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! :)