Ante Sundaraniki - Telugu movie

 Had watched this movie , Ante Sundaraniki, two weeks back and fell in love with it ! I am a fan of good humor . If it is a Telugu movie and it is a comedy , it is usually worth a watch . The comic timing is excellent. The humor is usually predominant in the first half , the action and all the hue and cry happens in the second half . In the past , there are many times when me and my room mate Rashmi, would rent the movie , watch only the first half and return it back .

This particular movie, follows a young couple , who belong to two extremely conservative families from two different religions. They fall in love and decide to marry . The humongous task of convincing their parents now falls upon them . They weave a web of lies to make things work but unfortunately everything back fires on them .

The movie is taken in a very light vein and all characters are given equal importance. The youth’s determination to change perspectives and the agony of the parents when their belief systems are challenged is showcased really well . The solution and climax is highly dramatized , but the key take away from this movie is the humor . It is neither loud nor cheap , but subtle and intelligent. I don’t remember when we last laughed so much watching a movie . I like Nani, he is a very seasoned actor . His Shyam Singha Roy was amazing . The entire cast , the heroine , his parents , the girl’s parents and the office crew have done a phenomenal job . I got a little nostalgic watching this movie . Wish they make sensible movies like these more often .

Rating: 👍👍👍👍

Persuasion - 2022 (NetFlix)

 I did watch it yesterday night . Well , it was bad . The script writer ought to be penalized , very poor screenplay . There is no chemistry between the lead pair . Wentworth looks sorrowful throughout the movie . To be fair , the heroine , Dakota Johnson acted well , but her character resembles more of Elizabeth Bennett than Anne Elliott . I wished if they had cast Henry Golding ( Mr.William Elliot ) as WentWorth, there would have been better chemistry between the two . The movie is shot well, the settings are beautiful. That made it a little bearable . The trailer set the tone of the movie already , so no surprises yesterday. We can write it off as another Bridgerton attached to the NetFlix wagon .

Rating : 👍👍

Obiwan Kenobi - Disney +

 This Disney+ series follows Jedi Master Obi-Wan who is chased by the grand inquisitors and is entrusted to find little Princess Leia and come face to face with his once dearest friend and apprentice Anakin , and now his greatest enemy Darth Vader . Excellent visuals , gripping screenplay . You cannot miss the duels between ObiWan And Darth Vader . There are lot of loopholes in the plot , but well with the two most popular characters of STAR WARS on the screen , all eyes are just on them ! A fine series , well made !

Rating :👍👍👍👍👍

TopGun - Maverick

 It takes Tom Cruise to entice people back to the movie theatres. After a long long time , here’s a movie which deserves to be watched on the big screen . A very fine movie , with astounding visual effects . The story follows Maverick as he takes on an assignment with Top Gun to train a bunch of elite pilots on a dangerous mission while simultaneously battling his fears not to loose his near and dear again . A fine balance of action and human emotions . TomCruise keeps getting better with age . The movie is as good as it’s predecessor, and it does indeed “take the breath away” !

Rating: 👍👍👍👍👍

The Forgotten Garden

Author: Kate Morton 

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton is an ode to remarkable and skillful story writing, with layers of magic intricately woven between the pages of the book. The plot is centered around the life of a small girl who is found abandoned in a ship heading to Australia, this novel is about “her past, her future and her family”.

A small suitcase and a book of fairy tales are her sole belongings and a freak accident has wiped out her memory. The kind dockmaster and his wife, raise her as their own child, they name her Nell. On her 21st birthday, the dockmaster, with a freak sense of righteousness, reveals the truth to her. Nell finds herself destitute, helpless and pitiful. With a strong determination to find her past, she digs through her past belongings and starts reading the book of dark fairy tales. The book leads her to London and then to BlackHurst Manor , which belongs to an aristocratic family. Death knocks upon her door before she is able to reveal the mystery of her birth. It’s not until her granddaughter Cassandra takes up matters in her hand, is the mystery fully unveiled. Cassandra traces her grand mother’s footsteps and they lead her to a beautiful ,yet forgotten Garden in a mysterious cottage on the grounds of BlackHurst Manor. Can Cassandra tie her grand mother’s past , the book of fairy tales and the Forgotten Garden together and solve the mystery? As Cassandra travels to BlackHurst Manor, she is also plunging into another journey, unawares- a path to her own self discovery, battling her inner demons, overcome her personal loss, and embrace the uncertain future with open arms.

This book is a beautiful piece of literature, such prolific writing is very hard to find nowadays. The narration happens through the perspectives of three different protagonists, three women from three different generations, each on their own personal inner and outer voyage.

The only drawback of this book is it’s length. I could figure out the mystery by the time I was through with 60% of the book, thus making the ending very predictable. If it were shorter, the plot could have been more gripping and tight till the very end.

However, the book seems to have been written keeping a television or a big screen adaptation in mind. Each setting is so artistically described and filled with vivid and sensory details. The Forgotten Garden is as magical as Neverland, and we wish Tinker Bell will sprinkle some fairy dust on us too, to give us a glimpse of this beautiful magical place. I would strongly recommend this book to any avid reader who is willing to appreciate the magical spell of words. Some books simply put are pieces of art, this is one of them.

My Rating : 👍👍👍👍

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From Notting Hill with Love... Actually

 Author : Ali, McNamara

This book was a very quick read. As the title suggests, the book is all about finding love in true Hollywood style. The heroine, Scarlett O’Brien, is always day-dreaming about movies. She believes that her life is fabricated out of   different scenes from   different movies. She is unable to appreciate her steady relationship with her realistic and sensible boyfriend, David and craves for a short break from her current life to experience something extra-ordinary and explosive.

Her dear friend, Maddie, comes to her rescue. She gets an opportunity to fly to NottingHill, London, to house-sit for a couple who are on a month-long vacation. The famous quote from the Alchemist, “When you truly want something, the entire universe conspires to help you achieve it”, works like a charm for Scarlett. Once she steps into NottingHill, her life all of a sudden becomes like a movie set up. She is swarmed by new friends and well-wishers. Sparks fly between her and her neighbor next door, Sean. Life takes a dreamy turn. But even the movies have twists and turns, ups and downs. Scarlett’s adventures in NottingHill and the complications they entail, is the central part of this story.

 

Plotwise, this book has nothing new to offer. We have read many like this for years now. But what is unique about this book is the narration. Faithful to the title, the book is heavily influenced by scenes from the movies. The book borrows several dialogues and sequences from many movies, especially Pretty Woman, When Harry met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, An affair to remember and of course, NottingHill, to mention a few. It takes us on a nostalgic tour through all the movies which we had watched growing up, either in high school or in college. Though the plot is extremely silly and the heroine very annoying, I had a big smile on my face when I was reading this book only because of the movie references.

But my respect grew multi fold towards the author after I came to know that she suffers from chronic illness and more than one auto immune diseases. On good days, she can step out of the house with her crutches and on bad days, she is bed bound and cannot do anything. She says she never had a day when she felt completely well. For someone in her state, fantasizing a whirl-wind romance with her Mr Darcy , is more than acceptable. Creating such heartwarming, magical books and have so many best-sellers up her sleeve is truly commendable.

I would definitely recommend this book, more for the creator, than the creation itself.  

Rating: 👍👍👍👍

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Who Rules the World - Chinese Drama (Netflix)

 There are only a few movies , television adaptations and series which make you feel youthful again ! To me , last time it happened was when I watched Crash Landing on you , two years back . Good news , Tis the season of love again on Netflix . “Who rules the world” , a beautiful romance which alternates between the power politics and the martial arts world has managed to cast the magical spell . The legendary romance between a noble prince and a fearless princess , who also happen to be ace martial art fighters, is bound to fill your heart with warmth . Their chemistry is electric . The settings and costumes are extravagant and the screenplay is very tight and gripping . The pace is good and the martial art fights are a feast to watch . With almost perfect IMDb rating , this Chinese drama is rocking on Netflix .

Do not miss this historic drama, especially if you like martial arts and fights .

Rating : 👍👍👍👍👍

Notebook Mysteries : Decisions and Possibilities

 Author : Kimberly Mullins

This book is a historic mystery set in 1883, Chicago. The dynamic heroine Emma is only 18 but much ahead of her age. She developes a keen interest towards solving crime mysteries . In the men driven world of those times, she establishes a successful business of her own, and also helps other women who are in distress. Along comes a mystery where she is threatened and assaulted, but she has to help a family connection. Can Emma solve the mystery? This book takes us on a adventure filled ride along with Emma. I like women centric novels which are set in historic times, the courage and the resolve women had in those days to succeed was far more than what we have now, considering the opposition they had to face from the society. A very nice YA novel, I enjoyed it !

Jeeves in the offing

 Author : P.G.WoodHouse

Review:

One reads P.G.Wodehouse to laugh. One does not look for logic nor meaning in the plot.  Woodhouse books are well known for their situational humor, the sort of humor which builds up and throws the characters into weird circumstances throwing the readers into fits of laughter.

This book is not much different than his other books. Bertram Wooster decides to visit Aunt Dahlia at Brinkley Court, once again. But unlike the other times, Aunt Dahlia’s house is full of visitors, few of them with a complicated past. Wooster smells trouble but still braves the visit without Jeeves. As expected, people take full advantage of his good nature, and he ends up in a mess resulting in hilarious circumstances. He finds himself falsely engaged to a lady who hatches a plot to use him as a bait to get to her true love. Things get more complicated when there is a theft of his uncle’s precious silver cow creamer. Wooster lands in a big soup until Jeeves comes to the rescue.

The humor is abundant in this book, but I would have loved to see more of Jeeves. But the plot demands the absence of Jeeves for a long time, so the plot drags a little bit till his entrance. But overall, it does provide for a good laugh.

We read P.G.Wodehouse books as stress busters . In the current times where humor is celebrated dark, twisted or cheap, his books provide a great comic relief, especially to  those readers who still appreciate the good old classic humorous style of writing. I would any day recommend P.G.Wodehouse to my fellow book readers.

My Rating: 👍👍👍👍👍

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Emma

 Author : Alexander McCall Smith

Plot:

It is very difficult to accept a retake of a classic, especially when it comes to modern day renderings , that too of Jane Austen books. Jane Austen is a favorite to many of us and her fans stay loyal to her. There have been many sequels and spinoffs of Jane Austen books, we read them and invariably start drawing comparisons with the original classic and start listing the drawbacks, bashing the spinoff one way or another.

But things are not exactly the same, when the retelling is done by Alexander McCall Smith , a very seasoned writer. It is usually a sheer joy to read his books. His books are very entertaining to read and his characters are enticing and humorous. He has a knack of holding the reader’s attention for a long period of time. So it was  very interesting to analyze his modern day retelling of a Jane Austen Novel , Emma.

Emma is the most imperfect of all Jane Austen heroines. She is snobbish, pompous and loves to interfere. The book itself set in a countryside is filled with flawed endearing folks, who steal your hearts with their imperfections.

McCall Smith has taken lot of liberties in this retelling, though he has remained faithful to the original storyline. The novel  is mainly about Emma’s moral development, and that remains the same. But what leads to her self-discovery is captured very beautifully in this spinoff.

The central characters in this retelling, are Emma, Mr Woodhouse and Harriet. The rest of the characters are merely pawns whose lives Emma meddles with ruthlessly.

Mr WoodHouse gets a lot of weightage in this book. The ever fussy Mr WoodHouse, who always worries about viruses, infections, immunization records, cleanliness, environment, global-warming and the international politics. His observations are very interesting to read. Harriet came as a very genuine surprise, she is not exactly the weakling or a low intelligence creature which Emma assumes her to be in the original classic.

The goofups which Emma makes and how it affects other lives are hilarious, there are many times I laughed out loud reading the consequences which people have to face because of the mess she creates.

Though holding on to the light vein, the author makes very deep insights into human frailties, which makes you pause and think.

“When somebody does wrong, Emma, we must remember that that person is still a human being like the rest of us. We must not rush to throw the first stone. We must remind ourselves that all of us do wrong from time to time, unless we're saints, which we aren't.”

 

“And she lowered her eyes at the gentle reproach, for she had learned her lesson, even if there would be occasional, but only very occasional, relapses; for none of us is perfect, except, of course, the ones we love, the things of home, our much appreciated dogs and cats, our favorites of one sort or another.”

 

There is also a mention about global politics, the importance on cultural rights when living in a foreign country,  post-imperial and historic guilt which few Europeans encounter because of their ancestors conquering the world in the past and making the rest of the world suffer.

Jane Austen fans are very picky and they usually do not like liberties taken with her characters, so to be honest,  there are few things I did not like. The book is not without shortcomings. I felt Mr Knightley made  a guest appearance in this book . The romance does not flow , it is quite abrupt. I would have liked to see more of him and his equation with Emma. I couldn’t see the chemistry between them in this retelling.

A few shortcomings left aside, I thoroughly enjoyed this delightful book. It’s been a while since I read a real good book  to my heart’s content.  I would definitely recommend it to any Jane Austen fan.

My rating: 👍👍👍👍👍

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