Minia's Mundane Musings

We, the uncouth……. It is no news that we humans are the most selfish and the rudest and the baddest living beings on this planet! Humanity isn’t a word that should mean all that is good and kind and compassionate… Humane shouldn’t really convey sympathy and civility….. Why am I being so depressing and sad? Well I saw and heard first-hand how miserable our race can be recently. And I am not even talking about rapes or wars or torture chambers or anything else on that scale. On a day to day basis we bear witness to deeds of unkindness which pinch our soul and more often than not, we just do not react. All around us things are going wrong and we just do not want to get involved because it shall reflect on our career maybe or may drag us willy nilly into some legal mess. So in the words of Mahatma Gandhi are we as guilty as Bheeshma was? Oh I hope not! I hope we can redeem ourselves better than that. Three incidents: A colleague of mine recently was so traumatised when a ...

Mardaani - The Film Well there are heroines and then there is Rani Mukherjee! Pity that she has been choosing so unwisely in the past 6-7 years! The depth and drama that she can bring to her roles is God-given. I am a 100% sure that you can't learn or cultivate what Rani has, she is so good in this movie that I was left wondering what a treat it would have been to see her in Ek thi Daayan or Luck By Chance. After all the high testosterone that was in the movie theaters these past few weeks, it was such a relief to see a movie with a halfway decent story-line that doesn't presume the viewers to be Idjits! The story follows a lady cop who takes on a crime syndicate head honcho and comes out trumps! Rani has been extremely reserved in eking out this character, her gestures are measured and her expressions are realistic.The director Pradeep Sarkar in this movie re-awakens memory of his skills of ad making. So little is said and yet so much is conveyed. Rani has put in her h...

The best thing to happen in a movie is when you totally know where the storyline is headed and yet you are glued… What enchanting youngsters Alia Bhat and Varun Dhawan are! Simply amazing. They are good friends and the chemistry shows on screen. There isn’t a wrong step taken or a false note struck. Rest assured that you won’t get a love story that shall go on to become a classic or a love story that shall be sticky and cloying. This one is pure fun. Shashank Khaitan, the director has done a brilliant job and is aided so ably by the two youngsters. The characters are so lovable and so much fun that you just don’t miss a crackling script. The dialogues are hilarious and I found myself laugh out aloud time and time again. The sequences between Humpty and his silly friends made me feel that I am in the lobby of my college when it is time to go home. The repartee is natural, unforced and has somehow managed to stay away from vulgarity even though there are plenty of innuendos. Kudos te...

Ok so Yesterday I killed a cat. Not intentionally mind you. It happened on the road. It came at me suddenly out of nowhere and was under my car wheels in the flash of a second, even before I could slam the brakes…… It was just smashed and I could do nothing to help it. I got out of the car and tried to see if I could help it, but the matter was out of my hands and it was just plastered all over the road. And all the people who had seen it happen were looking at me as if I was a criminal and indeed I felt like one. Shaking and trembling I got back in the car parked on the side of the road and gave way to my tears….. Then I called my Bhabhi and told her about it and she was so concerned for me and immediately offered to come and get me. She consoled me and made sure that I had quietened down and showered me with TLC. In contrast, when I also told my brother about it- his first question was…. Was the car damaged? J Other than these two I also got hilarious reactions from my other we...

The Fault in Our Stars What do you say about a movie that is so perfect? There is nothing that comes to mind except that this isn’t a movie it is a spiritual experience. It carries no message except to say that Love and be loved. It shall not teach you any lessons, it doesn’t preach, does nothing except that it just sucks you in and doesn’t let go of you. It’s a whirlpool of the most perfect kind. I cannot remember when a movie was cast so perfectly! Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort are the star crossed lovers. The actors are so natural and unassuming that after a point very soon in the movie you forget that it’s a movie and you just become a part of their lives. It’s a simple story, told even more simply. The basic premise of the movie remains the same as any other love story. Girl meets boy, they fall in love and dream of a life together…. Only thing is they can’t…. They both have cancer and actually meet at a support group. One would say that it has shades of “A Walk to R...

                                                                    PRIORITIZATION Increasingly in this fast paced life it is becoming tougher to find genuine people. People who truly care are far and few in between. Mostly one tends to come across people who have strong “PRIORITIES”. To me this is just another term for plain and simple selfishness. In a world where we have come from joint to nuclear families and are further progressing to solo flights- that is people living alone, this trait is becoming even more pronounced. The want to protect one’s self is so strong that ignoring others and their needs is the norm. We are steadily progressing back to the days of cavemen and are creating our own ecosystem which consists of a cave and its members. Further fostering this trait is the internet, which allows us to e...

QUEEN        On Friday I had the choice to go for one of the three movies that had released, and was tempted to see Gulab Gang coz of Juhi’s negative role but I opted for this one as I have a yen for the histrionics of Kangana Ranaut and boy did I hit the jack-pot! Such a brilliant movie this one is! Travelogues in Indian cinema are so far and few in between that I view any one which does appear on the horizon with great distrust. The last one that I enjoyed was Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, however to simply call this one a travelogue would be doing it so much injustice. This movie flies in the face of all that is trite and clichéd and comes up trumps.  And the best part is that the intention of the movie is not to surprise you at all or even create any kind of suspense it is simply telling a tale and that’s about it. The movie starts very innocuously with a Punjabi wedding sequence where Rani( Kangana Ranaut) does a voiceover telling you what is ...