Star Wars: The Force Awakening - An Entertaining and Engaging Battle

On the eve of Christmas, it was definitely due to the divine interference by Santa's grace that my friend and I got the last two available tickets for a pre-First day First Show of Star Wars at Escape Cinemas. Despite the fact that we knew Amma's propaganda and other jewellery ads would be displayed before the commencement of the film, we did not want to miss even a single moment but treasure and savor every moment of it. Comfortably seated in Streak, the anticipation and the expectation was running feverishly high after news broke out that Star Wars had broken every single BO record in the USA. At the single stroke of sight when the screen began to blur, all the 3D glasses were up in unison and everyone were waiting in bated breath for the iconic words and legendary theme music to have a war with us before the actual fight began in the movie. The entire theatre was in a perfectly synchronized state of heightened jubilation by whistling and clapping as soon as the theme music hit us and the words "A long time ago in a galaxy far,far away...." appeared majestically on the silver screen accompanied by its faithful and typical crawling text which gave the backdrop in a nutshell. From that moment onwards, there was no turning back for The Force Awakening whose story is set 30 years after The Return of Jedi.

There are going to be no spoilers here. Head to the nearest IMAX to immensely enjoy a complete immersive experience of the dizzying and pulsating action. 

It was refreshing to see a black guy occupying a major chunk of the movie. Many movies have had black people in the lead roles but certainly not for a big billion dollar franchise that has a humongous and an extremely ardent fandom across the world. John Boyega excels as the troubled stormtrooper FN-2187 who wants to purge himself of being a stormtrooper by turning a new leaf. My best guess is that the director is a big time fan of Natalie Portman who had reprised the role of Amidala in the Star Wars prequels. Rey had a remarkable and striking resemblance to her! 

After Mad Max Fury where Charlize Theron simply sizzled in the scenes, it was heartening to see that Rey was also given a central and key part in The Force Awakening instead of being used as an add-on or as a garnishing. The last fight sequence in the frozen lands between Rey and Ren was a riveting and visual spectacle. But, the biggest show stealer has got be BB - 8 - the very cute spherical orange and white droid. The way the droid communicated in its own language, moved by rolling down on its head and devoted to Poe was endearing. Kudos to JJ Abrams for not making it as CGI but as a real remote controlled robot. 

That is precisely where the film derives its substantial strength. The perfect blend of CGIs and human element, the correct mixture and usage of old characters like Han Solo, Leia, Chewie, R2-D2, C-3PO and The Millennium Falcon with the current generation actors without compromising on the Star Wars legacy like the warping in the scenes - A dream come true for any and many die-hard Star Wars fan. Although the first half excitingly vanished like a smoke, the second half dragged a bit due to its sentiments and romances. 

Nevertheless, the force has come out as strong as the original Star Wars. As Harrison Ford says when he boards The Millennium Falcon "Chewie..We are home". Yes. We are. Indeed andTruly.  

Vignesh 50 - Breaking the Convention

Whoaaaa! 50 blogs this year...okay....50 blogs in 4 months time! I never realized that a simple change in mindset can reap in enormous benefits as a blogger. When I started writing my blogs during my engineering days, I was very stubborn that my blogs must necessarily have an element of story weaved in and built into the blog so that the reader does not feel any forlorn sense of humdrumness and prosaicness when they read my blogs. I wanted to give my readers an authentic and fresh user experience so that they not only dip into my blogs but also thoroughly enjoy the activity. But, when I was made to realize that I had written only 8 blogs during the course of 5 years and no blog had been tagged against my name for the past 2 years, I knew I have to take corrective measures to set things right.

The first and foremost action which I undertook was to be reflective and be consciously aware of my negative mindset which was serving as an obstacle for me to move forward to be a better writer. It took me a while to change my perspective. But, once when it was done, I was ready and up for the challenge. I have been writing on many subjects like Movie reviews, Food reviews, Cricket, Tennis, Festival, Floods and my own Personal escapades. Even the love story, which I had intended to write for more than 2 years, was written as teasers. I had also tried out many writing styles - linear, non-linear, fiction and non-fiction - to expand the repertoire of my writing skills and not being labelled as one-dimensional for my writing style. What I had learnt in Marketing during my MBA days is very simple and straightforward - to tailor make the content as per the intended audience and strike the right chord with them. I guess that my MBA is also integrated whenever I began to type in a new blog.

I had given my blogs to be reviewed by my friends. It was well-received and appreciated by everyone. What started as an amateurish work has seen a marked and tremendous upswing in terms of grammar,choice of words and content which was inferred by me from the feedback given by my friends. It was then I felt that no sense of complacency should drill into my head and that I should work even harder from then to continuously improve and excel in this wonderful art. 

It was not just that. Writing gave me the freedom during my spare time to break away from the normal day-to-day infinite loop of only going to office and coming back home. I had lost myself without connecting to my better part for more than a year since I joined TCS. I am not going to blame TCS or the outside world for putting me through a very boring phase of life. I am responsible for my actions that I did not realize and take the initiative to ease down the clutter in my life by connecting with what I loved to do most - writing. In fact, I have started to love sales as much as I do for writing. Initially, I liked sales as it gave me the opportunity to solve people's problems and bring happiness to them. But now, Life is very colorful like a rainbow to me as soon as I had tore down the veil of monotony that severely hampered my everyday life. 

Ultimately, it is upto the person to perceive the things in the world either for the good or the bad. In my case, it turned out to be the former. 

Magic's Magnetism

There is always something magical about magic. From time beyond one's recorded historical and geographical events, magic has decisively played its own part in shaping up people's beliefs ergo the civilizations ultimately. It has intrigued and fascinated may people thus have them hypnotized and spellbound under its enchanting spell. So, what is magic? It is certainly not what the magicians perform on stage to enthrall the audience with their performances. That is merely an illusion. One of the many forms of magic which has an inherent and intricate logic and science with years of hard toil attached to their tricks and unbeknownst to the spectators. So, back to our question. What is magic? It is very simple. Magic is an event, act or situation that is not understandable to the common man and woman which causes them to worry, fear, panic, alarm or be elated at the turnaround of the given circumstance. Before the advent of  theoretical and practical science, every phenomenon in the world - be it lightning, thunder, storms, day, night, seasons, diseases, origin of the universe etc. was attributed to God. In short, before science began to spread its wings and soar far and wide in this world, God was the greatest and grandest magician that this planet had ever seen. This can be very well found in Greeks, Egyptians, Christians, Hinduism or every other place and religion which regards The Almighty to be the most powerful and formidable being on this planet. Even now when you venture into the deepest jungles or simply move away from the city, you can still see quite a million, which goes into billions in reality!, who revere the divinity and sanctity of Gods for their day to day usage of objects. So, am I going to bore you to death on the different kinds of magic or the chronological record of events in magic like the ghost Professor Binns who had taught The History Of  Magic at Hogwarts? Def Not! 

Like the billions spread across the nook and corner of the world, I was also bitten by the magic bug when I was a kid. I saw magic everywhere - be it the TV, cinemas, cartoons, electricity, comics, super heroes etc. I always had the sense of awe and wonder as to what made these objects come live so beautifully and colorfully thus enriching the lives of the people who use them. It did not take me long to find out and know that it was due to science , courtesy schools. Still my interest in magic never diminished and I have always had the inclination for things that are improbably fantasized as equal to the things that are objectively real in front of me. The last week was truly magical in every sense of the spirit of the letter of the word.  

It started when I started to search for The Big Bang Theory's latest episode to torrent. Suddenly, the name "The Magicians" caught my eyes when I was scanning for the episode. Without any hesitation, I simply downloaded it first followed by the TBBT's  new episode. Later a quick search on the internet told me what I wanted to know about The Magicians minus the plot - A trilogy written by Lev Grossman. Wasting no time, I set out to delve into the world created by Grossman to see and explore newer concepts and life forms that were created in his universe.

When the pilot successfully and positively ended, my instinct and immediate reaction was to search for other famous alternatives on similar lines. It did not take me long as I struck gold and found another jackpot - Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel. An IMDB rating - 8.3/10 and Rotten Tomatoes rating of 90% was more than sufficient for me to watch this mini series aired by BBC based on the novel written by Sussana Clarke. Its based on a prophecy that 2 magicians were destined to bring the lost magic to England after a gap of 300 years. Mr. Norrel performs practical magic that is only respectable whereas Strange performs venturesome and audacious spells for his country's sake. It seemed like the perfect recipe for yet another "The Prestige". 

It was then it hit me that it had been ages since I caught up with Nolan's swashbuckling masterpiece "The Prestige". Every word. Every sentence. Every scene in the movie made immense sense in hindsight. For instance, when Tesla tells Angiers "At what cost"? where Tesla actually has understood the significance that Angiers would be killing himself every night when the latter desires to purchase the machine from the former. The importance of the dialogue would hit you like a boomerang only when you see this movie for a second time. Just like inception, till date, Nolan has left me in  a state of complete and perpetual ambiguity to the ending of the film - whether the Angiers shown in the tank is alive or not! The Prestige is a multi-layered masterclass magic by itself which lives up to the 3 essential components of a magic trick namely - The Pledge, The Turn and The Prestige. The Pledge - the hanging of Borden and Angiers being victorious over him finally. The Turn - Borden is hung and Fallon goes after Lord Caldow. The Prestige - when the cat is out of the bag that Borden and Fallon are twins and that it was Borden who kills Angiers and eventually reunites with his daughter. One of the most brilliant and complex scripts handled with skill and ease by the ace director. Even Tesla's and Edison's rivalry were showcased for a brief moment in the movie much like the one upmanship between Angiers and Borden. The Prestige is indeed a roller-coaster ride which truly leaves everyone gaping with an open mouth at the end. The magic has done trick its trick.

What started with an innocuous search for TBBT's torrent lead me one after another to The Prestige thus making my week to be truly ABRACADABRA ! 

Pind - An Ultimate Punjabi Delight!

Do you want to visit Punjab during your summer vacations and have a bite and flavor of Punjabi cuisines with their foot tapping music @ very affordable rates ? You don't have to go all the way to Punjab to savor and enjoy the rich and luxurious Punjabi experience. The answer is very much here in Chennai. In fact, it's in Velachery and located very close to Vijayanagar bus terminus.

Traversing slowly through the uneven terrain that were badly weathered by the rains, you get to park your vehicles in lanes adjacent and alongside to the restaurant. Barely taking a few strides, you reach Pind's entrance. As it was a Sunday night, the place was overly crowded due to the immense popularity of this restaurant. Before you are welcomed in by the welcome drink, you are actually greeted in to the groovy tunes of pure Punjabi bliss. Without your knowing and acting subconsciously, you begin to tap your foot to the energetic and enthusiastic tunes of the lively music. This is just not the end. The entire place smelled, tasted, heard and felt nothing other than the land of 5 rivers. The decor was plastered with vivid images, colorful wall-hangings and bright pictures which loudly spoke tomes of the Punjabi culture. Pind simply emanated the ebullient and gregarious Punjabi culture and completely immersed everyone to sumptuous Punjabi cuisines. A la carte and buffet were on the cards, at least the A la carte was on the card and the buffet was handed to us in a piece of neatly hand-written paper!

As the peppy songs were playing in the background, the buffet was also going for a song - 499+taxes and that too on a weekend! The spread included:

a) Soup  

b) 3 varieties of starters 

c) Pani Puri 

d) Roti & Naan with 3 types of side dishes 

e) 3 kinds of salads

f) Veg Rice and Noodles

g) Ice Cream

It was heaven especially the Paneer Tikka Masala which was one of the side dish to the Naans & Rotis. Not going to talk much about the quality of food or the service despite the place severely swamped with throngs of people. One word - Outstanding, as people were also literally standing out patiently and awaiting their turns to wallow in this wickedly awesome Punjabi offering.

Pind does not serve food. It gives you an authentic and true Punjabi experience which ensures that when you want to indulge in Punjabi food, Pind would be the obvious first place of choice.

Not all Magic Schools are Hogwarts!

Expecto Patronum. Imperio. Crucio. Avada Kedavra. Lumos. Every kid and adult on this planet who has assiduously and unflaggingly followed Harry Potter since 1997 would know better that the world of magic is synonymous to the Potter world. Such is the strong brand name and brand equity that the entire Harry Potter series had created that you find anything even remotely related and concerned to magic would be definitely Harry Potter and nothing else. A complete generation and its successors have grown up to create such an intense and indestructible bond with the lightning scarred and spectacled boy who had by then grown up and evolved to kill You-Know-Who with his bunch of chums in the 7th and final installment of this revered series. So, when you hear that Brakebills is also a magic school, the instant reaction which you will have is 'Hey..I have read the Potter series more than my Bible or The Bhagawad Gita. There is no such school by that name in The Potter Universe'. You are absolutely right. Brakebills does not feature in the HP series at all. It is actually a school, a magic school, created by Lev Grossman in The Magicians trilogy.

"I can't just go to Yale if I know this place exists" Julia exclaims after she is rejected by the university professors during her preliminary magic examination. On the other hand, Quentin Coldwater, her best friend, is selected and given admission in the magic school which is situated in upstate New York. No more big spoilers other than this will be revealed but the tone was set for the pilot of The Magicians. The pilot's plot moved at a slow yet steady pace thus covering all the characters one by one in a wide and shallow manner. Though you can see semblances of Narnia-esque and Potter-esque scenes in the pilot, The Magicians set the bar very high towards the concluding part especially in the final scenes where it is more than gripping and intriguing. 

The small quick dance accompanied by a hair-raising BGM did surely give an eerie sense of foreboding that something nasty and evil was just imperative and impending on the horizon. Just like the awesome and eye-popping magic scenes like the cards flying, stopping and swirling in mid-air to form a castle on the table to a crystal melting and transforming itself into a horse, the ending was simply mind-blowing thus creating the desired anticipation for the actual episodes that is to be aired from Jan 25. Even though I have not read the books, I can very well say with categorical confidence that as ever the books trump and triumph over movies and serials. This is very evident from the simple fact that all the characters are so hurriedly introduced and frisked away thus leaving the newer entrants to the series with very less time to register and digest the mindset of the characters on board. However, the final act was more than sufficient to make up for the lack of proper character introduction in the Magicians. So, its an unquestionable and clear-cut thumbs up for The Magicians as of now but only the future should let know whether this brand of magic should be discarded or not.

The Intern - De Niro shows Hathaway who is the Intern!

"Why am I not Brad Pitt"? " I think its kinda self-explanatory"! These were the sort of scenes that actually made this cute movie to be a very lovable one. Though the storyline is not as deep as Inception or as brainy as Interstellar, the lead actors - De Niro and Anne Hathaway ensured that The Intern is a good breeze that wafts through your face and makes you smile and cry till it lasted. By the time you recover from the impact of the gentle and soothing breeze, you realize that you have forgotten that the breeze existed in the first place!

Like how Atlas holds the Earth on his shoulder, De Niro carries the entire brunt of the film on his elderly shoulders. Not that Anne Hathaway was bad as a tough and ambitious boss but it was De Niro's relaxed, centered and calming composure with his deep range of expressions that literally stole the show away from Hathaway's exemplary performance as Jules. The rest of the crew including Anne's husband just scratch the surface and pass muster. But, it was De Niro in his father-like character as a widower, sorry single!, makes you feel for him who wants to be a part of the dynamic and energetic world even at the age of 70 post his retirement as VP-Marketing. The way he applies for the senior internship program & conducts himself in About the Fit and his explanations for carrying a hand kerchief will surely invoke a sense of chivalrousness even in the most rude and boorish person. De Niro was not only overloaded bu also completely submerged in a sage-like serenic state. The reason for his admirable self-composure is explained very succinctly in the first and the last scenes of the movie where Ben Whittaker is involved in Tai Chi classes and he encourages Joules to take part so that she can also feel relaxed in her fast-paced work atmosphere.

The movie revolves around how an ambitious and young woman who wants to fiercely protect her baby a.k.a About the Fit - an e commerce firm - from outside hands and the problems that she had to face with her stay-at-home husband and daughter whom she doesn't see much because of her hectic work schedule. This is the moment when De Niro shows up as a senior intern to her and brings back the much needed balance in her life. It was really a good thing that the movie did not end up with De Niro and Anne Hathaway as lovers. However, the scenes involving the masseuse was more crass than laugh worthy. In the end, everyone is happy and all smiles in the zephyrus movie leaving the audience also in smiles to the extent that they forget why they smiled in the first place!. 

ssendrawkcaB at its Best!

Travelling to a new place is like going to a restaurant and trying out a dish which you haven't tried at all in your life. You might have heard great positive reviews from your friends and relatives. Since then, all you would have wanted to do is to sink your teeth at least once and find it out for yourself as to what exactly had made so many of your friends to describe so joyously about the viand. So, the next time when you walk into a restaurant and quickly scan the a la carte and see that the particular item is available on the card, without any hesitation, you simply order it without even considering its price. Then, it will take close to eternity for the garcon to bring the delicious dish to your table. The wait. The anticipation. The expectation. It keeps on mounting until the waiter serves the food to you. Your eyes glow up very brightly when they keep the item in front of you. Finally, when you manage to have the first bites of the raved cuisine but have an anti-climax ending to this patient saga, you know it was not what you had expected based on the pretty perceptions that were creatively created by your near and dear ones. Yet you still love the anti-climax because it was a twist which you never anticipated. It was a welcome surprise rather than a shocking or a horrible ending to you. So, you go ahead with gusto and relish every last bit of the delicious dish.

This is the same scenario with places too. You plan to go to a place which you have been hearing since your childhood in Geography textbook, TV or newspapers. To make matters even good, some of your best friends might be hailing from that particular place and would have given a detailed account of their hometown. With all the mental impressions formed in my mind for the last 18 years , I landed finally in Bhubaneswar for my friend's wedding. A car picked me up to Cuttack - my ultimate destination point. Just like Pondicherry or Chandigarh, Bhubaneswar is a well-planned city which could be evidently seen from their layout of roads to their distinctive and systematic well-maintenance of roads and infrastructure. A quick one hour drive takes you to Cuttack which makes you to wonder whether you have travelled back to at least 50 years in time!

Cuttack- the erstwhile capital of Orissa, apologies Odisha, handed over its capital reins to Bhubaneswar as soon as we had our independence. From the famed Barabati Stadium where International Cricket fixtures are held time to time to Barabati Fort to Netaji's birth house, you would have surely and luxuriously heard about Cuttack. But, what you see in stark reality is completely in contrast from the painted picture of the second most important city in Odisha. 

The congested roads. The seemingly rickety and ramshackle buildings. The lethargic pace of the people. When most of the places in India clamoured for growth and development, it was then very obvious why Cuttack did not have its much-needed and anticipated growth. Enquiring a couple of local people who have been in the place for more than 50 years, they were of the opinion that people still shared the same old school of thought to preserve their history and that they see new developments as serious detriments to their culture. Also, people feel so much jealousy when others are on the right track of progress that they are overwhelmingly consumed by the very act and fact of it that they fail to perform proactive progress in life. Furthermore, the geographical location is such that it does not permit the place to expand horizontally. These factors directly attribute for the city's lack of development and infrastructure.

However, the backwardness had also has its own charm. You can truly feel and have a connect with nature for every step you take and make. The people were very contented and satisfied with what they had and looked happy, at least on the surface. It was as if they were living one day at a time! They were also kind and helpful when you needed help.  God-fearing and Superstitious is not wrong but it should not be at the cost of a city. Cuttack has a wonderful food life with extremely tasty native delicacies. The Silver city can indeed become a gold city provided the people make some giant strides in their mindset that not all development and advancement is bad. The sooner they come to terms with this reality, the better it is for them to move leaps and bounds and be a true game changer in Odisha for being the second most important in the state.