Jalebi - Movie Review

The Movie had me in a whirlwind of emotions. It starts with a low note. the distress the heroine was in was very heart touching and a father who is desperate to see his little girl happy but unable to do anything. The story has all of us believe that the perky girl had it coming for she fell in love with a young man quite different from her and had him believe he was madly in love with her. She is not that bubbly young girl now but an accomplished lady and yet the sorrow deep within her does not let her move along with her life. A chance encounter with her former lover and husband leaves the woman doubting herself and her love. The lady leaves her husband after a tragedy and they let us believe that her ambition got the best of her and took her away from her family. Many would not think twice to blame her for breaking her relationship cause the man was too good to be true. He was shown as a gentle, understanding, true gentleman  and so it must be the girl's fault for the ruining of the relationship. But at the end of the movie the way the boy justifies the breakup was so touching that it got me to tears. This has truly depicted the way of thinking of the millennials who give each other the same kind of respect and the same importance to the hopes and dreams of the other. This kind of thinking was not present a generation back where relations were given more importance than a person and so many of the dreams were crushed which lead to a lot of resentment. But today's generation has a new refreshing view of Life and this movie is a true testimony to that new way thinking and has left me feeling elated. That is a good story and it has been told really well. This I would say is a must see for all.


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Raazi -Movie review

Watching Raazi movie on Amazon Prime, it is a very exciting movie and a thrill to watch. Alia Bhatt was amazing as Sehmat. She had shown such maturity in her acting that would put many heroines to shame. She has blossomed into an actor not just a pretty face. She carried the whole movie on her nimble shoulders and did justice to the part of Sehmat. The emotional scenes took us on a rollercoster ride with Alia commanding our every sliver of attention. Her innocent face was a plus for no one would suspect a innocent one like her could be a spy, which added to the whole feel of the film. Who ever thought of casting her took a risk, but it paid off cause after watching the movie I couldn't imagine any one who could do the role better.


Coming to the Story, in the disclaimer it is stated that the movie was inspired from the novel "Calling Sehmat". The plot of the story revolves around a 20 year old muslim girl from Kashmir, who is married into a Pakistani army family. Her father was a double agent but was loyal to India and since he has cancer he sends in his daughter to spy in his stead. The essence of the whole movie was patriotism which the fater and daughter proclaim that they adher to. There is no right or wrong side, cause her husband was a gentle and kind mad whom she betrays for the sake of her Nation. He in turn, a true patriot of his Nation was bound to find out her true intensions. At the end she loses everything family, love and a sense of belonging when her own people try to kill her and gains nothing in return except the sense of pride one gets for serving our Country. The climax scene shows a lonely old woman sitting beside a window while a song plays in the background saying that we served the country and now left it in able hands.Only if it was true...
The movie makes us think of the sacrifices made by numerous people to secure us our future and the irresponsible way we are flunting this hard earned freedom. We do not find such kind of passion for the Nation which used to be in the hearts of those people back then. Its a pity that we do not think of anything else but ourselves now-a-days. We should never forget the sacrifices of those who fought for us and our country, and movies like Raazi should be made to remind us of that. Great story and good direction. It gave me goosebumps and made me sit on the edge of the seat many times. There was not a boring or dull moment in the whole film.


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Chandragiri palace

I was in my Seventh or eighth standard when I first visited this place. We visited the temple in Tirupathi almost every year and we used to visit the nearby places and on one such tour we ended up in Chandragiri palace. It was never in our itinerary but the taxi driver suggested we take this detour on our way to Kanipakam.

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Spyder Movie review

Spyder movie is what l consider an action thriller. There are reviews online that says the movie has not delivered, but I think they are wrong. If you watch the movie expecting a land mark film, one that will be considered a cult classic then you are sure to be disappointed. This movie is not anything like that. What it is, is a purely action movie to entertain the audience and to keep us on the edge of the seat. When you watch the movie and the meaningless way the villain or the killer operates it does remind you of the movie Dark Knight but there ends the comparison to this movie and that. The movie holds a candlemakers of its own. Just when you think the story is going one way the director throws a zinger at your and steers you in a totally different direction.

Though the heroine and the songs are wholly for the benefit of indian audience, who cannot for the love of it, bear to go through a movie in which the hero does not bust a move with his sweetheart, no matter the circumstances. I couldn't see any use of the heroine more than mere glamour in this film, like many movies now-a-days, it's a pity really. What we do see is that the hero is not the only one who commands the whole screen space, it is refreshing to see that others too are capable of doing brave deeds. It is a pleasant relief not to fill every frame with the hero, his dialogues, his antics. I actually commend Murugudas handling a movie where the hero is not all powerful and that he too has his vulnerabilities, speaking of which, I hate it when the villain goes after the hero's family and the hero


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Harappa - The curse of the blood river

The author Vineet Bajpai has Story to tell and it's quiet a nail biter. A man in his late 30's claims to be a demigod - half man, half God...!!! Good God!!! Although what he meant by God is a mystery to me. For those who love adventure and a but of fun you can read this book, it has some engaging characters and good action scenes and a dollop of supernatural element going on.
The positive features about the book is it does have a gripping storyline, a captivating love triangle and definitely engrossing characters. There are some aspects in the story like the mystery of the black temple, the new order, about the warrior kartikeya shastri that the author must have deliberately left out to reveal in his next book in the series making reader guessing and eager for more. I myself can't wait for the next book because I love stories especially with a bit of supernatural element in them, and that the author tried a new angle to show that Harappa was the beginning of civilization. The idea I like and would like to explore more of.
Coming to the negative, I find that the author could have used a little more finesse in introducing the characters. when the author starts the story saying that this 30 something hero Vidyut is a sophisticated businessman, successful and unnaturally talented, every time he adds a yaa at the end of the dialog it feels like a school boy trying to impress girls and doing a very bad job at that. They made a great deal about Vidyut meeting His grandfather, that he has to do some preparation to meet the great and powerful soul, even though Vidyut was already doing much, but when Damini arrives she was just sent in without much fuss how come I wonder. If Vidyut was the much awaited Devta, and everyone knew that he was and they waited ages for his return, why did he leave the Matth in the first place, and why has he not come back until now or was he forbidden to come back. The author could have elaborated on this a bit.
All in all a good story to read, may be with an experienced editor it could be a much more...

Genre : Fiction, Mytho Fiction, thriller

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Kotilingeshwara Temple - The temple with many Lingas

When you are taking a trip with your family, especially the elderly you tend to look to go to a place which would accommodate all their needs. Most elderly tend towards visiting a temple more than anything so were we when when we decided to go to Kotilingeaswara Temple which is only around 100km. (approximately) from Bangalore. We started in early after (packing our lunch and snacks ofcourse) as we were travelling with our 2 year old kid and our 60 over mother-in-law. This is a place where there are no stairs to climb or distances to walk so its ideal for a whole family, When you are travelling with kids it is always advisable to carry a few eatables since you cannot be sure of hygienic food. It took us more than three hours to reach the temple and it is not because of the road not being good but the opposite. The NH75 makes for a smooth ride, uninterrupted except for the occasional trucks and container lorries that we could see on the road. The road snakes between rocky hills that offer picture perfect vistas. The boulders on these tiny hills look like a gaint's baby has been playing marbles and heapead them up in little piles. We had to stop to take in the scenery.

When we finally arrived at the temple we found that it was not as deserted as one would expect a temple in a tiny little village to be. In fact the whole area was bustling with activity, they had a huge parking area that could accommodate atleast 50 four-wheeler easily which tells us that the temple expects huge crowds. There were colorful little stalls aligned on either side of the pathway to the temple selling an array of items including earthen lamps with ghee, apparently it is good to light a Ghee lamp in the presence of the Lord. We bought one and were on our way. There is a 20/- ticket for adults and a 50/- charge for the cameras. Its a good thing they allowed cameras because I love clicking pics and when I go to places where they do not allow them I feel like I am missing something. (That is how much the camera means to me now, my husband keeps telling me I should put it down for a minute and enjoy the scenery for once, but my mind always wants to get back behind the lens and capture every moment, that is why we have great shots of my kid praying to every Lingam in the place. It was ADORABLE.)

The sight that welcomed us on entering the gate was a court yard full of multicolored platforms covered with Siva limgams of all shapes and sizes. To a common viewer the sight is delightful, but to a devotee of Shiva this will your heart with joy. There are hundreds of Shiva lingams everywhere you see, arranged in rows and rows, adorned with kumkuma, pasupu and flowers.

There are a group of temples dedicated to different Gods and Godesses including the famous Sri Manjunatha temple where we offered our obeisance and the lit the ghee lamp. Then we open up in to a huge court yard that spreads around a few acers filled with more and more Shiva Lingams.

 This is where we find the huge granite Lingam reaching for the sky. Although we find that the Nandi standing in the Lord's presence is not up tot the mark, it does have the desired effect when you look it as a whole.

The different kinds of Lingams we find here are quiet variable and facinating.

Right outside the premisis of the Kotilingeshwara temple is the temple of the local deity with a idol fierce and awe inspiring and a bed of marigold crop in-front of the temple.

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