King of Spades

As the classical Bollywood number goes ,” Ae dil hai mushkil jeena yahan, zara hatke zara bach ke, yeh hai Bombay meri jaan!” While it is still the city of aspiration and dreams, majorly due to Bollywood , once you land up the problems of this metropolis hit you. Bad roads, Noise, Water/Electricity problems, Neighbours who behave like strangers etc are just a few ones that the hustle bustle of the city hides behind its glowing lights. Whether you own a house or are a tenant, the experience or rather exposure to the crumbling infrastructure of the city sucks you in. Yet ask any true blue Mumbaikar and the response will be” Mumbai jaisi koi jagah nahi hai Boss!. Mein toh yahi settle hoga. Iss city   mein kuch toh baat hai!” This is exactly the Dna of Balwinder Siddhu aka Bubbles( Rajit Kapur).  A financial executive who has poured out his life’s savings into an upper rise in Mumbai. Giving him company is his parsi wife Behruz (Shernaz Patel). In spite of living in a fa...

Had heard quite a lot about this play Massage. Besides being in the running for quite a few years now, what intrigued me was the concept of one guy playing plays 24 characters. The main protagonist was essayed by Rakesh Bedi, who is more known for his comic roles in Bollywood, but has more to him that just comedy. This play is a testimonial to that.  A seasoned actor in a play written by a seasoned playwright Vijay Tendulkar is a double whammy for any theatre lover. Had missed watching it on a couple of occasions earlier, hence this Sunday when I got to know that Massage was to be staged in Matunga, booked it at the first go. The play essentially is about the struggle that lakhs of Indians face when they come to the dream city of Mumbai, lured by the prospect of becoming a Bollywood star. Happy Singh as the name suggests is a happy go lucky guy who comes to Mumbai to chase his dreams of becoming an actor. Starts his struggle with an internship as the 4 th  assistant dire...

Behind every successful man there is a woman goes the conventional saying. Well what if we rephrased it to say, behind every successful woman there is a man! That's exactly what this movie Dangal is all about. Redefining the conventional norms associated with gender. The setting is Haryana, a state with one of the worst sex ratios in India today. Where khap panchayat is stronger than most courts or governments. Patriarchal to an extent that most villages do not have brides for their gabru jawans (young men), since most girls get killed in their mother’s wombs.  And to think that in such a society, a guy dreamt of making his daughters sporting heroes is somewhat surreal. Add to that the traditionally male dominated sport of wrestling and one might say in Haryanvi “Bawla hai key!” But then that is what defines a true wrestler. Not the daav or the wrestling move that he throws in the ring but the fights that he withstands in real life. And Mahavir Phogat is one such persona. P...

The Tiatr setting Loretta. The papers described it as a goan play based on the popular Tiatr form. Ab Theatre toh suna tha, but yeh ‘Theater mein Tiatr’ pehli baar sun raha tha. Googled  and found out that this Tiatr is a type of musical theatre popular in the state of Goa since colonial days, the  language mainly being Konkani. The drama consists of 6 or 7 acts called pordhe . The acts are interspersed by songs which need not be directly linked to the content or the issues of the main drama. There are 2 or 3 songs between each of the acts. In case you find that too much to comprehend, guess for the lesser mortals one can say,these are like Nautanki fillers! Short and maybe not so sweet for some but definitely effective! Goa, with its free flowing culture and charm, always  lifts up your spirit in more ways than one. Now a goan charm combined with this folk or Tiatr style of storytelling, was a potent cocktail. So decided to give it a shot over the weekend. Now a sh...

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...

After Cheeni kam, Shamitabh yet again in Ki&Ka we have a unique concept from the director R Balki . His ideas are unique for sure and quite quirky. This time around the quirk is on the preconceived gender roles that we as a society have decided for our ladKAs(Boys) and ladKIs(Girls) . While the ladkas have to be the breadwinners , ladkis have to take care of domestic duties, be at home and play the supporting role to their men. This is what has been a traditional norm in the Indian society. While this has definitely changed  in the last 10 years or so, we have still a long way to go in being a gender equal society, especially where the mindset is concerned. Kia(Kareena Kapoor Khan) plays a strong headed, ambitious corporate woman who is all about to challenge this mindset. Single, successful and unmarried she is completely career driven and does not believe in just being a pillar of support to a building, when she can be the whole building herself. Success driven she has her ...

So there it was. Much awaited post the success of Skyfall, the next 007 movie starring Daniel Craig yet again as the british intelligence agent- James Bond. The expectations were quite high. With M (Judi Dench) dying in the previous installment and the intelligence establishment under uncertainity , much was dependant on how things would lay out next. Hence the script had to be equally good if not better than Skyfall and tighter too. Well this is where exactly, Spectre let’s you down. What starts off superbly, filming a death parade in Mexico (day of the dead), followed by an amazingly shot hand to hand combat in a revolving chopper,  loses its steam midway. Bond, this time around, is after an organization called the Spectre .An organization, which from a long time, has been wanting to rule the world through an intelligence gathering system created by it. And to make the world leaders fall in line, it uses terror and its moles/contacts in high offices. Franz Oberhauser (Christoph...

The present Sakshi called up the last couple of drivers from their database.  Most of them were already on duty and few not in town. There was no way Sakshi could let that last call/ request go unattended. For her this was not just a business, it was a mission. The past That day in court Sakshi had not pressed charges or demanded an enquiry. No it was not because her boyfriend was at fault , it was because the incident prior to the court had made her realise the bigger issue. To Drink and Drive was a crime . But people still did it. Even the ones who were supposedly educated and holding a decent job. While there were many laws to punish and even reform, no one had a hands –on solution to curb the menance . That day if chachu had been drunk, the kid would not have escaped ,simply because he would not have been in that much control of their vehicle. That realization had never left her. Karan had run over her father on his way back. He dad had stepped out  to get milk. Whil...

The past It must have been some time post 4pm in the evening, when she woke up in her hall on the sofa. Looked like she had somehow managed to crawl into her home safely. The headache was splitting her head apart. She washed her face and popped a pill to get rid of the headache. Post freshening up ,she went upstairs to her fathers’s room. Shit yaar, he must be upset with me for getting sloshed and  sleeping all day long , was the constant thought plying on her mind, as she opened his door. He was not in his room . She looked in the kitchen and the balcony. He was nowhere to be seen. Must have gone out for his walk. Well let me call him. As she reached out for her phone, she saw a lot of missed calls. There were a couple of unknown numbers,  her neighbor and her paternal uncle(chachu) were also there in the list. There was also one missed call from Karan. Looks like the entire world was trying to reach her when she was sloshed.  Out of the list, she called her chachu. H...

Fourth day and still no signs of movement. The flicker on the screen was proof that the heart was alive but then the body just didn’t seem to realise it. The present  It was 2:30 am. Sakshi had just got her last cup of coffee for the night. Usually she used to get late. But today work was at its peak. It was a night of celebration.  Mumbai Indians, the local cricket team had won the cricket IPL (Indian premiere league)  T20 trophy for the first time.  Party was in the air and thus being the founder of a successful start up, that dealt with driver service for party animals , their phone had not stopped ringing since late evening .  While business was  on the rise , she was still maintaining a  tight back office workforce to curtail expenses. This eventually led Sakshi herself routing/answering calls for assistance during hi-traffic days. Water drops had slightly begun to trickle down the glass façade of her cabin as a ping popped on their assistanc...

Whenever you think of some of the best action and thrilling sequences that Hollywood has produced, the Mission Impossible (MI) series ranks right on top of your mind. Yes we do have the Bond, Bourne and Arnie movies, but the sheer consistency of MI when it comes to showcasing death defying concepts/stunts is something admirable. The 5th part of the installment just takes this to the next level. Within the first few minutes of the movie, when you see Tom Cruise (Ethan Hunt) hanging on to dear life outside an airplane- a massive A 400, you know you are in take-off mode for a pure adrenaline rush. The plot is more or less what MI fans would usually expect. As it is, most logic goes for a toss because the fans of this franchisee are more pleased by death defying stunts than logic. IMF (Impossible Mission Force) is virtually disbanded as a unit and their main agent Ethan Hunt is on the run. His ex- colleagues are now a part of the CIA.  Ethan’s objective is to disband a syndicate tha...

“Dost, chaar small dena”! In any other situation this would have sounded like an order at a bar counter but here we were finally, after braving the horrible traffic of a typical Mumbai evening, at the booking window of Prithvi Theater,Juhu. Chaar Small by T-Pot productions was playing that evening. A collection of 4 short stories centered around a bar is what one could guess, from the poster displayed outside the venue. The humour was served right on toast by the cast, with an introductory aarti asking the viewers to put their phones on silent!  Pretty innovative I thought. The lighting, set, innovative posters (one to back the above aarti), a superb live band etc just created the perfect ambience for the spirits to soar further! Once the stories/acts start spanning out one after the other, you realize that the common link in all of these is not the bar but it is the city of Mumbai. The city of aspirations and thus migrations, underlying issues and yes humanity or what is famous...

Girish Karnad’s Wedding Album was playing in Prithvi Theater the other night. There was a lot of buzz surrounding it, considering the cast and the writer in question. Hence decided to give it a shot and that too on a Saturday night, when a shot usually means getting something that lifts your spirits! The play started off promising to be something different, especially with the treatment of the typical pixilated video call by Vidu (Ira Dubey) to her prospective husband Ashwin, who is settled in US and yet wants an Indian bride. The storyline centers around the incidents that happen within the Konkani family, around the impending wedding of their daughter. Vidu’s family consists of her retired father, mom, her elder sister Hema (married and settled in Australia, flown down for the wedding leaving her husband and two kids behind), her brother Rohit (the breadwinner and also a prospective bridegroom) and their maid Radhabai. So the stage looked set for some fun, drama and other things ...

Am writing this article with a premise that all of us know Ramayana- the story of prince Ram. If not, kindly buy a book or rent the entire DVD collection of Ramanand Sagar’s epic serial –Ramayan, which is how most of India learnt about it! The Ramayana play is staged during the Navratri festival leading upto Vijayadashmi, the day when Lord Ram killed Ravan and avenged the abduction of his wife Sita. Ramleela is the name given to the play format that is staged during the festival every year, more so in North India. It’s become more like a tradition that has to be followed come what may. However what makes it interesting is the drama that is usually associated with its casting and the eventual screening. Today people have lost the interest in it, given mythology is uncool for the youth. Most stage actors, given the pittance of the sum they receive as remuneration for their performances don’t really care. Also women do not participate in such plays given the stigma associated with femal...

The main difference between humans and animals is the presence of brain or rather our ability to use it. And what governs our brain or headquarters are emotions. They play a very major role in how we feel, what we do, how we respond to situations/people etc.  Any significant experience in our daily lives, triggered by these emotions, usually gets registered in us as a long term memory. These could be related to something that’s happened around a place or a person. And whenever one gets into a similar zone, these memories resurface and with them the emotions too. Which is precisely the reason why we gel with certain people or like certain kind of food/cuisine or places . And when it comes to a different kind, we just cannot stand them .They leave us with emotions like disgust, anger, sorrow and sometimes even fear . The other kind makes us feel wanted, happy. They bring in the everlasting emotion of joy into our lives thereby creating a strong mutual bond. This bond is what we id...

There are movies and then there are stories. The first one impresses you. The later impacts! Mr.Rajkumar Hirani, always does the later. And he does it with so much of simplicity and earnestness that only few can. Have been a fan of his craft, ever since the Munnabhai series ,which was followed by the evergreen movie 3 idiots. But what he does with Pk is something, which probably no other director would have dared to explore or even delivered. Imagine the plot- An alien lands into a country and then teaches his inhabitants a thing or two about god and religion, just as he discovers their culture.  About how one is real and the other probably man-made. Sounds crazy.Well go ahead, watch the movie to see how efficiently the master executes his craft. Right from scene one, Aamir Khan (Pk) gets into the character of the lovable alien. Absolutely harmless, he has no clue what to do, when the only one thing (a locket) that can get him back to his planet, is flicked by a human. How he...

Macbeth-Maqbool Othello-Omkara Hamlet-Haider 3 indianised  takes by Vishal Bharadwaj  on the respective legendary works of William Shakespeare. The first time he attempted , the second time he re-created .But this time around, he not only does the above two but also succeeds in perfectly indianising miya Shaik peer. It’s ironical that the co-writer of Haider ( along with Vishal Bharadwaj) is a certain Mr. Basharat Peer! Reincarnation anybody? Seems unlikely given his credentials.Well we’ll leave that to some other blog. Set in tumultuous Kashmir, the state of India where god created heaven and man hell, Haider grips your attention right from the start.  Dr. Hilal Meer (Haider’s father) is taken away by the army for treating and sheltering a militant inspite of the prevailing insurgency.  Ghazala (Tabu) ,his wife takes refuge in the arms of his brother Khurram Meer (Kay Kay Menon) and that’s when the boy suspects a rat. Enter Roohdaar (Irrfan khan ) and the ...

Sometimes in the midst of commercial potboilers and movies made for critical acclaim, comes a Kahaani or Script that takes in the nuances and mixes sensibilities of both worlds. That’s when it stands apart from the routine and leaves an impression on you. You come out refreshed post the movie having seen something new. And Dawat-E-Ishq just does that. Here the central subject revolves around the unfortunate and grim-Dowry system in India. A well guarded secret in most Indian families.  Mostly observed in arranged marriages amongst families, who themselves are the initiators of the match! This is one evil in our society that has withstood the test of time and is deeply entrenched across all earning classes. Even literacy has done little to eradicate this evil mindset. All it has managed is change it to more ‘polished ’ words like gift or help. Doesn’t matter what achievements the girl has, what background she comes from. Her personality is too meager a point to even consider. ...

Finally got a weekend after quite some time from my busy work schedule recently. The only thing that i wanted to do was to relax and not go out much on those two days. Usually on such lazy holidays prefer either to read or watch movies. Had just finished reading a book so thought will catch up on some film releases. This time around even the options looked interesting . There was Mary Kom which had released recently and Finding Fanny which had hit theaters a day before. While people were going gung-ho about Mary Kom and Priyanka Chopra’s role in it, Finding fanny had Deepika Padukone, a reason enough for most guys in this country to watch a film!  And from the trailers one could make out that, not only was she looking gorgeous, even the story had a nice feel to it. A letter posted by a young guy never reaches his sweetheart and comes back to his life during his twilight years. Add to that a good cast of talented actors set against the lovely Goa landscape and your expectations on...

Talking apes effectively led by a leader who commands utmost respect. Humans who seek their help to reclaim their life. Sounds familiar? Well the sage Valmiki explored a similar legendary storyline thousands of years ago,which in India till today is a revered epic called the Ramayana.The movie- Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,once again explores the beautiful bond that two of the most powerful thinking species known to our Planet,shared once.The bond of solidarity between the primate and the evolved of the species, against the advent of time for the survival for the fittest is beautifully brought to life in this movie. ‘Ape do not kill Ape! Because we are not like human’. This was the belief that shaped the previous- Rise of the planet of the apes.This thought was the foundation on which Caesar founded his dream and established his empire, his Home! Rise of the planet of the apes was a brilliant film to follow and Dawn nearly manages to do full justice to that,the only minor drawback ...