Opening Chapters

This review has been a long time coming. I may sound a little overexcited or juvenile or childish. I am not going to look at the logistics of it all (the time he took to generate the cash, the ways, the fact that he drove through all districts in Dubai to finally get to the airport) - currently, none of that is any of my concern. And yes, I know some people think it's corny - but Malayalis in Dubai can really be that corny. That Onam celebration montage was quite accurate! One of my initial thoughts during the movie was that this was going to be one of those boys' clubs movies. Where the dad and the son are solving problems, the mother is just what the mother figure usually portrays in movies. Oh, but what a badass was Shirley Jacob! What a beautiful, powerful and inspiring character. Here, it's not just the dads who run the family - mothers do too. I will instead talk about just two scenes, that I will remember for a very long time - mostly because it doesn't ...

First of all, I would like to clarify that I abhor the idea of International Women’s Day. I hate the commercialism that is mainly associated with it. Discounts on spa packages; buy one nail polish, get another free; companies utilize this day to buy the women in their office chocolates and flowers when instead they could promote equality and provide better rights for their female employees, like perhaps better maternity leave options. But a lot of good comes from it, the main thing being dialogue.  The Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) held the Women In Leadership Symposium at Abu Dhabi, UAE on 8 th and 9 th March 2016. I was lucky enough to be able to attend it for two sessions. It is definitely the most inspiring SPE event I have been to. And one thing I am definitely sure of: our stories are not unique. Everything I heard from the women is the same thing I have heard from my mother who works in the oil and gas industry as well.  For example, one of the...

Two years, three months and twelve days. She had counted. She thought it would have gone on longer than this. Much longer. Certainly not less than five years. But there they were. Split apart a little after two years since he shyly asked her out. They had been through so much in those two years and three months. They did so much. They stood by each other. They fought each other. A lot. They adopted a dog together. A black something. She didn't know what breed Bella was. He kept telling her but she kept forgetting. Why Bella? he asked. Bella means beautiful. Like her. Bella is boring. Let's name her Catwoman. What?! No. Bella. Why not? It's cool and it's ironic. My dog isn't for you to show how cool and clever you are. And it's not that clever. Tell you what? Let's both call her what she wants. And whatever she responds to will be her name. Bella stuck. But that was because she was sneaky. Every time she called out Bella, she would give...

It’s been more than five weeks since Bangalore Days released in theaters around India. Even then, if you don’t book your tickets for the movie at any theater well ahead, you might have to for the next available show. What makes the movie so good? The answer is simple. The story is normal, of course, but the movie boasts a great cast – the top young actors and actresses that are most popular among the masses today. The songs – which have been beautifully composed by Gopi Sunder (although there are allegations that he “gets inspired” from already existing songs) – are those you can listen to over and over again. Then, the direction. Anjali Menon has previously written the script for two other movies: Manjadikkuru and Usthad Hotel. While she directed the former, the latter was directed by Anwar Rasheed. Manjadikkuru is told from the perspective of a little child. Brought up in Dubai, he comes to Kerala for one summer for his grandfather’s funeral. And through his eyes we see mis...

Sometimes a song just takes you back, way back. Especially when the song is from a movie you recently realized was shot in a place you used to visit every summer as a child. The song’s really old, as old as my sister who can finally get a license this year. She’s quite excited, I’m apprehensive. Not because of her. Because of the concept of driving in itself. It terrifies me, having to control the movement of an entity so much bigger and heavier than me. It’s a good thing I didn’t aspire to be a pilot I think sometimes. This time though, the song reminded me of a particular summer, eleven years ago. This place that the movie was shot in, I had a love-hate relationship with it. My mother’s ancestral home was there, so we used to go every year during our summer vacation to see our grandmother and our aunts and uncles and cousins (of which we had many, some being nice while some were unbearable). There were cousins who would relentlessly tease us, they were incredibly mean and...

It was one of those days, where he was waiting for her to show up. Five more minutes she had messaged, the grammar nazi that she was, typing out the number. He wondered if she would be able to find him. The park was huge and he wanted to meet her somewhere the happy kids wouldn't bump into them, somewhere where a stray football wouldn't land into their laps while they talked. He was meeting her after so long. Well, not really that long. But it felt long. So much had happened in the few months they had been apart. So much had changed. They themselves had changed, perhaps without recognition even. He had come to the city a few days ago, but he couldn't bring himself to call her. What if she didn't answer his calls? What if she refused to meet him? When he had finally gotten over his fear and called her, she yelled at him for delaying the call after being in the city. If you knew I'd reached, why didn't you call me? I thought you weren't calling becau...

You're walking in the park, and suddenly, you see this beautiful yellow flower, almost golden. It’s unlike any other flower you have ever seen. What would you do? You pluck it, because it is extraordinarily beautiful and you want to keep it for yourself. It’s a thing of beauty and you do not want to share it. You like sharing your food, your clothes. But when you see something so beautiful that it takes you closer to God every time you look at it, you want to take it and keep it for yourself. Hidden from others, hidden from sunlight. The flower withers away and you know it will die soon. But you keep it hidden. You still don’t keep it in the open so it gets some air and light for fear that someone else will come along and take it from you. You would not know what you would do if something like that happens. You will break and cry all day, longing for the flower that was yours back. But the flower was never yours. And it does not belong to the person who stole it from ...