Sneha Jaiswal's Blog, page 243

A Poem Inspired By The Cyclone That Devastated My Hometown

The latest podcast episode of Abstract AF is a poetry themed one – ‘A Poem Inspired By The Cyclone That Devastated My Hometown ‘

Author and poet Sneha Jaiswal reads out a poem from her book ‘Death & Darker Realms’, and briefly explains how the work came about to be.

New podcast episodes are out every Sunday, and just like our website, the podcasts too are largely on books and movies. Listen in and show your support by subscribing to the channel on YouTube. It costs nothing!

Your Letter by Hyeon A Cho – Quick Review

It’s almost as if you can hear a splash of water as the first panel of ‘Your Letter’ by Hyeon A Cho comes into view. The protagonist, a teen student called Sori Lee is soaked through her uniform, drops dripping from her hair, shirt, skirt, all off it against a stark white background, that only makes the image more vivid. The text says ‘it was just an ordinary day’. Simple use of irony. Works well enough.

Plot overview – Sori Lee changes school after she stands up to bullies who were bothering a classmate; instead of being lauded for her bravery, she only gets alienated by all. On the first day of her new school, Sori finds a letter plastered under the desk, it says ‘hello, welcome to our school.This letter was written to introduce you to this place’. The letter has a map of the school, details of all her new classmates and instructions to find the next letter. So the story is a treasure-hunt/mystery of sort, with the protagonist finding new letters and making a few new friends along the way.

Hyeon A Cho tackles the issues of bullying, isolation, childhood anxieties and the importance of friendship in a beautiful manner in this webtoon. The simple manga-style artwork, where characters turn into chibi-like creatures during exaggerated moods was entertaining and super adorable. Except for the a few flashbacks in between, the linear story-telling that’s almost like a treasure-hunt, with Sori Lee looking for a series of letters, keeps readers intrigued till the ending. Each little flashback only enriches the narrative.

‘Your Letter’ makes one nostalgic about the lost art of writing letters, and just how precious they can be, when penned by a dear friend. Hyeon A Cho uses a lot of solid pastel hues that give the story a warm glow, like a comfortable blanket wrapping you around in a cold-lazy winter morning. It’s a poignant tale of teens, with very little interference by older/parental characters, so there’s an unadulterated charm to the whole comic series.

A new reader friend had recommended this webtoon to me, and I would recommend it to you to dear reader. It’s a 5/5 from me.

Link to the free webtoon – Your Letter

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Listen to episode 24 – Army of the Dead Vs The Walking Dead

Army of Thieves Review – More Alive Than Army of The Dead

The first 22 minutes of ‘Army of Thieves’ displays how with the right music, actors and set, one can even make a story about a bunch of cons feel like an epic fantasy film. Matthias Schweigofer who dons the twin hat of actor and director this time around, has outdone Zack Snyder, because this prequel is definitely more entertaining and pacy.

Just like the title suggests, this is a heist film, so don’t go expecting zombies and horror, or you’ll be very disappointed. Schweigofer plays Sebastian (who later takes the name of Dieter), a regular German dude with a boring bank job, but with an obsessive passion for cracking safes. The first few minutes are absolutely fascinating – Sebastian makes a YouTube video explaining the history of a locksmith Hans Wagner, who built a series of four safes that attained a mythical status in the safecracking world and are still believed to be in use. So when a gang of thieves recruits Sebastian to go on a quest to crack all the Wagner safes, he is game.

Now this is the kind of heist film that doesn’t take things too seriously, so everything is a lot more simpler than is should be. The team itself is just comprised of 5 members, so ‘army’ is a huge exaggeration. Nathalie Emmanuel plays Gwendoline, kind of the leader of the pack. Stuart Martin is Brad, the muscle/action hero of the group and there’s the mandatory genius hacker played by Ruby O Fee. Guz Khan has a small part as Rolph, the getaway driver. Each of them get a quick back-story, which wasn’t really necessary. Instead, a little flashback to why Sebastian/Dieter is so obsessed with locks would have been more interesting.

Shot across European cities, the cinematography is gorgeous, especially when the action unfolds outdoor, against scenic mountains and colorful old buildings. You could make a lot of wallpapers out of this film. As mentioned in the beginning, it feels more like a fantasy movie, especially because of some of the classical and folksy music that plays in the background. And while Schweigofer as safecracker Dieter didn’t have much screen-time in ‘Army of the Dead’, here the actor carries off the lead role with panache. Nathalie however struggles to emote in some of the emotional (and unnecessary) scenes in the second-half.

The story takes place when a zombie outbreak has just occurred in Las Vegas and in a hilarious easter-egg – Dieter keeps dreaming of Zombies surrounding him, and a member jokes about how it could be a ‘prophecy’. While the movie is no laugh riot and makes everything too convenient, at least it never made me want to press the fast-forward button, like Army of the Dead die.

The climax was almost fun, and then it wasn’t, because they make it a little sentimental, as if this wasn’t a heist movie but a romantic drama.Overall, ‘Army of Thieves’ is more entertaining than its predecessor. It’s a 7/10 from me.

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Listen to episode 24 – Army of the Dead Vs The Walking Dead

A Thing Called Truth #1 Comic Review

A comic that starts with a car chase, the protagonists caught in the pangs of anxiety, cursing ‘shit! shit! shit!’? Sounds like an interesting ride already, and that’s just how ‘A Thing Called Truth’ by Iolanda Zanfardino and Elisa Romboli begins. Right from the first panel, there’s a lot of action going on and it’s a melange of colors.

I’ve read and reviewed ‘Alice In Leatherland’, a fun LGBTQ+ comics series created by the same duo and the complete change in tone and palette was an interesting surprise. Artist Elisa doesn’t hold back on the color palette with this new work, but there’s a noticeable shade that dominates certain sections of the comic, but it keeps changing, along with the mood of the plot.

So let’s get to the plot – since this is just the first issue, all we know is that the protagonist is called Doctor Magdalene Traumer, who is on the verge of big breakthrough. Magdalene has developed some sort of life-saving device that will, in her words – ‘SAVE THE WORLD’. She has dedicated her life to this device, even courting divorce with a partner, because who has time for saving a relationship when they can save the entire world? But just a day after her breakthrough, she is fired, denied access to her lab and lifelong work. And to make things worse, she wakes up drunk, with a stranger driving her car in a different continent!

While the whole ‘save the world’ theme sounds a little predictable, author Iolanda keeps things fun by focusing more on Magdalene’s life outside her lab. So we get a brief glimpse into her past relationships, her work ethics and whether she can hold her drink.

With just 22 pages to boot in the first issue, readers get a playful take on a workaholic doctor/genius’ life. Complimenting all of this is the vivid & vibrant artwork by Romboli, which exudes a glossy joy through the pages. Need to read the next few issues soon, to understand just where all this is going!

It’s supposed to be ‘chaotic lgbtq+ road trip’ and is a 4/5 from me.

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Listen to Episode 50 – Why You Must Watch Studio Ghibli Films

Why I Am An Atheist & Other Works by Bhagat Singh

“I tell you that the British rule is not there because God willed it but for the reason that we lack the will and courage to oppose it….Where is God? What is he doing? Is he getting a diseased pleasure out of it (the exploitation of a nation)? A Nero! A Genghiz Khan! Down with him!” – Bhagat Singh.

Bhagat Singh, the young Indian revolutionary was only 23 when he was executed by the British for his participation in the ‘Lahore Conspiracy Case’ in 1931. The martyr didn’t have the time or luxury to write a full-fledged book during his short life, so readers will have to content themselves with the handful of essays and letters Singh wrote while he was alive. ‘Why I Am An Atheist’ is a short 13-14 page long essay, where Singh puts forth some brief but logical questions to denounce the existence of a higher power. He is neither bitter, nor angry, or frustrated, but instead is filled with an optimistic idealism, an emotional maturity that seeps into his writing, giving readers goosebumps. Here is a man, who knew who would be sent to the gallows soon, and yet he didn’t resort to the ‘cowardice’ of prayers.

Singh’s ruminations on atheism are admirable for a man his age, and while it’s not powerful enough to move strong believers into abandoning their faith in a higher ‘being’, there’s argument enough to make skeptics re-think a little. As someone who’s been an atheist all their life, I wish this book had been available to me as a school student. There are dozens of patriotic films on Bhagat Singh, but his atheism is something that was never touched upon onscreen; even though it was a large part of his personality, just like religion’s role in the lives of leading figures throughout time. But perhaps Singh’s own thoughts on the matter explain why very few dare talk on the subject – the fear of persecution. The freedom-fighter doesn’t take names, but mentions a few times of men he knew, who didn’t have the conviction to openly declare they were Godless.

The rest of the book is a collection of some letters and statements by Singh during the last 2-3 years of his life, a lot of written while he was still in prison. The statements are dry and hold little value as reading material, unless read in a larger historical context of the ongoing freedom-struggle in the 1920s. The letters, especially one that Singh writes to his father, admonishing the elder for submitting a petition to defend him, starkly portrays what a young stubborn revolutionary Singh was. A son worth fighting for, a son one’s bound to be proud of. Because despite all their differences, (Singh’s father was very devout), their affection for each other never diminished, Singh still signed his angry letter as ‘your loving son’. It demonstrates a tolerance that’s becoming thinner in a world where now families cold-shoulder each other over political clash of views.

As far as the writing is concerned, it’s simple, slightly stiff, probably because some of them were originally written in Punjabi. There are also a lot of errors, but I am glad the publishers didn’t correct them, because once an editor is tasked with editing a work, some of them can go as far as changing the entire essence of a piece. Grammar snobs can go to hell. And if you aren’t one of them, you must get your hands on the book just to read the essay ‘Why I Am An Atheist’, especially if you are an Indian. Sure, there are perhaps 100s of encyclopedia sized books with more explosive arguments against the existence of a God, but none of them are by a young 22-year-old revolutionary, who was certain of being hanged by his oppressors in a few days.

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Listen to Episode 53 for some interesting book recommendations & quick reviews

Watching ‘Kramer Vs Kramer’ Decades Too Late

Let’s begin by saying Dustin Hoffman seems like an asshole. An answer on the Q&A website Quora talked about how Hoffman harassed co-star Meryl Streep, to get emotional reactions out of her for the 1979 film ‘Kramer Vs Kramer’. Both actors won Oscars for their roles in the movie.

If you try to read up a little bit more about the duo, turns out – Streep herself had called him an ‘obnoxious pig’ in an interview, even though she chose to forgive him. Here’s an excerpt from an UK-based publication on the old interview –

The interview, which appeared in a 1979 issue of Time Magazine, saw Streep recount her first meeting with the actor whom she starred opposite in Kramer vs. Kramer.

“He came up to me and said, ‘I’m Dustin – burp – Hoffman,’ and he put his hand on my breast,” Slate reports the interview as saying.

“What an obnoxious pig, I thought.”

A representative for Streep has since told E! News that the interview was “not an accurate rendering of that meeting,“ adding: “There was an offence and it is something for which Dustin apologized. And Meryl accepted that.”

Excerpt from an Article by ‘Independent’

Clearly that was a different era, when it was apparently okay for a big star to act like a jerk and the woman to ‘forgive’ him. Fine. But reading all of this made me curious about just what her role was all about. Because Hoffman reportedly would taunt Streep about her recently deceased boyfriend on the set, to make she look genuinely distressed in her scenes.

Directed by Robert Benton, the film follows Ted Kramer (Hoffman), a young workaholic whose wife leaves him and their 6-year-old son Billie, to find her own calling. Kramer suddenly find himself in the role of the primary caregiver and despite initial hiccups, becomes a doting father. After over a year of being a single father, he finds himself locked in a custody battle with the wife, where the odds are stacked against him.

Streep has a supporting role, and doesn’t appear for more than 15 minutes in the movie. The first-half is on the slower side and at one point almost feels like a one-man movie, with all the spotlight on Mr Hero Hoffman. Justin Henry plays Billie, and is a dear as the lost little boy who wants his mother back. While the father-son duo struggle at first, they eventually figure out their own rhythm. The courtroom drama was a lot briefer than I expected, but was an interesting display of how courts always favor mothers when it comes to custody battles. The climax was heart-warming and it’s laudable how the mother is not demonized for choosing a career over family, since apparently the novel the film is based on did just that. The platonic friendship Ted shares with his neighbor Margaret (Jane Alexander), who helps him navigate through his new role of a single dad, was also also brilliantly done.

Even though I wasn’t psyched about seeing Hoffman in the role, he is really good in the part, and will have a lot of viewers tearing up by the end. Clearly a great example of how actors are nothing like their characters and the audience shouldn’t mix their onscreen and off-screen personalities. And as far as Streep’s performance is concerned, she is impeccable, and not a shred of credit should go to Hoffman’s non-sensical ‘method-acting’. Most Gen-Y yuppies wouldn’t even know who he is. But Meryl Streep? We all know her, love her and the years have proven that she would’ve have probably gotten that Oscar without having to bear the emotional trauma of having a dick for a colleague, who mocked her dead boyfriend as part of his acting routine.

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Listen to Episode 50 for a lowdown on 22 Studio Ghibli films

‘Luca’ Review – Simple and Adorable

It’s been a while since the 2021 Disney-Pixar film ‘Luca’ came out, and if you are an animation enthusiast who hasn’t seen it yet (like me until yesterday), you probably should. Even though it borrows its ideas from a lot of other Disney tales, like ‘Little Mermaid’, ‘Moana’ & ‘Finding Nemo’, in the end, ‘Luca’ is a story that manages to hold on its own.

From the beautiful bright colors of the ocean, to the simple idyllic Italian coastal village life, everything about this animated film directed by Enrico Casarosa has a simple charm that will have younger viewers wide-eyed and smiley. ‘Luca’ the protagonist, is a shape-shifting water being, so while in the sea, Luka has gills, fins and scales, once he is dry and out of water – he changes into a human form. One day, he meets a similar boy his age, the spirited Alberto who lives on the surface. The two kids soon become best-friends decide to travel around the world together.

Luca’s parents are horrified that their boy is curious about humans and decide to banish him to the deep-sea for a few weeks with an uncle. So our hero runs away from home and tries to find a new life on land with Alberto. And thus unfolds a fun-filled bright comedy, that never slackens in pace and will keep younger viewers wide-eyed and smiley. The animation is absolutely adorable, there are some super cute characters, like a grumpy cat that’s always suspicious of Luca’s human form.

Despite being on the fantasy side of things, the makers of ‘Luca’ take into consideration a lot of little details in the story, which makes it very enjoyable, like how Luca’s uncle from the deep sea has a transparent body, like some real deep-sea dwellers. There is obviously a mild ‘human vs nature’ conflict theme, with Luka’s kind living in fear of regular humans, knowing they can probably never find acceptance if the truth about them were to be known. But the makers never get too serious or get into the business of giving sermons in the guise of emotional dialogues.

Some viewers might find the climax rushed and conveniently wrapped up, without much conflict or drama. But that’s also the beauty of ‘Luka’ – it’s a breezy bright film that keeps things light. So while it might not be complex enough for a few, it’s nearly a perfect animated story for kids. Especially because ‘Luka’ is not just a ‘fish out of water’ running away from home, but a optimistic-practical boy filled with child-like curiosity about the world; someone who would rather go to school to learn more things about the universe, than just waste his days driving a scooter.

I loved this movie and it’s a 9/10 from me.

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Listen to Episode 50 for a lowdown on 22 Studio Ghibli films

10 Book Reviews Under 10 Minutes #10thEdition !

We are back with another edition of ’10 Book Reviews under 10 Minutes’ for our podcast. So if you aren’t into reading long book reviews, listen to episode 53, where we quickly look at some diverse titles, including some graphic novels. The books are as follows –

My Name Is Red – Orhan PamukIn Other Lands – Sarah Rees BrennanAre You Listening – Tillie WaldenSearching for Jimmy Page – Christy Alexander HallbergBeautiful Darkness – Fabien VehlmannEast, West – Salman RushdieThe Book Of Human Insects – Osamu TezukaThe True Story of Ah Q – Lu XunHonor Girl – Maggie ThrashCandide – Voltaire

Please subscribe to the channel on YouTube, if you still haven’t.

Sach Kahun Toh: A Beautiful Read Failed By Its Editors

I am a Star Plus sucker. Most of my love for the channel stems from their steady stream of K-series (much before the term stood for Korean dramas). But even before Ekta Kapoor cast her magic with her vastly popular and extremely over the top shows, Star Plus was known for some pretty good content and versatile actors.

Notable among them was Neena Gupta- who played a strong female lead in ‘Saans’ and an even stronger host in ‘Kamzor Kadi Kaun’. So when I got to know that she was writing an autobiography, I was immediately sold.

Thanks to birthdays, I was gifted a copy of the book ‘Sach Kahun Toh’ signed ‘Sa-sneh, Neena’ (With love, Neena). I was charmed by the simple address with her signature. Someone using the Devnagari script, writing a succinct message in Hindi for a book written in English, is not something I have seen often.

Right from her sign to the last page of acknowledgements, the book is a peek into the kind of person Neena Gupta is. It makes for a breezy read, reflecting the now-simple, no-frills life that she leads after having gone through a rather tumultuous time in her life. It’s a chronological account of a young girl who went from living in a humble home to embarking on a life journey that was rather adventurous.

The writing style is simple. The narrative is linear with a few jumps here and there. She writes a deeply personal account in a way that makes the reader empathize with her. Her account of Delhi and Bombay (now Mumbai) hit a familiar chord. She writes about issues like love-affairs, broken marriages, a child out of wedlock in a way that makes it feel human. I felt glad that she didn’t monetise the scandal surrounding her life to write a salacious account of things.

But I had one major grouse with the publishers. The book seems barely edited. There are glaring style flaws, like repetition of words, breaking chronology when avoidable, laborious paragraphs and missed opportunities for what could have been some really powerful lines and even grammatical errors.

It’s as if the first draft written by Neena Gupta was published without any change and as striking she might be as an actor, she isn’t an author by profession. She had a wonderful story to tell which could have been elevated with some diligent editing.

Someone should have put in the effort of tweaking the chapters in the book, like the five stories in the end about five characters in her life. That was a great differentiator, showcasing the potential of what the book could have been.

I would still give it a read despite its visible flaws for the comfort that I drew from Neena Gupta’s life story in this deeply personal memoir.

Munish Rathore

Munish Rathore is a full-time journalist, part-time dreamer and an aspiring writer. In his free time he can be seen curled up in front of the TV bawling over the latest tear-jerker.

https://www.instagram.com/munishrathore/

Subscribe to our podcast on YouTube by the same name – Abstract AF

Listen to Episode 48 for some great graphic novel memoir recommendations

‘Don’t Say No’ Review: Claptrap Wrapped In A Cute Cast

Except for a very good looking lead couple, ‘Don’t Say No’ the Thai series has very little going on in its favor. Oh, and a secondary couple that has a saner story + more chemistry than the protagonists.

Directed by Pique Passawut Sukbua, it’s hard to imagine that this Thai series is actually adapted from a novel. Because there is very little plot – Leo and Fiat, two childhood best-friends who love each other, begin to date in college; but they are both infinitely insecure, don’t speak their mind and end up having a turbulent relationship; when it should’ve been as smooth as butter for them. And the plot has bizarrely forced plot-twists, that are so out of place, it makes the viewers cringe out of extreme embarrassment.

It’s like someone told the writer – ‘you must introduce lot of conflicts into the story’. So what could’ve been a cute, fluffy romantic series, ends up being a chaotic mess, with ample of scenes that are completely unwatchable, due to the sheer ridiculousness of it all. Like a weird ex who pops out of nowhere to ruin the hero’s life just when things get better. Or an evil-abusive mom (who can’t act) who sashays into his life after a decade and tries to manipulate him. Or the random little shit of a girl who appears in the last few episodes to play a pathetic villain, all for a kiss. WTF is even happening?

First Chalongrat Novsamrong who plays Fiat, looks like an adorable bunny, but cannot act. He is cute in the scenes that do not require effort, especially bits where is just supposed to be having fun, but when it comes to emotional sequences, he spectacularly fails and it’s hard to watch. Ja Phachara Suansri plays Leo, Fiat’s boyfriend/bestfriend, and the two of them are one of the most good-looking onscreen couple, but their chemistry is ‘meh’. Neither of them looks very comfortable when it comes to their intimate scenes, and they have a few lip-locks in almost every episode, most of which is directed quite terribly. It’s only in episode 11, that the two of them finally seem like an actual couple used to be being physically close. The series is 12 episodes long, so they get their game together too late.

While other BL shows in the genre are making progress when it comes to showing functional relationships, ‘Don’t Say No’ has a lot of toxic shit on display. Like college-going-kids blackmailing each other to get non-consensual sexual favors in return. Even the ‘intelligent’ Leo is blackmailed by an idiotic girl, who wants a kiss in return for some information. Like what kind of college kids are these? Making sex-tapes, blackmailing each other, hiring goons to kidnap and intimidate, spiking drinks…! They could’ve just made a mafia-themed gang-war kind of series, with a dash of romance, if they wanted to stuff in a lot of dark things. Against the college background, it feels like a circus.

I usually don’t have much to say about clothes/wardrobe choices in films/series (lack of interest), but some of the stuff they make Fiat wear are just weird for a college-kid, maybe it would’ve made sense if they gave him a part-time job as a model or actor. Some of the shirts have these belts around the waist, or are cut in a way that show more skin than usual – basically, he is made to wear garments that lay emphasis on his body, even when he is just lounging at home.

And then there is repetitive cringe dialogues, like Leo says things “I cannot hold back anymore”, as if there are in a 1970s mills & boons novel. Even M&B was more classy. If the majority of the cast wasn’t so good-looking, most viewers wouldn’t bother to watch this show till the end. Who doesn’t like to ogle at beautiful things and people? And the secondary couple played by James and Smart have a sweet story. Smart plays Leon, Leo’s charming younger brother, who falls for a studious cat-loving senior Pobphan. The two have a believable college romance, slightly overtly sweet, but without a lot of non-nonsensical drama.

The last episode was an epic pile of boring shit, with a non-nonsensical twist that they don’t foreshadow at all, ruining the one good thing that was going on in the whole story.

It’s a 5/10 from me. I’d say 4, but I am going with an extra 1 for all the sweet young actors in the series, who obviously have no control on the crappy script.

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Listen to episode 52 for a ‘book vs series’ comparison of ‘The Haunting of Hill House’