Wednesday, 22 January 2014
Sunday, 19 January 2014
Book Review: The Hunt For Kohinoor- Manreet Sodhi Someshwar
 |
| http://abhyudayatoons.blogspot.in |
Title: The Hunt For Kohinoor
Author: Manreet Sodhi Someshwar
Published by: Westland Books
ISBN- 978-93-83260-60-7
Price: Rs. 295
Genre: Thriller (Fiction)
Ebook- Available
Pages- 425
As you might have noticed above, I actually took the pains to create an artwork of sorts for this book. It hasn't happened before and it is just because the character descriptions in the book were so vivid and it'd have been utter injustice to my own creativity if I hadn't put them to canvas. I'd first like to thank Westland books for this amazing book. It was one of the quickest 400+ pages' read of my reading-reviewing career.
A quick word about the author- Manreet Singh Someshwar is an engineer by training and she has worked in marketing, advertising and consulting. An award winning author (Commonwealth Broadcasting Association), she is a popular blogger as well. (Link to her blog- http://the-long-walk-home.blospot.com.) The book in my hand is Book 2 of the Thriller series featuring Mehrunisa Khosa. Book 1 was "The Taj Conspiracy" which I have to get my hands on, now specially after reading this gem of a work.
The story is about Mehrunisa Khosa- An art historian with a knack of keen observation and her tryst with destiny. As is evident by the name, she is part Sikh and part Muslim with an Iranian Muslim mother who is no more and an Indian Sikh father who is estranged. The story revolves around her relationship with her father, and then there are those gun-trotting, blood-thirsty, warmonger Talibani jihadis headed by the dreaded Babur Khan who have nothing but trouble cooking in their kitchens. The character of Babur Khan stands out for its pure evil demeanours and recklessness. The author has put in a lot of research and thinking behind the multi-layered plot where emotions run high as the thrill deepens and the plot thickens. The details of Indo-Af-Pak region's politics and the geographical features of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa region in particular, in the novel, have been well described. It actually makes you feel the snowy wind of the valley in your face as Harinder Singh Khosa aka Harry aka The Snow Leopard makes his way through the mountains. The unsaid bond of love between Mehr and RP Singh aka Pratap is the stuff good love stories are made of. The unconditional nature of their love sends oodles of warmth gushing down your heart and you cannot help but smile at the mysterious ways of love. Then we have Raghav, Mehr's aid in distress, I feel this character can be further developed in the forthcoming novels of this series. As a fan, I can sense a love triangle but it's not that simple and can only be understood when you get to know the characters yourself. The complexity of these relations makes the novel, though surreal in its theme, closer to reality.
The sense of regional pride is visible in the description of people of various regions. The author is well aware of the cultural values of Sikhism, Islam in general and Pathans in particular. Her description of a typical Pathan who could die for a promise is endearing. Equally endearing is how as an Indian reader, I could not feel any sense of alienation with the cultures of Pakistan and Afghanistan. We need more such stories to actually understand the subaltern approach in studying things; and that's why this novel could be of interest to an acadmecian or a student of history and sociology. In sharp contrast to these emotionally motivated brushstrokes, the character of Jag Mishra has been sketched as a cold calculating "Chanakya" who puts his duty and profession above friendship and suchlike emotions.
The plot moves at a steady pace and there are no dull moments. The format of beginning different events with place and time stamps gives the novel the feel of a thriller movie. A movie should be made on it in my view as it does contain all the elements of a good thriller. The language is simple but not at the cost of elegance. Other contemporaries should actually learn from Manreet Sodhi's choice of words and the how to effectively use the right words to create the right kind of effect. The action sequences are particularly energetic and the hard work that goes behind putting thoughts to words actually shows. The reading is effortless and it's hard to put the book down once you pick it up.
The only downside I can think of is that the build up for a deeper conspiracy is in the plot but then the author plays safe a little. But then, it's subject to individual taste. If you like simpler stories, you wouldn't even notice what I am talking about.
A word on the feminist undertones in the book. I did scurry back to the last page like a bad reader and instead of revealing the ending, I was face to face with the author as her delightful photograph is what's on the last page.
I couldn't help but notice how the female protagonist subtly went on unshackling the female soul from the burdens imposed by society as she went about her mission. I do feel that a part of the author's personal thoughts have been lent to her protagonist Mehr; and ever since I felt that, the read became even more interesting. Unlike radical feminists like Firestone et al, Someshwar drives home the point without slamming her fist on the table which is a fresh thing to notice. I do hope that her clan grows in number so that we have more such books which are wonderful on so many levels to read.
I would rate the book as-
4.5 out of 5.
Perfect for a late night read.
Wednesday, 15 January 2014
Toon On Kejriwal and A Good News!
Here's the link-
http://win.blogadda.com/view-blogs-voting/humor_satire/Creaky_noises_doors_make/
Sunday, 12 January 2014
My Favourite "Different" Movies.
This post is a part of the Miss Lovely Activity in association with BlogAdda.
Offbeat cinema has always attracted the attention of thinking audience who want something more from their movies than just raw masala. Complexity of emotions, shades of characters, a topic that is fresh and novel, all those thing come together to define and comprise what's known as offbeat cinema. This "hatke" (different) tag attached to offbeat movies is such a big compliment that people working on the same old repetitive movie scripts also don't shy away from calling their films "hatke", so much so that it has become a cliche these days.
In Hindi Cinema, we rarely have such gems which either create a new genre for themselves or turn into a cult. In a country like India, where we're all born movie buffs, there is room for every kind of cinema.
Unfortunately, filmmakers do not understand this fact and base their stories and direction on certain set formulae and fixed themes which are redressed and refabricated again and again; instead of getting creative with their themes and perspectives. There is no such clear demarcation between a mainstream film and an offbeat one. Any movie which is 'safe' in terms of storyline can be said to be made for commercial purposes while the opposite is what we can call 'offbeat' cinema. Here are five such great films that I could think of right now, although I am sure the list is much longer-
1. Chupke Chupke (1975)
Here we have two actors in their primes, playing ordinary characters. It is a comedy of errors and a gem from Hrishikesh Mukherji's stable. It was based on Upendranath Ganguly's Bengali story Chhadobeshi. The humour is so effortless and is picked up from our day-to-day lives. It was so uncharacterstic of all the larger than life movies of those times. The English Literature Professor Sukumar Sinha played by Amitabh Bachchan is more of a cameo but steals the show with his amazing comic timing and unique mannerisms. Dharmendra's Professor Parimal-cum- driver Pyaremohan is his finest comic act till date. He is not punching goons or flexing biceps here. Here, we have Dharmendra donning the shoes of a Botany professor who just wants to pull a prank on his wife's jijaji played by the ever so amazing Om Prakash. The dialogues are picked up from everyday conversations and that's why the film has an earthly feel to it. Many movies came later, trying to copy the themes or situations but the magic could never be recreated.
2. Taare Zameen Par (2007)
This is one offbeat film that achieved commercial success too. The plot was about Ishaan Nandkishore Awasthi (Played by Darsheel Safary), a dyslexic kid who fights his way in school with Indian education system expecting nothing less than genius from the poor kid. Creative director "Amol Gupte" whose "Stanley Ka Dabba" is another marvellous offbeat film and director Amir Khan bring the problems of the child to the fore in such a way that the child in each one of us cried while watching the movie. The scene where Amir discovers the child's flipbook and notices how he had depicted the pain of feeling cut off from his own family left a lump in all our throats. In a world of movies about mindless action and romance, this film was a fresh breeze.
3. Go Goa Gone (2013)
Directed by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D K, this movie should be applauded for its utter weirdness. ZomCom or Zombie Comedy is a concept which was unheard of in India until this movie came. In the age when people were trying to make money out of scaring people in the name of mindless thrillers like Murder, Jism and Raaz, these people tried to make us laugh on the same theme. There are certain scenes which are so witty that you need a funny bone in your head to catch them. The scene where Anand Sharma's character justifies that he would die soon just because he looks like a "hero ka dost" or sidekick and that's what sidekicks do in horror movies is pure gold. The scene where Vir Das tells his girlfriend to f*** off after she admits to cheating on him, the scene where Saif Ali Khan admits to his desi roots are again very fresh and original vis-a-vis contemporary Indian cinema. I hope Indian cinema wakes up to this form of "in-your-face yet subtle" humour and we get to watch more such movies.
4. Sadma (1983)
This is a clear case of a film being better than whole of it's cast added together. It breathed like an organic whole and had a life of its own. Directed by Balu Mahendra, it is a story of a school teacher Somu (Kamal Hassan) and a young woman Nehalata (Sridevi). Kamal Hassan is capable of making you laugh and cry at the same time. Another movie of his- "Pushpak" can be said to be a testimony to his skills. His performance at the climax of "Sadma" can bring every soul who has felt helpless in love to tears. Unlike the happy ending romances, this was a story of nuances. The characters fell in love with each other in due process of time, there are so many sweet moments in the story where their "puppy love" fills your heart with love, makes it worry, want to snuggle and be a kid in love again. But the real show-stopper of the movie is Sridevi. Her performance as the amnesia patient who behaves like a child after memory loss is remarkable. She dropped her sexiness for just this one and went all artsy for this one. This is how the thinking man fell in love with Sridevi.
5. Swades- We The People (2004)
Ok, this one had to be in the list. Directed by Ashutosh Gowarikar, this movie is a connect between today's man and his roots. Shahrukh Khan held back all his mannerisms (we had forgotten that he could) and slipped in a pair of jeans and some simple shirts to give us this eye-opener of a film. The conversations between the female protagonist (Gayatri Joshi) and him, his views on the conservative, rural India; all those and multiple frames of Indian landscape, calling out to its sons and daughters- make it a great movie. It tanked on the box office which is a shame but, it did get the respect that it deserved ultimately. The naive villagers played by myriad character artists are endearing and certainly add spunk to the film.
There are various other films which equally deserved to be in the list. Most Irrfan Khan movies, especially Pan Singh Tomar, most Amol Palekar, Farooq Sheikh movies; Rajnigandha, Golmal, Chashme Baddur and suchlike could have easily been included here. But for now, I'll close the list and pray to the Cine Gods to bless us with more such gems!
Cheers!
Jai CineMA!
P.S. Here's a poster of Miss Lovely. Seems like an interesting one. :-)
Now the trailer-
In Hindi Cinema, we rarely have such gems which either create a new genre for themselves or turn into a cult. In a country like India, where we're all born movie buffs, there is room for every kind of cinema.
Unfortunately, filmmakers do not understand this fact and base their stories and direction on certain set formulae and fixed themes which are redressed and refabricated again and again; instead of getting creative with their themes and perspectives. There is no such clear demarcation between a mainstream film and an offbeat one. Any movie which is 'safe' in terms of storyline can be said to be made for commercial purposes while the opposite is what we can call 'offbeat' cinema. Here are five such great films that I could think of right now, although I am sure the list is much longer-
1. Chupke Chupke (1975)
Here we have two actors in their primes, playing ordinary characters. It is a comedy of errors and a gem from Hrishikesh Mukherji's stable. It was based on Upendranath Ganguly's Bengali story Chhadobeshi. The humour is so effortless and is picked up from our day-to-day lives. It was so uncharacterstic of all the larger than life movies of those times. The English Literature Professor Sukumar Sinha played by Amitabh Bachchan is more of a cameo but steals the show with his amazing comic timing and unique mannerisms. Dharmendra's Professor Parimal-cum- driver Pyaremohan is his finest comic act till date. He is not punching goons or flexing biceps here. Here, we have Dharmendra donning the shoes of a Botany professor who just wants to pull a prank on his wife's jijaji played by the ever so amazing Om Prakash. The dialogues are picked up from everyday conversations and that's why the film has an earthly feel to it. Many movies came later, trying to copy the themes or situations but the magic could never be recreated.
2. Taare Zameen Par (2007)
This is one offbeat film that achieved commercial success too. The plot was about Ishaan Nandkishore Awasthi (Played by Darsheel Safary), a dyslexic kid who fights his way in school with Indian education system expecting nothing less than genius from the poor kid. Creative director "Amol Gupte" whose "Stanley Ka Dabba" is another marvellous offbeat film and director Amir Khan bring the problems of the child to the fore in such a way that the child in each one of us cried while watching the movie. The scene where Amir discovers the child's flipbook and notices how he had depicted the pain of feeling cut off from his own family left a lump in all our throats. In a world of movies about mindless action and romance, this film was a fresh breeze.
3. Go Goa Gone (2013)
Directed by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D K, this movie should be applauded for its utter weirdness. ZomCom or Zombie Comedy is a concept which was unheard of in India until this movie came. In the age when people were trying to make money out of scaring people in the name of mindless thrillers like Murder, Jism and Raaz, these people tried to make us laugh on the same theme. There are certain scenes which are so witty that you need a funny bone in your head to catch them. The scene where Anand Sharma's character justifies that he would die soon just because he looks like a "hero ka dost" or sidekick and that's what sidekicks do in horror movies is pure gold. The scene where Vir Das tells his girlfriend to f*** off after she admits to cheating on him, the scene where Saif Ali Khan admits to his desi roots are again very fresh and original vis-a-vis contemporary Indian cinema. I hope Indian cinema wakes up to this form of "in-your-face yet subtle" humour and we get to watch more such movies.
4. Sadma (1983)
This is a clear case of a film being better than whole of it's cast added together. It breathed like an organic whole and had a life of its own. Directed by Balu Mahendra, it is a story of a school teacher Somu (Kamal Hassan) and a young woman Nehalata (Sridevi). Kamal Hassan is capable of making you laugh and cry at the same time. Another movie of his- "Pushpak" can be said to be a testimony to his skills. His performance at the climax of "Sadma" can bring every soul who has felt helpless in love to tears. Unlike the happy ending romances, this was a story of nuances. The characters fell in love with each other in due process of time, there are so many sweet moments in the story where their "puppy love" fills your heart with love, makes it worry, want to snuggle and be a kid in love again. But the real show-stopper of the movie is Sridevi. Her performance as the amnesia patient who behaves like a child after memory loss is remarkable. She dropped her sexiness for just this one and went all artsy for this one. This is how the thinking man fell in love with Sridevi.
5. Swades- We The People (2004)
Ok, this one had to be in the list. Directed by Ashutosh Gowarikar, this movie is a connect between today's man and his roots. Shahrukh Khan held back all his mannerisms (we had forgotten that he could) and slipped in a pair of jeans and some simple shirts to give us this eye-opener of a film. The conversations between the female protagonist (Gayatri Joshi) and him, his views on the conservative, rural India; all those and multiple frames of Indian landscape, calling out to its sons and daughters- make it a great movie. It tanked on the box office which is a shame but, it did get the respect that it deserved ultimately. The naive villagers played by myriad character artists are endearing and certainly add spunk to the film.
There are various other films which equally deserved to be in the list. Most Irrfan Khan movies, especially Pan Singh Tomar, most Amol Palekar, Farooq Sheikh movies; Rajnigandha, Golmal, Chashme Baddur and suchlike could have easily been included here. But for now, I'll close the list and pray to the Cine Gods to bless us with more such gems!
Cheers!
Jai CineMA!
P.S. Here's a poster of Miss Lovely. Seems like an interesting one. :-)
Recharge Your Hair!
The following contest is for Indiblogger's Recharge Your Hair, Recharge Your Life Contest!
I have a story to tell.
There was this really nice guy, he won hearts at the drop of a hat, he charmed the ladies, girls swooned over his cool demeanour. One day he met the girl of his dreams. They fell in love and wanted to get married. Only problem was, the girl's father was an ex-Army personnel. Very particular about self-grooming and discipline. "No problem!" the guy thought. The girl's father called him for lunch. Dressed up in a formal suit, he went to her place on his bike. He made a good impression with his smooth talking skills. At the end of the whole thing, the father asked- "Son, I am giving you my daughter, you have to take care of my precious little baby. If you have any problem with that, raise your hand right now!" The father's eyes widened with anger on seeing the guy's hand rise above his shoulder! "How dare you!? You said you wanted to marry her! Now you say you can't take care of her? This wedding cannot happen! Leave my place right now I say!" he shouted. Before he could say anything, he was thrown out of the house. "You idiot! Why did you raise your hand!?" annoyed and angered, the girl asked before their final goodbye. The guy answered-
"I just felt something itchy in my head!"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A bad hair day can put your whole self-confidence down to the dogs and that's why I think recharging your hair is a good idea. Have you looked at yourself and found your (earlier black) hair to be turning a sorry shade of brown? Ever came back from the beach looking like this!?
There are times when you have to let your hair loose and just enjoy the moment but when the moment is gone, you realize that you have horns growing on your head.
Times when you go to the beach, enjoy water sports and later your hair start getting stiff, times when you wake up on a winter morning, with that flakey feeling in the head, times when you dress up for a party and later realize you have every hair strand standing for itself, ready to sound the bugle of revolt...
all these times are the ones which could have been avoided by getting them recharged. Recharge them by plugging them to Sunsilk. So, yea, those are my reasons to get my hair recharged! Also, you'll feel like this after the recharge-
I have a story to tell.
There was this really nice guy, he won hearts at the drop of a hat, he charmed the ladies, girls swooned over his cool demeanour. One day he met the girl of his dreams. They fell in love and wanted to get married. Only problem was, the girl's father was an ex-Army personnel. Very particular about self-grooming and discipline. "No problem!" the guy thought. The girl's father called him for lunch. Dressed up in a formal suit, he went to her place on his bike. He made a good impression with his smooth talking skills. At the end of the whole thing, the father asked- "Son, I am giving you my daughter, you have to take care of my precious little baby. If you have any problem with that, raise your hand right now!" The father's eyes widened with anger on seeing the guy's hand rise above his shoulder! "How dare you!? You said you wanted to marry her! Now you say you can't take care of her? This wedding cannot happen! Leave my place right now I say!" he shouted. Before he could say anything, he was thrown out of the house. "You idiot! Why did you raise your hand!?" annoyed and angered, the girl asked before their final goodbye. The guy answered-
"I just felt something itchy in my head!"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A bad hair day can put your whole self-confidence down to the dogs and that's why I think recharging your hair is a good idea. Have you looked at yourself and found your (earlier black) hair to be turning a sorry shade of brown? Ever came back from the beach looking like this!?
There are times when you have to let your hair loose and just enjoy the moment but when the moment is gone, you realize that you have horns growing on your head.
Times when you go to the beach, enjoy water sports and later your hair start getting stiff, times when you wake up on a winter morning, with that flakey feeling in the head, times when you dress up for a party and later realize you have every hair strand standing for itself, ready to sound the bugle of revolt...
Here's a link to sunsilk's official page- http://www.sunsilk.in/
Enjoy!
Thursday, 9 January 2014
Friday, 3 January 2014
Elections, Voting and Social Apps!
This entry is for the Indiblogger contest by WeChat.
THE TOPIC
How would you inspire and mobilize India's youth to vote in the 2014 Indian General Elections using social mobile apps?
Well, social mobile apps like WeChat these days have become indispensable for an urban social life. Any news spreads like wildfire and mainstream media struggles to catch up with the pace in this scenario. With this great power, comes great responsibility. With general elections round the corner, a social media app can be instrumental in mobilizing Indian youth to vote and be participative in the political proceedings. This involvement will not only help making the elections successful but create a sense of belonging and trust among the youth; there is good chance that they'll feel more connected to the government and policy-making which is a fundamental requirement of any democracy.
How these apps can achieve this? Here are a few ideas-
1. A Reminder Message on the day of election. Asking them to get "inked".
The apps can setup their programs to send a broadcast message to every member, preferably in local language.
2. A Badge to inculcate a sense of achievement among voters.
The app, can send link to a page which hosts auto-generated images that one can share on social media or use are profile images on the app itself. These images can have funny cartoons or motivational messages concerning election awareness.
3. Competitions on group chats and social media pages.
The developers can host competitions where the participants have to post and share videos or images of themselves queuing up for voting, coming out after voting. Most shared/ creative post wins some exclusive merch!
4. The power of voting!
The app can also depict the power of voting by inviting its users to vote for the features they want most in their favourite app. The most voted features get introduced in the app's next update. (Have to be practical of course).
5. Special Election Day Button
On the day of election, the app can have a special button on its home page which when clicked, would display options like sharing a video message (maybe by a celeb) or a picture about the value of voting with their contact list. There can be points for every share. It can be made into a contest!
So, yeah, a social media app can play a lot many roles in nation-building! Hope someone is listening!!
WeChat official site- here
Indiblogger website- here.
THE TOPIC
How would you inspire and mobilize India's youth to vote in the 2014 Indian General Elections using social mobile apps?
Well, social mobile apps like WeChat these days have become indispensable for an urban social life. Any news spreads like wildfire and mainstream media struggles to catch up with the pace in this scenario. With this great power, comes great responsibility. With general elections round the corner, a social media app can be instrumental in mobilizing Indian youth to vote and be participative in the political proceedings. This involvement will not only help making the elections successful but create a sense of belonging and trust among the youth; there is good chance that they'll feel more connected to the government and policy-making which is a fundamental requirement of any democracy.
How these apps can achieve this? Here are a few ideas-
1. A Reminder Message on the day of election. Asking them to get "inked".
The apps can setup their programs to send a broadcast message to every member, preferably in local language.
2. A Badge to inculcate a sense of achievement among voters.
The app, can send link to a page which hosts auto-generated images that one can share on social media or use are profile images on the app itself. These images can have funny cartoons or motivational messages concerning election awareness.
3. Competitions on group chats and social media pages.
The developers can host competitions where the participants have to post and share videos or images of themselves queuing up for voting, coming out after voting. Most shared/ creative post wins some exclusive merch!
4. The power of voting!
The app can also depict the power of voting by inviting its users to vote for the features they want most in their favourite app. The most voted features get introduced in the app's next update. (Have to be practical of course).
5. Special Election Day Button
So, yeah, a social media app can play a lot many roles in nation-building! Hope someone is listening!!
WeChat official site- here
Indiblogger website- here.
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