Girls weekend out!

I had a rocking weekend. As planned, my friend came down from Mumbai, and there was no stopping us. Luckily, I was off from office by 2.30 pm on Saturday; picked up my friend, devoured my favourite Herb Bread Paneer Tariyaki and Cappuccino at CCD, and went shopping at Pyramid. Shopping leisurely is a luxury, which you can only indulge in with your girl friends. That done, off we went home. Sunday morning was already planned for Sarkar Raaj. So both of us and my mum-in-law went to Adlabs and were able to catch the third show of the day at 11.20 am. Not bad at all! I always like to catch morning shows so that I have the entire day to do other things. Had lots and lots of Caramel Popcorn and kept half my eyes closed during the second half of the movies (too gruesome!).

The icing on the cake was, I bought 3 books – P.G.Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves, Motorcycle Diaries and Jhumpa Lahiri’s Unaccustomed Earth – from roadside vendor and felt very happy about saving so much money. Of late I have been buying books only from Crossword / Landmark / Odyssey / Online, so just spend loads of money on books. In fact, I ordered a book online on Friday called The Artist’s Way which is for budding writers. Supposed to be very good. Let’s see.

I just finished my last mindless book or chic-lit novel called “the Secret Diary of a Demented Housewife”. After a while all Chic-lits start sounding alike, and you crave for variety. At that moment you can pick up some heavy stuff. I just Google on bestsellers or go to Book Reviews of New York Times or The Hindu, to pick some good book. I came across this non-fiction account of a murder of an entire family. I have already compared the prices on various sites and ordered. I feel ashamed to say but can’t wait to read it.

Reel and Real

Today I was just glancing through Pune Mirror (OK, I admit, the first thing I read in a newspaper is all this crap), I read about how Ekta Kapoor is going to cash on the popularity of Aarushi Murder Mystery, and something similar would be shown on one of it’s never-ending sob-stories Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki. And when I am at it, I also recollect a news bit which was published sometime back that Mahesh Bhatt has already announced a film based on Neeraj Grover Murder. I was really taken aback with Aarushi Murder Mystery. Anyways, it is still a mystery! All the 24 X 7 News channels go on and on about how Aarushi’s father killed her. But nobody has pointed out even once what Dr. Talwar has to say in his defence, or if he has not killed his daughter, then who has? I mean, it really does not sound too convincing that he would kill his daughter for whatever reasons they claim.

To top it all, Ms Ekta Kapoor wants to take inspiration from real life. Why on earth she finds it necessary to do that, when all her sob-stories are beyond logic and purpose. I had the so-called opportunity to see a couple of her serials, now that my in-laws are here (don’t understand what do they find in it), I cannot escape Ekta Kapoor. I must give it to her to keep so many of ladies and even a few gentlemen (like my father-in-law) glued and clued in to all her serials. It is quite funny the way my in-laws discuss about what is going to happen next and their meek acceptance of complete bizarre situations. Well, I can go on and on about it.

I recently saw Khuda Kay Liye at home on DVD. It was an amazing movie. The movie basically works around 3 things:

The first storyline is about a father and daughter. And one line really sums up their relationship conflict. He says, “I have done a lot of mistakes in life, but unfortunately you will have to pay for it”. The second storyline is about a Pakistani youth, who has had a fairly liberal parents and upbringing. Although a good singer, he falls prey in the hands of a Muslim Fanatic. I feel there have been terrible stories of mis-interpretation of what Islam says. In fact, a lot of young people in Islamic countries do not understand the crux of the teachings and follow what such fanatics have to say, giving too much importance to the superficial means, rather than to the end.

The story also connects to 9/11 as the backdrop and show the brutalities met by people from Islamic countries in US. “All Muslims are not Terrorists, but all Terrorists are Muslims” remains the favourite question for confronting peaceful Muslims. I know it is an unjust world but it really bothers you to the core sometimes.

Khuda Kay Liye also has a power packed role by our own Naseeruddin Shah, rest of the main protagonists are from Pakistan! But that should not stop anyone from watching a really good movie.