Chennai Diaries ~ Trail #1

I have moved to Chennai!!! Five years in Trichy, a city that healed many a wounds and festered a few, the temple city that saw a new ME; it bid me a teary goodbye. With a heavy heart and an even heavier packer & mover ahead of us, we set off to namma ooru singara Chennai. For the past few months, I have been shuttling to & fro between Trichy and Chennai. Hubby got a transfer and I got a headache (hee hee). Well, the city is not new to me. My in-laws are Chennai vaaasees and I have been visiting them regularly. But any move brings its share of woes and I have been privy to many of them for the past few months!

It's been a month since I became a Chennaite. While I have gone back to work within a week of arriving, it's not been all work and no play.

I watched Uttama Villain - yeah the supposedly 'WOW' movie from the factory of "Yes - Kamal, he is still the superstar but needs to do something fast to erase this movie, Hasan". The story, if there was any, was pathetic and I was mighty surprised that the actor could go to such passionate lengths to make this movie. Clearly, the actor needs to introspect and re-position himself. Dancing with PYT's are no longer his cuppa!! But the panache & passion of the actor is spot-on.

To summarize, in the words of my dearest hubby - "Utama Villan - the life story of Kamal Hasan in the form of a docu drama sans the stage 4 brain tumor"

(Photo Source: Google)

It's just 10 days in to the summer vacation and the kids are mightyyyyyyy bored. So, I have them off to a mini summer camp of sorts. A musical, crafty way to while away 3 hours. The camp is gonna be till 15th. So some much needed respite there.

I also watched a movie shooting! The so hot TDH Vishal was in Besant Nagar shooting for some story and I watched ogled at him unabashedly. Pity, I couldn't click a snap, but yeah that few moments brightened my day !!!!

My Trails in Chennai will continue............ (I hope not!!!!)

Hifi in Bollywood - A Book Review

                               “The root of joy is gratefulness”.


Rishi is back with his second book. 

Before I give more insight on this; let me take a minute to say that I am immensely grateful to all those good people around me who understand my long bouts of silence. One such humble soul is Rishi Vohra. Rishi who was kind enough in sending his second book for my review and even more patient enough in waiting for me to post the review… A humble thank you Rishi.

Rishi's debut book  Once Upon The Tracks of Mumbai touched a chord and I instantly knew his latest offering would also have a warm humane connect. Besides, the book also promised to give an insight into the workings of hindi film industry (HiFI for the insiders) as Rishi himself was once part of this larger than life industry and his own struggles in the by lanes of Mumbai city have been etched.

Now to the review..

I am a huge Hindi Film Buff. Sneaking in film magazines like cineblitz or filmfare and secretly reading them was one of my favorite pastimes during my school days. Anything remotely revolving around the so called ‘Bollywood’ has me excited. So I looked forward to the second book which has Hindi film industry as its backdrop.
The protagonist of the story, Rayhan is one of those endearing Indian faces who like many other nameless Indians follows his father’s/parent’s ambitions. Despite harboring a raging passion to make it big in the Hindi Film Industry, he ends up pursuing a Finance degree in the US of A. But a few underlying pressures from his dad makes him concoct a lie and come back to Mumbai to follow his dreams.

On his way to living his dream, he encounters a mixed box of colorful characters like his maid’s daughter, Viola, Peter, his gay director and an egoist film star. How he juggles with all these characters while conveniently dodging his father’s calls and how the truth finally emerges solving the jigsaw puzzle of his life is the story.

                                        Now for the Yay's & Nay's
Yay's to

• Lucid narration and witty dialogues
• Self introspective mode of writing
• I loved the character of the cheery spot boy. Wish there were more characters like him in real world
• Breezy read
• I could empathize with Rayhan - the patriarchal mindset of the society that stifles him into doing things that his heart is not after is something I could connect with

Nay's to

• Hindi film industry could have been portrayed with much more depth. Yes, the topics of casting couch, drug abuse and closet gays has been shown but lacks the intensity and layered touch.
• Predictive twists

Final Word :-

A quote I saw on Pinterest would sum it all up

(Source:Pinterest)

Author    :   Rishi Vohra

Price       :  INR 299/-

Publisher :  Jaico Publishing House

Category : Fiction

Recommendation : A huge Thumbs Up!