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Showing posts from May, 2015

Movie Review : Premam

Title : Premam Language : Malayalam Year : 2015 Director : Alphonse Puthren Genre : Romance IMDB Link Lead Role : Nivin Pauly, Anupama Parameswaran, Sai Pallavi, Madonna Sebastian Premam is the malayalam word for love, and the movie simply justifies the title. Premam traces the life of George, and his love affairs of varying shades right from his school days to his wedding years after.  The young director has been creative with his work, and there were many refreshing elements on screen. There are a few gags for maintaining a light mood, and songs and dances in the background of exquisite visuals spice things up. And the result is a blockbuster opening for the movie. Actor Nivin Pauly is achieving kind of a cult status among the film buffs, particularly so in the case with the young audience. That is probably because most roles chosen by him belong to that category which could be identified by majority of the youth. Excessive sequences of drinking and smoking by

Oh my God!

Dear Jesus, How are you, my friend?  Received the letter you sent me the other day. Well, how are things down there? I hope everything is okay, though I’m quite sure it is not a walk on the cake. Do not worry friend, the case is not much different here. Apparently people have become more demanding of late. It is really tiring to constantly hear their persistent requests, demanding one thing or another. No matter how much they already have, they simply need something more. Of course, the demand ranges from health, wealth, fame, to more materialistic ones like physical looks, good looking partners, cars, and houses, so on and on. It is always good to dream of a better life. But, what they forget often are that dreaming and praying for their goals is not just enough. When would they realize that they need to wake up and work for it, too? Hadn’t I told you about that college kid who did not believe in us? Right before his final exams, I saw him praying for an easy test. It re

Chennai Tidbits

‘2/14, Salvation Army Guest House, Doveton St, Chennai’  this address followed by a ten digit phone number was all that I had of Mr. Nageshwar Rao, who was to become my roommate in my new 'home' that Chennai was. Vipin Das is my name, an employee of All India Radio, and I had been transferred from New Delhi to Chennai only a few days ago. So there I was, just outside the Chennai Central, drained and haggard after the grueling train journey that gifted me two sleepless nights. I approached an auto-rickshaw with baggage in my hands, and showed him the address I had. He asked me to get in, and I was traveling through the South Indian metro, a first time in my life. It was only six in the morning, and the city was just waking up. Some young professionals, probably long distance commuters, security guards, newspaper boys on cycle, trucks and light traffic were all I could see on road. I took out that card and dialed Mr. Rao. No response. Maybe he was still sleeping. After all, it

Movie Review : Nee-Na

Title : Nee-Na Language : Malayalam Year : 2015 Director : Lal Jose Genre : Drama Watch trailer on Youtube Lead Role : Deepti Sati, Vijay Babu, Ann Augustine After watching this latest offering from veteran director Lal Jose, my friend described it as soulful. Having watched it today, I am unable to find a more fitting word. As the tagline says, Neena is the tale of two women - NEEna and NAlini. Corporate head Vinay Panikkar, his spouse Nalini Panikkar and Neena forms the crux of the story. Neena is not your usual girl next door. She is intelligent, talented and good looking, while a social misfit and emotionally drained woman at the same time. Her lifestyle and choice of friends are quite unorthodox, and her interactions with the Panikkar family is portrayed in the movie. Nee-na is an aesthetically rich movie, with most frames simply visually exquisite. Cinematographer Jomon T John did a good work, and the beautiful locations eased his task. The movie's slow pace and a

Movie Review : Dum Laga Ke Haisha

Title : Dum Laga Ke Haisha Language : Hindi Year : 2015 Director : Sharat Katariya Genre : Comedy, Drama, Romance IMDB Link Watch trailer on Youtube Lead Role : Ayushmann Khurrana, Sanjay Mishra, Bhumi Padnekar Before getting into the plot, this is a Bollywood movie which lets you laugh and enjoy yourselves out. We have our protagonist Prem, who is a high school dropout, presently assisting  his father run their audio store. He is a character with whom the viewer could connect easily. Like most of us, Prem has some notions about who should life partner be. But life has other plans as usual. Succumbing to pressure from family, he is forced into an arranged marriage. He dislikes his bride Sandhya, primarily because she is a bit fat, but also due to her superior educational qualifications. Soon tones of discord arise between them. Prem fears he has been a complete loser in his life, and the rest of the story is better watched than read. Ayushmann has really impressed a

I am waiting

“22:15” The 24 hour time display of my Samsung Corby assured me that ‘Malabar Express’ would arrive at the Kottayam Railway station any minute. With quick, hard touches, I opened the message inbox for the fourteenth time in the last twenty minutes.  The last message I received was the one wishing me Good night.  A classmate of mine had sent it half an hour ago.  He knew I was going home, which happens to be at Thrissur, and that I was boarding the late night train as I missed 5.30’s Chennai Mail.  Yet, he wished me a ‘good’ night.  And, I had obliged him with a curt thanks.  But, I checked and rechecked my inbox not to estimate the sincerity of his message.  In fact, I have been eagerly waiting for another SMS from another of my classmates.  To be more precise, from one of my girl classmates (is there such a usage like ‘girl classmate’? I don’t know.  But I don’t care because there are things of more value of which I have no knowledge).  I have been waiting for her message for th