Race to Oscars 2017 - Part 1

It is that time of the year when the cinematic procession culminates towards the glittering night of Oscars. This time it will be held on 27th of Feb and so thought of writing a blog about my take on best picture nominees in Oscars this year.  On the principle I feel its quite unfair to compare these movies and rank them, because all of them have been made on different subjects and have received different treatments from very different directors. But still i will go ahead and will produce a rank of mine which ultimately culminates to the best picture chosen by myself.

This same kind of exercise i had attempted to perform last year too, as i navigate through my drafts where i had started writing about the movies like "Sicario" and "The Hateful Eight". But now i have firmly decided to complete this activity.

This year Academy has nominated 9 films in best movies category "Arrival", "Hell of High water","Hacksaw Ridge", "Moonlight","La La Land", "Hidden Figures","Lion" , "Fences" and "Manchester by the Sea". Topics in these movies range from  a sophisticated science fiction to a riveting family drama, from an enchanting dazzling musical to a hardcore  staunch war movie. Please read through to know about my views on these movies.

9. Hell or High water 

Chris Pine and Ben Foster starrer "Hell or High water" is like a slow poison which seeps onto you slowly and steadily. Tim McKenzie (director ) and Giles Nuttgens (cinematographer) have been able to capture the laid back milieu of Texan countryside . They have maintained that rugged and sluggish feeling throughout the movie.Its a simple story about two brothers (Chris Pine and Ben Foster) who do some low key bank robberies across the state of Texas to earn some money and to save their old family ranch. It is followed up by how the Texan Rangers led by Jeff Bridges intelligently crack them down.

What actually steals the show is the funny and spooky conversation between Texas rangers Jeff Bridges and his Mexican deputy Gil Birmingham .The chemistry they share is catchy and witty. Jeff Bridges keeps on joking and poking Gil on his Mexican identity forth and back throughout the movie.  This act has also landed an Oscar nomination for Jeff Bridges in best supporting actor category.

I have kept Hell or High water at the bottom of the list mainly because i felt it had offered nothing new and we have kind of witnessed these kinds of westerns before.

8. Fences

When he hits it , he hits it hard. Denzel Washington is one such actor who can carry a movie alone on his shoulders at its length. And on top of that when he comes behind the camera he becomes even better. This movie is all about a man (Denzel Washington) being an African American how he tries to raise his family in 1950s America. This deals with the contemporary 1950 situation and Denzel's characters beliefs  and thought processes at those times. This movie is based on August Wilson Pultizer awar winning play with the same name "Fences ".Aptly supported in Voila Davis in his wife's role which has rightfully earned her best supporting actress Oscar nomination and Joyan Adepo as Cory (his son). This is a powerful film packed with some strong intense and emotional dialogues.  Denzel Washington is very well known to harbor on racial issues in his direction. He did the same with  "The Great Debaters" which in my opinion was another resplendent movie. This film has also earned Denzel Washington a Best actor nomination and he remains a strong contender for that.

7. Hidden Figures

Hidden Figures is a story of a group of African American women who contributed  significantly to the success of a first manned space mission for NASA in 1950s and 60s. The movie tethers on the line of how a person can succeed against all the odds if he relentlessly pursues towards it. The main protagonists of the story fight against the two most prominent issues of all time i.e. against racism and gender indifference .Here all the 3 female leads (Taraji P Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monae act well ,complemented by a very subtle and resplendent display of acting by Kevin Costener as the NASA project lead. This movie navigates through the common taboos of that era and finishes the movie on a good note.  Climax at the end seems to be bit cliched but this is the case as always with an adaptation of real life stories.

Hidden figures is a good movie to watch with family. It sometimes goes into the details of mathematics (i sometimes i felt how blessed now are we with computers and can't think of writing such lengthy formulaes and their deductions on board.), so an apt movie if you want to inculcate the culture of mathematics and science in your kids.

6. Moonlight

Just before i start my review of moonlight i should mention that from now the serious business will begin . From moonlight and the movies above in the list we will see the truly unique concepts, mind twisting cinematography, editing and direction which will touch the heart and brain of a movie goer.

Moonlight is a story of a person of African American origin traced from his childhood to his adulthood. It shows his travails in the rough neighborhood of Miami where he explores his feelings and his sexuality. Brilliantly acted by all the 3 characters in the character of Chiron. This movie is very unassuming and subtly directed. A must watch for all the movie goers who like serious movies. Mahershala Ali brilliantly captures the scenes in a pretty short role as the character of Juan which has rightfully earned him an nomination for best supporting actor.

I would end this blog post with this and will provide my reviews for rest of the five movies in my next blog post . As i had mentioned before from Moonlight the serious business has kicked in and art of movies will be at extreme display for the next five movies.

PS: All the images are courtesy of IMDB

Basket of human emotions seen through the lenses

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart-Helen Keller

Need for time management kept on pounding on my doors during last two years. During that time I realized that time is more precious and dearer than money. During those times I had seldom got any time to watch a movie or to even appreciate a simple creative act. And then when i got some of it, I happily obliged that time by doing what best i do and that is harboring myself on some of the gem of the movies. Some of the previous blogposts highlight my journey into the world of movies which i had enjoyed thoroughly

Image Courtsey: http://www.gonemovies.com/

Some movies don't follow any conventional or straight-forward path and gradually they attain timelessness. They can be re -watched over and over again and that too without harnessing the feeling of being repetitive. What makes a movie Immortal or unforgettable? Is it the story, is it the set of characters twanged in the movie and or the resplendent display of human emotions.

Human emotions in true essence prevail through the time and can be experienced by people over and over again irrespective of time and space.

Das Boot was on my watching list for a long time. I did manage to put that movie in my laptop’s dvd player once, but absence of subtitles halted my efforts. Das Boot to me is not essentially a war film; it is an opera which captures human emotions in different situations. It’s a movie which exemplifies bonding and team building. Yes, this movie can be shown in a team building exercise to its participants.

It teaches of how to be an efficient team. A team is only successful if all the members of the team perform their own work efficiently and then complement each other. If one person is being called to perform all the duties, then it’s not an efficient team. In Das boot when the submarine was sinking after being hit by the enemy ship, the crew members performed their own duty so well that they came out of the bottom and hurled back to the surface.

Is it an anti-war movie? Yes, it can be, here the crew members who toil under the water tirelessly for days sometimes question back the decisions taken by their superiors.Superiors who are sitting in their posh offices and having a scrumptious meal. But isn't the same happens when superiors sometimes don’t understand the pain suffered by team members now a days also .Master director Stanley Kubrick harbored on the same topic in his 1957 epic ‘Paths of Glory’. Paths of Glory went one step ahead when Kirk Douglas refused to participate in the war. Das Boot holds itself back and forces us to remain within the world of submarine and experience the emotions.

Image Courtsey: http://flickersintime.com/

We get introduced to the Captain Willenbrock played by Jurgen Pronchow who has nerves of steeland who is un-fluttered in all tough situations. A captain may not be the most technically sound person at times but he has the toughest mental strength and is a gritty character. The underwater world of submarine has been perfectly depicted in this movie. Even we as audience sail through the same claustrophobic phase as the characters of this movie experience. It is a must watch for any serious movie aficionado.

Same human emotions but in a different way were captured in another interesting Hinglish movie called Lunchbox. Here human emotions surfaced at loneliness. It’s how loneliness bridges the gap between the two main protagonists of this movie. Superbly played by awesome Irrfan Khan and Nimrat Kaur. Ever versatile Nawazurddin Siddiui aptly performed the supporting role of Sheikh.

Here Irrfan Khan “Saajan Fernandes” again exemplifies and showcases the human emotions at different juncture of the movie. Adjusting the spectacles to stare sneeringly whenever he reads the letters from the lunch box, looking himself at the mirror which reflects back his age and questions his forthcoming deeds are examples of masterful depiction of human emotions.

Movies have been and always will be the perfect medium through which human emotions are captured. Be it a 1981 gritty war movie like 'Das Boot' or a 2013 plain social drama movie like 'Lunchbox' human emotions prevail everywhere and teaches us something to learn from.My Quest for witnessing good movies continues.

India and Economics -1

What i learnt during last few days were some amazing concepts. Some concepts which were murky and cloudy, some concepts which were discrete. So i thought let me string all those concepts together.

We plundered from economic growth to current issues in the economy. So What determines a country's growth. It is its GDP or Gross domestic product. GDP refers to the country's ability to consume as well its ability to spend. More you consume or more you spend your GDP increases. For a developing country like India GDP per capita comes into the picture. It means GDP divided by the population of the country.  So GDP per capita helps to compare countries like India and Luxembourg which have a huge difference in population.

India's economic growth can be divided into three eras 1947 to 1980 (Inward looking era ), 1980 -1990 (Mild liberalization era) and 1991 onwards (Extensive liberalization era). When India got independence JawaharLal Nehru thought creating wealth and removing inequality through investment in public sector was the only way out. There was huge emphasis to reduce imports and to get import substitutions. India followed what as known as Nehru Mahalonabis model. This model was the framework of second five year plan formulated in 1955.

There were several reasons for this inward looking behaviour.
Firstly the historical factor. British had come to India as a traders as East India company. Slowly and steadily they started expanding and started taking keen interest in India's governance. They exploited India and  its resources a lot.People started believing that British had capitalist interests who had exploited them and had pushed  them towards the bowels of darkness. Due to this particular reason people thought with private sector and also with foreign investment the social welfare could not be achieved.
Second reason was the Industrial factor, India's private industrial sector was primarily led by Tatas' and Birlas'. At that time they met in Bombay (presently in Mumbai) and formed the Bombay plan. They were also of the opinion, that at that time the private enterprises were not capable enough to carry the burden of social welfare of  the nation.
All these reasons contributed to thinking of investment in public sectors, import substitutions and export reduction. What eventually these alignments brought were the concept of bureaucracy or license raj in India. Corruption got settled like a comfortable dust in a corner in the viens of the India's bureaucratic systems. Foriegn direct investment (FDI) was restricted.  Any kind of import had to undergo lot of hassles.  Narayana Murthy (co-founder of Infosys) even mentioned that to import simple computers he had to undergo lot of hassles and it costed a lot.

Entrepreneurship was almost a luxury .To setup anything it took ages and ample amount of bribe to the officials.  The growth rate achieved during that period was also known as Hindu rate of growth .It could be seen that the initial vision of Nehru had taken an incorrect turn. To give the policies some credit , few achievement of it were India's recovery, India's self belief, green revolution and no occurrence of famines.

Though in 1970s Indira Gandhi tried to do some reforms  But she had to face a lot of problems like famine, war ,emergency etc. for which she could not complete the reforms. Her son Rajiv Gandhi though led the era of what is known as Mild reform era.

In this era Rajeev Gandhi reduced import costs and started spending more on government expenditure. The salary of the government officials increased. This resulted in the consumption power of the people which in turned helped to raise the GDP. Rajeev Gandhi also forged alliances with Maruti for industrialization. But he had to face setback due to the Bofors scam.

Next came the extensive liberalization era. In the next part of this series i will discuss how the reforms took place, what were the results etc.

My Diorama in August-Sep 2011

I pen down this post as I wander and saunter in the world of movies and books this week. Also navigate through the misty Malnad hiils with my folks. For last few months have not had the opportunity to see quality movies but was able to sneak through couple of good hindi movies. So I chanced upon Rocket Singh and Chalo Dilli.

Rocket Singh though is a good movie, but definitely to get the plot going the movie has many flaws. Directed by Shimit Amin who is known for his earlier works , gritty Ab Tak Chappan and masterful Chak De India. The theme is very good and I don’t think any movie has been made on Salesmanship earlier in bollywood. The movie harbors around the protagonist Harpreet Singh (Ranbeer Kapoor) and his endurance to make name in salesmanship .After getting in, he comprehends the world of salesmanship and gets to know about the dirty things which prevail there. Demolished and insulted by his peers and his boss this movie depicts how he stamps his foot in the world of salesmanship. Well made movie punctuated with some apt acting by Ranbir Kapoor, but the plot loses its pragmatism and hovers around the unreal tactics.

I followed that movie with Chalo Dilli. This movie for sure has been inspired by the 1989 classic ‘Train ,planes and Automobiles’ and the recent Robert Downy Jr. starrer ‘Due date’. I would say the director could fathom the sense of a road movie and at the end created a good one.Vinay Pathak as always is a very good actor and ascribes his part with élan and panache. But I would say he is being now stereotyped in these kinds of roles. Lara dutta played her part well and all in all a nice movie to watch with the family.

Last but not the least I was able to complete Dante club. A marvelleous book and a hat off effort by  Mathew Pearl to pull out this classic book. Intermingled with Dante Aligheri’s poetry. Pearl has a written a masterful thriller. Some real life characters coupled with a maven plot this book is a must read for thriller fans who also relish a twang of history. I have already conjured up my mind to read his latest book ‘The Last Dickens’ which is again based on the mysterious death of legendary Charles Dickens.

To accentuate the week I finished the week with a trip to Chickmanglur with my folks. It was a trip to remember although it had the tint of spoiling rain. But nice is the way to spend quality time with your folks nestled in the hills.

As I now move on to my daily life, I surely enjoyed the last week where I could muster up some splendid things and ended it with a good seal.

Glory brought to the shores

Neither Nationalism culminated in a day nor was fighting against the British the only mean to exercise it. In 1911, setting was in Bengal; Nationalist movement was on all time high after Khudiram’s martyrdom was causing ripples in the hearts of people. People were fed up by the vile British and with their way of governance. The unfair rules and regulations had started to take toll on the natives. Leaders like Gokhale and Tilak were able to inculcate and imbibe the roots of nationalist thinking in the heads and minds of people. Roots of rebel had been planted all over the country and were flowing like a stream. They were craving for change and something fresh was asked for.

Sport has always been one of the means to unite the segregated mass, it is a harmonious language which binds together everyone. In Bengal football had taken the same seat and it was becoming the undying passion. Somehow get a round ball and start hitting it. You need a field where the ball can roll and turn, hence a pretty inexpensive and popular means of entertainment. So football as a sport in Bengal became one of the foremost sports to be exercised. Football as they say is also one of the most violent sports. It has killed people more than any other sport has.

Now to juxtapose all the earlier discreet points together we head back to 1911 and glance towards the IFA shield. Mohun Bagan club of Kolkata had started plundering English clubs like rangers and Middlesex regiment. They stormed through the finals of the shield subsequently. The bare footed players were locking their horns with the mighty British. What eventually comprehended out was that in football they used to get the chance to hit the British and plunder them.

The very same emotions and feelings are arrested through the lens in the Bengali movie Egaro (The immortal eleven). It tells you the true saga of the eleven players who took the field in IFA shield final for Mohun Bagan against East Yorkshire. Caught immaculately through the lens of the cinematographer this movie is worth a watch. Well surely there are some melodramatic moments to magnify the effect of the movie, otherwise I felt the movie was flawless and was able to establish the crux of the subject. After seeing this I was kind of perplexed that how could no movie till date has been featured on this subject. Some may argue Lagaan was made on the same lines, but this football story is a true one.

This movie clearly depicts how the players had to face different kind of hardships. Most of them were deprived of any friends and family support because some of their folks thought it’s a risk which you bring to home if you take challenge with British while some of them did not see playing football a virtuous thing enough. Even some leaders of the nationalist movement foresaw football as a mere luxury and something which does not have a value of penny in the context of Nationalism.

Well eventually everything turned upside down as the match day progressed. People started taking this match as a mean and an opportunity to take revenge against the British. The footballers started to receive best wishes and compliments from all over the country. Media started to take note of this match. Shibdas Bhaduri (captian of the team) was hailed and talked about all and sundry. All had same mission that was to defeat British even the owners of other Indian club also started to hoot for Mohun Bagan.It became simple point blank fight between Indian resistance and English might.Government had to operate many more trains and buses before the match day, because people started to flock over to Calcutta from all parts of eastern India to see this much talked match. People as far as away from Benaras, Dhaka, Guwahati came to witness this historical event. As it happened Mohun Bagan was able to defeat East Yorkshire in a thrilling encounter.

Well this still looms large in the memory of all historians and soccer lovers; this thing has percolated down to our veins. This game was no lesser an effort to subsidize the british., these eleven were as sacred sons of soil as other revolutionaries were.

Fear of leather - Part 1

Anything which moves fast is quite a difficult thing to foresee and tackle with .Consider an object in air which moves along quickly also starts to sway away, keep imagining how difficult it would be to anticipate where that thing would be finally(Hiesenberg's Uncertainty huh ?) .Imagining a bulltet fired from a gun ?.

Well here I draw the analogy with a cricket ball .Similarly as it happens in the game of cricket. A fast moving ball can be very unconformable for any batsman to handle and to score run against. I have always thought a pace bowler running up in rhythm on a lush green field with the wind blowing behind him and then his delivery uprooting the timber is one of the best sight in the game of cricket.

A fast inswinger or a pacy bouncer can make a good batsman look like tottering kid.From time to time fast bowlers have become the nemesis of the batsman. Even the best bastman would get some jitters when facing a true fast bowler.

In this post I will divulge myself in discussing and sharing about the 10 best fast bowlers of last 2 decades (basically the time from which I am following the game).It will be a two part post as it is quite difficult to capture all the aspects in one post.I also start it by paying tribute to the infamous pace quatret of West Indies in the late seventies and early eighties.(in the picture from left Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Colin Croft and Joel Garner) They actually showed how menacing and fearsome pace bowling can be.To properly envision what it mean check the 'Fire in Babylon' documentary.

So here is my list of fast bowlers.

10. Shane Bond: I say very less people have as good an action as Bond had. Bond’s toe breaking Yorkers coupled with his express pace made him a menacing bowler. Also coming from a country where there has been no pedigree of fast bowlers apart from Sir Richard Hadlee.I consider him to take in the Top 10.

9. Courtney Walsh: A bowler who had bowled the least number of extras during his bowling tenure. Discipline and Dilligence were synonymous with Walsh. He successfully carried the legacy of great West Indian bowlers forward. I can recall that he was one of the few fast bowler captains the game has ever witnessed.

8. Chaminda Vaas: Claimed as Sultan of swing. He loyally held the citadel of Sri lankan seam attack for years. He became better and better as he aged on and his potent swings were literally unplayable. Coming from the pitches where there was little assistance to a pace bowler, Vaas’s credentials as a bowler accentuate more.

7. Jason Gilespie: May not be one of the elegant bowlers or as charismatic as his contemporaries. Some may argue with me about his inclusion in the top ten lists but for me Jason Gilespie was a toiler, was a hard worker. He was always there to provide support to the main strike bowlers like McGrath and Lee. Most of the times because of his endurance the strike bowlers used to reap rewards .A special mention must go to his batting where he used to hang in however the condition was. His grittiness was exemplary and to me he was a great character the game has ever seen.

6. Waqar Younis : One of the genuine swingers of the ball, both with the new and older ball. He showed an extra-ordinary mastery over the reverse swing .In fact I can say he was one of the pioneers of reverse swinging. One of the Double W’s of Pakistan pace attack Waqar had troubled and subjugated almost all the best batters of his generation.

Dont miss to check the next and the final concluding part of this blog where i reveal the top five of the list .And also wait and watch for the inglorious list of fast bowlers who they say were fast and furious.

The Masinagudi Trails

It’s good to experience good and it’s even better to experience which is better. My Masinagudi travel experience was awesome to say the least. Last weekend I set to visit Masinagudi with my in laws and J.As Budhha once said ‘It is better to travel than to arrive’ .

The voyage from Bangalore to Mysore and then crossing Bandipur and eventually reaching Masinagudi was a spellbound feeling for me. Most of the times I have seen the hills from top, this time it was a novel experience to have the view from foot. Its get accentuated when the mysterious jungle looms over you


Masinagudi is nestled in The Madhumali Tiger reserve and surrounded by the lush green forests. I found the whole tiger reserve and the forests to be very well maintained .The serene and scenic beauty of these forests can catch anyone on his toes. We took our shelter in the resort of Nawab Shafath Ali Khan who is a well know man-animal conflict expert and was recently in news for hunting down a Man eater in Faizabad. We were completely impressed by the facilities of the resort and more importantly the wonderful behavior of the owners there.

The most superlative part came when Nawab sahab’s son extended us an offer to join them in a jeep ride in the forest. It was already dusk and it was supposed to be the time when the animals would start leering and loitering around. The thrill of the jeep ride still excites me, it was just an open jeep with around 10 people in it and a sense of safari scattering around. We were fortunate enough to sight Bears and and a Panther along with the other usual suspects like Deer and wild buffaloes.

Hustling the jeep into the forest and chasing the animals like hunters to fetch a glimpse of these exquisite animals was an enchanting and unforgettable experience for us. Less to say that it was unreal and an illusory occurrence of events for me.

If It was not enough, me and J were offered a night stay in the exotic Tree house in the resort by the Jo (Daughter-in-law of Nawab sahib).Special thanks to her who was generous and kind to us during the whole visit. And well the night stay at the tree house again was one of the most resplendent experiences I have seen.

The next day started with again a safari rides amongst the dense and impenetrable forests of Madhumalai.This time we were gifted by the glimpse of the famous Tuskers of Madhumalai.When the ride ended it was like waves of satisfaction sailing over the shores like faces of everyone. After breakfast we headed back to the high risings of cities leaving behind the mystery and aura of Madhumalai.Still when I recall the experiences which I had back there I want to scuttle back and immersed myself again in the puddle of that majestic flora and fauna.