King of Spades

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...

The face was calm and composed. There was a positive aura surrounding her,the way it had always been. 'Amma' was what she was known as in our locality. Her real name was Dhairyalaksmi, Dhairya meaning courage, something which she had always represented throughout her life.As Kartik stood there watching her, memories flashed through his mind. Amma had moved into the colony with her husband and son around 30 years back. Her son Vinod was of Kartik’s age and in no time they became the best of friends. Being neighbours he often used to spend time in their household. She always used to treat him equally as her son which was a quality, Kartik thought was rare to find. The morning hours in their household used to be bathed in loud carnatic music. She had immense faith in god and which reflected in whatever she did.Everyday as he and Vinod left for school she used to say, “Bye, Kartik. Take good care of Vinod”!. Life has its own strange ways of unfolding events and that was precis...