A Selfie That Matters

Family relations are like brushing your teeth, if you don't do it regularly. It forms layers, then it starts to stink and eventually it decays.

Me and my cousin's realized it couple of years back. My maternal grandmother is 90 something ( nobody knows her birthdate) but then we all felt come together and re-live our childhood with her. 

This picture has been taken in Lonavala last year, when mother's 5 sisters and only brother came together with their families. Needless to say we had wonderful time and this pic still gives us goosebumps. 

While making entry for best selfie ( http://mobiistar.in/and Mobiistar on Flipkart.) I couldn't think of any better capture than this. In a time, when relatives are limited to whatsapp groups, we came together!!!!

A movie that Ttok

2017 has been a disappointing year for moviegoers. Except the grandeur of ‘Bahubali 2’, claustrophobia of ‘Trapped’ and small town charm of ‘Bareli Ki Barfi’ there is hardly anything to talk about. Apparently ‘Judwa 2’ is the highest grosser Hindi Movie so far, so that sums up 2017. And that has been pretty much case with Marathi Movies as well. And then we watched ‘Faster Fene’ last week. Faster Fene (aka FaFe) brought the fun back to cinema halls.

For Marathi Mulga like me, Pro. B. R. Bhagwat’s Faster Fene books were usual picks at local library. Bhagawat gave Marathi literature it’s very own Tom Sawyer and we kids (back then) nourished on that for long. In late 80’s Doordarshan created Teleseries with same name that brought us Sumeet Raghavan in title role. Now, Faster Fene that has been read and seen in so many versions, we were curious to know what Director ‘Aditya Sarpotdar’ and writer ‘Kshitij Patwardhan’ has new to offer.

Something that Dibankar Banerjee failed miserably with ‘Byomkesh Bakshi’, Aditya Sarpotdar achieves exactly that. Faster Fene is older now, he is about to appear for Medical Entrance exam, has smart phone, and smarter thinking and relevant to today's time. Within first few minutes of movie sets his wit and quirk and brings all the characters to amply support him.

Movie adapts very little from original books but then director puts its creator (B R Bhagwat played brilliantly by Dilip Prabhawalkar) right in middle of the scene. And we have strong antagonist Appa played cringe-worthily by Girish Kulkarni. The interval scene sets for big face-off between FaFe and Appa and thankfully the curse of second half do not affect the movie.

In terms of acting, movie takes brilliant actors even in small roles, be it Sidharth Jadhav or Poornima Bhave or Chinmayee Sumit (who played FaFe's mom in movie and  wife of Sumit Raghavan in real). It borrows couple of mannerisms from Nawazuddin of movie 'Kick'. Appa's laugh and FaFe's Ttok but both works cause it's done smartly. The technical department is top notch with special mention of Troy-Arif's haunting background score. Faster Fene gives us a hero without songs, no romance and who is just amongst us. Now that's what I call coming of age cinema.

Mother's day 2016

Mother's Day checklist
Changing whatsapp DP to my pic with mother - check
Updating FB pic to I LOVE MY MOTHER - check
Taking mom to lunch or dinner - check

Woh Saat Saal

Yeh Satwa saal hain, aur abbhi wohi haal hain.
Na jaane kitni mombattiyan jalee, NEWS channel walon ko TRP mili
Baaten toh bahut hue, Shahido ko shradhanjali mili
Par uske baad kya?
Yeh Satwa saaal hain, aur abbhi wohi haal hain.

Aaj bhi Gateway pe khule aam ghum sakta he koi bhi
CST station pe mere pados mein baitha koi aatankwadi to nahi?
Shaq aur asuraksha badhti ja rahi
Kya uska koi ilaaj hain?
Yeh Satwa saaal hain, aur abbhi wohi haal hain.

Yeh koi pehli baar nahi tha,
Yeh kuchh aakhri bar nahi hain,
Aaj bhi jab dekhta hu, police ki jang lagi hue bandooke
Sochta hu, kya yeh bacha payenge apne aap ko AK-47 se?
Yeh Satwa saaal hain, aur abbhi wohi haal hain.

Janta hu ek din mein kuchh nahi badlata,
pechida hain mamla, etni jaldi hal nahi milta
Waade to bade bade kiye, batein bhi bahut sari hue
Par kya koshishe kaafi hain?
Itminan hain?
Har saal 26/11 ko yahi sawal hain
Yeh Satwa saaal hain, aur abbhi wohi haal hain.

Honorable Man

I watch Grey's anatomy...Yes I Do...
In its otherwise emotionally overloaded drama I found an absolutely striking line about honorable man.

“Do you know when to walk away? Do you know when not to take less than you deserve, if you do, then you’re an honorable man.”