Looking at the poster of "Race 3", I couldn't stop wondering on how similar it looks to Sylvester Stallone's lastest installment of "The Expendables" where he looks too old to carry off the franchise.

  

Race 3 has a lot going for it and alot going against it but as a movie it really is a bunch of non sensical scenes stuck together with the glue of monotony and over the top unrealistic dialogues. The plot is simple, in Prem Ratan Dhan Payo Salman had given a message on how important families are and in this one he is supposed to give a message about how dangerous a family can be. But all this falls flat on it's face when you see Remo D'souza's lousy direction coupled with absurd dialogues.


 Anil Kapoor is the only performance you can bear 

Anil Kapoor aka Shamsher is the only saving grace of the movie and it's very evident that if Salman Khan doesn't start making sensible movie choices then it is surely going to be a career suicide. Yes the movie made over 100 crores, but that is sheerly because his fans love him, he is no more than a religion for them and they aren't wrong as he has a legacy of good movies as well.

Anil Kapoor plays the role of a runaway criminal who has made a island of weapon manufacturing and thrives on it. Sikandar aka Salman is is step son while Daisy Shah and Saqeeb Salim are his twins. Then there is Bobby Deol, Jacqueline Fernandez and many other actors whose character I couldn't understand. Their sudden Bhojpuri conversations are so out of place that it makes you wonder why are you wasting 2 and half hours of your life which you will never get to relive again.

The Race franchise is known for it's edge of the seat suspense but this one has all the suspense and revelations at the end one after the another. So by the time you try to understand what all these characters are doing and why, they reveal that they were lying about the characters and that what you know till now is all fake. Saqeeb Salim's "Bro" and Daisy Shah's "Our Business is our business, none of your business" and other such idiotic rhyming dialogues become another layer of cringeworthly content.

The scene between Salman Khan and Bobby Deol where both tear out their shirts to go all bare chested and fight it out is just plain hilarious. I just have one question, WHY?

Why ruin a good franchise by having a new masala movie director direct a suspense thriller ? The genres are so different that it shows Remo D'Souza's incapability to hande suspense movies. This wasn't a dance movie and yet there was a lot of dancing. I wish I could unsee Salman Khan's moves in the song "Heeriye", it almost made my eyes bleed. The music pulls it underground with "Selfish" which is written by Salman himself. May be, just may be the song is good but doesn't fit the Race genre.

If you want to watch race, watch the old 2 installments, this one will make you want to poke yourself in the eye and question if Salman really needs to do such movies?

Walked into a library and found many faces,

Lost between the pages,

Their souls had traveled far,

They bodies sitting motionless and ajar,

Some were searching for the perfect read,

Some had found their soulmate and stuck to it,

I walked down the aisle and started my search,

Between so many sections I was almost lost,

 So many titles, so many emotions, so less time,

Had to chose one and begin for sure,

Picking up one I walked towards a seat,

Suddenly my mind told me this is not it,

I went back and brought another one,

This seemed right, my mind was calmer,

One page, two and then three,

The journey began and I was on a judging spree,

After a few pages I started feeling the disconnect,

All that I had thought about the book's offering was not quite met,

The book was good but not my type,

I kept it back and brought another one,

This one was worse than the first one I must say,

Either my taste in books is bad or my luck is, I thought,

I got up one last time and brought back another one,

This seems alright,

The characters started speaking to me and I knew I had found my partner in crime,

I held it tightly and officially brought it home,

I kept reading and re-reading it over and over again,

I fell in love with each and every page,

This was the book which spoke my mind,

This was the book which made me come alive,

In excitement I shared it with a friend,

She was not so convinced and refused to read it,

On persistence she read a few pages & had an headache,

I was sorry for her trouble and saddened by the fact that

my good friend had not shared my liking,

We argued and argued for hours,

She walked away saying its a futile power,

I was left alone with my beloved book,

I tried to convince her but she never did,

The book might not be for everyone after all,

If it was, then won't everyone read just one book above all,

I would like to tell you the name of my book now,

"Religion" it is called and it makes a few many go wow,

We all have found one, we all believe in one,

To each his own, respect and move on!

Veronica opened her eyes, to find herself scared and vulnerable all over again. Because everything around her had changed. She remembered falling asleep on some kind of pathway but right now she was surrounded by stone walls on three sides while strips of stone blocks locked the fourth side, she was behind bars. She was feeling that her attempt to suicide was so jinxed that she was continuously landing herself into trouble since then. Looking around, she realized that there were other stone cells too lined up in front of her and also next to her own cell but there was no one inside them. There was a black stone wall kind of structure behind the cell she was facing.

She started banging her foot on the stone bars and screamed her lungs out.

"Let me out of here, Hello? Anyone there? Let me out!"

But there was no reply, the adjacent cells were still quite and she couldn't see anyone in the two cells right across her own. She tried to peep but couldn't see anything. She sat down, angry and detested with herself. She should have jumped from a high rise as she had earlier decided and not trust the seas to take her away, she thought. Holding her head between her legs, she cramped herself to a corner. She knew the one who had locked her would definitely return to either set her free or end her life once and for all, she was hoping whoever it was chose the second option.

A few tiring hours later someone appeared at her cell. She didn't want to come out of it once she saw him, or her or whatever it was. It was a human like figure with a face which resembled a reptile, large skull and unblinking eyes which were completely yellow were staring at her. It had no eye balls and his face made Veronica cringe, she hated reptiles anyways. She could see it's tongue flitting into the air rapidly like it was tasting something in the waters while it's skin was covered with green scales and bulgy patches like those of an alligator.

With his reptilian claw like hands he opened the cell lock by inserting his claw into  the stone lock. The creature stared at Veronica for a few minutes and then left while Veronica froze in shock.

A few minutes later she walked out of the cell and was exhilarated by the view around. The cells were surrounded by huge grey mountains, bigger than the biggest mountain she had ever seen. She never thought waters had so much hiding in them.

She could now walk easily, the muddy floor was replaced by a stone path and there was no one around. She was mesmerized by these mountains, unknowing of the dangers that they were covering.

Someone was watching her every move, someone wanted her here and was just showing off his power. While she was busy roaming the mountains and observing the underwater life and trying to find a way to escape, her past had knocked on her doors.

Veronica's Ex boyfriend William was standing at the doorstep of her Brooklyn home where her parents were still not able to digest the fact that their teenage daughter had disappeared and supposedly died without leaving any trace.

The Jones were busy watching the news though in their head everyone was lost in thoughts, the door bell rang and broke the tension in the room.

Veronica's father opened the door and found a guy in black hoodie standing at the doorstep.

Sorry sir, I am Veronica's friend, I heard about her. I just wanted to share something with you. I feel it is important for you to know."

Mr. Jones welcomed the boy in with a grim face and asked him to sit down.

"What is your name? Since when do you know Veronica? Haven't ever seen you around", Mr. Jones exclaimed.

"Right sir, actually she was my classmate. We were very close for sometime and she had given me this as her promise to never have these thoughts ever again, like some six months ago. Now that she is no more, I feel you should have this." William said while holding a black package in his hand. He handed it over to Mr. Jones, Mrs. Jones and Veronica's younger brother James stared at William in amusement. He left immediately after handing over the package, leaving behind a confused and amused family.

 Mr.Jones looked at the plastic package for a minute and opened it carefully. It had sketchbook inside it. The sketch book was Veronica's world in black and white. It was her darkest dreams on paper, while most of the pages were filled with sketches depicting pain and anger in the form of blood drippings and cut marks on body parts, the last sketch in the book stood out the most. The last sketch scared the entire Jones family, it was a secret they were hiding from her for years.

Being a fiction lover, I have read a lot of books. But there are a few which have left their imprint on my mind, "Tuesdays with Morrie" by Mitch Albom tops the list of such books. It is a simple story loaded with minute details about life's moments which we often neglect while we are busy chasing the nonsensical ones.

The book stays with you for years after you have read it, mostly because it doesn't have a preachy tone yet shakes your thoughts & perspectives. The book is about a Professor Morrie sharing his life anecdotes while he is on his death bed. While the book itself is short (around 208 pages), you will not be able to complete this one in one go as the life lessons it gives away through everyday situations is beyond amazing.

This happens to be the only book that makes an appearance in my mind whenever I am low or when something is not quite right. Some lines from this book are so beautiful that I keep going back to the book every now and then by opening a random page.

While the story line may sound negative to some, Mitch Albom has superbly written it to highlight how a dying Professor feels good about the fact that he had an opportunity to thank everyone around. 

Definitely a good read if you want to read something which will change the way you think and not just provide you with a plot or an ending to look forward to because this one doesn't have either and yet it is the a mesmerizing read.

"In the waters, lies a world,

In the waters, swims her blood"

The snake like creature whispered after swinging it's head and lowering itself to stare more closely into Veronica's eyes.

Veronica was so scared that she could not move a bit. She could feel a chill run down her spine. This creature was crazy looking and was speaking English, it was beyond her understanding. Her throat was drying, the creature gave her one long stare, looked around and swam away swiftly.

All Veronica could do was stare into the endless waters he had just disappeared into. She felt breathless and just then she realized she was breathing underwater, bubbles erupted from her nose every time she tried to take a deep breath. She wanted to get away from here, some place safe where there were no swimming snakes with large red blood eyes.

She tried swimming but she failed, she had tried learning to swim many times but could never get around it. She walked a few meters and struggled to keep up her balance, the floor was now getting slowly covered with slippery moss. Strangely she could see a pathway surrounded by tree like structures, underwater trees? Sea weed ? She decided to just stop trying to understand and  go with the flow, quite literally.

There were carbs adjacent the pathway, crawling on the mossy seabed and a few small fishes swimming in and around the sea weed kind of trees which were almost double Veronica's height.

She kept walking until she was tired and decided to sit down and take a moment to relax.

"What if mom and dad find me? I can't face them. Shit, what have I done. I am such a failure, I failed at killing myself and now am lost here in this crazy world which I cannot decipher. God, please let this be heaven, that way at least I won't have to face my parents ever. Within a few seconds Veronica fell asleep.

If only she knew her fate,

If only she knew the dangers,

If only she knew that she would wake up in a different place,

She would have walked anywhere but this  pathway...

Have you seen an Elephant with chains? 

Beaten, not fed for days and used to either show off his trunks or for people's entertainment...

People sit on it's back, some feel bad for him while others feel angry for the people who chain them

You know what the Elephant feels ?

It feels powerless!

Not because it doesn't have the strength to kick people around him, but because he fears and he is scared of the unknown.

In this concrete jungle the elephant doesn't know where to go so he never breaks the chains which otherwise he can easily break...

Because he is too scared to let go of the known pain and too scared of the unknown...

In this he doesn't realize that he is losing his life and his only chance of  freedom...

Don't be that Elephant...

Veronica opened her eyes, everything was a blur at first. As soon as she regained senses, she regretted it all. She regretted the fact that she was still alive. While her head was still heavy, it started bursting with pain when she looked around. There was a water everywhere and she could feel small moss like thing beneath her feet. A few plant like structures covered the area that was visible to her.

She was underwater, she looked up and she could see rays of sun reflecting on the surface which was like a million kilometers away. She moved her hand to check if she was in water and indeed she was. But how could she breathe ? She had no idea. All she could she was aquamarine nothingness.She tried swimming up but she just couldn't; it was as if the sea wanted her to be here.

She tried walking and it was difficult, she was pushed around by the weight of water. Her feet barely touched the ground even though she tried hard to be steady. The corner of her eye saw a part of a tail like fin and she got extremely anxious. Suddenly all the documentaries she had seen about seas and sharks and what not came alive, she sensed danger. She always thought jumping in the waters will be the least painful deaths of all, but now she was rethinking her decision.

Checking her jeans pocket she took out her mobile phone and it was not working, she wasn't surprised but was getting a very strange feeling about the whole scenario. A chill ran down her spine when she again noticed the tail like huge structure swimming rapidly just a few meters away from her. This time she noticed it's feet as well, covered with nasty nails and it's skin pitch black dotted with cringe worthy rocky grayish scales. Her stomach was churning, her throat clinched and she could feel a warm feeling rise up her chest.

Before she could contemplate what it exactly was, a fish or a sea creature or a snake, it swooped right in front of her and raised it's head above Veronica's. She stared into it's deep round black shinny eyes and froze with terror.

ये डर भी कितना अजीब होता है ना,
इसके आगे जीत होती है और पिछे  हालात,
डर को काबू में रखो तोह दुनिया सलाम करेगी,
डर के काबू में आ गए तोह दुनिया हसेगी,
किसी किराने की दूकान पर बिकता हो इतना सस्ता हो गया है आजकल ये डर,
किसी छूत की बीमारी की तरह सब को लग ही जाता है, ये डर...
इस बीमारी का कोई इलाज नहीं जनाब,
गब्बर सिंह ये कहकर गया, जो डर गया वो मर गया,
पर वो ये बताना भूल गया की जो नहीं डरता मरता तो वो भी है जनाब !

If one observes the movies in last 3-4 years, one can see that all movies which depict a common man's story have been majorly essayed by Akshay Kumar. The actor who was typecast many times, once for action and once for his impeccable comic timing, has now developed as a real Hero in true sense. 

Evolution of Akshay Kumar

He has slowly evolved as the angry young man of Indian cinema, a title which once belonged to legandary Amitabh Bachchan in his youth. One can notice the similarities between Amitabh Bachchan's old classic movies and Akshay's current movies, they all bring the real life on to the real. They all represent the common man, the Robinhoods of helpless and at times ignorant villagers and more importantly the characters are not flamboyant, they are real and grounded.

Akshay Kumar - The Hero we all Love

 

Baby, Gabbar, Toilet and more

It all started to make sense from his movie "Baby" which released in 2015. The movie gave everyone a glimpse of what Akshay could do being a savior. Though he had done a lot a action flicks when he was new to the industry, the movies now showcase him not as a fighting ninja trying to save his heroine but ensuring that his country and the citizens are safe. The messiah was born on screen and the movies after Baby prove that the producers too realized this and made his Messiah image bigger and bigger.

Then came the movie "Gabbar", Akshay Kumar was a man against corruption which is the biggest problem India has been facing since it's independence. Here again through his subtle yet powerful performance he not only entertained the audiences but also drew home the anti corruption message taking him closer to the comman man's heart and soul. He should really be given a pat on his back on how well he has streamlined his career and how well he has expanded his expertise to areas where most actors dread to go. The latest one being "Padman" which tackles the taboo related to sanitary napkins, the change is needed and it's happy to cinema initiate the change. "Toilet Ek Prem Katha" was yet another gem with Akshay figthing for a cause close to every rural Indian woman's heart, sanitation and hygiene. An applaud also needs to be given to his act in Jolly LLB 2 where he essays a struggling Lawyer and again takes up a realistic journey.

Akshay's "Gold" will be one more of the gems

Last few films of Akshay has been very close to the real life; no extravagant sets, no over the top antics, no costumes and no dancing to item numbers; pure gold. Which takes me to his future releases, one of which is the most anticipated release  of 2018, Gold; the story of 1st Indian Gold Medal at the Olympics. No doubt it will be an awesome watch because now I trust Mr. Akshay Kumar with the scripts and his performances have always been better than the rest no matter what the script was.

Hoping more Bollywood actors join the league, a trend that was started by Aamir Khan with "3 Idiots" needs to spread among st the leading men & women of Bollywood for quality scripts to win over the box office.

( Image source - i.vimeocdn.com)

Ranveer's portrayal of Khilji is the only saving grace of the movie, but given a chance I will watch this movie once again only for Ranveer's scenes and the songs. The songs are visual paintings, every sequence is the most beautiful portrait the silver screen can showcase and for that Sanjay Leela Bhansali needs a pat on the back, he hasn't lost touch on his grand setups, heavy jewellery and the red and colorful tones across scenes.

We know a lot about Khilji's character, like his craziness, his antics, his ego, his romance , his war skills and the most important his dream. We don't know anything about Shahid Kapoor's character Raja Rawal Ratan Singh apart from the fact that he fell in love with Padmaavati when she accidentally injured him and that he is a respected king and madly in love with his second wife. So his character is so underdeveloped that it fails to connect. This is the reason one doesn't feel bad when Shahid Kapoor is jailed and is reduced to mere prisoner. Gora Singh and Badal Singh's character have much more appeal than him. Both the script and his performance lack a lot making all his scenes a bore affair.

Just like Shahid, Deepika's character too is half baked. We have no details as a viewer about her dreams, her fears or for that matter her family and her past. We just know that she is a king's daughter who wanders in the forest and hunts animals. Her character should have been developed in a better way for us to connect with her which would have lead the last Johar scene becoming a scene where the audience is in tears.

We get it, its a periodic drama, things those days were slow; people used to enjoy every moment. But that doesn't justify a almost 10 minute long scene where the main lead is just walking walking and walking. The end scene where all women are committing Johar could definitely be shot in a better way, also the end could have been much much better. Showing Khilji's reaction on the whole things after he watches the pyre could have been a perfect consolation for the 2 hour 45 minute patience the audience shows. The costumes are great as always, here agin Shahid's costumes make him look too slim for being a warrior king. In a few scenes he looks thinner than even Deepika which takes away from the seriousness.

I read many reviews where the Johar was condemened as its against women power and what not. I am not supporting anything but the fact is in an era where there was no government, no rules and attacker had already broken down all barriers and ready to rape women and take over all the property, any woman would prefer to end her life on her own. It wasn't so much as Sati but it was an act of escape to save Rajput name and saving themselves from probable rape.

Hell yes, I will. Just for Ranveer  Singh's performances and the sheer grandness of the scenes. The songs Khali Bali Hogaya hai Dil and Ghoomar are absolute treat to watch, Ek Dil Hai has a classic feel to it and sticks to your mind. Though all the songs remind one of the old songs of Snajay Leela Bhansali movies, the shots in the song are amazing.

Katappa was Bahubali's mentor right from his childhood, agreed. Katappa was like his shadow and followed him everywhere, agreed. But what stood out to me was how Katappa was still alive and as powerful as earlier even for Bahubali's son on whom "Baahubali 2" is based on. Clearly Katappa has been eating some magical chyavanprash for breakfast, lunch and dinner because technically he should have been atleast 80 to 100 years old when Baahubali's son took over. But he fails to age.

Kajol's character is left behind at the railway platform when she gets down to visit the loo. Only if she and the maker's knew that all trains have inbuilt restrooms then this mishap and the whole movie  could have been avoided.

This one had really made me laugh. So everyone remembers the opening scene of the movie where Aditya Roy Kapoor's character is shown speeding the car in a drunk state at 2 am in the night. This is when he meets Arohi for the first time when he suddenly almost ramps into Arohi who is crossing the road or something and her bag of tomatoes fall down and he falls for him.

What the hell was Arohi i.e Shraddha Kapoor doing with a bag full of tomatoes at 2 in the night on an empty street? Who buys tomatoes at 2 in the night and where did she even buy them from at that insane hour?

Okay so let me get one thing straight first, I don't hate the show and I still have my hopes on for the next season of the web series, in case there is any. Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai was a TV show which not only broke the monotony but was also a comedy show which had an actual plot. While other comedy shows rely on situational antics, Sarabhai was largely dependent on it's characters. Like Dushyant would say, Let me explain!

The fact that Rosesh is a mad poet and makes atrocious poems is not funny in itself, it can actually be an irritating phenomenon. But it's the way Rosesh tells his crappy poems with all his heart in it is what makes it funny, people laugh not only on his poems but his innocence which makes him believe that they are actually good. Maya's hatred for Monisha is not outright funny, but the way Maya controls her hatred for maintaining her dignity and class is what is funny. Monisha's messy behavior and the middle class antics are not funny on their own, they are funny only when she has a hidden agenda or a problem of her own which she is trying to solve. And that is exactly the reason why we don't remember the story of any of the episodes much, but we do remember what Maya said and how Indravadan reacted, that's the magic of a superlative comedy.

 

The web series that failed to entertain like the TV show

While we all loved the TV show and have re-watched it again and again, the web series couldn't live up to the expectations. Reason? Well after contemplating a lot and as a writer trying to find out what went wrong and where, I can only pin point on one thing; the storytelling. While the TV show focused on the characters, the web series focuses on the story, and story in a comedy is unfortunately never the crux. The addition of the new character, Monisha and Sahil's son could have been an awesome extension to the madness but it ended up becoming so forced that the child started getting a bit irritating as the series progressed. Indravadan was totally wasted in the web series and to my surprise Maya and Monisha have very very little screen time where they are together. The two characters of the show who are known to be loggerheads and generate laughter were kept away most of the time. And in an attempt to pump up the grandeur of the show they shot a lot in the outdoor which invited sloppy VFX and bad production values to seep in, again ruining the aesthetics of the show.

 I don't know if the makers are reading this, but if they are and if there is a Season 2, I would request them to focus on the characters like they earlier did and not on the gimmicks. Because like Maya would say, Gimmicks are so categorically down market !