The Bleak Silver Lining

For once I ask, who are we? Trademarked ruins or a transgressed generation serving as a monolith? With neither sense, nor purpose of enlightenment, why do we meander around the walls of idiosyncrasy?

With silence we reproach from insides, never raising our voices louder than a childish whisper. Just a murmur and we suffice to the sufferings. We subject our wills to be demolished by the storms of suicidal society norms. Similar to a doomed wasp within a candle area, we annihilate ourselves. Self-destruction is what we are talking here!

Us, the would-be-achievers, the Lennon-dreamers we are called, wait! I want to rest all your misconceptions! Give or take a person, we are a mistreated and vile trash. Nothing more than a single insignificant thread in a despicable yarn of threads. We search for our degenerate paradises, deep in our carcinogenic day dreams, and believe that a pseudo world of beauties exist beyond the horizon.

Progressive are those who have bedded solitude in this lamenting wilderness of waste. Rest of us, damned! Owned! Possessed by our own lifestyle, haunted by our own misdoings! We live in a diabolical sea of misshapen dreams and gruesome scars, hiding our battered souls for the crystal perfect world would break if they (read society) know our insides.

Wake up! There are no Lennon’s and no Gandhi’s breathing amongst us. A refuse was what we were, an acceptance is what we will be. The monoliths would soon walk for humanity would not be tainted by one meaty headed generation. Dreamy cages and alternate realities are meant to be stapled. Aim for the stars, only then we will rise from the depths of shallowness and would fall on the Earth. Look beyond the horizons, beyond hells and heavens and look beyond the cauldron of truths and lies. For, what you seek is what you get!

(First Published In udaipurtimes.com)
(Image Courtesy: http://edwardrobirds.com/media/imgview/03/?c=1)
(Published in: http://campuswriting.com/2012/10/30/the-bleak-silver-lining/ )
(Also Published in www.artipot.com ; http://www.artipot.com/articles/1433907/the-bleak-silver-lining.htm )

[Movie Review] Moonrise Kingdom: An Eccentric Tale of Innocence

Cast: Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Bruce Willis, Jared Gilman, Kara Hayward, Frances McDormand, Tilda SwintonDirector: Wes Anderson

How hard it is to summarize life in mere happiness or sadness? Is it challenging to be sane when the times and circumstances are against you? Moonrise Kingdom delves upon the lines of bizarreness and envelops the calmness of the sea, the splashing of storms, the blues and the bliss into a feature film which is directed unconventionally by Wes Anderson. 

Two sweet lings, lovers aged 12 years, flee together from their homes / camps, into wildings and experience a fascinating adventure hidden under the brows of the kingdom they dwelled in. Sam (Jared Gilman) is emotionally disturbed for he’s an orphan at such ripe age. The female protagonist, Suzy’s (Kara Hayward) parents consider her as a misfit and troubled child, which molds her into someone who is partly depressed and partly rebellious. The odd love blooms between the two as things around them gets whacky, courtesy to the storm erupting from the waters.


This year’s opener in Cannes starts out gorgeously with sepia soaked period frames and delicate love gestures sprawling across the canvas with utter beautiful imagery. Heartfelt emotions and innocence gets seized in the camera when our duo tries their first French kiss on the shores of a sea while the lad spits and says, “I’ve got sand in my mouth”. This is one such couple that rises above clichés and ponders upon the most vital decisions of life while chewing a gum.


With such ambitions and promises, the potential of the subject often feels untapped. The scope of the movie is humongous but due to its run time (93 minutes), the characters never get deeply etched and nor the message sounds as profound as it should have been. Edward Norton, as the camp leader, feels under used and the character development seems almost negligible.

The peculiar music score and the stunning acting of the cast, especially by the pair, set the standards playfully right for this spirited retro drama. The cartoon images in between distract a bit, but then, what’s an Anderson movie without such nuisances spilled on the screen!

Audacious, melancholic and sugary at the same time, Moonrise Kingdom is a heartfelt piece of cinema that works its charm as slowly as the waves that triumph upon the eccentric shores of this ‘Kingdom’. Enchanting and charismatic in equal proportions!

Rating: 3.5 / 5

[Movie Review] Barfi! : The Essence Of Love

Gasp! Beauty lies within, not on the façade and who can discern this element better than Anurag Basu, the heart and soul of the gorgeous and surreal Burfi! Oozing with an assortment of charm and sweetness, Barfi comes as a drizzle over barren lands of love stories in our recent memory, quenching the thirsts of every die-hard romantic out there!

Leave behind those Dabang’ish’ ordeals! For here comes a deaf and dumb bloke with his heart clinging on his sleeve (literally!), to win you over and to make you fall in love with the silver screen like never before. It is the towering and unparalleled performance by Ranbir Kapoor, who plays Barfi and transforms this movie into something irresistibly ‘aww’-inspiring and dreamlike. Never once he feels superfluous, neither once does the sentiments become too heavy on his appearance. Picture perfect smile weds genuine eyes as he whispers love without even stirring his lips.



Only when you thought that the ‘Kapoor’ storm was enough to blow you off, there arrives the autistic lassie, Jhilmil (Priyanka Chopra), to transport the chronicles into virtually magical level of innocence and purity. Only if the camera would not have glued to her face (Damn! It was suffocating), she would have been riper and all the more translucent in her persona. Nonetheless, she was a darling in her portrayal which would satisfy even the hard-bent critics of her works.

Meanwhile, does anybody remember Hugo? Bingo! It is the dreamy escapade by Martin Scorsese which came back last year. Err... Somehow, I am unable to forgo the numerous smiles I saw while leaving the theatre and a lot is owed to the sumptuous canvas of Barfi which resembles the same air as seen in Hugo. Gorgeous imagery and terrific aesthetics elevates the scenes one after another as the art-direction swirls and whirls in mists on the opus. Colors breathe into life as our protagonists fall for each other in the dazzling locations of Darjeeling and Calcutta (Not Kolkata!).

Is the smoldering pair of Barfi and Jhilmil not enough? Well, well, another wonder awaits you. Yeah! You guessed it right! It is Illeana D’Cruz, the newcomer, who looks painstakingly exquisite as Shruti and imparts an air of elegance to her character. With small bindi on her forehead, she is the perfect concubine one can desire for.

Flaws, well, very few. The uneven editing may spice up someone’s experience but it may even act as a boulder for others. The script, though well served, does not have enough zing to keep one truly contented yet the direction is delicious enough to carry the charms home.

Barfi is a silent song to the power of love and cinema. Through its silent lips, volumes of happiness and warmth are spoken. A pleasure for the eyes, Barfi in its truest sense, is life-affirming. Go and search the essence of love all over again!

Rating: ****

The Ghosts Of The Past

Chapter 3: Honor Above All

Cold winds rustled through the bars of King’s windowpane. He scraped through the floor, as swiftly as his weary legs could carry him, to seal the shutters. Upon reaching the glass he gaped at the long arrays of mountains covered with snow. The mist left lucid heads of droplets which marred his views of the hillside road leading to the black castle. A black stature among winds of white, the castle stood tall with its roots spreading deep underground. “Honored yet corroded from within”, the King said to himself. Disgusted, he turned away from the glass. “Bastards are they!! Curs I have bred and raised”, the King shouted to nobody. His eyes found to the rotten apple that lied on the table, waiting to be eaten. With a taste of contempt, he yelled for his servant, “A fresh apple is what I wish. Fetch me one, or a pike is awaiting your head”. The servant scrambled frantically as he reached the King’s chamber. He scooped up the trashed apple and was about to leave when the King bellowed, “Convey to all the noblemen and lords of the kingdom, their King desire a council gathering before nightfall”.

The servant nodded in hushed agreement and not a syllable escaped from his lips as he hurried outside the chambers. The King stole a glance back at the funeral pyre. Ravens, black as death itself, sat atop his younger son’s carcass. Blood boiled in his veins as the fury blurted out of his mouth. “Damned sons I have raised. Must’ve been bastards for my seed is as strong as these castle pillars. Brother slaying brother, in broad daylights. Where has their self-esteem gone, blown to these northern winds?? Eunuchs I have raised.”


He descended from the stairs of his chambers. His silk cloak draped the floor beneath his jewel laced body as he made way for the main hall. A thousand times he had mused over his verdict, but no stone could bulge the predicament once given by the King. He entered the council as each and every congressman stood and bowed to him. Gracefully, he sat down on his throne.

“His Grace”, a shaky voice spoke from the horde of people, “the council expects your justice”. A sudden upsurge of grief passed over the King as the resentment was replaced by agony. He felt desolated in the assembly as he found himself searching for his only blood that remains, Mathilda. The heir of the crown was missing from the congress. With eyes heavy and a heart sans of any love, he started the ordeal.

“I stand before this assembly as the King of the empire “, his voice echoed across the painted walls of the great hall. “A sin had been committed by one of my bloods and a grave one at that. Follies! Betrayals and serpents sneak in the shades of this realm”. He raised his hand, shaking, pointing to his Gods, “They are the Creators and the slaughter took place under their eyelids”. He beheld the gathering seated at their places, “I swore upon the Gods, Justice would be served and the sinner would be beheaded in front of the gathering itself”. 

The council gasped and a sudden rush of inhalation escaped everybody’s mouth. Murmurs exploded as the judgment was passed. “S-I-L-E-N-C-E”, the King roared. With a heart dense of emotions, the King commanded a swarm of swordsman to seek his vanished son and to drag him back into the realm. “The sword awaits the head of the warrior”, breathed the honorable King.

[To Be Continued...]