Variety is the spice of life

I’ve been thinking of posting this one for a long while now ever since “Modern Love” Chennai chapter was released on Prime. Modern Love series are basically anthology series inspired by Modern Love – American version. The series has its international version based on some famous cities and for India, till now, it covers Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Chennai, with Bangalore being the surprising omission (so far)!!! While majority of the episodes from this series is dull, drab and for niche audience, with major focus on themes involving extra marital affairs, lgbqt. The series almost confirms that regular romance is non existent if not for the themes shown on these episodes. The one episode that I wanted to post about was probably the most cinematic of the entire series across all the cities. For its heart is in cinema and the protagonist is a movie buff that too of the romantic genre. It is inarguably the worst named one across the entire spectrum of Modern love series with its running title b

First up, about the title. A curiosity inducing one and when the meaning turned out to be forehead of an elephant, it did make one wonder how it related to the story line. With just 6 episodes, having average run time a touch under 40 mins, the series came with an added incentive of a short span as well. Above all with Manikandan, the present toast of Tamil cinema, who is breathing life into every character he plays, something that Vijay Sethupathi and Vikram used to do in their prime, playing the role of villain, being one of the many other reasons that made me watch this series.  The very first episode tests your patience with Atharva, the hero, hogging most of the screen time with his wooden expression, be it while conversing with his wife or with his sub-ordinate police officer or with his superiors. Wonder how he manages to retain the same reaction for every situation thrown in!!! The flake that kickstarts what ends up in a snowstorm of events happens within the first half hour an

23-8-23. Guess this would be the date that future generations will refer to when they are watching Earth from the moon.  The dark side of moon has always been a subject of inquiry and has/had a mystic about it. With its very second attempt, India and ISRO managing to reach there is nothing short of a phenomenon!! For a country that is in its 7th decade of being Independent, having been looted, pillaged, and ravished by colonial powers and foreign invaders for several centuries, and having to face humiliating treatment at the hands of those very powers who kept denying technical know-how and resources, our scientists showed the world up in a royal manner by landing Chandrayan-3 where no human has gone before. They dared to not just dream but proved the naysayers that, we are not just cheap skill and low wage resource laden country, but we can manage to land a craft on moon at 1/3rd the cost that those countries spend on making movies in that genre!! When Mangalyaan was launched successf

When Amitabh was at his prime, age wise and career wise, he was touted as the “angry young man” who represented majority of the then youth. His style, voice, persona that were initially thought to be his bane, became his USP and established the phenomenon that he became. Rajini made a career for himself by remaking hits of Amitabh and in a way, owes his initial success story to the hits of Amitabh. Even though performance wise and personality wise they were chalk and cheese, the story that had already tasted success with a set audience, guaranteed a semblance of repeat when it got remade in local languages with regional flavor. Add to that the undeniable screen presence coupled with quirky mannerisms, which were initially frowned upon and eventually grew over the audience, Rajini carved an identity for himself as the angry young man for TN audiences. Even before his cult grew to its present frenzy, traces of its future were evident when movies where he never had a role, started referen

When reading the “Subtle art” book, mentioned on the previous post, I came across mentions about two real life personalities, who witnessed similar incidents in their life and how they responded. The first one was about Dave Mustaine was a guitarist in an up-and-coming band. His tenure with them was short lived mainly because of his unruly nature and rude behavior fueled by substance abuse. He was kicked away from the group that went on to become one of the most popular music bands of all time, reveling in the genre of heavy metal. The band was Metallica. It is quite natural, looking back at the success story that Metallica became, for Dave to have heart burn over missed opportunity. He, in fact, was no loser either. He started his own band called Megadeth, that had its own fair share of success. Only difference being, if Metallica sold 100 million copies Megadeth’s success was a mere small percentage of what Metallica could achieve. This was always lingering on Dave’s mind, and he cou

There was a book club that got inaugurated in office and many people had donated books for the “library”. Incidentally i was the first borrower and the title of the book caught my attention. As my own way of nose thumbing at many for various reasons, I took this book. It had been a long while since I had a hard copy English book and the dingy smell of organic compounds that break down over a period, caused many pleasant memories to resurface, that are relatable for those who are familiar to that smell. The very first chapter titled “Don’t try” kick started the anti-advisory mechanism inherent, and I jump dived headfirst into the book. True to its tag, the whole content and theme of the book was counter intuitive in its approach.  I rarely read self help or books that advise how to lead life or how to be successful in your career or be a better manager etc. Same goes for those who offer coaching in stock markets or on picking good stocks that yield billions in returns or how to become b