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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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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This is my Review of Bahubali (both movies)

Let me tell you first and foremost that Bahubali is a truly amazing movie that you have to see in a theatre to soak in the full vision of the director. But what makes the movie so truly amazing? Is it the actors, the graphics, the stunts performed the huge cast or is it the one true vision of the director who had the immense self restraint and self confidence to produce a film to his true vision not succumbing to any industry standards and giving too much credit to characters where they did not deserve. True hero worship is a huge thing in Cinema these days but S.S Rajamoli gave equal credit to all characters as and how the plot required. The thing that I liked the most is the strong female characters portrayed in the film, making the heroine word valid again to the female leads in the movies ( Most movies these days show females in movies are just a little more than dancing girls and the only dialogues they get to say are peons of the Hero who does everything in the movies). Its refreshing to see that a director is given lease to make a film his way and the heroes are villains stick to their roles, like in the old days, and let the director bring out the best in them. When I used to watch the old movies, I used to observe that it was the character that was given importance not the man who was portraying the character and so the movies were honest and had a good story to tell, entertaining and worth watching. After a long time that is what I felt watching Bahubali.

The story: The story of Bahubali, moved everyone, because it is an age old story that we all know and understand all too well, it is a story that has been imbibed in our blood as Indians as it is told and retold many times, in many places, by hundreds of people, in many different ways. Don't believe me? Then let me narrate it to you this way... A physically challenged person is passed from the throne that is rightfully his, to his younger brother, who unfortunately dies leaving the throne in the care of his brother and a council of elders. The big brother only wishes that his son could claim the throne in his stead but his brothers son is offered the throne which turns him and his son both bitter and longing for the throne. The elder brother's son makes the younger brother's son leave his throne and go to exile by shaming his wife in the presence of court and then plots to kill him. May be  the similarities end here but you might have already got the idea, it is the story of Mahabharata narrated in the writers own unique way, may be that is the reason the the story appealed to all Indians cause its not South Indian or North Indian it was the story of India.

The Characters : The characters in the movie are not complicated, they were as outright that even a child could figure them out. there were no layers to the characters, no complicated mind boggling reasons for why they did the things they did.
The hero was our quintessential good guy - Kind, Clever, Charming, Brave, Loyal, Loving.
The heroine - Beautiful, Strong, Independent, Outspoken.
The villan - Mean, Cunning, Evil, Ambitious
The mother - Loving towards her kids, unforgiving towards her daughter-in-law.
The slave - Loyal, bound by duty, yet human.

All the other characters were also not too distant and  work towards the ultimate fight between good and evil.

The Computer Graphics: Here I stop ... take a breath and continue... The graphics in the more were Amazing, I would not say realistic but they did come real close to it. And that's a great thing because in all the movies I have seen so far they either went too far or lacked the refinement when it came to Graphics but this is another of S.S Rajamouli's Movie that I like for his restraint and lease in the Graphics department. No where has the graphics been overly used but, only to the point where the story requires it.

Although during the fight scenes I felt the stunts were totally unrealistic but my husband, on the other hand enjoyed them a lot. May be all the Action Jacks out there won't mind that if people catapult from trees and land on their feet they are bound to break so many bones in the body that they would not even be able to get up let alone fight with vigour. But hey! as long as it is exciting and keeps them on the edge of their feet, who am I to douse their fun.

The Music : An important part of any Indian Cinema is up to the mark. The songs melt into the movie so well they are not a distraction to the story line but seemed like an integral part.

Bahubali is a Well Planned and Well Excecuted movie in Indian Cinema that it must be considered a Landmark in Indian Cinema, It already has a dedicated and passionate cult following catapulting it to the status of Cult Classic. Well done!!!  Well done Bahubali Team.

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Iron Man 3 Story

Just came back from watching Iron Man 3
WOW!!!!!!!!
What a movie though I watched it in 3D there are not many 3D  effects that will awe you except for a few snowflakes and ashes. But the story is too good that who cares if the 3D effects are not.

Tony is reminiscing his past actions, a party in Switzerland where he met cool scientist and a geeky scientist and 'creates demons' as he puts it.

In the present day Iron man is turned by the govt. of USA from a cool WARMACHINE to Iron Patriot to eliminate the latest threat to westren civilization, a terrorist leader named 'Mandarin' who causes a series of explosions of whose origin and material still eludes the govt. While Tony is suffering from anxiety attacks whenever the "New York" incident is mentioned. To save the love of his life Pepper Pots he keeps building and building new models with updates and enhancements, and totally ignores the love infront of him.

Pepper meets the geeky scientist Aldrich, who Tony leaves stranded on the roof top that day in switzerland, but now he is fully transformed and Wolah!...handsome. Happy, the faithful bodyguard of  Tony warns him of the presence of a handsome stranger who is getting close to Pepper and offers to keep a closer look on him and his associate. Happy finds something really important about the explosions that are going on everywhere, but he himself gets seriously injured in the explosion. This makes the Iron Man very mad, he gives a public statement, no a cristimas card to the Mandarin saying that he would take his revenge.

The next day Tony gets a visit from Maya, the sexy scientist he met in the same conference in switzerland. But then in a awesome attack on his mansion Tony loses everything, his house, his super cool cars, and he gets out only with his new prototype M42 something....which is yet to be tested for action. He shoots up into the sky and lands... more like crashes in a remote village of tennisy, there he finds out more about what is causing the explosions and the fight that follows is another utterly original action sequence.

 Maya tells Pepper that Aldrich is working for Mandarin and she came to warn Tony, but in truth they are both working together. Rodes who is now the Iron Patriot is sent on a wild goose chase around the globe to find where the Mandarin is transmitting from, get caught by one of his 'soldiers'. Meanwhile in Tennesy Tony finds out that his anxiety attacks are getting worse, but with the help and encouragement of his little friend Harley, he finds out that the transmissions by Mandarin are coming from Maime. While he leaves Jarvis in Harley's garage to recharge, he ventures into the mansion in the coast of Miame to find Mandarin. When he enters the mansion he finds something very shocking about "The Mandarin" that changes his whole view of this gruesome affair of series bomb blasts.

Pepper is taken hostage and so is the president of USA. But as always the Hero saves the day and kills the bad guy? Or does he?...umm........Oh! I cannot keep it a secret Tony is not the one who finally kills the bad guy, infact he is seriously beaten by him.... That's it,

That's all I am going to say for now. WATCH IT you will Love it.

The movie has some original action sequences that will keep you on the edge of the seat.
Tony's witty one liners are especially brilliant.
Might I say he has improved his Physical appearence a lot,... I mean A LOT

Quotes:

Rodhes : If you cannot save the president WITH the suit, how are you going to save Pepper without it.

Jarvis : Sir, I am doing my best considering you gave the address on national TV.



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Shadow Princess

Just books in Rajajeswari nagar banglore, does not have Indu sudersans 'Feast of Roses' book. That's disappointing because I was looking forward to reading that. Anyway I got the next book in the series 'The Shadow Princess', this book is about Jahanara, the daughter of Muntaz and Shahjahan.

Her secret love story, her influence over her father, her command over the zenana, her role in the life of her siblings. Jahanara took over the zenana right after her mother's death, she had to control her over enthusiastic siblings, her jealous sister Roshanara, her over zelous brother Aurangazeb and the callous brother who was supposed to be the next emperor after Shajahan but lost everything due to his carelessness. She took care of Shajahan until his death as her life burned away. Strong women existed in every period of time, some were recognised but many lie in the shadows....

Twentieth Wife

I have joined Just books and have been reading a lot. Recently I came across Indu Sudarsan's Twentieth wife. I am really glad that I have read this book. Indu Sudersan has a way with words, she paints a beautiful and colourful pictures with her words. Though the book goes a little too slow to my liking, I couldn't stop reading it. I could tell you how she researched for the material, how historical the book is, but I will not go into it, because I am here as a regular reader and not a critic. To me the book appealed so much because Indu Sudarsan is such a good narrator. She has transformed my bedroom into those colorful and vibrant zenanas with her vivid description. I could actually see the extravagance of the ladies of the zenana. I could actually feel for those people who lived and died so many years ago. She brought those historical figures to life and gave them character. I am truly amazed and inspired by her, cannot wait to read her other books...

The A team

Absolutely aWEsome movie. The guys, Hannibal and his boys are insanely good.
The movie starts in mexico where colonal H. Smith a.k.a Hannibal picks up murdock who is a crazy capitan of the sky. The helicopter chase was good...

When Colonal decides he has to recover plates from bad guys in Bagdad who are minting US currency, he goes against his superior and enters Bagdad. Though he recovers them, the plates were stolen by Pike, one of their own, and the A team was sentenced 10 years of prison. But there are no prison walls that could hold them in.

Hannibal and his men escape from their respective prisons, in style, if I might add, and are heading towards Frankfurt. There is this amazing fight sequence, (highlight for the entire movie, must watch, ) that is going to keep you on the edge of your seat. They find out that the man they trusted was the one who set them up. So the plan to expose the truth.

But clearing their name was not that easy. Though they caught the bad guys with 'Distraction, Diversion and Division' and handed the govt. the plates,
they are still wanted by the govt., still at large and if you are in trouble and no one else could help you, and if you could find them, may be you can hire

The A - Team

I give it a 7/10

Hey could be a sequel.

Prince of Persia - sands of time

Imagine a brave young boy, who dares to face the soldiers to rescue his friend. That would be our hero in making, Dastaans gains the kings favor and becomes one of the Princes of Persia. His courage and strength gains him the title 'Lion of Persia' in the seige against the Holy city of Alamut. The city of Alamut has a secret that is closely guarded by its princess, Tamina. No prizes for guessing what it is...
Dastaan get hold of 'a' dagger which is 'the' dagger the princess sent away with one of her guards. Tus is Dastaan's half brother and the heir to the throne wishes to marry Tamina princess of Alamut and to have the city as his ally, though Tamina refuses at first, she accepts the proposal after seeing the dagger with Dastaan. But the King is not happy with his son Tus for raiding the holy city, and he offers Dastaan to marry the princess. At that very moment the King burns because of he effect of the poisoned cloack which Tus gave Dastaan to offer to the King. Well the princess helps Dastaan escape... Yeah there is a surprice.
Well the princess has her own agenda - to kill Dastaan and get back the dagger but during her attemt to kill him Dastaan accidentally finds out the true nature of the dagger and has an out of body experience. He thinks Tus was after the dagger all along and had framed him, so he plans to show the dagger and its powers to Nizam, the brother of the deceased king. Tamina explains that - any sand - won't do, only special sand in the catacombs of Alamut can be used to turn back time. They head back to Persia but have a run in with the merchant-bandits who conduct ostrich races to make more money. After escaping from them the prince and princess reach Persia in time for the funeral of the king and here Dastaan finds out that it was Nizam who was to blame for all his problems. (yeah! i knew that when the king died- Tus was not on the poster but Nizam was)

Anyway since Tamina escapes with the dagger Dastaan once again starts to find her this time he wants to get rid of it. Nizam sends the hassasins after them. Once again Dastaan and Tamina finds themselves imprisoned by the bandits, this time Dastaan saves them from the vipers and makes friends of his captors. They try to destroy the dagger by putting it from the place it was made but the hassasins take it anyway. Next is the sand for the dagger, as Nizam and his men, tunnel through the catacombs Dastaan and Tamina try to get the dagger back. The action sequence follows where Prince of Persia, jumps a lot of impossible jumps and finally finds Nizam piercing the crystal that holds the sands of time. He let Tamina fall into the depths to save the world from destruction (pretty heroic don't you think). He travels back in time, to the seige of Alamut and exposes Nizam as a fraud. Tus apologises to Tamina and proposes that Dastaan marry Tamina. Dastaan presents Tamina with the dagger as a wedding gift. She find his lack of interest curious and the sun sets in Persia (and no one ever knows what Dastaan went through after all the heroics).

All-in-all an OK movie. Nothing in the story that you cannot predict. The stunts were totally unreal. I hoped that during the seige of Alamut Dastaan faces some unexpected situations so that we know that Tamina has used the dagger to save her kingdom but failed. Why she would not use such a useful weapon to save her own kingdom is a weakness in the story. Watch this movie with friends for a nice time, but it no Pirates of the Carribian.

I give it a 5/10