X-Men: Days of Future Past

Bryan Singer finally returns to directing a ‘X-Men’ film with Days of Future Past. And with duds like ‘Superman Returns’ in his kitty since X2, fans would have been a bit little skeptic with this one. But with ‘First Class’ and ‘Wolverine’ reviving the X-Men franchise, huge expectations hardly left any room for further skepticism. And to be fair, the film had time travel and superheroes, it couldn't go wrong!

And thankfully, it doesn’t.

Days of future past acting as a sequel to both ‘First Class’ and the forgettable ‘Last Stand’, comes in with a simple, but extremely well written story. With the plot being predictable within the first fifteen minutes into the movie, the film rides on some engaging screenplay and powerful performances from the actors, and rarely does one witness both the aspects clicking so well for a superhero film.

The ‘Past’ enjoys the bulk of screen time, and rightfully so, considering the tremendous success that ‘First Class’ enjoyed. Hence, it leaves ample opportunity for James Mcavoy, Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence to kick off from where they left as Charles, Eric and Raven. With the addition of Hugh Jackman, as Logan, to their band, things could only get better.

The film is packed with right amount of action sequences and humor. And when you have Logan around, you sure got some cheesy one-liners here and there. With the sides of Professor X, Magneto, and Mystique at the verge of rising through within their younger selves, the film makes you connect with the characters at an emotional level, pushing this film higher in terms of substance.

The cinematography too was perfect, capturing 1973 and apocalyptic future brilliantly well. Background score does well to intensify the action scenes and the whole movie in general. Days of future, it seems could do no wrong in any department.

The film has some great moments, and does not falter in its story at any point, putting this film into a separate league of high rated Super hero cult hits. If ‘First Class’ set a high benchmark for the X-men Franchise, ‘Days of Future Past’ does well to raise it further. Do not miss this one.

Of Waves, Wrath and Blunders: Election 2014

Waves of Promise, Belief and Sentiments:

India:

To put this win into statistical perspective, since 1984 General Elections, Bharatiya Janata Party is the only party to win the majority number of Lok Sabha seats on its own i.e obtaining the “magic number” without taking any alliance into picture.

This election result is as satisfying and as comprehensive as it can get for a National Party in a country which is spread across varied languages, beliefs, cultures and sentiments. To sweep away so many with the sheer promise of a model state previously developed, speaks volumes about what we, as a nation, are expecting from today’s leaders: Development. It is also a lesson, for few self-proclaimed leaders (You-Know-Who), that actions do speak louder than any number of sound systems installed at election rallies.

It is the wave of promise that has now, officially, got our undivided attention, and it is up to this BJP led NDA to deliver and show its critics that past discrepancies of a bygone age belonged to a different older version of its party.

Andhra Pradesh:

Time to work together

To put the result here in simple terms, CBN is for Andhra, what NaMo is for India. But the win for TDP has not been as comprehensive as one would have hoped for, as YSRCP have notched up, disturbingly and surprisingly, high number of assembly seats. And yet, by the sanity of the larger section, gladly, TDP sails enough to get over the majority mark.

Andhra Pradesh is truly fortunate enough to find itself at the hands of one of the most pro-development and sensible leaders of our time, CBN, at this critical time. More than anything, the state needs a stable government and a capable leader to pull it through post-division blues and the Modi-Naidu factor is a blessing indeed.  

Telangana:

The first government in youngest state of the largest democracy would be formed by a party which is riding on the wave of sentiment of people, and it deserves so. It has given itself to the cause of the state from the time of its inception, and it would be interesting to see how much of an impact it can create, now that their cause, after a long struggle, has been finally met. TRS party now bears the expectations and demands of a young state on its shoulders, and we can only wish and hope that the State and Centre work in tandem, and walk the state through it first few steps.  All the very best, TRS!

Wrath of the Indians

Now, now, now, ‘defeat’ never tasted so sweet. To a party which has

We had it coming!

concentrated more on political moves and less on administration pre and post General Election 2009, this result is nothing but a slap on its face for showing indifference towards larger sections of people by not addressing bulk of the critical issues. It has inadvertently put the nation back at least by a good half a decade in terms of economical growth. From appointing a ‘robotic’ Prime Minister to handling sensitive issues, it has done everything wrong in the last five years, and it deserved a complete route out from the country. And any hopes of forming a government in the new state of Telangana too were completely shattered by the men in Pink. It would be interesting to watch them uncomfortably hop around in the opponent’s seat for the next five (well even ten if NDA does well) years.

Blunders

Even a 10-year-old following IPL caught onto the “Ab ki baar Modi sarkar” line,

Fall from grace

except of course Arvind Kejriwal, not that he had to catch onto it, but a wise acknowledgment of its presence, would certainly have done a world of good for Kejriwal, for he defied sense and logic and took on NaMo in Varnasi, ignorantly hoping to repeat his battle glory against Sheila Dikshit. Rather than concentrating on a few MP seats, AAP has flapped its wings far and wide, without scrutinizing the merits of his party members contesting in over 400 seats, and the result must certainly have ruffled him. It has somewhere, in the last six months, lost its basic ideology of a common man contesting and has paved way for its own embarrassing defeat. Even with the consideration of ‘first-time’ tag associated to it, AAP would most probably have done a touch better had there been a better leader with strategy at its helm. From the highs of January to the lows of May, AK might find this to be a bitter pill to swallow. The best that AAP supporters and members can hope for is that, this general election has served as enough of a lesson for its party chief to plan and prioritize his future course of actions better.

All in all, for a common man sitting in Hyderabad, this election result is nothing out of the blue, and has fallen in line with the ‘obvious’. All that is left is congratulating the parties that have won, and wishing the best for them and their supporters, voters and members.

Now, it’s over to the Assembly and Parliament, where our real expectations and hopes ought to take a shape. For a better India! #JaiHindi

The None Of the Above anomaly

For now, not this one

In October last year, when the Election Commission first introduced the concept of ‘None of the above’ option for the general elections, I was so excited that, for a moment, I considered  endorsing a plain white flag in support of that option and start an election campaign of my own in constituencies stricken with “bad” candidates/options. Democracy never ceases to spread out and flex its muscles parading its presence from time to time, does it?

But the initial excitement was slowly replaced with rational, pragmatic outlook on the NOTA because as democracy does, and always will, it did not provide us with a satisfying complete meal here, but rather a humdrum Yeah-I-am-here-folks plate meal initially, which has to be subjected to thoughtful revisions before it can be considered to be thoroughly consumed by those seeking it.

The problem with None of the Above option too is simple, it is rendered pointless because of its clear gaping flaw: None of the above option cannot enforce a re-election in the case of it obtaining the majority of votes, i.e, the one who has obtained second highest majority, second to NOTA option, is the winner.

An argument can be made that NOTA option was never meant to be what-we-all-so-obviously-want-it to be but was only a means to culminate stats who were dissatisfied with those contesting.

But imagine this, how many of us (those like me), who, even though are dissatisfied, end up choosing from the lot rather than going for NOTA just to make sure that the vote does not go down the drain? So NOTA option does not even reflect that stat properly. In a way, NOTA’s presence this year round could do nothing but dilute the number of votes for particular candidates, and therein creating another problem for those few better-of-the-lot candidates contesting in elections. Hence, it serves practically no purpose for the 2014 General Elections just because it was introduced haphazardly without thoroughly examining the chinks in its armor.

But NOTA, if properly reviewed and implemented accordingly, in the coming years, can be the most powerful democratic tool handed to the common man in general elections, because it would then have the power to reject unworthy candidates, demanding and forcing political parties to field better leaders.

Till then, it is necessary that we ignore this option completely so as not to let our once-in-five-years democratic exercise to be a number in a pile of counter-productive statistical data. And as always, the best that can be done is to go through the list of candidates closely, scrutinize pros and cons of their promises and hope the best candidate represents you in the assembly and parliament.

Sin Vote Bank

I have read in The Hindu that out of 813.4 million registered voters, there are about 100 million new voters. 
Now this stat unnecessarily triggered few emotions.

Going back one year down the memory line, I look at an ultra optimistic myself (I still am, but just an optimist), where I believed and did not believe in few things. For example, I believed that there was a huge cast based vote bank existing in India and I Did Not believe that caste based vote bank existed among the urban voters, or to be more specific, I did not, for a second, believe that caste based vote bank existed in the urban youth. 

Well, coming back to the present day, The Naive Thinking Me's world has been thoroughly (and rightfully) rocked. Last few months of my personal experiences and observations have been a testimony to that. 

Caste. Caste? The name? The family line that we have been born into? Our ancestors? How trivial is that? If we closely (or to be frank just simply) reflect on the nature of these parameters that inadvertently influence things ranging from being a part of a fandom to taking sides during arguments to voting for any particular party, we would realize the pathetic hypocrisy we are all (Forgive me, I know that many of you give rat's ass about caste or cast-ism, but I am generalizing for the sake of convenience), at least many, are still a part of. 

To consider someone, or ourselves, to be a part of some superior higher class of human race, is an age old ignorance that has to be done away with. Just the idea that belonging to a particular caste is a source of pride, if anything, shows that we have not built on success stories for ourselves that we, as an individual, can be proud of. If only we can outsource half of the energy that is spent there on enhancing the individual skill set. If Only. 

What I am asking does not take much of our time or energy, its the simplest of things like talking to our friends on such issues, doing our bit in eradicating that thought from someone's head that can make a difference, at least somewhere in the 100 million new voters. 

Instead of just backing a politician that we have always respected (reasonably or unreasonably), we could look at the facts, virtues, positives, negatives aspects of all the politicians in the race and most importantly live in the present. It is so much better to soak in the existing sunlight and take battle sides fairly, rather than sulking in the shadows of former glory. 

The only blood that we actually share is that of our parents and direct siblings, and not with some leader, nor revolutionist, nor your close friend, who shares your last name. People are what they are and not what their names are. 

I somehow believe, with the existing trends that we are slipping away into (an not drawing away from) undeniable debauchery. Ten years from now, twenty years from now, when the fights move away from the presence of boundary lines on a map, we cannot blame some random politician for dropping a caste filled incendiary on us because we have let this live on. 

We today are letting the stub to swagger with us that could any day be lit up. Let us just give the existence of this disease a thought now before it consumes us up for good in times to come.

Let us all vote for someone who he/she actually is. 

Thank you
#LargestDemocracy #IndiaVotes #TheHindu #CasteBasedPolitics

300 Rise of an empire:

Like the many Greek and Persian ships, this movie sinks too, but only because it is battered away by the high expectations. If we can bring ourselves to the point of treating Rise of an Empire without comparing it with Gerard Butler’s epic, we have a movie that is definitely worth a watch.

Rise of an empire is not exactly a sequel or a prequel to the original 300. It rather tells an interesting tale of the origin of Persian and Greek war and the subsequent consequences which take place at the same time as that of King Leonidas’s battle.

So does it mean we have a winner in terms of the plot?
Sadly no, as the movie is plagued with an uninteresting screenplay writing that treads far too often into the shore of routine un-novelty in its plot.  

So does Rise of an empire, at least, have that cinematographic texture that we love?
Well, yes and no. Yes because it still has that 300 ‘battle feel’ attached to its cinematography but ‘No’ because the red and golden texture of 300 is replaced with Dark blue texture as most of the film deals with naval battles at sea. But Rise of an empire does have its own technical high points too with exceptional Slow-Mo moments filling the film at all the right places. The movie is also a victim of poor background score that doesn’t let us feel its presence till the last 10 minutes of the film.

But what actually saves this film from being an utter failure is the character of Artimisia, sort of right-hand to Xerxes. Eva Green as Artemisia steals the show from the greek warriors with her epic bad ass character. Simply put, evil and vengeance never looked sexier on screen than this. She basically carries the entire film. The presence of Artimisia takes this film all the way from being a “avoid this” to a “one time watch”.

To be very frank, I might just watch this film again for Artimisia :P

Do watch this one if you can stomach warriors slicing of necks and carrying them in hands (and also kissing them-the heads I mean- I mean kissing the head alone without the body attached to it).

Gore. 300 style. Good enough battle scenes. Artimisia. And sword battles. Worth a watch.

Highway

After Bhaag milkha bhaag, this is the only movie coming from the bollywood factory that I actually looked forward to watch. And my interest, initially, had got to do with only two factors: Imtiaz Ali and AR Rahman. 

And Highway happens to be the best of Imtiaz till date, not only because he managed to make a film from the simplest of concepts, but because he narrated that story with deep philosophy, reflecting some of the appalling complexities plaguing everyday lives.

This movie, simply put, is an emotional ride. If Student of the year introduced Alia Bhatt as an actress, then Alia Bhatt introduces, Alia the actress, in Highway. It is the innocence in Alia’s character that makes this whole story so believable, and also light-hearted.  She, along with Randeep Hooda, has done an exceptional job in portraying characters carrying scars of the past, in an unexpected journey (No, not the hobbit like adventure) through the picturesque settings of northern India.

But it is not just direction or acting that make this film such an experience, there is the AR Rahman factor showing its presence throughout the film. To compose music for a journey riddled with so many emotions is a tough job any given day, but the Mozart of Madras delivers as he always does. There are a few scenes where, Imtiaz just hold the frame, and the expressions and music speak the emotions. Kudos to the well written dialogues too!

There is only so much one man can do, sometimes, everybody has to kick in and in that process there is a good enough chance that they create something great, and for me, Highway did just that. It was an joyous watch for me. Loved all of the 130 minutes.   Do not miss this to take this ride of the highway ;) :D

PS: And I am forewarning you, not to take my word for this film, because I have always loved Imtiaz’s work, his brand of films like “Love Aaj Kal” and “Rockstar”, though which were ridiculed by many, remain for me as few of the well made films of bollywood.

Lone Survivor

I will always be glad that I found my way into the theater to watch this one, because this is one movie that I will remember for a very long time. There are movies that are entertaining, brilliant and meaningful, and then there are movies like Lone Survivor which retains all of those adjectives and boasts of two more in its ranks- Inspiring and Moving.

It tells the true tale of four Navy SEALs in a mission horribly gone wrong, in a way that leaves you back in the mountains of Afghanistan, even though you get back home. Cinematography and background music are two tools that took this narrative piece to an all together different level, so it is really not surprising to know that this film has got two academy award nominations for Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing. 

More than anything, I definitely needed to watch such a film. Know such a story. Experience such narration. If this is playing at a theater nearest you, don't miss this one.