Saturday, January 26, 2008

Books..

I cant believe I haven't made this list as yet. I fear its almost going to be the same as yours Pooja!

A Book that made you laugh:

No Onions nor Garlic by Srividya Natarajan. A mere mention of this book puts a smile on my face. Imagine college boys dressed up as fairies! The added bonus being the Tam Brahms who like me are onion haters!!

A Book that made you cry :

The first book I ever cried on was Heidi. I have a tendency to get very emotional while reading. So there are plenty of books whose pages I have ruined because of my tears.

Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. The last few pages always bring tears to my eyes when Gogol discovers the inscription his dad had made so many years ago.

A Fine Balance / Tales From FirozshaBagh by Rohinton Mistry:

Mistry's book always make me very emotional. Its hard not to cry because he writes such real stories. When M commits suicide in a Fine Balance I couldn't control myself. His characters are not heroes , they are normal people who cave into desires and are not always right.

A Book that scared you :

Wild Swans/ Mao: An Unknown Story by Jung Chang. It just showed how men can go to any extreme to get and retain power. To read the about the predicament of those millions of Chinese really freaked me out. Mao's ideas to me are just really scary. Someone like that actually existed is still hard for me to believe.

A Book that disgusted you :

Probably Pet Cemetery by Stephen King. People dying and returning back as zombies just didn't go down to well with me. I had nightmares for three consecutive nights after I finished the book.

A Book you loved in elementary school:

Till class V it was the amazing Ladybird series with the Town Mouse & Country Mouse, The Princess and the Pea, Heidi etc.

A book you loved in Middle School:

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck was my favorite from 6th to 8th. The writing is simple and yet the story was so powerful. It was one of the first books my mother passed on to me from her huge collection and it is one that I will treasure forever.

A Book you loved in High School:

Not Without My Daughter- Betty Mahmoody
A Fine Balance- Rohinton Mistry
Aparajito- Bhibhutibhushan Bhandopadya
Through the Corridors of Power- PC Alexander

A Book you loved in college:

A Thousand Splendid Suns: Khalid Hosseini
Half of a Yellow Sun

A Book that challenged your identity:

Half of a Yellow Sun
I Dare- Kiran Bedi
Little Women

A Series that you love:

Malory Towers- Enid Blyton
Harry Potter

Your favorite Horror Book:

None

Your favorite Science Fiction:

A Journey to the Centre of the Earth- Jules Verne

Your favorite (Auto)Biography:

A Long Walk to Freedom- Nelson Mandela
Mao: An Unknown Story
Not Without My Bike: Lance Armstrong

Your favorite " Coming of Age Book"

Pather Panchali
The KiteRunner
Thorn Birds

Your favorite Classic:

Gone With the Wind
Anna Karenina

Your favorite Romance Book:

Thorn Birds

Thursday, January 03, 2008

And the award goes to..

Being the movie buff that I am, I've still just managed only one movie review the entire of last year. To make up and pay tribute to all the brilliant movies made last year I decided to fill out the Filmfare nomination form. I've grumbled too much about bad and partial judging so I have decided to take matters into my own hand.


The form allows only one nomination and I've realised how tough it it to pick just one person considering how many of these people were so good! I'd rather they let us pick like three nominees in each category and rank them.


But anyways, here goes:


1. BEST FILM:

Ok so this is really tough! Mumma and I discussed this one to no end. What exactly are we supposed to be judging on. Entertainment value? Overall message? Acting? Novelty?

We ended up with Guru, Chak De or Taare Zameen Par.

And then we thought and thought...

And eventually gave it to Taare Zameen Par. I think the shere brilliance of the idea will make it one of the most loved movies of the year. From the acting to the camera work it was all PERFECT! There aren't words for what the film can make anyone feel. It is the cliched underdog story but told with such difference that it can tug at any one's heart. I haven't cried this hard in a movie for a very long time.



2. BEST DIRECTOR:

The problem I think with nominations is that we tend to forget the films that were released earlier during the year. Thankfully the form had an entire list of films which just made the job easier.


I would have almost written Aamir Khan for Tarre Zameen Par but then I saw Parzania on the list as well.


Thus, I chose Rahul Dholakia for Best Director. I doubt a lot of people are going to vote for this one but I think he truly deserves it. There have been a billion movies on riots and related violence some of them have been really really good as well.

To use the same subject and make a movie like that deserves a HUGE round of applause. The simple style of direction makes the characters very easy to relate to. To extract such heart wrenching performances from children is an art that both Rahul ( or even Aamir) have mastered.


Its a story that needed to be told in just the right way. There's even more responsibility on the director's shoulder because these are real events that he is talking of. Rahul manages to create the right balance between fact and fiction. This balance is very important o achieve or else the movie can become one of the million documentaries on the Gujrat riots. A slight bit of over dramatization of events could have killed it.



3. BEST ACTOR:



Abhishek Bachchan for Guru.

It was almost a coming of age movie for him. All the great performances before this one were supporting roles. It was a great chance to show the powerhouse of an actor that he can be.


What swung it in his favor was probably the fact that the character demanded a range of emotions. It was a journey of over 50 years and the change in emotions had to be gradual but also noticeable.


I think this had been his best performance till date!



4. BEST ACTRESS:



Sarika for Parzania.


There are no words befitting this performance. Emotional but not over the top. Gut wrenching and yet slightly understated. It was a role that many would have done by just shedding copious amount of tears. But she makes you look beyond just the tears which I believe deserves a LOT of recognition.



5. BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:



Aamir Khan for Taare Zameen Par.

I've always felt that when judging the award the main thing to be kept in mind is that the actor in question should not steel the limelight. For example in Omkara Saif stole the show so much so that it became his movie and not Ajay Devgan's on the other hand Pankaj Kapur in Maqbool played a pivotal role but stole nothing away from Irfan Khan's brilliance.



The latter is what Aamir was also successful in doing. He deserves it even more cause he could have easily over shadowed the kid. This performance shows his great understanding of the script. The script demanded a supporting role and that he did to perfection.

6. BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

Konkana Sen Sharma for Aaja Nachle/ Laaga Chunari Mein Daag/Life in a Metro:

I cant seem to choose the film because she was great in all three. She's funny and emotional and her acting is straight from the heart. Its been her year and I cant wait to see what she does in 2008.

She's one of those actresses that seem to fit into every mould so effortlessly. No matter how bad or good the movie might be she never manages to disappoint me.