely behind the back of my mind. I do not know why I do that.

Life changes so much since school. Since college. No one tells you this. Even since day 1 of my career, life has changed so much. Different sets of friends, acquaintances. I really miss my first job and the first few friends that I made in this field. A bunch of 10 people, 0-1 yrs experienced. All of us were so alike. So much. In many ways. None of us had long-term plans in that job, yet we worked 18-20 hrs every single day including weekends. Few of us were sleeping in office itself. No complaints. No cribbing. As if all of us had no life outside office? Was it true? Nope. Half of us had BFs/ GFs, but all of us had deadlines. Now I wonder how the hell did we balance work and life back then, and how now we need classes, sessions to teach us the same? And how did we enjoy our work though no one based their life's on it? What changed since then?

So at the end of 1.3 yrs when I realized there is more to learn through experience than from education I gave up on my higher studies( completely?). I decided to move on to a different company without any second thoughts. One fine day I decided am done here. I did not care a bit about all those friends I made or did not worry that I was moving further away from my home town. Just on the instincts that I love change I made this decision. It was not a hard decision. My teammates thought money is the reason why am moving. But that WAS the case with my second jump but not the first.

And then priorities kept changing without me realizing them. But no regrets whatsoever. However to take a decision today, I really have to become a scientist to do so. Evaluate, analyze, think long-term, this, that. I have changed from a person who acts on her instincts to a person who needs a best algorithm to reach from point A to point B, corroborated by logic and facts. Everything that I do even mundane things like cooking, groceries, has to go through a calculation[ yeah I tried 4 ways of cooking plain rice and chose the best, on what parameters is yet another topic :-P ]

On introspecting, probably facts, data and LOGIC are the only things I have TRUST in. Do I at least trust myself enough?!  Or the people who really have trust in me? No...not again...not another loop of infinite thoughts. So I rest it here.

Happy 10th Work Anniversary to Me! Yay! [ Oh my God, does that make me old? :-P ]

Lessons In Forgetting - A Book Review

Also posted on MouthShut.

I have not written a bad review of a book till date. Cause, if I find a book not worthy I just stop reading it. I do not even finish it. But with Lessons In Forgetting, I did finish reading it. Not cause for the suspense-thriller it feigns to be, but just to know if the book really is worth its ending.

I really liked Anita Nair for her book Ladies Coupe. I still think that is her best book till date. Read her other book Mistress, and left it half way some years ago. And now again knowing that her books is made into a movie, I preferred reading the book before watching the movie. Now I have second thought about watching the movie.

Mostly I like Anita Nair's books for her characters, especially female characters. But in this book the other protagonist Meera is nothing but a UK chik-lit book's pathetic female. Novel starts with Meera and her analogy of herself with the greek mythology goddess Hera. I seriously fail to understand how she ruins the greek mythology to suit herself.  She is abandoned by her husband Giri at a high-society party that involve, writers, actors etc. And later Jak( Professor Jak ) is asked to drop her home. Jak the other protagonist of the novel.

He is a middle-aged divorced father of two daughters living with his aunt Kala Chitti and bed ridden 19 year old daughter Smrithi. The story is about what happened to Smrithi on one of her trips, that she has lost all the life in her and is a dead soul with nothing but a body of flesh. Jak believes that there is more to a fatal accident that caused Smrithi this living death. So he starts digging into Smirthi's past, life, her friends to know the truth.

I tried hard not to skip through pages where Meera comes into the picture. I hate this character. An abandoned wife living with here grandmother, mother and with her younger son. And Vinnie, a character who she meets in an elevator and somehow becomes her best buddy for life. Another waste character in the book. Book would have done good just with Jak's story, and Meera is the one who spoilt the book. There are many plots where Meera goes back to 3 or more of her memories with different people and the plot just loses its grip. Looks like a bad attempt by the author at jumping between past and present. By 200+ pages I almost gave up, but thanks to Papa Jak who kept me hooked on.

And on top of that she tries to throw in some gyan on female foeticide and show few characters in the novel as martyrs. Another failed attempt. And Meera and her excerpts from her book on "A Corporate Wife's Guide to Entertaining"? Seriosuly? What age do these women live in?

I personally am very disappointed in this book.

Tootsie - A Movie Review

What does being a woman mean? Beautiful, docile, soft spoken, and most importantly submissive? And is that a definition by men? If so, will they be interested in this woman? If yes, do these men stop there? Do they really be happy with the woman that you are? The more weepy, needy you are the more they would pretend to be interested in you. And before you know there is already another woman in their life's. And this does not end cause a man who's interest is just skin deep is as weaker as a woman he wants. On the other hand, not many men appreciate a level-headed, strong-willed woman. These are some ghastly traits that a woman should have according to them. But there are gentlemen who really admire a strong woman and find them interesting. And the movie Tootsie just shows that in the most dramatic way possible ;).

"Dorothy: Oh I know what y'all really want is some gross, caricature of a woman to prove some idiotic point that power makes a woman masculine, or masculine women are ugly. Well shame on you for letting a man do that, or any man that does that. That means you, dear. Miss Marshall. Shame on you, you macho shit head"

Tootsie is a movie from Comedy Genre. How did I end up watching this? One of my friends shared this link where the actor in from the movie Tootise, Dustin Huffman tears up talking about making this movie and about every woman who wants to meet and match the expectations of a man.

"Julie: You taught me how to stand up for myself because you always do.
            You taught me to stop hiding and just be myself......because you're always yourself"

Michael Dorsey, has trouble getting a role in acting. Mostly cause of his nature and behavior. He finds it foolish to enact a scene which is beyond logic or reasoning. In a scene where he plays a man on his death bed, when the director asks him to walk across to the center and deliver few dialogs, he flares up asking how can a man who is dying walk across just because the director thinks that is what the audience want.

In this struggle to meet the ends, he decides to dress up like a woman for a female role in a SOAP. His desperate attempt somehow wins the role to his surprise. As he starts acting like a woman on the sets and in his real life, he himself falls in love with Dorothy Michaels, taking care of her looks and dignity. He influences people around him, especially women. They feel empowered by him. Who believes in no phony, to be what you are and to stand for what you are and not let anyone treat you less than what you deserve.
      
"Dorothy: That's very convenient.

Ron: No, wait a minute.
     Look at it from my side. See, if a woman wants me to seduce her...I usually do.
     But then she pretends I promised her something. Then I pretend I did.
    In the end, I'm the one that's exploited.

Dorothy: Bullshit, Ron!
         You know what? I understand you a lot better than you think I do."

He meets Julie, on the sets who he instantly falls in love with. And like any other cliched movie, she falls for the wrong guy Ron, the director of the show. Ron treats Julie like a doormat, and he cheats on her, hitting on every other woman. And has a convenient explanation of why he does so. And there goes a love triangle, but would Julie ever get to know who Dorothy is? And that the man behind Dorothy is really in love with her?

If its a movie made in 20's, I sure would not have appreciated it. But I can understand the applause or awards this movie/ actors got. Dustin Huffman/ Dorothy Michaels is really an interesting woman ;-)

"Michael: I'm not mentally ill, but proud...and lucky to be the woman, that was the best part of my manhood."

Coorg

How come Coorg?

Coorg - Scotland of India. Yeah that is what we chose to celebrate our first marriage anniversary. It was summer and we wanted a place, preferably a hill station, to get away from the heat. We decided to take our pet Leo with us. The reason for not traveling for almost an year is him. An epileptic dog, whom I did not wanted to leave alone in a kennel. To be honest, I miss him more than he does. I would constantly worry about him, than enjoy the trip. From our previous experience( Singapore) we decided we would take him along.

How did we go? 

We chose to drive( obviously, with a pet). We found the route guide through( team-bhp.com). There are basically two routes to this place and thanks to this website we could take the shortcut and save some 50 kms journey. Directions are pretty good. Every 20-30 mins you would pass by a town or a village and you would not get lost. To me this was important. I hate traveling on empty long roads. I have not traveled at all in my whole life and looking at empty long roads makes me restless.

We started in the morning at 6:30. We were not in a hurry and drove on an average 60 kms/ hr. We stopped at multiple places all along for Leo walk, for tender coconut, breakfast or some shopping on the way( when you pass by Chennapatna you see a lot of shops on the road side). By the time we reached the place it was 12 in the noon. Or else one could reach this place in less than 5 hrs. On our way back we were in Bangalore in less than 5 hrs.

We could have covered Golden Temple on the way. But as Leo was with us we could not. Otherwise Golden Temple is on the way from Bangalore to Coorg/ Madikere. This is a Buddhist monastery and a must see in Coorg.

And where did we stay?

So the obvious choice was to go for a Home Stay which would allow pets. I called up few and the only one which would pets was this - Bougan Villa Home Stay. The host was a bit worried if my pet would chew on the furniture etc, but they eventually agreed. They were charging 2000/- rs per day for the cottage. This is for a couple. Even though they provided food for my pet, we were not charged anything extra. But if you take kids along the charges are slightly different. Extra 1000/- rs per child. They provide breakfast, tea, snacks and dinner.

Home stay is located near Siddapura. Almost all the home stays are away from the main town - Madikere. All these are in estate areas away from the hustle bustle. You would have to travel min 12-20 km to get to Madikere or any tourist spot. If you do not have a vehicle Homestay is NOT an option.

Any other facilities like restaurants, medical stores etc are not found anywhere near by. All we could see was a small grocery shop. So carry your own first aid kid.

And what did we see?

After we reached the place we took bath and relaxed till 3 or 4 pm in the evening. Thanks to the estate, mobile signals were poor. The place really serves you well if that is your intent. To be away from being "connected". Raja's seat was the closest one we could visit and be back before it gets dark. Yes it is important to be back by max 7 pm as there is not good lighting to drive around the estates in Coorg. So usually we were back by 7 pm. To savour home made wine, watching the entire forest sleeping.

Rajas seat is the highest point from where you can look down entire stretch of Coorg. There is a fountain show, a garden. This is in Madikere town. All along you would find stores selling spices, honey, and different varieties of wine. I have never tasted such weird ones before. Beetle-nut wine, Hibisicus Wine, Coffee Wine - it is like they can make wine with anything and everything. We usually used to go for wine shopping on our way back to the Homestay; and they give 20-30 ml just for tasting. So yeah we were slightly tipsy by the time we reached Homestay :-P.

Next day we went to Golden Temple.  There are many tibetian restaurants in Buddhist monastery if one would like to take tibetian food. As we were not hungry yet( after sumptuous neer dosa served by the hosts @Homestay).  So we drove back to Madikere and after some shopping for honey etc we had lunch. One our way back, we covered Dubare Elephant Camp. We traveled at the end of April - there were rains in Bangalore but none in Coorg. So most of the falls/ rivers had no water. Same with the river at Dubare. There was little water, and people used to take boats to reach across to Elephant Camp. But now, they just walk through the waters to reach across.

Next day as everyone said TalCauvery is a must visits we drove almost 1 1/2 hrs to reach this place in scorching sun to this yet another hilltop. I was really disappointed with this place. It's a huge temple, well maintained but nothing really to see. Just water gushing out of a small hole into the pool in front. They say its the birth place of river Cauvery.

We did not really go to roam around Coorg. We really wanted to spend time away from the apartment, away from the kitchen, away from work. So we deliberately chose to drop many other places like Irupu Falls, Aby Falls, Omkareswara Temple etc. 

We lived like estate owners for those few days at Coorg ;-)

So? How was it?

I was so excited when I thought about staying in the middle of an estate amidst the coffee/ tea plantation. Coffee plantation there was more than 100 years old. Owners of this estate had nothing to worry about security. They keep their doors open even in the nights. Well, there was no proper road or lighting, even if some one had come to steal something or harm someone I don't think they could escape from the estate owner's, they had guns. And every evening the owner would train his two daughters in shooting. So guns are their protection. To protect them from wild animals than burglars. 

Food served by these people is authentic coorgi style. Everyday there would be  minimum 15 items for dinner. All marks go to the hospitality of the guests. They even come and sit with you in the evenings for a chat and tell you stories about the estate history or Coorg.

And for drives in the estates. Again, I hated them. The roads would go on turning and twisting with not even a single vehicle meeting you on the way. They would just go on. All you could see is 5 feet tall plantation on the sides of the roads. I really wonder how they laid the roads in the first place. They are pretty narrow, even though you know that there is no vehicle coming in the opposite direction you cannot go fast, if you did and there is really a vehicle coming, it gets tough. There is not much space really to accommodate.

And how about neighbors? Except the estate owner, his wife, his father and two daughters and us there was not one else to be seen for 20 kms. 

How could one live such a secluded life? I envied them for having so much land for themselves, apart from that I pitied them. Homestay was their way to stay connected to the world. To people. To life. Otherwise a person like me would die in that silence/ darkness. Only thing I liked there was you can sit in that darkness till late night and walk bare foot through out the estate not having to worry about anything. I realized THEN, that I like chaos, I like noise, I like busy, I like my life back at the city than in such a secluded isolated place for which you are the king or queen. I like to "belong" somewhere not "lost" somewhere.  

Singapore

Coming soon...

Goa

Coming soon...

Andhra Delicacies - Pappula Podi & Gongura Chutney

Pappula Podi

Ingredients:-

1. Putnala Pappu( Fried Gram) - 150 gms
2. Dry Red Chillies - 6
3. Garlic Cloves - 6 ( Optional)
4. Grated Coconut - 4-5 tbps
5. Cumin Seeds - 1-2 tbsps
6. Salt to taste

Preperation:-

1. Fry cumin seeds and red chillies on low flame for 5 mins.
2. Grind all the ingredients in a mixer and voila the podi is ready.
3. Serve with rice and ghee. Goes well with Gongura Chutney.

 

Gongura Chutney

Ingredients:-

1. Gongura leaves - 1 bunch
2. Dry Red Chillies - 4
   
3. Cumin seeds - 1 tbsp
4. Ural Dal & Chana Dal - 1-2 tbsp
5. Onions
6. Curry Leaves
7. Mustard Seeds
8. Garlic Cloves - 6 (Optional)
9. Oil & Salt as required

Preperation:-

1. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a pan and add gongura leaves.  Saute them for 5 mins.
2. Fry cumin and dry red chillies on low flame for 5 mins.
3. Cool them and grin gongura, red chillies, salt and cumin seeds. 
4. Heat 1 tbsp of oil and add mustard seeds. Add urad and chana dal and fry them.
5. Add split/ cut garlic cloves and when they turn light brown add curry leaves and onions.
6. Fry for 3 mins and add the ground paste.
7. Keep adding oil so that the paste does not stick to the pan( unless you are using a non-stick pan).
8. Fry this mixture for 5-10 mins. This can be stored as pickle as well.
9. Can be served with rice and ghee or with curd rice.