Idle musings

It's just an errant thought,not aimed at anyone in particular,but I sometimes wonder if humans are the stupidest race on earth.To be open-minded,to be kind,to help each other grow and live in peace are acts that come to us as easy as breathing.Which is why children are always born innocent.Their unexpected questions often shut us up,because adults,'who know best' are quick to build up walls in their minds,to butter their words rather than have a heart-to-heart talk and evolve into back-biting snakes with age.And to what effect?Call me behind the times or whatever,but if you think about it,it is plain simple that our selfishness only breeds negativity.J.B.Priestley's essay 'On Saying Please' comes to mind.Priestley talks about how if bad manners are infectious,then so are good manners.If only we realised the impact of the minutest of our actions!I personally feel that a simple smile,a positive remark or an act of kindness lightens up my day instantly.However,it ...

Aha!Yet another lucky choice.I had seen a few promos of 'Nil Battey Sannata',directed by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari at PVR,and was immediately hooked.Like many other previous films,I got the feeling that here was a movie that shouldn't be missed.I was right. Swara Bhaskar and Pankaj Tripathi rock the show in this profound tale of the power of dreams,education and the delicate mother-daughter relationship.There is a lot of innocence there,which we hardly see in real life.Also,the music blends with the storyline and beautifully adds to the emotions onscreen.From the first scene,we see a single mother urging her unwilling daughter to school,juggling jobs to make ends meet,ready to sacrifice anything,if only to make her child get that dream job and financial security that she failed to earn.She is initiated back to school by an understanding employer,whom she serves as a maid,to nudge Apeksha,her only daughter,in the right direction to write the Civil Services exam.In the process,cha...

All of us will have gone through that stage in life when we idolised celebrities,or people who represent our vision of life.Anyone who appreciates that feeling can connect with Gaurav Chandna in Shah Rukh Khan's 'Fan'.In a rare spectacle of Indian cinema,we get to see one of the greatest actors of the industry essay the role of a fan as well as the star he admires,or rather,obsesses over.In fact,the trailer itself proclaims this fact out loud - SRK in and as FAN.I have to admit,I've always liked his performances,but this movie catapulted me into the fan horizon(still only a mediocre one,though).Perhaps this development was aided by another ardent fan,a friend of mine,who is a walking encyclopedia of the Badshah of Bollywood.The lone song 'Jabra Fan',in which an adorable Shah Rukh establishes his fandom,was released as part of the spotty promotions but sadly,was not included in the movie.Ironically enough,a majority chose Gaurav(the fan) over Aryan Khanna(the su...

A short,sweet film based on the fable by Rudyard Kipling.That is the 2016 adaptation of The Jungle Book,in a nutshell.With commendable acting by Neel Sethi, astounding animation and dubbing,the film will surely appeal to all audiences.Not to mention we have Priyanka Chopra giving voice to the serpent 'Kaa' in this film(in the upcoming Hindi version)and the likes of Ben Kingsley(Bagheera) and Idris Elba(Shere Khan).The film is definitely sans the usual drudgery of remakes,which makes it all the more worthwhile.