Avengers - End Game

The Avenger drama has ended with Storky gone. Its a bad feeling to see Stork die.

The movie is once again a visual spectacle with a mega war between the avengers and the Thanos army. The whole of the Avengers unite to abolish Thanos from the universe. Hope he does not return from another universe.

Late Stan Lee makes a cameo in one of the scenes where he pledges to make love and not war while Stork strides ahead of Lee on a highway scene.

The energy is OK OK and appeals generally in the infinity saga. Cap America retires. There is a bunch of new entrants who might take the avengers to saving planets and universes to the next level.

The bit that really hurts is to see Stork's funeral. I love him more than 3000.

Hope from shawshank redemption

Last week, me and few friends were talking about having and deserving the best things in life. We were imagining ourselves to be the prison inmates of Shawshank gossiping about the new  entries and happy for the exits. Eventually we spoke about the "Hope" tonic that we missed.

Living without hope is the most terrible thing one can experience. We come and visualise the spectacle of life and consequentially vanish. Hope is what distinguishes a man from everything else.

Here are a few inspirational quotes on Hope from the movie

Hope is a good thing, may e the best of the things and no good thing ever dies - Andy

Salvation lies within - Warden Samuel Norton

Geology is a study of pressure and time. Thats all it takes - Pressure and Time. That and a goddamm poster! - Andy


I have to remind myself that some birds are not meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright. And when they fly away, the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up does rejoice!! - Brooks

Hunter Killer

My fetish with submarine movies continues with this Gerard Butler movie called Hunter Killer. The title goes by the name of the submarine which is also the hero of the movie.

There is US submarine that goes missing when US is trying to snoop on the Russian ports. Gerard Butler is called to rescue the missing submarine. There is another team headed by Toby Stephens is sent to observe the Russian naval base. They find out that Russian president is imprisoned by the Russian defence minister.

Now the show turns in to action in rescuing the Russian president by US team on land and on Hunter Killer. Gerard Butler finds an abandoned Russian submarine and tries to resucue people in it. He gets to meet the Russian captain of the submarine.

On the land, in US, defence ministry plans to wage war on Russia on finding out the president's imprisonment while president is swiftly taken to Hunter Killer.

Hunter killer is attacked by the Russian forces headed by a destroyer war ship. The captian who trained the men on destroyer ship is in Hunter Killer. He along with Russian president call out to not attack the submarine but in vain.

The final show down happens when the Hunter Killer is attacked by forces on naval base. The destroyer war ship nullifies the attack and retaliate the naval base. The president is saved and there is happy ending.

The movie is high drama with a lot of nail biting moments. Gerard Butler delivers the best. Submarine is the main character to look for. Good weekend movie to watch out for.

THOR - 1

After the death of the great Stan Lee, I thought of watching the marvel movies once more and started with Thor.

It is a super hero movie staring Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman. Directed by Keneth Branagh based on the marvel comics by the same name.

Odin - the king of Asgard (one of the 9 realms of the universe) has 2 sons - Thor and Loki. Both Thor and Loki want to prove their father that each one is capable of heir from Odin. Thor in this attempt, wages a war on Frost giants of Jotunheim. Odin would have won wars on Frost giants and conquered their source of power - casket of ancient winters.

Odin punishes Thor by expelling him to earth. Thor meets Jane(Natalie Portman) who is a astrophysicist and falls in love with her. Thor's weapon - Mjolnir is also banished from Asgard along with Thor but Thor cannot use it. Loki is told by Odin that he is the biological son of Laufey (King of Frost giants). Loki attempts to kill Odin and Odin goes to deep OdinSleep this time.

Loki visits Thor on earth to tell that their father is dead. Thor is met with his friends from Asgrad and they plan to take him back. Thor fights the deadly automaton sent by Loki. Loki makes a nexus with Laufey. Thor fights with Loki only to be rescued by Odin. He holds Thor and Loki together on the falling bridge from Asgard that connects it to the other realms. Loki leaves the hands of Thor and commits suicide.

Its a thrilling movie with spectacular visual effects. The story line is average but Thor never the less holds the attention of the viewer.

Imaikka nodigal and Anurag Kashyap

Imaikka nodigal is a 2018 psychological action thriller starring Nayantara, Vijay Sethupathi, Atharva and Anurag Kashyap.

The protagonist is an intelligent CBI officer in the name of Anjali Vikramadithyan - played by Nayantara. The movie is about avenging few guys for the death of Vikram - Anjali's husband played by Vijay Sethupathi.

I happened to casually watch this movie over weekend for no apparent reason. I was surprised to see someone closely looking like Anurag Kashyap in the negative role. I did not bother to cross check whether it was really Anurag Kashyap as movie was hell engrossing with each scene.

Being an old timer watcher of Anurag Kashyap movies, watching almost all his works including Sacred games(Will write another post for this) and lust stories, this came as a pleasant surprise to see him acting in Tamil movie.

He plays a dual role of ACP Martin Roy and Serial killer Rudra with his voice dubbed to tamil by Maghizh Tirumeni in the movie. His acting is so commendable that I found myself looking for Rudra in every scene in the movie. He has played the negative role with much of ease that it looks like someone in real life is threatening you.

The story line is gripping with every scene being the edge of the chair experience. The fan girl in me for Vijay Sethupathi had to wait till the last minutes. Nayantara has done a great job being the imperfect - perfect police girl.

Inheritance of loss - Kiran Desai

I read when I am joyous, I read when I am angry, I read when I am rejected by the world.

Today happens to be the last day when I hold up a wonderful book - Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai.

Since the time the book won the man booker prize, it was on my wish list. I borrowed the hard copy from Chandu uncle of Gurudutt library and could finish in a week's time.

Its about Sai - young girl living in Kalimpong with her grand father. Grand father is a retired judge. There is a cook in the house and a dog by name Mutt. The story is also abou Biju, son of cook and Gyan - romantic interest of Sai. The plot is set in Kalimpong around 1986 when there used to be internal conflicts between Gorkha national liberation front(GNLF) and govt.

Sai is an anglicised girl born in Russia to a supposed to be astronaut. The astronaut and his wife die in an accident rendering Sai orphan. She attends a boarding school and later transferred to her maternal grand father's house - Cho Oyu in Kalimpong.

She is arranged with a local teacher called Noni to teach maths and science. Noni and her sister Lola live together near by Cho Oyu. Sai has other neighbours like Uncle Potty, Uncle Booty and the princess of Afghanistan.

Cook;s son Biju is an illegal migrant in America hopping restaurants for job as a chef. Sometimes he is kicked out, sometimes he leaves. He meets people with diverse backgrounds. He gets in touch with Saead Saead from Pakistan and befriends him. He constantly writes letters to cook and for the cook, looking forward to those letters are the way of life. Cook boosts in the village about his son being in America and sends all the recommendations to Biju from local friends.

At the same time, Lola boosts about her daughter being in England as the reporter in BBC. The story is set up in the time when there was no telephone and radio. But Noni and Lola would have a radio and listen to BBC every night to listen to Lola's daughter.

Cook is irritated with the judge for the ill treatment he receives from judge. Cook spread lies about the judge in return saying judge was from an affluent family and a rich one where in real, judge would have married a rich man's daughter to fund his Cambridge studies. Cook says judge loved his wife where actually judge never loved his wife and he would beat her. When cook says these lies to Sai, Judge remembers his callous ways of treating his wife, when he pushed her face to toilet when she squat on it because he wanted her to be English like.

Gyan joins GNLF and Sai discovers it when she has gone to return library books. In sometime, the tension between GNLF and local groups increase and all the main roads are closed. Judge's dog, Mutt is missing and everyone at Cho Oyu are worried. The dog would have been kidnapped by a poor woman who wishes to sell it in return for money.

Biju gets to hear about the conflict in his home land and decides to return. He buys all the many souvenirs from America for his father. When he lands in Calcutta, he discovers there are no buses to Kalimpong and takes a ride with GNLF.  He is robbed on the way. He meets the cook at Cho Oyo.

Review: Its a book that talks of the loss of India's true identity due to the British influence for a long time. The story of Judge is the true impression of how the Indian's got the British way of living. I was in the context that all Booker award winners are hard core emotion based or event based books. This one is a thoroughly easy one to go. There is a light heart humour with a lot of irony in every page and line. 

Aleph By Paulo Coelho

Go and experiment. It’s time you got out of here. Go and re-conquer your kingdom, which has grown corrupted by routine. Stop repeating the same lesson, because you won’t learn anything new that way - master J

 It is a personal account of Paulo Coelho's journey across African, European and Asian continents specially in Trans Siberian railway inquiry Russia.  

Paula Coelho is unsatisfied with his spiritual progression and contacts his master for guidance. Master directs him to take a journey to conquer back his kingdom. 

On the journey Paulo meets a young woman by name Hilal. She is a gifted violinist. She demands Paulo to accompany him in the whole journey. Paulo realizes that she is his past love in a different life dating back to 500 years. He urges to seek Aleph - a point where time and space converge and become one. He tries it Hilal. He is confused at the same time whether to act on the current life's mannerisms or past live's unfinished work. 

Hilal is constricted. Paulo wants to set her soul free. She says 

"The girl forgives you, not because she has become a saint, but because she can no longer bear to carry this burden of hatred. Hating is very wearisome. I don’t know if something is changing in Heaven or on Earth, if my soul is being damned or saved, but I feel utterly exhausted and only now do I understand why. I forgive the man who tried to destroy me when I was ten years old.’ She continued: ‘I also forgive myself. May the misfortunes of the past no longer weigh on my heart. Instead of pain and resentment, I choose understanding and compassion. Instead of rebellion, I choose the music from my violin. Instead of grief, I choose forgetting. Instead of vengeance, I choose victory"

Review: It's been sometime now I read Paulo Coelho. I could not connect to this book and felt bull shit when I read about reincarnations. May be I missed on reading the past books and there is the link. It's not a book for anyone looking for spiritual elation. Often times, I simply read Paulo Coelho because of the lines that leave a lasting impression on me irrespective of the context. This book too had few of those magical lines that keep coming back as an after thought.

URI

Hows the josh? High Sir! Hows the josh? High Sir! Hows the josh? High Sir!!. Good.

Its a movie about the surgical strike India did on Pakistan as an answer to Pakistan's attack on URI base in Kashmir.
It starts with an attack on the Indian army in the India-Myanmar border where the militants kill a dozen of army men. The government as well the nation is troubled. The retaliation comes from the protogonist - Capt Vihaan Shergill that heads a deadly ambush on the NSCN militants.

Vihaan has a ailing mother who needs his support and help. He takes the desk job at the high end office instead of borader line. He loses his brother in law in the Uri attack. Vihaan is emotionally moved.

When the surgical strike is planned, Vihaan personally meets the army general requesting his presence in the strike. He successfully completes the surgical strike.

The movie is a thriller in parts. There are punch dialogues like "Unhe Kashmir chahiye and hame unka sar", "Yeh Hindustan ab chup nahi baitega, Yeh ghar me ghusega bhi aur maarega bhi", etc, where one feels high and mighty about the nation.

The role of Govind which models the national security adviser Ajit Doval is interesting. Kaushal playing the Capt Vihaan role has given the movie the adequate invigoration. Yami Gautham plays the role of intelligence officer. Other characters are played well too.

Good for short lived one time watch and high kick. 

A hundred little flames

This is a book written by Preeti Shenoy. 

The narration is by a young man called Ayan who loses his job and joins his grand father in Kerala. Ayan sets off to Kerala to tend to his muttacha(grand father) who would have had a fall and broke his leg. 

Much of Ayans life incidents are controlled by his father Jairaj. Jairaj is a devious man planning to sell the house - thekke modem that muttacha lives in. 

To Ayans surprise, he starts liking the village his muttacha lives in. It's called poongavanam. He enjoys playing football with local team. He starts loving every aspect of thekke modem. There would be a care taker for muttacha as well as the thekke modem by name velu. Ayan loves being with velu. Ayan explores every nook and corner of the house to see if muttacha has kept those toys that he used to play with when he was kid along with his cousin Nitya. He speaks to Jairaj and aunt shaila on regular basis from thekke modem. 

Muttacha is angry as both his children don't come to visit him. But incidentally once when Ayan has gone for a job interview, Jairaj visits thekke modem. He convinces muttacha to go and see a doctor for regular checkup. But muttacha is actually shoved in to asylum by Jairaj and looks like only Jairaj is the legal visitor to visit muttacha. When Ayan returns home from interview, he learns from velu that Jairaj has put muttacha in a mental hospital. Velu and Ayan are spell bound about Ayans father behavior. All that Jairaj want is to put muttacha away and sell thekke modem. 

Ayan gets help from his friends and the local football club in finding out where muttacha is admitted. He succeeds in getting till muttacha posing as a journalist and documentary maker. He promises muttacha that he will release him out of the hospital soon. That is when muttacha asks Ayan to read his diaries to understand that Rohini is not any imaginary person. 

Ayan reads all the diaries that grandpa has kept and understands what truly to love someone means. He gets muttacha back home the next day. He suggests to muttacha he go find Rohini to which muttacha agrees. 

Ayan goes to Pondicherry where he find Rohini and calls muttacha. Rohini and muttacha are reunited. Ayan takes muttacha to Pondicherry from poongavanam and sees muttacha pass away when he and Rohini see each other. 

The book a nice fable about true friendship and love. The chronicles of muttacha has made me believe and realize that love does not need to have a relationship to express, experience and enjoy. Love is a form we all need to surrender to. 

The description of thekke modem is really appreciable as I started looking for thekke modem in every random village building that looked like a home. Muttachas character is simply good and one could feel the loss when he finally passes away. 

What I had thought as a time pass book really kept me going till the finish. It inspired me to experience true love at some point. After the initial reluctance, it captured me and made me see scenes from book every where I went. 

Far from the madding crowd - Thomas Hardy Book

To start with, I never thought I would be interested in a olden day English classic which is not fiction.

Far from the madding crowd is a lovely tale of love, betrayal and submission. The story is set up in rural England in the times of 1800. Its about Bathsheba, an intelligent woman exploring world all alone. She inherits her familial property when she is very young.

Gabriel Oak is a shepherd who falls in love with Bathsheba at first sight. He proposes her. She refuses.

Bathsheba gets in contact with her neighbour William Boldwood who admires her charm. William is an old man yet to find his lady love. He finds Bathsheba very lovable. Bathsheba sends him a valentine in a playful way sealed in red velvet box with words "marry me" embosses on it. Boldwood eventually proposes a marriage but she refuses again.

When story picks up pace, Bathsheba is again in love with a handsome looking sergeant Troy. Troy dumps a woman he loves to marry Bathsheba. Troy is a wrong man and Gabriel who is a shepherd at   Bathsheba's farm warns her on many occasions. Gabriel continues to love the same woman without conditions.

Troy is a gambler and has no interest in farming. He and Bathsheba are confronted with Fanny on the streets one day. Fanny is the old lover of Troy and she is pregnant. Troy tries to hide his excitement and desperation to meet her in front of Bathsheba. He later meets Fanny and gives her money. Fanny reaches a charity home and dies during the childbirth in a few hours after meeting Troy.

Mother and the baby are sent to Bathsheba's house in a coffin. Gabriel who knows Troy's involvement with Fanny tries to conceal child's identity. But Bathsheba finds out. Troy reaches home and kisses Fanny's corpse. He says Fanny was more to him than Bathsheba could ever be. He self loathes and leaves. He walks in to the sea in an attempt to end his life.

Troy is presumed to be dead. Boldwood renews his interest in Bathsheba and gifts her expensive things. On Christmas eve, Boldwood holds a party. Troy is not dead and visits Boldwoods house.

Bathsheba is taken by shock. She is snatched by Troy to go along with him. At this point Boldwood shoots Troy and he dies. Boldwood is convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Bathsheba buries Troy in the same grave as Fanny and her child.

All through the course, Bathsheba relies on her old and real friend Gabriel. Gabriel is leaving Bathsheba's employment as people of the village start to gossip that he is going to ask Bathsheba for marriage. Bathsheba at this point says its too soon but its not impossible. Gabriel asks her hand and she agrees. They are married.

Review: You will definitely fall in love with gabriel for his simplicity and love he bestows on Bathsheba. Throughout, Bathsheba holds her honour high and never gives away her stature. The book brings the psychological insight about human nature and how we often make wrong choices based on superficiality. The book is good spirited and cheerful and ends in a satisfying way though one could predict the end.