Sex coming out of the closet.. is it good or too much of information to the kids? I happened to see this webseries in YouTube from YFilms - the youth division of Yashraj Films and I must say that I was able to connect with that because I am also having a "Pappu" at my home. In our Indian society we don't learn about sex from our parents, instead we are forced to learn from other sources like acquintances, porn magazines or subtle erotic messages from the sculptures of the temples. Anyway the kids need to learn about sex at some point of time, so why can't we talk to them and have it demystified? I used to tell my wife that I will gift Aadhi on his 12th Birthday a collection of porn classics porn rather than having him search and get into "violent" porns. The first episode of SCWPP is about how a father explains his son about masturbation and it is classically done. Looking forward for more from the dad-son sex chats..

Atlast I managed to watch the all the episodes of the Anil Kapoor's TV series - 24 back to back, the show rocked North Indian TV three years back and all gearing up for a season two. While watching first thing that came to my mind is "This is something that Kamal Hassan should attempt in South. At this stage of his career, he is a position to harness the power of small screen down south and do something that will liberate him from the cinematic limitations without bothering about the box office returns". I learnt that this is an Indianised version of American TV series of the same name and it ran till the season 8 before calling it quits forever.

I was little skeptical about watching the critically acclaimed "Aligarh" directed by Hansa Mehta. For those who came late, this movie is based on the late. Prof. Shrinivas Ramachandra Siras, a Marathi professor, from Aligarh Muslim University suspended on the basis of his sexual orientation. Siras later fought against his suspension and finally got reinstated only a day after his death. The movie was brilliant with powerpacked performances of Manoj Bajpayee and Rajkummar Rao.

Ever since my favourite Vidya Balan announced her comeback with the Hindi remake of a Bengali movie - "Rajkahini (2015)", I was intrigued about the original movie. Veteran actress Rituparno Sengupta is one helluva lot of actress and had played the role which Vidya Balan is about to essay in Hindi version. So when I stumbled upon the movie with subtitles in a torrent download, I didn't think a moment to initiate the download. The storyline of the movie is quite fascinating. During the India Pakistan partition, the international border line passes through a brothel which is headed by a powerful woman called Begum Jaan.

Sometimes the remix versions score better than the original song and this just proves the saying that you have to be at the right place at the right time. Jatin-Lalit's maiden song "Bin tere sanam" released in 1991 was much ahead of its times that when it was remixed in 2004, it became a rage across the country making every listener dance to it. I have sweet memories of hearing that for the first time in Dubai taxi. Another song that I remember better when remixed was 'Tu tu hai wohi..' from Rishi Kapoor - Tina Munim starrer 'Yeh Vaada Raha' (1982), which was picturised on 3 female models posing to work on a call center.

Noida Double Murder Case allegedly executed by Doctor couple Talwars of their daughter Aarushi Talwar and domestic help Hemraj is one of the most intresting 'whodunit' murder case India had ever witnessed. Ofcourse a case of this stature will "inspire" so many novels and movies but the legal stay obtained by Talwar's for any work of fiction based on their case had curbed that. Still 2 movies made it to screens based on this twin murder case - Rahasya (2014) and Talwar (2015).

Shaheer Sheikh as Arjun

I am a serious hater of the TV serials ever since they turned into daily soaps. I am not against the frequency of the broadcasting but damn seriously against their content and the negativity it propogates. However oflate I make sure that I don't miss one particular daily soap. I don't watch it on TV daily but on Saturday I download that week's episodes and catch them up altogether in my mobile screen during the travel to hometown. The serial is nothing but the "Mahabharat" that comes in Star Plus.

Sridevi in English Vinglish

Rarely comes a movie these days that has a simple midde aged house wife in a prominent role, forget being protagonist, but admaker Gauri Shinde must be lauded for even thinking such character in a leading role. Even than that Sridevi, considering her iconic status, must be congratulated for considering this role for her comeback. Normally when heroines comeback they choose a superwoman or smartie so that their talent can be justified. Madhuri Dixit and Karisma tried this route and ended up falling flat. But Sridevi chooses the role of an unassuming housewife that was related by every segment of the viewers and had made a successful comeback of the year. I personally feel that if Sridevi hadn't done this role, it could have been played by Vidya Balan after a few years to this much conviction.

Vidya BalanActually I was very apprehensive about watching 'Kahaani' before its release. I thought that it would be an emotional drama about a pregnant woman coming in search of her missing husband. Also I thought that "Dirty Picture" is a fluke hit of Vidya which got its initial through the titilating factor, so banking on 'Kahaani' is a sureshot flop. I thought that after "Dirty Picture", Vidya Balan had gone over confident that she can sell a movie on her name. I invented a new theory that there could have been a powerful lobby to get National Award for Vidya Balan so that it can give a boost to 'Kahaani' which will find a few takers. But.. but... whenever I had apprehensions about Vidya Balan, she always proved me wrong. I watched 'Kahaani' only for Vidya Balan but the movie had hit me like a thunder bolt.

IndiPOPஇன்னைக்கு காலையிலே யதேச்சையா யாருடைய blog-ஐ படிச்சப்போ அதிலே அவங்க அம்மாவை நினைச்சு பயங்கர sentiment-ஆ எழுதி, அதிலே பாப் சாகரிகா பாடிய “மா..” என்ற பாடலின் வீடியோவையும் இணைத்திருந்தார்கள். எனக்கு மிகவும் பிடித்த பாடல் அது. வழக்கமாக சாகரிகா ”டிஸ்கோ தீவானே” போன்ற beat songs-ஆக தான் பாடிக்கொண்டிருந்தார். அவர் வழக்கமாக அவருடைய சகோதரர் ஷானுடன் இணைந்து டூயட்கள் பாடிக்கொண்டிருந்தார். ஆனால் ஒரு jolt வைத்தது போல இன்ப பேரதிர்ச்சியாக ஒரு melody-ஐ பாடியிருந்தார். பயங்கர soulful பாடல் அது. அந்த Blogger-ன் பதிவில் இந்த பாடலை பார்த்ததும் ‘Open in YouTube' வழியாக திறந்தபோது அந்த காலக்கட்டத்தில் வந்த நிறைய பாடல்கள் இருந்தது. அவற்றை பார்த்ததும் எனக்கு காலச்சக்கரம் பின்னோக்கி சுழல ஆரம்பித்தது.


The Dirty Pictureபொதுவாக iconic-ஆக விளங்கும் கனவு கன்னிகளுக்கு அவர்கள் வாழும்போது அவர்களுக்கு உரிய அங்கீகாரம் கிடைப்பதில்லை. மாறாக அவர்கள் இறந்த பிறகே அவர்களை உலகம் உச்சத்தில் தூக்கிவைத்து பாராட்டு மழை பொழியும். ஹாலிவுட்டில் ஒரு ”மர்லின் மன்றோ” என்றால் நம் தென்னிந்தியாவுக்கு ஒரு ”சில்க்” ஸ்மிதா. இருவரும் வாழ்ந்த காலத்தில் பரபரப்புகளுக்கு பஞ்சமில்லாமல் வாழ்ந்து, தனிமையில் இறந்து போனவர்கள். ஏனோ... ஆண்களின் தூக்கத்தை கெடுத்த இவர்கள் தங்கள் வாழ்க்கையிலும் நிம்மதியாக தூங்கமுடியாமல் தனிமையில் தவித்து கடைசியில் வாழ்வதை விட சாவதே மேல் என்று தங்கள் கதையை முடித்துக்கொண்டார்கள். அவர்களின் கதையை படமாக எடுக்கும்போது அவர்களின் அந்தரங்கங்களை சொல்லவேண்டியதால் அது ஒருவித titilating factor-ஆக மாறிவிடுகிறது. இந்த நடிகைகளின் துயரங்களை காசாக்க (மட்டுமே) முயற்சிக்காமல் வெகு சிலர் தான் அவர்களது வாழ்க்கையை மனதில் பதியும்படி சொல்கிறார்கள். ”சில்க்” ஸ்மிதாவின் வாழ்க்கையை அடிப்படையாக கொண்டு சமீபத்தில் ஹிந்தியில் வந்து பட்டையை கிளப்பிக்கொண்டிருக்கும் “The Dirty Picture" ஒரு வகையில் புதிய முயற்சி என்றே சொல்லவேண்டும்.

No One Killed Jessica"Unfortunately law is not for justice, but merely a mechanism to settle disputes" - when I came across these lines in Michael Christon's "Disclosure", which I am reading now, I found them apt for the movie "No One Killed Jessica". It really takes so much of guts for a film maker to do a film of the subject that the public knew it to details and even for the film goers to watch the incidents that they know already. Rajkumar Gupta had put his best efforts to recreate the decade long emotional travails of Sabrina Lal who goes through the hell to see the murderers of her slain sister behind bars.