King of Spades

Carefree and free spirited, running around the Jungle in a yellow chaddi with the song playing the background-“jungle jungle bath chali hai pata chala hai, chaddi pehenke phool khila hai… phool khila hai…” the images of Mowgli and his friends are still sharp in my mind.  Have lost count on the number of Sundays this animated series entertained us on the idiot box on Doordarshan during our childhood days. Mowgli’s friends were our friends and we all hated, some even feared Shere Khan. Even in our group all of us had names. I, for one was Bagheera, the panther. Mowgli’s trusted friend/mentor guide .Missed out on being Mowgli since I was big for my age amongst my peers and on Baloo because there was someone bigger! Was awaiting this one and when the movie released in India this week, was amongst the first to catch it over the long weekend. The plot is nearly the same. Mowgli, a man cub is discovered by Bagheera and handed over to Raksha and Akela, the wolves who raise him up as thei...

Life of Pi released in theatres a couple of days back. It is based on a book of the same name by Yann Martel. The experience of reading a book can never be compared to watching a movie. Personally feel one must not compare but enjoy both experiences. Know many book lovers who never watch on –screen adaptations since they feel movies hardly justify the books they are based on, case in point- The Da Vinci code. However even though i am an avid reader myself, guess whenever a movie is based on a book, it just makes me more curious to see how it has been interpreted on-screen. How the director has bought to life the different scenes that we usually imagine while reading a book. It is not easy to match everyone’s imagination and portray it alive on-screen. Which is why making a story come alive on –screen when most people have read it, is all the more challenging i believe. And this is where Life of Pi scores. I had not read the book, so just went without any background or inhibition...