Contemplations and Ruminations

The title is a line from The Chosen , a TV series about Jesus and his disciples, that has taken me by surprise. Many portrayals of Jesus depict him as a solemn man who walked around preaching and talking to his nondescript bunch of disciples. You couldn't tell one from the other, only Jesus stood out from the rest of the characters and everything else was pretty standard story telling from the bible. But The Chosen is a world far away from the one we've usually seen or heard about Christ. For starters the disciples are wonderfully fleshed out; the impulsive and brash Simon, his dashing brother Andrew, the delightfully odd Mathew who has Asperger's Syndrome, the open minded Nicodemus who really wants to know more about what cannot be explained or understood. And Jesus, just one look at him and you can feel the warmth in his gentle eyes touching you. There's so much depth to the characters that now when anyone talks about Simon or Mathew, the actors who play them pop into...

The Colour of Paradise or Rang-e  Khodā (which literally means ‘The Colour of God’) is  an Iranian movie set in a beautiful little mountain village near Tehran. The film is visually appealing, in fact the landscapes and its accompanying sounds form an important character. They help to establish the world of the blind protagonist, a tender hearted young boy named Mohammed who is a student in a special school in Tehran. The school is quite amazing in the way they train and care for the visually impaired children. Mohammed’s father, a widower, doesn’t seem extremely fond of his blind son whom he considers a burden. When the school closes for summer vacation, he reluctantly takes the boy back to the strikingly beautiful village where Mohammed’s doting grandmother and sisters reside. The outpouring of love that Mohammed experiences from his grandmother and sisters is poignantly portrayed. So much love and warmth abounds in these frames, it’s almost like the beauty of nature ...

Been a while since I visited this place, I keep making notes (on my phone) of all the things I have to write about here, but I never get around to it. Anyway, here's the PK review I wrote for the church magazine...  Having recently seen this movie, I thought I’d write about it and let you know why it’s causing a furore among the religious fanatics. The movie tells the story of an alien, portrayed by Amir Khan, who lands on earth sans clothes (the prudes in society took offence to this and launched campaigns to clothe his cardboard cut-outs), but with a glowing pendant around his neck. Apparently this pendant functions as a remote control to his spaceship, and it gets stolen by the first human he comes across. The rest of movie depicts his search for this pendant which ultimately details his search for God, because the answer he often gets when he starts his search is; only God can help you, only God knows where it is. The alien has no idea who God is, so he starts asking arou...

I saw this movie recently while travelling to Chennai in the train and before I knew it I was transported to a sleepy little Italian village on the coast where beauty abounds in every frame. Beauty herself forms a major character, she is everywhere you care to look and that's what the protagonist Mario (Massimo Troisi) discovers after he interacts with a well known poet in exile, Pablo Neruda. The Cuban poet, Pablo Neruda (portrayed by Phillippe Noiret), arrives in a small island in Italy after being exiled for his communist beliefs. And Mario, a reluctant fisherman, longs for another job and when the necessity of a postman to deliver mail to the most famous person on the island arises, Mario lands this job. He hesitantly starts befriending Pablo and reading his poems, this awakens his soul to the beauty of being, of observing, of existing. As I sat there on the upper berth watching this movie while everybody was fast asleep, I was moved by this fisherman who found magic in meta...

I started documenting my trip here and inspite of nobody  reading it, I've come to the final post of my 2013 Eurotrip. And there is only one way to describe it, like warm sunshine spilling over my being, shrouding everything in a warm hazy glow. Like Gene Kelley says, 'There's a smile on my face for the whole human race, why it's almost like being in love .' That perfectly sums up my three months roaming with the siblings in Geneva, France and Germany.. You know how a book can take you to faraway places... that's what I've been doing since I fell in love with the written word. Now to finally discover the world beyond books and pictures is nothing short of incredible.   In a way the special school was like this too, those years are always shrouded in warm hues of sunshine. It was great being with those kids, every day in school was an adventure... I used to wake up thinking what is going to happen today, it was that exciting. I should visit the school...

So this is the November issue of the magazine with a few articles by me. Thomas Rhett's 'Beer with Jesus ' has been included here and I wrote something about the entertainment industry which might be a bit preachy...   Entertainment is not what it used to be When you switch on the TV or listen to songs by the biggest names in the music industry, you cannot help but cringe and wonder at the abasement of it all. How did this degradation seep in? When did it become cool to objectify women and let derogatory comments pass off as comedy? Most of the famous shows today have this cool character whose life revolves around drinking and sleeping with different women, perfect examples would be Charlie Harper and the legendary Barney Stinson. These characters are the epitome of being cool and having it all, and they have the best lines on the show. This is the idea that is being propagated to young people who watch these shows, that your life is enjoyable only when you drink...

To take a break from all the mainstream commercial movies that pass off as entertainment today, I decided to watch a few Hallmark movies . These movies are like a grown up version of Disney, overloaded with cuteness and romance, and completely decent throughout. A few are even inspirational in nature, they speak about faith and redemption. Click on the movie titles to watch the trailer. Remember Sunday : I loved this movie, mainly because it had Zachary Levi in it, I was already a goner for his Flynn Rider character in Tangled . Here, in person, he is even more endearing... he is just so ordinary in a cute way and I was falling for him throughout the movie. Okay, I'll calm down now... the girl is pretty cute too, she is the kid from that TV show  Gilmore Girls , now she has grown into quite a stunning woman. So the story is, Zachary a brilliant young astrophysicist (who else is reminded of Rajesh Koothrappali) suffered a brain aneurysm and has short term memory loss. Everyda...

The past few weeks have been traumatizing and Games of Thrones is partly to blame for that. I started reading the book and watching the show recently, and I can't say which I hate more. Let's start with the book, the author, George R. R. Martin, seems to have written the book in some drunken stupor and all his sick, lurid not to mention porn-ish fantasies have been given free rein here. There are too many plot lines, and too many deaths... each time you really start to like a character and BHAM! he is killed immediately. What is that, you kill off all the main characters and let the dregs of society dictate the rest of the book. When Ned Stark dies I was like what the... heck, he was the only person with integrity and values and you kill him off and let his family flounder. And I was so hoping Ned Start would tell Jon Snow, who his mother was... was hoping for another beautiful love story there. I don't know if that ever materializes, I read only the first book 'Game ...

So I saw Amour recently (a French movie that has been nominated for the upcoming Oscars in many categories) and I was thoroughly disappointed and a tad bit depressed by the movie. I can't understand  how this movie is winning praise, acclaim and awards when it clearly takes all your patience and resolve to sit through it. Reading bout the story, I thought it would be a nice heartwarming movie about an old couple battling the rigours of old age. Instead the movie is too slow, and there are instances when the camera hardly moves from a scene even after there is nothing left to see there. If you want to avoid spoilers, read no further. An old man, takes care of his wife who suffers a stroke and it's not an easy job caring for an invalid. But with the help of a nursing aide, the old man gets along fine... the daughter visits from time to time, but the old couple do not like to depend on her. I found this whole situation weird, the parents and the daughter treat each other l...

After being impressed by Thomas Hardy in Under the Greenwood Tree , I saw another brilliant adaptation of his novel,  Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented . Even though this is a Victorian tragedy, I really loved watching the story unfold amidst breathtaking landscapes. The folks at BBC who produce such period dramas have a keen  aesthetic sense, the setting is the most striking feature of this four part BBC undertaking.  Lush green fields as far as the eye can see, it's nature at her best in contrast to the nature of man at his worst. And this in a nutshell is the crux of this classic novel.  The story obviously revolves around a young, pious and naive girl; Tess Durbeyfield who faces cruelty and betrayal by the men in her life. Tess is first betrayed by her alcoholic irresponsible father whose main job seems to be producing kid after kid without the paternal instinct to hold on to a job long enough to provide for his l...

Saw a beautiful period drama 'Under the Greenwood Tree' yesterday and as always I couldn't help falling in love with the lead characters, especially Dick Dewy. This is a heart tugging adaptation of Thomas Hardy's novel - Under the Greenwood Tree or the Mellstock Quire: A Rural Painting of the Dutch School. Never read the book before, but I intend to... have to find out more bout Dick Dewy. The movie starts one cold December morning when a school teacher hired by the new vicar, rides into the quaint  little rural village, Mellstock. It's snowing all around and the horse drawn carriage trudges its way through the biting cold carrying Fancy Day, the homely teacher. That one scene was enough to hook me: snow, horse drawn carts, Fancy Day's bonnet and her bulky gown... that's half the magic of any period drama. The rest half is taken up by the flawed, intense and ruggedly good looking men who take your breath away... think Mr. Darcy, Mr. Rochester, Mr. Knigh...

This french movie based on a true life story is one one of the best movies I've seen in the recent past. It depicts the story of an unlikely friendship between a wealthy paraplegic, Philippe and a 'down on his luck- wisecracking- happy go lucky- live for the moment' kinda black dude, Driss, who winds up as the rich guy's caretaker. And that's when the fun starts, this gorgeous black guy just goes about being himself and everybody falls in love with him... it's impossible not to. Driss livens up the household with his charm and wit, like the fresh mountain air. What's remarkable is his attitude towards the invalid Phillippe, Driss jokes about his condition and treats him as a regular guy. Sample this joke... Driss : Where can you find a paraplegic? Philippe : I don't know. Driss : The same place you left him... This is exactly the sense of normalcy that Philippe craves and Driss's presence in his life is invigorating to say the least....

So my sister was in town and I knew she would drag me to see the Hunger Games movie like she dragged me to see Real Steel and Mission Impossible (Ghost Protocol) during her previous visits. In all fairness Hugh Jackman and Tom Cruise are themselves enough of a force to drag a non moviegoer like me to the cinemas... it's just that I can't stand the sound of everything crashing or blowing up or firing away in the confines of a darkened room. Couple these deafening sounds with the fast moving images on screen and I start hyperventilating... yeah, I know, I'm no fun. I prefer movies that most people usually avoid like Jane Eyre or any of Jane Austen's adaptations or the Sound of Music or some true story drama where emotions are pretty intense and you start bawling your eyes out and falling in love with the characters on screen. This was true in Real Steel, that little kid could smile his way into anyone's heart. Ghost Protocol was pathetic compared to Real Steel, but...

I love the BBC reproductions of classics, they transport you to a completely different era and its hard not to fall for the ruggedly leading men, who are flawed, witty, kind and intense. Here are a few stellar adaptations of some timeless English classics, I know many can't stand these period dramas... but I can never get enough of them.  Jane Eyre: I can't tell you how much I love this book and the character of Jane Eyre, I loved everything about it... the calm and morally upright Jane, the intriguingly flawed Edward Rochester, the surprise in the attic, the way Jane deals with the surprise and her beahaviour towards the wicked aunt and the heart-searingly beautiful ending. For sometime, I used to go around calling myself Jane Eyre after reading the book... anyway, I loved the movie and the TV mini series that I saw. Anything with a BBC imprint on it is bound to be good, and the 2011 movie version  with Mia Wasikowska and Michael ...

The TCM (Turner Classic Movies) channel is really entertaining, love those endearing old movies... those awesome dresses, the pretty girls, the dapper looking men, the less action more story script, the clean and entertaining fun, and the captivating song and dance routines. They don't make movies like this anymore... Calamity Jane (1953) : This is one cute movie, the leading lady Doris Day (Calamity Jane) is like one of those rough and tough men, she can shoot and ride a horse better than any man, she even gets into fights with them. And her dressing is atrocious, she looks like a mean hard working cowboy... the soiled clothes, boots and the hip holster thing, not to mention her dirty blonde hair... yeah, she's quite a sight. Her friend Howard Keel, the only man in town who can outshoot her and who is allowed to make fun of her is a nice level headed guy, he is the only one who tells her to act like a girl from time to time. Jane has the biggest crush on the lie...

Saw Inception yesterday and boy! oh boy! the movie was complexly entertaining. It was like trying to figure out an Algebra problem, you had to meticulously work out each step to arrive at x (x being what the heck is going on). Once you figure out what is going on, you automatically recheck all the steps to see whether you have arrived at the proper value of x. You're convinced that you've arrived at the right answer and that you've solved the equation, yet there is this niggling doubt, you anyway hand in your paper and the teacher starts correcting it. You stand by watching (in slow motion) as she checks each step and and just before she reaches the last step, you get distracted by your group of friends waiting yonder for you, (its the last period of the day anyway and you just want to get out) so you leave and there's no knowing whether you arrived at the right answer. Who cares anyway, you are with your friends and you are going home... you will talk about Leonardo di...

Oh Man! Its been way too long since I posted something in here... not that anyone noticed. Those who did notice were probably jobless, okay, I'm kidding... don't stop reading my blog people. First things first, how great was the past month... pretty exciting right, all the World Cup drama. Staying awake late into the night watching the match, admiring Diego Maradona and his uncontrollable energy stalking the sidelines, dancing the waka waka with Shakira, marveling at how good Beckham looks in a suit, hating all those referees who made bad decisions, especially hating Netherlands cause they defeated Brazil, then thanking the Gods that Brazil didn't have a chance to play with Germany (the way they slaughtered the Argentinians was bad enough, I wouldn't have been able to bear it had they done the same to Brazil), crying with Japan and especially Ghana when they failed to qualify for the next round (Gyan, I feel for you), developing a crush on David Villa when I fin...

I just finished reading ' The Lost World and other stories ' by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the lead character Dr. Edward Challenger is a riot, Sheldon Cooper must have been modeled after him... they have the same pompous arrogant nature and both regard themselves as superior intellectual beings. There was a story in the book bout how the spirits of dead people come in contact with us living beings, it was spiritual and spooky at the same time... so I rummaged in the dark and managed to find this Holy Family night lamp I got as a wedding gift. I switched it on and settled down to sleep but Tonio woke up glared at me and asked me if something was wrong with my head... so I explained (with a lot of actions) bout the book I had just read, he gave me one bewildered look and said 'Why do you read such books then!'. Yeah right, I must get all my excitement from the IPL matches I suppose... Talking bout spooky, I saw Shutter Island recently and it was freaking interesting...