Vanity Bagh - Review of Anees Salim's Book

I finally got to read Vanity Bagh by Anees Salim over the year end break. This book won the Hindu Literary prize in 2014. To be frank, till this book won the prize I have not heard of a writer called Anees Salim. Came to know that he has written four books and Vanity Bagh is his second. 

Vanity Bagh has subtle comedy running through the book. This story takes place in a fictional town called Mangobagh, which has two localities Vanity Bagh dominated by Muslims and Mehendi dominated by Hindus. The story is narrated in Imran Jabbari's voice. 

Imran is the son of the local imam and he and his friends form a gang called 5 1/2 men(all with Pakistan politician names) influenced by a half retired crippled don. They do re-possess a car and other than do nothing as a gang. 

After a while they get a job to be couriers and till a serial bomb blasts happens don't realize the enormity of what they had done. Two of them get caught and are sentenced to 14 years + in jail. Clearly showing how some unemployed youth get caught in the terror world without realizing what they are doing. 

The story goes back and forth between how Imran plots to jailbreak and the flashback of the incidents before he gets to jail and is also told with quotes from people from the town. 

Initial few pages are slow. Once you start getting into the thick of things, this is a very good read. All in all a good book to read. 

PS : Not sure what Anees has on Resul Pookutty. He has taken on Mickey on him in many parts of the book. 

Lingaa - A Movie Review

Watched Lingaa yesterday night.. Had tickets for 11am show but didn't take off from office to watch a Rajni movie.. Would have if I was able to get an earlier show.. In certain theatres there were shows from 1am yesterday... I think everyone knows the cast and crew of the movie.. 

It was always nice to watch Rajni movie on the first day... Each dialogue would be lapped up by his loyal fans.. This movie starts off that way in the introduction song.. Rajni looks stylish... The song doesn't have the punch that you expect in a typical Rajni intro song... Also felt like seeing Amitabh dancing - you all know how it is.. 

Started watching shouting thalaivaa... slowly the enthusiasm dies down.. not much punch in the first half.. Santhanam shines well in the first half and the second... 

When the first half ends you feel exhausted.. It's a bit long... The train fight sequence is well choreographed.. But there are certain scenes were it is clear that there is dupe being used for the sequence... Anushka looks beautiful... 

Second half is also predictable.. We know who the villain is and we also know what he is upto and we also know that our hero will stop him.. We didn't want Rajni to look like Golden Star NBK.. Agreed he has done such things in his earlier films but things have evolved... People laugh at stunts like he jumping with a bike from a cliff on top of an hot air balloon and doing a bicycle kick on a nitrogen bomb :(

Lingaa is a typical Rajni movie - He gets dragged into a situation which he is not initially keen to take up.. then understands the situation after hearing going through the flashback where he gives up all his wealth.. destroys the villain and saves the people... We continue to watch it because it has Rajni.. One main thing missing is that Rajni doesn't have a strong villain in this movie... 

Sonakshi Sinha is ok.. other support casts do their bit.. nothing great to talk about.. Karunakaran is just hanging in there.. not much to do.. There are certain scenes where it is obvious that Anushka is taller than Rajni.. what was Randy doing? 

Making - I expected the dam to look like a set but it wasn't that bad.. Many shots have been taken in an actual dam.. which was good.. Otherwise nothing great to talk about... Except Mona mona don't like any other song... Rahman lets down... 

Some scenes are good in a typical way - where Rajni talks about being contended with what he has or that everyone has to leave something behind when they leave... you expect these in Rajni movies.. 

Overall the saving grace were Rajni and Santhanam comedy... The movie is way too long.. 

Should you watch it.. we all watch any Rajni movie.. Will I watch it again - No, even though I had tickets for today morning, didn't go... Heard that there were tickets available in counter in certain theaters today itself.. 

Phil Hughes - A Life cut short

Phil Hughes, was an hardworking cricketer. He is not someone who was bestowed with natural talent but had to work really hard to make his way up. 

He scored loads of runs in first class cricket which ensured he came to the Australian team at a very young age(for Australian standards) of 19 and also become the youngest player to score 2 centuries in two innings of a test. 

He was about to make a come back to the Australian side for the test match series against India in place of injured Michael Clarke. 

That's when on 25th November a bouncer from Sean Abbott hit the left side of his back neck. The helmet doesn't cover this space. This is where the vertebral artery that takes blood to the brain is located which split and caused him to collapse immediately. He was administered CPR on the ground and taken to the hospital where he had undergone surgeries. However, on 27th November he passed away. Thus becoming the first cricketer at first class level to die because of an injury while batting. 

There are few deaths of cricketers that had affected me - Dhruv Pandove was the first. He was touted as the next Tendulkar. He was breaking many of Tendulkar's records in the age cricket and in first class cricket. He was killed in an accident when he was 18 years old. I was eagerly following his progress when this happened. The under 19 trophy in India is named after him now. Raman Lamba was the second when he was killed while fielding at short leg in a club match in Bangladesh. He was completely out of reckoning to play for the country and also was not a regular for Delhi Ranji team when this happened. And finally Phil Hughes'. 

This incident will have a huge impact on the way cricket is played (for a few months at least). Players will be more cautious in playing the hook or pull. There will be lot more ducking and swaying. The helmet design will definitely be relooked at to make it more safer. Not sure if we will have a HANS device like in car racing. Read that New Zealander's didn't bowl even one bouncer in the test against Pakistan which was on going at the time of Hughes death. The India Australia test series is also rescheduled and first test at Gabba is moved as the second and it is also pushed out by few days. 

The manufacturer of the helmet that Hughes was wearing at the time of the injury issued a statement that Hughes was not wearing the latest model. To me this was an accident that cut a life short. 

Coming to Sean Abbott who bowled the bouncer. I really feel for him. He is only 22 and will always have the guilt of bowling the bouncer which killed Hughes. Even though it was not intended to injure him. I had an accident(the person got injured and luckily it was nothing major) when driving a car and took me a long time to get back into the car. And the first time I did, I was completely shaken and mentally drained. 

Every cricketer and Cricket Australia has offered him all the support he needs but I am sure he will be undergoing counselling from professionals. However, it will take him sometime to get back to bowling. It is going to be very difficult for him to come back to bowling. 

Kaaviya Thalaivan - A Movie Review

Watched Kaaviya Thalaivan on the first day night show. 

Movie is set in the 1930s and 40s. The cast includes Nasser, Siddharth, Prithviraj and Vedika. 

Nasser runs a theatre company in which Siddharth and Prithviraj are part of. Ponvannan who was playing the lead role (raja part) in all the dramas is sent out of the company and it is between Siddharth and Prithiviraj to take up the lead role. 

Siddharth is selected over Prithviraj and there starts the Prithviraj's enmity towards Siddharth. Add Vedika into the mix with a two one sided loves and things get out of hand. To the extend that Prithviraj ensures Siddharth is kicked out of the company and also the climax. 

The movie doesn't show the great acting talents or details of the theatre during that period. It is just a movie of how two people who grow up together fall apart. Not sure why this movie needed a 40s setting? 

Siddharth impregnates two people in the movie - First a daughter of a Zamindar (Why did I get a feeling that this girl had a mustache? ) and second is Vedika and in between wavers becomes a drunkard and also becomes a patriotic person to stage only patriotic dramas. 

Prithviraj on the other hand makes it big in the theatre world and makes a lot of money before he starts losing it all in the theatre itself. 

Vedika has nothing much to do. Even though some people claim that she has a character with substance. Why did she fall for Siddharth that she wanted to bear his child is a question that you are left with - Just because the hero who she doesn't see for years becomes patriotic? 

Music is good and Rahman has ensured it brings the 40s feel to the movie. 

On the whole I didn't see much in the movie. It was a simple story which didn't require a 40s setting. It was only OK. 

Indian Team for Australia Test Series - My View

The team that has been selected MS Dhoni (capt), Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, M Vijay, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Wriddhiman Saha, Naman Ojha*, R Ashwin, Karn Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron

*Ojha has been included only for the first Test.

Up front - 18 members for a 4 test series is utter stupidity. Not sure why we need that many in the team. 

Openers - We have Shikhar, Vijay and Rahul in the team as openers. Vijay and Shikhar should be opening in Brisbane and Adelaide (also probably Melbourne). Don't expect Rahul to get a chance unless they fail big time in the first 2 (or 3 tests) or one of them gets injured. He is more going for the experience than anything else. Rahul is selected because of the wonderful season he had last year in the domestic series(scored over 1000 runs with 3 centuries) and the 2 centuries he scored in Duleep trophy final. 

Middle Order - Pujara, Virat, Jinx and Rohit have been settled middle order for a while now. Rohit is coming out of the injury and unless he scores big in the 2 one days against SL might sit out. Raina who seems to have the backing of the current big man (Ravi Shastri) might get a chance again in the whites. 

Fast Bowlers - Bhuvi, Shami, Ishant, Umesh, Varun. We will be playing Umesh, Bhuvi and Ishant in the first 2 tests. Varun limped out of the first ODI against SL. Shami is not also playing the SL series due to injury. Ishant is also down with a stiff back. Bhuvi is on his well-earned rest and hopefully he comes charged. Bhuvi was in the last few matches being very flat. He has to get back his swing. Varun might get one match, don't think Shami will be lucky. Out of the 5 selected 3 are down with injuries - that shows how vacant our bench strength is when it comes to fast bowlers. 

Spinners - Why do we need 3? We should play 1 or max 2 (at SCG). Dhoni is known to be soft on Jadeja and that might make us play 2 spinners which is not ideal. Ashwin did a good job in the 2 tests that he played in England and seem to have learnt lessons from his earlier trip down under and should be our first choice. I would have preferred if Kuldeep was selected over Karn. Now that we have Karn in the mix, he should get a chance in Sydney as the second choice. Jadeja is ok for ODIs but it is high time we stop picking him up for tests. Someone should put their foot down when MSD asks for his inclusion. 

Wicket Keepers - Saha has established himself as the second choice and Ojha is selected as backup only for the first test where MSD is not available. 

We should have selected a 16 member team - Shami and Jadeja are over kill. 

I feel that in certain cases the selectors go primarily by the IPL (Karn) and the recent effect (Rahul). Hopefully they do well if they get chances. Gone are the days when unless a player wont be picked unless he performs consistently in 3 or 4 series. 

PS - On the ODI front - Happy that Uthappa is back in the mix and he being picked as the keeper might give him a chance to go to Australia for the world cup. 

Modi's Cabinet Expansion - My View

First and foremost, really happy that the Prime Minister has realized that minimum government does not mean having minimum number of ministers. Not sure if he realizes that it means minimum number of ministries. 

Also good that some of the ministers are divested multiple portfolios so they can concentrate on key work - Like Arun Jaitley moving out of Defense, Nitin Gadkari moving out of Rural development and Nirmala Seetaraman moving out of Finance and Corporate affairs. I don't think any of these are punishments. Arun Jaitley getting I&B is funny though. 

Suresh Prabhu and Manohar Parrikar joining the cabinet, clearly shows the dearth of talent in the 325(282 in LS and 43 in RS) BJP MP pool. Which really is a sad state of affairs. 

Manohar Parrikar - Has built a image of a clean no-nonsense administrator. He gets an important Defense portfolio. There is lots of defense procurement that is planned and his clean image and good administration capabilities will come to use (hopefully this will be a welcome change over the "very clean to the extent of not doing anything style" of Antony). 

Suresh Prabhu - He was well respected and was thought to be a no-brainer in the initial cabinet itself. However, he has not been in good books of Udhav which let to him not being part of the original cabinet. He gets the railways ministry which was going nowhere under Sadanand Gowda. 

Birendar Singh - More to appease the Jat community of Haryana where BJP has positioned the first non-jat CM. 

JP Nadda - Rewarded for his work in UP where BJP did exceptionally well to win 73 seats. Even though it is open secret that he pressurized Harsh Vardan to get rid of AIIMS Vigilance officer. This also shows the audacity of the government in having scant regard for all such things with Nadda now becoming the Health minister in charge of AIIMS also (he can get rid of anyone he wants now - doesn't have to pressurize anyone else). 

Bandaru Dattatreya -  He becomes the first Union minister from the new state of Telengana. He was also a minister in the earlier NDA governments. This is more for coverage than anything else. 

Giriraj Singh - He is the guy who asked everyone opposing Modi to go to Pakistan. He was also recently in controversy over the 1 crore rupees found in his residence. He is selected along with Ram Kripal Yadav from Bihar for getting the Bhumihar and Yadav votes from which they both come from respectively. Bihar goes to elections next year. 

UP also get 4 new ministers which shows the focus that BJP has in another state which goes to election next year. 

Vijay Sampla - The plumber turned minister. He is brought in to garner the dalit votes in Punjab. It also clearly sends a message to Akalis (who didn't get any additional ministers) that BJP is moving into consolidate its position in Punjab. 

Same is the case with Babul Supriyo - BJP wants to establish themselves in West Bengal. With TMC on the decline and Congress not seizing the opportunity there is lots of space for them. 

Naqvi - Joins as MOS of minority affairs. Understand that BJP wanted to improve their Muslim representation but he could have been given another ministry - what with both muslim ministers in the cabinet being in charge of minority affairs. 

Ravi Shankar Prasad, Harsh Vardan, VK Singh and  Sadanand Gowda all have their wings clipped. Unless they get their act together won't be surprised if they are dropped completely. Harsh Vardan alone could be a case of prepping him for Delhi elections but others are clear cases of being warned. 

Ravi Shankar Prasad lost Law and Justice - that should really hurt. This guy who shows up in all TV programs with a book shelf filled with law books should feel really bad about losing the law ministry. Sadanand Gowda - his time in the ministry looked numbered. Not sure if he can be any successful in this ministry. This should be a huge set back for him dropping from Railways to Law. 

VK Singh - He has been removed from the NE affairs ministry and given statistics. Saw a funny tweet that this was more to finalize his date of birth :)

Shiv Sena - They must be fuming - Their request for minister posts in Maharashtra is not considered at all, their requests for having the new minister Anil Desai as a cabinet post rather than MOS is not considered. On top of it they had Suresh Prabhu join BJP just before the swearing in after resigning from Shiv Sena. This clearly shows where they stand in the current scheme of things. It is high time they reconcile to that fact and see how to survive and re-establish themselves (if at all they want to). 

The next post will be on my take on what can really be done to achieve minimum government.  

Madras - A Movie Review

Was intrigued by some of the interviews and news articles that came up in the last few days about this movie. 

This movie released about 3 weeks back and I read some good reviews about the movie but somehow didn't get to watch it. After reading the recent spate of views watched this movie over the weekend. 

The director mentioned about some of the aspects that he had used like the color blue - associated with the ambedkarite parties - used extensively in many frames and also the book the the hero reads in a particular scene. That's when I realized how I miss such minute details when watching a film and how each element is there to convey something. I still didn't catch the book in the movie though :(

The casts include Karthi(Kaali), Catherine(Kalaiarasi), Kalaiarasan(Anbu), Johnny(Hari). The music is by Santosh Narayanan. This is Pa. Ranjith's second movie after critically acclaimed Attakathi. 

The story takes place in North Madras. The main issue is about a wall (a pretty large wall in a housing board flat) and how two political parties want to reserve it for them. Anbu is in a party and he wants to take over the wall which is used by another party. Kaali is his friend and he works in an office. 

Kaali falls for Kalai and the usual things happen before they fall for each other - Does such movies need a love angle? And secondly Catherine definitely doesn't look the part. Ritwika who plays Anbu's wife looks the part and could have even played the role of the heroine (if one is really needed)

The first half is breezy and before you realize you are at intermission. Once the movie starts we know that Anbu will get killed and I was surprised that he was not when the first half ended. However, he gets killed in the beginning of the second half. When it comes to North Madras there has to be a gaana - unwritten rule of tamil cinema. Could have been avoided. 

Second half is a bit of a drag with the director trying to include some of the commercial elements like gaana (mentioned above), love, etc. Movie would have been much better if these could have been avoided. 

The second half is about how Kaali takes revenge for Anbu's killing and what happens to the Wall. 

This is a good movie. 

Music is by Santosh Narayanan. Songs are good - Naan Nee, Enga ooru Madras, Kakitha kappal are good. BGM is also good. 

In terms of acting everyone has done a good job. You don't get to see the usual Saranya or JP as parents - which is a welcome move. 

Happy to have watched a good movie. Watch it if you get a chance. 

You might also want to read some of the articles that I referred at 

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-metroplus/impure-tamilians/article6490030.ece

Best line in the above article is Roja reminding Paakku thool to KB :)

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/madras-a-critique-of-dalit-politics/article6507818.ece