Laapataa Ladies

Wickedly brilliant Hindi comedy film “Laapataa Ladies” (2023) directed by Kiran Rao, written by Biplab Goswami and starring Nitanshi Goel, Sparsh Shrivastav, Pratibha Ranta, Chayya Kadam, Ravi Kishan among others.

The story is of two married couples travelling in the same compartment, to their different villages after marriage. The brides are wearing the same red colour saree and dress ornaments.

Deepak (Sparsh Shrivastav) and his wife Phool Kumari (Nitanshi Goel) are to get off first and by mistake Deepak drags the other wife Jaya/ Pushpa Rani (Pratibha Ranta) with him to his village. Both the brides have to wear the pallu of their saree down over their faces, which is the custom in north India. Due to this, Jaya/ Pushpa Rani did not know that she was travelling with the wrong husband.

Phool Kumari lands up at the later station and desperately searches for her husband there. Meanwhile mayhem ensues in Deepak’s village when they realise that the wife has been swapped. Typical Wodehousian scenario in an Indian village!!

Pushpa Rani decides to do her own things when she had realised earlier during her marriage itself that she was being married only for the dowry and that her husband had already married once and the first wife was suspiciously burnt alive. She anyway wanted to study further in organic farming in far away Dehradun.

Brilliant contextual movie with fine dialogues and local lingo built into it. Kiran has done ample justice to the superb script which very subtly takes a dig at some local customs and cultures like wearing a pallu, the north Indian male patriarchy, emancipation of woman to study further etc.

Fine acting by all the young actors, all first timers brilliantly done with no major stars save for Ravi Kishen who is a famous Bhojpuri star. No heavy preaching in the script makes this a beautiful movie to watch!! IMDB 7/10

5.01 kms

A slow 5.01 kms on the roads, after a hiatus of 10 days due to knee injury i suffered on 18/04/2024 when i fell down while running and had a deep gash on my right knee. The left knee and left elbow also got bruises but there were okay and healed fast compared to the right knee which took lot of time. Even today i do not have full flexibility in my knees, but still decided to do some small runs. Today was more of a run walk with about 60% run and 40% walk. Feels good to be back running.

A Place in the Hills

Intriguing mystery novel by Michelle Paver in “A Place in the Hills”

Antonia Hunt is an archeologist digging for ruins in France relating to the Roman era (40 B.C. to 53 B.C.). She is trying to find the mystery behind one Cassius and Tacita, they were lovers in that era.

But both belonged to the opposite camps and Tacita declines to marry Cassius for some reasons. Here Antonia is besotted by one Patrick who is the American friend of Myles who is equally interested in the ruins. Myles has sex with his step sister Nerissa also which i find to be quite perplexing.

He has another 8 year old sister Imogen or Modge who is scurrying about in the ruins. Unfortunate accident to Myles sets Antonia apart by more than 13 years as recriminations and accusations follow.

Antonia arrives back in the scene, 13 years hence and tries to find the missing pot which she and Patrick had discovered in the ruins and which probably carried the clues as to what happened between Cassius and Tacita, more than 2000 years ago.

The story moves between the Roman era and the present and though the connection between then and now is quite nebulous, the narration makes it interesting. Overall a good effort by Michelle Paver. Goodreads 3/5

Oriana

Award winning Venezualan film “Oriana” (1985) directed by Fina Torres and starring Doris Wells, Daniela Silverio among others.

Maria (Daniela Silverio) receives a letter that her aunt Oriana (Doris Wells) has left her hacienda to her name. Maria arrives with her husband to look up the villa and put it for sale.

When she enters the house, she starting reliving the past as a young kid when she had come to visit Aunt Oriana. She remembers few things and finds it mysterious.

Its a double flash back with Maria revisiting her past and Oriana also going back to her childhood and teenage years. Oriana’s father had adopted a boy Sergio to live with them in their house. Sergio was the same age as Oriana.

Over time, they come to bond together and Oriana has feelings for her, though Sergio warns her that she is his sister. Oriana lived alone in that house with her dedicated servant Fidelia (Mirtha Borges). Maria comes to know that there is somebody else living in that house and that is the past of Oriana.

Oriana had led a secret life and a child was born in the hacienda. Maria then decides not to sell the house. Nice story though slow moving but not boring. The director has let the script do all the talking. Cinematography is good. Acting decent and music fine. IMDB 4/10

Anari

1959 socialist drama film “Anari” directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee and starring Raj Kapoor, Nutan, Motilal, Lalita Pawar among others.

Its a love story amidst the poverty stricken 1950s India with heavy themes of capitalism vs socialism, rich vs poor built into it. Rajendra (Raj Kapoor) is an unemployed graduate and Aarti (Nutan) is a scion of a rich business family.

They meet each other and fall in love. Rajendra gets a job in the factory owned by Aarti’s uncle Seth Ramnath Sohanlal (Motilal). Sparks fly between them.

Rajendra stays as a tenant in Mrs. D’sa (Lalita Pawar) house and she is emotionally over protective towards Raj as a mother. Ramnath’s factory produces drugs of which one batch is contaminated and could cause death if taken.

Mrs. D’sa takes that medicine and falls seriously ill and dies. Before that she leaves all her property to Raj. Police arrest Raj for the murder of Mrs. D’sa and the inevitable court room drama follows.

Fine script by Inder Raj Anand, deft direction by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, melodious music by Shankar Jaikishan and delectable songs sund by Mukesh (favorite singer of Raj Kapoor) and Lata Mangeshkar (her early days). Of the cast Nutan is refreshingly beautiful and flows into the dialogues brilliantly. Motilal is her own step father in real life. Lalita Pawar has overacted majorly and Raj Kapoor is ok. IMDB 6/10

Vanuatu

Interesting documentary on the history and freedom movement of Vanuatu, an island country in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean.

It was earlier known as New Hebrides and jointly occupied by French and British troops. The Americans came in big number during the World War II to station their troops and fight the war with the Japanese.

There was some rebellion in one of the islands which was peacefully put down by the Fijian troops but otherwise the transition to an elected democracy was smooth with both the British and French overseeing the process.

The documentary has lot of videos, sound bytes and narration also. It only dwells on the period upto the independence and does not talk about its economy and politics.

You can watch this documentary here

Anupama

What a path breaking revolutionary movie “Anupama” (1966) directed by the legendary Hrishikesh Mukherjee and starring Dharmendra, Sharmila Tagore, Shashikala, Tarun Bose among others.

Uma (Sharmila Tagore) is the only daughter of her parents, her mother dies in childbirth. Her father detests her completely all through her youth and into early 20s. She develops an insecure, inferiority complex, afraid to talk to anybody or to go outside and seek friends.

Ashok (Dharmendra) is a poet and an idealist. He finds her charming though isolated. He tries to woo her but finds it difficult to breach her defences. When he finds out the true reason for her silence, he gives hope to her and writes a book based on her, which is called “Anupama”

Slowly he weans her away from her abusive dad where there is no hope into a hopeful future by asking her only to take that decisive final step of leaving her father’s household. Absolutely brilliant dialogues laced with such soft intensity by Dharmendra, a superb script, the stunning beauty of Sharmila, super acting by Dharmendra, magnificient direction by Hrishikesh Mukherjee make this a timeless classic for the ages.

Hrishikesh Mukherjee has made a movie way ahead of its times. IMDB 8/10

Musafir

Avant Garde Hindi movie “Musafir” (1957), directed by legendary Hrishikesh Mukherjee and starring Suchitra Sen, Kishore Kumar, Dilip Kumar, Usha Kiran among others.

It was Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s debut directorial film and a bold one at that. The story takes place inside a house of three families and a cycle of marriage, birth and death.

The house is owned by David and the first tenants are Shekhar and Suchitra Sen who are runaway couple and marry inside the house. Suchitra Sen has lost her parents in her childhood itself and is quite scared at meeting his parents and whether they will accept her. Her mother in law Durga Khote more than accepts her and later the father in law also melts. It ends happily and they move away from the house.

The second tenants are Nirupa Roy who is a widow and her brother in law Kishore Kumar who is about to give his employment exam. They are poor and at the wits end because Kishore is not getting his job. He attempts to commit suicide but it fails because of spurious poison. In the meanwhile good news comes via letter that he has been called to a job. The next day Nirupa Roy also gives birth. So they also move out happily.

The third tenants are Usha Kiran who has a small kid which is having health problems and cannot walk. Her brother a lawyer rents the place and she finds her ex lover Dilip Kumar playing violin in the area. Dilip lights up the life of the kid but he himself is battling with cancer. The cycle ends when he loses his life but before that the kid starts walking and Dilip leaves behind a letter explaining why he did not marry Usha Kiran and the doctor had already given him the diagnosis.

There are common threads like Mohan Choti coming to give tea, the postman delivering letters, the neighbouring aunty coming to gossip. Dilip Kumar has given glimpses of his masterful effortless acting prowess.

Significant neo realism by Hrishikesh Mukherjee though the actors are known. The movie is available on you tube and the print is poor quality. I am surprised that nobody has thought it fit to digitally enhance this classic for the times. This is a must movie for all movie connoisseurs. IMDB 7/10

All India Rank

Interesting Hindi movie “All India Rank” (2023) directed by Varun Grover and starring Bodhisattva Sharma, Samta Sudiksha, Shashi Bhushan, Sheeba Chaddha, Geeta Agarwal Sharma among others.

Its a movie on the coaching factory at Kota for young aspirants to the limited number of engineering seats in the premier Indian Institutes of Technology. It dwells on the stresses on a young kid who is literally forced by his father to go to Kota to take the pre-entrance coaching so that he can crack the IIT entrance test.

The kid Bodhisattva Sharma meets other similar age kids all going through varying degrees of stress and dealing in their own manner. Among them is a smart girl Samta Sudiksha.

In the meantime the kid’s family in Lucknow is going through their life crisis with the father Shashi Bhushan having been recently suspended for a faux pas not really connected with his work and his mother having to deal with a kid at her telephone call booth making vulgar calls to random women in the locality.

The father has high hopes though the son does not deem it important. Varun Grover has beautifully developed the script taking time to build up a story. There is no loud preaching in the movie and the characters play into their roles quite beautifully. Varun has taken the guts to throw completely new actors into the movie and they have all performed admirably well.

There is no abrupt closure or happy ending, though he closes the loop in a very subtle way. This could be one of those sleeper hits of 2024. IMDB 7/10

Asli Naqli

Beautiful Hindi movie “Asli Naqli” (1962) directed by the legendary Hrishikesh Mukherjee and starring Dev Anand, Sadhana, Nazir Hussain, Leela Chitnis, Anwar Hussain among others.

Hrishikesh Mukherjee is one of those directors who made socially relevant movies of the times. All his movies are timeless classics. This one has socialist bent of those times i.e. 1960s, the rich vs the poor argument.

Anand (Dev Anand) is a rich heir to a wealthy industrialist Nazir Hussain. His grandfather wants him to marry the rich daughter of another industrialist so that all their sugar mills come into his possession after the marriage.

Anand rebels and goes out of the house to live in poor hutment colony. There he meets real people with love, affection, loyalty and his lady love in Renu (Sadhana). She has a story of her own.

When grandfather comes to know of his location he blackmails Renu into revealing some past to her mother unless she relents in leaving Anand. Classic end game scenario featuring the rich vs poor dialogues.

Brilliant cinematography in black & white feature film, superb direction by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, a strong script, beautiful songs by Mohd Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar, the stunning beauty of Sadhana brilliantly captured on camera, the quintessential smile of the evergreen Dev Anand, makes this a timeless classic to watch. IMDB 8/10

Paiso

Interesting collection of business stories by Sindhi business persons in India “Paiso” by Maya Bathija.

Sindhis are a language group which originated in Sindh in erstwhile united India and now gone to Pakistan. They are known for their frugality and their entrepreneurship.

Maya Bathija has profiled 5 Sindhi business families who have created immense wealth for themselves whilst also contributing majorly to the society through their foundation work. Out of that 3 families are from abroad, while one family is rooted in India.

Well Sindhi business persons are known for their daring in venturing into unknown territory and succeeding through hard work, determination and courage. Maya has written about the Harilela family, Ramola Motwani, Harish Fabiani, Lakhi group and Jitu Virwani.

Maya has gone in depth into their family history, their original background, the struggles, family life, peer support, joint family system, the ability to think big and hit it off successfully, and partnering with myriad partners to take their group forward.

Super narrative by Maya makes this an excellent business book to be read. I would probably recommend as a must read by all business schools. Goodreads 5/5

Angel Falls

Beautiful heart warming story from the mountains of Washington State, “Angel Falls” by Kristin Hannah.

Michaela Campbell is happily married to Dr. Liam Campbell with two kids Jacey and Bret. She has a horrible accident in which she falls from her horse and hurts her head and goes into a coma.

While Dr. Liam Campbell is distraught and the kids suffer silently, Liam goes through her old belongings and stumbles upon the old past of Mike. She had a marriage previously to a famous Hollywood star Julian True, out of which she bore Jacey.

But that marriage broke off because Julian was not yet ready to take responsibility for a married life and a parent. Liam decides to use the past to awaken Mike from her coma. He calls Julian to come to her bedside and speak to her.

Mike miraculously recovers from her coma but she has no memory of her recent past i.e. post her marriage to Julian. How she reconciles with that past and the present forms the remainder of the book. Beautifully narrated by Kristin Hannah this is a feel good book for the times. Goodreads 4/5

The World’s Most Evil Gangsters

True stories of the most evil gangsters the world has ever seen by Nigel Cawthorne.

Surprising that the gangsterism is so much of a lure for so many young inner city youth. That bling, that show off, that protection all that and drugs, guns, heady youth drives in that.

Gangsters either fought each other or sometimes they collaborated with each other as well. There was money in the drugs, plus protection money, bank robberies, plain robberies of people.

Wanton killings of innocent people and gangs killing each other. Most of the stories were from Britain and a few from Australia and US as well. I am sure its the same in almost every country on this earth. Gangsterism is big and survives to this day.

Nigel Cawthorne’s narrative is not upto the mark, its just pages after pages of reading the most depressing stuff. I am glad i finished this book. Goodreads 2/5

Exercise

Daily Writing Prompt

What’s the most fun way to exercise?

Running is the most fun way to exercise. It needs no effort, just put your shoes and run. Sometimes you don’t need shoes also.

Running is meditation in motion, the best de-stresser in the world and fun when you explore newer places whilst running. Run in the mountains, near the sea, on the beach, on a trail, with nature, with friends, with your loved ones, nothing beats running.

penalty on IDFC First Bank

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has, by an order dated March 27, 2024 imposed a monetary penalty of ₹10 million on IDFC First Bank Limited (the bank) for non-compliance with certain directions issued by RBI on ‘Loans and Advances – Statutory and Other Restrictions’. This penalty has been imposed in exercise of powers vested in RBI conferred under the provisions of section 47 A (1) (c) read with sections 46 (4) (i) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.

The Statutory Inspection for Supervisory Evaluation (ISE 2022) of the bank was conducted by RBI with reference to its financial position as on March 31, 2022. Based on supervisory findings of non-compliance with RBI directions / statutory provisions and related correspondence in that regard, a notice was issued to the bank advising it to show cause as to why penalty should not be imposed on it for its failure to comply with the said directions. After considering the bank’s reply to the notice and oral submissions made during the personal hearing, RBI found, inter alia, that the following charge against the bank was sustained warranting imposition of monetary penalty. The bank had sanctioned term loans to a public sector undertaking for financing infrastructure projects, (i) without undertaking due diligence on the viability and bankability of the projects to ensure that revenue streams from the projects were sufficient to take care of the debt servicing obligations and (ii) the repayment / servicing of the said term loans was made out of budgetary resources.