Sneha Jaiswal's Blog, page 265

Late Night Musings

Does disease delight in death?
In its slow spread & a quick end
Breaking us with every breath
Till there’s no more to bend
And no dreams to see
But the black of nothing
That now roams free
In our eyes that sting
The softest sheets fail
No silken touch can dare
Let any respite ever sail
Into the mind’s care
Too absorbed in blame
To every second name
Even daughters or sons
Every presence burns
For their sun won’t set
Their horizons bright
Sweet summers to be met
While we simmer in fright

Movies, Music & Underrated Gems

What’s your favorite part about watching a movie? Is it the momentarily escape that it offers from your own world and troubles? Is it the catharsis that can take place when you watch something emotional and find yourself moved to tears? Or the exhilaration of a new crush that can be born after a fictional character wins over your heart?

For me, it’s the excitement when I discover a song that makes me smile, that makes me want to pause the film and look it up on the internet immediately, lest I forget about it by the end. Yesterday, when I saw Bombay Rose, the Indian animated film that recently came out on Netflix, it was the beautiful beats of the background score that made me watch it till the end. Almost every song or instrumental piece played in that film was pleasant to the ears, rhythms and sounds you want to hear again and again.

Today, the first thing that I did after waking up was play on a song called ‘Red Rose’, a lovely Goan track by a musician called Lorna, that was in Bombay Rose. As the singer crooned like a rockstar, I happily made my toast and fried chicken, humming to the lyrics that I did not understand. But YouTube and kind strangers on the internet came to the rescue – someone wrote the complete translation of the song for us lost souls to understand the essence of the song. And I loved the song even more after I finally understood the lyrics. It’s about a beautiful lass who is constantly wooed by lads, with some even asking her hand in marriage.

Anyway, here are the lyrics as provided by a youtube user called Konkhni Gitam –

My home is in Cutorim, Salcette (Goa)

My name is Rosalyn Everyone knows me as “Red Rose”

I work in a Parsi bungalow in Walkeshwar (Bombay)

When I walk on the street, I’m followed by a long procession of young men

Some of them give me chocolates

Some invite me for the movies

Some simply greet me

Some show me money

Many of my fellow Goan boys follow me

Wherever I go, I have no peace, they heckle me

Many of them give me a promise of marriage

I don’t want such husbands, they drink country liqour

Now listen carefully, young man!

From today onwards turn on a new leaf Fling that booze into the sea

If you want to marry me

Even the Parsi boys wink at me

They call me Red Rose, some of them flirt with me

They say “I love you” and ask me for a kiss

I don’t want anyone else but a Goan as a husband

Parsis will give me a lot of money

They may take gold from me

When I die, crows will feast on my corpse

Goans will give me a decent burial

I have been thinking of a podcast episode with a musician friend and sharing 10-20 underrated songs that we’ve discovered through watching movies. Do you think that sounds like something you would listen to? Let me know.

Also, today’s Podcast episode is a quick analysis of the film Bombay Rose, even though I know I have already written about it. Listen in! And please subscribe to the channel. Thank You.

‘Bombay Rose’ – Early Talkies Mood, Mystic Art & Mediocre Animation

If you are an animation enthusiast, what will hit you first about the 2019 film ‘Bombay Rose’ is the choppy, slow-motion animation in the first few minutes which shows a Bollywood film playing in a theater. It starts with the classic ‘damsel in the clutches of the villain’ scene, with the hero stepping up, beating the goon and saving the day. You know from scene one that ‘Bombay Rose’ is going to be an ode to the Tinseltown of India.

Directed by Gitanjali Rao, the film goes beyond the typical Bollywood romance and attempts to explore the aspirations of those living in the big city, especially the poor. There are two parallel stories interwoven with each other, one of the young Kamala who sells flowers and falls in love with Salim, an orphan from Kashmir; and the other of the much older Ms Shirley D’Souza, who teaches Kamala’s little sister English and is stuck in a bygone era.

The animation for this film has been painted on computer frame by frame and according to news articles took 18 months to make, with dozens of artists on the team. But the result is an inconsistent art style through the course of the story. For large parts, the animation is almost grainy and not very appealing, which makes the slow scenes test your patience. The artwork is not detailed enough, so when the camera zooms in and stops for a few seconds on a certain still, you wonder ‘why?’. But there are several scenes where the lead pair is transported to an alternate world, where they are transformed into mystical creatures from miniature paintings of the Mughal era, and the artwork on those scenes are more intricate and beautiful to look at.

The story is sprinkled with clever metaphors, like how the villain keeps shape-shifting into a hawk, symbolic of his opportunistic and predatory nature. When Kamala and Salim meet for the first time, the scene changes into a hunting ground, with a arrow missing them by a hair-breadth, almost a literal allusion to cupid’s arrow. The rose is a character in itself and sometimes we see the city through the flower’s eye – a bustling metropolis teeming with both the living and the dead.

One of the strongest points of ‘Bombay Rose’ is its soundtrack, director Gitanjali Rao has handpicked some great Bollywood and Konkani numbers that will tickle your ears with delight and help hold your attention. The voice actors have done a great job. It’s the story-telling that gets quite mainstream in the end, despite the careful artistic approach of the makers. The sub-plot involving old Miss Shirley D’Souza felt more intriguing and moving than that of the protagonist. You have a climax that is very typical and quite disappointing. Kamala gets a happy ending, sort of, but one wonders if she really earned it?

It’s hard to put a number on this film, but I am leaning towards a 6/10.

Do check out our new Podcast show by the same name on YouTube.

Listen in, show support & please subscribe to the channel.

‘Chosin’ Graphic Novel Review

Based on the epic true story of the Chosin Reservoir campaign of the Korean War!

In the winter of 1950, deep within the frozen mountains of North Korea, 15,000 U.S. Soldiers and Marines were surrounded and trapped by 120,000 Chinese soldiers. Despite the odds, the Marines refused to surrender and fought their way 78 miles to the sea and rescued 98,000 refugees. The two stories in this book tell a tale of sacrifice and courage that contends with the story of the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae as one of the most heroic feats in history.

GoodReads description of ‘Chosin’, the graphic novel

While the description of the graphic novel ‘Chosin – hold the line’ sounds interesting, the illustrations and story-telling do not match up to an average comic enthusiast’s expectations. While I usually finish off graphic novels in a day or maximum two, it had taken me days to finish this one, because the artwork just couldn’t hold my attention.

Told largely from the point of view of U.S soldiers who brave their way through nail-biting cold to fight Chinese soldiers, ‘Chosin’ definitely has a story worth telling, but felt like blatant American propaganda. This was especially the case because in many pages, the Chinese soldiers were drawn like monsters without any facial features. While the American marines had kind, likable faces, most of the enemy soldiers looked like rabid animals.

The narration is not very gripping, but the writers manage to capture the chilling futility of war very well. At several points the reader would severely detest the very idea of sending away thousands of young men to their deaths. One also gets a sense of the toxic-masculinity that exists within the ranks of any army. For example, there is a scene where the U.S soldiers are in total despair, quite sure that they going to be slaughtered like chickens, when a marine asks his senior if they are going to be rescued; the senior promptly responds how ‘rescued’ sounds effeminate and that ‘women get rescued, men are reinforced’. You see how dying a brutal death is glamorized, like choosing retreat over a losing battle is the worst thing one can do.

The illustrations get a lot better towards the second-half of the book, where the focus shifts from U.S soldiers to two Korean children who flee their homes after their father is killed by the Chinese. Their mother instructs them to find American troops and take their help to escape to South-Korea. It was heart-warming to see how troops do all they can to help two little kids survive hostilities and find their way to the south.

I ended up reading a lot of material on the ‘Battle of Chosin’ after reading this graphic novel, since the book doesn’t pack enough information. It’s a 3/5 from me for the graphic novel.

Do check out our new Podcast show by the same name on YouTube.

Listen in, show support & please subscribe to the channel.

Moxie Review – Between Spunk And Funk

The 2021 film ‘Moxie’ is about how a nerdy conformist teenager Vivian transforms into a rebel girl, inspired by her mother’s feminist side. Amy Poehler dons the director’s hat for this one and also plays Vivian’s mom. Ironically, Poehler is perhaps the weakest link of the story, especially when it comes to acting. Her almost deadpan acting is boring and just doesn’t add any life to the script.

However, ‘Moxie’ is one of those rare films, that despite having an unimpressive first thirty minutes, picks up pace eventually and becomes more fun to watch. Hadley Robinson who plays Vivian looks her part – introverted, nerdy, boring schoolgirl; but her metamorphosis to a covert feminist who starts an anonymous zine that triggers a feminist movement among the girls in school is lackluster. Actor Alycia Pascual-Pena as new girl Lucy, who trashes ‘Great Gatsby’ by asking her Literature teacher why students are still reading a book ‘about some rich white guy about some rich white guy’, gives in a much more power-packed performance than the lead mother-daughter duo. She is not afraid to question sexism and racism, and believes in keeping her head high, instead of staying low to keep out of trouble.

‘Moxie’ has an engaging middle portion and celebrates friendships between teen girls and how women are so much stronger when they lift each other up. I loved watching how school-girls come together in this film challenge sexist and patriarchal pricks. The soundtrack was quite nice, with some cool ‘rebel girl’ kind of songs blended in to carry the story forward. Vivian’s love interest Seth (played lovingly by Nico Hiraga) was a fun character, quite unlike the usual teen male heartthrobs who are full of themselves or caricatures of the classic ‘bad boy’ trope. He is down to earth, keeps to himself and doesn’t do idiotic things to screw things up.

What’s very evident is how the makers try to stuff in more than is needed in the film, like when Vivian’s best-friend rants about her difficult life as an Asian and how her mother worked really hard to build their world in America. It’s like every film these days tries to put in at least a few black characters, a few Asian characters and a few LGBTQ characters, so that they do not get called out for not being diverse enough. If you are not going to give depth to those characters, then it’s just superficial tokenism, and viewers can see it.

Towards the second-half, the film again gets a tad too dramatic than necessary, but the plot picks up again as the climax comes close. The end is very uplifting and I don’t want to give away any spoilers, so not going to reveal what happens. Sharper writing and better casting would have made ‘Moxie’ a ground-breaking movie. In its current form, it’s still an entertaining film and worth a watch. It’s a 6.5/10 from me.

Do check out our new Podcast show by the same name on YouTube.

Listen in, show support & please subscribe to the channel.

‘Three Men And A Maybe’ Review

After buddy-reading a rather depressing non-fiction novel, my friend and I decided we would read a quick ‘chick-lit’ book to drive away all the gloom that had settled in our heads due to the last one. Both of us have the Amazon Kindle Unlimited subscription and one of the first few suggestions that came up for ‘chick-lit’ was ‘There Men And A Maybe’ by Katey Lovell. It was less than 100 pages and seemed perfect for a super-quick buddy read.

The story is about 30-year-old Cerys, who gets proposed by three different men on the same damn night. One is her ex-fiance who had gambled away all their savings and wants to make things right; the second suitor is her best-friend and the third dude is a random bartender she had met a week ago. Lovell quickly explains Cerys’ relationships with the three men and it’s pretty obvious who she is going to choose. The characters don’t get enough space for you to actually care much about anyone, but that’s fine since it’s more like a short story.

This novella is cheesy, predictable and seems straight out of a ‘B’ grade Hollywood romantic comedy. In fact, if someone like Netflix picks up the script and casts some very good-looking people, I might even watch the film. If you ever have to go some-place that takes an hour and want to read a silly romantic story, you can pick this one. It’s a 3/5 from me.

Please do check out our new Podcast show by the same name on YouTube.

Listen in, show support & please subscribe to the channel.

Buddy Reviewing A Depressing AF Book By The Beach

When people pack their bags for a holiday, their first priority is probably cash and clothes. For me it’s all about finding a nice book to read on the journey. So when I took a two day break to a beach in Goa with a friend, we finished buddy-reading an entire novel out loud during our train journey. The fact that our fellow co-passengers were obnoxiously loud helped – nobody gave attention to us loser nerds reading out a book that would have made them cry.

The book in question is ‘A River In Darkness’ by Masaji Ishikawa, a non-fictional auto-biography about a man who lived in North-Korea for over three decades and finally managed to escape from the country to recall his horrifying ordeal. My friend and I did a live audio review of the book by the beach, so the podcast episode has some ambient wind/beach sounds.

Do listen in to the book review and share your thoughts.

Chilling by Palolem in Goa

So my friend and I decided to just take a relaxed two day break and we picked a beach called Palolem in the south-side of the popular coastal state in Goa.

Here’s the funny thing – a lot of travellers tend to treat Goa like it’s just one big beach-city, and forget that it’s a state, however tiny, with several towns and villages. My friend had a hilarious experience when were on the train to Margaon, the closest major railway station from Palolem beach. We were supposed to reach Margaon at 5 am, so when we woke up at 4.45 am, our co-passengers were already awake. She asked a girl if the next station was Margaon, to which the girl replied confused – “the next station is Goa right?”. My friend probably died laughing inside her head. Here’s the thing – there is no station called Goa. It’s a freaking state!

I met the most clueless solo-traveller on the same train. A young guy asked us if the train would stop at a place called “Thivim”. This was when the train was just one stop away from it’s last stop. Forget that it did not stop at “Thivim”, the place was not even on the route. There are a lot of times when trains do not stop at small stations, but that wasn’t the case. I asked the guy if he was joining some friends, but he said he was travelling solo. So he basically booked train tickets to who the fuck knows where, but it wasn’t even on the train schedule! Was my turn to laugh on the inside. Covid19 masks are a big boon in these times.

So well, we had a hilarious start to our day. We then got fleeced a little by the auto drivers, who charged us Rs 150 to take us to the bus stop which was just 4.8 kms away. It was too early in the morning to haggle, so we just paid up. But if you ever decide to go to Palolem, you can just walk to the Margaon Municipal Council and ask someone for the bus-stop, it’s just a 1.4 km walk from the station. We found this out on our way back after ther trip (so we walked to the station for free). The local bus from Margaon to Palolem costs Rs 35, which is less than half a dollar.

The bus drops you on the main road, which is about 1.4 km from the Palolem beach, a distance we walked. We were at the beach by 7.30 am. Our hotel check in time was 12 pm, so we dropped our bags at the reception, had an early breakfast at one of the beach shacks and then explored the left stretch of the beach till 11.30 am.

We stayed at a place called “Resort De Palolem” and had a fantastic beach facing single-room a/c cottage to ourselves. The view was so amazing that we had no reason to step out of our room after checking in. It begins to get hot in March in the coastal areas, so our room offered us a perfect view of the beach, without us having to step out of the air-conditioned comfort it provided!

The picture from my phone does no justice to the view from our room. While we stayed in most of the time, we did step out for lunch to a tiny restaurant called “Rian”, which was a 1.2 km walk from our room. The place was recommended by friends for home-made food. We had rawa fry prawns for starters, which was amazing. And there was pork curry and rice for main course. The pork was slightly under-cooked, so it was mediocre. Be sure to tell the restaurant that you are in no hurry for your pork and it should be fine. Their service was very prompt and the staff was super-sweet. It’s a very modest looking restaurant, but worth a shot. So pay them a visit.

We went for a long walk to the other side of the beach in the evening, before heading out for dinner. There are a lot of water-sports options for those looking for adventure. There is kayaking, boating, something akin to surfing and a bunch of other water activities that one can do. Since we were just looking to relax, we just walked, danced and then went to a place with Karaoke and sang an old Hindi song.

Palolem is a great weekend getaway if you are looking for a calmer beach destination in Goa.

Bollywood Put To The ‘Bechdel Test’

Since International Women’s Day is around the corner, I decided to do something women themed for the latest episode of ‘Abstract AF’ the podcast.

So in episode number 12, you’ll hear about 10 Bollywood films that made the most revenue in the year 2020 and if their content passes the “Bechdel Test'”. If you don’t know what the hell that is, don’t worry, you’ll get a quick explainer at the beginning.

I had to do a mega movie marathon for this episode because it turned out I hadn’t seen 8 of them! So it was a hell of crazy day and took a lot of effort. The result is fun enough. So Listen in!

‘Kaali Khuhi’ Review – Strong Theme Ruined By Weak Script

‘Kaali Khuhi’ is a 2020 Netflix original Indian horror film, which literally means ‘Black Well’. I remember watching the trailer months ago and being intrigued by it. So when my mother suggested we watch a horror film, we picked this. Only to regret our decision 90 minutes later.

Directed by Terrie Samundra, the film has an impressive cast, there’s Bollywood veteran Shabana Azmi, television star Sanjeeda Sheikh, along with Satyadeep Mishra and Leela Samson. It’s about a curse on a small village where elders followed the heinous practice of female infanticide – the babies are poisoned and dumped into a well. For a few years, peace prevails, but when a couple visits the village to meet the husband’s ailing mother, they find out that the curse is back and they are haunted by the spirit of a dead child. Somehow, it’s up to their daughter Shivangi (Riva Arora) to find a solution.

Despite being only 90 minutes long, ‘Kaali Khuhi’ is slow, with several needless elongated shots that test the viewer’s patience. The first time we see the spirit’s face, it’s supremely underwhelming. The director relies on violent scenes and gore to scare the viewer, but far from spooking onlookers, the scenes make you recoil at the over-use of blood and gross bloody scenes. Riva Arora as Shivangi doesn’t get to do enough as the protagonist to win the viewers sympathies.

While the director’s effort to demonize the evil practice of female infanticide is applause-worthy, the execution of the plot makes you want to slap your forehead. There are a lot of gaps in the story that make little sense and the viewer has to do a lot of ‘fill in the blanks’ work, which can be frustrating for most. It had a very disappointing climax that looked straight out of a ‘B’ grade horror film from the 1980s.

My mother’s faith in my film choices were shaken a little by the end of the film. But I reminded her of all the good ones we watched together and all was forgiven. ‘Kaali Khuhi’ is a 4/10 from me.

Please do check out our new Podcast show by the same name on YouTube.

Listen in, show support & don’t forget to subscribe.