AASHRAM

 Haan pehle judge karlo mujhe phir review toh hota rahega 😒

Those who know, know!

Then comes to the rescue MX Player - Gareebon ka Netflix/ Prime sab kuch with its wide category of low key sex content with a few churayi huyi series from here and there jinhe koi nahi dekhta hehehe Totally frustrated with the live project, daunting faculty's never ending demands and my life in four walls, I could not help but browse through that website again where I found Aashram - a web series directed by Prakash Jha starring Bobby Deol as a monstrous, corrupt, hypocrite who cons people with their money, faith and lives. The story is set in a small village, starts with a girl (Pammi) getting inspired by the famous Babaji (Babba ji is what she says) who goes on to join his "movement" exposing herself to the worst she'd ever imagine for herself. It is one of those Ram Rahim and Asharam Bapu tales which exposed themselves after years of suffocation. It is basically one of those babas who you as a kid would've been threatened of - chup chap khana kha lo warna baba lejaega etc etc.

Jha chose to go about events in a simplistic manner which is both, a plus and minus. As a viewer I was neither terrified of characters like the warden, the goons, (leave apart Bhopa), nor did a chill ran down my spine when fight broke out between Dalits and Brahmins, when Bobby came to help Pammi's brother in the hospital or when there was open fire at Dr. Natasha's house. Basically, no excitement really! The good part though is that not much effort was wasted on these scenes which are anyway not new - it is all cliche IndiCinema stuff. 

Parts of it are dark, revealing to the audience the stark reality of our country and I guess that's what kept me hooked to this series which, if for any other story set,I'd not have watched. The part 2 is about to be released in some time and one can expect the tables turning in this season. Till then, if you are really really bored and have nothing better to do (or like me are avoiding doing your work) can go for this one for free on MX Player.

Chamakta hua Sitara of the Show!

Undoubtedly it is Chandan Roy Sanyal with his shirt height and dabang dialog delivery. This little man absolutely out performed any other character in the series (especially Bobby Deol) to bring out the best (worst) as a villain. He is the one who you're afraid, for any character being caught by. I mistook him as the guy who played Kangana's husband in the movie Panga, totally amazed that such a sweetly smiling person could pull this off. Nevertheless, it is actors like him who add flavor to cheap web shows with their sheer brilliance. 

The Namesake

This is my first ever written book review and am quite excited. Actually, all the excitement died away due to back to back assignments and oh!exams :/ How do you get away with that now? I finished reading this more than 2 weeks back and since then I've been procrastinating to write this piece. Inspiration comes when you least expect it and mine was LinkedIn Devi, a girl in my college who writes one post every day directly writing what the teacher taught in Consumer Behaviour class anyway...here we go folksss!

Choosing this cover image because I find it numbly soothing. So this story starts some 40-50 years back (read the book for deets) with Ashok and Ashima getting married then having an irritatingly indifferent kid called Gogol and on and on. Ashok is a character I did not like from the moment he came to see Ashima, took her to the US, made her pregnant and she was alone with all this going on! The affinity of Indians for making a career in the States is overwhelmingly unbearable to me like dude! that is what you can do here as well. As the story progressed, it was Ashok with whom I empathised the most though. Ashima is a nice girl, no dreams, good cooking skills, too sanskari and a mother of two. She is the one I sided most with during the course of my reading this book. 

Gogol, this boy, he is good for nothing. These are exactly the kind of kids parents should not raise. Always embarassed of his roots, trying to run away from the reality and to find happiness in superficial things is all his character is. He is uncertain of his choices which is fine but always blaming that on his Indian parents? No, it is not right at all. I speak not out of emotions but basic courtesy. Our parents spend their entrie lives to gives us the best of everything and that's how we make them feel? Guilty? These people cannot love anyone truly. I do not know what kind of a person I want to be but know for sure what I do not want to be. 

The story is one of numbness, of artificial feelings, of a sense of being full when you are actually nowhere close to it, of broken hearts which made no sound while breaking, of everyday things and the love lost in those precious moments. This story can get you one step closer to yourself only if you are willing to listen to the small sighs it makes now and then. We ignore the tremendous love which is filled in the smaller moments and run after the gold pot behind the rainbow ignoring the beautiful, vivd colors it has to offer only to realise that gold is nice and all but colors make the world bright. A very important message which this book gives is that humans have the tendency to complicate simple situations ultimately causing them damage which is beyond repair at times. 

Lastly I want to end this review by making a confession. I have a copy wherein I note down the names of the book I have read so far and on what date I finish them. It was a race I was running with myself over the years without really enjoying reading. I no longer dwell on the records, I do keep them in order to keep a check on my buying list but that's that. 

Happy Reading! :)

Official Chukyagiri

 Spandan Chukya - T nahi K :p 

Story of a small town boy who has big dreams, talent, a good physique and tonne loads of expectations from the City of Dreams - Mumbai (paglaaaaa). He happens to be interning at one of the leading ad agencies for a period of 3 months.

Note - I am surprised by the fascination of TV series makers with the work culture of ad agencies and wedding planning companies. The transformation is worth clapping though, from saas-bahu sagas to stories of young, creative people who just happen to be so good at making ad films or decorating wedding venures. That's all the career options youth of this country have been left with guys!!

Spandan is hard working, honest and innocent. He doesn't really get to do meaningful work at the firm constantly been fought over by egoistic bosses who use him to take on each other. He's made to feel like he's been given the wooden spoon for the effort that he puts in very diligently. Over the course of the series things change for him with people taking a note of his presence. His friendship with Mili, a shy girl who's ignored by her boss Rati, keeps him going but he ends up taking her job at the company. Loses her frienship along with the job by ignoring her feelings towards him. Mili is not a coward, she's just way too clean to deal with the mess at Analog. 

The series ends with Spandan getting a full time opportunity at Analog. Very interestingly he is tested by Dilawar Rana, his boss, whom he does not recognize because he's always hiding behind the drone - infact this is quite interesting and unique and I never saw it in any other series. He clears the loyalty test to the audience's relief but I doubt if such people exist. And even if they do, are they recosgnised for the values they bring in?

An engaging blend of frienship, aspirations, selfishness, corporate life politics and will to do the best in the face of challenges is what this series is all about. 

This review would be incomplete without praising the soothing title track for 'Mera Safar' by Anand Bhaskar which instantly connects with your story, atleast it did for me. 

STAR OF THE SERIES

 

Gonna give to Anand Tiwari for the short but realistic role he played and how! Still keeps the memories of his ex in his heart in a sincere yet disguised hope of being together someday but never lets it come out fearing being seen as a weak person. He knows she is not worth the pain but he can't abandon loving her secretly which turns him into a bitter person he is portrayed as. When they say, you know nothing about the battle people are fighting so being kind is the least you can do, it sounds cliched but every bit of it holds true. 

THAAAAAAANKS FOR READING, READERRRR! 

FLAMES

Teenage brings different memories for each one of us. It is marked by good grades, fun with friends, coffee/beer (whatever soothes the soul :D), broken hearts, first relationships, coaching centre, career anxiety and what not! FLAMES bring to you a simple yet unique story of Rajat, Ishita and their friends who are sailing through this phase, overcoming fears, tasting the flavour of love between padhai and dosti!

I won't be mentioning details like cast, director, release date etc. All this is easily available on one click. As I am posting after 3 odd years, I want to remind my audience which has changed in this duration that that's not what I do on my blogs. I write my opinions and most importantly how the story made me feel and what it meant to me. 

The enforcement of lockdown led to many things; here we will talk about one of them - bingewatching!

After exhausting my Netflix for a continuous two months, I was wondering what to watch next. It was then that I came across The Viral Fever's online channel which came to my resuce with its short, cute teenage series FLAMES. 

The series is based on the life of Delhi based teens Ishita and Rajat and in supporting yet very interesting roles are Anusha and Pandey, who are all juggling between classes, tests, entrance exams, and a teeny weeny bit of coming of age romance. Rajat and Ishita meet at a coaching centre where after some fielding (as guys like to call it), he asks her out for a date which turns out to be much more than that in smaller ways. They spend some quality moment reminiscing the time when Ishita's mom was with her. This brings them coser and they start dating. Although there are some glitches but they are together by the end of Season 1.  

Season 2 is emotionally pretty intense with Rajat's mom finding out about them, confiscating his phone, asking him to break up with Ishita, making him study at home which devastates both of them beyond repair (that's what they feel then). Break-up scene is filmed in a classic Bollywood style with both teens drenched in rain, a rush of feelings in their bones but no one says a word, they just do it. It comes very hard on Ishita, who otherwise is a sensible girl but suffers from the loss of her mother, and is bound to think that letting people close to her ends up hurting her. Rajat is no less pained by their seperation. In the end it works out fine, leaving both of them with some unhealed wounds etched on their innocent hearts, which they want to not touch for the time being. 

STAR OF THE SERIES

Pandey played by Shivam Kakkar comes out as a very natural actor with his Delhi boy vibes, who hogs on momos outside the class and doesn't care about his father's money or teacher's taunts.

P.S : Before watching this series I did not know about the word game FLAMES wherein you cut alphabets of your and your crush's name to see what's fate holding for you.