Kanchivaram, an Experience.

There are movies that entertain you no matter how many times you watch them. They simply refuse to cease their entertainment factor.
Then there are movies that haunt you, literally, so much so that you curse the day you planned to watch them. You dread those movies will devour your brain cells and downgrade your IQ level to minus something. 

And then there are movies that touch you with some unbelievable forces in some unbelievable manner and you are cocooned in a magical world of their stories. You become a part of that story. You feel intelligent, you feel dignified, honored, you feel alive…because you have watched a brilliant story telling on celluloid and you say, a medium well used. 

Many movies have given me this kind of opportunities to experience such feeling and recently one such movie did that magic, it was “Kanchivaram”. So heartrending. Set in 1940's this Priyadarshan's 2008 Tamil movie drowned me into its depth with such vigor that I had to watch a comedy later that night to get myself out of a poignant trance. Yes, a movie to get over another one, because I couldn’t sleep. The performances, the story, the faces of the story refused to leave my sight.  

  

Image: Google

A director who is famous for his comedy capers presented another drama showcasing his brilliant story-telling talent. What surprised me here was Prakash Raj. I saw him first in “Singham” and neither the movie nor the actor made any impression on me. However, with “Kanchivaram”, I have become an admirer of Prakash Raj's work and I wish to see more of him in such exceptional celluloid works. 

An absolute recommend if you find delight in such heart-warming, thought provoking, well paced, shining with brilliant performances movie.
I wanted to review and rate this movie initially, but I realized some movies like this one are beyond any reviewing or rating. They just need to be no experienced.

Chanakya's Chant: A Review.

Author:      Ashivin Sanghi
Publisher:  Westland Ltd.
Pages:        448
Price:         INR 250
Genre:       Historical-Thriller
Rating:       2.5/5

Ashivin Sanghi's best-seller Chanakya's Chant is two analogous stories with a lean thematic connection in one book. One story acquaints you with the historical Chanakya's legend and the other Chanakya's contemporary avatar, Gangasagar.

Though the book has an interesting concept and could have made an incredible read, but due to some hiccups it loses its prospective. 

The novel falls flat as the characters of the fictional narrative has nothing much to offer. I wanted to loath a few characters because that is why they were built to, but, I couldn't. The characters were not much explored. 

I wanted to skip to the historical narration many times, as I felt I was better off not reading the present one. The past gripped my interest, and often I just flew to the chapters of the history and read and reread them.

Furthermore, as the contemporary narrative begins to progress, it loses its tightness. Even in the Historical narration, the dialogues are too contemporary. It's weird to imagine people from that era specially a learned scholar uttering words (particularly abuses) that we hear from the current generation. 

Moreover too many quotes uttered by both the protagonist, cripple the story further. 

I will read this book many times only for the chapters that begin with the title "About 2300 years ago".
I'll take off a few stars from this book for making the half of the narration a tiresome read and giving a few stars for igniting my interest in Chanakya and Chandragupta Maurya again.

*****

This is a part of a review program by MysmartPrice/books 

Tall Man Small Shadow by Vipin Behari Goyal; A Review

Author      : Vipin Behari Goyal
Pages        : 152
Price         : Rs. 240

Publishers : Cyberwit.net
Rating       : 3/5

Shadows we know are dependable creatures. Light is what they depend upon. They flicker, they skim, they behave in accordance with the manner the light falls upon its owner. Except the shadows of human souls that form or change in accord with their actions or thoughts is difficult for us to gauge. Or is it?

"What men call the shadow of the body is not the shadow of the body, but is the body of the soul."  -- Oscar Wild.

Tall Man Small Shadow, a short novel, has an unconventional theme by the debut author, Vipin Behari Goyal; a financial advisor by profession in Govt of Rajasthan. (The theme, here, garners an extra .5 from me) The plot showcases how every character is entwined with each other either through manipulation or coincidence.

The protagonist Salil falls for the shadow of his pretty neighbor Aalya, a PhD student. Aalya gets into a lesbian relationship with her guide, Seema who is childless and lonesome wife of an artist. Further the shadow uncovers many aspects of life and the book progresses. These and other characters, Aalya's parents and Seema's husband, struggle through their frenzied lives and in the end resolve for a harmonious life. But was is all coincidence or a well thought out plot? Tall Man Small Shadow is about how craftily the harmony is achieved.  

The writing is simple yet crisp but, at times marred by lack of proof reading. The narration flows gently with occasional babbles. What impairs your reading the most here is the use of multiple voices within one chapter, and it happens through out. Its a small novel more like a novella and can be read at one go. The cover of the book works well to grab one's attention. 

This could have made an exceptional read with stronger plot and characterizations along with good editing. Nevertheless, it ends up being a light read with philosophical tone and coincidences woven together.

This review is on request by the author. I thank him for choosing my blog as a platform for his book.

India Unlimited By Kulpreet Yadav: A Review.

Image: google

Book: India Unlimited, Stories From A Nation Caught Between Hype & Hope

Author: Kulpreet Yadav.
Publisher: LiFi Publications.
Genre: Fiction/Short Stories.
Pages: 198.
Price:  Rs. 190.
Rating: 4 out of 5.

India Unlimited, an anthology of 31 short stories, seizes your senses with its simple yet potent writing. The stories capture the reader's attention and wakes up a hunger to read more. Yadav, who has been published in several National and International Literary Journals-the featured stories are part of this compilation, with his penchant for detailing, styles the little elements by lacing the words lavishly.

To give you a glimpse of the author’s crisp artistic use of words, here are a few excerpts from “Faking It at The Conference” and “Samir in Rain”:

"The air-conditioned space I was locked in, along with about fifty others, tasted and smelt of words bouncing off the walls,rolling down gently here and there, before giving place to a just-arrived batch of fresh boring words."

"The sky was the last to give in to the urge, and it did with palpable vengeance, sending silvery cracks in the dissipating blue-black of the dusk."

The amalgamation of these short stories is a voyage that takes you to sundry sides of India, showcasing characters from a beggar to a wicked spiritual leader, from a spy to a man who talks to a fish, from a prostitute to an old lover. The diversity of these stories, the salient delineation of characters with the use of short sentences intermingled with lengthy ones along with simple still striking narration makes India Unlimited stay with the reader. Such diversity makes one wonder whether the stories are penned by the same author.

Picking favorites from such a collection is tricky, however, here are five of my prized ones:

•  Not the Only Peanut Seller Who Hasn't Heard of Osama Bin Laden.
•  The Family of Stars
•  The City of Mirrors
•  The Sahib and the Siesta
•  The Fish and My Wedding 

With his keen annotations on daily life, Kulpreet Yadav presents a set of fictions to cherish. You will adore a character, detest another, love a story, and dislike another but India Unlimited will adroitly hang about with you and you will pick it up again for an unlimited passage of the both known and unknown India.

I thank Kulpreet Yadav for letting me an opportunity to read and review the compilation of his wonderful works, "India Unlimited". 

Breezing Through Roads With Ambi Pur Vent Clip

Ambi Pur Mini Vent Clip Range

A suave paper bag arrived at my abode. A cute little clip filled with lavender fragrant liquid nestled inside the bag. It was the Ambi Pur Mini Vent Clip that was shipped to me for reviewing it.


The 2 ml mini clip, that promises (and delivers it) to do its delightful job for 30 days, is easy to activate and install in the car A/c ventilation grid. One of the great features of the clip is the fragrance control feature. One can adjust it from low to medium to high as per one's requirement. 

Once activated, the scent instead of gushing out with a strong and intense fragrance it fans out steadily with sweetness in its approach. Its no-leak technology helps in achieving this feat. Unlike other car fresheners, Ambi Pur Mini Vent Clip eliminates foul odors quickly while spreading its scent evenly, refreshing the car. Eventually one experiences a clean, fresh fragrance filled drive, even making you smile in the traffic jams.

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The one reaction I blurted out after my first trip with the Vent clip breezing its way in the car was..."Mood bana de".

Would I buy it? Recommend it? Definitely yes :)

This post is exclusively written for Escape Into Freshness, #FRESHNHAPPY Experience for Ambi Pur Mini Vent Clip, by Indiblogger.

Images: Google

Review: Beaten By Bhagath, by S.V. Divvaakar.

The Establishment, The Challenger.

Title            : Beaten By Bhagath! A Tale Of Two Writers.
Author       : S.V. Divvaakar.
Pages          : 191
Publisher  : Frog Books/ Leadstart Publishing Pvt. Ltd.
ISBN          : 978-93-82473-03-9
Price           : India Rs. 125/-; Elsewhere US $5
My Rating : 3/5

"He was now the establishment, and I was the challenger."

Often we wish we could  take on the world with our passion and not with our 9-5 job. Many of us do follow the dream to make it a reality. Success, though, comes to not many.
"Beaten By Bhagath" is about a man's passion to make it big with his writing, albeit a result of his ego and encouraging line from his sexy lady boss, he wants to overthrow the big name K-10; a celebrity author and his friend. Its about the dramatic roller-coaster ride of a debutante writer and his book.

The Plot:
S.V. Divvaakar takes you on a journey of a man who wants to dethrone his ex-roommate, an old friend who is a star writer and has ventured into many facets of life, enjoying success everywhere. It gives you a glimpse of the path that one has to tread to publish one's debut book. It talks of changes that come by in life when a writer is determined to reach maximum of readers as soon as possible beating the reigning best selling author. The changes grill him, and brings out the worst of him. As you progress further with the story, you experience BB's passion...his challenges... his judgement... his realizations, along with fate of his debut book.
What exactly does a novice BB do? Does he find success? Do the friends meet? ...

The Characters: 
Not many main characters to talk about. Except BB rest make it in short sketches, including K-10. The main character BB is perfectly flawed. BB made me smile, there was a moment when he disgusted me, some of his decisions disappointed me, he made me want to lecture him on a few occasions. All in all, I enjoyed BB’s faults and flips. K-10 through BB's eyes introduces his intelligence, his determinations, his wisdom. I secretly wished to know K-10 more.

My Experience:
There were times I flowed with the lucid narration while other times I went against it. However, I wished hinglish didn't make its cameo; I am not much of a fan of it. I loved the candid take on the current variety of books that are in fad. Divvaakar aptly points the reason for the new generation writers opting for very plain conversational style. As we see K-10 declaring that he doesn't want to write books that people can read only with a dictionary by the side. He wants to connect, not to overwhelm.The little details that penetrated my mind through the chapters held my attention throughout.

Its a fine read with good insights on the publishing world. Grab your "Beaten by Bhagath" if you are toying with the idea of publishing your (debut) book, and even if you aren't, go ahead... pick your copy, it has a few lessons of life to learn as well.


-Namrota Mazumdar. 
[ tocoffeebeans@gmail.com ]

***This review has been written as a part of the Book Review Program for The Tales Pensieve***

Close to Nature with Blossoms and Breeze; Ambi Pur

The pretty white and pink 275 gm can freshly fetched from its package sat eagerly on our glass table enticing me with its name, "Blossoms and Breeze" to put it to use. The little 5.5 ml pack parked beside it with the same name wasn't far behind either. These were Ambi pur air effects and Ambi pur set n refresh (both blossoms and breeze) respectively. It was now no longer a reviewing task for me, it was about getting connected to the fragrances that rested inside geared up to mingle with the air.

Ambi Pur Air Effects-  Blossoms and Breeze

I first pick was the can first; the Ambi pur air effects- Blossoms and Breeze. I held it pulled the trigger back and as instructed and shown in the photos I sprayed the fragrance in my living room in a sweeping motion. The moment the aroma fanned out in the room I felt like I was transformed to a place with an unpolluted environment and natural springs all over. I was close to Mother Nature. It just made me feel alive with its subtle fresh scent and I realized it had eradicated malodors as well.

Ambi Pur Set n Refresh- blossoms and Breeze

Quickly striding towards the table I released the Ambi pur set n refresh- Blossoms and Breeze from its pack and set to my bed room. As instructed I activated it with its cartridge inside carrying the perfumed oil. Designed intelligently the product with its scented oil eliminates malodors continuously and releases a misty aroma in the room.
The similar feeling cam back to me, I closed my eyes and felt the fragrance swayed me to a meadow full of blossoms.

I had stumbled upon fresheners that were more than the other fresheners. Ambi pur had Fresheners that along with spreading Freshness it created happiness by snatching away the un-wanted odors that linger around home. 

***This write up is a review on Ambi pur air effects and Ambi pur set n refresh products for Ambi Pur #FreshNHappy contest. To get in touch with them click Here.***

[Images: Google]