Variety is the spice of life

Managed to finish the second by literally burning midnight oil, when there was no power the whole night !! The second part was not as interesting as the first for the very reason that, the novelty of running the story in past and present had worn out and managing to run the story line with present world similarities began to drag after a while as expected. There were far too many convenient plot changes that lead to the eventual climax. The story was moving forward based on the Naadi suvadis having 32 slokas on Vikram. The first half of the book had dealt with about 8 of them that made me wonder how the author will fit remaining 24 slokas into one book. The answer was not to my liking as the story progressed towards the climax, the otherwise detailed slokas got crunched into couple of word baits at best. The other disappointment being that of the role of vedhalam in present world story. For all the hype around the introduction on part one, it fell literally flat and simple on the latte...

Amazon prime has this unique knack of picking one dud movie after another for direct release. But when it comes to drama series, they’ve curated some decent ones to their credit. “Four more shots please” is touted as one of the most watched shows online for last year and this year as well. It was claimed to be the desi version of “SATC”, which makes one wonder if it was a credit or tease. The series is about 4 women – a journalist turned author, a lawyer, a rich girl from a super-rich family and a gym instructor from small town Ludhiana. They all meet in a bar called “Truck bar” and befriend the bartender/owner. They discuss their daily lives, sorrow, happiness, frustration and everything under the sun and true to the name of the series, always accompanied by liquor. The series have run for two seasons so far and has some unique thing about the way it has been setup. Claimed to be the first whole women unit ever to have produced this series where in right from the technicians to the di...

Three is the magic number for a successful author. If he/she manages to deliver 3 successful superhit novels, they can be rest assured of the next decade of their career I guess. Same goes for movie directors, actors, musicians as well. The first couple of back to back hits ensures they’ve a steady source of fans, who follow their creations, at least for a reasonable amount of time, irrespective of how bad or good they may be, as compared to their own initial work or by any standard. With this novel, Peter Swanson, seems like have exhausted that glory coupon from his initial books. I re-read my reviews of his first three books once to confirm, had I been reading from the same author. I was so smitten with “Her every fear” and “Kind worth killing” that even when it dragged a bit, “Girl with clock for a heart” went as a manageable read. But the next set of books that followed were so drastically bad that makes me wonder who even wrote the first three!!! In this latest installment, feels ...

When this pandemic related work from home setup began, no one would’ve anticipated that it would extend for several months, leave alone years!! Initially people were receptive and were very considerate to the new setup, thinking that it is anyway a short term arrangement. Now that it has almost become the norm, people are now confused how to react to this situation. Previously when video calls used to happen and when there were interruptions from kids or family or pets, there used to be accommodative comments suggesting that the working people have actually invaded their area and should respect them. Nowadays it is being frowned upon, for this has become the expected setup and people are supposed to have adapted to it. Power cuts, bandwidth fluctuations, being away for personal work where in personal time overlapping with office time have all begun to create a chaotic setup which is actually demanding a fresh look and perspective from people than last year to have the setup rearranged ...

Probably the first drama series that I am posting after watching all the seasons! It is under my favorite mystery/thriller genre where in 2 guys, one a good observer masquerading as a psychic and other being a pharmaceutical sales rep with a superior sense of smell, who are childhood friends, trick the Santa Barbara police department into thinking that they have psychic powers and involuntarily/voluntarily/gatecrashing the ongoing police investigations to solve crimes. The USP of the show being, the funny antics of the lead guy who plays the psychic and how his eidetic memory and keen sense of observation helps him to come out of every situation. It has very less thrill quotient, having been diluted on the comic situations, also, the analysis is wrong every first couple of times. If it is like an objective questionnaire with multiple options, the detectives select all the wrong options first and then choose the last inevitable one as the solution. The series is 8 seasons long and one c...

The biggest plus of working from home, with a kid just starting his school life, is that I (am forced to) get to experience the same alongside him. For most of the time, the classes start well after 10 AM, by when I would be the only available person who is jobless at home, having my shift starting from 11. It was very difficult to listen to rhymes and colored alphabets for over an hour, repeatedly for weeks. But slowly I began to enjoy it just for the company that comes with junior. He would find a million different things to do during class, just to avoid looking at the screen, but when it comes to his to turn to respond, somehow will manage to say something related or that which will save the day. Unlike his other teacher, the new one really likes his antics and he is one of her favorites. Best part is, junior knows that too. When on mood, he would join the class couple of minutes early and would be vambadichifying with the teacher. While the rest of kids answer what they did over w...

There is a set pattern that is emerging in tamil cinema world. There are a bunch of technicians – directors, assistants, musicians, singers – who are forming a coterie of what is meaningful and correct cinema. What should be told to the audience of real life incidents based on which they make their stories (supposedly). How their version is the absolute of all truths. How their version will change depending on who is protesting against and whom they are supporting. How the reviewers should comment about their movie and when they should post positive reviews and what can be approved of as a critical review. And above everything, the deification of those characters that are considered evil and bad as per epics and mythological stories. They are hell bent on creating a new narrative, claiming creative liberty of projecting an alternate view point, of that of the vanquished. It slowly began as a point of view storytelling kind and has mutated into accusing the good character of wrong doing...

Probably one of the best Holmes movie ever to hit the screens. Every super hero character has a twilight zone, where in he transfers his power to the next gen person, a torch bearer in every sense. The super power of Holmes being his razor sharp brain, aided by logic and facts, the only validity for being his successor would be to have similar or better acumen. Just like origin movies for superheroes, which are sure shot thrillers and crowd pullers, the twilight zone setups are mostly laced with sadness due to weakening of power and with the knowing notion of fatality. It is very difficult to digest ones idol and hero getting beaten into a pulp or suffering embarrassment and insults on an area where they ruled. May be that is one of the key reasons why MCU’s and DU’s never make movies about the demise of their cash cow characters or at the least will have another origin series to the set the positive tone at the end. With this context, Mr. Holmes, stands heads and shoulders above any m...