The Deep Cut

R emember the days when watching TV was associated with a looming guilt? 'Mumma-Papa are not home yet, let's steal some minutes of TV' - I bet I was not the only one to get such cheap thrills back in the late 90s. "Go play outside" they'd say. We were frequently reminded of the idea that watching TV is a lazy and time-wasting investment. We tend to associate with that idea time and again, when we say we 'binge-watched' something! As if to say that we have something better to do with our lives. And to be realistic, they were correct. We did have better things to do than to watch TV. If you ask me, the last time we were glued to a TV set, it was when we had 'Hum Paanch', 'Sarabhai vs Sarabhai', 'Dekh Bhai Dekh', 'Office Office', 'Disney Hour', 'Small Wonder' and 'F.R.I.E.N.D.S' among many others. And then suddenly, the idiot box got corrupted with scripted soap operas that focused less

BE ADVISED, CONTAINS SPOILERS. CRAZY BAT SHIT OF THEM! You can tell I was super excited when I learnt that Christopher Nolan has picked up on the idea of black holes and wormholes in his next venture. Unfortunately, he made Inception earlier and ruined everything for me. While Inception was a huge leap in science fiction, it raised the bar for the kind of movies the duo of Christopher and Jonathan Nolan can achieve. Inception was worthy of all the hype it has ever got, because not only was it a brilliant movie, it was also a refreshingly cerebral idea. It was something new. With Inception having set the stage to welcome Interstellar to the movie theatre, it was the sense of expectation that undid everything.  To list a few scientific inaccuracies  (or shall we say) inconsistencies that I personally found with the movie, I would have to start somewhere here: 1. How did the wormhole - the one near Saturn - came to be in the first place? It takes an enormous mass to

I have few of the finest childhood memories associated with certain movies. Movies like the 1998 Hollywood-made Godzilla, Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and a couple more associate themselves to the times of when I was a lonely kid living in a Dickensian hostel. These movies had released in the time when I was that starry-eyed little guy out to discover science fiction and some damn good animation in contemporary movies. Notice how I make it sound a little too intense? Well, so ever since I saw the trailer of the 2014 redoing of Godzilla, I've sworn upon myself to watch it within the first week of it's release. It wasn't about the stars (Brian Cranston was always supposed to do justice), or the mayhem, or the artistic improvements (Mothra became M.U.T.O. and we thank God for that), or the original interpretations dating back to the Japanese origins of Gojira either. It was for the very reason that made thi

Director's Cut MK Raghavendra HarperCollins 320 Pages | Rs. 399 To be honest, however great a cinephile that I claim to be, I have read very few books or essays on cinema in India before now. Admittedly, I would consider the online reviews of popular film critics, such as Anupama Chopra and Rajeev Masand, before planning a movie outing with friends and family. But lately, not always would their views cohere with mine. It is at this juncture that I come across M.K. Raghavendra's Director's Cut - 50 Major Filmmakers of the Modern Era, published by the  HarperCollins. The author is well known among Indian film critics, and is known primarily for his scholarship and expertise. In this book, he handpicks fifty of the most revered film directors of the post-1960s world cinema and attempts to study their craft from different point of views. Political implications, social realism and even the director's mental attitude towards his work, among many. The author s

The first door-bell of the day had rung almost two hours earlier than usual that morning. It was still night-time, with the sun yet to rise at the horizon. My mother, still in her sleep, had opened the door to our cautious looking milkman. Upon being inquired as to why he had been so early today, he gave a single, crisp and wholesome response. 'Unhone Rajiv Gandhi ko maar dala..' They have killed Rajiv Gandhi.

Now that I'm into a writing halt for quite a while, I am actually reading and not skimming through every other blog, selected at random. This is me, figuring out how even the most elite class of bloggers get out of a writer's block. And I think I'm finally getting the answer. Either I should devote myself into writing about cellphones and apps and tablets and throw big words like 'SEO' and 'Microblogosphere' here and there. Or, I could write romantic poems that don't rhyme. Instead of ending each paragraph with 'the touch of his lips' type phrases, I end up with a 'the smell of his underarms' kind lines. And then I met the third kind. Movie reviews! ... Although frequently referred to as a dependable movie connoisseur, (within some secret underground niche) I have been deprived of a movie-watching experience of any kind after that of Kai Po Che . It was all about All Work and No Play making me a douche-bag  Thanks to a c

In a first, the worst book I've ever read, got converted into an excellent on screen adaption!  Kai Po Che . 3 Mistakes of My Life. Reading the book was my first big mistake, but thankfully watching the movie wasn't. In fact, to a certain extent, Chetan Bhagat redeemed himself. But then we always knew that the novelist would do better as a Bollywood screenplay writer, didn't we? I mean, my friend Abhirup has already thought of the placement of songs (1 comic, 2 romantic, 1 bromantic, 1 sad, 1 item number and 1 song on national integration) for his novel Two States, written on the great Indian matrimony scenario. His best till now. The story was a little paced, but that happens when its an adaption. Look what happened to the Dan Brown adaptations - compared to the books, the movies, with their alternate explanations, turned out of a lesser quality. '3 Mistakes..' was originally meant to be a tragedy, as it should, with all the cataclysmic events that weste

(Contains Spoilers!) Saw the movie KAHAANI, and fell in love with my home, Kolkata all over again.. The thought that Vellore always tends to disappoint us, is perhaps a bygone trend now in my pre-final year.. for now I can safely say that we've got used to it! But it still manages to amaze us at times.. At times such as last Saturday. The first 3 websites that turn up in Google upon typing 'KAHAANI VELLORE SHOW TIMINGS' show 2 theaters in Vellore, that are also part of the BIG CINEMAS chain, exhibiting the movie KAHAANI.. So as per the almost-an-established-rule-of-thumb, we start by the last minute and end up half hour late to this theater halfway across to the other end of the town.. only to see a Tamil 3D Horror movie being put up! 'Hindi cinema illa, only Tamil cinema..' declared the goon-ishly looking Humpty-Dumpty in front of the ticket counter. Probably a black-ticket dealer? Though I can't imagine why anyone would come to see this movie

Disappointed! After it took us to the heights of anticipation, the highly celebrated (and for truly apt reasons!)  BBC tele-series SHERLOCK comes with it's second season, while making us wait for almost two years!  Probably the longest wait anyone had to wait to see their favorite fictional character return.. Now I  am a huge fan of the whoddunit, the criminal minds, the thrill and showdowns. And Sherlock Holmes is  one legacy I happily cling on to.. The first episode in the second season of the tele-series, A Scandal In Belgravia, was the best beginning one could've hoped for.. The movie SHERLOCK HOLMES, part 1, was also a near-perfect beginning to the SH franchise. It was an accomplished ressurection of the hero, and even though a bit of rework had been done over his character, it was a welcome change as the larger-than-life persona and his brilliance was mostly retained.. But what disappointed me was everything that followed.. I'm guessing it'll sti