Go Goa Gone – Movie Review

I haven’t updated my blog from a long time and I thought Blogoversary( which is just a fortnight away) would be a good time for that. But then Life has its own way of spoiling your plans or should I say “Karma” has a way of getting back at you.

I don’t know what possessed me that I thought of watching this movie “Go Goa Gone” after reading a few online reviews. It is a good movie no doubt just not my kind. It is not a horror movie but a zomcom i.e. a zombie comedy or whatever that means. Dark humour at its best you can say. Who can imagine running around trees with a zombie while a romantic song plays in the background?

Though I personally loved a few comic scenes, I am not able to get a few macabre scenes out of my head. They are just too gory for my taste. Why am I writing this? Coz although it is a good movie if you can’t take that extra bit of violent scenes or take pleasure in dark humour, Think twice before you enter the cinema hall. Ditto if you are expecting a horror movie or a Hollywood type zombie movie or only a comedy movie. Everyone else will love the movie or so I hope. Nice story, characterization & acting. At least different if nothing else.

And yes no matter what is the reason, please don’t take your kids along. I saw a few kids in the hall & wondered why would any parent/ parents do that? Any thoughts?

Chanakya’s New Manifesto – Book Review

The author, Pavan K. Varma, is an alumnus of St Stephen’s College, Delhi, where he studied history and took a degree in law from Delhi University. He is at present India’s Ambassador in Bhutan. Prior to this he has worn many hats and held many important positions. He has been press secretary to the President of India, official spokesman of the Foreign Office, and director general of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.

He has authored many bestselling books including  Ghalib: The Man, The Times; Krishna: The Playful Divine; The Great Indian Middle Class; Being Indian: The truth about why the 21st century will be India’s; Becoming Indian: The Unfinished Revolution of Culture and Identity and When Loss is Gain. He has also translated works of Gulzar, Kaifi Azmi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee into English.

Pavan Varma is hailed as one of the greatest social commentators of contemporary India. I had missed reading his previous works, so when I came across a chance to read his book “Chankya’s New Manifesto” through Blogadda I grabbed the opportunity.

The book aims to apply the Chanakya’s strategy (Chanakya neeti ) to the woes of contemporary India. What would Chanakya do if confronted with the various crises that beset contemporary India? forms the basis of this book. “Chanakya (c. 270-380 BCE) was classical India’s greatest thinker and teacher. Through his unparalleled ability to devise result-oriented military, political and administrative strategy, he overthrew one king, crowned another and paved the way for the establishment of India’s first great empire. His seminal work, the Arthashashtra, arguably the world’s first comprehensive treatise on statecraft and governance, was written approximately two thousand years before Machiavelli’s The Prince.”[From the book]

History is testimony to the results of Chanakya’s strategy and not utilizing such a great resource as his work can only be termed a crime. His work is relevant and also most required today when The Time called the most important man of our country an under-achiever, when we start everyday with news of a new scam, most of our leaders tainted and trust in the system is at its lowest. An urgent action is needed on our leaders’ part and an equal need for others to question the system, to ask for answers, to ask the right questions and debate on the right ways of bringing about a change and infuse a fresh lease of life into our system and country to really make it a Shining India.

Pavan Varma’s book has taken the first step towards that change. In his book, divided in five parts, he has analysed the current situation in detail and provided the solutions that he thinks can be used to overcome these problems. The five parts he has focused on are

1. Governance
2. Democracy
3. Corruption
4. Security (of the country from external threats )
5. Inclusive society

The best part about the book is that there is great focus how can the situation be remedied instead of just detailed problem analysis.  Plus, the points are not dry theory or wishful thinking but practical implementable, and workable solutions. His rich experience shows in the analysis and the solutions devised. However, neither the content nor the language overwhelms the reader and in fact the book is quite a light read in spite of the topic at hand.  The book made me run to Google plenty of times to get the facts, to verify something, to counter a theory or to defend my counter-views. And, for me, any book which can make you think in such a manner is a winner. He provides his perspective on the important issues and even when you don’t agree you’ll find the views and theories quite intriguing. The book makes you think deeply on all the issues.

Anybody who thinks about being a part of social change, changing the status-quo, interested in current politics, interested in statesmanship or knowing the art of statecraft and governance should read this book.  Also, anybody who wants to read a great piece of non-fiction with practical outlook should pick a copy of the book. Not for casual readers though. Be ready to rack your brains if you want to read the book and some amount of patience is required to understand what is written if you aren’t very familiar with the ways of governance.

Final Verdict: 8/10

This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

Book details:

 Name: Chanakya’s New Manifesto: To Resolve the Crisis within India

Author: Pavan K Varma

Publisher: Aleph Book Company(2013)

No. of pages: 248

 

RIP – Mukul Deva – Book Review

RIP – Mukul Deva

The author, Mukul Deva, is an alumnus of La Martiniere College, Lucknow, the National Defence Academy, Pune, and the Indian Military Academy, Dehra Dun. Mukul was commissioned in the Sikh Light Infantry of the Indian Army in 1981. After an eventful Army tenure, which included a decade of operational service in India and overseas, he turned to corporate battlefield and then to writing. Mukul is acknowledged as India’s literary storm trooper and one of the pioneers of the Indian thriller novel.

The story is of a team of ex-special Forces officers called as K-Team, headed by Colonel Krishna Athawale, who see the plight of the country and rally to protect the country from the enemies. Only this time the enemies are within the country. They call themselves R.I.P – Resurgent Indian Patriots – The Self-appointed guardians of a nation seething with anger at the endless scams and scandals rocking its very foundation. Vigilantes who vow to stop corrupt politicians and colluding civil servants. Even if it means killing them.

There are other characters like Raghav Bhagat, Vinod Bedi, Reena Bhagat, Payal and a couple of young boys whose fate is also deeply affected by the RIPs operations and the outcomes.

This one surely is a thriller. Through out the book, I was on edge trying to gauge how this would end. Would it be a Rang De Basanti or a Wednesday? The romantic angle in between adds to the story and provides a nice break from all the tension of the killings and chase. One thing that is very evident from the book is the author’s pride in being an ex-army man.

As far as the story is concerned a very timely story and well-developed one. Only a little Bollywoodish at times when our heroes walk unscathed every time and the villains get unlucky every time. And some loopholes like chalk markings on the target’s car- how did they manage to do that and the target is known to change cars randomly, how do they know which car to mark?. Nonetheless it is a great tale of how the corrupt political class and bureaucratic machinery use the system for personal benefits  and rob the nation in broad daylight. I am sure many people will associate with the story as with the recent public sentiment that mob justice is the only way of the current situation in our country.

I was a little worried of the misuse with all the details of security arrangements/layout/weapons provided in the book. But when I read the author’s note( I read it in the end) that these details are deliberately vague/incomplete/inaccurate to avoid the misuse(intentional or otherwise), I was relieved.

A gripping tale of resurgent patriots doing their bit to protect the nation. A must read for all interested in thrillers.

This review is a part of the biggest Book Reviews Program. for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

Tick-Tock We’re 30 – Book Review

Tick-tock we’re 30

This is a novel by Milan Vohra from the Indian Mills & Boon fame. The first sign that writing was going to play an important part in Milan Vohra’s life was when she frequently found herself slipping into the back rows of the English honours lectures, while doing her degree in Economics. She juggles an advertising consultancy and looking after family by day and writes by night. One of her stories won a Harlequin contest and made her India’s first Mills & Boon author. Her book, The Love Asana, became so popular they’re now translating it into several Indian languages and taking it global too. She lives in Bengaluru, India, in a lovely red-brick home with her husband and two children.

Turning thirty can be scary. What if that comes with extra tension of making up a fake-new boyfriend for a reunion, falling head over heels with an old sort-of-boyfriend, seeing your best friend flirting with him and meeting your ex-boyfriend who says he still loves you. That is the story of “Tick-Tock We’re 30″ and much more. It is about Lara’s upcoming thirtieth birthday party when the whole SN gang is coming together for a reunion and celebrating the event “OTWT- Oh Teri! We’re Thirty!’ as Sita, one of the gang members, likes to call it . It is a pact that they had all made back then to meet when all of them turned thirty. But that isn’t the only pact that was made then, Lara and Nishad had a pact too, a pact to marry each other if neither of them were hitched by the time they turned thirty.

But Lara doesn’t want to give Nishad the pleasure of knowing that Ranndeep, her boyfriend then, a hunky pro-racer, was wrong for her. So she convinces Perzaan to play her boyfriend’s role for the reunion week. This cute bartender cum male model, Perzaan, has to go through a make-over to look like a banker but can he act out of his character? He can but a week is a long time esp. when you are hanging out with all those friends for all 24 hours.

It is a light-read with lot of drama and comedy. Simple language with believable characters. It is like a guessing game of who ends with who and how. The reunion reminds you of the college days and makes you forget they are thirty something’s or about to be turning thirty. The author is successful in bringing out the whackiness of all the characters and string a story around that to make perfect matches at the end of it.

As Nishad says in the novel, ’Interesting, isn’t it, how someone is always utterly attractive to someone else? For every male tree frog, there is a female tree frog whose dry skin and warts and bulging eyes are the most divine.’. But humans are a little more complex as they don’t readily accept those feelings or sometimes don’t even know those feelings exist. This is a story of such realisations. An interesting end is what makes the novel appealing only it could have been a little less lengthy without losing the flavor. An entertaining read for sure!

My first review on Flipitall

My first review on Flipitall Do check out.

“He was a multi-faceted and complicated personality and trying to write his biography is a tough job indeed. To capture the life of a genius required another genius and that is Walter Isaacson.”

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

Hope you like reading it!

Once upon the tracks of Mumbai – Book Review

Once Upon the tracks of Mumbai

‘Once upon the tracks of Mumbai’ is the début work of Rishi Vohra. The author recently relocated to Mumbai after a Green MBA from the US before which he worked in the Indian Entertainment industry.

The review has been moved here.

The Bankster – Book Review

The Bankster by Ravi Subramanian

The Bankster is a thriller written by Ravi Subramanian. I hadn’t read any of his earlier works so I started with a blank slate.

If I have to write a one-word review for the book that would be “Brilliant!”. I just loved reading the book and what’s more interesting is that immediately after I put down the book I was on the net researching the facts. The story just stayed on for a while even after I had finished reading the book. At times the scenes sounded very Bollywoodish but which Indian doesn’t love Bollywood drama.

Though the title sounds like a piece of fiction on the banking industry, it involves much more than that. The author narrates three stories in the book.

1. First about a CIA agent involved in a weapons deal in exchange for blood diamonds in Angola.
2. A man from Kerala, who wants to seek justice for people in his region, as per the promise made to his dying son years ago.
3. An International retail bank in Mumbai, some of whose employees are found dead mysteriously.

Then he finally strings the three stories together to connect the dots and create a masterpiece of a story. What I found interesting is the International angle to the story. Stringing all the incidents together as a part of a global conspiracy involving the likes of the CIA, crime syndicate, resource-rich, war-stricken nations and the major World Powers. It is nice to see an Indian author weave a story involving the Cold war, the Chernobyl disaster, the Fukushima nuclear disaster and the proxy wars in Africa.

Like they say in Hindi “Haathi ke daant khane ke alag, dikhane ke alag”, the face put up by nations and their actions are quite different from their behind-the-screens behaviour. The power politics played by the big nations and the covert operations of the likes of CIA isn’t a new topic and quite a few Hollywood movies have successfully used this to make hit movies. The use of arms trade to further foreign policy objectives is quite obvious in the middle-east and Africa but does it happen even in India? Or may be it happens in a slightly different form here. God only knows or may be some closer to God would also know. The fact the author talks about some very recent happenings in our country makes you wonder which part of the book is fiction and which is a fact.

The book spans across finance, World-politics, corporate-politics, romance, crime and mystery. The author has dealt with some very current and relevant topics like money laundering, foreign-funded NGOs mis-using the funds and very cleverly stayed clear of the religious angle of it.

Only the plot is predictable at times and I would have liked it if the author elaborated more on the promise made by the old man to his son. Since the author is claiming ‘the promise’ to be the main motive behind all the old man’s actions. The pace is quite decent and the book is a great read. Especially if you are into banking, thrillers or politics. Pick it up from the nearest book store as soon as you can

Book: The Bankster
Author: Ravi Subramanian
Pages: 364 pages
Cost: Rs.250 (Mine was free from Blog adda and author signed too )
Publisher: Rupa Publications (2012)

Final verdict:
9/10

The Wall Street Journal has rightly called Ravi Subramanian ‘The John Grisham of Banking’. Next, I will pick up other books of his that I haven’t read.

This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com . Participate now to get free books!

The Krishna Key – Book Review

The Krishna Key – Ashwin Sanghi

When I hear Ashwin Sanghi, I get reminded of Chanakya’s Chant and the masterpiece it was. Knowing  history thoroughly well and drawing parallels requires great deal of research and amazing creativity. If you think that is difficult try being a conspiracy theorist. Digging into history and mythology, drawing parallels, using existing places, artifacts and research data and making a story around it is indeed a commendable job. Kudos to Ashwin Sanghi for that.

The story is a first person narrative by Krishna and the author has maintained the same style of writing as before. alternating between the distant past and a present day parallel. The book is a great read for those who would like to know more about Mahabharata and Krishna’s life history. Very enlightening in terms of research related to Indus Valley Civilization and the third(invisible river) of the rivers from the Triveni Sangam, “The Saraswati”. The facts are provided in such a way that leaves you wondering if the work indeed is a work of fiction. The pace of the book is pretty decent.

That was for the good part. The not so nice part is the book holds your attention in the beginning but fails as it progresses further. Much like a great movie before interval but starts failing just after it. I was disappointed with the ending. Not because of it’s spiritual ending (the author is free to write an ending that pleases him) but because there was no clarity about what happens to Taarak Vakil, the supposed tenth avatar of Krishna or the Kalki. Also, I felt the author is trying to string too many conspiracy theories into one book when he also brought the Taj conspiracy into picture. When I started reading I was happy that India has found it’s very own “Dan Brown” but at times he sounds a tad too Dan Brownish. The striking similarity between this work and a Dan Brown work is a little disappointing for me personally. Also, Confusing Radhika for Priya in some pages, isn’t great editorial work. I found three such instances in pages 301, 389 and 456 where Radhika is mentioned as Priya. Especially the first one, I was reading fully engrossed and the line said “Priya had then been lowered to the base of the mountain” and I was caught off-guard. It took me a moment and re-reading a few lines again to realise it is a mistake. Nonetheless, it had already done the damage by interrupting the flow.

Overall, though the book is a great read and does give you a lot of ‘aha’ moments and I would definitely recommend the book. Though packed with history doesn’t make you feel overwhelmed. Especially if you are an aficionado for history or conspiracy theories, you must read this.

Book: The Krishna Key
Author: Ashwin Sanghi
Pages: 464 pages
Cost: Rs.250 (Flipkart offers it at Rs.175 with discount)
Publisher: Westland (2012)

Final Verdict. 8/10

P.S: On a somewhat related note, I would someday like to see a program on history channel, a theory based on this book. That would be an indication that India has truly arrived on the political scene.

This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com. Participate now to get free books!

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara movie review

Senorita_ZNMD

In this era of forgettable hindi movies ZNMD is a breath of fresh air. The cast, the locations, the adventures are amazing! It is not an experimental movie and in fact a very predictable one but that exactly is the challenge here. It is  worth watching in spite of it being so predictable.

ZNMD

One of the movies that lingers on even after you have come out of the theatre. After watching the movie you would want to do all of that: Visit Spain, go on a road trip, meet up with ur old frnds, do adventure sports, go to Spanish festivals, dance, have fun and well “seize the moment!”. It is a very cliched dialogue and kinda lost charm but nevertheless, the characters seem to be having fun and you would want to be a part of it. The trio Farhan Akhtar, Hrithik Roshan and Abhay Deol are irresistible. Katrina looks fab and so does Kalki. Music and dialogues are of course good too.

The movie is about conquering fear and living in the moment. What I could see while watching the movie was How beautiful Spain is, what a few days of vacation can do to your life, what is it to live life unburdened, what it is to meet up with old frnds and how good it is to have fun, how it feels to have met love unexpectedly, how good it feels to be silly and not worry what we did yesterday or how tomorrow is going to be.

The best part of the movie was the song “Senorita” where all the actors have sung the song themselves and the dialogues of Imran’s musings. It is a normal, typical hindi movie where all ends well and the characters have nothing to care about but to enjoy life, sing and dance. Totally worth my money bole toh paisa wasool. Thanks Zoya for such a refreshing movie !