Uyare

2019 has been a rough year so far, with all the elections, and politics in multiple countries. Even the movies which came out this year in India had political tones, political agenda disguised as entertainment. So any movie which told a true-to-heart story in its time box , with capable actors playing convincing characters, would easily win and stay with the crowd. I found the first of such movies this year. And it was a super-hero movie.

The Malayalam movie Uyare.

Side note: I got to watch more movies, if good ones like these do come out. Honestly, I am sick of those superheroes.

Uyare is smartly written , seamlessly weaving the story of an ambitious wannabe pilot, who also becomes the victim of an acid attack. The wikipedia page of acid attacks is shocking and heart-breaking. Low-esteem men and dejected lovers throw acid onto women to permanently disfigure them, and in recent years there are increased occurances of such attacks around the world.

Parvathy effortlessly and convincly plays the lead, starting the movie with high spirits and confidence, and then breaking down to the helpless woman in the middle. The scenes where her character , Pallavi , is attacked and the treatment scenes are the closest one could come to actually understant the pain of being attacked in such a way. Never ones is the illusion of cinema broken. It looks so convincing, almost unreal.

The ending, and climax is predictable, and a few more twists could have helped. We don't see anyone thanking Pallavi for her bravery and presence of mind. We don't see the bureaucratic nightmare which usually follows such an air-accident. We certainly do not see it getting the media coverage such acts of bravery usually gets.

Shout out to Asif Ali for playing another negative character, I really think he should stick to these kind of roles. I have never bought his act as a romantic or comedy actor. The audience is definitely going to hate Govindhan for his atrocious act, and that is the highlight of this role.

Another triumph of Malayalam movies, Uyare has to be watched.

And once you have watched it, go read this.

Orange is the new black

Its exepected, funny and wierd seeing the reactions of those who lost these elections. They are going through all the five stages of grief, in a whole day.

This is exactly how a democracy works. In the end, all that matters is the people's sentiments. Those who know how to play to the masses and win this game.

Orange is the new black.

India Isn't the Next China

 

 

Voting is mandatory. Penalties for skipping.

Australia has just gone through another election. A national one, this time. The entire thing was electronic,and the results were announced the same night of the voting ! Less than a few hours after voting closed.

Thats amazing(actually, not) in itself. But the real surprise  here is that it is mandatory for every citizen to vote. Its not just a privilege, or a right, its the rule.

So, what happens if a citizen does not turn up to cast their vote ? They have to pay a penalty.  The Australian government site says:

You will receive a letter from the AEC if, according to our records, you did not vote at a recent federal election or by-election. If you did vote, you should advise the AEC and provide details by the due date. If you didn’t vote, you will need to provide a valid and sufficient reason why, or pay the $20 penalty.

This has to be tagged under 'things that won't work in India'. This time some states had upto 80% turnout to vote in the national elections, it is never a hundred percentage. Here is an idea which the babus can..well,think about and throw later into the garbage.

The shwawarma

I can relate to this:

Technically called the “Shawarmah” by the locals it is God’s gift to the gourmand. Its something like a rolled up arabic bread with stuffing. Nowadays you get authentic Lebanese sandwich at every nook and corner. Back then you only got it in the old market at a few shops run by Iranians, or Indians. Outside each cafe-like setup, there’d be this guy sweating it out in front of a vertical grill. And sizzling away would be a vertical skewer of meat some 2 feet tall and a feet round. A huge chunk of it. The guy would deftly turn it around every few second so it would get roasted by the grill. “Thalatha Shawarma, Dejaj”. When Dad said the magic words, I died and went to heaven. Four sandwiches, chicken. Sweaty griller man would quickly pick up a huge knife and pick and shred off some grilled meat from the heavenly mega-kebab. The aroma still drives me wild…

Read the rest here.