The Phenomenon that is Bahubali!

Almost a month has passed since the release of the magnum opus ‘Bahubali 2: The Conclusion’. The movie has already grossed over 1500 crores of rupees worldwide. Of course, half the hype garnered by the movie was the suspense behind WKKB (Why Kattappa Killed Bahubali?). I got to watch the movie on the second day itself with family in a local theatre. It was beyond anything I had ever watched in Indian cinema. Such is the grandeur in every scene. The CGI used in the movie was less obvious, except maybe the climax. Both the parts in the Bahubali series shouldn’t be seen as just movies. It is a celebration of all things Indian. For example, a simple creature as an Elephant is glorified in the second part’s introduction. It was stunning. Another thing I loved about this movie is the colorful theme across scenes. The WKKB answer did not disappoint me and lived to the hype. The flashback in the second part was the main highlight.

Except the glorification of violence in the movie, a tad too much I’d say even for cinema, the movie is a complete feast to the eyes. The slow build to the final revenge was interspersed with many good dialogues *read gratifying sentiment* which are sure to give goosebumps in some cases. Another highlight of the movie is the extreme synchronisation of the beautiful music. The duet between the lead actors (Prabhas and Anushka) was tasteful in both audio and video. I couldn’t help but notice some similarities with certain movies and serials of Hollywood. But, heck, who cares when sheer magic is created! Almost all themes of life are covered – respect, friendship, love, equality, betrayal, revenge etc; Some scenes were a little self-righteous but I guess they are apt, given the period in which it took place. There was also one instance of hypocrisy based on which memes were shared to troll the main character. This was because of the supposed double standard taken by Bahubali towards women. Probably, the makers decided to do away with the glamorisation of women that was seen in the first part.

Ramya Krishna (Sivagami) and Sathyaraj (Kattappa) play pivotal roles. I’d say along with the lead characters (Anushka and Prabhas as Amarendra) they were simply amazing. Sadly, I was disappointed with Rana’s character. He was nothing more than a meaty King. They could have more solidified his role as a villain. Maybe an intelligent King who doesn’t blurt out truths? Add a few shades of grey probably. I would have appreciated it better if Bahubali had been a trilogy with the villain king forming strategies and with his own back story in the third part…maybe?

Nevertheless, Bahubali as a franchise is magical.

Amarendra Bahubali is not just a King but an Emotion!

May 28, 2017June 7, 2017 by Akash-WFI

Is It Innocence!

11th ! 😀

23rd March, 2014

It was Shriya’s 9th birthday. She had a pink-brown complexioned skin with a cute face, that anyone can look at for hours. She still had the little baby habits and the language which made her all the more adorable and people, be it relatives or friends, never failed to shower her with her favourite toys and chocolates, just so that they could get to play/ make her talk with her cute baby language. In short, cute is the word that best describes her. So it was no wonder, her birthdays were always filled with merry, fun and festiveness. All her friends from her school, neighbourhood, her relatives and cousins etc made sure to be present on her birthday. Shriya loved the people who came to her house. Not because she knew them before or something. But because they brought attractive presents and gifts with them.

Therefore it was not a surprise to Nithya, Shriya’s mom, when her daughter kept asking her when the party was going to start and who all were coming. She was in this High-voltage cranky mood from the morning and no amount of cajoling or even warning could calm her down. As much as Shriya was excited, Nithya too was determined to make her child’s birthday to be truly special. She herself had already bought a gift  after months of thinking and racking her brain. Although, she was apprehensive about whether her daughter will like it or not. To avoid such a situation, she bought a second gift which was more to Shriya’s tastes.

The evening seemed to arrive at its own pace and Shriya was growing restless by the minute. Only after the first few guests arrived, did she smile widely for the first time that day. As the clock begin to approach 7:30, more and more guests were arriving. The cute cake was finally cut after Shriya refused to do so initially, since the cake had a picture of herself beaming wide. It was a photo cake. After that, it was presents time. Nithya gave her two presents first. Shriya was over-excited and shaking. The first present turned out to be a box of assorted chocolates including all time favourites such as snickers, milky bars and mars etc. Nithya and the others looked on expectantly as Shriya was unwrapping the second gift from her mother. Shriya’s excited face drooped a little bit, her expression changed to curiosity. Inside was a greeting card and beneath it was what appeared to be a black coloured perfume can. Without bothering the greeting card, she began to fiddle with the can. Nithya then asked her to stop and read the card instead. One thing that Shriya was proficient in, was ‘reading’. She had already started reading the famous Harry Potter series. Shriya began to read:

Dear Shriya,

Many more happy returns of the day my dear child 

I hope all your birthday dreams and wishes come true.

I wish you all the success and I’ll be there for you no matter what happens.

May God bless you !

Now coming to this peculiar gift that you see.

This was a gift that I had been thinking for a long time.

It is not a perfume can as you think.

It is a pepper spray canister.

These are dark times in our country.

You must know that, not all people are the same.

There are good people and there are bad people.

There are various kinds of bad people. 

Some steal, some commit murders and some others do other stuff.

It is really not necessary to go into the details.

I want you to be safe, sound and healthy both physically and mentally.

The mechanism and effect of this can is pretty simple. 

Some people…..it could be strangers or sometimes well-known people too,

May approach you in an inappropriate manner.

When your heart tells you that you are in trouble, 

Just spray the can on the attacker’s face.

And run from the place.
As much as salt is important for human beings,

You very well know that pepper can cause blindness and irritation to the eyes.

Probably this isn’t the gift you would have expected. 

But this, I feel, will safeguard and protect you from potential dangers.

God bless you, my cutie pie.

-Your Mummy.

Amidst mixed reactions from the guests, Nithya was looking at her daughter, noticing any positive expressions in her face. Shriya turned to her mother and hugged her tightly. 

“Thank you, mummy”, she whispered in her ears. Now Nithya was confused. She expected Shriya would ask her questions. It was as if Shriya understood the seriousness of her message. If she did understood it, does that mean Shriya knew about it earlier which in turn meant, she had already experienced such an instance??!!

Nithya was dumbstruck as she stood there watching her child opening the next present.

For months, she had been wondering if the pepper spray was the right gift to give her daughter now.

But, now it was all the more frightening.

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.

March 23, 2014March 30, 2014 by Akash-WFI

The War Starts. . .Yet Again!

It is that period of the year when the sky is clearing up and its familiar azure returns to Chennai. In other words, summer is gradually making her entrance. Under normal conditions itself, Chennai experiences a horrible humid and dry weather.  Atleast for most part of the year. February has been kind enough to remain cool. But she shows her hot temper during the day, contrasting the night. Even more surprising was the fact it rained in Chennai on two different days, which is like never. However, day by day, Chennai is becoming more hot.

The picture beside is an instagrammed one, took recently. Although saturated a bit more than usual, you can clearly see the plain blue-ness. Imagine the heat!

Now coming to the topic in hand. It looks as though mosquitoes have gained an intelligence quotient from hum beings by sucking their blood, their DNA enhanced. This season they come with more intelligence, power and stealth. Oh really. . .They are like these stealthy ‘assailants’. They can find their freaking way even in dark hours and disrupting conditions (I thought so). You will be outraged if you see my pillow or the bedcovers. The reason being that it is painted with red tinges scattered in different areas. Mosquito Blood. In my sleep I would have scratched myself killing some of them. Such is the atrocity. Their ‘injections’ have a great depth. No amount of layers of clothing or covering yourself helps from their attacks.

A few days back the power had been shut down for about 5 hours in the night starting from 8 PM, owing to a transformer burst.That was one of the horrible nights. The generator did run for a good two and half hours. But eventually that too ran out of power. It was so hot that I couldn’t cover myself with a bedsheet in an effort to safeguard from these night demons. That really only worsened the situation. Besides the numerous painful assaults on the various parts of the skin, there was also the occasional ‘drunk’ humming, which proved to be irritating. Sometimes, one of them mange to enter my nose,  that was highly disgusting, also gross. Overall, that happened to be a night when I was in desperate need of sleep, but alas, couldn’t lie on the mattress even for two seconds. Neither could I sleep properly or even lie down leisurely for that matter! My sleep spoilt, I decided to take revenge on these demons. I have the Electric Bat! The extra light that was inbuilt in the bat was a blessing in disguise. SWAT! SWAT! SWAT! I didn’t just swish the bat, but sort of vigilantly. Now, I don’t mean to praise myself or so 😛 But vigilance is certainly important to annihilate them. The power came at 1 AM and that is when I slept. I had killed most of them by then. This war is never ending. It will happen every night till the season?! (there is no fixed season as to when these killers will come to the battle arena) is over. Ofcourse there are some basic measures to ward them off. Maintaining – Density of things in a room, Moisture content in the room, Surroundings etc; But I’d say that killing them is far more entertaining than maintaining. 😛  LOL. I am not like being this evil person ’cause of the kill word used 😀 This battle is kind of an art and skill, if you come to think of it. Practice to the wrists, Vigilance, Timing and Aiming and of course perfection. You’ll definitely smile to yourself at the cracker like sounds.

And last week, I received the 1000 Rs /- voucher for that Dabur contest sponsored by Indi and Dabur, one of the runner-ups. It was truly a wonderful moment. 🙂

Here is the link for that story: Elixir Of Life. Do give a read if you have the time 🙂

March 1, 2014March 30, 2014 by Akash-WFI

Jurassic Park! (Michael Crichton)

I am quite sure that most of you would be familiar with this name. I am too late to write a review for this masterpiece. Obviously, I saw the movie, which achieved critical acclaim similar to the book, but a long time before. The funny/crazy thing is (some might laugh), until recently I didn’t know there was a novel.
But I am happy to have read this book ‘now’ since this book has lots of references to science. This book could be lot more appreciated if the reader is more mature.

This thriller, written by Michael Crichton, as you know, deals with the dinosaurs of different species, cloned from the fossils buried in the earth millions of years ago, kept in Jurassic park situated on an island called Isla Nublar off the coast of Costa Rica and how things went awry when a group of people including two kids, come for an inspection cum tour of the park.

Jurassic Park!

The storyline is new and un-explored (atleast for me) and gripping after 80 pages. I liked the way Crichton changed from one scene to another scene in bits. The terror, horror and the trepidation created by the dinosaurs (the velociraptors especially, oh my). I was fascinated by the little, intricate details of the size, movements etc of each and every dinosaur. The tryannosaur comes for most part of the book. But the velociraptors’ part, though small, was more terrifying. The ‘Kill’ made by the animals is described explicitly from the Following the prey, the Sniffing, the sudden without warning Charge with the animals’ claws stretched outward, the Tearing of the limbs and intestines of the victim. Believe me, the author has done it more awesome. Though it is fiction, when you read the book, you’d kinda want to see these animals, the dangers apart of course. But I thought the author could have added a map of the park. At some places, the directions were a bit confusing. The character Ian Malcom irritates me with his long monologues about chaos theory. I was like ‘Why the hell can’t he shut up’. Though his predictions came to be true.
‘Imagination is the most powerful graphics chip’ – Sheldon Cooper.
And this book proves to be so. I am going to watch the movie version again after a long time. But it is without doubt I say, the movie can’t be compared to anything I have imagined. If anything, maybe it could come close but not overtake it. According to me, books are more entertaining and awesome than the movies.

(This is the last post of 2012. 22 posts in six months. Wow! I cant believe myself. Kinda proud! :P. Thank you fellow bloggers for your appreciation and comments :). Hope to increase the blog traffic at least next year :P. I wish you a happy and prosperous 2013! 🙂 )

December 27, 2012March 30, 2014 by Akash-WFI

The Sky Is Falling (Sidney Sheldon)

A CLASSIC SIDNEY THRILLER : I am a new person to Sidney Sheldon’s world of drama,suspense,crime etc. Before I start, I would like to confess that I am usually a slow reader. Not that, I can’t read fast, but I do not like to skip the teeny, tiny details that the author has painstakingly took days to write. Also, I would like to day that I am not going to rite a review for this, as in my opinion, it is unfair to review about anything, be it books, music, movies.,etc. Each person has their own tastes and interests. It is unfair to write a review on something. What I may find something uninteresting may be appealing to you. I am just going to give an insight in to this book and try to persuade you on why you should go for this book.

In the book, The Sky Is Falling , the story revolves around a young, beautiful news reporter Dana Evans (Almost every book Sheldon has written, has a female as the lead character. I don’t know what is with that!) working at the WTN (Washington Television Network), Kemal, her adopted son (not kamal..:P) and Jeff Conors, also working in the same network, who get involved in a bloody, thrilling, crime thriller and spans across various countries in the world. Three main reasons why you should give this book a shot are: 

Firstly, the story is fast-paced like a action movie. 

Secondly, there are a helluva different characters in this story which makes it more intricate. 

Thirdly, there is a lot of irony which makes the story very exciting.

Whenever I read a book, sometimes I turn back a few pages to check some unseen details I may have overlooked. That is because I like to do my own detective work (:P). I like to deduce and find the villain of the story. But in this book, unfortunately for me, lucky for Sheldon, I could not find the antagonist of the story. Such is the suspense of the book, which keeps you gripped throughout. The language too is easy to follow and the picture easily gets into your mind. Sheldon’s description of each place, be it a country or a restaurant or a mansion or an office, is fascinating and awesome. ‘Hats off to Sheldon, wish he had lived a few more years so that he could have written a few more books’.

You won’t close the book even for a small moment. It might even go to the extent of the cursing that person who interrupts you in the midst of your reading as was the case I experienced (:P).

Don’t miss this book for the world.!!!

July 5, 2012March 30, 2014 by Akash-WFI