One more year has gone and new one has come. Here are some of my review rather comments on books and movies.
The books which I read was by an author called Lee Child. I read two of his books, cannot remember the title of first book, 2nd book was 61 hours. Both are fiction novels. It was like watching a Hollywood movie and I assume one of his books will be adapted to big screen similar to "Bourne" films in the near future. I guess he is the new sensation in thriller/spy novels. The novels were good, its good for a train journey - will keep you hooked and when you are finished you can return it. I did the same, returned the 2 novels to the vendor.
The next fiction novel is written by Amish Tripathi, an IIM graduate is the new entrant in India. The name of the novel is "The Immortals of Meluha". The novel caught my attention same as to many people was the cover of book. The title cover is etched to show a man who resembles Lord Shiva and facing back with long hair and Trishul. The imaginative idea is really appreciated that Lord Shiva might actually be an individual who might have lived thousands of years ago in ancient India. Everything is neatly presented, the plot, the flow, characters but all keeping the western audience in mind. It is happening in ancient India but when you read the book you will feel that nativity is missing. I certainly felt it and it was compelling to put the book down more than anything. The standard operating procedures, dammit are few words which keep repeating throughout the book. The imagination of Lord Shiva is sure starter for this book. I am not sure I will read the next two installments because of its emphasis on western audience.
On to movies now, Aadukalam - A tamil movie with a combination of Director Vetrimaaran and Actor Dhanush for the 2nd time after Polladhavan. The backdrop is Madurai, my native place and plot is rooster fights with a love track for Dhanush. Why can't we drop the love angle and focus mainly on plot? The movie is running successfully and has won praises for Dhanush. He is good but not his best, strains on the dialogue delivery of local Madurai slang. I cannot help to compare with Karthi of Paruthi Veeran. You can't simply show a better performance than Karthi when he speaks Madurai slang. That's hardwork! Apart from dialogue delivery he is good at showing emotions whether it is happiness, sad or shock when he knows betrayed/cheated. The movies is a bit long and I felt that I saw 2 movies for one ticket. In my opinion it could have been shorter by 15-30 min which will make it slick movie and just the right kind of mix of love, loyalty & betrayal.
I wanted to watch Biutiful but missed it due to my travel to Madurai and Chennai in 2nd week of February. The next movie I watched was 127 Hours from Danny Boyle.It takes lot of courage to do a movie like 127 hours where there is only one character for almost 80-90% of the total movie time. The movie is based on true story of Aron Ralston, a mountain climber. James Franco holds the movie by his eccentric, open character. His courage to get out of an impossible situation, his right hand stuck between a boulder of rock and wall, I think most of us wouldn't be clueless where to start. But James/Aron has ideas and finally loses his forearm after 127 hours to be freed. The courage of a human being triumphs here and well enacted by James Franco.
There are 2 more movies which I will post in next blog! Till then. Happy Reading!
To be continued...
