The Ultimate Defense Mechanism

It’s been quite long since I talked about the human nature. One of my most favorite topics simply because it is just so inexplicable. There are few other parts of philosophy that even come close to this form. Now if you are a biology teacher who has taught me, I have already bugged you with this question. If you are a saint, I have already told you a million times over that you are wrong and that if I were to agree with you we would both be wrong so let’s just skip to the end where I pose the problem statement over again for those of you who have just joined the debate.

Take the human body for instance. We are composed of the brain and of the organs in the rest of the body. We have voluntary and involuntary think centers that make sure we poop alright. That being said, we comprise of the basic understanding and comprehension of our surroundings and of the phenomena that cause it to be so.(the understanding might not be correct but it at least has us convinced that it is). If we break down this supercomputer like functioning down we could see that we are essentially made out of the organs and in turn tissues. There tissues in turn by cells and cells that are controlled by the center called the nucleus which gets the code of what to do via a sequence of enzymes and amino acids called the deoxyribose-nucleic –acid (DNA for short). Now into this code is more than functioning. The essence of existence and the mere tendency to live on remains within this code and more than that multiple copies of it tend to work in tandem in order to generate the results that we see today as a massive civilization. A simple chain of a handful elements (no literally handful, mainly carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen) has been capable of inducing the tendency to keep living within the organisms and I think that it is more than conscious that drives us to be that. Now let’s just say that we as a species were driven to behave in a living tendency as such and taking that as a null point, we are to discover what keeps us that way. Let me take you a little deeper into this. Humans have always been developing defenses for themselves. We have always, as a species been on our toes when it came to protecting our assets and interest groups knowing that one day, inevitably, we shall perish. What makes this more interesting is the methods we device for the same. Now in a recent video by V-Sauce on YouTube, I saw him mention how, what sets humans apart is something which is very fundamental. Our ability to ask questions. Now scientists have been able to train chimps to count, to express, and even to an extent to feel emotion and convey it in the precise manner. But the one thing that they haven’t been able to do even to the species that is second most intelligent to humans, is to induce the ability to ask questions. I have always had this theory that our will to know everything around us is more than just a human factor and a few days ago while driving, it struck me! It is the ultimate defense mechanism. What made humans evolve, what made them stronger and more agile and adaptable than other species to a certain environment is their ability to ask questions. Now I am not stating this biologically or as a theory in general to be universalized but it is worth giving a thought.

Early on in the process of going around doing our own business, we as humans catered to the fact that we needed a defense mechanism simply so that we can strive and be alive for as long as we want. And what we figured more than any other organism was that we needed information. We needed a constant flow of knowledge of things around us and things around those things and then things around them in turn. We ended up hardwiring knowledge gathering into our predecessors and today we see ourselves are explorers and expedition makers and the wanderers of tomorrow. We have seen, through history that more we know about things, the safer we are, everything else kept constant. And it perpetuates into our lifestyle.

Now the root of me writing this article was actually to figure out why we happen to have a tendency to survive, and I somehow ended up thinking about all of this and then wrote that down. And that very same thought process stands as testimony to our ultimate defense mechanism. Our ability to ask questions. And more so, our incessant and frustrating morbidity to answer them.

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag: Changing the Course of Indian Cinema

So here we are. I don’t review Bollywood movies a lot. Actually this might be the first one that I am sincerely doing and so you can say that they have made it big this time. Yes, we are talking about the much babbled about, much tweeted about and much updated about, “Bhaag Milkha Bhaag” the biopic of a legendary runner who was crowned the ‘Flying Sikh’. Now I won’t get into the particulars of the real life story on this one. We will keep it a ‘movie’ review, stick to the purpose. As of where the motivation to watch it comes from, it was an early morning call and I hadn't even taken a shower when someone just randomly asked me to go for it and then here we are.

Biopics have always been an important part of the cinema. Every cinema. Be it any language, biopics help us look into the past from the perspective of the movie maker and the facts about the life of the person in scope. They not only serve the purpose of cultural preservation, they also provide us with the opportunity to make an alternative take upon what had happened. Alternative journalism is picking up a lot these days and is certainly remotely linked to alternate perspective biography making. So let’s get down to it. The movie that a lot of people have been waiting for.

The Intro

You can expect this one. A race. (Meh!) As the title tells us, it is a movie about a runner and so it makes perfect sense to start it with a race and more so with a race that our protagonist does not win. The beginning has the required impact. The force of the scenes is impounding to the senses and you do get indulged into the process. In fashion of a recent trending dialogue, “You had my curiosity but now you have my attention.” Talking of what happens next would be a spoiler and so it would be enough to end this one on that it is fairly intriguing. There are following sequences of the runner entering into the army and making a living of pride. From the first half an hour of this monstrously huge movie, you realize that it is constantly going to shuffle between the very far past, the far past, the past and the present. Yes, there are literally flashbacks in flashbacks. It’s like a whole different level of “flashbackception”. Jokes apart, that innovative style keeps you hugging your seat for long enough.

Experimentation, straight to the point and interpretive cinema, the movie easily snatches an 8 on 10 for this section.

The Plot

Well now. There is nothing new in this plot. You know that it is going to be about a guy who is going to run the f**k out of every track on planet. But yes, that doesn't really stop the whole bandwagon from keeping you entertained. There are beautiful pieces of humor and emotion along with tragedy and thought assimilation that bring a lot of new perspectives to the table. That is what I was talking about in the previous review as well. To have a very simple and predictable plot allows the screenplay writer to experiment and mingle with the rest of the intricacies of the movie. You have a lot going on in terms of the aspirations of the runner, they are more defined by the story than by the character of the protagonist. The order and system of scenes and therefore the overall plot has a lot to do with the pleasant experience (as opposed to its simplicity). It will give you a lot of emotional twists and turns but not many that you just weren't expecting. The depictions of the times he spent on the rehab camps and his earlier days growing up in the village and falling in love put a stereotypical Bollywood tag to the whole process. Not saying that it never really happened, but then you just happen to roll your eyes on the seat and think, there had to be one right?

For this brave endeavor and the zeal in the plot to carry on with the ability to get you to think about it. The plot is not that bad a job at all. Fetches a 7 on 10.

The Characters

A lot of people are going to jump on me for this one, but then that’s how I feel about it. Farhan Akhtar has not played such a great role here. The expressions are stone like. Whenever he smiles it feels as if someone has given him a tonic. The reason that even after a fallacious role play he gets so much of applause is, as I told you above, the story. The process of him rising above everyone is what makes you love the character. The sheer charm of the victory takes your heart away, the adrenalin that the race pumps is all that has you going. As for the rest of the characters, the general commanding the small group of soldiers in the beginning does a great job in entertaining the audience along with the coach and almost everyone else who has been roped into the process. There is richness in character because there is diversity in place. Any less diversity would have made it downright boring. For the simple yet splendid interplay of people and the taught story line with so much going on, I give it a whopping 8 on 10 for this section only because more than depth in character they have dwelled into the expanse and thought laterally, something that helped in a movie like ‘The Green Mile’ as well which was more about an amazing story than about an amazing Tom Hanks.

For everything new, for facing the odds of thinking so much and so making everyone work together and in the tandem of the flow and tone of the movie, I give it a 7.5 on 10 for the characters.

The Screenplay

Fabulous. Sweeps all grounds. Haven’t seen an Indian flick with a better one. Go just to see how shifting from one time frame to the other can be made so enticing and elegant. They have left no space of jarring scene transitions and the whole scope of the writers’ pen fits very aptly into the brains of the audience. Especially when the people of our viewership have the attention span of a nail and a hammer. Things cannot get better for a director when he has such a powerful screenplay in hand with such a diverse character pool. But then in the process of doing everything nice, they face those typical movie sins. Oh god there are so many! They show the partition time (1947-not that you don’t know, just mentioned it for the math) where Milkha seems to be somewhere around 13-14 years old at the max. And then the first Olympic that they show he won is said to take place somewhere in 1953-54 if I am not wrong. This gives us a 6 year span between the two instances where young Milkha goes from becoming a skinny Punjabi kid to a fully grown bearded/braided man in the army who is already winning medals and respect. I is just a little jarring. But even when I get over that analogy, the place where he goes to drop Sonakshi every day after fetching water is apparently an 8-10 line broad gauge railway track. Hold on a moment. Wasn't it supposed to 1950? Where the hell did they get so many lines from and that too in a remote locality? Never mind. Let’s get over that as well. But then the movie is full of such stuff. You can see Farhan driving a 2012 model of Bullet back in 1956. That too in Pakistan where he does not have a valid drivers’ license and not to mention the fact that he found someone to give him that bike in the first place.

Long story short, the sequence of events a beautifully arranged but sometimes those glitches take away the charm. 8 on 10 (one less than what I wanted to) simply because if they had so much of thinking, a little more wouldn’t have hurt.

The Feels

It feels great. Watching it that way. Seeing him overcome his obsessions and controversies, moving on, pushing forward and keeping the spirit high, really makes you feel great. And then the realization dawns on you that it is indeed a true story. Some of it might be recreation-oriented for cinematic purposes but then essentially at the core of it, all that really happened. The movie is densely gratifying and motivating. It has put a new front to the Indian cinema and more such shall follow from talents hidden from the camera as of now.

Farhan has done a great job in setting up a stage as well as setting up a standard. I give him 9 on 10 for this path breaking endeavor. Averaging all the sections, we get to an overall ~~ 8 on 10. A must watch, take as many people along because this one is super fun in company.

some old stuff while i was clearing my hard drive

and now do i find time to write once again
in the midst of my examination does this wild thought of going through the odd bearings of my mind does summon my fingers on this not so friendly keyboard of mine
and well
to be honest
i wont be talking anorexic crap today
i have somehow been trying to grow out of it into an intelligence that can use words with four or more syllables with sense
and that in fact, trust me, is not an easy task
had it been i would have applied to write the script for the next season of "the big bang theory"
yet, here is am, suffocated by a string theory of my own
yes, my personal and as you might me expecting a complete jeopardy of the original, "the string theory"
yes, it sounds nerdy, yes i realize you no longer feel like reading this
but come on, give it a shot,after all, that's the case with more than half of the blogs you subscribe to
at least in the want of interest you might just read the whole thing
so yes, the theory that proposes the whole world can be divided into strings and that yes, all of us are connected
most certainly, a very self obsessed phenomena
...

Despicable Me 2: You Barely Expected Something Like This

There is always an incentive to not growing up. And of course there are its own drawbacks of being despised by the society for being inconvenient to them by differing from their ways. Overall, there is always a need for ways in which one can escape the mundane. The brains today have gone so stale to routine instructions, that to strike a chord, satire is one of the very few resorts left. 

This then explains why animated movies play such a huge role in the movie industry. Not only is it pleasing to the eye and a much creative arena, animated movies provide the audience with a portal to escape. I know that this is a very common thing to state but then let us appreciate the fact that a huge audience of these movies is people in their 20s’. Not going much into demographics and mass psychology. Let’s get down to the adorable deal.

The Intro

This is something you usually expect to be awesome. It is necessary after all to build a gripping premise for a movie to come. But boy can an intro get any better. They knew people are there for the minions and they threw those little yellow devils of cuteness on the screen right in the first frame where the logo of “Illumination Entertainment” (the production house) comes in. My friend and I were there together and from that very frame, we lost it and the next time I took a breath was when I got up for popcorn. This is just to say that intros to a movie do not get any better these days. As expected from the continuation of the last movie, our protagonist Gru has been shown to have given up all the evil work and has settled with the three girls (Agnes, Lucy and Margo) living a peaceful life using his previous resources to engage in an enterprise of bakery. Blah blah blah.
Bottom line: Adorable setup for a yet to come amazing story.

I give it a 9 on 10 for showing something really great, though clichéd yet synthetically appeasing to the eye.

The Plot

If you’d ask me how the plot is, I won’t have much to say. The usual part where the villain is going haywire and secret services called for an ex con-man to settle the deal and the con refuses cause he now has a happy family but the services just won’t let go cause they are the typical arses we know them to be. And then there is the attractive and yet quirky female secret agent/partner who will end up falling in love with the protagonist. Really. It’s all as predictable as the hand of the government in a scam these days. Don’t go to watch a great plot line. If Nolan has been your deal across the days and if the mundane cuteness does not attract you. Stay away!

For the awh! So predictable scenes and the overused stereotype in movies I give it a 6 on 10 for the plot.

The Characters

A total stellar in this section. The movie has everything it takes to make a character rich. Everything that you want to form a sketch for a cartoon. The ethical inclinations of each person in the movie can well be extrapolated by the viewer into any circumstance that they can think of which really pays off for keeping the cinematic part of the movie uplifted especially after the predictable plot upset. And while we are talking about the characters, the minions steal the show every time they show even half of their body on screen. The makes have done a great job with them. Each and every move, expression and unique perspective is put into play. All that you can possible do is laugh off the edge of your seat as bubbles of sugar and love burst in your tummy with rainbows above your head. There is always this doubt as to why would a super villain invent such adorable and cute looking helpers. But trust me. When they aren’t on screen, you’ll literally miss them.
To add to their richness and diversity, Agnes’s character has been portrayed beautifully. The girl is an absolute angle, again as the stereotype of the youngest of the lot goes and yet, her dialogues set her apart from any other toddler seen on screen.
Gru still maintains the panache of a villain within a changed man. His class sustains, although they have shown his frustration to be a bit too not like him at one point, you can grant them that much.
As for the rest of them people, their work is only made easy.

For this amazing development, this one takes a 9 on 10 for characters.

The Screenplay

Again, a weak plotline does not leave much room for a screenplay to evolve within a predictable sequence. But then again, as there are upsets, there are bigger surprises. The best thing that this movie does is filling in the gaps. While you do not have to bother about thinking where the story is going, your mind has a lot of room left for analyzing the current scenes and that is where all the magic is happening. And quite so, that is why this movie is the one that just cannot have spoilers. Everything good about it is between the story lines. It is only when you go to the movie and let it engulf you, will you enjoy the comforts of comedy. So on this most rare of occasions, we have a movie that has fared badly on a plotline but amazing in screenplay comparatively.

I give it a 7.5 on 10 for all that it pushed for.

The Special Effects

Technology, Art and not to forget the expertise of the Artists who make these movies has grown way too much for us to say anything about the special effects. The CGI looks spectacularly well blend. The theme is maintained constant across various designs of shots in the movie and we do see reasonable amount of detail though not as much as one would expect from a great animation. But then the point is to keep you focused on the main deal and not let you squander off anywhere.

For the very integrity of design, story and the fabric of the animation I give it a 8.5 on 10 for this.

The Feels

This is where we sum it all up. I have never seen a movie so rich in content of humor. It lets you loose ends and forget worries while you laugh your rear end off in a plethora of humor. My 130 bucks worth of tickets could not have been more worthwhile for an animated movie. Everything just seemed to fall in place. They have taken the daily life and successfully transformed it into a visual stellar. Seldom do you find movies like these. 

For making me happy after a long time, for keeping the head held high for animated movies and for helping people realize how important it is to never grow up, I rate the movie an overall (averaging scores in each section) 8 on 10.

That makes it move into our category of must watch before dying type of movies.

The First Day

The first day of the internship and I am typing away this blog post. Yes, pretty much an amazing office with good people. My officer and mentor are both nice people but as of now, at lunch time I felt like that new kid in school who nobody will sit next to :P haha

The rest of the employees around here seem to have no idea whatsoever of what is going around. Most of the time all I can hear is marathi chatter and nothing else. But expectations are high. The feeling you get when you enter the ground floor of the building is exceptional :D The full corridor has models of drill ships and rigs made by Transocean. Pretty amazing I would say. Another feel good factor about this place is the fact that Starbucks is only a walk away, just in case I am feeling too tired :D 

Anyways thats it for now. Not wanting to speculate or judge way too much on the first day, this is PT signing off.

Iron Man 3 The review that Just cant wait! ^_^

Movie Name: Iron Man 3

Release Date: 26th April 2013

Genre: Action/Sci-Fi/Thriller

Director: Shane Black

Writers: Drew Pearce and Shane Black (screenplay), Stan Lee, Don Heck, Larry Lieber, Jack Kirby (comic books)

Stars: Robert Downy Junior, Gwyneth Paltrow, Guy Pearce, Ben Kingslay

PS: Don’t worry, there aren't any spoilers :)

Yes! Finally! The exams have ended and there was no better way to celebrate it. They did not end on as high a note as I was expecting them to, but then, celebration isn't to be kept off like that. So yes! Shinjali booked the tickets for all the nine of us! So a huge shout out thanks to her for doing an excellent job! Because I actually made a "duh" face in front of a friend who was there in the line to get the tickets thinking that he could in the first place. So old school. Haha, Never mind. Lets get down to the good stuff! The Iron stuff that I was talking about. Excellent. The first words that I would say about the movie. Not because of the hype, no, not at all. But because of what I saw. So all the goodness of Iron man three crunched for you within a few words. Here we go! Enjoy the review!

The Intro

It starts on a note that you don’t really want an Iron man movie to start with. You see now, seriousness isn't exactly RDJs' style. But then, something's are pardoned when you are doing something that big. So well yes, it starts off with a narration but then goes into the same groovy Stark tone. The style of speech and the modulations are just perfect and I absolutely adore the man for that. But lets not get biased here, it could've been better. You might end up feeling a little superficial in the beginning and not really getting into the movie, but give it time. Let yourself sink in. It might take a little longer than you thought but then the whole point of coming to a movie is letting yourself get consumed in the aura. So let it do that. Let the intro pass. All the magic and good stuff is right around the corner.

I give the intro a 8/10 that extra point for trying something new.

The Plot

Not that fabulous. Not particularly that awesome. No. But then great nonetheless. Why am I so jumpy about my statements? Like I am dancing from one foot to the other? Because well, that’s what unbiased looks like! Haha getting over it, we were talking about the plot. Staged in something fairly sensible and relevant as well as appealing. Terrorism and a plot of the 'dark people' creating super soldiers is what you can expect when you get into the build up of the plot. It is very fluid. I have to say that the movie makers have done a wonderful job at making the movie watchable and feel-able. One thing that I don’t very much like about the Nolan movies, especially the Batman series is that there is distinct disconnect between parts of the story. Although that is a very well calculated and distinguished art that puts a lot of fabric to the story, but then, it might not allow you to enjoy it sometimes. Its just a different kind of cinema but then comparison was only because both of the cinemas have come down to super hero movies and more or less been equally successful, at least in the word of mouth and hype part. (TDK might have been a tad bit more on the hype side because of Nolan's popularity and given it had the content) So yes, the plot is lucid. It dawns upon you and it needs you to embrace it. This one of the plots that isn't so audacious about falling upon you. You just have to let it in. And you'll have fun. Trust me, this movie is all about having fun and all about the way RDJ puts the image of the 'Steel Soldier'. As you'd expect, there is a lot of 'SUIT' and a boat load of JARVIS (Just A Really Very Intelligent System) jokes.

Overall there is this lack of pure story. Whether the movie stands without its animation and start-cast just as a story is a huge question that I am not very willing to answer. I would give the plot a 6/10

The Characters

Yes! They are what make a movie! Especially one like this! Tony Stark is a stellar. Ben Kingsley is stunning as expected. Flawless performance by the two of these. Pepper and the 'girl-who-pretends-to-be-a-friend-but-is-with-the-bad-guys' have also done a great job. But then there was a lack of commitment to the role. That's just what I felt. You may have a totally different opinion and we still might both be right. (that’s what I love about diplomacy) The world is ready for only one change at a time. (why am I quoting the Prestige here?) The characters so hold their earlier feel. Its like going back home for a series lover. The same amount of weight and groove to the set up as it was earlier. Wonderful consistency with the characters and the overall feel of the movie. There isn't really anything wrong with the characters if you'd ask me. So they get a cheesy 8/10 for that one! (you don’t score a 10 until you do a Prestige or an ESOSM)

The Screenplay

Yes! This is one part I want to talk about. The screenplay is not distinct. It’s the same old formula. Good guys, bad guys, good guy kills bad guy, he's still not dead, good guy gets hit bad, we all start whining, but wait its not over! There is a super sexy and super exciting, super confusing nevertheless, and super whiplash (read kickass) end of the story. Tried and test formula across ages and populations. Nothing new to add to it. Only the part where he narrates, that's new for Iron ma, but I cant take it as a significant improvement. As the plot grow, so does the screenplay, but only to a threshold. It wont take you very far from what you could image. Some very good thinking has gone into the making and sequencing but not as much as you want. Not the "super duper shit I did not see that coming" kind of good. I wont spill beans here because for this kind of straightforward work, talking about it is as good as telling it all. So I'll just contain all the spoilers.

For all the punches and screen-shifts along with the impounding suits and flying around shoot sequences and so amazing work and placement of Montage sequences, I give it a 7.75 for screenplay!

The Specials!

Okay. Now. Take a deep  breath, relax, don’t panic, don’t think too much, don’t move, and make sure you have your seat-belt on. Especially if you're watching it in I-Max 3D. There is some really, really amazing special effects work that has gone into it. The plot, the story and the overall scene marries with the effects really well. It all makes sense and all of the tweaking gadgets have a reason for being where they are. Everything placed and shot perfectly. As my friend Gayatri insisted (and I thank her or that) we waited back for the after credits scene and all of the rest of the theater had left (so dumb) which is where I noticed that they had a whole skydiving team! For a total geek material skydive that they have shown in the movie and they call it 'Barrel of Monkeys' Totally worth whatever tickets you have spent, this scene takes it all in. All that you can do is jump up and down and make sure you don’t die screaming! It is down right one of the coolest diving scenes you'd have seen till date!

Apart from that I'd like to dedicate a whole paragraph for the Suits! Damn, there are some really nice makes right there. Spell bounding special effects and absolutely amazing CGI. I bow down to whosoever thought it the way it is. The protest outside the Oscars is now totally justified and I am on their side. The people who make the imagination of the director look nothing but "REAL" deserve a standing ovation. I personally applaud all the efforts that have been put after this movie. Without the effects, it is nothing but a bunch of self obsessed people fighting for a bar of chocolate.

I give this a 9.5/10 (yes a 9.5! Not even Life of Pi got this!) simply because of the Integrity that the effects hold with the story which makes it so enjoyable.

The Feels

Now the Part where we sum it all up! Great experience! Beautiful movie, great dialogues, great entertainment. If you want to take your brains out, put them in your shelf out and then go watch it you are going to enjoy it! If you want to take your brains with you, you'll enjoy is even more! Haha! It is great for a good feel. Makes you scream for the flying suit and the way it jumps to his self obsessed (not to mentioned beautifully toned) hell of a body. Well planned, and nicely executed. The movie is great! No other words, just fabulous. If you have time, go watch it! There is nothing like it this weekend. Unless you're interested in what the Indian cinema has to offer with the sorry ass cleavage of some out of the scene heroines in a desperate movie (read Ek thi Daayan).

My overall rating? 8.5/10 or maybe 4.25/5 is more adaptable to your senses :) 4-1/2 stars are perfect for this flick!

Hanuman: The Faith and Beyond

I am an atheist. A very pronounced one indeed and some believe it extremely Hippocratic of me to write on 'Hanuman' and his perception today. But then I am the little rebel everyone hates. On a more serious note, this article is more about the few faiths in Hinduism that are pure and undoubted. Faiths that aren't stained by personal gains, faiths that have purity and an essence of understanding. As much as I hate the misconception within them, I cannot help but applaud the extent of emotion and innocence that they bear.

The next thing that you might endure to ask will be, "why this all of a sudden?" and well, the answer lies in that fact that while I was introspecting upon the way I perceive my culture and the way I would preserve its integrity when it comes to presenting it to someone not from this background, I need to have a sound and unbiased understanding of what it stands for what what its original purpose is.

So let us start with the background of Hanuman for those of you who do not, or only partially know this India's first superhero! The story goes way back into the Satyug or the first Epoch of time in the Indian mythology. They tell me that there are 4 epochs in general and that there is a mass destruction after every fourth epoch ends (known as the Pralay: the destruction after the Kalyug). And the saints who have lived eons hence claim that there have been 27 pralays till date and so the cycle keeps going on the same way again and again and again. And so my loved ones, the concept of parallel universes is not so new to then Indian culture. Coming back to the point, the inception of Hanuman is said to be in the early Satyug when Ram was also born. Hanuman is said to be a Rudra avatar of Shiv or to be clearer, a vibrant incarnation of the god of destruction. Said to be born to accompany Ram in his voyage that was precast to enervate the evils of Ravan from the planet, it has a more interesting back-story of Parshads or the gatekeepers of Vishnu being cursed but that'll be too off track and i will talk about it some other day. For now, Hanuman was born to accompany Ram on a voyage. But our purpose here is not the story. Our purpose needs us to jump to the end of the Ramayan or the story of Ram's life. It was the time when peace had been established in the world and Ram had decided that his time had come and he must leave. Hanuman was the most devoted follower of Ram and the love they shared was beyond the scope of gauges we can understand. So when Ram declared to go to exile and then vanish, Hanuman lamented, begged him to stop, said he was incomplete without his lord. And he was right. The purpose of his birth was to serve Ram. And to be a savior of the weak. To be left like this would leave him without a goal to look at. That was the moment where he did what is today the pose of most of the pictures he is fabled in. He sat on one knee and tore apart his chest to show that Ram and Sita lived in his heart. As humbug as it may sound, it is deductive of love that we share in absolute devotion. To every human on planet, there is an entity that he wants, and needs more dearly than anything else that he has by any means. Now this is the time that we get to part of faith. Ram said to Hanuman, “while i go, you must live on, while i perish, you must continue to serve your purpose, a new purpose, the one of true humanity and true devotion." Hanuman stood baffled  Not exactly understanding the nuances of what was to come, but very certain that it will be the to the best interests of the universe as a whole. “You shall live till eternity, and protect my disciples, live on for every single person who believes in the truth and material of god, live on for every form of life that has conscious of our presence." The words aren't exact, but the meaning more or less is.

That is the reason Hanuman has such a huge number of followers on this planet. There is more to the ape-man than a simple devotion. He has been left on the planet as proof of the god particle. He has been left on the planet as proof that when you have faith and when you have the willingness to accomplish something, forces as strong as that of the creator himself cannot stop you, for you are in all terms his masterpiece.

This stature that Ram left Hanuman with, was taken very seriously by the Hindu religion and it is, in its solemnity the most secular following ever built. Requiring no or very less maintenance the temples of Hanuman are always built in the most unexpected places and crevices where people are most probable to face fear. Somewhere in the middle of forests, on lonely roads, on twisting and winding paths to mountain tops, whenever there is fear, we have seen Hanuman standing there. Waiting. They say that if you have faith in him, he WILL come. If you believe he is there, he will be. And for all practical purposes, he does prove to be right. Now I won’t tread into superstition, but the fact that you believe in something so basic and so down to earth, makes you realize the ground realities of your actions. When you go ahead and take a stand of accepting your fears, you look at the bigger picture. You do not directly find strength, but you certainly find peace. That is what Hanuman is all about. Finding peace in the reality of situations. When you do that, when the holistic image is clear in front of you, there is a sense of new found responsibility. And that is where you get your strength from .The acute punch of all the power you could ever imagine, channeled through your veins into your muscles is all because now you know, what you are fighting for. The truth of the matter and the humanity that lies within it, that is all that life is about.

The Ramayan or the story of Ram has 7 chapters or 'kands'. The fifth chapter is called the 'sunderkand' or 'the beautiful-chapter'. It is all about the relationship and adventures that Ram and Hanuman had together and it is the most frequently chanted part of the whole scripture. What is worth noting is that today, whenever devotees plan and sit for a chanting of this chapter, there is custom of putting a miniature pillow somewhere near the idols they pray in front of. The more life-size-liking people use a whole chair kept empty and near the place of prayer with a direct view of the idol of Ram. The purpose is, people believe so, to keep a place for Hanuman to sit. Pretty amusing at first look. But we can do so much to understand the deeper reason to it. They believe that whenever there is a chant of Ram, He comes, to hear and to indulge in the bliss of being reunited to his lord in the purest form of love. And the more interesting part is that they believe in it and arrange for it in very regard. It is beautiful, how they have respect for feelings more than that for actions. The sentiments of Indian men and women are tampered with at every stage of life and the only reason none fight back is that they are too vulnerable to possibilities of the negative outcome of an event. We as people, fall prey to prayers only because we do not see our fears in clear vision. The Ape who was meant to show people their fears and push them to overcome is today referred to as an eradicator of fear. One who shall protect you and your family against all odds and all that you need to do is pray. Faith has a bent meaning of being an umbrella to rain. No one enjoys dancing in the face of showers anymore. The easy life, people think is available in the chapters of the epics, why search for it in hard work and perseverance when you can get it in chants and idiotic conservatism. Religion is a virtue; it is never a physical attribute. It can influence your mentality and psych but never your potential.

This is all ladies and gentlemen. Hanuman: The Faith and Beyond was only meant to question. You shall give me the answers :)

The Dictator- A Review that Just Had to Come!

Lets Get down to it!

Once in a while there comes a movie that you havent heard of anywhere but you simply cannot resist the feeling of getting and watching it. I don’t really know how but it is a movie watcher's sixth sense. Yes, The Dictator is one of those amazing movies. The moment I was about to get it, I knew that it was going to be amazing. And boy did it turn out to be that way. Although I must tell you the fact the it is not every reviewer's delight. It has certain very peculiar sour spots that you feel like absolutely hating and skipping but then again if you come to think of it they have their own importance in the whole story. So let me take you through the experience. Here it is people

The Dictator- A review that just had to come!

The Intro

There are things in this world that are funny, then there are things that are amusing and then there are things that are absolutely hilarious. And when you are in utter indecision of what to say on top of rolling on your back laughing, there is the dictator comedy. From the very beginning, the movie is a satire about a middle eastern nation with an overly ambitious dictator. Although the movie is not quite about the dictator. It is more about the how the world sees one.

The Plot

Very old. That’s all you can say about the plot as such. The whole setting is so old school James Bond that you can tell the story. But then it had to be that way. The message that the movie is looking forward to convey is something totally dependent upon how much meaning the viewer can make out of the scenes shown. There are innumerable references to every kind of shitty international politics that has ever taken place anywhere across the world. One only needs to see it. The plot is beautifully well set. The locations and the technical aspects, although very few, have been very well handled. There is crispness in transitions, there is understanding of what is comfortable for the viewer and there is an even better understanding of how they can make the person on the other side of the screen go red with embarrassment. One word of caution, do not! Watch it with your parent/kids around.

The Characters

Again, this being a satire, there wasn't that much need for character depth as a general proper acting would suffice but the team has certainly taken a step forward towards understanding what was needed and imparted a considerable depth to the character of the dictator. There are points where you will be surprised by the way he acts and the way he carries. There are some, if you might call them, "mood swings" in the characters, but they somehow fit into the story very well and so at the end of it all it goes as a plus point to the movie.

The Screenplay

Now here is where the real gold lies. This is massively amazing screenplay. There is precision in what they show and at the same time there is an element of uncertainty that makes you want to sit and watch the movie unlike a lot of other such movies where you just don’t feel like sitting through the damn thing. More often than not, it is the humor that holds you down and yet, there are distinct events of brilliance and pin pointing blames to sections of the international politics that have openly dealt into the lobbying for their own profits. The dictator has a story that will make you laugh like nobody's business and at the same time tell you that the scene is not one where the nations of the world are holding hands sitting on the back of a truck being driven by the UN as they silently drive off into the sunset through the dry meadows.

The Feels

Now, this is the section I made for myself, just to give you a broader idea of the movie and yet avoiding to being way too general. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a pleasure for a Saturday evening and it was time well spent. Though I would definitely want some improvements in terms of view ability and how they could've deleted certain scenes and could've covered a much bigger audience base. But then maybe they wouldn’t have been able to give you the picture that they wanted. We would never know what it would've been otherwise. But if you don’t mind semi-porn, it will certainly serve your tastes very well.

I will give it a comfortable rating of 8.5/10.

So fetch your popcorn and make sure you keep water alongside cause you don’t really want to choke on the corn you see ;)