movie review : two brothers

i had been meaning to do this for quite some time coz this one's a movie i can never get enough of and have watched it umpteen no. of times.   :

it is a 2004 movied directed by Jean-Jaques Annaud. nothing like a critically acclaimed or award winning one with a modest imdb rating 6.8/10, and yet its cute storyline told sans any attempt to make it anything but heart-tuggingly simple, is where the magic lies. :)

set in 1920's french-ruled cambodia, the basic plot is about two baby tigers who get separated as cubs and reunite later in adulthood.( gives any indian reader a feeling of  deja-vu with the plot of "brothers ka bichadhna in kumbh ka mela n reuniting later on but anyways!! )

the story starts with the tiger family living in the ruins of an ancient temple which is demolished by an explorer and hunter Adian Mcrory( Guy Pearce) . in the struggle that follows the father gets killed and one of the cubs get separated. Mcrory takes a liking to the cub and hands him over to the village chief. however, the chief being a corrupt person, sells the cub to a local circus( well its safe to guess that corruption has been like froever in every society!)

later on, for pleasing a pompous prince of the region, another hunt is organised in which the mother tigress is shot in the ear and the other cub is befriended by the young son of the french administartor, Raoul, who makes him his pet. after some initial months of merry, the cub is added to the princes' ferocious creatures' collection, much to the dismay of Raoul. the two tigers are eventually named Kumal amd Sangha. Kumal is trained to be a circus acrobat while Sangha is prepared to be the ferociuos animal, his vain master intends him to be. in an epic showdown a year later , the two tigers are pitted against each other at a battle-until-death organised by the prince in the memory of his father. much to the amusement of the audience and the embarrasment of the idiotic prince, they recognise each other and start playing instaed of fighting. the end is all about their escape to safety and reunion with their mother who gives them the long-due lesson of hunting.

what i found fascinating was the accounting of the tiger, branded as a solitary creature erstwhile, as a family one. one can't stop oneself from croonig over the cuteness and intelligence of the cubs and the playful antics of the young tigers. the breath-taking camera work catching each and every expression of the cubs and tigers, makes one actually forget that its a animal movie.  the screen play is also fabuluos recreating that era efficiently and the beauty of Combodia.for wildlife lovers as well as non ones, it is a delight alike. so still not late to catch up with this beautifaul piece of cinema with your loved ones ( i must also mention full-on warm and absolute "family stuff" ala the tiger family :) )...what say people?

for me on a scale of 5 it gets a rating of 4.5 .  

Scenes to watch out for :

• the vain prince talking to sangha in his cage about his father. a classic display of typical human ego and unwonted pride which is redundant infront of the refreshing animal  innocence.
• Sangha recognising Raoul in the end  and Raoul warning him to stay away "from the villages of men". ( "animals and children tell the truth they never lie.... which one is more human that's a thought now u decide" .... the animal song :)   )
• Kumal taeching Sangha to jump to safety fromn the fire around them using his training in circus ( and also as a cub licking sweets from Mcrory's hand.... nothin special but he's chooo shweet in those shots
• last but not the least, the tigers' escape from the battleground, with the audience being driven in the same ground where the tigers where supposed to fight , for their protection.( this should have a lasting impact on anyone for its message shouts out loud and clear  to us humans " you are just another species like us, u cannot decide nature's fate".

i miss you....... my dabba : D

everyone i am sure can still remember those last few minutes of class at school which seemed to pass wretchedly slowly ( or well, get extended if ma'am was in one of her devilish moods ). and then came the jarring yet lovely sound of freedom a.k.a the recess bell. less than halfway through, it was drowned out by the hullabaloo of students storming outta their classrooms to the cherished half an hour or something of freedom. although outside play was must and somebody still remaining back was branded a "rotten egg" , play time didn't come before everyone huddled around around the bench-cum- temp dining tables to wolf down our beloved "dabbas". yes "wolfing down" because every time the flavors on  the palate were varied and irresistible. the most unfortunate ones during the recess times were actually those who happened to have their moms in an extra good mood that morning and ended up with something special . an eye blink , swift swoop down of hands, and almost as if Mr. H. Potter had uttered the vanishing charm, whooosh!!! empty and extra clean interiors of the tiffin stuck out their tongue back.
the "dabba" actually held quite an important position in the school life of anybody. it was the tool for gelling in of the newcomer with the others, deciding the group hierarchy in class based on its deliciousness ( all very versed with the bully n li'll kid's ad for 'Everest masalas' ) , or branding of the class's teacher's pet as the one who regularly brought that extra something for the teacher. it fuelled a new challenge for mums everyday as the kid brought home tales of something or other exotic in his classmate's dabba and she was hell bent to improvise and and win the title of "the best dabba" in class.
 
for the schools with long hours, everyone without fail was actually handed down a basket that had the dabba and its accomplice , the undisputed symbol of hygiene, a napkin. the child who never failed to spread it out before lunch was sure to get that "special star" from the teacher and made an example before others. so hence the dabba evolved but we didn't. from smart tucked in shirts or pulled up socks, we became the dudes n dudies with hanging ties and improvised uniforms fashioned to be trendy. the one still carrying a basket and a napkin was termed "dorky" and it was cool to actually bring a dabba in the 'minimalist style' so as to hang out in the canteens more often. the thrill as to 'what mum must've packed 2day' was still there but it was the height of uncool to express it out loud. ( trust me people all this was the absolute true experience but as sidney white goes "we all are dorks"..... so wth!!)
as a gal i actually had some of my friends suffering from the "we-want-to-be-hep-coz-we-are-seniors-now" syndrome chucking away the already little food with a view of dieting ( n yet could be spotted hogging in the canteen later!!!) . in this sense guys held my full respect as they stuck to the tradition of finishing off the dabba first and then gorging on outside food ( well probably their huge appetites called but anyways!!). so the transition from middle to high school made the center of attraction shift from the humble dabbas to the canteen.
but as the saying goes "life comes in a full circle". one day having a long hearty talk wid my best friend who is a day scholar in an engineering college back home, she casually said that i had "somethin something" in tiffin today. i doubled up laughing my head off and could barely get the words out "what- u -  still - get - a - dabba -  for college???" we both laughed away. and yet some days later when i came back from my grandparent's place back to the hostel, i could still see those hands in class swooping down to gobble up my nani's paranthas leaving me none. it hit me then, i was also among those hands which reached out for any homemade stuff we could lay our hands on in the hostel. that is simply because any dabba brings with it , a sense of  being home, of standing and seeing mum in the kitchen filling every single of those containers with love and warmth. in a world of egoistic and intellectual divsions..." the dabba" unites all. and well yes , there is no universe in my knowledge where addabazi over a "ghar ka dabba" isn't one of coolest and best hangouts ever.

(P.S : stanley ka dabba is one of the cutest movies i have ever come across...give that a try for more on "the dabba".. ) 

MISS INDEPENDENT

“Oh there’s something ‘bout her,

 ‘cause she walk like the boss ,talk like the boss, do what a boss do,

She got me thinking ‘bout getting involved, that’s the kinda girl I need!” – ( Ne Yo , song “miss independent”)

 She’s here and now, hot and happening and the ultimate powerpuff girl, none other than the miss 21^st century Indian. She has broken confidently through every male dominion, falsifying the foundation of age old gender discriminations and stereotypes. Be it the corporate or education sectors we now have a Chandra Kocchar for every Vikram Pandit and a Rajita Chaudhuri for every Arindam Chaudhuri.

 She doesn’t mind raising many an eyebrow by performing the last rites of her father herself or becoming a maulvi to perform a nikaah. She’s scaling heights as high as Mount Everest, outperforming her male comrades in the army (read Shanti Tigga, the first woman combat officer) and making a mark in sports globally. Women in India now enjoy bachelorette bashes, work as DJ’s, bartenders or even bouncers! Stay-at-home dads and working moms is a common story of every other urban household. Now we’ve even got villages celebrating the birth of girls – a remarkable and much needed change.  

All these illustrious examples shout out loud the fact that India is finally waking up to the dawn of the age of the fairer sex. My history teacher had once rightly said that the reason for women in India not protesting against the brazen violation of their rights (even the right to be born) was because the men had always provided for them – granting them the right to vote among several others even before the European and American nations. So the quintessential”docile Indian lady” became even more indebted and submissive. But the women in the West had had to fight it out from the very beginning for them and hence learnt how to ward off unwonted male dominance. Well that past is through with now and it’s a happy fact that Indian women have really woken up for themselves and now want the best of both – the household and the outside world. Now we can actually realise why the goddesses are always shown with multiple hands as that is what every woman of today does – balancing multiple things at a time and still being the best at it. Maybe the male chauvinists had perceived this and therefore barred women from venturing out of their homes as they knew we wouldn’t stop until the world was ours to call. But my dear sirs, why can’t you differentiate between need and use. We are not mere objects to provide for you and be taken for granted. Women no longer need men in this assumingly “big, bad world” to safeguard them or to avoid social shunning. Women can manage fine by themselves and no longer are prey to eve teasers or molesters, possessing the capability to give a fitting reply to these anti-socials. Everybody in this world exists due to a woman, so please wake up people! There’s no question of the “innate superiority” of men over women.

 Men make a move, we are here now. No longer your arm candies or simply household geckos, not “dumb” but “legally” blonde now! As for all the females – celebrate and feel proud of the fact that you are the “miss independents” of today and start believing in “girl power”. The world is in your hands, seize it!!!

my mom's supermom!!!

this is d photo montage i made as a part of our mother's day gifts..... :) kiddish but mom found it kinda cute!! :P