Nasheman

India's largest selling Urdu weekly, now also in English

You are here: Home / 2015 / Archives for April 2015

Archives for April 2015

Movie Review: 'Margarita With A Straw' is an extremely sensitive, heartwarming & heart touching movie

by

Margarita-with-a-Straw-2015

Banner: Viacom 18 Motion Pictures
Producer: Shonali Bose & Nilesh Maniyar
Director: Shonali Bose
Cast: Kalki Koechlin, Revathi, Sayani Gupta, Kuljeet Singh, Hussain Dalal, Malhar Khushu, Jacob Berger, Tenzin Dalha, Shuchi Dwivedi & William Moseley
Music: Mickey McCleary

Director Shonali Bose had proved her directorial versatility with her debut directorial offering ‘Amu’ an extremely sensitive film dealing with a woman’s sensitive issue. And now she has climbed a notch higher with her directorial finesse in her 2nd outing ‘Margarita With A Straw’. The film deals not only with a disability (Read Cerebral Palsy) in a budding persona Laila but also scratches the surface of her inherent sexual desire with “gay” abundance.

‘Maragarita With A Straw’ relates the story of a wheel chair bound Laila (Kalki Koechlin) who is suffering from a disease known as cerebral palsy disoder. She is living with her mother Shubhangini (Revathy), her brother Monu (Malhar Khushu) & her father Baljit (Kuljeet Singh). Laila, in fact is a strong headed girl, who doesn’t let that ‘handicap’ word obstruct her from penning soul stirring lyrics for her rock band. Laila yearns to be counted amongst the ‘normal’ people and lands up dumping her boyfriend Dhruv (Hussain Dalal) because he is handicapped and she even has the guts to show her middle finger to the judges of a rock show amidst a huge audience because they decide to give her band the 1st prize, only because, the lyrics were penned by a ‘handicapped person’ like her. As time passes by, Laila ultimately falls in love with one of her band member Nima (Tenzing Dalha) but when he doesn’t reciprocate her feelings, her world comes crashing down. Life moves on as Laila decides to start afresh when she shifts with her mother for her creative writing course at New York University. Out here Laila, starts developing feelings for her classmate Jared (William Moseley), with whom she eventually gets physical. However, there appears a twist in Laila’s life, when her blind room partner Khanum (Sayani Gupta) confesses that she is “gay” and that she loves her a lot. Eventually Laila also starts developing a liking for Khanum and they both end up getting intimate with each other. That’s when Laila realizes that she is a bisexual, who is torn between the battle of two sexes & her own sexual preferences. Gathering all the courage & confidence, she confesses to her mother about her sexual orientation. Life however gets topsy-turvy for Laila when she discovers a startling truth about her mother Shunbhangi too.

Hats off to director Shonali Bose for tackling such a complex theme of a girl’s disability in lieu with her sexual orientation. Shonali really needs to be applauded for shooting the sex scenes without making it look vulgar or cheap. Three cheers for presenting the whole complicated journey of Laila so lovingly, adding a sensitive directorial touch of her own. So much so that it leaves you absolutely shaken and teary eyed by the time you leave the auditorium. Her message is loud & clear that it is pointless to hate a person for his or her disability & even a preferred sexual orientation. Poking fun at such persons where it hurts most, that too time and again is downright disgusting & shameful. Such persons should look within themselves before even trying to find fault in others. Full marks & kudos to Shonali Bose’ entire cast & crew for their brilliance in all the department. The film has won National & International appreciation not to forget the rave reviews in its global festival circuits. Now it only needs a word of mouth appreciation from the national audiences.

Performance wise Its a Kalki Koechlin film all the way right from the word go as she has literally lived the role of Laila by fully & totally getting into the skin of the character. She has delivered an absolutely convincing & flawless act. Her body language portraying the disability and the feelings depicting the sexual orientation is shockingly stunning. The next in line memorable performance comes from Revathy as she lends her own finesse. She is brilliant when she silently conveys her own pain & suffering. Sayani Gupta is ok in her ill sketched character. The other actors like Kuljeet Singh, Malhar Khushu, Hussain Dalal, Tenzing Dalha, William Moseley have lended their own adequate touch in this sensitive tale of Laila.

Tail Piece: ‘Margarita With A Straw’ can be surely & definitely recommended as a not to be missed film.

Movie Review: 'Ek Adbhut Dakshina – Guru Dakshina' is a highly disappointing fare

by

k Adbhut Dakshina Guru Dakshina

Banner: Moonwalk Production
Producer: Aayush Phadnis & Eshaan Phadnis
Director: Kiran Phadnis
Cast: Rajeev Govinda Pillai, Sulagna Panigrahi, Rajesh Shringarpure, Roopa Ganguly & Girish Karnad
Music: Ismail Darbar, Som & Siddharth Chopra

Débutante director Kiran Phadnis in his debut directorial offering ‘Ek Adbhut Dakshina – Guru Dakshina’ did try to tackle the touchy subject of a relationship between a Guru & his disciple but mid way he got carried away and brought in multilateral sub – plots of the triangular love story, the revenge angle, the naxalism’s deceit & treachery et al. Needless to add he meandered away and confusingly, fully or rather deliberately lost his focus.

An orphaned boy Dev (Rajeev Govinda Pillai) is adopted by a Guruji (Girish Karnad) and brought him to his dance academy in Kolkata, owing to his dancing skills. Impressed by his talent, Guruji takes him under his wings. However, Dev’s one-sided love for Guruji’s daughter Sanjukta (Sulagna Panigrahi) changes their lives forever. Sanjukta finds herself seduced by Chhau dancer Gambhira (Rajesh Shringarpure) instead, who seems like a man of dubious intent. It turns out that he is a Naxalite, on a secret mission. Dev suspects Gambhira’s motives and warns Sanjukta but she doesn’t pay heed. Dev is heartbroken & Guruji is devastated, when Sanjukta secretly marries Gambhira. Post marriage, Gambhira shows his true colors, thus ruining the life of his wife & Guruji. Meanwhile, an accident takes Dev to Himachal. An then starts the revenge drama too.

Kiran Phadnis had a good backing and a fair chance of a lifetime but he faltered miserably in his debut directorial effort. Need I say anything more.

Performance wise both Rajeev Govinda Pillai & Sulagna Panigrahi have made a decent debut and that’s just about it. But on the other hand it is Rajesh Shringarpure who has left a lasting impression. Lastly senior actors like Girish Karnad & Roopa Ganguly have tried their level best to bring some semblance to the entire sordid affair.

Tail Piece: if you are still interested in watching ‘Ek Adbhut Dakshina – Guru Dakshina’ then go ahead and do so. The risk is entirely yours. I rest my case here.

Presstitutes remark: PM Narendra Modi ‘salutes’ VK Singh, slams media for ignoring ‘good work’

by

Narendra Modi V K Singh

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi was all praise for Gen (retd) VK Singh, who has faced attack from a section of the media over his “presstitutes” remark, as he hit out at the media for not highlighting the “good works” of his government.

“I salute Gen (retd) VK Singh,” Modi said as he hailed the “unprecedented” rescue mission led by the minister for evacuating Indians out of Yemen. The Prime Minister also heaped praise on External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj for her work.

Modi was critical of the media for ignoring Singh’s work at a time when newspapers worldwide highlighted the Indian rescue mission.

He said that the Indian media took note of it, but due to other reasons — a reference to the criticism of Singh, the Minister of State for External Affairs, for his use of the term “presstitutes”.

“Can you imagine? Bombardment is going on in Yemen 24 hours and everybody is out to kill each other and we, after talking to so many countries, manage to stop this for two hours to evacuate as many Indians as possible. It is not a small incident.

“I believe this is the first time in the world that a government minister has stood on the battlefield like a soldier to do this work… I salute General VK Singh,” he said at a meeting of BJP MPs here.

Taking a dig at Indian media, Modi said, “Look at TV channels and newspapers the world over, they are talking about how India has conducted the operation from the forefront. Indian newspapers spoke about it in the end and that too due to some other reason.”
Modi also lauded Swaraj, saying that the External Affairs Ministry had never before worked like it was doing under her.

“If somebody (in distress) tweets to her at 1 am in night, she replies by 1.10 am. The embassy concerned is alerted… Has anybody ever seen India’s External Affairs Ministry work like this?” he asked.

Lamenting the lack of what he described was an “echo- effect” of the good works of his government, he said that if BJP was “naturally attached to power” then the party would have organised a grand show to felicitate Singh and Swaraj.

“I will request it now,” he said, adding, “Thousands of people who have come back safe will always have respect for you. Whether media shows your photographs or not, you have made your place in people’s hearts.”

Thanking Modi for his praise, Singh said in a tweet, “Thank you @narendramodi ji for the kind words of appreciation, none of this would have been possible without your able leadership and guidance.”

Using the opportunity to drive home his government’s pro- poor credentials, Modi said that most of those evacuated by it in foreign countries were poor people who had gone there in search of better livelihoods.

Earlier, in an interview to PTI, Singh had alleged that an “insidious campaign” was being run against him by a section of media at the behest of arms lobby that is “working overtime” to subdue him and he has briefed the Prime Minister about it.

Under fire for using the word “presstitutes” for the media, Singh had also offered his apologies to journalists barring a small section of media persons, who were carrying out a “motivated campaign” against him.

(PTI)

Irate villagers damage toll booths on Bengaluru outskirts

by

Representational Image

Representational Image

Bengaluru: A number of toll booths at Hoskote, about 25 km from here, were damaged and one of them set ablaze by irate villagers today after a local was allegedly assaulted by employees following an argument over paying the toll fee.

“Villagers near Hoskote pelted stones on a number of booths, damaging them and set fire to one of them, after a local was assaulted by toll plaza employees,” Bengaluru Rural Superintendent of Police B Ramesh told reporters here.

He said police used mild force to disperse them and that the situation has now been brought under control.

Ramesh said none has been arrested so far, but added that they are scrutinising CCTV footage to zero in on the culprits.

An argument broke out between the man and toll plaza workers after he refused to

pay the toll, claiming he has a free family pass, but he did not carry it with him, Ramesh said.

The man then slapped one of the employees, which led to them assaulting him.The villager, with severe injuries on his forearms, was being treated at a private hospital, Ramesh said.

(PTI)

"I am playing the lead role in "Makad Jaala" albeit with negative shades": Amit Pundir

by

Amit Pundir

Hailing from Meerut the bronze & brawny actor happens to be a farmer’s son but has always nurtured dreams of being an actor since childhood.

Amit avers, “Basically I am from Meerut but since last 8 years I am in mumbai trying to make it big in Tinsel Town. My father is a farmer and I have completed my academic qualification from C C  University in Meerut. At last my dreams have come true and I have got a chance to play lead role of Rana in ‘Makad Jaala’, albeit it is a negative role with soft romantic touches. I am enacting the character of a big bad boy who is into eve teasing and what not, but he finally mends his ways. And I am very thankful to my director Dinesh Kumar Sahoo, my co – star Ashmita Bakshi and the entire team of ‘Makad Jaala’ for their sincere & utmost cooperation. My expectation from ‘Makad Jaala’ is good and whoever sees this film will miss his college days and will also get a good message. I am looking out for meaty roles. Things are in the pipeline. Let’s see what happens till then I am keeping my heart, fingers & toes crossed.”

"In 'Makad Jaala-A Poilitical Trap' I am playing a lead role of a character who is a bold & bindaas girl": Ashmita Bakshi

by

Ashmita Bakshi

Ashmita Bakshi, an extremely beautiful girl from Aamchi Mumbai has no qualms in accepting that she had absolutely no connections in Planet Bollywood. Neither did she had any dreams of becoming a celluloid silver screen heroine. Besides she is frank enough to admit that probably her filmic journey may have gained its roots from her college days when like any other bubbly girl even she had taken part in the dance competition & fashion shows of the intercollegiate festival. Anyways Ashmita is now already 1 film old. Her debut film ‘Black Home’ was released just last month and now she is waiting with batted breath for the release of her next film titled ‘Makad Jaala – A Political Trap’.

Ashmita Bakshi

Ashmita avers, “I was born & brought up in Mumbai. You can say that I am a typical Mumbaite girl, an IT graduate topped with an MBA degree. I stay with my family who are absolutely non – filmy. And of course I have no filmy connections whatsoever to my credit. I had never thought even in my wildest imagination that even I would don the grease paint & face the arc lights. So as I was telling you I did take part in the dance competitions & the fashion shows in the intercollegiate festival. Which eventually got me interested to try my hands at acting in films. And luckily for me one of my film titled ‘Black Home’ has already been released on 20th Mar, 2015, In which I did an important character. And now my upcoming film ‘Makad jaala-A Political trap’ is all set for release on 24th Apr, 2015. In ‘Makad Jaala-A Poilitical Trap’ I am playing a lead role of a character whose name is Neha and who is a bold & bindaas girl, one who loves her boyfriend Rada (Amit Pundir) but at the same time I even slap him when he tries to go in the wrong track. Neha potrays the role of a strong headed girl. Personally too, i am a strong supporter of what is right. Strangely enough even before the release of  ‘Makad Jaala-A Political Trap’ I started getting good roles in movies in lead. It changed my life, thanks to my director Dinesh kumar Sahu. I should also thank my co-actor Amit Pundir and the entire team of ‘Makad Jaala-A Political Trap’. To sum it up I would say that I  have more films coming up. One of them is titled ‘Honeymoon Hungama’. No doubt I am playing the main lead in it and for which I have just completed the shoot. I have 2 more films lined up but I shall reveal their names once I sign on the dotted lines.”

Movie Review: 'Mr. X' is no patch on the scores of other films made earlier based on the invisible genre

by

Mr_X_Film

Banner: Vishesh Films
Presenter: Mukesh Bhatt
Producer: Mahesh Bhatt
Director: Vikram Bhatt
Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Amyra Dastur, Arunoday Singh, Somnath Mahto, Bikramjeet Kanwarpal, Tanmay Bhatt & Gurmeet Choudhary
Music: Jeet Ganguly, Ankit Tiwari, Ankur Tiwari & Raju Singh

Following the trail of the Ramsay Brothers, the horror masters of the bygone era, Vikram Bhatt of late had become the uncrowned king of the horror genre. But he has seriously & erroneously erred this time around by treading on a completely diverse genre of sci – fi in his latest offering ‘Mr. X’. As nothing, but nothing at all seems to work in favor of the invisible Mr. X, no not even the 3 dimensional VFX specials effects.

Inspector Raghu Ram, an officer with the Anti Terrorist Department (ATD), in lieu with his colleague cum fiancée Siya Varma (Amyra Dastur), are trying to save a bus full of passengers that’s about to be blasted by a human bomb. Next, just when Raghu Ram & Siya are about to enter into a wedlock, Raghu Ram is once again sent off on a mission  by his superior Bharadwaj (Arunodaya Singh). Raghu Ram escapes after completing the mission. The cops are on his trail but he gets caught by Bharadwaj and his men, who beat him mercilessly and leave him to die. That’s when his friend Popo (Tanmay Bhatt) takes him to his scientist sister, who treats him with an ‘experimental potion’. Even though the potion cures his disfigured body, it lands up making him invisible. He can be seen only in sunlight & ultra violet light. Taking advantage of his invisibility, Raghu starts operating under the name of ‘Mr. X’ and the nightmare in the film in tandem with the audience, watching the antics of ‘Mr. X’ continues.

This latest film ‘Mr. X’ from the Bhatt Empire miserably fails to grab the eyeballs of the viewers. Barring one or two films made earlier on the invisible genre the others have flopped miserably. Not one department of ‘Mr, X’ can be credited for making this film even slightly entertaining to hold the viewers attention. Living up to his image of a serial kisser Emran Hashmi tries to kiss his heroine in an invisible avatar too and this kissing scenario too looks so creepy & corny.

Performance wise Emran Hashmi just sleep walks through his role, as more than half of the screen time he is presented in an invisible avatar. Amyra Dastur too disappoints in her 2nd outing. In fact she appears as a total misfit as Bhatt Empire’s heroine. The extemely talented Arunoday Singh does not get enough scope to prove his histrionics.

Tailpiece: Stay miles away from this ‘Mr. X’ unless you yourself want to end up as an invisible entity.

Sitaram Yechury unanimously elected new general secretary of CPI-M

by

sitaram-yechuri

Visakhapatnam: The Communist Party of India-Marxist on Sunday unanimously elected Sitaram Yechury as the new general secretary of the party.

At the meeting of the new Central Committee (CC) on the last day of the party’s 21st Congress, outgoing general secretary Prakash Karat proposed Yechury’s name and S. Ramchandran Pillai seconded it. The 91-member CC unanimously approved it.

The election of 62-year-old Yechury came after Pillai, who was reportedly in the fray for the top party post, withdrew, ensuring that the party continued its tradition of electing its leader unanimously.

Prakash Karat later made the formal announcement before the media. Yechury, who termed the new task as challenging, introduced the 16-member politburo.

The four new politburo members are Mohammed Saleem, Subhashini Ali, Hannan Mollah and G. Ramakrishnan.

Subhashini Ali is the second woman in the politburo after Brinda Karat.

The politburo members are Sitaram Yechury, Prakash Karat, Brinda Karat, S. Ramchandran Pillai, Biman Basu, Manik Sarkar, Pinyarayi Vijayan, B.V. Raghavulu, K. Balakrishnan, M.A. Baby, S.K. Mishra, A.K. Padmanabhan, Mohammed Saleem, Subhashini Ali, Hannan Mollah and G. Ramakrishnan.

Earlier, the Congress elected the new CC. It approved the names finalised by the outgoing politburo on Saturday night. This was followed by the election of the new politburo and the general secretary by the CC.

Apart from 91 members, the CC has five special invitees and five permanent invitees.

(IANS)

BJP lawmaker showers cash at community event, says it's 'donation'

by

Bhalka Tirth

Ahmedabad: A video clip that went viral today, purportedly shows a woman BJP parliamentarian showering currency notes on ‘devotees’ dancing at a religious-cum-community event at the famous Bhalka Tirth in Veraval town of Junagadh district.

Poonam Maadam, who represents the Jamnagar seat, was seen showering currency notes of Rs. 10 denomination on people who were dancing at the event held last night.

When contacted, she said it’s a “long tradition” of Saurashtra’s ‘Lok-Dayro’ (cultural or folk event in the region) and the money was part of “donation” that would be used for the social cause.

“This was neither the first time that I took part in such a programme nor it would be the last time. It was not like distributing money, it was like a abhivadan (greetings). It is a tradition of Saurashtra for more than 100 years and it was a charitable event of Ahir community where more than two lakh people participated with good spirit and good faith,” she told PTI.

She said the cash collected through donation will be used to build a hostel for girls and a gaushala (cow-shelter).

“People came there and they were very happy. They were very emotional on becoming part of that charitable event and I too take pride in saying that I was there in the Lok Sahitya event which is called ‘Dayro’ in Saurashtra. I am proud of it,” Ms Maadam said, adding that she participated in the function not as a BJP representative but as a “daughter of Ahir community.”

When asked about the quantum of donation received, the lawmaker replied that she has not calculated money.

Ms Maadam claimed some Congress leaders, including a former MLA, also took part in the programme, but refused to name them.

“The programme was for the betterment of the community. Even some farmers also participated in it. A wrong picture is being presented that farmers are not happy. That is not true.

And it was desire of farmers and people of our community that I should take part in it. It was for the God and community. This is the place where Lord Krishna himself recited ‘Bhagwat’ in his last days and I immensely feel proud that I was part of such event,” she said.

Ms Madam said every community in the country should organise such events for their betterment.

Poonam Maadam, earlier an MLA from Khambhalia Assembly segment, had defeated her uncle Vikram Madam of Congress to win Jamnagar Lok Sabha seat last year.

(PTI)

Concern for farmers as land bill being changed: Rahul Gandhi

by

Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi: It is a matter of concern for farmers that the land bill is being changed, said Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi while addressing his first rally on Sunday after a leave of absence of nearly two months.

Gandhi spoke about the Land Acquisition Act 2013, brought in by the UPA government, and charged the NDA government of working in the interests of the rich.

“Land Acquisition Act 2013 is being changed …it’s also cause of concern for you,” he said, adding that the rest of industry came only after farming which laid the foundation of the country.

Speaking at the well-attended Kissan Khet Majdoor rally at Ramlila Maidan here, he said that the central government was anti-farmer and anti-poor as it can’t see “the efforts they made to establish the country”.

Gandhi said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was on a three-nation tour, made comments saying that he was clearing the mess of the last 50 years in the country.

“I feel sad to hear this as prime minister can’t see the efforts of the poor and the farmers who actually laid the foundation of the country,” he said.

Gandhi said that the poor and the farmers were feeling afraid under the present regime as they don’t know what’s going to happen to them next.

He also talked about how the UPA government worked for the poor and the farmers of the country.

“It’s a country of farmers and labourers,” he said.

(IANS)

KNOW US

GET INVOLVED

PROMOTE

Archives