Movie Review – Alone

Works for what it is

After a really long time, as I had some alone time on a Saturday night, I thought of reliving good old days by watching a movie, alone. While browsing through my HDD, I came across this movie called ‘Alone’. ‘Alone’ being a horror and foreign movie was icing on a cake. What better do you need than a movie titled ‘Alone’ on a day alone. The movie too lived up to the hype. It was a classic jump scare, no nonsense film with a decent twist. Only that I had to watch it into two splits, instead of one, like how the conjoined twin were split, because I seemed to have so gotten used to sleeping on time.

It was a clean movie. There is nothing to complain about it. You get what you want. It transcends boundaries and works genuinely. If the movie had been treated in the same way, no matter what the language is, it would have worked similarly. May be that’s why so many directors were tempted and make it in their language. But unfortunately, missed the point which I earlier told. The treatment, if diluted would surely would spoil the film. I’m sure in the Tamil version there would have been needless sentiments and songs and Hindi version because it had Bipasa would have hot scenes. May be that’s why originals are best. The same could be said about the director duo of Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongpoom’s ‘Shutter’.

Like a typical template horror, the film starts with eerie title card, followed by a suspense shot on Pim’s (Marsha Vadhanapanich) birthday. Loved the Thai version of ‘Happy Birthday’ song, it was cute. Once they get to know about her mother’s illness, Wee (Vittaya Wasukraipaisan) and Pim go to Korea to see her. Pim starts to see horrific images from there, followed by doctor visit. After sometime, Wee too starts seeing bits of what Pim sees. During a chance encounter with Pim’s mother, he gets to know the real story and there is the twist.

Even though the film happens entirely in dark, a good excuse for horror film makers to not try anything new, this film, as it deals will conjoined twins, uses mirror and its reflection to good advantage. Especially loved the shot where Pim sits in front of the mirror when she revisits her house after a long time. You can feel as if there are two different people in two mirrors. As it’s in different angle, it appears as if there are two different people. But it actually is the same person with different expression, due to the angles. That’s lovely shot. Also lights and shadows were used well to get a reflection. The director knew how to use the theme well.

As I exactly knew what to expect, I got what I wanted. That’s why it’s difficult to write so genre friendly movies. It does everything as per template and satisfies. You can neither criticize not applaud. That is the reason why taking risks and going beyond regular template makes films interesting. May be if because I’ve not watched any film of late in this genre, it worked for me. Not sure, if someone who specializes films of this genre would be able to take it in the same vein as I did.

Book Review – The World of Nagaraj

When in doubt, read R. K. Narayan

Nagaraj is such a unique character, so is the book. It’s one of a kind for a lot of reasons. Before jumping into the book, I wanted to ask, “Why isn’t R.K. Narayan celebrated?” In fact I wanted to title the very essay like this. But I felt it’d be more optimistic and less risky to say, “Why should be R. K. Narayan more celebrated” Optimism is one factor. But when I place Narayan in the same pedestal with the likes of Dostoevsky, Flaubert or James Joyce, I’m sure there will be a lot of people to defend the greats. I don’t want to get into that. Of course they’re greats but Narayan is unlike anyone else. I’m okay with people who have not read more than Dan Brown and not knowing the greatness of Narayan but even well-read people’s response with a nod of the head, with their inner voice stating, “this guy doesn’t know anything” or even worse, calling it a children novel because it’s simple puts me off.

Continue reading in the below link…

Readers Write In #671: When in doubt, read R. K. Narayan

Movie Review – Capital I

An honorable attempt

‘Capital I’ tries a lot, with a capital T. The film has in genuine thoughts, great lines and makes for an art thriller. In the directors words, a psychodrama. But as a film, at least for it making, it looks as if it’s one step below. The film looks like a staircase to an actual film. There may be a lot of reasons to it, budget, technical difficulties etc. but eventually as an audience one would expect only the end product, which feels like there is something lagging. There were moments of awe but put together doesn’t do the damage it intends to.

The film starts with a couple arguing and the girl irritating him before the boy goes out of town. The first thing which stuck out was the make up or the lighting which was giving the lady, shadows or dark circles around her eyes. That was so distracting. Followed by bad acting. In fact the only decent actor of the lot was Susant Misra who acted as Professor Misra. Even he was not great but at least was better than the rest.

We get to know about a mysterious character called as ‘Capital I’. The police find an old house which was locked from inside with all windows closed, and when the police break open the door, they find no one, neither any living person, nor a dead body. They only find few papers lying, with some abstract phrases and pictures with the signature below reading ‘Capital I’. As there was no physical harm to anyone the police find the case to be unworthy. It’s a great Poirot plot, just that Amartya doesn’t take the traditional route but the philosophical route.

The film is about the talks between the Professor and Piyali (Pallavi Priyadarshini). Amartya’s forte is his words. The poems, the discussions and the drawings were top notch. If only the acting and production value was good, the film would have been more appealing. Because the actors were mostly poker faced (unintentionally) it didn’t appeal.

The film had its moments of thrill and a great climax to boast about itself but the entire angle of sex and lesbian encounters, which any director who wants to go off beat, was a put off. Wish at least the sex scenes were good.

More than the film, the articles about the film are inspiring, especially the Wikipedia page of the film. It’s amazing that with Canon 550D and kit lens and 50 mm (the cheapest of the lenses), the director was able to come up with a proper film and go ahead with what he was passionate about. It’s the same lens I have and I’ve gone nowhere. So there is no excuse. With just five people and a camera, if he can make a film like this, he surely would have only got better with time. Something which I was not able to do. Coming to think of it, I don’t even feel like making a film anymore, my passion has dwindled. May be I’d not be able to have lines and arts like this in my film but it need not be, it’s not my genre. I still could have made something unique but it never happened.

This film, more than anything, made me realize, how much I’ve missed!

Movie Review – Jailer

Where is Thalaivar heading to?

Ya ya, “Thalaivaru Nerantharam” and all is fine but what really it does apart from making a seventy year old man keep on walking in slow mo throughout the film. If slow mo is what I want I’d have rather watch Megan Fox in ‘Transformers 2’. Between ‘Jailer’ and ‘Leo’, probably the only two movies, which I thought, would’ve been nice if I had watched in theatre last year, I thought ‘Jailer’ would be better, because people were raving it. But apart from few moments which Rajini would make his own, no matter how crappy the director is, as a film ‘Jailer’ didn’t appeal. ‘Leo’ even though wasn’t great, at least had good filmmaking skills compared to this. What’s worse is even though I criticize, I enjoyed it while watching. That is dangerous.

Seeing Thalaivar in promos where he polishes his son’s shoes and gets ridiculed by his grandson, I thought the movie would have tried to create fake humility, but fortunately it was not the case. Nelson’s comic take worked. “Tiger” Muthuvel Pandian (Rajinikanth) is shown as a powerful man right from the word go, even when he is kidnapped when his son is on a mission. I must say, it was well handled. I expected, that for some time, he would play underdog and suddenly come to power but it was not the case. It might have worked better this way but would have been usual. Anyways the first part where he was not the ‘hero’ was only short lived and largely unappealing. There was not even an iota of sadness when we get to know that his son is killed. The director absolutely doesn’t give us any time to reminiscent.

Post that its usual Rajini template, only that there were three more people to walk in slow mo along with him. Even though monotonous, it all works due to the music and Rajini’s screen presence. But there is absolutely no creativity. Music is the same old, jarring, high octane pieces, which would last for the time being. One guy during some conversation casually said that Anirudh is a trending guy and not a trendsetter like Harris. There are complaints about Harris but that’s for another day. For now Anirudh’s music is working.

The crux of the story is nice, Nelson has packaged the story well with dark humor, the climax twist works, the villain is good, the cameos are good, even Tiger’s son Arjun (Vasanth Ravi) is good in whatever space he gets. I can get your mind voice, “ithuku mela vera ena da venum”. But altogether there was something missing. The film doesn’t feel coherent. Somehow Nelson and Rajini together sell this film. But we don’t get to feel for the events happening in the film. The highs are lows are ebbing. When Arjun dies, when the treasure is obtained, and all the main points in the film, we don’t feel the sadness or the elation, the characters feel. We just nod to what the actors say in that specific scene. But may be a lot many liked it because the emotion in the climax shot was brilliant, it hits the nail right on the head.

The trend of cameos are irritating. They just pull in people from different industry just for face value to sell it. We don’t get to know anything about them and absolutely no back story. We are applauding them for the stars they are and not for the role in the film. As it’s the beginning, it’s exciting but I’m sure it’s going to become a trend and soon become a cringe fest like Marvel Cinematic Universe. But I confess, the climax scene where they all light up the cigar together, I couldn’t sit in my seat out of excitement.

Travelogue: Om Shivoham – Tiruvannamalai, Girivalam, Paravathamalai and Gingee Fort

Even though everything in the list had been in plan, it somehow never came together. Finally there was a long weekend and I could make a road trip with it. But with office pressure and family pressure I couldn’t plan it as well as I wanted to. In fact the trip was confirmed on the very last day after knowing that I won’t have any office commitments, that too on a holiday, can you believe it. Somehow, one of us had contacts for the hotel so we set off.

Day 1 – Hitting the road and stalling at the temple

1/26/2024

For some reason, I was taking it easy for the trip. One, because I was tired and two, it was a family trip. So as opposed to my regular start at 6 AM, we rather started post breakfast, around 9 AM. We also carried lunch to have it once we reach Tiruvannamalai. As we were travelling with kids, I wanted to minimize eating out. In this way at least I could minimize by two times.

The road was not as free as I expected to be on a holiday or may be because I had been out of touch for a while, I got tired soon. After an hour’s drive, we had a coffee break at 99 kms Coffee Stop, Acharapakkam. We had coffee and Paniyaram, which was lovely.  From there we went to Tiruvanamalai nonstop and reached there around 2 PM.

Parking was a hassle for the hotel and rooms were so-so. We quickly had our lunch and went to tonsure the kids. The place wasn’t as neat as Tirupati but as we had travelled, we did it. While returning back to hotel to freshen up, one of my greatest travel moments happened. There was a sadhu, who was sitting in a tea shop and singing ‘Om Shivoham’. It swelled upon hearing that. It was so great a moment that I didn’t turn back and look at him. I wanted it to remain as a mystic moment like how in Baba movie, we don’t get to see the face of the god when Rajni goes to Himalayas.

After freshening up, we went to Arunachalesvara Temple. It was crowded and we didn’t have any clue as to where to go, how much time it would take etc. so we just set off to the temple and stood in queue. It took a good three hours to visit the main deity. It was a tiring experience but not as bad as our visit to Kalahasti during our Tirupati trip.

We had dinner at Ponrayar restaurant. After may be a decade, I felt this hungry and hogged on to food like anything. Everything felt great. With my tiredness, I was skeptical about my next day’s trek to Paravathamalai but as my partner too showed interest, we fixed the plan, kept the car in parking and went to sleep.

Day 2 – Paravasa Nilai in Paravathamalai

1/27/2024

With the rest of the family still sleeping, my partner and I set off to Paravathamalai at 5 AM in the morning. Within an hour, we reached Shri Pachaiyamman Temple.  The travel guide by Indiahikes was very helpful in planning the trip. After parking the car behind the temple, we set off to walk. The first phase from Shri Pachaiyamman Temple to Veerabhadrar Temple was through a forest with bad path. There were share autos operating for Rs. 20 per head. Obviously I didn’t take that. Veerabhadrar temple is known for its twenty four hour Annadhanam (free food service). They served Kanji/Pongal, even though wasn’t of great taste, it was filling. I also filled our water bottles and setoff to the trek.

The second phase of the trek was through a series of steps, 1263 to be precise, to Kadaladi-Thenmathimangalam Junction. It was an irritating walk in the steps. May be it took a good one hour there. Our usual arguments lasted till there. The next phase of the trek to the Parvathamalai Top through the much coveted Kadaparai Pathai was lovely. This the path which will truly feel like a trek. The Kadaparai Pathai is what sets the trek apart. We spent a lot of time relishing the journey.

It was a heavenly feel at the top, with nice cold breeze hitting us. The temple had great aura. It’s one of the rare temple where we can get into the main sanctum. It felt lovely being there. People in front gave us some holy ash to smear upon the lingam. After performing pooja, we sat outside and relaxed for some time.

Descent through Kadaparai Pathai was equally interesting. The rest of the path we descended as fast as we could, with minimal stops. Had snacks en route too. Ideally I don’t like to spend/eat anything during the trek but as it was a couples trek, I went for it. We started the trek around 6.30 and ended by 12.30 without hurrying much. So it was a reasonable pace I believe. While descending, the sun was beating and I was feeling very thirsty. Thankfully I didn’t drink all the water while ascending, which saved my day. There are shops selling water, snacks, till the top of the temple but if you’re a purist like me, you can plan my way with a couple of water bottle.

Once I reached Veerabhadrar Temple during my return, the auto drivers there asked whether we want to take an auto. I said “no” to it and loved the comment he passed for us. He told to his fellow auto drivers that even in the morning I gave the same reaction and we had come back pretty fast. I felt proud. Best part post trek was the lunch. I know that my partner doesn’t eat free food. But I enjoyed it. I too thought of skipping it, if it had been the same kanji/pongal because I know, I again have to waste my time and money in some restaurant. But they gave me rice. That too with Vathakolambu, Sambar and Rasam. Plus I had wheel chips in life. What more does one need in life? I filled my plate thrice and had my fill. Wonder why people are so hesitant in not availing such offer. For me it was an offer which I couldn’t refuse.

It took some time for us to walk to the parking place in the beating sun. While driving back, I had to slow down a lot of time to check for restaurants. But vegetarian options were very less so finally we had it once we reached the town. I started having headache and I knew I couldn’t sleep as much as I wanted. What’s worse, it took a good half an hour to find a parking place. So after all this, I could sleep only for an hour. But that’s what a good sleep can do to you. It made me fresh and happy.

I wanted to walk the Girivalam route but with kids it was next to impossible and going without them too would get other people irritated so I choose to take the car for a spin and visit the temples. We started around 6 PM after having coffee and snacks at Ponrayar restaurant again. It took a good three hours for us to complete. We visited the temples in the following order, Agni Lingam, Ramanashram, Yama Lingam, Niruthi Lingam, Varuna Lingam, Vaayu Lingam, Kubera Lingam, Esanya Lingam, had dinner and visited the Indra Lingam last because it was in the heart of the city with no parking space.

It was a happy satisfying day.

Day 3 – A disastrous outing to Gingee Fort

1/28/2024

Even though I couldn’t complete Girivalam walk, I was happy that I could tick off everything as per the plan but Gingee Fort came out of syllabus. First I wasn’t aware that it would be two forts and didn’t realize that so much effort had to be taken to climb to the top. And as usual being a family trip there would be other problems too. And that problem was bigger than anything. With an already aching body, I couldn’t take it any more so didn’t climb both the forts. But now thinking about it, to have not climbed to just satisfy my ego was eventually a loss for me. I could have just carried on and completed it. Probably have to plan to go some other day. Hopefully solo, but I know it won’t happen.

Even though I could technically I could only achieve fifty percent of what I expected, it was decent trip and I must say I was satisfied at least by seventy percent. Because I don’t feel like missing out on walking the Girivalam path as a big deal because it’s just a plain walk in road, nothing special, I at least covered the temples. But Gingee fort was a big miss and a disappointing one that too.

Movie Review – Captain Miller

An Eye Sore, Ear Jar, Misfire of a film.

Never in my wildest dreams, did I imagine a film I chose to watch in theatres, out of my own interest, would be this bad. I should have understood by seeing only ten tickets booked for the show. But thinking that it has become a trend to watch films in OTT, I thought I was in for something special. But my first movie experience in theatre for this year ended up to be a debacle. It was nothing but a star vehicle disguised in the form of corny art film, which in the end misses to be both.

The film starts with all guns blazing and ends the same way and gets our ears impaired. I was sitting in the last row of the theatre. Similar to how I was sitting for ‘Oppenheimer’ Being a Nolan film, there were lot of fan boys who were defining where to sit for optimal film viewing, film hearing experience, when to loo, how much your bladder can hold etc. This film didn’t have any such advice. I was excited for the bass at the start of the movie and even was appreciating why it’s always a terrific feel to watch film in theatres but by the end of it, I was dead and tired. I was in the state of, “sugar patient ra naanu”.

Dhanush was getting high praise for his role of Captain Miller. It’s becoming very problematic when non Tamil people judge Dhanush’s acting. They were raving about ‘Raanjhanaa’ at the time of the release. Guess Bollywood is so tuned by its larger than life hero’s that even such a normal realistic acting feels like epitome of acting experience to them. It was the same for Miller. Dhanush does nothing extraordinary.

It was very difficult to understand what the film was trying. Was Arun Matheswaran, kidnapped by Dhanush and at knife point, was made to write an artsy story with commercial elements. The film was boring and bland, for the sake of appropriate adjective. There is Dhanush, who is Analeesan or Eesa who later becomes Miller or Captain Miller. Even a fourth standard student would be able to decode what the director was trying to do with names. He’s Eesan, the great god of destruction, who would come out of myth to save the village and in the journey kills a few thousand people and gets killed a lot of his people. It’s very difficult to understand when would he side with whom, yet he’s showcased as a character with clear motives.

There were a lot of corny dialogues, symbolisms and rapturous music. Hell, even the art direction was elementary. In the end nothing makes sense. It just feels like a loud ‘Maryan’ Dhanush’s choice of heroines are great to see in instagram but they do nothing in the film. In a film where she’s supposed to be strong with arms and words, the only scene Priyanka Mohan feels at home is when she smiles. What a misfit. Velmati (Priyanka Arul Mohan), except for her name was a disaster in all aspects. Truly resonating the fact that she’s nothing but a Melugu Doll.

There were two more interesting peculiar characters, Sengolan (Shiva Rajkumar) and Captain Rafiq (Sundeep Kishan). There is one shot where the three of them join hands and do an ‘Aayutha Ezhuthu’. By that time, I was tired to even criticize. Seriously, when there was so much guns and bombs around, who comes with a sword and bow and arrow to fight. (I could only remember Hawkeye coming with his bow and arrow and making a great scene dumb in the first Avengers movie.) And that was supposed to be heroic. Is this even the guy who made ‘Rocky’. And don’t get me started with the parallels he was trying to show between the two films with the help of ammunition.

Of course action films like these come up with a certain suspension of disbelief but the whole film being so was unacceptable. How was even Dhanush dodging so many bullets in the interval, why were none shooting at Dhanush when he was surrendering? Why were all the characters so one dimensional. Why so much Deus ex machina in a supposedly noncommercial movie. And who was this guy with munda baniyan and sunglasses, who comes out to save all the main characters just in time. But thanks to him, he was the only fun factor in an otherwise dull action movie. And finally that reveal, oh my god, it was truly exhausting. What should have been like the scene where Parthiban raises hand in ‘Aayirathil Oruvan’ ends up to be like a total spoof? Is that sculpture supposed to look like Dhanush, or is it just me.

Out of three hours, the only scene which works is, when Eesa is in the army camp, Abdool Lee (Sembatta / Stephen) is criticized by one from the group getting the name. That reaction of Dhanush when he says, “enga ponalum ipdi oruthan vanthuran” was the only natural aspect of the whole film which tries to do so many things, without knowing what.

After ‘Rocky’ I was truly happy for Arun Matheswaran, so much so that, I didn’t want to immediately watch ‘Saani Kaayidham’ and exhaust his filmography. But after ‘Captain Miller’ I seriously doubt whether he has anything in him. More than anything, the film was such a disappointment.

Movie Review – Leo

An actor in fine form and a director who believes in his craft, sell this mediocre film, thanks to the sincerity.

Thanks to a lot of backlash, it took me a while to watch the film. For the hype it generated before it, I too, like many of you, wanted the film to fail. But it was surprisingly cool. Good that I already got to know about the fake flashback and boring second half. I was prepared for a snooze fest. But I was happy how Lokesh made an ambitious project, within his limits, in a blockbuster format movie. Lokesh and now Nelson, even though are lifting the standards of blockbuster genre with their way of handling cinema, it’s sad to see that they are inspiring a bunch of youngsters in just making a good film as a road to a big star’s project.

The film starts with an amazing Sandy and his gang stealing a house. Their whole part was done superbly and left to surprise as what they’re capable with, may be in some other film of LCU. Of course the looks and the way Sandy behaved was a template psycho character, yet it still worked. In fact the whole first half worked like a charm. It’s lovely to see how Lokesh is making a genre of his own, with this fake identity thing. He makes the story with a lot more respect than other masala filmmakers do.

The much coveted Hyena sequence happens next. It’s a reasonably well choreographed sequence. But don’t know why Vijay never gets his wig right. VFX was top notch. There are bound to be comparisons with the grizzly bear sequence of ‘The Revenant’ (a film and a sequence which I didn’t like) but it’s understandable that they couldn’t go to the level of that, with the limited expertise and budget available. Overall the sequence was a fair deal and how it acted as a setup for many things in the movie, about Parthi’s (Vijay) affinity towards animals, Joshy’s (Gautham Vasudev Menon) shooting skills, Siddhu’s (Mathew Thomas) javelin skills etc. Only because of that scene, in the second half when Siddhu throws the Javelin at Parthi, it was that powerful, otherwise it would have been bland like Andrea with the bow and arrow in Master. Also loved the suddenness of the title card post. It was short and sweet.

Vijay was at his charming best. I’m afraid I’m becoming a fan of him. I hate to confess but he’s aging like a fine wine. In this film as a father of two kids, his chemistry with them were amazing. Especially the “Karu Karu Karupayi” sequence, he absolutely owned it. Both Trisha and her character was dull and boring and there was absolutely no chemistry between the two of them, which was sad to see. It’s really difficult to be a woman testosterone filled Lokiverse. The only kind of women which would appeal in his films would be like that of Agent Tina (Vasanthi).

The highlight of the film would definitely be the fight sequences, whether or not it was clinical, whether or not it worked for you, each one was taken with so much effort and sincerity, every fight had a theme. It was like watching Shankar film’s song. Even though by now it had become redundant, he was the first person who invested (not just the money) on songs. But hopefully this concept doesn’t get beaten to death and become an excuse for bad writing.

By the time, the glass breaks and we hear the “Badass”, Lokesh almost sells the film, with the help of terrific Vijay. Anything and everything which happens in the film post that (except for that click of a tongue to call Subramani) is him trying to have a conclusive end to the film. The flashback was a disaster, especially as soon as Elisa Das (Madonna Sebastian) appears in the film. How are we supposed to sympathize for a character we had just seen? And Leo escaping the place too wasn’t convincing.

It’s followed by few high octane sequences and one sudden breakdown of Parthi in front of his wife. In cricket, you can say how well a batsman is in form, by the sound of ball striking the willow. That scene felt like it. Vijay doesn’t do that type of sequence anymore. There he doesn’t cheat only his wife but us too. Such terrific acting. The character reveal in the end was just ‘meh’ but how Lokesh has cleverly found out what works for Vijay and what doesn’t is shown in the end by his supposed comic take in the dinner table and his hesitancy in picking the call in the climax. A similar sequence would be there in ‘Master’ where he’d with his students and climb the stairs saying, “apdi enatha than da pesitu irupanga”. Its minute things like these which Lokesh has extracted from Vijay, which makes the film nice.

I hate to believe that he’s adding songs just for the market. I guess he too enjoys it. It was okay for “Pathala Pathala”, even though unnecessary, everyone were happy to see Andavar having his due of fun but “Naan Ready” was totally unnecessary and cringe. I don’t want to read too much into his idea of drug free society and LCU. It just feels like the message in ‘Thulluvadho Ilamai’, where they show everything and ask them not to do.

Travelogue: Rupin Pass – A Stairway to Heaven

Wonder when the last time was, I wrote a travelogue this late. Even if I had, it would have been due to my personal work, but this time, it was far from it. May be that’s personal too. Whatever it is, never imaged life would change so much in a gap of three months. When I think about it now, I hardly remember anything except for Raja going for shopping at a critical juncture and irritating me. But as always, when I write, it flows. I hope it does this time too.

Day -1 – A last minute thriller to Central

9/27/2023

When the time arrived, I thought all the planning was going to go down the drain rain because it started pouring when I was about to start. Unfortunately for me, there was a repair in the MRTS section, so trains were going till Chintadripet, so I thought I’d take an auto directly to Chennai Central. Never would auto/cab be my first preference. I would always prefer public transport. But that day due to no other choice I opted for auto. I started trying for auto from around two hours before my train, TAMILNADU EXP (12621) and didn’t get it for an hour. Finally, when I lost hope and started from my home to get on train and planned to get down at nearest point and then take an auto, I finally got a cab. The cab was for Rs. 800, equivalent to my ticket to Delhi. I was frustrated beyond words. That’s the problem with my family. Everyone has a backup in me to drop, but for me it’s always a trouble. It’s not the first time and of course it’s not going to be the last time too. But as usual, I’ll find a way.

Day 0 – RAC ride

9/28/2023

My RAC ticket didn’t get confirmed, which I didn’t tell anyone at home. Various questions like, why do you want to struggle and go, why can’t you take flights instead, why do you have to go at all? would arise. If a man doesn’t have the freedom to fail, then what is freedom. No, I didn’t tell that. Gandhi did. Anyways just like every time, I get to meet the most honest souls in train.

There was this young guy travelling to Rajasthan, who was silent and wasn’t talking to anyone. Just looking at him would make you feel sad. He was such a character. He was coming from somewhere south, taken the Delhi train to go to Agra first and then to go somewhere in Rajasthan. I think he was married; he was in a video call and in tears a couple of times. Of course, I didn’t ask him what it was but seeing him made me emotional. Everyone have their own stories, their own happiness, and sorrows. Trains are like reflection of entire society. When you go on a long-distance train, especially alone, sit on a side upper in sleeper class and watch people, seriously, there is nothing more humbling than that.

My friend, Raja was supposed to come by train but as usual cancelled without feeling guilty. Somehow, I’m forgiving to people nowadays. Without doing much, I was able to timepass that day. I read some short stories, which were mostly unimpactful, yet something is better than nothing. I got a berth to sleep that day as well as the previous day, so it was fine.

Day 1 – A Long Bus Ride to Jiskun (2,099M)

9/29/2023

The train reached well on time. My co-passenger got down happily at Agra and I got down at Delhi. I would have preferred it to be a bit late because I had to timepass till afternoon for the bus and I hadn’t booked any room. That was one of the two things that I had planned for this trip. To not take a room and to not eat non veg.

Once I got down, I used IRCTC Executive Lounge for breakfast. I had enough to keep me up for the day. The lounge was for couple of hours, so I left from there to Maharana Pratap ISBT Kashmiri Gate to catch my 16.50 bus to Rohru. As usual Raja came late at 16.30. But he bought homemade food from both his home and his friend’s home. We ate one packet of it in bus, which felt heavenly.

After sharing our stories with each other and some menace by transgender, the dinner point came, and we had the remaining food there. The dinner point was scary to even have water. There were lot of loo breaks where we got down and got back. The bus reached Shimla around midnight and Rohru a few hours late. One of my previous trek mates, Sachin, suggested me to have a sweet at one of the shops enroute to Rohru but that was not available.

I had an immediate liking for the Rohru bus stand. We had a good three to four hours to spend before catching our next bus to Gosangu. We had breakfast served by an old Nepali woman. Momos and Chowmein never felt this good. We had our fill. The person in the next shop was kind enough to give us a couple of apples.

Finally, the bus came around 11 AM and it took forever to go. We had thali among apple orchids, couldn’t pluck one, even though all of it were nearby. The views getting better with each stops and in the last stop we got to know that the bus driver had driven lorry from there to Chennai. That was crazy. It would take four days it seems. But he was quite nonchalant about it. By each minute I was getting scared whether it was a right decision to have opted for public transport. But Raja, even though wanted to take the transport by the organization, wasn’t complaining a bit. He too was accepting it as an adventure. Only I was ridden by guilt, thinking what to do, if we couldn’t reach on time and miss the trek.

By the way, we finally stopped at Gosangu and luckily for us the village madam (a government official) who was in the bus was travelling to some place before Jiskun so we too hopped on to the car. We got to know it was him who dropped Sachin the previous day to Jiskun. I had a bad feeling about him and as expected he was cunning and charged Rs. 500 for the ride. For some reason, I couldn’t reason it out with him, and paid the amount. Probably it was the only bad experience of the trip. If you rule out the cab that I had to compulsively take to the railway station.

Despite all these, we reached before the rest of the group. After three days of being on road, we were finally able to relax.

Day 2 – Bawta (2,350M) to Jhaka (2,750 M)

9/30/2023

It was a big group, and the trek leaders, Vijay, a silent guardian and Nitin, the regular culprit, were relaxed. So, I understood that this trek was for all. We had a lazy breakfast and started the trek. As usual everyone was over enthusiastic clicking pictures all around. The trek had good views right from day one. The first day’s hike was anyways short, and we reached the Jhaka campsite by lunch time.

There were on and off rains and we got a great room for ourselves. Got introduced to few more folks in the room. We played several games. The group was sportive, so it was all good. Guess, post dinner, few folks played Mafia, but I was happy to see the beds and one last day to relax properly.

The highlight of the day was when Raja and I were finally having a relaxing place to rest, we were opeining out about our lives to each other. Even though it had been three days, that was the first day where we felt truly relaxed. Anjali, who was in the next room, came out and seeing us having a deep conversation, asked us, “whether we are best friends”. Generally I don’t reply to questions like these immediately but without a moment of hesitation, Raja replied a firm “yes”. My eyes imaginarily swelled up hearing that. You know, it was one of those moments which happens only in novels.

Day 3 – Jhaka (2,750M) to Saruwas Thatch (3,280M)

10/1/2023

The start of the day was scary. It rained cats and dogs and immediately all my plans were getting on my head. Raja had booked the flight ticket the very next day of our trek ended and even if we slip at one place, the whole plan would go for a toss. Even if everything goes as per plan, it would be touch and go. It was irritating, but it was Raja.

The rains finally stopped, and we started off with the trek. It was a comparatively long trek with not-so-great views. The only time I got excited was when I saw the stream, but I got over excited and wet my shoes. And then it started to rain. Now I was not much worried because my shoe had already got wet.

We stayed near a Dhaba for the night, not before playing Mafia for long. I had removed my shoes and socks to dry, and it was getting cold for the night. The camp wasn’t too comfy. Felt like a makeshift camp.

Day 4 – Saruwas Thatch (3,280M) to Dhanderas Thatch camp (3,566 M)

10/2/2023

That was the day I would take back all my words written till then. I was of a feeling, why was Rupin pass rated this highly. I wasn’t liking it at all, but right from that day we started getting amazing views. First of all, my shoes dried, that was the biggest success and the rains stopped. So, all stars aligned for a successful trek. Finally, I stopped thinking about the choices I made and started being at the moment.

I think it was also the first day I got up to “Thottu thottu pesum” song. Well I could write a whole page on that song, but that’s for another day. But someone who prefers mostly soft music and wakes up grumpy most of the time, this song was a charm. By the time the last Sultanae… comes and gets followed by a humming. Well I would have been set for the day. Such a happy song and Simran, woof! Enough said.

By that time, most of us had mingled with each other, either by mafia or some other games. And everyone was aware of Raja’s return flight. Now, it became everyone’s target to make Raja reach airport by that time. We were all making permutation and combination of how to make him reach on time, even though as per no plan there was conclusive evidence that he would reach on time.

That night was easily the best campsite I’ve ever been. I told it even in the debriefing session. Loved the smile Vijay gave for my comment as an acknowledgment. It was a smile which meant that he truly understood what is said. Time and again, I came out to see the three-layered waterfall and couldn’t believe that we would be trekking to the top of it. I was looking in awe and wonder. Gave me a “Andaa kaa kasam abu kaa hukkum. Thiranthidu Sesame” feel.

I had a satisfying sleep that night.

Day 5 – Dhanderas Thatch camp (3566 m) to Upper Waterfall camp (4080 m)

10/3/2023

Next day I was in great mood. Whenever I’m in great mood, I walk last. I could see Aakanksha struggling. So, Raja and I were mostly along with her, which meant we trekked slow and trekked good, enjoying the views, and taking a lot of photos. By far it was the toughest day of the trek with continuous ascent but gave immense satisfaction when we reached the upper waterfall.

The place was wide open with great sun. Lunch was amazing. We sat out for the whole day, and it felt less cold than the previous day. We played Dum charades for some time and fooled around. Next day was the big day, the pass crossing day. We were supposed to get up early for the trek. So, in my mind I was thinking how many layers I should be wearing.

That day was good for photography too, thanks to the views. Thankfully as it was not a midnight start, I could sleep properly. I was not as restless as I generally used to be, during the night before the summit day.

Day 6 – Upper Waterfall camp (4080 m) to Rupin Pass (4657 m); Rupin Pass to Ronti Gad Camp (4005 m)

10/4/2023

We got up early around 4 AM and most of them were ready and filling the dining tent to the brim. The breakfast was a horrible chenna. The worst thing about the summit day is the chenna in the morning. After force feeding it in myself, I was waiting for start. But trek leaders were waiting for sun to rise to start the trek, I guess. So, we started only around 6 AM.

The trek was a consistent ascent. And Raja and I were discussing about how the trek was so simple. Especially compared to the previous day. But only in the last bit of ascent, we got to know why this trek was termed moderate difficult. It was one steep path, and we were crawling to get to the top, which felt like an illusion. The path felt like the one in Game of Thrones where the enemies would enter a narrow gate and the opposition attacks through it.

At the top of the pass, we got so much time to take photos, a rarity when you do winter treks. For example, in Pangarchulla, none were in mood to stand there for more than five minutes.

We had lunch after first bit of descent. The problems started from there. I was having a constant vomiting sensation. I thought it was due to the food. I felt like puking but couldn’t. There was no water source in the path so couldn’t have water too. With the heat, I was starting to have headache too.

Raja on other hand wanted to go to the last point so that he’d have more probability to catch the bus. I was in no mood to go because I was feeling sick, more than being tired. But if there had been a chance, I’d have taken that. But thankfully it wasn’t mean to happen, so I went to the tent. My head was paining like hell.

Even though I felt the exhaustion was less, i had never had this bad experience in any of the treks. But thankfully after a couple of hours I was alright. We decided that the next day we would go as early as possible and catch some bus to Delhi.

Day 7 – Ronti Gad Camp (4005 m) to Sangla Valley (2675 m) and the endurance test post that

10/5/2023

That day, Raja and I were given free license to run. But we didn’t run, we flew. Till the point where we got signal, we were going together, and we were at the start of the group. Once Nitin confirmed something, he asked us to proceed with the porters. We bid goodbye to everyone and flew along with them.

We reached the point where they were supposed to get cab. From there it was a humid, sandy downhill path, for the next couple of hours I could feel the heat coming out of my body. We rested for few minutes at two or three places but otherwise we were on cruise mode. Raja said that it was a test of endurance. As I’m generally good with descent and Raja was a fit guy, we were able to make it.

But the last few meters of ascent on the road was killing, I could literally feel my heart pumping through my ears. That was the maximum I’ve felt like it. Thankfully the torture didn’t last long, and we got to the bus stand soon.

When we reached the bus stand at about 12.40 PM, a bus to Rampur was ready to go by 1 PM. We quickly had lunch nearby and hopped on to the bus. The Kinnaur road was excellent. As soon as I switched on my mobile, I got a bad news from family and a train of thoughts started to run in mind. On the other hand, I wanted to catch the 5 PM bus to Delhi. If we catch that, Raja will have comfortable time to reach the airport. It was an AC Volvo, so thought, maybe it’s the reward for all the hard work. But on other side I didn’t want to get into an AC bus. En route Rampur the bus stopped at a great momo shop where we had momo and soup. Wonder what soup it was, it tasted different.

Thanks to the landslide and traffic jam due to it, we got stuck and couldn’t reach Rampur by 5 PM. So, we took the next bus to Chandigarh. In that short gap Raja went for shopping. The ticket counter got crowded like hell and we were on verge of not getting the tickets. We got the last two tickets. One in first row and one in last. I was severely irritated and scolded Raja for his carelessness.

The nights journey was hell. It was super uncomfortable with so many people around. Every time I wanted to sleep, the bus would stop for tea, and I couldn’t sit inside it. It was one of the worst bus journeys I’ve ever had.

After getting down at Chandigarh Bus Stand, we got bus to Delhi which was a lot more comfortable. I was telling how Chandigarh is such a beautiful city to Raja and he was commenting, “ne inga kooda poirkiya da” (whether you’ve been here too). I felt proud.

Day 8 – Warm hospitality at Gurgaon

10/6/2023

We got down at Delhi ISBT and it was time to goodbye to Raja and his great company. Guess finally I’ve got my wingman. Hope it lasts for lifetime. He took a metro to airport, and I took to Gurgaon. We had breakfast nearby. A Dosa, which was better than I expected.

Gurgaon was very developed with high rise buildings. I had a different mental image. It felt like Dubai to me with all skyscrapers and didn’t feel polluted. From Gurgaon metro, took auto to Jessy’s place. Felt relieved after taking a shower after a week. I was dead tired and wanted to sleep but waited for lunch. Jessy as usual was great company and that day I knew she was a great cook too. Generally, my last day on treks would be reserved for drinks and junks, I didn’t do both that day. It was nice and healthy homemade food.

In the evening we went to a sweet shop, had snacks and I bought sweet to the family. I wanted to do a roadside haircut like last time but unfortunately couldn’t get a proper place to do. In the evening I started well on time and took metro to Delhi. The whole of Gurgaon had such huge liquor stores which was very tempting.

I again had dinner in IRCTC Executive Lounge and got on the TAMILNADU EXP (12622). It was crowded like hell and there was a lot of chaos as a huge Tamil group who were back from a holy trip had got on the train. It’s a common tussle with two groups who don’t understand each other’s language. Even when I was about to keep my bag, the group in my coupe was tensed. For some reason I was in good mood and understood their problem, so I was able to clear out the issues with the luggage. I got a middle berth which I thought would be uncomfortable, but I slept peacefully.

Day 9 – a day of nothingness

10/7/2023

It’s the regular last day of the trip where all you feel empty, thinking how the life is going to be beyond this. Seriously, when I write this now, so much has changed between then and now. It was a day of scouting food and thinking of what to do next. An end to another trek.

Movie Review – Ford v Ferrari

Vrooming to Victory

The first impact the movie would have, would be on your ears. Especially, if you had watched the movie with earphones like I did. Either you’d be enjoying the sound of cars whizzing from one ear to another like it happened with “Omahaziya” in your Sony Walkman or you’d be complaining of pain in your ears. Whatever may be the case, like the imaginary sparrows spinning around Tom’s head when Jerry makes him hit any roadblock with his mischief, the imaginary sound of the elite cars of the sixties would be buzzing in your head.

I’m a big fan of racing games, even though I’m not good at it. Just like how I like Mathematics even though I don’t get good marks in that subject. In Need for Speed, there used to be a stage where we would get slow cars and great environment. It would be easier to handle the cars around the corners, it doesn’t skid and other cars don’t cut corners every now and then. That used to be my favorite part of the racing game, I couldn’t proceed post that. Ford v Ferrari gave that vibe. This film would have felt lot more clinical if it had used the color of that era. Because if someone sees the film just out of the blue, by ways of film making, no one would be able to tell the time period. It feels recent. But I do understand that it’ll make the film artsy if made that way.

It was a film which was long impending in my list and just like anyone I thought it’d be a movie about two giants and their fights. When I started watching it, I understood it had two leads. I thought I was right. At least till the first half an hour of the movie I was of the opinion that one person out of the two would go to the other company and that’s what the film is about. But the director James Mangold cleverly doesn’t do that. A nice way to mislead the audience right from the way posters, title etc. were made.

The movie starts with Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) retiring from racing due to a health issues. It’s lovely to notice his composure. What I thought would be about his revival story or rage wasn’t there at all except for the one scene and my favorite one, where he takes Henry Ford 2 (Tracy Letts) for a spin. Reminded me of the story Lokesh Kanagaraj told as an idea for ‘Vikram’, where the lion says to the fox, “even though I’m old, I’m still a lion”. Apart from that Matt Damon doesn’t have much to do.

The movie is about Ken Miles (Christian Bale) entirely. May be that’s why Christian Bale would have agreed to do it. Bale was phenomenal in the movie. It’d have been a treat to his fans. Even for a non-fan like me, it felt like one of his best performance, if not the best. I generally feel he overdoes his role and spoils the flavor of the movie. But here it was to the point. From the posters I thought it’d have been Matthew McConaughey. Just imagine if the same movie had been made by Scorsese or Fincher and had McConaughey and DiCaprio as leads. It’d have been truly legendary.

There is no risk taken in the movie and that’s why the universal impact and that’s the reason the movie suffers from normalcy and doesn’t become a legendary movie. It’s a movie which anyone would like if they watch but if you ask me whether it’s a must watch movie, I’d say rather not, because the same feeling would be got from any movies of this genre like may be say a ‘Real Steel’. That’s the problem with making risk free movies. It’d be neither like a guilty pleasure movie like a ‘Death Race’ or ‘Fast and Furious’ nor like a cult movie like ‘Baby Driver’. It’d come and go, entertain, but wouldn’t impact.

Movie Review – Water

This one’s more on the surface level

Probably the least impactful movie of the trilogy, which could be attributed due to lot of factors like, the gap between the movies (this being the longest between two movies in the trilogy), the actors or even due to the compulsion of completing a trilogy. This always happens when you want to make a package of impactful movies. One out of it drifts away from the purpose. Rather than counting as a three different stories, a blue print should have been created to understand what happens as part of this universe. Having said that, the film is still an important film. May be for the one who see this as a standalone film or see this as first film in the trilogy, it’ll hit you a lot harder.

The first thing which strikes about the movie is the clarity of visuals. The first couple of movies ‘Fire’ and ‘Earth’ didn’t have the clarity but rather had a certain bit of rawness to it. ‘Water’ had a vibe of foreign film, even though it was made in India by an Indian. Technically, not Bollywood. It gives a very award film flavor. Not that I complain but when that happens, we tend to distance ourselves from the movie. ‘Earth’ in spite of having a superstar like Aamir in the film, lures us in the film.

The opening act of a small girl being pushed into a widow house by undergoing a painstaking process would wrench any heart. Anyone watching the film would instantly fall in love with young Chuyia (Sarala Kariyawasam). It’s difficult to not empathize with her. Chuyia is a dream kid. Even though she undergoes such rigorous act of torture and being sent away from home, she hardly cries. She does complain and shows her attics and in the process makes us afraid whether she’d get caught by the chief of the house, Madhumati (Manorama), but luckily she doesn’t.

Kalyani (Lisa Ray) remains as the only woman with hair in the ashram because Madhumati uses her for prostitution so that the ashram would get enough money to run. Shakuntala (Seema Biswas) on the other hand is torn between two worlds. She does what she had to do but then she thinks whether what she’s pushed to, is fair. Together all them form a unique combo with Chuyia being a focus point.

I would have loved the movie if it had talked about Chuyia completely. Rather the main focus shifts around Kalyani (Lisa Ray) and Narayan (John Abraham), who was clueless in the movie. Of the three movies and the ‘n’ number of characters, only John Abraham’s character feels so foreign. He doesn’t gel with the movie at all. He looks like postcard rebel who doesn’t create any impact. The romance between the two and the twist in the end too doesn’t work. Generally each one of the Deepa Mehta’s movies have a great sex scene but in this movie, even that fails.

The only good aspect of the movie is, it doesn’t dramatize any of the sequence. It doesn’t see the movie by shock value. Whether the scene where Chuyia is taken to prostitution or Kalyani’s death. It could have been easily made horrific but Deepa Mehta chooses the other way around. I’ve to appreciate her for that. But Kalyani’s death in the water, felt so gimmicky. Just because it was titled this way, she goes into the water, it didn’t feel appropriate.

Of all the characters, if there was one stand out performance, it had to be Gulabi (Raghuvir Yadav), a hijira who acts as a pimp for Madhumathi. A combo which will surely bring chills to the viewers. Especially the scene where he takes Chuyia to a palace and walks on the way to room.

To see the people walk about their acts so nonchalantly as if it’s very common, makes us know how hardened they’re as individuals. A set of people who don’t even know what mistakes they are committing. It’s disheartening to see that such people had existed before. I can only imagine how difficult it would have been to make them understand the ideologies of what’s good and bad. Truly another shocker of a film.