Movie Review: Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani

Image courtesy: IMDB

Ok, so this is not really a review. These are just my thoughts after I watched the movie.

Title: What is the connect between the title ‘Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani’ and the story? Apart from the fact that all the main characters are young.

Genre: I don’t know where to slot this movie – coming of age? romance? friendship? I don’t think it fits in any of these genres.

Characters: There are 4 main characters and yet I don’t know anything much about any of them to empathize. I don’t know why Ranbir Kapoor’s character is running away from his family or why he sometimes becomes very irritating. I don’t feel for him at all. I don’t know much about Deepika Padukone’s character except that she leaves on a whim for a Manali trek because she suddenly realizes she isn’t having enough fun. We don’t know her past and neither do we know anything about her when they all meet for Kalki’s wedding. Kalki’s character is very cool. She is a no-nonsense girl who puts her act together enough to decide to settle down. She looked most sorted and yet we don’t get to know enough of her too. And the least said of Aditya Kapur’s character, the better. I don’t know why all the reviews are going ga-ga about his act in the movie. He looked quite caricaturish [if such word exists]. His shaking of head on every dialogue delivery was quite funny. I don’t know why he spirals into gambling and drinking, spelling doom for himself.

Story: The geek / simple girl-next-door has somehow become very fascinating for the hero, who is a charmer, a compulsive flirt and a very cool guy. Take ‘Cocktail’ or this movie. The moment this girl starts dancing in gay abandon, the cool guy falls for her. He does not know anything about her; I don’t even remember if they mentioned what kind of doctor she was. Nevertheless.

Songs: The Ghagra song was completely forced. Neither was it required, nor Madhuri Dixit was required. I love 'Balam Pichkari' and to some extent 'Badtameez Dil'. I don't recall any other song.

Takeaway: After thinking for a while, I finally decided that the best thing about the movie was the last interaction between Deepika and Ranbir, when they both argue that they find happiness in different kind of things. Ranbir feels that she or others are jealous because he gets to travel to such exotic locales but she puts him in his place by saying that she much prefers the warmth of her family and the feeling of belonging that her home provides. I personally belong to the second school of thought. I like travelling to new places, getting to know about culture and history but I like being rooted in my home for majority of the time.

Actors: I think both Ranbir and Deepika had very non-challenging roles. But after Cocktail, I think Deepika is getting better with every movie [just to digress a little, have you seen Ram Leela’s trailer? Mind blowing!]. Kalki has done well in her role. I absolutely did not like Aditya Kapur’s acting. Tanvi Azmi in her 2 frame role was super-awesome.

Moral of my story: I am always hard pressed for time. I love watching movies but they are not my priority. I prefer reading and writing in all my free time. So, I am very particular about the kind of movies I watch. I would not say that I wasted my time on this movie; it was strictly OK. I usually like movies which leave me with thoughts. My husband insists that since I am thinking so much about this movie, it sure did inspire thoughts in me; but I don't agree. 

What is your take on the movie?

P.S. I finally created my Facebook Page. Check it out Here.

10 Takeaways from 'Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids'

I just finished reading this wonderful book called ‘Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids: How To Stop Yelling and Start Connecting’ by Dr. Laura Markham. That does not mean I yell. OK, sometimes I do. But the reason I like reading these books is that I don’t want my inadequacies to influence my child’s life.

Books cannot teach you how to raise a child, but they can certainly offer rational and inspiring insights to become a better parent, and therefore a better person.

This book essentially believes in the simple philosophy that kids are people too, and they deserve empathy, respect and connection. See, on the face of it, we all agree with this philosophy but when we are really having a tough time, we get caught up in ‘trying to discipline’ or ‘teaching the right thing’ or such trappings of being a parent. 

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An Eye for An Eye?

The other day, we were on our daily evening stroll – my 2-year old son [D] and I. We met another lady from our building with her son, who is 2.5 years old. I was aware about her son’s habit of hitting other kids, but I let the kids play. All my son, who is yet to go to school or properly be in the company of other young kids, wanted to do was run around with the other kid. Let us call him P. His mother is a nice lady, of happy disposition. Now, D would call out to P to run around and hide and generally play. But every time he would be close to P, P would push him. Twice my son fell because of being pushed, but he did not pay much attention to it, got up and continued playing. Thankfully, he wasn’t hurt.

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The Good News. The Bad News.

Note: I must tell you right away that the 'Good News' has nothing to do with babies :-)

Image courtesy: ebharat.in

Let me get 'the Bad News' out of my way first. I have often declared my absolute love for the Indian edition of the international celebrity magazine 'PEOPLE'. Well folks, apparently, only I have been reading this magazine; and they decided even if I subscribe it for the rest of my life, it is not going to be profitable enough.So, I get a message that the magazine has been discontinued and the subscription money has been converted into gift voucher. Now, what will you buy with an Outlook Group's Gift Voucher? Outlook Magazines! I thought I would subscribe to Marie Clare atleast, and then I started imagining how it was fate leading me to this magazine, and how I will fall so much in love with this that I will completely forget about PEOPLE. Nothing of that sort happened because even Marie Clare India has been shown the door. So, I was left with only Outlook, Traveller, Business, Money or Hindi options. Marta Kya Na Karta, I decided to go ahead with the Outlook. There is far more chances of reading Outlook than any other of its sister magazines. To be honest, I read the last few pages usually - the movie review, the book excerpt, Glitterati and last page. 

Now 'the Good News'. Well, few days back I received an email from Indu Sundaresan

Image courtesy: GoodReads

herself. Her 'the Feast of Roses' and 'the Twentieth Wife' are my absolute favourite books. She gathered that I had reviewed both these books on my book blog and she wanted to check if I would like to review her latest book 'the Mountain of Light', which is due to be released in October. Needless to say that I jumped at the opportunity. Would you believe that I added her books to my wish list on GoodReads, the same day? Anyways, another embarrassing thing was that apparently she had also read my impulsive outburst on the news of 'The Twentieth Wife' getting made into a TV-serial called Malikaa. But I hope she understood that it was only my love for the book that made me so skeptical. She assured that this particular series is time-bound and not expected to spiral into never-ending drama, and it has also been produced well. The best thing about books getting translated into serials or movies is that it improves book's sales.